@skopemag news – wednesday – march 10, 2021 @ 5 pm est

@skopemag HQ – http://smarturl.it/skope

New Pagans release video for ‘Harbour’

Acclaimed Belfast band New Pagans have released a brand new video for their latest single ‘Harbour’, taken from their upcoming debut album The Seed, The Vessel, The Roots and All, which will be out March 19th via Big Scary Monsters.

The band have also unveiled a very special livestream event, taking place in the city they played their first ever show together – Derry City, in the far north of Ireland. The event will begin at 8pm on album release day at the city’s musical hub, The Nerve Centre, and will be available to view completely free for fans that sign up for a ticket here. Signing up to the band’s mailing list in the process will unveil an additional treat – to be revealed soon.

Bongeziwe Mabandla unveils stunning ‘Masiziyekelele’ visuals

South African musician Bongeziwe Mabandla has today released a new visual for his track “Masiziyekelele”, taken from his acclaimed 2020 album iimini.

The visual was shot in Nirox Scupture Park, situated in South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind in northwest Johannesburg. The Park’s arbors, walkways and hilly backdrop have provided a hushed, exquisite context for the performance of one of Mabandla’s most affecting love songs.

Xenia Rubinos Shares Video For New Track “Did My Best”, Listen + Watch Now

New York City artist and singer Xenia Rubinos has shared the cinematic new track “Did My Best” today. Directed by filmmaker and photographer Mario Rubén Carrión, the song’s new video features Rubinos as a woman at a New Year’s Eve party who clearly doesn’t want to be there and is out of touch with everyone celebrating around her. She abandons the party, climbing up to a rooftop where under a sky full of fireworks she prepares to jump off. Things take a surreal turn in a car sequence featuring choreography by Kate Watson Wallace ending on an empty beach boardwalk where she walks into the dark ocean.

JOANA SERRAT – Announces New Album ‘Hardcore From The Heart’ + Releases Lead Single ‘Pictures’

10.03.2021 Catalan singer-songwriter Joana Serrat returns with new album ‘Hardcore From The Heart’, out June 11, 2021 on Loose Music. The sublime lead single ‘Pictures’ is available now, listen/pre-order here.

Serrat’s fifth album, ‘Hardcore From The Heart’ is the follow-up to 2017’s acclaimed ‘Dripping Springs’ (“…sounds like an alliance of Mazzy Star and Slowdive – now imagine that, and it gets better.” Americana UK). For the recording, Serrat travelled from her home in Vic, a small city near Barcelona, to Redwood Studio in Denton, Texas, where she teamed up with engineer and producer Ted Young (Kurt Vile, Sonic Youth, Lee Ranaldo).

Jane Inc. (U.S. Girls, Darlene Shrugg) | Shares new single – album out next Friday

Toronto’s Jane Inc. (aka Carlyn Bezic, best known for her work with U.S. Girls and Darlene Shrugg) is today sharing her new single, “Obliterated” which comes just ahead of her debut album Number One, out March 19 via Telephone Explosion Records.

Ya Tseen shares the official video for “Knives” feat. Portugal. The Man’s John Baldwin Gourley

Indian Yard is an intense illumination of feeling and interconnectedness. Following the group’s debut offering, “Close the Distance”, comes the new single and stop-motion animated official video for “Knives.” Directed by Carlos Cruz at Dos Dios productions, the song features guest vocals from Portugal. The Man frontman, John Baldwin Gourley. As described by the group’s frontman, Nicholas Galanin, “Knives is a love song about softening a calloused heart and experiencing the edge of magnetic desire, romantic connection, vulnerability, and risk that love opens us up to.” You can watch the video for “Knives” by clicking here.

Doss returns with “Puppy,” first new music in seven years

“I had an ex once who called me Puppy, you know what I mean,” says Doss. “I had fallen in love with their family and friends while we were together, so it wasn’t just about the person or the breakup with them, but about losing the whole world that had been so vibrant and intimate and important and familial. We had been broken up for a while, like maybe three months, and I got invited to a birthday party and decided to drive last minute. Driving back at 2 a.m. to Maryland, I was sort of parsing through how sweet and welcoming they had been, but how I knew that it would never be like how it was before and what to do with all of those feelings. There’s nothing like the feeling of a solitary night drive home, thinking about life.”

iogi’s stacked harmonies groove on “everything’s worth it” via Raw Tapes (Tel Aviv’s leading beat label)

Over the course of the last decade, iogi has established himself as a musical Swiss army knife and one of his city’s most versatile and prolific artists with fans at Dublab, We Are The Guard, The Most Radicalist, and more. On “everything’s worth it,” his immense talent and musicality are on full display. Taking cues from The Bee Gees’ smooth-talking groove, the song is easy on ears while still boasting iogi’s distinctly percussive and bright vocals. There’s no way it’s anyone but him singing in front of that blazing sun. iogi makes city pop meets quirky psych-rock, akin to artists like Benny Sings, Mk. Gee, or Jerry Paper.

Smith / Kotzen share third single ‘Running’

Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen have unveiled ‘Running’, the third single to be taken from the eagerly anticipated debut album Smith/Kotzen out March 26th.

Adrian says of the song, “It’s a really cool sort of driving track, one of the heavier ones on the album and we’re excited to get it out there ahead of the album release. We’ve both been thrilled by the reaction to our music so far and are very much looking forward to meeting up again as soon as we can, to write some more songs together.”

SETH Unveils New Album Details, Shares First Single

French black metal pioneers SETH have teamed up with Black Metal Promotion for the release of their brand new single, “La Morsure du Christ!” The band’s self-titled album is set for worldwide release on May 7 via Season of Mist.

Tunic – New Single Alert: “Invalid”

Pursuing music can be a form of invalid recreation. You’re extremely proud of yourself and at the same time it feels like a hopeless hobby where you’re putting your body through the ringer.

Our new track, “Invalid,” addresses the constant feeling of judgement from your peers, parents, and more importantly yourself. There is a guilt you feel for allowing your adolescent dreams to run your adult life.

Kalbells Share Dreamy New Single “Diagram Of Me Sleeping” from ‘Max Heart’ Out March 26 on NNA Tapes

Each track from Max Heart excavates love and creativity from a new and surprising ventricle of life—and “Diagram” fits right in as a lofty ode to sleep, brought to reality with jazzy bedroom-pop melodies, swoony sax, and playfully surreal lyricism. Traver explains how the song came to fruition: “I woke up one morning and my legs felt relaxed and pillowy like two lovers tangled together in mindless warmth and it was pleasant beyond the sensical and I wrote this song. I’ve come to crave sleep almost like love itself. Sleep is where so much of our creativity happens, in dreams & in the spaces between them. I love thinking of my body as a landscape, and sleep is the time I get to roam it freely.”

Sara Watkins To Release “Under The Pepper Tree” March 26th – SPIN Premieres “Night Singing” Video Today

Today, SPIN has premiered the video for “Night Singing,” an original song written by Sara. Under The Pepper Tree found inspiration by Sara’s appearance on SPIN’s Lullaby Sessions Instagram Live series. She says, “Interestingly enough, my friend Ben Lee recommended me for the SPIN Lullaby Sessions on Instagram Live right when the shutdown happened. I loved this and immediately thought I’ll do ‘Blue Shadows on the Trail’ and ‘The Second Star to the Right.’ I did an Instagram poll where fans reminded me of ‘La La Lu’ and a couple other songs. Once I did the Lullaby Sessions, that got me thinking about what other songs I would do. Pretty quickly, I started to put together an album and the whole thing started taking shape from there.”

OUT TODAY for Skope: Catch Prichard revisits their folk-country roots on hypnotic, resonant new single, “Woman”

“Woman” is also a testament to what is innately in us as humans, and what we naturally fight against as people. Humans are instinctually goal oriented; we like to see things through til the end, and when we don’t, there is a nagging feeling of loss or wonderment of what could have been. “Woman” is about this idea, in the form of a fictional 24-hour relationship in L.A. The narrator recounts the conversations and events in this short time, and the aftermath one lives through after these “rare, beautiful, humanistic” encounters. It’s representative of the songs that comprise I Still Miss Teresa Benoit, Catch Prichard’s most expansive album to date, which weaves the divergent musical genres and literary themes that have influenced the band’s career. The record is structured as a delicate arc that slowly climbs, and gracefully falls.

Kayla Diamond Drops New Track “50/50”

Kayla Diamond’s newest single, “50/50,” is a love song about the listener. It’s an homage to self-esteem, as Kayla explains, sometimes you need to show yourself some love, even if it means hurting someone else.

Lily Konigsberg Announces The Best of Lily Konigsberg Right Now

Lily Konigsberg: singer, instrumentalist, lifelong songwriter. Since her early childhood, the Brooklyn-born-and-based artist has occupied her time with music. “Basically I was born and immediately started wanting to be a rock star,” Konigsberg told Pitchfork in July of last year (she was a 2020 Pitchfork Rising Artist). By the time she won a five-borough battle-of-the-bands contest as a teenager Konigsberg had already been performing solo sets in cafes around her native Park Slope, and in 2013 she would link with fellow Bard classmates Nina Ryser and Ani Ivry-Block to form the egalitarian art-punk outfit Palberta, a beloved DIY scene fixture who have recently come to wider attention on the back of their critically-acclaimed 2021 album Palberta5000.

HANDS DOWN drops dreamy and bittersweet debut single ‘TOO LATE’

An elegant, dreamy pop song, ‘Too Late’ is the debut single of Swedish artist Hands Down (aka Filip Sjörgren). A producer and engineer by day, Sjogren’s subtle touches throughout the track mean that the song blooms over several listens, from the strings, to the shivering bass line to the light and airy melodies that suck you in.

The single is accompanied by a music video that metaphors the songs bittersweet message. In the end “Too Late” is a little sad, but that doesn’t stop it having effortless charm, and being sweet, breezy pop infused with the warmest of glows.

‘Too Late’ was released February 25 via Hands Down’s label Youth Recordings.

THE LONELY ONES New Single “Change the Station” Out Now!

Hard rock band The Lonely Ones have announced tour dates this summer that begin on Thursday August 19th in Indianapolis, IN at Hi-Fi and conclude on September 12th in Braidwood, IL at The Top Fuel Saloon. The band currently has a brand new single, “Change the Station,” going for adds at active rock radio, with 9 stations added in the first week.

THUNDER HORSE: watch new video “Chosen One”!

San Antonio doom-laden heavy metal purveyors THUNDER HORSE are all set to release their brand new album ‘Chosen One’ this Friday 12th March on Ripple Music, and unleash the official video for the album title track exclusively via Doomed and Stoned!

[out today] Black Light Smoke Shares Single + Video for “North Korea” (Electronic, EBM, Post-Punk)

“The Early Years” is a retrospective of Black Light Smoke’s formative beginnings. Written mostly in 2010, before Black Light Smoke was a dance music name. These songs reflect a period of unfiltered creativity and adventure in the artist’s development. Not bound to any genre, this album begs for repeated listens to uncover the aural mysteries of disparate worlds.