Mix Tape Volume 22
Our final Mix Tape for 2022, have a look to see who made Volume Twenty Two:
The Weeknd has released Nothing is Lost (You Give Me Strength) from the Avatar: The Way of Water Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Hollywood Records) on December 16, 2022 at 7am (AEDT). Written by The Weeknd and Produced by Swedish House Mafia along with Simon Franglen, the track speaks to the epic scope, breathtaking action, and thrilling drama of the film itself. The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will also feature an original score from GRAMMY® Award-winning composer Simon Franglen.
The anxiously awaited blockbuster sequel from Academy® Award-winning filmmaker James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water, is in cinema now.
One of the most successful bands to emerge from the UK in recent years, You Me At Six, have released a brand new single titled heartLESS via Underdog Records / AWAL Recordings.
Speaking of the track, Josh Franceschi says “heartLESS was a song we’ve been sitting on for years knowing it would always come out. It’s a song about feeling insecure and yet accepting of whatever may come. I wrote this song about someone close to me in the middle ground of a break up and falling in love.”
The release of heartLESS follows the near frenzy of excitement reached by fans after the band confirmed the release of their 8th studio record, ‘TRUTH DECAY’, along with a UK wide tour in 2023.
New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based singer/songwriter Kerryn Fields reveals her video for the powerful and emotive Until You.
The film clip opens up on the ongoing story of same-sex couples still not being accepted in many sacred religious places and the hurt that it evokes.
Produced by Heaps Stoked, the superbly shot video features fields in picturesque natural surroundings where she feels most comfortable culminating in a beautiful expression of love in a church, providing powerful imagery of inclusivity and progression.
“The video for ‘Until You’, to me is a story of acceptance and healing in a sacred space, not one of religion but of peace and kindness,” Fields said.
“My place to find God has always been in nature, but for too long the LGBTIQA+ community has been persecuted in traditional sacred spaces, and in modern society, it feels so archaic, and I believe it’s time to adjust that narrative.
“Religion can really have a negative impact on our community after centuries of exclusion and bigotry, and through the video for ‘Until You’ I hope to move that message and explore faith and faith-based safe spaces. Most importantly it looks to explore my reality that ‘love is love’ no matter your faith, beliefs or orientation.”
BMG have released a new mix as well as an acoustic version of Traffic, the third single to be taken from Simple Minds’ outstanding eighteenth studio album Direction Of The Heart.
Written by the band’s original members, Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill, Traffic is a spangly hand-jive bop through the days of the week, inspired by JG Ballard and with a vocal cameo from Russell Mael of Sparks.
“There’s a real pop element to it, which as we get older we’re not scared to embrace,” says Burchill. Kerr notes the song had been germinating for 10 years without taking root. “I ended up writing about a game called ‘Human Traffic’, where people get so immersed they can no longer tell the difference between reality and the thing. And to bring some laughing gas to the song, we asked Russell Mael to sing on it. It’s almost a cartoon song. One of the best on the record.”
AIR-nominated Western Sydney singer-songwriter Imogen Clark returns to cap off an epic year with the cathartic, I Got Dumped for Christmas.
“I wanted to write a Christmas rock anthem for all the bitter single girls like me who got dumped this year. It’s a loud cathartic rock banger you can drink lots of eggnog and sing along to a bit too loud. Don’t forget your problems this Christmas, wallow in them – but in a fun way.”
A few weeks ago, Imogen found herself in a Nashville co-writing session with APRA-winning songwriter Phil Barton and the impending holiday season, combined with a tumultuous year in Imogen’s personal life, spilled out together unexpectedly into a thrashy Christmas song.
Racing against time, Imogen worked with frequent collaborator Michael Carpenter to build the track from the other side of the world and put down vocals in LA with BASTARDS and The Making Of Me producer Mike Bloom.
“The song just flowed out so easily and felt so right, and the perfect summation of my 2022, I had to get it out for this holiday period, and we just made it by the skin of our teeth!”
City and Colour, acclaimed singer, songwriter and performer Dallas Green, has just released the emotionally powerful new track Meant To Be via Still Records, an imprint of Dine Alone Records / Cooking Vinyl Australia. Meant To Be is the first new music from City and Colour since the acclaimed 2019 album A Pill For Loneliness, and comes following a painful, life-changing loss.
The hauntingly melodic song begins with Green’s affecting vocals slowly swelling into the impassioned refrain questioning destiny following a tragic event. In September of 2019, while the band was on a break during an Australian tour, Green received the news that his best friend and longtime City and Colour producer Karl Bareham drowned off the country’s Gold Coast. While still emotionally distraught, Green was requested to identify his friend at the morgue, a chilling experience he still carries with him. As he puts it, “That was the hardest moment I’ve had in my entire life. It changed me forever.” Combined with navigating personal issues upon his return to his native Canada and a global pandemic, Green was completely overwhelmed and struggled.
As he began to cope, the lifelong songwriter Green had not set out to write about the loss; in his heart and soul he had no idea how he would. But suddenly one day, a line came to him, “the sun kept on rising”, followed by a melody. Green wrote it down and stepped away because it was then that he knew he was on the correct path to honor his dear friend.
Writing Meant To Be turned out to be a much-needed pure and cathartic experience for Green. The song is a beautiful, heart-wrenching and fiery elegy that resonates deeply.
Revealed in gloriously restored HD are the videos for East 17’s Christmas classic Stay Another Day. London Records have had the track remixed in spatial audio / Dolby Atmos, the strings, bells, harmonies, and piano brought bang up to date under the tutelage of the band’s original producer Phil Harding of legendary 90s production duo Harding & Curnow.
Since its release in 1994, East 17’s Stay Another Day has become a perennial Christmas favourite. The UK Christmas number one in 1994, it beat that other platinum plated Christmas classic Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You to reach #1 and went on to top the charts in 8 countries, reaching the top ten in over 20 countries worldwide.
Stay Another Day repositioned Walthamstow’s bad boys of pop as household favourites, garnering the band’s lead songwriter Tony Mortimer an Ivor Novello award for songwriting and a Brit nomination for ‘Best Song’. It’s a song that transcends the rough and tumble production line of 90s pop and has entered the canon of truly great songwriting. Stay Another Day has also been covered by everyone from Kylie Minogue to Girls Aloud, Rae Morris, Chvrches and UB40.
Australian ARIA chart-topping act and indie royalty Boy & Bear return to share a special acoustic version of their recent single, Just To Be Kind, available to stream now.
The band’s second step in a new chapter, Just to Be Kind receives an even more intimate treatment for listeners, showcasing the timeless croon of Dave Hosking’s vocals amid a soft guitar and piano-led backing from the band. The original single continued a jubilant return to music for Boy & Bear in 2022, first marked by February single State of Flight. Addressing deeper, open-ended questions to life and relationships, the single’s musings juxtaposed to the band’s irresistible brand of grand and uplifting indie-alt pop.
Dave Hosking from the band says on the acoustic version,”We’ve always loved doing stripped back versions of our own songs. It allows us to reinterpret the song in a new light as well indulge a little in our folkier side. It’s generally arranged and recorded pretty quickly to keep it feeling raw and natural. Anyways, here’s our acoustic version of ‘Just to be Kind’. Hope you like it.”
Ahead of the release of his forthcoming solo album Turn The Car Around, due January 13th 2023 via Hot Fruit Recordings / Virgin Music, Gaz Coombes has released his latest new single Long Live The Strange and accompanying music video today.
Recently Gaz announced a UK/EU headline tour for 2023 and also debuted music from the new album to a packed audience at London’s intimate Lafayette, a first taste of the masterfully written and recorded songs contained within, and a timely reminder of why Coombes remains one of the UK’s most enduring and gifted songwriters.
Gaz explains “This song was written as a celebration of the weird and wonderful and as a reminder to embrace that at all times”. The single stands as an ode to how music has the power to bring people together. He wrote it after taking his daughter Tiger to see Cavetown in Oxford in 2020. “The show had a big impact on me,” he recalls. “It was what live performance is all about, connecting with an audience that consists of anybody and everybody who wants to be part of it, it’s fully inclusive and I found that quite powerful.” It was heartening to Coombes to discover, 30 years after he listened to Inspiral Carpets and Pixies and The Wedding Present and felt like he was part of a gang, there was still a place where the strange ones go. “It’s obviously strange in the nicest sense of the word,” he adds.
Tropical Fu*k Storm announce their Submersive Behaviour 12″, out February 3rd via Joyful Noise Recordings, featuring the new single The Golden Ratio.
“The Golden Ratio exists when a line is divided into two parts and the longer part (a) divided by, the smaller part (b) is equal to the sum of (a) + (b) divided by (a), which both equal 1.61803398875. Our new song has been crafted to these exact specifications for the purposes of musical excellence, “ Gareth explains.
Submersive Behaviour is the Australian art-punk combo’s take on the tried and true ‘covers record’ concept. The Golden Ratio is joined on the 12″ by three tracks from their recent Moonburn EP and a thrilling 19-minute cover of Jimi Hendrix‘s ‘1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) featuring the talents of guest stars and TFS’ old mates and collaborators Dan Kelly, the Bard of Beenleigh, and Aaron Cupples, the Earl of East Gippsland on octopus-like strings-man-ship, falsetto, and apocalyptic vibes.
Over the course of 36 minutes, TFS puts their deranged spin on classics by Jimi Hendrix, Middle Aged in the Middle East in the Middle Ages, Men Men Menstruation, Compliments to the Chef, and The Stooges.
Gareth says: “Our version of 1983 A Merman I Shall Turn To Be is an attempt to right the recent wrongs perpetrated against Hendrix’s classic “Angel” by some idiot from One Direction doing a karaoke-style “tribute” for Jimi’s 80th birthday.”
Acclaimed electronic duo Flight Facilities’ share a new performance video, Flight Facilities Live At Airfields Sydney. Filmed at the Sydney leg of their nationwide FOREVER tour earlier this year, the video captures Flight Facilities rapturous live set in full, as the duo perform hits from their acclaimed albums FOREVER and Down To Earth.
Featuring guest appearances from Owl Eyes and Dustin Tebbutt, the live experience sees the duo in full flight, performing to an enthralled homecoming crowd. From newer singles Forever and Lights Up, to fan favourites Crave You and Clair De Lune, the set features hit-after-hit from the outfit’s already illustrious career. Initially scheduled to take place in Sydney’s Victoria Park, the Airfields location was moved to Moore Park Entertainment Quarter due to flooding a week out from the event. In a last-minute race again the clock, the team worked with the NSW 24 Hour Economy Commissioner to have the venue DA approved within 3 days, giving the show the green light to go ahead.
Australian pop artist AYDAN is closing out the year with the release of a soaring heartbreak anthem Everything To Me. As the follow-up to Lost With You, his second single of the year is a further extension of his ever-expanding polished pop sound. Everything To Me offers some of his most vulnerable lyrics to date, delivered with an affecting vocal performance.
That honesty is already connecting online with audiences around the globe. AYDAN recently teased the song on TikTok, dedicating it to “forbidden lovers”. Since then, the initial clip has had 1.3 million views while the song snippet has been used in close to 1,000 user videos. The full version of the song, doubles down on the heartache, delivering an emotional suckerpunch that maintains the narrative tension throughout.
The song was produced by LA duo PARKWILD (Lauv), who also produced Lost With You, during a songwriting trip to LA. Together, they have found a musical kinship that’s resulted in a cohesive sound that uniquely fits AYDAN’s soulful, charismatic vocal.
Writing the song during a time in his relationship where he felt he was going to “lose her completely”, the new single presents itself as a love song at first with AYDAN singing, “You’re everything, you’re the reason why.” then at the end of the chorus he flips the script and reveals, “You’re everything to me except mine.”
“It creates a really interesting push and pull feeling which is similar to what you feel when experiencing loving someone that you can’t have,” he says.
††† (Crosses) —the duo made up of Deftones’ Chino Moreno and producer/multi-instrumentalist Shaun Lopez— have returned with their first EP in 10 years PERMANENT.RADIANT. The 6-track project also arrives with the release of a gripping new video for Holier.
The EP kicks off with SENSATION, an unnerving track anchored by its ethereal chorus and is followed by the previously released scorcher Vivien. Sonically, the group ascends to new heights with amorphous soundscapes, thrilling production and even a gorgeous feel-good groove on Day One.
In keeping with the EP’s singular visual themes, the video for Holier puts protagonist and actress Thais Molon in beautiful soft lighting while being baptized as well as appearing in places like an old motel room —where a performance from ††† ensues— as more cinematic imagery continues to unfold throughout.
International superstar Lewis Capaldi reveal his stunning piano-led second single Pointless – taken from his brand new record Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent – out May 19th, 2023.
It’s been a whirlwind return for Lewis, rocketing straight to the top of the UK singles chart in September with comeback single Forget Me – which quickly became Gold-certified and smashed 100 million streams globally, making him the fifth artist this year to have a single go straight in at Number 1 in its first week, putting him in the company of Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, Dave & Sam Smith.
Pointless arrives as one of his earliest compositions for the new album, written on the first day with Steve Mac. With Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid also on the session, the trio were working on one song (“which hasn’t made the cut”) when Lewis’ collaborators mentioned a verse they’d previously begun writing with Ed Sheeran.
“Ed had that lyric, ‘I bring her coffee in the morning, she brings me inner peace’”, Lewis recalls of the opening line. “And pretty much every other line of that opening was just banging.” Inspired, Lewis got to work, writing a chorus and middle-eight. By the end of the day, Pointless was completed.
When Lewis Capaldi writes a ballad, the world takes notice. After teasing just one verse of the new single on his socials in the lead up to its release, Capaldimania ensued as he racked up over 2.5 million views on TikTok in just one night.
For album two, the idea is simple but potent: to go in and do the exact same thing. No bells, whistles or starry featured vocalists, and no ruinously expensive stays in distant studios. Like it was on the first album, straight-up, full-force honesty. “I don’t want to create a new sound for myself, or reinvent myself.” says Lewis. “The songs I want to write are emotional songs, about love or loss.”
Multi-talented artist and performer MALLRAT delivers her surprise collaboration with American electronic duo The Chainsmokers. After teasing the release on socials, the new version of the viral, fan favourite Wish On An Eyelash is out now.
Of the release, Mallrat — aka Grace Shaw — shares “The original Wish On An Eyelash is a short, one minute introduction to my album and was never promoted as a single – but there must be something a bit magic about it, because in the last few months it has stood out as something that really resonates with people and now has a life of its own.
A few weeks ago I was completely taken by surprise when I logged on to Twitter to see The Chainsmokers had remixed the song out of pure love for it – we had never met or talked! For something so big to happen organically like this is really special and really rare. I am so excited for this interpretation of my track to be an introduction to a whole new audience. Thank you to The Chainsmokers.”
Following a mischievous roll-out that included mailing portions of the track on CD to Paramore stans and DMing their followers piece-meal lyrics, Paramore’s invigorated return continues with The News – the second track to be taken from their highly anticipated sixth studio album This is Why out February 10, 2023 on Atlantic Records.The accompanying video, inspired by the band’s favourite horror movies and thrillers, was filmed in their hometown of Nashville, TN and directed by Mike Kluge and Matthew DeLisi. One of Paramore’s most striking, agile and frenetic songs, “The News” puts drummer Zac Farro and guitarist Taylor York’s dynamic chemistry at the forefront while Hayley Williams’ lyrics unleash the feelings of helplessness and anxiety that come with a desire to stay informed and engaged with current events, coupled with the emotional toll of being overwhelmed by the 24 hour news cycle.“
Says Hayley, “The News is one of those songs that came together pretty quickly and felt exciting from the start. It feels like a happy medium between classic Paramore angst and bringing in some influences we’ve always had but never exploited. Watching Zac track drums for this one was one of my favorite memories from the studio. Lyrically, it probably explains itself. The 24-hr news cycle is just impossible to comprehend. And I feel a pang of guilt when I unplug to protect my headspace. The common reaction, or non-reaction, seems to be dissociation. Not one of us is innocent of that and who could blame us?”
Indie outfit Death by Denim take a hit of fruity scented mist with their fuzzy offering Draped In Vapour, delving in to the depths of late night conversation in the smokers’ section.
The band discuss the latest track, “’Draped in Vapour’ is a dive into the sensory plain, a late 90s/early 2000s smooth RnB inspired groove that gallops and trots through arpeggiated melodies breathing a new dynamic into a familiar sound explored in previous DBD tracks such as Wiggy and Out of Habit. The woozy visuals of the film clip are reminiscent of those late night dancefloor sessions where the world becomes a bit more hazy.”
RÜFÜS DU SOL have returned to the triple j studios to perform a gripping interpretation of Nirvana’s classic track Something In The Way for Like A Version. Lifted from Nirvana’s iconic 1991 record Nevermind, the cover marks RÜFÜS DU SOL’s first Like A Version in eight years, having last covered Foals’ My Number and Booka Shade’s Charlotte in 2014.
Alongside the cover, the band also performed their original song I Don’t Wanna Leave from their 2021 ARIA #1 album Surrender. Watch HERE. The record, which has over 60million Australian streams, also features ARIA Platinum single On My Knees and certified Gold tracks Alive and Next To Me.
US hard rock group Pop Evil announced their new album, Skeletons due March 17, 2023, via MNRK Heavy, along with their U.S. headlining tour starting on the same day.
The 11-tracks feature the already released singles, Eye of the Storm landing at the #5 Most Played Song in 2022 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Chart, and the most recent single, Paranoid (Crash & Burn). The album also includes guest performers such as Ryan Kirby from Fit for a King on Dead Reckoning – a song brought to the table by bassist, Joey “Chicago” Walser – plus Blake Allison from Devour the Day providing guest vocals on Wrong Direction.
In discussing the album, frontman Leigh Kakaty said, “This is about us as a band stripping everything down to the bones. It’s more uptempo, it’s got bigger riffs, and we’re trying to capture the energy of our live show.”
“But it’s also a positive message,” he adds. “I know it’s a morbid visual, but behind every skeleton, there’s a story and something worth talking about. Overall, it’s about looking at something in a positive way. And I’m excited for everyone to hear that.”
The first single, Eye of the Storm is a pummeling, chaotic maelstrom with an uplifting message at its centre(and a killer chorus). As for the song’s lyrical plea, Kakaty explains: “It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, at some point we all face a situation beyond our control. At times, it feels hopeless, but it’s not. There is a path through the chaos and a way out of the confusion. You are stronger and closer than you think you are. The storm will pass. Don’t let it bury you.”
Fresh off the heels of announcing the highly anticipated forthcoming record EVERY LOSER (Atlantic Records/Gold Tooth Records) and “buzz-bombing, hard-riffing rock” (NEW YORK TIMES) single Frenzy, Iggy Pop has unleashed a second track to whet our collective appetites– Strung Out Johnny.
EVERY LOSER – out January 6, 2023 – is Iggy’s first album to be released via the recently announced partnership between Atlantic Records and Gold Tooth Records, the new label founded by the album’s GRAMMY Award-winning, multi-platinum executive producer, Andrew Watt.
Featuring a murderers’ row of modern day rock icons including the Iggy Pop & The Losers lineup of Watt, McKagan and Smith, Every Loser sets Iggy’s lyrical aggressions toward physical and existential nemeses atop a rock solid foundation provided by members of Blink 182 (Travis Barker), Foo Fighters (Taylor Hawkins), Guns N’ Roses (Duff McKagan), Jane’s Addiction (Chris Chaney, Dave Navarro, Eric Avery), Pearl Jam (Josh Klinghoffer, Stone Gossard) and Red Hot Chili Peppers (Klinghoffer, Chad Smith). The result is 11 songs by the man who refused to go gently into that good night on Free, and is once again charging fearlessly at life itself on EVERY LOSER.
Earlier this month, Marea Stamper, aka Kentucky-born, London-based artist, DJ, producer and club culture iconoclast The Blessed Madonna released her brand new single Serotonin Moonbeams. Her first solo release since 2017’s sumptuous disco house anthem He Is The Voice I Hear, it features a joyous contribution from vocalist Uffie and sees Stamper deliver exactly what she’s become known for: all-encompassing, celebratory, communal house music.
To celebrate the release of the new single, Stamper hosted a secret party at the infamous (and glorious) sweatbox venue ‘The Bunker’ in Deptford. Arming the partygoers with body-cams and a licence to do absolutely anything they wanted, she set out to capture the very essence of the unbridled freedom that lies at the heart of the track. With the help of director Loose, the video frantically depicts the beautiful chaos of club culture in all its sweaty, sleazy, glitter-filled glory – a sentiment best described by the teenage Blessed Madonna who we meet as the video starts – reporting live from a burgeoning American rave scene still in embryonic form, completely unaware of the effect it will have on every aspect of her life.
Speaking further about the video, Stamper writes; “This is probably a bad way to go about promoting a record about raves, but I loathe party videos. I don’t think there’s anything more insulting to everything that’s good and true and beautiful about dance music than canned dj euphoria moments, choreographed—some jerk off spray tanned guy who pretended to make a record, who’s pretending to dj, hands-in-the-air rammed down the throats of the viewer. I didn’t even want to be in the video. I just wanted the ideas in the song to unfold naturally at a real, blood, sweat and tears on the floor party. So that’s what we did. We strapped body cams on people, who then proceeded to get absolutely pissed out of their minds. Uffie showed up with Vaseline and glitter smeared all over her chest and we got weird in a hole in the wall club till morning. I swept up when we were done. What you see in the video is a more polite version of what happened. To be honest, very few people probably precisely realized they were a part of a music video. They just knew they were feeling something they had missed. It can be like that. We don’t have to settle for less”.
Lana Del Rey announces her highly anticipated ninth studio album Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd which follows the recent success of previous albums Blue Banisters and Chemtrails Over The Country Club, which were released last year to critical acclaim. Due for release on 10th March 2023, the pre-order for Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd is now live, with CD, cassette and various exclusive vinyl formats available at select retailers.
Alongside announcement of the new album and on sale pre-order, Lana today releases title track Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd written by Lana Del Rey and Mike Hermosa and produced by Lana Del Rey, Jack Antonoff, Drew Erickson and Zach Dawes.
Big news from Sweden’s root rock figureheads SIENA ROOT as the band share long-awaited details about their upcoming eighth studio album which will be released on February 24th, 2023 via new label home Atomic Fire Records! Fittingly titled Revelation« that’s exactly what the new album has become: the group’s most versatile offering in their career long-spanning career, guiding listeners through a real journey instead of simply stringing together song after song. The eleven tracks which can now be found on Revelation were recorded analogously once again at Silence Studio (Koppom, SE) and Root Rock Studios (Stockholm, SE) where they were also mixed before getting mastered at Stockholm’s Cutting Room. To shorten the wait for fans until they’ll finally be able to embark on the aforementioned journey, the quartet have launched a music video for new track Coincidence & Fate which can be viewed over on YouTube now.
The band explain, “This is the trailer for our movie, Wheels Of Revelation as well as the first track of the album Revelation and tells a story of fear one experiences when coming close to death and realizing the fickleness of life. Musically, Coincidence & Fate is an all-analogue recording featuring dirty organ riffs and fat drums. That’s where heavy rock tunes with female front vocals — seemingly inspired by classic acts such as URIAH HEEP and JETHRO TULL — meet SIENA ROOT’s remarkable root rock sound. Enjoy!”
For more music news and info follow Hi Fi Way