ARIEL POSEN ANNOUNCES DOWNTOWN EP, SHARES NEW TRACK

WATCH / SHARE “ALWAYS SAW COMING” HERE

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DOWNTOWN EP SET FOR RELEASE JULY 29, 2022

PRE-SAVE DOWNTOWN EP HERE

“One of my favourite guitarists has a new album out. Great songs with great changes and great playing” John Mayer

"He cannot be stopped. ...showing off not only his guitar playing but his songwriting" - Talia Schlanger (On CBC q)

“smooth, soulful... The expertly self-produced sound is a nice mixture of slide guitar, bass, and that popping percussion, with Ariel’s creamy vocals on top.” - Great Dark Wonder

Photo Credit : Nate Forest // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Many artists, when they write for albums, end up with a batch of songs much larger than what eventually makes its way onto a record. In the case of Ariel Posen’s new EP, Downtown, the celebrated songwriter and guitar player says he’d “been sitting on so much music between my last record Headway and future projects that I felt that I had a collection of five songs that I absolutely love, but didn't quite hear them on albums outside of one that could just keep them together in one.”

Today, Posen is sharing one of those tracks, “Always Saw Coming”, “a fictional story about someone that is trying to find themselves through the journey that is life,” says Posen. “In the end, by trying to make the most of life by trying every journey that was not set out for them, they end up falling back in to what was originally set out for them. The chorus lyrics kind of say it all:

isn’t it just expected
the things you can never predict 
isn’t it unexpected
what you always saw comin’

This is song written alongside my friend, Leith Ross and I'm quite excited about the musical departure and new territory that was explored on it! Though it still sounds like me!”

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“Always Saw Coming” Single Art // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

MORE ABOUT THE DOWNTOWN EP

Musically, Downtown explores some new territories which Posen felt “like there were some extremely exciting musical things happening. Therefore, it felt right to make the Downtown EP. I love each of these songs, and they really have a cohesiveness.”

The album was recorded in the Summer and Fall of 2021 in Montreal, Winnipeg, and Norwich, UK, and then mixed in Los Angeles. “Although we were all afar when we recorded this project, I feel like we could not have been more in tune with each other and understood the assignment in serving these songs to bring a musical and lyrical theme to fruition,” says Posen.

WATCH / SHARE “DOWNTOWN” LYRIC VIDEO TODAY HERE

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MORE ABOUT ARIEL POSEN

Ariel Posen's music occupies the space between genres. It's a rootsy sound that nods to his influences — heartland rock & roll, electrified Americana, blue-eyed soul, R&B, Beatles-inspired pop — while still moving forward, pushing Posen into territory that's uniquely his own.

Posen began recording his last album, Headway, in December 2019, one week after wrapping up an international tour in support of his acclaimed debut, How Long. He'd been on the road for a year and a half, playing shows across the U.K., Europe, America, and his native Canada. Along the way, Posen had received standing ovations not only from his audiences, but also from outlets like Rolling Stone, who dubbed him "a modern-day guitar hero," Music Radar listing him as a fan voted top 10 rock guitarist of the year and the Western Canadian Music Awards who nominated him for Breakout Artist of the Year." 

Coming back home to Winnipeg, he began sifting through the new songs he'd written between tour dates. Many of them had already been tested on the road, their arrangements whittled into shape by a group of road warriors at the top of their game. Practically all of them were about the process of evolution — of making progress in life, love, and all points in between. Those themes were reflected in the music itself, which presented a crisper, clearer picture of Posen as a songwriter.

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DOWNTOWN EP TRACKLIST
01 Be Enough
02 Say It Again
03 Always Saw Coming
04 Downtown
05 Betters On The Way

TOUR DATES

May 20 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
July 3 - Montreal, QC - MTELUS
Sep 27 - Glasgow, UK - Broadcast
Sep 28 - Ashington, UK - White House Unique Social Club
Sep 29 - Derby, UK - Flower Pot
Sep 30 - London, UK - O2 Academy Islington
Oct 1 - Birmingham, UK - O2 Institute
Oct 3 - Bristol, UK - Thekla
Oct 4 - Guildford, UK - Boileroom
Oct 5 - Nijmegen, NL - Doornroosje
Oct 6 - Eindhoven, NL - Effenaar
Oct 7 - Rotterdam, NL - Rotown Rotterdam
Oct 8 - Utrecht, NL - Tivoli Vredenburg
Oct 9 - Da Groningen, NL - De Oosterpoort
Oct 11 - Köln, DE - Jaki
Oct 12 - Copenhagen, DK - Amager Bio
Oct 13 - Odense, DK - Dexter
Oct 14 - Hamburg, DE - NoCHTWACHE
Oct 15 - Berline, DE - Privatclub

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LOWELL REVEALS NEW SINGLE, “GUESS I’M GOING TO HELL”

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Lowell returns with the new single "Guess I'm Going To Hell", a modern pop take on a 60s doo-wop ballad with spacey synths and minimalist guitars accompanying Lowell's raw lyrics about accepting the mistakes you've made because they helped you become a stronger person. "I wrote about coming to terms with my demons and realizing that we’re all human," says Lowell, "we make mistakes and at some point you might as well just party on."

LISTEN / SHARE / BUY / STREAM “GUESS I’M GOING TO HELL” HERE

“Guess I’m Going To Hell” Single Art // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

MORE ABOUT LOWELL
After dropping out of college and escaping a manipulative music manager, Lowell was tapped by producer Martin Terefe to create her debut EP featuring collaborations with members of Coldplay, A-Ha and Mew. The EP caught the attention of indie label Arts & Crafts, who released her 2014 debut which prominently addressed her feminist politics.

LISTEN / SHARE “CAROLINE” HERE

Continuing her multidisciplinary artistic trajectory, Lowell co-wrote Bloodthirsty, a 2020 Canadian horror feature film about a young vegan indie singer, who finds herself turning into a werewolf under the pressure of recording her anticipated second album. The film features several new songs, including “Lemonade” and “Bloodthirsty” which received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Song. The film was accepted into Frontieres at Cannes and premiered at both Fantastic Fest in Austin TX (the US’s biggest genre fest) and Fantasia in Montreal (only 10 films accepted world wide). 

LISTEN / SHARE “LEMONADE” HERE

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PIP SKID SHARES “COP CHOPPER” FT. GULLY + SKRATCH BASTID

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A REALLY NICE DAY, THE NEW LP FROM PIP SKID, OUT JUNE 17 VIA PEANUTS AND CORN

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The second single from Pip Skid’s forthcoming album A Really Nice Day, due out June 17 via Peanuts & Corn Records, is a nod to Ice’s Cube’s “Ghetto Bird”. Pip’s "Cop Chopper" is a frustrated, sleepless, and thoughtful look at Winnipeg’s extremely expensive military style helicopter that relentlessly patrols our skies late into the night, every night, pointlessly keeping poor and working class people awake. A catchy jam that questions glutenous police budgets and some of the fallout of what happens to a city that spends 30% of its annual budget on the police force. 

"Cop Chopper" features lyrics by Gully of The Lytics, cuts by Skratch Bastid and production by bigmcenroe.

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MORE ABOUT PIP SKID

A Really Nice Day marks Pip’s first album on Peanuts & Corn since 2004’s Funny Farm. Pip and bigmcenroe were unfortunately unable to record in the same room – so while bigmcenroe produced the entire project, Pip was able to self record in his basement. The result is a must listen for fans of progressive hip-hop.

After growing apart in the late 2000s, Pip and bigmcenroe had remained good friends and kept in touch. When real life slowed down for both due to the pandemic, they began to talk about working together again. bigmcenroe proposed maybe a new Fermented Reptile album, however Pip had other ideas. After hearing a few new beats from bigmcenroe, Pip sent back some demos that went in a completely different direction – a gravelly voiced singing with some great hooks and funny ideas. Despite revisiting many of the songwriting themes that put him on the map in the first place – the cycle of poverty, police brutality, depression, labour exploitation – he manages to sharpen those themes for 2022 with a new tone, and lyrics that are relevant to today.

LISTEN / SHARE “BRAIN FOG” HERE

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Pip Skid’s brilliant, often hilarious commentary on political and social issues has earned him critical acclaim and pockets of devoted fans all over the world. He has been writing and performing for nearly thirty years, first as a founding member of the seminal Brandon-based group, Farm Fresh and soon after as a solo artist and collaborator on countless critically recognized independent hip hop projects across North America and Europe. 

Pip was at the forefront of a burgeoning hip hop scene in central Canada in the early 1990′s. He is a cornerstone of the success of indie label Peanuts & Corn Records and has featured on many of their 50+ releases. Beyond Farm Fresh, he has also recorded as a member of hip-hop groups Fermented Reptile, Hip Hop Wieners, the Break Bread Crew and with Skratch Bastid. Pip is also a co-founder of the Belgium based Marathon Of Dope label, working and touring with artists from all over the world. 

Throughout Pip’s career he has also spent a massive amount of time working with and mentoring young people interested in pursuing music and art. Developing and coordinating a multitude of after school programming, workshops, events and skill building platforms focused around independent music and art programming. 

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A REALLY NICE DAY TRACKLIST
01 A Really Nice Day
02 What Are You Working On?
03 You’re Not The Boss Of Me ft. Leonard Sumner
04 Cop Chopper ft. Gully & Skratch Bastid
05 Cheap Labour ft. DJ Hunnicutt
06 Booze, Butter And Bullshit ft. DJ Hunnicutt
07 Must Be More
08 Elizabeth
09 So Small ft. Gruf
10 So Many Cops
11 Brain Fog
12 Dance Break
13 Thoughts and Prayers ft. Birdapres
14 Sing-a-long
15 Drugs And Roses

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