Desconsolado

was i dreaming?

Ashes and Rain is an emotionally driven indie pop-rock album exploring themes of loss, longing, resilience, and quiet hope. Through atmospheric soundscapes, introspective lyrics, and understated melodies, Sam creates a cohesive musical journey that feels intimate and cinematic at the same time. Each song reflects moments of inner conflict, fragile connection, and the search for light within darkness. Written and composed entirely by Sam, the album values authenticity over perfection and emotion over trends. Ashes and Rain is designed as a complete listening experience, inviting the listener to slow down, reflect, and connect with the stories behind the songs. The record embraces subtle dynamics, space, and mood, allowing silence and restraint to be just as meaningful as sound. Released independently via Studio1813 Records, Ashes and Rain represents artistic freedom, honest songwriting, and music meant to be felt as much as it is heard.

Echoes In The Quiet

I'll go
Leave tomorrow
I'll go
Leave tomorrow

Be me
Be me
Be me
Be me

I have to give
Give my heart
I have to give
Give my heart

I want calm
I want to calm
My life

I want calm
I want to calm
My life

I don't know
I think you're special
I don't know
I think you're special
But you are
But you are
But you are
But you are

I gotta give
You gotta take the love
I gotta give
You gotta take the love

Don't let it stop me
Don't let it stop me
Don't let it stop me
Don't let it stop me

Be me
Be me
Be me
Be me
Be me
Be me

Take it out
Take it out of your brain
Take it out
Take it out of your brain

Come on
Come on
Come on
Come on

My days are not over
My days are not yesterday 
Could cry
Could cry
Could cry
Could cry
My life

I want calm
I want to calm
My life

Could cry
Could cry
My life

Could cry
Could cry
My life

I don't know
I think you're special
I don't know
I think you're special
I don't know
I think you're special
I don't know
I think you're special
My Life

I want to calm, My life!

5 PERSONAL TERRITORIES -  ACCEPTING A LOST CAUSE

The Work

Work

Purchase LP: www.telephoneexplosion.com/products/ne…-idea-of-us

New Fries has never been interested in being a band.

They abandon ideas of what songs should be, how they should be performed, and by whom. They're interested in musical elements like repetition, space, and dynamics. They want their music to make people dance but have also wanted to produce the feeling of that being taken away from a room.

Much of this record sounds and reflects on this ​in-between​. It’s anxious in its repetitions and unsure of genre. It rejects a singular character or emotion and attempts to instead act as a container for many.

Much of this collage was testament to the work of engineer/musician Carl Didur. Carl (​Zacht Automaat,​ formerly ​US Girls​) is a long-standing pillar of Toronto’s experimental music community. The result was less that of hiring an engineer than it was working with a collaborator. His musical ideas are all over this record.

Is the Idea of Us is the situation of musicians/non-musicians making music together. But with this title they name this absurd gesture, through their changing relationship to making music both as a unit and as individuals.

There are enough bands out there; New Fries insist on doing it differently.

New Fries - Arendt / Adler / Pulley Pulley Pulley Pulley

From the album Music For 18 Musicians (Steve Reich) available May 8, 2020 on Western Vinyl.

Pre-order: https://smarturl.it/motgsf

Erik Hall - "Section I"

Aleph

Hypnagogia

1st single from Album 2

Mixed by Josh Baxter (PVA)
Photo by Conor McCarron

Scratch

Sideways Knowing Glance is the debut single from London based experimental pop duo the mermaid café, out on the 10th of July 2020.

The track emerged from improvisation and experimentation using voices with loop pedals; through collaborative development, it’s grown into a 10 minute dream-pop cloud of honeyed vocals, rich and complex textures, glitchy synthesis, and intricate, intimate storytelling.

Whilst the song has been in gestation for a long time, this release was predominantly recorded and mixed whilst in lockdown in Newcastle. Whilst remaining honest to the mermaid cafe’s roots in DIY and intuitive music making, this single represents a turn towards pristine post-production shimmer in their sound.

This release is the culmination of two years of the mermaid café performing, writing, and improvising together, developing their songwriting practice. the mermaid café represents exciting, fresh collaborative thinking, bringing together many layers of artistic influence: both Ruari and Joanna do work ranging across songwriting, experimental and contemporary classical composition, multi-instrumental and vocal performance, research, activism, and visual art. Joanna is currently studying Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and Ruari is working as a freelance musician and writer.

This track was mastered by Jeremy Warmsley, and the group has worked with graphic designer Emily Tonkinson-Sharp to develop the cover art and merch for this release.

All music & mixing by the mermaid café
Lyrics by Ruari Paterson-Achenbach
Master by Jeremy Warmsley
Artwork by Emily Tonkinson-Sharp

Sideways Knowing Glance

Do-it-all-herself musician and artist Nina Ryser has been home-recording since she was eight years old on her Fisher-Price toy tape machine. One of these childhood recordings makes an appearance on Ryser’s new solo album, Paths of Color, which is characteristic of Ryser’s work: dreamy, wonky, synth-based art-pop that’s bubbly, edgy, sweet, and dark all at once; with elements of post-punk, art rock, and free jazz. Recorded at the beginning of the stay-at-home order, and inspired by loss and love and our new reality, Paths is a product of Ryser’s refined home-recording set-up. Intentionally more polished and clearer-sounding than she’s ever been, Paths of Color (mastered by Angel Marcloid aka Fire-Toolz) maintains the homemade vibe and freedom of childhood expression that is so crucial to Ryser’s sound. Though a product of grief, Ryser’s light and love shines through the record’s sonic playfulness, and is ultimately a celebration of life and art.

RIYL: Palberta, Arthur Russell, Molly Nilsson, The Raincoats, Deerhoof

Paths of Color is out 10/22 on Cowgirl Records

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Pet Grotesque