Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Dream System 8 collects vintage synths off eBay to construct Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, Duran Duran-inspired pop album, “We Sleep Again.”

Team of Emmy®-winning “Stranger Things” Music Editor, Hearts of Palm UK vocalist releases debut Feb. 23rd. See “Losing All of You” at Billboard.

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Dream System 8 (L-R): David Klotz, Erica Elektra. Photo credit: Polly Antonia Barrowman.

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Dream System 8 – In The Press


“Evokes a dreamlike wonder.” — Billboard

“Beautiful dream pop.” — MAGNET

“The pair are bringing back all the nostalgia.” — Earmilk

“Jam packed with vintage synth tones.” — mxdwn.com

“Coaxes beguiling textures from their array of 80s era keyboards.” – Keyboard

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Dream System 8 chats with Billboard and shares the music video for “Losing All of You.” Watch here or listen at the links below!


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“The LA-based synth duo meld vintage gear with a modern attitude.” Dream System 8 chats with Keyboard.

Hear “Heather Runs The Marathon,” an instrumental inspired by 80’s-era film scores, at The Big Takeover.

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Dream System 8 is a newly-formed, synth-based pop duo out of Los Angeles that combines the talents of veteran musicians David Klotz and Erica Elektra.

The vintage instruments used on the band’s upcoming debut album We Sleep Again (out Feb. 23rd, 2018 via Minty Fresh) are veterans, too, and include a large assortment of Rolands, Korgs, and Yamahas. Not only is the musical partnership of the humans in Dream System 8 new, so is the relationship to the band’s large brood of keys.

Klotz, whose day job has earned him four Emmy® awards as the Music Editor of television shows such as “Stranger Things,” “Game of Thrones,” and “American Horror Story,” started acquiring the gear in 2015.

“I was inspired when I started working on ‘Stranger Things’ in 2015 and first heard the score,” Klotz recalls. “I loved the sounds that the show’s composers created with synths. It was unlike anything I’d heard before in the world of film scoring.” Klotz, who has been making records under various band names for years, began plotting to make a record of pop songs based around the sound of these keyboards. His first stop was eBay.

Recording with synths from the early 1980’s, Dream System 8’s debut emerges from these origins of artifice with natural-sounding pop songs inspired by Vangelis, The Human League, Tangerine Dream, and Duran Duran. The latest single from Dream System 8 is “Shine A Little Light,” premiered via Earmilk alongside an interview with Klotz and Elektra. Follow this link to read the piece and to hear “Shine A Little Light” now.

“Pretty much every vintage synth we own is on ‘Shine A Little Light,’” Klotz says. “I’m pretty sure it’s the only song on the album with that honor.”

Previously, Dream System 8 recently released the debut single “Losing All of You,” and shared the music video for the song via Billboard. Klotz and Elektra also spent some time chatting with Billboard about the project. Read the full interview and see the music video for “Losing All of You” here.

We Sleep Again, the debut album by Los Angeles-based duo Dream System 8 is scheduled to arrive on Feb. 23rd, 2018. David Klotz and Erica Elektra are available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.

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Dream System 8 chats with Earmilk and shares the single “Shine A Little Light.” Listen here or at the links below!

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Dream System 8 Links

ASSETS : WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : MINTY FRESH

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Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion


WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : YOUTUBE : INSTAGRAM : SNAPCHAT : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL
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Monday, January 8, 2018

Brooklyn-based songwriter Jeremy Bass preps “The Greatest Fire” featuring players with Iron and Wine, Neko Case, Calexico, DeVotchKa.

Classically-trained guitarist’s latest follows-up to pair of 2015 EPs earning John Lennon Songwriting Competition, UK Songwriting Contest nods.

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Jeremy Bass as photographed by Skyler Smith

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Listen to the title track from The Greatest Fire at Guitar World or at the links below. See the video at Independent Clauses.

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Jeremy Bass – In The Press

“A stunner!” — Sing Out!

“Daring and simple all at the same time.” — Guitar World

“Sparse, delicate. Just the thing to cosy up to while the rain taps at your window.” — BBC Radio 6

“Blends the lessons of classical, bossa nova, and folk.” — Acoustic Guitar

“Beautifully composed.” — MAGNET

“Hope can be heard shining through.” — Exclaim!

“Stark and epic.” — Songwriting Magazine (UK)

“Bursts out of the gate with clever poetry.” — Atwood Magazine

“Devastating lyrics.” — Nooga.com

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NYC! See Jeremy Bass live at Rockwood Music Hall on Sun. Jan 21st for an early (6PM) record release show. RSVP HERE.

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On his upcoming full-length The Greatest Fire (Jan. 19th, Jungle Strut Music), Brooklyn-based songwriter Jeremy Bass is accompanied by equally accomplished players in the form of Nick Luca who has toured and recorded with Iron and Wine, Jon Rauhouse who tours and records with Neko Case, Tom Hagerman of DeVotchKa, Jacob Valenzuela of Calexico, and Joel Graves of Everest, among others.

Listen to the title track from The Greatest Fire by Jeremy Bass courtesy of Guitar World.

The pedigree of the players on The Greatest Fire backs up the songwriting quality that saw Bass win two prestigious songwriting awards – the John Lennon Songwriting Competition and the UK Songwriting Contest – for tracks from his previous pair of 2015 EPs. It is interesting to note that while Bass’ world-class turns of phrase are impressive, especially for an emerging songwriter, he actually makes his bones as a classical guitarist.

Bass has logged countless hours mastering the instrument that he was originally trained on in Italy and Spain, and his ascension as a composer ultimately led to The Secret City, the arts organization for which Bass serves as musical director, receiving an Obie Award – off-Broadway theater’s highest honor.

“I wanted this album to be an expression of everything I was capable of, to feature the best songwriting I’ve done to date and to let rock n’ roll shine through the more diverse influences of my previous records,” Bass says.

To that end, while Bass’ voice can be described as a mixture of Paul Simon, Jeff Buckley, and Thom Yorke, you’re now as likely to find walls of distorted guitars and stacked keyboards in his arsenal as you are to find a blend of banjo, ukulele, acoustic guitars and mandolin.

And while his sound bears little resemblance to one of his heroes, Bass relates wholeheartedly to this Tom Waits quote: “I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things.” The songs on The Greatest Fire take this idea as gospel, both in ideology and practice.

“I thrive on the interplay between what people think they’re hearing, and the actual content beneath,” Bass explains. “I think that’s where the best songwriting happens.” Bass mentions Hank Williams and Merle Haggard’s outlaw output as examples of this juxtaposition.

The Greatest Fire, the new album by Jeremy Bass is scheduled for release on Jan. 19th, 2018 via Jungle Strut Music. Bass is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.

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Jeremy Bass
The Greatest Fire
(Jungle Strut Music)
Jan. 19th, 2018
  

Track Listing:

01. CA, Plz
02. The Greatest Fire (YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY | APPLE | SOUNDCLOUD | MP3 | VIDEO)
04. (So Glad) Everyone's Happy
04. 1,000 Yrs
05. ‘Till the Summer Ends
06. Halfway Sane
07. Trees for the Forest (YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY | APPLE | SOUNDCLOUD | MP3)
08. (theme music for a desert lightning storm)
09. Like Flowers for a Funeral
10. We Will Be You

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Jeremy Bass Links

ASSETS : WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : BANDCAMP

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Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion


WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : YOUTUBE : INSTAGRAM : SNAPCHAT : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL
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Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Memorializing his mother with Margaret Chavez stage name, Marcus William Striplin of Pleasant Grove goes solo with masterful LP, “A Loupe.”

Produced by Erik Wofford (Explosions In The Sky), album adds fevered fuzz to sound UNCUT calls “a mark of excellence in modern Americana.”

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Margaret Chavez (Marcus William Striplin) as photographed by Marcus William Striplin.

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 “Strange Buoy’s” by Margaret Chavez is the “Song of The Day” at Austin’s NPR-affiliate KUTX, 98.9.

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Margaret Chavez – Live


1/26/2018: Fort Worth, TX @ Twilite Lounge
1/27/2018: Denton, TX @ Dan's Silverleaf
1/28/2018: Deep Ellum, TX @ Twilite Lounge

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“Surrounding you in a dirt devil of a sound that lies somewhere on the spectrum between Americana and psychedelia.” – KUTX 98.9, Austin

“A Loupe,” the upcoming solo debut of Pleasant Grove co-founder Marcus William Striplin (performing under the name Margaret Chavez in memorial tribute to his mother), is everything a fan of Striplin’s songwriting and arrangement ideas (here realized by producer, Erik Wofford [Explosions In The Sky, The Black Angels]) would expect and more.

Listen to “Strange Buoy’s” by Margaret Chavez

Striplin’s name is familiar to anyone who has followed the indie rock scene that emerged out of Texas in the early 2000’s, specifically Dallas, where Striplin co-founded the band named after the suburb Pleasant Grove in 1999.

In its relatively brief half-decade-or-so initial run, Pleasant Grove earned praise for the “simmering psychedelia” (KUTX 98.9) of its “songs of broken hearts and broken voices” (Dallas Observer) that, according to MOJO, mixed the “down and out ache of Texas country as well as the sonic outbursts of Neil Young.” In a four-star review, UNCUT dubbed Pleasant Grove a “mark of excellence in modern Americana.”

Consequence of Sound called Pleasant Grove’s return “triumphant,” the glossy Dallas-based monthly D Magazine proclaimed The Heart Contortionists “beautiful,” describing songs with “an intensity that sneaks up on you and a heat that never goes away,” and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram summed things up with a nod to Striplin specifically, saying Pleasant Grove’s “melancholy folk-rock, blessed with shadows, brass and Striplin’s plaintive voice — are breathtaking.”

Striplin, now based in Austin, has made a record that surpasses his best work. “A Loupe” by Margaret Chavez (Marcus William Striplin) arrives on Jan. 19th, 2018 via Goliad Media Group. Striplin is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.

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Margaret Chavez
“A Loupe”
(Goliad Media Group)
Jan. 19th, 2018
  

Track Listing:

01. Boy Mumble
02. American Fashion
03. Gone Gone Gone
04. Call For Cull (YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY | APPLE | SOUNDCLOUD | MP3)
05. A Loupe
06. Grackles and Crows
07. Strange Buoy’s (YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY | APPLE | SOUNDCLOUD | MP3)
08. Black Ambulance
09. Two Talons
10. Missing People

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Margaret Chavez Links

ASSETS : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : BANDCAMP : GOLIAD MEDIA GROUP

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Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion


WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : YOUTUBE : INSTAGRAM : SNAPCHAT : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL
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