New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
Butcher and The Florist is the Synth-Pop duo of Kendel Lester and Jody Miller. They recently released their debut single, “Ordinary Love”, which is a dance floor ready track, screaming for endless remixes.
Last year the duo drop a collection of covers, including a fun take on the Bee Gee classic “Stayin’ Alive”.
Shaina Joelle (of Anxiety Sludge) recently shared her debut EP What Did You Expect to Happen?, under the moniker Maggot Museum. Self-exploration and personal observation via a bedroom-folk backdrop creates an endearing, open, emotive sound. There’s a tranquil, catchy momentum to the songs that eases the melancholy experiences being depicted. It aches but in a cathartic, unburdening manner.
Swimming Bell, the solo project of Brooklyn-based songwriter Katie Schottland, found its start in 2015, after Schottland broke her foot and used the downtime to learn guitar. Perhaps a consequence of her homespun background in recording and composition, Swimming Bell’s music is endowed with a rare authenticity, creating raw, unfettered folk songs from memories of people and places past. Her newest effort “1988” is the latest example of this craft, accompanied by a video that seeks to recreate the innocent wonder of childhood against lush acoustics and overdubbed vocals. And as the first single from her forthcoming LP, Wild Sight, it demonstrates a focused, fresh approach to folk ahead of the album’s release later this spring.
Schottland will return to New York on April 6th to perform a record release show at Trans-Pecos, supported by Monteagle, Pale Mara, and Andrew Victor. Until then, you can watch the video fro “1988” below. -Connor Beckett McInerney (@b_ck_tt)
Y La Bamba’s latest release, Mujeres, weaves a complicated and beautiful story. Each song situates you in a space both abstract and defined. There, you and Mendoza are free to explore. As you go through the album, it expands and contracts and expands again. The limitations of memory, diving into raw and vulnerable identities, and re-imagining histories: Mujeres tackles all of these and more. In exploring her relationship to her Mexican heritage and background, Mendoza forges new spaces and histories. She challenges her audience to do the same with their own narratives. She deftly pucks your heart out of your chest and asks you to see it in a new light.
Of course, this story would be inaccessible if the narrator wasn’t so dextrous and intuitive. Mendoza’s voice is at it’s strongest that we’ve seen thus far. Atmospheric and resolute, she turns each song into something that’s strikingly tangible. You can feel her hands shaping the music, akin to a potter sculpting clay. In “Perder” she sings in long, slow waves, only to end the song with hushed, repetitive muttering. The muttering continues on to the next song “Mujeres” and blends the two together. It’s masterful manipulation. It would be surprising if someone doesn’t get goosebumps while listening to Mujeres.
-By Avril Carrillo
Blues rocker JD Simo has a busy spring ahead of him; having just wrapped up a tour of the States, he’s headed out to Europe to take on the UK and the Netherlands with Tommy Emmanuel before he returns to our side of the pond to support the Allman Betts Band. Plus, Simo has just put out a new record called Off At 11, in which they channel the gritty sound of Clapton, Hendrix, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and B.B. King. The songs retain all of the energy and drive of a live performance of the blues; you can hear the passion in Simo’s guitar solo on the title track as if it’s blistering your eardrums before your eyes. Simo says about the album: “There’s an underlying theme of LOVE that permeates the album. Both outward love but also inner and self love. These days, everything is so heavy, but I just want to point out some joy, love and deep passion; in this world, we all share that spirit. OFF AT 11 does that.” Take a listen to "Off At 11" below. – Will Sisskind
Warm Human (aka Meredith Johnson) has released a second single and video called “Y U" from her forthcoming LP, Ghastly. The video was directed by Chuck Norment and Meredith herself.
Her album is set to be released on March 8th which is timed perfectly for her to make her SXSW debut next week.
A drop of audio prozac on the pacified mind, BluMoon stirs up a soothing elixir of neo-soul, alternative R&B and experimental jazz. A quartet that doesn’t shy away from retro and outlier soundscapes, these Texas State students are eons ahead of the curve as far as their songwriting and their suave aesthetic. Front woman, Kendra Sells, layers on her warm vocals that exude a mellowed aura devoid of strife or struggle. The flotsam and jetsam of trip-hop and vaporwave elements float through the fluid composition of BluMoon’s mellifluous vibes. Having just released their second album, Slow Burn, the band continues to grow musically and consistently electrify with their live shows. Catch the band at Hotel Vegas on March 24th!
The local label Readymade Utopia has released a new single, “Colorless”, from Madison-based Bedroom-Pop musician Eduard.
This is introspective and cinematic chamber pop complete with an impressive amount of strings. What a great first offering and addition to the growing Readymade Utopia stable.
Krust Toons: "Chipping in for Beer" by Tedd Hazard – please feel free to drop him a line at teddandthehazards@gmail.com if you dig or have any funny ideas. You can also check out more of his illustrations and animation shorts HERE.
Indie Folk musician Max Subar has released the latest single, “Without You”, from his forthcoming EP, “What The Story Says” which is due out on April 12th. This is the second single that Max has released since his 2017 debut EP, “In A Dream”.
You can help Max celebrate the release of his new EP at The Whistler on April 11th with Henry True.
Bill Mackay will be releasing his next album, Fountain Fire, via Drag City on March 22nd. He has already released the first two singles from the album, opening track “Pre-California” and “Try It On”.
Below is the amazing Timothy Breen directed video for “Pre-California”.
You can catch Bill Mackay on March 29th with Forest Management, Miranda Winters, and Mariapaz Camargo at The Hideout.
Musicians usually have a broad range of influences to draw on, but few can pinpoint them with such specificity as Simon Hanes. As the composer of the 15 piece ensemble band Tredici Bacci, Hanes has a very precise set of inspirations: 1970s Italian film scores. Listening to the music of Tredici Bacci feels like the peeking into a truly eccentric world – Hanes often performs as various characters of his own invention, playing songs that are in turns melodramatic and raucously buoyant. The project’s imagined scores could fit perfectly in a movie by Fellini, for example, and carry all the best elements of camp and drama from the genres the group admires. Their next album, La Fine Del Futuro ’70, is set to be released March 11th – stream their featured single "In The 1970s" below. – Sunny Betz
