For fans and musicians of Folk, Americana, Country, Blues, Singer-Songwriter, Rock, Roots & Acoustic and music from the Laurel Canyon late 60’s/early 70’s era.
LCM is a new co-operative music community, promoter, event organiser and on-line magazine to promote & support the music that we love. All the latest news, reviews and interviews
LCM is your indispensable insider guide to the wonderful world of independent music and beyond
We aim to help music fans connect and discover great new music and help indie musicians promote their music and help them build relationships with supporters and industry professionals.
Please join us now and explore our website.
We also have some special and exclusive items in our LCM store that you might like.
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Want Me Back’ - Lindsay Ell
The always wonderful Lindsay Ell releases her latest single ‘Want Me Back’ . It’s the first track from her forthcoming album ‘Heart Theory’ set for release on August 14th.
You can pre-order your copy below or directly from Lindsay’s website
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Light’ - Michael Kiwanuka
We love the rich layered and retro feel of Michael's new single ‘Light’. It’s the last track on his outstanding latest album 'Kiwanuka' released in November last year. The video is by Jeremy Ngatho Cole. Enjoy!
Michael’s next London gig is at the Alexandra Palace on November 27th.
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘You’ - U.M.A.N.
We are big fans of Irish singer-songwriter Brian Flanagan here at LCM HQ aka U.M.A.N.. ‘You’ is his wonderful latest single. UMAN comments ‘You is about finding your place in the world. It's a love song but that love can be not only for someone close to you but for the earth itself and the possibilities that lay ahead for you. I was listening to an audiobook from Earl Nightingale called The Strangest Secret in the World at the time which i would highly recommend to anyone looking to improve themselves or their situation‘.
UMAN is is an abbreviation for U Must Act Now
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Another Love’ - Tom Odell
We go back to 2012 for one of our favourite Tom Odell tracks from his debut EP ‘Songs from Another Love’. It was also included on his 2013 debut album .‘Long Way Down.
The song peaked at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart and become Tom’s first top 10 hit. The song also charted in Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands.
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Wicked Game’ - Daisy Gray
Daisy Gray formerly known as Grace Vardell, is a fast-rising 19 year old singer/songwriter from California. We love this slowed down and stripped version of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’’ taken from his 1989 ‘Heart Shaped World’ album.
While some artists mine anecdotes from their personal lives for their music, singer-songwriter Daisy Gray quite literally channels her life experiences through her melodies, lyrics, and vocals, which make her sound uniquely soulful and undeniably Gray. The 18-year-old, who rose to viral acclaim in her mid-teens by releasing cover songs to YouTube under the name Grace Vardell, has spent the past few years harnessing the emotional experiences through which she’s been and processed them through music, working with some of the industry’s most in-demand personnel to set her perspectives to song.
Please also check out Daisy’s latest wonderful single ‘Don’t Cry;
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Better Get It Right The First Time’ - Rhiannon Giddens
Our LCM featured track today is very powerful and timely. It’s taken from Rhiannon’s 2017 ‘Freedom Highway’ album
For every triumph, every leap, there are 10 Philando Castiles to remind us how long the highway to true freedom really is. Rhiannon tackles this on “Better Get It Right the First Time,” a tale of police brutality laced with punishing harmonies, urgent horns, and a reflective and powerful rap. “Better Get It Right the First Time” is a loaded phrase, a word of warning to a Black man who has no room for error when it comes to the police, a mournful recognition of how there are no second chances once bullets fly, and a shameful call to humanity which has had so many damn chances to just get it right. But Rhiannon didn’t call this album Freedom Highway, after the legendary Staple Singers’ civil rights anthem of the same name, because she’s ready to give up hope. We evolve, highways go on, and, eventually, that first time will finally be our last.
Photo credit: David McClister
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Redwood Tree’ - Cam
“Redwood Tree” was co-written by Cam, Tyler Johnson (Harry Styles, Sam Smith) and Anders Mouridsen, and produced by Tyler Johnson. The song was largely inspired by the majestic Redwood Tree in the backyard of Cam’s childhood home. Redwoods can grow for thousands of years and are a symbol for community and communication. They are believed to tap into psychic abilities connected with past lives and other dimensions of reality, which ties into our defining human relationship with time.
“I grew up with a redwood tree in my backyard as my climbing tree. Spent so many afternoons up there as a kid looking out and dreaming about the future,” says Cam. “It feels like I’ve lived 5 lifetimes since then - I’ve done more than I can even remember, but still part of me wishes I could’ve stayed put, to have that time at home. But you can’t be in two places once and you couldn’t have known then what you know now. It’s a song about time, and whatever way you spend it still feels like just a blink to a redwood tree.”
With it’s lessons in learning and gratitude, this song is a wonderful early taster of Cam’s second album.
Photo credit: Chelsea Kornse
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Touch’ - Ghostly Kisses
We have another perfect Sunday song for you from Quebec based singer-songwriter Margaux Sauvé aka Ghostly Kisses. It’s beautiful, delicate and personal indie dream pop. The track is taken from Margaux’s 5-track EP ‘The City Holds My Heart’ released in May last year.
Watch out for Margaux’s brand new EP ‘Never Let Me Go'‘ set for release on June 5th
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Storm Boy’ - Xavier Rudd
There are touches of Paul Simon in Xavier’s latest animated video and title track from his 2018 album ‘Storm Boy’.
‘Hand in hand with the one you love feelin’ blessed by the magic of the moon above’
Xavier Rudd is one of Australia's most iconic voices. A multi-instrumentalist, surfer & activist, Xavier's ability to connect with people is astounding.
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Brother'‘ - Shawn James
We love this reflective, powerful and personal new acoustic track from US singer-songwriter Shawn James. It has a real Hozier vibe. The video was filmed by Michelle Mavrides & edited by Luke White The song was written by Shawn James and produced by Jimmy Messer Records at Parts + Labor Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Shawn James’ voice is a force of nature, a musical preacher to a flock that accepts everyone, a combination of the gospel choirs he sang with as a youngster and his training in classical music and opera. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, James’ timeless sound is steeped in blues legends like Robert Johnson and Son House, forever at the crossroads of damnation and redemption, the two inextricably woven into the fabric of his songs.
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘I Don’t Wanna Lose My Love’ - Echosmith
We head to LA today to meet Sydney, Noah and Graham Sierota of sibling multi-platinum Southern California trio Echosmith. We love the atmospheric ‘I Don’t Wanna Lose My Love’ taken from their latest album ‘Lonely Generation’ which was self-released back in January.
A family comes of age together as does a band, weathering life’s trials and triumphs as a unit. Comprised of three siblings, multiplatinum Southern California trio Echosmith —Sydney Sierota [lead vocals], Noah Sierota [vocals, bass], and Graham Sierota [drums]—transpose their collective growth into vibrant, vulnerable, and vital alternative pop anthems upheld by lush guitars and analog synths. Their personal songcraft blossoms to its fullest potential on the group’s 2019 second full-length and first independent release.
“We are a band, but we’re family first, which is a special and rare gift,” comments Noah. “We get to learn and evolve together. The album is about trying to care for each other, grow, and experience joy and heartache in the internet age. It’s like a diary. You’re meant to hear every instrument being played. We pushed ourselves to try new things and reflect our experiences in a fresh way. From the beginning, our music has been a discovery and continued coming-of-age story. The new record is a completion of that. We’re showing a piece of who we are that we’ve never shown before.”
“We want to give people hope through our music,” adds Noah. “It’s a wonderful thing to know you’re not alone. That’s our message.”
“If somebody feels better after hearing the record, that’s amazing,” concludes Sydney leaves off. “Echosmith is a huge part of my life. It’s an outlet. It’s a bonding experience for all of us as a family. It’s like therapy. It helps all of us go through life better. This is a safe place we’re welcoming everyone else into.”
Please order your copy below >>>
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘London In The Spring’ - Passenger
A perfect new song from Mike. We love the sentiments. Enjoy!
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Mano a Mano’ - Blanco White
Another excellent London based singer-songwriter to explore is Josh Edwards aka Blanco White, Mano a Mano is Josh’s latest single taken from his debut album ‘On The Other Side’ set for release on June 5th, We love the South American feel to Josh’s music coupled with wonderful vocals and songwriting.
Josh comments ‘It was written whilst I was living in Tarifa on the southern tip of Spain last year. It was the first time I found the courage to write a song fully in Spanish, something I had wanted to try for a while, but had always been nervous about. I'm very grateful to Marga and José Zavala for helping me find my confidence with pronunciation, as well as my good friend MAVICA who also sang on the record alongside Malena Zavala. It's the final release from my album ‘On the Other Side’ until it comes out in full on June 5th.
Huge thanks to everyone involved, including additional production by Lucas Zavala, the drum and percussion boys, Fred Claridge, Matt Ingram and Pilo Adami, and Charlotte Schnurr for her beautiful performance on the violin.’
It was engineered by Dani Bennett Spragg. Mixed by Jake Jackson and mastered by Alex Wharton.
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Call Me When It’s Over’ - James Smith
We are big fans of James here at LCM HQ. ‘Call Me When It’s Over'‘ is his latest single and other high quality track. Wonderful vocals and arrangements. Enjoy!
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Hollywood Gypsy’ - Twinnie
Our LCM featured song today is the wondeful title track of Twinnie’s debut album released on April 17th.
On the strength of the songs the Yorkshire-born, Nashville-hearted singer-songwriter has created for her forthcoming debut album Hollywood Gypsy, we’ll be hearing her name repeated far and wide over the coming months and years. Now it’s time for the rest of the musical world to catch up with what country music-watchers – who clocked Twinnie’s stand-out performances at last year’s C2C festival at London’s O2 – have known for a while: this Brit is a future international star.
“The title of the album pretty much sums me up,” says this frank, funny, fearless woman – a restless, up-for-it creative. “My mam and dad were very different, two different cultures, and I grew up between those,” Twinnie continues of a heritage that includes Romany Gypsy – hence the other half of that album title. “And I created that in my adult life, my own normal. I have one life in Nashville, and another here. I’m never settled unless I’m in transit. I am a traveller by nature and by heritage, so I am quite free.”
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Patience’ - Brooke Annibale
We love this wonderful stripped new single from Pittsburg based singer-songwriter Brooke Annibale. The song was recorded at The Smoakstack in Nashville, Tennessee.
Brooke comments “Patience” is a song that people would often ask me about after a live show. Now, it's one of my most requested songs throughout my recent live stream shows. It’s a song I wrote to overcome a period of time where I needed patience the most, and it’s a song I can keep coming back to, now especially more than ever. I hope you enjoy this reimagined stripped back version inspired by some especially trying times, and I hope you and your loved ones find patience and peace during this incredibly challenging time”
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Sweet Home’ - Mad Hatter’s Daughter
We take a trip to Hamberg today to meet Kira and Buzz T Isles of the fast-rising husband and wife duo Mad Hatter’s Daughter. The wonderful ‘Sweet Home; is taken from their EP ‘Walk With Me’ released in April last year.
Kira studied fashion design in Hamburg, while Buzz T. focused on audio engineering, inspired by the companionship he found at a young age in his piano and, later, his guitar. He has been playing in bands for over 10 years and works as an engineer and producer at Frank Peterson's Nemo Studios. While Kira was working in the fashion world with fabrics, patterns and shapes, music was an essential part of her life, as well. She sang constantly but never in front of other people. The two met by chance. Buzz T’s then band needed styling advice. As fate would have it, it was Kira who delivered. Out of the patterns of the stage outfits came a design for these two to spend their life together. A "healthy" kind of crazy and a good portion of "Peter Pan Life Style", combined with fun and passion, define Kira and Buzz T’s lifestyle together.
Convincing a successful producer like Sven Bünger (Johannes Oerding, Madsen, and others) to work together on a debut album is a remarkable achievement. Performing in front of more than 20,000 concert-goers nationwide in just one year and subsequently filling the Markthalle Hamburg with 700 for its own acoustic show surpasses remarkable. Add to this mix over 2 million Spotify streams for a digitally released EP, raving reviews for a self-made video called "Hurt" and airplay of their single "Made of Tears" on several radio stations nationwide. The name behind this success story is Mad Hatter's Daughter and their trajectory is firmly set in one direction: upwards.
During a drive one day, Kira unintentionally started to sing along to a song on the radio. Buzz T. was in awe. "I was completely stunned and thought ‘Wow, what a voice!’" Immediately thereafter, he gifted her singing lessons for her birthday. She was taken aback at first; "I really didn’t know if I should be happy or smack with the add-on gift mic."
Since they both love Rod Stewart and Kira's smoky voice was predestined for his songs, they gave it their first try with "People Get Ready." After the vocal premiere in front of friends and family, they went on the streets to gain experience and lose the nerves. Later, they recorded "Hurt," mixing the Johnny Cash’s guitar version with that of the Nine Inch Nails and put the home-made video of their recording online. The feedback was pure enthusiasm and this inspired them to go even further.
The name Mad Hatter's Daughter was originally Kira's idea for a fashion label. It was meant to evoke emotion, authenticity and handmade excellence, the same elements that now define the music they make today. The multi-faceted songs, accented by Kira's deep and smoky voice, are compelling listens. "Female Rod Stewart", "Adele", "Stevie Nicks" are just a few associations made by those who have been awed by her sultry voice.
With their EP "Walk With Me" the two have managed to develop their own signature style, in both song and sound, distinguishing their exquisite pop songs from an otherwise crowded field.
"To create the impossible, one succeeds only if one finds it possible." A philosophical view of life from Alice in Wonderlands’s the Mad Hatter to Alice at a cozy tea party. In the figurative sense, it is a piece of advice from the Mad Hatter to Mad Hatter's Daughter, which Kira and Buzz T. have not only taken to heart but carried out with enchanting success.
Photo credit: Foxmaxpower
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Cabin Fever’ - Katie Nicholas
With a video produced in lockdown our LCM featured song today is by the very talented Katie Nicholas. We have been big fans of Katie’s music for many years and she is one of the most creative people we know.
Katie comments: ‘During the Coronavirus lockdown, it felt like the perfect time to finally share this song. Written in late 2017, I was struck with a bad case of Cabin Fever. Without being at risk of over-sharing, I know too well how it feels for the walls to be closing in - whether mentally or literally house-bound.
While I've always produced my videos, this is my first home-produced and mixed release! Scary for me - there’s a lot of my music I’ve been too picky to share. The past few weeks have been a great challenge though to get out of my comfort zone and it's a relief to see this idea of mine come to fruition. From day one I knew I'd be using that old dolls house gathering dust in the corner for this video… A special thanks to my friends Dave Ormsby (drums), Craig Walsh (bass), Michael Kountis (electric guitar) and Daniel Vujevic (mastering). These guys saved me from some horrifying MIDI attempts and gave this song all the right vibes. If you would like to exclusively download the track and see behind the scenes content then please watch the video below >>>
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘The Way That I Love You’ - Passenger
Released in March this beautiful love song is Mike’s latest single. Please also check out Mike’s regular livestreams.
LCM Song Of The Day: ‘Man Of The Light’ - Gitta de Ridder
Our featured track song is the uplifting new single from Gitta’s forthcoming eight-track third album ‘To Our Children’’, which will be released in monthly installments to give the stories time to unfold.
Gitta comments “For all those times you’ve thought ‘there must be a place I can go to, that will make me feel truly happy’, and the times in which you’ve wondered why life just isn’t on your side, this new track by Dutch singer and songwriter Gitta de Ridder attempts to employ a song-based navigational compass. She’s done some searching of her own, and yes, a ray of sunshine, a sea-view and a life of freedom can bring temporary solace. But that man, that brings the light from some external source, is forever elusive when we imagine him to be someone, or something, out there to find. Suggesting all the man might say is “it’s not all bad, even if you’re lonely, cold, or sad. There is a light, that shines for you. And I say in all honesty if I could make a wish I would set free, but all I can do is show you”. And then perhaps, this compass only ever points back inwards.“
The new album is an eclectic collection of songs she recorded during an eight-month adventure in a converted old-timer Mercedes truck, in which Gitta aimed to embrace much of Europe’s musical heritage. This tune enriched with French trumpets and ‘Fromage based’ breakfast chats. With each track, new collaborations enrich the songs that revolve around themes of childhood innocence, self-confidence, forgiveness and togetherness.