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Lionel Boy x SHDWS

"A drifting, dreamy piece of indie pop” - CLASH

Having recently released his EP 'UP AT 4', Hawaiian-born, Long Beach-based songwriter Lionel Boy is sharing the first single from the second EP, "SHDWS". The second EP in this two-part series 'DOWN AT 8' is due June 17th via Innovative Leisure. 

Speaking about the the track, Lionel Boy said "I listen to people speak about their “friends” and I think, “are you really friends?” I guess I wrote this song in observation of that—how people in my life have these friendships that seem to really frustrate them but, for whatever reason, they continue to keep close. Friendships where there’s usually more bad to say than good. They go out with them...and then complain about going out with them. Maybe they don’t know they can do better...maybe they’re just as bad a friend...but it made me think that we’re all just shadows making friends with other shadows. And that’s not how I want to navigate friendships in my own life; it’s too much work to have to suit up every night just to go out and spend time with someone I don’t even like being around."

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."

UP AT 4 tracklist:
1. FREEZE
2. SHADOWBOXING
3. LOVE
4. SMWYG
5. GLORY DAZE (Bonus Track)

DOWN AT 8 tracklist:
1. CLOUDS
2. LOOP
3. SHDWS 
4. SLFR

Mapache x Light My Fire

 

"Easy like Sunday Morning… Roscoe's Dream drips with escapist charm." — Mojo Magazine ★★★★ 

California-based folk-rock duo Mapache — comprised of longtime best friends Sam Blasucci and Clay Finch — share their latest preview of forthcoming record Roscoe’s Dream (out June 10th on Innovative Leisure/Calico Discos), “Light My Fire,” a cosmic cluster of unsuspecting, delicate sounds that feel like a smoldering daydream, a slow morning, or the sweet beginnings of a forever love. 

Atop the warm bounce of a perfectly saturated guitar, “Light My Fire” shines with bright strums of a campfire steel string, the rapid picking of an old world balalaika, and effortless harmonies. As the track gently transports its listeners to sun-soaked days flushed with summer love, “Light My Fire” reminds us that all we have for certain is the present moment.

Video is by Laura-Lynn Petrick.

Upcoming tour dates below:

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

7/12 - Phoenix, AZ - Rebel

7/13 - Tuscon, AZ - Hotel Congress Plaza

7/15 - Fort Collins, CO - The Aggie

7/16 - Denver, CO - Globe Hall

7/17 - Salt Lake City, UT - Commonwealth Room

7/19 - Boise, ID - Neurolux

7/21 - Seattle, WA - Sunset

7/22 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge

7/23 - Vancouver, BC - Wise

7/24 - Eugene, OR - Sessions Music Hall

7/26 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel

7/28 - Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Harriets

7/29 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon

7/30 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon

Maria Chiara Argirò x Forest City

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 x False Equivalent

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 x Tend Your Garden

 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