The latest edition of Fresh Tracks features lo-fi psych pop from Pennsylvania to pop rock from Seattle; alt. rock in Los Angeles to cinematic alt. folk from Minneapolis. There are some really amazing tracks here from artists and bands worth checking out. You can stream the playlist below or download MP3s.
If you’d like to submit your music for review, and you think it will fit our, and IRC’s worldwide audience of listeners’, tastes, submit your music here.
Mock Sun – Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Red Kitchen – Seattle, Washington
Beach Gossip – Los Angeles, California
Navigation Day – Leeds, England
Magi – Indianapolis, Indiana
Day Hustle – Boston-via-Brooklyn
Ryan Lee – St. Paul, Minnesota
Night Talks – Los Angeles, California
Lionel Lodge – Vienna, Austria
Marah in the Mainsail – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jack Of None – Manila-via-Chicago
Alice Sweat Alice – Kansas City, Missouri
If you’re a musician or a member in a band with a new release and would like the chance to be featured on IRC, one of the longest-running and most respected blogs for exposing and launching talented DIY artists and bands, check out our submission page for the deets.
Mock Sun – “Soup Spoon”
From the old mining district of northeastern Pennsylvania comes Mock Sun, a lucid, ever-evolving, psychedelic lo-fi pop duo “born out of desperation” when two young Wilkes-Barre musicians, Mark Wohl and Jami Kali, “became dangerously dissatisfied with the hum drum dumb-dumb routine of the small coal-mining town from which they sprouted.”
The result was the impressive debut album, Hungry Mother, that dropped in 2013, followed by two EPs and two live albums. In 2014, the duo morphed into a quartet with the addition of Mark Dimirco and DJ Tasselmyer.
The band just dropped the new single, “Soup Spoon,” a dreamy, surreal psych jam that we have enjoyed since we first got ears on it. We are looking forward to the album release of Post-Hypnotic this summer – no official date set as of yet.
MP3: “Soup Spoon” – Mock Sun from Post-Hypnotic
Red Kitchen – “Drummond Heights”
The pop rock of Seattle band Red Kitchen reminds us a lot of The Kinks (circa 1966-1971) when Ray Davies‘ prolific, and genius, songwriting spree produced some of the most beloved and well-known songs in British rock, including “Waterloo Sunset,” “Tired of Waiting,” “Dedicated Follower of Fashion,” “This Time Tomorrow,” and, of course, “Lola.” But Red Kitchen is definitely not The Kinks at the same time – just influenced, directly or indirectly, by the band.
Pacific Northwest musician Matt McClure is the one man band behind Red Kitchen, playing, recording and mixing all of the instruments himself. In 2008, McClure wrote and released the album, The Second Person, an audio novel of sorts that follows the life of an elderly man who lost his wife and ends up in a nursing home suffering from dementia. It’s an interesting listen, that’s for sure, and shows McClure’s ability for creative songwriting and instrumentation, vocals and mixing. The album’s lyrics have an accompanying unpublished novel.
The album features guest spots on vocals by the Swedish front man for The Open Up and Bleeds, Joel Segerstedt, as well as bass and production work by Canadian producer Jonathan Piche. The song “The Flag Makers” was featured on a Silver Jews-related compilation.
The track is really zany, upbeat, melodic and fun. So much so we have played it a number of times. Other standout tracks from his first album include the catchy, hook-filled “Right Subject, Wrong Day,” and the mysterious lo-fi of “Fake Estates,”.
MP3: “Drummond Heights” – Red Kitchen
Bonus: “The Flag Makers” – Red Kitchen from The Second Person
Beach Gossip – “Stupid Surf Song”
Beach Gossip is a Los Angeles duo founded by songwriter, vocalist, producer and guitarist Nick Coffey earlier this year.
The energetic and angst-filled mix of punk, garage and surf rock on Beach Gossip’s debut single, “Stupid Surf Song,” rings out as a calling to all skateboarders, surfers and other dare devils who like their music fast, hard and raw.
But the song also weaves in elements of pop and has a wicked hook and chorus. It is meant to be lo-fi, rough and a summer anthem for DIY-loving punks.
In fact, “Stupid Surf Song” is almost custom made for any number of skateboard and other thrill sports videos that are fast, daring and dangerous. In fact, there are plans in the works for just such a video.
As a skateboarder and enthusiast growing up on the legendary streets and pool pits made famous in the 1970’s and 80’s by LA’s Z Boys and Bones Brigade, Coffey earned his skateboard creds. In his teens, he broke his neck in a car accident.
The single is the lead advance track from Beach Gossip’s upcoming June release. Coffey recruited drummer Brendan McQueeney in March of 2016. The duo are rehearsing in order to play live shows in the Los Angeles region.
MP3: “Stupid Surf Song” – Beach Gossip
Navigation Day – “Town”
Leeds indie-rock duo Navigation Day‘s new track, “Town,” is the lead single from the upcoming release of the duo’s debut EP, entitled Mid-Decade Blue, on May 27th. The EP marks the first collaborative venture from songwriters Spencer Bayles and guitarist Tim Hann, despite having contributed to each other’s musical projects over the past few years.
Bayles based the song “Town” on “lyrical snapshots about the constantly changing face of the modern city and how we find our own place within it.” The video for the single captures the scenes of the duo’s adopted town of Leeds. Songs like the title track, “Mid-Decade Blue” and “Formed Into Armour” delve into questions of identity and belonging, asking ‘what you’ve achieved at this middle point of a decade that’s proved turbulent in so many ways?’
Hann previously fronted the alt. rock quartet I Concur, whose debut album, Able Archer, was championed by Radio One’s Huw Stephens, leading to a Maida Vale session and appearances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. Bayles formerly fronted indie folk bands Last Night’s TV and Low Moor Rising.
MP3: “Town” – Navigation Day from Mid-Decade Blue
Bonus MP3: “Formed Into Armour” – Navigation Day from Mid-Decade Blue
Magi – “Mercy”
Indianapolis musician Magi, aka Terence Smith, has been recording since he was 13 years old and is most influenced by Lupe Fiasco, Flying Lotus and Flo Rida. Magi’s new upbeat single, “Mercy,” is a feel good pop/rap track for spring produced by Da Saintz, and mixed and mastered at Azmyth studios.
MP3: “Mercy” – Magi
Day Hustle – “Dreams”
The origins of Day Hustle date back to 2012 when musicians Steven Weston and Lisa Hickox met in Boston. After performing throughout New England with the band Rich People Food, the two parted ways. Hickox moved from Brooklyn after receiving a music production degree from Berklee College of Music, while New Hampshire native Weston, stayed in Boston.
After a year apart, the pair reconnected over their love of good old fashioned indie rock and began writing the songs for the EP, sending ideas over the internet, and eventually coming up with a catalog of music. “We united west coast twang with east coast grit, both musically and aesthetically,” Hickox says. Soon after, they began recording in a Brooklyn basement, she says. “It was in this basement, riddled with graffiti, that we made out the words ‘Day’ and ‘Hustle’ in the cluster of illegible tags.”
MP3: “Dreams” – Day Hustle from Day Hustle EP
Ryan Lee – “With A Wolf”
Wisconsin native musician and singer/songwriter Ryan Lee is a musical storyteller, a folky innovator, a guitar-wielding poet; the artistic offspring of Woody Guthrie, Tracy Chapman, Rufus Wainwright, Joni Mitchell and Cat Stevens. And that’s also encompassing his travels around the world, from Thailand to Ojibwa, Wisconsin; writing, performing, teaching, creating and sharing his emotional, captivating songs of the sometimes challenging, frequently joyful, always engaging human experience.
Raised in a Baptist family in Wisconsin, he attended a small Christian school for 13 years with only two students in his graduating class and attended Northwestern College in St. Paul, where he majored in theater and was introduced to the exciting Twin Cities music scene. His new single, “With A Wolf,” is s wicked and well produced track, and thus why it’s on this playlist.
MP3: “With A Wolf” – Ryan Lee
Night Talks – “Green”
Night Talks is an alternative rock band based in Los Angeles that creates powerful vocals, shimmering guitars, driving bass and drums as expressed on their new single, “Green.” With vocals that are equal parts angelic and razor-tipped, the band might remind you of the first time you stayed in your room all night listening to a record that became special in your life. Members of the band are Soraya Sebghati; Jacob Butler; Josh Arteaga and Cris Arteaga.
MP3: “Green” – Night Talks
Lionel Lodge – “All She Wants”
From the culturally rich streets of Vienna, and the fertile highlands of his birthplace of Scotland, comes to the music of songwriter Lionel Lodge. For a number of years, Lodge toured Canada with The Corndogs and built a reputation as a gifted songwriter/musician.
“Over 15 years in Europe my innocence was dragged across and through many countries, many bars and clubs and many festivals and music halls,” Lodge says. His new album, Human Heart, drops officially on May 18th. The lead single, “All She Wants,” should attract some to watch out for the full album drop.
MP3: “All She Wants” – Lionel Lodge from Human Heart
Marah in the Mainsail – “The Traveling Man”
“The Traveling Man” is the new single from popular Minneapolis ‘cinematic’ alt. folk band Marah in the Mainsail‘s new debut album, Thaumatrope, just released on vinyl in select U.S. record stores. The band’s sound on the single and album plays to their strengths, featuring an aggressive sound with eclectic instrumentation.
The band has been carving a name for themselves in the midwest United States and beyond with their subtle nod to blues and punk music, played with an eclectic and unique instrumentation.
MP3: “The Traveling Man” – Marah in the Mainsail from Thaumatrope
Marah in the Mainsail on Facebook
Jack Of None – “There Was A Crooked Man”
You almost couldn’t get more further away on planet earth than are the heavily U.S.-influenced capital city of Manila in the Philippines and Chicago. But the experimental art rock project Jack Of None between siblings A.G. Syjuco (songwriter, guitar, bass and synths), Maxine Syjuco (songwriter, vocalist), and Julian Syjuco (guitar) straddles these two locales in the creation of the band’s new album, Who’s Listening to Van Gogh’s Ear? . Here’s the zany track, “There Was A Crooked Man,” from the upcoming drop.
MP3: “There Was A Crooked Man” – Jack of None from Who’s Listening to Van Gogh’s Ear?
Alice Sweet Alice – “Daredevil”
Longtime Kansas City, Missouri band Alice Sweat Alice grinds out genre-bending music that resists description or categorization – yet sounds intimately familiar. There are definite rock influence with overtones of electronica, jazz, blues and post punk that explode with elements of progressive rock. “Always killer, with no filler,” the band’s motto, is fitting for their newest release.
ASA took a hiatus beginning in 2014 when band leader Scott Martinez traveled to California to care for his father. That experience caused him to rethink ASA’s direction, resulting in a new and impressive nine-song album, Viola Organista and Other Impossible Dreams, which marks a new beginning for the group.
ASA has shared the stage with such notable acts as Collective Soul, Adrenaline Mob, Chuck Mosley (Faith No More), Blameshift, Mushroomhead, Hurt, and are fans of artists and bands like Killing Joke, Cocteau Twins, Bowie, Warpaint, Portishead, Garbage, and Pink Floyd.