When first we met Wallpaper. in 2005, the project was Eric Frederic’s way of making earnest, artful music while satirizing the lack of genuine sentiment in mainstream pop. Then, the music was composed on computers and the lyrics were delivered strictly in Auto-Tune (almostunheard of at the time), further emphasizing the sterility of hackneyed song themes.In the four years since, as Wallpaper.’s become a genuine phenomenon via three well-loved EPs and an unforgettable live show, Auto-Tune has fittingly become one of the most widespread and maligned facets of modern radio. The music of Doodoo Face is a significant step forward for Wallpaper. As established by his recent “live-band remixes” for Passion...
Mississippi-based singer/songwriter and ukulele aficionado Dent May crafts elegant and whimsical pop tunes in the vein of Jens Lekman and Magnetic Fields, with a dash of Serge Gainsbourg and Jonathan Richman thrown in for good measure. In 2008 May inked a deal with the Animal Collective-founded Paw Tracks imprint, culminating in the release of The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele the following year. May soon turned to creating dance music under the name Dent Sweat, releasing a couple of synth-filled, R&B-inspired songs to the internet. His next album, 2012's Do Things, incorporated some of these elements into his sound, which was now completely devoid of ukulele. Dent May recorded "Fun" ...
Rapper Chief Keef was a hit on Chicago's high-school circuit before mixtapes and viral videos led to a contract with Interscope. Keef first hit with 2011's "Bang," an instant hit with the youth of his hometown's South Side. The mixtapes The Glory Road and Bang were both released that year by Keef's label, Glory Boyz, but at the end of 2011, the rapper was arrested for unlawful use of a weapon. In early 2012, Keef was finishing his sentence of house arrest as his track "I Don't Like" was topping a million views on video-sharing sites. It caught the attention of Kanye West, who completed a remix of the track with Big Sean, Pusha T, and Jadakiss all added to the mix. His debut LP Finally Rich was released in December 2012....
White Arrows may never divulge the source of their strange magic, but it's hard not to picture a mystic dance floor hidden in the midst of a tropical rainforest. The Los Angeles band stands at these balmy crossroads like a vision from an alternate reality: classic without leaning on nostalgia, visionary but not unfamiliar. What should be a collision of sounds and styles-ritualistic rhythm and four-four thump, synth sequences and strummed guitars, garage-y grind and airy atmosphere-is, in this quintet's capable hands, a fluidly seething whole. Call it Psychotropical pop, something both busy and breezy. Call it Paul Simon in space (others have). Call it what you will. This is White Arrows.The White Arrows story begins with a bl...
In a dark kitchen in the middle of a sweaty night in Las Vegas, all 6’4” of Dan Reynolds is hunched over a laptop, slapping beats on the table and crooning lyrics into a tiny microphone. Before long, he and the other three members of indie rock band Imagine Dragons would be playing “It’s Time,” that same laptop-demo-turned-supersized-anthem, from the roof of a parking garage to a wave of thousands of screaming fans. This song title to the single from their 2012 debut KidInaKorner/Interscope release “Continued Silence EP” is an all too apt descriptor of the band’s hard-earned success—but it’s also emblematic of the deep-seated anxiety Reynolds and the rest of the band experienced le...
WALK THE MOON Nicholas Petricca (vocals, keyboards) / Kevin Ray (bass, vocals) / Eli Maiman (guitar, vocals) / Sean Waugaman (drums, vocals) This past June, Seattle news and culture blog Seattlest.com posted a review of a show by Walk The Moon. It read like this: “Walk The Moon hit the stage with so much energy that the crowd immediately pushed forward and started dancing. It's refreshing to see a band that's having as much, or more, fun than the people there to see them. They took us back to the days of basement dance parties on hot summer nights, where everyone's just happy to be alive and among friends.” That review pretty much sums up this young...
For many bands, making music is all about the routine of recording an annual album, or being able to tour in progressively bigger venues. Not Matt and Kim. "Our goal is to make music we want to hear," says Matt Johnson, who co-founded the band with Kim Schifino. "When it comes time to make a new album, I'm just so excited, since I know we have all these ideas and I just want to get them out there." As for the band's extra-emphatic live shows, which these days happen in large venues, he explains, "We've always just really enjoyed playing music, and things have kept growing." Matt and Kim's enthusiasm comes across loud and clear on the band's new album, ...
Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987 in Minot North Dakota) better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa is an American rapper based in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania signed to Rostrum Records in 2005, he released his first official mixtape Prince of the City: Welcome to the gun Vania and later in 2006 he released his first album along the street entitled Show and prove he has since released six more mixtapes and a collaboration mixtape entitled The Fly friend Curren $ y, he released his debut album, Deal or No Deal in November 2009: reached # 1 on the iTunes hip Hop chart, and then reached the top ten on the iTunes overall album chart this week...
This is the semi-factual promotional biography for the semi-professional rock & roll band Japandroids. It was written in 2012 by Brian King at the behest of Polyvinyl Record Co., and describes in detail all matters of concern with respect to Japandroids' 2nd album Celebration Rock. It is the second semi-factual promotional biography written by Brian King at the behest of Polyvinyl, the first describing in detail all matters of concern with respect to Japandroids' 1st album Post-Nothing. For convenience sake, the aforementioned document has been distilled into two concise paragraphs as to negate redundancy as much as possible, while at the same time provide the necessary context by which to appreciate the existence of Celebration Rock, i...
Atlanta-based sludge/stoner/alternative metal outfit Mastodon formed in 1999 around the talents of guitarist Bill Kelliher, drummer Bränn Dailor, bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, and guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds. One of the more notable New Wave of American Heavy Metal acts, a genre spawned in the mid-'90s by bands like Pantera, Biohazard, and Machine Head, Mastodon's innovative, lyrically astute blend of progressive metal, grindcore, and hardcore helped position the band as one of the preeminent metal acts of the early 21st century.Formed out of a mutual admiration for the Melvins, Black Sabbath, Neurosis, and Thin Lizzy, Mastodon signed with Relapse Records (Today Is the Day, the Dillinger Escape Plan, Coalesce, Bur...
Kurt Vile has a way of tying time in knots. You can hear it on his new album Smoke Ring For My Halo from the get-go - the pinwheeling guitars and reaching atmospheres of ‘Baby's Arms' are as strange as they are familiar: a demonstration of how Kurt can put worn methods and sounds through himself and end up with something that isn't emotionally or sonically obvious. Instead we're left with a record that contains traces of the past but doesn't waste precious time in the now being reverent.Once compared to Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty, Psychic TV, and Animal Collective in the same review (for 2009's Childish Prodigy), Kurt can bring to mind anything from Suicide to Leo Kottke to My Bloody Valentine, Bob Seger, Nick D...
These are anxious times. From unemployment and embattled governments to mysterious mass deaths of birds and fish, it's easy to wonder if 2012's apocalypse won't come a year early. It's heady fare for an indie rock record, but somehow the dense soundscapes from New York City's Hooray for Earth's True Loves find a way to float on thin air. "The record is really aggressive sounding, but soft in attitude," band leader Noel Heroux says. "It's a friendly record. I get more emotionally affected by extremes. I've really grabbed onto the positive, uplifting feelings in music that get me super psyched—but that can also come from sounds that are daunting and a little scary." Coming out May 3, 2011, on Dovecote Rec...
“Ms. Garbus has a ferocious voice, somewhere between Aretha Franklin and Yoko Ono. At times it’s a roar, and at times it’s coy, but her ability to modulate it show off a rhythmic and artistic intelligence that echoes Bjork, and even to a degree M.I.A.” - New York TimesThe brainchild of Merrill Garbus, tUnE-yArDs began life as dictaphone recordings which were then painstakingly mixed down on GarageBand to create the opening gambit, her debut album BiRd-BrAiNs. Initially released on a limited LP run through Marriage records with screenprinted sleeves recycled from thrift store bargain bins, it wasn't long until others took notice and she soon signed a worldwide deal with 4AD. The album was formally released...
Azealia Banks is a 20-year-old lyricist from Harlem, NYC. Since her first steps as a child in off-broadway theatre productions to her training at La Guardia High School of Performing Arts -a breeding ground for stars - she’s been steadily perfecting her craft and making a name for herself. Her very first recording “Seventeen” placed her on the radar of many record labels right away. Word about Miss Banks kept spreading online and in the streets until she caught the eye of several record labels and tastemakers. Classically trained in the Performing Arts, Banks is a truly versatile artist, as showcased on tracks like the infectious Fader co- signed “L8R” and...
Hailing from the greater Athens-Atlanta-Asheville area, Reptar has been playing music ever since recorded history, but playing shows as Reptar since December 2008. Since then, the fast rising fabulous four has created quite a sensation around the Southeast. It all started with their debut 7″ recorded with producer Ben Allen (Sean P. Diddy Combs, Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, and Matt & Kim). In 2011 they toured with Foster The People, Phantogram, Grouplove, and played at both Lollapollza and ACL.Reptar likes to first and foremost make people dance, and have been likened to The Talking Heads, Animal Collective, Prince, Marky Mark, Lake, Air, and the Jackson 5. The band is made up of Andrew McFarland, a Brazilian...
Field Mouse is a four-piece dream pop band from Brooklyn, NY. Seamlessly interweaving influences from shoegaze, indie, and power pop, Field Mouse offers lush sonic textures and expansive soundscapes to complement the airy, wistful vocals of singer/guitarist Rachel Browne. Through complex and delicate harmonies, the songwriting of Browne and guitarist Andrew Futral breathes new life into common themes of lost love and renewal. The band has been honing its sound since the release of its 2010 debut, You Are Here, and has solidified its lineup with the recent addition of bassist Allison Weiss and drummer Geoff Lewit. Their latest single, “You Guys are Gonna Wake Up My Mom,” finds the...
Battles is comprised of drummer John Stanier of Helmet and Tomahawk, guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams of Don Caballero and Storm & Stress, guitarist David Konopka of Lynx. All members bring their honed-in musical skills of past glory to Battles. The Tras and EP C EPs were both released in June 2004 on Cold Sweat and Monitor respectively. The B EP followed on Dim Mak in September 2004. The Atlas EP followed in early 2007, followed in turn by the band's proper full-length debut, Mirrored, in May 2007....
In the life of Nathan Williams, the year of 2009 will go down as both a highlight reel and a total shit show. Meteorically, feverishly and somewhat improbably, two albums worth of naïve punk rock he recorded behind his parents’ San Diego home as Wavves became a sensation in the world of indie music. As a result, passports got filled, capers got pulled off and lots of good things got said about the mus...
The Stepkids are futuristic electro soul recorded on a reel-to-reel; soaring harmonies sung by three singer/songwriters; Kandinsky-esque visuals that make for enigmatic live performances. The Stepkids are three singer/songwriters. “A lot of what excites us about this band is this band itself,” says bassist and keyboardist Dan Edinberg. “It’s not either of us; it’s about creating an entity where the entity itself is what’s important.” As a result, every song on the Stepkids self-titled debut album is written with equal input from each member. There's no singular icon, no singular sound, and no singular way of making it happen for the Stepkids. It's psychedelia for the 21st century, where ...
Natassia Zolot (born September 24, 1989), better known by her stage name Kreayshawn, is an American hip hop singer-songwriter. Zolot was born in San Francisco and grew up in Oakland. She is the daughter of Elka Zolot, former member of the San Francisco Garage-Punk band The Trashwomen. After dropping out of high school she attended The Berkeley Digital Film Institute on scholarship.Kreayshawn is queen of the hip-hop “based” movement. Kreayshawn has also acted as director for fellow East Bay rapper Lil B’s videos. Kreayshawn additionally performs as part of the White Girl Mob, consisting of herself, fellow vocalist V-Nasty, and DJ Lil’ Debbie.She has re...
Tyler Okonma, aka Tyler, the Creator, was born 6 March 1991, is an American rapper and record producer, he is the leader of Los Angeles, CA hip hop crew OFWGKTA (Odd Future Wolfgang Kill Them All), he knocked on and produced for virtually every OFWGKTA releases.He released his debut solo album "Bastard" in 2009 after signing XL Recordings. His new album "Goblin", released May 10, 2011 and quickly shot to the top 5 of iTunes and according to Billboard, sold 45,000-50,000 copies the first week. At their most recent LA show at House of Blues, Tyler broke his foot during the performance yet finished the show. ...
Stellar Young (formerly The City Never Sleeps) is based out of Albany, NY. Originally from the Hudson Valley area, these five guys—ironically, all with four-letter names— have already shared the stage with the likes of Paramore, Badfish, Weerd Science, and The Features. Guerilla Magazine called Stellar Young a “refreshingly hard-to-categorize rock outfit…unsigned, relatively new on the music scene...
In 1993, a teenage visionary named El-P (born the son of a jazz piano player and raised Jaime Meline in New York City) put out his first piece of vinyl under the name COMPANY FLOW. What followed was a sound, perspective and philosophy destined to change independent hip hop music forever... He would learn the fundamental studio skills he knew he needed, and set himself on a path that he would never turn back from. At his 18th Birthday party he first met DJ Mr Len, whom he hired to spin for the night. They struck a harmonious musical chord and Mr Len Joined up to make it a group. Shortly after they released the first Company Flow 12", "Juvenile Technics" on the short live Libra records. The relationship between Co Flow and L...
Perfume Genius is Mike Hadreas, a Seattle songwriter whose jarring 2010 debut album, Learning, was called “an album of rare, redemptive beauty…one of the most uniquely endearing and quietly forceful debut albums of recent years” by Drowned In Sound, and established him as one of the most singular songwriters today. An openly gay man, the 16 second promotional video for his second album, featuring Hadreas and pornographic actor Arpad Miklos embracing each other wearing only underwear, was deemed unsafe for family viewing and bannded by YouTube.The bulk of Learning sprung from a time of self-imposed isolation in his mother’s suburban home following a period of trauma and self-destruction. The album was act...
After years of recording in relative seclusion in the hills of Los Angeles, Ariel Pink made his official Paw Tracks debut with The Doldrums. Recording at home with a guitar, bass, keyboard, and 8-track (the drum sounds are all unbelievably created with his mouth), Ariel Pink blends Lite FM and warped lo-fi pop into something beautiful and confusing, yet highly addictive. His latest record, Before Today, was picked by some blogs as record of the year for 2010.Ariel Pink blends Lite FM and warped lo-fi pop into something by turns beautiful and confusing. Some may find his personal yet detached approach highly addictive, while others may be instantly turned off by the obvious lo-fi production and the vocal drumtracks.In t...
Michael Angelakos - vocals, keyboardsIan Hultquist - keyboards, guitarAyad Al Adhamy - synthesizers, samplersJeff Apruzzese - bass, synthesizersNathan Donmoyer - drumsMichael Angelakos hears music in his head and knows exactly how he wants it to sound. The young composer/performer has already created two studio masterpieces -- Manners and Chunk of Change -- and -- with his fellow musicians in Passion Pit -- is taking his perfectionist pop vision to a whole new level in concert.Soulful, memorable, danceable, earnest and unabashedly pop, the music Michael Angelakos deliver...
Michael Render, better known by his stage name Killer Mike (born April 20, 1975) is an American rapper, signed to Grind Time Official through the SMC/Fontana Distribution. He made his debut appearance on “Snappin’ and Trappin’” on OutKast’s 2000 LP Stankonia, and also appeared on the Grammy-winning song, “The Whole World”, the single from OutKast’s greatest hits album Big Boi and Dre Present…OutKast. He was featured in the movies 20 Funerals, Idlewild, and ATL.Killer Mike released his debut album, Monster, in 2003. The album’s lead single was “Akshon (Yeah!)”, it featured OutKast on guest vocals, and was included on the soundtrack to the 2004 version of EA ...
Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA), a ten-member cult rap collective from L.A., bring to mind a younger, crazier Wu-Tang Clan -- if the Clan had skateboarded and rhymed about drugs and gore instead of chess and kung-fu. Ranging from the ages of 16 to 20, core members Tyler, the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, Mike G, Left Brain, and Hodgy Beats started making music along with collaborators Taco, Matt Martians, Domo Genesis, Syd, and Jasper the Dolphin in 2007. The crew’s crude sense of humor and confrontational subject matter earned them a huge underground following, and put them on “top artists to watch” lists. Throughout 2010, Tyler, Earl, Mike G, and MellowHype (Hodgy and Left Brain) released m...
The focal point of Yellow Ostrich's magnificent debut The Mistress is Alex Schaaf's tender, pleading voice. It's reedy and childlike, and on The Mistress it gets looped and layered, stretched, manipulated; it's stacked up several high and, most often, it's used as an instrument, fleshing out the empty spaces in his bare, searching songs. Aside from a pulsing bass guitar, it's the only sound on "Hold On," a kaleidoscope of "ohs" spiraling around Schaaf's heartbroken opening: "Now that we've started, it's sad to see it end." That's fitting: Schaaf is a secretary of the interior, and The Mistress, his stunning, fully-realized debut as Yellow Ostrich, is as personal a ...
In an era of industry-obsessed MCs, interchangeable hashtag raps, and “viral” everything, it has become increasingly difficult to find a true original in the rap game. Yet ask anyone who’s been paying attention and they’ll tell you: Danny Brown is that dude. In 2011 the Motor City MC teamed up with Fool's Gold Records and released XXX, a tour-de-force concept record about hedonism, growing up, and Detroit, which took listeners on a profane and psychedelic journey through his own uncensored id. After a year of universal critical acclaim - from Spin naming XXX Rap Album Of The Year to Danny covering the Metro Times and Real Detroit in the same week as their Artist Of The Year - Danny continues to spread his irreverent ...
