Credit: Blue/Jared Brookes
I wrote “Making Monsters” about being so committed to your anxiety you can’t see or feel anything else.
Oh fuck, there I go again. Making monsters out of men.
This was the first line to come, one that felt ridiculous but originated from a place of frustration with love. It encapsulates feeling an inability to not let my anxiety run or ruin my relationships.
At the time, I was so used to the cycle of falling in and falling out of love – so used to deifying and demonizing my lovers – that I was caught in a constant riptide of unease.
The official music video for “Making Monsters” is live on YouTube.
You can hear “Making Monsters” on your favourite streaming platform.
The visuals for this song began with the video, shot by Luke Doerge of Home Sweet Sessions. We wanted something that looked how anxiety felt in a location reminiscent of both a bedroom and an asylum.
I think there’s something so beautiful and haunting about the image of my hands dripping with the substance we used to symbolize anxiety with.
I have chased this song, I have had anxiety attacks over this song, and I have loved this song.
Thank you for taking the time to check it out,
Bryn McCutcheon
Bazarian is the project of Armenian-Canadian artist Armen Bazarian. His rich scope of sonic endeavours, from singing in choirs to composing for TV and film, has shaped his unique sound; where the worlds of pop production and dance sensibilities sit in harmony with one another exuding both the healing power of an unabashed pop vocal and the hypnotic hold of a dance groove. Bazarian’s songs tell tales of a keen observer, of the rhythms and patterns of our social fabric told from all angles of experience.
Photo by Paige Margulies
Yot Club recently shared “Alive,” the first track off their forthcoming EP, Santolina, due January 2022 via Nice Guys Records. The track was released alongside an accompanying music video and premiered via EARMILK.Ryan’s lo-fi indie pop project Yot Club stems from a diverse array of influences, and offers a unique and recognizable brand of vibrant, sunny pop rock. Since 2019, Yot Club has released three EPs and more than thirty tracks. Taking a simplified approach to recording, intentionally working within his restrictions of owning one microphone, Ryan boosts his creativity. His sound reflects a pretty summer vibe, using distorted vocals, lo-fi beats, guitar tracks running through a chorus pedal, warm guitar leads, analog synth melodies, mixed with light pads. In 2020, after establishing a presence on various indie blogs and playlists, he felt that it was time to slow down, collecting his ideas and creating something more cohesive and consistent. Musically, this was a dream scenario for him – meanwhile the full context of the global situation was horrible. This strange emotional contrast is what inspired the sound for his EP Nature Machine, released with a new record label, Nice Guys Records. The 2021 year marks a new turning point in his whole project: surfing on the wave of “YKWIM?” worldwide TikTok success (currently at 90.5 Million streams!), Yot Club has worked on a new six-tracks EP, Santolina. Funkier than ever, it would be the second EP Yot Club releases with Nice Guys Records.
Santolina begins with lead single “Alive,” with clean, chiming guitar riffing as open and broad as the plains before Kaiser’s vocals enter: “Straight lines, cul-de-sacs, white flowers and the TK/Bring back memories you’d rather just leave dead.” Second single “Hole” unfurls under a sedate, kaleidoscopic spiral of electric guitars and a subdued drum machine beat, while Kaiser’s vocals, spacey and apathetic, lurk like a Gen Z Lou Reed. Third single “Deer Island,” a spritely morning gallop of drum machine and easy-going guitars, namechecks the titular piece of land off the coast of Biloxi, MS. It’s the last piece of something before endless miles of nothing, a tiny, fragile holdout in the clutches of the Gulf of Mexico.
On Santolina, Kaiser presents a record not avoidant of but rather in conversation with all those things that make modern America a hulking, unsustainable—but somehow still beautiful—weirdo wasteland: TikTok, corporatism, beige sandstone homes, private desert communities, manicured lawns, suburban surrealism. All in between are the people trying to make sense of it all. Yot Club is right there with you.
“Please” was inspired by a person who had taken an interest in me while I was already in a relationship. This person was trying to talk me out of it and convince me that I’d be better off with him, rather than the person I was already with.
I didn’t want to leave my current relationship, but I enjoyed the friendship that I had created with this other person and really just needed time to process the whole situation and breathe.
Hear my new single on SoundCloud • Spotify • Apple Music
A story told about a love triangle can come across as harsh or uninviting.
“Please” is purposely soft and charming, left open-ended to welcome listeners to create their own backstory.
Thanks for listening,Avery Raquel
Toronto native singer songwriter, Mia Baron is a 13 year old emerging artist ready to make waves in the music landscape. Mia discovered her love for music a few years ago while performing at her school choir. Her love for singing made Mia realize she wanted to pursue a career in music. She started recording covers of her favourite songs and posting them on social media. In 2019, Mia was honoured to perform at Koerner Hall along with other notable artists in a concert benefiting cancer research. This past year, Mia has been working on her original music.
Photo Credit: Hannele Fernstrom
Visionary singer-songwriter-guitarist José González has united with iconic German DJ/producer DJ Koze for an exclusive reimagining of “Tjomme,” featured on González’s acclaimed new album, LOCAL VALLEY. “Tjomme (DJ Koze Remix)” premieres today at all DSPs and streaming services.
”Tjomme is a song about hearsay’s and dudes (tjomme in Swedish slang),” says González. “Overconfident doomsday dudes and the dudes that follow.”
“I tried to transform the soul of this song to the dancefloor,” says DJ Koze. “A dancefloor without pressure and anxiety. A dancefloor on which I would love to lose myself with eyes wide closed.”
LISTEN TO “TJOMME (DJ KOZE REMIX)”
LOCAL VALLEY is available now via Mute on CD, standard black vinyl, limited edition colored vinyl, and at all digital platforms. An assortment of exclusive bundles featuring such limited-edition extras as signed art prints, an original portrait painting, and LOCAL VALLEY tote bag are available at the official Jose González webstore.
ORDER LOCAL VALLEY
González – who just wrapped a U.S. co-headline tour alongside Rufus Wainwright – will continue to celebrate LOCAL VALLEY with an upcoming series of North American live dates, beginning March 10, 2022 at Seattle, WA’s Neptune Theatre and then continuing through the month. Fan presales begin tomorrow, November 10; local presales follow on Thursday, November 11. All remaining tickets will be released to the general public on Friday, November 12. Limited VIP tickets and an exclusive merch bundle will also be available. For complete details and ticket availability, please visit jose-gonzalez.com/tour-dates.
Credit: Mary Rose
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There have been times where I’ve sat on the feeling of knowing I have to end a relationship – trying to figure out how to minimize the damage – but that is just a form of procrastination. I wrote my second single, “Stop A Heart,” at the exact moment that I knew I had to make this decision. This song is built around a lot of loops, symbolizing that repetitive cycle of thoughts to make sure you’re making the right call, going over and over it again in your mind. You can hear “Stop A Heart“ now via your preferred platform – https://orcd.co/stopaheart View the visualizer on YouTube. |
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Credit: Heavy Sleeper I’ve been trying to write the truth but it’s hard when it’s just a point of view, interpretation. I was obsessed with Joan Didion at the time of writing this song. She talks a lot about truth and memory in her writing and I was thinking about those concepts – how noble the notion of ‘writing the truth’ is, but how it’s ultimately impossible no matter how hard you try. At the end of the day, everyone has their own perspective and feelings. Heartbreak happens to everybody and you can’t control it, you just have to feel it and know that eventually it will pass. Learn more about me via Instagram 🕊 Facebook 🕊 Twitter 🕊 TikTok Be well, Cassidy Mann |
Los Angeles based producer and composer Fischer King creates pitch-black alternative pop, with influences that range from James Blake and Nine Inch Nails to Claude Debussy and Herbie Hancock. As a child he forged an early love for tense, bombastic classical music before diving headfirst into the punk rock and hip hop scenes that surrounded him in Detroit. After moving to LA as a young adult, Fischer has spent years working behind the glass for a host of artists, producers and directors, constantly absorbing inspiration and refining his sonic identity.
Released in the fall of a chaotic 2020, his debut self-titled EP epitomized what he calls “existential crisis pop”: familiar pop mechanics wrapped up in an often claustrophobic package, and lyrically preoccupied with self-deception, addiction and rootlessness. Built around simple drum beats, pitch-shifted guitars, and strings and synths that are always falling out of tune, the songwriter explained, “Ultimately I wanted everything to feel just ever-so-slightly bent.”
His latest single “Memory Into Error” veers into more lush, cinematic territory, floating above his signature textural unease, rumbling low-end, and distinctly upfront vocals. Of the song, the musician states, “In a broad sense it’s about how things slip away – time, people, life – both in a literal sense, and the way you feel about them. But more specifically, it’s about how deeply malleable human memory is. It’s not a photograph or a recording. Memories invariably become stories that you’ve told yourself over and over and over again. And sometimes those stories are better than the truth.”
In addition to preparing for live performances around Los Angeles, King also recently completed his first feature film score for the drama “This Is Your Song” and is currently composing music for “Into That Good Night – The Last of The Nightingales,” a documentary about the tragic loss of sound in the natural world, centering on the work of Bernie Krause, a soundscape ecologist.
Glassio’s debut single “Try Much Harder” broke the Spotify Global Viral Charts in early 2016 (peaking at No. 9). A series of successful singles followed in 2017 and 2018, garnering over 5 million streams cumulatively on Spotify. The release of the singles “Morning House,” “Daydream” and “Back for More” brought Glassio to the top tier of up and coming electronic artists in NYC. They were soon opening for acts like Fujiya and Miyagi, Electric Youth and Miami Horror. “Daydream” became a dance-hit in Latin America, making it to No. 1 on the Dominican Republic iTunes Charts and finding itself on New Music Friday South America. 2018 saw the group perform at SXSW festival, where they were named one of the best electronic acts by Ladygunn Magazine.
After the project became a solo effort in 2018, Sam R. released the Age of Experience EP, heralded by Mother Jones as “proof that electronic music and great storytelling are a perfect match.” The EP has over 5 million streams across all platforms and features the song “Back for More,” featured on HBO’s Here & Now show.
A debut album, For The Very Last Time, was released in July of 2020. It was subsequently named one of the best electronic releases from July 2020 by Bandcamp, and received praise from blogs like Consequence of Sound and Fader. The lead singles “Nobody Stayed for the DJ” and “A Million Doubts” both made it to No. 1 on Hype Machine. The first of the two scored popularity amongst some of Spain’s biggest DJs (Amable, Hal9000, Nacho Ruiz) and the second achieved over 1 million streams between Apple and Spotify within it’s first 6 months of release. Renowned music blog “This Song Is Sick” named it “an immaculate piece of art.” It features backing vocals from Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Daneshevskaya.
2021-2022 will see the release of his sophomore record See You Shine, a 14-song album that documents the exodus of a young adult out of a small town that shuns them for their beliefs and into the depths of the deserts of Arizona, looking for a new life in a distant city. The album’s sound marries Glassio’s passion for French-electronic music with American singer-songwriter tropes akin to Jackson Browne, or Wilco.
Outside of Glassio, Sam R. has co-written and produced songs with French Horn Rebellion, Clubhouse, warner case, NAKAYA and Madelyn Darling.
neillfrazer@hotmail.com
