Today is the day that our two-track session with Pretty arrives worldwide to streaming!

Filmed and recorded in the bank vault here at Safe Sounds by Desiree Das Gupta and Bill Cutbill, these two acoustic tracks are lush and enchanting. Listen on Spotify or your preferred streaming platform now, and don't forget to get out in the world and support your local music scene!

Pretty are a Toronto band with a psychedelic sound and philosophy, fusing distinctive, dark and frenzied sonic landscapes. The band currently consists of Torin Craig, Eliot Rossi, Will Macquarrie, Brian Heyes and Morgan Zych.

Speaking of the release, Torin of Pretty said –

"These two songs – “Inheritance” and “Worry” – were previously released on our album
Sertraline Dream (2020) and EP Citrus Magic (2023) respectively.

In between those two releases we started getting more into folk and acoustic music, and scheming about making an acoustic EP or album. Because our guitar amps wouldn’t fit into Safe Sounds’ vault, we thought it would be fun to try an acoustic performance, as it would be a more natural fit for the space, and gave us the chance to explore musical ground we hadn’t yet covered.

I’d also just add that it was a super fun time and a very vibey experience, we had a great time working with the Safe Sounds crew!"

If you've not yet seen it, please watch the video version of these tracks on our YouTube channel, which exist alongside many other unique sessions we've recorded from Toronto based musicians.

You can catch Pretty performing live this year. They're organising a mini run of shows with Silks, and are opening for the Budos Band on June 15th at the Phoenix in Toronto. Get out and bask in the sunshine of life.

The Dark Tapes and Bill Cutbill collaboration of your dreams – OBELISK [SS119] – is released today worldwide!

OBELISK is a journey through time and space in another realm, featuring hard breakbeats, pitch-shifting vocals and drone synthesizers. Everything leads in one direction to what one can only describe as "obelisk".

This EP is the first ever collaboration between Bill Cutbill and Dark Tapes.

Dark Tapes, aka, Chris Hadzipetros, is an experimental online-based artist working in realms of vaporwave, hardware synth jams, ambient music and breaks.

Bill Cutbill's solo material to date has been more tranquil, experimental folk electronic, though people familiar with his other project, World News, will feel at home with the textures in OBELISK... like a duckling cut off from its mother that must jump into a new body of water to rejoin the family.

OBELISK undoubtedly belongs in the tech noir sci-fi realm, with Bill Cutbill & Dark Tapes describing the genre purely as dystopian.

Join them on the ride now on all platforms, and purchase a strictly limited edition cassette via bandcamp.

There will be a very special one-off live performance of OBELISK on JUNE 3rd at HANDLEBAR in Toronto. Unmissable - all the details here.

The future is dark. Darker than Terminator 3.

RUM DO's third EP 'You Just Have To Be' arrives today on all platforms and strictly limited sweet purple cassettes, available via bandcamp.

The five track release is an exploration of genre that navigates between indie, folk, pop and orchestral music. It is the first RUM DO music to feature collaborations, with guest vocals from Idious Carrie, live drums from Bradley Thibodeau (Possum) and violins on the final track from virtuoso violinist, Leslie Townsend.

RUM DO is the project of multi-instrumentalists Harry Perry and Bill Cutbill. Every track released by the duo has featured experimental visuals that flow continuously between songs and releases. You can join them on the sonic adventure here.

Speaking of You Just Have To Be, Bill said -

"It's a great relief to finally share this music with the world. This collection of songs is a true journey and creating it has been an important self-reflection for me.

"I would like to thank Idious Carrie, Bradley Thibodeau and Leslie Townsend for their contributions. Without Brad there would be no shuffle on No Worries. Without Leslie, Singularity would not have the same heart and tension. Without Desiree, Riv Alla Murar would never have been completed.

"Myself and Harry want to thank everyone for joining us over the last however many years. We hope that this music resonates within your body."

If you want to support this release, you can purchase a limited edition cassette on Bandcamp. Kittyfan01 snagged one, and left a very nice comment, which really did feel good so I think we'll leave this bulletin update on that note...

"You Just Have To Be paints a beautiful visage with curio beauty in Chrysalis, calming guitar in Lighter, and sentimental vocals in Singularity - it's hard to pick a favourite. Another incredible work by Rum Do!"

We've got the inside scoop ~ Toronto-based ambient producer, Blue Light, released a stirring EP in May entitled DARK DARK NIGHT. It's three tracks that will keep you grounded and awash with bliss.

That's right; here at Safe Sounds we're committed to promoting different genres of music, so in addition to your "wham bam thank you mam" kinda stuff from heavy hitters Theo Vandenhoff and Idious Carrie, our aim is to provide a platform for other sounds that we care about. Toronto is such an excellent place for experimental music, both as a musician and within a scene of gracious listeners.

Back in another world, in another time, on February 6th 2020, Blue Light visited the Safe Sounds bank vault. Two of the three tracks have previously been released, but today we're sharing an unheard version of 'Out of This Dark Dark Night' for the very first time!

Watch it below ~

Ambient music is a term first coined by Brian Eno; one and only; the forever saviour of feeling in music. Who else would have the audacity to create an entire genre of music? For those who aren't familiar, ambient music plays with conscious vs subconscious listening. Put simply, we're very much used to conscious listening, but the subconscious side offers the ability for you to focus on other things and simply let the music wash into your psyche. Why listen to your music, when you can breathe it?

If you've attended any of the Bill Cutbill AMAZONAS shows, you might have experienced this very thing there. After all, how much jungle soundscape can you consciously think about, and how long does it take to start to wash over you like never ending waves hitting a pebble beach?

Support Blue Light now on bandcamp. DARK DARK NIGHT was produced and mixed by Alessandro Carlevaris (who you should know as the shaggy haired axe wielding protagonist of Toronto psych rockers, Hot Garbage). It was mixed by Toronto pioneer Ian McPhedran.

All proceeds up to $200 will be going to The Fund for Native Children and Families through Canada Helps.

If you have enjoyed these sessions, you should head over to our YouTube channel where you'll find all sort of different golden nuggets.

Today is the day that World News unleash their sophomore EP, ‘New Era’ [SS116] upon the planet. New Era is four tracks of pure electronic bedlam.

In a carefully crafted press statement, Bill Cutbill had this to say ~

“After we play live, people often ask me how on earth we make this type of music. We’ve always focussed on being able to perform what we make live in the room - we effectively control the machines… we’re shaping and moving them but they are playing themselves on the whole.

“These four tracks are everything new we created in 2019. It’s a painstaking process learning to work with the machines in a way where you can bring them to life, sculpt the songs, but also to give them room to breath without it feeling like one big boring memory test. If you let it get to that point you might as well have a DJ play the music... we allow the songs take life in a different way each time we perform them, which is great but it takes a long time to get there!

“When we came to release our debut EP, 'The Chosen' in April 2020, everything got scuppered. These things happen, and luckily just a month or two before we had headed to The Oscillitarium to lay down our new work with Tobin Hopwood whilst it was fresh. Thank the lord we did.

“Since then we’ve taken our time to craft this in a way that feels meaningful and fully realised. Myself and Tye have been a big fan of Josh Korody’s work, so it was brilliant to have him mix New Era and really give it some oomph. Asher Gould-Murtagh mastered the tracks. We really hope you enjoy them!"

World News' New Era EP is available on all platforms worldwide. Check out the music video for A Message For The Kids and enjoy your weekend.

Hell yes.