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Welcome to another edition of Unsigned and Wound Up, volume 10 ladies and gents. The top three vote-getters will receive a professional review from a staff writer. The top vote-getter receives an interview feature.
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Very few can deny the 90’s yielded some of the best hip-hop trios and quartets ever. The East Coast definitely repped during the era but the West equally held it down (including Vancouver and the Pacific NW) with groups like Juno-winning, platinum-selling Swollen Members (including Prevail, Mad Child and Rob The Viking) immediately coming to mind. Weathering the storm of drug addiction, dark periods and legal issues remaining together, the group released their tenth album, Beautiful Death Machine in March. Collaborating over the years with respected heavy-hitters like Everlast, Talib Kweli, Tech N9ne, La Coka Nostra, Dilated Peoples and Saigon, they’ve cemented their places in indie hip-hop history.

I caught up with Prevail a few weeks ago to chat about the storied Swollen Members’ legacy, his solo lifestyle site venture, touring plans and crazy fan experiences potentially involving fangs. Peep the videos and check out our interview clips below! Connect with Prevail on Twitter and Facebook !

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Cold War Kids shared a special moment with a sold-out crowd at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio April 9.It’s not a band, which interacts much with the audience. But the crowd was prepared to be wowed by their heroes. And the fans were rewarded for their devotion. Cold War Kids rock hard. “Mexican Dogs,” the second song, was where the they started to cut loose.

Nathan Willett put on a good show whether he was singing vocals sans instrument, playing guitar, sitting at the piano or shaking the maracas. The new album, Dear Miss Lonelyhearts, was well represented in the set, which took a little more than an hour. Among the new songs, “Miracle Mile” was the biggest hit with the crowd. The band was entertaining throughout the night, moving about the stage effortlessly. Read more

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Founders Entertainment is thrilled to announce the lineup for the 2013 Governors Ball Music Festival. The 3rd annual edition of New York City’s marquee live music event is expanding to three days of Music, Art, and Entertainment. Held Friday June 7th through Sunday June 9th in Randall’s Island Park, the festival will feature over 60 world class performers, showcasing a wide spectrum of Dance, Indie Rock, Hip Hop, Americana, Electronica and Pop all weekend long. Only 1 day tickets are left available for purchase, the 3 day general admission have already sold out.

But now you can now enter to win a pair of general admission tickets to Governor’s Ball Fest! It’s a Facebook contest, don’t wait enter here now!

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Tilly’s is sending 5 winners to this summer’s Vans Warped Tour! Fill it out now, don’t wait–enter here now!

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As a kid on the 70’s/80’s cusp, classic rock played an integral part of my childhood. Artists like Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Free rattled from our car’s speakers crisscrossing the country on frequent road trips and their songs remain imprinted on my cerebellum permanently. Nerdily scoping the regular late night show music schedule in Los Angeles (like I am prone to do) to see who’d be coming soon, I stumbled upon Rival Sons playing Jimmy Kimmel and gravitated to their latest album Head Down along with their previous one, Pressure and Time with songs like pointed “Burn Down Los Angeles” and sorrowful “Jordan” that now stay on repeat automatically. They took me right back to my favorite period of time blending modern and classic folk, rock, blues and funk, making me want to dance immediately. Live clips of these Long Beach, CA natives (who’ve opened for AC/DC, Judas Priest and Alice Cooper) playing live sealed the deal that this band was f-in dope.

I chatted with Rival Sons’ frontman and lead singer Jay Buchanan right before he left for their latest European tour about “standing on the shoulders of giants”, the band’s secret name for him, working with noted producer Dave Cobb, his love of books and hidden wealth of knowledge that could possibly keep us alive on a stranded island and more. Check out the videos and interview clips below!

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Black Sabbath annouces June 11th release of album “13″ and first set of North American tour dates

13 MARCH 2013 (Toronto, ON) – BLACK SABBATH today announce June 11 as the release date for their upcoming album, 13, through Vertigo/Republic/Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company. As the countdown to release continues, the second Jack Osbourne-directed clip of the rock legends at work on their album can now be seen at blacksabbath.com.  13 was recorded primarily in Los Angeles and features the original BLACK SABBATH–OZZY OSBOURNE (vocals), TONY IOMMI (guitar) and GEEZER BUTLER (bass)–who were joined at the sessions by drummer Brad Wilk (Rage Against The Machine).  The album is produced by Rick Rubin (seven-time Grammy winner, two of those as Producer of the Year) and marks the Grammy-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees’ first studio album together since 1978’s Never Say Die!. They have sold over 70 million albums together.

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Once upon a time, Indie legend Aesop Rock joined El-P’s label Definitive Jux and proceeded to drop five of the greatest albums of the 00’s (which sound even better revisited now), even getting mainstream attention being called one of the top 100 Artists of the Decade by Rolling Stone. Since the beginning, he’s continued to keep us guessing. Just when we think we have this instrumental scorer, superior lyricist and visual artist pegged, he will announce a brilliant left field project that shows his versatility and blows preconceptions to pieces yet again. Case in point, his latest collaboration forms a new duo called The Uncluded with Kimya Dawson and will drop their first project on May 7th, Hokey Fright.

During a break on the road for his latest tour, he took the time to answer some of my weird questions below. Peep his answers and videos below and follow Aesop Rock on Twitter and Facebook for more info on his new project. Catch him live next at the Coachella Music Festival in April!

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Interviewing DJ Toure of the Bay Area Hieroglyphics crew a few weeks ago, I luckily connected with another member of the crew, the ringleader, legend and most colorful member, Del Tha Funkee (or The Funky) Homosapien during a tour stop through Southern California recently. One of the best freestylers in the game, which he proved, making the crowd go nuts during his packed show at the Constellation Room, his albums I Wish My Brother George Was Here and No Need for Alarm were two of the my favorite albums of the 90’s. As a member of futuristic Deltron 3030 and Gorillaz multi-platinum “Clint Eastwood” collaborator, his musical history has been varied and full of influential tracks. Watching his documentary , “The 11th Hour”, before the show, a portrait of a gaming, funny creative genius (peep the scene when he talks about porn) emerges.

Taking the stage that night with A-Plus from the Souls of Mischief, they rocked for 90 minutes before I got to catch up with Del after the show. Check the videos and interview clips below and follow Del on Twitter for more deets on his new album!

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Southern Cali peoples! If you’re still figuring out what to do this Memorial Day Weekend, join me at UCLA’s Intramural Field to see this hype lineup below! Both days will guarantee beautiful weather and a variety of dope music which will make you want to lose “Universal Mind Control”. Am pumped to vibe to R&B, jazz and hip-hop on Day One and then will chill and wind it up to reggae and soca on Day Two.

Check out the videos from a few of the performers you’ll see at the festival below and peep my coverage from last year! To get your tix, click here!

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With Victoria Day having past and summer unofficially starting in Canada, it’s time for the music festival season to kick into high gear. Southern Ontario in particular will be getting louder over the next little while – On Saturday, May 25th, it’s the inaugural CBCMusic.ca Festival, taking place at Echo Beach, Toronto’s sand-covered concert setting on the shores of Lake Ontario. (And yes, it IS named after the famous Martha and the Muffins song!)

The CBCMusic.ca Festival is a celebration of sorts for the just-over-one-year anniversary of their digital music service, and will feature performances by Sloan, Kathleen Edwards, international imports Of Monsters and Men, and topped off by Sam Roberts Band. If you can’t make it, there will be an audio stream available at CBCMusic.ca/Festival.

Two weeks later (June 8th), on the grounds of historic Fort York, it’s indie label Arts & Crafts’ 10-year birthday bash, AKA the Field Trip Music & Arts Festival. Label co-founders Broken Social Scene are reassembling for one night to headline the event, to be supported by Feist, Stars, and Bloc Party among others. If you aren’t too battle-weary following Field Day, the day after is the S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival, where well over 150 bands take over the downtown core of lovely St. Catharines, Ontario for a jam-packed day of rock madness. Better grab a case of energy drinks before you even consult the S.C.E.N.E. schedule!

The granddaddy of multi-venue extravaganzas in Canada is North by Northeast. Besides film screenings, comedians, art installations and a full-blown interactive conference, 2013 will see 1,000 acts play more than 50 stages from June 10-16, including free shows at Yonge-Dundas Square by Social Distortion, The National and Big Boi.

If this isn’t enough “festival-tivity” for you (for now, at least), there’s also Burlington’s Sound of Music, which bills itself as Canada’s largest free music festival. Running June 13-16, they have a harmonious, family-friendly blend of promising up-and-comers (i.e. Lights), as well as veterans like 54-40 who can still rock. There; that ought to keep you kids busy for a bit…

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Giving the Dirty South some love this week, I put on Rehab’s 2012 Gullible Travels and it’s been on repeat since. Blending tongue-in-cheek humor with country, rock and hip-hop to produce a sound their own, Rehab’s weathered several storms internally and with former record labels asking them to unsuccessfully conform to fix in a nice, neat one-genre box since the band formed in 1998. With singles like “Waho by the Hoti” which means “Waffle House by the Hotel”, the platinum-selling “Bartender (Sittin’ At a Bar)” and latest “Whore” , Rehab is as raw and real as they come. Touring with acts like Linkin Park, Kid Rock, Uncle Kracker and Rittz, performing 200-300 shows some years, they’ve worked hard, grinded on the road and now have a loyal fanbase to show for it.

I connected with MC Demun Jones from Rehab right before a tour show in Seattle recently to chat about Rehab’s history, funny tour stories, how digital jukeboxes and word of mouth created a platinum selling single without a label and much more! Peep the interview soundclips and videos below and check Rehab’s website for more info on upcoming tour dates!

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Queens of the Stone Age are playing an intimate show tonight (May 23rd) at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theatre before they head off to Europe, where they’ll run the overseas festival gamut until mid-July. To make this concert extra-special for their home state fans, the band intends to play their new album …Like Clockwork in its entirety, followed by a selection of some of QotSA’s greatest stoner rock hits. Thanks to the good people at NPR Music, we can all experience what’s sure to be a monumental event, as they will be broadcasting the proceedings starting at 10:30PM EST (7:30 PST). All you need to do is click here and…you’re welcome!

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In case you missed the big news, the Chicago-based Riot Fest (And carnival!) announced its first wave of bands recently. An absolutely massive punk, rock, and alternative lineup will descend upon Humboldt Park the weekend of September 13-15. Blink-182 and Fall Out Boy are headlining, along with what can only be described as a smorgasbord of awesomeness.

(Deep breath now)… Violent Femmes, Motörhead, Rancid, AFI, Sublime with Rome, Blondie, Public Enemy, Brand New, FLAG, Guided by Voices, All Time Low, Pierce the Veil, Taking Back Sunday, Rocket from the Crypt, Bad Religion, Atmosphere, The Dismemberment Plan, Dinosaur Jr., X, DeVotchKa, Yellowcard, Screeching Weasel, Pennywise, with more to come!

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One of the best feelings as a music correspondent is stumbling upon an emerging artist with real humble beginnings (not fake Hollywood ones that look good on paper), in her own blues-influenced lane who is ridiculously talented and you see immediately has the potential to break through in a big way. Such a thing happened last year when I came across ZZ Ward, an opening act for a sold-out show I attended at the Troubadour in LA back in March 2012.

Photo courtesy of The Recording Academy

I luckily interviewed her in May/June 2012 , before the release of her debut album, Til The Casket Drops and so much has happened since then. She’s now played her own sold-out shows all over the country, been on shows like Good Morning America, Conan and Jay Leno and her songs have been placed in prominent NBC shows like “The Voice” and ABC shows “Pretty Lil Liars” and “Nashville”. Last week, I walked into a random hotel lobby outside of LA and heard her “Cryin’ Wolf” song featuring Kendrick Lamar playing overhead.

Photo courtesy of The Recording Academy

Getting press access to the Grammy Next event at the Grammy Recording Academy (where I geeked out thinking of who’s walked through those doors) in Los Angeles on Monday, I attended an intimate panel featuring songwriter/manager/screenwriter/producer extraordinaire Evan “Kidd” Bogart, manager/exec Larry Wade and ZZ herself (who I learned, sold her demos out of the back of her truck) discussing career progressions. Evan (who’s working on the upcoming “Spinning Gold” biopic about his father starring Justin Timberlake) spoke about being drawn to ZZ because of her songwriting and her voice and joked about the multiple game plans used when guiding her career early on.

ZZ then talked honestly about what worked and what didn’t, saying “for me it was about that imperfection that was special…what made me different, that we had to have”. The crowd laughed later on when the moderator said “It takes 15 years to be an overnight sensation”. ZZ (who performed “365 Days”, “Put The Gun Down” and “Charlie Ain’t Home”) and Evan later revealed her upcoming plans to hit Jimmy Fallon and Kimmel’s shows soon and touring plans, heading back on the road to play shows like the Sasquatch, Bumbershoot and Firefly festivals over the summer.

Check out the performance videos and my quick interview soundclip with ZZ (along with her new dog, Muddy Waters) and I catching up, below!
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Guess who’s back in town? That’s the final lyric of new song “Better Days” from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – It’s also the lead track off their upcoming, self-titled third album, out July 23rd via Community Music. Give “Better Days” a listen below, and then click here to see if the shaggy-haired Alex Ebert and friends will be coming anywhere near your town. The full, 11-member band will be on tour all this summer, including a few Gentlemen of the Road stopovers with fellow folksters Old Crow Medicine Show and Mumford & Sons.

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When a band that’s been around for 20+ years replaces its frontman with a singer from an active group (who are apparently working on a new album of their own), is it considered a supergroup, a simple lineup change, or something completely new? That’s no doubt what Stone Temple Pilots fans are asking themselves after the events of this past weekend. STP made surprise appearances at two California festivals, KROQ’s Weenie Roast and Live 105’s BFD, where they debuted new member Chester Bennington of Linkin Park.

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Listening to artist Beach’s new track In Us We Trust , I immediately loved the hype dance and frenetic energy of the song. Hooked by the 80’s alt electro-pop and modern day EDM influences, I had to hear more. Collaborating with Billie Jo (who goes by Alligator) to form Beach, Beach’s new album, In Us We Trust drops on July 16th and has garnered attention from outlets like Vibe Magazine already. Insistently picking up the violin at just four years old, her career has taken several interesting paths, leading her to form her own label, Short Story Records, in 2008. She’s toured with The Indigo Girls and Ani DiFranco and produced albums for Canadian folk legend, Ferron.

I chatted with Beach (formerly Bitch) before her last residency date in Los Angeles at Genghis Cohen and had a lively discussion about Debbie Gibson, her label, her controversial artist name, her new music, her Shortbus film and more. Check out the video and soundclips below! To pre-order In Us We Trust, click here . Follow Beach/Bitch on Twitter and like her on Facebook !

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Damn.

I just heard my all-time favorite song by The Doors the other day on my local classic rock station, and was just thinking about how I need to introduce my piano-playing daughter to their timeless rock, especially as it pertains to keyboardist Ray Manzarek‘s contributions. Jim Morrison of course received the bulk of the glory, but Manzarek was a big reason why The Doors were such a unique band from 1965 to 1973, and one of the leaders of the psychedelic era. They eschewed a traditional bass guitarist, relying on Manzarek’s talents on the organ to drive the rhythm section along with drummer John Densmore and axeman Robby Krieger.

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