Hello everyone welcome back to the New Music Roundup! We’re here for a roundup of five of the best recently released tracks. They’re not all within the same genre and they’re all different in some way or another but that means that there’s a little something for everyone here but come on, let’s get down to the music!
First up this week are Audio Karate whom have reissued their sophomore record, ‘Lady Melody,’ on vinyl for the first time ever! Remastered by Jason Livermore (The Blasting Room), the limited pressing of 500—100 copies in classic black vinyl, 150 copies in tricolor splatter, and 250 in coke-bottle green— features reworked artwork and original handwritten lyrics.
‘Lady Melody’ has earned a cult following amongst musicians since its release in June 2004. A Day to Remember’s Jeremy McKinnon has called it one of the best records ever. It was recorded and mixed in two weeks in December 2003 at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado by Jason Livermore and Bill Stevenson (Descendents/All), with Stevenson often touting its single “Jesus Is Alive & Well (And Living in Mexico)” as possibly being his favorite thing he’s ever recorded.
The band says, “Thank you for all the years of continued support, hope this video reminds you of simpler times…not a single cell phone in hand by anyone in the audience. Imagine that.”
Not quite early 00s pop-punk or post-hardcore, ‘Lady Melody’ largely slipped under the radar upon its release. However, the same raw technical originality that separated it from the pack led to its cultish popularity. It remains a start to finish fan-favorite 16 years later, transcending nostalgia with a sound that feels as urgent and fresh in 2020 as it did in 2004.
“It’s the worst album cover really, but it’s bizarro, and the record is kind of bizarro, and we’re definitely bizarro,” says Audio Karate guitarist Jason Camacho. “We self-funded our first release 20 years ago in my mom’s living room, and we’re still DIY. We’ve merely upgraded to Justo’s garage. We’re just beyond happy that we’re able to release this for our friends and fans who’ve been asking for it for a long time. Thank you all! Now please leave us alone!”
Seconds up now are RLND (pronounced Roland), a four-piece rock band from San Francisco, CA. They have at turns been referred to as “Kinda like Tool” “Too loud” and “The most ferocious underground metal band around,” although the latter came when the bassist had a broken foot– take that as you will.
They’re debuting a new single and wild new video for “Public Chefs” off their upcoming album ‘ZEALAND,‘ a concept album that the band explains is “built around our collective narrative as a capitalist society.”
“‘Public Chefs’ is kind of the odd track out on the record musically and (director) Tsunami said he had an idea for a video for the song,” RLND guitarist Joe McClune tells No Echo. “He ran with the thematic idea behind the song, which is basically the wholesale distraction of the population at large with smoke and mirrors.
Moving onto the South Coast now we have the newcomers Snake Eyes with their release in the form of‘Bugged Out’, the closing track from their recently released ‘Skeletons’ EP.
Vocalist and guitarist Jim Heffy had this to say of the track.
“This was an idea I’d had for many years and that had many different forms. There were other guitar parts, as it was originally written for two guitars, but when I decided snake eyes should be a one-guitar band, I changed up the track. I was having a really bad time with insomnia and when I did sleep I would have weird nightmares and that’s kinda what the song’s about. Scary stuff, I know.”
You can stream and watch the video for ‘Bugged Out’ below.
Anyone for a London band now? We have the fantastic Petrol Girls for you now.
The track, ‘I Believe Them’ has been released to raise funds for Solidarity Not Silence legal fees which you can find out about here.
“We’re releasing this track to raise as much money as we possibly can for Solidarity Not Silence and to widen the network of people supporting the cause,” says vocalist Ren Aldridge. “Solidarity Not Silence is the legal defence fund for a group of women, including myself, who are being sued for defamation by a man in the music industry because of comments that we each made separately regarding his behaviour towards women. We’ve been fighting this case since December 2016 and desperately need help raising money for our legal costs. The only reason we’ve been able to successfully fight this case as long as we have is because we were able to come together and fundraise for our legal defence. Help us keep our legal representation all the way to court and win this!!!
“As one of the Solidarity Not Silence defendants, I’m limited in what I can say about the case whilst it’s ongoing. However, there’s nothing to stop me contributing to a wider conversation about sexual violence and the law – which is what this track, ‘I Believe Them (Solidarity Not Silence)’ is about.
“‘How are we meant to protect ourselves?’ I find myself internally screaming this question, which is the chorus lyric, on a pretty regular basis. On the one hand, the criminal justice system consistently fails and often further traumatises survivors of sexual violence who decide to report to the police. This system clearly does not protect the majority of survivors and I personally do not believe it holds any answers in dealing with gender based violence. Then on the other hand, when survivors and their allies try to protect one another by speaking out about abusive behaviour, they become vulnerable to libel/ defamation law. And in both criminal and libel cases, the burden of truth is placed on the survivor. Literally what does the law expect us to do?
“There is, in practice, no legal aid available for the defence of a defamation case, which creates a dynamic whereby it is relatively easy for someone with money to silence those without. Money should not be a barrier to accessing justice and we refuse to allow our case to set a precedent for silencing marginalised voices in the music community and beyond. Please donate to / share our crowdfunder: http://www.crowdjustice.com/case/solidaritynotsilence.”
Now let’s change things up a little right now and we have a belter of a track in the form of the Avant-garde metal trio Imperial Triumphant with ‘Excelsior’, a track from the band’s fourth album, ‘Alphaville’.
Bassist Steve Blanco (who also directed the video) had this to say of it.
“Many people flock to the big city with golden dreams in their eyes willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, like the ones they see at the top. It is the seal of approval; The medieval crest upon which the very fabric of humanity’s elevation prevails. The failure and losing streak is a deceptive reality that slowly finds its way as diminishing returns, caught up in the illusory system. Ever upwards.”
You can check out the video for ‘Excelsior’ below.
As the penultimate song on Chapter I Revisited, “Demons” arises as another emotional and intense performance by AD INFINITUM’s multifaceted vocalist Melissa Bonny, accompanied by harmonic instrumentals while presenting the anthemic character in the chorus. Light as a feather, Melissa gently whispers moments of the lyrics before setting the stage for the second single’s grand finale, taken from the new acoustic album, Chapter I Revisited, to be released digitally this Friday, December 4 via Napalm Records!
AD INFINITUM on “Demons”:
“Look what the advent calendar offers you today! We are happy and proud to share the music video and single “Demons” before we can finally introduce you to Chapter I Revisited”
Heading into something a little more disruptive now as we move on in this weeks Music Video Roundup are the Deathcore monsters Distant for ‘Dawn Of Corruption’, the title-track from the band’s recently released EP.
The track also features a guest vocal spot from Jason Evans, frontman of Ingested.
You can check out the video for ‘Dawn Of Corruption’ below.
The band’s ‘Dawn Of Corruption’ EP is out now via Unique Leader Records.
Keeping with the Heavy metal genre or something along that lines still for our next video, we give you the quartet Firstborne with the visuals to accompany their brand new single, ‘Sacred Lights’.
For those unaware, the band’s line-up is composed of drummer Chris Adler (ex-Lamb Of God), bassist James LoMenzo (ex-Megadeth), guitarist Myrone, and vocalist Girish Pradhan.
Check out ‘Sacred Lights’ and its video below.
Who wants some throbbing bass, harsh feedback and a good snarling attitude to everything for the penultimate video this week? Well, that’s what Saint Agnes give you on their latest video for ‘This World Ain’t Big Enough’.
Vocalist Kitty A Austen had this to say about the track:
“This World Ain’t Big Enough’ is a song about toxic love: that person that you can’t live with or without. Jon and I chose to lockdown together so that we could keep working, and that proximity resulted in a song about two things: being unable to exist in the same space at the same time… but also unable to exist anywhere else.”
And the dark video?
“We got together on Halloween night to film a video at a closed emporium and antiquities warehouse. We’ve missed being a weird little family on tour so much that when we could finally all get together, we made a series of strange family portraits to commemorate the occasion.”
After the surprise tease at the start of last week, YUNGBLUD and Machine Gun Kelly have dropped their latest collaboration.
With drums provided by Travis Barker and an infectious guitar lick thrown in for good measure, it’s a proper dancefloor filler with Dom and Colson bouncing off each other brilliantly in what is the latest track the three have collaborated on together. They might as well just make a supergroup right now because the material they could potentially make would just be amazing. Oh well, I guess we can only dream when we think of this.
Check out the final video for this weeks Music Video Roundup below.
And that’s it for another week of a roundup of the best new tracks out in the world in the last week. Be sure to check back next-time for another round of great music videos. If you have any suggestions for me to check out, be sure to send an email or message us via the socials on Facebook or Twitter!
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