What is the Arts Lead Sheet? It is a resource for finding grants, jobs, opportunities in the arts. It started as an ad-hoc e-mail list a few years. We are now bringing it back as a feature on FEMMUSIC. It is not restricted to music but encompasses all of the arts. Miss something? Look at the archives at:
On Friday June 4, 2021 Wolf Alice released Blue Weekend. They’ve released the singles “No Hard Feelings”, “Smile”, “The Last Man on Earth” and today’s “How Can I Make It Ok?” Wolf Alice also is announcing their North American tour.
Wolf Alice are Ellie Rowsell (vocals, guitar), Joff Oddie (guitar, vocals), Theo Ellis (bass) and Joel Amey (drums, vocals). It has been a decade since the band began as a duo of Ellie Rowsell and Joff Oddie, then later expanding to a four-piece, with Joel Amey and Theo Ellis joining the group. Since then, the band saw their 2015 debut album My Love Is Cool soar to #2 on the UK charts, their sophomore album Visions Of A Life win the 2018 Hyundai Mercury prize, and a GRAMMY nomination for Best Rock Performance. The band played a massive 187 shows on the Visions Of A Life world tour – including a sold out Alexandra Palace, 2 sold out dates at Brixton Academy, and a set on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury.
Billie Eilish continues to tease her highly anticipated sophomore studio album, Happier Than Ever (Darkroom/Interscope Records), with a new track, ‘Lost Cause,’ along with an official music video, also directed by the seven-time GRAMMY® award-winning, multi-platinum-selling artist. Watch HERE.
‘Lost Cause’ follows the announcement of her welcomed arena tour, Happier Than Ever, The World Tour, which has since sold out on all dates of the first leg in North America, Europe and the United Kingdom.
The seven-time GRAMMY® Award winning artist and songwriter has also confirmed she will be continuing her work with sustainability partner REVERB for her Happier Than Ever, The World Tour, with the fan-facing Billie Eilish Action Village at each show which will focus on climate action and climate justice, hosting and supporting BIPOC and women-led environmental organizations as well as a comprehensive program via REVERB’s forthcoming Music Climate Revolution campaign. In addition to reducing the tour’s environmental footprint, the initiative will support projects that directly and measurably eliminate greenhouse gases. These collective efforts will make the tour Climate Positive; eliminating significantly more emissions than the tour creates.
UK singer-songwriter Rose Betts worked on Bazzi’s “Young & Alive” which was nominated for a GRAMMY this year. Her song “Song to the Siren” was also in the Snyder Cut of Justice League. Today she releases “Recovery.”
Hiatus Kaiyote announces their new album Mood Variant out June 25 on Brainfeeder Records/Ninja Tune with the release of the single “Get Sun.”
Hiatus Kaiyote is a Melbourne band made up of Nai Palm” Saalfield (guitar, vocals), Paul Bender (bass), Simon Mavin (keys), and Perrin Moss (drums). The have been nominated for Grammys twice.
The six year journey of the album originally began on the road, as they began to add new material to their live sets in while touring in support of Choose Your Weapon. By the fall of 2018, backing tracks had largely been laid, ready for Nai’s vocals. Then, during a brief swing through the U.S., Hiatus’s frontwoman was diagnosed with breast cancer. “That was a massive scare,” recalls Nai. Her mother’s death from the same disease was never far from her mind. Nai rushed back to Australia and into the hospital, where she underwent a life-saving mastectomy. As Nai recovered, the band turned back to their work with altered perspectives. Her lyrics, even those written before her illness, took on a prescient quality. It wasn’t until a trip to Rio de Janeiro in late-2019 to work with legendary Brazilian arranger Arthur Verocai on “Get Sun” that the vibe of the entire album shifted.
This is apparent in this first single Hiatus Kaiyote is sharing today, “Get Sun” featuring Arthur Verocai. The track came together during a session in Australia’s Byron Bay. “It was really exciting and fun to play at the time,” recalls Perrin Moss. The song took a transcontinental trip to finish. Perrin had introduced the band to the work of Brazilian arranger Arthur Verocai, whose self-titled 1970s album, Perrin says, “changed my world.”
Verocai agreed to add strings and horns and asked if the band would be attending the session in Rio de Janeiro. Nai Palm says: “We were like, ‘That would be amazing, but we could never afford it.’” The band eventually engineered a mini-tour to pay for the flights, and both the schlep and the expense ended up yielding a spiritual, tearful experience for the band— the kindness of Verocai and the alchemy of Brazil left them inspired to create two more tracks for the LP in an all-night session.
“When you think your life is going to be taken away from you, it makes you think about who you are,” Nai says. “I guess after the breast cancer scare I decided that I needed to prove to life that the offering I have is genuine. My only wish is to live and offer my experience of time and beauty.”
Grammy Nominated Ingrid Andress releases the video for “Lady Like” directed by Lauren Dunn. “Lady Like: has over 70 million streams and is the title track to the album. Andress is up for “Best New Artist”, “Best Country Song” and “Best Country Album” at the 63rd Grammy Awards.
Monae has written a song for the new Amazon Studios documentary, All In: The Fight for Democracy. “Turntables” is her first new music since 2018’s Dirty Computer.
Spin Magazine