The Flowers Of Hell
Foray Through Keshakhtaran
Toronto/London
 
To kick off the release of their sixth album, The Flowers Of Hell treat us all to their first single from the record. Their first release in as many years, this sixth LP is to be released on Space Age Recordings. Home of Spectrum, Chapter House, Spacemen 3, The Telescopes, and Acid Mothers Temple, The Flowers Of Hell have found a perfect raised bed to blossom and bloom. The album is designed to be in two twenty minute sections and involves the work of twenty professional musicians. These include the esteemed sitar player Rishi Dhir of Elephant Stone, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Black Angels, and Beck. The album takes its name from the street word for aspiring to meditative clarity through listening to music, Keshakhtaran. With metaphysical attributes everywhere, the content is just gasping to be explored. Let’s go and take that foray.
 
Vocals and strings whisk the sounds into a presence before us. Brass tones from a saxophone jolt from the mysterious clouds of sonic abstraction. A harp gallops in dainty deer-like steps as the band swells with vibrancy and opaque luminescence. Woodwind meets brass as twinkling tones form spiralling mists behind, various harmonious tones link hands in transcendental walls of focus and form. Postures of pitch align in perfect conjunction to the flow of percussion and motif. A splendid push into ethereal realms of enchantment and ghost-like atmospheres, Foray Through Keshakhtaran rises like the sun on a foggy day. 

You can buy music from The Flowers Of Hell on Bandcamp

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Baytrees
Sunshine
Brixton
 
Formed in 2018, Brixton’s very own funky hip-hop and rock sound Baytrees are back with more music. The four-piece band have been highlighting the art of creative fusion and multi-cultural compositions to live audiences with great success. Sunshine was written on a gloomy day where the warming rays of our star were a fond memory. Yearning for the summer skies of Jamaica or the other party island, Ibiza, the music is set to carry us away to better climates with its energy and ethos.
 
Guitar and synth peel open like fruit to reveal a driving rhythm of bass-led funky motion. Guitars play funky chords in clever patterns over a choppy percussion section. Harmonies build in the vocal, a mix of voices bring a feeling of dreamy relaxation in the flow of sound. Pulses of rhythm persistently maintain the kinesis of the track as catchy and easy-listening grooves dig down and set the framework for laying back.
 
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Chez De Milo
Wadham
Bristol
 
Taken from the recent So It Goes EP, this final track culminates the experience with a finale that entices the replay button. Straight out of the Bristol indie-dance music scene, Chez De Milo is an established figure on the party network as the host of Magic Carpet Ride on Noods Radio. That’s not all, De Milo also founded the noteworthy Club Blanco where he and others have showcased their plethora of rhythms, acid atmospheres, and gyrating synths. This groove-laden number sits atop a trio of tantalising tracks that draw the lines in every direction as far as the eye can reach.
 
As distorted static sounds merge with an electronic rhythm of clicks, a horn like metallic scrape peers in. The music spans outward with rainfall rhythms of cymbals that splash into bass kicks and clattering toms. The snare keeps time as a wandering bass begins to adorn the skeletal framework. A folk etherealness encapsulates the sound, mysterious sonic devices crawl in abstract walks through the gravity of the piece. Wailing tones kiss the glistening beats as the steady melody of bass manages to remain calm in the mixing of subtle chaos.
 
You can buy So It Goes EP by Chez De Milo on Bandcamp

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Nzondi
Teenage RockStarr
Los Angeles
 
Created by American horror author Ace Antonio Hall, Nzondi is the adopted name for his musical output. Having won the Bram Stoker award, and being the first African American to do it, Nzondi is demonstrating that writing is only one of his many qualities. Since creating various characters, the idea for a song came to him that took the story that little bit further. Based on a vampire character called Elle from Updrifters, Teenage Rockstarr offers another inventive avenue for us to explore that shows us even more of the author’s incredible mind. This mix features Puddle Of Mudd drummer Dave Moreno, which has been released alongside a rap version that’s been voiced by Fredro Starr.
 
It begins with a vocal chant that builds into bass, drums, and electric guitar. A funky rhythm unfolds as punchy vocals produce a fiery delivery. A surging wall of bass thrusts the track forward as the chorus churns the power out in heavy doses. Nu-metal elements meet grungy attitudes as melodies dance with the rhythms to grasping steps. Catchy and memorable, a surge of energy maintains a continual edge that sounds right at home in the heavy metal universe.
 
Find out more on the A Antonio Hall website

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​Scott Matthews
My Selfless Moon
From Restless Lullabies
 
A beautifully composed new single from the Ivor Novello award-winner Scott Matthews is out now and it doesn’t disappoint. Since the critically-acclaimed New Skin, Scott Matthews has been working hard to focus and fortify his popular yet innovative and synonymous sound. My Selfless Moon is a song about being vulnerable and weak, bending like a greenwood branch in the haunting seasonal wind. A deeply personal sound and delivery, Scott Matthews reveals his soul with intimate guitar and singer compositions that hold entire venues in his enchanting grasp.  
 
It opens with a chord break-down that draws us in for a close-up listen. Scott Matthews opens the song with emotional and evocative lyrics, a drama in the projection reveals an open book of humanity to explore. Piano adds a layer of melancholy between the fabric of guitar, recorded with sonic clarity to the point of individual strings in their own place, an ocean of moving and flow-filled music spans out towards unfathomable horizons. Cinematic and theatrical, a cool breeze fills the room as My Selfless Moon shines in.

​Find out more on the Scott Matthews website

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​Fellow Robot
Crash And Burn
California
 
This second single from their forthcoming Misanthropioid LP, Crash and Burn is just out. The whole album was co-produced by Andrew Schepes, known for his work with Johnny Cash, Hozier, Metallica, Adele, RHCP, and Green Day. Crash And Burn is a song about vulnerability and insecurity. Sometimes we just feel like a spare part to an out-of-date system, whether it’s with social life or work life. Challenging feelings to encounter, the human condition is revealed with this first song written after the singer lost his voice to Covid. Retraining himself to sing, vocalist Anthony Pedroza has been forced to walk the path one more time to get to recording standard. That’s admirable indeed and if it doesn’t make you want to hear the song already, let’s hope our run-through prickles your ears.
 
Space-age sounds unveil in grandiose epochs of comic-book imagery. A pumping bass and snappy drum-pattern joins the sound-sphere as the vocals begin. Strong and rock coloured words project a story of love and meaning. The music moves like The Flaming Lips and Muse with rising pressures of composition and passionate word delivery. Pangs of angst thrust their fictional knives into our feelings as we join the swaying indulgence of not knowing if we’re good enough.

Find out more on the Fellow Robot website

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