Young folks focuses on the best, fresh folk, acoustic, singer-songwriter indie folk & alt-country jams. Turn it up Folks!
***boʒha=2 (Muisca numerical system)***
Stine Ringås
‘Fly Home’
[folk]
Press Notes:
Stine Ringås (29) is a trained jazz singer from Stavanger, Norway. “Fly Home” is a song about chasing your dreams and not knowing if you’ve already reached your limits, or if you´re destined for more. We all feel like giving in from time to time, wishing ourselves home, back to where you feel safe, when things get rough. At the same time you can’t give up. The song was created one evening when Stine felt just like this, and spent a lot of time wondering if what she has going for her now is all she´ll ever achieve, or if she´s got more coming her way.
Michigan Rattlers
‘Evergreen’
[folk]
Press Notes:
“Evergreen” follows “Didn’t You Know” & “Just Good Night,” the first two single from the Michigan Rattlers’ forthcoming Evergreen album. The record will be released on September 28th.
They have been touring all over the United States headlining shows and playing major festivals (Bonnaroo, Firefly, Americanafest, Electric Forest, among others). They’ll spend late September through mid-November on the road in support of Evergreen, including four album release concerts in LA; New York City; Chicago, IL; and Detroit, MI
All tour dates can be found at MichiganRattlers.com
Bluebird Wine
‘Smoke’
[acoustic/singer-songwriter]
Press Notes:
Indie songwriter who is often folksy, often weird, 100% DIY, and mostly acoustic. Known for unique vocal harmonies, guitar, piano, and occasional mandolin.
Not necessarily “sounds like,” but major influences include: Elliot Smith, First Aid Kit, Magnolia Electric Company, Andrew Bird, The Civil Wars, Aimee Mann, R.E.M., Emmylou Harris, The National, etc.
Catty Pearson
‘Electricity’
[folk/singer-songwriter]
Press Notes:
This song is part of an EP called ‘Time Tells Me’ which I am releasing gradually over the next 2 month, the first song being released on the 28th Sep is called ‘Electricity’, the second song being released on the 12th Oct is called ‘Time Tells Me’, and rest of the EP will be released on the 23rd October.
Catty has been recording her EP with Chris Kimsey of Olympic Sound Studios fame. He says “When you listen to Catty Pearson take a deep deep breath as her gracious soothing voice will take your blood pressure and heart beat to a new vista. Truly unspoilt a breath of Mother Earth.”
‘Time Tells Me’ is a collection of songs, which reflects the confusion she feels towards the material world. In inquisition of what the material world represents, Catty’s music is a beautiful and true mirror for us to all face.
https://www.instagram.com/cattypearson/
Beard Bates
‘Joyous Season’
[americana/indie]
Press Notes:
About this song:
Multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter/producer Beard Bates will release another single from his forthcoming album The World Is Blown – listen to the track “Joyous Season.”
This hypnotic dark Alt-Country / psychedelic Western song is a unique and provocative pairing of poetry, voice and accompaniment, the latter which was interestingly provided by the late post-hardcore band “The Icarus Line.” Waylon Jennings traveling the astral realm might just sound like this. The track characterizes the diversity and lush musical landscapes found on The World Is Blown, which will be released on November 9, 2018.
The music video for the track (Director of Photography: Lourdes Vondrion) will be released Oct 5, 2018.
Artist’s words on the song:
This was a spontaneously written song, and I’m very fond of the poetic lyric nature of it. It was an acoustic demo track for a while before I showed it to Joe Cardamone, founder of both the late post-hardcore The Icarus Line and Burbank Recording studios, who ended up producing the full-band track. Joe pulled in the rest of The Icarus Line to play on it. I wanted to record it live in one room, and this method of recording actually carried over for The Icarus Line’s next few records. Lyrically, in poetic fashion, the song touches on elements of human decadence: carnal desires, greed, self-gratification and belligerent survivalism in the face of the storied history we have written for ourselves. Despite the nature of our nature, we nonetheless continue to live and thrive in the only ways we know how. Even at an “end of days,” man would work to find means to revel in his condition–overlooking negatives, humans will forever find ways to make any season a “Joyous Season,” at least part of the time. Humans inherently desire to convene, socialize and party. Life itself can feel sloppy and rickety, hardly punctual and seemingly insane, yet in the face of life’s madness and shortcomings, humans on the whole will make the best of the situation, such is the human condition and that which keeps the race viable. Thus, the final reason for living is to continually live the Joyous Season…(however, it’s debatable whether this inherent desire is ultimately a positive or negative for both ourselves and the world).
Bio:
Born in Virginia, Beard Bates began writing songs around age nine when he learned basic guitar chords on a tiny guitar his grandfather, a consummate craftsman, made for him. Beard never really learned other people’s songs, for “at the moment I would begin to learn a song, creative ideas would excite me too much and I’d end up just spontaneously writing my own songs,” he states, “and for this reason I was always just playing my own music.” In early highschool, his drummer brother Carter and he formed the alt-rock band JilFlirter, which ended up doing well in college music radio, garnering national attention and was even featured on the cover of Billboard Magazine. Despite record deal offers, Bates, a serial-DIY enthusiast, decided to stay independent and JilFlirter released four further albums; however, there was little to no promotion behind further releases.
Bates studied English Literature in college and subsequently began writing novels, short-stories and much poetry; he did well in college—-graduating second in his class, being awarded many scholastic awards, as well as being nominated for the Rhodes Scholarship. Beard did release his first solo record “Lightyear’s Tightrope,” a raw and lofi collage of songs recorded above his parent’s garage, in 2002, and this record received positive reviews and press. Bates then moved to London, where he ended up entering a graduate program and was subsequently trained to be a contemporary art curator from The London Consortium (Univ London, TATE Modern, ICA); upon returning to the US he again began making music, this time more in the alternative/psychedelic hip-hop realm. Taking production cues from the local VA Beach music scene at the time, he picked up guidance from engineer friends who were working for local producers The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams / Chad Hugo) and Timbaland; at this point Bates built a new home studio and began crafting eccentric rhythmic funk, under the name J.J. DeVille, that perhaps blurs a line between Outkast, Frank Zappa and Beck. Two records were released, yet there was no promotion, and in 2006 Bates moved to Los Angeles and then released a third DeVille record.
In LA Bates ended up fronting and rewriting songs for a psychobilly space-punk band that became known as The Virginia City Revival; this band was made up of players from Bottom 12—popular LA-punk outfit from the 90s–Haunted Garage, and FEAR. The Virginia City Revival released two records, was featured on MTV, has music in Jackass Video games, played extensively around Los Angeles and the Southwest, and even pulled wacky stunts (thanks to the JACKASS member of the band) like crashing the NME awards in drag on a flatbed. During this time, Beard was a member and producer of the band Serial Miller, which released one record; he also formed a band called The Real Spooky Wilson, which recorded one unreleased record, with his bassist roommate and the drummer of Extreme and Perry Ferrell’s Satellite Party. He then garnered renewed industry interest in some of his eccentric rhythmic music and thus recorded a new album, under a new name, for this act, which despite having industry heavyweights involved fissled out.
Over the past number of years, Beard has not been playing or putting out much popular music, mainly because he has been focusing on ambient recordings, nature field recording, and creating much abstract art; however, he has done a collaboration with the late LA posthardcore band The Icarus Line, which will be released on Bates’ new record, a collaboration with LA artist Jonny Polonsky, and he released a large collection of iPhone demo recordings in 2016 titled, “Spontaneous Acoustic Songs of Digital Capture by iPhone 5 (2012-2016),” as well as a number of singles, including the campy “Girls in Amish Undertaker Hats” in 2015. 2018 marks the return of Beard Bates as the solo artist with the release of “The World is Blown,” his first full length record in many years, which itself is a collection of unreleased songs from a span of years.
Of The Valley
‘The Tides’
[alt-folk]
Press Notes:
The Tides is about the rhythmic nature of an individual life, and the unstoppable uniqueness of each new life.
Breathe breathes in and out, lungs expand and contract, the heart opens and closes, courage comes forth and retreats, emotions flood in and out again, the body ventures out in the day and comes back at night. The rhythms of life flow forward and back.
And inside this, new life forms.
A truly unique life. It has its own Code of Life; its own experience of air, love, and light.
The Tides looks at this journey, finding beauty and courage in the flow of life.
The Video was shot surrendipituously. Storm Friis Iversen was playing with a bag at a summer cottage, my producer Peter ran to get his wife, Gry, a cinematographer. She set up and shot her son in the sunset- until the battery ran out 3 minutes later. Peter took the footage that night and saw that it was the same length of ‘The Tides’.
Artist Profile:
Of The Valley is Canadian native, long-time Copenhagen resident, Brian DellaValle. Originally arriving on Danish shores to pursue a PhD, Brian is set to release his self-titled debut in early 2018 with German label Backseat coming off a successful European tour supporting fellow Canadian, Bahamas. Driven by DellaValle’s thought-provoking lyrics and baritone voice, Of The Valley is luscious and imaginative, forming soundscapes of wide-open spaces and a pulse of forward motion. On stage with his band, DellaValle shifts from calm and focused to emotional and explosive at the drop of a dime.
Darryl Rahn
‘Reason To Run’
[acoustic/singer-songwriter]
Press Notes:
Utica-born, Brooklyn-based. Darryl has independently released 3 full-length records, and has shared the stage with national acts such as Guster, Wild Child, and Larry Burnett.
Coyle Girelli
‘In Your Arms’
[folk]
Press Notes:
(New York) — The Chevin frontman, Coyle Girelli, releases his highly anticipated debut solo album “Love Kills” on Friday, September 21. Girelli’s solo project departs from the alt rock sound of his band The Chevin and shifts into a new kind of sweeping cinematic music with a dark, lusty and soulful Americana tone that Girelli labels “Modern Noir.” The album, which grew out of sessions with legendary singer-songwriter Mac Davis, features 11 songs Girelli wrote, including “Never Thought I’d See You Again” co-written with Davis and “In Your Arms” with country star Dawn Landes.
The songs on the album swim in a refreshing retro sound that mixes the crooning influences of Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash with the aural theater of David Bowie and the soaring operatic melodies of Ennio Morricone. The music exudes lust and longing with Girelli’s yearning high tenor vocal often being answered by echoey, twangy guitar riffs. That spirit is especially present on the title track “Love Kills,” which features longtime Lana Del Rey guitarist Blake Stranathan on guitar.
The origin story of Girelli’s debut solo album begins with multiple songwriting sessions with music legend Mac Davis, writer of iconic hits such as “In The Ghetto” and “A Little Less Conversation” for Elvis Presley. It was a pivotal moment for Girelli who says that “everything seemed to make more sense to me and I let my voice lead the way.”
Mac was introduced to Girelli after watching The Chevin’s performance on “Late Show with David Letterman,” which marked the band’s American network television debut. That music segment was capped off with Letterman commenting to Girelli on-air after the performance, “If I had a voice like that I would run for President”.
Girelli’s tenor voice has evolved even further on his new album. His powerful, almost operatic croon is at times reminiscent of Roy Orbison or Elvis Presley, and at others is delicate, fragile and heartbreaking, evoking comparisons of James Blake or Jeff Buckley.
“I’ve loved Americana even before I knew what is was,” says Girelll. “As a kid I grew up listening to my Dad playing Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison Tom Waits or Springsteen records in one room and my Mum playing Puccini or Verdi operas in the other. Somewhere in the middle is where my music lives. Somewhere in there is the reason working with Mac on this style of song
had such a deep and profound effect on me. And somewhere in that melting pot of inspiration is the sound I created on the album ‘Love Kills.’”
“Love Kills” is Girelli’s first full length solo release. In addition to his personal projects, the past several years have creatively ranged from Girelli co-writing songs for two of the most successful musicals in French history, to developing and producing other recording artists, founding a boutique record label and music collective in New York City, lending his voice as a featured artist on other artists’ tracks and touring with Australian alternative band Peking Duk.
Girelli had much success with The Chevin (signed to So Recordings/Caroline/Sony Germany) and Your Vegas (was signed to Universal Republic.) His bands opened for The Killers, The Bravery, Franz Ferdinand, Psychedelic Furs and toured with Duran Duran. They appeared on Late Show with David Letterman and Conan.
Originally from Leeds, England Girelli is now based in NYC where he co-produced and recorded the album “Love Kills.”
Starry Skies
‘Be Kind’
[folk]
Press Notes:
Glasgow’s Starry Skies return to grace our ears with Be Kind, a single taken from their sophomore album of the same name which is released on 12th October 2018 via Fox Star Records.
Deciding on the theme of the album being the need for more kindness at a time when we need it the most, songwriter and singer Warren McIntyre explains: “There are not enough people being kind to each other… It’s really clichéd but it’s nice to be nice. I decided I wanted to be more straightforward lyrically and send a simple message about spending the rest of my time on this planet being as kind as I can as much as I can.”
Fusing together an eclectic range of genres, Be Kind will tug at the heartstrings in all the right ways. From the gentle, folk-strewn strings and languid vocals of the twinkling title track and album opener, to the more uptempo, instantly catchy Americana-inspired cheer of ‘Glitter And The Glory’, it oozes an emotion-rich, hearty spirit.
Continuing with the driving energy and blues-ridden riffs of ‘Sugar Cane’ and the tender, melancholic romanticism of ‘I’ll Be There’, the album continues to showcase Starry Skies’ versatility. With shades of an eclectic mix of inspirations, from the raw Americana of Nathaniel Rateliff to the catchy, nostalgic indie anthems of The Pastels, Be Kind manages to span genres whilst beautifully interweaving emotion-filled layers of sound, with the deep, stirring vocals of McIntyre remaining a constant throughout. Closing the collection with the heartfelt reflection of ‘One Of These Bright Mornings’, Starry Skies will uplift and soothe the soul.
Strong believers in helping other bands, Starry Skies have put on countless not-for-profit festivals in parks, public halls and Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Bandstand to give all kinds of bands a stage to play on. The follow up to debut album Ask The Animals, Be Kind was recorded at Belle and Sebastian’s rehearsal rooms and La Chunky studios, then mastered by Geoff Pesce at Abbey Road. It was produced and engineered respectively by Glasgow musical luminaries Johnny Smillie (Thrum guitarist) and Stevie Jackson (Belle & Sebastian).
Be Kind is out 12th October 2018 via Fox Star Records.
Sun Brother
‘Slow Motion’
[indie folk]
Press Notes:
This is the first single off of our new album “Meta Fascination”, being released on October 19th. This single comes out on Sept. 28th. Most easily defined by the genre Indie-Folk, the song abstractly describes the emotions derived from a move away from home and the challenges of being separated from family and friends.
Compiled by: Christos Doukakis