(Make Me A) TRISTE© Mixtape Episode 166: Joanna Gemma Auguri

Joanna Gemma Auguri (©Janosch Faber)

Joanna Gemma Auguri was born in Poland and moved to Paris when she was five years old and Poland was under martial law. Her family had decided to escape and their journey ended in the German town of Göttingen. At the age of sixteen she left home and moved to Hannover and Hamburg. and then to Berlin where she attended acting school. Instead of becoming an actress though, she lost her heart to music and started writing songs. In 2008 Joanna Gemma Auguri was invited to play a strange event in London. It was called “The Saddest Music in the World”. The event was a contest. A large number of artists played one song each. After the end the performances the audience had to vote, which of the songs was the saddest. Joanna liked the concept so much, that she took the event to Berlin, where she promoted it on a regular basis in the “Rote Salon” a beautiful venue in Berlins infamous theatre “Volksbühne”. Besides, she played in bands, toured al lot and worked as program director for the legendary “Bar 25” a buzzing techno hangout and creative universe for the Berlin scene. With the start of the pandemic Joanna decided, that it was time to focus on her own music. With an accordion, a zither and her unique voice she recorded 11, her first album. She self-produced everything and started her own label “Lavender Music”. The album came out in 2021. Her second album HIRAETH was released on June 28th, 2024 on Duchess Box Records from Berlin. The Welsh word describes a blend of homesickness, nostalgia and longing. One of the songs of the album features British actress and musician Keely Forsyth.

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Brigritte Calls Me Baby – The Future is Our Way Out

Bisogna ammetterlo. Non avevamo saputo tenere molto a freno il nostro entusiasmo al primo apparire sulla scena degli americani Brigitte Calls Me Baby, accolti su queste pagine con mano generosa, prodiga di carezze. Del resto è sempre bello, soprattutto di questi tempi uggiosi e imperdonabilmente allentati, reimparare a perdere la testa per una giovane band senza passato, libera dalle catene di anniversari o ricorrenze da celebrare, annunciata da nient’altro che il rimbombo sublime del suo improvviso esplodere e venire al mondo.

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(Make Me A) TRISTE© Mixtape Episode 165: Brigitte Calls Me Baby

Brigitte Calls Me Baby

Brigitte Calls Me Baby is a Chicago-based five-piece emerged in early 2023. They soon scored a breakout hit with Impressively Average that shot to the Top 10 at Triple A radio. On their debut LP The Future Is Our Way Out, which will be out tomorrow on ATO- Records, Brigitte Calls Me Baby share a body of work that spans genres and eras, merging the lavish romanticism of mid-century pop with the frenetic energy and spiky intensity of early-millennium indie-rock. Upon moving to Chicago in 2016, Leavins immersed himself in the local scene and soon linked up with the musicians who would join him in co-founding Brigitte Calls Me Baby. As the band built up their catalog, Leavins was tapped to take part in recreating a series of Elvis Presley songs for Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic Elvis, a turn of events that found him crossing paths with nine-time Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton). Partly recorded live at the legendary RCA Studio A in Nashville with Cobb, the debut album also features a selection of songs self-produced by Wes Leavins and his bandmates: guitarists Jack Fluegel and Trevor Lynch, bassist Devin Wessels, and drummer Jeremy Benshish. The album arrives as a potent evolution of Brigitte Calls Me Baby’s debut EP This House Is Made Of Corners—a fall 2023 release that earned acclaim from the likes of NPR and NME.

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Tears Run Rings – Helios Helada (Single and Video premiere)

Tears Run Rings is comprised of Matthew Bice (vocals, guitar), Laura Watling (vocals, bass), Ed Mazzucco (guitar), and Dwayne Palasek (drums). Over the past 15 years, the band has released three albums: Always, Sometimes, Seldom, Never (Clairecords, 2008), Distance (Clairecords, 2010) and In Surges (Deep Space Recordings, 2016) and four EPs. Now they are back with album four, Everything In The End,which will be out September 6th, 2024 on Shelflife Records. In 2018, after their first live show in 10 years, the band was renewed with musical inspiration and ready for a new chapter. Everything in the End was written over the course of the next several years. While TRR did get together on several occasions for in-person songwriting sessions, the album was largely a long-distance effort, recorded in both Portland and San Francisco home studios. The idea of having a double LP drove the concept of four sides to the album, each with a distinct tone and feel. After Lost Touch, the first single from the new albu, today we have the opportunity and the honour to share with you the exclusive premiere of Helios Helada, which will be out next Friday August 2nd.

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(Make Me A) TRISTE© Mixtape Episode 164: Sad Eyed Beatniks

Sad Eyed Beatniks

What he says: “Hello, my name is Kevin and I record as Sad Eyed Beatniks, Present Electric, and Tam Lin. I also run the label Paisley Shirt Records that has put out releases from artists like Flowertown, Hits, Tony Jay, Cindy, April Magazine, Galore, Whitney’s Playland, Mister Baby, Nights Templar, Plastic Candles, R.E. Seraphin, Portabella and more. I’ve been making music under the name Sad Eyed Beatniks since 2014; when the original intent was to make simple 4-track cassette recordings with vocals, guitars, bass, and drum machine and post to Soundcloud with screenshots of various musicians. In late 2019, I stopped recording line-in and learned to play the drums; the releases after tend to have a bigger sound. Sad Eyed Beatniks performed as a live band for the first time in 2021, with Karina Gill (Cindy, Flowertown) on guitar, Mike Ramos (Tony Jay, Flowertown) on drums, and Kati Mashikian (April Magazine, Mister Baby) on bass. While the last Sad Eyed Beatniks album, Claudia’s Ethereal Weaver focused on the themes of change and rebirth, the new album, Ten Brocades, looks at a series of vignettes from the eyes of different characters. Mike Ramos plays drums/keys and Karina Gill plays guitar/keys on a number of tracks, while Karina painted the wonderful cover of a Peking Opera singer”.

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