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
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Earthset – Around The Head
POPISM is the second EP by Italian band from Bologna known as Earthset. The theme is a compositional “game”, the challenge was producing a “light” and more immediate EP compared to “In a State of Altered Unconsciousness”. The title, POPISM, comes from the search for pop atmospheres and was recently used to describe that trend in music critique which recognizes artistic dignity to Pop music.
The tracks, in their order, represent a path towards increasingly Pop atmospheres. It begins with “Around the Head” a structurally schizophrenic song, the lyrics of which are an interior dialogue on betrayed expectations and passive attitude in the face of difficulties. The song was inspired in part by band members’ personal hardships and partly by an anime’s characters which were used to describe the behavior of the protagonist’s two voices.
“In the Pendant” (a pun on the word Independent) in an outburst, a criticism of the independent environment which emulates and replicates the dynamics of the world of mainstream, deadening and conforming the musical proposal to the search for the fashionable formula.
“Flush” is the song which, after the outburst, turns to more Indie-Pop textures. The lyrics tell of a circumstance where the protagonist discovers and accepts, by breaking her routine, a hidden, and to a certain extent disowned, part of herself. Like two unknown wanderers, the two egos of the protagonist meet and are reconciled in the song’s final explosion, which is followed by a bittersweet coda.
“Icarus’ Flight” concludes the quartet with an overtly pop song whose lyrics are inspired by the mythological episode of Icarus’ flight. The myth originally has a paideutic significance whose purpose is to teach the young not to disobey the fathers, whereas in the song Icarus is the champion of humanity who prefers to outdo himself, at the cost of losing his life rather than accepting the cautious and mediocre existence suggested by Daedalus’ wise advice. The final verse encapsulates the song’s meaning. “Ghosts and Afterthoughts” closes the EP. Ghosts and afterthoughts, which lead back to the psychedelic textures of the band’s more experimental songs, yet built on loops with an electronic and noise feel… signs of future developments? At the moment we’re not quite sure ourselves to be honest. An EP that is a game, a challenge, and a new proposal.
POPISM was self-produced by the band and Carlo Marrone (also producer of “In a State of Altered Unconsciousness” and other artists’ works such as “Petali” and “Malamore” by Gianluca Mondo, as well as multi-instrumentalist with, among others, My Own Parasite, Carlomargot, Murder, currently Soren Larsen). The mix, by Carlo Marrone, coherently with the EP’s theme, has explored more pop atmospheres, maintaining, at the same time, the band’s alternative rock spirit.
The drums were recorded and edited by Michele Postpischl (Ofeliadorme).
The master was done at Fonoprint Studios by Enrico Capalbo (producer of“In a State of Altered Unconsciousness”, sound engineer at Fonoprint Studios for, amongst others, Arto Lindsay, Luca Carboni, Gianmaria Testa, Paolo Fresu, Ofeliadorme, Francesco Guccini, Humberto Gatica, currently multi-instrumentalist with Soren Larsen ).
The cover art represents a sketch of watercolor shadings. Each of the four colors used identifies a member of the band and a song of the EP.
SOURCE: Official Release
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/Earthset
https://twitter.com/EarthsetBand
https://earthset.bandcamp.com -
Joe Settineri – Batman Cries
American Singer/Song-writer Joe Settineri has released the official music video for his deeply moving new single, ‘Batman Cries’. The video was directed by Jared Cordes.
“The new video for ‘Batman Cries’ explores the inner superhero in us all — the strong, inner-spirit that fights for us and keeps us moving, dreaming, and striving. It’s about the eventuality that even our strongest self-needs to be reassured, lifted up, and cheered on. It’s about being down – seriously down – with seemingly no way up and finding that inner strength to go forth. When a superhero is down, it tears us apart, but when that superhero is us, it’s a matter of life and death.”
– Joe SettineriOriginally from the mid-west, Los Angeles based singer-songwriter Joe Settineri was a late bloomer. After the music world wooed him away from a finance career, and years spent being one of a handful of go-to singers in Los Angeles, Settineri established himself as an exceptional singer-songwriter in 2009 with his widely praised first studio album, ‘Stay’ (LML Records). His second full studio album, ‘Beyond Your Control’, was released 2014 and followed up by his most recent EP, ‘Be The One’ in 2017.
Joe’s newest singles, ‘Hello Goodbye’, ‘Batman Cries’, and ‘Oxygen’, all collaborations with multi-platinum Nashville-based producer Mike Krompass (Smash Mouth, Nellie Furtado), are slated for release in Summer and Fall 2018.
Joe lives in Los Angeles with his husband and two children.
LINKS:
https://www.joesettineri.com
https://www.facebook.com/joesettineriofficial
https://twitter.com/joesettineri
https://www.instagram.com/joesettineri -
Richard Wølf – Seeking
Richard Wølf has premiered his new video for the track titled ‘Seeking’, from his new album ‘Hybrid’. To say that ‘Seeking’ is cinematic would be misleading. Even a misnomer. Richard is an artist with a vision. A vision in music with a reach into the visual. A multi-talent in the truest sense of the word. You could easily separate the sound and the sight and have two completely different works of art. But, together, you have magic. That magic we get when we leave a theater after watching a brilliant film. That ‘aha’ moment when we discover a new favorite artist. That layer upon layer of sounds and orchestrations that come from that unique blend of music, mind, and madness.
About ‘Hybrid’
‘Hybrid’ is the debut album for Richard Wølf, stage name for Riccardo Sarti, who in “everyday life” works as actor, performer and voice actor. ‘Hybrid’ was born out of his love for music, but also for movies and sound design, both close to cyberpunk and sci-fi aesthetics and sub-cultures. Not by chance, the album features a cover of one of the most challenging songs ever written, Bowie’s Life on Mars.
‘Hybrid’ draws from several kind of sounds, mixing the elegance of Wagner’s inspired classical music, the energy of hard rock and the electronic futuristic approach. Both songwriting and arrangements were born with cinematographic references in mind, so that the album can be listened as the fictitious soundtrack for a movie, TV series or even a videogame.
About Richard Wølf
Richard Wølf, stage name of Riccardo Sarti, was born in 1989 in Italy, in a small village near Modena. After ten years spent in Bologna (BO) he decided to move to Rome where he currently lives.
A talent for the arts runs in the family: his father is a multi-instrumentist guitarist, his mother has a natural gift for the visual arts and Richard has been cultivating a strong passion for music and acting since he was a child.
After obtaining the university degree in “Foreign Languages and Literatures” (BO), he graduated at “The Bernstein School Of Musical Theater” (BO), directed by Shawna Farrell, in 2014 and also at the “Voice Actor Academy” (FI) ran by Christian Iansante and Roberto Pedicini, starting his professional career as an actor, a singer, a voice actor and a performer in different national shows constantly improving his skills by attending several masterclasses.
After his first band, “Quarto Verso” musical satisfactions – their first single “Suono Sordo” was used worldwide as the soundtrack of RAI International / Directv TV spot and their second single “Mad Society” entered the TOP 50 international playlist GOTHIC ORGY VOL. VI by DarkTunes Music Group (Germany) -, he decided to start his new musical project during the first lock-down period writing his first album “HYBRID” and publishing his first single “Seeking” in November 2020.
His musical influences go from space rock, alternative rock, folk, post-grunge, and nu metal, to trailer hybrid music, sound design FX and cinematic soundtracks, never letting go of his musical theatre background.
Furthermore, he has a strong passion for photography and filmmaking that he practices at high levels as a director, a cinematographer, and an editor in his and other artists’ videoclips.
LINKS:
https://richardwolfofficial.com
https://www.facebook.com/wolf.richard.official
https://www.instagram.com/richardwolf_official
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCli48i0tw0NiZ5JWgGRPHhg
https://open.spotify.com/artist/447yQ8sUQTahnJ3xJtkv9l