Gus Seyffert has been playing guitar on other people’s records for a decade now, amassing credits on songs from Sia, Beck, Jenny Lewis, the Black Keys, and many more. READ MORE…
Stereogum
Stereogum Premieres Angela Perley’s “Don’t Look Back Mary”
Angela Perley has been making tunes for over a decade now. In fact, our own Chris DeVille reviewed one of her shows way back in 2011. In the time since, she’s released played on bills alongside acts like the Flaming Lips, St. Vincent, and Randy Newman. Perley is gearing up for the release of her third full-length LP, 4:30, which is named for the time she goes to bed. Definitely a night owl.
“Don’t Look Back Mary” is gorgeous in composition, and swings with a slow, grooving snare bump. Sprinkled high hats, when combined with a sliding guitar riff, create this illusion of an expansive horizon. Vocally, it’s a slow croon, but a stepwise motion on the shimmery strings adds just the right amount of gravity to the lyrical content. Here Perley is with more details on the track:
Wide Open Country Search FOLLOW facebook twitter pinterest NEWS MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT LIFESTYLE FOOD & DRINK PLACES MUSIC Song Premiere: Angela Perley’s Unyielding ‘Local Heroes’
Columbus, Ohio-based artist Angela Perley salutes struggling musicians on the resolute “Local Heroes,” a pensive, slow-burning country ballad about the seemingly never-ending grind of a road warrior. From long drives between gigs to splitting the paltry earnings between band members, the song captures a night in the life of many musicians.
“All this driving has got me thinking about how small I really am,” Perley sings. “Playing music in some dark room/ Splitting money with the band.”
Perley says the song, the latest release from her forthcoming album 4:30 (out on Aug. 2), was written with her own heroes and peers in mind.
“‘Local Heroes’ is an ode to every musician that is out there grinding it out, night after night, year after year. It’s my salute to them, to let them know they are not alone, that their voice matters, and to keep going,” Perley tells Wide Open Country. “It’s also in memory of some of the greats we lost too soon, including many musicians and friends I’ve seen follow either a destructive path or just completely give up on music.”
“There are a lot of smoke and mirrors in the music business and I don’t think people realize the weight and amount of pressure that is put on musicians mentally and physically. To be away from your family and loved ones most of the time can be isolating and can cause strain on those relationships,” Perley continues. “There can be some casualties involved in friendships too, when people perceive certain amounts of success in others. Some will take the route of jealousy and actively root against their peers instead of standing and celebrating with them and that has never made sense to me…Overall though, the song is a love song to other musicians out there. It’s about hope and about sending love and strength to those on their journey.”
Atlanta post-punks MammaBear highlight the power of keeping it simple on “Like A Monster”
MammaBear gear up to their record SAY with new track “Like A Monster”, gradually reeling you in, sinking deeper into your consciousness in the form of a desperate and despairing vocal and instrumental combination, a notion that feels both invasive and thrilling.
Chugging, moody guitars and a loose, almost drunken vocal refrain; “Like A Monster” draws you in precisely because not much really happens. Vocalist and songwriter, Kyle Gordon, and his co-producer, David Prasse, wisely decided to stick with Gordon’s initial vocal take, revelling in its scene-setting simplicity and veering away from any smudging or added complexity.
The decision to go with such simplicity is an approach and ethos that speaks right to the core of “Like A Monster”. There’s the grinding dirge of industrial music, the indie haze of The Walkmen, and the circular structure of Pixies, but it’s presented as an unrushed and uncomplicated five minutes of sound.
It’s a combination that works hauntingly well, and is testament to the writing and production capabilities of MammaBear, plus David Prasse, in making something largely uneventful sound so impactful. Less certainly isn’t always more, but on “Like A Monster”, MammaBear highlight the potential power of keeping things simple.
On writing “Like A Monster”, Gordon says: “It was originally written around the time that a good friend of mine went to prison. The song was about him and people’s perspectives on his situation. Over time, the lyrics evolved more into a view of my own childhood, coming from a divorced family and subsequent feelings of neglect, loss, and lack of self-confidence.”
“Like A Monster” and Say are released 26 April via Slush Fund. Find MammaBear on Facebook.
Stereogum premieres Beechwood’s cover of The Kinks’ “I’m Not Like Everybody Else”
Brooklyn’s Beechwood are one of those bands that might be sorely mistaken for a trend-hopping buzz group if they landed in some other era — assuming you can figure out what era it is from song to song, since they run a pretty wide gamut of scuzz from garage to glam to punk to indie that’s not that easy to date. As things go right now, that sort of noise is probably too niche for Apple commercials and thinkfluencer party soundtracks, so they can probably be taken at their sharp-dressed-dirtbag surface value, what with said surface being vaguely oily and possibly flammable. When Gordon Lawrence’s voice shifts from an almost shoegazy whirr to a sawblade growl on the chorus, “I’m not like everybody else” means “my clothes are stolen and the cops beat us up.” Which, as far as rock bands go, is more than what just about everybody else could say. READ MORE…
Baby Robot Media is a music publicity and media service agency with employees in Los Angeles, Memphis, Atlanta & New York and represent musicians from all over the world. We specialize in promotional ( PR ) campaigns for albums, singles and videos, tour press, radio, music video production, music marketing, social media campaigns, Spotify campaigns and creating promotional content. Our mission is to help great unknown bands reach a wider audience and to help already successful artists manage their brand identity and continue to thrive. Our music publicists have over 50 years of combined experience in the music industry. We are known as one of the best in the business.
Stereogum gives audience a first listen to new album from Honus Honus, Use Your Delusion
Los Angeles-based Ryan Kattner has reinvented himself with his new solo project Honus Honus and fueled his debut LP with the chaos of LA. Use Your Delusion is a hodgepodge of dizzying synths, quirky vocals, and genre overload. The album was a way for Kattner to explore new sounds and musical dimensions unknown to him with his previous project, Man Man. Here, Kattner jumps through various hoops to cultivate 13 whimsical, disorienting pop tracks. His goal was pure dystopian pop inspired by Los Angeles. READ MORE…
Baby Robot Media is a music publicity and media service agency with employees in Los Angeles, Memphis, Atlanta & New York and represent musicians from all over the world. We specialize in promotional ( PR ) campaigns for albums, singles and videos, tour press, radio, music video production, music marketing, social media campaigns, Spotify campaigns and creating promotional content. Our mission is to help great unknown bands reach a wider audience and to help already successful artists manage their brand identity and continue to thrive. Our music publicists have over 50 years of combined experience in the music industry. We are known as one of the best in the business.