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Introducing… Yvonne McDonnell!
"It's music that is genuinely felt." - Gigslutz
"...a newcomer to contemporary folk music but whom we feel will be making her mark..." - Folk Radio
Over the past few decades, we’ve seen an incredible rise in talented female singer songwriters making a profound impact upon contemporary folk music. Newcomer Yvonne McDonnell is another to add to the burgeoning list as she makes her mark with the release of forthcoming EP Not Her Own out on Friday 17th June 2016 via Reality Is Over.
Taken from the EP, the single I'm Not This Layer Of Skin premiered on Folk Radio and you can also stream it now via Yvonne's Soundcloud page.
Yvonne's EP Not Her Own is all about empowerment; about having the ability to positively stand up to life’s daily struggles, delivered through the effervescent beauty of Yvonne’s emotive vocals. Yvonne is not only inspired by musical influences such as Nick Cave and Joanna Newsom, but also by poets such as Alfred Lord Tennyson and Edgar Allen Poe, helping to inspire her to write the opening tracks I’m Not This Layer Of Skin and The Savages. Both these songs are skilfully written and performed with the same story-telling charm that has worked so well for to the likes of Laura Marling, Lisa Hannigan and Kate Rusby. McDonnell’s hypnotic vocal remains centre-stage throughout the four track EP, with her unique vibrato blending in effortlessly with the warped guitars and hypnotic violin, a clear nod to her Irish roots.
Originally from East London, Yvonne started performing acoustically in 2012 at university in Portsmouth. She soon got addicted to the live circuit and was later joined by violinist Maria Kroon - who also contributes heavily on Not Her Own. Yvonne’s debut EP Endless Soul received praise from the likes of Gigslutz and Pure M Magazine and she has also performed live sessions for Sofar Sounds in London and Cambridge amongst others. The release of Not Her Own will see Yvonne take another step up the folk ladder as she introduces the listener to a fresh, darker exploration of British modern folk.
The single I'm Not This Layer Of Skin and EP Not Her Own are both out on Friday 17th June 2016 via Reality Is Over.
Polsky release free download track ‘Minimax’!
"... poised, dramatic songwriting, outwardly spiky but retaining a romantic core." - Clash
"...POLSKY are most certainly ones to watch." - Gigslutz
New wave pop-rockers POLSKY are back with the release of their fantastic new track 'Minimax', the b-side to the bands debut single Switchboard Operator featured on their forthcoming album My Own Company due for release on 13th May 2016. 'Minimax' is free to download from the bands Bandcamp page and is released ahead of their single launch show at the Catford Constitutional Club on Friday, 29th April.
Download 'Minimax' now from the Polsky Bandcamp page or by clicking the embed below.
Previous single Switchboard Operator premiered on Clash and is available to stream from the bands Soundcloud page. The video premiered on Gigslutz and is available to watch on the band's YouTube channel.
Polksy's debut album My Own Company is a frenetic journey of post-punk urgency, electro hysteria and a shaky egg, as you accompany the protagonist trying to find their place in the world whilst negotiating a maelstrom of mass consumerism, media bombardment, social pressures and "the fear that your decaff skinny mocha-frappe no-foam venti won’t be served at precisely 63 degrees". Featuring special guest appearances from the likes of Joe Watson (Stereolab) and Chris Tickner and the Gregorian Singers (Enigma/Rick Wakeman), My Own Company is a pop record of multiple personalities.
Granted with a rare opportunity to peer behind the curtain and get a glimpse into the world of POLSKY, I spoke to founder and CEO, Chris Warren about the origins and vision of the band with the anti-corporate ethic. Warren simply stated “POLSKY are a band of the people, by some people”.
Warren (vocals, guitar) explained that POLSKY has evolved from bedroom laptop electronics to a fully-formed, energetic pop band with the appointment of the executive board; Senior Synth Architect, Ben Warn (keyboards), Rhythm Logistics Engineer, Alex Robertson (drums) and Low Frequency Systems Analyst Chris Norman (bass).
Starting his musical career under the wing of Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie, while working in their September Sound studio, Warren paid close attention to Guthrie's production and writing techniques while absorbing ideas from sessions with Echo and the Bunnymen, Nick Lowe, Terry Hall, Ian Brodie, Billy Mackenzie and many others.
Warren played in several bands throughout the noughties, including Shadow Orchestra (now Talk In Colour) and agit-pop band BIB - who were given an NME 'single of the week' and toured with XX Teens. During this period he formulated his musical vision for what would become POLSKY and My Own Company, a collection of perfectly formed pop songs about corporate zombies, elderly love affairs, brain function, mid-nineties video game addiction and the undeniable human obsession with shouting louder than everyone else.
Join POLSKY. Embrace their manifesto. Live their ethos. Dance their dance. All applications considered.
My Own Company by Polsky is released on the 13th May 2016 via Product with 'Minimax' available to download for free from the Polsky Bandcamp page.
Vienna Ditto Releases ‘Tiny Tambourines’ Remix
"...woozy synths, skittering arpeggios, and explosions of sequined electronics..." -
Earmilk
“…wild-eyed rockabilly riffs with sparse, atmospheric electronica.” - Q Magazine
Eccentric alternative duo Vienna Ditto have released a remix for their track Tiny Tambourines, by musician and producer Graeme Rawson aka Forget Gravity.
The remix premiered on Earmilk and is available to stream via Forget Gravity's Soundcloud page.
Forget Gravity is also a part of Ubiquity Project Records - along with Vienna Ditto - and has previously released two highly successful EPs Forget Gravity I and II, with lead single Fires At Night attracting over 500,000 views and streams across online platforms worldwide. Forget Gravity's first full-length debut album is due for release mid 2016.
Tiny Tambourines (Forget Gravity Remix) blends the style of the two bands brilliantly using dance-like beats, arpeggios and synth work from Forget Gravity and using Hatty Taylor's beautiful lead lines and melodies.
Vienna Ditto has also recently released their video for Ticks, which combines gospel blues, surf rock and primitive electronica to create a sound that is full of naïve wonder. You can watch the hilarious video now via the band's YouTube channel.
Vienna Ditto’s brand new EP Ticks is a collection of seven sonically-alluring sci-fi blues tracks that slip somewhere between a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack, a charity shop Bacharach-on-the-Moog-Synthesizer album and a bad night on the brown acid.
Each track has its own sound; Frank Account swaggers like a glam rock incarnation of the Andrews Sisters, whilst infectiously-catchy title track Ticks - which grouches along on a deeply Kinks-y riff and a Planet Rock electro beat - crackles with a nameless, twitchy paranoid disgust. The EP also features more gospel-influenced tracks such as Motherless Child, which feels almost like it could be a cut from an Etta James or Nina Simone record, with lead singer Hatty Taylor’s smokey, bruised vocals taking centre stage. The band put the dark, almost dystopian vibe that clings to the whole affair down to “...mainly being up at night, not eating so good and watching (German 20s Expressionist film) Metropolis over and over”.
Vienna Ditto have already received praise from the likes of Q Magazine, Artrocker, BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and BBC 6Music’s Tom Robinson amongst others. With Ticks, the unlikely, delectable and ever-so-slightly dysfunctional duo delve a little deeper into the phenomenal sonic capabilities of combining blues, electronica and surf rock to create something truly mesmerising. Catch Vienna Ditto live at the following dates, with tickets available from their website.
6th May - St James Wine Vaults - Bath
12th May - The Bullingdon - Oxford
13th May - Rising Sun Arts Centre - Reading
14th May - The Moon Club - Cardiff
28th May - Peripheral Festival - Norwich
29th May - Common People Festival - Oxford
3 - 4th June - Brew At The Bog - Inverness
5 - 7th August - Sunflowerfest - Hillsborough
Ticks is out on 13th May 2016 via Ubiquity Project Recordings and is available to pre-order via the duo's Bandcamp page now.
AmatrArt release video for ‘Soft Skin’!
"...glitchy, left field electronics recalling Radiohead's transition around 'Kid A'." - Clash
"...2016 looks like it's going to be their year." - BBC Radio Scotland's Vic Galloway
"...a pure blend between indie-pop and electro..." - It's All Indie
"...ambitious and thoroughly addictive." - Crack In The Road
AmatrArt have released the video for their recent single Soft Skin.
The video dropped in perfect time for their launch show on 29th April at The Hug and Pint in Glasgow and was premiered by the wonderful folks at Clash. The video is now available to watch on the band's YouTube channel.
The video completes a successful few months for the band who have picked up a well of support around the release of their double a-side single Mirror / Soft Skin. Mirror was first aired by Vic Galloway on his BBC Radio Scotland show with Soft Skin making it's debut on Crack In The Road. Both tracks are now available to stream from the embed below or on the ABoF Soundcloud page.
Subversively playing with the indie/electro dynamic, AmatrArt have carefully constructed a sound that embraces the immediacy of indie-pop, allied to a distinctively high brow ambient sound, all unified by the dreamy Mark Hollis (Talk Talk) style vocals produced by Jonathan Mullen.
Soft Skin offers a perfect example of the talent AmatrArt possess despite their young age. Encapsulating the electronica intricacies of Kid A era Radiohead, Soft Skin kicks off with the alluring sounds of synth straddling chiming guitar, while singer Mullen shows off his vocal range, the verses delivered flawlessly, as the mix between his and the rest of the bands punctuated choral vocals help to create an almost overwhelming effect.
Mirror, which opens with a sweeping synth and heavily reverbed guitar, is a song of self-reflection with the protagonist questioning his decisions, before summing up with the line “where did I go wrong?”. A rasping guitar riff emanates throughout the chorus followed by a searing solo, as the song builds and builds before coming to a crashing end.
Having known each other and played music together from a young age Jonathan Mullen (Vocals & Guitar), Josh McGeechan (Guitar) and Niall Jootun (Bass) formed AmatrArt after a series of jams and bedroom recordings. Completing the line up with Niall Morris (Samples/Synths) and Lewis Orr (Drums) the band have gone onto produce as sound that sits somewhere between contemporary acts such as alt-J, Dutch Uncles and Nothing But Thieves. Having already played the T Break Stage at T in the Park last year, as well as picking up support from the likes of BBC Radio Scotland, Scotland on Sunday, The Herald and Clash, AmatrArt are hoping to continue to pierce the public stream of consciousness with their affecting sound. You can catch the band's launch show on Friday 29th April at The Hug and Pint in Glasgow.
Mirror/Soft Skin is out now via Bloc+ Music and is available to buy digitally on iTunes or stream on Spotify.
‘Walter Peck’ by Outblinker available to stream now!
"...Glasgow's standard quo rejectionists..." - Spin
"...as blissful as they are boisterous." - NME
"...it'll latch onto your lapels and drag you into a claustrophobic abyss." - The Line of Best Fit
"...slick, modern Kraut for an uneasy Britain...." - The Skinny
Outblinker have released the title track from their forthcoming EP The Remains of Walter Peck out on 6th May 2016 via Stabbed In The Back Records.
The track premiered on Sounds of a Tired City and is now available to stream on the ABoF Soundcloud page.
You can also watch the video for the track, which premiered on The Line of Best Fit, on the band's YouTube channel.
The video followed the release of the free download track Farrokh Bulsara, which premiered on Spin and set in motion the build up to the band's second EP release in less than a year. According to Outblinker they “play music and aim to improve your life thusly” and had this to say about the up coming release:
Fame is just so fucking futile. That's the thing about being an outsider. You accept your fate. You know that 50 years from now a bank won't be butchering your work to flog mortgages to suckers. You make your noise and you watch it echo for a bit then dissipate. Like our protagonist, Walter Peck, your ashes are gradually diluted by a planet of dirt and your music even more rapidly subsumed by the white noise of the world.
In many ways, Outblinker owes it's existence to Walter and certainly this EP would never have been recorded or co-written with Benjamin John Power (Blanck Mass/ Fuck Buttons) were it not for Mr Peck's unifying influence. His friendships, a chance meeting, a jar of human remains and a table of beers. It's a long story. Suffice to say he'd suggest we enjoy it while it lasts.
The product of a musical pilgrimage to record in a medieval church on a remote island in Orkney, these three songs are a precursor to Outblinker's debut album (due October 2016) and a tribute to the transitory, fleeting nature of everything we seek to build and accomplish. All the beauty, all the greed, all the pride and all the fucking politics. Given long enough, none of it will last. And thank fuck for that.
When the lights across the planet finally go out for the last time and all the MP3s evaporate in microscopic puffs of electrons and all the CD's lie scattered across the land like the scales of some huge, extinct fish: what then for all these idiotic fucking pop songs? And what then for the Bach and Simone, Mercury and Mingus?
Nothing. That's what. Sweet anonymity. Sheer oblivion.
And as time marches on ceaselessly into that eerie, silent new era, none of those chart anthems will mean any more than the centuries of forgotten folk music, decades of shitty demo tapes or the deluge of vacuous, ironic, indie shit currently sloshing around. How will Virgin, Warner, Universal and Sony trick kids into buying their cynical, hollow bullshit then? Especially when there are no kids left to fleece.
Art is for now so eat your fill. You're not taking it with you and ultimately there's no point leaving it here. Walter Peck taught us that much.
The Remains of Water Peck by Outblinker is released on 6th May 2016 via Stabbed In The Back Records and is available to pre-order on Outblinker's Bandcamp page.