Liz Barak artistic goals are “to tell stories through music and help reach a much need equality in the music business for women.” To achieve those goals she has created the Liz Barak’s Project. The project began with a book called Ballad to the North Wind that Barak wrote. It is now followed up by an album of the same name featuring collaborations with women around the globe on cover songs. All participants in the album have agreed to donate the revenues to fight global warming. One track on the album is Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” featuring G’emma.
Kinlaw is an artist, composer, and choreographer. The productions had contributions from Devonte Hynes, Caroline Polacheck, SOPHIE, Dan Deacon and many more. She has been in charge of productions with over 200 people. Now she breaks new ground with her debut album, The Tipping Scale coming in January. She released the debut single “Blindspot” earlier in October.
“Blindspot is an excavation of the psychological mind that analyzes the link between our relationships with the people around us and our acceptance of self. I started doing a really cool therapy called EMDR while in process of developing this video with director Kathleen Dycaico and was able to recognize that the refusal to accept time, mainly myself during some of those times, was reflected in the way I was speaking about relationships. Our child selves are so brilliant – they are resilient, tricky, explosive, expressive. I needed to start off this album by giving a nod to the dynamic ways we perceive not only the people around us, but our integrated self.” says Kinlaw. For info visit https://www.instagram.com/kinlawww/
Beabadoobee is releasing her debut album Fake It Flowers on October 16. She released “How Was Your Day?” , the 4th single from the album this week.
“Worth It”, “Sorry” and “Care” are previous single from Fake It Flowers. Born in the Philippines and raised in London, Bea Kristi began recording music as beabadoobee in 2017. At just 20 years old, she has built her huge, dedicated Gen-Z fan base with her flawless output of confessional bedroom pop songs and DIY aesthetic. https://www.instagram.com/radvxz/?hl=en
Rene Kladzyk, Ziemba is not your average singer-songwriter. In 2019 she released Ardis, a science fiction adventure. On September 25 she releases True Romantic a decidedly different album. She has already released the singles “True Romantic” and “If I’m Being Honest.” Her latest single is “Harbor Me”
“Vocals and nearly all synths were recorded on the boat, that first day that I wrote it,” says Kladzyk. “This song took me by surprise, it has an energy to it that I don’t entirely understand, and it doesn’t fully feel like it came from me. I guess that’s why I feel tempted to credit the boat itself as a co-author. I wanted the music video to have that same immediacy and visceral presence that the song has. It was exciting and fun and a little scary at times, dancing through the streets at night. We rehearsed over the course of two evenings until we got it right. I think ‘exciting, fun, a little scary’ is how I’d hope this song would be described, or at least is how I perceive it, so the video is fitting.” https://www.facebook.com/theziemba/
Reyna Roberts is a new country artist ready to blaze a trail. She has done fundraising efforts to support veterans. Something of a natural for a child of veterans. She didn’t record her first song until 2014. Her latest single is “Stompin Grounds”
When asked about the story behind the song, Roberts shared, “I remember when me and Noah Henson (my producer and co-writer), first started writing “Stompin’ Grounds.” He and his family (I think of them as my family, too) had just moved into their new house. We were sitting on the floor because his studio wasn’t set up yet. There was nothing in the room – just me, him, and his acoustic guitar. Noah was playing a riff, and I immediately loved it. So, we began to write. We laugh about it now because we didn’t even have chairs. So, we recorded a voice memo of the session, and he put parts of the voice memo in the song. We took my influences of Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood, Brantley Gilbert, and Brothers Osborne, and put it in a song.” https://www.facebook.com/TheReynaRoberts/
Helen Ballentine is a LA songwriter who will be releasing her debut EP on Secretly Canadian on June 26. She released her first single “Places/Plans” last month. The second single “Day of Show” just came out.
Skullcrusher seems more the name of a heavy metal act than Ballentine’s melancholy ballads. She fills a shadowy place between acoustic and dream. Her videos are self-directed and show a range of experimentation. For info visit https://www.facebook.com/SkullcrusherLA/
Katie Von Schleicher will be releasing her 2nd album Consummation on May 22. The album draws from a variety of non-music sources including Hitchcock’s Vertigo & Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost. The album touches on the distance between 2 people (physically, psychically). The latest single is “Wheel”
At a time where the distance between people is at its furthest, Schleicher’s music is a welcome bridge. For info visit https://www.k-v-s.net/
Rina Sawayama’s debut album Sawayama comes out in April. She has been leading up to it with a string of singles including the most recent “Comme Des Garcons (Like the Boys)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv5i5yg-zNc
Sawayama has established herself as a fiery alt rocker who pushed visual boundaries. We’ve featured many of her videos before. Our personal favorite is “STFU!”
Nandi Rose already has 3 albums under her belt as Half Waif. She recently signed to Anti-Records to release her 4th The Caretaker. Rose is also a member of Pinegrove. Her latest single is “Ordinary Talk”
Rose describes the video as “Recognizing your own ordinariness can be depressing, or it can be a relief. In Ordinary Talk, I wanted to honor and celebrate my ordinariness as an incredible tool for making me feel less alone. The song is a reassurance that feeling bad – or ‘ill’ – isn’t something that needs to be corrected. There’s a depth of experience that comes from feeling emotions at their extremes. And it is, in fact, this vivid, varied messiness that makes us human and ordinary.” She will be touring with Iron & Wine in February. https://half-waif.com/
This Tulsa, Oklahoma artist was born in Motown and carries it in her breath. She recently released “Street Light” a video about domestic violence and she is donating the proceeds to Domestic Violence Intervention Services in her hometown of Tulsa, OK.
Quinlan has been the voice of Hop Along, the insanely energetic rock band. Now she comes into her own with the solo album Likewise out January 31. It includes the single “Now I’m Back”
Hua Li is a half-Chinese rapper from Montreal. She just released her album Dynasty. She has smooth vocals and an incredible style with singles including “Mr. Greenlight”, “Social Meds”, and “Mastery.” A recent track, not on the album is the jazz influenced “Outwitted”
Jason & Victoria Evigan are Elephant Heart, a project that mixed beats and styles. The duo is preparing to release their album and has already released the singles “HIYA”, “Warfare” and “The Digital”
“The Digital” is an attack on the internet and social media as the decision-maker. The band also has a nonprofit called The Picture. For info visit https://elephantheartmusic.com/
Cartel Madras – Sub Pop Records’ latest signing is Eboshi and Contra, Cartel Madras from India. They have a confrontational hip-hop style that expresses both individuality and sexuality as shown in the video “Pork and Leek”
They released a mixtape in 2018 and we look to their work with Sub Pop. For info visit https://www.cartelmadras.com/
Raveena Aurora is a Queens based R & B artist who took the reigns in all aspects of her release Lucid. Raveena has a passionate plaintive voice as shown by her Mother’s Day single “Mama”
Spin Magazine