Here is part 1 of The Matinee. This week has been pretty crazy. Half of our staff has been recovering from back to back music festivals and our site was temporarily down on Wednesday. We actually are double dipping today so we can still provide you with a full on playlist for the weekend. Today’s 6 tracks for Part 1 are a diverse mix which has something for everyone. We have two bands from the UK, one from Ireland and the other 3 from the US.
Damien J Brennan – “Shine”
Damien J Brennan was born and raised in County Down, Northern Ireland. He learned to play the guitar while backpacking through Italy and Australia. He began songwriting and recorded some garage demos with a limited budget. He received critical acclaim from those recordings. He has since recorded in professional studios while his fan base continues to grow.
His style includes many different elements and he maneuvers well between the folk/singer-songwriter stance into songs that are true alternative rock. With his garage demo of “Man On Fire” posted a little over a year ago, Damien J Brennan has a promising career ahead of him. If you are into strong and inviting vocals along with emotional songwriting, get to know Damien J Brennan.
“Shine” speaks to that relationship that is almost on a spiritual nature with lyrics that includes “Your love and all that it brings, I can touch the sky again.” It’s a beautiful love song, that could be about a love interest or even a higher power.
Gardenback – “Pillar of Salt”
Gardenback is a trio out of Manchester who impressed last year with a punk-garage track titled “Dig“. They took a hiatus and traveled to the US for a bit and have since posted a few other tracks on Soundcloud. Pillar of Salt is a new demo posted by the band comprised of Neil James, Ellis James, Jacob James. They are now back home in the UK and we hope this means an EP is in the works. This song speaks to an evil city (or possible society) just like the story in the bible about Sodom and Gomorrah.
This track is heavy garage rock with elements of psych. The vocals are unique and somewhat mesmerizing and the ending includes a full on jam session. We are definitely intrigued by Gardenback and do hope to hear more soon from the trio.
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KATIEE – “Atlantic City”
KATIEE is Katie Eastburn who was a member of the former LA-based experimental rock trio Young People. She has released a new track “Atlantic City” that will be on her upcoming debut 7″ titled Passersby, out 8/7 on Selfish Agenda. Amplifying KATIEE’s live sound are Jim McHugh, Jeff Tobias, and Jason Robira. The band is in the middle of a current tour promoting the upcoming release which actually ends this weekend in New York on Sunday Aug. 2 at Trans Pecos.
“Atlantic City” is a heavy synth and beat driven track accompanied by sensual saxophone and laden with Eastburn’s sultry vocals. She has also released the title track from the upcoming release which is also electronic based with a danceable beat. If you dig KATIEE you can pre-order the three track EP here.
Koven – “Lasting”
Koven is pretty well known in the drum & bass music world but they have since decided to move towards popular EDM duos like Phantogram. They already have a large following in a very short amount of time and with their new songs and style, it could just further grow their fan base. The duo is comprised of Max Rowat and Katie Boyle. It’s no doubt that Boyle’s strong and beautiful voice adds such a positive element to their sound and brings the listener in.
“Lasting” is a soaring track with Boyle at the forefront behind smartly layered synth beats wrapped within intricate harmonies. The duo are currently working on a new EP and if “Lasting” is any indication of what’s the come, we are definitely listening.
Lost Arctic – “White Blood Cells”
Lost Arctic is actually Nashville based songwriter/producer Jason Keary and friends. He has only released a couple of tracks and the newest one “White Blood Cells” is a really great alt rock track. The vocals are inviting and backed behind piano, guitar and drums. This track just proves the range of talent from Keary. His previous release “The Fight” had more of a pop vibe going on but he dabbled in messing with the vocals which is not needed. Never have been a fan of the vocoder.
The two tracks so far show that there is potential for Lost Arctic to produce easy to digest indie pop/rock tracks that can be consumed by a wide audience. We are interested in hearing more from this Nashville based artist.
Woof. – “Faultline”
We have been fans of Woof. for a while. We posted a few tracks by him last year and have been following him ever since. The NJ based artist (aka Kelan Bonislawski) seems to live and breath making music as in the year he has been on Soundcloud over 15 tracks have been posted (16 to be exact). This Beck-like musical mastermind creates one solid track after another and he is still producing songs that are somewhat nostalgic like talking to your long lost best friend, yet still perfect for today.
If you are digging the unique composition that Woof. continues to make with each and every song he produces, you can support and buy his music over on i-Tunes.
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Thankyou very much Wendy, I really loved that review and think you understood ‘Shine’ well.
Enjoyed it, looking forward to hearing more and glad I discovered your talent 🙂