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Maria Chiara Argirò (pronounced ma-REE-ah key-AH-rah r-gee-ROW) marks herself as an exciting new name in electronic, jazz-fusion. After quietly weaving her way around the UK jazz, classical and electronic worlds, the trained pianist (since the age of nine) has cemented herself as a key player in the capital’s multi-national jazz scene. Maria has released a few solo and collaborative records (Flow was The Guardian’s jazz album of the month and nominated as album of the year in the Jazz Revelations Awards), but her album, Forest City feels like the turning of a page as she liberates herself from the structures of jazz.
In Forest City, Maria finds a glistening thread between these movements: where jazz meets Kelly Lee Owens, Jon Hopkins and Radiohead. It’s a concept record, about the “duality of nature and city”, where organic sounds and textures seem to flow above the urban sprawl.
Maria had finished writing the album before the first lockdown but the enforced isolation helped to give the music a sense of urgency, a longing to be immersed in the natural world and the buzz of the city at the same time. The songs always start as something she can play acoustically, that would work without the bells and whistles, and then she layers the atmosphere around them.
Though the album has dark undertones, it’s not all doom and gloom: in her earthy metropolis, a certain optimism glows through. “It’s about being conscious of the world we live in and how careful we need to be,” Maria explains. “At the end of the day, there is hope”.
Tijuana Panthers' share second album single "False Equivalent," which the band explains, "Having tough discussions and debates with people close to you can feel more like a game that’s meant to be won rather than a compassionate effort to understand. We are barely evolved. I just took your Queen in chess, you say I didn’t, and we are in fact playing checkers. False equivalents show we’re not even having the same conversation.”
The veteran LBC rock band release new punk single "False Equivalent" off forthcoming new album Halfway to Eighty out June 24.
Mapache — the LA duo of Sam Blasucci and Clay Finch — shares new single “Tend Your Garden,” a whispered ode to longing and the painfully slow process of falling in love. It’s the latest preview from their new record Roscoe’s Dream, out June 10th on Innovative Leisure / Calico Discos. With sparkling steel guitar and a haiku-like lyrical simplicity rooted in natural imagery, “Tend Your Garden” is a soothing lullaby recast in sunshine. “Start by closing your eyes, you can see it now,” Mapache sings, “Only dreaming it will not grow, how I love you… you’ll never know.”
Catch them on some upcoming California's Gold tour dates:
5/14 Santa Barbara - Mollusk
5/20 Big Sur - Hipnic
5/21 Santa Cruz - Moe’s Alley
5/22 San Luis Obispo - Slo Brew
6/15 - Costa Mesa - Wayfarer
6/18 - Bolinas - Smiley’s Tavern
6/19 - Sacramento - Harlows
6/21 - Albany - Ivy Room
6/22 - Sonoma - Sebastiani Theater
6/23 - Nevada City - Crazy Horse Saloon
6/25 - Chico - Duffys
Fresh off the release of his debut full length Glass Effect, London-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Ben Marc has just shared the third clip from a series of live performance clips recorded live at London’s Corsica Studios. “Way We Are” is an easy highlight from the album, and Marc’s crack six-piece band demonstrate an elastic ability to stretch the simmering grooves of the original to the outer limits of free jazz improvisation and bring it back intothe pocket at will. Served as a trio the performance clips underscore the diverse scope of Marc’s singular vision that chart his own musical journey from studying classical music, to becoming a key collaborator in the burgeoning London jazz scene, to immersing himself dance and hip hop production techniques, and on.
Lionel Boy releases the first in a two-part EP series with "UP AT 4" which is out now via Innovative Leisure. The Hawaiian-born, Long Beach-based songwriter will release his second EP 'DOWN AT 8' on June 17th.
Listen to "UP AT 4" here: https://smarturl.it/lb_upat4
Lionel Boy’s sound mixes spacey synthesizers, impromptu breakbeats & bedroom pop. The airy, jazz-cracked, electronic pop of Lionel Boy belies a wistful romanticism, a careful observational streak, and a meditative fixation on life and death. Lionel Boy is soulful and easy-going, both introspective and laissez faire, extremely mellow but never soft-headed.
'UP AT 4' and 'DOWN AT 8' are a collection of songs that started off as demos in Lionel Boy's living room. Following the release of his debut album, Lionel Boy wanted to continue exploring producing and collaborating with friends.
"I felt like I spent all and none of 2021 working on these songs. Producing these EPs looked like a lot of early mornings and evenings spent at my computer screen. Some days feeling like I made no changes at all. I’m a pretty early riser—waking up at 4 am which are when many of these songs came to mind. I spend most of my time working when the world is quiet which sounds nice but isn’t always the easiest to do when you live in an older apartment with downstairs neighbors. Everything I do to get things moving in the morning is an inconvenience to the people around me—the creaky wood floors, tracking vocals, tapping my drum machine...just one of the many ways I’ve woken up my girlfriend throughout the years. Trying to find a balance between making my music when the creativity strikes while also being a respectful roommate/neighbor is tricky but we make it work.
I’m grateful for the people who have helped me elevate these songs beyond this space. Friends like Brett Kramer, Andrew Pham, Ukiah Bogle, Casey Liu, Nathan Hawelu, Harlem (Dotager) and Jonny Bell were crucial to making these songs what they are now."