Greasy Makeup

Here I stand

before you

with my greasy makeup 

asking for you to fix

oh what’s needed

here I go

And here I go with lack of balance 

cuz you touch me like something’s just missing, 

like I’m not qualified for a competition 

Comparing the silk and the velvet here I go

Cover up oh oh I’m mad

fulfilled but I’m not stupid 

I know you’d strike back even harder 

I’m mad and fulfilled, 

but I’m not stupid 

not stupid 

Cover up oh 

Here I stand

before you 

in my reason to wake up 

asking for you to push

oh this fear of where I go 

And here I go with lack of angels 

cuz acting like something’s forgiven 

like I’m apologized for an intuition 

Preparing the wings that I’ve taken 

To cover up, oh oh I’m mad, fulfilled but I’m not stupid 

I know you’d strike back even harder 

I’m mad and fulfilled,

but I’m not stupid 

not stupid 

cover up oh 

cover up oh 

cover up oh 

cover up oh 

cover up oh

Lyrics by KÅRP

KÅRP: Anna-Maria Lychou · Anders Lychou · Jonas Källstrand · Tobias Müller

Photos by Ellika Henrikson

I have been sitting on the gem for far too long. May 17th, to be precise. It caught my ear the first time I heard it, and I told KÅRP that I would be glad to do a blog about this single, Greasy Makeup.

The lyrics are thought-provoking. What is the storyline here? Is this a woman arriving home, cleaning the makeup off her face, and being confronted by an adversarial partner? 

As the touching and striking suggest, is this a case of domestic violence?

Is this person covering up from the blows? Could the makeup be hiding that from the sight of others?

This person seems so madly in love with their partner that she is willing to cover up, but she is not stupid.

She is ready to push back and go. She has wings that she has prepared and taken to go with a lack of angels. She is mad but not stupid. She has some out-of-balance sense of fulfilment, but she is not stupid. She has covered up over and over again. And she continues that ad nauseam. Willing to live with madness. Willing to take the blows. Willing to feel fulfilled even when the fulfilment comes from being mad.

cover up oh 

cover up oh 

cover up oh 

cover up oh 

cover up oh

Gothenburg, Sweden – The electro band KÅRP is back with their new single “Greasy Makeup,” a solid punch of knuckles greased with equal parts electro, synth-pop, and techno. It is the first single from the concluding EP in KÅRP‘s apocalyptic trilogy. Whether the title alludes to faces painted for battle, faces painted to hide something, or if it’s simply what is visible when one gazes into the mirror.

Quote from the band:

“This is the beginning of the end of the beginning. We are living in a time where it feels like the world has abandoned us. I mean, us humans. Everyone reacts differently to being abandoned; some arm themselves for battle, while others go out in the rain and let tears run down their cheeks. Whichever you prefer, we recommend that you do it to the sounds of Greasy Makeup.

I enjoyed this single with its bouncing synth tones and pulsed percussion. Easy to dance to, easy to listen to, easy to remember. It is easy to find on the streaming source of your choice, I listened on Apple Music. Sit back and listen and let’s see what you hear. It is also available on YouTube.

I enjoyed this single with its bouncing synth tones and pulsed percussion. Easy to dance to, easy to listen to, easy to remember. It is easy to find on the streaming source of your choice, I listened on Apple Music and watched on YouTube.

musicbykarp@gmail.com

https://www.instagram.com/karp_archives/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/MUSICBYKARP/

Preteretrospective

Preteretrospective

Yeah, I spelled it correctly. Preteretrospective.

It’s the new album from The Noise Who Runs.

Who are they? Have you listened to them before? No, I hadn’t listened to them before this album landed in my inbox. 

So, following my typical trajectory, when I encountered an artist I wasn’t familiar with, I became acquainted with them. I start by listening to their back catalogue.

The Noise Who Runs released an EP in 2022, High Time in Lo-Fi, which reminded me of Blow At High Dough by The Tragically Hip. Aliteravely only. My brain makes all kinds of crazy connections when it gets going. Hang on, folks. This ride might turn into a Crazy Train.

Next is the music queue is the second EP from The Noise Who Runs, These Will Be Your Gods—a nifty transition from Aslan to this EP. The Noise Who Runs turned the volume down and smoothed their sound for a more radio-friendly soundscape. It’s still good, but a different kind of good.

And now we get to our feature album, Preteretrospective. Save me some space in this long blog; Google that word yourself, and tell me what it means in 20 words or less in the comments box.

I have no idea why, but after listening to this album, I kept getting Lord of the Flies popping up in my brain. It’s a great novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. It was made into a movie in 1963 that I thought treated the book admirably. It was made into a film again in 1990, and it was not so hot, in my opinion. I’m still unsure why I thought Lord of the Flies had anything to do with this recording. I may have to give this some time and revisit it.

I asked Joel what came to mind for him after a short listen of Beautiful Perhaps. He heard some Peter Gabriel, especially the song Intruder from Peter Gabriel #3, Melting Face. So I listened to that and then went back to Beautiful Perhaps. Yeah, there is some overlap there. I can hear where Joel got that connection. He also touched on Roxy’s Music, In Every Dream Home A Heartache; I didn’t hear that myself. But that’s the beauty of music; it’s never the same thing twice, and there are different notes for different folks and no wrong answers.

I heard Flash And The Pan, no song in particular. I think it’s the voice, the modulated, distorted, synthesized voice. But that’s just me. I also liked the bass lines. Well, that’s it for the first track and the back catalogue. Onward Ho!

Onward Ho! Have you heard that exclamation before now? Do you know what it means? Or are you like me and utter it when moving on to a new task without considering why we say Onward Ho!? Here’s some musing on moving on.

“When faced with life’s difficulties and challenges, one must keep going, not with despair but with a sense of hope. More than just moving on and moving forward, “Onward Ho!” conveys a sense of new adventures and uncharted territory in a positive, better or more advanced sense.”

I like that. Positive and better, that’s my goal through these meandering blogs. Onward Ho! And I think Preteretrospective works on that level as well.

The above chatter took me deeper, someplace between truth, fiction, fantasy and theology. My mind kept wanting to make connections. I like that because it keeps my brain busy and jumping all over my music library (most of it between my ears from decades of listening). Lyrically my neurons touched on Narnia. Consider these words from C.S. Lewis.

“Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs Beaver. “If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

He isn’t safe, but he’s good. (perhaps?)

The truth isn’t pretty, but it is beautiful, perhaps.

In the 6th song of this album, there is a portion that jumped out at me. It wasn’t so much because of its originality, although it is original, but because of its familiarity.

“I don’t want much as such, just more than never enough. After rent and bills, we scrape for food all month.

Try to juggle with what’s not even up in the air

We start from flat on the floor and descend from there 

So good it’s free, so good it’s free So good it’s free, so good it’s free.”

I have been in these places throughout my life experience. I didn’t want to be rich; I just wanted enough to buy food and pay the bills. I love the line where we start at the bottom and go down from there. Brilliant writing, that is.

A bit further along in the album, we get the song 2poor2die. I’ll be honest here. I’m not fond of lousy grammar, including using numbers as letters. The name of this song is “two poor two die.” Glad to get that off my chest, now onward to the content of this song. The lyrics tell us that they are “too poor to die.” I have known men who received a paupers grave because they were too poor to die. I have stood at the graves of men so poor that the only people at his graveside were the men lowering the casket, myself, another pastor, and the guy with the machine to fill in the hole. There is more than one way to be poor. We can be morally bankrupt. We can be financially destitute. We can be in poor health. And we can be too poor to die.

Have you ever had days like this? “Don’t want to change the world today, maybe just hide away.” I do.

Have you ever wondered how some people always seem to be cheerful? The song Smile, Smile, Smile takes on those two ideals.

The album closes with four songs headlined by their latest single, ‘New York To L.A. In 2-And-A-Half Minutes‘. This synth-happy music has enough existential lyrics to keep you searching through your psychology textbooks or Wikipedia for days. Fortunately, the album is engaging enough that listening repeatedly and searching for meaning in the lyrics is not a chore.

Released April 21, 2023

The Noise Who Runs are Ian Pickering, and Felipe Goes. 

All songs written by Ian Pickering 

All songs recorded, engineered and produced by The Noise Who Runs 

Drums, additional recording and production by Julien Guyot

Additional production by Colin C at The Cell Studio (thecellstudio.com) except Beautiful Perhaps, recorded and produced by Claudio Meza, aka ‘Spural’ at Mauco Records, Chile. 

All songs were mixed and mastered by Colin C at The Cell Studio.

All rights reserved

Artist photos by Théo Valenduc

Keep up with The Noise Who Runs

Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music | Press contact

Keep up with Shameless Promotion PR

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | Instagram | LinkedIn | Email

I was about to do a blog about the new singles from Graham Parker while I had a song on repeat in my brain, otherwise known as an earworm. The song was Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss, and that song reminded me of a conversation that Joel and I had the other day. We were lamenting the lack of funny, witty, silly, comedy or nonsense novelty songs. We don’t get They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! by Napoleon XIV these days, although there are moments when I wish they would take me away. One thing turned into another, and an earworm became a quest for novelty/comedy songs, and there is no shortage of novelty/comedy songs.

Starting at my original task, Graham Parker. A new album is in production with a September release. Let’s begin with him setting the stage for Them Bugs and its wonderfully playful sound. “It’s about time I released a gimmick single,” says Parker. “Still, it’s the funkiest gimmick single ever, pulsing with skanky heat and the cool croon of The Lady Bugs on backup vocals. It was written after the 4th of July fireworks with my son when Them Bugs were indeed biting in ‘the places you never should get bit.’ Lighten up – get jiggy with it.” Parker’s uniquely soulful singing unfolds the tale over a tasty reggae-infected groove – a move that will remind longtime fans that he was immersed in the form long before the punks caught on, as far back as his 1976 debut album Howlin’ Wind and the classic cut Don’t Ask Me Questions. Them Bugs is more laid back but no less true to its roots and a pure summertime delight. 

Of the B-side, Graham says: “One day I had to write The Ologist Song. Damn straight I did. A non-album track featuring pulsing horns, those sweet soul singing Lady Bugs again, and The Goldtops with the horns punctuating their intense swing.” The Goldtops – Simon Edwards (bass), Jim Russell (drums) and Martin Belmont (guitar) – loom large on the forthcoming album and will be backing Parker on his U.K. tour dates this fall, and fans will be thrilled that horns are very much in the mix on the new material. But at the forefront of The Ologist Song is Parker’s universally lauded gift for wit and wordplay. And it is indeed a sign of the depth of his new songs that this instantly lovable tune is not among the thirteen tracks that will make up the new album, remaining exclusive to this single release. 

Graham Parker gets us off to a fast and hot start for mining the genre of novelty songs. And where there is heat, there will be fire, and where there is fire, there is smoke. And when we follow the smoke, we get to Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen and their version of the classic song, Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette), which hit the charts in 1973. The song is much older than that; it was written in 1947.

Novelty songs have a long and rich history. Comedy and novelty songs can be traced as far back as the first century in ancient Greece and Rome, where poets and playwrights entertained with double entenders, puns and playing with words.

The use of comedy continued in the late 19th century, where it flourished with everything from tin pan ally to vaudeville entertainers of the early 20th century adding lyrics to musical numbers. In 1923, one of the first comedy music hits, Yes! We Have No Bananas, sung by Eddie Cantor, was released. In 1924 Billy Rose asked, “Does the Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?”. In 1958 the song was rereleased as, Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Overnight?” by Lonnie Donegan, the King of Skiffle. Moving our attention forward, we find that radio was still popular into the 1950s, and a new form of entertainment was gaining popularity: records. Novelty music flourished with artists such as Roger Miller, who, Dang Me, told us that You Can’t Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd. In The Summertime, there are many things to fill our days with. You can send your kids to camp, and perhaps they will write home, Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (A Letter from Camp) by Allan Sherman. Among the more far-out songs of this genre were the two released in 1956 by Nervous Norvus, Transfusion and Ape Call.

During the heady days of novelty songs, there were many songs recorded that may be too risque for our present politically correct ears to hear. Songs such as Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini and The Girl On The Billboard by The Road Hammers. A bit of fun trivia follows. What song was Chuck Berry’s only number-one single in the United States? The answer is My Ding-a-Ling, a novelty song written and recorded by Dave Bartholomew. It was covered by Chuck Berry in 1972 and became his only number-one Billboard Hot 100 single in the United States. I must be careful that the girl in the Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini & The Girl On The Billboard don’t ring My Ding-a-Ling. 

Ray Stevens, a popular recording artist who was no stranger to comedy and novelty music, was known for such novelty hits as Ahab the Arab, Gitarzan, Mississippi Squirrel Revival and his #1 hit, The Streak. Butterfingers Irving — The 142nd Fastest Gun in the West is a favourite of mine. It was first released on the Bob Booker and George Foster comedy album When You’re in Love the Whole World Is Jewish and “sung” by Frank Gallop.

The 1960s and 1970s saw the rise of numerous comedy music artists whose careers went on for decades. These artists include Allan Sherman, Tiny Tim, and Randy Newman. In 1970, the radio host Barret Hansen, better known as Dr. Demento, played tracks sent in by amateur artists, including 16-year-old Weird Al Yankovic. Weird Al released his first album in 1983, and for over four decades, he released multiple hit parodies and originals, which made him a significant player in the genre of comedy music and the counterculture associated with it. Weird Al Yankovic would emerge as one of the most prolific parody acts of all time in the 1980s, with a career that would span four decades; he would join Cliff Richard in being one of the few acts to have at least one top-40 hit in the U.S. in four consecutive decades (1950s through the 1980s for Richard, 1980s to 2010s for Yankovic).

Novelty songs were popular on U.S. radio throughout the 1970s and 1980s, to the point where it was not uncommon for novelty songs to break into the top 40. Freeform and album-oriented rock stations used novelty songs; some of the best-known work from progressive rocker Frank Zappa, for instance, is his extensive body of mostly adult-oriented novelty music. Zappa’s Bobby Brown (Goes Down) was a smash hit in Europe despite its sexually explicit storyline, and Valley Girl was a Top 40 hit in the U.S., while Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow and Dancin’ Fool reached the top 100 of the radio charts in his native United States. Dr. Demento’s nationally syndicated radio show gave novelty songs an outlet for much of the country; this lasted through the mid-2000s when the show (mirroring trends in the genre) faded in popularity until its cancellation in June 2010.

The list of comedy, novelty and off-beat songs is too long to include in this blog. I suggest a search on Wikipedia if you want to learn more. Below are some notable songs, writers and performers of novelty music, including some of my favourites.

They Might Be Giants have been a prolific source of novelty, comedic music, and lyrics, with 23 studio albums to their credit.

Shel Silverstein was a source of wit and wisdom through his songs, often recorded by others. Sloppy Seconds was the second album from the country rock band Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show. Shel Silverstein wrote every song on this album. It featured Dr. Hook’s most famous songs, including Freakin’ at the Freakers Ball and The Cover of Rolling Stone. It was noted in popular media for its “crude sense of humour.” Nevertheless, it was still humour and is included in our tribute.

Johnny Cash with A Boy Named Sue.

Junk Food Junkie by Larry Groce

Bad Indigestion by The Lost Dogs

30,000 Pounds of Bananas by Harry Chapin

Yes! We Have No Bananas by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn

No more food songs! There are hundreds of them!

Arthur Fhardys Yodelling Party by The Swirling Eddies 

King of the Road by Roger Miller is mentioned numerous times, which only scratches the surface of his output.

Love Potion #9 by The Searchers, I think I was one out of millions of teenage boys who wished they had a sample of Love Potion #9.

I hope you enjoyed this list of humorous songs; if you are so inclined, leave a comment telling me your favourite comedy/novelty song.

Nowhere I’d Rather Be by Gregory Jones, a singer and songwriter from Oxford (UK), is a pleasant summer, sipping a cool one on the deck type of album. With influences such as Simon & Garfunkel, George Harrison, Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Jimmy Webb and Burt Bacharach, Gregory’s timeless sound and ability to tell a story will pick you up and drop you back down in places that feel familiar, but you’ve not been to before.

Nowhere I’d Rather Be is the title track from Gregory Jones’ debut solo album, released on 15 May 2023 on the Italian label Other Eyes Records, butIt’s not his first release by any means. It follows three successful singles as a solo artist and a critically acclaimed catalogue of work as a guitarist in the Bristol-based band Modesty Blaise. 

Bristol is where the music all began for Gregory. Raised in a household of musicians, he played every orchestral instrument he could lay his hands on until he discovered the guitar and three chords to a Kinks song, setting him on a different trajectory.

Then came a meeting with Modesty Blaise’s front-man and songwriter, Jonny Collins, who taught him everything there is and isn’t worth knowing about rock ‘n’ roll. Jonny Collins also introduced him to his friend and namesake, Edwyn Collins (of Orange Juice fame), and a new world of music opened up before him.

Two tours of Germany and Spain followed as Gregory honed his stagecraft and tolerance for long journeys in transit vans and hanging around a studio drinking tea. Countless hours in the control room, learning from the best, shaped him into a highly accomplished engineer and producer.

Fast forward to Oxford 2023, another hotbed of indie music, and we find Gregory’s Nowhere I’d Rather Be. His first long-player, packed full of harmony-laden, melodic indie-pop tunes, with a generous helping of folk-rock and Americana for good measure!

It’s not a typical first album – not an eclectic creaming-off of the best songs he’s written. Instead, it’s more of a tricky second album, written with a beginning, middle and end, with a narrative that weaves its way from heartache to homecoming. It’s also an LP in the traditional sense, with two sides. An outbound and a homeward-bound journey through the experiences life throws our way. Sometimes uplifting and other times downright melancholy, there’s sure to be something we can all relate to in this story.

With influences such as Simon & Garfunkel, George Harrison, Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Jimmy Webb and Burt Bacharach, Gregory’s timeless sound and ability to tell a story will pick you up and drop you back down in places that feel familiar, but you’ve not been to before. 

Nowhere I’d Rather Be was released on 15 May 2023 on Other Eyes Records and is available on CD, digital platforms and online at othereyesrecords.com/shop. 

For press and other inquiries, please get in touch with other@othereyesrecords.com or @iamgregoryjones

BANDCAMP

OTHER EYES RECORDS

NOWHERE I’D RATHER BE VIDEO

YOUTUBE

APPLE MUSIC

DEEZER

b0ka, or etymologically correct, boka, is “the book” in English, my language of choice. I wish I were fluent in Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish. I will use Google Translate instead of learning them at this point in my life. Never mind my rant. This blog is about a band named b0ka and the infectious pop music on their debut album, Forever, My Friend.

Pop music and top ten radio often get a bad rap due to the formulaic nature of the songs. Some websites are devoted to making a pop song, and they walk a person through creating your own top 10 radio hit song. 

They start by picking the topic, which usually revolves around three main themes, love found, being in love, and love lost—songs that tug at our heartstrings, which most of us can relate to. The remainder of the process builds on this and adds catchy melodies for the lyrics to be delivered. Most pop music is in the three to three and one half minute range. And with all of that and some good promoters, a hit pop song might emerge.

Is making pop music terrible? Is listening to pop music wrong? Do I have an agenda against pop music?

No, No, No, Norman. No, no, no is an excellent start to your million-dollar hit pop song. A gazillion songs revolve around “no, no, no.” There are a lot fewer when you add Norman. The closest I found was, Oh No, Norman, on Office Politics, the twelfth studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released on 7 June 2019 by Divine Comedy Records.

This blog is not about that. This blog is about b0ka, a band that has made an excellent pop album. Sure, they say “Oh No” several times and repeat some choruses, but that is about as close as they get to being a formula band. They also don’t mention Norman, not even once.

The album opens with the tender ballad Oh Baby. Gentle lyrics are more spoken than sung, making for an interesting opener. If I were cruising for songs to play, which I frequently do and sampled Oh Baby, I might have rejected it because it sounded like it would be a soft rock ballad album. It isn’t.

Listening to the next track, Stone Cold Girl, we get an uptempo track with plenty of synths, sampling and digital drums. The vocals are more vigorous, and there are background singers. These assets bring the music to a pleasant pitch contrasting the darker lyrics. Falling apart, rain on holidays, heartbreak, worlds of empty colours, sadness. Yeah, these are not uplifting lyrics, unlike the catchy instruments. There are two parts to Stone Cold Girl; the second is less energetic. Both use repetition extensively.

When You Touch Me repeats, “I said I didn’t like it when you touched me,” 19 times. A bit repetitive, but in the context of an R&B, Soul, Jazz & Funk track, it works. It is also hilarious, and I hope they meant the song to be humorous because that is how I received it. I won’t bother trying to tell you what it is about. Listen to it and draw your conclusion.

The title track, Forever My Friend, alternates between English and Norwegian. I am not fluent in either, but I know significantly more English.

Want Me To has the focal character sitting on the fence and saying, Can’t make up my mind about you. The music don’t feel like it did when I was with you. Music is a powerful medium that can add memories, hold memories associated with certain songs and drag our emotions up or down. Want Me To is neutral.

I will fast-track over a couple of songs and jump into the groove of Fjompin’ 67. I had to look up what Fjompin’ was. It is a jerk, goof, silly or idiotic person. “Do you like the beat?

Yeah, I like the beat.

Drink beer, and listen to house music.”

I don’t drink beer and seldom listen to house music, but I like music with a strong beat. Fjompin’ 67 isn’t heavy on house music, but it is an excellent introduction to the next song, Last Night (On Earth), which does have a strong beat.

The album closes with the song, Life With Me, a softer synth-driven track about falling in love, being in love and the questions.

Is it wonderful?

Can I enjoy it?

Can I control it?

I like the final line that closes the album, “I can’t choose who I love, but I choose you.”

I can see myself looking into my wife’s eyes and telling her, “I choose you.”

Final word? Yeah, this is radio-friendly pop music. It has been an excellent introduction for me to the world of Norwegian pop music. Easy to listen to, soft synth music over the eternal human topic, love.

‘Forever, My Friend’ will be available to stream from the 12th May 2023 via Beatservice Records with vinyl release to follow on 9th June 2023.

ARTIST WEBSITE/SOCIAL MEDIA:
https://www.facebook.com/b0karec
https://www.instagram.com/bokarecordings/

For press enquiries, please contact james@barkpr.co.uk

våra liv is the album that I have been patiently waiting for ever since I wrote about Sole Gipp Ossler‘s single that was released in February. I did a favourable report back then, and I have only good things to say about våra liv.

Photo credit to Ulf Zetterlund

I don’t understand the Swedish language, but I do understand good music. Maybe not your definition of good music, but it certainly ensconced itself in my ear. The music is powerful. It wanders about in different styles that go from gentle ballads to epic movements. Never a dull moment. This album kept me glued to the speakers as I engaged with what I heard.

I like what I hear, as a matter of fact, I am listening to våra liv as I type this out. It makes the writing emerge slowly because I keep getting interrupted by songs and passages that I must stop and engage with. It’s all good. For example Sven is an ambient track that moves from gentle waves lapping at the shore to breakers crashing all about and take the song to another level of intensity—well done, Sole.

“du jag tiden” opens with gentle piano notes, a quiet guitar someplace behind the piano slips into the soundscape, and an equally subtle synth joins them. And then SOLE starts singing in a delicate, rhythmic pattern that builds along with the music, rising and rising with percussion driving them all forward. SOLE’s voice soon changes into a plaintive call, and the music continues to build higher and higher and faster and faster. It gets frantic. The distortion is all-encompassing. I am out of breath from trying to keep up with the pace of “du jag tiden.” And then it stops with her gentle voice reclaiming the focus only to lose it in the distortion that gives the impression of a steam locomotive braking hard to stop at the station. Steel grinds on steel, and then they all fade to nothing. I hit repeat. “du jag tiden” opens with…etc.

våra liv is a passionate album. SOLE shares:

“The main idea behind the album was to turn outwards, instead of inwards like on the debut album. This time, I involved more people in the creation process, both musicians and songwriters, to see what happens when there is a meeting between two lives, two expressions. Suddenly, it becomes a shared space, no longer just my own. So, it’s important for me to emphasize that this album couldn’t have been possible without these individuals. Everyone has had an essential part in the creation.”

våra liv and Sole have given me another reason to visit Sweden, apart from visiting my cousins the live there. Until that happens I will be content with hitting the repeat button, listening to våra live again and waiting for SOLE‘s next album.

Telenovela is Sofia Monroy‘s debut EP, released independently on May 12th. During her upbringing in Luleå, far up north in Sweden, Telenovelas were repeatedly shown on TV due to her family’s Mexican origins. A telenovela is a type of television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines tele (for “television”) and novela (meaning “novel”).

Cover Art photo credit: Caroline Hägg

Sofia’s own Telenovela contains the artist’s own stories and experiences, but just like an honest Latin American Telenovela, her Telenovela contains, among other things, drama, jealousy, comedy and sadness. The last few years have been decisive for the artist’s musical expression, increasingly experimenting with Spanish and English. At the same time, the Scandinavian melodies are heard through, set to music in a soulful way. The lyrics contain a mixture of English with a touch of Spanish – something that describes the artist’s identity and background.

Sofia Monroy‘s latest single ‘Control‘ was picked up on rotation on Swedish national radio P3 and mentioned by Per Sinding-Larsen in Sweden’s second biggest morning show SVT Morgonstudion, as well as giving her interviews both on Swedish national radio and an extensive interview and music video premiere in SVT Play. She also did an extensive interview in Mexico’s setlist.me and was covered by many other music blogs worldwide. Since Sofia Monroy debuted as a solo artist in 2019 with the single’ Cautious,’ she has gained attention worldwide for her impressive live performances, beautiful visuals and bilingual and fenceless and fearless lyrics.

Telenovela is an EP of infectious music guaranteed to get you bobbing your head and wanting to hear more. Put Sofia Monroy‘s music on repeat and give yourself a soundtrack for the summer.

GreenWing is a band.

GreenWing is a band that I listen to.

GreenWing is a band from Saskatchewan.

GreenWing is a band that I blogged about in October of last year, October 3, 2022. https://weatheredmusic.ca/2022/10/03/greenwing/

GreenWing has a new single that is bound to get some traction on the internet of all things musical. That single is Dark.

Yeah, really. The song’s name is Dark, and they spell their band name as one word GreenWing, not Green Wing.

Here is how I recommend that you listen to Dark the first time.

I recommend finding a nice chill track and making a folder with that chill track as the opener. And without listening to it, add Dark as the second track. And then add the debut album from GreenWing, Late Bloomer. Now, sit back in a comfortable chair/sofa/whatever, and put on your earbuds. I prefer over-ear headphones, but whatever you have will work just fine. And prepare for launch. Hit play for the chill track and allow yourself to drift away with the music. 

GreenWing is announcing the release of their new single, “Dark.” It seems like just yesterday that I listened to GreenWings’ debut album, Late Bloomer, when it was actually this morning with my cup of joe.

I liked Late Bloomer. It felt very organic. Homegrown. Let’s sit on the deck out back and strum a guitar feel to it. That’s kind of how it sounded to me. GreenWing came across as a genuine, honest, down-to-earth bunch of guys. That long and winding preamble leads us to some new music from the boys of Saskatchewan—the single Dark.

Dark still sounds like Late Bloomer, but it is not a cut-and-paste track. Drummer Kolt Kimbley describes the band’s sound as “energetic with a dark but hopeful feeling.” Guitarist Anthony Allegretto aptly sums up Dark as being a song about “feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders and pushing through with a hopeful desperation.”

I know everyone hears different things in the lyrics of a song. What I hear is a person staring down the temptations of this world. These are temptations that the lyricist has given into in the past, “so we meet again.” There’s no one guilty other than the lyricist who fights against their “intrusive thoughts.” The mind is a dangerous place to be alone in.

so we meet again

intrusive thoughts 

friend of a friend

and you keep whispering

I can make it stop

if I just jump in

It would be easy to avoid the struggle and give in to the whispers that lure and tempt us. It would be oh-so-easy to make the whispers stop. We just have to jump in. Give in to the whispers. Give in to the temptations. Give in to the sirens’ song. Just jump in. You’ve been there before. You know you can make it stop.

yeah you’re calling 

come to the Dark with me 

I don’t want to die 

but I long to be free

come to the Dark with me 

I don’t want to die 

but I long to be free

There is a tug-of-war going on within us. The call to come to the Dark is pitted against the desire to live and be free. The following two verses are a litany of reasons that make going Dark a temptation.

Pop music, which is why I listen to GreenWing; intelligent lyrics and good music.

TV. I love the Groucho Marx quote: “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” The economy, the rich and richer and the rest of us get cable tv. “My friend shot dead.” Ouch, that is one strong reason to lean into the Dark, but the short-lived benefit could lead us down the same road, which is not cool.

I long to be free

from all the stress and anxiety 

is that too much to ask 

for me

to see a future, that’s not so goddamn bleak

just give me a chance

to catch my breath and breath 

The song ends with a glimmer of hope, “I long to be free.”There you have it: intelligent lyrics, great music, and a song that leaves me longing to hear the album and to hear them live; we only live a 6 hour’s drive apart. GreenWing is a band with a commanding knowledge of building a great piece of music that quickly becomes an earworm.

“Dark” was self-produced by the band at Rainy Day Recording Co, recorded and mixed by Matt Stinn and mastered by Trevor Case (Jon Batiste, Rita Ora, Orgy)

“GreenWing started its musical journey in 2021. GreenWing’s early days saw them living through Covid lockdowns and the harsh Saskatchewan winter while finding sanity through collaborating on a collection of songs and hoping to return to stages and touring one day. The band’s debut album “Late Bloomer,” leans heavily on driving rhythms and pop-laden hooks. Reminiscent of the punk and post-rock they grew up listening to, the band interweaves themes of self-reflection, grief, and a newfound sense of self into a crushing wall of sound.” – from the PR sheet.

Stream our music! 

Bandcamp

Instagram

Facebook

Youtube

Look for GreenWing on tour across Canada in 2023 to support “Late Bloomer” and their subsequent single, “Dark.” 

As a late add-on, Joel and I went to see GreenWing live in a local coffee bar, Kaffa Roaster and Studio. Joel took some photos, and I got my groove going with the songs. It felt good to be listening live. The openers were ok, and some local bands were getting into the live music scene; Lauriers, Gratuitous Platypus, and No Such Thing As Ghost. I missed the first band, and I thought Lauriers was good. The lead singer had the energy to spare, and the rest of the band was tight.

Greenwing rocked the house and pumped up the energy. I found myself singing along; it’s a good thing I listened to them as often as I did. We met after the show for some friendly banter, and we left after buying some merch and getting the boys in the band to sign a setlist for us. Nice fellas.

Atmospheric dream-pop trio Emmecosta released their debut album ‘Overnight’ on 14th April 2023 alongside the focus single ‘Overnight.’ The album includes recently released singles’ Laek’, ‘UmaybeU’ and ‘Effort’ and is being released through boutique label Icons Creating Evil Art.

Emmecosta opens their Overnight album with the track Effort. I could relate. “I need an effort on this.” I needed an effort to get writing this week, and I am starting with Emmecosta and their album, Overnight. It is not laborious to listen to this album. It is easy listening, literally. The song Effort is a smooth-as-silk effort that floats along on the synth waves that hold the lyrics up above the waves. It’s a lazy song that doesn’t get much speed up, but it is a great song to chill along with.

 The second track, Overnight, gets more energy with a ping-pong synth. Lyrically it is another broken heart song.

The third track Laek gave me an earworm that I found myself nodding my head to at various times during the day, which without saying, led to another listening session. The song starts rather pedestrian but builds up a head of steam that pushes the track forward with more and more energy. The song has an interesting pace heard in the lyrics more than the instruments. I like it.

Horsedust is a song about letting go. I believe it is about letting go of a relationship, but I heard words about letting go of whatever we were clinging to. For example: “everything I felt now, it’s gone. I’ve been faith, but I’m done.” Everything that I had faith in is gone. I have had faith in many things, but now they are done. They have turned to dust. Dust in the wind, perhaps.

The following songs are love found, love lost, love experienced. They keep the synth music going with their musical accent all through it. The album closes with the song Ghosts, which opens with a guitar, which is mainly unheard of in the other pieces. It works as a good closer, which is as essential as a good opener.

Overall this is an album that is easy to listen to. Any time of day works. Plug in the buds and go for a jog or a walk in the park with Emmacosta as the soundtrack. Put the album on as a background as you work, and it works with you. Put the buds on again at night as you read a book and drift off into the land of dreams. In short, Overnight is a solid album that works its magic anytime and anywhere.

The trio said of their debut album, “Our aim is to create an introspective and thought-provoking experience by exploring the complexities of human emotions and relationships through themes of lost love, regret, and self-discovery. We’ll delve into the nuances of each theme, examining the impact they have on our lives and relationships. Through our exploration, we hope to inspire a deeper understanding of ourselves and our connections with others.”

Hailing from the small Italian town of Positano, the post-club outfit has been based in Sweden for the past seven years. Now self-proclaimed Swedish nationals, two-thirds of the trio have followed their Italian roots back to Milan as the group discovered a newfound need to portray and develop their Swedish/Italian link through their future work. Now the trio is ready for the long-awaited release of their debut album, Overnight. 

Discover more about Emmecosta

SPOTIFY | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

Lauren Ford | Mystic Sons | Press Assistant

Tel: +44 (0) 2075 804 257

Mob: +44 (0) 7809 568 261

Strongroom Studios | 120-124 Curtain Road | Hackney | London | EC2A 3SQ

Press | Radio | Events

http://www.mysticsons.com 

Once again, my friends, you find me posting a blog centred on a single. Not even a few extra songs on an EP; nope, I am doing a single today. But it is a good song. It would necessitate being a very good song for me to write a blog about it. If you follow me, you will see that most of my entries are for LPs or EPs. This one isn’t. It is for a single.

I am stumbling through this rough introduction to present a song that goes by the name Mr. King. From the first listen, this song had me in a musical headlock, pushing an earworm into my thick skull with all its might.

 Mr. King’s sound is reminiscent of The Beatles in their Abbey Road days. Reminiscent, they are not a Beatles clone. Nor are they a tribute band. They are The Bablers, and Mr. King is their brand new single.

Mr. King opens with a crescendo of piano, and this is really cool; they do the song 100% live with original instruments: upright piano, electric guitar, bass and drums. If I tried to do that in this blog, it would read like alphabet soup.

The Bablers founder, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Arto Tamminen – who’s led the band, now alongside Janne Haavisto (drums, vocals), Pekka Gröhn (bass, keyboards, vocals), and Hannu Pikkarainen (guitar, vocals) since its late ’70s genesis – tells us about the track and how it differs from the boisterous guitar pop of the two prior single. “It’s built to be a classic big piano pop ballad, the kind you’ve rarely heard since the golden days of pop.” 

Arto Tamminen lays out the backstory behind the emotive lyrics, offering insight into the choice to release the song as the English monarchy – and so much of the world – enters a new era. “It’s been a long day. A lot of public activities. Horses and soldiers. Roaring audiences. Applause. Flags. Smiling faces,” explains Arto. “Finally, at the castle, someone is knocking at the door. It’s troubadour asking permission to sing a song, crafted especially for the occasion. Permission is granted. He starts to sing, and in the chorus asks the most important question…” 

The most important question. It is relevant not only to the coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as king and queen of the United Kingdom but to everyone. The most important question is this, “How happy are you?”

I probably wouldn’t be too far from the truth if I said that many of us go about our day with faked smiles and an uneasy balance between happiness and wanting to pull a blanket over our heads and tell the world to go away. I like to quote a favourite song, “Stop The World (And Let Me Off.”

So, how happy are you? What makes you happy? Is your happiness dependent on external circumstances that you have no control over?

We have no control over other people, so why depend on them to make us happy? People will let us down. But we do not have to let them control our happiness. So, how happy are you?

Do I have enough money to keep me happy? Do I have enough drugs? Do I have enough records? The “Do I have enough” list goes on and on. Will we ever have enough things to keep us happy?

How happy are you?

That’s a good question and the crucial hinge point for the song Mr. King. Both the deft handling of the subject matter and the richness of the music marked a change of pace after the last two singles from The Bablers. That versatility won’t surprise longtime fans or anyone who’s heard the band’s thrillingly eclectic and lovingly crafted 2021 Big Stir Records album Psychadilly Circus. I highly recommend listening to this album if you haven’t already.

Mr. King added a touch of extra happiness to my already happy day. Mr. King will be released and streaming everywhere worldwide on May 5, just one day before the coronation of King Charles in the UK. Mr. King is now up for pre-order/pre-save at bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com and all major streaming platforms. It follows the hits “You Are The One For Me” (which reigned as The Coolest Song In The World on Little Steven’s Underground Garage last year) and “Holding You Tight Tonight” as the latest track to hit the international airwaves from the out-of-print album Like The First Time, previously released to great acclaim only in Japan and slated for international reissue by Big Stir.

I hope you will be happier after listening to Mr. King. I was.

BIG STIR RECORDS 

2140 N. Hollywood Way #6607, Burbank CA 91505 bigstrrecords@gmail.com – rexbroome@gmail.com http://www.bigstrrecords.com