J Hacha De Zola spiritually channels John Denver on upcoming “J Hacha De Zola’s Greatest Hits,” a re-mastered collection, out April 2nd.

Called a “wild man” akin to Tom Waits, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, artist’s all-new “East of Eden” (out June 11^th) is his most accessible LP yet.
 
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J Hacha De Zola as John Denver as photographed by Christopher Welby
 
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J Hacha De Zola | In The Press
 
“A wild man in the vein of such fire breathing artists like Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.” — Paste
 
“The kind of alluring character found in old children’s books.” — UTNE
 
“Enticing as it is distant and strange.” — MAGNET
 
“Bound to light the way forward and inspire a legion of imitators.” — PopMatters
 
“Sits at his own, most likely oddly shaped table.” – Pancakes and Whiskey
 
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 Obviously, as a songwriter, J Hacha De Zola and John Denver come from vastly different places, with different musical ideas… As for the could-be-ironic, mostly inexplicable, definitely fun tribute that is the album’s cover, a dead-on approximation of singer-songwriter John Denver’s own eponymous and iconic John Denver’s Greatest Hits album image… Hacha De Zola focuses in on, and connects with what they have deeply in common, saying, “I loved this idea of being exactly what you are. Whatever you are, be it.”
 
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J Hacha De Zola
J Hacha De Zola’s Greatest Hits
April 2, 2021
(Caballo Negro)
  

Track Listing:
01.  Blue Sky (STREAM)
02.  Strange (STREAM)
03.  El Desgraciado
04.  No Situation
05.  El Chucho
06.  On A Saturday
07.  Lightning Rod Salesman
08.  Bubble Gum
09.  Black Sparrow
10.  Anarchy
11.  A Fools Moon
12.  Syn Illusión
 
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J Hacha De Zola | About
 
“It’s a gas, looking back at what we have done,” says Jersey City’s J Hacha De Zola, considering the music that comprises J Hacha De Zola’s Greatest Hits, a re-mastered 12-song collection of tunes culled from the four albums and various EPs that the eclectic “Urban Junkyard” artist has released over the past five years.

Fanatic Promotion · J Hacha De Zola - Blue Sky

 
“I never really thought of myself as a recording artist when I started out, but I guess that’s what I do now,” he realizes, concluding, “Sometimes you find yourself so far down the road that there’s only one option: to keep on going.”
 
Sequenced as its own stand-alone album, J Hacha De Zola’s Greatest Hits is dense with awesome. The record stands as a proclamation of identity for Hacha De Zola as a tightwire-walking artist that has defied early comparisons to everyone from Tom Waits to Captain Beefheart to Jim Morrison to becomes his own thang (with an “a!”)
 
“Sometimes to get an idea of where you are going, ya have to take a look at where ya been,” he says. “I’m taking a moment to reflect upon the previous work, while also keeping my thoughts on the first-time listener who may happen upon my music with this compilation release.
 
“I thought to myself, ‘what songs are most representative of J Hacha De Zola’s voice and spirit? What would you want a first time listener to hear? This compelled me to make sure that listening to the ‘greatest hits’ was a fun, captivating and immersive experience, and a strong introduction to what I do as a recording artist.
 
“I picked what I felt were some of my best moments and crafted it into what feels like a new record. Hopefully some will delve a bit deeper, but I wanted this to be a fun collection of my proudest, and maybe most accessible moments.”

Fanatic Promotion · J Hacha De Zola - Strange

 
As for the could-be-ironic, mostly inexplicable, definitely fun tribute that is the album’s cover, a dead-on approximation of singer-songwriter John Denver’s own eponymous and iconic John Denver’s Greatest Hits album image, Hacha De Zola explains, “John Denver was one of the greatest singer-songwriters of the 70s, and there definitely was no shortage of those during that time.”
 
Drawing the connection, Hacha De Zola continues, saying, “He wrote authentic tunes that came directly from his heart, soul, and experience. There was a certain purity about him and what he did. My introduction to his music was through his John Denver’s Greatest Hits record, and everything about it, including the album cover, was a perfect representation of his music and overall vibe. I would like to think that I have done something similar with my own record, except that John Denver actually had hits!”
 
Obviously, as a songwriter, Hacha De Zola and Denver come from vastly different places, with different musical ideas, but Hacha De Zola focuses in on, and connects with what they have deeply in common.
 
“I loved this idea of being exactly what you are. Whatever you are, be it.”
 
J Hacha De Zola’s Greatest Hits is out April 2^nd, 2021. His albums Escape From Fat Kat City, Antipatico, Picaro Obscuro, and Icaro Nouveau are all streaming now. Look also for the Spanish-language EP “Syn Illusión” and Hacha De Zola’s EP of covers of songs by female pop stars, “UnPOPular.” The all-new J Hacha De Zola album East of Eden arrives on June 11^th, 2021.
 
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J Hacha De Zola | Links
 
ASSETS : WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : YOUTUBE : INSTAGRAM : BANDCAMP
 
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
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Masked Los Angeles delivery driver biffs it off his bike (a beautiful dancer does not!) in music video for “Should’ve Known Better” by Blesson Roy.

See clip by Sweeten (Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, A Tribe Called Quest) at Under The Radar; Ryeland Allison (Hans Zimmer) remix also streaming.
 
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Terry Borden of Blesson Roy as photographed by Ankhurr Chawaak
 
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Blesson Roy | “Should’ve Known Better”
 

Hear “Should’ve Known Better” by Blesson Roy via American Songwriter and see the video at Under The Radar or at the links below.
 
Calling back to the bright tones and sweet melodies of Britpop. Amidst a jangly guitar-led instrumental and sharp vocal hook, Terry Borden of Blesson Roy takes listeners on another trip back through his record collection, showing his ability to incorporate and synthesize styles as both a creator and a fan.
 
“It’s basically the designed cinematic and aural engaged focus, rhythm, and pacing of a real ‘climactic’ human moment,” says director Tom Gorai aka Sweeten, the Grammy® and Emmy®-nominated producer who has also produced videos for Pearl Jam (“Jeremy”), Nine Inch Nails, and A Tribe Called Quest of his clip for the Blesson Roy single “Should’ve Known Better,” which depicts a masked Los Angeles, courtesy of a cyclist who biffs it, and a liquor store parking lot dancer who clearly does not.
 
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See the premiere of the “Should’ve Known Better” lyric video at V13 and listen to an interview with Terry Borden of Blesson Roy on the Stereo Embers podcast!
 
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The “Should’ve Known Better,” video captures the “happy-sad emotional connection” that Borden – a veteran of slowcore pioneers Idaho and world-wide tours as part of Pete Yorn’s band – recently told American Songwriter he was working towards when writing the song. “I like the energy, the guitars, and the contrasting bittersweet light and dark tones of the words and music. The chord progression was persistently coming out when I picked up the guitar over a long period of time. It required a permanent home!”
 
Influenced by The Smiths, Leonard Cohen, The Beatles, David Bowie, New Order, Lou Reed, Punk and Post-Punk from the 80s and 90s, as well as the roots of those movements from the 60s and 70s, Borden brings these and more to his debut album, Think Like Spring, out now via Slow Start Records.
  
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Blesson Roy | In The Press
 
“Articulate songwriting... deliciously catchy hooks.” — American Songwriter
 
“A new sound in a new decade.” — PopMatters
 
“Dreamy and earthy. — The Big Takeover
 
“Intricately-arranged pop.” — MXDWN
 
“One of the catchiest numbers of the year.” — Stereo Embers
 
“Hypnotic.” — Treble
 
“Sunny, Beach Boys-esque.” — Glide Magazine
 
“Beach Boys with Big Star’s vibrant melodies.” — Beats Per Minute
 
“Will expand your mind.” — BTRtoday
 
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Blesson Roy | “Should’ve Known Better” (Ryeland Allison Remix)
 
[STREAM]: https://fanatic.lnk.to/BlessonRoy-ShouldveKnownBetter-RyelandAllisonRemix
 
Hear the Ryeland Allison remix of “Should’ve Known Better” by Blesson Roy now at the link above!
 
Ryeland Allison is a multi-faceted composer, producer, sound designer, remixer and instrumentalist whose work is known worldwide through his contributions to numerous films (such as "Inception," "The Dark Knight," and "The Lion King"), records (Hybrid, BT, Armin van Buuren, Crystal Method, Spice Girls and Christina Aguilera) and sound libraries (Roland, Korg and Spectrasonics.)
 
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Blesson Roy
Think Like Spring
Out Now
(Slow Start Records)
 
Streaming Link:
STREAM FULL LP
 
Private Download Link:
DOWNLOAD FULL LP
 

Track Listing:
 
01. Soothe (STREAM)
02. Fingerprints Of Love
03. Undertow (STREAM | VIDEO)
04. Should’ve Known Better (VIDEO | LYRIC VIDEO | REMIX)
05. Ana Left Spain
06. Stays With You (STREAM | VIDEO | LYRIC VIDEO)
07. The Loving Sea
08. Waterfall Drops
09. Maria Rain
10. Thousand (STREAM | VIDEO)
11. Near
12. I Can See You
13. Falling
14. The Gaps
 
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Blesson Roy | About
 
Think Like Spring is the debut album from life-long “music lover and music doer,” Terry Borden, the man behind Blesson Roy, and follows-up Borden’s twin 2020 EPs “Time Is A Crime” and “Time Is A Crime (Almost Acoustic).”
 
The album is the 14-song dreamy pop reflection of a child of 1970’s California whose early love of AM radio and his brother’s record collection led to membership in slowcore pioneers Idaho and Pete Yorn’s band Dirty Bird. Living in the UK during the explosion of subculture labels 4AD, Creation, Factory, and Rough Trade has also heavily influenced the Blesson Roy sound.
 
Think Like Spring was recorded during the COVID-19 lockdown.
 
“I was alone in the studio adjacent to my home and had no distractions other than the feeling of being truly alone in the recording space, for days and weeks on end,” Borden explains. “The positive effect of the pandemic isolation in the studio was the time and ability to focus on the musical details in the songs, and extend the searches for the right chemical reactions that manifested in each track.”
 
“Think Like Spring is a suggestion for a train of thought, which is focused on positivity and renewal,” Borden continues, discussing the album’s overall concept. “This is an especially important time for all of us to embrace the new positive and negative paradigm shifts with a sense of creativity and invention.”
 
About the album’s upcoming singles, Borden says, “‘Undertow’ took on a darker and lusher soundscape than I had originally imagined, having written that one as a Leonard Cohen or Nick Drake-influenced acoustic guitar song. As the recording unfolded, however, I realized that ‘Undertow’ needed a dark ambient soundscape rather than a stripped-down acoustic production.”
 
Borden explains that “Stays With You” was “a journey into dynamics with the chorus exploding out of the verses. It was a lot of fun and very satisfying to create the verse and chorus as almost two different bits of music that tied together emotionally but remained separate dynamically.”
 
“I ventured into some new areas musically,” he says of ‘Thousand,’ which “became more of an emotional, anthemic recording; a bit of a departure. It was thrilling to construct ‘Thousand’ and draw on unbridled emotion for that one.”
 
“I am pleased that a song with the characteristics of ‘Undertow’ sits next to an indie rocker like ‘Should’ve Known Better,’ Borden says of the album’s final planned single. “I have always loved records that have different types of songs with a fearless approach to production that serves the song not the style of music. The Beatles’ ‘White Album’ is the pinnacle of this type of approach.”
 
Ultimately, Borden says that he tried to give each song a separate identity with a unique personality.
 
“I can’t say if I succeeded in this, but it was the way I recorded and structured the sound of each track. Writing and recording Think Like Spring was pure joy with patches of frustration that happen in any creative process. The songs and the creation of the recordings felt like a warm place in a cold and dangerous world.”
 
 
Think Like Spring by Blesson Roy is out now via Slow Start Records. Terry Borden is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.
 
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Blesson Roy | Links
 
ASSETS : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : BANDCAMP
 
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 Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL

Mike Viola continues science fiction themed series of music videos with new “Twilight Zone”-inspired “We May Never Be This Young Again.”

Latest album Godmuffin gets release by SONY Japan; Artist launches “Songs Start To Finish” series, a fun look into his creative process.

 
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Mike Viola as photographed by Silvia Grav
 
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Mike Viola is a Grammy®-nominated producer, musician, songwriter and singer best known for his work with Panic! At The Disco, Mandy Moore, Jenny Lewis, Ondara, Matt Nathanson and Fall Out Boy. His original music has been featured on soundtracks for movies such as ”That Thing You Do!,” ”Get Him To The Greek,” and ”Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.”
 
Viola’s latest album Godmuffin is out now via Good Morning Monkey / Grand Phony.
 
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Mike Viola | “We May Never Be This Young Again”
 

 
 
[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I51HAhtVsXs
 
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 “I’m a huge fan of ‘The Twilight Zone,’ especially the episodes where Rod Serling addresses some nuanced existential dilemma hidden inside a gimmicky science fiction idea,” says Mike Viola of the video for his single “We May Never Be This Young Again.” Hear it now at Brooklyn Vegan and see the video via The Big Takeover.
 
“For this video, the director, Silvia Grav, envisioned me running, just vaguely running through Los Angeles at night. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be running from, but she had this vision while listening to the song over and over.
 
“There are a handful of ‘Twilight Zone’ episodes about Air Force pilots who are distressed and disoriented by something or other. I bought a blue jumpsuit online and put together a little crew and we drove around filming me running in downtown Los Angeles late at night, which during COVID, was empty.
 
“We knew we wanted to have vignettes of a couple not getting along great, Like, normal stuff we all go through in our relationships, nothing too dramatic. Just that kind of subtly that can slowly tear apart a marriage. Something always saves us in these moments of subtle destruction. You guessed it, love.”
 
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Latest album Godmuffin gets release by SONY Japan; Artist launches “Songs Start To Finish” series, a fun look into his creative process.
 
Mike Viola has launched a series of fun, short behind-the-scenes videos, documenting his creative process leading to the completion of the 11 songs that comprise Godmuffin. See the “Songs Start To Finish” series at YouTube now. The first two installments feature the songs “All You Can Eat” and “Drug Rug,” with new posts happening on Wednesdays.
 
Godmuffin was also recently released in a special two-CD edition, packaged with Viola’s previous solo album The American Egypt, by SONY Japan.
 
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Mike Viola
Godmuffin
Out Now
(Good Morning Monkey / Grand Phony)
 
Streaming Link:
STREAM FULL LP
  

 Track Listing:
01. USA Up All Night
02. Creeper (STREAM)
03. Drug Rug (STREAM | VIDEO | LYRIC VIDEO)
04. We May Never Be This Young Again (VIDEO | LYRIC VIDEO)
05. All You Can Eat
06. The Littles
07. Superkid 2, Trying To Do The Thing I Was Born To Do
08. Honorable Mention With Jam Show
09. People Pleaser, You’re The Man Of The House Now
10. Ordinary Girl (STREAM | VIDEO | LYRIC VIDEO)
11. That Seems Impossible Now
 
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[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXQokPDo77c
 
[STREAM]: https://Fanatic.lnk.to/MikeViola-DrugRug
 
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“Legend has it that vampires can’t expose themselves to sunlight, but Mike Viola begs to differ,” explains Rolling Stone in its coverage of Viola’s horror short for his latest single. “He’s a pool-lazing vampire in the new video for ‘Drug Rug,’ a track off his upcoming LP Godmuffin. Directed by Caitlin Gerard, the video opens with Viola lying on a float in Mandy Moore’s pool.
 
“Viola channels his preternatural gift for directness and warmth into a celebration of youth,” BuzzBands.LA says it its premiere post of the song. Viola explains that the tune is “a look back at my icy days in NYC. This is an ode to my beloved classic rock, as well.”
 
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Mike Viola | “Ordinary Girl”
 

 
 
[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBQYXSlgeFM
 
[STREAM]: https://fanatic.lnk.to/MikeViola-OrdinaryGirl
 
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“It’s a girl power song,” Mike Viola tells American Songwriter in its premiere coverage of his single “Ordinary Girl.” “We all have superpowers. For me, the scariest thing out there in the world is blending in, disappearing into the status quo. This is like a John Hughes version of that concept.”
 
An obsessive monster movie fan, Viola continues the series he started with the video (see below) for “Drug Rug” (which co-stars Mandy Moore (and her swimming pool) alongside a hilarious turn as a vampire by Viola himself) with the video for “Ordinary Girl.”
 
With a team comprised of all women creators, including sisters and co-directors Kelsey and Rémy Bennett, alongside acclaimed 26-year-old photographer turned cinematographer, Silvia Grav, “Ordinary Girl” redefines power as we know it through the perspective of a horror obsessed suburban girl.
 
The video, shot like a short film, bears witness to the main character as she harnesses her transgressive creative gifts in a manifestation of self-reflection, exploration, and an otherworldly growth of inner strength that will break your heart just to see what it’s made of.
 
The lyric video for the song finds Viola in a real moment with his “monster thumb,” following his young daughter around the sidewalks of Los Angeles as he teaches her to roller skate.
 
Stereo Embers says, “While Springsteen’s songbook is filled with tracks told from the perspective of a guy who wants to get out of town, ‘Ordinary Girl’ might very well be the first song written from the point of view of a parent wishing the same for his children.”
 
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Mike Viola | About
 

 
Music lives in Mike Viola. Shit, it’s his last name, right?
 
Godmuffin (Good Morning Monkey / Grand Phony) even opens with strings and man, do they tug.
 
Hard.
 
“Don’t be afraid, no don’t be afraid / We still have time, we still have time / There’s so much I wanna do”
 
“I wrote ’Creeper’ the morning I got the news my close friend died,” Viola says. “He was my age. Now he can’t make music. I still can. I can still spend my time looking for the secret cause, the next new song, even when it feels too late, ‘cause I still have time.”
 
Viola’s friend is the artistically immortal, Adam Schlesinger, to whom Viola will forever be publicly tied as the voice of his friend’s perfect, Oscar®-nominated pop song “That Thing You Do!”
 
At any other time, this association would be a fun fact. A bullet point in a career full of them. But right now it’s painful to listen to with Viola’s real-life tragedy in mind. Somehow, he makes it sound beautiful.
 
Godmuffin follows-up Viola’s 2018 album The American Egypt, and is his first return in over a decade to the more conventional rock and pop sound that he first broke through with as front man of Candy Butchers during that band’s string of major label records in the late-90s to mid-2000s.
 
Godmuffin was written and recorded alone in Viola’s home studio. He describes it as “11 songs about transformation” and Viola isn’t afraid to let you see.
 
“It’s youthful in the chances it takes,” he says. “It doesn’t give a fuck.”
 
In the face of fine-tuning everything into oblivion, Godmuffin is the least experimental-sounding experimental record you’ll hear this year. Viola records on half-inch tape and mixes on a vintage Auditronics console without the advantage of digital editing.
 
“The recording is linear, ‘cause I can’t punch and fix things very easily, especially when I’m playing drums.  On the computer, you can repair all of your mistakes ‘til you sound perfect. Or even worse, tune or beat detective the life out of it. I prefer rock music that’s beautifully flawed.”
 
“It’s human,” he says.
 
“Only the dead get to heaven / Here on earth we just get lost”
 
Human it is.
 
Viola sings the chorus of the album’s first single “Drug Rug,” and it’s as if you’re listening to recently re-discovered dedications from a high school yearbook.
 
It’s not nostalgia, it’s time traveling written from the point of view of the graduated Viola, “who’s spent a lifetime doing windmills on Big Star guitars, slick with Todd Rundgren syrup hand-drawn from the tree.”
 
Elsewhere on Godmuffin, Viola sings about being a teenager (“USA Up All Night”), about being the father of teenagers (“The Littles,” “Ordinary Girl”), and even offers up a sequel (“Superkid 2, Trying To Do The Thing I Was Born To Do”) to a previously released song (“Superkid”) about being a teenager.
 
Youthful. Not giving a fuck.
 
Is there a time in our lives when we feel more invincible? Godmuffin is the sound of fearlessness.
 
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Mike Viola | Links
 
ASSETS : WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : INSTAGRAM : SPOTIFY : APPLE : GRAND PHONY
 
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : YOUTUBE : INSTAGRAM : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL
 
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