Don't let the cover art or the title of this track deceive you! Yes, there is a depiction of a samurai, and yes, Koi are the Japanese amur carp that swim in decorative outdoor ponds and water gardens, and yes, now that I'm thinking about it, there are elements of elegance and movement in the music that may transcend the title and the album art, but I promise you it's not a drill'n'bass track with some glitched out bass drops. The track I am premiering for you today is actually taken from Matt Emery's second instalment in the "Spotlight Series" for which, this time, he focuses on harp. For this series of EPs, Emery showcases the virtuosity, tonal range, and timbre-rich textures of each instrument. His previous entry for Injazero showcased the cello (see this track preview of "Anxiety Mist"), and featured a samurai, once again, preparing for the battle. And although the theme of a battle is still present on this EP, it is now enveloped with water. Hence the koi in the pond. Specifically composed by Emery for this stringed instrument, the piece is performed by the London-based Olivia Jageurs, who has recently won the Royal Philharmonic Trailblazer Award. Oh, and besides being a celebrated composer, Emery also produces an amazing Contemplative Podcast hosted in conjunction with Contemplative Classical and Headphone Commute!

Spotlight Series: Harp

Koi Swirls

TRACK PREMIERE : Matt Emery - Koi Swirls

Today, I am happy to share with you a new piece of music that will serve as the opening to the upcoming mini-album that I will self-release later this summer. To be honest, with all these written words for many years, talking about all this music by many of my favourite composers, I'm actually pretty shit at self-promoting myself. This is why I usually leave this "job" to the many wonderful labels to spread the word. And then I amplify and filter. "Saturated Signals" is a continuation of my sonic journey initially explored on Sacred Tonalities, which was put out on the amazing Past Inside The Present in February of 2023. Initially, it was conceived as a bonus or a follow-up track until it evolved on its own, as music usually does. I then invited a few of my dear friends to rework the piece and add their special touch to the heavily layered synthesized and organic textures which I provided as a foundation for this piece. Each distinct interpretation offers a perfect tint of the individual composer's aesthetic to create a collective whole that you can experience as a unified journey in half an hour's time, connected by an interweaving theme. I will share Saturated Reworks with the world in just a couple of weeks, followed by the full mini-album, but first, here's the single.

Saturated Signals

TRACK PREMIERE : Mike Lazarev - Saturated Signals

Dream To Dare (featuring Sleeping At Last)

Released: 7th June on Matreya Records
(taken from the upcoming album 'A Bed Of Waves' due Aug 2nd)

‘Dream To Dare’ is an intimate and emotive piece that features the beautiful vocals of singer songwriter and composer Sleeping At Last (the moniker of Ryan O’Neal). Ryan’s music has captivated a loyal fan base worldwide and his music features regularly on Film and Tv Soundtracks including the likes of The Twilight Saga, Grey’s Anatomy and American Idol to name a few. The track is about believing in our youth and inspiring them to follow their dreams with a loving and open heart. Matt has just supported Sleeping At Last on his recent sold out UK tour where they got the chance to perform this song together each night at Manchester Albert Hall, Bristol St Georges and Glasgow Óran Mór.

www.mattemerymusic.com

Dream To Dare (feat Sleeping At Last)

It's an early Tuesday morning, and I'm wrapping up the final deeds before I set off on my long-awaited [beach] vacation. I think it's only appropriate that I close off this season with a track premiere from a London-based composer, a host of Contemplative Podcast, which I feature on Headphone Commute, a labelmate and a friend, Matt Emery, who is getting ready to release his sophomore album, A Bed Of Waves via Matreya Records on August 2nd. Emery's debut, Empire, appeared in 2017 on the beloved Injazero, and since then, he's only been teasing us with a few singles and EPs, spotlighting each of his favourite instruments. This time, besides the familiar and celebrated piano and strings, we also get to hear some vocals (Ryan O'Neal of Sleeping At Last appears on the second track). The album traverses a landscape of personal and universal themes, painted with raw emotion, moving through life's ebbs and flows. The featured track, "Hidden Tears In The Rain", is a piece that Emery wrote after his father's sudden passing. It's a profoundly touching composition for a string ensemble and a choral arrangement sprinkled over with a field recording of the rain, capturing the album's theme.

A Bed Of Waves (MASTERS)

Hidden Tears In The Rain

TRACK PREMIERE : Matt Emery - Hidden Tears In The Rain

SUPER FAN 99 LAUNCH ‘SUPER FAN FRIEND SERVICE’.
GIFT YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, LOVED ONES A COMPILATION AND SUPER FAN DO THE REST! CASSETTE AND BANDCAMP 10.05.19.

WATCH SUPER FAN FRIEND SERVICE TEASER
https://vimeo.com/320604403 

PRE-ORDER THE CASSETTE -EDITION OF 25
https://superfan99.bigcartel.com/product/super-fan-friend-service

We truly believe a great compilation can be a rabbit hole to a whole new world of music. When I was 17 I picked up the 'Rough Trade Country' compilation on a whim at their shop in Covent Garden underneath Slam City Skates. This compilation was like a window to a new dimension and inspired me to form a band, learn new instruments and make new friends. We have always loved compilation releases here at Super Fan for those reasons with the 'Sofia Songs' release selling out instantly after some incredible press. We figured it was high time we did another. Super Fan Friend Service brings together a selection of our current favourite writers and bands from around the globe today. This compilation is so strong that any one of these songs could stand alone as a single in it’s own right. Simply put, its twelve tracks of brilliant, melodic, reflective pop music. 

Here’s where the “Friend Service” bit comes in and how it works… 

At the checkout section of the store there is a ‘Notes or Instructions’ box. Here you can type a personalised message along with the persons address you wish to gift the tape to. We will then add this to the inside of the J-card and post the tape direct to them. Equally if you wish to just order a cassette for yourself you can leave this part blank. 50p from each copy goes to Sense.org.uk which is a UK charity that aids deafblind children. Artwork is as always by the ace Shaun Miller. The compilation will also be available digitally on Bandcamp.

TRACK LIST

1.Space Mountain ‘Jessie’
2.Christian Besa Wright ‘Cherry Blossom Oak’
3.Olivia Gold ‘Mind on Fire’
4.Spencer Tweedy ‘Geezer Love’
5.Losing ‘Your Favorite Color’
6.Beauty Queen ‘The Only One’
7.Slugs ‘Bad Twin’
8.Brendon Hoogenboom ‘Feelin’
9.Matt McKee ‘Slow Decay’
10.Nylon Smile ‘Dust’
11.Glossies ‘Coming Alive’
12.Skirts ‘Loose Ends (Demo)’


For further information, interview and promo requests, please contact – iamsuperfan99@outlook.com 07830159063.

Superfan99records.com
@supfan99

Matt McKee - Slow Decay

storyline 3, mostly this an ongoing conversation with who i am and who you are and who we are.  you give me a ton, this is for you.
https://mau5trap.ffm.to/storyline_3

storyline 3

'Find Sound' is the debut record from Shards, a London based vocal group led by singer, composer and producer Kieran Brunt. Combining voices, synths and percussion, Find Sound is an astonishing exploration of the human voice; using the concepts of sound and light as simple metaphors for gaining understanding. The album’s pieces are intended to be miniature sonic paintings, with each adding to an overall picture of the emotional confusion of early adulthood: the uncertainty, the excitement, the terror and relief.

After collaborating with Terry Riley in 2016, Brunt was asked by the Barbican to form a choral group for Nils Frahm’s Possibly Colliding festival that summer. Following the success of the shows, Frahm invited Brunt to join him in Berlin to collaborate on choral arrangements for his recent album 'All Melody'. Shards have since gone on to collaborate with other notable artists, including Michael Price on his recent LP 'Tender Symmetry'.

Each of the singers in Shards brings a very distinctive musical personality to the group, something which Brunt was eager to emphasise on their debut record. Rather than aiming for a seamless blend or absolute precision when recording, the differences between voices has been intentionally highlighted — celebrating their unique textures and inviting the listener to hear their minutest details up-close.

"The group ended up consisting almost entirely of friends and friends-of-friends. I also tried my best to ask people who weren’t just singers, but who do have other projects and musical interests. As such, we have people in the group who are also composers, instrumentalists, folk musicians and teachers. It’s a vibrant mix, and I’m constantly discovering new things about them the more we make music together.” — Kieran Brunt

Shards is Kieran Brunt, Lucy Cronin, Sarah Latto, Bethany Horak-Hallett, Kate Huggett, Chris Huggon, Jack Lawrence-Jones, Rose Martin, Augustus Perkins Ray, Oli Martin-Smith, Josephine Stephenson and Héloïse Werner.

· pre-order 'Find Sound' on LP/CD/DL: idol.lnk.to/FindSound

Released by:
Erased Tapes Records Ltd

Release date:
30 August 2019

P-line:
℗ 2019 Erased Tapes Records Ltd.

Find Sound

Unrest

Buy LP/CD/DL

Shards - Unrest

The Fire Escape

Buy the track: dougthomas.bandcamp.com/music

Tom O'Dugash // Piano 1-5

All tracks composed and arranged by Doug Thomas

Produced, engineered and mixed by Doug Thomas 
Recorded, mixed and mastered at NOOX Studio, London

Artwork by Doug Thomas

www.dougthomas.co.uk

2021 © All Rights Reserved

Sheet music is available - info@dougthomas.co.uk

Circus

01 Circus (for Piano Day 2021)

Spring of 2021 is off to a good start! Well, at least when it comes to beautiful music that I love to feature on Headphone Commute! This week has already been full of introductions, announcements, and exciting premieres! And today is no exception! In fact, it’s the highlight of my week, as I’ve been awaiting to share this release with you for almost a month now. “Anxiety Mist” is an opening piece from Matt Emery‘s upcoming six-track EP on Injazero Records, titled Spotlight Series : Cello, and it holds no prisoners! As you may have already glimpsed from the title, Emerie intends to release a series of recordings, focusing on an individual instrument for each one – with the opener prominently featuring the cello. In addition to showcasing the virtuosity, tonal range, and timbre-rich textures of each one, there is also a story with each release. Perhaps the album cover [and my tongue-in-cheek pun of mentioning ‘prisoners’ above] gives away the theme of this first entry, as the dark, intense, and cinematic climax of this piece retells a story of a samurai preparing for a battle. Anxiety is at the core of rising tones, increasing tension in dynamics as if performed in one big breath until exhale brings on comfort.

Opener ‘Anxiety Mist’ is made up of fifteen individually-performed lines, its core revolving around a rising glissando figure, eventually accompanied with lush, building harmonies and punctuated by stabs and erratic higher melodies that paint the picture of warriors waiting in line amid the mist, a thunderous charge into battle forebodingly imminent.

Spotlight Series : Cello

Anxiety Mist

TRACK PREMIERE : Matt Emery - Anxiety Mist

Music to get lost in:

XLR8R "Achingly Beautiful"

BBC Radio 1 - Huw Stephens "Absolutely Awesome..Beautiful Music, Really Really Special"

KEXP - Kevin Cole "A song to transport you to a different place"

The Ransom Note “Emery’s debut album is definitely one to look forward to.”

BBC 6 Music - Tom Robinson "Hauntingly Etheral"

Radio X - John Kennedy "Very exctcied to hear more.”

Clash - "Matt Emery's work has a rich sense of emotional depth"

BBC Radio 1  - Kolsch "Absolutely fantastic piece of music"

The 405  “ebbing from soft whispers to an ocean of sound that would calm even the roughest of seas.”

KEXP - Alex Ruder "Beautiful new music, Looking forward to the new album Empire'

BBC Radio Ulster - Stephen McCauley "Incredible"

Headphone Commute - "This is a proper piano album, one which you must surely fall in love with"

Amazing Radio - Dani Charlton "Absolute Delight"

Self-titled Mag - "Stunning & Deeply Emotive"

-------------------------------------------

For Sync or Custom Writing enquiries please contact: mre_music@hotmail.co.uk

(Matt's music has soundtracked companies and tv channels such as Hugo Boss, GoPro, BBC, ITV, Netflix, Ch4, Ch5, BT Sport, Amazon Prime, Sky, HBO, CNN etc.. and has scored custom music for the likes of Red Bull Media, Wickes, Lelo, Giles Miller Studios, and film trailers for feature films including 'The Escape', 'The Kindness Of Strangers', 'Behind The Blood' and award winning 'The Dawn Wall'
-------------------------------------------