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"...the Southwestern cowboy, who hums songs of simpler times. A storyteller at heart, the Americana multi-instrumentalist’s music hits you right in the feels" - Buzzbands
"...latest dusty ballad “The Clock’s Never Wrong” is perfectly apt for a song that feels wrong to listen to outside of the wide-open spaces of rural America" - Flood
"Mournful pedal steel pairs with Tim Hill's perfectly exhausted delivery... I’m a sucker for an album that’s pushing aside serenity in favor of simply finding solace and “Calico” hints that Giant is just that kind of record" - Raven Sings the Blues
"Hill's adoration of the likes of Neil Young (as well as classic Americana and singer-songwriter country) is as clar as day, just smoothed out by the California sun and good doses of campfire-friendly placidity. Giant is well written and expertly played...." Shindig
Tim Hill releases the single "The Irish Sea" from the forthcoming LP Giant (due out February 10th). According to Hill, the single "was written in proximity to the sea in a pub in Ireland on a napkin. The music came sometime later."
London's own multidisciplinary artist Rarelyalways kicks off 2023 with the announcement of his forthcoming debut album WORK due March 10th. Along with the album announcement, Rarelyalways shares the first taste of the project with the single "LET'S." Hypnotic, cavernous rhythms float beneath distinct vocals on the track, underscoring Rarleyalways as the self described "shapeshifter." The lead single arrives with visuals directed by MadeInEden portraying Rarelyalways lounging in a bed with Precious Joie on a rooftop in London as they peek out at each other beneath eye masks and playfully start a pillow fight. Additionally, Rarelyalways shares visuals to the b-side, "Voice note 0142," also directed by MadeInEden, which sonically showcases the more jazzy side of Rarelyalways' roots as a jazz bassist.
WORK's announcement follows Rarelyalways' collaborative Manic EP with Hanni El Khatib, featuring the stand out single "Lamenting" as well as his 2020 EP Baby Buffalo. His debut EP was described by The FADER as, “a concise exhibition of his minimalist swagger," with Pitchfork adding, "though Rarelyalways comes out of the London jazz scene, his music has its own distinct flavor."
Rarelyalways learned from a young age that music had functions beyond entertainment. Born in London to a West African family, he was raised by his single father, a drummer who played mainly gospel tunes during hours-long services and would bring Rarely along for afternoons in practice spaces where the young musician learned the power of playing for playing's sake. Rarelyalways went on to attend The BRIT School and eventually entered the South London gig circuit where he would play trip hop and heavy rock in the orbit of artists like King Krule, Henry Wu and the Tomorrow's Warriors jazz collective. With his music often taking on a dark, mysterious tone, Rarely is able to roam freely outside the prescribed structures of hip hop, jazz or anything else, by creating a conversational abstract style that can mold according to a song's message.
“I think she’s gonna blow your mind” BBC’s Maryanne Hobbs
"A hypnotic beat and swelling synth pads." FADER
“No sound or style is off limits for Maria Chiara Argirò” UNCUT
"drifts between club culture's left-field aspects and jazz improvisation" - CLASH
“The Italian composer conjures mysterious, aquatic undulations” The Guardian
"There’s no escaping the gorgeous spell Argirò casts." Pitchfork
Following the release of her critically acclaimed album Forest City, Maria Chiara Argirò recently announced a remix package of some of the album's highlights. For the second installment, Terracassette deconstruct the ethereal album standout ‘Greenarp,’ building it back up into a club-ready IDM burner. This follows ‘Clouds’ which was recently remixed by Atlanta's electronic funk wizard Byron the Aquarius. The remix gained spins on BBC 6 Music and KCRW.
After quietly weaving her way around the UK jazz, classical and electronic worlds Maria 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 on her latest album Forest City it feels like the turning of a page as she liberates herself from the structures of jazz.
On Forest City, Maria found 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.
Leland Whitty of BADBADNOTGOOD releases his debut solo album Anyhow. The 7-track album displays Whitty's DIY approach to composition, production and multi-instrumental performances. Anyhow includes the previously released singles “Glass Moon,” which arrived accompanied with visuals directed by Raven Shields and Colin Med, “Awake,” which highlights his self-made compositional style and "Windows". Instead of following a specific narrative, the jazz improvisations throughout the project draw inspiration from photographic and cinematic sources. An exclusive olive green pressing of Anyhow is available for purchase at Vinyl Me, Please and the album can be streamed everywhere now.
Whitty worked alongside his brother Lowell, who he credits as being a central influence on his musical life, for the very first time when creating Anyhow. Beyond his brother, Whitty invited friends and collaborators, including BADBADNOTGOOD's Alex Sowinski and Chester Hansen, to contribute during the creative process to help shift the rhythm and energy of each track. Rather than a more rigid intellectual compositional method, Whitty developed the album based on small excerpts and improvisations to create an abstract body of work rooted in emotional exploration. Whitty's love of film scoring inspired the album: he worked on several film scores in 2020, including Disappearance at Clifton Hill (Albert Shin) and Learn to Swim (Thyrone Tommy).
“De Lux have concocted the perfect mix of disco, post-punk and funk"
KCRW
"New Summers" by De Lux - originally from their latest album Do You Need A Release? gets a reconstruction by Jason Bentley
Jason Bentley is a Los Angeles based DJ and Grammy nominated record Producer. During his tenure as Music Director of acclaimed SoCal radio station KCRW, Jason consistently supported De Lux as host of the daily music program Morning Becomes Eclectic and ongoing Saturday night mix show Metropolis.
“I love the band” remarked Jason “and after hearing “New Summers” I became obsessed with the idea of a different song arrangement - not so much a remix - but rearranging existing elements. The song already has all this smoldering Disco energy, and I wanted to bring that out more and shape it so the song hit differently. I reached out to the band with the idea, and thankfully the guys let me pull apart the original multi-tracks and create the version I was hearing in my head."