"Fast Attack, No Release" by Robb Westlund will deceptively touch you deeply

Fast Attack, No Release by singer songwriter Robb Westlund is a deceptively moving folk song. It is built on classic folk sounds as Westlund tips his hat to Dylan but it is the swelling orchestral sounds and Westlund's emotional vocal performance, torn and bruised that slowly snakes it's way right into your heart. Westlund offers, 

"Made this one about a close friend. Long story short he's lived quite the struggle, but always rises above in the most splendid ways! Also, I love Bob Dylan. Sorry."

And at this particular time, right now it cuts to my bones and is so touching. Great song. Robb Westlund is currently based out of San Francisco, California. 

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Robb Donker

"Too Afraid To Go Outside" by The Kerosene Hours is a brain rattling proto punkish piece of sonic paranoia

Too Afraid To Go Outside by The Kerosene Hours, the unusual musical moniker / project of L.A. based Aaron Silverstein is a brain rattling proto punkish piece of sonic paranoia. The sound, the aesthetic will make you smile and your lip curl. Silverstein spits out his caterwaul wail like an insomniac riddled wide eyed Elvis on high. I like this very, very much. 

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Robb Donker

https://thekerosenehours.bandcamp.com/

"Swill" by Eyesore & The Jinx is a punk blast- part psycho-billy and part surf punk through a carnival mirror

Swill by Eyesore & The Jinx is a punk blast feeling raw and real and kind of part psycho-billy and part surf punk through a carnival mirror-- midway the song veers down a psychedelic rabbit hole with tropical punk flavors in a kind of dreamy decrescendo. 

"Swill is a three minute and thirty-nine second love song dedicated to the odious, perpetrators of moral panic, in all of its loathsome forms."

"Emerging from the putrid banks of the River Mersey"- Eyesore & The Jinx are inspired by the sounds and aesthetics from early-eighties post-punk groups (particularly The Fall, The Gun Club, and The Birthday Party), other influences include Parquet Courts, The Minutemen and the unmistakable outlandish energy of The Cramps.

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Robb Donker

Belonging's fused and distilled proggy experimental post punk "All I Can Hear"

Belonging is the music project, moniker of Londener Chris Patrick. The track All I Can Hear is a powerful assault of shifting off beat rhythms and proggy stew of indie, pop, grunge, electro and folk influences fused and distilled into what feels like experimental post punk. 

So far this year Belonging has seen "previous releases “On & On” and “Lo & Behold” gain airplay from Radio X’s John Kennedy and support slots with Catholic Action, as well as a host of live shows full of big choruses and nervous energy."

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Robb Donker

Sheer Calms' "False Colours" big post punk eruptions

False Colours by Sheer Calm based out of London and Birmingham, England vacillates between a kind of drunken sway and big eruptions of post punk guitar driven rock with wailing guitar lines and vocals. It is the kind of song that takes you away, that you want to see live and feel the ferocity.  Cool. A debut LP is in the works. 

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Robb Donker

Sweetcreem's potent sonic bittersweet wash called "Smith" always ends much too soon

Sweetcreem's potent sonic wash called Smith may, could be called dream pop but there is an acidic quality here. The droning synths have a heaviness and harshness and the vocal performance might even feel a bit tortured and sad (or maybe that is me) so if people call this dream pop it might just be the heavy metal or grunge of dream pop. I really do like it though and listening numerous times it always ends much too soon. 

As the Press Notes say: Sweetcreem is a singer-songwriter vagabond turned singer-songwriter producer from Boston, MA, USA with friends all over the place. She takes deep enjoyment from hip hop/trip hop beats, vital punk riffs, unique synths, sweet harmonies, and soulful grooves and vocals. She wants to take you out for milk and cookies.

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Robb Donker

Sapphire Blues' "These Streets" is a feral and emotionally raw post punk jag

Sapphire Blues are a trio from Bristol, UK who formed after meeting at a pub in 2016. After a line up change in 2018 the band now consists of Sam Lance Jones (vox, guitar), Harry Beaver (bass) and Chris Thompson (drums, producer). The track These Streets is a feral and emotionally raw post punk jag distilled from Jones' view of the microcosm and macro  socio-political climates around him and distilled from thoughts as he steeped himself into the 1938 philosophcial novel by existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre La Nausée (Nausea).

Jones' vocal attack and sound captivates me. His rawness reminds me of The Jam's Paul Weller a bit. Great song and sound. 

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Robb Donker

"I'll Be Your Mellow Man, Darling" by Northern Utah's The Painted Roses feels like a nostalgic western diorama

The track I'll Be Your Mellow Man, Darling by Northern Utah's The Painted Roses is steeped in 3 part harmonies and slang terms and phrases from the 50's and references to classic westerns of that period and yes, there is a line about James Dean too. The word play is pretty brilliant as are the melodies and earnest grit in the vocal performance. It feels like roots / garden rock. I thought of The Band (actually) which is a great thing. 

The song was a late edition to the Painted Roses debut EP. The Painted Roses members include Cole Stocker (guitar/vocals), Jack Hogan (Bass/Vocals), and Jeffrey Thompson (drums).

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Robb Donker

The Painted Roses Facebook

East Harbor's "R.W.I.B. (Right Where I Belong)" is a full fledged dance pop track with a deep groove chorus

East Harbor's R.W.I.B. (Right Where I Belong) is a full fledged dance pop track with a deep groove chorus. It sits somewhere between the funk / acid jazz of a Jamiroquai and the highly produced pop squeezed sound of a boy band. Commercially ripe and ready. For fans of The 1975, Mutemath and Twenty One Pilots, East Harbor are Josh Dobson (vox, rhythm guitar), Robby Staggs (lead guitar), Cory Kouns (drums, vox) and David Gonzales (bass, vox). 

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Robb Donker

Organised Scum's "Mandarin" moves in unexpected places

Mandarin by Organised Scum (UK) shifts into a sweet kind of pop punk vibe with pearly tones that veer into light proggy jazzy places. I mean, I actually thought of the iconic Joe Jackson while falling fully into Mandarin. The band never fails to amaze me with their creative and emotional scope. Kudos lads. 

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Robb Donker

Zen Parks - "IDK" feels like a saturated indie pop confessional

IDK by Zen Parks is a saturated indie pop song with deep inspirations. It almost starts like a gospel confessional, stark and bare and then the dance pop tones with R & B back beats come in. It is a dense mish-mosh of flavors and dynamic changes. When the bottom drops out it feels like an 80's new wave meets romance wave like something Bowie would of done when he was playing with dance pop tones. Cool stuff with a lot of pop flavors splashing out. 

-
Robb

PRESS NOTES:

Zen Parks began as a solo concept in 2016 by singer/songwriter Mateo Guidali. A year later, Rafael Aritmendi would join the project including drums and percussion instruments to the mix. Matt & Rafa met in high school where they started sharing their eclectic music taste.Matt is an avid fan of the 60's & 70's music but he also started to find a taste for modern bands like Glass Animals, Jungle, alt-J, Tame Impala, etc...Rafa grew up listening to rock and metal music and is also a founder member of the metal band Deathsurrection.

Zeb keeps it simply beautiful on "Skin & Bones"

Zeb is a singer songwriter from a small village in South Wales and he keeps the production on Skin & Bones simple and simply beautiful. His guitar work is in unison with his evocative vocal performance that moves from deep rich falsettos to gritty strains that still feel polished smooth with emotions. 

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Robb Donker

"You" by Saeyers feels like dream pop with equal parts soul and 80's romance wave

You by Saeyers is dream pop injected with equal parts soul and a kind of 80' romance wave. That kind of sultry "on the edges of pop" sound but considered new wave or smart punk like Spandau Ballet or Roxy Music. It goes down easy and Marshall Lewis, the multi-instrumentalist and songwriter started released a few singles as Saeyers after his solo debut release of "Lovers' Gold" in 2017. Under this moniker he will release an EP this year. 

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Robb Donker

"Waste All My Time" by Bad Animal feels like the best house party ever

On Waste All My Time, Bad Animal out of Calgary shows their less rowdy side with post punk sounds sprinkled with touches of psychedelia and tropical punk flavors too. It is a truly house party worthy track. The rhythm is punchy and driven while thick guitar lines create a thick wave of sounds as the vox grind out. It the middle the rhythm shifts into world flavors. It is a heady celebratory mix that make me feel like surfing in some distant place. 

Waste All My Time is from the band latest album "Growing Pains"

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Robb Donker

"Bully" by Kiss The Tiger pushes post punk buttons like a dirt bomb

Bully by five piece Minneapolis, Minnesota rockers Kiss The Tiger is an explosion of post punk goodness. It is (to me) a very The Dirt Bombs-esque track (if you don't know them I feel sorry for you) filled with feral punk attitude and lyrical diatribes that snarl. I love this sound and while I am not privy to more of this bands work which press notes indicate is a, "multifaceted blend of retro styles, including gospel, folk, and classic rock" and that all sounds good to me. 

Bully is from their latest full length "Let Me Bleed" album (their second to date) and I look forward to diving into the fray. Kiss The Tiger are Meghan Kreidler (Vocals), Michael Anderson (Rhythm Guitar/Vocals), Andrew Berg (Lead Guitar), Paul DeLong (Bass Guitar) and Jay DeHut (Drums).

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Robb Donker

Oko Tygra - swing and sway like 80's icons on the track "Ghosts"

Oko Tygra on the cool airy track Ghosts feels like a time machine with the sway of bands like the Cure, The Smiths and Joy Division all diced up and blended together. Based out of Denver, Colorado the band came to be at the hands of Joshua Novak after suffering an accident that left him with a life threatening head injury. That life changing critical moment became the genesis of the band.

"I thought we needed to approach this seriously from the beginning and I didn’t want to make the same mistakes again," says Novak.

"The band is deeply inspired by the dreamy New Wave and Goth acts of the 80’s. What we do isn’t burlesque, we aren’t a cover band. We always say that we’ve picked up where the 80’s left off.“ 

Their debut album is called "Assistoma" - 

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Robb Donker

PRESS NOTES:

The ten tracks on Assistoma (Grey Market Records) distort Novak’s early lyrical distress and candor resulting in a deeper connection to the parts left unexplained. The sonically dense songs are a study on the almost fetishistic joys of being alone, while being filtered through the blissed out perspective of a queer protagonist. "I was in a place in life where I felt a bit lost,” says Novak. "This was amplified by the ending of a toxic romantic situation I was in at the time. I didn’t feel like exploring the typical themes of love and loss. I wanted to see what it meant to be alone and almost turned on by that - which I was - but what I felt didn’t have a name, so I made up “assistoma” to describe it. I think I wanted people to sort of scratch their heads a little. We all know what it’s like to be alone and how it feels to be overjoyed, but I wanted to write something that put those two feelings in the same room together and make it feel like a love song, even though it’s not.”

Despite (or perhaps because of) these feelings of “assistoma,” Novak touches on family as a source of inspiration for the band. "Like a lot of people, we all have complicated relationships with our families, particularly our fathers. In our band there has been death of parents, intense political and religious disagreements, abandonment etc. So, when writing about them, we wanted to focus more on the feeling and not the straight-up biography. We wanted people to wonder, is it about God or fathers? About romantic love or parental love? Is it about silence or integrity?”  

OKO TYGRA also delves into bigger themes like faith, war, obsession - creating moods around these ideas that are a bit more surreal or abstract. "We are intrigued about the open-endedness of these bigger questions and wanted to capture a little bit of that by not focusing too intently on the answers, which no one has. Our music brings these things into focus and puts us in control of the outcome. It’s as if we look forward to the future by acknowledging the past."

Model Citizen and the pop rock juggernaut "Magic Trick"

There is something about Model Citizen's big rich rock pop sound on Magic Trick that makes me think of some of the highly produced lush pop juggernaut bands like Toto or even Steely Dan. Bands that were built on learned players and studio musicians and the 18 piece Brooklyn based band centered around Mark Ciani (songwriter, producer, keys), Matt Musty (drums), Alvaro Kapaz (guitar), Ryan Gleason (bass), and engineer and co-producer Fernando Lodeiro also fuse together pop, rock, soul, funk, hard rock, R&B, blues and jazz through progressive filters. All the while keeping a heavy hooked pop rock motif in place. 

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Robb Donker

"Winding River" by GoldenStates is so savagely lush

Winding River by GoldenStates is so savagely lush. That is all you need to know. 

PRESS NOTES: GoldenStates is a new music project from creatives Brantley Gutierrez & Harrison Kipner. Layered and sparse, intimate and grand. GoldenStates taps into the fun, fever and drive of life in the modern digital age. The sonic architecture of GoldenStates lays a frame work for a visceral take on love and life in 21st century.

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Robb Donker

Baron & Byrne's beautifully dreamy ode "Who's Playing The Marauder Now"

Baron & Byrne (UK) is the musical moniker of singer songwriter Joe Doris and the beautifully dreamy Who's Playing The Marauder Now breathes with fond remembrances, lush harmonies and pulsates with syncopated belly synth notes, cool and captivating guitar leads all awash in an aural haze of swelling keys and ethereal "oooohs and aaaahs." It ends before you want it to and leaves you inhaling it all in with your eyes closed. 

The song is about Doris's old bandmate and best friend who tragically passed away leaving his family and friends but also his guitar, a Fender Marauder. 

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Robb Donker

Gorgeous Knight's "The Consequences" feels like a proggy pop rock roller coaster

The Consequences by L.A.'s Gorgeous Knight is an unbridled, densely packed piece of music and thoughts that feel both like stream of consciousness ramblings and a perfectly crafted diatribe. Musically it feels like progressive pop rock. There is something bouncy and happy within the tightly wound syncopated licks and rhythms that makes if feel (dare I say) like 80's sitcom theme song but in a good way. 

Gorgeous Knights are Mike Miller (vocals), Teddie Buffa (bass), Jacob Blunt (guitar) and Duncan Brown (drums).


- Robb Donker

The Solos dark descent into Hell on "Children Of Paranoia"

The aptly named Children Of Paranoia by a Dutch collective of musicians and artists known (with an air of mystery) as The Solos is a dark bombastic heavy metal descent into hell (or insanity) soundscape. It is so over the top that it could be part of the soundtrack to Panos Cosmatos recent bloody phantasmagoric revenge flick Mandy with an equally bombastic (and brilliant) acting performance by Nicolas Cage. Children Of Paranoia is immediately unsettling and beautiful in it's unabashedly scorched earth policy of sound. It is an apocalyptic black hole and I love it. 

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Robb Donker

PRESS NOTES:

WE ARE THE SOLOS

WE ARE A COLLECTIVE OF MUSICIANS, ARTISTS, SOUND DESIGNERS, COMPOSERS, PRODUCERS AND PROGRAMMERS.

WE WORK ON GLOBAL FILMS, TRAILERS AND COMMERCIALS LOCALLY FROM AMSTERDAM AND LOS ANGELES.

WE ARE AUTONOMOUS TEAM PLAYERS WHO PURSUE ORIGINALITY AND THE FAMILIAR.

WE LOVE TO CREATE AND DESTROY, FOLLOW AND LEAD IN A MAINSTREAM CUTTING EDGE WAY.

WE DO BOMBASTIC IN A MODEST MANNER, AND LOOK FORWARD TO LOOKING BACK ON A GREAT SOLO COLLABORATION.

WE ARE THE SOLOS.

Alexandros Kilias moves in mysterious ways on "Coconut" from "The Weybridge Diaries" (Debut LP)

Alexandros Kilias crafts some amazing soundscapes like Coconut from his debut LP "The Weybridge Diaries" that floats along in such a lovely mesmerizing way. Ambient noise pull at you over a hypnotic mantric piano melody. I simply love this to death. 

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Robb Donker

PRESS NOTES:

When he was younger, Alexandros Kilias, balancing between being a professional pianist and a festival goer, used to travel often from his home country in Greece to the UK for gigs and concerts. One day, he decided to spare himself the endless flying hours and so he moved to South London where he was inspired to release his own music (some say the foxes had something to do with it). The 'Weybridge Diaries' is his debut album which was designed the same way London has been: To be enjoyed by all people anytime of the day, from the nightscape party owls to the morning tube commuters.

"Refined In Fire" slow burns on Holly Abraham's revealing voice

Refined In Fire by Bristol (UK) indie folk singer songwriter Holly Abraham is a slow burn reveal built on acoustic guitar and swelling sounds but it is Abraham's vocal presentation that stands above the burning musical bed. Her self harmonies are divine and pull you in deeply (making you not care about some musical folk tropes). In the end, her evocative and emotional bleeding makes you think about your own battles won and lost. 

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Robb Donker

Low Hum's - psyche rock pile driving pop of "Strange Love" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

The constant driving push of Low Hum's Strange Love awash in a fog of ambient rock sounds and heavy heavy fuzzy "duh-duh....duh...duh-duh" made me think of the runaway push of Thee Oh Sees and even though Colin Desha's aesthetic is much more dream pop and way less punk feral than John Dwyer but the comparison stands on this track. Such a great driving song but just watch out for police radar scanners. 

Low Hum is the moniker of Colin Desha who creates "fuzzed out ballads are at once aggressive psych jammers balanced with a range of vulnerability that comes crashing ashore".

Strange Love by Low Hum from album Room To Breathe out June 7. Stream + Download: https://ffm.to/lowhum-strangelove
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Robb Donker

"Holy Water" by Teleskopes is slick and shiny like leather clad souls on Sunset Blvd.

Holy Water by Los Angeles based three piece rockers Teleskopes feels cinematic in scope, slick and shiny like leather jacket clad souls on Sunset Blvd. The band is comprised of Fox Fagan (bass, vocals), Pelle Hillstrom (guitar) and Jesper Kristensen (drums). 

Hillstrom said on the meaning behind Holy Water, “It’s about choices, sacrifices you make in this lifetime gambling that an afterlife exists."

The title, Holy Water, was inspired by a concoction digested by the band on a creative trip to Landers, located in the high desert of California. 

-
Robb Donker

PRESS NOTES:

The trio formed when Hillstrom and Kristensen connected with Fagan, who had just relocated to Los Angeles from Australia. After working together on other various projects, the three eventually began the process of writing their own music. Early songs developed organically and methodically from their initial focus, which was on developing their live show on the LA club music scene.

In 2017 Teleskopes released their debut EP “Stereocilia”, a six-track collection of songs that takes the listener on a journey of sweeping soundscapes, towering guitar walls, and swirling atmospherics all wrapped carefully around Fagan’s voice. Songs like “Criminal”,  “Lazers”, and “Crystal Clear”, caught the attention of local taste makers like Buzzbands LA’s Kevin Bronson and Mark Sovel at KLOS fm. Additionally to this “Stereocilia”, was added to over 100 college and non commercial radio stations across the USA.

Team Love harmonize in lovely ways about their "Sad Little Life"

Sad Little Life by the Melbourne alt country outfit Team Love burns on classic folk progs and garden rock harmonies.  There is comfort in the familiarity and a warm embrace in the lilting vocals. Team Love are Ruby (vocals and guitar), Ruby (violin and vocals), Monique (keyboard and vocals) and Shaun (guitar and vocals)

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Robb Donker

"The Shakes" potent guitar rock pushed through 80's-ish new wave filters by London's Bengal Lancers

The Shakes by the Bengal Lancers (UK) amid hand clap sounds, dark hanging synth notes, a crisp new wavish drum beat, cool self aware theatrical vocal performance pushes and pulls emotional cues as the song explodes into choppy potent guitar lines and licks. The Bengal Lancers are Harry Sullivan, Max Hutchins, Charlie Hawkins and Aidan Wickam and based out of London. 

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Robb Donker

"Everything Sucks Almost All The Time" feels like a synthetic dream - by Dakota Blue

Dakota Blue's ethereal track Everything Sucks Almost All the Time while dreamy and semi dark also feels almost synthetic. Like a synthetic dream programmed for the masses. Los Angeles singer songwriter producer and quiet visionary creates these amazing pop artifices for us all to gaze at. 

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Robb Donker

Step into the weird dream that is "Flowers For All Occasions" by Blood Cultures

Flowers For All Occasions by New Jersey weirdos Blood Cultures (and I come from a long line of weirdos) is an aural feast full of those things on your plate you can't necessarily identify. As a music writer I listen to thousands of submissions over a given period of time and a lot of it, quite frankly, feels like hundreds or other songs, Flowers For All Occasions does not and for that I am grateful. From the onset it has a tilted ambiance and then steps into, shifts into rhythms and sounds that feel like a strange dream. The aesthetic feels like part a lovely pop song (or Mentos commercial) to big festival indie pop but all reflected through a carnival mirror. The musical break is awesome with the double time high hat work. Not sure if Blood Cultures is an art collective or straight band (of weirdos) but I like this and have my eyes on you.

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Robb Donker

Jamsällskapet smooth and rough psyche rock meets lounge rock on "Glasbarn"

The Track Glasbarn by Sweden's Jamsällskapet (which translates to "the jam assembly") is a smooth and rough kind of psyche rock meets lounge rock pushed through proggy light jazz filters... yes, seriously. It is a cool surprising mix with emotive vocal performances that shine and captivate whether you speak the language or not. Every time I hit replay I hear another nuance I had not heard before. Jamsällskapet is influenced by bands like Tame impala, Dungen and Amason.

Jamsällskapet is:

Emil Karl Björck (Guitar, Synth, Vocals, Kazoo etc.)

Mehrdad Shirnazar (Bass)
Fredric Ericson (Drums)
Emma Järnvall (Vocals)
Niklas Mattsson (Guitar)

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Robb Donker

"I Am The Sky" by Collette Andrea potent swamp blues meets psyche rock

I Am The Sky by singer songwriter Collette Andrea (Toronto, Canada) bristles with a kind of swamp blues meets goth rock meets psyche rock. What stands out is rock bottom bass and drums, voodoo organ, guitar strains and Andrea's powerful scintillating voice that sounds so self assure and quite frankly bad ass. When the in your face guitar hook stomps in and sultry potent lead guitar tells it's own story you are simply swept away.

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Robb Donker

PRESS NOTES EXCERPT:

In 2017 Collette began to collaborate with friends (and brothers!) Matt Wittmann (Bassist) and Sean Wittmann (Drummer) to form a new band. Fast forward to March 2018, Collette worked with producer and sound engineer Justin Meli at Chalet Recording Studio to record her third EP titled “THR33”.

THR33 will be released on 03/29/2019.

"Little Fort" by Vern Matz is indie pop with a dense emotional core

Little Fort by indie pop trio Vern Matz as emotionally dense as it is beautiful. There is an unabashedly sweet tone here that skates goosebumps against your skin. It is the kind of gentle embracing kind of song that might give you a hug if you are down or bring you to tears. Lovely stuff. 

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Robb Donker

PRESS NOTES:

Formed by a group of Yale students, Vern Matz toes the line between indie rock, folk, and alternative music. The band is led by frontman Daniel Belgrad, a Korean American who mistrusts penguins due to their tendency to perform acts of violence. Pianist Michael Lituchy is an investment banker who secretly writes songs in the twilight while raising cattle in remote Connecticut. Together, their sound showcases an earnest approach to songwriting and mature musicianship, echoing the work of seminal artists such as Wilco, Mazzy Star, and Death Cab for Cutie.

Paola Bennet's elegant folk tones on "Lydia's Boy"

Singer Songwriter Paola Bennet's sad girl folk tales feel classic and timeless. Lydia's Boy even has an almost harpsichord feel as if to suggest a minuet waltz or maybe flower children swaying in upstate New York in the 60's. The sound is spartan and Paola's vocal performance has a mature even elegant quality. Paola Bennet hails from Boston, Massachusetts. 

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Robb Donker

Lazuli Vane and the trippy intoxicating "Snakes"

Lazuli Vane's shimmy shaking track Snakes feels from the onset a little intoxicating like walking through that thick smoke when you walk into a party and you inhale deeply. Within the psyche pop high the song falls away into an almost R & B dance party mixed with tropical punk sounds. It is full of imagery while that rhythm guitar pushes you into unknown delights around every corner all the while Vane's funky pop vocal performance makes you smile. An official video purported to be a trip fest is coming soon (May 3rd) and, no wonder, Vane is the Atlanta based indie / psych / pop / experimental artist know for fronting and producing virally infectious Trash Panda.

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Robb Donker


PRESS NOTES:

Vane’s debut single takes a stab at untrustworthy relations and explores the seasons of life when things just aren’t lining up right. When life feels like a strange dream or a nightmare. It celebrates the process of restarting when life needs an overhaul. Featuring Max Hewett on bass and Paul Wagner on drums, it was recorded partly at Aaron and Nancy Hill’s Greenhouse Atlanta and partly at Lazuli Vane’s home studio. Album art by Daniel Plascencia.

Elle E's fuzzy garage rock hooks on "Happy Days" From her "Stereo Child" EP

Elle E from Cape Town, South Africa has big post punk leanings filtered through punk pop sounds. Fuzzy guitars and big garage rock hooks abound on her track Happy Days from her 3 track EP entitled "Stereo Child". Her real name is Ellenie Eloff and she hails from the town of Worcester.

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Robb Donker

Delta Mainline's "Folk Stories & Fairytales" is a multi-colored psychedelic affair with dark waves

Folk Stories & Fairytales from the new album "Bel Avenir" by Delta Mainline (UK) has big post punk meets power pop hooks filtered through a dreamy haze of psychedelia. David McLachlan's vocal performance is self aware with an art rockish theatricality that mirrors the band's multi colored aesthetic. The pulsating beat suggests 80's new wave parameters veering kinda glam and kinda goth pop, whimsical and dark but oh so cool. If Folk Stories & Fairytales was a movie I would be first in line to see it. 

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Robb

The Stained Daisies addictive heavy metal post punk sound on "Open Mind"

Open Mind by Melbourne's (by way of Grafton, Aus) The Stained Daisies is a big brash post punk psych rocker with classic rock bones and a proto punkish progressive streak running through it as well. 

The Stained Daisies are comprised of Daniel Tuite, Jayden Hebbard, Jack "Davo" Davison and Aidan Bateman and their penchant for this kind of heavy metal post punk is so engaging. I dig it. 

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Robb Donker 

Swine Tax and the unbridled cheeky post punk sway of "I'd Like"

I'd Like by Newcastle upon Tyne (England) tricky trio Swine Tax has the unbridled cheeky Brit 60's / 70's / 80's passion of iconic British bands like The Who, The Kinks and The Buzzcocks and iconic American post punk bands like The Pixies and Sonic Youth. Love the active fluid bass lines, free form drums and cool, cool jagged guitar lines and of course, the pursed lipped vocal performance. Jesus, I love this sound. 

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Robb Donker

PRESS NOTES:

Combining visceral college-rock with angular post-punk, Swine Tax have established themselves as a distinctive and formidable band across their diverse catalog of single releases. With their constantly mutating musical interests, it is their unwavering attitude which unifies their increasingly prolific output. They have so far earned the backing of many radio shows, music publications and tastemakers, including the likes of BBC 6 Music, Louder Than War and The Line of Best Fit.

Formed in 2017, the abrasive Newcastle upon Tyne trio quickly found themselves at the heart of the North East alternative music scene. Their captivating and relentless performances have seen their live reputation continue to grow, typified by them being invited to share stages with the likes of the Orielles, Brix & the Extricated, Bully, Jeffrey Lewis, Shopping, the Nightingales, Spiral Stairs and more.

Swine Tax are currently working on new material for release in early 2019

Blarg stir up psyche, noise, electronica, trap and more into their own thing, hear the track "Radiohead"

Hey-- they got a radio technique. Blarg out of Germany stir up psyche rock, noise rock, electronic pop, experimental and trap influences into this kind of jammy proto punk / new wave jag. Check out the song Radiohead.

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Robb Donker



PRESS NOTES:

Two friends since school, first starting out with psychedelic rock, 10 years later still making music together. With the goal to create music for the outsiders of the outsiders. From psychedelic rock, noise, electronic, pop, experimental and trap music influences developed their mostly DIY sound and visual art that has some rough edges but always soul. 

From listening to psychedelic rock from Yura Yura Teikoku in a windowless room while putting flyers into envelopes over multiple months grew the desire to create something unique. From the very start they created music they could not share – from clipping noise solos to scratch table bass guitars.

After moving to Cologne with multiple drummers joining and leaving the band they recorded their first bunch of songs.

Looking for a solution they bought a pedal board with backing tracks, dressed up a skeleton as their drummer and prepared for concerts.

The frontman/bassist Theo uses multiple vocal and bass effects to create a wall of voices and sounds. His normal singing voice is nothing special but when he switches to his head voice it seems as if there is no ceiling holding him down anymore.

The guitarist Tom, face hidden behind a layer of hair, can go from the most beautiful soundscapes with chiming sounds straight out of heaven to fuzz solos to drive out the devil that seems to possess him while playing.

Starting 2019 they stated their goal to release a single every month and stream “concerts” on twitch and youtube.

"By The Throat" by Danish indie rockers The Great Dictators

By The Throat is the new single by Danish indie rockers The Great Dictators with a guest appearance by living legend / cult icon and front man in the experimental rock band Xiu Xiu, Jamie Stewart. The track is drenching in a sad atmosphere. There is a shuffling feel of rock on gravel like a dead man walking. The synth swells, vacuous guitar sounds that some times sounds like cries or violin, meandering pretty piano, and almost demonic growls of some sort and Dragut Lugalzagosi reticent tortured vocal performance:  “My love, I’m painfully yours”... all lending to the dark sadcore avant garde feel. Grizzly Bear meets Nick Cave meets David Lynch.

The Great Dictators: 

“Miraculously we came in touch with our huge idol, Jamie Stewart. He asked if he could add some synths and background noise to ‘By The Throat’. We told him to go nuts. Btw we’re still insanely starstruck.”

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Robb Donker