October and the Eyes shares a “Tit Pic.” It’s a single! A new single! What were you thinking?

Following the release of her recent EP ‘Who Upset You?‘,  New Zealand-born, London-based singer & songwriter October and the Eyes is sharing her new single Tit Pic. 

Speaking about the track, October said “We destroy the earth because of our innate sense of self importance – that we have a god given right to rape, pillage and exploit the earth for our own consumption. We simultaneously distract ourselves from the worsening repercussions of our destructive hand via narcissistic pursuits of social media exhibitionism and sterile lit bathroom selfies. It’s a great picture though and successfully garnered 237 likes which is a huge relief.”

Listen to “Tit Pic” via Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiSZVMUBR5I

Listen via other streaming services here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/octoberandtheeyes/tit-pic

October is no new-comer to music, the New Zealand born musician has been involved in musical pursuits since she was a child. Heralding from a musical family, the prospect of pursuing music in one form or another was almost inescapable: A classical pianist mother, fanatic music fan father, and two older multi- instrumentalist brothers who were always holding their band practices in the family playroom. October’s childhood was that of a humble upbringing; having grown up in a small rural town in New Zealand’s wine country, she turned to songwriting as a means to stave the boredom away. She taught herself how to record and produce her own music aged 12, locking herself away in her bedroom for hours on end, and hasn’t looked back since. Claiming the internet raised her, it’s clear she had her sights set on broader horizons and bigger cities.

Having moved half way across the world to her new home in East London, October has remained true to her traditional isolated writing style by holing up in her East London flat for several months and writing a small collection of songs that can be described as dizzying, darkly kaleidoscopic, and dauntless above all. October describes her musical style as ‘collage-rock’ (not the be confused with college rock). Pulling musical inspiration from the likes of Bauhaus, Bowie, Siouxsie Sioux and Suicide, she then squeezes her influences through the gauze of modernity and electronics, thus creating something entirely of her own.

With nods to acid rock, psychobilly and post-punk, October and The Eyes’ music is equal parts nostalgia-drenched as it is future forward, employing layers of ambient synth drones to anchor the crunched guitars and jagged organ parts. Delivered with a twisted theatricality, her vocals pendulum between commanding chants and soothing coo’s, proving that not only is she a versatile songwriter and producer, but a versatile vocalist too.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]

October and the Eyes hits hard with her new single, “When I Was Your Girl.”

Photo by Erika Denis Feble
Having recently toured with Yves Tumor, New Zealand-born, London-based singer & songwriter October and the Eyes has announced her new EP ‘Who Upset You?‘ is set for release June 24th via KRO Records and is sharing new single & video “When I Was Your Girl”

Speaking about the track, October said “‘When I Was Your Girl’ ruminates on my former love and life spent in our Queen Street, Auckland flat; Dancing on our dining table, playing music too loudly, filling the room with cigarette smoke and masking the scent with our favourite Curio Noir perfume ‘Tobacco Nights’. We would always host these big parties and subject everyone to The Kinks or The Rolling Stones or Jefferson Airplane with our best mate assigned as rock n roll DJ for the night. I remember feeling angry when writing this too – I felt bruised by the whole experience. But time is a great healer, and now I’m able to find peace in its nostalgia. I guess it’s a bitter sweet meditation on a love now lost but not forgotten.”

Listen to & watch “When I Was Your Girl” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PdNOwoipwI
Listen via other streaming services here: https://orcd.co/vey8n44

October is no new-comer to music, the New Zealand born musician has been involved in musical pursuits since she was a child. Heralding from a musical family, the prospect of pursuing music in one form or another was almost inescapable: A classical pianist mother, fanatic music fan father, and two older multi- instrumentalist brothers who were always holding their band practices in the family playroom. October’s childhood was that of a humble upbringing; having grown up in a small rural town in New Zealand’s wine country, she turned to songwriting as a means to stave the boredom away. She taught herself how to record and produce her own music aged 12, locking herself away in her bedroom for hours on end, and hasn’t looked back since. Claiming the internet raised her, it’s clear she had her sights set on broader horizons and bigger cities.

Having moved half way across the world to her new home in East London, October has remained true to her traditional isolated writing style by holing up in her East London flat for several months and writing a small collection of songs that can be described as dizzying, darkly kaleidoscopic, and dauntless above all. October describes her musical style as ‘collage-rock’ (not the be confused with college rock). Pulling musical inspiration from the likes of Bauhaus, Bowie, Siouxsie Sioux and Suicide, she then squeezes her influences through the gauze of modernity and electronics, thus creating something entirely of her own.

With nods to acid rock, psychobilly and post-punk, October and The Eyes’ music is equal parts nostalgia-drenched as it is future forward, employing layers of ambient synth drones to anchor the crunched guitars and jagged organ parts. Delivered with a twisted theatricality, her vocals pendulum between commanding chants and soothing coo’s, proving that not only is she a versatile songwriter and producer, but a versatile vocalist too.

October released her debut EP Dogs and Gods in 2020 and will release the follow up with ‘Who Upset You?’ on June 24th via KRO Records.

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]

[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]

October and the Eyes returns with “Spiral.”

Photo by Erika Denis Febles

Following the release of her debut EP Dogs and Gods in 2020, New Zealand-born, London-based singer & songwriter October and the Eyes is back with a new single “Spiral“, which is out now via KRO Records.

Speaking about the new single, October said “‘Spiral’ is about a problematic friendship where you never quite know where you stand at any given time – a constant pendulum between being pulled in and then spat out again, going round and round in circles until you’re left dizzied and jaded by the whole thing. The song is pretty scathing and somewhat of a waving fist.

I wanted the song to sound in constant flux, with reverberating percussion and vocals that feel like they could spiral out of control at any moment.”

Listen to “Spiral” here on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/octoberandtheeyes-music/spiral

Listen via other streaming services here:https://orcd.co/octoberspiral

Keep your mind open.

[Don’t forget to subscribe while you’re here.]

[Thanks to Frankie at Stereo Sanctity.]

Top 35 albums of 2020: #’s 15 – 11

We’re more than halfway through the list now. Let’s not waste time.

#15: Ela Minus – Acts of Rebellion

Part-electro, part-goth, all great. Ela Minus made us move, stand up and fight, and otherwise get off our collective duffs during a year when we needed to be shaken out of our funks.

#14: October and the Eyes – Dogs and Gods

Have you ever seen Cult of the Cobra from 1955? In that movie, a woman who can turn into a cobra tracks down the men who, for kicks, infiltrated her cult’s rituals, and kills them one by one. She falls in love with one of the men, however, and you can guess the rest. This album is pretty much what the Cobra Woman would have playing on her ear buds as she stalked and seduced her victims.

#13: Falle Nioke and Ghost Culture – Youkounkoun

“Barké,” a song from this EP, stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it. The record mixes Afrobeat and electronica in perfect amounts, resulting in slick dance tracks and hypnotic songs.

#12: Kelly Lee Owens – Inner Song

Kelly Lee Owens makes electronic music that can make you dance, sigh, relax, or meditate – all sometimes in the same track. Her second album continues to set the bar high for others behind her. I say it many times, but I don’t mind repeating it – She’s both an inspiration for me to make my own electronic music and at other times throw my digital turntables out the window due to thinking, “Damn, that’s just not fair.” after hearing her tracks.

#11: Public Practice – Gentle Grip

Trust me, this post-punk debut album is as intriguing and sexy as its cover. I’d been waiting for a full-length Public Practice album since 2019 when they released a few singles and I saw them live in Chicago. The wait was well worth it. Gentle Grip is outstanding and leaves you eager for more.

The top 10 are next!

Keep your mind open.

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Top 15 singles of 2020 – #’s 15 – 11

Yes, the beginning of the year means the avalanche of “Best of…” lists from me. This year’s will include singles, albums, and albums of the last five years. Unfortunately, the only concert I got to this year was seeing BODEGA and The Wants in Chicago. It was a good gig, so at least the one show I attended was a blast (even though I might’ve caught a mild strain of COVID-19 there).

Let’s get on with the singles, shall we?

#15: October and the Eyes – “All My Love”

Good heavens, what a sexy track. This cut from October and the Eyes‘ excellent debut album, Dogs and Gods, instantly brought to mind Dum Dum Girls, Bauhaus, and Siouxsie and the Banshees – but somehow with more sweaty lovemaking.

#14: Khruangbin – “Time (You and I)”

This track off Mordechai is so funky you can hardly believe it. Listening to this while walking will instantly put a strut into your step.

#13: The Chats – “Pub Feed”

Coming from High Risk Behaviour, his is one of the most fun punk tracks I’ve heard all year. It’s brash, brazen, and a salute to eating and boozing in pubs. What’s not to like?

#12: Kelly Lee Owens – “Night”

This is one of two Kelly Lee Owens’ songs from Inner Song that made my top 15 singles of 2020. This one, like pretty much anything else she puts out there, almost makes me want to throw my digital turntables in the trash because, good grief, why should I even bother?

#11: Too Free – “No Fun”

This Washington D.C. band came out of nowhere for me and, like Ms. Owens, dropped two of my top 15 tracks of 2020. This one, despite its title, is a lot of fun.

Who makes the top 10? Come back tomorrow to find out.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: October and the Eyes – Dogs and Gods

New Zealand’s October and the Eyes is a one-woman show. Perhaps the Eyes mentioned in her “band’s” name are the eyes of the world, or the Creator, or Big Brother. I don’t know the answer, but that’s okay. Sometimes the mystery is more intriguing than the answer itself, and “intriguing” is a good way to describe October’s Dogs and Gods EP. She calls her music “collage rock,” meaning she blends influences ranging from krautrock to house music to dub and garage punk. It all works, and the fact that all this sound is produced by one person is damn impressive.

Opening track “Playing God,” for instance starts off with industrial beats and guitars and soon blows your speakers onto their backs with psychedelic reverb-laden vocals reminiscent of Siouxsie Sioux emerging from a dark cave. “All My Love,” a tale of love and lust, is a gothic shoegaze masterpiece with sexy robot beats and synth-bloops doing a striptease alongside October’s vocals that sound like she’s singing through an FM radio dug up in a post-apocalyptic junkyard that can somehow access broadcasts from the early 1980s.

“Wander Girl” continues the goth-synth vibe with Dum Dum Girls and, I’ll say it, Cyndi Lauper-like vocal stylings. “I’ve only been waiting my whole life for you,” October sings on the peppy “You Deserve It” – a song that seems aimed at herself and her potential lover at the same time. “The Unraveling” is a flat-out shoegaze rocker designed to rattle your home walls or the roof of your car. The closing track, “Dark Dog,” is dreamy synth-wave that has a slightly creepy feel to it as October sings about a man best left alone.

This is one of the coolest-sounding (and sexiest) EPs I’ve heard all year. I hope we hear more soon.

Keep your mind open.

[I’ll send all my love if you subscribe.]

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

October and the Eyes is “Playing God” on her new single.

Photo by Alexander Schipper

New Zealand-born, London-based singer, songwriter and producer October and The Eyes shares the new single/video, “Playing God,” from her debut EP, Dogs and Gods, out November 20th on KRO Records. Following lead single “All My Love,” “Playing God” is fierce and dark, October’s fuzzy vocals empowered over ricocheting percussion and wavy guitar.

‘Playing God’ is about the innate human desire for power and control but also our ability to cry ‘poor little ole me’ when it all gets too much,” says October. “We’ve seen it time and time again throughout the history of man, and perhaps it feels even more relevant now than ever witnessing the powers that be struggle with the moral handling of a global pandemic. It’s also hugely laced with irony, humour and contradictions – I’ll be the first to admit my lust for control, yet I’m also ready to laugh at myself (at my own expense) at how farcical our trivial desires for such things seem in the grand scheme of life.”

The accompanying video references videographer Rich Kern’s Submit To Me Now. “To me the title and video of his film both represent the inherent sexual power that the female body and mind possess – our ability to play god at our own choosing,” says October. “Also it’s just a sick video visually and Lung Leg looks badass and I can only hope to be half as rad as her one day.
Watch “Playing God” Video:
https://orcd.co/octoberplayinggod
October is no newcomer to music – despite only being 23, she has been involved in musical pursuits since she was a child. She taught herself how to record and produce her own music at age 12, locking herself away in her bedroom for hours on end. Having moved halfway across the world to her new home in East London, October has remained true to her traditional isolated writing style by holing up in her East London flat for several months and writing a small collection of songs that can be described as dizzying, darkly kaleidoscopic, and dauntless above all. October produced the Dogs and Gods EP herself, creating a sonic universe that heralds her heroes of yesteryear. She describes her musical style as ‘collage-rock’ (not the be confused with college rock). Pulling musical inspiration from the likes of Bauhaus, Bowie, Siouxsie Sioux and Suicide, she then squeezes her influences through the gauze of modernity and electronics, creating something entirely her own.
Watch “Playing God” Video:
https://orcd.co/octoberplayinggod

Watch “All My Love” Video:
https://orcd.co/octoberallmylove

Pre-order/pre-save Dogs and Gods:
https://orcd.co/octoberandtheeyes

Keep your mind open.

[Why not subscribe while you’re here?]

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]

October and the Eyes profess “All My Love” on first single from upcoming EP.

New Zealand-born, London-based singer, songwriter and producer October and the Eyes announces her debut EP, Dogs and Gods, out November 20th on KRO Records. October recently signed to the label following an introduction by fellow musician and friend Yves Tumor. Today, she shares the lead single and video “All My Love,” a track that lures you into a warm embrace of October’s coy and breathy sweet-nothings.

“’All My Love’ is unfortunately a love song – something I told myself I would never write, yet here I am,” says October. “But it’s not all sweet. In fact, I would call it more of a lust song. It’s about being in love but lusting for something more. It’s about desire, greed, and infatuation with a stranger. The song became strangely prophetic in recent months as I watched the one I once loved self destruct from afar ‘in tin cans and other crumbs of temporary self satisfaction’ – a line I wrote before I could even comprehend that it would become remotely true. Because of this, the song is now tainted with a strange sadness that I’ll carry with me every time I perform it.”

Watch “All My Love” Video

October is no newcomer to music – despite only being 23, the New Zealand born musician has been involved in musical pursuits since she was a child. Heralding from a musical family, the prospect of pursuing music in one form or another was almost inescapable: A classical pianist mother, fanatic music fan father, and two older multi-instrumentalist brothers who were always holding their band practices in the family playroom. Having grown up in a small rural town in New Zealand’s wine country, she turned to songwriting as a means to stave off boredom, teaching herself how to record and produce her own music.

After moving to East London, October wrote and produced the Dogs and Gods EP, a dizzying, darkly kaleidoscopic, and dauntless collection of music. Thematically, the EP explores the complex dynamics of love, lust and infidelity in the 21st century.

Self-describing her music as “collage-rock,” October pulls musical inspiration from the likes of Bauhaus, Bowie, Siouxsie Sioux and Suicide, then squeezing her influences through the gauze of modernity and electronics.  With nods to acid rock, psychobilly and post-punk, October and The Eyes’ music is equal parts nostalgia-drenched as it is future forward, employing layers of ambient synth drones, crunched guitar,  jagged organ parts, and October’s theatrical voice, creating something entirely her own.

Watch “All My Love” Video: 
https://orcd.co/octoberallmylove

Pre-order/pre-save Dogs and Gods:
https://orcd.co/octoberandtheeyes

Dogs and Godstracklist:
1. Playing God
2. All My Love
3. Wander Girl
4. You Deserve It
5. The Unraveling
6. Dark Dog

Keep your mind open.

[Thanks to Patrick at Pitch Perfect PR.]