Album News Weekly: December 22nd 2016

This week in album news, hear the best new banjo-folk since John Butler by American outfit Tall Tall Trees, wake up with the heavy new single and accompanying music video from Ocean Grove‘s upcoming debut The Rhapsody Tapes, and they’re up to album number five but down to just one member – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah share the latest offering from the forthcoming album dropping early next year, plus heaps more…

hazy

SARAH BETHE NELSON

This singer/songwriter out of San Francisco has just released her new single “Hazy”, the first offering from her sophomore album Oh, Evolution, dropping February 24th via Burger Records.

If you like your guitars jangly and your vocals delicately floating, you should be getting well acquainted with the shimmering low-fi pop songs that Sarah Bethe Nelson writes in ode to “pulling back the shades on the regularity and stagnation of adulthood”. Check out her new single “Hazy” below and pre-order Oh, Evolution HERE!

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ZOLA BLOOD

This London four-piece are making their return with the next cut from their upcoming debut album, Infinite Games, due for release early 2017. It follows the first single, “Heartbeat”,  released earlier this year.

These guys haven’t been making music for long, but already have a firm grip on their unique brand of electronic-pop. The latest single, “Islands”,  creeps slowly with dark electronics brooding behind some super soulful vocals. Check it out below and pre-order Infinite Games HERE!

ocean-grove

OCEAN GROVE

Ocean Grove is the very loud, brave project consisting of six self-proclaimed misfits who have come together to release two EP’s and soon a debut album, titled The Rhapsody Tapes. What’s cool about this mob is that they are so into their own creative world that they’ve developed their own musical genre, Odd World Music, which describes a space where reality is questioned by the band members themselves. They delve deep lyrically and instrumentally, on stage and on record, making themselves one of the most highly-anticipated bands to emerge in the heavy music world.

Their latest single and music video, “Intimate Alien”, is as compelling to watch as it is to listen to and will be featured on The Rhapsody Tapes, due February 3rd. Check it out below and catch the guys supporting The Amity Affliction for their national tour this January and February, details for which can be found HERE!

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TALL TALL TREES

Mike Savino‘s outfit Tall Tall Trees out of NYC is next level indie-folk. It’s warm, rugged, yet perfectly elegant and features some the finest banjo mastery since our very own John Butler. Since 2009, Savino has released two records under his own start-up label Good Neighbor Records and has toured extensively. And when Tall Tall Trees perform live, traditional instrumentation is a thing of the past as Savino runs his guitars and banjos through a bunch of effects and loopers, bowing, drumming and strumming out multi-textured arrangements. To say this man is a musical innovator would be an understatement.

The latest whimsical single, “Backroads”, is lifted from Savino’s first true solo effort, Freedays, due for release February 17th and available for pre-order HERE. Check out “Backroads” below!

magic

MAGIC ISLANDS

This electronic-pop dream is the perfect late-night soundtrack for when you’re swooning over a lover that may or may not exists. Or maybe you’re your own lover? Basically, disjointed feelings. As Magic Islands explains, the first track from her upcoming LP Like Water is about “feelings of desperation and confusion as though you are under a spell.”

The first single titled “Alchemy”, is a vulnerable, electronic ballad restrained enough to put Magic Island’s echoing vocals in the spotlight. It’s fragile and effortless, rooted in an 80’s pop dream. Like Water will be her upcoming debut LP and is officially dropping February 24th.

clep

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH

American indie-rock legends Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (or commonly, CYHSY), are returning in 2017 with their fifth studio album, titled The Tourist. After a prolific career reaching recognition solely via the internet rather than through a record label, the band has conquered but also dwindled down from five to just one member, Alec Ounsworth.

In conjunction with the album announcement, CYHSY have also dropped the first single from the record, “Fireproof”. It’s a percussion-heavy track that features splashes of edgy electronic guitar and Ounsworth’s  twangy, quivering vocals. It’s a big jump from “The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth” days but carries sharper refinement and a gutsier approach sonically. Check it out below!

 

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