~ new monthly playlist!! Feburary 2021 ~

added to regularly, a mix of new tracks from my favourite artists and exciting new discoveries, mostly made via submissions to my music blog (www.coolmusicandthings.co.uk/) - a chance to share things that I enjoy but might not get round to writing a post about :)

for something a bit more heavily curated, check out the blog's main Spotify playlist which I update weekly: open.spotify.com/playlist/3cUmjDhCtwBrilcJMCb4vq

acoustic/folk/chilled playlist: open.spotify.com/playlist/47kVuG60PJokywkb74tBob

girls allowed: open.spotify.com/playlist/3GNrMJ29veOfSwdybKq9pO

the CMAT office stereo: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/07UM0wCfNhjcF3XeZMD30n?si=ZgP0mR3pTfOA6JCwBxVteg

enjoy

cool music and things: February 2021

https://fortherabbits.net/2021/02/12/five-things-we-liked-this-week-12-02-2021/

Five Things We Liked This Week - 12/02/21

Fresh Folk

Hanging Out and Relaxing

Chill Singer-Songwriter

Le meilleur de l'actualité Indie / Folk / Rock du mois de mars 2021, avec Wolf Alice, Laura Jansen, Alela Diane, JohannaSamuels, Jane Weaver, Birdy, Alice Phoebe Lou, Jade Bird, Art d'Ecco, The Wedding Present, ThePaper Kites, Pi Ja Ma, Hey King!, Middle 

En écoute - Mars 2021

Pre-order the 7" EP: http://www.slumberlandrecords.com/catalog/show/309
Pre-order digital from iTunes: http://smarturl.it/cttitunes

In the interest of brevity, Tony Molina speaks a plain truth rarely considered by modern musicians. He's not going to waste your time pontificating on sentimentality when he knows the very sentiments that power his music will stay with you long after the songs end. The West Bay guitarist's background in hardcore, metal, and punk lends itself to this concept -- imagine if Crossed Out or No Le$$ were on some Lennon-McCartney or George Harrison or early Bee Gees shit, inventing a mode of sincere, world-beating pop expression and concentrating it into a span of seconds. That's what's happening here -- a resourcefulness that is typically at odds with the kind of guitar mastery you'll hear within. 

You could fit the contents of Tony's previous releases on Slumberland and Matador onto one side of a 90-minute cassette and still have room left over for the eight offerings on Confront the Truth, but would you want it any other way? When Tony sings about "trying to move on but I just don't know how," no extension of the time it takes for him to bring that feeling across is going to solve the problem at hand. You're immediately thrust into the orbit of these songs; you know how he feels, and now you can relate. Transference is complete. You've got plenty of time left over to dwell upon them.

The eight offerings on Confront the Truth notch a significant advancement in his style and approach. Almost completely absent from these new songs are the overloaded guitar crunch of Dissed and Dismissed, or his earlier work with Ovens; it's replaced by gentle acoustic balladry, tasteful Mellotron and piano backing, the kind of musicianship that often takes a lifetime to master. The sadness of this music has precedents in pop's past; Tony's revelatory turn into specific traditions of pop music speak directly to the reasons why we love music in general, and what keeps our finest players driven to create. The repertoire from which he draws may be narrow, but in these songs, you hear exactly what Tony found in those influences that shaped his experience; years upon years of focus and isolation in developing his guitar skills to speak to these truths. The main difference here is that where Tony's previous works felt casual and easy to digest, here we feel the full weight of his emotional needs pressed against the gentlest and most careful music of his career.

I'll paraphrase myself here, from something I wrote about Tony's old band, Ovens, which applies here as well: the music is at once what I believe to be the quintessential encapsulation of the turmoil of West Coast youth. Hang out by the ocean on a beautiful day, land that trick you’ve been practicing on your skateboard for months, but you’re still bummed; the struggle to achieve balance without means in a place where you’re told you’re lucky to be informs every second of these songs. That the pain turns inwards -- lamentations on relationships that are over for good -- proves to be as much a condition of the environment as it is the mindset with which it aligns. The record's coda, a highlight reel of Thin Lizzy's "Banshee," indicates that the Tony you knew is still in there, but the game has changed, and the rules are entirely his own. Tony Molina is in complete control of his own destiny, and we should all care about where he's going.

Doug Mosurock, a fan first and a friend forever
August 2016


Confront The Truth

Buy 7"

Tony Molina - See Me Fall

New Magic

Mad About You

Can't Fight

AUATC

Shore

Can I Believe You

look up

Nature's Way

Come In Closer

Styrofoam / Drawing out the Line

Drawing out the Line

Lemon

Lemon (feat. Sharon Van Etten)

Where Did Summer Go

Try Harder

The Things We Build

‘Small' by Belle Tower from 'Tend To' out now
Buy/Stream: https://smarturl.it/yaevw8

Lyric video by Kevin Schmit
Single Art by Erica Hart

Follow Belle Tower:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/belletowermusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/btowermusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/belletowermusic
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@belletowermusic
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5OlvRai2KwQsnKZOipno7Z
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/belle-tower/1477498044
Website: https://www.belletowermusic.com/


released January 29, 2021
Recorded in the Winona Forever basement in Montreal, QC
Produced by Ben Roberston with production contributions from Scott Boudreau and Isabella Harned
Mixed by Oliver Hollingshead
Mastered by Suite Sound Labs

Vocals, electric guitar: Isabella Harned
Bass, electric guitar: Ben Robertson
Drums, electric guitar: Scott Boudreau
Cello: Audreanne Filion

Small

Fauvely's debut LP, Beautiful Places, is out April 2nd.

Always

Crowhurst's Meme

Access

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/vcpines​​
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/vcpines​​
Twitter - https://twitter.com/vcpines​​
Website - https://www.vcpines.com​​
Mailing List - http://eepurl.com/gYpB39​

Smoke Without Fire

Black Hole Rainbow

Thank Me Later (Again)

Sorrow

Hollow

This Time Last Year

Heartlow

Heartlow (Edit)

History Of A Feeling

Man In Me

Dirty Mouth

Deep End

Lost

Calling Me Home (with Francesco Turrisi)

Collapsed In Sunbeams

Too Good

Immune

The Hardest Part

The Hardest Part - Bre Kennedy, Hadley Kennary

Blue Weekend

The Last Man On Earth

The new single by Maja Lena, out now on Chiverin records.

Spotify, Apple Music etc.: http://ingroov.es/birch
Bandcamp: http://majalena.bandcamp.com

LYRICS:

Paper white bark, paper white bark
I’m stretched out on the road, stretched out on the road
A draw in the dark, you draw me so stark
I’m stretched out on the road, stretched out on the road

Can I reach you this time? 
Can I reach you this time?

Each time that I go to swim
I feel the letting go of pins
Each time my mind clattering
I feel a heavy weight go sailing

Can I reach you this time? 
Can I reach you this time?

Branches blow
Move us along
In the night glow
Losing your song

Branches blow
Move us along
In the night glow
Losing your song

Paper white bark, paper white bark
I’m stretched out on the road

Birch

Take Us Back

"In the Meantime" is taken from Major Murphy's sophomore album, 'Access', out April 02, 2021 via Winspear. Pre-order/listen: http://smarturl.it/mm-access​

Keep up with Major Murphy: 
https://www.instagram.com/majormurphy​
http://smarturl.it/mm-follow​
http://majormurphy.com

Major Murphy - In The Meantime

When I Say That I Love You

New Album 'Fatal Optimist' Out Now On ANTI- Records.  https://madidiaz.ffm.to/fataloptimist

Man In Me

MadiDiaz