Music fills in the gaps where words fail. Therefore, trying to describe how great a song to someone using words can't be done and moreover can't be trusted. What appeals to me today, at this moment, might fall flat to your ears. Music is subjective and depends on too many factors for one person to say, "listen to this, you're going to love it." A song can be great, provoke emotion, but if you're living a day that's the opposite of that solicited emotion, it will not appeal to you. I never try to describe music. You either love it or you hate it and the words I'd write to explain why I love it would be truly meaningless to you. Today's Grind is a collection of new songs from PJ Harvey, Laurel, Rachael Yamagata, Kids of the Apocalypse, King Creosote, Owen, Trevor James Tillery and Corrina Repp.
Click the Cassette to Follow Ventipop's ever-growing best songs of 2016 Playlist on Spotify.
Kenny Anderson, known primarily by his stage name King Creosote, is an independent singer-songwriter from Fife, Scotland. To date, Anderson has released over forty albums, with his latest, From Scotland with Love, released in 2014. Creosote's new album which includes You Just Want is titled "Astronaut Meets Appleman" and will be released September 2nd.
Rachael Yamagata is an American singer-songwriter and pianist from Arlington, Virginia. She began her musical career with the band Bumpus before becoming a solo artist and releasing four EP's and three studio albums. Her album "Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart" is one of my favorite records. She just announced a new album, "Tightrope Walker", which is due out 9/23. "Nobody" is the first single from the upcoming album.
Laurel Arnell-Cullen, better known as just Laurel, is a British chamber pop and indie musician from Southampton but since 2013 has been based in London. I absolutely love her voice and think she will be really famous someday.
Owen is a solo project of Mike Kinsella, and part of the Chicago, Illinois indie rock scene. Kinsella is one of the dominant and influential figures in the Chicago indie scene, having also led the band American Football, and played in the bands Cap'n Jazz, Joan of Arc, The One Up Downstairs and Owls, and most recently Their/ They're/There. Owen's new album titled "The King of Whys" is out today, July 29th.
Trevor James Tillery transforms Blurs driving track "Song 2" into a moody meditation soundtrack...and that's a good thing. Tillery released his debut EP, In Moonlight, in March of this year.
Noisey describes Kids of the Apocalypse, the project of producer/musician Stefan Storm and animator Ernest Desumbila, as "a hip-hop act that follows a fictional universe, which makes it something like Gorillaz meets Coheed and Cambria (seriously)". The visuals in this video are amazing as a group of homeless looking kids battle it out with some futuristic forces of evil in a supermarket. While the burned-out looking future paints a pretty dour picture, the animation and the words of the song are actually hopeful.
Here's a new and previously unreleased song by PJ Harvey titled ‘Guilty’. The track was recorded in January 2015 during PJ Harvey’s month long ‘Recording in Progress’ residency at Somerset House, in which audiences were given the opportunity to see Harvey at work with her band and producers as she recorded her ninth studio album – the UK #1 record The Hope Six Demolition Project – in a purpose-built studio. Listen to the song below.
Corrina Repp is going to close out the Grind with her song "Release Me". She's a vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, and maker of quiet music based in Portland, Oregon.
