People say, true love only exists between a man and his dog. Enter Bonnie, Freedom Fry‘s furry companion. With almost ten years under the belt of making music as a team, this ode to their curly canine is long overdue. It comes with a lovely video, too.

The track comes off the duo’s latest EP titled Rio Grande, which features a brilliant acoustic cover of Gorillaz’ Clint Eastwood and an all new single, also titled Rio Grande. Take a walk with me, Bonnie.

The genre crossing and technology bending ensemble Miro Shot sports a very unique approach to all things Miro. With a heavy industrial fused electronic production on the musical side, and a fully immersive VR/AR style live set to get lost in, the group is breaking traditional boundaries, both stylistically and between audiences and performers.

Their latest piece is Are We Closer, originally premiering over at Clash, and is attached below with its official visuals, best viewed vertically on the device you are quite probably holding right now. The song then tells the story of modern technology bringing people and topics together, creating weird and wonderful connections at times, or as they phrase it: “an attempt to capture the feeling of what being alive in a world with streaming walls of content and images that we are saturated with, and the way it is all thrown together, a cat gif next to rioters, a photo of someone’s lunch next to a devastated rainforest.” Their debut will be titled Servers, and is due for release on June 28.

Miro Shot’s live sets then come as a rather mesmeric experience, coming into full force through VR headsets, controlled by the band itself while playing. Miro Shot are scheduled to perform at Hamburg’s Oberhafen this weekend for VRHAM, with a line of shows from Friday June 7 through Monday June 10. After that the team is off to Paris, June 19, and London, June 25.

Keep a keen eye on it all because there are three Easter eggs hidden in the video forming a question which – if answered correctly – will get you a free ticket to the upcoming Miro Shot VR shows in either London or Paris.

Video credits

In times of instantly spreading information, prompt judgements, and quick, binary decisions needing to be made, it’s refreshing to see people actually taking the time, and sitting down to think it through and just let go and let it be nuanced. Enter Music Cities Network’s Jazz Residency at this year’s Elbjazz in Hamburg. The global collective of musically inclined cities recruited 5 rising musicians from Iceland, Denmark and Germany, and decided to put them in the prestigious Clouds Hill Recordings studio for a week and see what happens, giving them nothing but food and beverages, and the prospect to fill an hour at the festival this Saturday, playing aboard the MS Stubnitz.

Like the Avengers joining forces, the five of them each bring their own powers to the table. With Falko Harriehausen from Hamburg on bass guitar, Aarhus’ Frederik Bülow on drums, Reykjavik’s Ingi Bjarni Skulason on keys and composition, MIMRA aka Maria Magnusdottir also from Reykjavik on vocals and composition, and finally Hamburg’s Tilman Oberbeck on double bass.

The five of them plucking it out, improvising their way through days and nights for a week, creates a unique energy and sense of direction. Jazz, then, naturally, describes less of a music genre, and rather a way of life, a way to think about things. They may enter as strangers and individuals, but emerge as a group, a coherent team, being greater than the sum of its parts. The gift of collaboration, a natural force like compound interest.

And it does feel like an ultimately democratic process, too, with everybody having a voice, everybody doing his part, having his moment, getting his solo.

The five of them are scheduled to perform and play their newly written tunes on Saturday, June 1st at 17h00 in the mighty cargo holds of MS Stubnitz.

For a taste of it all, try the pure tropically loaded grooves by drummer Frederik Bulows’ band Bangin’ Bülows Nice Jazz Quartet attached below. The track Sugardating is off their third studio album Let’s Get Weird that was recorded in New York and came out in May last year.

More information on MCN and its partners

Eternal vagabond and visual artist Toro Y Moi has been a constant in the greater indie spheres for a decade at this point. On his new album Outer Peace he neatly combines his unique sense for melody and tempo changes with a psychedelic view of the here and now, creating a mesmerizing soundtrack to our times, carried by pounding beats and drums.

The LP is his sixth release with DC’s Carpark Records since signing with them in 2009 for his striking debut Causers Of This. Looking back at his collected works with them over the years, his catalogue does bear a certain resemblance to Kanye’s (early) efforts – before becoming all Ye – in its versatility, innovation, and ultimately character. Let Outer Peace be Toro’s Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy then, with the banging single Ordinary Pleasure attached below.

Toro Y Moi is taking his works on tour, literally across the globe, right now, making a stop in Hamburg this Friday, May 31st, with Paris, San Francisco and LA following in June, and a ton of Asian dates after that. Quite the itinerary.

Photo credits above go to the talented Jack Bool, and Jack Bool only.

French sensation Praa, pictured above waiting for a boiling dinner to be served, has been fusing grand pop tracks that make 1980s Madonna blush for some time. Her self-titled debut EP came out last month via the glam Elephant & Castle and grooves along as a swagging collection of enthusiastic singles.

Hailing from the south of France, by the banks of the river Rhône, you can hear her feet on the ground attitude and aspiration for the stars right through. Her latest and Coca Cola commercial channeling single is attached below, Won’t Forget ‘Bout You.

Reason enough for Team Poule to get to the bottom of this, and let Praa do the talking, naturally, in moving images.

How did it all start?

via GIPHY

What happened so far? [continue reading…]