The Open Flames: Change Your Mind

London based indie rock quartet The Open Flames are trying with the extremely evasive Clementine on their Change Your Mind single. It is a good-natured garage rocker about not being able to connect by way of distorted guitars and a cheesy but highly keyboard that sounds like it has been gathering dust in a charity shop for decades.

Clifford Jordan: "Let It Ring: Live at the Jazz Showcase" Black Friday Release

Jazz saxophone player Clifford Jordan performed two back-to-back shows with his quartet at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase in Chicago in 1976. Let It Ring: Live at the Jazz Showcase captures the band - Al Haig (piano), Wilbur Ware (bass), Kenny Clarke (drums) - in full flight and will be released as a 2LP for Black Friday (November 27). 1500 copies worldwide. A less expensive 2CD will be available as well.

De Eerste Liefde: Crashes, Bangs, and Flashing Lights

Dutch indie trio De Eerste Liefde, led by songwriter Chris Kok, mixes psychedelic and baroque pop on their Crashes, Bangs, and Flashing Lights EP. Add Radiohead, early Pink Floyd and Badfinger to the equation and presto: a recipe for deceptive melodicism with plenty blink-and-you'll-miss-it sidesteps that give the tracks an edge that isn't that obvious at first.

The dynamics are spot on and taking plenty of time to set up the mikes properly to capture the full extent of each instrument has paid off in spades. Imagine having a front row seat as the band is busy building their multi-layered orchestral songs. Too bad they won't be able to replicate this on stage as a threesome. They would need a far bigger line-up to achieve such a feat.

Opus Kink: Low Roader

Brighton based eclectic sextet Opus Kink are in Irish folk mood by way of Black Country imagery on their new single Low Roader, an invitation to choose the alternate and more adventurous road to cope with life.

Trumpets galore plus a catchy rumbling backbeat lead the way into darkness where it is warm and welcoming, despite it having a bad reputation. The video was made by Kyle McCarthy & Reuben Davies Lindley.

Simon Karolis: Where To Find Back The Flow

Simon Karolis, nom-de-plume of Dutch musician Arend Jan van der Scheer, had to find time between his job as a teacher and being a father to write and record the songs for his Where To Find Back The Flow album. Being boxed in with his everyday chores and professional responsibilities only enhanced his urge to break free and focus on his dreams of becoming an artist. With telling song titles as Grounded and Oh How I Long For Something New it is abundantly clets that reality has the nasty habit of getting in the way of his ambitions.

Switching between acoustic folk and restrained electric indie rock Van der Scheer searches for answers. He is fully aware that solutions for his predicaments will keep eluding him. When he wakes up from his daydreams, he will be confronted with yet another to-do list, targets and other stuff that will pop up unexpectedly. This is not a good time to try to be vulnerable and creative in an uncaring world obsessed with technology and political turmoil.