Scott Cook is a Montreal-based guitarist and songwriter. His most recent project is his first as a solo artist and was motivated, at least partially, by the recent global condition. As a result, Scott composed, performed, recorded and mixed the entire release himself – the result is a 6-song EP that is slated for release this month; September 2021. For these songs, Scott took musical influence from legendary artists such as David Bowie and Pink Floyd. As a lyricist, however, he remains blunt yet casual in his emotional expressions, social observations and day-to-day life.

The second single from the EP, “Coming Clean,” is about recognizing and revealing our weaknesses, as difficult as it may be to do so.

It takes a lot of life experience to craft engaging, universal song lyrics—and singer, songwriter and musician Mary Jennings has had more than a lion’s share. How’s this for a start: stops as a teacher, aerobics instructor, clothing retailer, bartender, luggage saleswoman, paranormal researcher and now mother. Add to that the early loss of her mom , and there are plenty of stories to share. Jennings states that music has kept her sane.

While the music alone makes Mary Jennings an artist that fans can easily relate to, her somewhat quirky personality and a diverse range of interests have also gone a long way towards building a bond with her fan base. An avid horror movie fan, she has more than 400 fright flicks in her own private collection and openly admits that being scared and thrilled is probably her biggest geek factor. Her love for thrifting and secondhand clothing, something she learned from her mother, is a major influence on her vintage style and the inspiration behind the enormously popular clothing swap shows that she has hosted in a number of U.S. cities. Mary has turned her unique style, love of thrifting, and drive to create, No Sass Creations, through which she makes and sells bolo ties and other upcycled accessories. However, the most important aspect of her life is her daughter, Eliza, who is a huge inspiration in her new release, “Matriarch.” We caught up with Mary to discuss her new video for “Liar.”

Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically? 
In March of 2020, we pulled Eliza from her preschool to homeschool her until things felt more safe.  I always knew she was super imaginative but during this one on one time together, I really saw it blossom even more.  I was doing everything in my power to keep her happy and positive in a time full of worldly discomfort and isolation so we made up all kinds of stories and imaginary lands to explore.  That’s how I became a “liar.” If she asked me if fairies were real, the answer was absolutely. I was honest with her about tough questions when I needed to be but I wanted to maintain (and still do) that active part of her imagination as long as humanly possible. 

What was the inspiration behind this video(visuals, storyline, etc.)? 
To me, the only way to do a video for this song was to show the inspiration for it.  So I compiled a ton of home videos taken from the time Eliza was a baby to now, showing this magical, imaginative creature I have the pleasure of calling my daughter. I wanted to show her in her most natural state and this was it. 

What was the process of making this video?   
The primary goal for me was to find an amazing editor who could connect all of these videos and make them cohesive for the song.  Finding Carlos Boellinger was the best!  He was incredibly patient as I sent him hundreds of clips to sift through for a 3 minute music video.  He found the perfect ones for the project to pull at all of the right heart strings.  It was his idea to add the performance parts of me as well that I initially fought but I am glad I did.  I shot all of those from an iPhone and sent them his way for editing.  Everything on my end was very DIY and luckily I was able to find a pro that put it together in an amazing way. 

GR^VE (pronounced ‘grave’) is a newly formed duo composed of Seraph on vocals, and music by Carbon. The pair have come together by what they described as a mutual understanding of our common mortality. Their mission statement is to provide a necessary soundtrack to all who listen to their upcoming multimedia releases of video art and streamable music in a single format. Recently sharing their new single and video for “In Fire,” this starts a whole new unique and notable realm for the group. We had the opportunity to chat with the duo regarding their latest masterpiece, below.

Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically?

Seraph: This song is very close to my heart being about fighting the very anxieties that hold us back in all
areas in life but especially in art. We are fed from a very young age that you need to fit in a box to be
deemed of value by society with no real path to that “acceptable” eventuality. This teaches us from a
young age to feel alone. It’s especially true when what is considered acceptable isn’t something that
appeals to you as a person. The systems that made this way of life for generations before us no longer
work. The world is in chaos from the pandemic, climate change, and apathy. We can only muster the
strength to live through this and survive. Pushing through those concerns both external, and more
dangerous, those we feed ourselves is everything. To create something in spite of it is value.
Finding a way to visualize this was cathartic and I hope it resonates with others who feel similarly.

Carbon: I write a lot of instrumental demos to show Seraph, this was one I felt had an experimental side
to it that wasn’t sure would work in the world of singles. But with her voice and lyrical additions, it felt
right to conceptualize an art piece around it, and thus Seraph’s vision for the visuals is a perfect
accompaniment.

What was the inspiration behind this video(visuals, storyline, etc.)?

S: As a child I was always terrified of and also drawn to all things horror. The video is meant to invoke
that hazy 80’s horror movie feel. It’s a very direct link between media and self esteem in children and
showing a child hearing those taunts “Don’t try, you’ll never find your place” is a way to get that point
across visually. The chorus is what we see resonating with the child as they sing along. It was important
to show that it isn’t doubts that invoke a reaction, it is the refrain. In spite of the rising horror around
him, the child feels safe knowing that they will be okay. Ultimately that is the point of the song and I
hope it comes across via the video.

C: We’ve had talks about horror films, and what we like about atmospheric horror and the vibe of that
seemed perfect for the video. Seraph really is the responsible party for the entire look and feel of the
visual side of “In Fire”.

What was the process of making this video?

S: Color is another character in this video. All of our videos have been black and white up to this point.
There is a hazy blue palette to the video but if you look closely the shots of the band are in black and
white versus the color of room and the child. It’s a subtle nod as it’s all blue treated but important to our
aesthetic. Creating a black space for the shots with C and I was important so that all of the action was
occurring outside of the band. Utilizing After Effects and color grading software to achieve the effects
was all done in house. We originally filmed the tv sequences with the actor watching a blank screen but
at age 7 it’s hard for a child to sit still and look at nothing so we had to refilm with him watching youtube
and digitally replaced the footage with the media. We used after effects to blacken doorways and walls
to give the room a claustrophobic feel. We used software to add diffuse lighting to give an otherworldlylook to the band. Counting renders it took around 100 hours on the production end to create the video
and very pleased with the outcome.

C: Nothing to add!

Find the group via:

https://www.instagram.com/grveband

https://www.facebook.com/grveband

LVCHLD is led by singer, songwriter, poet, and multi-instrumentalist Leo Becker Liebeskind. The group have just revealed their epic new single  “Baby, Won’t You Pass Me the Light?” which is filled to the brim with indie rock tendencies.

The son of novelist Eve Becker and visual artist Bill Liebeskind, Leo was born in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and raised in a community in Upper Manhattan full of New full of art and music. His maternal grandfather and first teacher, Eugene Becker, was the second chair violinist in the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein, and pushed Leo to play music and start learning the violin at just three years old. Though the violin didn’t seem to click, Liebeskind did spend hours as a young child at his dad’s piano, teaching himself until his parents let him quit violin and take piano lessons instead when he was ten.
Leo Becker Liebeskind of LVCHLD shares:
“I wrote “Baby, Won’t You Pass Me the Light?” on the 2 train, walking through the 14th street station, and then the F train — crazy story, I know. I was terribly infatuated with someone who I could tell it was never gonna work out with, but we got high together, a lot, and so it felt like I had to write a song about coming to terms with just asking her to pass me a lighter, if nothing else — taking people and relationships as they are, something like that. After that, “Baby” kind of became the anthem of this band: you can take the lighter out of the baby, but you can never take the love out of the child…don’t you ever take that love out of that baby, or you’ll never get that lighter off that child. It’s a song that took about 5 minutes to write and about 5 years to record, but I’m proud of the track that it’s finally become, and I’m excited to see it enter the world, the pregnancy’s over.”

After a brief stint at Oberlin College, Leo returned home to New York to focus on songwriting and performing, where he met twin brothers, guitarist Aaron Mones and producer/multi-instrumentalist Wyatt Mones. The trio began playing together and found an immediate chemistry, with the Mones brothers’ deep background in ‘90s and early 2000s music meshing seamlessly with Liebeskind’s ‘60s and ‘70s roots, eventually coming together to form LVCHLD. Over the years, the band has brought on a rotating cast of friends to round out the live band, ranging from stripped down, acoustic sets, to a full 6-piece rock & roll sound. The band has become known around New York for its vivacious, dynamic, and emotionally raw live performances.

After working quietly in home studio set-ups from 2018-2020, LVCHLD has released a slew of new music since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Their first two releases, “Love Me All Up” and “Hats Off,” introduced a frenetically energetic rock & roll sound that is at once vintage and modern, looking to bands throughout rock & roll’s long history, like Derek and the Dominoes and The Strokes, for inspiration, and highlighting Leo’s trademarked high octane vocals, Aaron’s virtuosic guitar work, and Wyatt’s precise and sculpted approach to production. Their next two singles, “Sunshine” and “Costume Boxes,” showcase Liebeskind’s more lyrical work, as well as some of Aaron’s most nuanced playing and the trio’s most intricate orchestration, drawing on the work of some of today’s forward-thinking and genre-bending artists, like of Blake Mills, Frank Ocean, Sturgill Simpson, and the Alabama Shakes.

MIYAVI, the J-pop/rock icon and world-famous guitarist, today announced the release of his new single called New Gravity which is the pre-single to his upcoming album called, Imaginary. The 13th studio album will drop on September 15th, the same day as MIYAVI celebrates his 40th birthday. He will also appear in a special birthday performance at the historic Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto on September 18 that will be live streamed on the global app, Line. He is one of the very few Japanese artists entrusted to promote Japanese culture to the world with this performance building a cultural bridge through music from East to West.

Listen to “New Gravity” here:

Pre-save “Imaginary” here:

https://miyavi.lnk.to/ima_alPR

For more information about the tour and to purchase tickets on sale now, visit miyavi.com. 

As the first single, New Gravity is a prelude to the album with MIYAVI’s unique approach that is demonstrated through this imaginative song showing a musicality that is new and different from the multi-talented rock sensation’s previous work. The distinct style of New Gravity teases the sound for Imaginary. The album features a comprehensive set of 11 songs including three features with two-time Grammy Award-winning singer Kimbra, indie rock artist Troi Irons and a third with a special guest.

The album will be available in three different editions: Limited Edition A, Limited Edition B, and Regular Edition. A bonus DVD, only available with the exclusive versions, will feature last year’s MIYAVI Virtual Level 5.0: Synthesis concert recording.

The musician is also an actor, having appeared in blockbuster films such as Kong: Skull Island, Maleficent 2 and the Angelina Jolie directed film Unbroken. On September 10, he will return to acting as a co-star in the new action film for Netflix, Kate, alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

On September 29, the multi-genre artist will embark on his 20-city Imaginary North American tour, for the first time in two years.  The demand is so strong that a second performance for Chicago, on October 20, has already been added. Fans who purchase a Limited Edition copy of the album will also receive a collectible Holy Nights clutch bag featuring an original logo commemorating the album’s debut.

Outside of music and acting, MIYAVI will be featured as a judge on the Japanese version of The Masked Singer airing on Amazon Prime. He is also the current face of Gucci in Japan and has been appointed UNHCR Ambassador. Known as the “samurai guitarist” or “Japanese Carlos Santana” for his guitar skills, the musician constantly challenges himself with each new endeavor, and is the most promising Japanese artist who strives to promote Japanese culture worldwide.