Gregory Darling 
A New Dream featuring Julian Lennon 
White Feather Foundation / Reluvotion 
 
Written in the South of France with long-time friend Anthony Caligagan, the track which first appeared on Gregory Darling’s debut album Shell is reinvented and rerecorded for a new and ever-hungry audience. Gregory Darling and Grammy nominated Julian Lennon have been working together since meeting up in Los Angeles in the 1990s. Darling Cruel was Gregory’s band and Julian was working on his own projects as usual. They began writing and collaborating together after discovering a kinship in universal values and character. Since then, the duo have written plenty of songs together and been on world tours that highlight the music and the ethics of their organisations. White Feather Foundation was founded by Julian Lennon and aims to protect indigenous cultures, children, and the environment. Reluvotion was founded by Professor Nicholas Dungey and JR Smith and aims to promote human rights, equality, and sustainability; Gregory Darling is the head of artist outreach at the organisation. This new single has a great hand-drawn animated video provided by Charlie Warner; A New Dream has a message that resonates and can help bring us all together from all sides of the banquet table, including the ones on the floor and, of course, the butler.  
 
A flurry of kaleidoscopic synths reels in a roundabout of rhythmic melody. The vocals begin, folky rock words and delivery hang in the air like fluttering leaves. The duo take it in turns to portray the message as the band bubbles with lush and sculpted synthesiser and bass. Blues and jazz feels sink through the flow as the chords shimmer and vibe on the rhythmic flow. Luxurious layers of musicianship run through the air with a sing-a-long motivation we can get into with just a couple of listens. It swaggers and sways on the backbeat as a one two step is sectioned into movements that link passion to purpose and back again. 
 
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Hey, if world peace, prosperity for all, and compassionate understanding is something you want (who doesn't) then once you've looked at the big stuff, check out my noble effort with Alternative Fruit. 

OK Go 
A Stone Only Rolls Downhill 
Los Angeles 
 
With a new video that premiered on The Kelly Clarkson Show a couple of weeks ago, Grammy Award winners OK Go get into Sound Read Six. A brand-new concept art has made its way into the format, as the video makes use of hours of simultaneous footage filmed over several takes after meticulous planning. Co-produced with the band’s singer, Damian Kulash, and Chris Buongiorno (Spider Man, Star Wars), the video fulfils the theme of out-there artforms the band are known for. Shown together in a mosaic of moving images, you’d need to watch the video loads of times to get an idea of the holistic craft involved. The music sounds as good as you can expect for a sought-after and peer act such as these. Taken from their fifth album due in the near future, And The Adjacent Possible, this new single and video for A Stone Only Rolls Downhill takes their rock band sound to a new audience.  
 
Vibrant drumming with talkative beats takes us out of the door and into OK Go’s musical world. A summery vibe tingles along the lines of guitar as it plucks and strums in gentle evolutions. Damian begins to greet us with his vocal, a laid-back and calm atmosphere hits the beats as upbeat chord progressions layer over vocal harmonies and melodic fills. Sways of dreamy effect mingles with a classic verse and chorus structure, sitting at home you could play this by yourself on an acoustic. The song makes use of the band to fill in the gaps with memorable hooks and evocative mindscapes of lyrical charm. 

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Andy Stochansky 
Oxygen 
Enci Records 
 
A song-writer of serious repute, Andy Stochansky has been involved with plenty of musical success stories over the years. Perhaps his most notable work has been with Annie Lennox’s daughter, Lola, who has been crafting her own legacy with help from her mother in the studio. He’s also written tracks for Goo Goo Dolls, Dragonette, and Ferry Cortsen, who notably gained a top-ten spot on the Billboard dance music chart. Originally from Canada and now living in sunny LA, Andy Stochansky has been working on his own projects simultaneously to those of other stars. An ambidextrous work ethic is good if you’ve got it, I’m sure. Since learning the ropes of the trade in the late 1990s as part of Ani DiFranco’s touring and studio band, Andy has been able to hone his skills and release music of his own since the start of the century. As he sets the record straight for his new album, Poetry of Birds, we also get a great video single for the highlighted track Oxygen. 
 
A thump of bass hits the tone as a guitar gently plucks an RnB melody. The lyrics begin, intimate and meaningful, a telephone distortion gives a sense of closeness and distance. After a few moments, a wave of guitar layers in with generous melody and jingling steel strings. The chorus lines holler through, bass and drums kick the pop rhythm into a dance beat and the uplifting sentiments carry the weight of all the greats and let them breathe.  

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Tombstones In Their Eyes 

Mirror 

Los Angeles 

 

Blissed-out fuzz rock is on its way as LA’s Tombstones In Their Eyes release their first single of the year. Mirror takes a flagpole and holds it high in the name of the new album, Asylum Harbour. Given the expert treatment in video form from the phenomenal Francesca Bonci, the Italian multi-disciplinary artist known for working with Pete Holstrom of The Dandy Warhols, Mirror is one of those inkblot tracks that lets you see what you want in it. Based on putting your faith in your instincts and letting intuition be your guide, looking in the Mirror can leave us vulnerable yet empowered.  

 

A melodic sludge of guitar and drum creates a bubblebath of neatly organised dream sounds. A one two paced rhythm keeps punching the cards in perfect time as the abstraction builds in effervescent dimensions. Harmonies in the vocal lean towards the 1960s while spatial effects resonate and reverberate like a psychedelic disco of the acid generation. Choppy chords blend with distorted fizz as the rhythmic and tuneful composition bobs along on energetic windy lakes and the lyrics carry us outward and inward in a Trismegistus of triumphant song. 

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Essential reading: Psychedelia: An Ancient Culture, A Modern Way Of Life

The Veils 
The Ladder 
New Zealand 
 
The single from the brand-new Veils album Asphodels, New Zealand rock n roll crooner Finn Andrews takes his band to the next level. The Veils have recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of their first record, The Runaway Found. A force of nature like an oceanic current, the continual push of fresh and chilled creativity gently melts into the hub of activity as its released. This is their seventh record, and the singer remarks that by this time the band have fully fledged and it’s time to stop counting. Does life ever stop teaching us lessons? Perhaps the ladder can help us to find out if there are any left.  
 
The epic voice of Finn Andrews casts out like gusts of colourful breeze. Piano joins his melody, creating fluid and harmonising waves for his vocal boat to glide across. Haunting instruments hang gently in the background as the drums build to bring out the chorus, Snare-driven beats then adapt to greet a rhythmic piano as bass and string rise in melancholic hopefulness. We can sing with the lyrics; its repeating phrase makes the chorus memorable and morish. A graceful journey of poetic intrigue and forlorn dreams, The Ladder is a classic already.  

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Also, Asphodels are a mythical flower from the Greek Underworld. You can learn all about it in this book: ​Greek Mythology: An Exciting Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Myths and Traditions of Ancient Greece.
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Ecce Shnak 

The Internet 

Records Man, Records 

 

Based in the world-famous New York City, the five-piece Ecce Shnak take care of the crowd with unusual and memorable music. Influenced by artists like King Crimson, Frank Zappa, and Ween, the coming together of many sounds in mathematically relevant ways can result in some fascinating and great sounding experiments. One such experiment is The Internet, this latest single taken from next month’s brand-new Shadows Grow Fangs EP. The EP has been recorded at New York’s Art Farm by Jeff Lucci, mixed by Nicholas Vernhes, and mastered by Grammy Award winner Greg Calbi. Written about a time-travelling poet who has to ask what the internet actually is, The Internet is a playful psychodrama played out to great sounding backdrops.  

 

Distorted television voices curdle along a glistening guitar that rises in amplitude. Chanting and choral singing then merges with drumming to deliver a multi-faceted surge of muse. Then, in a funky dig towards the disco, the music begins to pulse and chop in smoothly distorted bass and off-beat fills. The vocals are dramatic, a strangeness is layered into the delivery making the sound completely unique. A clever use of rhythmic fractions and layering bring out surprisingly fitting harmonies and fast corners of progression. Elements of classical merge seamlessly with punk and funk rhythms and voice, The Internet from Ecce Shnak is a crazy and fun circus of multi-dimensional talents.  

 
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