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On September 17, Kenny Feinstein, frontman for Portland, Oregon-based roots-bluegrass-punk outfit, Water Tower, will release Loveless: Hurts To Love, a tribute to My Bloody Valentine, on Portland, Oregon-based Fluff & Gravy Records. As Feinstein’s debut solo album, it will contain all eleven tracks from the My Bloody Valentine classic, plus “Swallow” from their 1991 Tremolo EP.
Feinstein played the majority of the instruments on the record, but enlisted the help of Kaphan and Kazor and infamous singer-songwriter Richard Buckner, who lent his voice and ukelele.
How was Feinstein’s love of Loveless born? …
“I forced myself to listen to Loveless over and over because I did not understand it. I was confused by the sounds coming from it. Finally, when listening to ‘Loomer’ while driving around a mall in Fort Lauderdale I had an epiphany during the chorus. I could not tell if the sound was being made by a human, a synth, a guitar, a bass or anything, but I did not care, all I could gather was that it was the most blissful sound I had ever heard.” ~ Kenny Feinstein
Have a listen to the AV Club premiere of “Loomer” here.
Link to song provided by Alex Steininger at In Music We Trust PR.
Seattle, Washington-based Massy Fergusons’ Victory & Ruins was released on Seattle’s indie label, Spark & Shine Records.
Often referred to as alt. country or roots-rock and Americana, Massy Ferguson, has been described by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as “the people’s band” and a “roots Americana quartet” that “combines steady, blue-collar alt. country with Southern rock…” The quartet is comprised of Ethan Anderson (vocals/bass), Adam Monda (guitars, backing vocals), Tony Mann (piano), and Dave Goedde (drums).
The album opener sets the tone, quickly proclaiming, “Hello! It’s good to see you all again, but you’re really not my friends ’til you see me at the end” with a steady rhythm and hooky guitar leading the way.
You may preview the music video for “Hello!” here.
“Our sound reminds me of landscapes and places I saw while looking out of an old jalopy car, sitting in the backseat with the windows down, in rural Snohomish County, sitting on ripped upholstery with no seat belts.” ~ Ethan Anderson
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“Hello!” by Massy Ferguson
Louisiana singer/songwriter, Caleb Elliott, released his debut album, Where You Wanna Be, last October. On the album, he is joined by some of the finest names in south Louisiana music, including vocalist Susan Cowsill, bassist Tom Drummond of Better Than Ezra, drummer Doug Belote, fiddler Mitch Reed of BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, and guitarist Sam Broussard of Steve Riley & The Mamou Playboys.
Elliott’s songs are slices of love and life, stories of folks looking for their place in this world. Along with his songwriting skills, Elliott plays a mean cello. On “I Would Never” and “Where You Wanna Be,” we hear how well that instrument works with Elliott’s lively voice.
The album was recorded across south Louisiana, at Lafayette’s KRVS studios, Dockside Studios in Maurice and New Orleans’ Fudge Studios — where NOLA’s own Better than Ezra recorded its platinum albums before making the studio open to the public.
Elliott grew up listening to classical music and sacred music, or hymns. He attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette on an orchestra scholarship. However, While in college, his musical palette started incorporating more sounds.
“For the first two years of college, I would just be playing my guitar in my dorm room. I was playing eight hours a day. Before that, I would spend all night, practicing cello then go to the basement to play guitar. I would sleep through classes the next day. It was freeing.” ~ Caleb Elliott
Elliott started what he called “the dorm room sessions,” arranging and recording his material.
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“Where You Wanna Be” by Caleb Elliott
mp3 courtesy of CD Baby
The soft and soothing rhythms from the strings of Jessy Greene’s violin and the keys of Sunday Lane’s piano show the musical journey that is Fauntella Crow. This duo is the lyrically graceful and charismatic product of two exceptional musicians.
Recently, Greene toured as part of Dave Grohl’s “Sound City Players” performing alongside Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, and Rick Springfield in support of Grohl’s directorial debut documentary Sound City, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
While maintaining success in both their solo careers, Lane and Greene have found an undeniable chemistry, creating an eclectic representation of shared experiences and sounds.
Off the heels of their newly recorded EP, Lost Here, Fauntella Crow released a music video for their first single, “Just Try.” In March, they captivated audiences by showcasing their talent at Austin’s South by Southwest 2013.
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“Just Try” by Fauntella Crow
mp3 courtesy of Amanda Blide of LaFamos PR & Branding.
Pop/soul artist, Naia Kete, will join this year’s four day Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, TN. At this time, Kete will reveal her third EP in physical and digital release.
Originally from Northampton, MA, Kete currently lives in Los Angeles. The product of a musical family, she always loved using her voice to express herself from as early as age two. Musical instruments lined the walls growing up in the Kete home and eventually Naia taught herself to play the piano with her father’s influence and write songs on her mother’s classical guitar.
You may recognize Kete as a contestant on season two of NBC’s The Voice as a member of “Team Blake” and making it into the Top 24.
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“Sweet Surprise (Live)” by Naia Kete
mp3 courtesy of bandcamp’s free live EP download.
Image courtesy of Kete’s Bio
Slim Loris, from Stockholm, Sweden, blends Indie Pop/Rock with Americana and a pinch of Swedish melancholy. The band formed in 2009 from the remnants of two indie acts, and released a collection of demos entitled Amateur Night at the Asylum the year after.
In 2011, Slim Loris’s debut album Down To Earth was released, led by the 1st single “Low”, showing the band’s fine-tuned song writing skills and classic rock sense of melody. The follow up release entitled Future Echoes and Past Replays, a mature, emotionally charged album showing progression in the band’s song-writing and production, is due out on May 19th.
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“Visions of Tomorrow” by Slim Loris
The full album can be streamed here.
Marc Dold and Judith Martin met as teenagers in the dusky basement rehearsal rooms of the local music scene in Switzerland, where they grew up. Martin went on to study jazz while Dold earned a degree in classical guitar from a Swiss conservatory. Soon after, they left Europe for Boston where they furthered their studies at Berklee College of Music. Dold and Martin then joined forces and AURAH was created. Along with four original albums, AURAH composed the original film score for “Loving Annabelle” and “Sunset Junction” as well as having tracks included in films such as “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Blood Diamond,” among other film and hit television shows.
Dold and Martin’s production skills and artful arrangements give Aurah a signature sound. The duo’s organic, electronic sound is interwoven between Dold’s ambient guitar textures and Martin’s sensual vocals and builds with a steady pulse that expands with each layer of harmonic exploration.
This sound resonates on their upcoming EP, Summon the Sky. The collection of tracks is their fifth studio release. The band’s latest single from the anticipated album is a cover of Bob Marley’s classic “3 Little Birds.”
View the music video for “3 Little Birds” here.
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“3 Little Birds” by AURAH (Bob Marley cover)
mp3 courtesy of Shaunelle Watson of LaFamos, Marketing & Publicity Department.
Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, La Mer, is premiering her newest single, the bubbly and sweet, “Closer.”
From her time in the bright lights of New York City’s Broadway to giving her voice to the Brooklyn and New Orleans band, The Mumbles, she’s toured the United States, parts of western Europe, and released several EP’s. After taking a break from performing and touring, La Mer returned to her native home in Los Angeles and immersed herself into the gritty beach culture of Venice.
As a songwriter she has developed knack for capturing what it feels like to want someone new, beckoning them into your life and giving in to that giddy, free-falling emotion of new love.
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“Closer” by La Mer
mp3 courtesy of Sera Roadnight of M T Press via La Mer’s SoundCloud.
Shreveport, Louisiana-based Super Water Sympathy released their full-length, Hydrogen Child, on April 23, 2013 on Portland, Oregon-based indie In Music We Trust Records. As part of their album’s launch celebration, the band debuted songs from Hydrogen Child at this year’s SxSW Music Conference in Austin, Texas.
This album is the next chapter in the development of the band’s self-made genre, Water Pop. It is a twelve-track synthesis of classic symphonic ambience with modern rock ’n’ roll anthems.
Formed in 2010, the group consisting of brothers Billy and Clyde Hargrove (bass and guitar, respectively), Ryan Robinson (drums), Jason Mills (keys), and Ansley Hughes (vocals) clicked from the start, sharing a similar vision for the band’s sound.
“There is a definite cohesiveness insofar as the arrangement and lyricism,” says guitarist Clyde Hargrove. “We honed in on a few songs from Vesper Belle [2011 self-released debut album] that we thought were most representative of the musical direction we are going, and used those as a benchmark for the tone of the album. Vesper Belle is much more eclectic in style and Hydrogen Child is more of a concept album.”
The concept being transformation whether through love, death, or rebirth.
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“Sunday School Dress” by Super Water Sympathy
LA-based singer-songwriter, Natania, is a great mixture of Lenka, Ingrid Michaelson, and Sara Bareilles. Natania found her niche as a writer and regularly interprets the inner cogs of love and loss. Her translations echo common emotions we’re all familiar with, thus making the listening experience that much more personal.
Her new tear-jerker “The Letter” is a retrospective break-up song. The song is being released on its own, on the heels of the release of her debut EP, Hope & Heartbreak.
Check out the official video for “The Letter” here.
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“The Letter” by Natania
mp3 courtesy of Caroline of LaFamos PR & Branding
Image courtesy of Natania’s official site media link
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