Artist: BARA HARI (bah-rah hah-ree) Who: Los Angeles-based DIY dark pop artist (born Sam Franco)
Hari‘s newest single HOUSE OF THE DEVIL is the third shared single from
her upcoming album Lesser Gods. The track tackles people who turn into
a villain after they quit fighting their demons.
House of Devil resonates as a symphonic pop choir chant with Hari in the middle.
In the video, she looks like a female Jesus Christ Superstar, but it seems she’s
a she-devil in disguise. It’s a stylish eye-catcher.
British rap punk star SLOWTHAI released his 5-star LPUGLY last week.
TUTV wrote: “It stands loud and proud as masterpiece albums do. He spits
and sneers, he rants and chants. He tackles injustice, intolerance, and human
discrimination. He’s on fire. Slowthai rules.”
He just shared a spectacular video
for the superb opener YUM.
Artist: LANA DEL RABIES Who: The dark electronic, genre-bridging solo project of Phoenix-based
musician, producer and multimedia artist Sam An. So far she released
3 albums with a fourth one coming up. Hallowed Is The Earth
TUTV: Humankind is in big trouble as we know it. Nothing is learned from the past
(wars, intolerance, nature and environmental destruction, and so on), and it looks like
too many people won’t change their devastating behavior in the future.
Hallowed Is The Earth is a “sonic elegy lamenting the wounded world.”
A sort of electronic, mournful procession moving toward oblivion. A slo-mo synth-injected funeral march that wouldn’t be out of place on a Xiu Xiu album and also echoes the sound-exploring quest of trip-hop legend Tricky. I’m sure David Lynch would be a fan too. By the way, am I the only one who thinks that Del Rabies eyes have that femme fatale glance of Betty Davis? Fascinating!
Lana Del Rabies, artist Louise Saafi and cinematographer M. Dean Bridges created a video
of rapid-eye-movement visuals of nature, alternated with hallucinatory images of Rabies. Harrowing, bone-chilling, and threatening like a nasty nightmare.
London‘s synth-dream-pop FERAL FIVE – Kat and Drew Five – released
their long-awaited debut LPTRUTH IS THE NEW GOLD last month.
“An evocative voyage through a Feraltropolis style future city, and an offering
of sonic elixir for heart, feet and mind. Leading us through secret spaces, changing
skies, personal truths and revelations, the Ferals glide seamlessly between bold
alt-pop, experimental electronica, and cinematic landscapes.”
Now, the Fives have an eye-catching video clip out for the album’s magnific title track.
A de-stressing, mid-tempo ambient tune with a heartening affect. Its smooth synth sparks, trance-inducing electro beats, combative guitars, and crystal vocals come all together in an easy-going and groovy way that creates a laidback feel for mind and soul.
Songstress Linda Viens and some of Boston‘s rock legends operating together under
the moniker GIRL WITH A HAWK released their new piece SAME STARS a couple of weeks ago. An emotive story about Viens brother’s incarceration and the toll the situation took
on the family.
Viens: “There are times, lucky times, when songs come through the ether to the writer fully formed. ‘Same Stars’ is one of those songs. In the middle of the night as I tossed and turned, feeling my brother’s body and mind and spirit simultaneously tossing and turning and trying to get comfortable in a jail cot, in a metal cell, where the lights never went dark, and the cries and complaints of men could be heard all night long, I got up and picked up the guitar and the song emerged. Songs that come like this are not difficult, they are a gift, a release, and a relief.”
Turn Up The Volume wrote: “‘Same Stars’ is a heart-and-soul touching story, a longing ballad, bittersweet siblings love-inspired reverie with Linda Viens‘s moving voice sending
shivers down your spine. Stirring.”
The band have a brand new video out now for the sensitive song with alternating shots
of the band performing the tune and Viens wandering around in slo-mo, like in a feverish dream, reflecting on her family, especially her troubled brother and his two children.
On 10th February revitalized American guitar pop trio PARAMORE
launched their wildly praised 6th LP This Is Why, their first in 6 years.
NME gave it 5 stars: “The triumphant sound of a band reborn.
The trio’s clear-eyed and powerful sixth album encapsulates their
journey to becoming a generation-defining band.”
For RUNNING OUT OF TIME, one of the album’s
top tracks the band have a video out now.
The song’s themes of anxiety and poor time management come alive
in eye-catching detail in a Ivanna Borin-directed video. The visual finds
frontwoman Hayley Williams in the studio, in vintage Vivienne Westwood
fashion style, confronted with a drum and guitar coming to life. Quiet
impressive.
This way the band wanted to pay tribute to the iconic fashion
designer who passed away last December, aged 81.
Who: London-based duo – Daphne Ang (Singapore) and
Andrea Papi (Italy) – that fills a gap in music by bringing
literature, art, and history together into a space where
rock and metal meet electronica.
The metallic poetry duo released their sophomore LP TRUST NO LEADERS last July. A significant follow-up to
their stunning debut Full Spectrum Buy here.
Image Credit: TCOMAS Studio
TCOMAS also released some spectacular video clips for several of both
albums’ tracks. And they have another one out. It’s a visual tour de force
for HYPERMETAMORPHOSIS, a song about ADHD (attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder). A neurodevelopmental disorder characterised
by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are
pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inappropriate.
TCOMAS about Hypermetamorphosis (an old term from the 1800s, one of the many which were used to refer to ADHD): “It’s a journey through the ADHD mind. Both the song and video simulate what it is like to have ADHD, both visually and audibly. It shows the chaos, and the cacophony of the ADHD experience, but also its positive sides. The stream of consciousness lyrics, dissonant melodies, and erratic rhythm and structure, recreates a sensory and cognitive experience of how the ADHD brain processes, perceives and interprets the world. The music video was created by us — and also by someone who lives with ADHD. It is a simulation of the world, experienced through the ears and eyes of someone with ADHD.”
Welsh rock trio HOLY COVES fronted by passionate songsmith Scott Marsden
released one of the top albums of 2022 with third longplayerDruids And Bards.
A swirling work of top-notch tunes you go back to,
again and again, once you heard it for the first time.
To keep the momentum going they just released another video for one of
the album’s tracks. The 3rd in a series of 5, following clips for The Hurt Within
and Desert Storm. Check them via the band’s YouTube Channel.
Vid number 3 is for guitar-shiny diamond GREY, also created by award winning Ukrainian Filmmaker Taras Merenkov. His hazy cinematic style of direction really emphasizes the music and makes a formidable visual.
Band: OK PANDA Who: Quartet founded in December 2020 in Brussels. Pop music with British influences, mixing alternative rock and 80’s electronic sounds with catchy vocal melodies that contrast with the melancholic themes addressed in the lyrics.
Debut EP: Perspectives.
A sprightly 6-track one. Stream below.
Debut video: The EP’s infectious mixed emotions pop tune GONE LOVE is the band’s first song visualized in a video.
I guess it’s a good idea if you’re in a moody, post-love state of mind, that you
make a trip around the world and leave the sad memories behind you, while
you hum-whistle-sing along to this bittersweet guitar symphony. If you can’t
afford it, play this video, watch OK Panda do it, and pretend you’re on the road
with them. Just do it.
Artist: WOLF MANHATTAN Who: The alter-ego of musician, composer, producer and post-punk
electronic wizard João Vieira. A bedroom producer who, in a non-specific
time, lives alone above a local shop in New York City. Surrounded by his
uncle’s record collection, a 4-track and a guitar from the 50s that belonged
to a well-known artist, he finds that the only way to ease his loneliness is to
listen to The Velvet Underground, Daniel Johnston, Jonathan Richman, Adam
Green and The Shangri-Las.
Manhattan released his noteworthy, catchy tunes-filled debut album (buy/stream below via Bandcamp) last year.
The album’s impressive artwork
One of the highlights, titled SOMETIMES is representative for the longplayer.
A feel-good retro pop ditty, a lazy hum/whistle/sing-along earworm to dream
away to.
The song is now visualized in this new video clip.
TURN UP THE VOLUME 