Berlin's Jack Tennis is back and knocking it out of the park once more with a quartet of funky and floor-filling tunes. He's already impressed with his work on the likes of Midnight Riot and Too Slow To Disco and now steps out on his owner label Art Groupie. 'Astrud Got It All' kicks off with hefty drums and raw horns as well as some bright strings and a seductive vocal, while 'Hey Gwen' is more carefree, slow, sun kissed and sublime with its lazy horns and mid-tempo grooves. Then comes an edit 'California, Shake It' which is loose-limbed and free-flowing, and closer 'Believe in You' is an upbeat stomper with nice flute leads and old school soul vocal goodness.

TRACK LISTING

Astrud Got It All
Hey Gwen
California, Shake It
Believe In You

"I begin our sixth album by exploring melodies that take me to the boundaries of my voice. I write myself into my highest highs and lowest lows. There is a precariousness in the outer limits of my range that demands vulnerability. As our demos take shape, I realize this will be our first album without any belting, the first time I can’t force my way through the notes," recalls Tennis' Alania Moore. "In the studio, Patrick compresses the shit out of my mic and I sing with the gentleness of breathing. In that softness, lyrics take shape. We want to write a big album—something suited for radio, but our songs don’t follow conventional pop structures. Instead of choruses with universal themes, I write with a specificity that is new to me, narrowing in on the smallest details of our lives. The more we try to broaden our scope, the more we turn inward."

"We name the album Pollen. It is about small things with big consequences: a particle, a moment, a choice. It is me in a fragile state; sometimes inhabited freely, sometimes reacted against. It is striving to remain in a moment without slipping into dread. It is about the way I can be undone by a very small thing." Tennis is Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley. Pollen is their sixth album. The two met in the philosophy department at the University of Colorado in 2008 after dropping out of their respective music programs. In the years after graduating, they got involved in Denver’s DIY music scene. Through house shows, they were connected with Underwater Peoples and Firetalk. The band went blog-viral nearly overnight, landing them a record deal with Fat Possum and then Communion Records, but with shifting labels and new interests, Tennis chose an alternate path for their band and career. In 2016, Moore and Riley formed the label Mutually Detrimental and began self-releasing. Their newfound freedom allowed them to return to their sailboat to write their next full-length, this time in the Sea of Cortez. Yours Conditionally, released in 2017, became their most commercially successful album–charting at #4 on Billboard’s Independent list and in the top 100 highest selling vinyl releases that year.

They played Coachella and opened for artists like The National, Father John Misty and The Shins–proving their DIY roots as a cornerstone to their sound and narrative. Their follow up Swimmer (2020), was recorded in their home studio with Moore and Riley producing and engineering. The pair brought their long-time touring member Steve Voss in for the second time to drum on record. The singles, Need Your Love and Runner, were Tennis’ most successful releases to date.

TRACK LISTING

1. Forbidden Doors
2. Glorietta
3. Let's Make A Mistake Tonight
4. One Night With The Vale
5. Pollen Song
6. Hotel Valet
7. Paper
8. Gibralter
9. Never Been Wrong
10. Pillow For A Cloud

Produced by Jack Shirley, whose CV includes his excellent work with Deafheaven, the album is awash with distorted guitars, distant vocals and despairingly beautiful melodies. “ The Line Of Best Fit.

“Lovesick blends the organized chaos of post-punk with subterranean indie vocals and choruses, and, with such an effective melange of pulses, rhythms, guitars, and vocals, they remain oddly reminiscent of Weekend’s Jinx, Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, and Interpol’s Turn On the Bright Lights.” New Noise.

“In 2019 the LA trio slot perfectly into an environment where everyone from Nothing to MØL have done their shoegaze homework. Anyway, closer inspection reveals that Lovesick isn’t just about nu-gaze moves, with emo-slacker sentiment and punkily propulsive drums both helping to corral the woozy sounds into genuinely memorable tunes. “ KKKK Kerrang!

With five years passing since Tennis System‘s previous full-length, ‘Technicolor Blind’, numerous set backs have occurred, and though vocalist/guitarist Matty Taylor has been battling to realise his vision, eventually ‘Lovesick’ has come to light.

Settled as a trio, completed by bassist Sam Glassberg and drummer Garren Orr, the frustrations and determination of the group has been captured on tape for the group’s third release.

Aiming for grandeur from the start, ‘Shelf Life’ delivers a thick wall of sound with jarring breaks and dominating drum beats. Playing the quiet and loud dynamic that fuels the group’s shoe gaze style, the track is a towering display of swirling melodies and pummelling distortion. Whilst it may not ease itself into the record at first, it displays a charm that works its way in.

Becoming more accessible with ‘Cut’, the group work with punk influences as snarling vocals and layers of fuzz battle against breakneck drumming. Relying on simple hooks, the song gives itself room to allow Glassberg‘s slinking bass lines to ebb and flow around the track.

Working with the Sonic Youth blueprint, the record is steeped in thick bursts of discord and glimmering melody. This isn’t to say that the tracks don’t hold their own, as ‘Third Time’ displays a powerful stomp and groove underneath Taylor‘s snappy delivery.

L.A based Tennis System began as a four-piece band in the Washington, D.C. area around 2008. The group was originally made up of guitarist/songwriter Matty Taylor, bassist Clinton Cole, second guitarist Brad Fullilove, and drummer Misha Bullock. The group opened for touring bands such as Ty Segal and Pains of Being Pure at Heart and recorded 2010's The Future of Our History before Fullilove and Cole moved on later that year.

They played around Los Angeles and continued working on new material, reaching a new level in 2018 when they began working with Graveface Records, the label run by Black Moth Super Rainbow's Ryan Graveface. The label released Tennis System's 2018 EP P A I N and the next year followed up with Lovesick, the third and heaviest album from the band yet. 

From Chester and Ellesmere Port, their name inspired by a sign for the tennis club in Little Sutton, Hooton Tennis Club grew up together and played in a number of bands with improbable names. While studying at various colleges they speedily recorded some songs to upload with no intention of ever being an actual ‘band’ but early demos soon caught the ears of Heavenly Recordings and by September 2014 the band had signed to the label.

Following a UK tour with label-mate H. Hawkline the band entered the studio to start recording their debut album in the early spring of 2015. Inspired by the plug-in-and-play quasi-improvisational approach of Deerhunter and Ariel Pink, the album is the sound of the summer of adolescence slipping into the autumn of adulthood.

Here the wit of Kurt Vonnegut and twisted storytelling of Wes Anderson collide to tell tales of banal jobs, relationships, memorable parties and passing characters. Musically melodic, fragile, wonky, witty, poetic and pop (definitely, defiantly pop) the skewed melodies and oddball narratives combine in perfect symbiotic musical harmony, each song a small burst of sunshine to warm the coldest of hearts. Think Teenage Fanclub, Guided By Voices, Randy Newman, Big Star, Silver Jews – but birthed in northern English towns in the 21st century.

TRACK LISTING

1. Up In The Air
2. I’m Not Going Roses Again
3. P.O.W.E.R.F.U.L. P.I.E.R.R.E.
4. Something Much Quicker Than Anyone But Jennifer Could Ever Imagine
5. Jasper
6. Always Coming Back 2 You
7. Barlow Terrace
8. Spokes
9. Kathleen Sat On The Arm Of Her Favourite Chair
10. Standing Knees
11. …And Then Camilla Drew Fourteen Dots On Her Knees
12. Fall In Luv

Enigmatic 16-year old star in the making ‘Lorde’ is Ella Yelich O’Connor from New Zealand.

Inspired by the likes of Burial, James Blake and David Lynch films – she’s inventing her own sound, writing music filled with inventive lyricism. Currently recording her album for September release.

TRACK LISTING

1. Tennis Court
2. Swingin Party
3. Biting Down
4. Bravado

ATP Recordings are pleased to announce the release of the second single (double A-side) from Tennis' fantastically received second album 'Young & Old'. The release will be on 7" vinyl picture disc limited to 500 copies.

The 7" will be backed with a new version of My Better Self exclusively recorded for the single, and the band's recently recorded cover of Tell Her No (originally by The Zombies).

Their widely praised debut Cape Dory was released earlier this year.

For this album guitarist Patrick Riley, vocalist Aliana Moore and drummer James Barone headed to Nashville to work with The Black Keys' Patrick Carney.

After the success of their first album and touring for the better part of a year that included shows as far away as Moscow, Riley and Moore returned home and realized what was initially a bedroom-recording project had quickly evolved into a band. The challenge of a second record was upon them, but songwriting came quickly and in three months the duo had most of the material for their new album. The goal this time was to mature and vary their sound. Riley describes the new direction as "Stevie Nicks going through a Motown phase."

By the time they hooked up with Carney, they had fleshed out most of the songs that would comprise Young and Old. With their friend and mentor at the producer helm, the recording progressed naturally and within 3 weeks the album was done. While their debut was written with a third touring member in mind, the new album is written and recorded with the addition of a fourth. Over the last few months, Tennis has also released a series of covers as free downloads including "Is It True" by Brenda Lee and their take of "Tell Her No" by The Zombies.