There’s a push and pull that we all experience. On the one hand, we know that we can learn from our past mistakes, adjust and move forward. However, if we hold on too long, if we don’t take risks, it can create uncertainty and immobility, followed by deep sadness or worse.
This song explores a period in Lisa’s personal life that was full of instability, change, and hard choices. During this time, she fought her own personal battle with depression, self-worth, and purpose. With the help of loved ones and hard work, she once again found her footing. She continues to grow more confident and passionate about life through music.
Lisa chose to keep this elegant, pop, piano ballad acoustic to highlight the depth of the emotion in this intimate lyric.
Please contact lisadanaemusic@gmail.
Jayna Jennings Releases Captivating First Single ‘The Blue’ from New Album
Press Release
Every once in a while, you find a song that has the ability to completely transport you and immerse you within it. The Blue is one of those songs. Comparing falling for the wrong person to being stranded in the middle of the ocean during a storm, Jayna Jennings surrounds you with her metaphorical songwriting and her passionate vocals in this first single off her new album Courtyards & Aviaries, Pt. 2 which is set to release August 2.
After writing this song in late 2017, Jayna has been performing The Blue at her shows and noticed the song received warm acceptance from the audience. Jayna notes “I knew that I wanted to eventually record the song when I wrote it because I could hear the production work in my head, but I knew I wanted to include it in this album and release it as a single after seeing the positive feedback from people who heard it.”
Jayna’s music seems to always reference some kind of literary or artistic work, and this song is no different. “After I wrote the song, it kind of reminded me of a painting that I have always really loved by J W Waterhouse and that painting was inspired by Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest.’ I say ‘you are a tempest’ in the song, so it was a full circle moment that I felt was very fitting to include in the detail of the release.”
Jayna got her start in the gospel music industry and released an EP of traditional hymns & an original in July of 2016. She brought her listeners into her world with her first Americana album of originals Courtyards & Aviaries Pt.1 in 2017. All 9 songs off of that album received worldwide radio airplay and introduced her music to an entirely new audience. “Pt. 2” continues the theme that “Pt. 1” set, and features the growth in her lyrical ability.
Working with the same team that brought Pt.1 to life, The Blue features the musical talents of Mark Mundy on lead guitar & bass, George Sandler on drums, and of course Jayna Jennings on acoustic guitar, keys, & vocals.
The Blue is available on all stream & download services: https://smarturl.it/THE-BLUE
“Oidos” by Nancy Sanchez and Madame Recamier Breaks Your Heart and Moves Your Feet
“Oidos” byNancy Sanchez and Madame Recamier breaks your heart and moves your feet
Patrick O’Heffernan
(Los Angeles) “Oidos”, a collaboration between LA-based jazz singer and mariachi artist Nancy Sanchez and Mexico-based pop singer Madame Recamier is what I call a triple threat song – it fills your heart with emotion and your ears with pleasure while it makes you dance.
“Tengo miedo de quererte tanto” they sing – I am afraid of loving you so much. We have all been there – an awkward romance that is just beginning, or is not quite reciprocated, or is moving too fast. It becomes the center of your focus, the single point of your emotional life. But it is hard – “Si me miras, alumbras mis pasos” – if you look at me, my steps light up. How can you give that up, no matter how afraid you are being hurt? The music answers the question: dance.
Energizing our ears with the baile hupango – the dance music of Vera Cruz – Sanchez and Recamier sweep us along. Our hearts may be uncertain, but our feet know what to do as the jaranas (small, 8-stringed Mexican guitar from the Vera Cruz region) play the rhythm of the zapedado, the high energy Fandango-evolved dance performed on a raised wooden platform. Starting with an acapella verse, the song is quickly filled with jaranas, violins, harps, guitars and vihuelas (5–string Mexican guitar common in mariachi music) as the two women move us along with a fast-paced up/down guitar strum rhythm that somehow manages to be upfront and in the background at that same time. Simply brilliant.
The “Oidos” video, directed by Madame Recamier, is also brilliant. Shot in both Mexico City and Los Angeles, it features the pair outfitted in matching red sundresses framed in an old-time TV set as they move through Mexico City. Moving from the 19th-century neighborhood Colonia Escandón to downtown Mexico City and the Plaza de Bellas Artes, Sanchez and Recamier end up in a cantina drinking tequila and playing with Sensación Jarocha, the band featured on the track. So much fun in any language.
The song emerged from a chance meeting in LA between Sanchez and Recamier when Sanchez was working on a fast – 6/8 – song and Recamier was stumped by a writing block. A collective lightbulb went off over their heads. Recamier ran with the song and pulled in the Son Jarocho group Las Charcas Veracruz to assemble a pain-of-love song with dance rhythms. No wonder it works. Sanchez, a multiple-winner of jazz awards who is skilled at fusing pop, traditional Mexican folk, and R&B into hit songs like “American Novio” and “Angel Baby”. Recamier is international songwriting winner who has honed her unique brand of pop music with artists like Alik Syntec and writing songs for films, SWSX and touring in Mexico. With this kind of DNA, it is no surprise that they give birth to a song that is simultaneously satisfyingly sophisticated and just plain fun. A match made in heaven for music that propels your feet.
Patrick O’Heffernan, host MusicFridayLive
Oidos by Nancy Sanchez and Madame Recamier, released June 14 on the OneRPM label, is available on Spotify, iTunes, and other online stores.
Nancy Sanchez http://www.nancysanchezmusic.com
Madame Recamier http://madamerecamier.net/
Interview with Producer, Rocker, DJ Ali Stone
Ali Stone on her new song “Oculto”, her native country Columbia, and her future.
Patrick O’Heffernan
(Los Angeles) The classically-trained Colombian producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, and DJ Ali Stone, is constantly surprising and fascinating. She has released terrific albums and songs, entertained huge crowds at festivals like the Electric Daisy Carnival, composed movie soundtracks and remixed top artists. She won a CDA award, opened for Justin Bieber’s Purpose World Tour, and her self-produced, engineered and mastered debut album “Sexto Sentido” reached #1 on the Electronic Chart. Now living in Los Angeles she is writing songs, touring, and working with the international campaign “Women Working for Women”, to promote gender equality on male-dominated jobs – especially music production. Her new song and video “Oculto” is both a continuation of her excellence in music and a different facet of who she is — and a hint of her future direction.
Patrick. It is great to see you again, and thank you for having me in your studio and in your inner sanctum.
Ali. You are welcome. Yes, my studio- all the music comes from here. All the songs are created here.
Patrick. Let’s talk about one of those songs and the video that goes with it. – the new song, “Oculto”.
Ali. Yes, “Oculto” is my new song. It’s part of my new CD, En Mis Manos. It is a song inspired by Columbia culture and Columbian music. I wanted to show those songs that are hidden in Columbian music. I wanted to showcase the other sounds of Columbian music because people associate Columbian with just one kind of music and there are many kinds. I am showcasing other sounds that are part of my identity. I mixed many different sounds with my electronic sound and my vocals so they say “show me what is hidden inside” and they basically show what is inside of me and Columbia.
Patrick. So there is more to Columbian music than cumbia?
Ali. Exactly! Much more. If you drive an hour in Columbia you will experience new music, new food, new accents. That is what I love about the Columbian people and Columbia itself. It is a very diverse country and I value that.
Patrick. “Oculto” the song is a precisely crafted dance song – something you are famous for. It utilizes your voice in several different ways. the up close line in Spanish about the middle of the song, and then you are looped and accented by a violin. Are you just sort of playing with your voice?
Ali. I decided to use my voice is an instrument on this song. I had that little break where I am talking intimately to the audience, and I had some vocals going on in the back and me playing piano, singing my own words – the piano and the vocals are the like the same, and then looping. It is that same concept of “show me your hidden inside”. I feel like now, with Oculto” I really know how to use my voice, to make it an integrated element of the song.
Patrick. To me, the result is it is both ominous and sensual. Was that your intention?
Ali. Yes…I wanted to give that kind of vibe, like a darker side. It has a duality. The audience can play around with it. They can interpret it…they can play with their perception. It is not what I am telling them, it is about their perception.
Patrick. That has always been part of your music – open to interpretation.
Ali. Yes. I always keep it that way. That is how I appreciate art, ever since I was little. With all kinds of music – pop, rock, even with painted art like the works of Monet or Van Gough. I love them. You can have your own conclusions from their art. No one has the absolute truth – in the end, the audience can complement the value of the music.
Patrick. I love the drumming, it really hits you in the gut. Is that your drumming on a loop?
Ali. (Laughing) Yes. Absolutely. In all my songs I play the drums. I tend to play the drums and then overlay them on the songs. For example, for the snare, I have 5 snare sounds that I can overlap to make something else, a new sound. I love to play the drums and I love to improvise, to let myself go with the vibe of what I am making. This happens with my guitar…I usually improvise solos and then it is like my soul is talking and I follow what my soul and heart are saying and make my brain learn what they are saying
Patrick. The video is really sensual – it is not an Ali stone I have seen before…sensual, sexy, – far more than “Obsessions” or En Mis Manos. This is a high style, totally sexually out there and in control. Is the new Ali stone, or has it always been there under the space suit?
Ali. It has always been there, but it is a new Ali Stone era, a powerful woman, fully embracing my inner power. The power is already out, bringing my girl power into everything – my music, my image, my video. I have always been there. I love superheroes. I want to show that strength – I am powerful not with what I am wearing, but with who I am.
Patrick. You are credited with the music and the video. You worked with Craig basket of raw Forest Media. How did that come about?
Ali. We met last year at a show and I showed him my music and he said let me know when you have something we can work on together. When I created “Oculto” I felt this was the song we could join forces on. We worked on it together…we saw we could play around with our creative mind and make something like a fashion film, a video. In the end, it was about the meaning of Oculto. It gave us a lot of space to play around with the audio-visual stuff and to allow a lot of interpretation because it is such a minimal song. He and his team were amazing; everyone, the team, the models and the crew. The dancers were the perfect people for what Craig had envisioned. The choreography was very precise. We shot it in New York and it was a lot of fun.
Patrick. Does “Oculto” represent a different direction for you?
Ali. I would say it is like a different facet like the EP I just released, En Mis Manus, which has a little bit of darkness to it. But it also shows my Columbian identity. I am very proud of my Columbia heritage and I can show people that these are also Columbian sounds. In the end, it is part of who I am and the sounds I have in my head and I get to play with them in.
Patrick. Why are you in Los Angeles instead of Columbia?
Ali. Because of my work as a producer and songwriter. In that, there is more work here in LA…there are more artists to collaborate with. And unfortunately, Columbians can be very sexist. When I was in Columbian, a lot of people told me that I shouldn’t be producing and that no one wanted to see a woman who could do everything…they were intimidated. That was so weird…a man actually asked me to prove I was a producer. I had to leave that to reach my full potential. In LA people are open to a woman doing everything – writing, playing engineering, mastering – everything…it is the place for me to use all my different skills. Women will come into their own – people will realize what women can do. There are so few woman producers, but it will change.
Patrick. You spent time at the first all-women Nashville songwriting camp produced by She Is The Music. Can you tell us about it and how it influences your work?
Ali. It was amazing. She Is The Music is amazing too. I got to work with so many amazing women songwriters…we did R&B rock and hip hop and country for a week. It was really nice to explore a little of Nashville – a very musical city. I did write a country song for The Sisterhood Band People said it was strange seeing a Columbian doing a country song, but it was fun and it worked well. It’s for their new album…you will be able to hear it on their new album.
Patrick. You work with organizations that try to make more space for women in music. Tell us about them and what you do..
Ali. Women Working for Women began in Mexico with a campaign of having different women talk about their power in society. Then it extended into other countries and into other things besides music. It has been super cool to be exposed to these women as the organization expands into more and more things. I love to let other people more aware of what is happening with women in music.
Patrick. So what is next for you….you will be promoting “Oculto” and the other songs?
Ali. “Oculto” is another facet of who I am because I don’t like to stay in the same lane…I like to do the unexpected. It is more dynamic and fun. I like to play around with many sounds and put them into music that is me. I have many tools, guitars and producing and drums…I want to give people so many things but in the end, it sounds like me.
Patrick. Thank you so much, and thank you for the studio tour.
Ali. Always a pleasure, Patrick
Patrick O’Heffernan Host, MusicFridayLive!
Ali Stone: http://alistonemusic.com/
Full Interview with Ali Stone at her studio:
Private Tour of Ali’s LA Studio:
Freya Ridings Announces the Release of Self-Titled Debut Album
FREYA RIDINGS
‘Castles’
ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF HER SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM ON 19th JULY
GLASTONBURY PERFORMANCE – SATURDAY 29TH JUNE – JOHN PEEL STAGE
“The new Adele……Freya Ridings is the voice of 2019.” – The Times
“This singer brings classical precision and raw emotion to celestial pop.” – GQ
“An extraordinary talent.” – Sunday Times Culture
“The most exciting rising talent in UK music……she’s a superstar in waiting.” – The Sun
Freya Ridings emerged to be the surprise success story of 2018 with her breakthrough platinum-selling hit ‘Lost Without You’. A once-in-a-lifetime song that immediately put Freya on the map, it hit the Top 10 on seven separate occasions during a six-month run in the Top 40 and is now approaching 200 million streams.
Now Freya Ridings looks set to cement that phenomenal start to her career with the release of new single ‘Castles’ and her self-titled debut album, which will be released on July 19th on GOOD SOLDIER. It demonstrates precisely why she became the new star on everyone’s lips, from Taylor Swift to Florence Welch and Richard Quinn.
“I’m incredibly grateful that people come to my shows and are enthusiastic about the songs,” says Freya. “I feel really humbled when people say that my music helped them in some way. I’ve made an album that I’m really proud of, but I’m determined to keep working hard. I’m certainly not going to rest on my laurels.”
Previous singles ‘Lost Without You’, ‘You Mean The World To Me’, ‘Blackout’ and new single ‘Castles’ feature on the album, but there’s a wealth of other striking material to investigate. Her take on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ classic ‘Maps’ finds the beauty and tenderness in the raw power of the original. Elsewhere, the fully realised new recordings of tracks such as ‘Poison’ and ‘Elephant’ take on a new life, having previously featured on her early limited edition live albums. Brand new material shines through too, notably on a live-favourite ‘Holy Water’ and ‘Still Have You’.
Aside from ‘Maps’, Freya wrote all of the eleven songs that feature on the album which underpins her world class credentials as a songwriter. In an era in which hits are inevitably written by committee, ‘Lost Without You’ saw Freya become the first female artist to have an entirely self-written Top 10 hit since Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ returned to the charts in 2012.
Freya also announced this week that she would be playing the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury on Saturday 29th June. Freya is playing all the major summer festivals including Isle of Wight, Latitude, Wilderness, BBC Summer Social and the Electric Picnic in Ireland.
For more information contact jak.miller@lucidonline.co.uk