Micky is a singer-songwriter from London, who’s performed professionally as an actor since he was in small trousers and plimsoll shoes.
His acting pursuits have taken him around the globe in various productions and some closer to home in London’s west-end.
Songwriting and performing his own material has always been his first love and he is now taking the plunge and intends to make his mark in today’s music industry.
Micky’s brass clad, style of indie pop has a well-balanced mix of intoxicating vocal melodies, fast-paced and quick-witted lyrics which are a must hear for music lovers of any genre, with an almost urban element to his vocals, think Jamie T mixed with Maverick Sabre, with a hint of Ray Davis and a pinch of Damon Albarn’s observant wit and you’re not far off.
Following on from Micky’s debut release “Run With Me” which is available on iTunes and had rave reviews and airplay on countless radio stations including BBC London, Micky is now set to release a Christmas single “No Bells This Christmas” which is available now.
Ultimately Micky’s passion is to entertain, whether that be a small intimate setting for a crowd of 50, or selling out Wembley Stadium, or preferably Loftus Road, home of his beloved Queens Park Rangers it makes no odds.
Either way, Micky Diana is definitely a name to look out for in 2018 and beyond.
With Micky Diana’s quick-witted lyrical prowess and intoxicatingly catchy hooks and melodies out in full force once more.
LINKS:
https://facebook.com/michaeldiana01
https://youtube.com/channel/UCuEIsMnaQhs4HonLA7ikPpQ
https://twitter.com/michaeldiana01
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Beauty in Chaos Ft. Dug Pinnick, Zakk Wylde & Ice-T – Un-Natural Disaster
‘Un-Natural Disaster’ (Collide Mix) is the first song to be previewed from the soon-to-be-released album ‘Beauty Re-Envisioned’, which will contain an extremely wide variety of remixes and alternate versions of many of the tracks that appear on their debut album ‘Finding Beauty in Chaos’. Both albums are produced by Ministry’s Grammy-nominated producer Michael Rozon at Ciravolo’s own SAINTinLA Studio.
This track breaks the constraints placed on the debut album, not only due to the addition of synthesizers but also in the wicked unleashing of a blistering guitar solo by guitar guru Zakk Wylde.
“Zakk plays more notes on this solo than I did on the entire album, but with taste, technique and a ton of flair,” Michael Ciravolo laughs.
For this project, Ciravolo – a New Orleans native – teamed up with King’s X’s dUg Pinnick, who previously lived in Houston. Their shared experiences and memories of the chaos caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey, along with the ‘beauty’ of those who came to help the victims, profoundly shaped the song’s music and lyrics.
“When Michael sent me the music and asked me if I would sing and play on it, I immediately said yes. I think it rocks!! And some deep lyrics were my thoughts. Since I come from Katy Texas, where it flooded a few years ago very badly and, not very far away, it was the same for New Orleans, I thought it was appropriate to sing about the un-natural disasters that are happening due to man’s ignorance,” says dUg Pinnick.
“It was fun putting my bass part on the track and a big surprise being on the same song with Ice-T and Zakk Wylde. What a great opportunity, I’m glad to be a part of this project. And the video shoot was wet!! Lol! And so much fun… and even captures the serious topic of this song.”
Ice-T, famed rapper, actor and frontman of Body Count, also spits out a poignant exclamation point to the extent of these tragedies.
“This song really hits close to home as I was born and raised in New Orleans. I lived in Los Angeles when Katrina hit, but watched as friends and family lost everything. My elderly Aunt was evacuated as the city’s services shut down, and sadly she did not survive the move to Alabama. She along with at least 1200 others lost their lives as a result of this devastating hurricane,” says Michael Ciravolo.
Vicente Cordero, who directed the accompanying video, also directed the three previous Beauty In Chaos videos, delivers a visually stunning interpretation of this song. Production credit for all four goes to Industrialism Films.
Originally from New Orleans and now based in LA, Michael Ciravolo has played guitar in Human Drama for the past 30 years, most recently on ‘Broken Songs for Broken People’ (2017). Perhaps best known as President of Schecter Guitar Research, he has also played live and recorded with Michael Aston’s Gene Loves Jezebel since 1998.
The debut album ‘Finding Beauty in Chaos’ features numerous music luminaries, including Wayne Hussey (The Mission), Simon Gallup (The Cure), Robin Zander (Cheap Trick), Pete Parada (The Offspring), dUg Pinnick (Kings X), ICE-T (Body Count), Michael Aston (Gene Loves Jezebel), Michael Anthony (Van Halen), Dirk Doucette (Gene Loves Jezebel), Ashton Nyte (The Awakening), Pando (A Flock of Seagulls), Evi Vine, Betsy Martin (Caterwaul / Purr Machine), Marc Danzeisen (The Riverdogs), Kevin Kipnis (Purr Machine / Kommunity FK), Rudy Matchinga (Red Scare), Johnny Indovina (Human Drama), and Tish Ciravolo (StunGun/ Daisy Rock Guitars).
On June 21, ‘Beauty Re-Envisioned’ will be released via LA-based label 33.3 Music Collective on deluxe CD and limited-edition heavy-weight colored vinyl. It will also be available digitally across online stores, including iTunes, and streaming platforms like Spotify. CDs and vinyl can be ordered from the Beauty in Chaos website at https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com/music-store.
“Families left homeless screams and cries. Harvey comes people lose their lives’ – ‘what can I say?… this track came out dope!”
– Ice T“When Father Mike asked me to put a solo on The New CRUSHINGLY STUPENDOUS BEAUTY IN CHAOS song & be in the Video with dUg & Ice-T, I was kind of hesitant about doing it, But when Father Mike said he’d thrown in a Thin Crust pizza from Joe & Pats in Staten Island, NY along with a BEAUTY IN CHAOS T-Shirt I knew THIS WAS MY DESTINY!!!”
– Zakk Wylde“What started for a fleeting moment as my ‘solo album’ quickly blossomed into so much more. My role as President of Schecter Guitars certainly put me in the enviable position of meeting a lot of great artists whose albums are a big part of my record collection. The beauty from all of this is the friendships that I have developed. . It was mindblowing to be able to put together artists that have never been on an album together, much less perform on a song before BIC. Two of the most recognizable voices in rock n’ roll … Robin Zander and Michael Anthony together on ‘Drifting Away’. Two goth-rock icons, Wayne Hussey (The Sisters Of Mercy and The Mission UK) and Simon Gallup (The Cure) on ‘Man Of Faith’ is another example of the magic on ‘Finding Beauty In Chaos’. Many of these artists are looking forward to being part of the ongoing evolution of BIC. I sincerely hope that whatever notoriety this record garners opens the door for other artists to want to join in. I do have a ‘wish list’ 😊. On a purely personal note, with the help of Michael Rozon, my dear friend and producer, I was able to create the record I have always wanted to make”
– Michael Ciravolo“Intense hurricane-themed song… The King’s X frontman’s poignant vocals and booming bass add gravity… An ominous Ice-T rap rounds out the powerhouse song. sleek electronic drums… full of dramatic string bends and speedy, head-spinning shred”
– Rolling StoneLINKS:
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com/bic-blog
https://www.facebook.com/beautyinchaosmusic
https://www.instagram.com/beauty.inchaos
https://twitter.com/MichaelCiravolo
https://soundcloud.com/33-3-music-collective
https://beautyinchaos.bandcamp.com -
connect_icut – Simonson
In his music, connect_icut (real name Samuel Macklin) aims to remove the distinctions between instinct and intellect, chaos and order, organic and synthetic, analog and digital. This work may be deemed ‘glitch’ or ‘post-digital’, but one thing is for sure – this is a mixture of melodic elements and rarefied abstraction with intense modulations that flare up between the cracks of mysterious geometrical passages.
Releasing music since 2005, some of it has met with significant success. The Wire Magazine commented that it was “always involving – and easily rewarding enough to make getting up and turning the record over an anticipatory pleasure”. Thurston Moore and Byron Coley (via Arthur Magazine) also noted this music “takes a lot of standard ‘pretty’ electronic practices and flops them over on their sides… There’s pop crafting here, but it’s subtle and allowed to evolve in its own darkly idiosyncratic way”.
connect_icut released ‘Crow & Kittiwakes Wheel and Come Again’ (2013) and ‘Small Town by the Sea’ (2014), both via Aagoo Records, to wide acclaim, followed by ‘Rage Coma’ (2017). While those albums were mostly created using computer software, this new EP is essentially a test recording for a new all-hardware set-up.
Whereas other electronic music producers making the software/hardware switch have simultaneously adopted an analog-only approach, connect_icut remains firmly rooted in the digital realm. The six extended tracks collected here delve into the granular synthesis techniques developed by computer music pioneers like Curtis Roads, Barry Truax, and Guy Reibel – only without using a computer, as such.
This music also differs from that of the aforementioned pioneers in its rawness and spontaneity. The source sounds were created with whatever was at hand, which usually turned out to be a Casio SK-1 toy sampler. The finished tracks are both proof-of-concept test runs and seat-of-the-pants improvisations. Somewhere along the line, this resulted in surprisingly beautiful music.
It anchors all manner of chaotic abstraction in a solid foundation that is fundamentally grounded in hands-on performance and spontaneous composition. Live connect_icut appearances have included support slots for a number of notable electronic artists including Oneohtrix Point Never and Loscil.
In support of this new release, connect_icut also presents the video for ‘Simonson’, emphasizing radiant pixels and glowing digital abstraction.
‘Music for Granular Synthesizer’ will be released via Aagoo Records on November 24 on triple cassette and can be ordered on Aagoo’s website and also digitally via Bandcamp.
LINKS:
http://connect-icut.com
http://twitter.com/vinylscrobbler
http://soundcloud.com/connect_icut
http://www.youtube.com/user/CSAFrecords
http://connect-icut.tumblr.com
http://csaf-records.bandcamp.com
http://open.spotify.com/artist/1GWsn2g4Fy23GGTDtj882N -
Shriekback – And The Rain
Seminal British alternative rock outfit Shriekback has announced they will release their new album ‘Why Anything? Why This?’ on May 25. As a teaser, they are previewing the first single ‘And The Rain’, along with a darkly intriguing video filmed by Howard Davidson (a.k.a. Hodah).
Shriekback was formed in 1980 by ex-XTC keyboardist Barry Andrews and bassist Dave Allen on his departure from Gang Of Four, in collaboration with guitarist Carl Marsh from Out On Blue Six. Under the auspices of the visionary Y Records label (home to The Slits, The Pop Group and Pigbag), the group found their voice experimenting in EMI Music’s KPM demo studio in London, refining a uniquely recognizable sound in 1982 on their first full-length album ‘Care’ and eventually achieving wider recognition with the singles ‘Lined Up’ and ‘My Spine (Is The Bassline)’. In 1983, they were joined by drummer Martyn Barker (King Swamp, Billy Bragg).
A move to a major label, Arista, allowed the band to fully realize their sound on ‘Oil & Gold’(1985), a milestone album that remains the band’s best-known (helped by the success of the single ‘Nemesis’) and the foundation of their popularity on the US college circuit and elsewhere.
‘And The Rain’ is dark and infectious, conjuring up steamy, swampy, Southern Gothic blues.This 14th studio album, which boasts a wide, organic and detailed sound, is already being described by early listeners as their best since the landmark album ‘Oil & Gold’. The sound is dense, woody and fibrous. Here we find evolved Bo Diddley beats and African blues”. However you describe it, this is Shriekback refocused, reinvented and reinvigorated.
Band members have also pushed themselves musically and sonically – Barry contributes a lot of guitars, Carl has essayed some slide guitar and keyboards and Martyn has brought in a whole arsenal of world percussion alongside his drumkit. Regular Shriekback listeners will hear more guitars and live drums and fewer loops and electronics. The sonic palette is very broad.
Written, performed and produced almost exclusively by the core trio, this is very much a ‘band’ album, crafted over time with the three core members working in their own studios, as well as in group sessions at Yellow Fish and Echo Zoo studios to capture live drums. But the writing and production on this release have been much more collaborative, with Martyn, in particular, having more input than previously.
New collaborator Scott Firth (of P.i.L) adds irrefutable bass to selected tracks, while Shriekback regulars Wendy and Sarah Partridge contribute their ever-invaluable backing vocals. Live drums were recorded by Ian Caple (who’s been with Shriekback since the beginning) at Yellow Fish in Lewes and Christoph Skirl at Echo Zoo in Eastbourne. The album was mixed and mastered by Stuart Rowe in The Lighterthief Bunker, Swindon – his fifth Shriekback album in this role, an indication of the value placed on his objective ear and technical skill.
‘Why Anything? Why This?’ will be released on May 25, 2018. While fans should keep an eye out for the album via digital stores and streaming platforms, the album is already available for pre-order from the band directly at https://shriekback.com/store.
LINKS:
http://www.shriekback.com
http://www.facebook.com/shriekback
http://twitter.com/shriekbackmusic
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJMkzOIkm9sqOjch00BhHBg/videos
http://soundcloud.com/shriekbackband
http://open.spotify.com/artist/5zdhsKuFI263xttcgdoW3c?si=ygb7IlYKSASw5xefkBQfDA
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/shriekback/85136
http://shriekbackmusic.tumblr.com