Talking with Hands third album, Organic Machine, is an examination of the relationship between man, machine and the music indsutry. Generative AI and Human Creativity have a fascinating coupling at this point in time. It’s undeniably helpful but also potentially teetering on taking creative jobs. In that same wheelhouse, music as an art form is being devalued due to tech moguls decisions to treat everything as content. It’s not personal, it’s just business.

These are all heady subjects but Talking with Hands tackles them incredibly effectively and charmingly. With the latest single, “Everything is Better,” there’s a direct dialogue between these two things. However, it’s unclear how that relationship is going.

Matthew Smith has never told me directly what the song is about but the combination of his delivery and the lyrics themselves leaves plenty of room for interpretation. Does the narrator truly love the subject? Is it reciprocal? Is the narrator a human or machine? Does the music video undermine the song itself as a bit of distracting hand waving? Only you can decide these things.

The video is available on YouTube and the album is streaming everywhere. If you wish to support it, find it on Bandcamp and Ampwall.

Hearing the songs that inspire and influence an artist is never not a compelling undertaking. Eve Maret recently put together a wonderful collection of songs that sparked “Mantra” / “Miracle,” her latest single.

Listening to these tracks and then playing back the single, you can clearly hear the through line of inspiration. It’s also a nice reminder of just how hard that David Geutta / Benny Benassi collaboration hits!

Hear it on Spotify or YouTube. If you want to hear it somewhere else, get in touch!

Getting a peek into an artist’s process is always a fascinating endeavor. Demo’s of songs can often be so compelling that artists suffer from demoitis; an all too common infliction that prevents them from trying anything other than the demo!

Fortunately, Trash Man did not encounter that fate and was able to capture his ideas in some compelling demos and then proceed with letting them flourish into full-fledged versions of themselves. Listen below for the direct compare and contrast playback – the demo and the final Moment of Bleakness version.

To hear the full version of the studio versions of these songs from Moment of Bleakness, head over to Bandcamp, Ampwall or any ole streaming service.

A little over a year ago, Talking with Hands (aka Matthew Smith) was working on some new music to follow-up his second full-length, New Public Domain. He set out to craft two EPs; less daunting than an album and more concise in their subject matter. The topics most top of mind were Artificial Intelligence’s entanglements with creativity and the general bleakness of being a musician in the era of streaming. Heady to say the least.

While honing those batches of songs a funny thing happened; it became abundantly clear that these two separate-and-heady concepts were actually one album’s worth of cohesive-and-clear thoughts. Organic Machine officially emerged.

Songs like “#1 Record” are about the desire for recognition as an artist, despite big tech leaders like Spotify’s Daniel Ek making it clear that music is only becoming more devalued. “King of Hands” is a nod to AI’s inability to manifest a standard five digit hand while also ruminating on creativity itself. “Unprofessional Artist” (a personal favorite) is a contemplative piece about the compulsion towards creativity; the enjoyment of the process and not just working towards some nebulous prize.

These concepts sound like dense tomes but Smith allowed himself to embrace an “anything goes” approach to the sonic landscape. He weaves these ideas into big hooks with buzzy guitars, memorable verses with sampling flourishes or hyper-processed vocals with multiple narrators. It is anything but dense feeling. It is light, catch and memorable start to finish.

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Organic Machine is available everywhere today. It’s on Bandcamp, Ampwall and your streaming service. Get it on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music or whatever it is you like to use. Listen to it while you’re reading this. Tell a friend about it.

On a personal note, I’m over the moon excited for everyone to hear this. Conceptually, the album is right up my alley. Musically, the album checks a ton of boxes for me as it is reminiscent of AIR, Jason Falkner, XTC, et al but imbues so much of Smith’s own originality you can’t pin it down.

We worked extensively on the lead up to today; culling remixes for “#1 Record“, “King of Hands” and “Organic Machine“, making videos with Asher Rogers lending a ton of creativity. Matt flew to Austin to film a short for “Organic Machine” with TJ Masters – it’s an honest-to-god incredible piece of work. We made all the artwork for everything collaboratively; I’m incredibly proud of the Black Mirror-esque animated album design. Tye Bellar mastered it with a finesse that should not go unnoticed.

All that is to say, for an album about the fears of AI and the self-doubt of being an artist, we created something undeniably human. No amount of prompt engineering could have gotten us here. I hope you enjoy the results as much as we enjoyed creating them… human to human.

Back in August, Fetching Pails introduced a new era of the band with fresh trio lineup and a new single called “Shattery.” Today, that new era of the band continues with “The Witching Hour” – an ethereal track that is both moody and dance-y. As Samhain approaches, it’s an excellent soundtrack addition for parties, coven meetings and staying awake until 3am.

We don’t like to give too much away about the meaning of songs but “The Witching Hour” is, supposedly, partially inspired by that feeling of creative inspiration that keeps you up all night. If you go to sleep, that feeling may be gone. Stay awake. Keep going!

The track is available on Bandcamp, Ampwall and all your streaming services – Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, etc. etc. Please click through and add it to your favorite Halloween playlist.

Directed by TJ Masters, the final preview single from Talking with Hands is no mere music video; this is a full-on short film. Before you proceed any further, hit play below.

The film was shot in Austin, TX and was captured entirely on Kodak film. The film leans into the practical over the digital, despite the subject matter. Clearly we’re biased but it’s a beautiful piece of work.

To learn more about the pre-production and production of the short, read through TJ Masters notes here and here. I recommend both, highly.

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As with our previous singles for Organic Machine, this film is accompanied by a maxi-single containing multiple remixes. The first remix is by Matt Smith himself (aka Talking with Hands), providing an absolutely wild deconstruction of his own song. The second, from Needless Frets, is the debut offering from a drummer and director of another YK band – we’re happy to have it here!

It’s all available on Bandcamp, Ampwall and all your streaming services.

While any and all support is appreciated, if you pick up the album, you will receive all of the remixes as well.

Taken from the latest Eve Maret single release, we are proud to present the official video for “Miracle.” This visual journey takes you into realms well beyond the surface level. To fully immerse yourself in this one you must literally look beyond the image.

As this video was directed by Eve Maret and Michael Eades (that’s me!), a little extra bonus information can be provided on its creation.

Personally, I do not know the exact meaning of the “Miracle” song but my interpretation is that it serves as a confirmation of excitement at a healthy relationship. If you’ve ever been in a bad relationship, you know that finding someone can truly feel like a miracle.

While certainly not as emotionally fulfilling, I always found the Magic Eye stereograms from the early 90’s to be a bit of magic. Seeing the hidden images required some faith that something was there and if you managed to train your eyes just right, you could see it. When the dolphin or schooner appeared, it certainly felt miraculous. Like a relationship, it required a little blind belief that ultimately led to a lot of satisfaction once it all clicked. We used that as the inspiration for the video.

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The technical process for creating the video involved creating three versions of the footage. The first is Maret’s performance footage; a video on its own! The second layer required analyzing that footage and transforming it into 3D Depth maps; done with the help of a ComfyUI flow that analyzed the footage in the first layer. The last layer required some custom scripting to merge the depth maps with a predetermined pattern; frame by frame. It was a learning experience and the results, quite frankly, feel miraculous and magical.

The headline says it all – today marks the first official release from Matt & The Watt Gives, the new project from Matt Pelham of The Features. The song, “Cutting Ties,” is available everywhere right now and I’m happy to report that Pelham’s distinctive voice and songwriting hasn’t lost an ounce of allure since the last time we heard from The Features.

The song is on Bandcamp, Ampwall and streaming everywhere. I urge you to get it in your ears as soon as possible. If you’re curious to know more about the undertaking, we’re fortunate enough to have a bio for the project written by Matt’s daughter, Edith Pelham (who also did the fantastic artwork). No better person to explain this outing than Edith:

Matt and the Watt Gives is the new solo project of long time Features front-dude, Matt Pelham. Since the disbanding of the Features in 2016, Matt has found himself very busy with a large variety of grown-up junk… Now, after eight years, for his sanity and the sanity of the people around him, Matt has decided to write, record, and play music again. 

So perfectly, succinctly, put. This is the first of many new songs from the undertaking so be sure to following @mattandthewattgives on Instagram and drop a follow on Bandcamp, so you can be notified of new releases.

2024 has been a banner year for The Robe with new releases for every month of the year. This trend continues with two new tracks perfect for October. To be quite honest, they’re perfect for any time. Dive into “Dalusa” / “I’m a Nightmare.”

I’m told “Dalusa” is the first time Katie Haas (that’s her on the cover) has contributed to the musical side of the recordings. We’ve heard her voice on many other tracks but now we get even more collaboration between these two. I love to see it and hear it.

The song is available on Bandcamp, Ampwall and streaming all over. Please give it a listen, a save and a share.

Today marks the arrival of Trash Man‘s debut EP for YK, Moment of Bleakness. The five song release is a blast of pop hooks and explosive rock energy wrapped around melancholy introspections.

For an artist named Trash Man and an album called Moment of Bleakness, you’d think the melancholy / sad vibes would outweigh anything uplifting but that’s simply not the case. Alex Mojaverian (Trash Man himself) has found such a perfect balance between these two sides that the lyrical content becomes cathartic.

The release is available on Bandcamp, Ampwall and all your streaming services – Apple Music, Spotify, Youtube Music, et al. We’re even on Deezer! We had some limited edition cassettes made as well – less than 50! We included a real treat on the b-side of the tape but you’ll have to buy it to find out what it is.

Wherever you get your music, go give it a listen and share it with a friend.

If you need a starting point for the record, be sure to watch the video for “Ruin It,” in which Alex makes you a delicious Detroit style pizza.