Boston's Fugitive Kind is releasing their debut full-length album, "You're Being Watched," on January 13th, 2009. Following three EPs over the past three years, "You're Being Watched" was recorded in the fall of 2007 with producer Ed Stasium (Ramones, Talking Heads, Mick Jagger, Soul Asylum). The album features nine tracks immediately distinctive for the massive, bluesy vocals of Lydia Marsala, delivered with a strength and presence rarely found in today's indie rock.With Fugitive Kind drawing comparisons to everyone from Queens of the Stone Age to The Pretenders, Muse to The Gossip, it comes as little surprise that Marsala draws inspiration from the likes of Jack White. "I have a possibly unreas...
Dylan Champagne sings about what everybody sings about: love, death, crimes against humanity, the apocalypse, beauty, regret, dreams, space, time, trains, surrealist painters, abandoned theaters, alcoholism, veterans, isolation, salmon fishing, exploding ships, sea-birds, scars, wine, medical conditions, star-crossed lovers, suicide, homicide, cemeteries, the brutality of social Darwinism in elementary school...Dylan performed and recorded his debut solo album New Equation himself, in his basement. The mixes walk a tenuous line between lush and minimal, and the tone of the recording has been described as "haunting" and "intimate." Dylan's smooth and melodic vocal stylings could be compared to...
Born and raised in Lewiston, ID, Justin Ringle has a natural affinity with the West. Its space, beauty, and nonconformity seem to be reflected in the music of his band Horse Feathers, named after an expression he heard his grandfather use. In Ringle's hands, the common meaning of this expression comes to life: two things that can't possibly exist together are spun into a gossamer delicacy of music shot through with lyrical weight.Justin grew up on Northwest labels like Sub Pop, Kill Rock Stars, and K Records, but soon broadened his horizons. 'Nebraska' by Bruce Springsteen, Dylan's 'Blood on the Tracks', Fleetwood Mac, Wil...
Point Juncture, WA, actually hail from Portland, OR. Of course. And for five years Point Juncture has been a collaboration between four songwriters, instrumentalists, recording engineers, and friends: Amanda Spring (vocals, drums) Victor Nash (keyboards, vocals) Skyler Norwood (guitar, vibraphone) and Wilson Vediner (guitar). Five years is middle age for a...
Lioness came together in Toronto in the winter of early 2007, almost in secret, when Jeff Scheven and Ronnie Morris, the rhythm section behind the stomping disco pulses of controller.controller, hooked up with Vanessa Fischer of soul-punk quartet No Dynamics. Haunting off-the-radar locales, playing low-key after-hours sets in dark, sweaty clubs, Lioness generated a noteworthy undercurrent of buzz on the scene. On stage, Lioness exudes a pure, electric energy that has caught the attention bands like !!!, You Say Party! We Say Die! and K-OS - having supported each over the past year. Their sans-guitar sound is like a head-on collision of old and new, as Fischer draws upon jazz, old soul and blues, roaring and moaning over layers of electr...
Brooklyn noisepunk outfit Parts & Labor has dramatically altered their wall-of-sound: Their fourth album, Receivers, finds P&L focusing on open spaces, longer movements, expansive arrangements and loftier goals. On eight epic tracks, Receivers showcases the band's catchiest and darkest moods to date, reveling in a growing dynamic sensibility only hinted at in their previous work. Though they've maintained their love affair with glitchy oscillations and anthemic vocals, they are now utilizing the full possibilities of a band that was once a scrappy punk trio, and now a mature art-rock quartet. It's a heady mix of psych, noise, and pop influenced by the arty minimalism...
After Azure Ray disbanded in 2004, Orenda Fink, one half of the beloved Omaha-via-Athens duo, put her energies into a solo record. In 2005, she released Invisible Ones, an under-the-radar but critically-acclaimed debut album. Through the Invisible Ones touring cycle, Orenda assembled several different touring bands with revolving members, along the way making profound musical and personal friendships with her bandmates. With a little astrological nudge and some serendipitous circumstances, Orenda decided to form a new band using the cream of the crop of her touring crew. The band they formed was called Art Belle. Fearing the wrath of paranoid radio listeners "West of the Rockies" (in addition to fearing litigation), the band sh...
Before The Faint could build anything, the band had to demolish a few things. The Omaha quintet has always been perceived as a series of paradoxes: Nebraskans trafficking in electro-pop anthems; a five-person outfit who insist on songwriting democracy; punk rockers laying down their guitars for a decidedly untypical kind of punk rock. They've contended with external expectations and lazy classifications, a four-year-break since their last album, Wet From Birth, and the task of converting their fascinations into songs, all while sloughing off past layers that didn't quite fit. With Fasciinatiion, The Faint's fifth album, the band gives the world the realest representation of themselves to date, but in doing so, walls were literally and figu...
2008 marks Revmatic’s third release “Cold Blooded Demon”. Described by singer Nathan Yetter as the sound of Guns N Roses and Metallica in a car accident, the album marks a new beginning. The band decided to go in a heavier direction on the new album. The last two albums we're hard rock, this one is a little more Metal influenced. In the eight years since the band formed, they have molded themselves into an extremely fierce band, honing their sound into a state of lust‚ with melodic vocals, thunderous double bass drums and guitars that are defined with dual leads. Fans and press received Revmatic's first release (Self Titled - 2002) and second release (Ghetto Blaster - 2004), with great response and the band sold over...
In September of 2007 Virginia natives, James Mason and Robbie Rusbuldt were introduced to each other in Los Angeles, CA. After discovering they each had moved to the west coast to pursue music careers, they began playing music together. It didn't take long to add another native Virginian, Andrew Dunton on drums soon followed by California guitarist Jade Estrella. With that, Safety Word Orange was born. The band spent over three months writing and rehearsing in Hollywood perfecting their ideal set list. Having four writers among the band allowed Safety Word Orange to consistently add new songs with various styles. The different musical backgrounds and influences gave them a chance to really explore before deciding what fit the b...
Raw, rocking, and in your face. All could be fitting descriptions for Wallingford, Connecticut’s favorite son, Joetown (aka Joe Delaney). Joetown’s 2008 release, ‘Pills and Ammo’ totally goes against the grain – especially when compared to what passes off as rock n’ roll nowadays. “Crash,” “Finger,” and “All My Angels” are all tracks that would provide the perfect soundtrack for some rowdy roadside bar, as the singer/guitarist has obviously learned a thing or two from classic rock’s finest, namely, AC/DC, Van Halen, and Guns N’ Roses. “No silly pop lyrics,&rdq...
Kevin Devine is an American songwriter and musician from Brooklyn, New York, who is known for alternately introspective and political lyrics and melodic acoustic guitar tunes. He cites his influences as Bob Dylan, Elliott Smith, Guns N' Roses, Brother Paramo and Nirvana, among others. He grew up in Brooklyn and Staten Island, and has spent significant time in Manhattan and Queens as well. Devine graduated Fordham University at Lincoln Center in 2001, majoring in journalism. He also played in an indie/punk/emo band called Miracle of 86 after the (Miracle) New York Mets. Even before that, he played with a popular band in the local Staten Island scene called Delusion. At Fordham he was able to hone his acoustic solo skills by playing at variou...
An ecstatic ‘Oh shit!' moment occurs midway through the catchy and caustic bounce of the Blood Brothers' "Street Wars / Exotic Foxholes." The song settles lithely into an eerie calm, warm with sinuous upright bass, plaintive clarinet, and a hazy Hammond organ drone. It's both blissful and melancholy, and a pure alchemy of the band's individual creative powers. More importantly it is a bold inversion of a peerless and progressive aesthetic the Brothers have cultivated through years of dedication."Take someone like Charles Mingus," offers bassist Morgan Henderson. "People would hear him and call it Jazz, but in his mind he was creating modern black Classical music." Similarly, any vague notions of...
Aphex Twin is perhaps the best known of the many monikers used by Richard D. James, one of the more creative minds in '90s electronica. James, who has recorded as AFX, Polygon Window, Caustic Window, and several others, is equally capable of both Eno-esque ambient pieces and headache-inducing techno. He will juxtapose melodies played by computer-generated string instruments with frantic, machinized beat patterns that make sense only to him. More an avant-garde composer than a creator of dance-floor hits, he has spent most of his extremely prolific career ignoring commercial trends.James began his unique approach to music making early on. As a child, he conducted sound experiments on the strings and hammers of his family piano; by ...
To take stock of Thrice's discography is to witness the dramatic evolution of a band perpetually committed to pushing their own creative boundaries, taking their music to new and breathtaking heights of expression and challenging fans to explore each startling soundscape the group conjures, while simultaneously promoting social awareness and change. From the raw power and technical onslaught of early records Identity Crisis and The Illusion of Safety, to the perfect marriage of fury and melody on The Artist In The Ambulance, to the bold, mesmerizing experimentation of Vheissu, Thrice has always been a band on the cutting edge, running well ahead of their peers. That divide is about to widen still further.The California-based quart...
Anyone familiar with Ogre-the formidable solo artist and frontman for electronic-rock avatars Skinny Puppy-would expect that at this juncture in his long and storied career, he'd, you know, chill out. After years of delivering intense physical performances and lyrical mise en scenes framing mankind's thoughtlessness, one would hope the singer would maybe buy a log cabin up in the mountains, take up an acoustic guitar and prepare a disc's worth of Appalachian folk songs recorded on wax-cylinder technology.Yeah, like that's ever going to happen. Fortunately, the frontman for ohGr is ready to unveil his debut solo disc for SPV, Devils In My Details. If the previous ohGr disc, 2003's SunnyPsyOp, was...
Department of Eagles features Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear and his friend Fred Nicolaus, plus additional help from two other members of Grizzly Bear, Chris Taylor and Chris Bear.Daniel and Fred met in 2000 at NYU when forced to be roommates, and began making music together to pass the time during an uneventful spring semester. They collected samples and turned them into songs using computers and a microphone borrowed from their neighbor Chris Taylor (who, years later would become Daniel's Grizzly Bear bandmate and DoE's producer/engineer). The material they wrote during this time became their 2003 debut ...
MISERATION is the latest effort from SCAR SYMMETRY Vocalist Christian älvestam and Jani Stefanovic (Essence of Sorrow), who together perform a fast, brutal and aggressive melodic style of metal, what their homeland Sweden is best known for. LIFEFORCE RECORDS is proud to give the band's critically acclaimed debut album“Your Demons, Their Angels” a worldwide release (September 15th - Europe, October 28th - U.S.) and help spread their metallic plague throughout the world. Christian älvestam comments: "After a few months of negotiating, we are very happy and excited to announce that we have now inked a new deal with Lifeforce Records. It's an up and coming, easy-going and down-to-earth label wi...
This year's POP Montreal Program states that, "Michael O'Connell specializes in playing any instrument that makes a noise, and playing all of them masterfully. He uses this considerable skill to shape the artful melodies that accompany his evocative lyrics. This soft, tender music will let him play your heartstrings too."After a few years away from a busy touring schedule with his former band Black Cabbage, the dynamic songwriter created Culture Reject to house his latest body of work. It comes from an interesting path of influences...
The world of rock music devotes itself to a certain quasi-preconscious and mostly unconscious fickleness that has yet to be proven actually functional to the vast continuum of music. In rock’s reiterations and reinventions searching for a new azimuth, from the uncommon new music outside the standard formulas – Obscured By Clouds (OBC) and Psycheclectic Records offer hope for the future of creative original music. People could view the world of music as a setting sun and a dwindling source of access and potential. OBC unassumingly reaches out to connect with their listeners in a highly personal way as approachable, functional and as a resource for their audience. Their music stands out as a source of abundance beyond the unto...
Partners in music and life, Mirana and Rick Comstock's latest band, Theory of Tides, is named after scientific theories that date back to Newton and Galileo. A unique fusion of alt rock textures set against cross currents of electronica, hip hop, Latin and trance beats.Mirana and Rick each brought a special background to the mix when they hooked up in a NY/NJ cover band in the 80s. Mirana came from a long line of acclaimed artists, performers and writers. Trained in the "family business" at Juilliard, the American School of Ballet, Music and Art and Lee Strasberg, Mirana credits her innate storytelling ability to grandfather Konrad Bercovici, a noted Gypsy short story writer and original author of Chaplin's "The Great Dict...
When we last checked in with Shelton Hank Williams early in 2006, he was feeling righteously proud of his then-new album, the sprawling, fierce and edgy Straight to Hell, which broke all the rules of country music while still managing to honor its traditions. "That was a big one for me, man," III says of STH. "Rock kids that don't listen to country understood it. That record really had an impact."Don't look now, but here comes the next one. Damn Right Rebel Proud (Curb, Oct. 21) can be seen as III's life story in 13 songs, and as such it's laced with the withering honesty we've come t...
"It's a long way to the top if you want to Rock 'n Roll." That line from the AC/DC classic, "It's a Long Way to the Top," rings true for many legendary rock and metal bands who have persevered and overcome years of adversity to accomplish world-wide recognition. Writing good music is just one part of being successful. As difficult as that can be, creating and adhering to a sound marketing and business strategy is an equally important component to a musician’s success. Those very different challenges must be accounted for in a musician's vision if they are to have a remote shot of making a living as a songwriter. The clearer the vision, the clearer the pat...
BRANDON CURTIS - vocals, bass, keyboards JOSH GARZA - drums PHIL KARNATS - guitars "The band has always been more than our individual egos; we're no less The Secret Machines now than we've ever been," says singer/bassist/keyboardist Brandon Curtis.When his brother, guitarist/vocalist Ben Curtis, left the band to focus on his band School of Seven Bells in early 2007, Brandon and drummer Josh Garza knew this didn't mean the end. The energy and emotion that The Secret Machines fans responded to over the last decade, and continue to seek, was intact. Rather than pull the plug, they carried on with their towering third album, Secret Machines.Longti...
In late summer 1998 FALL OF SERENITY was born from the remains of CONTRITION. First recordings for FOS were already done in December 1998 at RAPE OF HARMONIES studio in Triptis / Germany. Our buddy Olivé from Geneva/ Switzerland offered us to bring out our material on his small label "x83xrecords" as a vinyl-only release. The record called "Smoldering Doom" was limited to 500 copies, 100 of them grey-marble, and was released in January 2000. Still in 1998 we were back in the RAPE OF HARMONIES studio to recorded for a split 12" (vinyl-only as well) with the guys from HEAVEN SHALL BURN. This record, "THE HEAVEN SHALL BURN / FALL OF SERENITY SPLI...
The Real Tuesday Weld The London Book of the Dead The first thing that strikes you about any album by Stephen Coates (a.k.a. The Real Tuesday Weld) is the fact that every element in his compositions seems to be drawn from sources many decades old. The second thing that strikes you is that his music sounds completely new.For Coates, the breakthrough in his professional journey came in the form of a pair of surreal dreams in which he was visited by the legendary English music hall singer Al Bowlly and the late actress Tuesday Weld. These experiences convinced him to focus on a career in music and eventually led t...
"With every album, I'm trying to figure out what I don't have to say, while still giving each song its due," Dar Williams says. Of her new album, Promised Land, Williams commented, "On this one, I was paring the stories down to their core. I wanted the songs to sound simple and down to what they were meant to be, which is hard to do. It takes a lot of knowledge to get to the point where you can say what you need to say - no more, no less."To peel her insightful, melodic story-songs down to their essence, as well as inject them with the energy and momentum they clearly called for, Williams enlisted Brad Wood, a Grammy-nominated producer and musici...
BITS is album number four for Brooklyn’s Oxford Collapse, but it’s a first for them in many ways. Some of those ways will be immediately apparent to those of you who’ve followed their raucous, boyish exploits since their 2006 Sub Pop debut Remember the Night Parties, or from their earlier efforts. Their charming lack of guile, combined with a capable and focused aim towards the better of the ‘80s college-rock cognoscenti and Trouser Press favorites, has made for music of a mindset that has found its way into backyards and across rooftops all over the city....
Sing It Loud is a proud pop band with an arena-rock musical background and a punk-rock pedigree. "So many pop bands are on ‘pop' record labels, but we're a pop band on the most badass, punk-rock label ever," explains vocalist/guitarist Pat Brown. "It lets us keep a more individual and original vibe because we're not associated with a bunch of bands on the same label that sound exactly like us."On the flipside, the members of Sing It Loud are prepared for punk purists to call foul, but they aren't fazed. "Many old-school, Epitaph punk kids hate our band, but I don't care," admits guitarist/vocalist Kieren Smith. "Honestly, people will ...
Something dark has been brewing in Long Beach, CA for the past several years. Crawling, clawing its way across the country like a vampiric creature, leaving a trail of cult-like followers in its wake. A turbulent, menacing style of music that combines elements of metal, goth-rock, melodic-hardcore and screamo from the scene's most promising band, I Am Ghost. With the impending release of the group's second full length album, Those We Leave Behind, the hardest working band in the scene finds themselves in a dark place, reconnecting with their passion for music through tragic tales of loss and despair.Conceived b...
