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Arjuna & Serebii are based in Wellington, Aotearoa in New Zealand. Serebii is the alias of Callum Mower, an accomplished musician and producer. Arjuna Oakes is an award winning singer/songwriter and producer. Meeting in the summer of 2017, the pair became fast friends and started working on music together.
On August 27, the duo will release their First Nights EP. After sharing previous single, "Even When You're Gone", you can stream "Satellites" now.
"Satellites" is a subversive downtempo jam critical of the surveillance state. Arjuna calls the listener to fight the powers that be - "You should be fighting for this // You could defy their orders" - rather than get spied on from satellites.
Serebii had this to share of the new single: "I had nothing prepared for this session. I almost always have something prepared. As a music producer your part as a collaborator is much more than just capturing / engineering. You must have techniques which can facilitate momentum, the direction & vision of the art. Working with a jazz trained pianist like Arjuna you need to be swift, so the pressure was on. I pulled up this wobbly synth & vocal hook I had been working on for my solo project, poured myself a very long black and waited
on his arrival. He loved it! So our search for meaning began. We built our lyrical concepts around the insignificance we were feeling towards society and the universe. We recorded our vocals, added upright piano & trumpets to ice the cake. That was the birth of Satellites."
Hawaiian-born, Long Beach-based songwriter Lionel Boy shares the official music video to “Mango Michelada,” the silky smooth, artfully laid-back tune off his debut, self-titled album. The track is accompanied by lo-fi, documentary-style visuals, shot by Casey Liu and Lionel, that quite literally take the viewer along for a ride.
“‘Mango Michelada’ was made during two short months right before the pandemic between me, my friend Jacqueline and my girlfriend Casey.” Notes Lionel Boy. “The opening lines of this song, “Mango Michelada with Clamato…” were just words Jacqueline started reading off her beer can during mic check. Besides that one line and the title, the song really has nothing to do with the beverage. It’s a random title for a song we wrote during the oddest year of our lives.”
“We wanted the music video to convey the same emotions we were all collectively feeling last year.” Lionel Boy continues. “From being cooped up in a small studio space drinking mango micheladas to being holed up at home during quarantine. Casey grabbed our vx camera and we all took turns driving around San Pedro and Long Beach, cooped up in Jacqueline’s car.”
BADBADNOTGOOD have announced their new album Talk Memory, the band's first album with XL Recordings in partnership with Innovative Leisure, released October 8th.
The album features musical contributions from Arthur Verocai, Karriem Riggins, Terrace Martin, Laraaji and acclaimed harpist Brandee Younger. Talk Memory is a heartfelt expression of joy for the music and community the band inhabits. Focused on collaboration and the magic of improvised live performance, the album comes with artwork designed by Virgil Abloh's studio Alaska-Alaska™
To coincide with the announcement of Talk Memory, BADBADNOTGOOD have shared the album's lead single “Signal From The Noise”. A psychedelic jazz track exploring balance and harmony through improvisation, the release is accompanied by a Duncan Loudon-directed video starring Steve Stamp.
Arjuna Oakes & Serebii are the newest artists joining the Innovative Leisure family. On August 27, the duo will release their First Nights EP.
Arjuna & Serebii are based in Wellington, Aotearoa in New Zealand. Serebii is the alias of Callum Mower, an accomplished musician and producer. Arjuna Oakes is an award winning singer/songwriter and producer. Meeting in the summer of 2017, the pair became fast friends and started working on music together.
After years of collaborating indirectly on each other's solo projects, the two decided to knuckle down and complete a project together, perfectly marrying Arjuna’s skills as a songwriter, keys player and vocalist, and Serebii’s skills as a producer and beat maker. The resulting EP is an in-depth musical journey which takes you through feelings of heartbreak, self discovery and acceptance.
Listen to lead single, "Even When You're Gone," now.
In 2018, composer/producer Frank Maston was living in Paris, working on new music when he was introduced to Geneva based band L’Eclair. Blown away by what he heard, there seemed to be a mutual understanding and appreciation for that loungey, groovy world of library and soundtrack music from the seventies. An immediate thought occurred to him - what if he could record with this simpatico group backing him up?
The result is the colorful and kinetic album Souvenir, out September 10 on Innovative Leisure / Calico Discos (the label of Cali band Allah Las).
The new single, “Ghost," is centered around a descending chord progression, with cryptic lyrics sung in falsetto. It has an air tight rhythm section, synthesizer acrobatics, a catchy melody and two solo sections. It was one of the first songs written for the record and the music was recorded in one take. The song is both reflective and optimistic, and all around a feel good tune."
Read more at Flood: https://floodmagazine.com/90221/maston-ghost-premiere/
And pre-order Souvenir: https://maston.bandcamp.com/album/souvenir