With a sunny, funk-tinged blend of laid-back grooves and a glimmering guitar-pop sounds, “Joy Ride” is a joyous earworm that refuses to take itself too seriously. Of the new track, Wild Horse explain:
“”Joy Ride” is an ‘80s inspired RnB/funk/pop song and our most ambitious to date. It’s now quite common for artists to try too hard to have overly deep meanings to songs, we just wanted to put out a song that people could have fun while listening to and not have to think too much about its lyrics. Essentially, it’s about car sex.”
Drawing from an abundant range of influences including Arctic Monkeys to The Beatles, Bruno Mars to The Jackson 5, this strutting new cut manages to fall somewhere between them all. Written by frontman Jack Baldwin amidst an at-home “writing frenzy” in 2021, its playful rhythms have already proved a hit when trailed at their live shows and with dedicated fans of the band alike. They add:
“We sent a small group of our hardcore fans, “The Listening Group”, several demos to critique to help us decide what to release next. “Joy Ride” was high on the list. We hope they like what we did with it, and we think they will.”
WILD HORSE – NEW SINGLE: “JOY RIDE” IS OUT NOW
Having played together for over six years and with five albums and three EPs under their belts all while still in their early 20s, Wild Horse formed in Sussex by brothers Jack and Henry Baldwin and primary school best mate Ed Barnes. After relentlessly gigging since their teens, the band have gained support from BBC Introducing, Radio X amongst others, landing several BBC Introducing Track of the Day slots and enthusiastic reviews from a range of publications including BN1 Magazine, Sussex Scene, Eclectic Music Lover and LA Buzz Music.
With the band’s previous single ‘Coffee In The Morning’ dubbed “a sensational track from one of the hardest working acts around” by BBC Introducing, Sussex Scene praised the band’s live show saying: “they have such a mixed bag of material to draw from. It was a non-step set of such diversity; really something quite special and unique. These guys will keep you on your toes.”
Now armed with a string of new tunes ready for release this year, Wild Horse are continuing to relentlessly write new material and rehearse for their high energy live shows that promise to have every member of the audience up and dancing.
The song earned the No. 1 spot in audience on Billboard, dethroning its last week position at the top—the song now holds both the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in audience for 2022. As the song continues to grow, the band will perform the second consecutive No. 1 single on NBC’s TODAY on Tuesday, June 28.
Garnering more than 135 million global on-demand streams and currently inside the Top 10 in Country single sales, ‘Take My Name’ is the follow up to the multinational No. 1 smash, ‘Just the Way’ with Blanco Brown—which was the most played song on iHeart Country in 2021. ‘Take My Name’ was written by front man Matt Thomas, along with Ashley Gorley (who has written over 50 U.S. radio No.1 songs), Track45 member Ben Johnson, and the song’s producer David Fanning.
“We were blown away with the success of ‘Just the Way,’ to see ‘Take My Name’ surpass that is just wild,” said Matt Thomas of Parmalee. “We wrote ‘For You’ as a love letter to our fans and seeing how folks embraced us and especially this song—incorporating it into their major life moments, feels like our letter was answered, we’re over the moon and beyond thankful.”
‘Take My Name’, which is “essentially a musical marriage proposal” (The Boot), became an early fan favorite after being teased on TikTok (before the song was even released). Fans went wild, clamoring to get their hands on the song to use as their wedding song. Always one to take care of their fans, Parmalee removed the catchy percussion to create a softer, piano-focused ‘Take My Name’ (Wedding Version) for such occasions—and has even surprised a few couples, crashing their weddings to sing them the song.
The tune comes from their recently released album For You which was distributed via BBR Music Group/Stoney Creek Records. The 13-track project has garnered critical acclaim with American Songwriter praising it as “authentically real, genuinely inspired,” Sounds Like Nashville predicting it to be the “next big move in their musical journey” and Billboard saying “Parmalee finds itself in the enviable position of being able to tap into multiple audiences.” Produced by David Fanning, the album mixes a contemporary sound with classic ingredients and is filled with larger-than-life Pop hooks, southern storytelling, and the amplified attitude of Rock ‘n Roll. Primarily written by Parmalee lead singer Matt Thomas, For You draws from personal experiences to speak directly to the heart of their fans, honing in on that connection to make for their most harmonious project yet.
In our most lonely and isolated moments, the moon is always lurking just above. It’s a constant, a compass, and a companion.
But it can also act as a psychological portal to transport us to another place, one less physical and more mental, as we drift out of our physical limitations and embrace a new state of being. The soundtrack to this shift comes from Ex-Hyena, who on June 24 unveil sophomore album Moon Reflections, a 10-track collection released digitally via Hush Club Ltd. and Brutal Resonance, with additional cassette and t-shirt collaboration with Brutal Resonance. The album propels the Boston duo of Reuben Bettsak and Bo Barringer into new thematic territories.
Where critically acclaimed 2021 debut album Artificial Pulse danced through the shadows of reality, from waking up in dystopian landscapes to riding highways with biker gangs, Moon Reflections bridges the physical into the psychological. Ex-Hyena have leapt from the world around us into a hypnotic void, where memory and introspection are integral to personal survival. Because once the world is no longer habitable and our surroundings turn unforgiving and cruel, the only place to turn is inward.
“Moon Reflections brings forth cinematic landscapes from the Ex-Hyena world,” says Bettsak. “This futuristic world is created to build imagination sparks, to grasp memories, and to delve into understanding our fragile minds. It’s interesting. I think our last album was maybe built a bit more on stories, and characters from a dystopian future world, and of course aspects of that world touched upon the realities of our world. But in building imaginary worlds, one can tap into the subjects of the mind. Moon Reflections dives into the deep, murky waters of memories, it falls down a void of nightmares, it experiences extreme loneliness, and it also highlights a few characters via cinematic scenes from the Ex-Hyena future world. And it all meshes together because imagination is a great magnifying glass.”
After a trio of singles set a stark tone for the brash and brisk electronic minimalism of Moon Reflections, a fourth track titled “Fractured” dropped May 13, backed with an exclusive remix from California duo BlakLight. “Fractured” follows Moon Reflections mood-setters “Nightmare Pills” (October 2021), “Capture The Stills” (January), and “Sight Unseen” (March); it’s an uneasy, atmospheric track that aches and crawls along a dizzying understanding of what lurks deep inside our own head.
“The imagery tends to perfectly sync with the music,” says Barringer. “I honestly have no idea how I put the music together. I think I was really just experimenting with a few elements and as the pieces came together the whole created this feeling of unease, a feeling of tension. And the tension builds and builds till it finally gets to the chorus and never looks back.”
Bettsak agrees, adding: “Our minds are complex highways, and so are relationships. Sometimes we wish for the ability to explore someone else’s thoughts in order to better understand them, but it’s hard to navigate/understand our own minds. Communication, and remembering key memories, can help heal fractures. It’s also a meditation on memories, memory loss, nightmares, and dreams.”
But “Fractured” only tells part of the larger story arc of Moon Reflections, which finds Ex-Hyena experimenting with more hip-hop-inspired beats and complex rhythms, bolstering the project deeper into sonic territories that are impossible to label. “I think the songs on Moon Reflections really work together, lyrically,” Bettsak says.
What emerges from the lyrics help anchor the album into something relatable on the surface, as tracks like “Sight Unseen,” “Tremors,” and “Capture the Stills” delve into introspective themes like the intricacies and complexities of our minds, our relationships and our yearnings, and our battles with creativity. Elsewhere, songs like album opener “At the Moondial,” plus tracks “Euphorbia,” “Nightmare Pills,” and “While Curtains Burn” capture moments from various characters in Ex-Hyena’s future world, from lovers escaping cults to drug experimentation that expands or controls reality to adventures far out into desert landscapes that may or may not be real. Future Noir themes also persist, on how crime shapes us and what we do to escape detection after running afoul of society’s law.
“The Ex-Hyena model has been perfect for turning ideas and song fragments into actual songs,” says Barringer. “One of us comes up with an idea, sends it to the other and almost overnight it becomes a fleshed-out thing worth pursuing.
And while there is no limit to where the mind takes us, there is equally no restriction to the type of sounds that Ex-Hyena are crafting for this sophomore effort, which blends elements of industrial, disco, and psych-rock into their already established aural cocktail of synth-pop, electro, and dark-pop. If it’s nocturnal, it likely falls somewhere in Ex-Hyena’s shadowy spectrum of sonics.
“Musically, we definitely are delving more and more into where we can take electronic music. There definitely is a bit more of a focus on songcraft on this one. It’s probably because things really started to click even more as we developed our sound. I think we also started realizing that we can explore different musical styles and directions, and still make it sound like Ex-Hyena. It’s a dark electronic music with a punk, post-punk attitude. I think Bo really likes to keep things unpredictable, and interesting in the way he programs beats. For us it makes things exciting not playing by the rules, or trying to fit into a specific style of music. We both know that the best path forward to keeping the Ex-Hyena pulse going is by continuing to explore, and push ourselves.”
With the moon as our guide, our memory as our map, and our minds as our playground.
Wide armed welcome to a new artist in the Black Lion Records family!
Amiensus hailing from Minnesota bring their Progressive Black Metal styling to enrich Black Lion’s ranks!
This collaboration will see the physical release of their first EP “All Paths Lead to Death” and their new full-length album, which will see the light of day in 2023. So keep your eyes and ears peeled for more to come and in the meantime be sure to follow the band on social media to not miss a thing!
To get the fires started, that talented trio from Brighton, Ciel, filled the Garage with their alternative, grunge/pop showgazey sound so as we might get all warmed up.
Taking one or two numbers to really get a spark in the tinder box, the band soon established a deeply absorbing landscape of sound.
Michelle H’s punchy, punky and, at times, Morrissey-esque vocals drove hook-filled melodies combined with heavy, insistent, almost tribal-sounding drum beats and rhythmic riffs on guitar to create a mesmeric and at times, introspective sound. The eclectic crowd responded enthusiastically and empathetically to the emotive lyrics- these words, this feeling- were also theirs.
Michelle’s versatile vocals can be sweet, melodic, richly-toned or clamorous, angst-filled and discordant, capriciously and cleverly altered to match the mood of each of the songs. Her ringlets give her sensory feedback as she shakes her head from side to side during ‘Fine Everything’, the ethereal, mesmeric sound connecting with the entranced crowd. When Ciel’s set reaches its conclusion, her smile echoes the sensations filling The Garage of immersive energy and a robust conviction that everything is, as the song goes, “just fine”.
By now, the Garage is rammed and an expectant aura of anticipatory excitement pervades. As the band members take their places on the stage, the audience cry out declarations of love, awe and wonder, especially directed at their mesmerizingly beautiful lead singer Laura-Mary.
Alternating between themselves, each taking the lead with effortless cohesion"
If you could see through the smoke, she literally kicked the set off in her blue cowboy boots with a hooky riff and a simple beat, Blood Red Shoes fire up the crowd with ‘Elijah’, passion and power communicated to all.
After ‘Bangsar’, which saw the drumming equivalent to Jerry Lee Lewis, Steven Ansell, take the lead vocals, they launch into “Morbid Fascination”. Tension in this song grows via complex and moody chord progressions and heavy drumming combined with a ballsy electronic beat, and was followed by “Howl”- where pause is used to great effect, creating suspense and anticipation…
And so, Laura-Mary tells her ecstatic audience it’s time for some older numbers- and they love it! Drumstick held aloft, the band launch into these well-loved favourites. Their seasoned fans know every chord and beat, and join in with fervour and conviction.
Alternating between themselves, each taking the lead with effortless cohesion, they perform “It’s Getting Boring by the Sea”. “Don’t Ask” features a time change and the mood changes back to heavy rock, demonstrating huge energy and faultless precision from Steven on drums.
Communication- between the band and their followers- is electric and they as they finish “Cold”, “This is not for you” and “An Animal”, the huge roars of mutual appreciation follow from their audience.
“Eye to Eye”, “Sucker” and ‘I AM NOT YOU’ feature their fearless, invigorating energy, driving the audience further into Blood Red Shoes’ perfectly balanced world. Melodic, instrumental hooks combined with riffs and reverb are the name of the well-played game.
Blood Red Shoes are arguably at their best live; the hot, intimate darkness of The Garage amid the smoky haze showcasing their tight, powerful sound- their mastery of song-writing and their raw, heady passion for what they do evident throughout this ultimately great performance.
Blood red Shoes played The Garage, Islington – 14th June 2022 – Support from Ciel
Words and live shots Copyright of 1st 3 Magazine
Not to be reproduced without prior consent
Clark also performed as part of “CMT Crossroads: LeAnn Rimes & Friends” in celebration of Rimes’ 25th career anniversary. In addition to Clark and Rimes, the all-female event lineup also featured Ashley McBryde, Carly Pearce and Mickey Guyton performing songs from throughout Rimes’ career.
The performances add to a landmark year for Clark, who was nominated for two awards at the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards: Song of the Year (“A Beautiful Noise” performed by Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile) and Best American Roots Performance (“Same Devil” featuring Carlile).
A ten-time GRAMMY nominee and CMA Awards “Song of the Year” recipient, Clark is one of her
generation’s most respected and celebrated songwriters and musicians.
Her songs include Kacey Musgraves’ “Follow Your Arrow,” Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart,” The Band Perry’s “Better Dig Two” and Hailey Whitter’s “Ten Year Town.” Her past three solo albums—2020’s Your Life is a Record, 2016’s Big Day in a Small Town and 2013’s 12 Stories—each garnered immense critical acclaim landing on “Best of the Year” lists at New York Magazine, Billboard, NPR Music Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Stereogum, etc. NPR Music calls her, “a storyteller of the highest caliber,” Rolling Stone asserts, “a country visionary…the consolation of a beautiful voice delivering a well-built song, cold truth rising from it like fog off dry ice,” while Slate declares, “one of the greatest living short-story-song writers in country (which really means in any genre)” and The New Yorker praises, “No one is writing better country songs than Brandy Clark is”.
“THE ART OF THE STORYTELLER TOUR”
June 17—Montgomery, NY—City Winery
June 18—Holyoke, MA—Race Street Live
June 20—Homer, NY—Center for the Arts Homer
June 21—Toronto, ON—Great Hall
June 23—Ann Arbor, MI—The Ark
June 24—Gary, IN—Hard Rock Casino
June 25—Minneapolis, MN—Dakota
August 28—Lutterworth, UK—The Long Road
August 29—Bristol, UK—St. George’s
August 31—London, UK—Indigo at the O2
September 1—Manchester, UK—RNCM Concert Hall
September 3—Dublin, Ireland—Whelan’s
September 4—Glasgow, UK—Old Fruitmarket
September 6—Sunderland, UK—The Fire Station
September 8—Amsterdam, Netherlands—Melkweg Upstairs
September 9—Hamburg, Germany—Nochtwache
September 10—Copenhagen, Denmark—Vega Small Hall
September 12—Oslo, Norway—Parkteatret
September 13—Stockholm, Sweden—Bryggarsale
“I Can Fly Away” was inspired by Helado Negro, Funkadelic, Pharoah Sanders, Marion Williams and The Clash,” Marion explained. “It features the voices of Tall Juan and Breanna Barbara, the percussion of Mauro Refosco and the drumming of Austin Vaughn along with keys by Jake Sherman. I was experiencing moments of joy creating all of these new songs. I am happiest spending my time working on music and I’m lucky that I get to share it.”
“I Can Fly Away” is featured on Steve’s upcoming album After Hours which comes out on July 8. ‘After Hours’ is an earnest, easygoing collection that revels in the simple joys of plugging in and playing. The songs are sweet and breezy here, pairing vintage soul grooves with mesmerizing, wordless melodies, and Marion’s production work is suitably subtle and restrained, stepping back in all the right places to let the album’s masterful performances speak for themselves.
Pre-Order ‘After Hours’
Marion has spent the better part of the last decade establishing himself as one of the most wildly innovative and widely revered players in the game. He’s recorded with Paul Simon, been sampled by Kanye West, toured in the Black Keys, and released four critically acclaimed albums of genre-bending instrumental music. He’s your favorite musician’s favorite musician, a virtuoso songwriter, producer, and performer who occupies a lane entirely his own in the modern indie landscape.
Rather than reimagining the possibilities of the guitar as a vehicle for delivering his instrumental pop masterpieces, on After Hours, Marion embraced it for precisely what it was, adopting a “just play” ethos that allowed him to strip away distraction and lose himself in the music. With Shahzad Ismaily (Yoko Ono, Marc Ribot) and famed Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco (David Byrne, Atoms For Peace) backing him, he found himself feeling more liberated than ever before, leaning into his role as a modern guitar hero with renewed vigor and excitement.
1. Playing in a Band
2. Street Breeze
3. I Can Fly Away
4. Now I Know
5. Looking Glass
6. Find My Way
7. After Hours
8. Artificial
9. Night Owl
10. Still Life
“Recording with people who were at the peak of their instruments freed me up to play in ways I’d never really experienced,” Marion reflects. “They were bringing rhythms to the table that I hadn’t explored before, and the more they pushed me, the more I pushed myself.”
The lead single and title-track of what will be the Oxford trio’s debut EP (released 15 July), it’s a stately piece of lysergic rock that nods to the classic works of Radiohead, Pink Floyd and The Beatles.
As drifting and dreamy, as it is ethereal and elatory, “Look For The Light” pairs lucid arrangements with lyrics that celebrate the transcendent nature of the human soul and the flame that flickers within all of us.
Written by lead singer and guitarist Matt Sage whilst on retreat in a hut overlooking the North Cornish sea; mesmerised by his shimmering surroundings and at one with the natural world, he found himself in a consummate state of being.
As he explains: “I was in a pretty deep and peaceful space within myself, in this beautiful setting, and I wanted to try and capture something of that feeling, and to express the simple truth that we all come from Love.”
An expression of the blissful feelings he felt at that moment, the sunshine-gilded words and melodies of “Look For The Light” fell naturally into place. Just as the Summer solstice opposes winter, day opposes night; the resultant Pearl Diver release finds a band creating a beacon of light and catharsis capable of counteracting the encroaching darkness of recent times.
“It feels to me to be a necessary antidote to all the pain and suffering and woes that we create in the world, out of our separation and forgetting what it is that we really are.” says Matt. “If we can connect to the Peace that is our essential nature, we are more readily able to cherish that in ourselves, and in each other. I am hoping that this very simple song might serve as a healing reminder of that.”
Chiming with the themes explored within the song, “Look For The Light” arrives with an affecting DIY video shot by Matt during the first lockdown. Simply filmed in his local park in Oxford, it offers a unique document of that surreal period where the balance between mother nature and humanity felt like it was shifting in her favour once more.
“None of us have ever known our urban spaces to be so still as they were during that period.” reflects Matt. “In all the chaos and fear, there was also so much magic. It was like the birds got their sky back, and everything was just more alive. With the humans - and all of their noise - removed for a while, Nature was able to take a deep breath. So I had to go out and capture some of that as it seemed to fit the song so well.”
“Look for The Light” is the first track to emerge from the band’s debut EP of the same name. Recorded in a remote cottage in Wales and due to be released on 15 July, the 5 track collection will showcase the breadth of the band’s abilities, from the taut post-rock jam of “Heaven Help Me” to the sleepy elegance of “Give It All Away” and the soulful 70s-inflected grooves of “You Can Bring Your Darkness”. The release lays down a formidable stepping stone on the path towards Pearl Diver’s long awaited debut album – expected later in the year.
Planning a series of shows around the new releases, Pearl Diver – upcoming dates are detailed below, with tickets on sale now.
PEARL DIVER – LIVE DATES
7th October, Klub Kakoffaney, OXFORD
12th November, Harcourt Arms, OXFORD
Tickets on Sale here: https://pearldiverband.com/shows/
Beginning with a hometown show at Brighton’s Brunswick on 5th July, Jack’s next live shows come as part of three triple-bill line-ups with Kelley Swindall, Evan Williams and Hennessey confirmed to be supporting across various dates. The tour precedes a number of festival shows, with Jack also due to perform at Tolpuddle Festival and Hylands Park in Chelmford.
The Brighton-based singer-songwriter Jack Valero has established a first wave of acclaim with his debut single “Heaven Help Me”, which is out now. It has been championed by John Kennedy, who named it as his X-Posure Hot One on Radio X, while Chris Hawkins at 6 Music described it as being, “So good… What a beautiful thing.” ‘Heaven Help Me’ is the first song to preview Jack’s debut EP, which will follow later this summer.
‘Heaven Help Me’ makes a big statement for a debut artist as Jack weaves conversational lyricism that possesses an understated witty streak alongside spirited folk-rock instrumentation and a knack for timeless British pop songwriting. It paints a poetic picture of feeling alone and disillusioned in a society in which empathy is a rare commodity.
Jack says, “I think every songwriter at the moment has their lockdown song. I suppose this is mine, but it covers far more for me than what the world was going through. It also covers what I was going through personally at the time, so it all wraps up into one and is presented in a way that can apply to any age and any time. It’s a song for lockdown, it’s a song for me and it’s a song for anyone struggling with the reality of their own existence. I like to be inclusive.”
LISTEN HERE
2022 UK TOUR DATES
05/07 – Brighton, Brunswick * +
11/07 – London, Green Note * +
12/07 – Birmingham, Kitchen Garden + –
16/07 – Tolpuddle Festival, Dorset
17/07 – Hylands Park, Chelmsford
* w/ Evan Wiliams
+ w/ Kelley Swindall
– w/ Hennessey
Tickets are on sale now.
‘Heaven Help Me’ was written by Jack and produced by Dave Izumi during sessions at Echo Zoo Studios in Eastbourne.
Directed by Dylan Friese-Greene, the song’s video puts a light-hearted twist on the song’s meaning. Jack plays an astronaut who is stranded alone on Earth, dreaming of the day when he can once again voyage beyond the stratosphere. But until then he’s stuck down here, living an entirely ordinary life with the rest of us.
Jack adds, “The idea for this video came from Dylan, he’s a very talented filmmaker and I was so happy with how it turned out. The idea was to express the feeling of isolation in an abstract way, and what’s sadder and more isolating than being a spaceman stuck on Earth?”
Influenced by essential songwriters stretching from Tom Petty to Sam Fender, Jack Valero was raised by parents who have contributed to the UK indie music scene for many years. Just as inspired by spending his teen years touring the festival circuit, Jack formed his first band in his teens before heading to Brighton to study music. The call of the road triumphed over his studies, however, and he instead focused on his band The RPMs, whose achievements included releasing music on Xtra Mile Recordings and playing Glastonbury and SXSW.
The pandemic halted their momentum, so instead Jack spent his time live-streaming solo acoustic sets from his flat, writing a wealth of new material, and working shifts at his local Covid testing centre. Soon enough, he had written a catalogue of songs which would prompt him to launch his solo career.
Following a string of live dates in support of Will Varley, Jack will be taking his latest songs back out on the road for a string of UK dates this July.
The Edinburgh 5 piece indie-rock group distil their influences into a mixture of powerful riff driven songs and extended psychedelic jams.
“Butterfly is about having confidence in yourself, in your ability and creativity and giving permission to celebrate and realise your potential. It’s about killing the doubt you have in yourself so that you can grow.” – Kyoshi Station
Debut single ‘Butterfly’ will be released on
Friday 1st July at 00:00 GMT on all streaming platforms.
Butterfly was recorded in a home studio with the main synth line being our drive and inspiration for the entire song. All recorded through Logic, an Akai MPK mini provided all the keys, and guitars and bass were filtered through a Line6 Helix. Custom drum and percussion sounds provide the rest of the rhythm.
When performed live the final twin guitar solo is followed by an extended jam allowing a spotlight to fall on some amazing psych/jazz keys and a blistering Muse style guitar solo.