Tag: New Single

Hawkns With Brand New Single, “Head and Heart”

After the year wait since their last single released, Hawkns dropped their debut new single ‘Head and Heart’ released on April 29 and is streaming now.

Hawkns consists of the three Frank brothers, Ricky, Josh, and Joe, who were born into a family of immigrants. The Frank brothers have come together through a lot of hardship such as almost losing their home and Ricky Frank being diagnosed at fifteen for a rare muscle disease.

The brothers soon later in New Haven, CT found their lead singer Hawkins French who walked into a local music studio and became the missing piece of the Indie Pop Rock outfit “Hawkns”.

Across the East Coast, the band has performed at major stages including Mohegan Sun Casino, The Bitter End, Foxwoods Casino, and the Pleasantville New York Music Festival where they shared the stage with Blues Traveler, Suzanne Vega, and Living Colour.

“The process of creating “Head and Heart” was tough for us as a band, it took a few months to get the vision we had in our head out into our headphones. We wanted to create something that was true to our story, all of the song’s lyrics also are based on real moments from our lives and our journey as a band chasing this crazy dream together, even when we felt like giving up at times. The last lyric in the song “keep on running” is meant to leave listeners with a sense of hope. We plan to follow up with a music video which is going to drop on May 6th.”
-Hawkns on “Head and Heart”

April 29, 2022
A Beacon School Share First Single In Three Years

New York City-based A Beacon School is back with his first single in three years, “Dot,” an immersive multi-instrumentalist dreampop track. In addition to the songs’ release, A Beacon School is having a release show at The Sultan in Brooklyn, featuring Creature of Doom and S.C.A.B on April 9th.

Photo Cred: Max Mellman

Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Patrick J. Smith is the mastermind behind this dream pop project. Smith began making music as A Beacon School in 2009, releasing a home-recorded demo single was released in 2011, and a self-titled EP by a full-band lineup appeared near the end of 2012. He has played with bands such as Modern Rivals and Bluffing, additionally working with Parquet Courts’ Max Savage as part of Maxband.

In 2018, A Beacon School’s Cola was released by Grind Select. After receiving positive press and slowly gaining a worldwide following, an expanded vinyl edition of Cola was released in 2019 in conjunction with Fat Possum’s House Arrest imprint, amassing over 40 million streams.

Smith adds layers of soothing guitars and vocals with ease, reaching a build-up that feels natural, without ever fully peaking.
The Fader

“Dot” marks the first A Beacon School release in three years and coincides with a headlining performance at The Sultan Room in Brooklyn, signaling a long-awaited new full-length is on the horizon. On the track, A Beacon School says, “‘Dot’ is a song about seeing patterns in your life emerge but feeling helpless to change them. The song oscillates between these moments of unfiltered wonder and inspiration, and the immediate skepticism that follows them.”

“What he (Smith) shares is wisdom ahead of its time – acceptance of the inequities of
life as a path toward redemption. Destiny is preached as a set-in-stone limitation, but
soft tones and enchanting melody highlight our ability to adjust our sails in intractable
winds, holding that former philosophy to the fire with heavenly optimism.”
– PopMatters

Listen to A Beacon School’s new single “Dot” here.

Tickets to the release show at The Sultan can be purchased here.

April 11, 2022
‘Check In’ With MVW’s First Single from Upcoming Album, Featuring Matt Ox

Michael Vincent Waller’s foray into the world of hip hop continues with his latest single, “Check In,” featuring teenage YouTube star and rapper, Matt Ox. The highly touted classical composer’s latest endeavor comes on the heels of his debut hip hop project, the Lex Luger assisted, CLASSIC$.

MVW now recruits the frenetic Matt Ox, who has amassed tens of millions of views, with his breakout song “Overwhelming” amassing 31 million views. “Check In” will serve as promotion for MVW’s sophomore album, Connections. Continuing to draw on the parallels between his life as a composer and hip-hop producer.

The theme of the upcoming project is entitled ‘Connections,’ MVW reveals.” “This first single channels that ethos of branching out into the hip hop landscape and making revelations through collaboration and furthermore, the title for the project was derived from a bar in [the song’s first verse], “I am way too connected, too many connections.

Connections are what MVW has continued to foster, as he has developed working relationships with many talented acts like Atlanta-bred Lil Gotit and Good Music artist Valee. Jumping head-first into a new creative space, an invigorated MVW has churned out his second project in less than a year.

Matt Ox, whose newer releases have seen him experiment with his vocal ranges, shows his versatility. On “Check In” he rhymes in a start & stop flow focusing on cadence and annotation.

As a producer MVW is equally parts free-wheeling and controlling. Preferring to give leeway on artistic freedom while focusing on the song’s structure and vocal tones on his beats.

Overall, Matt was given freedom to be inventive and true to his voice in the chorus and verse, but how the final arrangement and orchestration played out was very meticulous and true to the way I like to work on records that is starting to feel like a melodic signature for the music I’m working to produce and release into the world.

MVW’s quest to explore classical sounds within the frame of contemporary trap sounds require a great attention to detail. On “Check In” Matt Ox’s enigmatic flow on eerily inviting loops are structured for rhythmic optimization and his pursuit has brought him, Connections.

The vocals could be considered more complex in their delivery and intonation than maybe appears on the surface, or from first listen. I think the more one sits with the material and marinates on how the vocals are arranged with the beat, the exact placement and timing in relation to the bars and feel of the cadence.

MVW’s continues the road to Connections with another Matt Ox assisted single, also featuring Valee and 645AR releasing on April 22 and a spring/summer timetable set for the album.

April 8, 2022
Experimental Artist Federico Aubele releases new single “Old Spanish Films”

Federico Aubele has released the second single “Old Spanish Films” from his upcoming album The Holographic Moon, out May 27.

Federico Aubele was born in Buenos Aires but now lives and works in Brooklyn. Credit: Desdemona Dallas

The song is about a relationship coming to an end after the two people acknowledge an inevitable incompatibility.

[It’s based] on the realization that a relationship I was in was built on projections, from both people in it, and didn’t have any real foundation.
The end of the relationship was obviously sad. But in hindsight I can see that for the brief amount of time we were together we did give each other something valuable that we needed at the time, mostly companionship.
Federico Aubele

His deep baritone and penchant for downtempo melancholy offer a rumination on things lost. His relationship may have ended but it didn’t lose its value. His signature vocals envelopes the acoustic guitar that glides through the track to create a sense of something lost but, nonetheless, appreciated.

In a first for the Brooklyn based Argentine singer songwriter he also directed the video for “Old Spanish Films.” The Camcorder and Walkman in the video are meant to evoke a gone-by era of your life, to represent things that were once precious and now only their memory is.

Aubele’s overt pursuit of experimentation may not be for all. But “Old Spanish Films” is worth a listen at least just to satisfy your curiosity.

April 2, 2022
Queens Band, The Forms Cover “Latch” by Disclosure

Queens based band, The Forms, released a cover of “Latch” the popular Disclosure song featuring Sam Smith.

Photo by Noah Kalina

“The core composition is so strong that the song would probably work in any format, but hopefully our un-electronic version will highlight what Disclosure and Sam Smith accomplished with their remarkable work,” said Alex Tween.

In The Forms cover they swapped out the electronic production for the physical instruments featured in the song.

Apart from Sam Smith’s voice and Disclosure’s harmonies, the original song was entirely composed of synthetic elements seemingly, so for our take we used all physical instruments (rhodes, hammond organ, piano, drums).”

The group tried to reverse engineer the song and draw out its “weirdness”.

“’Latch’ is definitely one of the weirdest and most complex songs ever to break through to the mainstream,” Tween said. “The chords are so strange and unique, the slow triplet rhythms virtually unheard of for a dance track, and the lyrics are so subtly subversive that it is truly an astonishing achievement that it made the Top 10.”

Photo by Noah Kalina

The Forms is a two-person band composed of Tween, who plays piano, guitar, and provides vocals, and Matt Walsh. The two have known each other since high school. They released their debut album together back in Feb. 2003. The Forms are currently work on an album that will be released in 2022 with Steve Albini of Electrical Audio.

April 2, 2022
The Stereo Release Music For First Time in 20 Years

Indie rock band The Stereo release new music for the first time in 20 years on Wednesday. “Kings of No Hope” is the first single from their upcoming album Thirteen, scheduled for release on May 13.

Along with the single and album announcement the band will also release five part podcast series about the band’s history. Also called “Kings of No Hope,” the podcast series details the band’s founding in 1999, it’s multiple dissolutions in 2001 and 2004, and subsequent reassembly in 2011. The podcast features interviews with the band members and notable music industry figures including Chris Carrabba (Dashboard Confessional) and Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy).

The current iteration of The Stereo original members Jamie Woolford and Rory Phillips along with bassist Chris Serafini, and drummer Sam Hardwig.

While never receiving widespread critical or fan acclaim The Stereo was always well respected by other indie rock musicians. “I think that there’s about 600 to 1,000 bands currently that owe their career to The Stereo,” said Jack Antonoff, the lead singer of Bleachers.

As part of the album’s announcement The Stereo launched a Kickstarter campaign to support a vinyl production of both “Thirteen” and “The Kings of No Hope” podcast series.

March 4, 2022
Indie Band El Modernist Release Music Video for “New Waves”

The Albany based indie band, El Modernist, released a new single, “New Waves” on Friday, February 25. Their release also features an accompanying music video, a first for the band.

El Modernist’s single release arrives as they prepare for NYS Music’s March Madness 2022 Tournament. The competition will begin on March 1.

The new single address a theme common to many musicians: the struggle to fit in.

“New Waves” is a song about never fitting in but loving yourself regardless,” El Modernist said in a press release. “We have all felt alienated at some point in life, but it is important to remember that there is no “right” way to live, and all you can really do is try and be happy as you are.”

Despite its potentially heavy subject matter the music video for “New Waves” is more of a romp than a meditation on individuality.

In the video for “New Waves” a mysterious masked man chases the band’s members. Killing them one by one. The assassin’s goals remain unclear. He might be a symbol for how a boring life can kill you, or for how you’re not really alive unless you’re true to yourself, or it could just be an entertaining narrative spun into a music video. Either way, the light-hearted tone and comical ways the killer takes out the band members make for an enjoyable watch.

El Modernist defines its music as featuring “pulsating hooks and lush melodic waves of psychedelia” combined with “upbeat, catchy garage-rock” that is fused “with a modern alternative hip-hop sound”.

Their website elaborates by explaining “[which] is a fancy way of saying they sing and play guitars and sometimes raps happen and it’s fun”, displaying the sense of humor and self-awareness displayed in the “New Waves” video.

March 2, 2022
Raquel and the Wildflowers Release New Single “Freedom”

Westchester-based country band Raquel and The Wildflowers have release their new single, “Freedom,” on Thursday, February 10, a tune ripe with fiddle, electric guitar and a driving beat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQGe2Alh4qQ

The song had previously been performed at the band’s various live shows around both New York state and the country. After requests from fans who had heard the song live the group decided to record the song and release it as a single.

The cover art for “Freedom” gives the band’s fans the opportunity to customize the single’s corresponding artwork.

The downloadable file mimics a postcard. With blank space, a “To:” line, and the spot for a postage stamp in the top right corner encourage listeners or prospective doodlers to design a postcard.

Raquel and The Wildflowers is a three-person band that features the eponymous Raquel de Souza as lead singer, Cat Lines on fiddle, and Luis Cruz on guitar.

The band is currently on tour with stops in New York in Monticello at Resorts World Catskills on March 25, Tioga Downs Casino Resort in Nichols on April 8, and Trivia Fest in Elmsford on May 1. They will also be performing at the Country Fest music festival in Cadott Wisconsin with headliners Florida Georgia Line.

February 10, 2022
Goose Announces Second Show at Radio City Music Hall
Indie rock band Goose has announced it add a second night to their previously announced debut show at New York City’s legendary Radio City Music Hall on Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25.

Goose performing at Rockefeller Center, in New York City, for their annual Goosemas holiday concert.

As of now, the Radio City Music Hall dates are one of the final stops on the band’s current tour. Goose’s performance each night will feature a total of three sets with two electric sets and one acoustic set.

Performing at a historic venue like Radio City Music Hall is a dream come true for all of us! I can’t thank our fans enough for getting us here.
Drummer Ben Atkind.

To celebrate the announcement of its upcoming show Goose released a new single “Borne.” The song, which stays true to their jam band roots, details the travails and complexities that comprise the artistic process. It specifically deals with the frustrations one feels at hitting a creative roadblock and the subsequent second guessing it leads to.

“The song is a declaration to oneself to remember to not overthink things and make them more than they should be. It’s a reminder to try to be honest, and to let our work be what it is.
Guitarist Rick Mitarotonda

Tickets will go on sale in three phases:
- Initial Lottery from Tuesday, Jan. 18th at 12 p.m. EST through Wednesday, Jan. 19th at 5 p.m. EST
- Presale for Lottery Winners Thursday, Jan. 20 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Tickets for both shows will be available through a general onsale, beginning Friday, January 28th at 10 AM ET.
January 21, 2022