Experimental psych-rock-synthwave trio MCP are releasing their debut self-titled EP via streaming platforms and a physical vinyl edition.

The vinyl package, with a limited run of only 150 records, is a throwback to the iconic newsagency and comic book store record/book combos of the 70’s and 80’s, and will be available only at independent record stores across the country.

Included in the package is a ten-page graphic comic-style novel (written by Wes, the bass-player of the band, that tells the story of a great battle to save planet Earth, leading to alien abductions, secret underwater pyramids, a giant she-hulk warrior and the greatest concert never performed). A car air freshener (with artwork by Sindy Sinn), and a sticker pack including artworks by artists from each previous MCP release (Sindy Sinn, Nick Potts, Ben Toupein, Jeremy Lord, Jeswri, Steven Dai).

The six track EP is best described as a cinematic space odyssey – mysterious, genre-defying and retro and futuristic at the same time. It includes two unreleased songs: ‘Master Control’, a Stranger Things meets Star Wars epic banger, showcasing the band’s genetic make up: drums, bass and a tonne of synth.

The second is ‘The Blade’, a Samurai’s delight, an homage to the classic 80’s Chinatown, Kung Fu and Karate action movies. Both new songs were mixed and mastered at Studios 301.

Wes explains, “I watched American Ninja 1 and 2  hundreds of times as a kid, so I wanted to make a song that paints a picture of Ninjas dressed in black, gearing up to do some bad shit – it’s the bad guy song, a song for the villains reaping revenge”.

MCP releases Friday, 22nd April, 2022 and record stores on Record Store Day, Saturday 23rd April, 2022.

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2022 is off to a flying start for Taspii & TetraTara.  The pair have joined forces on their upcoming single ‘Tides’, an experimental electronic banger.

Fans of Flume, Quiet Bison and Laxcity will be blown away by the hard hitting drums, futuristic sound design and floating vocal hooks.

Born and raised in Orange County, California, Taspii’s production style and experimental tastes can be likened to What So Not, Mr. Carmack and Rusty Hook, marrying experimental electronic elements to a hip hop inspired foundation.

With new levels of production achieved in the latter stages of 2021 and big plans throughout the year to come, Taspii is set to build on his already impressive catalogue of electronic bangers with Tides.

Fans of Kucka and Pauline Herr are very excited about the rise of newcomer, vocalist and producer TetraTara. Based out of the Pacific Northwest, TetraTara’s signature ethereal tone and chilling melodies are the perfect match for Taspii’s hard hitting production.

‘Tides’ will be available on all major streaming platforms on January 28th 2022 via TXTR Records.

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Platinum sensation BENEE unveils the official video for her latest single “Doesn’t Matter” today.

Co-directed by BENEE and Kiwi actress and director Aidee Walker, the cinematic visual co-stars BENEE, her guitarist Tiare Kelly, and her pup TUI.

The lulling production underscores pensive moments, as the lyrics detail her struggles with mental health and OCD diagnosis. The video brings these feelings to life in artful and eloquent fashion, standing out as BENEE’s most confessional statement yet.

Benee

“Doesn’t Matter’ is about how hard it can be to explain your feelings and emotions to people. Sometimes friends just being there for you is such a help. I’m so excited about this video; it was my first shot at co-directing with Aidee Walker. I came up with the concept and she helped me bring it to life. I wanted the look of an old French indie film with a twist….and I love how it turned out.”

BENEE recently announced her first foray out into the world since the pandemic struck with her 2022 headline world tour.

The Aotearoa leg of the tour kicks off in Nelson on the 25th of February 2022 and makes stops across the country, see the full list of dates below and at beneemusic.com. The 21-year-old artist broke through with “Supalonely,” her global hit with 4 billion streams, and like many artists has had to wait for a chance to tour outside of her home country again.

BENEE’s dreamy alt-pop mixes her deeply heartfelt reflections on life in suburban Auckland, New Zealand with offbeat and often whimsical lyrical encounters with zombies and snails, all produced with a technicolor ear for cooked beats and unpredictable hooks.

2020’s debut album ‘Hey u x’ is a vibrant musical world with guests ranging from Grimes and Lily Allen to Gus Dapperton and Muroki (another New Zealand teen BENEE has since signed to her own label, Olive). It was listed as one of Billboard’s “25 Best Pop Albums of 2020,” noting that BENEE “contemplates the woes of Gen Z with a keen ear for choruses and arrangements that oscillate between indie rock and hyperpop.” Stereogum praised its “quirky but impeccably produced pop music” and Vogue called it “13 tracks of heavenly indie-alt-pop.”

A forthcoming EP release leads into plans for 2022 with the thing that excites BENEE the most, a hefty touring schedule that will bring her live show to adoring fans around the world at last.

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Musical pioneer Moby announces his new album Reprise, releasing on Deutsche Grammophon.

Reprise sees Moby revisiting and reimagining musical highlights from his 30-year career.

Together with the Budapest Art Orchestra, he has re-envisioned some of his most recognizable rave classics and anthems with new arrangements for orchestra and acoustic instruments. He’s also joined by a stellar line-up of guest artists from across the musical spectrum, including Alice Skye, Amythyst Kiah, Apollo Jane, Darlingside, Deitrick Haddon, Gregory Porter, Jim James, Kris Kristofferson, Luna Li, Mark Lanegan, Mindy Jones, Nataly Dawn, Skylar Grey and Víkingur Ólafsson.

Moby has shared the first track from the album, “Porcelain”, featuring Jim James (My Morning Jacket).

Reprise includes Moby’s biggest tracks, among them his breakthrough dance track “Go”, “Extreme Ways” (famous from the Bourne movie franchise), “Natural Blues” and “Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?”.

Some of the new versions are sparser and slower, while others exploit the bombastic potential an orchestra can offer. Three decades into Moby’s career, Reprise is less of a greatest hits record and more of a chance to reflect on the way in which art can adapt over time to different settings and contexts.

“Sorry if this seems self-evident, but for me the main purpose of music is to communicate emotion,” offers Moby. “To share some aspect of the human condition with whoever might be listening.” Why include an orchestra? “I long for the simplicity and vulnerability you can get with acoustic or classical music,” he explains.

The seeds for Reprise were sown when Moby was invited to take part in his first-ever classical collaboration – a live concert of his music at Walt Disney Concert Hall with his friend Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in October 2018.                                                                 

2021 promises to be an exciting new chapter for Moby with the release of both Reprise and a documentary film, MOBY DOC. Directed and edited by Rob Bralver, the film will be distributed by Greenwich Entertainment and released in US theaters and on digital platforms on May 28th, 2021, with a worldwide (ex-North America) premiere stream on the same day.

Moby Doc is a surrealist biographical documentary narrated by Moby as he reflects on his turbulent personal life and iconic music from underground punk bands to chart-topping solo artist, and from struggling addict to vegan activist.  The film features interviews with David Lynch and David Bowie, along with extraordinary concert footage, utilizing a unique blend of re-enactments, interviews, and archival footage.

Audiences will be treated to an insightful, unvarnished look at an artist whose traumatic childhood shaped him in profound ways.

Moby is a celebrated musician, singer / songwriter, producer, DJ, photographer and activist.

The multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated artist has pushed boundaries with his acclaimed music, including his breakthrough global smash album, Play.

Achieving worldwide sales of more than 20 million albums, Moby has additionally scored eight Top 10 hits on the Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart.

A staunch vegan and advocate for animal rights and humanitarian aid, he is also the author of four books including a collection of his photography.

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Following The Knocks collaboration with Foster the People on 2018’s Alt hit “Ride or Die,” the artists came together once more on “All About You” feat.

Foster the People, which was released in October 2020 and currently sits at #29 on Billboard’s Alternative airplay chart. Today they continue the magic with the official music video release for “All About You,” featuring all 3 artists traversing The Knocks’ stomping grounds of New York City. Watch above. The video was directed by Nathan R. Smith (DRAM “Broccoli” ft. Lil Yachty, 2 Chainz “Bigger Than You” ft. Drake, Quavo, YNW Melly “Suicidal” (Remix) ft. Juice WRLD)

“All About You” utilizes an epic, soulful sample of Pastor T.L. Barrett’s “Like a Ship” in the chorus and is The Knocks’ second single off their yet to be named third full length LP. The Knocks released the album’s first single, “Bodies,” with MUNA in the summer of 2020.

In terms of The Knocks and Foster The People’s second collaboration, Ben from The Knocks says “’All About You’ was a really natural process. We have always wanted to flip the Pastor T.L Barret sample ‘Like a Ship’ and I finally made a beat out of it on the tour bus last year… it was a little more basic and was just a breakbeat with the sample and an acid synth line. The beat kinda sat around for a while and we didn’t know what to do with it, but we knew we loved it.  Fast forward a couple months & Mark texted us saying he was in town… he came by our studio and really liked the idea and helped us come up with the change & the new bass groove. From there, with the help of Luke O’Loughlin, it turned into something special.  It feels like a perfect nod to all the different sides of our influences. Late 90s electronica, meets Britpop, mashed with a hip-hop type gospel sample flip, & an indie pop song.  We feel it really checks all the Knocks boxes in the perfect most effortless way.”

In Mark Foster’s words “When I was in New York a few months ago, I popped over to say hi to The Knocks guys, as I hadn’t caught up with them in a while. We were hanging at their studio, playing various things for each other that we had been working on. One of the tunes Ben played me was the rough instrumental for what would eventually turn into “All About You.” The 90’s era breakbeat/early Frankie Knuckles house feel drew me in. I put a bass line and a chord change on it, and was surprised when they sent me a  fully realized song a few months later. I cut the vocals and added some textures at my LA studio and we finished the collaboration remotely. It’s a beautiful thing when a casual hang with friends produces a piece of art.”

Together for over a decade, The Knocks are a New York City-based electronic music institution.

The duo have released 2 LP’s & 5 EP’s, collaborated with some of music’s biggest names (Foster the People, Carly Rae Jepsen, X Ambassadors, Big Boi, Sir Sly) and toured around the world with music heavyweights including The 1975, Justin Bieber, and Ellie Goulding.

Their hit single, “Ride or Die” featuring Foster the People reached #10 on the alt radio charts and landed them a live performance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. In addition, their collaboration with Sofi Tukker “Best Friend” has accumulated more than 189 million streams across platforms to date. They performed the song live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and was the feature song in Apple’s iPhone X campaign and keynote address.  The Knocks’ latest release “Bodies” (with MUNA) has already been streamed over seven million times globally, resulting in a brilliant performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and reached #34 on the US Dance Radio chart.  Most recently, The Knocks’ hit song “Shades” was featured in Pepsi’s summer 2020 ad campaign as well as getting a massive sync for their timeless smash “Classic” (feat. POWERS) on Starbucks national’ TV campaign.

Cap that with producing several songs for the critically acclaimed IFC show Sherman’s Showcase and performing it on the Late Show with Seth Meyers.

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Berlin based artist Lucie & The Robot creates music to tell stories that take place beneath the surface.

Founded by Lucie VOX, the young creative brought on drummer Paul Richter and pianist Hannes Marget to
help bring her illustrious soundscapes to life.

Her latest release “Beyond Now” is filled with staccato synth patterns and shimmering electronic rhythms – drawing listeners into her glittering world. Emerging from an unhealthy relationship, “Beyond Now” describes the gaps between past, present and future – reforming and reestablishing a sense of self.

“We feel like we are in a vacuum that prevents us from moving on from the past to be fully present in the now or that we have fled the now for a future we can’t reach”, Lucie offers. “Either way, there is something we left behind.It is not there anymore but we still look back at it and see it lying there, just out of reach. We can still hear it laughing and sometimes scream in the distance. It’s not a piercing sound, it is just a faint echo. We remain passive, because we don’t want to approach it anymore. But we also can’t turn around and walk away.”

Lucie’s musical journey began with a traditional education in classical music and jazz during her childhood and teenage years. As a trained singer and violinist, Lucie developed a strong intuition for melodies. In her early 20s, she used this skill to create various improvisation-based projects and fell in love with the creative process.

Bringing isolated and secretive narratives to life through her intimate storytelling, her songwriting is informed by her eclectic tastes. Drawing inspiration from contemporary artists such as Flying Lotus, Björk, Sia and 80s synth band Depeche Mode, Lucie is an enthusiastic consumer of modern pop music.

United by their appreciation for simplicity and space in music, “Beyond Now” is a glistening release from Germany’s teeming capital city.

“Beyond Now” has released.

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New Zealand’s award-winning, internationally acclaimed sextet, The Phoenix Foundation are today sharing their new single, ‘Decision Dollars’ which features guest vocals from Hollie Fullbrook of Tiny Ruins – listen to the track here.

‘Decision Dollars’ follows in the wake of previous singles from the record, including the Brooklyn Vegan and Line of Best Fit-tipped single ‘Hounds of Hell’ which features Nadia Reid.

In the time since their last record, Give Up Your Dreams, the band have scored the music for Taika Waititi’s award-winning film Hunt For The Wilderpeople – as well as contributing further tracks to Waititi’s Boy, Eagle versus Shark and What We Do In the Shadows – written, recorded and toured with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, built shrines to light, created scores for VR and produced other bands. This fruitful work ethic and willingness to collaborate is something mirrored somewhat in the new album’s wide range of prolific guests: the aforementioned Nadia Reid appears, as do the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Hollie Fullbrook of Tiny Ruins, Dave Dobbyn and Anita Clark which makes the new record something of a showcase of Kiwi talent.

‘Decision Dollars’ chalks up another irresistibly charming cut from the new record, once again teasing some of those 80s indie-pop tropes spliced with psych-tinted folk and a 4 am, post-drinking haze. The additional vocals from Fullbrook add to the lucid, late-night aura of the single, webbing her dreamlike tones with the band’s swooning sonic aesthetic.

Speaking about the new single, the primary songwriter behind the track, Lukasz Buda says: “I think this was gestating for about 5 years. It took me a long time to accept such unbridled power and passion into my life. But now I have fully embraced it. My partner loves singing it at me when I am humiliatingly hungover.”

Elaborating on Buda’s comments, frontman Samuel Scott Flynn says: “Has there ever been a better hangover song? Yes; ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down’ by Johnny Cash, but this is second! I love Lukasz’s lyrics, they are so matter of fact and true. It’s always fun to write a little bridge lyric in your bandmates’ songs, it’s like pretending to be Lennon and Macca for a moment. This is our ‘A Day In The Life’ but it has Hollie Fullbrook singing on it so maybe it’s our ‘The Battle Of Evermore’. It’s definitely one of the top ten greatest songs of all time.”

As evidenced in this track, the role of collaboration is key to the record, not only because of the weight and character that each brings to their performance but because the album is rooted in friendship. The record is of course named after it. “The title refers to friendships not being these passive social interactions but ever-evolving living vessels which carry us through life,” says Scott. “After the mosque attacks in Christchurch, this was something I was thinking about a lot, that sense that in order to move forward as humans we actually need to actively support each other.”

However, whilst the album is a beautiful and often tender one, sometimes rooted in immersive and dreamy ambient soundscapes, it’s also one that captures the strangeness of the modern world. “These themes of modern anxiety started to emerge in my songs,” says Scott. “The album is sort of a post-apocalyptic love letter from the future to the present. Looking back into the past for that sense of human connection we have lost in our screen-based existence.”

Much like many things in the world of Phoenix Foundation, the new record is nuanced, multi-faceted, distinct and idiosyncratic. And it’s yet another album in their increasingly expansive cannon that exists on its own terms. “I don’t quite know how we pulled this record off,” says Scott. “But I love it. For songwriting, I’d place it alongside Buffalo and Pegasus but it also sounds nothing like those albums. It’s very much its own thing.”

This new music is the latest to be taken from the forthcoming album, Friend Ship which is due for release on October 16, 2020.

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Glasgow based band Walt Disco are today the sharing the video for their new single “Cut Your Hair”.

Directed and filmed by Walt Disco themselves, the clip was filmed in isolation in the Glasgow flat they share. The tongue-in-cheek video features the band in a variety of settings in and around their home; featuring a synchronised dance in the back garden (the dance moves already a longstanding landmark moment in the band’s live se), guitar solos performed on top of a bed, and risqué leg shaves in the shower.

“Cut Your Hair” exemplifies everything Walt Disco are about. Lifted from the band’s debut EP due later this year, the track unites a cacophony of genres and sounds, blending elements of glam-rock, pop, new-wave and post-punk to create something very much of their own. Working with idiosyncratic producer Thomas McNeice of Gang of Four on the single, Walt Disco have realised their vision of an anthem for a new generation of misfits.

Led by their charismatic singer James Power, the 6 piece is completed by keys player Dave Morgan, bassist Finlay McCarthy, guitarists Lewis Carmichael and Charlie Lock, and drummer Jack Martin.

A band whose influences derive not from just music itself, but much more so from love, glamour and androgyny, Walt Disco’s music is a gateway to a space of lust, loss and everything in-between, with a strong message of inclusivity at its core.

Influenced just as much by 80’s New Wave acts such as Talking Heads and The Associates, as they are by the queer modern art-pop sensibilities of St Vincent, Charli XCX and even Ru Paul – Walt Disco’s firm grasp of both their historical and modern influences allow them to move forward as a band for the future.

Speaking on the release of the new single, singer James Power said: “’Cut Your Hair’ was written as a wee fun jibe at people passing judgement to those who are just being themselves. I think older generations can learn a lot from us YOUNG HARD AND HANDSOME folk. I mean our generation are the most tolerant and accepting, ever, and we should all aspire to live in a world where self expression and free speech is championed.”

“In terms of references when recording, we were listening to so much female, queer pop and dance music, we wanted the tempo and whole feel of the song to get people moving. Not only do we love this music but we also want to be a band for 2020 and the future, so we wanted to move away from the sounds of the new wave bands that inspired our formation and songwriting.”

Having gained notoriety for their drama-filled and unpredictable live shows, touring with the likes of Interpol, The Joy Formidable and Sports Team, Walt Disco have been widely praised over the past 12 months by i-D, Paste, NME, DIY Magazine, LOVE Magazine, Clash Magazine, and The Line Of Best Fit – as well as receiving key airplay from BBC Radio 1 and 6Music.

Walt Disco’s new single “Cut Your Hair” is out now. Walt Disco will release their debut EP, later this year (2020).

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