Watch this video of The Wans performing their song “Holy One” at this year’s CMJ Fest, live at Knitting Factory Brooklyn…
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Glide Magazine premieres Sara Rachele’s gorgeous new black & white, live-in-the-studio session video for “Black Mile.”
Recorded in her hometown of Atlanta, the Brooklyn/East ATL-based Sara Rachele’s debut, Diamond Street, rides out slow and dark as a jet-black 1960s Chrysler New Yorker. The live-to-tape LP—produced by Kristofer Sampson (B-52’s, Balkans, Coathangers)—was recorded in just two days, and captures the East Village nightlife of a young songwriter in what Glide previously called “a timeless, vibrant rock ’n’ roll statement.” Diamond Street’s sparkling lo-fi charms span the decades, Rachele channeling everything from classic Fleetwood Mac and Petty’s Heartbreakers to Lucinda Williams and David Lynch muse Julee Cruise.
On recording with producer Sampson (who also plays in New West Records band Ponderosa), Rachele says, “Kris really challenged me on this album. Even though we were working quickly, he had patience with the songs, and he took the sound to a new place for me without it seeming disingenuous.” The results have landed Rachele in esteemed outlets like American Songwriter and No Depression, critics comparing her work to that of singular artists such as Neko Case, Stevie Nicks and gorgeously moody ‘90s alternative band Mazzy Star.
In addition to producer Sampson, Rachele’s new debut Diamond Street features the musical contributions of budding folk hound J. Thomas Hall (New West’s Normaltown Records imprint) as well as a cast of Atlanta-based heavy hitters including Lightnin’ Ray Jackson (Washed Out, Gringo Star), Spencer Pope (Ocha La Rocha), Spencer Garn (Ruby Velle & the Soulphonics) and Snowden’s Chandler Rentz.Diamond Street represents the gorgeous clash of Rachele’s folk-centric upbringing and her beat rock & roll adventures in New York City. With five years of stories under her belt, she has created a moody musical pulp, resounding with smoky memories of ambling city nights.
Glide is proud to premiere Sara Rachele’s video for “Black Mile,” a track that reflects Rachele’s aching vocals and sense of melodic virtuosity stirs immediate comparisons to Stevie Nicks’ most recognized ballads with Fleetwood Mac.
Rachele goes on to describe the track:
“Black Mile” is about loneliness—about those moments you’re thinking about mortality. I’ve always felt that those songs, about death, are the hardest to write, but the most comforting to listen to. It’s about accepting our fear of mortality—my friend Melissa Ferrick has a song where she just repeats, “The journey is the destination… the journey is the destination.”
There’s an old jazz song called “Black Nile,” and it got me thinking this concept of life as a journey, and death as a journey, too. I felt compelled to write a song about, and the guys in the studio really got into that vibe with me. The result was “Black Mile.” I wrote the song in one sitting… it kind of wrote me, in a way. Once we were in the studio, it all came together, really out of nowhere, as a full-band composition—the way Chandler Rentz played drums on it really stirs something in me every time I hear the song. He really made it my favorite song on Diamond Street.
At peace. That’s where this song puts me—in a conversational way, talking to death, addressing mortality and my own life each time I sing it… looking right down the barrel of the gun and saying, “I’m okay with whatever happens.” That’s the way I want to live my life; not in fear, but in communication with life itself. With acceptance.” WATCH HERE…
Tesla Rossa is the lead story today at Substream Music Press, where you can stream their new self-titled debut in its entirety.
For the past five years, Tesla Rossa has been silently running wild at house parties and basement shows around the country. Now, the band is finally releasing its self-titled debut album. A lot can happen over five years, and Tesla Rossa stands as evidence of that. The album showcases a dynamic collection of songs varying greatly in musical influence. One moment roars as wildly as any garage rock jam, the next comes gently crooning, dancing over strings, or dabbling with sitar.
“We always kind of joke that we’re the modern rock version of a throwback band, or like a throwback band from the future, because we do have a lot of those sounds that rock and roll was built on but we always try to wrap it around some kind of new thing,” says vocalist/guitarist Jason Denton.
The trio, finished off by Ryan Tullock and Nathan Wahlman, gathers an eclectic mix of influences channeled into one blend of sounds that defines Tesla Rossa. Even between members the influences differ. “I’m much more of a rock guy, Nathan loves jazz, Ryan’s much more of…he loves pop and more of the hip hop world,” Denton explains.
It’s not only the wide collection of influences that leads to the diverse style, the time spent together as a band plays directly into where Tesla Rossa is now. Five years’ time provided the Nashville group with a collection of songs spanning a variety of directions influenced by their own lives and musical interests during that time period. LISTEN HERE…
Impose premieres Grand Vapids’ “Adequate”
Sometime there is that song that just strikes you in your most vulnerable spot, where the invested contributions to composites of the ego are brought down by roaring boulders of misapplied attention. Such is the grandeur, the sledgehammer to the gut hit of the dissected and deconstructed self-agonizing anguish that is “Adequate”, the big new premiere from Grand Vapids. With their album Guarantees slated for release January 20, the Athens, Georgia quartet of Austin Harris, McKendrick Bearden, Chris Goggans, and Paul Stevens express the creative contents collected from the vapid void with the smart arrangement assist from Drew Vandenberg at the production and engineering seat. The reality check that winter brings comes in the raw and realist gift that you moped around all year waiting for.
With the indie communities of Southern artists and bands on a steady rise, Grand Vapids cut to the core by providing some new grunge caveats that add some new tricks to the 90s ‘revival’ conversations. Off the bat from “Adequate”, internal drives and goals are submerged into the apathetic undertow of castoff aspirations. The internal monologue ruminates through the need for conclusive assurances on the unsettling issues of unknown investment returns on pursuit of all contributed labor. The heavy-headed sulk and personal realization of crisis gets the biggest lift from the cracking noise blossoms of feedback that convey a narrative even heavier than the glum portraits painted by the lyrics. Following the debut of “Adequate”, we got to know the world of Grand Vapids in the following interview with McKendrick Bearden. LISTEN HERE…
Grand Vapids premiere new track “Tuned” at CMJ
Athens, GA’s Grand Vapids have only been together since the start of this year, but their music sounds like the output of a band with way more than exactly zero albums under its belt.Guarantees will be Grand Vapids’ debut LP, set to arrive at the start of 2015. Until then, we’ve got the premiere of the album track Tuned, which struts around with a lazing Beck monotone and a wobbly Pixies buzz. “What I am doing here?” lull co-singers McKendrick Bearden and Austin Harris. Our guess is making pretty good music. LISTEN HERE…
PureVolume premieres Sara Rachele’s new cover of Mazzy Star classic “Fade Into You”
Sara Rachele released her debut album, Diamond Street, in September and didn’t wait long to give her fans more new music. The Georgia-raised folkstress is gearing up to release her “Listen, Judas” 7″, and today we’re thrilled to premiere its B-side, a hazy (even moreso than the original) cover of Mazzy Star‘s “Fade Into You.” Stream the song above.
“For me, Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval is synonymous with mystery,” Rachele confesses. “Her poetry and imagery is something that drew me in from the first time I heard it. She has this uncanny ability to take a simple lyric and make it mean so much. And with “Fade Into You”—which, really, is the quintessential Mazzy Star song—there’s something magical about the way the melody and chords come together. It’s one of my favorite tracks, so when a fan request came in for me to cover it, I immediately said yes. I said yes before I had a second to even think about it.
“The group of musicians behind this new version we’ve recorded is really special to me, as it included members of my old band [Decca/Universal recording artists] The Love Willows. Ryan Wilson produced and engineered alongside Hope Wilson at their studio, Hey Hey, in East Nashville.
“Back in the day with The Love Willows, Ryan and I would always talk about our favorite melodies. He’s got a knack for the bigger, slicker pop songs, so when I asked him to do this moody cut, I wasn’t quite sure he’d say yes. I told him it was a fan-requested cover, and he jumped right in, coming to the table with some amazing players and ideas. For such a dark song, it ended up being a fun vibe, a chance to get our old band back together for a few hours, this time with me on lead vocals. [Rachele used to handle backup vocals and keys for The Love Willows.]
“We cut “Fade Into You” all live, as per my mandate, and afterward sat around telling old stories from when we all used to play together. It was an incredible experience to get to put our spin on a song that meant so much to all of us growing up. And to bring it all home, we asked our friend Kristofer Sampson [Ponderosa, B-52’s, The Coathangers] to do the mixing. I’m really proud of how it came out, and of everyone who plays on it. And also, a big thanks to Mazzy Star for existing, and to the fans for reminding us why we do this in the first place—for each other.” LISTEN HERE…