Goldensuns, a band made of brothers Chase, Jantzen, and Weston, have revealed their newest song ‘Cover It Up’ — today. The single is the third to be released before their big EP release in 2021, the last two being ‘Can’t Care Too Much’ and ‘Denandra Moore.’
‘Cover It Up’ is much more of an impassioned, melancholic piece by the band compared to the two previous songs. It’s a reminiscent-like piece that still drives on the dreamy vibe that Goldensuns present throughout discography, imperceptibly juxtaposing to the tension of the current political climate but still maintaining a mood of sadness, bringing us back to the reality of the situation we are facing.
Francis of Delirium – the Canadian-American, Luxembourg-based duo led by 19-year-old Jana Bahrich alongside collaborator Chris Hewett – have announced their sophomore EP, Wading. The follow-up to this year’s All Change EP is for release next February via Dalliance Recordings and includes the newly unveiled single ‘Lakes’. Check it out below, alongside an accompanying music video.
“The main idea in ‘Lakes’ is that we are all fed by other people (or other “rivers”) to eventually form who we are, one large lake fed by other water streams, one community,” Bahrich explained in a press release. “Left emptied and lost, you begin to lose your sense of self. Your anchor was the people around you, and now you’re tied to nothing, floating around in a space alone.”
The accompanying visual is made up mostly of footage Bahrich’s grandfather took around the 70s. “Through the music video I wanted to find identity through family and heritage,” she said. “I never really developed a relationship with my grandfather and I found a large sense of self through making the video. Many tears were shed.”
Bahrich previously served as the songwriter, videographer and artwork creator on All Change, but Wading finds her also taking the role of co-producer. The EP was mixed by Gabe Wax (Adrianne Lenker, Palehound, Squirrel Flower), while Joe Lambert (The National, Sharon Van Etten, Dirty Projectors) handled the mastering.
Multi-talented LA artist Ayoni was staggeringly quick on her feet establishing herself as a one to watch in music. As soon as the 21-year-old Barbados-born singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist dropped her self-composed and self-produced debut album, Iridescent, the critics (who got the memo) instantly took notice. Led by Ayoni’s remarkable, radiant voice, the boundary-breaking project melds rich, rousing electro-pop soundscapes packed with global beats and diverse vocal arrangements wrapped in sensitive, expressive lyricism. Other than Iridescent’s vibrant instrumentation and universally appealing melodies, what instantly hits is that Ayoni’s vocals are phenomenal. She has huge range and a rarely seen acrobatic ability to slip between high and low notes, a skill best exemplified in the exultant trills of her uplifting ‘Santa Monica’ and throughout soulful power-ballad, ‘September’. Since her glittering first project, Ayoni has gone on to release a spate of singles, including the poignant soul track ‘Unmoved (A Black Woman’s Truth)’ and her energetic, gloriously harmonised pop single, ‘All Out of Love’ (co-written by songwriter and producer, Stark). With the release of the ebullient Namy collab, ‘Disco Dancing’, last month, it really feels like Ayoni has industry-conquering potential, and we can’t wait to see where her creativity takes her next.
We caught up with Ayoni for this edition of our Artist Spotlight series, where we showcase up-and-coming artists and give them a chance to talk about their music.
What first made you want to pursue music?
My infatuation with divine experiences is what initially drew me into music. Growing up in the church, worship was always an integral and grounding part of my weeks. A church I used to attend in Oakland had an incredible worship program where I regularly heard layered harmonies and improvisation which I would consider two central aspects of my sound.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Life is the ultimate muse for me. I’m a lover of feelings and emotions and the metrics of human experiences. I try to draw upon places that I have lived or travelled to and lessons I’m currently exploring in my own life as a source of inspiration. At the core of it all, though, I’m trying to tell stories about those experiences that might save someone else from the same foolish mistakes.
Who are your influences, and what music are you loving right now?
I’ve recently been most influenced by Moses Sumney, Lianne La Havas, JAiRUS, and Dijon. They are so intentional with their soundscapes and melodies in a way that is sure of itself – like a running river. It’s a practice of tapping into the divine that can’t be manufactured, and it’s been inspiring me so much in my own work. I was raised by Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Frank Ocean, Bon Iver, Adele, and Lorde. I love artists who are storytellers by nature and definitely aim to recreate that level of truth and bravery in my own music.
What are your thoughts on the music industry as it stands?
The music industry as it stands remains exploitative and unwilling to invest in new stories and innovators. Numbers and data take precedent over talent and intention which makes the path longer for artists looking to preserve their artistic integrity and protect their stories, while also needing to support their finances sustainably. That being said, I’m moving in alignment with my purpose and am supported by a growing community of lovely people. Despite my human moments of doubt, I really really believe in myself – so that will need to be enough.
You had a really great first outing with your debut album, Iridescent. What do you think was the secret to its success?
Thank you! I tried to be as honest as I was able at the time, and I think that is at the core of connections made from/with my music. I think people are really over-saturated with content made to be shallowly engaged with, but still be entertained by, and I think that there are many people who are just heavy and burdened with all the agreements life necessitates who want to feel something real. I think my art resonates with people because there’s a beautiful humanity to my creations. I want to honour what it means to be alive and to love and to hurt and to mourn and to grow and so I wanted my first proper project to cost me something – and also cost my listener too. To demand my listener to be present is my ultimate goal.
What’s the most important thing for you in your work?
My ultimate motive is to make revolution irresistible. To make dreaming the bare minimum and our elevation a requirement. Socially we’ve been stagnant for too long. This year has been just unbearably long for me. Unpacking fascism, and capitalism, and the desire of too many to dominate and control has been mentally draining. As a result, the urgency of the times have enabled me to realise my responsibility as an artist to open conversations – and I think that is my path forward. I don’t need to be your role model. I definitely don’t even need you to like me, but I do need the urgency of my messages to be honoured and I won’t allow my talent to be dismissed. I say all that to say that freedom is the most important thing to me and my work. Freedom to speak truth to power.
You recently released your groovy 80’s inspired single, ‘Disco Dancing’ – do you have any more music on the way?
I’m working on my debut album right now. It’s in its infancy which I love because I get to ask myself the most interesting questions about the stories I want to tell.
Kylie Minogue was the musical guest on last night’s episode of The Late Show With Steven Colbert. Playing in front of a bright backdrop and joined by two dancers, the singer performed the DISCO highlight ‘Magic’. Watch it below.
DISCO, Minogue’s 15th studio album, was released last Friday. The follow-up to 2018’s Golden includes the previously released singles ‘Say Something’, ‘Magic’, and ‘I Love It’. Read our review of the album here.
Tame Impala appeared on BBC Radio 1’s Future Sounds With Annie Mac yesterday (November 11) to perform a live session from Kevin Parker’s home studio. Playing as a trio, the band performed a cover of Nelly Furtado’s ‘Say It Right’, from the singer’s 2006 album Loose. Watch it below, along with a performace of The Slow Rush track ‘Is It True’.
The Slow Rush was released back in February. Blood Orange recently shared a remix of the album track ‘Borderline’, which Tame Impala performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon!. Last month, Kevin Parker covered John Lennon’s ‘Jealous Guy’.
AC/DC have shared the second single from their upcoming album POWER UP. Listen to ‘Realize’ below.
The new track follows lead single ‘Shot in the Dark’, which marked the band’s first new song in years with the surviving classic lineup of Angus Young, Brian Johnson, Phil Rudd, and Cliff Williams. AC/DC worked on the new album with producer Brendan O’Brien, who also worked on 2008’s Black Ice and 2014’s Rock or Bust. POWER UP comes out tomorrow (November 13) and is available in multiple formats, including a limited deluxe edition featuring a light-up box with built-in speakers that play a portion of ‘Shot In The Dark’, a 20-page booklet, and more.
HAIM have released a new song called ‘Feel the Thunder’ from the soundtrack to the new animated film The Croods: A New Age. The track was co-written and produced by Ariel Rechtshaid and was inspired by Guns N’ Roses. Listen to it below.
In an interview with Rolling Stone,Danielle Haim said that Rechtshaid is “the biggest Guns N’ Roses fan.” She continued, “He’s obsessed with them – he went and saw them on their most recent tour a bunch of times. And so I figured that that’s what we were looking for. We were like, ‘Let’s get Ariel.’ But I’d never tried to make music like that before, so it was fully like a crazy experiment.”
Talking about the opportunity to record rock music specifically for a children’s movie, she added: “We grew up listening to rock music, pop, a healthy smattering of a ton of different kinds of music. I don’t know how often you really hear rock music in a kid’s film anymore, or rock music in general anymore.”
Scottish rock band Teenage Fanclub have announced a new album: Endless Arcade arrives on March 5 via Merge. The follow-up to 2016’s Here marks Fanclub’s first album without founding member Gerard Love, who left the band in 2018. Below, listen to the first single ‘Home’, and scroll down for the album’s cover artwork and tracklist.
Discussing the album title, songwriter Raymond McGinley explained in a statement: “I think of an endless arcade as a city that you can wander through, with a sense of mystery, an imaginary one that goes on forever.” He continued, “When it came to choosing an album title, it seemed to have something for this collection of songs.”
1. Home
2. Endless Arcade
3. Warm Embrace
4. Everything Is Falling Apart
5. The Sun Won’t Shine on Me
6. Come With Me
7. In Our Dreams
8. I’m More Inclined
9. Back in the Day
10. The Future
11. Living With You
12. Silent Song
Lawson Hull’s latest EP Dreaming is Easy, might be a career lifting release for the exciting Australian singer-songwriter. The mellifluous EP by Hull features six songs in total, including ‘College Town,’ which we are more than pleased to say we are premiering today.
In a way, ‘College Town’ sums up what the EP is focused on, a climax that says Lawson can realise and fulfil his dream. Lawson says “It took years for me to act on mine, to get out of bed and decide these songs were good enough for the world to love. The dream was to release an EP, a body of work that brought closure to this chapter of songwriting.
Dreaming is Easy will be available tomorrow, but for now, here is the premiere for the beautiful and potent ‘College Town.’
If you’re a gamer, you’ll know that there have been some incredible examples of advertisements from all three big console developers. Here are some of the greatest ads that Sony has released on the market to promote their products.
You Are Not Ready
We would be remiss for missing out the first ad ever released by the company for the first Playstation. The ad was simple, showcasing the console as well as several of the games for it. They were right. We weren’t ready and Sony have only continued to impress with their ad efforts.
Yes You Can Share
Perhaps one of the most memorable things about this ad was how simple it was. Yet it is still often seen as the reason why Sony won the E3 conference that year and even potentially the console war. The ad was simply the two heads of Sony handing each other a game with the video titled, how to share a game on the PS4. While this might seem rather basic it was a huge deal. Minutes ago, Microsoft had already announced that sharing a game with friends on their new console would come with massive restrictions. This went down like a bag of bricks with gamers so Sony quickly took advantage of the opportunity to win consumer approval.
Ellie Comes To Life
The Last Of Us Part 2 was advertised with a live-action trailer for the game. This isn’t a new concept, it’s been used a lot of times to market a lot of different games. However, this trailer was particularly memorable because of the actress that they chose for Ellie. She was the perfect choice for the character. These popular commercials all used characters to market the product and there’s one key reason for this. They work. People connect with different individuals, even if they know them to be completely fictitious.
No Limits
Finally, it’s perhaps worth exploring one of the latest gaming ads that have certainly captured the attention of gamers. Sony introduced its PS5 to the market with the ‘No Limits’ campaign. This saw a fisherman accidentally stumble into new worlds on his craft, emphasising the fact that the possibilities in gaming with the PS5 were absolutely limitless. Part of what makes this ad so memorable is the production value. Watching this, you would be forgiven for thinking that it was actually advertising a full-length science-fiction movie, complete with an actor that certainly gets the message across of being truly astounded by the possibilities.
Interestingly, Microsoft put a similar ad out into the world, instead, based around the idea of living out your dreams and adventures through the new console. While it’s just as dazzling it’s not quite as memorable and a lot of the games being advertised don’t have a launch date just yet.
As you can see, there are countless exciting ads that are used to appeal to gamers and sell new consoles as well as new games. We frankly can’t wait to see what developers and advertisers come up with next.
