News – Page 75 – 7th Level Music

CHAI get bouncy on “Ping Pong” – one of the best singles of the year so far.

Japanese quartet CHAI present a new single/video, “PING PONG!,” from their forthcoming album, WINK, out May 21st on Sub Pop. The track is a laser beam ode to a social activity that CHAI love but cannot currently partake in. In Japan, CHAI would often play ping pong after visits to the public hot springs, called onsen. “PING PONG!” also features YMCK, who brought a gaming feel to the production, which CHAI wanted to match.“

CHAI elaborate: “We’re channeling our inner playful selves, challenging ourselves to fun, and bringing you that nostalgic-feel with this song! There’s just something about old video games that’s super cute, a little tacky, yet at the same time fancy. Something that you think is “old-school” but at the same time super refreshing. YMCK collaborated with us on this and created the ultimate 8bit World of CHAI!”

“The theme for PING PONG is exactly as is, ‘ping pong.’ In Japanese culture, there’s this routine where Hot Springs or ‘onsen’ and playing PING PONG go hand in hand.
When the four of us hit the hot springs, we always wear a Yukata (unlined Summer kimono), drink a cup of milk, and go right into some PING PONG! It’s very Japanese, something we don’t think exists overseas and that’s exactly what we want to share! You can hear it in the lyrics and you can feel it in the music video!”

YMCK adds: “It was our first time creating something from start to finish remotely but everything turned out amazing with each member’s character shining through!
Don’t miss this ever-so free and forever dancing world of CHAI! “
WATCH CHAI’S VIDEO FOR “PING PONG!”

CHAI is MANA (lead vocals and keys) and KANA (guitar), drummer YUNA, and bassist-lyricist YUUKI. Following the release of 2019’s PUNK, CHAI’s adventures took them around the world, playing their high-energy and buoyant shows. They took quarantine as an opportunity to shake up their process and bring their music somewhere thrillingly new. Rather than having maximalist recordings like in the past, CHAI instead focused on crafting the slightly-subtler and more introspective kinds of songs they enjoy listening to at home—where, for the first time, they recorded all of the music. WINK is also the first CHAI album to feature contributions from outside producers (Mndsgn, YMCK) as well as Ric Wilson. They draw R&B and hip-hop into their mix (Mac Miller, the Internet, and Brockhampton were on their minds) of dance-punk and pop-rock, all while remaining undeniably CHAI.
WATCH THE “NOBODY KNOWS WE’RE FUN” VIDEO

WATCH THE “MAYBE CHOCOLATE CHIPS” (FEAT. RIC WILSON) VIDEO

WATCH THE “ACTION” VIDEO

WATCH THE “DONUTS MIND IF I DO” VIDEO

WATCH THE “PLASTIC LOVE” VIDEO

PRE-ORDER WINK

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

black midi take it “Slow” (sort of) with their new single.

Today, black midi present a new single/video, “Slow,” from their forthcoming album, Cavalcade, out May 28th on Rough Trade. In conjunction, they announce a fall North American tour, plus a new KEXP interview and performance. A full circle moment for black midi, their first KEXP performance (live from Iceland Airwaves in 2019) is how many first experienced the band. Following lead single “John L,” “a zoomed-out optical illusion, making you question what you’re witnessing at every turn,” (Pitchfork, “Best New Track”) “Slow” is one of two Cavalcade songs fronted by bassist Cameron Picton. The music for “Slow” was written just before black midi’s February 2020 UK tour with the lyrics finalised when demos were recorded in June 2020. They tell the story of a young and idealistic revolutionary dreaming of a better world who ends up being shot in the national stadium after a coup d’état.

“The ‘Slow’ video was made to fit the oscillating dynamics of the song. Going from calm to chaos over and over again,” says director and animator Gustaf Holtenäs. “The video tells the story of a character who creates AI-generated worlds. To emphasize this, I let real AI’s generate a lot of the backgrounds in these worlds. So they are partly AI-generated, but It isn’t long before an AI could create the whole deal and create endless iterations of fantasy worlds. It can already create a random beautiful landscape painting in 1 second.”

Watch black midi’s Video for “Slow”

Cavalcade is a dynamic, hellacious, and inventive follow-up to black midi’s debut, Schlagenheim, one of 2019’s most widely-praised albums. Cavalcade scales beautiful new heights, pulling widely from a plethora of genres and influences, reaching ever upwards from an already lofty base of early achievements. black midi — Geordie Greep (guitar, primary vocals), Cameron Picton (bass, vocals), and Morgan Simpson (drums) — picture Cavalcade as a line of larger than life figures, from a cult leader fallen on hard times and an ancient corpse found in a diamond mine to legendary cabaret singer Marlene Dietrich, strolling seductively past them.
Watch New KEXP Session

Watch “John L” Video

Pre-order Cavalcade

Purchase “John L”/“Despair” 12”

black midi Tour Dates:
Mon. Oct. 4 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Thu. Oct. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
Fri. Oct. 8 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
Sat. Oct. 9 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s
Mon. Oct. 11 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe
Tue. Oct. 12 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
Thu. Oct. 14 – Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s
Fri. Oct. 15 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit
Sat. Oct. 15 – Kingston, NY @ Tubby’s
Mon. Oct. 18 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Tue. Oct. 19 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Thu. Oct. 21 – Baltimore, MD @ Union Brewery
Sat. Oct. 23 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle Tavern
Tue. Oct. 26 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
Wed. Oct. 27 – New Orleans, LA @ Republic
Fri. Oct. 29 – Austin, TX @ ??????????
Sat. Oct. 30 – Houston, TX @ The Secret Group

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Jess Cornelius releases haunting Peach Fuzz version of “Body Memory.”

Today, Los Angeles-based musician Jess Cornelius presents “Body Memory” (Peach Fuzz Version), with an accompanying video. It’s an alternative version of the original that appeared on Distance, her album released last year on Loantaka Records (which will see its UK release on May 14, 2021), and follows her recent cover of the Eagles’ “I Can’t Tell You Why.” While the original track is driven by a catchy electro-rhythm, the Peach Fuzz version is gorgeously stripped down. Cornelius’ voice is poignant over reverberating electric guitar, as she sings of the lasting emotions that stem from a miscarriage. Peels of guitar and muted percussion gently filter in as the song continues.

“I’d started playing the song for myself in a totally different way – on echoey guitar instead of keys, with a dreamy, melancholic mood, and wanted to record it as a sort of ‘part two’. It’s like a new cover of my own song, I guess. When I started recording the demo I ended up capturing all these distant sounds that got all distorted in the process: a nail gun, a baby, police sirens, which I kept in for the final recording. I added harpsichord, synth and drums, and Jarvis Taveniere added bass during the mixing. The rolling toms and shaker in the outro added this new little groove and moved the mood again. To me this almost feels like a new song; ‘I was my own woman once’ is now less defiant and more reflective, maybe even yearning.”

Cornelius and her partner filmed the video in the Sequoia National Forest in Northern California. “I had the idea for the visual for a while – this hyper-artificial neon outfit against a lush forest backdrop. I made the dress the night before the shoot, using some high-visibility fabric I’d been given years ago. But when we got out to the forest, about half of the trees were dead – killed off by drought and bark beetles exacerbated by rising temperatures. The video inadvertently became a sort of environmental lament – about a different kind of loss and love.”
Watch Jess Cornelius’ Video for “Body Memory” (Peach Fuzz Version)

Watch/Listen/Share:
Purchase Distance
Watch the “No Difference” Video
Watch the “Kitchen Floor” Video
Watch the “Body Memory” Video
Listen to “I Can’t Tell You Why” (Eagles’ Cover)

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[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Brijean shares Buscabulla’s remix of “Moody” from upcoming EP.

Earlier this year Oakland-based duo Brijean released Feelings, “an album that’s as soothing as it is grand” (Bandcamp). Today, Brijean announces the Feelings Remixes EP coming out August 13th on Ghostly International, and presents the “Moody (Buscabulla Remix).” In addition to the Buscabella remix, the EP extends the relaxed reverie of Feelings with contributions from Sam Gendel, DRAMA, and Rick Wade. Brijean Murphy and Doug Stuart’s deep roots in jazz, pop, electronic and Latin spheres inform the music they make as Brijean, and these influences are reflected in the diverse group of remixers they tapped for this project.

Puerto Rican synth-pop duo Buscabulla accentuate the percussive downtempo flair of “Moody.” Keeping Murphy’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics at the forefront, the polyrhythmic percussion is sparing and, well, moody. Sprinkles of subtle yelps, harp flutters, gauzy synths, and sinuous synth grooves give this rework a unique neo-tropicalia vibe. Murphy elaborates, “I first heard of Buscabulla from a club poster at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn. I was playing at that venue with a band I was touring with around the same time and fell in love with their music. They play with time signatures, levels and expression in an enveloping and inspiring way. They are insanely talented artists and I’m so so stoked to have their lush, experimental and moving touch on our song ‘Moody.’“

Buscabella adds, “We had plans to meet Brijean the next time we swung by San Francisco on tour before the pandemic hit. We love their vibe and doing this remix is as close as we can get to jamming together in the same place. We aimed to deconstruct the original and to explore the point where our separate influences converge. Fusing together the futuristic synthesized drums and bass with organic syncopated Caribbean percussion. Here’s to a jam in real life.”

Rhythm is the driving force of Feelings; each featured remix plays with that force, adding, subtracting, and altering percussive elements to build a range of sonic environments — true to Brijean’s mission of encouraging uninhibited imagination and new possibilities.
Stream “Moody (Buscabulla Remix)”

Feelings Remixes EP Tracklist:
1. “Moody (Buscabulla Remix)”
2. “Ocean (Sam Gendel Remix)”
3. “Hey Boy (DRAMA Remix)”
4. “Day Dreaming (Rick Wade Remix)”

Watch/Share/Listen:
“Wifi Beach” Video
“Hey Boy” Video
“Ocean” Video
“Day Dreaming” Video
“Moody” Stream
Purchase/Stream Feelings

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[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Situation Chicago 2 compilation to benefit Chicago venues, their workers, and local artists.

Chicago-based nonprofit Quiet Pterodactyl announces Situation Chicago 2, a compilation out digitally on May 21st (physical copies will be available in July) benefiting Chicagoland musicians through the CIVL (Chicago Independent Venue League) SAVE Emergency Relief Fund, which provides need-based grants to furloughed staff, local artists and venues in the Chicagoland area. Situation 2 features Chicago bands and artists including Jeff Parker, Umphrey’s McGee feat. Béla Fleck, The Goddamn Gallows, V.V. Lightbody, Neptune’s Core, and more. Today, Quiet Pterodactyl shares two of its tracks, Jeff Parker’s “Slippin’ Into Darkness” (War Cover), and Robust’s “I Don’t Know Why,” with an accompanying video.

Listen to Jeff Parker’s “Slippin’ Into Darkness” (War Cover)

Watch Robust’s “I Don’t Know Why” Video

Annah Garrett of CIVL expands on the relief fund’s goal:

“The CIVL SAVE Emergency Relief Fund was designed specifically for staff and artists to bridge the gap between the closures that have wreaked havoc on Chicago’s live music ecosystem and its eventual resurgence. Local artists are in a unique situation because their touring calendars take months to plan and then travel. They will not bounce back at the same rate as venues. CIVL SAVE strives to support these folks during this precarious time. Situation Chicago 2 shines a spotlight on an array of talented local artists and their work, while raising funds for a large pool of their colleagues, who are still very much at the mercy of this virus.”

This is the second installation of the Situation Series, following last year’s Situation Chicago, which raised $35,000 for 25 local, independent music venues that have been shut down due to the COVID pandemic. With support from Dark Matter Coffee, Jeppson’s Malört, Nature’s Grace & Wellness, Red Bull, and Smashed Plastic, who have also locally pressed the Situation albums.

Pre-order Situation Chicago 2

Situation Chicago 2 Tracklist
Side 1
1. MIIRRORS – “Sinistry” (Live From Definitive Version)
2. Robust – “Don’t Know Why”
3. Fess Grandiose – “Keep The Rhythm Goin”
4. Umphrey’s McGee feat. Béla Fleck – “Great American”
5. The Imperial Boxmen – “Reduxion”
6. Jeff Parker – “Slippin’ Into Darkness”

Side 2
7. Neptune’s Core – “Drowning”
8. The Goddamn Gallows – “The Maker”
9. V.V. Lightbody – “Really Do Care”
10. Erin McDougald – “The Parting Glass”

Digital Bonus Tracks
1.Gramps the Vamp – “A Doomed Star”
2. HON3YBUN – “If And When It Ends”
3. The Avondale Ramblers – “One For The Ditch”
4. Adem Dalipi – “Through Another’s Eyes”

Learn More About The CIVL SAVE Emergency Relief Fund

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[Thanks to Jim at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Dizzy team up with Kevin Garrett on “Sunflower, Are You There?”

Following their recent JUNO Award nomination for Alternative Album of the Year, Dizzy are excited to release their new single “Sunflower, Are You There?” featuring Kevin Garrett. The new track is the second offering from a forthcoming collaborations EP titled Separate Places. The EP will be released by Royal Mountain Records and Communion Records on 11th June, and features recent single “The Bird Behind The Drapes” featuring Luna Li.

LISTEN: to Dizzy’s “Sunflower, Are You There?” feat. Kevin Garrett on YouTube

The Separate Places EP sees the Oshawa four-piece reimagine some of the standout tracks from their second album, 2020’s The Sun and Her Scorch. Each track features a different guest artist: “Sunflower, Are You There?” is a reworking of the album’s lead single “Sunflower”, now featuring Grammy-nominated musician Kevin Garrett, known for his work on Beyoncé’s Lemonade.

On the collaboration, vocalist Katie Munshaw explains, “We opened up for Kevin back before we had released any music as a band. I remember looking up to him as someone our age touring, writing perfect songs and just doing the damn thing so well. Having his seal of approval on “Sunflower”, a song about self-doubt, felt very full circle.“

Upon its release, The Sun and Her Scorch album was praised for its “lyricism paired with their dreamy indie-pop sound” (MTV) and its candid exploration of the messiest, most raw emotions young people experience in the modern age. “I wanted to be completely honest about the things nobody ever wants to admit, like being jealous of your friends or pushing away the people who love you,” frontwoman Katie Munshaw says. “So instead of being about romantic heartbreak, it’s really about self-heartbreak.” The Sun and Her Scorch has been nominated for Best Alternative Album at the Juno Awards, a feat previously achieved by the likes of Arcade Fire – and Dizzy themselves, for their 2018 debut Baby Teeth.

Unable to tour the record due to the pandemic, Dizzy returned to the studio, bubbling with a fervent creative energy and drive to make the most of a bad situation. “The Separate Places EP has allowed songs from The Sun and Her Scorch to go on tour without us,” Katie explains. “Following some of our favourite artists around the globe from Birmingham, London, New York and back to Toronto, each song has been reimagined. “Primrose Hill’” is now fiery and tough. “The Magician” and “Ten” returned to a state of naive, solemn bliss. “Beatrice” gains solace with felt piano and harmony and “Sunflower” sounds like something out of a Super Mario Brothers video game. It’s kind of a ride.”

Each track draws inspiration from Dizzy’s chosen collaborators, breathing new life into an already stellar collection of music, enriched by the excitement of artistic synergy in a time when collaboration hasn’t always seemed possible. It’s a celebration of the new ways we have found to be together, even though we’re all in separate places.

The Separate Places EP will be released on 11th June on Royal Mountain Records and Communion Records, including the below tracks. The featured artist for each track will be announced by Dizzy in the build up to EP release. You can pre-save it here.

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[Thanks to Conor at Hive Mind PR.]

Rodrigo Amarante releases “Maré” ahead of his second album.

Rodrigo Amarante is thrilled to announce his new album, Drama, out July 16th on Polyvinyl. Drama is the long-awaited follow-up to Amarante’s acclaimed 2014 debut, Cavalo – also being reissued by Polyvinyl, a stunning and intimate collection of songs where “every instrument breathes and every sound blends, yet every moment is distinct” (NPR Music). In conjunction with today’s announcement, Amarante unveils Drama’s lead single, “Maré,” and it’s accompanying self-directed video. An upbeat, seemingly happy song with less jolly aspects hidden beneath the surface, “Maré” is based on Spanish proverb: the tide will fetch what the ebb brings. “Things that arrive in your hand by destiny, they are just as easily swept away,” explains Amarante.

About the video, Amarante explains: “This song is about how we shape our destiny and character by what we crave, wish, dream about, despite the outcome. The video is not. That is deliberate. The video is about writing the song, or any song, not about the song itself. It is a representation of writing it, a look on the work that is to produce the magic that is writing, this way looping back to what shapes my own destiny, my wishes and cravings, what the song talks about. I say magic because there is an unpredictable element in writing, yet it is a mental activity: there lies drama.”

Watch Video for “Maré” by Rodrigo Amarante

You may have heard “Tuyo,” Amarante’s theme tune to the Netflix drama Narcos, or the Little Joy album. You might have noted Amarante’s name among the credits on songs by Gal Costa, Norah Jones and Gilberto Gil; or perhaps you saw him play live with Brazilian samba big band Orquestra Imperial, or with Rio rockers Los Hermanos. You may think you know Rodrigo Amarante already, but Drama, his second solo album, is going to introduce a whole new level of confusion to the mix.

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1976, Amarante points to two incidents in his past that fed directly into the recordings: a childhood illness that makes him appreciate the beauty of the second chance; and the moment when his father (with Amarante’s begrudging consent) cut off his long hair, an attempt to unburden all the drama and sensitivity from the young man’s head. “Dressing up as means to reveal, rather than dressing down, to conceal, that is Drama” says Amarante. “A tool. Tickling memory into confession, seeing through the eye holes of a mask. Peeking into the mirror that is playing a part. This is not something I followed but a posthumous realization, something that followed me, as it often happens. These songs were the instruments to realize it, not the other way around.”

Drama began life at the end of 2018 with a session involving Rodrigo’s regular band – “Lucky” Paul Taylor on drums, bassist Todd Dahlhoff, Andres Renteria on congas, and Amarante on guitar. With writing and recording continuing through 2019, some songs were pulled out from the back of drawers, and more ideas came anew. In early 2020, with the album not quite ready, lockdown hit Los Angeles and Amarante found himself alone, adding overdubs and mixing the completed tracks with Noah Georgeson, though the two were never in the same room. Unsurprisingly, isolation dictated the sound of the album. “Lockdown and limitation have produced some great ideas. I started the album wanting to focus on rhythm and melody, to abandon those rich chord progressions and modulations I’ve inherited from Brazil and be more straight for a bit. As I wrote I realized that there was a trigger to me in that attempt, a shadow of the shaved-head boy I had to be, sucking it up. Instead, I embraced the complications I’ve inherited.”

Drama closes with piano and Amarante’s voice on the closing track: “To live is to fall.” After all the emotional upheavals the singer has put his cast through, is this some kind of farewell to this mortal coil? “Everything furthers,” says Amarante. “Whispering. You get louder like that, people respond better to an invitation,” and adds: “Staring at the absurd while remaining kind, being open to the gifts of confusion; that’s why we create these tools that are stories and songs, to help us see each other.”

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[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Alastor dare you to examine “Dead Things in Jars” from their upcoming album.

Swedish rock band Alastor share the first single from their forthcoming album Onwards and Downwards today via Heavy Blog Is Heavy. Hear and share “Dead Things In Jars” HERE. (Direct YouTube and Bandcamp.)

Metal Injection recently hosted the first single, the driving rocker “Death Cult” HERE. (YouTube.)

Excelsior! It’s the hail of yore that one should go ever onward and upward. And so, fittingly Onwards and Downwards is the occultist Swedish band Alastor’s clever call to arms… and also a reflection of our collective dark state of mind these days.

“If our last album Slave to the Grave were about death, this record is more about madness,” says guitarist Hampus Sandell. “You can look at the whole record as one person’s gradual slip into insanity. An ongoing nightmare without end. It also sums up the state of the world around us as this year has clearly shown.”

Alastor is heavy doom rock for the wicked and depraved. Drenched in heavy, distorted darkness and steeped in occult horror that will make your skin crawl and ears cry sweet tears of blood, the band is revitalized in 2021 with meticulously crafted songs and new drummer Jim Nordström bringing a hard-hitting and precise energy.

“It’s a more focused record but at the same time it’s more personal and naked. More raw emotion and pain,” Hampus says. The band recorded the album with the help of Joona Hassinen of Studio Underjord, who has helped with mixing since their ”Blood on Satan’s Claw” EP in 2017. Christoffer Karlsson of The Dahmers also assisted with overdubs and encouraged the band to demo the material early on, aiding in the album’s more deliberate and tighter feel.

From the first note of opener “The Killer In My Skull” the guitars are far thicker and out front than ever, and Nordström pummels the snare and kick like a young Dave Grohl. Bassist/vocalist Robin Arnryd’s chorus-drenched voice soars above it all like a one-man choir, at times harmonizing beautifully with shimmering Hammond organ notes. Nary a moment is wasted on the droning navel-gazing of lesser bands. Particularly, the driving anthem “Death Cult” which sounds like it would fit comfortably on QOTSA’s Songs For The Deaf, though there’s considerably more heft here. The title track pays its due to the Devil’s tritone in a marvelously woven framework of intertwining melodies befitting the album’s theme of descent into madness.

The quartet released its epic 3-song debut album Black Magic in early 2017 via Twin Earth Records, followed by the 2-track “Blood On Satan’s Claw” EP on Halloween the same year. Joining forces with RidingEasy Records in 2018, Alastor summoned the 7-track hateful gospel Slave To The Grave, which was packed with dynamic twists and turns, and funereal girth. It was met with considerable praise, setting the stage for the band’s greatest step onward (and upward… or downward, depending on your preferences.)

Onwards and Downwards will be available on LP, CD and download on May 28th, 2021 via RidingEasy Records.

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[Thanks to Dave at US / THEM Group.]

Oh Baby offer “Cruel Intention” from upcoming album due July 23rd.

Based between London and Manchester Oh Baby met via a chance meeting at a family members funeral. The pair, made up of distant cousins Rick Hornby & Jen Devereux, have just announced their new album ‘Hey Genius‘, which is laden with their romantic guitar-led synth-pop and is set for release July 23rd via Burning Witches Records. Today they’re sharing the first single from the record, “Cruel Intention“.

Speaking about the track, the band said “For ‘Cruel Intention’ we wanted quite a disposable sound, with a kind of plasticity to an almost one hit wonder-like song about the inevitable risks of love, the risk of never truly knowing someone until their ‘version A’ mask is lowered, and by that time you’re usually already too far in.”

Listen to “Cruel Intention” here: https://soundcloud.com/user-970545402/cruel-intention/

Hey Genius carries on from Oh Baby‘s last record, The Art Of Sleeping Alone almost like the flip side of an album, it has that kind of geography to it.

The duo are fascinated with machines conveying or creating emotion and the electronic take on the human condition. The human body actually has a very small electrical current running through it, with enough to power a 100watt lightbulb, the synth lines and arpeggiators on this album are written relating to that current, tapping into it and running alongside it.

Ever since they were children, the pair found the whole notion of electricity captivating, Hornby recalls spending hours as a child turning the radio dial just to hear the noise of interference and static, thinking this is how the world actually sounded. Inspired by 70s and 80s synth bands such as Kraftwek, Tubeway Army and Human League, as well as Philip K Dick’s dystopian sci-fi novel “Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?”, which went on to become the Blade Runner film, the band look to explore the way electric currents work in conduction with human emotions and how these rhythms impact feelings in their new record.

The idea of the dancefloor being the end of a journey, the final destination for a track, is always in the back of Oh Baby’s minds when writing. All the emotions and drama that get played out on those few square metres that leads to the soundtrack.

Recorded primarily at Hornby’s home studio in Manchester, the band explained the process behind the creation of Hey Genius, saying “The writing process always follows the same pattern, we will hole up separately for weeks that become months, stockpiling ideas and venturing down rabbit holes of sounds, words, effects and riffs, then getting together to plug-in, switch on and start building the tracks. We set up an outside home studio during last year’s Summer lockdown, which ended up looking just how we wanted but being about as soundproof as a shower curtain so there are a few neighbours that got to know the basslines a bit too well.

Neither of us are particularly technically minded at all so working with synths there tends to be a lot of ‘see what this button does’ moments, discovering sounds as we write and a lot of trial and error which can be either rewarding or torturous depending on which day or night you catch us on. A lot of the 80s type sounds on this record come from an old Juno that’s been here forever and a Korg MS20 as a midi keyboard that we also use live. The drum machine parts are always first worked out on an old Boss DR55. We tend to try and wiring as much as we can out of what we have, and try to use those limitations well, partly for obvious financial reasons but also to try and not be overwhelmed by choice, which seems to be an easy trap to fall into in a home studio with wi-fi.“

Oh Baby have a pretty firm idea of the way they want everything to sound and when they finally take everything and de-camp to a studio for final production and mixing, by then they know that they have managed to stick to the only two rules they ever had: “We want it to sound like the truth, and we want it to be the sound of two people with a passion”.

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[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]

Madi Diaz is “Nervous” on her new single.

Today, Nashville-based songwriter Madi Diaz releases “Nervous,” a new single about recognizing unhealthy coping mechanisms. “Nervous,” her third single for ANTI-, follows the evocative “New Person, Old Place” and “Man In Me,” and further presents Diaz’s ability to write direct and introspective music, a craft she’s spent years refining. The song’s frank lyrics are bellied by infectious guitar and Diaz’s buoyant voice: “I know why I lie to myself // I’m not really looking to get healthy // I have so many perspectives I’m losing perspective I make me nervous.” The accompanying video was shot in Nashville and directed by Jordan Bellamy. It was inspired by and includes an homage to the final scene of Andrei Tarkovsky’s film The Stalker, a film that has always resonated with Diaz through its otherworldly nature, as well as its thoughtful and often anxiety inducing pace.

“You know when you hold a mirror up to a mirror and you get an infinite amount of reflections from every angle? That’s what ‘Nervous’ is about,” says Diaz. “It’s when you’re in a loop of looking at yourself from every vantage point until you’re caught up in your own tangled web of bullshit. It’s about catching yourself acting out your crazy and you’re finally self aware enough to see it, but you’re still out of your body enough and curious enough to watch yourself do it.”
Watch Madi Diaz’s “Nervous” Video

Watch the “New Person, Old Place” Video

Watch the “Man In Me” Video

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