Videos

Band to Watch: Two Truths

Posted on by IRC Staff

The band Two Truths is one of Rochester, New York’s newest indie pop/rock outfits. And one of the most exciting.

Conceived during the pandemic by musicians and roommates Blake Pattengale and Garrett Mader, the band dropped their first single, “Brushstrokes,” earlier this fall – the first track from the four-track debut EP, Electric Campfire.

Joined by Max Greenberg on keys and Byron Cage on drums, the band offers a unique brand of sound; one that draws from Americana, folk, and rock, but also modern electronic production.

Guitar-driven songwriting and lush vocal harmonies break bread with synths and electric drums. This sonic architecture provides a perfect backdrop for Pattengale’s thoughtful lyrics, making for a truly memorable batch of songs.

“The story of “Brushstrokes” centers around a man longing to reconnect with his lost love,” writes Mader.

“The video opens with the man (portrayed by Kerry Regan) arriving at his art studio and revisiting an old painting.” Haunting lyrics “I thought I saw your face in a painting” accompany this lonesome beginning. The music feels ambient, with synth textures and fluttery guitar-picking casting a melancholic hue.

The chorus opens up with acoustic textures supporting the lyric ‘When I was a younger man/I’d chase you through the fields/ that we painted with soft brushstrokes.’ The song and video continually support this juxtaposition between a morbid present reality and an unattainable past joy.”

As the song progresses, we see the man step into his past life through the painting. In these memories, his younger self (portrayed by Pattengale) and his partner (Olivia Rose) are seen running through sunny green fields, enjoying an idyllic summer picnic, and basking in young love’s warmth and bliss.

The three other tracks on the EP are solid, especially the second track, “Chasing.”

Video Share: Ontario Female Rock Trio Whatzername’s “Vulture”

Posted on by Kat Nip Carver



With fuzzy lo-fi, alt. rock guitars, a bumping percussion, and a punk-rock attitude, the new track, “Vulture,” from Canadian band Whatzername.

The video is set in a retro-themed house with the band members playing in artistically-decorated rooms. Standish narrates the track while the other two ladies jam out in a bedroom.

Vocalist/guitarist Ashlee Standish, vocalist/bassist Clairisa Rose and drummer Jess Gold made a splash last year after dropping the debut single, “Something” in May of 2019. The song also includes Niagara rock sensation Serena Pryne (The Mandevilles) on backing vocals.

The video also features Danno O’Shea (My Son The Hurricane) who performed lead guitar on the track. The video was filmed by Smoothie Stufio (Bryce Smith) and Jeremy Sobocan who brought their creative vision to the feeling the band hoped to convey.

The song is about “the ongoing battle of giving too much of oneself to others that take advantage, and the idea that we all have someone on our side looking out for us; perhaps someone who is jaded and has seen it all, like a vulture,” says Standish.

Blogs and fans in Canada and the U.S. are drawn to the band’s hard-edged rock sound with influences of lo-fi indie, grunge, and punk.

Whatzername is based out of Niagara, Ontario and has also performed at music festivals like In the Soil, Big on Bloor Street Fest and Tapsfest.

http://www.facebook.com/whatzername

Gorillaz Drop 2nd Episode for Song Machine Featuring Fatoumata Diawara

Posted on by IRC Staff

On Thursday morning, Gorillaz released the long-awaited Episode Two of Song Machine, Season One.

The new episode,’Désolé,’ features the esteemed vocalist and Grammy-nominated artist Fatoumata Diawara.

Désolé, which is French for ‘sorry’, is an uplifting electro-pop love song in English, French, and Bambara.

Within the first 20 minutes of its release, the new episode racked up over 100,000 views. It’ll likely be in the millions by next week.

gorillaz-new-episode

https://gorill.az/songmachine – Follow Gorillaz’ Song Machine

Credits:

Director: Jamie Hewlett
Co-Directors: Tim McCourt, Max Taylor
Producer: Eva Dahlqvist
Animators: Venla Linna, Simone Crillo, Setareh Seto, Diego Porral
Clean Up Artists: Setareh Seto, Diego Porral, Venla Linna
Compositor: Freddie Lewis-Wall

 

Tame Impala: ‘The Slow Rush’ Review + New Music Video

Posted on by New Music Express

Release Date: February 14
4 out of 5 stars
Reviewer: Thomas Smith

You have to feel a little bit for Tame Impala. It wasn’t Kevin Parker’s intention to be coronated the saviour of rock on a mainstream level, but – for better or worse – that’s what happened.

As genres started collapsing into themselves in the last decade’s second half – rock into electronic, pop into hip-hop – there Parker stood in the middle of it all, guitar in hand.

Following 2012’s mainstream breakthrough ‘Lonerism’, their third album ‘Currents’ established them as rare modern guitar heroes making the leap to festival headline slots.

It remains an unfair burden. Interviewers have recently found Parker keen to move the conversation away from the rock saviour narrative.

Speaking to Billboard, he made it clear that his ambitions lay in the pop battlefield, explaining that “writing a catchy, sugary pop song” is “the yin to the yang of psychedelic rock”.

Instead, he wants to “be a Max Martin”, a reference to one of the most celebrated songwriter this side of the millennium, whose credits include work with Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and The Weekend.

Since ‘Currents’, Parker has become a voguish producer adored by hip-hop titans – from Kanye West to A$AP Rocky– and pop heavyweights such as Lady Gaga (he co-wrote some of her rootsy 2016 album ‘Joanne’).

His horizons have broadened beyond a home-studio in Melbourne – he’s now in the thick of LA’s music scene.

It seems there were endless moving parts and inner-conflicts rattling Parker’s mind in the five-year gap between ‘Currents’ and Tame Impala’s fourth album, ‘The Slow Rush’. He’d hoped to have the album out to coincide with their headline appearance at Coachella last Spring.

That didn’t materialise and he’s since admitted that work only really began towards the end of 2018. Well, fans’ expectations have been dizzyingly high: it’s little wonder that this album has such a large gestation period.

Read the full review at NME

Creepy New Music Video ‘Dust & Bones’ from Portland Musician Empire of Gold

Posted on by Rick Sosa

Portland musician Empire of Gold (EoG) has dropped a new dark, creepy, horror film-like new music video for his slow-burning grunge track, “Dust & Bones.” Perfect for the Halloween season.

“I love the idea of this video having a dark, gloomy look with people wearing masks,” says Michael Jack Dole the artist behind the EoG moniker. “I didn’t want any faces shown at all.”

“Instead, I wanted images of churches and any religion tied into it as it depicts a person struggling to see any meaning in life – as if all we are is dust and bones,” Dole says.

“I wanted to incorporate ‘creepy’ worldly themes,” he insists.

The single embodies everything Empire of Gold has built his reputation on – grunge. He delivers a heavy performance while staying true to the dynamic range and minimalism that is missing in today’s rock.

The verses have a quiet, rumbling signature sound that builds to a powerful chorus. There’s no need for a wall of guitars as Dole puts it.

“The ability to subtlety bring the song to a deep moving riff right after the chorus is everything we all crave in this heavily over-produced era of rock,” he adds.

The album, The Devil Is In The Details, was recorded in Dole’s home studio. His musical project, he says, is “a concept playing with the thoughts, theories and fears of human mortality. It plays back and forth with theology and atheist views about our dreams, hopes and eventual reincarnation into heaven.”

The L.P. is an impressive foray into the sonic depths of grunge, alt. rock and punk elements, centering on depressing lyrics, but with an ultimate message of hope.

Dole uses Logic Pro X and a lunchbox of pre-amps. Mixing was taken on by Portland engineer Kevin Carafa and later sent to Dirk Steyer of ACSY Sound in Germany for mastering.

His musical influences include Nirvana, Slipnot, Highly Suspect and Green Day.

Dole recently was accepted to the prestigious Berklee School of Music.

 

Today in Rock History, August 6th – Elliott Smith, The Kinks, Pink Floyd, Velvet Underground

Posted on by Max Hammer

the-kinks

A lot happened on this day in rock history. The influence of rock on indie rock music is immeasurable and so we honor the pioneers who came before.

1964 – The Kinks release their self-titled debut album, featuring the ground-breaking No. 1 hit “You Really Got Me” Many artists and bands over the years have credited The Kinks for starting hard-hitting, loud and discordant rock music, and helping lay down the formation of genres like hard rock, metal, and punk music.

https://youtu.be/cnPjdB6TAKk?t=5

The song is also one of the seminal and most recognizable songs of rock history around the world. Peter Travers the well-known Rolling Stone rock critic wrote in 1964 that when he first heard those initial hard, chunky and highly distorted chords that open the song, he was listening to the radio while driving on the Pacific Coast Highway, and as he tells it, he almost drove off the road.

1969 – Indie singer/songwriter Elliott Smith is born in Omaha. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 1997. Smith took his life in L.A. on October 22, 2003 at the age of just 34. Thank you for all the special songs!

1928 – Andy Warhol is born. He is instrumental in promoting the success of The Velvet Underground during The Factory days in NYC.

nomi-inide

1983 – A friend and guitarist of David Bowie, avant-garde musician and operatic vocalist Klaus Nomi, dies of AIDS in NYC. He is one of the first celebrities to be known to die of AIDS in the U.S. Meanwhile much of the rest of the country reacts with fear, desertion, and anything but love with countless family members and “friends” turning away from their dying loved ones, allowing them to rot away in the corner of a dark hospital room. President Reagan refuses to even mention AIDS for years.

1982 – Pink Floyd’s film ‘The Wall’ opens in NYC.

1977 – Sex Pistols hit No. 4 in U.K. with “Pretty Vacant”

1973 – Stevie Wonder is a passenger in a car accident in NC; the accident leaves him with loss of his sense of smell. Nothing ever stopped him from making some of the best music of the 60s and 70s that influenced countless other artists and bands we all love.