The new single from Matthew Check is a rhythmic foot-tapper, upbeat and full of energy. ‘Couple of Reasons’ makes the perfect soundtrack for driving through those wide-open spaces you see in the accompanying video. The harmonies, percussion and melody combine to create a positive vibe but pay attention to the lyrics, which offer a contrast to the song’s sonic happiness.
In the wake of recent press at The Bluegrass Situation, Americana UK, Glide Magazine, Ditty TV, and the Billboard Country Update, Nashville Americana / folk-blues artist Bill Filipiak released new record, Medicine I Need, Friday, Oct. 1, on Vidlicity Records.
As a producer for the most hallowed of Nashville roots-music institutions, the Grand Ole Opry, Filipiak has had a chance to not only brush elbows with, but really get to know and learn from, some of the finest Americana artists around. Which, of course, has been a major influence on his own work. With his latest—and most fully realized—record to date, Filipiak taps the inspiration and wisdom of these artists, honing his lifelong passion for music and songwriting into an impressive, thoughtful and healing folk-blues journey, the aptly titled Medicine I Need.
“When you have the opportunity to talk songwriting with these people and watch them perform—I’m talking about folks like Larkin Poe, Sarah Jarosz, Molly Tuttle, Bryan Sutton and Allison Russell; artists like Lera Lynn and Maggie Rose, who insist on finding their own path while staying true to who they are; or maybe you spend a couple days with a legend like Keb Mo, George Thorogood or Ray Wylie Hubbard—after that,” Filipiak says, “it’s hard not to pick up your instrument, try to emulate what they’ve done, then come up with your own idea and follow through on it.”
And that’s exactly what Filipiak has done with Medicine I Need. The album—his third full-length—features a unique palette: the gritty blues power of a Gretsch Honey Dipper resonator guitar, mellowed by a splash of Beach Boys surf and a healthy dose of Wurlitzer electric piano. Filipiak—who recorded, engineered, produced and played every sound you hear on this singular vision of a record—simmers these ingredients into a potent and satisfying stew of downhome country-blues, folk and Americana.
New York-based singer-songwriter Mimi Oz is back later this month with her third studio album, Growing Pains. Melding influences from jazz, folk, soul, and vintage pop songstresses, Oz’s latest work is a wide-ranging genre sampler, all filtered through her own intimate themes of loneliness and alienation. Oz has already shared a handful of singles from the record, including “In The Water,” “Time Will Tell,” and “Caroline,” and today she’s back with her latest single, “Hate,” premiering with Under the Radar.
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ALL BITE’s debut LP, Get Well Soon, is an endearingly raw, emotional odyssey of anxiety, self-loathing, homesickness, and reckoning with past trauma, backed by explosive melodic pop-punk. The trio, made up of guitarist Jeremy Coppola, bassist Emily Tomasi, and drummer Noah Shearer—all three splitting vocal responsibilities—came together in the midst of the global pandemic to create a sense of shared experience and explore their frustrations and worries through cathartic punk music. “I’m lucky that writing music feels therapeutic to me,” says Coppola. “It feels good to put those feelings of depression and anxiety into words. Being able to scream about it just really helps.”
Although the trio are based in Los Angeles, Get Well Soon is more indebted to New Jersey punk and Long Island emo than SoCal surf and skate punk. Coppola’s gritty vocals call to mind the unpolished style of acts like Jeff Rosenstock and Donovan Wolfington, while Tomasi’s broad vocal register oscillates between Slothrust-reminiscent low crooning with throat-shredding riot grrrl shouts. Shearer’s singing, meanwhile, falls somewhere in between the conversational speak-singing of Slaughter Beach, Dog’s Jake Ewald and Jello Biafra’s characteristically frenzied vocals.
To record Get Well Soon, ALL BITE teamed up with one of modern punk’s most sought-after producers, Jack Shirley (Jeff Rosenstock, Joyce Manor, Remo Drive) at his studio The Atomic Garden in Oakland, CA. “I realized when Jeremy and I were working on a record with our old band that a lot of producers who have worked on albums that I really love are actually very accessible,” says Tomasi. “I figured it was worth it to ask Jack and see what happens, and we ended up spending five days in his studio making the album. The songs were mostly already together, but Jack helped dial in our sound and make tweaks that helped make it feel more complete.”
Creating a cohesive album split between three songwriters can be challenging, but ALL BITE succeed through their collective commitment to emotional transparency, passion and a willingness to not shy away from dark and heavy content. “I feel like we all unintentionally wound up in similar mental spaces while writing these songs,” says Shearer. “It may just be coincidental, but I think the fact that these songs ended up sounding cohesive speaks to us having similar things on our minds while writing.”
“One Less Thing To Deal With” kicks off Get Well Soon with sparse acoustic guitar backing Coppola’s expressive, raspy vocals before shifting into a massive, fuzzed-out full band indie-punk ballad about post-grad ennui and suicidal ideation. Meanwhile, “If You’re Like Me” is a hyperspeed folk-punk-inspired track that finds Tomasi reflecting on feelings of self-loathing while ending a romantic relationship.
On the Dead Kennedy’s-channeling 26-second political punk track “Partisan,” Shearer takes the lead on vocals, skewering the United States’ political structures that allow for blame to be passed along party lines and that prevent progress. “The word partisan is tossed around as a hint towards the actual problem,” says Shearer. “The problem is that we can’t work together, which is an excuse used by people who don’t want to work together to push the blame on the other party. Like, we’re not disagreeing because we like to disagree and back up what ‘our side’ says, we’re fighting because there’s something fundamentally wrong here and they’re trying to dodge the issue.”
Throughout Get Well Soon, ALL BITE turn further inward, reflecting on perceived personal shortcomings, anxieties, and trauma. “Preemptive Apology” finds Coppola examining the cycle of romantic disappointment caused by self-doubt while trying to balance being an emotional confidant and dealing with your own insecurities and mental illness. Elsewhere, on “Untitled,” Tomasi dissects the lasting emotional marks left by stalking and harassment, turning that fear and frustration into a story of reclaimed autonomy and cathartic fantasy violence.
Before forming ALL BITE in 2020, Tomasi and Coppola had been bandmates previously while they were in college in upstate New York, sharing bills with Shearer’s band in the local DIY punk scene, and cutting their teeth in the local New Jersey scene when they would travel home for the Summer. After the trio separately relocated to Los Angeles, they came together as ALL BITE and began putting together a setlist for live shows when the pandemic shut down live events and shifted their focus to writing and recording their debut album, all before playing a single show. “I’ve developed a very different perspective on making music than I’ve had before,” says Shearer. “There’s a greater deal of refinement, playing music and writing lyrics to make sure that what we’re playing has a cohesive sound for listening, rather than just making sure it’s fun enough for people to groove to at a show.”
Looking forward, ALL BITE are hoping to get out and start playing shows as soon as possible, but in the meantime have been already thinking about their own growth and how they want to follow up Get Well Soon. “Now that we’re kind of in our groove as a band, I’m excited to push our sound a bit more and try incorporating some new influences,” says Tomasi. “I’ve been listening to a lot of music that has elements that you don’t really hear in the punk and emo scene, so it’ll be interesting to see how that comes together. On this album we were kind of like,’Okay, we’re going to make punk music and play guitar and we’re going to yell and it’ll be awesome’ and we’re still going to do all of those things, but being more comfortable playing together now, I’m excited for us to try something new as well.”
Incredible indie / chamber-pop group Takénobu released their new album, Always Leave a Note, early last month to rave reviews. Now the truly dynamic duo—singer-cellistNick Ogawa and his wife, singer-violinist Kathryn Koch—have teamed up with Ghost Cult to share the evocative new video for their single “Got To Get By.” The track is an entrancing melodic wonder, with haunted vocals, a super-catchy hook and deep lyrics that draw you in. Coupled with this amazing video, the visuals are sure to drum up a well of emotions about isolation, mental health and trying to cope through these dark times.
If Tom Waits decided to sing some bluegrass-type songs dipped in a jar of blues spices he’d be as good as Bill Filipiak. 55-year-old Bill comes from the same cloth as Otis Taylor—as he unravels a gritty, upbeat, convincing array of bruised ballads of glittering fragments. Bits of glass in the sidewalk. There’s experience in his musical notes.
Medicine I Need (drops Oct 1 – independent) is Bill’s 3rd LP of welded-together dusty blues, undercurrents of burlesque, foot-stomping boots on the wooden porch & wailing harmonicas scaring off the crows. The penetration of his vintage-ness is ripe. He could sing folk, blues, minstrel & spirituals and still come out the real thing. “Fearing the Dawn” is country-blues brawn & grit.
Read more & check out Bill Filipiak’s recent single “Fearing the Dawn” at Americana Highways.