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 ...
Most people assume that when a band makes it—that is, reaches a critical mass of listeners, where shows across the country get packed, where the big festivals come calling, where placement on year-end lists seems preemptively settled—the work stops. It’s as if all the hours spent writing and rehearsing, tacking flyers to utility poles or maintaining forever-multiplying social media platforms suddenly switch off as some vaunted rock-star lifestyle switches on. And in some cases, maybe it does; then again, Bear in Heaven’s never been about easy expectations of normalcy. After the release of their second album, 2010’s Beast Rest Forth Mouth, big things began to h...
In a blossoming hip-hop hotbed of talent, Malcolm “Mac Miller” McCormick is next up out of Pittsburgh, PA. A recent graduate of Taylor Allderdice High School, Mac caught the eyes and ears of Rostrum Records, inking a deal in July 2010. A multitalented musician who can play numerous instruments and a young novice of the freestyle/cipher/battle circuit of his hometown, Mac has been paving his way to superstardom in his blue-collar hometown for years.Born in 1992, Mac taught himself t...
Formed in the fall of 2005, Trash Talk hit the ground running. 3 years of relentless touring, 5 releases and 4 vans later, they are still running at the same frantic pace that has established them as one of the hardest working bands today. With live performances deeply rooted in chaos and a track record to match, Trash Talk is a band to be seen as well as heard. Nomadic, outcast and poised to release their 6th chaotic outburst, and first LP, Trash Talk is hungry for more.Forwards ever, backwards never. In a perfect world, those four words would tell you everything you need to know about Sacramento thrash-punk juggernaut Trash Talk. But in a perfect world, these four furious scions of guitar-wrought destruction wouldn't exist. Le...
Of Monsters and Men is an amiable group of day dreamers who craft folkie pop songs. But last year, the normally mild-mannered six pack—who's releasing their EP, Into the Woods, on December 20—transformed into total rock stars after stomping out their competition during Músiktilraunir, a yearly battle of the bands in their native Iceland. "We just kind of…won," recalls co-singer/guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir. "We weren't expecting it at all. So I said, 'Everybody come to my place!'" Beer-swilling friends spilled out of her flat. "I was like, 'Oh fuck, my neighbors aren't liking me right now.'" Those neighbors won't be making noise complain...
The year was 2005. Avra's practice space kept getting robbed and the neighbors were calling the cops because the band was "ruining the quality of life" as one police officer put it. But this was Trenton, NJ. An almost desolate town left in shambles after the collapse of the manufacturing industry. It was perfect. Some people go on pilgrimages to third world countries to find inspiration. In Trenton, third world countries came to us. Influenced by many bands in the post-punk genre including early U2, the Smiths, and Joy Division, Avra has embarked on a musical journey which is leading them to a sound that is all their own. Socially conscious and introspective lyrics combined with guitar-driven, atmospheric so...
Digging deep will let you discover that Sabaton were formed back in -99 in Falun, Sweden and worked hard with demos and small club shows just like any other band. You will also find that an album was recorded in 2002 bearing the name of Metalizer on an independent label in Italy but was never released. What is interesting is not to hear what you already heard from thousands of other bands but to hear the story of a successful band that paid the high price and sacrificed it all for their dreams. So we take a leap in history.In 2004 the band began to be quite angry about their trouble to get an album out on the market but decided to forget about the past and started all over again. A new demo was recorded bearing the title of Panz...
Man Made Lakes is the new album from singer-songwriter Reuben Bullock. A sonically rich and finely-textured recording, Bullock effortlessly connects the dots between such touchstones as Bruce Springsteen, Connor Oberst/Bright Eyes, and Neil Young. The album was recorded by producer Lorrie Matheson (Samantha Savage Smith, Ghostkeeper, Rae Spoon) in a small garage studio in Calgary, mostly as a live band, often in a single take. This comes as no surprise, however, as Bullock's band is comprised of some of the finest musicians around. Multi-instrumentalist Scott Munro (Chad van Gaalen, Ghostkeeper), Distance Bullock (whose background in hardcore bands Bring Fire and the Illustrated does nothing to pre...
Hailing from the San Fernando Valley, HAIM consists of, “Three sisters, and a mister” that has been shaking things up in the city of Los Angeles for the past four years. It is truly a family affair for the band which prides themselves on being able to switch from instrument to instrument with complete confidence and ease, and all while singing in three part harmony.The sisters, Este, Danielle, and Alana, grew up playing classic rock songs with their parents in a family band, called “Rockinhaim,” which played for charity events and street fairs. After years of playing with their parents, the girls decided to strike out on their own, and began writing their own material. Este, the eldest of the thr...
There was a time, in recent history, when you needed to have at least twelve members to even be considered a band in Canada. It was nearly impossible to tour if you didn’t have access to some kind of personnel carrier, and making a record involved several years of tambourine overdubs. You know there were kids out there who just wanted to get in a van and play loud as hell through an Ampeg stack or a four-piece drum kit, but how could you call it a band if you didn’t even know a French horn player? By 2008, band membership had reached a critical mass. You’d go to a show and you might be the only person in the room who wasn’t playing an instrument. Hard times.Thankfully, there are always a few naturally res...
Led by former Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum, the alternative pop band Imperial Teen emerged from San Francisco in 1994. Co-founded with drummer Lynn Perko, a veteran of Bay Area groups like the Dicks and Sister Double Happiness, the lineup was completed by former Wrecks bassist Jone Stebbings and vocalist Will Schwartz. Debuting in 1996 with the critical favorite Seasick, Imperial Teen resurfaced in early 1999 with What Is Not to Love, a minor hit due to the success of the sultry "Yoo Hoo." A tour with Hole followed, but the majority of their live shows were done on a headlining club tour. On was the next release, their first for Merge Records and another fine example of their coy boy/girl pop. A live album was also re...
The Buster Bledsoe Band has been burning up the highways around Eastern New Mexico, Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle as well as the Texas Panhandle and Central Texas since early 2007. The band is made up of lead singer and acoustic guitar player Buster Bledsoe, drummer Israel Lupercio, bass player Kenny Rickwartz, lead guitar Chris Adame and sound guy and flashlight engineer Shawn T. White. The members of this band have very different and unique backgrounds, and when they come together, they put on an awesome live show with music that will scoot you around any size dance floor! Being voted Best of Amarillo Local Country Band in 2010, these guys have shared the stage with some of the top Texas Country Music artists around including Tommy Ga...
Sometime in the spring of 2012 the musicians that would go on to form the Chicago & Minneapolis based trio ON AN ON found themselves at a tipping point. The three of them—Nate Eiesland, Alissa Ricci, and Ryne Estwing—had played music with one another in various capacities for the better part of a decade. Most recently, they had shared the stage and studio as three fifths of the indie-pop outfit Scattered Trees, which had seen its fair share of success. But with the band’s studio time only a few weeks away and the other members now spread out across the country pursuing other endeavors, they would chart their own course and come out stronger for it. What emerged was ON AN ON.For ON AN ON...
Pushing the boundaries and safety net of today's genre of hard rock and metal, Brent Sutton takes a no holds barred approach with the release of his debut solo EP, 'Inception'. The style and attitude of the record is melodically dark, ebullient, moving and almost cinematic with lustrous blazing guitars, passionate vocals and an imagery-designed structure that will take you on a ride! The record features musicians that Sutton handpicked to embellish the record, including Rafe Sweet (Bionic Jive/Dying Tribe), Brandon Kruszeniak (ColdFusion), Danny Saba and others. Brent Sutton (born May 26, 1987) is an American musician from Arizona. Brent Sutton was raised in the small town of Williams, Arizona. Brent picked up the drums at age 9 a...
There are metal bands and then there is Lamb of God.A new breed of modern American metal was erected in the 2000s, with Lamb of God serving as an architect, designing the blueprint that would become the standard by which bands that came after them would be judged. So often, the European metal scene has set the tone and established the creative high watermark of the global metal scene, providingthe template that their American brethren would follow. Then Lamb of God came along and all bets were off.It was Lamb of God who rewrote the rules, devised a new playbook and raised the standard. The genre was forever and irrefutably changed by what the band has done.By the mid-00s, there was a full metal Rena...
One of the most notable and successful ska-punk bands of all time, Sublime has sold over 17 million albums worldwide. The group's success stems from their multi-platinum landmark debut album 40oz. To Freedom, the lo-fi follow up Robbin' The Hood and the multi-platinum self-titled major label debut (a virtual greatest hits set in itself) all widely regarded as music collection staples. The founding members of Sublime, drummer Bud Gaugh and bass player Eric Wilson, along with new frontman singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez, make up Sublime With Rome. They recently completed their first new original work, Yours...
Tomahawk are an experimental/metal/alternative rock band from the United States.The band formed in 2000 when Fantômas, ex- Mr. Bungle and ex-Faith No Moresinger Mike Patton and ex-The Jesus Lizard guitar player ...
When the then 21-year old Mac DeMarco released his debut Rock and Roll Night Club 12″ just a short while ago in the Spring of 2012, it was accompanied by a barrage of bizarrely funny promo videos, wildly unhinged live performances and a not-so-subtle disparate range of promo photos. The glam facade was purely that, an image that was manufactured for fun to confuse the stiff and compartmentalizing world of indie music journalists. But it wasn’t all a jest, as that EP covered a whole range of music styles that were latent in the ex-Makeout Videotape frontman’s already impressive slough of cassette-only releases. The sincere and warm Mac who sang “Only You” was the same lipstick-wearing sleazoid that crooned ...
The very best type of pop music is the kind that mixes sweetness and light with dissonance and darkness, the sort which injects a perfectly addictive harmony with something sadder, stranger. Think of the gloomy melodrama of “Tell Laura I Love Her”, which kickstarted the “teenage tragedy song” craze in the 60’s, the bleak farewell of “Seasons In the Sun” in the 70’s, even The Smiths’ “Girlfriend in a Coma” in the 80’s – all meltingly beautiful melodies with something considerably darker lurking at its heart; the black cloud on a summer’s day, the bruise on a perfect face. It is a long and storied lineage, and one which London four-piece Veronica Falls ar...
Alex Larson, the charismatic frontman, guitarist and driving creative force behind Twin Cities based rockers Crankshaft and the Gear Grinders, asks a simple question of his rapidly expanding fan base in the first breath of the hard rumbling jam "When The Sun Goes Down"-the opening track of their latest fulllength album. Starting with the album title, he sings, "What You Gonna Do when the well runs dry?" Tongue firmly in cheek, Larson calls this "our apocalyptic song," but it's really about the way a person's mettle is tested under tough circumstances, like the difficult economy of the past few years. A true 21st century twist on American roots music, the high-energy 12 track set answers that question-and offers...
Kevin Kennedy, fresh off a national arena tour with Neverending White Lights opening for Our Lady Peace, decides to start a new project. Matt Weston, a longtime friend, drummer, and studio engineer is called in to help produce and most likely play drums on the project. The project hits a snag, or what was thought to be a snag, while auditioning bass players. The right mix of feel, ability, and reliability was not found. As an experiment on the first song, Weston hooks up his Roland Octapad to a bass amp and programs the root notes for the chords. A period of relearning how to play the drums while also playing the bass ensues and the rest is history!The Dyadics are formed and rehearse a full album's worth of ...
WORLD RENOWNED COMPOSER AND WOODWINDMASTER YOCHANAN SEBASTIAN WINSTON BRINGS A SOUL-STIRRING BLEND OF JAZZ, NEW AGE, CLASSICAL AND JEWISH MUSIC TO HIS DEEPLY SPIRITUAL EXPLORATION ‘THE KABBALAH SUITE’In recent years, the attraction of celebrities like Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Madonna, Britney Spears and Gwyneth Paltrow to Kabbalah has brought the wisdom and practice of its ancient Jewish esoteric teachings into the limelight. But few musicians have explored it as deeply and expressed it as passionately as internationally acclaimed composer and woodwind virtuoso Dr. Yochanan Sebastian Winston, who has long been a vital and active force on the contemporary Jewish music scene. Created in...
Forged by a passion for the gorgeously strange alchemy of electronic music and shimmering pop, FutureKind has carved a unique path through the blistering desert since the mid 2000s. The Phoenix-based band's lush layered sound recalls the glory days of trip-hop while simultaneously stretching the outer limits of contemporary esoteric dream pop. Even though they favor a complex and rich amalgam of styles, FutureKind's music is without pretense and always approachable....
Pushing the boundaries and safety net of today's genre of hard rock and metal, Brent Sutton takes a no holds barred approach with the release of his debut solo EP, 'Inception'. The style and attitude of the record is melodically dark, ebullient, moving and almost cinematic with lustrous blazing guitars, passionate vocals and an imagery-designed structure that will take you on a ride! The record features musicians that Sutton handpicked to embellish the record, including Rafe Sweet (Bionic Jive/Dying Tribe), Brandon Kruszeniak (ColdFusion), Danny Saba and others. Brent Sutton (born May 26, 1987) is an American musician from Arizona. Brent Sutton was raised in the small town of Williams, Arizona. Brent picked up the drums at age 9 a...
Born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, 24-year-old Chaz Bundick (aka Toro Y Moi) has been toying with various musical projects since early adolescence. Having spent his formative years playing in punk and indie rock acts, the protean Toro Y Moi project has been his vessel for further musical exploration since 2001. In his latter years studying graphic design at the University of South Carolina, Chaz became increasingly focused on his solo work, incorporating electronics and allowing a wider range of influences—French house, Brian Wilson’s pop, 80s R&B, and Stones Throw hip-hop—to show up in his music. By the time he graduate...
Glasgow is an outlet project which started about a year ago through notes and scrambled, random letters. The writing began to take form around October 2011 when the musical accompaniment started flowing with the words. Thanks in part to Chase Francis, Glasgow was able to produce the backbone of the future four song EP through emailed attachments of guitar riffs and percussion. Chelsey Henson and Jesse Brown bought into Glasgow around March 2012. Jesse's style of drumming meshed really well with the spacious guitar riffs and that Chelsey's glockenspiel/synth combo added a lot of depth to the sound. By May 5th Phil Secrest joined in to pla...
Formed in Brooklyn, NY in 2007, indie rockers The Clox possess a unique credibility that has the potential to bridge the gap between indie rock, alternative rock, and pop. With a starkness and euro flair that is rarely heard amongst most American indie bands, The Clox are bringing something new to the scene that has as much brooding as it does catchy rhythm....
