by Meredith Schneider | Oct 25, 2017 | soundtrack
Today, Brooklyn-based rock collective OxenFree – comprised of Jeff Doyle, Sam Ghitelman, Sean Padden, Christopher Burns, and Emilie Soffe – released the official music video for their single “Machine”, off of their recently released album Another Land. Directed by Matt Smithson, the video is fully animated in simplistic black and white sketches, and details a slightly creepy “day in the life” situation with a man wearing a smiley mask and who seems to do everything on autopilot. If that isn’t saying something, we’re not sure what is. The drawings are extraordinary, as you take in the message of the track while bobbing your head to the beat.
In honor of the release of their new video, the band has curated a playlist for our readers. Listen to everything you need to hear – including all 23 tracks on the playlist – right here, and then scroll on down to feast your eyes on “Machine”!
Keep up with OxenFree here.
by Meredith Schneider | Oct 25, 2017 | wolf tracks
Recently the most upbeat alternative rock live act we know, AWOLNATION, released the official lyric video for latest track “Passion”. The track itself serves as a mellow backdrop between the bravado of the repeating chorus – allowing itself to showcase Aaron’s softer vocal abilities than, say, “Sail” – to the contrast of the simple, black and white setup for the video. Shot from the Red Bull E-Sports Studio, the video is comprised of several individuals singing into the camera, a single light shining down on them and contrasted in black and white, their décolletage exposed as though to equalize all of them. The simplicity is striking, and the lyrics will certainly stick with you.
Keep your eyes peeled for AWOLNATION’s next release – set to drop in 2018 – right here.
by Meredith Schneider | Oct 25, 2017 | wolf tracks
Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Ghita has really hit the ground running as a newcomer to the west coast music scene. Last year, she released her tracks “HateULoveU” and “How Low” as if she were feeding them to the wolves, as both tracks took off immediately. In fact, “How Low” – a track she released with producer Mickey Valen – hit and exceeded one million streams almost immediately. So of course she’s got to follow up that success with another stunner, and she has with her most recent single “Mindfvck”, released earlier this month.
“Mindfvck” details a tumultuous romantic relationship, as Ghita admits that she might be the issue since she can’t decide how she feels about her counterpart in the relationship. Lines like “as soon as you know me I’m likely to change” and “sometimes I love you” adhere to that ideology, as she struggles with her own polarizing thoughts about the relationship. We can relate, so we’re going to be spinning this into the weekend.
“Mindfvck” is available now. Keep up with Ghita here.
by Meredith Schneider | Oct 25, 2017 | wolf tracks
Detroit-based pop duo JR JR – Joshua Epstein and Daniel Zott – have been releasing their first music since 2015’s self-titled full-length. Though they do hone their sound in the pop genre, their last three tracks have been noted as darker lyrically, garnering them a host of attention. We’re most ecstatic about the latest single, a track titled “Control (Secretly Sorry)”, which was released earlier this month. Influenced by the emotions directly following the last Presidential election, a warning message is delivered amidst the upbeat, dance music vibe emitted by the instrumentals. But if you look past the reverb and into the lyrics, you might find that “Control” becomes your next favorite track.
Says Josh about the track:
“Control” was written on November 10th (2 days after the election) at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, Mi. I woke up late and was driving in our van–which has no radio anymore. Suddenly the melody and the lyric was in my head, “careful of who you let control the people that you know oh oh oh”.
I raced upstairs to sing it for the guys, and found that they were starting to write a song around a riff that Bryan Pope was playing on guitar.
Somehow, the song they were playing was the exact same tempo and key as the lyrics and melody that I was singing. It’s like we were all writing the song serendipitously in separate locations at the same time. It came fast, and to this day feels like a song that we didn’t write–it wrote itself through us.
Keep up with JR JR here.
by Meredith Schneider | Oct 24, 2017 | wolf tracks
Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Sam Small is about to release his debut EP, a five track wonder titled Hazel. The entire work was recorded in one night with no overdubs, a simplified approach that ended up benefitting Small’s intricate approach to his vocals. One prime example of this is with his latest single, a song titled “How Unlikely”, which we are premiering right here, right now.
The track begins with the subtle, quick plucking of the guitar, quickly becoming the blended, simplistic backdrop for Small’s Dylanesque vocals. The lyrics detail an innocent puppy love, a no frills narrative that anyone would be happy to experience. Lines like “how funny does it seem that we once called this a fling / it was only supposed to last a summer long” make you stop and think about all the tiny moments that lead you along the course of your own life.
And that’s alright with us.
Keep up with Sam Small here.
by Meredith Schneider | Oct 24, 2017 | 5 to 7
Norwegian indie folk duo Tuvaband – comprised of Simon Would and Tuva Hellum – have been crazy busy prepping to release their debut EP, which is set to drop in November. The pair – who are incredibly socially conscious and tend to lend that activism to their art – recently released their single “Trees” to critical acclaim. The song, which touches on the importance of our natural habitat, is an ethereal taste of what’s to come.
With that in mind, we were ecstatic to catch a few moments with the band leading up to their big show at Mirrors Festival. Here is what they had to say.
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What is the first song or album you ever remember hearing, and who introduced it to you?
I can’t remember. I do remember that Aretha Franklin was one of my first favourite artists and that I had a lot of her albums. I wanted to become the new Aretha Franklin. A mix between Aretha Franklin and Gwen Stefani (when she was in No Doubt).
The first album Simon heard was Radiohead – Amnesiac. His uncle had bought it and they were listening to it in the car in Ireland. It’s still one of his favorite albums.
What is the origin story of Tuvaband? Was it impossibly amazing?
I was studying child welfare, and the girls I was living with was tired of hearing me make annoying sounds and doing my man-vocals out loud in our apartment. They told a guy in our class, to bring me to his studio to make me try to sing normal. I did, and it was the most fun I’ve had. I started singing with this guy and another musician. I thought we were a band and told my family and friends. Turned out we were just jamming. I went to my room and started making my own songs, and called myself Tuvaband as a joke. I would never sing in front of people, but gave my parents a Tuvaband CD for Christmas.
Back in Oslo after my studies, I met Simon and his friend in a bar, which were looking for a girl to sing a duet with. After three hours at an afterparty, when people had started falling asleep, I finally sang with Simon and his friend. Many months later I asked if Simon could play guitar in Tuvaband. We found out we would rather be a duo than a band and therefore could keep that name.
“Trees” is incredibly beautiful. We know production happened in two separate apartments, but what was the process like for this one? Lyrics first, melody first? Concept vs. words? Paint us a picture!
Thank you so much!
I’de written the lyrics earlier, but the melody we were just jamming, it’s the first song we had which started from a random jam. We had to structure the song together later to make it sound more like a song. There was a lot of rounds trying to record it and make it sound good. I think it took us almost a year to make it right.
What do you hope people glean from this track, specifically?
It would be nice if some people like the song so much that they will listen to the lyrics. First about the rainforest, then about our self-destructing behaviour, and then maybe produce even more thoughts about what we could do differently when it comes to the environment.
Your new EP is due in November. Can we expect other equally as socially conscious tracks on it? Is there an overarching message in its tranquility?
A lot of the songs I write has a similar message to the one in ‘Trees’, but the EP has a lot of different themes. It’s constructed in a way as a story, which evolves as the EP progresses. It goes from being about dealing with a trauma, then the aftermath of a trauma. And then when you are done dealing with this, it shifts towards the world around you, which is where ‘Trees’ and two other songs come in.
What are you most excited about with the upcoming EP release?
It’s nice to finally get something out that we’ve been working on for a long time, and to show people that we have more songs. We are close to finishing yet another EP, so it is about time to release the debut EP.
I have to say that we are both really excited about releasing a really nice music video, made by Marius Mathisrud and Oscar Juul Sørensen, for one of the tracks on the EP too!
Alright. The tough one. Cats or dogs?
It’s definitely cats for me. I’m the cat lady, but with no cats. When I’m 65, I will probably have 14 cats. If I ever start a side project as a musician, my name would be ‘The Mother of Cats’. Simon is a dog person and had a dog growing up. That says a lot about how different we are from each other.
Anything else you’d like us to know?
We are playing at Mirrors (festival) in Hackney, London, 28th of October. We hope to see you there!
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Catch up with Tuvaband during a Rough Trade In-Store gig on October 27th, and at Mirrors on the 28th. Keep up with Tuvaband here.
by Meredith Schneider | Oct 24, 2017 | wolf tracks
Nashville-based folk/Americana singer/songwriter Faith Evans Ruch released her latest – a ten track album titled Lessons in Falling – on October 13th. Her first release since 2014’s After It’s Said & Done, Ruch has chosen to incorporate more genres of music in her writing and sound, drawing influence from soul to pop to r&b and beyond. There are clear roots with the songwriting, as every song has a lot to do with love. But it’s the vulnerability in her vocals, the way she can really reach and make you feel with every note, that is of actual note in this new release.
“I’m Yours” starts the album off with a bang, as we experience a real nod to Elvis in the crooning vocals. Though she visits similar notes throughout the album, this one feels the most like it was produced by The King himself. And while “Beg for Mercy” easily could have gone that way with the title, it serves as the quintessential mid-tempo blues track. “Sugar” takes on a different type of nostalgic flare, and quite frankly we could see it placed in a remake of Grease. And “Sunny Side” takes on an even more diverse direction, as we melt into a modern spin on a 70s funk feel.
“This Cold” is the first real slow jam on Lessons in Falling, questioning the length of time she has been “wandering in this cold”, begging the question of love’s existence. Quickly, however, the tone changes with “Stupid Boy” and the subtle vocal quirks she incorporates to hook the audience into this one. The use of a choir-like backup vocals makes this one feel more robust amidst its pop-influenced sound. “Blood From a Stone” takes yet another different approach, the tempo changing a couple of times while Ruch threatens the man that tries to lie to her and “play it cool”, as she explains that she is “nobody’s fool”. We’re not ones to cross her after this track, that’s for sure.
But there are still three more tracks to delve into, and while “Rock Me Slow” is clearly the second slow track, it might place her on a different level of vulnerability as she leads us through a lonely narrative of sleeping alone and all of the tumultuous emotions that love or the lack thereof can burden a human with. We expect a lot from a song with the title “Bang Bang”, and we are pleasantly surprised with the final product. It feels like a song that came right out of the Kill Bill soundtrack, and you’ll understand what we mean from the first line to the very last chords. She rounds out her work with the aptly titled “Thank You”, which slowly careens through robust, soulful instrumentals toward her overall message of closure. Bittersweet, as now we have to wait to see the next step in Ruch’s musical progression.
Lessons in Falling is available now. Keep up with Faith Evans Ruch here.
by Meredith Schneider | Oct 24, 2017 | wolf tracks
Last week, producer and multi-instrumentalist Outsider released the music and lyric video for latest track “Míol Mór Mara”. The track – which is featured on the Fifa ’18 Soundtrack – almost glitters with energy, resplendent in that nostalgic 80’s sound that acts like Bruce and Bleachers are known for. The video details a woman’s insatiable wanderlust and want to go against the grain – something we have all experienced at some point or another and something that led to the creation of Imperfect Fifth – as the darkness and people around her almost seem to want to envelope her in that darkness.
Explains Outsider, “The song is about a child with down syndrome I worked with when I was suffering from huge heartbreak and it had a profound influence on my life. The kid was so inspiring and pulled me out of a dark place really just by spending time with him. It’s got a lot of biblical references to Jonah and The Whale, which is symbolic of diving into the sea of the unknown and becoming something far greater than yourself in a spiritual sense.”
We can definitely get on board with that.
Keep up with Outsider here.
by Meredith Schneider | Oct 23, 2017 | 5 to 7
Toronto-based alternative folk collective Birds of Bellwoods – comprised of Stephen Joffe, Adrian Morningstar, Chris Blades, and Kintaro Akiyama – are no strangers to attention. Having garnered accolades like crazy in 2015 and 2016 for their work, they continue to release catchy, lyrically intense songs that hook their listener and draw them into their beautifully painted world. In honor of their first official music video premiering with Hollywood Life last week, they answered a few questions for us and brought us behind the scenes on honing down material for the album, early music memories, and Billy Murray.
Check out the video for “Let You Go”, then get to know Birds of Bellwoods a little better below.
What is the first album/song you remember hearing, and who introduced it to you?
Stevie: Honestly, and it’s hard to admit, but the first song I really remember listening to front to back is “All Star” by Smash Mouth. And singing along at the top of my lungs during a road trip with my family (they weren’t singing).
Adrian: I think my earliest memory of music would have to be my dad singing “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” to my sister. Definitely played a big role in defining my relationship with mortality.
Kintaro: Hard to say, but “Graceland” by Paul Simon is definitely deeply ingrained in my childhood memories. I feel like that album was the soundtrack to many road trips for me as a young one.
Chris: Either Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette or a Peter, Paul, and Mary album, both of which were cassettes that my family brought on a road trip to Quebec when I was 3 or 4.
Your single “Catching Up” is absolutely mesmerizing. How do you imagine your fans enjoying that music?
Thank you so much! We’re glad you’re enjoying it. We hope our fans can enjoy that music in a lot of different situations. For us it’s a “looking back” kind of song, so a long drive, or returning to your old neighbourhood, or maybe slipping it on just as your plane takes off. And then when the heavy drums kick in halfway through it would work well to hit some light turbulence. It goes over really well at Tupperware parties too!
Victoria is a stunning album. Did you find it difficult to hone down your material to 10 tracks, or were you building toward this album with a concept in mind already?
Honing down the material is always a difficult process. There were definitely songs we knew would make the album but we purposefully left a lot of room for experimentation and exploration. There are songs we have been playing live for a long time that still don’t have a recorded form because they didn’t suit the project. Luckily, there’s always the next one. In the end from a large selection of songs it became pretty clear which ones told the most cohesive story and supported each other best.
Your track “Melatonin” is kind of an exact description of our lives. (And one of our favorites from the album.) What inspired that track, specifically?
That is a song that in some form or another Adrian and Stevie have been playing for several years, but it didn’t take on all the elements that truly make it “Melatonin” until it came together in the studio. It was originally inspired by a time in Adrian and Stevie’s lives when they were both coming to terms with unhealthy relationships that, after several failed attempts, were finally ending. Stevie wasn’t sleeping well so he went pretty deep into the melatonin, and then started taking it while he was awake to see what would happen, and there you have the song.
What is your favorite track off the upcoming release? Any particular reason?
Stevie: I think that changes for us every day. Today my favourite track would have to be “Let You Go.” It’s got all the elements of urgency and romance that I love, wrapped up in a driving beat that always gets the crowd moving. It also started as an acoustic ballad so the development has been very exciting to experience.
Adrian: “Don’t Look Back” is probably my favourite track on the record. Since it’s inception, I’ve held it very close to my heart, and have kept it as a sort of mantra ever since.
Kintaro: Picking a favourite song is like picking a favourite child. They all have their individual personalities and characters. That being said my favourite “child” is probably “Kiss Me.” That song was born in the studio, but has grown into a whole new beast in a live setting.
Chris: My favorite is “Catching Up” because it’s a simple concept and a simple musical idea that I think conveys a feeling with some level of clarity. It also starts soft folk and ends hard rock so it’s a kind of like a liminal zone between our two sounds.
If you could collaborate with any artist on any medium to help promote the album, who would you work with and what would you do?
Stevie: I would love to do an extended collaboration with a company in Toronto called “Vazari Dance Projects” with whom I work occasionally and the French circus company ‘Sept Droigts De La Main’. Ideally we’d take them on tour and expand the nature of our shows and music like David Bowie did with La La La Human Steps.
Adrian: Bill Murray is currently travelling the world on our behalf, spreading the word. He’s a great guy to have on board supporting us, and Reddit loves the stories!
Kintaro: In line with Bill Murray, I think it would be great to work with a big director like Wes Anderson. Someone who has a very specific style, but continues to grow with every new project.
Chris: I would get Justin Roiland from Rick and Morty to do a freestyle vocal part over the instrumentals to our song “Kiss Me” on the first listen and then release the first take.
Which celebrity Ryan is your favorite? Substantiate that claim.
We have agreed that Rye’an Ginger always gets the job done.
Anything else you’d like to add?
We have two singles out already, “A Year Ago” and “Catching Up,” which are available on all streaming and purchase services. “Let You Go” will be the third single, available October 20th, and will also be our first ever music video.
Catching Up:
A Year Ago:
Also we are currently on tour, with dates throughout Canada, and would love to see you there! Check here for dates. Hope to play for you soon!
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Keep up with Birds of Bellwoods here.
