Post-punk, alternative rock star, AP Tobler, just released their latest official music for their recent hit, Blunt Force. This video perfectly encapsulates the hurt and anger portrayed in the song, with a strong narrative, and pleasing visuals.
Tobler states that this video was a family affair, as the video itself was directed and filmed by their father, as well as their mother and brother working on graphics, concept, and securing location sites. This video hints at this nostalgia of losing a close friend at an early age, with shots from a childhood bedroom. There is no doubt this video will hit close to home upon giving it a watch.
Tobler describes the video as “the story of a close friend suddenly ending our friendship without warning. The video depicts me aggressively releasing the anger and hurt associated with this traumatic event.” It is clear through this new video that the visuals seamlessly connect with the themes of this track.
With influences such as Nirvana, Green Day, and Weezer, there is no doubt this new video will not leave banging your head in awe of AP Tobler’s honesty, and rawness throughout.
Hailing from Chico, California, Brittany and the Blisstones are a duo who specialize in elegantly adorned, heart-crafted songs. Brittany Bliss and Reid Givens make up the twosome, and their journey is a touching story of reinvention, reclamation, and second chances on love. In addition to warming hearts, the couple are opening minds to female artists and helping shift the narrative of women in creative fields through support and exposure.
Their new single, ”Mermaid” is a song about reconnecting with nature, but it also seems to be about reconnecting with Brittany’s own human nature. The lyrics brim with breathtaking imagery and awe-inspiring reflective moments. She sings: By the sea/A mermaid rewrote the pages of all my dreams, so I found fear and faith in the waves. The music is as majestic as its impressionistic lyrical passages. The song lilts on a vaguely Jamaican pulse and brims with jeweled trumpet melodies, vocals that are sultry and sensitive, lush layers of harmony vocals, and moody chord changes that have a sweet sadness.
The band says, “Our music is silly and playful. We don’t take ourselves too seriously but we have a strong personal growth focus.” They create a unique sound that is echoed
“With Brittany’s ear for melody and Reid’s focus on rhythm, we have been coming up with parts for songs from the very start of our relationship. Song concepts were plentiful as well because a big part of our relationship is sharing ideas and growth, which we often come at from different perspectives.”
Brittany and Reid write songs that sweetly seduce you into mindfulness. The mellow tones of their distinct island-pop draw from an expansive artistic palette of pop, orchestral, rock, jazz, reggae, ska, Latin, new wave, and beyond. Brittany contributes sultry vocals, jaunty ukulele playing, and co-writes the songs alongside her partner Reid, an accomplished drummer and percussionist with an expansive command of rhythms and a keen sense for the healing power of good grooves.
Since forming in 2018, Brittany and The Blisstones have managed to earn an engaged fanbase through organic online exposure and their warmly intimate live shows. The duo has performed in various musical settings around the local Chico area and beyond, including playing venues in Berkeley and Oakland.
Newly divorced and making baby steps to reinvent their lives, Brittany and Reid first met at an open mic in Chico, CA in 2017. The fateful moment Brittany met Reid he was a fixture at the open mic, and Brittany was braving making her solo artist debut. Her performance that night captivated Reid. “You could tell she was very nervous,” he recalls. “But when she started to play, it was like she was channeling something that just hits you in a very vulnerable place.” The two spoke briefly that night, but felt an instant connection. Two weeks later, they saw each other again but this time they talked for longer, and the couple have been inseparable ever since.
“I think we both lost ourselves in our previous marriages, and rediscovering music was a way for both of us to heal and move past the pain,” Brittany shares. “When I dropped my youngest son off at college, I vowed to make music a priority again,” Reid says.
Despite being flushed with love and the joy of rediscovering music, Brittany and Reid found they had trouble turning their seedling ideas into songs. Wisely, they enrolled in a few online classes—including classes hosted by Ryan Tedder and Alicia Keys—and through diligence, and their innate talents were able to break down writer’s block and bask in the open floodgates of creativity.
“Mermaid” is the first song Brittany ever wrote. It is a song about reconnecting with nature, but it also seems to be about reconnecting with Brittany’s own human nature. The lyrics brim with breathtaking imagery and awe-inspiring reflective moments. She sings: By the sea/A mermaid rewrote the pages of all my dreams, so I found fear and faith in the waves. The music is as majestic as its impressionistic lyrical passages. The song lilts on a vaguely Jamaican pulse and brims with jeweled trumpet melodies, vocals that are sultry and sensitive, lush layers of harmony vocals, and moody chord changes that have a sweet sadness.
Listen to “Mermaid” here:
One of the biggest lessons of Brittany and The Blisstones is it’s never too late. It’s never too late to pick up an instrument. “Brittany just had her first piano recital since the second grade,” Reid marvels. And it’s never too late for love. Brittany says: “We got another chance at love, and rediscovering who we really are as people. It’s been such a beautiful restart.”
Emily Merrell’s lush pop is based in her deep love and passion for music, where she has found solace and safety due to her tumultuous childhood. Her music is dreamy and ethereal, creating a light feeling in her listeners by way of her angelic sounds. She’s been working on her third studio album, The Hallowed Wide, a 12 song album of songs about human connection and the messiness that comes with it. She will release a new song a month until the release of the album later this year. She’s already released 2.
Her third release, “Quicksand,” which as a style and sound of if Madonna were to sing a song for The Little Mermaid, is the final piece of the “descent” into The Hallowed Wide, the name she gave the space between our current selves and the versions of ourselves we’re trying to grow into. The piano sounds of angelic bubbles and give a feeling of flight, while the lyrics speak on the mystery of a new connection. It speaks to harness up our fear with an equal measure of exhilaration and now-or-never-ness and fly blind into brand new terrain.
“I love the way Joni Mitchell captures this feeling in her incredible song ‘I Don’t Know Where I Stand,’ says Emily. “The uneasiness is palpable. I imagine ‘Quicksand’ as a less measured iteration of this feeling. Will you emerge as the protagonist of this story? Or will you discover yourself merely a minor plot-propeller for the hero? You don’t know, and you don’t care. The intrigue is worth everything. You’ll eagerly assume the risk for the exquisite tension of this single moment. There’s hardly a more alluring feeling in the entirety of the human experience.”
Listen to “Quicksand”
Emily shares this on her upcoming album: “This project offers a heightened plane on which to explore the unknowable spaces between ourselves and others. Together, we examine sources of disconnect, and commit to braving these weighty expanses. We tease out the expectations, judgements, and selfishness that prevent us from connecting wholly. We learn to see beauty and magic in our fellow beings. And finally, we summon the courage to stretch our hands and hearts across the divide in trust.”
Downupright is the artist name for Bill Boulden, who hails from Buffalo, NY. His brand new track called “Click here to prove you´re not a Robot” is the most unique EDM track to be released, with its mix of electro-rock, EDM and pop.
Downupright´s mission is to provide an outlet to explore the challenges of mental health, as well as helping others. “Click here to prove you are not a Robot” sounds a lot like their main influence The Faint, but carries some elements of commercial pop as well.
Vocals are heavily engineered in this track, as the lyrics explore the artist´s now lifelong journey of depression, anxiety and bipolar:
“My lyrics spring from my adult lifelong battle with depression, bipolar, and anxiety- I make music to exercise those feelings from me and put the sadness out into the world so I can be free of it. I want people to feel like depression, anxiety, and bipolar are identifiable and conquerable things when they listen to my music. I want them to feel like they are understood and not the only one who feels this way.”
The album of the same name continues to explore these themes, as well as different genres of pop, EDM, electro-rock and more:
“I borrow from KMFDM, Sleigh bells, She Wants Revenge, and more. I have been a musician since I was about eleven years old tinkering in Cakewalk Pro 8 (at the time). Of course, I´ve upgraded my rig a few times over the years, and now use Ableton.”
After attending the Hyperbits Masterclass in 2019, Downupright changed a lot of things and improved his music, switching out his name and throwing away 20 years of material to focus completely on a brand new sound and identity. Downupright was born.
Be sure to have a listen to Downupright´s unique EDM sound, which you will not find anywhere else.
Aspen Jacobsen is the rising Americana-Folk singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who’s connection with her guitar and lyrics marry to make her stories tangible. “When I write a song, I start with a feeling—my main goal is to have a strong emotional exchange with the audience through my music,” she shares. The award-winning artist is an empathic and thought-provoking lyricist with a flair for many time-honored roots music traditions, while also out to make these sounds more palatable and resonant for her generation.
She just released her newest single “Shouldn’t Give A Damn,” a country inspired folk song reminiscent of Kacey Musgraves. In this song, she tackles the topic of toxic relationships, singing “And you don’t even know who I am/You just take and take everything that you can/And I shouldn’t give a damn.” The song starting out with a slow fade in mirrors the way a toxic relationship is at first, not terribly noticeable yet you eventually notice as it becomes louder. Aspen’s lyrics are thought-provoking and honest. You can hear her relationship with her music, her guitar almost being an extension of her psyche.
Listen to “Shouldn’t Give a Damn” here:
She learned how traditional art forms can be used as tools to strengthen intuition and self-understanding after years of performing at festivals and learning from the other experienced musicians. She became more self-aware, that her songwriting can be more than a personal coping mechanism but also can strengthen social empathy and help people better understand each other’s emotions. “I wish to help traditional arts live on through my music, thus making an impact on the generations who follow,” says Aspen. “I recognize how small impacts made through music, storytelling, conversations, art, and even the sharing of a smile can make big changes.”
Tara Novak, the classically trained violinist and composer turned pop artist, just released her new pop epic single, “A Place Called Purpose.” The song is a narrative like those of old Irish tales, Beowulf, or Hrolf Kraki, using music and lyrics in tandem to paint a picture of a tale about a brave female captain of a ship, with only her knowledge, intuition, and courage to guide her on the open seas as she races against time to her destination. She faces outward storms and inner doubts and ultimately comes out renewed in her belief herself. She is a true heroine, like all of us who face the many battles in life.
Musically speaking, she uses minor chords in the verses to symbolize the dramatic elements of the story, of the heroine facing challenges on her journey. The only major chords we hear are in the chorus, symbolizing the underlying message of hope, bravery, and courage. The use of the soft violin and ambient sounds in the beginning of the song gives a ghost-like feeling to the story, setting the scene and a melodic atmosphere.
Her classical training influenced the music for “A Place Called Purpose,” giving a unique touch to the pop genre that you won’t hear anywhere else. But she was also inspired by time. “Tick, tick, tick… the sound of a clock on the wall, always counting, always moving forward,” says Tara, talking about how clocks inspired the story. “But clocks used to measure more than just the passing of time: ancient mariners used a combination of a clock and the stars to calculate their position on the ocean. This song is an epic story of a girl alone with her ship, racing against time to find ‘A Place Called Purpose’ before the sun rises and once again hides the stars. Clocks tick and the orchestra sweeps the listener on their own journey, a perfect reflective soundtrack for the start of a new year.”
Listen here:
When you get a chance, listen to “A Place Called Purpose.” It’s a strong song with a powerful message of a heroine finding her own bravery and courage within herself.
Modern Mystery 
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