A throbbing beat. Machines on a march. Guitars can be a drill or sing like an angel. A voice like a computer caught in a human throat. A whisper. A howl. Synthesizers are sometimes smooth and glassy, sometimes jagged and bloody. A walk on the shore can easily turn into an apocalyptic landscape, depending on your perception.
Influenced by Curve, Wire, Cocteau Twins, Depeche Mode, Gazelle Twin, Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails and Bloody Knives, their new offerings on ‘Inertia’ features tracks ranging from the analogue postpunk near-industrial enigma of projects like Clan of Xymox and The Tear Garden to electronic dark reverie similar to Delerium and Gazelle Twin classics to the stripped back melancholy served up by This Mortal Coil.
Dubbing their own music as ‘industrialgaze’ and ‘darkwave’, We Are Parasols is comprised of D (vocals and bass), Jerman (guitars, piano, synthesizers, programming, and samples), and Alec Eye (drums, programming, and synthesizers).
“I have a stronger desire — or, really, a need — to continue to make and perform music. So that deep need often overrides the fears I have about creating and sharing our art, and performing live,” says D.
We Are Parasols began as a shoegaze-electronic hybrid band. Their debut full-length ‘Infrastructure’ was followed by their ‘bite_your_tongue’ EP, a more minimal ambient release. The song ‘No Movement’ off the band’s debut album, which was about an android sex worker, ultimately spawned the musical world of their new album ‘Inertia’.
‘Inertia’ combines industrial, shoegaze, dream pop and darkwave with sci-fi in order to tell a dystopian, possibly humanist, probably anti-human, story about violence, technology, politics, control, and an android feminist anti-hero known only as a synthetic sexual tasked android body.
There are 13 tracks on the cassette version of the EP, which comes with a full-color 4-panel J-Card featuring all the lyrics, as well as a digital download (a poster is also available). While these same 13 tracks are available through online stores and streaming platforms everywhere, the Bandcamp edition includes a special bonus track – ‘hush (Piano Version)’ – especially for lovers of early 4AD output.
LINKS:
http://nomovementrecords.com/weareparasols
http://www.facebook.com/weareparasols
http://twitter.com/WeAreParasols
http://soundcloud.com/weareparasols
http://www.youtube.com/user/PredatorFriendly/videos
http://www.instagram.com/weareparasols
http://weareparasols.bandcamp.com
http://open.spotify.com/artist/7dmvcoPsZ4Vy4Fy4WALQMP
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/we-are-parasols/id1044013285
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Candy Opera – Tell Me When The Lights Turn Green
Candy Opera has released their new video for the track titled ‘Tell Me When The Lights Turn Green’ from the new album ‘The Patron Saint of Heartache’. With a broad cinematic scope, Candy Opera lends broad and beautiful visuals to their soundscape. And the song itself is one of those future memories in that the hook is evident and instant with a subtly intense set of guitars and soulful weathered vocals.
‘The Patron Saint of Heartache’ LP is available on limited-run green vinyl or limited-run black vinyl, CD with booklet, and digital download. It is available everywhere, including Bandcamp.
ABOUT CANDY OPERA
Liverpool’s rejuvenated songsmiths Candy Opera present their new single ‘Tell Me When The Lights Turn Green’. A carefully crafted, country-esque ballad that perfectly expresses Candy Opera’s new sound for 2021, reflecting on all our yearnings with openness and candour, this song has all the sensibilities of a classic ballad.
This is the second single from their new album ‘The Patron Saint of Heartache’ (released on November 30), their first collection of new material in nearly three decades. This long-awaited debut album is being released via European / UK label A Turntable Friend Records.
As with the first adrenalin-fuelled single from the album, ‘These Days Are Ours’, this reflective look at adversity was mixed by Grammy award-winning producer Guy Massey and recorded at Liverpool’s Elevator Studios and mastered by Pete Maher (Barry Adamson, The Alarm).
“The song is about trying to find a pathway through life and the realization that the waters will always be muddied but, with determination and desire, the human spirit can pull through and flourish,” says singer-songwriter Paul Malone.
“We all chipped in on filming the video… a big challenge in the pandemic! The water scene is a depiction of change from the old Candy Opera to the new… a kind of baptism or rebirth representing where we are now as a band”.
Candy Opera were formed in Liverpool in 1982 and went through various incarnations before calling it a day in 1992. By 1985, the band had played alongside the likes of The Pogues, The Go-Betweens and The Redskins, as well as appearing on Granada TV. Reviews in NME, Sounds, and Jamming magazine followed.
The band’s current line-up is drawn from all eras of the band’s existence and features Brian Chin Smithers (guitar, vocals), Alan Currie (drums), Frank Mahon (bass), Paul Malone (vocals, guitar), Ken Moss (guitar) and Gary O’Donnell (keyboards, vocals, percussion).
Following the overdue release of two archival sets – ’45 Revolutions Per Minute’ and ‘Rarities’ (released in 2018 by Firestation Records – their new album ‘The Patron Saint of Heartache’ picks up where the band left off, with 14 fresh songs ready for discovery of a sound as timeless as any Candy Opera output.
‘The Patron Saint of Heartbreak’ captures the essence of Candy Opera’s infectious energy and celebrates life with a genuine wander-lust, whilst delivering the excitement of their live performances. There is a musical and spiritual depth and breadth here, from the knockabout naïve rockabilly of ‘Hashtag Text Delete’ to the quiet acoustic reflection of ‘Freedom Song’. It is clear that every song has been painstakingly crafted in order to earn its place in this body of work. This album holds a mirror up to the lives people lead and all the triumphs and heartaches endured.
This new LP also features a swathe of friends and contemporaries, including Paul Simpson (The Wild Swans) and Phil Jones (Afraid of Mice). The result is an exquisite piece of pop craftsmanship that brings their songs into the light. This is a labor of love born of experience, but retaining the sense of wonder that brought the band together in the first place.
LINKS:
https://www.candyopera.com
https://candyopera.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/candyopera
https://www.twitter.com/candyopera1
https://soundcloud.com/candyopera
https://www.instagram.com/candyoperaofficial
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxG5RgI4C6HV3Ye9gMh784A
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1ckXD9OpZynmz60YNthqGr -
San Eco – Perspectrum
San Eco combine the unique approach of two musicians, one with a footing in innovative electronica, the other in bombastic indie pop. Five years in the making, their debut album ‘San Eco’ finds them drawing influences from Fela Kuti to Slint, Nathan Fake to R.E.M, into a delicate and emotive electronic alt rock treat.
Morris Cowan (Adam Taylor) cut his teeth in the electronic music scene in the mid-noughties, and since then has released for Nottingham based Wigflex imprint and German label Zaubernuss. He has built up notable admirers, having had his tracks championed by Mary Ann Hobbs and Tom Ravenscroft on their BBC Radio 6 Music shows.
Tom Edney’s brand of alternative indie songwriting has also earned him a considerable following. Never shying away from ambition, his alternative rock music has him drawing inspiration from varied subjects like Victorian Gothic Monasteries on Manchester housing estates to his Lynchian inspired dreams. His efforts such as ‘Hands On’ and ‘The Manchester Underground EP’ have earnt him plays on many stations around the world, including BBC Radio 6 Music.
It was during the recording of Cowan’s ‘Six Degrees’ and Edney’s ‘The Manchester Underground EP’, that the two actually became aware of each other’s music – listening in through a wall between neighboring studios. Cowan tabled an offer of a session, and five years of creativity and hard work later, they are finally ready to release their debut album ‘San Eco’, on Manchester multimedia label ‘Beatphreak.’
LINKS:
https://www.facebook.com/sanecosounds
https://beatphreak.co.uk/artists/san-eco -
Murdocco – Rainy Day
Mariana Murdocco, who goes by her surname, ‘Murdocco’ is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to her style and musical output. With her velvety and sultry tones, Murdocco’s songs allude to personal experiences where she transmits deep emotions, immersing you into her world. Using the piano and often heavy bass lines, she delivers a melodic, quirky and unique sound. Speaking of her upcoming release Murdocco says “I hope that my single ‘Rainy Day’ will inspire you to speak up and say all that you’ve been holding back, without fears or taboos. Let it out, you ought to say it!”
Originally from Uruguay, Murdocco is a London-based singer-songwriter, her original productions are a fusion of live instruments and Electronica, citing Bjork and The Knife as influences.
Murdocco started in Barcelona with her ever-evolving band ( Jose Martinez on guitar), she released a number of EPs produced by David Okuniev, which was much more Rock orientated. This solo project has taken her down a different path where she finds herself being much more experimental and free to explore other genres. This is the first of a number of releases that will be coming out over the forthcoming months.
Welcome to Murdocco’s world.
LINKS:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2G0cbBExtt6UIrbC1uqaLC?si=ZWdCeb5PQp2m_m2sWsahhg
https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/murdocco/1540358146
https://soundcloud.com/murdocco/rainy-day-1/s-RZ44Sjzz8yh
https://www.facebook.com/MurdoccoMusic