I have to say that it feels great to be back in a place where I can write. The last two years have really brought a lot of change, I've talked about that before, and since the Spring my focus has been on building out a beta for GETSEEN.app. I am proud to say that is done, and for the first time in a really long time, I get to put the focus back on what I love most, which is writing.
The other thing that I love, which is curation, is easier to do with limited free time. Writing, on the other hand, is absolutely labor intensive. Don't believe anyone who tells you any different. :) So, you might have noticed that the subscribe link at the bottom of every page is a little bit different. I have decided to move the newsletter from Mailchimp over to Substack, because the process for sending out newsletters was just more difficult than it needed to be and it just wasn't getting done. Substack feels like a really well thought-out platform that works much better for me, so if you are a subscriber you can expect to be hearing a lot more from me in the future. I will be adding a lot of content to the Substack channel that fleshes out a little more of the personal side, for me as a blogger, and I am also exploring a feature where I can easily attach audio of me narrating the blog piece—which will function basically like a short form podcast. Maybe you don't like reading, or maybe you like the idea of doing something else while you are listening to me wax poetic about the state of independent music. Either way, CHILLFILTR Behind the Blog is for you. Also, as was mentioned in the welcome email, anyone that is now subscribed to Behind the Blog as an extension of an old subscription to CHILLFILTR News, is set up as a lifetime paid member. So as long as you don't close your account, you will now and forever have access for free to everything that gets shared.
Anyway, in terms of new music, there's just always something else that I am excited about. This month, I think my favorite discovery is a band called Widowspeak. Their latest album "The Jacket" is really a masterpiece, for me, in terms of great production meeting up with great songwriting and unique performance mojo. It's one of those fortunate cocktails that cannot be faked. The biggest single for now seems to be "Everything is Simple" which showcases a really dry and organic mix, a beautiful vocal performance from Molly Hamilton, and a really quintessential band feel that recalls some of the greatest work from classic artists like Ben Harper and Beck, all the way to someone like Mazzy Star. Yes, please—highly recommended.
John Moreland also put out a really solid album with "Birds in the Ceiling," and one of my faves Golden Vessel is dropping more fire with his release "everythingeverydayeverything." Finally, I want to mention Spacey Jane, a recent success story of Australian Indie Rock which (for the record) I've been tracking since 2018. I am very proud of the fact that I have spotted a number of acts years before they found mainstream success—Samia is another good example, or Imagiro; the best part for me is being able to feature tracks that come so early in the progression of a given band that they are removed from wider distribution after the band is discovered. That's just one of the benefits of listening to CHILLFILTR radio, and now of being a subscriber: we are keeping a record of great music that might very well be forgotten otherwise, and you get to be a part of it.
So here's the list for July. As always, the best way to get your music featured on CHILLFILTR Radio is to send a free submission via GETSEEN. Also, many thanks to Denise Hill over at NewPages for putting together this nifty little write-up.
Meiko - Just Dream
Katie Pruitt - Expectations [Explicit]
Begonia - Juniper
Kowloon - A Thousand Pictures
Medium Build - ALONE IN MY CAR
Hazlett - My Skin
Sleepy Tom - Time and Time Again (feat. Hotel Mira)
eevee and cliffe - villain
Robot Koch and Blankforms - Migratory
Rich Jacques - Everything Must Change
Michael Dunstan - Becoming Nobody
Spacey Jane - Hardlight
often - Palm Trees
Scary Pockets - Skinny Love (feat. Antwaun Stanley)
KORA - Let Go
John Moreland - Birds In The Ceiling - 02 Lion's Den
John Moreland - Birds In The Ceiling - 03 Cheap Idols Dressed in Expensive Garbage
John Moreland - Birds In The Ceiling - 04 Generational Dust
John Moreland - Birds In The Ceiling - 05 Dim Little Light
John Moreland - Birds In The Ceiling - 06 Claim Your Prize
John Moreland - Birds In The Ceiling - 07 Neon Middle June
John Moreland - Birds In The Ceiling - 08 Truth Be Told
John Moreland - Birds In The Ceiling - 09 Birds In The Ceiling
Ben Cosgrove & Max Garcia Conover - Volume One - 03 Max García Conover feat. Ben Cosgrove - Oil Ship
Jesse Malin - Keep On Burning
The Lone Bellow - Gold
WIDOWSPEAK - The Jacket - 01 While You Wait
WIDOWSPEAK - The Jacket - 02 Everything Is Simple
WIDOWSPEAK - The Jacket - 03 Salt
WIDOWSPEAK - The Jacket - 04 True Blue
WIDOWSPEAK - The Jacket - 05 The Jacket
WIDOWSPEAK - The Jacket - 06 Unwind
WIDOWSPEAK - The Jacket - 07 The Drive
WIDOWSPEAK - The Jacket - 08 Slow Dance
WIDOWSPEAK - The Jacket - 09 Forget It
WIDOWSPEAK - The Jacket - 10 Sleeper
Jacob Humber - Jesus at My Dining Room Table
JP Hoe - Say What You Want To Say
Golden Vessel - sun+tide
Wizard Death - hvn
Limon Limon - Differently
GONE - Out of Time (Radio Edit)
Julien Baker - B-Sides - 01 Guthrie
Emily James - Cannonball
Madison Avenue - Dont Call Me Baby (Joshwa Extended Remix)
Jesse Rowell - When You Were Mine
vern matz - Catch The Sun
Lyrah - Sorry CVS
Spoon - The Hardest Cut
Paul Cook & The Chronicles - Parade
Damien Jurado - Reggae Film Star - 02 Meeting Eddie Smith
Damien Jurado - Reggae Film Star - 06 Day Of The Robot
Damien Jurado - Reggae Film Star - 09 Whatever Happened To Paul Sand
Golden Vessel - so far (feat. FELIVAND)
The Dip - When You Lose Someone
The Dip - Paddle to the Stars
eevee and cliffe - so easy
Valerie June - Use Me
Valley Queen - Hold On You
Son Little - hey rose (Aslove Remix) - 01 hey rose (Aslove Remix)
Valley Queen - Falling
Halcyon Drive - Silver Ray
