Amid plans for Liverpool based artist Pizzagirl to make his first visit to the states, he has broken his (incredibly brief) 3 month silence to grace our ears with new music straight outta the oven. While this may seem like no time at all for your everyday artists, in Pizzagirl years (which are clearly relative) it’s long enough to require a statement being issued about it. On his silence, he says:
“sorry for not replying to ur last message just been having my beauty sleep for a coupla months 🙂 I know it’s been a while but there’s a lil party in cape canaveral I heard about! I’d love to see you there if you’re still interested? speak soon xx”. While we can’t speak for everyone, we forgive you for your abandonment and we’re DEFINITELY interested, Pizzagirl.
Pizzagirl is bringing us his first release since his debut album, first timer, which drew influence from various musical and pop-culture references that he spent his formative artistic years absorbing. His debut successfully melded his nostalgia-inducing 80s-synth vibes with those of your modern indie artists. While it’s still early in his hopeful career, things are looking good for Pizzagirl, who is back to focusing on writing songs with his trusty guitar, Denise, and will now be joined onstage by a live band.
This newest track is a taught art-rock jam that builds into the soundtrack for an offbeat party scene. No doubt cooked up in his bedroom-pop lair, which he’s oh-so-cleverly dubbed the Beatzzeria, the new track channels David Byrne in its depiction of the subject matter, an underground fugitive character just trying to go to a party on The Space Coast (all the other indie-pop kids are going Mom!). Pizzagirl brings a variety of instrumentation to his elusive party (never before have I been so satisfied by the musical pairing of synth and cowbell) that, combined with the thickly textured chorus of shouting voices featured on the last chorus, will undoubtedly make you too want to jump around at an indie-disco.
“cape canaveral ” premieres February 19th ahead of Pizzagirl’s first stateside performance at Austin’s SXSW festival. Keep up with Pizzagirl here.
Australian artist Jamie-Lee Dimes released her latest single “Release Me”. This track wrestles with the complexity of trying to fit in as a response to discrimination. “Release Me” is a cathartic track that blends 60’s rock with dreamy melancholic folk.
Dimes also released a video to accompany the track. The music video is a tribute to the beauty of Australia’s natural life in wake of the brush fires that have burned millions of acres of land.
Dimes, a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, draws inspiration from artists like Patti Smith, PJ Harvey and Kim Gordon. Dimes writes music for the purpose of igniting conversations and change in order to provide a voice for those who may not have one. Her music style tackles the global perspective with writing fueled by wanderlust.
Off in the ever-so-mystical land of California, somewhere in a psychedelic desert dreamland, music legends write songs, record music, and do a shit ton of drugs.
After a 16 year hiatus, collaborative supergroup Desert Sessions returned with their sense of humor clearly still very much intact in October of last year with the release of Desert Sessions Vols. 11 and 12, a.k.a. Arrivederci Despair and Tightwads & Nitwits & Critics & Heels (Please refer to aforementioned sense of humor). If you aren’t familiar with The Desert Sessions, (although you probably should be) It’s described as a “collaborative musical effort” by founder Josh Hommes (Queens of the Stone Age) and features a variety of different musical players writing and recording on the spot at the famed Rancho De La Luna studio.
In The Desert Sessions’ newest release, a music video for “If You Run”, (directed by Rio Hackford) Hommes picks up a mysterious hitchhiking woman (Libby Grace) on a winding road in Joshua Tree. The two ride through the desert against hazy yellow scenery before arriving at Rancho De La Luna where Hommes introduces Grace to the rest of the musicians, which includes ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint, and Les Claypool of Primus, among others. Saturated desert skies and moody artificial colors make for dreamy aesthetics throughout the video. At nightfall, Grace doses everyone and they all trip out together in the middle of the desert (Please refer to aforementioned music legends doing a shit ton of drugs in the desert) which we get to experience through some highly psychedelic visuals.
In a statement, Hackford said “The video was inspired by Josh bringing an unknown Libby Grace into the Desert Sessions arena to show her haunting magic to the world. Homme, Sweeney, and I are some of the only people who have heard Libby’s music, so the idea of them introducing her to the players and recording process lit the fuse. The song lent itself perfectly to the lonesome desert landscape and the spell that the Rancho can cast on anyone that passes through its doors.” And Libby certainly holds her own with the titans, contributing spellbinding vocals over lonesome guitars for her first major music video appearance.
Remember that sense of humor I’ve now mentioned three times? Well, in other The Desert Session news, inspired by the, in their own words, “disappointingly” frequent misspelling of the Desert Sessions, the group have launched *drumroll please* The Dessert Sessions: Feral Recipes for the Joyful Destruction of Taste Buds, a “unique collection of otherworldly recipes created and inspired by the music of the Desert Sessions!” Yes this is real, yes there’s a website, and yes the website does challenge you to post pictorial evidence that you actually attempted to make one of the recipes, (with the challenge “Prove it, punk” included as a motivator) The recipes include cheese stuffed meat rings, sardine topped doughnut cakes, avocado and sour cream gelatin plates. Now THIS is some creative marketing I can get on board with.
Dallas punk rockers CLIFFFS are big believers in the idea that perfection has ruined music. According to them, precisely triggered digital samples, autotune, and overly photoshopped album covers all attribute to the killing of the imperfections that give music character and turn it into just another product being marketed to the masses, all elements of humanity drained out of it.
CLIFFFS approaches their music a little differently.
“CLIFFFS don’t give a fuck about perfect”. Fellow Dallas musician Rhett Miller wrote. “Which is probably why, for their sophomore effort PANIC ATTACK, they went and made a perfect record”. The irony is there, but it’s not hard to see what he means.
Less is more with this project, and it pays off. The first single off of that record, “Into the Salt”, is a quick and fiery track with all of the delicious grit and raw energy that exemplifies garage rock. Their premise is simple, but their songs are explosive and their playing is tight. Short, not so sweet, and definitely to the point, one thing is for sure; CLIFFFS know how to rock.
CLIFFFS kicks off the first of three album release shows February 27th at Three Links in Dallas.
2020 has marked a new chapter in the lives of many, and we have been overwhelmed with news of good changes in our friends’ lives, and, honestly? Not surprised. The creative force that seems to have supercharged this year shows no signs of slowing down, and it may have wrapped us up so tight in its existence — filled to the brim with gorgeous lyrics, magnetic chorus lines, incredible bass, and intrinsically alluring melodies — that we are JUST coming up for air and realizing TOMORROW IS VALENTINE’S DAY.
But you know what? That’s not what February is anymore. It took this long, but it doesn’t seem that each month is categorized by its major holiday. And that actually feels better than anything else. Knowing that music is transcending what it once was, and becoming a deeper reflection of our thoughts and emotions than ever before.
This month, let’s celebrate the wins. Celebrate the new songs that have entered our minds, the new sensations that bubble up from it all. Celebrate the creative efforts honed by talents such as Stumbleine, MOONZz, Mo Lowda & The Humble, and more!
Check back all month for more additions to the latest and greatest soundtrack to your year!
Under the name Dead End Career Club, Canadian native Ryan Kennedy drops newest single “Cooler Than Me”. Neo-grunge and garage punk, on this newest track.
This 90s infused fuzz-pop track creates a simple melody leaving the focus on what the song itself has to say. “Cooler Than Me” is about Kennedy recognizing that everyone has done something that scares him, and that being cool is deeper than just the surface.
This track fixates on the “cool” or what society says is cool. When in a weird juxtaposition, listeners hear what we know as cool may not be so cool after all.
