Simone White re-visits "The Beep Beep Song;" Preps new full-length for fall release

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In 2007, Simone White’s just-shy-of-two-minutes tune “The Beep Beep Song” became the soundtrack for the Audi® R8 campaign, bringing the song to millions of ears, generating countless cover versions, remixes, and over a million views of White’s homemade music video (budget: $30.) The latest Audi® campaign launched this spring celebrates the ten year anniversary of the Audi® R8’s V10 engine and the “The Beep Beep Song” soundtracks the campaign once again, with an all-new string-accompanied recording of the song to be released as a single on Aug. 2nd. Simone White's new full-length Letter To The Last Generation follows this fall on Oct. 18th.

From the desert town of Landers, California comes new duo LANDROID

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Cooper Gillespie (vocals, guitar, bass) and Greg Gordon (drums, sequences) of LANDROID are veteran performers that have traveled the world as professional musicians. Now they live in the California town of Landers. Population: 2,632.

The music that Gillespie and Gordon are making as LANDROID, so named as a reference to their new home, is as vast as the environment in which it was created.

Influences on the Imperial Dunes sound include: David Lynch, David Bowie, outer space, X, Cocteau Twins, William Blake, Blade Runner, Led Zeppelin, Buddy Rich, scuba diving, Portishead, Pink Floyd, Angela Carter, the ocean.

Following years of playing variations on the Los Angeles-based punk and rock hybrid, Gillespie and Gordon settled in a desert land and became a desert band. The duo’s debut album Imperial Dunes arrives on Sept. 13th via their own Mojave Beach Records label.

Reno's BLUNDERBUSST returns from five-year hiatus with new EP on Aug. 9th

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The 15-year career of the noisy, Reno, Nevada-based shoegaze-pop band BLUNDERBUSST has included more time off than on. The group sticks to an edict of not only letting the songs be what they want, but also when they want. The band formed in 2005, released its first album in 2010, and a follow-up EP in 2014.

Essentially, BLUNDERBUSST makes music when the time is right, and that time has arrived again as the band returns with a new EP this summer. Songwriter Jen Scaffidi (vocals, guitar), Carolyn Gates (drums), and Carson Cessna (guitars/synths) will release “Monarch of the Mountain,” which may or may not precede its next vacation, on Aug. 9th via San Antonio’s Slow Start Records. The six-song collection will be available digitally and as a 2x7”.

The Late Innings to release late 80's / early 90's influenced "Wild Places," Sept. 6th

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Is Vincent Sinex a pseudonym?

It may be hard to convince you otherwise after listening to Wild Places, Sinex’s upcoming new solo album as The Late Innings, out Sept. 6th. The Los Angeles native’s music sounds like his name. It rides that edge of time when the late 1970s became the early 1980s. When pop became new wave. When AM became FM.

“I have been recording since my early 20’s when I first got a four-track cassette recorder, a couple of guitars and a drum machine,” Sinex says. “I was inspired by the performances in the 1982 concert film ‘Urgh! A Music War,’ which captured the energy, intensity, and diverse sounds of 80’s new wave bands. When I saw groups like XTC, Magazine, and Echo and The Bunnymen in that film, it made me want to pick up a guitar and try to make that kind of music myself.”

L.A.-based jazz vocalist to release debut album "Interior Person" Sept. 13th

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Samantha Sidley is a jazz vocalist from L.A. and she likes girls. “I Like Girls” is the first song, first single, and the first words you’ll hear on Sidley’s debut album Interior Person, out Sept. 13th from Release Me Records. The album features songs written for Sam by some of her favorite women: Inara George, Alex Lilly, and Sam's wife, Barbara Gruska. Check out an impromptu performance of "I Like Girls" below (foot to fax machine at 2:33!) The official "I Like Girls" single drops June 21st.

Gregory Ackerman is finalist in International Songwriting Comepetion; New single and EP coming soon

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Congrats to Gregory Ackerman: "Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None," from his 2018 V2 Records / Munich Records album And Friends, was a top 10 finalist in the International Songwriting Competition out of nearly 20,000 submissions. Stay tuned for a brand-new single and news about Ackerman's next EP coming soon.

Source: https://americansongwriter.com/2018/03/gre...

Minneapolis-based songwriter Ryan Traster to release second album July 19th

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Choses Obscures by Ryan Traster (July 19th, Slow Start Records) is like that 70’s-era gem of a find in a milk crate of vinyl at the Sunday afternoon tag sale. He counts Skip Spence, Bert Jansch, and Judee Sill as influences and the album's cosmic-country feeling is contrasted by a subtle darkness that those departed artist's lives imply. It’s especially notable when Traster name drops Jesus and Mary Chain on the deep cut “Endless Summer Blues”. First official single “New Again” coming soon.

Brooklyn-based band Tolani to release cathartic debut album on June 14th

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The self-titled debut album by Tolani, a Brooklyn-based five-piece led by the band’s namesake, Sameer Tolani, is out on June 14th.

This record is raw in many ways.

In its personal lyrics, candid production techniques, and cathartic vocal and instrumental performances that speak openly to the brutal honesty and authenticity of this record.

Tolani makes no issue about coming to the songwriting and record-making game with more passion than practical experience. It’s what makes the album so charming, frankly.

“I have a limited palette, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. The music that comes out is an expression of how I’m feeling, and letting it out is like therapy for me.”

In this way, Tolani’s songs can remind of John Lennon’s “primal scream” period, albeit with less screaming.

“Songwriting inspired the changes I’d been longing for. This record began as a coping mechanism and ended up as catharsis.”

Ryan Thompson & The Delicate Hounds debut set for May 24th release

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Ryan Thompson has been a visual artist, poet, husband, father, businessman, alt-rocker, and singer-songwriter. It took a lot of living to find his voice, and now Thompson is finally set to release his debut album of songs about that life (and maybe about your life, too.)

Waiting on a Ghost by Ryan Thompson & The Delicate Hounds arrives on May 24th. The album is comprised of Country-influenced songs about feelings and events that we’ve all experienced. Songs that resonate lyrically, but also melodically.

“Even the sad songs need hooks!,” Thompson jokes with the bit of truth that all good humor has.

NYC-raised band leader Oliver Kennan is songwriter, guitarist, vocalist behind one of city’s most exciting soul ensembles. Debut out May 10th.

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“‘Waiting’ is a modern take on the rock and soul of the past,” says Oliver Kennan. “It’s the classic story of a young man searching for love in the loneliest big city in the world, NYC.”

The music calls back the up-tempo funk of Tower of Power circa “What is Hip” with a contemporary swagger and Oliver plays the part of the lonely loverboy with equal parts conviction and good humor.

The band channeled the vintage sounds of their favorite records by recording live to tape at The Bunker Studios and Thump Studios in Brooklyn. The track was produced by Graham Stone and mastered by Bob Ludwig.

Oh Boy arrives May 10th via Hornblow Recordings.

NYC-based band leader Oliver Kennan to release debut album, May 10th

Beneath Oliver Kennan’s youthful appearance lies an old soul. A first listen to his debut album Oh Boy (May 10th, Hornblow Recordings) makes it clear that his internal jukebox is stocked with classic 45s from the golden age of soul and funk. On Oh Boy, Kennan is spinning bits and pieces of those records into something entirely his own. The jukebox is stocked with modern hits, too: Kennan’s stated influences range from Otis Redding to Arcade Fire, Dr. John to Radiohead, and Wilson Pickett to Amy Winehouse. Kennan’s vocals, songwriting, and guitar playing skills honor all of his heroes, classic and contemporary, but his greatest talent may be in leading his band. The ensemble is comprised of accomplished performers in their own right, and together they are one of the city’s most exciting soul ensembles. Watch out for Oh Boy, the debut album by Oliver Kennan, arriving May 10th.

Former Dreamend-er Derek Virta to release "psych sludge" debut as BVRTH

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While living in Italy in his late 20’s, Derek Virta of BVRTH wasn’t playing or listening to any music, he was just riding his bike all over Tuscany. By the time he moved back to Chicago six months later, he was an amateur bike racer, later winning three Minnesota (he is now based in St. Paul) state championships.

Virta refers to BVRTH music as “psych sludge,” which is not a total misnomer, but is likely overly influenced by Virta’s history playing in Graveface Records “house band” Dreamend and touring with Black Moth Super Rainbow. In actuality, Virta’s music takes that rich goo of a sound and bathes it in precise production values that make it not just rich, but wealthy.  

Virta also counts Aphex Twin, Grails, Air, Stereolab, Suicide, and Low as influences on BVRTH.

BVRTH is out via the artist’s Virtageaux Records label on April 19th .