Music News

Image: Wyatt Clough

This year Silverstein celebrate their 20th anniversary with the release of their ninth studio album, A Beautiful Place To Drown, out now from UNFD. The long-running band have been staying busying despite their tour plans being postponed, and today they’re back to share an alternate version of album stand-out ‘Infinite’ recorded entirely during quarantine.

The new take fully reimagines the song as a smoldering pop gem, highlighting Silverstein’s willingness to push their sound while always preserving the emotional core that’s made them one of their scene’s most beloved bands.

Many of A Beautiful Place To Drown‘s lyrics focus on everyday mental health challenges and ‘Infinite’ seems have taken on new meaning in the wake of the pandemic. For the song’s accompanying video, the band reached out to their fans, opening up the phone lines for them to relay messages of how they’re feeling during quarantine. Excerpts from the messages can be seen over the music video’s footage of empty and eerily calm locations in the band’s home country of Canada.

Silverstein guitarist Paul Marc Rousseau discussed the new version of ‘Infinite’ and the song’s evolving meaning, saying:

“‘Infinite’ was born in the black hole of anxiety — unable to remember ‘normal,’ the fear of not knowing when the feeling will end, or if it will end at all. I think everyone has experienced that type of anxiety to some extent, and for me being locked down in the early stages of covid-19 poured gas on the fire.

“Facets of anxiety that once felt difficult to name or truly pin down slowly became concrete, tangible things. The sadness I was experiencing was no longer abstract or personalised, it was something practically everyone on Earth was relating to in real time. As days became weeks and weeks became months, it was hard, if not impossible, to see any light at the end of the tunnel. I love the album version of ‘Infinite.’ It screams into the void. It captures the emotional and physical frustration, the anger of being trapped in an anxious loop. But as of late, I feel more sadness than anger, and I thought ‘Infinite’—which for months now has felt more relevant than I ever could have known—could be rearranged to feel more like I feel.”

A Beautiful Place To Drown debuted on seven Billboard charts (including #122 Top 200, #5 Rock Albums, and #3 Current Alternative) and fittingly encapsulates the best of Silverstein while pushing their sound into daring new territory. The band may be proud torchbearers of the emo and post-hardcore scenes but appearances from artists that range from Princess Nokia to Underoath’s Aaron Gillespie, Beartooth’s Caleb Shomo, Simple Plan’s Pierre Bouvier, and more, are indicative of Silverstein’s wide-reaching impact and their ability to reach listeners in all worlds of music.

‘Infinite’ is the second album track to get the reimagining treatment, following the release of ‘Where Are You (Alternate Version)’ in June. The band also released their ‘Quaranstein‘ video and put its performances out as a digital EP (with all proceeds going to the NAACP and Black Legal Action Centre), and played a special livestream event professionally shot and recorded for fans last month.

‘Infinite (Alternate Version)’ is streaming everywhere now.

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Ben Harper has unveiled his new album Winter Is For Lovers (ANTI- Records), and in many ways his entire musical life has culminated in this moment. The solo recording, which features just Harper and his Monteleone lap steel guitar, is a 15-song work of original instrumental compositions imagined as a symphony. Harper has pushed musical boundaries since his 1994 debut and his lap steel guitar has played a tremendous role in his distinct sound throughout his career. But he’s never made an album that so purely distills his reverence for the instrument, and his mastery of it.

Starting today fans can order Winter Is For Lovers here from a limited 2000-piece pressing of the album on 180g vinyl, autographed, numbered and hand stamped. Orders will be fulfilled this week. The release date for the standard vinyl and digital version will be announced later this year.

Meditative and affecting, the music featured on Winter Is For Lovers is deeply ingrained in Harper’s DNA and leads directly back to The Folk Music Store, the influential California instrument shop his grandparents opened in the 1950s. The store hosted luminaries of all stripes, including Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, the Rev. Gary Davis, Doc Watson and John Fahey.  While Harper worked in the shop throughout his childhood, he met and even strung guitars for iconic players like Ry Cooder, Leonard Cohen, Taj Mahal, David Lindley and Jackson Browne.

Winter Is For Lovers philosophically explores the American Primitive movement pioneered by Leo Kottke and the aforementioned John Fahey. It swirls with the music Harper heard growing up, listening to the blues, Hawaiian and classical guitar masters in his mother’s record collection.  He gravitated early on to the distinct wail of the slide guitar, learning finger picking from slide master Taj Mahal and later studying with Chris Darrow of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – a lap steel virtuoso who had a major influence on Harper’s lifelong embrace of the instrument.

While Harper was composing parts of the album he was also reading Infinite Jest, and Winter is deeply influenced by the book’s unique narrative structure. As Harper learned that author David Foster Wallace fused together a series of short stories to create a bigger narrative, he saw a similar potential with the pieces that would become Winter Is For Lovers, melding together a series of works named after, and inspired by, locations across the globe that hold a special place in his heart.

Says Harper: 

This is my first entirely instrumental album.  It is stark, bare bones, just me and my lap steel guitar.  It is purposefully produced to sound intimate and spare, as if I am playing in your living room.  Upon first listen it may be surprising or catch some people off guard because it is dramatically stripped-down in contrast to a lot of what we hear today.

I am a big fan of flamenco, classical, Hawaiian and blues guitar, and I hope these influences are all somehow represented within Winter Is For Lovers.   

I have been composing this record for most of my adult life, and the challenge this record presented to me was completely new.  To record an entire album with one guitar and no words, where every single nuance was under a microscope, was more demanding than any record I have made to date, and also more rewarding.

Ben Harper is a 3-time GRAMMY Award winner and has earned 7 nominations.  He has produced albums for Mavis Staples, Blind Boys of Alabama, Natalie Maines and Ricky Lee Jones among others.  His beloved songs have hundreds of millions of streams and he has headlined the world’s greatest venues and festival stages. Harper’s previous full length release was 2018’s GRAMMY-nominated No Mercy In This Land, his second album recorded with harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite. In 2016 Harper and his longtime band The Innocent Criminals returned with Call It What It Is, deemed “brilliant” by the Atlantic. Harper, a longtime activist, wrote the album to confront police brutality.

Winter Is For Lovers tracklist:

1. Istanbul
2. Manhattan
3. Joshua Tree
4. Inland Empire
5. Harlem
6. Lebanon
7. London
8. Toronto
9. Verona
10. Brittany
11. Montreal
12. Bizanet
13. Toronto (Reprise)
14. Islip
15. Paris

Adelaide’s Paradise Club have dropped their intriguing new video for “The Seed”, lifted from their debut self-titled album, out now via Farmer & The Owl.

The first song on the album, and one that truly encapsulates the Paradise Club vibe, “The Seed” expertly weaves shimmering guitars with pulsating beats and rich synths while the lyrics explore going through a rocky patch and coming through the other side with fond memories.

“The Seed” has been brought to life by a fascinating video created by the band themselves, filmed in and around Antakirinja country (Coober Pedy) – the very same ruddy backdrop where Mad Max Beyond The Thunderdome was shot. Embarking on an 18-plus hour round trip up the Stuart Highway, on their album release day no less, Paradise Club stayed in one of the outback town’s famed dugouts, which you’ll see pop up in the clip alongside a wandering, blazed 3D being.

“Initially, the idea was creating a music video, putting it onto a tape, running it through a small tube TV, (one anyone who was born pre-2000 would have used to play games on), and then filming it in a vast location,” explains frontman Gere Fuss. “Like our last video ‘Zaz’, we build on using 3D imagery of a ‘being’ this time hitting closer to home by seeking services of local artist Skye Also, who wanted to make it more ‘human’ by having this character smoking a joint – as we may enjoy doing ourselves from time to time. We also saw it as an opportunity as we have not played live as a band in a video, so even though Jack (drums) is stuck in Melbourne, our friend Mr. Belletti was keen to help us fill the void. The live video was shot on tape. “What a beautiful country we live in and – how thankful we are to be able to pay respects to elders past and present.”  Crafted over three-and-a-half years, Paradise Club’s self-titled debut album romantically deliberates themes of love, death, family and friends tempered with a euphoric soundtrack that yearns for carefree summer days that bleed into endless nights on the dance floor. It was named one of the 10 Australian Picks for July by NME and lauded by others for its intoxicatingly warm textures, glistening guitars and blissful angst. Catch Paradise Club bring it all to life at Yours & Owls Festival on January 23-24, 2021

PARADISE CLUB – PARADISE CLUB LISTEN TO / BUY THE ALBUM HERE

Paradise Club @paradise__club @paradise____club

September 2, 2020 0 comments

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This year Octavian will finally release his hotly-anticipated debut album. It’s the culmination of years of progress, evolution and experience, punctuated by two acclaimed mixtapes (SPACEMAN and Endorphins), multiple awards, co-signs and high profile collaborations. And with Skepta already announced as the album’s executive producer, it’s set to be one of the year’s defining releases. Listen HERE.

On new single ‘Famous‘, Octavian teams up with Gunna, whose recent Wunna album topped the US album charts, and SAINt JHN, whose global hit ‘Roses’ has topped charts around the world. Produced by Jae5, ‘Famous‘ explores the trials and tribulations of fame and the lifestyle that comes with it. This is all about the negative sides of fame and celebrity culture, as Octavian says in his own words: “The concept of ‘Fame’ should be connected to the celebration of ones achievements, unfortunately nowadays it is the glamorisation of unthought-about entertainment”

‘Famous‘ is Octavian’s second major Transatlantic collaboration of 2020 and is an undeniable statement of intent from the multifaceted London rapper, producer and songwriter. It follows the huge success of ‘Rari‘, Octavian’s recent collaboration with Future, and is another prime example of the levels at which Octavian now operates. If everything up until now has been a sign of Octavian’s promise and flair, a suggestion of his huge potential, now he’s ready to focus and actualise his dreams.

‘Famous feat. Gunna & SAINt JHN‘ by Octavian is out now, buy/stream it here.

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