Hot on the heels of their recently released debut album Hands, Superhuman Happiness have just premiered a video to accompany ‘Sentimental Pieces’, directed by bandleader Stuart Bogie and featuring the band’s own crafty keyboardist Jared Samuel. Check it out below.
You can stream Hands in its entirety on soundcloud, and buy it on vinyl, CD or digitally via the Royal Potato Family.
Sandra Lawson-Ndu, Derek Barber, Geneva Harrison and Doug Stuart make up Oakland based outfit Bells Atlas. The quartet draws influences from varied musical genres including Highlife, Hip-Hop, Samba, R&B, Post Rock, and Indie Pop. Frontwoman Sandra grew up listening to Rex Lawson, a legendary musician from the Nigerian highlife scene of the 60’s. The band weaves these varied influences into a unique sound of their own.
Last week saw the band releasing their debut EP, an exhilarating, delicate and seductive effort which you can stream or download on their bandcamp.
Bells Atlas have also recently released a second single from the EP, ‘Loving You Down’. According to them, the song is “about a woman near the end of her life, revisiting some painful memories and deciding to re-craft the telling of her life story”. Listen to it now.
Bells Atlas’ debut full-length album will arrive this summer. We’ll be on the lookout for more details!
Earlier this year, Lane Barrington’s brainchild project The Ocean Floor was stripped down from the quintet who put out one of our favourite records of 2012, to a one man project, following the amicable departure of long time member Shannon Rose Steele.
The talented multi-instrumentalist and singer has recently unveiled his brand new outfit called Snowy Plover, also comprising fellow Portland resident Daphne Jane Faison.
We are thrilled to share their jubilant debut track ‘Frozen Dessert Adventure’, described by the pair as “a tale of backyard explorations, wild animal friends, and the search for delicious!”. Enjoy.
When brilliant musicians like Pete Wareham (Acoustic Ladyland, Polar Bear), Tom Skinner (Hello Skinny, Sons Of Kemet, Mulatu Astatke), Shabaka Hutchings (Sons Of Kemet, Heliocentrics), Kushal Gaya (Zun Zun Egui), Ruth Goller (Acoustic Ladyland) and Satin Singh (Fela!, Transglobal Underground) team up, you know the outcome has to be madly incredible. Under the name Melt Yourself Down, the London based collective create thunderous energy, blending each of its six members’ own musical territories, like jazz, punk, African music, funk, tropicalia, amongst other genres and influences.
The press release describes the London collective as “a riot of colour and noise, they rip the still beating heart from the remains of Acoustic Ladyland, reanimated with intense, sweaty funk, uplifting horns and blistering Nubian drums.”
Melt Yourself Down first captivated everyone’s attention with the blasting debut single ‘We Are Enough’, released last October, which they followed earlier this year with ‘Fix My Life’. Both singles were released on a 12″ vinyl last month via The Leaf Label. The sextet’s first release also sees them recruiting Leafcutter John for production and mixing duties.
If you hadn’t heard Melt Yourself Down before, this is your lucky day.
Drummers Jacob Evans and Adrian Van Batenburg and keyboardists Gary Palmer and Daniel Rapport make up Seattle based instrumental electronic outfit Gems.
According to them, the idea behind the band “was to create an environment that allows for sonic experimentation and improvisation, while still retaining a feel that can only come about through an organic songwriting process”.
Gems have recently announced the release of their debut album entiled Tall Mountain. The effort, due out on April 2nd via Don’t Be A Lout, features guest collaborations with vocalist Lotte Kestner and Okanomodé.
Ahead of the release, the foursome have shared ‘Ice Dime’, the first cut from the album, and it caught our ears straight away. Don’t let this gem slip away.
Oakland based psych pop rock outfit Mwahaha, a longtime favourite of ours, are re-releasing their outstanding self-titled debut album later this month via Plug Research. Mwahaha, which was originally released in December 2011 via the foursome’s own imprint Mwahaha Music, will be available on double vinyl, CD and digitally on March 26th.
Earlier today, Mwahaha confirmed they’ll be opening up for Sigur Ros on June 30th as part of the Eden Sessions at the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more European dates.
Here’s a taste from the album, the excellent opening track ‘Swimmer’.
