Today, 19-year-old Byron Bay-raised, Sydney-based songwriter MAY-A shares her latest single, ‘Apricots’. Listen HERE. 

‘Apricots’ is a deeply-felt rush of emotion, its twinkling guitar line giving way to the crunch of the chorus as MAY-A surveys the inner and real-life terrain of coming to terms with your sexuality, counterbalancing questions of identity against a blossoming queer relationship. ‘Apricots’ follows on from her most recent single, ‘Green’, which was premiered on Home and Hosed with Declan Byrne, received full rotation on triple j and won praise from Pilerats, Purple Sneakers, Best Before, and more, including triple j Unearthed, who named her Feature Artist in June. 

Of the track, MAY-A shares that: “Apricots is ultimately a story about a friendship between two girls but not in the traditional sense, it is an inner dialogue between my head and my heart. This song is super important to me because I wrote it around the time that I was coming to terms with my sexuality and realising I had feelings for a girl for the first time. I originally started writing it about a relationship, but as it evolved it became more about my current self talking to my past self.”

She continues: “The lyric “Up in my mind we’re together, I’m sorry I forgot, you’re not looking for a person, that’s something you’ve already got” is basically me talking about my past and when I had a boyfriend. We didn’t really work well together at all, but I kept turning a blind eye to it because I thought that we looked good together when we really had nothing in common and were just super awkward all of the time. if I had known I liked girls I would never have gone there in the first place. The song is ultimately a letter to my younger self, helping her come to terms with the fact that she is looking for something ‘she doesn’t even know she wants’ and letting her know that that’s ok.”

‘Apricots’ is the fourth single from the prolific but patient songwriter who’s been steadily sharing her previously private goldmine with the outside world, building a considered and assuredly diverse discography from over 100 demos. Having written music since the age of 12, MAY-A has honed a brand of songwriting that marries the classic pop structures and storytelling of parental favourites that permeated her childhood home with the post-genre sensibilities of Billie Eilish, the nonchalant, Gen Z cool of Clairo, and the suburban poetry of Lorde. With her poignant, elliptical storytelling, clear-eyed observational lyricism, and songwriting full of musical left-turns, MAY-A interrogates the realities of youth with clarity and maturity beyond her 19 years.

‘Apricots‘ also comes with the announcement of global label and agent signings with Sony Music (ANZ), Mike Greek at CAA (Florence and The Machine, Haim, Sigur Ros) and Evan Davis at Village Sounds (Vance Joy, Wafia).

‘Apricots‘ by MAY-A is out now, buy/stream it here.

Stay connected with MAY-A:
Facebook | Instagram | Youtube

Mparntwe/Alice Springs artist Tom Snowdon is releasing his first solo material in the form of EP Channel. Listen HERE.

As a child, one of Snowdon’s favourite records was the covers album Messenger by Yorta Yorta artist Jimmy Little. He thought the songs were all Little’s, and it’s been a collection he’s returned to over the years. At the urging of a friend earlier this year, Snowdon has created a collection of his own cover versions – both as a nod to the influence of Little and as a way to transition into creating music solo, after a career-to-date of working collaboratively with bandmates and co-writers. As evidenced by these haunting versions of ‘Two Weeks‘ and ‘Unchained Melody‘ it’s clear Snowdon can take a song and make it his own.

Originally imagined as a live record performed with a band, coronavirus restrictions meant Snowdon had to change tack. Capturing warm and organic feelings in the songs, and for them to have a bit of a live energy remained important, so he experimented with minimal arrangements and leaned into performing a lot of the recording fully live. For example, ‘Lose You To Love Me‘ and ‘Blue Moon‘ are more or less one-take recordings with extra bits added on-top.

The songs themselves were whittled down from scores of options – Snowdon followed his voice and recorded the tracks that just felt good to sing, and carried a curious atmosphere he could explore. Some of his favourite singers include Björk, Nina Simone, Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins) and Mark Hollis (Talk Talk). “They’re mesmerising for me because they take listeners on a journey with their voices. They’re deeply instrumental and rich with emotion, so the words they sing take on weight and power. The Björk song is actually my vocal warm up. ‘Unravel’ wasn’t in the original list to work on but it came about in the studio with my co-producer Matt Redlich that it was a favourite of both of ours, so we wanted to give it a shot. Her singing is so expressive that it sounds like it just pours out of her soul.”

Tom Snowdon hails from Mparntwe/Alice Springs, from a large close-knit family. Now living in Melbourne, the distance between him and home is wide. Stemming from his connection to the Jimmy Little album, the act of making Channel “is a way of reaching across the country to my family back in Central Australia.”

Channel by Tom Snowdon will be out 7th October via Pieater, buy/stream it here.
For our friends at community radio, you can also download the track via AMRAP here.

TRACK LIST
Who Can It Be Now? (Men At Work)
Lose You To Love Me (Selena Gomez)
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head (Kylie Minogue)
Unravel (Bjork)
Everytime (Britney Spears)
Blue Moon (Rodgers & Hart {Elvis / Billie Holiday / The Marcels et al})

Stay connected with
Tom Snowdon: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Pieater: Pieater.net | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Tumblr

Following months of anticipation, Joji’s second studio album Nectar (released September 25 via 88rising and distributed by 12ToneMusic) has debuted at #1 in Australia, being the first 88rising artist to have a #1 album in Australia. The record continued to make waves across the world, hitting #2 in New Zealand, #4 in Canada, #6 in the United Kingdom and #9 in Norway. It has also reached #1 on Spotify’s inaugural US Weekly Top 50 Albums chart which launched today and opened at #3 on the Billboard 200, nearly doubling the first-week sales of his RIAA gold-certified 2018 debut BALLADS 1. Hailed by Newsweek as “a shapeshifting best-seller”, Nectar is Spotify’s most-streamed new album globally this week.

Listen to Nectar: https://88rising.lnk.to/Nectar

Nectar arrived after a buzzy months-long buildup, which included Joji’s debut TV performance on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, a collaborative track and video with Diplo, a new merch line and even his own signature honey Joji’s Nectar. Following the album release, Joji released two more mind-bending videos and announced The Extravaganza – a first of its kind, one-night-only livestream event, set for October 23. Directed by Joji himself, The Extravaganza will feature first-ever live performances of songs from Nectar and never-before-seen hijinks. One ticket will grant fans access to the October 23 7pm PDT (Americas) premiere as well as two re-showings on October 24 at 7pm WIB (Asia & Australia) and 7pm CEST (Europe & Africa). These will be the only viewings of The Extravaganza.

Purchase Joji Presents: The Extravaganza tickets: http://jojiextravaganza.com

Nectar by Joji is out now via 88rising Records/12Tone Music,
buy/stream it here.

TRACKLIST
1. Ew
2. Modus
3. Tick Tock
4. Daylight (w/ Diplo)
5. Upgrade
6. Gimme Love
7. Run
8. Sanctuary
9. High Hopes (feat. Omar Apollo)
10. NITROUS
11. Pretty Boy (feat. Lil Yachty)
12. Normal People (feat. rei brown)
13. Afterthought (w/ BENEE)
14. Mr. Hollywood
15. 777
16. Reanimator (feat. Yves Tumor)
17. Like You Do
18. Your Man

Stay connected with Joji:
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Breakout Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter and producer Max Leone today shares his latest single, ‘5’, out now via The Darkroom. Listen HERE.

His fifth single of the year, each of Max Leone’s first four singles have so far occupied a distinct sonic world, a marker of the anti-pop prodigy’s versatility and his capacity to be naturally, seamlessly fluent across multiple styles but also his intent to introduce the full breadth of his artistry on his forthcoming debut EP. And ‘5’ is no exception, immersing itself in lushly produced electronic-leaning psychedelia reminiscent of Tame Impala. Max subsumes his mixture of lo-fi and polished within this previously unexplored sound, allowing luxuriant, swirling synth chord, electronic drums and his lilting vocals to occupy the foreground of ‘5’ while constant musical tinkering and choppy vocal samples linger in the background, as Max proves his malleability and ability to produce sonically and emotionally deeply rewarding music, stretching ‘5’ out to his longest runtime to date.

Of the track, Max shares that: “Recently I’ve been faced with a lot of tough, existential questions regarding how I perceive the world around me and my role in it. In confronting this, I also find myself saying goodbye to certain pieces of a previous self. 5 is about that loss of innocence.”

Trained as a guitar principal at Berklee College of Music before eventually dropping out, the music Leone is now producing represents the marriage of his formal musical background and his affection for contemporary alt-pop and R&B, spending countless after-school hours as a teenager teaching himself production via YouTube and uploading remixes to Soundcloud. Like his previous singles, ‘5’ keeps one foot in both of these worlds while also seeming to exist entirely outside of them, packaging an enviable amount of compositional finesse into a highly consumable bedroom-pop gem, allowing the underlying complexity of his compositions to play in service of the overall vibe.

Off the strength of the smattering of these singles, Max Leone has already emerged as one of 2020’s most promising new artists, amassing over 4 million Spotify streams to date. ‘5’ follows the previously released ‘First Grade’, ‘The Beach’, ‘Cautious’, and ‘Malleable’, received full rotation across triple j and won praise from Billboard, NME, Pigeons & Planes, Pilerats, Purple Sneakers, Ones to Watch, Earmilk and more.

Inspired by childhood influences such as Otis Redding and Nina Simone, Max Leone’s music is defined by the combination of soulful, acoustic-led songwriting with the left-of-center production choices of Lorde and fellow Darkroom-signee Billie Eilish, harnessing the DIY, genre-averse pop intelligence of bedroom stars BENEE and Omar Apollo.

‘5‘ by Max Leone is out now via The Darkroom, buy/stream it here.

Taiwanese soul-psych outfit Sunset Rollercoaster today share their latest single, ‘Candlelight’, featuring OHHYUK, and announce their forthcoming third full-length album, Soft Storm, due October 30th. Listen HERE and watch HERE.

Opening with plucked guitars that sound at once laidback and world-weary, ‘Candlelight’ simmers along patiently, building with outsized synths and pulsating chords until the percussion enters and the intertwining vocals of OHHYUK and lead singer Kuo Kuo puncture the tension towards the second half of the track. Featuring South Korean musician OHHYUK, frontman of indie rock group Hyukoh, ‘Candlelight’ – the closing track from their forthcoming third LP – represents the meeting point of two groups currently at the forefront of Asia’s booming independent music scene.

On the collaboration, Sunset Rollercoaster shares that: “Oh Hyuk has a unique and emotional voice, it’s great that we can work on the song Candlelight together, it’s a song about memories. Oh Hyuk made it colorful.” Meanwhile, OHHYUK says: “I really like Sunset Rollercoaster’s music and enjoy listening to their songs often. So, it felt great to take part in a new song by the band. I had a pleasant time and I hope people will enjoy listening to the track.”

On their third record, which follows their 2019 EP VANILLA VILLA and their most recent LP, 2018’s Cassa Nova, Sunset Rollercoaster continue their project of absorbing classic American genres and styles into their amalgam of smooth 80’s city pop, “cute prog rock” and contemporary pop music. With Soft Storm, they turn their attention to sensuous and pensive quiet storm R&B. Appropriately, Soft Storm is a record full of introspective funk and quietly intense narratives, loosely tracing the course of a rainstorm hitting an unnamed city, following individuals stories of residents caught up in its path as Kuo Kuo’s lyricism zooms in and out of their lives, darting from city building to building.

With the release of Soft Storm, Sunset Rollercoaster are set to capitalise on their increasingly worldwide popularity, known for their epic guitar jams, imaginative visuals, and mesmerizing live show. Their most recent 2019 EP, VANILLA VILLA, made fans at Bandcamp, Flaunt, Hypebeast, Paste, Brooklyn Vegan, among others, with lead single ‘Villa‘ also getting a mind-bending remix from Stones Throw‘s Jerry Paper.

About Sunset Rollercoaster:
Sunset Rollercoaster formed nearly a decade ago from friendships formed at Underworld, a beloved (now defunct) indie music venue in Taipei. Since then, the soul-psych outfit have released two full-length albums and two EPs (Vanilla Villa, Bossa Nova, Jinji Kikko, and Cassa Nova), garnering a massive fanbase in Asia as well as a loyal international following with fans at Resident Advisor, Hypebeast, Bandcamp, I-D, Carhartt WIP, Beats By Dre, Paste, Brooklyn Vegan, and more. “My Jinji,” a single off their EP Jinji Kikko, and most popular track to date has +50million streams (and counting) across Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and more.

‘Candlelight feat. OHHYUK‘ by Sunset Rollercoaster is out now, buy/stream it here.