SKOPE NEWS FOR AUGUST 4, 2016

Kungs comes back with new single ‘Don’t You Know’ feat Jamie N Commons

The highly-anticipated new single from Kungs has now been released; ‘Don’t You Know’ is the follow up to the 19-year old French producer’s global no1 success, ‘This Girl’.

‘Don’t You Know’ features many of the elements that made ‘This Girl’ so universally loved, as Kungs further refines his unique musical style. The track is led by strong, soulful male vocals, also featuring a catchy guitar line and live brass chords, underpinned by a stomping beat. The result is a clever, laid-back, summery track with dancefloor power, cementing Kungs’ characteristic sound.

ONE OF IRELAND’S MOST BELOVED BANDS RETURNS WITH SEVENTH STUDIO ALBUM

Irish band, Bell X1, undoubtedly one of Ireland’s most beloved bands, is back with their seventh studio album, ARMS, out October 14, 2016. ARMS is the follow up to their 2013 critically acclaimed album Chop Chop, which became the trio’s third #1 album on the Irish Album Charts and their fourth consecutive album to be nominated for a Choice Music Prize for “Irish Album of the Year.”

ARMS is a nine-song collection radiating with shabby grace and soft-focus elegance, but there’s also a bruised, bittersweet, romantic mood throughout. Melancholic and lovelorn in places but also spirited, determined and optimistic which speaks volumes about how the band has grown sonically over their storied career. “This has been the most difficult record we’ve made, in terms of feeling like it was good enough to share, to let it go and no longer be just ours. That we’d made something different to what’s come before” says Noonan. “I know we’ve been crazed with doubt, occasional bum steers and misguided conviction along the way and we say thank you to those who’ve calmed the waters…”

Lupe Fuentes latest release “Cabana” on Lost Records

LA-based DJ/Producer Lupe Fuentes collaborates with 2 Sides of Soul for her latest track Cabana. Released on Lost Records, for their Lost Summer Selection compilation, the Colombian native and Italian duo come together to create a tech-house track crafted for loud speakers and a groovy audience. Having just released The Drugs earlier in the month on her In the Loop imprint, Fuentes takes a sultrier approach on her Lost Records debut. Joining her on this single is Giacomo Donati and Andrea Corbinelli, the members of 2 Sides of Soul. Started in 2012, the pair have been shaping sounds with a range of influences from rock to deep house.

ARIANA GRANDE RELEASES NEW “INTO YOU” A CAPELLA LYRIC VIDEO

Within less than a year, ARIANA GRANDE captured #1 on the Billboard Top 200 twice—first with her Republic Records debut Yours Truly and also with its 2014 follow-up My Everything.

ERIC CHURCH’S JOURNEY EMULATED IN HIGHWAY TO HOME

The Highway to Home Collection, an original furniture line created by Eric Church, is now available at RoomsToGo locations and additional select retail outlets. The collection was inspired by Church’s love of the road and exploration of the world combined with family traditions and the comforts that allow the most important adventures to happen…the ones in our homes.

On Church’s 2006 debut album, Sinners Like Me, the man The Washington Post would later call “a born balladeer,” bore his worst fears in the lyrics of the autobiographical album cut, “What I Almost Was,” reminiscing, “Yeah, I moved on back home and came awful close / To being some son-in-law to some CEO / Coulda been a corner office, country club, suit and tie man / Answerin’ to no one but her and him.” It was an ode to the life he relinquished when choosing to pursue a career in music instead of claiming his role at the booming family furniture business in Granite Falls, N.C. Soon after his move to Music City, a certain Music Row publisher’s advice that he should “just pack it up and move back home” ultimately had the singer/songwriter questioning his decision. Church persevered, shortly thereafter landing a record deal proving the naysayer wrong. Three albums later he cemented his first of many No. 1 hits along with his first of seven GRAMMY nominations with his watershed release, Chief.

STAY WARM Festival 2016 Lineup Announced

The STAY WARM lineup features SILVERSTEIN, American Nightmare, Citizen, Code Orange, Coldfront, Rarity on the 17th & PROTEST THE HERO, The Flatliners, A Wilhelm Scream, Cyclamen, River Oaks, Sparrows on the 18th.

Founded in 2015 by Silverstein, STAY WARM highlights and brings together likeminded underground acts in the heavy metal and rock genre, with the goal of raising the profile of the collective music scene in Toronto. With 6 acts performing per day (Silverstein will headline on December 17, with Protest the Hero on December 18), the goal is to showcase a diverse and talented set of Canadian and Internationally acclaimed artists.

MusicianFinder.com Website Launches to Help Connect Musicians

Whether you want to call it an incredible act of altruism or just an unprecedented level of cooperation across the industry, multiple music media companies have banded together to launch MusicianFinder.com. MusicPlayers.com, the online magazine for serious musicians, along with media partners including Guitar World, Guitar Player, Bass Player, Keyboard, Electronic Musician, and The Deli Magazine, are introducing a new website focused on helping musicians find other musicians for their various musical activities.

Whether you’re looking to join a band or find new members for your existing band, collaborate on recording projects locally or across the Internet, connect with producers/engineers, or just find a casual jam session, MusicianFinder.com intends to be the only place musicians ever need to look online to find collaborators. If you’re a student forming your first band, a wedding band seeking temp players, or an established pro holding auditions for a touring indie band, MusicianFinder.com understands your different needs.

MUDDY MAGNOLIAS DEBUT ALBUM

Broken People, the debut full-length album from acclaimed duo Muddy Magnolias, will be released October 14 on Third Generation Records.

Produced by Rick Beato (with additional production by Mario Marchetti and Butch Walker), the 11-track album was recorded in Atlanta, GA and Nashville, TN in late spring 2016. In addition to “Brother, What Happened?” highlights include the album’s closing track, “Leave It To The Sky,” which features special guest John Legend on piano and vocals.

GAIKA Signs To Warp Records, Shares New Track

One of the most incendiary and subversive new voices in music joins the Warp roster, as GAIKA debuts a new song, “3D”. A weaponised synthesis of GAIKA’s unflinching lyrics, concussive industrial percussion and apocalyptic dancehall swagger it is an affront to the oppressive forces at work in the world.

Cherub – “Bleed Gold, Piss Excellence”

Nashville duo Cherub recently released new title track, “Bleed Gold, Piss Excellence” off their forthcoming sophomore album out this fall via Columbia Records.

Cherub performed on The Bud Light Stage at Lollapalooza this past weekend and will be embarking on a 50-date headlining tour this fall following Lollapalooza.

Makari Unveil New Video for “Melt”

Progressive-rock outfit Makari, based in Tampa, FL are thrilled to partner with Alternative Press to unveil their latest single and music video for “Melt,” a first for the band featuring their new vocalist, former Rise Records artist, Spencer Pearson best known for his time in VersaEmerge and Decoder. The video was shot and edited by Joey Durango at Durango Films and details a deep love for someone and wanting them to do well and be well, even though the relationship has fizzled. The band continues, “The song is intended to connect with anyone who’s ever had someone in their life that made their heart melt. It’s about that ecstatic feeling, the realization of the power people and emotions can have over you.” The song is off the bands forthcoming, unreleased EP which was recorded and mixed with Paul Hundeby and mastered by Emily Lazar (Sia, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Circa Survive).

TRIO (DOLLY PARTON, LINDA RONSTADT, AND EMMYLOU HARRIS) DEBUT LYRIC VIDEO FOR ALTERNATE VERSION OF “WILDFLOWERS”

Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris have premiered a new lyric video for an unreleased alternate version of “Wildflowers.” The Parton-penned track, which was originally released on their 1987 collaboration Trio, is featured on the upcoming three-CD set THE COMPLETE TRIO COLLECTION. The video can be viewed here and the track is also available now at digital retailers.

SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN SHARES “WINDOWS” VIDEO VIA STEREOGUM

Joshua Tree-based duo Sugar Candy Mountain have shared the video for their track “Windows” on Stereogum. It’s off their new album, 666, which is out now on People In A Position To Know. The song was inspired by Wool, a 60s band from upstate New York. Sugar Candy Mountain’s Ash Reiter wrote “Windows” inspired by Wool’s song “If They Left Us Alone Now” that she couldn’t get out of her head. She loved the vocals, especially the “cool falsetto note that hangs on the edge of breaking. I wanted to emulate that.”

Sugar Candy Mountain – “Windows” Video

Eluvium shares operatic track “Regenerative Being” via Stereogum

Cognitive dissonance is, at this point, an everyday part of modern society. The difference between belief and reality is blurrier than ever, and there is often sufficient manipulation to both so as to make the distinction intentionally unclear. The source of those manipulations can either be external, or deceptively internal.

The Regrettes return with new single

Perfectly imperfect – that’s one way to describe LA based punk act, The Regrettes. Writing songs that proudly bear a brazen and unabashed attitude in the vein of acts Courtney Barnett or Karen O – with a pop aesthetic reminiscent of 50’s and 60’s acts a la the Temptations or Buddy Holly – the LA based four piece create infectious, punk driven tracks.

Lead by outspoken frontwoman, Lydia Night, and comprised of Genessa Gariano on guitar, Sage Nicole on bass and drummer Maxx Morando, the group have left the LA rock scene floored, managing to capture the hearts of jaded rock critics while opening for acts like Kate Nash, Jack Off Jill, Bleached, Pins, Deep Vally and more. With nothing but demos available online, the group are already beginning to generate hype, from outlets like NPR, and with NYLON already heralding them them as a “punk act you should be listening to”.

Cool Ghouls share third track “Spectator”

Empty Cellar Records is stoked to announce the third full-length release by San Francisco’s Cool Ghouls, Animal Races. Fans of their self-titled debut and 2014’s A Swirling Fire Burning Through the Rye will be similarly stoked to hear how this band has continued to evolve. If the first album was a celebratory debut, and the second an earnest venture into deeper waters… this third album is like the crystal born of the murky womb that was the second, fertilized by the initial intention of the first. Not only have the ghouls reaped the crop they sowed; they’ve baked it into some new kind of bread!

Cool Ghouls – Spectator [Premiere]

Arc Iris Premiere “Paint With The Sun” with SPIN

Today, SPIN premiered “Paint With The Sun,” the second song to be released from the forthcoming album. Writer Matt Malone said “The Providence-based trio writes astronomical music, with vast diversity in instrumentation, lyrical themes, and melodies,” and continues, “With the mythologizing pen of Joanna Newsom and the brass sections of Florence and the Machine, Arc Iris widens a story to a moral epic.”

DUA LIPA PERFORMED U.S. TV DEBUT ON THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON

Rising UK music artist Dua Lipa will release her highly anticipated debut album on February 10 via Warner Bros. Records. This announcement comes on the heels of Dua’s U.S. television debut last night, performing her hit song “Hotter Than Hell” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Dear Boy Share ‘Parts Of A Flower’ EP with NYLON

Los Angeles-based band Dear Boy will release their sophomore EP Parts Of A Flower on August 5, 2016 via Easy Hell. The EP which was produced by Doug Boehm (Girls) is streaming in full at NYLON ahead of Friday’s release date. NYLON says, “the EP, which contains four tracks, flawlessly showcases its roots in early ’90s Britpop and late ’80’s post-punk with a modern and subdued indie spirit that carries across each song.” Parts Of A Flower is availabe to pre-order now via iTunes. Dear Boy has a hometown EP release show tonight at The Roxy in Los Angeles.

Former EMMURE Guitarist Jesse Ketive Produces New VIBRATER Track “New Era of Terror”

Emerging from the depths of New York City and featuring founding members of industrial metal veterans Bile, newly formed hardcore metal band VIBRATER are ready to take back the NYC heavy metal scene with their upcoming currently-untitled album, produced by former Emmure guitarist Jesse Ketive. VIBRATER combines the styles of EDM-influenced metal with old school punk and hardcore origins to create a sound that is altogether heavy and unforgiving.

VIBRATER’s 10 track debut will be out later this year, but today, you can hear a sample of the new music via the band’s new music video for “New Era of Terror”, directed by Mike Zinn and John Ricca.

TENDER SHARE NEW TRACK

Drawn to the darkness that love inspires within people, “Outside” is the latest cut from North-London Tender and the first track to be shared from Partisan Records newest signing.

Operating out of their basement studio, Tender (made up of James Cullen and Dan Cobb) create beautifully seductive, dark electronica. Taking their influence from the likes of Caribou and Tame Impala, they warp hypnotic, pulsating and expansive synths with sultry, R&B vocals.

HEATERS PREMIERE FULL STREAM OF ALBUM VIA BROOKLYN VEGAN

Less than a year after the release of Holy Water Pool– Heaters’ debut, a crushing, revelatory psycho-surf-rock anointment-as-album – there are no apparent signs of distress to the engine that powers this Michigan-made vehicle of sound. To the contrary, Heaters are operating at a higher horsepower than ever before, as evidenced by the 2016 release of Baptistina.

salute Premieres New ‘Storm’ Video

Today sees hotly tipped artist/producer salute release the video for his new single ‘Storm’ having premiered via The FADER. It is the second track to be taken from his impending My Heart mini-album and the follow up to the D.R.A.M. featuring hit ‘One More Chance’. Check out the premiere here and view/share the video via YouTube here. ‘Storm’ sees salute doing what he does best; perfectly balancing soulful melodic top lines & honeyed vocals with swirling synths and rattling percussion. The track is set to continue to cement salute’s position as one of the most exciting talents in electronica right now.

Stream new MAMMOTH WEED WIZARD BASTARD song “Y Proffwyd Dwyll”

Welsh cosmic doom outfit MAMMOTH WEED WIZARD BASTARD have just revealed the title track off their second album Y Proffwyd Dwyll, due out September 30th on New Heavy Sounds. It is streaming exclusively on Metal Hammer today.

GROUPLOVE PERFORM “WELCOME TO YOUR LIFE” ON JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE

In case you missed it, last night Grouplove performed their new single “Welcome To Your Life” on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

HALSHUG: Cvlt Nation Premieres “Udskud”

As Copenhagen-based HALSHUG prepares their second LP Sort Sind for release through Southern Lord in September, the band liberates the first single from the record with a premiere at Cvlt Nation, while simultaneously announcing their first East Coast live dates.

Premiere Streaming HALSHUG “Udskud” + Tour News

Que Billah – “Survive”

Off the back of the single release, Que Billah has dropped the full music video to “Survive,” featuring Kora Green. Drawing on inspiration from the likes of Back To The Future and Quantum Leap, Que travels through time to deliver his message of Black resiliency in the face of widespread oppression. Equal parts tongue-in-cheek and impactful, “Survive” as a music video is a trip worth taking into Que’s lyrical abilities and persona as a performer, whose perspective embodies the current state of Chicago’s varied hip hop scene.

The Ramona Flowers share Skies Turn Gold video

The Ramona Flowers have just released their stunning new video for ‘Skies Turn Gold.’ Directed by Fx Goby the visual is inspired by the lyric in the song “don’t wake me up from this.” Creative Director Tom Bird explains, “This video is about embracing what we are or what we can be, the notion that there are hidden characters within us, bright creatures that are waiting for the right moment to come out and shine.”

EDDIE VEDDER & KELLY SLATER ANNOUNCE

This year marks the debut of Ohana– a two-day music festival at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, CA– featuring performances by Eddie Vedder, Lana Del Rey, Elvis Costello, Band Of Horses and tons more. Produced by Live Nation and SGE, the festival will take place on Saturday, August 27 and Sunday, August 28.

The night prior to the event, Friday, August 26th, Eddie Vedder and Kelly Slater will be throwing The Ohana Luau – a kick-off celebration at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, CA. A night of inspiration and entertainment, the event will be hosted by ‘The Roast Master’ himself Jeff Ross, alongside Eddie Vedder, Kelly Slater and friends. A portion of the proceeds will benefit The San Onofre Parks Foundation, a California non-profit that cooperatively works with California State Parks to develop, preserve and enhance the recreation and experience of California’s unique and beautiful coastal parks. California State Parks-Orange Coast District and the San Onofre Parks Foundation are excited about this opportunity for a fundraising event, specifically focused on the protection and enhancement of public recreational resources along the California coast. It is their mutual mission to preserve these world treasures for the citizens of California.

The Album Leaf shares rippling track “Lost In the Fog”

Electronic / ambient / rock pioneers The Album Leaf recently announced their forthcoming Relapse debut Between Waves, set for an August 26th release date. The album’s eight tracks were winnowed down from thirty, and it shows: each song is memorable and unique, all speaking in The Album Leaf’s singular voice while expressing themselves through a wide variety of different sounds and emotions.

AMERICANA ARTIST CHAKRA BLEU RELEASES ALBUM ‘OUR OWN PARADISE’

Hit Americana artist Chakra Bleu takes listeners to a tropical island paradise with a breezy, uplifting album that includes an eclectic mix of Reggae, Rock and R&B.

Bleu’s eighth CD, “Our Own Paradise”, features a dozen original songs that were penned during her songwriting retreats in the mountainous regions of the American East and West. The project was recorded in Nashville with contributions from veteran musicians bassist/engineer John Billings, drummer Brice Foster, keyboardist Ronnie Godfrey, guitarist Paul Allen, saxophonist Dana Robbins, trumpeter Scott Ducaj, and trombonist Chris Dunn.

LOTUS THIEF to Release New Album

LOTUS THIEF is a San Francisco band that merges post-black metal, space rock and ambient music, seamlessly blending the genres into a unique and greater musical whole. Originated by two members of celebrated “green metal” group BOTANIST – drummer Otrebor and multi-instrumentalist / composer Bezaelith — LOTUS THIEF is its own entity; a project with a stated purpose of “lauding knowledge and illuminating ancient words and art through song”. The group will release its new album, Gramarye, on September 16 via Prophecy Productions.

O.A.R. MARK 20th ANNIVERSARY WITH “XX”

Marking two decades of making records and playing sold-out concerts around the world since the band was founded in 1996 in Rockville, Maryland, O.A.R.(….of a revolution) — primary songwriter Marc Roberge, drummer Chris Culos, guitarist Richard On, bassist Benj Gershman and saxophonist/guitarist Jerry DePizzo – release their new 24 track, half studio, half live collection XX, via Vanguard Records, this Friday, August 5th. The career-spanning collection of O.A.R.’s biggest hits and select live performances features two new songs: “Follow Me, Follow You” and the lead single “I Go Through” which the band performed on the Today Show last week. As Roberge told Today Show host Hoda Kolb before launching into the song, “When we were coming up with the idea for the album, I looked at my kids and I realized I have one responsibility in the world to them… to move forward. Be an example to them. The song’s about not standing still, especially now in the climate we’re in.” Later in the show, the band returned to perform their smash hit “Shattered”.