To call them multi-instrumentalists might be a little overdone. The kids in Freelance Whales are really just collectors, at heart. They don't really fancy buffalo nickels or Victorian furniture, but over the past two years, they've been collecting instruments, ghost stories, and dream-logs. Somehow, from this strange compost heap of little sounds and quiet thoughts, songs started to rise up like steam from the ground.The first performance of these songs took place in January of 2009, in Staten Island's abandoned farm colony, a dilapidated geriatric ward, in one of New York's lesser visited boroughs. A seemingly never-ending jigsaw of small rooms, the farm colony ate them whole and threatened to n...
"Kelsey has what Pop Music lacks. Her sweet tenderness wrapped around gutsy grit, with a bold, unobtrusive expression of faith makes her and her songwriting more than just original. " - Kenneth Eby, Lighthouse Coffee Co. Kelsey Rottiers has been touring her self- titled full length album, Kelsey Rottiers & the Rising Tide (think Ingrid Michaelson meets Brandi Carlile), released in March of 2011, for the past year and a half all over Michigan and on a recent tour Chicago, Ohio, and Nashville. Written on the themes of heartbreak, forgiveness, and really tall ex-boyfriends, the album struck chords with audiences across Michigan and beyond. "Red Wonder Boots," one of Kelsey's most popular tracks off this album...
Swans were born during the heyday of New York's no wave reaction to punk rock, on the Lower East Side. Led by brainchild, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Michael Gira, the group was formed after the demise of his first New York outfit, Circus Mort. Swans' first lineup consisted of Gira, guitarist Sue Hanel, and drummer Jonathan Kane. The trio played with kindred spirits Sonic Youth and did some rudimentary recordings that showcased the abrasive, percussively assaultive sonics Swans were later identified with. These initial sides surfaced on the Body to Body, Job to Job compilation. A different lineup included Kane, guitarist Bob Pezzola, and Daniel Galli-Duani on saxophone; they released a self-titled EP in 1982. The personnel chan...
The California sun-rockers Josh Cocktail, Loggy, and Big Red, met in 2011, and finished their debut album in two months. Their first track, “Be Easy” put their music on the map, and their debut album, “We Are Nothing” hit the top 10 on the iTunes Alternative charts after the group had been together for only 3 months. They have opened for Sammy Adams previously. In the summer of 2012, they gave a new free track every Monday. After releasing 13 awesome songs, they are now proud to present the entire collection as an entire album, for free. It's called Summer Of Rad. ...
XFactor1 was formed in the latter part of 2005 with the intent of bringing decadence, intensity and the true meaning of music back to a rock and metal scene that was sounding pretty tame and had lost its connection with the people that matter the most, the fans. Coming together during one of the brutal winters of the Midwest in Columbus Ohio, XFactor1 carved out an immediate niche in the tri-sta...
Jonathan Byrd, John Culberson, Wes Johnson and J.T. Silvestri make up A Course Of Action, a hard working rock band from western North Carolina. The band is known for tight live shows, great music and solid original material. Hailing from North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida, the foursome bring many years of musicianship and a genuine love of music for the sake of music.Once the band was asked, "what is your gimmick?" The answer was, "there is no gimmick. We are just four normal guys from the South making great rock music." The band just completed a full length album, titled "Dark Before The Dawn"....
Fresh from leaving the band he formed after moving to Los Angeles from Massachusetts in 2009, singer/songwriter Nico Rivers took his dynamic folk/Americana sound on the road and launched his solo career playing everywhere from The Freakin' Frog in Las Vegas to The Tipsy Crow in San Diego's Gaslamp to the House of Blues on Sunset Strip. He took a full-fledged production approach to recording his debut EP Thicker Than Water, but quickly realized that his unique "one man band" vibe-playing acoustic guitar, harmonica, kick drum and even tambourine-was evolving into a more organic style than he showcased on the EP. True to its title, Rivers' upcoming EP To The Bone features stripped down acoustic twists of two of the songs from his ...
San Francisco psych wunderkind Ty Segall continues a tireless musical assault on ears and minds with his third album Melted. Segall says it sounds like “cherry cola, Sno-Cones and taffy.” Indeed! Over the past two years he’s released records more often than most people do laundry, but somehow there is still a heap of anticipation for this new album on Goner packed full of truly psychedelic pop songs with great vocals and exciting arrangements. On the heels of two critically acclaimed solo albums, Segall holed up in a basement studio with Mike Donovan of the Sic Alps in late 2009 and early 2010 to come up with Melted. It’s a carefree yet precise balance of acoustic and electric el...
My name is Bodizepha and I am lyrical martial artist inspiring people to enjoy life, deal with obstacles and experience happiness. Through my lyrics, rhythm and melody the curious mind is at play. Music has been a passion of mine since I can remember. My parents met growing up in Brooklyn, NY, in middle school band class. Fifteen years later they re-met, married, and moved to Woodstock, NY. Living in a diversely musical house I grew up with saxophone and piano lessons, until I discovered the life force in playing conga drums and percussion. I know that those lessons gave me the foundation I needed to write, develop beats, engineer, and rap. I went to Kingston High School, Kingston, ...
Kaleidoscopic in the studio and a force majeure on stage, it’s no surprise that Niki & The Dove, Malin Dahlström (voice, songs) and Gustaf Karlöf (keyboards, songs) met while writing a wide range of music for the theatre. But they’re definitely, and boldly pro-pop: simultaneously simple and complex but ultimately devastating pop music. At the same time, N&D’s electronics and beats forge a pro-dance sound, but with a span from tribal to synth-pop to R&B, it’s as much a quest and a riddle to work out exactly what the pair are – which is how it should be. “In our heart, we are a soul band, not even an electronic band,” says Malin. Both descriptio...
“A lot of Confess is about sacrificing part of your life to something you love to do,” says George Lewis Jr., the nom de plume of Brooklyn indie pop sensation Twin Shadow. “Love and commitment may not be part of my life at this point. So a lot of this record is about my relationships with people, and dealing with the sacrifices I’ve made.”Confess is the gorgeous, dynamic follow-up to Twin Shadow’s 2010 breakthrough Forget. That first record, co-produced by Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor and initially released on Taylor’s Terrible Records label before getting picked up by 4AD, garnered a lot of praise from the likes of Rolling Stone (“fully-formed, haunted and hauntin...
The foundations of Brooklyn’s Woods lie in the small rear-house apartment bedroom of Jeremy Earl, who took to recording his eerily somber acoustic songs in 2005 as little more than a humble personal outlet. After two early albums and several singles which saw Earl still honing his sound, Woods released “Songs of Shame” in 2009 to widespread critical acclaim and offered the band a chance to develop their live sound on the back of a massive touring schedule. During this period, the live line-up solidified with the inclusion of multi-instrumentalist Jarvis Taveniere, bassist Kevin Morby and cassette-collage maestro G. Lucas Crane. While the band’s early recordings had mixed haunting folk and distorted sound-scape journe...
After a fruitful 2011, Burning Hotels have a clear vision for the future of their music and it's evolution. Key members Chance Morgan and Matt Mooty's 2011 self-titled LP (Burning Hotels) shines through with a Texas flare that fuses Old Wave Pop with Dance aesthetics. Burning Hotels have created their own distinctively pop and oblique brand of music, rightfully dubbed by Mark Schectman from KDGE as 'Sex Wave.' Make no mistake about it; this is no stab at a trend. This is Pop music. The songs sound exactly as the band wants them to... Full of energy with electronic textures, danceable rhythms and catchy hooks. Burning Hotels are currently working on a remix and b-side EP to be released...
Caspian is a rock band from Beverly, Massachusetts, a seaside town 20 minutes north of Boston. Nobody sings. Most of the time we play heavy, other times quite soft. We always try to play with heart. So far we have recorded three albums. The process is always evolving - Thanks for exploring it with us. Since 2006, Caspian have performed over 500 concerts, bringing their music to 30+ countries stretching over 3 continents. The band are currently writing their 4th studio album, set for release in 2012. They will soon be the opening tour support for both Minus The Bear and Cursive. ...
With more than 95 million YouTube views it’s hard not to be internationally known. Landing a title on MTV Jams’ 2010 summer Fab Five introduced them to a cross over audience of more than 10 million. Garnering 100 million mix tape downloads deemed them digital geniuses. Two top 50 hits on Billboard without a record deal solidified their grind to match the likes of former independent music pioneers Drake, Wiz Khalifia and Nicki Minaj. They are – Travis Porter! Combined of Lakeem “Ali” Mattox, Donquez “Quez” Woods and Harold “Strap” Duncan, the Rap Trio has become the nation’s darlings of hip-hop by creating their own lane to define their success and to allow a new genre o...
The Balconies are a Rock and Roll 3 piece from Ottawa/Toronto. Jacquie (Guitar, Voice)Steve (Bass, Voice)Liam (Drums, Voice)It’s a birds and bees sort of question… Or maybe a chicken or the egg sort of question… What came first: the rosined violin strings, major falls, and classical theory? Or the smashed guitars, split finger tips, and sweaty bodies?To see the Balconies play is nothing short of grasping at science. Even when placed down neatly in a Petri dish underneath thumbs and forefingers – the DNA-code of their infectious pop hooks interweaved with classical sensibility and theory is hard to dis...
Akron/Family is writing a 21st century non-denominational hymnal, free of any New Age stink or hippie laziness. The trio (though they often perform as five, six, seven or more) tap into the great currents of the universe and share that energy and unfiltered beauty with us. Their constant desire to obliterate the line between audience/consumer and performer/musician shares something with the Dead, Phish and others who've introduced participatory elements into the mix. However, those bands rarely gave so freely or vigorously to those who stood before them. Akron/Family are a very special band and you cheat yourself with every minute you wait to wade into their waters....
Quincy Matthew Hanley (born October 26, 1986), better known by his stage name ScHoolboy Q is an American recording hip hop artist from Los Angeles, California.Mixing bud smoker's anthems with socially conscious numbers, rapper ScHoolboy Q spent three years in the mixtape underground before launching his career properly in 2011. The first mixtape, the autobiographical Schoolboy Turned Hustla, landed in 2008 and quickly caught the attention of Kendrick Lamar and Top Dawg Entertainment. Lamar would form the Black Hippy collective with ScHoolboy, along with Jay Rock and Ab-Soul, while Top Dawg would sign the artist to their label. His Gangster & Soul mixtape landed in 2009, and Top Dawg released his official debut, Setbacks, in 2011. ...
For a rapper to command your attention, it all comes down to the voice. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Public Enemy’s Chuck D had millions of fans hanging on to every word of his booming baritone. In the mid-1990s, The Notorious B.I.G.’s steely poise and vocal precision led many critics and fans to proclaim him the best rapper of all time. Now, in 2009, get ready for the next rapper with a magnetic voice, someone whose pristine raps demand attention. His name: Jay Rock.Born and raised in Watts, California’s notorious Nickerson Gardens Projects, Jay Rock got his first encouragement from his music-making relatives, who noticed the impact his deep, melodic voice made on song after song. “They...
Young Buffalo are a 3-piece band from Oxford, Mississippi. The former-moniker of the solo work of Jim barrett, was born in the summer of’09 with the addition of Alex Von Hardberger and Ben Tarbrough. Without much more than song ideas and one booked show, thy began crafting a sound steeped in 3-part harmonies and pounding percussion. Young Buffalo self-released the Catapilah Demo back in 2009 and have then since toured in the US, taking in both SXSW and CMJ 2010. The band signed a US deal with Fat Possum records in May 2010 and have finished recording their debut album with Kyle ‘Slick’ Johnson(Wavves, Cymbals Eat Guitars) at Sweet Tea Studios in Mississippi. “I always got the hand-me-downs,”...
When your songs are too big to be contained: form a band. Maybe call it after your family name because you like the way it sounds (shit, if it worked for Bon Jovi then who’s to argue). Record those songs in the basement of your parents house in Tacoma. When that burns down, shake it off and move to New York. Find a new band to play with, start working on a symphony (no really, do it), mix your newfound formal training with the noisy exuberance of youth. Get raucous.Ever since moving operations from his parent’s basement in Tacoma, Washington to Brooklyn, 20 year old Brad Oberhofer has been carefully honing his own brand of bedroom pop, which is as affecting and genuine as it is naively chaoti...
Wooden Satellites is a band that strays into electro-pop and darkwave while always keeping one foot firmly planted in pure indie rock. Started in 2008, Wooden Satellites has included many Fort Wayne musicians, but is currently written and performed by founding member C. Ray Harvey. They aspire to write songs with staying power, always reaching for the landmark musical moments that brought them through the common horrors of midwestern living. This is accomplished through the embrace of several sound palettes, mixing male and female lead vocals, traditional rock instrumentation with synthesizers, and bright melodies with somber lyrical content. Wooden Satellites spent the winter of 2010 preparing to release their first pr...
Fierce Creatures emerged from the scorching Fresno, CA summer of 2009. Abandoning past musical undertakings that never seemed to fit quite right, the band came together to build a fresh identity, free of limitations, focused on the joy of undiluted music. They drew inspiration from the melodic heritage of classic rock and pop, as well as the grandeur and spirit of its inventive successors. By reinterpreting musical conventions and pursuing a song wherever it leads, Fierce Creatures has created something new and altogether enchanting. Guitar and keys drive the songs, but don’t restrict them. Mandolin, harmonica, and bells accentuate the sound, with chanting choruses and a miscellany of percussion. The product ...
Hilarious, brilliant, unpredictable – comedian/musician Reggie Watts is a staple of the international performance scene. Reggie's improvised musical sets are created on-the-spot using only his formidable voice and a looping machine. No two songs are ever the same. An avowed "disinformationist," Reggie loves to disorientate his audiences in the most entertaining way. You may not know what Reggie is going to do, but that's okay – he doesn't either. As a solo performer, Reggie was handpicked by Conan O'Brien to open nightly on Conan's entire North American "Prohibted From Being Funny on Television" tour. Reggie was featured as "Hot Comedian" in Rolling Stone's Hot Issue 2010, name...
“The record as a whole begs for an assessment of all the flaws inherent in our existence, and to imagine a better, more suitable, logical way for humanity to live.” So says Lower Dens leader Jana Hunter about the band’s stunning new album Nootropics. It’s an ambitious work, and it delivers — heavily metaphorical, the symmetries and concordances of the lyrics run deep; the luminous lines of the music converge at a point in a future just out of view. Lower Dens has made music that reconciles fear and uncertainty by freeze-framing it and turning it into a thing of beauty.Pronounced no-eh-tro-pics, the title refers to a type of drug used to enhance memory or other cognitive function...
“It’s quite simple,” says 19-year-old shooting star Charli XCX. “We need to reboot British girl power, but this time with edge!” A bold claim, but if there’s anyone whose fingers are best placed to hit CTRL-ALT-DEL on pop, it’s Charli. Believe all you read about breaths of fresh air and you’d half expect a force ten gale to be blowing through the music industry but here, we have the real deal: a singer songwriter liberated from the acoustic guitar fixation that preoccupies so many; a teenage popstar with a good head on her shoulders and a sharp mind in her head. Charli’s live performances, like her music, are raw but mu...
Big Freedia is an accomplished "Bounce" Rapper who lives in New Orleans and performs six or more times a week in various venues throughout the city. Bounce is an original urban music rising up from the intimate and fun-loving nature of the housing projects which dominate the city's street culture. "Sissy Bounce" is the informal name for a derivative of Bounce that has risen to prominence in recent years and features explicitly gay and cross-dressing musicians and themes. Big Freedia is at the forefront of this movement and has had several New Orleans hit singles such as "Gin in My System" and "Azz Everywhere!" from her albums "An Ha, Oh Yeah" (1999) and ...
Bakelite 78′s repertoire is an eclectic mix of swing, Dixieland, blues, proto-country, and cabaret, as well as a plethora of originals in hybrids of these styles. Founding member Robert Rial arrived in Chicago in 2000, eager to engage in the music he loved most: dance orchestra music/swing, country-blues, dixieland, tin pan alley, rock and American folk. He played his guitar and tenor banjo and took solace in his 78 R.P.M. records (some discs were made from an early form of plastic similar to Bakelite). “Bakelite 78′s” preserved the music of the early 20th Century, and the band was born to keep classic crooner vocals & speak-easy jazz/lounge/cabaret alive. The original lineup of Bakelite 78 perfo...
Your Spaceship comes from inside...The Carpet Squares began in February 2009 as a recording project of Nick Fazzini (vocals, guitar, sequencing, bass) and Brian Strain (drums, vocals, keyboards, bass). After a decade of writing and performing together, the two musicians found themselves without a band and separated by nearly 200 miles from Monday through Friday. Refusing to stop making music, they set out to write and record a full-length album of new material. They built a modest project-studio in an old basement whose rafters were completely covered with carpet samples by a previous resident - The Carpet Squares were born. Fazzini and Strain holed up in their basement studio for most weekends over the next two years to create their...
