The Killers – Pressure Machine

The Killers will release their seventh studio album, entitled Pressure Machine, on Island Records on August 13, 2021. The album was co-produced by the band, Shawn Everett, and Jonathan Rado (of Foxygen), all of whom worked together on The Killers’ critically-acclaimed album Imploding The Mirage, released last year.

When the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the promotional run and worldwide tour for The Killers’ majestic, critically-acclaimed 2020 album Imploding the Mirage, “everything came to this grinding halt,” says frontman Brandon Flowers. “And it was the first time in a long time for me that I was faced with silence. And out of that silence this record began to bloom, full of songs that would have otherwise been too quiet and drowned out by the noise of typical Killers records.” Indeed, for the first time since 2004, the relentless momentum and pressures of being in a globally-renowned, stadium-shaking band stopped. Enter Pressure Machine: a view into the everyday realities of a small American town with a stark, tough beauty, and The Killers’ most restrained and resonant album yet.

A quieter, character-study-driven album, Pressure Machine lives squarely in Flowers’ hometown of Nephi, Utah, a close-knit community of 5300 people with no traffic lights, a rubber plant, wheat fields, and the West Hills. Nephi is the place Flowers spent his formative years (10-16), saying “had it not been for advancements in the automotive industry, Nephi in the 90s could have been the 1950s.” The album’s songs are based on the memories and stories of people that impacted him growing up, interspersed with commentary from current Nephi locals about their town. “We were discussing [Brandon] moving to Nephi as a kid and being stuck in the middle of nowhere,” says the band’s drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. “And during Covid-19, it started to feel like we were all in the middle of nowhere.” Concurs Flowers, “I discovered this grief that I hadn’t dealt with,” he says, “many memories of my time in Nephi are tender. But the ones tied to fear or great sadness were emotionally charged. I’ve got more understanding now than when we started the band, and hopefully I was able to do justice to these stories and these lives in this little town that I grew up in.”

The resulting record is an aural document of growing up – and living – in the American Southwest, told from a myriad of perspectives. For the first time in his life, Flowers had complete lyrics before a note of music was put to tape. No stranger to inhabiting different characters in songs, on Pressure Machine he steps into the shoes of some of the people whose lives he watched unfold as a teen. The album weaves the threads of Flowers’ signature lyricism throughout his career into a perfect whole culminating in the most elegant album The Killers have ever made.

Through its characters and also its title, the album squares up to the unbending pressure of the American dream compounded by religious disenchantment. A born optimist, moments of beauty inevitably shine out of the grief of Flowers’s songs: the healing arrival of summer, the first crop of hay, sweeter skies. Pressure Machine’s stories detail the real life personal battles, overwhelming regrets, local tragedies, and the opioid epidemic that hit Flowers’ hometown, as well as every hometown in America. Flowers sings about the choices people make, for better and for worse, and the consequences of those choices; the ones who were left behind, and the ones that can’t be forgotten.

Pressure Machine’s album cover image was shot on the highway just outside Nephi, taken as photographer Wes Johnson passed a roadside inspirational display set up by a local Baptist church. Johnson took dozens of incredible images of Flowers’ hometown throughout the early part of 2021, many of which are featured in the album’s packaging for the physical edition.

The Killers will be heading back to the road to celebrate both Pressure Machine and Imploding The Mirage, along with their much-loved catalogue of global hits, in 2022. Tickets for these shows go on sale on Friday, July 23rd, at 10 am local time via the band’s website.

James Robert Webb – Stealing Home

The follow up to indie artist James Robert Webb’s highest charting single to date, Okfuskee Whiskey (Music Row #14, Billboard #34, TRRR #24), Stealing Home keeps the traditional country story song going in a nostalgic turn.

The lyrics to Stealing Home blend plain-spoken conversation with universally relatable experiences to create a yet fresh approach to nostalgia songs that recalls classics such as Miranda Lambert’s “The House That Built Me” and Don Williams’ “Good Ole Boys Like Me.”

Another timely release from an album that has already yielded 5 consecutive top 25 singles on Music Row and 3 consecutive top 40 hits on Billboard, Stealing Home is the perfect song for listeners impacted by the pandemic, isolation, lost friends and loved ones. The record finds the singer facing life changes as he returns to help his aging parents move from his childhood home.

Penned by hit writers Marla Cannon-Goodman, Casey Beathard and Don Sampson, Stealing Home was originally released on James Robert Webb’s eponymous 2020 album. The song has since been recorded by American icon, Willie Nelson, on his First Rose of Spring album.

Webb says “Stealing Home is one of those heartbreakingly beautiful songs about family, life and memories–and how time eventually takes all of those things away from us. I really related to the character when we recorded it, but with the loss of my mother this summer, it hits even closer to home.”

Early Praise for Stealing Home

“The perfect song to come at a time when many of us feel as though an entire year or more has been taken from us. James continues to showcase his talents by delivering a sentimental but not sappy tune, evoking fond memories of the past and making us long for a simpler time.”

Mike Thomas, PD

KFAV, Warrenton, MO

“If ever there was a guy who could paint a picture in a song, it’s James Robert Webb. Stealing Home is one of those songs that everyone can relate to. It’s just real, raw country music, as it’s meant to be.”

Bryce Burtner, PD/MD

KRWQ, Medford, OR

Critical acclaim for the album, James Robert Webb

“rugged approach that soars with an anthemic quality”

  • Take Effect

“I have always said, what would music be without a songwriter and James Robert Webb is top notch. He also is a fantastic singer too! “…truly a country song which included Oklahoma, Merle Haggard and Ford, way to go James Robert Webb. Another great anthem song.”

  • Judy Shields, The Hollywood Times

“He possesses an edgy yet still agreeable demeanor, a voice that blends authority and empathy in equal proportions.”

  • Lee Zimmerman, American Songwriter

“For Webb, becoming a skilled songwriter wasn’t just a dream — as an indie artist, it was a necessity.”

-Rion Konc, The Boot

“Webb follows in the path of the storytellers before him with Okfuskee Whiskey”

  • The Country Note

Billy Currington – Intuition

Billy Currington has today released his surprise new album ‘Intuition’. The album is Billy’s first studio album in 6 years and was written and recorded during a relationship breakup.

The talented Georgia native has spent more than a decade in the spotlight proving he’s truly a man for all seasons. Currington has earned 12 US No.1 singles to his name, including the hits “People Are Crazy,” “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right,” and most recent multi-week No. 1 hits, “It Don’t Hurt Like It Used To” and “Do I Make You Wanna.”

Possessing one of the smoothest and most distinct voices in any genre of music, Currington is equally skilled at delivering upbeat summertime anthems as well as exploring the complexities of life and love with a poignant ballad. His Gold-certified album Summer Forever debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and earned three Platinum-certified No. 1 singles. Currington will release his seventh studio album, Intuition, August 6. Intuition showcases Currington’s charming artistry in a 12-track blend of genres that includes elements of Pop, Country, and R&B.

Brigitte Bardini – Heartbreaker

Upcoming singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Brigitte Bardini has today announced her wistful new single “Heartbreaker “, a hypothetical journey into the terrifying possibility of losing a loved one. “Heartbreaker” is also accompanied by a visually stunning, totally dreamy video, directed by the inimitable WILK (Holy Holy, Olympia, Sarah Blasko). “Heartbreaker “is the third taste of the self-produced forthcoming debut album from Brigitte Bardini, “Stellar Lights”, set for release on August 30.

“Heartbreaker” is lush and sprawling, just like previous singles “Aphrodite” and “Wild Ride”, but is also quite an upbeat offering from Brigitte, showcasing a diversity and artistic maturity beyond her years. Taking inspiration from iconic artists such as PJ Harvey, Thom Yorke and sonic masters Air, “Heartbreaker” pulses and pulls, pairing soft, ever-present synths with sharp beatmaking and Brigitte’s idiosyncratic vocal. Reflecting on the inspiration behind the track, Brigitte says, , “Heartbreaker is about having something very special in your life and exploring that hypothetical situation in your mind that you might lose that thing. A lyric like ‘I don’t want to lose my future to my past’ really captures that anxiety of lingering on past events and catastrophising about future events, and just trying to do my best to live in the moment.”

The video for “Heartbreaker” takes the sonic atmosphere that Brigitte has created and builds an entire visual world around it, one which glows in shades evocative of a dream-like world. Explaining the meaning of the creative choices behind the video, Brigitte reflects, “Wilk made this storyboard for the video within the world of the album which felt like the most natural approach to the clip… The video takes on an approach that pulls from the way we remember our dreams, having that non-linear, otherworldly feeling that resembles reality with an obscured view.”

“Heartbreaker” is just a taste of the depth and intricacy presented on “Stellar Lights”. Self-written and self-produced, excluding six tracks that were co-produced with Adam Calaitzis at Toyland Studios in Melbourne, “Stellar Lights” is a truly impressive debut from Brigitte, and demonstrates a musical understanding that is sure to impress. Gentle, inviting and engaging arrangements of synths, throbbing percussion and whimsical vocal melodies abound – at its heart, ” Stellar Lights” is a beautiful mystery. Chords change like colours in the evening sky and voices whisper just beyond the reach of meaning. Reflecting on the inspiration behind Stellar Lights, Brigitte explains, “Stellar Lights is mainly themed around embracing life. While being coming-of-age, it focuses on life’s fragilities, reflecting upon and learning from every moment and moving forward. I feel that I took this approach to my writing for this album when I experienced a very vivid apocalyptic dream that felt like it woke me up to how fragile life is and how advantageous it is to embrace all of its elements with as little judgement as possible. The words chosen for the title, ‘Stellar Lights’ are very much inspired by this apocalyptic dream, where shooting stars were colliding and meteors falling to earth as I was watching from a courtyard at night.”

With an entire debut album already on the way, it’s exciting to think what might be next for this young artist. Musing over the possibilities, Brigitte says, “Once Stellar Lights is released I feel like there will be vast space for exploration. I’ll have a chance to focus more solely on live performance and having shared experiences with an audience will be extremely special. It’ll also allow for exploration in how I approach my writing and whether the music changes in nature and/or soundscape depending on what will pique my interests at that time.

Jayne Denham – Wanted

‘Wanted’, the title track from Jayne Denham’s upcoming new album, is an epic piece of art that truly represents her new record, set for release August 13 2021.

Plaudits have been coming thick and fast from those in the industry that have had the opportunity to have a sneak listen with one highly regarded artist manager saying “…this album is like a rock opera, it is a musical journey…”

Jayne knew her next album was going to be called ‘Wanted’ and when she pitched the title to her good friends and songwriter mates Troy Kemp and Matt Scullion, the result sparked the whole idea to create an album hailing back to the wild west, inspired by old western movie soundtracks, yet blending it with modern day country rock.

Jayne contacted her Nashville-based producer, Brain White with the vision and he immediately enlisted multi-instrumentalist and Grammy-nominated song writer Brian Bunn to come on board. With a blank sheet to work with, they felt for the first time in years they were able to forget trends and just create music … and boy did they do that. What they have come up with is a collection of songs linked together with instrumental segues that allow the listener to embark on a journey through the tracks and sounds of a very unique album.

‘Wanted’ is the song that sets the scene for the new sound that is country rock infused with a massive serve of Spaghetti Western.

Three-time Golden Guitar nominee, Jayne Denham is one of Australia’s most admired and sought-after country rock performers. Her impressive and relentlessly energetic live shows have earned her countless opportunities performing for VIP crowds at Keith Urban’s Sydney shows in conjunction with appearing as a featured artist at all of the major Australian country music festivals including CMC Rocks, Deni Ute Muster, Gympie Music Muster, and the Tamworth Country Music Festival.

With her ability to tell a story that captures the imagination through her songs, Denham has scored four #1 smash hits in Australia, six top 10 songs in the National Country Charts, twelve videos that have reached Top 30, including a number #1 placement for ‘Hung Up On You’. Jayne has also been nominated for six Country Music Channel (CMC) and Three Golden Guitar Award finalist placings.

Having gone from strength to strength with her most recent singles, ‘Porch Party’ (featuring Jasmine Rae and Amber Lawrence), ‘Black Coffee & White Lines’ (music video featuring the iconic Ice Road Truckers), ‘Hung Up On You’ (with Troy Kemp), ‘Ladies Lettin’ Loose’, ‘Better Make It A Double’, and ‘Better Settle Up’, Jayne is poised to return to the live scene with a dynamic that has defined every one of live shows.

Elaskia – Can’t Help Loving You

“If you’re not keeping a close eye on Australian musician Elaskia, then you’re missing out on some of the most exciting pop music to come from the next generation” – PILERATS
“Propelled by emotion-filled vocals and resolute piano ivories, (Elaskia) hurtles right toward unrequited love and abandonment, the various textures she’s armed with underpinned by an undercurrent of vulnerability as she straight up pours her heart out” – Life Without Andy.

Following the success of her previous singles landing features in the hit American TV series and worldwide Netflix series ‘DYNASTY’, ‘MARVEL’S RUNAWAYS’ and most recently ‘HOME AND AWAY’ ELASKIA is beginning to make a name for herself in the pop scene here in Australia and globally. Now ELASKIA is back with her latest song ‘Can’t Help Loving You’ a vulnerable pop ballad that recognises a toxic relationship and the struggle of leaving it.

ABOUT ELASKIA

With smooth, dulcet vocals that intertwine with her piano, ELASKIA elicits raw emotion, rarely heard in a young emerging artist. With great success in her songwriting, her debut single ‘Calling Out My Name’ was featured in the hit American TV broadcast and Worldwide Netflix series ‘DYNASTY’ as well as ‘MARVEL’S RUNAWAYS’. Her follow up single ‘I Will Do Anything’ also landed in one of the Australia’s most popular drama series ‘Home and Away’ in 2020 and was made a feature in the September issue of ‘Total Girl Magazine’.

ELASKIA has a sound that can best be compared to the artists she’s opened for Vera Blue, Alpine, Montaigne, Johnny Manuel and has also shared the lineup with acts RUFUS, Peking Duk, Gang of Youths, The Preatures, The Jungle Giants, Ocean Alley, Skeggs and Amy Shark.

ELASKIA’s single ‘Calling Out My Name’ was announced in ballot one for the 2019 Grammys® along with ELASKIA’s feature track with artist and producer GEM ‘Rich Girl Remix’ which was also featured in the Billboard magazine Grammy edition.

Currently working on a string of releases for 2021 and shows including Lighthouse Festival supporting Missy Higgins, ELASKIA’s brand new single ‘Can’t Help Loving You’ is a vulnerable ballad about how painful loving someone can sometimes be.

Candice Kingston – 20 Page Letter

’20 Page Letter’ is a classic country ‘you done me wrong’ track and was written from personal experience from a very first love story gone wrong.

Candice Kingston is an independent singer songwriter who has been writing music for the past ten years. Beginning in the country genre, Candice released two songs – ‘Tellin Lies’ and ‘Moving On’. Both of these songs were co-written and produced by the great Louie Shelton.

Candice has since re-branded herself and her sound. Relaunching herself back into the country music scene with the brand new single, ’20 Page Letter’, produced and recorded by Mark Duckworth and mastered by Paul Blakey. The music video was directed and filmed by Jayden Staines from Valley Media.

Candice is currently working on the follow up track release to ’20 Page Letter’ that will be released in October 2021.

Death From Above 1979 – Modern Guy

Death From Above 1979 (DFA), made up of Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler, announce the “Is 4 Lovers” North American tour with dates in March and April 2022. The duo are taking their fourth studio album, Is 4 Lovers (Universal Music Canada), hailed by NME as “their best album since their debut,” out on the road.

In addition to the upcoming tour, the duo have shared a dynamic new music video for the track “Modern Guy,” watch here . The opening track from Is 4 Lovers, and a cyber-metal riff monster, now has a video to match. Directed by Alex P Smith and shot in Hamilton, Ontario, the video features the dynamic duo in a killer car chase. “Modern Guy is the first real driving song of the 21st century. So we made a driving video. End of story.”

The 22 date tour kicks off in Washington, DC at Union Stage on March 5, 2022 and includes stops in Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles and more.

About Death From Above 1979 (DFA)

Death From Above 1979 (DFA), the boundary pushing musical alliance created by Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler, roared out of Toronto with the uncompromising one-two punch of 2002’s fuzz-bomb EP Heads Up and 2004’s epochal debut album You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, complete with a North American arena tour with Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age, before deciding mid-tour to part ways due to the strain of constantly touring.

Almost a decade later, the rekindled DFA fireworks lit stages around the world a blaze – amassing a posse of fans so passionate they incited a genuine, barricade-smashing riot at Austin’s Beauty Bar at the 2011 South by Southwest festival. Playing Lollapalooza, Coachella, Glastonbury, Reading / Leeds, Osheaga, Lowlands and more, DFA continued to take the world by storm. Their second album, The Physical World (2014) took a No. 3 spot on the Canadian Billboard album chart and peaked at No. 28 on the U.S. Hot 200, not to mention No. 3 and No. 7 spots on Billboard’s Top Alternative and Top Rock registries, respectively. TV appearances around their first two albums on iconic late-night shows including David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon showed a whole new audience the DFA live goods.

Arriving at No. 20 on the Canadian Billboard album chart, DFA’s scorching 2017 outing, Outrage! Is Now prompted Pitchfork to remark that “Death From Above now sounds more vital than ever.” With three smashing albums to their name, the duo drummed up an easy 10 million views before going silent once more, to the dismay of fans.

Now, DFA is back with the return of their new album, Is 4 Lovers – once again creating a new sound and reimagining the format they created more than 20 years ago.