Introducing… Grimes
To say that Claire Boucher, aka Grimes, makes music that is otherworldly is a massive understatement. Her art house looks and siren-esque vocal style combine to make you feel like Grimes really did drop to earth straight from the heavens.
Hailing from Montreal Canada, Grimes should really need no introduction having recently released the sublime sounding single ‘Genesis’ from her 4th studio album ‘Visions’. Grimes has an hypnotic ethereal sound and as a performer she weaves visual arts, performance and culture into her delivery – making her one of the more unique and exciting artists out there at the moment.
Grimes – Vanessa
Grimes – Heartbeats
Grimes EP collaboration ‘Darkbloom’ with Canadian lo-fi RnB vocalist D’eon proved to be fruitful musical partnership. This EP saw this track ‘Crystal Ball’ alongside D’eon’s 90s inspired ‘Transparency‘. Both are synth heavy tracks which compliment each other perfectly.
Grimes – Crystal Ball
Catch Grimes’ dream-like live show on one of the below dates in May.
May 6th – Bristol, Simple Things Festival
May 7th – Glasgow, Berkeley Suite
May 8th – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
May 9th – London, XOYO
May 10th – Manchester, Islington Mill
Kate Bush
The ever eccentric and uber-talented Kate Bush has released a gorgeous shadow puppet video for her track ‘Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe’ from her most recent album ’50 Words for Snow’. This is a visual feast.
Kate Bush – Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe
Peñate Returns
It was in the height of the happy-go-lucky indie music scene when Jack Penate’s first album came out and it brings back so many memories of studying (or actually not studying) for my A Levels at college. I’ve actually put ‘Matinee’ on whilst I write this post and, albeit a perfectly nice album, I (alongside many others) have definitely grown out of that brand of indie rock.
The critically-acclaimed 2009 sophomore LP ‘Everything Is New’ came next which not only catapulted the artist into the safe zone of being highly credible away but also launched Paul Epworth as one of the brightest producing talents around and after a massively successful tour and tons of promo, Jack went into hibernation.
Over two years of hibernation have come to an end today though, as earlier he released a new song via his YouTube channel titled No One Lied. It’s a slow and heart-felt track with some lovely harmonies.
Looking forward to hearing more.
Pictures Of Our Youth
David’s Lyre has today revealed the details and release date of his long-awaited debut album!
The album’s taken roughly a year to record but has been marred by conflicts with his former major record label and speaking on his website, David’s Lyre (real name Paul Dixon) said, “The hardest part of this process has been creating music I felt excited about, and proud of, but not being able to share it with you. I remain hugely grateful for the opportunities and patronage given to me, but it is evident that the natural tension in the relationship between art and business within the music industry, is currently at its most strained. I join an ever-expanding group of artists who are opting out of this model in order to bring you, the fans, our best.”
The final track of the LP has just been released as a taster/teaser but is also available as a free download.
Having left the label just before Christmas, he’s now decided to release the album, Pictures of our Youth, via his bandcamp page on a pay-what-you-want basis. This is no doubt a controversial and risky move but here at Mahogany we applaud him massively for his actions – the album sounds stunning and it’s one of the few records we’ll actually break the wallet out for – obviously that doesn’t speak for everybody but it’s a ballsy move and we respect it.
In this world, becoming an established artist with music in the charts and expensive music videos can ironically take only a couple of months – but more often than not it’s short-lived, lacking of any real emotion and fails to create actual fans. Self-releasing this album may not have been his original plan but it adds a whole new emotion, passion and thick skin to the artist – and sets up an entirely new platform for writing and creating new material for what we hope will be a second record down the line.
Introducing… Grey Reverend
Grey Reverend is no stranger to this blog, his beautiful music has featured here alongside an exclusive Q&A, but not since we began these Introducing editorials and for anyone who hasn’t heard him yet, this is the perfect platform for you…
It all properly began for Grey Reverend (known to his friends as L.D. Brown) back in 2006 when, in New York, he became good friends with The Cinematic Orchestra’s founder and leader Jason Swinscoe and soon after was asked to create his own version of ‘To Build A Home’ which Swinscoe liked so much he invited Grey on the road with them to perform together. His version of the song quickly became a huge part of the show as a whole.
Since then, Grey’s own music has begun steadily making it’s way online through his own networks and his simple, compelling take on modern folk music, combined with his admiration and passion for the blues results in a sound that really calms the soul.
There are already European dates lined up starting this month (details here) and I hope he’s able to make it down to SXSW this year as he’d go down an absolute treat. Grey Revered is a melting pot of beautifully humbled creativity and his songs haven’t been heard by enough people yet, that’s something that can only grow in time, and the good thing is, hopefully a few more have few this post.
Introducing… Black Ph03nix
Larry Achiampong, or Black Ph03nix as he is also known, has an experimental sample heavy sound. Larry came on to our radar via a friend and we’ve been curiously listening to his instrumental music ever since.
Featuring spoken word samples, strains of Ghanaian traditional music, hip hop, broken beat and trip hop – he weaves a rich tapestry of sounds in his short tracks much in the vein of DJ Shadow or RJD2. His debut release, Meh Mogya (Sample of Me) is a project that mixes elements of his UK and African heritage through sampling and electronic programming and its a culture clash that works to produce some exciting sonics.
Black Ph03nix – Despair
Black Ph03nix – Song For My (Bokoor) Father
Black Ph03nix – All Game, No Substance
‘Meh Mogya’ is available for download from Larry’s bandcamp.
Pushing Hands (Palms Remix)
Pushing Hands released ‘He’s Still Here’ in the early summer of last year and it’s a track that we instantly adored and have returned to at least once a month.
Now it’s been relatively quiet for the guys when it comes to new music but word is they’ve been hard in the studio putting together material for a release in the first quarter but they did release a new remix by Palms to keep our appetites at bay for a short while.
It’s an slow electronic head massage and free to download on the band’s bandcamp page.
Pushing Hands – He’s Still Here (Palms Remix) – download link via bandcamp
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Here’s the original…
