By now, the story of teenage metal trio Unlocking The Truth (who walked away from a seven-figure deal with Sony) is well known. After years of media excitement, late-night TV appearances, and breakout sets at Coachella and Bonnaroo, the band’s debut album Chaos was finally released independently last year. The Brooklyn-based band is now back with a new music video for their latest single “My Chains” that premiered exclusively with Loudwire.com. The video (directed by JP Brasca) cuts through much of the hype surrounding the group and shows a different side of the band.
“We wanted the video to show that Unlocking The Truth has more to offer than just a good song,” says guitarist/vocalist Malcolm Brickhouse. “The video and song both push the envelope for ‘the norm’ in metal music. It’s fresh. It’s new. It’s MY CHAINS!”
The track is a soulful metal hybrid, co-produced by Brickhouse (and Kenta Yonesaka, Germano Studio NY), who says “The meaning of ‘My Chains’ will be different for everyone, but there’s a line in the song for everyone. Think about it. We all have chains in life. It could be somebody or something we use as a crutch to help us get through life and loosen those chains.”
“My Chains” is available on Spotify and iTunes.
LINKS:
http://unlockingthetruthband.com
https://www.facebook.com/pg/UTTBand
https://twitter.com/UTTband
https://www.instagram.com/unlockingthetruth
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The Impersonators – Cloud Nine
The Impersonators came into being after the demise of Finnish pop/rock band Carmen Gray in 2013 when Tommi Tikka, the other half of Carmen Gray’s songwriting team, joined forces with lyricist Antti Autio to write some new songs.
While Carmen Gray had recorded for major labels, such as Sony and Warner, The Impersonators’ story was going to be different from the get-go. With this particular group, Tikka wanted to have complete artistic control over the songs he recorded to avoid generic and sterile production typical for modern pop/rock.
For quite a while, Tikka auditioned musicians for the new group. However, after three failed attempts to put together a lineup that did justice to the new songs, he decided to make The Impersonators a group of two songwriters rather than a group of four or five musicians. Hence began the search for a great producer rather than the right musicians.
Finally, in early 2017, Tikka teamed up with Janne Saksa, a seasoned professional in making records, who became Tikka’s collaborator in the studio and took over the head producer’s reins from him. Together, they’ve arranged and produced the group’s two singles “You Are The One” and “Burning Blue.”
The best way to describe the sound of The Impersonators is to call it sixties-flavored “alternative pop/rock”. Their goal is to nurture and cultivate the creativity, spirit, and warmth that graced the pop records of yesteryears.
LINKS:
https://impersonatorsmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/ImpersonatorsBand
https://twitter.com/1mpersonators -
The Silverbeets – Girlfriend
With a rich dark green sound interspersed with multi-colored stems, their non-formulaic style is distinct. Like their forthcoming 8-track full-length album, this single evokes the spirit of artists such as Can, They Might be Giants, and XTC.
Formed in 2014, The Silverbeets hail from Hobart, Tasmania – the small Australian island state at the bottom of the world. This relative isolation has led the band to craft an idiosyncratic sound that borrows from luminary rock acts like Pink Floyd, The Byrds, David Bowie, Radiohead, The Pixies, Queen, Fleet Foxes, Simon & Garfunkel, Nick Cave, and Neil Young, among others.
The Silverbeets consist of Farnz Cordeaux (rhythm guitar, vocals), Jamie Scott (lead guitar, vocals), Nigel Hope (bass), and Bill O’Brien (drums) but their recorded sound is also heavily influenced by their “5th member”, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Ernie Oppenheimer.
“This is a song about how the government, or people in power, once treated people with some common decency, like we mattered. However all semblance of caring seems to have completely gone by the wayside and all we have left is the greed of man, the greed of those in power who know how to use it against the 99% Viva la revolution!” says frontman Farnz Cordeaux.
“This is the band’s third multi-track release – we are starting to show who we are. By this, we mean that only now, looking back at all our releases, can people start to get a handle on what we are trying to do. We don’t sit in one style, we don’t just write one mood of music but instead are reaching to push ourselves to show a range of human emotions and incorporate different musical styles while doing so”.
The ‘Halcyon Days’ was recorded at Bad Radio Studios and Urban Fringe Compound between mid-2019 and mid-2020. All songs were mixed and mastered by Ernie O at Urban Fringe Compound.
In 2016, The Silverbeets debuted with their ‘Purple Stems’ EP, rated among the year’s best releases by the NBTMusicRadio. The band followed up with a ripper cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘We’ve Got a Groovy Thing Goin’ (2016) and their ‘Stay Tuned’ LP in 2018, an epic homage to the concept album (also rated the year’s 16th best album by NBTMusicRadio). In January 2020, they released ‘I’ve Got to Get Away (on an Hawaiian Holiday)’, a polemic tune on the lack of government leadership in handling the fires in Australia.
LINKS:
http://www.thesilverbeets.com
https://thesilverbeets.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/TheSilverbeets
https://www.instagram.com/thesilverbeets
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7WHM47mdXfW9kpTIRjI01w -
Holygram – A Faction
German post-punk shoegaze outfit Holygram present ‘A Faction’ – the second single off their long-awaited debut LP ‘Modern Cults’. Comprised of eleven tracks, this album will be released on CD and double vinyl, as well as digitally via Cleopatra Records, on November 9, 2018.
This news follows the lead single ‘Signals’. Prior to that, the Cologne-based outfit released their self-titled EP in 2016. Holygram cleverly blends new wave and Krautrock with post-punk and shoegaze to achieve headstrong multi-layered bliss. This is a thoroughly contemporary homage to the sound of the ’80s with a resolute look to the future – the result is driving, dark and catchy.
Produced by Maurizio Baggio, who also produced The Soft Moon’s ‘Deeper’ and ‘Criminal’ albums, this long-play was recorded at Cologne’s Amen Studios. The new video for ‘A Faction’ is produced by WE OWN YOU GmbH and directed by Jan-Peter Horns with animation by Alison Flora.
Holygram is Patrick Blümel (vocals), Sebastian Heer (drums), Marius Lansing (guitars), Pilo Lenger (synthesizers) and Bennett Reimann (bass). Formed in 2015, the band’s approach to making music references the past, while remaining future-oriented. Hard-to-combine elements cleverly come together to become the soundtrack of a city that appears threatening in the twilight.
The new album intensifies Holygram‘s contemplation of themes such as big cities, alienation and anonymity, hope and memories, love and identity. These reflections interact closely with the band’s unmistakable signature sound. Atmosphere oscillates between the brutal sounds of the big city and the fragility of the people that lose themselves in it – intelligently observed scenarios of a world falling apart in which individuals have long ceased to play a leading role.
The band recently accompanied British synthpop legends OMD on their 2017 European tour and have played numerous festivals, including Mailfeld Derby, Wave-Gotik-Treffen and New Waves Day. Wrapping themselves in dense wafts of mist and cool lighting on stage, they’ve made quite a name for themselves on the live circuit.
As of November 9, the ‘Modern Cults’ LP will be available everywhere, but can already be ordered via Cleopatra Records on CD and vinyl, and also digitally via Bandcamp. The album will be released in Europe via Oblivion / SPV.
Holygram will be touring Europe and US/Canada this fall with one of the biggest electronic bands on the planet, VNV Nation, as well as DE/VISION for the North American tour. They will hold two release shows – the first, in Cologne on Nov. 9, marks the end of their European tour, while the Los Angeles release show on Nov. 14 (at The Viper Room) kicks off their North American tour.
LINKS:
http://holygram.band
https://www.facebook.com/holygram.official
https://holygram.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/holygram_band