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Mondo Cozmo – the chart-topping brainchild of alternative singer-songwriter Josh Ostrander – has announced today’s premiere of his eagerly awaited new single. “Upside Down” is available now via Last Gang Records at all DSPs and streaming services; the track is joined by an equally potent companion video, directed by Ostrander’s longtime visual collaborator, acclaimed photographer/filmmaker Travis Shinn (Motionless In White, Killswitch Engage), and streaming now at the official Mondo Cozmo YouTube channel HERE.

Stream/download “Upside Down” here.

“Every single night I watch the evening news and wonder… Bout right,” says Ostrander.  “Crazy times call for a crazy tune. It’s my attempt at a feel-good summer song in an imploding world. Good times…”

“Upside Down” heralds Mondo Cozmo’s long awaited new album, NEW MEDICINE, due later this year. The album – which follows 2017’s extraordinary debut album, PLASTIC SOUL, and its breakthrough hit single, “Shine” – sees Ostrander collaborating with a stunning line-up of studio superstars, including producer Lars Stalfors (Cold War Kids, Foster The People), songwriter Dan Wilson (Adele, Phantogram), and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club guitarist Peter Hayes and drummer Leah Shapiro, among others.

When ‘Shine’ took off at radio, the next year was spent on the road,” Ostrander says. “Playing every show, doing every meet-n-greet, every morning radio show, every podcast, interview, and after party. And why not? It was the first time anyone wanted to talk to me about music. I loved it, but by the end of the year I was pretty beat down and tired. It came to head during a video shoot in which I just completely lost it. I found myself in a situation where I lost control, and in front of the band, label, management I punched a glass door and destroyed my hand. I would spend the night in the emergency room watching them put my hand back together.

“But I began writing. The tunes just poured out. I was put on medication after the hand debacle. I assumed that’s where the songs were coming from. That’s where the NEW MEDICINE title came from. But I couldn’t play guitar, enter Peter Hayes from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. ‘I’ll play guitar for ya.’ He guided me. He pushed me to get the record done. As did Butch Vig, who would help me make sense of the demos I was sending to him on the daily.

“This album sums up a lot for me. Coming to terms with the weird guilt of success, navigating a new American experience. With a numb hand.”

Known for his work as producer, singer-songwriter, and bandleader, the Philadelphia-born and Los Angeles-based Ostrander unveiled Mondo Cozmo in 2017 and immediately proved a sensation with the project’s ecstatic debut single, “Shine.” The track fast ascended to #1 on Triple A charts nationwide, instantly propelling Mondo Cozmo into the pop spotlight. Tours alongside such like-minded artists as Bastille, Spoon, Vance Joy and The Revivalists followed, as did show-stealing performances at top festivals like Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza and a high profile network TV debut performance of “Shine” on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! (streaming HERE).

PLASTIC SOUL arrived that same year and was greeted by worldwide critical acclaim, with The Guardian hailing the collection in a four-starred rave as “wonderfully infectious, with echoes of Spiritualized (the euphoric ‘Shine’), Bob Dylan’s vocal delivery (most notably on ‘Hold On To Me’) and ACHTUNG BABY-era U2 (‘Higher’), all while retaining a strong thread of individuality. Throughout, there’s a maximalist joy at play, ideas tumbling over one another, reaching their apotheosis on the bombastic and emotionally draining ‘Thunder.’” “An endearing listen with a strikingly eclectic production,” declared CLASH. “Ostrander delivers off-kilter pop bursting with colour.” Perhaps The Independent said it best: “There’s a pure energy that courses through the record…PLASTIC SOUL is superb.”

Recent months have seen Mondo Cozmo rolling out a string of soaring new music from NEW MEDICINE, including such album highlights as “Come On,” “Black Cadillac,” and “Generator,” the latter recently featured on ABC’s hit drama, The Good Doctor. All are joined by cinematic companion videos streaming now via his official YouTube channel HERE.

Mondo Cozmo plans to celebrate NEW MEDICINE with a wide-ranging headline tour later this year. In the meantime, Ostrander has just begun a series of home studio performances, dubbed the “Live In Exile Sessions.” The first installment – which sees him and members of his touring band linking together for a stirring rendition of the PLASTIC SOUL fan favorite, “Chemical Dream” – is streaming now via YouTube HERE; additional “Live In Exile Sessions” will follow in the coming weeks.

Last Gang has teamed up with Apple Music to curate a definitive playlist of ambient songs for easy home-listening.

Dive into the weekend (and beyond) with soothing tracks from the likes of Rhye, Harrison, Loving, Louis Prince, Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton, and so much more.

**Click to save/stream The Chill List

Melbourne producer Alice Ivy today announces the release of her forthcoming second studio album, Don’t Sleep , out July 17 via Last Gang Records , and shares the official video for the title track, featuring Imbi and BOI . The follow-up to her 2018 AMP-nominated debut LP, I’m Dreaming , Don’t Sleep features the previously released singles, “ Sunrise (feat. Cadence Weapon) ” and “ In My Mind (feat. Ecca Vandal) .”

Watch the fearless junior motocross riders tearing it up in the “ Don’t Sleep ” video HERE.

Of the track, Alice Ivy shares: “Don’t Sleep is one of those songs that came out of nowhere! Imbi, Boi and I were in the studio on the last day of a songwriting camp (shoutout Ricochet!) and at the start of the session we were all feeling pretty burnt out. But something special happened between us and I think it had a lot to do with how inspired we were feeling after a week at an all-female/non-binary camp. We came up with a super powerful song and it’s definitely one of my favourite collabs I’ve ever been a part of. The lyric, “Our bodies are ours so keep your hands away” hits me every time I hear it. It’s an empowering song… so obviously I had to recruit a bunch of junior motocross riders to tear it up in the video!”

“Don’t Sleep” marries the vibrant, organic production and Avalanches-inspired, collage-style of her debut record with a turn towards the contemporary, electronically-tinged alt-pop of Flume and Jamie XX, riding its combination of lofty, analog synths, tropical drums and bright guitars to a monumental chorus.

Like her contemporaries Mark Ronson and KAYTRANADA , Alice Ivy sits at the intersection of producer and tastemaker. A revered collaborator, she’s equally adept at uncovering new dimensions to those who you thought were well established, household names as she is seeking out and helping to break new ones. For Alice Ivy though, platforming new artists and helping new voices to break-through to the mainstream goes beyond just tastemaking.

Between releases, Alice Ivy has grown into one of Australian electronica’s most prominent advocates for female producers, putting her in step with other tireless voices such as KUČKA and Grimes . Through her choice of collaborators, many of whom are female and non-binary, Alice Ivy is working to diversify the sound and look of the traditionally male-dominated studio space. Across Don’t Sleep , her refined curatorial skills are on full display, as Thelma Plum, Ecca Vandal, Ngaiire, Benjamin Joseph of Safia, Odette, Bertie Blackman, Imbi and many more come together within Alice’s creative orbit.

The single for the album title track, “Don’t Sleep (feat. Imbi & BOI)” by Alice Ivy is out now via Last Gang Records – buy/stream it here.

Louis Prince’s debut album Thirteen is out today. The creative project of musician Jake McMullen, Thirteen draws equal inspiration from the lush, ornate world of jazz while recalling the intricate work of Like minded auteurs like Sandro Perri, Nicholas Krgovich, and Destroyer’s Dan Bejar.

**Click to save/stream Louis Prince’s Thirteen

This week, Louis Prince shared a beautifully shot live video for the single “The Number Thirteen.” The video was shot just months ago at the beloved Nashville music venue The Basement East, which was badly damaged during this month’s devastating Tennessee tornado event. People can watch the video on YouTube and find links to donate to disaster relief efforts orchestrated by Gideon’s Army and Hands On Nashville in the video description.

An Orange County native at birth raised on a diet of Frank Sinatra, Tom Waits, the Beach Boys, and the Christian music that came with a religious upbringing, McMullen was inspired to pursue music after seeing someone play guitar in a shopping mall: “I was like, ‘Wow, this is the coolest fucking thing in the world,'” he remembers. 

For Thirteen, McMullen teamed up with close friend and musician/producer Micah Tawlks to chart a sonic path influenced by his interests, ranging from Ethopian jazz, to the works of jazz masters like Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett. “It’s a lot of music without words,” he explains regarding the sounds that inspire him. “Lyrics don’t get to me as much as playing the piano does.”

Besides embodying a nod to the Ethiopian tourist economy slogan “13 months of sunshine,” the title of Thirteen draws from both superstition and tradition: “It feels unlucky, and I like that,” he explains. “I like going against this strange thing that humans treat as voodoo—I want to embrace it.” McMullen explains that the album as a whole represents an attempt to “turn the mirror and examine myself,” and there are evocations of personal pain tucked away into the fluttering woodwinds of opening track “Ten Sprites,” which addresses McMullen’s parents’ divorce and the conflicting feelings about the nature of family that emerged as a result. 

“Families are such a weird thing,” he opines. “We’re born into it and responsible for each other. I have a strange issue with commitment, in which I can’t let anybody into my world because it will fuck with making music. If someone else comes in and I wind up falling in love, my music will suffer. I know it’s an irrational fear, but I can’t write it off.” Questions surrounding his own religious upbringing abound, while first single “Half Acres” returns to themes of commitment and validation over sparse synths and twinkling ambience. “The question in the chorus is two-fold,” McMullen explains regarding the song’s central query (“Is it gonna happen for you?”). “Am I ever going to get over this lack of commitment, and does love mean anything to me? Am I willing to try to find it?” 

“I want people to care about what I do,” McMullen continues while discussing the essence of creation and what it means to him—and he quickly doubles down on the inquisitiveness that makes Thirteen such a striking listen: “Is it wrong to want that? What is success, and does it mean anything to me?” Although he might have to answer that last one for himself, Thirteen is inarguably the work of a personal triumph—an exciting new voice in indie, colliding fascinating stylistic tics with a yearning to belong in this world that listeners will doubtlessly find relatable.