Mama’s Broke, Allison de Groot + Tatiana Hargreaves
Mama’s Broke have spent the past eight years in a near-constant state of transience, pounding the transatlantic tour trail. They’ve brought their dark, fiery folk-without-borders sound to major festivals and DIY punk houses alike, absorbing traditions from their maritime home in Eastern Canada all the way to Ireland and Indonesia. Nowhere is the duo’s art-in-motion approach more apparent than on their long-awaited sophomore record Narrow Line (May 13, 2022 on Free Dirt Records); it’s the sound of nowhere in particular, yet woven with a rich synthesis of influences that knows no borders. It earned them a JUNO nomination for Traditional Roots Album of the Year 2022. The eleven songs on Narrow Line burrow deeply, with close harmony duets, commanding vocals, and poignant contemplations on cycles of life, including birth and death. Tinges of Americana stand side-by-side with the ghosts of Eastern European fiddle tunes and ancient a cappella ballad singing, melding into an unusually accessible dark-folk sound. A careful listen of Narrow Line invokes an ephemeral sense of place—whether real or imagined—inviting us to take comfort in the infinite possibilities of life, whether or not we ever choose to settle down. For a group defined by constant touring, it’s not surprising that the two artists that make up Mama’s Broke, Lisa Maria and Amy Lou Keeler, met on the road. As Lisa remembers it, “Amy was driving her old Mercedes from Montreal to Nova Scotia and I was looking for a ride. We spent the 17 hours in the car talking almost exclusively about music. By the time we reached Halifax we started playing together, and within a week or two became a band.” Both coming out of traveling communities that are focused on music and protest, the two owe the way in which they move through the world to the integrated and self-sustaining nature of DIY culture and activism. It was a busy life that took them on a roundabout annual touring schedule running between Canada, the United States, Ireland, the UK, and Europe. In each country, they built grassroots DIY communities to support their music or moved along the pathways of communal organizing that sustained other touring artists. The driving force behind this band is – and has always been – the commitment to challenge borders between people, places, and traditions; while encouraging freedom of expression and community through music. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
The Frozen Charlottes, carcrashpoolparty, The Flowers of Beltane, Solar Illusion
The Frozen Charlottes are a four piece riot grrrl/emo/grunge band based in Moore County, NC. Their debut single and IG with performance videos can be found here: Spotify | Instagram Flowers of Beltane are a psychedelic grunge band from New Orleans. Their debut album can be found here: Spotify Car Crash Pool Party is an emo jazz collective led by Lucy Lopez. Their latest EP can be found here: Spotify Solar Illusion is a pop rock group based in Sanford, NC. They’ve recently returned from a 2-year hiatus. Their latest single can be found here: Spotify
The Cactus Blossoms
“Hey baby, do you wanna take a trip with me? / I’ve got a feeling there might be a silver lining all around.” So begins One Day, the captivating new album from critically acclaimed Minneapolis duo The Cactus Blossoms. Written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, the record explores the tension between optimism and despair that’s defined much of the past few years of American life, examining the power (or naïveté, depending on your perspective) of positive thinking in the face of chaos and uncertainty. The songs here are tender and timeless, with straightforward arrangements centered around brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum’s airtight harmonies, and the performances are warm and intimate to match, delivered with a soulful, ’70s-inspired palette of playful Wurlitzer, breezy guitars, and muscular percussion. The Cactus Blossoms broke out nationally in 2016 with their JD McPherson-produced debut, You’re Dreaming. Dates with Kacey Musgraves, Jenny Lewis, and Lucius followed, as did raves from the New York Times and NPR, who praised “the brothers’ extraordinary singing.” The band was further catapulted into the spotlight in 2018, when David Lynch tapped them to perform in the return of Twin Peaks, and continued to build on their success with their 2019 sophomore LP, Easy Way, which led Rolling Stone to laud the duo’s “rock-solid, freak of genetics harmonies.”Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
FIDLAR
Sure, life’s a risk. But FIDLAR have proven that risks are worth taking. Starting out as a group of drunken punks playing gnarly house shows around Los Angeles, their fanbase exploded and congealed into “FIDIOTS.” Fan’s who show their dedication to both the band and their mantra of “fuck it” by etching “FIDLAR” onto their bodies by way of homemade stick-and-poke prison style tattoos. With songs like “Cheap Beer” and “Wake Bake Skate,” the light speed rocket that was 2012’s eponymous album blasted them into the stratosphere where they had the room to expand the idea of the band. Being thrust into the loneliness of space, they were confronted by the void and slog of touring. They responded to that introspection with 2015’s “TOO,” where songs like “40oz On Repeat” “Why Generation” and “Sober” grapple with how to age gracefully as hard partying punks headed towards their 30s. “Too” pushed the band further to the edges of their comfort zone where these four SoCal weirdos found themselves playing gigantic festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza, Reading and Leeds. Propelling them to refine and expand their sound with 2019’s “ALMOST FREE” where you can start to hear more than just their “punk and indie” influences. The Beastie Boys tinged “Get off My Rock.” The asphalt-groovy take on L.A. hipster culture “Can’t You See.” And the alterna-pop, radio friendly, heartbreak duet of “Called You Twice” featuring grammy nominated artist K. Flay. But that was in “the before times…” During the pandemic, unable to tour as a band, the guys all separately dove into their own pet projects and they all experimented with different styles of music (sometimes with the aid of psychedelics). Unintentionally, this caused them to shake off the impulse to layer “bells and whistles” (not literally, but kinda) to their songs. Like they had been doing progressively over the years. Now, after duck-diving the choppy waves that is the modern music industry, FIDLAR are ready for the next gnarly set. Armed with 3 Chords, the truth, and some jazz cabbage, FIDLAR has a new found appreciation of not only where they came from, but where they are now. And when asked what the new sound is, the response is simply “FUCKBOI ANTHEMS.”Well then… fuck it, dawg. Let’s get weird.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud
The Dismemberment Plan
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Emergency & I, The Dismemberment Plan is playing a handful of shows in their current hometowns of Washington D.C., Richmond, VA and Durham, NC and the Best Friends Forever festival in Las Vegas, NV. Our schedules don’t align much these days, so these will be the only cities we’re playing. Website | Instagram | YouTube
Odie Leigh
Odie Leigh would never have called herself a musician before the depths of the 2020 pandemic, when her rapper roomies made a bet: Whoever records a song that goes viral first, wins. Slightly ticked off that they hadn’t included her in the wager, she decided to hit them with her best shot, and Odie was crowned the victor when a track she wrote blew up on TikTok. “I was like, ‘I’m gonna show y’all. I’m gonna win,’” she recalls, laughing. “Then I woke up to a bunch of comments on TikTok being like, ‘Oh my God, release this. This is amazing!’ Now, I’m a musician.”Four years after posting what she calls “that silly joke song” on TikTok, Odie Leigh has continued to transform and evolve as an artist — from what she calls “acoustic, ethereal folk sad girl music” to a harder-edge tunes that flirt with early Aughts pop-punktivism. That trajectory culminates in her first LP, Carrier Pigeon. “All the music I’ve released up until this point can kind of be thrown into the indie folk acoustic genre,” Odie says. “But I never set out to make Americana music. I never set out to make folk music. I’m just a girl with an acoustic guitar.”The fact that Odie Leigh never set out to make music is key here. Unlike a lot of musicians who grew up picking out tunes on toddler guitars or belting it out in garages, Odie never pictured herself on stage. Born and raised in Louisiana, she sang in the church choir, sure — her grandfather built the building, after all, and her family attended three times per week. But after moving to New Orleans to study English, she fully intended on making her bones in the film industry. That 2020 wager changed things, though, when she realized that she could win hearts in addition to bets. Although she’d taught herself to play guitar as a child, Odie didn’t know that much about music from the get-go, but she was inspired by the likes of ‘50’s singer-songwriter Connie Converse and her out-of-the-box style. “I didn’t realize that music could be like this. It was all so unique and not pretentious,” she says. “I was like, ‘I can do this.’” Her first real single, “Ronnie’s Song,” followed in 2021, a sweetly silly track she wrote to cheer up a friend. Coming from the film world, she found songwriting freeing, unbound from the rigidity of screenplay and discovered that simplicity can be a strength.She released her first EP, How Did It Seem to You?, in 2022, about a situationship gone wrong. Recorded everywhere from Louisiana to Miami, “That first EP was born out of desperation to feel heard and be connected,” she says. “Releasing that EP is probably like one of the scariest things I’ve ever done because it was just so real and embarrassing. All of my music is stuff I would never say out loud.” In 2023, Odie Leigh dropped her second, EP, The Only Thing Worse Than a Woman Who Lies Is a Girl Who’ll Tell Truths, which was recorded in the woods of Tennessee. “That second project was definitely like the edgier, angrier step up from: I’m a girl that makes folk music,” she says.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok
Amanda Anne Platt and The Honeycutters
The music of Asheville, North Carolina based outfit Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters is nuanced, bringing insight and wit to the stories Platt tells through songwriting. Lyrically driven, the band’s country roots music often inspires introspection, whether it be about life on the road, heartache or hope. There is an empathetic and charming wit ingrained in Platt’s songwriting. She has a knack for accessing a deep well of emotion and applying it to her storytelling, whether she is writing from her own experiences or immersing herself into the melody of emotions in another person’s life. Performing along with Platt, The Honeycutters are Matt Smith (pedal steel and electric guitars), Kevin Williams (keys/vocals), Rick Cooper (bass/vocals), and Evan Martin (drums/vocals). The band is currently on tour supporting their seventh studio album – “The Ones That Stay” – out August 9, 2024 on Mule Kick Records. Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify
Bicycle Face
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Brigitte Calls Me Baby – CANCELLED
The music of Brigitte Calls Me Baby is equal parts elegant time warp and up-close exploration of our modern-day neuroses. The Chicago-based band ingeniously spans genres and eras, merging the lavish romanticism of mid-century pop with the frenetic energy and spiky intensity of early millennium indie-rock. Centered on Leavins’ hypnotically crooning vocal work, the result is a rare convergence of sophistication and style and unabashed sincerity.As shown on their debut EP This House Is Made Of Corners — a five-song project made with nine-time Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb — Brigitte Calls Me Baby possess a singular musicality informed by Leavins’ eclectic upbringing. Originally from the Southeast Texas town of Port Arthur, he grew up listening to Roy Orbison records at his grandparents’ house next door, while his parents played him new-wave bands like The Cars and his friends turned him onto Radiohead and The Strokes. At age 13, Leavins took up guitar and began writing songs of his own, quickly discovering his distinct vocal style. “At first I didn’t like the way I sang and couldn’t really do anything about it, but as I got older I started to appreciate it more,” he reveals. “My whole inclination toward music came from being in this small town in Texas with nowhere to go and nothing to do, and wanting to be understood without having to say anything.”Upon moving to Chicago in 2016, Leavins immersed himself in the local music scene and soon linked up with guitarists Jack Fluegel and Trevor Lynch, bassist Devin Wessels, and drummer Jeremy Benshish, who joined him in co-founding Brigitte Calls Me Baby. As the band built up their catalog, Leavins was tapped to take part in recreating a series of Elvis Presley songs for Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic Elvis, a turn of events that found him crossing paths with Cobb. “Dave and I hit it off right away and started talking about the music we loved, and when we reconnected later he asked me to send him some of the songs I’d been working on,” Leavins recalls. Soon after sharing a batch of demos with Cobb (whose credits include modern classics like Jason Isbell’s Southeastern and Sturgill Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music), Brigitte Calls Me Baby headed to Nashville to record their debut body of work at the legendary RCA Studio A.Co-produced by Cobb and Brigitte Calls Me Baby and mostly recorded live, This House Is Made Of Corners opens on a lush and cinematic track called “The Future is Our Way Out,” a prime introduction to the EP’s heightened yet palpably genuine emotionality. “I want to be earnest even when it’s uncomfortable, and write unapologetically about things like my intense fear of death,” says Leavins. “‘The Future is Our Way Out’ is about that fear, but it’s also about hoping there might be something beyond death, a way out of all the mess and the sadness that plagues us in life.” On “Impressively Average,” pounding rhythms and shimmering guitar tones form the backdrop to what Leavins refers to as a “a bit of a self-loathing song, about trying to cope with someone’s very high expectations of you.” And on “Eddie My Love,” Brigitte Calls Me Baby present a gorgeously aching portrait of obsession and despair. “‘Eddie My Love’ paved the way for all the songs that would come after it,” says Leavins, who first penned the track as a ballad. “It felt so vulnerable from the jump, and made me realize that there’s no point in being anything but vulnerable in what we do.”Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | TikTok
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor released a string of albums from 1997-2002 widely recognized as redefining what protest music can be, where longform instrumental chamber rock compositions of immense feeling and power serve as soundtracks to late capitalist alienation and resistance. The band’s first four releases—especially F#A#∞ (1997) and Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (2000)—are variously regarded as classics of the era and genre. Godspeed’s legendary live performances, featuring multiple 16mm projectors beaming a collage of overlapping analog film loops and reels—along with the distinctive iconography, imagery and tactility of the band’s album artwork and physical LP packages— further defines the sui generis aesthetic substance, ethos and mythos of this group. GY!BE has issued two official band photos in its 25-year existence (the second, below, a 2010 recreation of the first from 1997) and has done a half-dozen collectively-answered written interviews over that same span. The band has never had a website or social media accounts. It has never made a video. Few rock bands in our 21st century have been as steadfast in trying to let the work speak for itself and maintaining simple rules about minimising participation in cultures of personality, exposure, access, commodification or co-optation.Following a seven-year hiatus that began in 2003, Godspeed returned to the stage in December 2010 (curating the UK festival All Tomorrow’s Parties) and the band’s post-reunion period has now lasted over a decade, marked by hundreds of sold-out live shows and three additional albums, all of which have been met with high acclaim.G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END! – the band’s fourth post-reunion album (and eighth overall) – is out 02 April 2021.“What’s political music? All music is political, right? You either make music that pleases the king and his court, or you make music for the serfs outside the walls. It’s what music (and culture) is for, right? To distract or confront, or both at the same time? A thing a lot of people got wrong about us – when we did it the first time, a whole lot of what we were about was joy. We tried to make heavy music, joyously. Times were heavy but the party line was everything was OK. There were a lot of bands that reacted to that by making moaning ‘heavy’ music that rang false. We hated that music, we hated that privileging of individual angst, we wanted to make music like Ornette’s Friends and Neighbours, a joyous, difficult noise that acknowledged the current predicament but dismissed it at the same time. A music about all of us together or not at all. We hated that we got characterised as a bummer thing. But we knew that was other people’s baggage. For us every tune started with the blues but pointed to heaven near the end, because how could you find heaven without acknowledging the current blues, right?” The Guardian, October 2012Website | Bandcamp
