Portland-based Lisa/Liza is the indie psych-folk project of singer-songwriter and guitarist Liza Victoria, joined by Jonathan Downs and Devin Ivy. Having previously released several limited edition cassettes and CDs, as well as a debut 2016 LP Deserts of Youth, Lisa/Liza has now released a brand new EP in late February called Barn Coat.
The five-track EP highlights Lisa/Liza’s ability to capture deep emotion within ethereal, floating vocals and the carefully plucked acoustic guitar.
The track list for Barn Coat is:
“Vanity Plate”: Liza starts off her EP with a gentle folk song, easing the listener into her style and soft, all-encompassing soundscape.
“Encounters”: Next up on Barn Coat is a track that takes a more angsty spin on Liza’s sound, utilizing staccato and deeper guitar moments to carry the thematics of the song.
“The Robins Song”: Capturing the throaty repetition of a bird’s call, Liza matches her guitar pace to the this idea. A track full of longing and wishes, “The Robins Song” is sure to capture your heart.
“Windows Up”: If you’re needing a new song to roll your hand up and down out the window pretending you’re in a music video, look no further. With mellow guitar and emotional vocals, Liza makes the most of this track, highlighted with some unexpected twists.
“BC”: Closing out Barn Coat is “BC”, a short (and by short we mean 1:36) track that carries the EP home and wraps it up nicely. Throughout this track, Liza utilizes her clear vocals to pair with her guitar in a combination that was just meant to be.
If you’re a fan of acoustic guitar and minimalist records, this is the EP for you. Be sure to check it out today.
Having just released their brand new album Strange Times this morning, Los Angeles-based psych pop trio Hollow FortyFives – comprised of Lucas Renberg, Brett Incardone, and Travis Corsaut – is revving up to play their album release party tonight at The Troubadour. Which means they have absolutely no time to bask in the glow of their work and treasure the audience response, as they’re focused on what’s to come with the entirety of the week still to unfold.
Luckily, we got a hot minute to catch up with them to find out the inspiration behind their work as a whole, the album you’re probably about to listen to on repeat, as well as to poke and prod them with silly little questions that give us peace of mind. Check out our words below!
What was your first musical memory? Did it have any bearing on how you respond to or create music now?
Lucas: Listening to a Beatles cassette that my Uncle had made for me. Then seeing some footage of The Who play live, after that i knew i had to play music.
Brett: Driving in my dad’s car and asking him who the band was on the radio. Also, asking my brother which instrument was playing and him teaching me the different sounds.
Travis: Being taught to play the guitar by my uncle. I quickly gave up and when I got a drum set 5 years later was forced into lessons. I really grew to love it.
Where do you believe you pull the most inspiration from for your work?
Lucas: A big chuck of it comes from the music I listen to and care about, My two favorite songwriters are John Lennon and Bob Dylan. The rest i would have to say come from the way I see the world. Anything can spark a song.
Brett: My biggest inspiration for lyrics would be the people I’m surrounded by whether it be friends, family, or even strangers. For music, simply, it can be bands I like, a riff I hear, or something that just grabs my attention.
Travis: I’d have to say that Lucas and Brett are my biggest inspirations in writing.
What inspired the track “Return Ticket” specifically?
Lucas: “Return Ticket” came about from the feeling of wanting to leave and get away. I live in this paradise that is California, but it’s a huge world out there. Always nice to take a look around, and no need to fear when you have a return ticket back home.
Your album is finally coming out, and we are so excited about it. What was the process for creating this album like for you guys?
Lucas: It was great writing the album and giving these songs the treatment they deserve. As a band it was our first time not recording ourselves, which was a whole new experience itself. We didn’t have to worry about mic placement or levels, we could focus on just playing the songs. And that really helped us grow as a band.
Brett: The process was very fun and smooth. The creative process was an absolute blast to be a part of and recording the album was a lot how I had hoped it would be: lots of late nights, laughs with my band mates, and excitement for being in a professional setting.
Travis: It was eye opening creating this album. The most important part for me was seeing how the songs had grown into something we’re all really proud to show you.
How do you imagine people listening to this release in its entirety?
Lucas: In a smokey room, either laying on a carpet floor or dancing away as the music flows out the speakers.
Brett: Driving in a car on a nice, sunny day, windows down with a cigarette in your hand.
Travis: When you listen to this song, I want you driving to Joshua tree in the rain with one hand out the window. If your friends are awake belt it with them and if they’re asleep wake them up by belting it. Noise is for the boys.
If you could be any superhero, who would you be and why?
Lucas: As a kid i was obsessed with Robin. So it would have to be Robin! He’s got the bat bike and is the only one I know who can question Batman.
Brett: Spiderman because he’s been my favorite since I was a kid, I’ve always loved Spiderman stories, and no matter how tough his life gets he always finds a way to overcome his struggles. Besides, who wouldn’t want to swing from skyscrapers?
Travis: Captain Planet, let’s strive to always improve this world guys.
If you could collaborate with any artist on any medium, who would you choose and what would you make?
Lucas: I’d love to be able to do a split single with my favorite current musician Tim Presley of White Fence.
Brett: Co-writing an album with Jeff Tweedy at the Wilco loft. It would be the craziest thing ever.
Travis: I want to do covers of the Barenaked Ladies with the ghost of Buddy Holly.
Cats or dogs? Substantiate your claim.
Lucas: Dogs who act like cats and cats who act like dogs. Best of both worlds.
Brett: Dogs. I had a cat once when I was a child, but she was a demon. Now I’m not saying all cats are evil, but I have a dog now and he is an absolute angel.
Travis: Cats AND dogs, lil cuties are a damn blessing.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Lucas: Keep living life between the headphones.
Brett: Tip your bartender.
___
Strange Times is out today and will be available here. Be sure to catch them at their album release show TONIGHT and keep up with the band here.
Remember the day Beavis and Butthead immortalized the band “Ween” and the song “Push th’ little Daisies?” Half of the group’s mastermind dean ween, aka the deaner, rounded out by Mike Dillon, Bill Fowler (Sound of Urchin), Adam Weiner (Low Cut Connie), Michael Hampton (Parliament-Funkadelic) make up the dean ween group. Their second album, rock2, will hit the drums of your ears March 16th, 2018.
“Showstopper”, the first track off of rock2, is a garage rock classic, a first-hand account of a small space and loud amps. The second track,”Fingerbangin”, is a semi- surf riff driven track with some superb drumming. I’m sure a crowd favorite at concerts.I was about 3 songs deep when I realized Dean Wean, all suggestive humor aside has become a very seriously seasoned musician. The total 180 spawns a sound you’d find on an old Eagles album. Returning to form with “Theme from skinheads kicking your ass” is saturated with horns in the back, anamorphic bass guitar and it’s easy to sing along to because the only word is “Oi.” Pulling more twists and turns to the albums sound is Rock2’s shining moment, “Yellow Pontiac.”
“You are what you eat, and you are what you drive”
This gritty, grungy, roll around in the swamp mud, tear into a solo cup with your teeth, gulp the beverage inside, and spit out what you chewed off, kinda rock song is seriously humorous.
The album ends with one more turn that isn’t as drastic. A dive bar, blues-rock jam “Sunset over Belmar.” Overall there is plenty of Dean Ween’s style of humor as well as a split personality type of musical diversity.
You can preorder rock2 out on March 16th through Schnitzel Records and keep up with the Dean Ween Group via their Facebook page.
Four-piece girl group The Aces are releasing their highly anticipated debut record, When My Heart Felt Volcanic, on April 6, and have just dropped the title track, “Volcanic Love”. After a successful 2017, performing with Portugal. The Man, Joywave, and others, The Aces prepare to take center stage with their brand new single. The quartet is composed of vocalist/guitarist Cristal Ramirez, her sister Alisa on drums, guitar from Katie Henderson, and rounded out with bass player McKenna Petty.
Not only has the Utah band dropped “Volcanic Love”, but also an accompanying music video. The beautiful music video was co-directed by Nico Poalillo and Alisa Ramirez, and tells not only timeless love stories, but that of The Aces as well. with nods to The Great Gatsby, Heathers, and 500 Days of Summer among others. If the visuals of the video alone don’t, the musical aspects of “Volcanic Love” will make you fall for The Aces immediately.
If you’re wondering what the new record might sound like, give The Aces’ previous EP I Don’t Like Being Honest a listen for a feel of their sound on Spotify.
Hinds are back at it again with a brand new single, “The Club”, appearing on their upcoming second album I Don’t Run. The Madrid-based girl group is comprised of Carlotta Cosials (vocals and guitar), Ana Perrote (guitar and vocals), Ade Martin (bass and backing vocals), and Amber Grimbergen (drums). Having amassed a loyal following, the four-piece are now ready to start their world tour in support of the sophomore album. Filled with devil-may-care attitude, killer guitar moments, and a rollicking beat, “The Club” is the epitome of the unique sound that Hinds have made their own.
Hinds say of their new track:
When we wrote ‘The Club’ and first listened to it we couldn’t believe that we hadn’t [written] it before and that we hadn’t been listening to it for years. A friend said that it is more Hinds than Hinds themselves hahah. That’s why we chose putting it as the track 1 of the album. From now on it’s our presentation card.
CRØW recently dropped his new single, “Feel Good” (styled as “feel l good”), a beautiful pop/R&B track featuring accompanying vocals from Miranda Glory, out via NYC record label Tommy Boy Records. Aside from “Feel Good”, CRØW has also released dozens of other singles, available on multiple platforms.
With a very on-trend beat that lends itself to a modern audience, “Feel Good” ticks all the boxes. CRØW’s dreamy vocals paired with Miranda Glory’s will leave you speechless. Along with soft percussion and smooth guitar, the lyrical content of “Feel Good” is #relatable. Who hasn’t wanted to ignore all their problems and just feel good? The singers vocalize what everyone feels from time to time.
This track isn’t one you’ll want to miss, so check it out today!
Nevada-bred director, singer, and songwriter Nick Rattigan, styled as Current Joys, has just dropped his brand new visual album, A Different Age, out via Danger Collective Records. Now NYC-based, his fifth solo album is a special one since it features a self-directed music video for each song on the LP. As part of the punk band Surf Curse with Jacob Rubeck, Rattigan was able to explore the music scene as part of a duo; now, he also puts out solo material as Current Joys.
A Different Age’s multimedia approach allows fans of Current Joys to gain insight both visually and aurally into Rattigan’s creative psyche. With emotion-packed, vulnerable lyrics and vocals, Rattigan packs a punch into his record. A Different Age starts off with “Become the Warm Jets”, a track with a bittersweet vibe, soaring vocals, and a mellow, minimalistic, yet touching video to accompany it. Next up is “Fear”, a soft-rock featuring a red-themed lyric-style video. Featuring lyrics like “I don’t wanna be afraid/I don’t wanna live this way”, the track is an honest and emotional one. Following “Fear” is “Alabama”, nostalgic both as track and video, truly encompassing the title of the record.
The fourth track on A Different Age is “Way Out Here”, The video features a second-person POV at a carnival, following around Rattigan. “No Words” comes around as the middle track on the record, and as the name implies, is instrumental. The video is simply a clean, black-and-white shot of a woman sitting on a bed, just breathing. The song is one of Rattigan’s most experimental, featuring high-pitched psychedelic sounds alongside a mellow folk melody line. “In A Year of 13 Moons” brings lyrics back to the album in a thoughtful manner, accompanied by acoustic guitar. The video for this track is Rattigan playing guitar and singing while an artist draws on his face.
The title track of the album, “A Different Age” comes next. A different spin on the traditional “musician playing instruments and singing the song” cliche, Rattigan uses shadows to create a fresh take on this common theme. “My Nights Are More Beautiful Than Your Days” is the penultimate song on the record. A sweet video that is half-styled as a home-video, half as regular filming, follows two young lovers around their day.
Closing out A Different Age is “Fox”, which comes full circle with a video somewhat reminiscent in its style and content to “Become the Warm Jets”. A Different Age’s songs and videos display Rattigan’s flexibility and creativity at its finest, so don’t miss it!
Coming out of 2017 with a wildly successful tour under their belts and hailed as one of the best up and coming bands of their generation, dream-pop band BOYS has released their first track of the year, “Hollywood.” Not only has this track already attracted listeners from all over the country, but this golden age group also has faithful fans throughout the United Kingdom. To add to this powerhouse of a band, members Ross Pearce (vocals), Mike Stothard (guitar), Kane Butler (guitar) and Dan Heffernon (bass) have already started to gear up for another line of performances on stages old and new.
“Hollywood” is simply an extension of the foursome’s already dynamic repertoire. Not only does it showcase all of the same sounds and tendencies that are so iconic to the songs they have released in the past, but they also bring a whole new energy. The experiences gained over the last year of touring and performing have only brought BOYS to a whole new level that is sure to propel them forward in the industry. In regard to their recent success the band stated, “Having gained new experiences and ideas from the time we spent in the US together, whilst there we started talking about leaving behind our lives in London and starting a new one in Hollywood, even if it wasn’t a realistic idea.”
We’ve been inundated with a little too much fluff lately. And, while we’re all about being happy and upbeat and feeling free, sometimes you need to slow it down and enjoy a good song for what it is: emotional, dark, intense, and equally as freeing. This is the feeling you get from the first chords of Nathaniel Bellows‘ new track “To Wait”, which finds its exclusive streaming premiere right here, right now. As the song progresses, a dark and beautiful love affair brims within its lines for those who happen upon it.
If nothing else, this track reminds you that patience – even when you’re waiting for dissonance in instrumentals and the next line of a brand new song – is a damn virtue.
We caught up with Nathaniel himself briefly before the release of this new track to talk shop. Check out our words below!
How is your new LP, Swan and Wolf, different from your previous album?
With Swan and Wolf, I left the city and went up to Maine to record all the vocals and guitar tracks by myself. Being in that secluded environment, I was able to spend more time organizing, layering, and experimenting with how the background vocals interacted with the main vocal, which ultimately—hopefully—gives the songs greater emotional texture and depth. Another main difference is that, with Swan and Wolf, I worked closely with a mixer, Brian Losch, who really understood the mood and tone I was looking for, and which resulted in a more cohesive, consistent overall sound.
While The Old Illusions featured two of my drawings as part of the CD booklet, Swan and Wolf incorporates more of my visual art: I created ten illustrations that correspond to each of the ten songs on the record, which are available to view on the album’s website, and in a limited edition hardcover book that I produced as a companion to the music.
How would you describe the sound of Swan and Wolf?
As with The Old Illusions, I was looking for a very direct, spare, open-room sound, but this time, with a more polished, professional sheen. There aren’t that many elements in these songs, but I was eager to have each component sit within the mix in an organic, but ordered way. Overall, I wanted the sound to be clean and immediate, with a slight tinge of rawness, and the distinct presence of human imperfection.
Where do you find the inspiration to write?
I grew up in rural environments, so I’ve always been very inspired by the natural world. I live in New York City now and have written most of my music here, so maybe there’s something to the urban landscape that particularly inspires this work—perhaps the pervasive, invisible rhythms of the city? I’m not sure, but it’s definitely given me a lot to write/sing about (much to the dismay of my neighbors, I think!).
You are a poet, a novelist, a visual artist, and a musician. What got you into doing music?
Playing and studying music has always run alongside the other disciplines that I work in. I took piano lessons for 11 years when I was young, and I picked up the guitar when I went to college. I started writing songs around the time I finished college and went to graduate school as a way to explore a different approach to poetry, which I was mainly writing at the time. Ever since then, songwriting has slotted in among my other artistic pursuits in a pretty seamless and satisfying way.
How do you differentiate yourself from your music and your writing?
There is a definite overlap in my music and my writing. But with the songs, I tend to include more vernacular language than I would in a poem—the rhyming is more forceful and structured, and there’s a more deliberate symmetry in a song’s verses and choruses, which are choices I don’t employ so overtly in my poetry. Sometimes I use quotations in the songs in a way I might when writing fiction, but the songs tend to be blurry, abstract meditations on emotion, memories, events or images, so I don’t feel any need to crystalize these spoken scraps into something more narratively realized, the way I do when writing a short story or a novel. In all my work, I aim for clarity, specificity, and vividness, but with songwriting, I like to explore the tension between exactitude and ambiguity.
What was the inspiration behind your first single, “Keep in Mind”?
It takes me a long time to write songs, because they evolve as a slow accrual of ideas, generated in fits and starts, over months and sometimes years. I’m also unable to write lyrics in the absence of the guitar—the lyrics and music tend to evolve in tandem. I practice a lot and record drafts of the songs on my phone, and walk around listening to them to try to figure out what the music is attempting to evoke and express. It can take a while. Given all of this, it’s a little hard to pinpoint what the inspiration is for any one song, except that they usually begin with a central image or phrase, around which the song slowly congeals. In the case of “Keep in Mind,” I think it was the image of the seabirds mentioned in the second verse—the idea that they have an innate sense of where they are headed, how they are meant to live, all in their own mysterious and unknowable ways.
What is next for your career?
I am looking forward to playing these songs live in the upcoming months, after the release. I have also been working on a new novel—a contemporary ghost story set on a small island off the coast of Maine—and I’m in the process of finishing my second collection of poetry.
I frequently collaborate with the composer Sarah Kirkland Snider—our first record, Unremembered, a song cycle for 7 voices, chamber orchestra, and electronics, based on 13 of my poems and illustrations—came out in 2015. We are now working on a Mass for Trinity Wall Street, about endangered animals and the environment, which premieres this spring, and we’ve also begun work on an opera.
