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Sarah White

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Sarah White – “Different Drum” (*out February 17*)

Though Michael Nesmith’s recent passing has left a hat-sized hole in the hearts of music fans everywhere this past year, his music’s transcendence radiates still, through the hallowed halls of music history. That same creative spirit informed Richmond, Virginia’s own Sarah White, whose reverence and unadulterated creativity emanate from her newest single and video, a cover of the Nesmith-penned “Different Drum,” famously popularized by Linda Ronstadt’s Stone Poneys. 

Hot off of her 2018 release High Flyer, White takes the retro-pop of Ronstadt’s rendition and flips the script, replacing the shimmy of the original with rollicking Americana, offering an idiosyncratic modern take on an irrefutable classic. Removing the distinctive harpsichord of the original and supplanting it with Byrds-indebted chiming guitars, this 2022 update leans heavily into White’s robust aching voice, the clarity of which adds a heartbreaking lucidity to the song’s narrative, emphasizing the type of liberated sexual politics that too often have been overlooked by the song’s tunefulness.

The unapologetic femininity and independence on display, backed by the rootsy stylings of her band, nails the zeitgeist of 2021, using the past to embolden the present. Nowhere is this fruitful dichotomy more apparent than in the accompanying video, a mash-up of psychedelic filters vacillating between images of White, stuck at home during the pandemic, singing out to her adoring fan base, and old footage, bathed in the patina of the early 20th century. 

The genesis of the song originated in White’s Kickstarter – one tier of which allows fans to request song covers – where a super-fan requested White’s rendition of the ‘67 classic. After getting her players together to record a live rendition of it, the band quickly became smitten with their version’s euphoric energy and bluesy longing. Her High Flyer producer, upon hearing her version, insisted that she should record it in-studio, giving her loyal fans the pristine and powerful version they deserve. 

Taking on such an established classic might be formidable for less seasoned musicians, but White, who is entering her third decade on the music scene, navigates “Different Drum” with such confidence and expertise, it may even surprise fans of Ronstadt that the song isn’t a White original.

First popping onto the scene in 1997 with her Jagjaguwar debut, White wrote a collection of lonely and rustic tunes dubbed All My Skies Are Blue. The album – the third album ever on the Jagjaguwar label – and it’s cavernous beauty even predicted the sound later crystallized by the label with releases by artists Bon Iver, Okkervil River, and Angel Olsen. This release instigated opportunities opening for Hall and Oates before recording her first studio album (also for Jagjaguwar) titled Bluebird, which garnered stellar reviews. 

Seeing more opportunity for growth and to follow her muse, White soon began releasing records on her own, following Bluebird with the self-released You’re It EP (2004), followed by White Light [with the Pearls] (2006), all the while attending graduate school in Charlottesville. Along the way her brand of stripped down Americana earned the attention of music royalty Dave Matthews, who would come to accompany White on High Flyer’s “Sweetheart,” and for a time, Michael Bishop (Gwar) even joined her band the Pearls. 

Though her touring schedule has quieted down significantly since the pandemic, White intends on keeping some skin in the game by periodically playing shows and offering releases when inspired. For the time being though, fans will have to subsist on this stirring rendition of a timeless classic.

“[High Flyer] builds upon what early fans loved best about White, including introspective lyrics and delicately  crafted arrangements.” – Rolling Stone

“The connection  between  White  and  Matthews  is  as  cosmic  as  the  duet [‘Sweetheart’] suggests.” – Billboard

“[‘Sweetheart’ is] an emotional, guitar-and-mandolin-fueled duet” – Jambands / Relix Magazine

“Smart, earthy, honest songs, full of heartbreak that cuts sharp through glittering wit, all a reminder that White is, as she always has been, the coolest gal around.” – C-Ville Weekly

BELA

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BELA – “VENUS IN CANCER”

Downtempo/pop surrealist and L.A.-based phenom, BELA, is getting ready to release her new single and self-directed video, “Venus in Cancer” (out March 3), produced by Sky Sky (BBC, MixMag) of Amsterdam label, Barong Family (Wiwek, San Holo). The accompanying visual – imbued with hauntology and Bosch-indebted mythos – draws the curtain on BELA’s cinéma vérité and self-imposed vulnerability, all captured on her handheld camcorder, which documents a carnivalesque date with impromptu footage. “I was on a date with a boy, and wanted to be forthright about what I was doing,” says BELA. “So I said, I’m being artistic… let me be artistic.”

BELA champions her own, self-described hypersensitivity, providing a roadmap for those feeling lovelorn or at times, directionless. “My intention centers around espousing my own heightened sensitivity, in hopes that I myself and others will feel less alone and nurture each other through exposure and composition.” BELA turns the lens on herself before a mirror and signals her sign (i.e. “My heart, my soul, my self esteem”), and also manages to add levity; pointing the camera at her mirror, she smears lipstick across her face, all before a bemused cat, miscellaneous tapestries, spiritual curios and The Lovers card, revealed.

”Venus in Cancer” brandishes swirling synths, glo-fi beats, propulsive blips and samples that invoke the sound of an abandoned landline, while BELA intimates, “I just want to turn you on forever,” counterpointed by “I just want it like it was before,” spinning out the fated rotation of love and heartbreak. In other words – as journalist David Keenan puts it – “pop music refracted through the memory of a memory.” BELA turns in, waving goodbye to the camera while otherworldly, helium-induced vocals churn to a chilling beat. “I’m just an L.A. girl running around the city, experiencing and creating what I see,” says BELA.

The single art for “Venus in Cancer” is freshly plucked from a recent shoot with iconic photog. Moni Haworth (Lil Nas X, Grimes, Petra Collins), where BELA can be seen, stark and cradling a crustacean in a lush garden, an aesthetic that aligns with BELA’s proclivity for the surreal, while underscoring the female gaze.

Relishing in her Greek heritage, BELA looks to spirituality and draws on mythology, citing Pan and Lilith of Eden as sources of inspiration. “I really like archetypes, and I think – despite the fantasy – they help inform our realms of humanity.” BELA plans on releasing a 5-song EP in the next year, but for now – we’re blessed with “Venus in Cancer,” a remarkable sample of BELA’s art, still to come. 

 

 

FAREES

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FAREES – GALACTIC AFRICA / BLINDSIGHT (OUT JUNE 3 ON REZ’ARTS PROD)

Neo-funk producer, multi-instrumentalist, and spoken word revolutionary Farees will be releasing two new albums on June 3 through French label Rez’Arts Prod, tempering political outrage on Blindsight with afrobeats in a love letter to the motherland on Galactic Africa. 

“Brother Farees carries ancient spirits direct from the Black pool of genius. His guitar playing is always masterful and his singing will transport you. Farees has taken the old wisdom and has come up with new music that puts you in a trance while it bids you to dance,” says American blues musician Corey Harris (Ali Farka Touré, Billy Bragg, Wilco). 

Over the years, Farees has made fans of greats like Taj Mahal and Ben Harper, and has collaborated with Calexico and most recently, Leo Nocentelli of legendary funk pioneers, The Meters (who’s featured on Blindsight). “Farees reminds me of the greats,” Nocentelli says. “He’s got that Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix vibe, yet he’s doing his very own thing. Ain’t nobody around playing and grooving like him. He’s a superstar! I’m really glad to be a part of this project.”

Farees has traveled the world, witnessing and experiencing the injustice of oppressed people: as a North African nomad, a member of Saharan psych-rock outfits Tinariwen and Terakaft, being racially profiled and detained while on tour both in America and Europe, receiving death threats while touring in Canada, and spending significant time in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and western Europe. His multiracial background of Saharan Tuareg tribe (Black and Berber) on his mother’s side, and Italian & German on his father’s side has allowed him to both pass as white, and bond with Black and Muslim communities. 

To be racially ambiguous feels really weird sometimes. The irony is that for me the rejection came more from white people. I have a strong African identity; I grew up there and my family is from there. For me, while the black community does have internal divisions and biases, it’s still an inclusive community. Other communities seem more exclusive. You’re never accepted as white if you’re not 100% white, or 100% Arab, or Chinese, and so on.”

Helmed by a veritable Tuareg songwriter and visionary, Galactic Africa is a transient record devoid of Western exoticism, and marked by Farees’ expert artistry and knowledge of African rhythm and spirit. The opening cadence underscores these rudiments with MC Rocky P (AKA The Big Twin) introducing Farees’ strategic production stamp: “Galactic Africa is a composition of blue notes that can’t be written, learned or taught/Only given out in quotes/And it’s all built upon a huge wall of groove/So that y’all can think while your asses move.” 

Meanwhile, on its companion, Blindsight is the soundtrack to our modern revolution while giving homage to the radical musical eras of the late ‘60s Black Panthers in the U.S. to mid-’80s Thomas Sankara in Africa. Kicking off with an innovative take on “Hey Joe” –  made famous by Farees’ musical hero Jimi Hendrix – it sets a tone for the record by bringing us back to the turbulent civil rights era of the late ‘60s when the song was originally released.

Revolutionary actions have been popping off around the world in reaction to the abuses of those in power, often blamed on a few bad apples instead of recognizing oppressive police states. “Bad Apples” attacks with aggressive synths and a Stevie Wonder charm, while demanding that we take action and hold people responsible. “What you call cancel culture, I call accountability,” Farees sings. This is yet another song about the slippery slope of joining the side of the oppressor in a broken system, a theme of this record. 

His first record, Mississippi to Sahara, (released under the name Faris) , adapted the traditional rural blues of Mississippi in a Tuareg desert style. The success of this album allowed him to play some of the biggest stages in the world. In 2020, he released Border Patrol and Both Sides of the Border, a vast collection of genre-hopping, guitar-heavy protest songs calling out injustices perpetrated by the status quo, including “Y’all Don’t Know What’s Going On” with Calexico.

“I’m a radical and revolutionary,” says Farees, “but a realistic one. I’m thinking about the world as it is. For me, we can use the internet to connect and reach more people to keep them informed through The Kinship app, responsible social media. It’s like an instrument. Like music between the music itself and the player. I’m trying to build new paths, and not just for me. But for others that will come after me. Music heals for free, makes you think, learn, see things from different perspectives. It moves people. And from moving comes movement. And from movement comes change.”

“[Farees] pushes back on neo-colonialism… ‘Everybody wanna dance like Africans / Be tough, be cool like Africans,’ he chants. ‘Tryna look like Africans, talk like Africans, walk like Africans / But you’ll never be real like Africans / Now hit the drum like Africans.'” – FLOOD Magazine
 
“Farees reminds me of the greats. He’s got that Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix vibe, yet he’s doing his very own thing. Ain’t nobody around playing and grooving like him. He’s unique and he’s a superstar! I’m really glad to be a part of this project.” – LEO NOCENTELLI OF THE METERS
 
“Brother Farees carries ancient spirits direct from the Black pool of genius. His guitar playing is always masterful and his singing will transport you. Farees has taken the old wisdom and has come up with new music that puts you in a trance while it bids you to dance.” – AMERICAN BLUESOLOGIST COREY HARRIS (ALI FARKA TOURÉ, BILLY BRAGG & WILCO)

 

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Austin folk/rock trio Under the Rug shares new single “As Long As You’re Here” at Spill Magazine

A change in perspective can paint a picture in a whole new light. Austin, TX trio Under the Rug took this idea to heart when creating their stunning LP, Dear Adeline, a ten-track collection of emotive, dynamic indie rock that chronicles grief, tumult, and healing after the loss of a loved one and simultaneous dissolution of a romantic relationship. READ MORE…

B.Knox

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“I like sad songs,” says Canadian songwriter B. Knox, whose second studio album — the tellingly titled Far From Folk — blends cosmic Americana, left-field honky tonk, rugged country-rock, and woozy roots music into its own melancholic mix. Written during the Covid-19 pandemic, Far From Folk roots itself in the modern struggles we all face, filled with vignettes about romance, estrangement, and the long journey toward hope. There are sad songs here, to be sure, but there’s also an overarching sense of optimism, with B. Knox moving past the breakup songs that filled his debut — the acclaimed Heartbreak & Landscape — and focusing on something brighter. 

A former schoolteacher, who has since turned to music to deliver life lessons, B.Knox hasn’t forgotten his roots. Even his stage name pays tribute to the family members who shaped him  – particularly his grandmother, whose maiden name was “Knox”, and his grandfather, Billy, who loans his first initial to the moniker – and his early years on the eastern shores of  Newfoundland clearly permeates his work. “I grew up in an area that was entirely Irish Catholic,” he laughingly explains, “before the age of ten, I didn’t know that anything other than Irish traditional music existed. That Celtic spirit is fairly rebellious, and they have these long ballads with sad narratives and undertones.” 

Even so, Far From Folk expands beyond the singer/songwriter’s folk foundation. Released on the heels of B. Knox’s 2020 debut, Heartbreak & Landscape, and his four-song live EP, Hindsight is 20/20, the album makes room for electric guitar, organ, and swooning strings, with collaborator Aaron Goldstein pulling double duty as the record’s producer and pedal steel player. From the sampled loops that run throughout the opening track, “Messy,” to the blues-rock riffs of “Bullets Blades and Rope,” Far From Folk embraces both electricity and experimentation, with B. Knox still anchoring each track in nuanced song craft. “Little Wars” mixes Telecaster twang, fiddle, and bar-band bombast with sharp insights about the human condition — “We all wanna live forever, we all wanna write our name in the stars, we all wanna play the hero in our little wars,” he sings during the anthemic chorus — while “If I Break” finds him weighing the desire to succeed against the potential cost of failure. 

These are rallying cries for those who, like B. Knox, are in the trenches, battling their way toward a brighter horizon. “If you made it through the first album alive,” he writes in the album’s liner notes, “my wish is that this one finds you less bitter and leaves you with a little hope.” Playing an integral role in the album’s hopeful tone is Aaron Goldstein, whose production adds ambiance and atmosphere to the songs B. Knox originally wrote alone in a cottage on Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. Raised roughly 2,000 miles east of Georgian Bay on the Atlantic coast, Knox developed an appreciation for the sea at an early age. He salutes that longtime interest in “Coastal Poetry,” whose pounding chorus not only channels the feeling of waves against the shore, but doubles as a more carnal metaphor. 

Double meanings run throughout Far From Folk, whose very title nods not only to the album’s genre-crossing sound, but also its creation during the social distance regulations of the Covid-19 era.”Let’s try and be civil, let’s try and be friends / If that doesn’t work, let’s burn it all down and start over again,” Knox sings during “Only Words,” a love song whose lyrics apply not to a relationship, but also to a society in need of a serious reboot.

Although largely recorded by Knox and Goldstein, Far From Folk makes room for horn players and background singers, with an outside rhythm section appearing on two tracks, as well. The result is an album that channels the lush, layered sound of a full band, while still emphasizing B. Knox’s singer/songwriter sentiments and literate lyrics. Appropriately, everything comes to a close with an acoustic reprise of “Only Words” that channels the sparse sound of 2020’s Heartbreak and Landscape. The song serves as both a nod to B. Knox’s past and a reminder of just how far he’s grown beyond his folk roots, highlighting an artist in eclectic evolution. 

“A big-hearted rocker.” – Glide Magazine

“Far from Folk sees the singer-songwriter taking his folk foundation and reaching outwards, incorporating organ, swooning strings and electric guitar.” – Exclaim!

“With his finger on the indie pulse – blended perfectly with classic influences from John Prine to Steve Earle and the Dukes – B.Knox is a rising Americana star.” – Sara Burke, SiriusXM
 

“Taps you on the musical shoulder and says, ‘yes, I’m all about death and legacy and maybe just a bit about the living that happens before that.’” – Americana UK

“Slow walk paced, vocally keening Americana.” –Folk Radio UK

“A blend of roots rock, blues and country … dealing with regret, loss, heartbreak and choices.” – Barrie Today