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Aktuelle Themenübersicht Mai - Juli 2019

Hallo Musikfreunde,

geschätzte Kollegen,

anbei eine umfassende Übersicht aktueller und zukünftiger Themen und ein nahezu lückenloser Überblick der anstehenden Touren.

Auf Grund der Fülle an Themen, verweise ich auf die in den Vorstellungen enthaltenen Links (einfach auf den Band/Künstlernamen klicken) die direkt zu unserer Website führen und viele weitere Infos wie auch Videos bereit halten.

 

Jörg Timp und die Starkult Crew

STARKULT Kontaktdaten:

www.starkult.de

https://www.facebook.com/starkultpromotion

Tel. Zentrale - 0211 - 30 21 17 - 0

Print -  eike@starkult.de

Print -  joerg@starkult.de

Radio/web -  dennis@starkult.de

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Pressemitteilung I

HOT WATER MUSIC - 5 Song EP "Shake Up The Shadows“ am 25.05. auf Epitaph

Die Punkrock-Ikonen HOT WATER MUSIC kündigen für den 24.05.2019 ihre 5 Song starke EP "Shake Up The Shadows" auf Epitaph Records an.

Gleichzeitig präsentiert das Quartett aus Gainesville mit "Rebellion Story" einen ersten neuen Song der EP:

Stream: "Rebellion Story"

HOT WATER MUSIC waren nach außen hin bisher nie als politische Band in Erscheinung getreten. Mit den Texten der neuen EP "Shake Up The Shadows" setzt sich die Band nun offensiver für Themen wie Gleichheit und Zusammengehörigkeit ein. Sänger und Gitarrist Chuck Ragan erklärt:

“I think we're living in a really volatile and terrifying time where people are turning a blind eye to the hatred that's happening in this world and thinking of themselves rather than the big picture. I think that sentiment is present in these new songs the way it has always kind of been there in our music.”

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Pressemitteilung II

Hunny – Neuer Song / Debutalbum 19.07.2019 (Epitaph)

Die Indie-Rock-Band HUNNY kündigt die Veröffentlichung ihres Debüt-Albums "Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes." am 19.07.2019 auf Epitaph Records an. Mit "Lula I’m Not Mad" gibt es auch bereits einen ersten Song vom Album der Kalifornier inkl. Musikvideo zu hören.

Musikvideo "Lula I'm Not Mad"

"Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes." wurde während der verheerenden Waldbrände im vergangenen Jahr von Grammy-Gewinner Carlos de la Garza (Culture Abuse, Paramore) aufgenommen. Während die Band im Recording-Prozess vertieft war, stand die Feuerwehr im Garten des Studios und verhinderte ein Übergreifen der Flammen auf das Gebäude.

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Pressemitteilung III

GLITTERER (NED RUSSIN von TITLE FIGHT) - Debüt-Album "Looking Through The Shades" am 12.07. auf Anti- Records , Produziert von (SANDY) ALEX G

"Destiny" Video

GLITTERER ist die Rock-Band des TITLE FIGHT Sängers und Bassisten NED RUSSIN, mit " Looking Through The Shades“ erscheint am 12.07. via Anti- Records das Debüt-Album, auf dem u.a. auch seine Brüder Ben Russin und Alex Russin zu hören sind. Bei der Produktion bekam er Unterstützung von (Sandy) Alex G und Arthur Rizk (Code Orange, Power Trip, Sumerlands, the 2018 Grammy Awards)

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Pressemitteilung IV

ANGELS & AIRWAVES - Neuer Song "Rebel Girl" - erstmals auf Rise Records / BMG

Die Multiplatin Rocker von ANGELS & AIRWAVES kündigen mit ?Rebel Girl“ den ersten neuen Song in 3 Jahren an!

Ganze sieben Jahre sind mittlerweile vergangen, seitdem die Multiplatin-Rocker von Angels & Airwaves zum letzten Mal die Bühne betreten haben; seit dem Release ihres letzten Materials sind immerhin drei Jahre ins Land gezogen.Nun melden sich Frontmann Tom DeLonge mit ihrem brandneuen Track "Rebel Girl“ auf Rise Records/ BMG zurück!

"Rebel Girl" gibt es hier zu hören:

Mit "Rebel Girl“ veröffentlichen Angels & Airwaves den ersten Vorboten ihres kommenden Albums, zu dem auch ein Feature-Film-Projekt gehört. Der Track stellt das erste neue Material seit dem Release der "Chasing Shadows“-EP aus dem Jahr 2016 dar.

"Rebel Girl` ist ein Space-Age-Lovesong der meine langjährige Vorlieben für New Wave, Pop Punk und hymnischen Rock `N Roll verbindet“, so Sänger/ Gitarrist Tom DeLonge. "Wie manche vielleicht gehört haben, habe ich kürzlich mein eigenes Raumfahrtunternehmen gegründet. Man kann nie wissen – vielleicht werde ich diesen Song ja von einem Satelliten aus den Tiefen des Alls direkt in jeden Haushalt beamen!“

Ab 4. September werden Angels & Airwaves – namentlich Tom DeLonge, Gitarrist David Kennedy und Drummer Ilan Rubin - "Rebel Girl“ auch live performen, wenn sich das Trio auf große Headlinertour durch Nordamerika begibt. Die Band wird dabei von Bassist Matt Rubano unterstützt und ist zum ersten Mal wieder live zu sehen, seitdem man sich am 2. September 2012 einstweilen nach seinem Gig im italienischen Bologna von der Bühne verabschiedete.

Tickets sind ab dem 2. Mai über www.citiprivatepass.com erhältlich.

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Band : Mavis Staples

Album : We Get By

VÖ : 24.05.2019

Label : ANTI– / Indigo

Website : https://www.mavisstaples.com/

Kurzinfo: Produziert von Ben Harper legt die Grande Dame des Soul ein wunderbares Protestalbum vor.

“I’m the messenger,” Mavis Staples says on the eve of her 80th birthday. “That’s my job—it has been for my whole life—and I can’t just give up while the struggle’s still alive. We’ve got more work to do, so I’m going to keep on getting stronger and keep on delivering my message every single day.”

That message—a clarion call to love, to faith, to justice, to brotherhood, to joy—lies at the heart of ‘We Get By,’ Staples’ spectacular twelfth studio album and first full-length collaboration with multi-GRAMMY Award-winner Ben Harper. Backed by her longtime touring band, Staples breathes extraordinary life into Harper’s compositions on the record, delivering roof-raising performances with both a youthful vigor and a commanding maturity. The arrangements here are spare but weighty, matched by Harper’s suitably lean and thoughtful production, and Staples seizes the opportunity to showcase her remarkable and continued evolution as an artist, one still growing and exploring more than half a century into her storied career. ‘We Get By’ is undoubtedly a timely collection, arriving such as it does in the face of deep social divisions and heightened political tensions, but like everything Staples touches, it’s also larger than any particular moment, a timeless appeal to the better angels of our nature that’s universal in its reach and unwavering in its assurance of better things to come.

“When I first started reading the lyrics Ben wrote for me, I said to myself, ‘My God, he’s saying everything that needs to be said right now,’” Staples remembers. “But the songs were also true to my journey and the stories I’ve been singing all my life. There’s a spirituality and an honesty to Ben’s writing that took me back to church.

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Band : Plastic Mermaids

Album : Suddenly Everyone Explodes

VÖ : 24.05.2019

Label : Sunday Best Rec / Membran

Website : www.plasticmermaids.com

Kurzinfo: Wer im entferntesten mit den Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev oder Of Montreal was anfangen kann, wird begeistert sein.

Plastic Mermaids are a five-piece band from the Isle of Wight who, after building their own analogue studio, have self-produced one of the most genuinely original and sonically adventurous debut albums you’ll hear all year: ‘Suddenly Everyone Explodes’ to be released on May 24th 2019.

The band features brothers Jamie and Douglas Richards, who collaborate on vocals, synths and samples, along with guitarist Chris Newnham, bassist Tom Farren and drummer Chris Jones. Jamie is the technical one, always on hand to build or fix whatever piece of kit they need.  It’s important to mention that lots of times, obstacles were overcome simply by Jamie sitting for three weeks with a soldering iron and making the thing that we needed,” recalls Tom. “The desk that we recorded the whole album through, for example. Jamie just made that.”

Recent singles revealed from the new album include ‘1996’ and their latest psychedelic-pop single ‘Floating in a Vacuum’, both of which  have been warmly received by fans and critics alike, supported at radio by Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, John Kennedy from Radio X (including a recent Xposure live session), BBC6 Music’s Lauren Laverne & Chris Hawkins.

“This album has been a long time coming,” reflects Doug, “and it feels great to have it finished. After three years of jamming, writing, debating, recording, gigging, multiple games of worms and copious caffeinated beverages we finally ended at this point. The album as whole has a broad twist of genres, vibes and sounds, I guess it shows the eclectic influences and the love we have for shovelling all sorts of music into are heads. “

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Band : Justin Rutledge

Album : Passages

VÖ : 14.06.2019

Label : Nextdoor Records / H'Art

Website : https://justinrutledge.squarespace.com/

Kurzinfo: Ruhige Folk Nummern die angenehm unaufgeregt ins Ohr gehen und beste Songwriter Kunst, aparte Melodien und feinsinnige Texte bietet.

In the Summer of 2019, Justin Rutledge returns with his eighth studio album, Passages.

With a new band by his side, the Juno Award-winner’s subtly well-wrought songs are enveloped in ambient and lilting textures that provide fresh landscapes for Rutledge’s material. One of the key new band members is Rob Baker from the Tragically Hip. Rutledge and Baker forged a friendship through the creation of Rutledge’s 2014 album, Daredevil, a recording that paid tribute to the legendary Canadian band. “It was a real honour to have Rob in the studio with us, both musically and socially,” says Rutledge. “As a musician, he’s quite fearless and very intuitive when it comes to serving the song.” Co-produced by Chris Stringer and recorded in ten days at Union Sound in Toronto, the majority of Passages is recorded live off the floor, with minimal overdubs. “We had my friend Zac Rae [of Death Cab For Cutie] record some guitar and textures at his studio in Los Angeles,” says Rutledge, “but I really wanted to keep as much as we could from the original Toronto takes.” With Passages, Rutledge manages to retain his Americana roots while venturing into exploratory sonic fields. “Country and roots music will always be my first love,” says Rutledge, “but lately I’ve been listening to a lot of ambient instrumental music like Four Tet and Nils Frahm and I wanted to invite that influence into the way the songs on Passages are encircled.”

Thematically, Passages centers on Rutledge’s recent marriage and sojourn in Prince Edward County, an agricultural community on the shores of Lake Ontario. Songs such as Allisonville and Belleville Breakup illustrate small town relationships and hardships. The title track, Passages, is perhaps Rutledge’s most honest love song to date. “Like every other songwriter, I sure have written my share of love songs, but Passages is perhaps the most consistent and clear of them all,” Rutledge says, “I have never been happier.” Some pieces broach darker subjects. Good Man tells the story of one of Rutledge’s relatives, trying his best to outrun his inner demons. One Winter’s Day narrates the painful turmoil of struggling with mental health. Rutledge also revived some older songs for the album: three songs by his LA-based band Early Winters were recorded for the album, as well as Boats, penned by Rutledge and literary giant Michael Ondaatje.

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Band: Jade Jackson

Album: Wilderness

VÖ: 28.06.2019

Label: ANTI-/ Indigo

Website: www.jadejackson.com

Kurzinfo. Das zweite Album der jungen Songwriterin und wieder hat Mike Ness (Social Distortion) produziert. Persönlicher und intimer als der Vorgänger pendelt sie weiterhin zwischen Country, Folk und Americana.

In most musical careers, the debut album tends to lay bare the soul of the artist as she introduces herself to the world, its songs created from a real life still pure and unencumbered by any spotlight or harsh exposure. Jade Jackson, however, has chosen to flip that tandem on its head, and with her second full-length, Wilderness, she casts a light more focused on her own life than ever before—due in part to an inspiration from finally coming to terms with a traumatic event in her own journey.

Her first album, 2017’s Gilded, was a masterful, critically acclaimed introduction to her strong soulful stylings as told through the eyes of characters and storytelling, with Jackson keeping any hyper-personal glimpses at arm’s length. But for its follow-up, the singer-songwriter from the Central Coast of California decided to embrace the concept of “writing what you know” and build her songs from an autobiographical perspective. And while the subject matter of Wilderness isn’t necessarily directly drawn from it, Jackson found that revisiting some of the darkness surrounding an accident she experienced in 2012 and its aftermath helped open the door to further self-reflection.

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Band : Eleni Mandell

Album : Wake Up Again

VÖ : 07.06.2019

Label : Yep Roc Rec / H’art

Website : www.elenimandell.com

Kurzinfo: Nach ihrer kurzen Auszeit bietet Eleni auf ihrem neuen Album alles was man an ihr schätzt, etwas weniger Country-esk als auf den letzten Alben klingt WAKE ME UP wie eine Best Of mit neuen Stücken.

Inspired by teaching songwriting in two southern California area women’s prisons, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Eleni Mandell will release Wake Up Again, June 7 on Yep Roc Records.

“Some songs were written there, while I was teaching and participating in the assignments that I gave,” says Mandell, “others are portraits or amalgamations of two or more inmates or were inspired by something I heard them say.”

The video for the first single, “Circumstance,” which was directed by Inara George, premiered today at The Los Angeles Times. Wake Up Again is now available pre-order.

 “Circumstance” was inspired by two different women. Neither accepted responsibility for what lead to their incarceration. One said, “it just happened.” The other woman claimed that it was all her boyfriend’s fault. The word ‘circumstance’ comes from ‘around’ and ‘stand’, which I thought applied so well to life in prison, which requires a lot of standing around.”

For nearly two years, through Jail Guitar Doors, the organization founded by MC5’s Wayne Kramer and Billy Bragg, and the William James Association, Mandell “loved working with the inmates, hearing their stories and seeing them light up when they heard their words come to life in a song.” 

Produced by Sheldon Gomberg at his Silver Lake studio, the album features 11 original compositions with Mandell on vocals and acoustic guitar, Milo Jones (guitar), Ryan Feves (bass), and Kevin Fitzgerald (drums).

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Band : Richard Reed Parry

Album : Quiet River Of Dust Vo. 2: That Side Of The River

VÖ : 21.06.2019

Label : ANTI- / Indigo

Website : www.richardreedparry.com

Kurzinfo: Der Arcade Fire Mann mit dem zweiten Teil seiner cineastisch anmutenden Song Kollektionen.

Music of the spheres: It is a term that refers to the universal harmony generated by celestial bodies in orbit, but it means something different to Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry. His musical spheres are floating worlds, 360° embodiments of memory, VR renditions of old family photos. A collection of songs that moves across two albums, today Parry has announced that Quiet River of Dust: Vol. 2 will be released on the Summer Solstice, June 21.

The first volume of Quiet River of Dust was released on the autumn equinox of 2018 and this second volume was created at the same time. It was originally set to come out on the spring equinox but nature had other ideas, as it look longer than expected to wait for salt crystals to grow on the artwork to create wave caps and mountaintops—do not underestimate Parry’s attention to detail.

Both volumes bleed into one another, by design. “It feels like a multi-sided window to me,” says Parry, “a different view into this prismatic song world.” Japanese folk myths, death poems and British folk music are tributaries flowing into a river of late-20th century avant-garde composition and traditional song craft, written and performed by a member of a Grammy-winning rock band. This is a meditative, widescreen musical experience with Beach Boy harmonies and a hypnotic pulse. Layered songs that move in a linear fashion, following a current rather than circular composition.

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Band : Joey Cape

Album : Let Me Know When You Give Up

VÖ : 05.07.2019

Label : Fat Wreck Chords

Website : https://de-de.facebook.com/joeycape/

Kurzinfo: Der Lagwagon Sänger mit einem Solo Album, das eher an Frank Turner als an seine Stammband erinnert.

Joey Cape doesn’t want to call it an epiphany, but in recent years he’s come to a realization about life – specifically, the best way to live it. It’s a simple philosophy: even though we’re living in very troubled times, it’s important to not get bogged down by it all. That doesn’t mean you have to disengage with everything, but one’s survival and, by proxy, happiness both depend on being able to let go of everything a little bit. As he incorporated that mindset into his day-to-day life, it also got absorbed into the music he was making, and serves as the crux of Cape’s new solo album, Let Me Know When You Give Up. While the title itself might sound like it has negative connotations, its intention and purpose is anything but.

“If that sentence represents any philosophical sea change for me,” he explains, “it was a matter of electing Trump and, for many years before that feeling less and less hope for humanity and people. A number of things occurred to me throughout the last decade of my life, and I think the culmination was things like Brexit and Trump and a lot of these nationalist parties that are coming about in the world right now. People are becoming more and more terrified. I travel all the time for work and I see this everywhere in the world and I don’t like the way things are evolving. But the idea behind the title was more hopeful than negative. The phrase just came out of me at some point – I just said it, but what I meant was more like, ‘Hey – let me know when you give up and we’ll go grab a beer and talk about pizza!’”

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Band : Dressy Bessy

Album : Fast Faster Disaster

VÖ : 14.06.2019

Label : Yep Roc Rec / H’art

Website : http://dressybessy.com/

Kurzinfo: 20 Jahre nach ihrer Gründung klingen Dressy Bessy immer noch (oder schon wieder) als wäre der Indie Pop der 90er nie weg gewesen.

"This album comes out 20 years after our first one," guitarist John Hill says of Dressy Bessy's second Yep Roc Records release, Fast Faster Disaster. "We're better than ever.  Tammy's songwriting and performance are as vital as ever.  She's the genuine article and one of the strongest, most talented women I know."

"This is the most selfless record I've ever written," asserts frontwoman Tammy Ealom. "In the past, the bulk of my songwriting was inspired by something or someone who'd pissed me off. Writing a song about it made me feel like I was getting the last word, case closed in my mind. With this album, most songs were written for someone or inspired by something I love."

Fast Faster Disaster makes it clear that, two decades from the band's seminal D.I.Y. beginnings, Tammy Ealom's distinctive songcraft remains as sharp as ever. The Denver combo's second Yep Roc release, and their second since the seven-year recording hiatus that preceded 2016's KINGSIZED, Fast Faster Disaster's new songs affirm Tammy Ealom's career-long commitment to barbed lyrical insight and effortlessly catchy melodies.

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Band : Royal Republic

Album : Club Majesty

VÖ : 31.05.2019

Label : Arising Empire / ADA / Warner

Website : https://www.royalrepublic.net/

Schwedens Vier-Mann-Rock-Sensation und Partymaschinerie ROYAL REPUBLIC präsentieren mit Stolz ihr neuestes und wohl heißestes Mitglied ihrer Armada aus unermüdlichen Stimmungskrachern! Mit gewaltigen Gitarrenriffs in Form des Mount Everest, hämmernden Rythmen und Songtexten, die selbst Dr. Feelgood zum schwitzen bringen ist es deine Antwort auf, eigentlich - alles! Ihr nächstes bevorstehendes Studioalbum »Club Majesty« ist erhältlich am 31. Mai 2019.

ROYAL REPUBLIC wollen nichts von "Guilty Pleasures“ wissen - sie kennen nur pures, völlig kompromissloses Vergnügen. Seit ihrer Gründung an der Malmöer Academy Of Music 2007 sind sie zu Schwedens gefragtestem Rock'n'Roll-Export geworden. Hier vermischen sich Gitarren-Riffs, große Melodien und turbogeladene Beats mit ureigener, vielseitiger und unnachahmlicher Lebensfreude. Dazu kommen ihre schicken Anzüge, von denen sich die meisten ihrer Zeitgenossen wünschen, dass sie ihnen genauso gut stehen würden. Die Band verknüpft den rohen Geist des Punk mit dem Hüftschwung James Browns und dem prahlerische Getue James Bonds. Da ist es nicht verwunderlich, dass sie sich äußerst schwer kategorisieren lässt. ROYAL REPUBLICs Musik bringt einfach jeden zum Tanzen, als hätte man in der Lotterie gewonnen.

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Band : Jim Lauderdale

Album : From Another World

VÖ : 21.06.2019

Label : Yep Roc Records / H’Art

Website : https://www.facebook.com/JimLauderdaleOfficial/

Kurzinfo: Der Grammy nominierte Songwriter legt ein weiteres Album vor, das seinen Ruf untermauert und American / Country vom Feinsten bietet.

“He’s my favorite part of Americana music” – Ketch Secor, Old Crow Medicine Show “He’s a man of great style, an exceptional songwriter and tremendous singer” – Elvis Costello

“Jim Lauderdale is a consummate entertainer, a sharp dressed man as well, a terrific songwriter and a great singer.“ – George Strait

“Jim Lauderdale could easily be called a renaissance man. He’s a great singer, great guitar

player and there’s no way you could miss his work as a songwriter.” – Ricky Skaggs

Jim Lauderdale is a 2-time Grammy winning Americana icon, a singer-songwriter whose unmistakable rhinestone-incrusted silhouette has been a symbol for creative integrity and prolificacy for thirty-one albums over decades of recording. He’s an A-list Nashville songwriter whose songs have ruled the country charts while recording an eclectic catalogue of albums that run the gamut of American roots styles. His prolific streak of releases continues in 2019 with his new album ‘From Another World’.

The ten songs contained within, all written or co-written by Jim, are his antidote to the anger, divisiveness of today’s world, a world full of bad news and folks yelling at each other on CNN.

This is music from another world, a world of empathy, love, forgiveness and humility. Where people find freedom through togetherness, where they struggle to change for the better, where country music still cries with the sound of pedal steel guitar and psychedelic-tinged lyrics flow through aching indelible melodies.

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Band : The Felice Brothers

Album : Undress 

VÖ : 03.05.2019

Label : Yep Roc Records / H'Art

Website : http://www.thefelicebrothers.com/

Kurzinfo: Sehr politisches Werk, das ganz nebenbei noch besten Folk zu bieten hat.

With ‘Undress,’ their first new album in three years, The Felice Brothers manage to walk that delicate tightrope between timely and timeless, crafting a collection that’s urgently relevant to the modern social and political landscape without ever losing sight of the larger picture. Offering moral clarity and sober reflection through nuanced character studies and artful parables, the band tips their caps to the biting wit of Mark Twain and the keen observation of Woody Guthrie here, presenting a series of portraits that mix the mundane and the fantastical in such a way as to blur the line between reality and metaphor: a man tosses all of his possessions into a smoldering crater; a White House spokeswoman stands naked before the nation; a small town kid turns to crime when his neighbors forsake him. In the world of The Felice Brothers, the traditionally powerful—politicians, preachers, pundits—are comical at best, rendered impotent by their own narcissistic ambition, while those who traffic in kindness and generosity are larger-than-life heroes, cast as everyday saviors walking the streets of a thankless society. In that sense, ‘Undress’ fits neatly into a long tradition of American folk storytelling, embracing what came before it even as it offers its own unique 21st Century twists along the way.

“Folk music has been a part of every era in American history,” says guitarist/singer/songwriter Ian Felice. “When you work within that folk idiom to tell a story about the human condition, you can hopefully end up with something that feels classic and current all at once.”

While ‘Undress’ contains many of the musical hallmarks The Felice Brothers have come to be known for since first emerging from New York’s Hudson Valley more than a decade ago (ragged guitars, weighty lyrics, a Replacements-esque sense that the wheels might come off at any moment), the record marks something of a new chapter for the group after undergoing major personal and professional changes. During the break between albums, Ian became a father and released both his first solo record and his first book of poetry, while new bassist Jesske Hume (Conor Oberst, Jade Bird) joined drummer Will Lawrence in rounding out the rhythm section following the departure of two longtime members.

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Band : Defeater

Album : s/t 

VÖ : 10.05.2019

Label : Epitaph / Indigo 

Website : https://www.facebook.com/defeaterhc/

Kurzinfo: Knarziger Postcore ...Hardcore...Punkrock...das 5te Album bringt die Songs, Sounds und Einstellungen auf den Punkt, wiederholt nicht und bleibt doch den Trademarks treu

Defeater has never been afraid to take it to the next level- an initial concept hardcore album has grown into 6 studio releases, each building on the foundation of the other to transcend genre and subject matter, connecting with fans all over the world.  The latest chapter in the Defeater universe, their Self-Titled fifth LP, showcases the band at their most fully-realized, and most raw. Defeater (vocalist Derek Archambault, guitarists Jake Woodruff and Adam Crowe, bassist Michael Poulin, and drummer Joe Longobardi) has had a good run already.

However, it's also been a long road.  Years of touring took their toll on the friends that make up the current lineup- family, health, and substance abuse issues, and ejecting a longtime member, made a touring hiatus necessary.  After a few months at home, working and decompressing, the fire to write a new record caught everyone in a major way.

With members scattered across the US and Europe playing in multiple other projects, the songs were traded remotely at first.  Every few months the group got together to synthesize and distill their ideas. The process let the songs marinate and mature, while retaining their spontaneity.  This was a first for a band usually forced into shorter writing sessions, and led to the most organic batch of songs yet- songs that stretch the boundaries of the group while remaining classically "Defeater".  The instrumentation is complimented by a new narrative approach, inhabiting Archambault's own "Glass family" (an homage to the J.D. Salinger characters) in a more enigmatic way.

To capture the songs that would become "Defeater", the band partnered with producer/engineer/force of nature Will Yip (Quicksand, La Dispute, Blacklisted, Ms. Lauren Hill) whose enthusiasm and talent pushed the songs to their fullest potential.  What emerged from these sessions is the most devastating, yet sonically arresting, Defeater record to date. It's as pummeling as it is atmospheric, showcasing a band continually rediscovering itself and still hungry.

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Band: THE HEAD AND THE HEART (NUR RADIO)

Album : "Living Mirage“ 

VÖ : 17.05.2019 

Label Reprise / Warner 

Website : http://www.theheadandtheheart.com/

The Head And The Heart kündigen ihr neues Album "Living Mirage“ an, das am 17. Mai 2019 bei Reprise/ Warner erscheinen wird.

Anfang letzten Jahres kamen The Head And The Heart in Joshua Tree zusammen. Vor Beginn der Arbeiten an ihrem neuen Album durchlief die Band aber erstmal einen Häutungsprozess, der die weitreichende, kunstvolle Erweiterung ihres erdigen Folk Rock, der die Band einst definierte, erst ermöglichte. Diese "Wiedergeburt, die Suche nach dem Geist der Band“, wie es Bassist Chris Zasche beschreibt, resultierte aus den wachsenden Qualen nach dem letzten Album "Signs Of Light“ - der einvernehmliche Abschied von Gitarrist und Sänger Josiah Johnson, dessen Platz Matt Gervais einnahm (Ehemann von Violonistin und Sängerin Charity Rose Thielen) und der Rückkehr von Keyboarder Kenny Hensley.

Der Neuanfang in vollem Gange, verließ die Band für Songwriting und Aufnahmen die Wüste und stoppte in Appleton, Wisconsins The Refuge Fox Cities, West Seattle, Omnisound in Nashville und Barefoot Recordings in Los Angeles. Das mit der Hilfe von Tyler Johnson und Alex Salibian (Harry Styles, Sam Smith, Cam) sowie Engineer Ryan Nasci entstanden Album beschreibt Sänger Jon Russel als eine Art Chronik von Geschichten und Perspektiven.

"Living Mirage“ wird seinem Titel gerecht – ein formwandelnder Fiebertraum aus Unbehagen, Angst und schlussendlich Hoffnung. “This is literally the most work we’ve ever done on an album”, fügt Jon Russel, nicht ohne Stolz, hinzu.

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Band: CJ RAMONE 

Album: "The Holy Spell..." 

VÖ: 10.05.2019 

Label: Fat Wreck / Edel

Die US-Punkrock Ikone CJ RAMONE kündigt für den 10. Mai 2019 ihr neues Album "THE HOLY SPELL..." via Fat Wreck Chords an. Inzwischen ist das ehemalige The Ramones-Mitglied mehr als 25 Jahre im Punkrock-Zirkus tätig, denkt aber noch lange nicht ans Aufhören. Mit "THE HOLY SPELL..." veröffentlicht CJ RAMONE sein inzwischen drittes Studioalbum auf Fat Wreck Chords. Einen ersten musikalischen Vorgeschmack vermittelt der neue Song: "Blue Skies" (link is external)

CJ RAMONE über den Albumtitel:

“I never lost that magical feeling that you get from music, and that’s where the title came in. The bands that I listened to when I was young that I really enjoyed, I can still put that music on now, and it still has the same magic for me.”

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Band : Rhiannon Giddens

Album : There is no Other

VÖ : 03.05.2019

Label : Nonesuch Records / Warner

Website : rhiannongiddens.com

Rhiannon Giddens’ neues Album ?there is no Other“ mit Francesco Turrisi erscheint am 3. Mai bei Nonesuch Records

Das neue Album there is no Other der gefeierten Musikerin und mehrfach Grammy-nominierten Rhiannon Giddens, aufgenommen mit dem italienischen Multi-Instrumentalisten Francesco Turrisi, erscheint am 3. Mai 2019 bei Nonesuch Records. Produziert von Joe Henry und getrackt über den Verlauf fünf intensiver, produktiver Tage in Dublin, missbilligt there is no Other das ?Othering“ und zelebriert stattdessen das Teilen von Ideen, Verbundenheit und gemeinsamen Erlebnissen.

Auf den Spuren der oft übersehenen Bewegung von Klängen aus Afrika und der arabischen Welt und ihrem Einfluss auf die europäische und amerikanische Musik, beleuchtet ?there is no Other“ die Universalität von Musik und das Gemeinsame der menschlichen Erfahrung. Das Album enthält sechs von Giddens geschriebenen Songs und ein facettenreiches Set an Interpretationen, von ?I'm Gonna Write Me a Letter" (Ola Belle Reed), über ?Brown Baby" (Oscar Brown, Jr) bis zum italienischen Traditionslied ?Pizzica di San Vito“ und der Arie ?Black Swan" von Gian-Carlo Menotti.

Das Album wurde mit wenigen Bearbeitungen und Overdubs aufgenommen. Giddens singt und spielt Minstrel Banjo, Baritongeige und Viola, Turrisi das Piano, Akkordeon, Rahmentrommel, Tamburello, Laute, Cello-Banjo, Daf und Langhalslaute. Bei vier Songs leitet ihnen Kate Ellis am Cello Gesellschaft. Die verwendeten Instrumente demonstrieren die klanglichen Zusammenhänge, die afrikanische, arabische, europäische und amerikanischen Kulturen miteinander verbinden.

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Band : Plague Vendor

Album : By Night

VÖ : 07.06.2019

Label : Epitaph / Indigo

Website : https://plaguevendor.com

Kurzinfo: Auch auf Album Nummer 2 klingen Plague Vendor wie eine aktuelle Version der Stooges.

Plague Vendor just announced their new album By Night, produced by John Congleton (St Vincent, Sharon Van Etten, Chelsea Wolfe) and recorded at legendary EastWest Studios (Brian Wilson, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop). The follow up to their 2016 debut full-length BLOODSWEAT and their widely-acclaimed debut EP Free to Eat is set for release on June 7 via Epitaph Records. The 10-song set kicks off with the raw, vital track and first single “New Comedown.”

"When we were writing 'New Comedown,' there were a lot of colors and themes that were coming through, so we thought it best to finalize the verses once we were in the recording studio,” notes the band’s frontman Brandon Blaine. “The energy, urgency, and excitement there was unmatched. We caught lightning in the booth and trapped it in the recording."

Plague Vendor is Blaine (vocals), Michael Perez (bass), Luke Perine (drums and percussion) and Jay Rogers (guitar). A fearless our-way-is-the-hard-way work ethic and famously physical live shows won the Southern California-based band a ferocious fan base and place of pride on the Epitaph Records roster. They are currently on the road in the U.S. taking their live show to venues around the country--supporting All Them Witches now, with select headline shows set for this spring.

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Band : TAKIDA (nur web und print)

Album : SJU

VÖ : 07.06.2019

Label : BMG / ADA Warner

Website : http://www.takidamusic.com/

Kurzinfo: In Schweden gehören sie bereits zu den Top Bands des modernen Rock, aber auch hier begeistert die erste Single MASTER bereits land auf landab das Rockpublikum.

Robert Pettersson, Tomas Wallin, Mattias Larsson, Chris Rehn och Kristoffer Söderström are the brilliant minds who together form one of the largest bands ever to be conceived in Sweden - Takida.

Shortly after Takida was formed, in 1999, the band recorded a couple of demos, which led to a record deal and the release of their debut album “Make You Breathe” in 2006, which was the band’s big breakthrough. The follow up album was released the next year and contained the hit single ”Curly Sue”. The rest, as you usually say, is history.

They have, since the debut in 2006, managed to establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with and one of the biggest rock acts in Scandinavia. 2018 marked the beginning of a new chapter in Takida’s career, when they joined forces with record label BMG and released the single “Master”. The collaboration has resulted in the band’s, thus far, biggest international success with sold-out shows and a rapidly increasing fan base, mainly in Germany.

After an intense recording period in the studio, Takida is now more prepared than ever to follow up on the success with two new singles and then finally celebrate the break of summer 2019 with the new album “Sju”. That this promises another year of success for Takida, is nothing short of a fact.

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Band : Siamese

Album : Super Human

VÖ : 24.05.2019

Label : Long Branch Records / SPV

Website : https://www.facebook.com/siamesedk/

Die preisgekrönte dänische Pop-Metal Band Siamese meldet sich mit Ihrem neuen Album "Super Human“ zurück. Es ist der Nachfolger des von der Presse gefeierten "Shameless“, welches R'n'B und Metalcore perfekt miteinander vereinte und die Band über die Grenzen Dänemarks hinaus bekannt machte. Mit mehr als 8 Millionen Streams und ausverkauften Shows in Japan, Großbritannien und Deutschland hinterließ der Vierer bleibenden Eindruck im Genre.

Auf "Super Human" setzt die Band dort an, wo sie mit "Shameless" aufgehört hat. Im Zentrum der Komposition stehen weiterhin die charakteristischen Refrains die mit Ihrer frechen und einprägenden Art insgeheim auch den sonst so schwer zu überzeugenden "Keep-It-True“ Metaller mitwippen lässt. Für Fans der Band wird das neue Material ein Segen sein, jedoch nicht ohne auch anzuecken. Gitarrist und Songwriter Andreas Kruger dazu:

"Ich schäme mich nicht zu sagen, dass ein Großteil der Pop- und R'n'B-Musik, die zwischen 1998-2005 erschien großartig war. Deshalb wurde sie auch Hauptinspiration für das Super Human-Album. Es ist eine interessante Mischung, die uns dazu gebracht hat, Songs dieser Art zu schreiben. Wir hatten den Wunsch, einen tiefgehenden Sound zu erschaffen, während wir einer klassischen Max Martin-Gesangskonstruktion folgten. Ich denke das Ergebnis spricht Bände".

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Band: Mannequin Pussy 

Album: Patience

VÖ: 21 06.2019

Label / Vertrieb: Epitaph / Indigo

Die US-Indiepunk-Band MANNEQUIN PUSSY wird am 21. Juni 2019 ihr neues Album "Patience" auf Epitaph Records veröffentlichen.

Zum ersten neuen Song "Drunk II (link is external)" gibt es nun ein erstes ein Musikvideo.

Regie führte Sängerin und Gitarristin Marisa Dabice. Sie sagt folgendes über die Idee hinter dem Video:

“I wanted to capture the feeling that so many of us experience when we are heartbroken and trying to move on. We pretend we have fun so that we are socially acceptable to those around us. We hope that drinking will make us happy and we wish that our nights will lead us into the arms of a beautiful stranger who will momentarily distract us from the pain we feel. I wanted to blend reality and fantasy in the music video for “Drunk II” - where you aren't quite sure if my character is just out with her bandmates and friends, pitifully crying to them about their lost love or if they are actually meeting those beautiful strangers every night. I wanted to show what it feels like to be out and heartbroken - that no matter where you are it feels like you are the only one with a broken heart. That everyone around you is deeply in love and you are completely alone. That no matter who you meet, you can't stop thinking about that person who you lost."

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Band: Petrol Girls 

Album: Cut & Stich

Vö:24.05.2019

Label / Vertrieb: Hassle Rec / Rough Trade

Die UK-Band PETROL GIRLS wird ihr neues Album "Cut & Stitch" am 24. Mai 2019 auf Hassle Records veröffentlichen. Die Punkrock-Combo kündigt an, dass es das bisher experimentellste Werk der Band sein wird - sowohl textlich, als auch musikalisch. Mit "Big Mouth" präsentiert das Quartett nun einen zweiten Song samt Musikvideo, das hier angesehen werden kann:

Musikvideo - "Big Mouth"  (link is external)

Der Clip feierte beim Floodmagazine Premiere. Dort verrät Sängerin Ren Aldridge außerdem auch einige Details zum Song in einem kurzen Interview. 

Zuvor hatte die Band schon den Track "The Sound" vorgestellt.

Gleich im Anschluss an das Albumrelease Ende Mai spielt die Band eine ausgedehnte Europa-Tour.

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Band : Daddy Long Legs

Album : Lowdown Ways

VÖ : 10.05.2019

Label : Yep Roc Rec / H’art

Website : https://de-de.facebook.com/officialdaddylonglegs/

Kurzinfo: Roots-iger Pub Rock mit starker Blues Schlagseite, für alle Freunde der Blues Explosion

DADDY LONG LEGS return with savagery and sophistication on their upcoming Yep Roc debut, Lowdown Ways. The 12 original tracks punch a necessary hole in the 21st Century landscape, both sonically and spiritually.

The expansive, new territory that the New York City-based trio cover on Lowdown Ways is thanks to producer Jimmy Sutton (JD McPherson, Pokey Lafarge, Jake La Botz) who applies his technical know-how to broaden the sound of such instantly memorable tunes as "Pink Lemonade" (co-written by McPherson), "Ding Dong Dang" and "Bad Neighborhood," which resonate with the down-and-dirty roots that have always been DADDY LONG LEGS' inspiration. Meanwhile, the band ventures successfully into unfamiliar territory with the pub-rock-style "Winners Circle," the bittersweet acoustic ballad "Back Door Fool" and the dramatic album-closer "Wrong Side of the River."

Written in the great cities of Brooklyn and Nashville and recorded on the Southside of Chicago at Hi-Style Studio, the beloved trio have created a record cinematic in scope that rides the crest of the new century with a beggar’s banquet of ancient spells, hollers and fuzz, steel guitars rapturous preaching, and of course, a DADDY LONG LEGS stompin’ beat.

Their stripped-down roots sound and in-your-face intensity has garnered them fans in their hometown and overseas, where they've toured with such kindred spirits as The Damned, The Sonics, Nikki Lane, Hurray for the Riff Raff and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. They’ve been recognized by Rolling Stone, who aptly compared them to “Chicago blues fired at the moon, played by the demented children of the Pretty Things.”

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Band : The Minus 5 

Album : Stroke Manor

VÖ : 14.06.2019

Label : Yep Roc Rec / H’art

Website : www.minus5.com

Kurzinfo: Die Geschichte um das neue Minus 5 Album ist ebenso dramatisch wie das Ergebnis experimentell und irritierend

Less than three days after a doctor predicted he would never play music again, Scott McCaughey began writing his next album — while still in the ICU, unable to speak coherently, his right side just waking from paralyzation.

In November 2017, the Northwest underground stalwart suffered a stroke that nearly killed him and wiped his musical catalog from his memory — decades of albums and songs written and recorded with the Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows, R.E.M., Baseball Project, and many more, all disappeared. But instead of wallowing in misery, McCaughey channeled his omni-positive spirit and began to write down whatever incoherent thoughts crossed his mind. He turned those stream-of-consciousness notebook pages into his 13th full-length Minus 5 release, Stroke Manor.

“The lyrics are the reason for the album,” McCaughey said. “They’re frustrating and frustrated — they’re me trying to communicate something, to find out if I could communicate, if I could still even hold a pen and get it to physically move. The words are crucial to it though they’re not going to speak to everyone. But I had to try.”

Stroke Manor is a capsule of weeks in a hospital bed and the time-release recovery that creeps through in several songs. The influence is found in everything from misheard sentences and made-up words (“Pink Bag For Rip Torn” and “Plascent Folk,” respectively), to Turner Classic Movies (“Beacon From RKO,” “Scar Crow,” Goodbye Braverman”), hospital pain index cards (“Top Venom”), and the Beatles playlist Peter Buck made to help spark McCaughey’s musical memory (“Beatles Forever”). The results are often head-scratching, tongue-tying spats of confusion, but when the decision was eventually made to put them to music, McCaughey changed only the occasional word for flow, singing the words directly from his hospital notebook.

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