For the previously unveiled The Enemy I Know, the introductory single to their upcoming EP, Hold On To Yourself, Nashville duo, Friendship Commanders, have come up with a great and sharp looking video on which they continue expressing their high esteem for nineties alternative rock, just like they do with the music itself.

The clip was directed, shot and edited by the band's own Jerry Roe, who also performs in it alongside his bandmate, Buick Audra, as well as Ashley Wolfe and Jay Tooke.

The grunge rock forcefulness that the song adroitly carries is now presented in its most fully realized form, and matched up to the video's visuals and aesthetics.

Produced by Kurt Ballou, Hold On To Yourself will be out April 3rd, 2020 through Trimming The Shield Records.




Directed, shot, and edited by Jerry Roe


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New York lo-fi shoegaze act, Llollyanna, reveal Ragdoll Physics, a great new piece which was recorded during the writing sessions for their upcoming album, and later discarded. Black Adderall, their anticipated full length is expected out later in 2020.

The new song will be available as a free download through the band's Bandcamp, All Llollyanna ask in return is for anyone who pays for their music to instead use the $1 to donate to their local animal shelter.

"Animal shelters have been hit hard by COVID-19 and need all the help they can get," the band state. "I'd also like to add that the animals in these shelters were sitting in their cages before this crisis and many will be sitting there long after the coronavirus is gone. They'll just be sitting there, watching each day go by. So if you are currently self quarantined with the luxury of working from home, please consider calling your local shelter and adopting some company for yourself."

Musically the song carries the psychedelic dreampop dirt that Llollyanna's listeners would expect, heavy on distortion and sweet sounding like every time, and makes one wonder about how such a strong track could be cut off the coming LP.


 

Cover photo by W. Griswold



LLOLLYANNA Soundcloud | Youtube | Twitter


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Having previously introduced it with Uska, a nine-minute piece of post metal massiveness and superiority, Dutch band, Gavran, release their debut album, Still Unavailing, which by all means is no less impressive.

Comprised of four lengthy compositions, all named with intriguing single-word titles, the album bears resemblance to the doom/sludge metal grandness of bands like YOB and Ufomammut, while the darker artcore character of their sound and their existential themes and properties hint to the heavy-hearted weight of Amenra, the despair of Thou and the sonic assault of Cult of Luna. Evidently the strong influence of genre all-time greats, Neurosis and Isis, is constantly at play, in addition to the stoner metal muddiness which brings to mind Sleep and Bongzilla.

Despite the extensive mentioning of all these heavy hitters, there is not a single moment in Gavran's first full length that feels derivative or dull. On the contrary, the band seem more than able to combine melody with extremity and they deliver with consummate skill what feels like a momentous release for them which can easily stand next to the highest peaks of sludge and post metal.

Growling vocals and immense instrumentals come together through a piercing style of production by Tim de Gieter, and form an eclectic twister of strong emotions and impressions. Opener Mjera, the seven and a half-minute piece of riff-heavy stoner rocking charge which happens to be the album's shortest track, hits hard from the very start before it curves into a beguiling gothic chant for the discontented, only to snap back into full on ferocious mode for its climax. The tense highlight Uska is followed by the epic punk severity of Novo which curiously verges on black metal, while the majestic closer, Kravata, dazzles on two levels and in two parts: in a slow burning, tension-building and grimy manner for the first seven minutes, and hauntingly for the remaining six, closing the record on a high note.

"The main theme of the album is time, existence and life and death," the band remark. "It’s about realizing that these things only move forward and that you do not have control all the time. That there are good moments on one hand, but dark alleyways may follow or already have been followed on the other. It’s about the fact that you may lose or already have lost loved ones and realizing that someday your own existence will end too."

"Mercilessly it moves in one direction," Gavran gracefully describe the new album. "Its path laid with triumph, but also congested with doubts and loss as it goes, with one absolute certainty somewhere along the way: all things culminate."





Cover art by Noor van Rooyen



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The 22nd edition of Stream And Destroy finds the world at its darkest and most dystopian version in a long time, and compiles a dozen of the finest from March 2020, this time through a bit of a heavier as well as more mental direction.

The great Belgian post hardcore trio, Brutus, released a new single that follows the same path as the very much emotional Nest from 2019, mingling a few diverse styles and cutting through deeply like every time. San Francisco punks Western Addiction join forces with producer Jack Shirley and introduced their coming LP, Frail Bray, with a dynamite of a track about “degenerate art in the 1920s and 30s.” Psychedelic stoner rockers, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, also have a new album ready for release, and from all appearances thus far it is going to make quite an impact.

Comprised of members of Full of Hell, Backslider and Triac, super heavy band, Eye Flys, will follow their 2019 EP with a full length for which the bar has already been set very high, while heavy rock veterans, Old Man Gloom, released an electric new album which combines the production talents of three big names, Matt Bayles (Minus The Bear, Mastodon, Isis), Kurt Ballou (Converge), and Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth). Rising Brit punks, Milk Teeth, unveiled a fantastic grunge rocker as a single ahead of their self-titled sophomore LP which was just released in its entirety.

Dutch band Radar Men From The Moon – now stylized as RMFTM, don’t stay enough within the constraints of a specific genre, and try their hand at a more post punk-bent sound as they make way for their upcoming sixth album, The Bestial Light.

Consistently weird and very productive, Tropical Fuck Storm, keep delivering, this time with the help of Amy Taylor of Amyl and The Sniffers, Dan Kelly and Sean Powell of Surfbort, and impress again with a peculiar track themed on cults.

Indie rock veterans, Throwing Muses, return from a seven year absence only to prove that the band hasn’t lost its ability to influence and inspire, with the new single Dark Blue sounding very engaging. New York’s Activity, comprised of members from Grooms, Field Mouse and Russian Baths, have a very intriguing debut full length out, recorded and mixed by Psychic TV’s Jeff Berner, while Canadian duo, Bysts, have put out a new single, once again showcasing their genre mixing qualities through a full sound that appears all dark, rich and mesmeric.

Chicago’s Dead Lucid make the most of their psych-bent and very much vigorous post punk sound on their new EP, Desolation, which opens with a haunting and notably Joy Division-esque piece, setting the right mood for the rest of the solid five-song release.




01. Brutus - Sand
02. Western Addiction - They Burned Our Paintings
03. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Rubbernecker
04. Eye Flys - Guillotine
05. Old Man Gloom - EMF
06. Milk Teeth - Better
07. Radar Men from the Moon - Eden In Reverse
08. Tropical Fuck Storm - Suburbiopia
09. Throwing Muses - Dark Blue
10. Activity - Nude Prince
11. Bysts - Spread Out
12. Dead Lucid - Romance









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With their new album, Interloper, previously announced and now rescheduled for release on July 3rd, 2020, Texan band, Holy Wave unveil another piece of new music, the slower and very much tuneful psychedelic cut, Escapism.

Notably melodious and more expansive even for the band's mind-altering standards, the new song takes psychedelic dreampop to another more kaleidoscopic and dreamier level, and it excels for its harmonious vocals and consummately rich production. The band says that the new song reads "as a sonnet," admitting the proclivity to "cut and run when things get intense."

Fittingly abstract and kaleidoscopic is the video which accompanies the song, directed by Andy Ray Lemon. The clip was filmed during the upcoming album's recording sessions, and features distorted scenes of the band performing, and from a toy museum in Tokyo, Japan.

Interloper will be Holy Wave's fourth album, and it's expected out through Reverberation Appreciation Society.





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Hamburg-based indie pop duo, Kraków Loves Adana, follow their recent single, Follow The Voice, which was produced by Johnny Jewel, with new track, Young Again, released through Italians Do It Better, once again bringing together indie rock, synthpop and electronica to a seamless blend that naturally gravitates toward the more wistful side of dreampop.

Vocalist Deniz Çiçek comments on her band's new endeavor: "Young Again reminisces about youth and the time when anxiety, overthinking and unhealthy relationships were holding you down. Memories might be dark and painful, but you realize how strong you emerged from the experience - with that bittersweet understanding that you'll never be young again."

The charming, cinematic clip which comes with the song was shot in Malmö, Sweden and directed by another indie pop stalwart from another melancholic duo, Ebba G. Ågren of Wy.



 

Video filmed & directed by Ebba G. Ågren


Kraków Loves Adana Spotify | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram


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italiansdoitbetter.com



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