KAÏA KATER SHARES NEW SINGLE FROM UPCOMING LP, STRANGE MEDICINE

LISTEN / SHARE “IN MONTREAL” FT. ALLISON RUSSELL
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"'In Montreal' marks her first collaboration with longtime friend and fellow folk artist Allison Russell, and on it, the two women are undoubtedly in their element. They sing about tornadoes and daisies bursting through concrete as they trace their journeys of self-discovery." -CBC MUSIC

KAÏA KATER’S NEW ALBUM, STRANGE MEDICINE, OUT MAY 17

PRE-SAVE STRANGE MEDICINE HERE

NEW CANADIAN DATES ADDED TO NORTH AMERICAN TOUR BEGIN MAY 21 

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Today, Grenadian-Canadian musician Kaïa Kater is sharing another new single from her upcoming album, Strange Medicine, due out May 17. “Simply, this is a reflection on the gravitational pull of my hometown, Montreal” says Kater of the new single, “In Montreal” which features Allison Russell. “I’ve left and returned so many times that it now feels like ghosts of my former selves haunt the city. During the deep winter of 2021 with its short days and long nights, I wanted to write an upbeat song about a poet feeling lost and aimless, tectonic plates stacked in their sink—a nod to Leonard Cohen, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and all the other incredible songwriters of Montreal.”

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MORE ABOUT STRANGE MEDICINE
Produced by Kater and Joe Grass (Elisapie, The Barr Brothers), Strange Medicine is Kater’s first new album in six years (following 2018’s Grenades) and her most personal record to date. Created during a period of deep self-reflection and reinvention, the new music finds Kater expanding her creative scope as she celebrates the power of women and oppressed people throughout history, while also sharing meditations on her own life. In addition to “Fédon”, Strange Medicine also features previously released single, “The Internet”, as well as collaborations with Aoife O’Donovan (“The Witch”) and Allison Russell (“In Montreal”).  

Reflecting on the project, Kater shares, “The through line for me is just stories. It was the story of my dad on Grenades, and on Strange Medicine it’s the story of people in history who might not have had their proper shrift. It’s also my chance to finally write about the times in my life when I didn’t feel like I had a voice, in order to give myself one now.” 

WATCH / SHARE “FÉDON” FEAT. TAJ MAHAL
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LISTEN / SHARE “THE INTERNET” HERE
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Since her debut, Kater has released three full-length albums including 2018’s Grenades, which was nominated for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year at that year’s JUNO Awards and long listed for the Polaris Music Prize. Released to widespread critical attention, NPR Music praised, “vivid, sensory images and poetic language…We’re lucky that Kater’s shared her fully formed vision with us,” while Rolling Stone declared, “plaintive, mesmerizing…[Kater] writes and performs with the skill of a folk-circuit veteran” and No Depression proclaimed, “You want some authenticity in your folk music or bluegrass – I give you Kaïa Kater.” Additionally, Kater has been featured as part of NPR Music’s “Tiny Desk Concert” series and toured extensively across North America, Europe and the U.K. 

WATCH KAÏA KATER’S NPR TINY DESK CONCERT

Based in Canada with a foothold in Brooklyn, Kater’s music is influenced by the sounds of Canada, the Caribbean and Appalachia, reflecting her diverse background. In addition to own her work as a singer and musician, Kater took part in the Slaight Music Residency at the Canadian Film Center and wrote original music for BET’s series, The Porter, for which she won Best Original Song in a Drama Series at the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards. She also wrote music for the new film, My Dead Friend Zoe, which is premiering next month at SXSW.  

PRE-SAVE STRANGE MEDICINE HERE

TOUR DATES
April 9 Savannah, GA Savannah Music Festival
April 18 Atlanta, GA Center Stage+
April 20 Hopewell, VA The Beacon Theatre+
April 21 Warrendale, PA Jergel's Rhythm Grille+
April 23 Columbus, OH Skully's+
April 26 Wilkesboro, NC Merlefest++
May 17 Groton, MA Groton Hill Music Center
May 18 Cambridge, MA Club Passim
May 21 Hamilton, ON Mills Hardware
May 22 Toronto, ON TD Music Hall
May 23 Montreal, QC La Sotterenea
May 24 Kingston, ON The Broom Factory
May 26 Ottawa, ON Red Bird Live
June 1 Brevard, NC NC Guitar Celebration
June 5 Evanston, Il Evanston Space
June 6 Ann Arbor MI The Ark
June 7 Paw Paw, MI The Lucky Wolf
June 12 Brooklyn, NY Union Pool
June 13 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live Upstairs
June 14 Baltimore, MD Creative Alliance At The Patterson
July 11-14 Winnipeg, MB Winnipeg Folk Festival *

+ Support for Molly Tuttle
++Performing with New Dangerfield 
* Performing with New Dangerfield & as Kaïa Kater

MORE DATES TO BE ADDED SOON


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STRANGE MEDICINE TRACKLIST
1. The Witch (feat. Aoife O’Donovan)
2. Maker Taker
3. Mechanics of the Mind
4. In Montreal (feat. Allison Russell)
5. The Internet
6. Fédon (feat. Taj Mahal)
7. Floodlights
8. Often as the Autumn
9. History in Motion
10. Tigers

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MADDIE JAY SHARES NEW SINGLE, “ECKHAUS LATTA”

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Today, producer, artist, and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles, Maddie Jay is sharing her new single, “Eckhaus Latta”. She has been writing and performing since she was a child in the small northern town of Smithers, BC and has thrived in many diverse creative and collaborative settings since then. From studying jazz bass in Boston, to Los Angeles where she built a career as a touring musician with artists such as Remi Wolf, Lorde and Summer Walker, to featuring on Grammy winning artist RAC’s album Boy, Maddie brings her strong personal brand of authenticity and meticulous musicality wherever she goes.  

Her original music has always been a powerful tool of self actualization and expression, and has simmered alongside her travels for years. She truly feels she is at her best when she is sitting in her bedroom studio surrounded by Casio synths, drum machines and guitars, twisting knobs and pouring her heart into her computer.

On the new single, Maddie says, “In the last few years I was touring really heavily and I was being exposed to lots of high fashion and luxury spaces while feeling completely unequipped to be there. There was a lot of anxiety in me around the feeling of belonging - I was subtly molding what I was wearing, my taste in food and music, my headspace, even my demeanor, to allow me to feel comfortable in these spaces. I dated this older guy who I felt held the key to navigating this world. He told me all of his ex girlfriends owned the Eckhaus Latta baby tee and I took that data to heart.”

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“This song emerged as a stream of consciousness, a reflection on my position at the time. Even then, I knew I didn’t want to be trapped in this headspace. The lyrics weave through a tangle of conflicting desires and uncertainties, while also knowing ‘I wanna be anywhere but here.’

I was listening to LCD Soundsystem a lot at the time and saw them in concert in London. I was obsessed with the danceability of the music and also how you could literally hear the hands on the knobs of the synthesizers they were using - it all feels so human. I spent a majority of the time producing this song just experimenting, knob twisting and trying to find a feeling you could move your body to while also trying to stay very organic.”

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HOVVDY RELEASE NEW SINGLE “MAKE YA PROUD”

LISTEN / SHARE “MAKE YA PROUD” HERE
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HOVVDY’S SELF-TITLED, DOUBLE ALBUM OUT APRIL 26 ON ARTS & CRAFTS

PRE-SAVE HOVVDY HERE

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Hovvdy, the Texas duo comprised of Charlie Martin and Will Taylor, release “Make Ya Proud”, the wistful final advanced single from their anticipated self-titled double album, Hovvdy, due April 26th on Arts & Crafts. 

“This is one of a few songs on the record I wrote for my grandpa Pete, my father’s father. He passed away last summer and was in many ways the backbone of that side of my family. I wrote ‘Make Ya Proud’ during that time in Mississippi, between trips to the coast to visit him in the hospital,” Martin explains. “It’s really hard to describe; but the songs are a celebration of him and how he inspired me.”

LISTEN / SHARE “MAKE YA PROUD” HERE
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Hovvdy’s exploratory catalog has earned them status as a quiet favorite of rising stars – seen last year as Zach Bryan expressed admiration for Hovvdy’s album True Love, indie supergroup boygenius listed it as an inspiration for their record, and beabadoobee named Hovvdy as one of her favorite artists.

Hovvdy’s fifth album is a statement piece that finds the band at the height of their powers, broadening the scope of their songwriting and adding new wrinkles to their sound, creating something wholly unique and exhilarating. The collection centers Hovvdy’s creative maturation in a true co-production between the band, Andrew Sarlo (Bon Iver, Big Thief), and Bennett Littlejohn (bassist, multi-instrumentalist).

LISTEN / SHARE “MEANT” HERE
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MORE ABOUT HOVVDY:
Hovvdy fits with the comfortable confidence of faded blue jeans. The collection taps familial bonds, tested relationships, and what Will calls “lifelong imprints,” viewed at hindsight’s distance. 

“It’s a full circle, because lots of my songs, in adulthood, deal with looking back and seeing your parents as just individuals struggling through life – and trying to have more empathy or understanding. And now Will is diving in from the opposite side as a new parent, grappling with all that,” says Charlie. 

“On this album, we tried to really step back and look at: How can we convey our songwriting in a new way?” says Will. “It challenged the songs we brought, and it challenged me to be more vulnerable.”

“We’re trying to stretch out and create a tapestry of everything we can do,” says Charlie. 

For the expansive double album, the duo went all in with frequent collaborators Andrew Sarlo and Bennett Littlejohn. All four were present for each session in hideaways across the U.S. An unprecedented focus on live takes further peeled the band’s early slowcore layers to show dazzling dynamic range, from the country feel of “Portrait” to the bombastic drums of “Meant.” “We really wanted to encapsulate what it felt like to be in the room when we're playing,” says Will. 

An initial meetup at a log cabin in Black Mountain, North Carolina, revamped Hovvdy’s past lo-fi techniques to playfully catch up with their current craft. Will was surrounded with iPhones and field recorders to capture the southern spin of “Portrait.” Another AirDrop experiment, the vocals of “Angel” find Charlie walking along a babbling creek. A car alarm goes off, just in key, balancing atmospheric clatter and ASMR-level closeness. These intimate moments shift seamlessly into the huge, celebratory statements of character-driven singles like “Jean” and “Forever,” just buzzing in the storytellers’ energy. 

WATCH / SHARE “JEAN” HERE
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Deepening the album’s zoom-in on the years since leaving their home state, further sessions landed at family homes near Dallas. With Will now based in Nashville, and Charlie in St. Louis, Texas remains a meeting point. The felted keys of an upright piano borrowed from Charlie’s mom, a piano teacher herself, anchor throughout. Bennett’s Wurlitzer 200A joins the Auto-Tune and electronic flourishes stamped on past Hovvdy co-productions with Sarlo, including True Love (2021) and billboard for my feelings (2022). Skittering programmed drums keep pace on bright spots like “Bubba” and “Every Exchange,” stringing the album’s hell-bent dash towards deeper interpersonal understanding, a timeless pursuit. 

Tempos wander as the duo explores time – earned, lost, and given to others. While the band’s prior LP, True Love, splashed in new marriages and parenthood, the self-titled album looks at long-term ties twisted and strengthened, sometimes amidst grief and addiction. Charlie narrates sibling support in “Bubba,” where a brother promises, “I’ll get a goddamn grip, hold onto it for a while. The record also recounts a visit to Mississippi, where Charlie stayed with family during the loss of his grandfather. “‘Make Ya Proud,’ I wrote while he was in the hospital, and ‘Song for Pete,’ I wrote that the day he passed,” says Charlie. 

WATCH / SHARE “FOREVER” HERE
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A breath, three evenings, or six days’ unemployment – so many spans softly cut the album like pencil marks. Father to a three-year-old, Will holds a special interest in bottling time. He strives to savor moments over the giddy breakbeat of “Every Exchange,” while twangy closer “A Little” measures out regrets over love gone ignored. “That's what makes being a parent so difficult – it immediately exposes all the things you haven't dialed in about yourself,” says Will. “Looking at the record, it’s interesting that we both have these unique perspectives on the challenges that come with family.”

Never staying still too long, Hovvdy’s milestone self-titled album easily folds introspection into their big, fearless choruses so cherished by live audiences. Always guided with a gentle hand, the listener lands right there in the room, to witness the spontaneous synchronicity of Charlie and Will’s shared songcraft. Seeing the duo trade off on vocals for the first time since their 2017 debut Taster, single “Bad News” revels in the years of growth. In the Texas-accented thrum, harnessing Hovvdy’s quintessential chug, Will sings: “You know time is all I have to give up.”

TOUR DATES:
5/21/2024 - Glasgow, UK @ King Tut's
5/22/2024 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
5/23/2024 - Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute
5/24/2024 - London, UK @ Lafayette
5/25/2024 - Bristol, UK @ Dot to Dot Festival
5/26/2024 - Nottingham, UK @ Dot to Dot Festival
5/28/2024 - Brighton, UK @ Green Door Store
5/29/2024 - Paris, France @ Pop Up du Label
5/30/2024 - Utrecht, Netherlands @ Ekko
5/31/2024 - Hamburg, Germany @ Nochtwache
6/01/2024 - Berlin, Germany @ Prachtwerk


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HOVVDY TRACKLIST
1. Intro
2. Bubba
3. Jean
4. Big Blue
5. Shell
6. Forever Piano
7. Forever
8. Heartstring
9. Clean
10. Make Ya Proud
11. Til I Let You Know
12. Meant
13. Song For Pete
14. Every Exchange
15. Give It Up
16. Portrait
17. Angel
18. Bad News
19. A Little

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