1. Chelsea Wolfe, “Abyss”Los Angeles-based singer songwriter Chelsea Wolfe, who tends to surf on the fringes of folk and metal, released her fifth studio album “Abyss” this month. Taking cue from Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto’s words, “Perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the things humans make, I want to see scars, failure, disorder, distortion,” Wolfe crafts an 11-track album that explores the themes of intimacy, anxiety, longing, destruction, and the intersection between the unconscious and the subconscious, the last inspired by the sleep paralysis that plagues her in her own life.A single from the album “Carrion Flowers” is featured on the trailer for upcoming film “Dark Places” (adapted from “Gone Girl” author Gillian Flynn’s book, starring Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Christina Hendricks, Chloe Grace Moretz); and also on the Comic-Con trailer for new TV show “Fear The Walking Dead”. The black-and-white video for the song, directed by Wolfe and bandmate/ producer/ multi instrumentalist Ben Chisholm and shot in California and New York State, is about the California drought. Wolfe says, “The visuals in the video allude to the drought in California and frustration about corporations being allowed to pump out all the water, destroying environments and communities, just to sell it back. While writing “Abyss”, I lived near where the water is piped into Los Angeles, but the lakes were dried up and the mountains were burned from fires.” She further explains the stark imagery and the underlying emotion, “The scribbles and ropes in the video are about my own madness and self-doubt, and costume designer Jenni Hensler made me a human cocoon from this insane fabric - it represents a feeling of claustrophobia, like you just want to scratch your way out of it. And there is anger in this song; it’s got a sense of revenge for anyone who has suffered or died because of injustice.”Another song off the album, “After the Fall” is a dystopian love song that stems from Wolfe’s experience of sleep paralysis, which feels like being trapped inside a dream, unable to wake up. While this tense state of being has translated into her music before, it is especially brought into focus with with this album. She notes, “Abyss’ is meant to have the feeling of when you’re dreaming, and you briefly wake up, but then fall back asleep into the same dream, diving quickly into your own subconscious.”The singer embarks on an extensive North American tour end of this month, followed by a tour of European, to promote her album.Order the album on iTunes, Amazon and on physical formats through Sargent House.“Abyss” Tracklist:1. Carrion Flowers/ 2. Iron Moon/ 3. Dragged Out/ 4. Maw/ 5. Grey Days/ 6. After the Fall/ 7. Crazy Love/8. Simple Death/ 9. Survive/ 10. Color of Blood/ 11. The Abyss2. Tunde Olaniran, “Transgressor”Author, choreographer, LGBTQ activist and now musician Tunde Olaniran’s first full-length album “Transgressor” on Quite Scientific Records is out this month. The 12 songs on the album explore different themes, ranging from social activism, big bank corruption, and marginalization of the poor, to neighborhood gentrification, Olaniran’s father, and his own fluctuating weight. Michigan-based Olaniran’s music defies categorization, just as his personality and diverse talents refuse to be contained in any single-word description. The 31-year-old writes songs, raps, dances and choreographs, designs his own clothes as well his dance troupe’s, and holds a day job as a Planned Parenthood outreach coordinator.“KYBM”, a dance anthem on the album, stands for Keep Your Body Moving, but is inspired by the singer’s friends that work towards social justice. “Up & Down” is a song about his struggle with the issue of weight. “Namesake” is another infectiously catchy track, which talks about personal growth. Olaniran’s music mixes hip-hop, R&B and punk with intelligent lyrics that are sometimes emotional, other times playful, always surprisingly honest.Order the album here.“Transgressor” Tracklist:1. Transgressor/ 2. Let Me Go/ 3. KYBM/ 4. Namesake/ 5. Up & Down/ 6. Everyone's Missing/ 7. Run to the Gun/ 8. Don't Cry (feat Invincible)/ 9. Paladin/ 10. Diamonds (feat iRAWniQ & Passalacqua)/ 11. Brighter Days/ 12. 24KT3. Deradoorian, “The Expanding Flower Planet”Los Angeles musician Angel Deradoorian, former bassist of indie rock outfit Dirty Projectors, is set to make her solo debut with “The Expanding Flower Planet” on August 21. Having collaborated with experimental electronic producer Flying Lotus, indie rock band Vampire Weekend, hip hop/ neo soul band The Roots, singer songwriter Brandon Flowers (of The Killers”), electronic music duo Matmos as well as the iconic Björk and U2, Deradoorian embarks on a new creative path with this 10-track experimental pop album.The album’s title is derived from a Chinese embroidered tapestry hanging in the artist’s room, of a flower mandala. Deradoorian says, “The first song I wrote, which felt appropriate for the album, was called “Expanding Flower Planet” and represents this desire to broaden the mind and it’s capabilities beyond what we are told it can do.” This album, which took a few years to take its final form, was recorded in various locations, starting with Baltimore in 2011 and ending with her studio in Los Angeles. It takes inspiration from East Indian, Middle Eastern, traditional Japanese music and Native American rhythms; and the tracks “A Beautiful Woman”, “The Eye” and “The Invisible Man” stand out for their haunting vocals and insistent bass lines.Order the album here.“The Expanding Flower Planet” Tracklist:1. A Beautiful Woman/ 2. Expanding Flower Planet/ 3. Violet Minded/ 4. Komodo/ 5. Your Creator/ 6. The Invisible Man/ 7. DarkLord/ 8. Ouneya/ 9. The Eye/ 10. GrowDeradoorian - "A Beautiful Woman" Live from anticon. on Vimeo.4. Radkey, “Dark Black Makeup”After five years of touring and performing together, garage punk band Radkey, comprising of three brothers from Missouri, are ready to release their debut full-length album “Dark Black Makeup” on August 21. Dee, Isaiah and Solomon Radke, aged 22, 20 and 18 respectively, recently cut their album in Sheffield, England, with British producer Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, The Fall, Jarvis Cocker, M.I.A) and intend to release it in CD, LP and digital format, on their own Little Man Records. The Radke brothers are already recognizable names on the festival circuit, having played at Riot Fest, Download, Coachella and Japan’s Punkspring festivals.The track “Love Spills”, says the Isaiah Radke, “is about an evil villain-type character and his dreams of terrorizing the city that he loves.” Another song “Feed My Brain” is about yelling at a teacher, inspired by the film “Breakfast Club”. The band states that the album deals with themes of “jealousy, regret, love, obsession, death, insecurity, and sadistic, evil people - the kind of things that make you feel uneasy.”This summer, Radkey will be performing at the Pukkelpop, Reading and Leeds music festivals, followed by a North American tour in the fall.Order the album here.“Dark Black Makeup” Tracklist:1. Dark Black Makeup/ 2. Romance Dawn/ 3. Love Spills/ 4. Parade It/ 5. Best Friends/ 6. Le Song/ 7. Hunger Pain/ 8. Feed My Brain/ 9. Sank/ 10. Song of Solomon/ 11. Evil Doer/ 12. Glore/ 13. Feel5. Silicon, “Personal Computer”Silicon is Kiwi musician and multi-instrumentalist Kody Nielson, of the now defunct New Zealand band The Mint Chicks (who coined the term ‘troublegum’ to refer to their brand of punk rock music). Under the new incarnation of Silicon, which Nielson describes as a ‘pop aspersion’ project, the artist will release his debut electronica album “Personal Computer” on August 28. Think funky synth grooves, laidback catchy beats, and super smooth dance music.Justin Timberlake on otherTone said about “God Emoji”, the fourth number on the 10-track album, “If you don’t like this, I don’t like you.” Another track “Burning Sugar”, which is “about recklessness and burning out quickly”, comes with a video directed by Nielson and Ralph Brown, and embodies a slick-retro aesthetic using a ’60s pastel palette and abstract imagery. Nielson takes cues from soul, funk and disco to create this flirty yet blasé disco sound for “Personal Computer”.The album will also be released alongside a series of twenty-nine paintings, that Nielson has created using the ‘Emoji’ icon. This artwork is set to be exhibited in New York and London, and made available for sale subsequently. “Personal Computer” will be available via Weird World on limited edition deluxe 12” colored vinyl including booklet of all the Personal Computer artwork created by Kody Nielson, standard 12" vinyl, CD and digital download. Order the album in CD, LP and deluxe LP format here or in digital format here.“Personal Computer” Tracklist: 1. Personal Computer/ 2. Cellphone/ 3. Submarine/ 4. God Emoji/ 5. Burning Sugar/ 6. Little Dancing Baby/ 7. I Can See Paradise/ 8. Love Peace/ 9. Blow/ 10. Dope Follow @ARTINFOIndia
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