Low Cut Connie
“This record is all kink and no shame,” says Adam Weiner of ART DEALERS, the tough, sexy and tender new album coming from Low Cut Connie. “With Low Cut Connie, I try to create a safe space for you to just absolutely get your freak on.” For years now, Low Cut Connie has built its grassroots coalition of oddballs, underdogs, and fun-loving weirdos with songs that celebrate life on the fringes of polite society. The band’s infamously wild, passionate live shows provide a total release – of stress, of inhibition, of shame – working up a primordial rock n roll sweat for fans to get blissfully soaked in. The new album, and its full-length companion film, sizzle with that same cathartic sweat, reminding us that it’s time to get dirty again, and to feel alive. ART DEALERS sits at the intersection of sleazy and soulful – a collection of risky, romantic, life-affirming anthems, all dedicated to you. “I think rock n roll exists to be a red-blooded, countercultural medium,” says Weiner, who has performed under the Low Cut Connie moniker for over a decade, “You’re supposed to get your hair messed-up.” That imperative comes through in the adults-only tone of songs like the opening “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know,” a sinuous, lurid rocker that sounds like walking through depraved Times Square in 1978 – neon-lit and nasty with a snapping beat. The speedy, fuzzed-up garage-rocker “Whips and Chains” calls out Trump and the current wave of neo-fascism, without ever losing its boogie rhythm section. But there’s also tenderness behind the curtain here, as on the yearning first single “Are You Gonna Run?” and “Call Out My Name”, which evoke the sweet sad love that punky boys like the New York Dolls and the Ramones used to have for tough girls like the Ronettes and the Shangri-La’s. The sounds throughout the record comprise a grimy modern urban landscape, a soulful but broken place that Weiner and his band (including rock n roll guitar hero, Will Donnelly, in his 9th year in Low Cut Connie) have been gravitating towards throughout the band’s history. Weiner grew up amid the lawns and strip malls of suburban New Jersey, and his own teen dreams were lit up by the beacon of the big city, where he could shed his skin like so many artists before. “If you think about it, so many great artists who we associate with the city were actually bridge and tunnel people,” Adam said. “Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Springsteen. Debbie Harry, Robert Mapplethorpe. People who came from the burbs had this vision of what they could achieve in the city, what attracted them to this art life, who they could turn into and what impressions they could make – if they could just get there.” ART DEALERS is in many ways a tribute to that feeling at the pumping heart of the city – that enlightened buzz that can come in a packed hothouse of creativity and free expression. Songs like the Grace Jones styled “Take Me to the Place” and the penetrating title song point to all the people who cross those bridges, who choose the art life, who find their liberation on the edges of propriety. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Dirtwire Pyrochrome Tour
Dirtwire stands poised between ancient Mother Earth and modern technology, a blend of ethnomusicology and the psychedelic trance state, gut-bucket delta blues and what the band variously dubs “back-porch space cowboy blues, swamptronica, and electro-twang.” It’s a sound informed by Dirtwire’s travels and performances around the globe, where East meets West and North joins South. From the favelas in Brazil, Femi Kuti’s Shrine in Lagos, Tokyo’s bluegrass clubs, Ayahuasca ceremonies in Central America, Gamelan performances in Bali, desert festivals in the Australian Outback, and the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s modernized new capital Astana, the band spreads its message by building bridges across musical cultures in their own unique way. Dirtwire plays an array of instruments both ancient and modern, including West African kamale ngonis, jaw harps, space fiddles, whamola basses, Rickenbacher electric 12 string guitars, bowed Banjos and mouth harps from around the globe, all interwoven into modern laptop beat creation. Hailing from the underground west coast electronic bass music scene Dirtwire finds itself at the forefront of experimental electronic music production mixing in their wide array of world instruments with sampled beats and 808’s. Dirtwire’s live shows are a communal psychedelic journey, ranging from down home boot stomping get downs, to bass and blues electronic mashups, to ethereal cinematic beat driven soundscapes. Woven into each is the exploration of where live instruments meet computer production, and where tradition meets experimentation. Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
The Wldlfe
The Wldlfe, comprised of Jansen Hogan, Carson Hogan, & Jack Crane, entered the scene in 2016 with their smash EP New, 2016 and have continued to grow a steadfast fanbase through their evergreen discography. An electrifying live act, The Wldlfe has toured sold-out shows across North America in 2023 while cultivating an audience hungry for more. Frontman Jansen Hogan’s magnetic stage presence and infectious charisma, paired with the skillful instrumentation of Carson Hogan and Jack Crane, usher fans into an unforgettable night of music and connection. With over 70 million global streams to date, The Wldlfe’s debut LP Heaven is a place, 2024 is out this August, marking the band’s new era, promising an unmistakable blend of pop melodies, powerful guitar riffs, and euphoric production. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok
Missio – I Am Cinco Tour
Austin duo MISSIO—Matthew Brue and David Butler—fearlessly break the rules as they fuse elements of rock, electronic, indie, and hip-hop into an unmatched and uncompromising hybrid. They tie seemingly disparate threads together with honest and heartfelt lyrics meant to both provoke and inspire. Following the 2023-2024 Cinco EP series, the pair present their most definitive and dynamic vision with their full-length double-album, I Am Cinco [Nettwerk]. It collates five moods—I Am Sad, I Am High, I Am Awesome, I Am Angry and I Am Crazy—into one. Since 2015, MISSIO have painted this picture with Loner [2017], The Darker the Weather // The Better the Man [2019], Can You Feel The Sun [2020], and VILLAIN [2022]. Tallying over 1 billion streams, their catalog has notably resonated with the Gold-certified “Everybody Gets High” Between packing houses on tour, they appeared at festivals like ACL and Lollapalooza and incited praise from Atwood, Billboard, Rolling Stone, New Noise and Substream. The music initially took shape in Austin only to be completed on a creative sojourn to Mexico City. Excited to share the music with the world, everything set the stage for them to finally release I Am Cinco. “We’ve been to multiple countries and had 10 different sessions to write and record these 28 songs,” David leaves off. “We’re not just here to check a box; we’re here to be prolific.” Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify
Tycho
As Tycho, Scott Hansen blends swirling melodies into vaguely triumphant arcs that crisscross between stuttering beats and vocal samples, creating rolling sonic landscapes that extend into the horizon. The San Francisco based Hansen began releasing music in the early 2000’s with The Science of Patterns EP. His first full-length, Sunrise Projector, came out in 2004, and the critical acclaim continued in 2006 with the release of Past Is Prologue. In 2011 with the addition of collaborator and guitarist Zac Brown, Hansen’s meticulous process saw the release of Dive, the first record in a trilogy that was followed by Awake in 2014 and the GRAMMY-Nominated Epoch in 2016, two albums that featured Rory O’Connor on drums. Hansen expanded the scope of his project with the addition of vocalist Saint Sinner on 2019’s Weather, Tycho’s second GRAMMY nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album. That release was quickly followed by its instrumental companion record Simulcast, a collaboration with alt-R&B artist rum.gold and the Weather Remixes project all in 2020. In addition to his original works, Tycho has remixed Odesza & Leon Bridges, Maggie Rogers, Spoon, The Knocks & Muna, Little Dragon, Thievery Corporation and Death Cab For Cutie. Over the course of the last fifteen years, Hansen has developed from a delicate solo performer into the iconic front man of a powerful live band featuring Brown, O’Connor and multi-instrumentalist Billy Kim. Tycho has evolved from a singular to a plural, and from an electronic, ambient experiment to a multi-dimensional audio visual live experience that bring the compositions to life. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud
The Dip: Love Direction Tour Part II
The Dip is a Seattle-based Rhythm and Blues band that is known for its poignant songwriting, detailed arrangements, and vintage sound. Featuring a three-piece horn section, the group’s music harkens back to earlier soul and funk influences while hinting at the jazz foundations that brought the band’s members together. Along with singer and guitarist Tom Eddy, bassist Mark Hunter and drummer Jarred Katz are equally at home in a tight-pocketed groove as they are spacious free-improvisation. Trumpet player Brennan Carter joined by saxophonists Evan Smith and Levi Gillis serve as the band’s melodic counterpoint, playing off Eddy’s vocals to create a distinct sonic character that has drawn in millions of listeners to date. ‘Love Direction’, the follow-up to 2022’s ‘Sticking With It’ (which landed at #1 on the Billboard Current R&B Albums Chart) is the band’s fourth full-length studio album and second for Dualtone Records, due out 7/12/24. This new record is the sound of the band taking their next step forward. The interplay of old and new is on full display throughout the album; and, the group augments their classic sound with an expanded instrumentation throughout. Eddy says of the album’s inspiration: “As you get further along in a relationship, sometimes you lose your way. The things that came easily in the beginning get hard. The love is still there, it’s just that people and life are complicated. Sometimes you don’t have the tools in the toolbox to figure out what you need to do to support the other person, so you have to get help and ask for directions.” Still, despite the title, this latest record isn’t a collection of straightforward love songs, but an investigation into the different angles and challenges that relationships can bring. Expanding on the album’s theme, Eddy further notes “These aren’t ‘Love Songs’ in the most obvious sense. They deal with the middle stages, the hinterlands of love and life together – figuring someone out and what they need, learning how to communicate, and examining your own faults. We set out to write music that felt more grown, a little wiser. The songs that emerged all pointed in the Love Direction.” Their last album cycle saw the band headline and sell-out shows at iconic venues across the country. They have also had the opportunity to support new friends like Lake Street Dive and The Black Pumas, while also appearing at major festivals including Bonnaroo and Outside Lands. No strangers to the road, this new album represents a reflection on the band’s touring gravitas as well as the promise of a new destination appearing on the horizon. Directions now in hand, The Dip is looking forward to furthering this exploration into all matters of the heart by bringing this expansive and detailed new recording to life in their next travels together. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud | TikTok
Stephen Day: Gold Mine Tour
Stephen Day is a soul artist making a name for himself in the modern music landscape. Heavily influenced by Stevie Wonder, Glen Campbell, Frank Sinatra, and John Mayer, his music honors the vocal style of traditional soul and intertwines sonic elements reminiscent of pop and country. With over 140 million all-time streams to date, it’s evident that the Georgia native’s unique approach to storytelling is resonating with fans around the world. Currently a Nashville resident, Day has been developing a fan base since debuting his 2015 EP Undergrad Romance and the Moses in Me as a sophomore at Belmont University. Since then, he’s released a handful of projects, from a pandemic EP (Original Songs and Sound) to full length albums (Guess I’m Grown Now and The Shapes I’m In). However, his latest release, Gold Mine (2024), feels like a new beginning, as it’s the first project that fully encapsulates who Stephen Day is as an artist – one who is constantly evolving and taking risks while concurrently upholding the truest version of himself. The record shares the likeness of 60s country and 70s soul music, but with a modern approach to production. “My ultimate goal for this record, and maybe every record I’ll ever make, is for the music to simultaneously feel like it has always existed, while also feeling fresh and exciting,” Day says. Although Day admits that he didn’t set out to make a concept album, the 13-song project is a sonically cohesive record from top to bottom, with the tracks intentionally interacting in a way that speaks to the larger narrative of trying to find, keep, and hold onto something real. “A gold mine could be so many different things in life. Sure, it could be a romantic interest, but at the same time, we’re all after something that makes us feel alive. When you experience something that’s true and pure, you learn the difference between what’s real and what’s not, and that is a Gold Mine.” In addition to headlining sold out shows in most major markets and playing international festival slots, Stephen has supported Teddy Swims, Stephen Sandchez, and Lawrence, among others, on their North American tours. With more momentum than ever before, Stephen Day is just getting started. Instagram | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Performing The Debut Album
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah celebrate the 20th anniversary of their landmark self-titled debut album througout 2025 with a worldwide tour performing the album in its entirety alongside other surprises, and an exclusive new reissue. A heady blend of leftfield pop and melodic, exuberant indie rock, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is unquestionably among the finest and most influential independent releases of the 2000s. The celebration officially gets underway with the premiere of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s original 2004 version of the fan favorite, “Heavy Metal”. The newly remixed and mastered track was recently discovered among the original project files and captures what Clap Your Hands Say Yeah founder and frontman Alec Ounsworth calls “a special moment in time – a young group of guys all piling into one hotel room to wake up and go to a real studio (!) to try to come up with something special just for the fun of it.” In addition to the digital anniversary release featuring the original version of “Heavy Metal,” a special deluxe reissue will arrive on limited edition vinyl LP in early 2025, released on CYHSY’s own label via Secretly Distribution, the defiantly independent home to over two decades of Alec Ounsworth’s music. Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
Samantha Crain
Samantha Crain is a Choctaw-American singer, songwriter, film composer, and producer from Oklahoma. A two-time winner of the Native American Music Award, Samantha defies categorisation, marrying folk music with the sounds of country rock and college indie. Samantha’s latest album, A Small Death (2020), was released on Communion’s Real Kind Records. The album received universal acclaim with tracks finding themselves in constant rotation on 6music. Samantha has toured extensively over the past decade nationally and internationally, presenting ambitious orchestrated shows with her band as well as intimate folk leaning solo performances. She has toured with First Aid Kit, Neutral Milk Hotel, Lucy Rose, The Avett Brothers, The Mountain Goats, and many others. Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify
Napalm Death and Melvins
The Melvins are one of modern music’s most influential bands. Having formed in 1983 Montesano, Washington, the group – founded by vocalist/guitarist Buzz Osborne, with drummer Dale Crover joining a year later – has been credited with merging the worlds of punk rock and heavy music, forming a new subgenre all their own. Over their 40-plus-year career, they’ve released more than 30 original albums, numerous live records, and far too many to count singles and rarities. Recent releases include 2024’s Tarantula Heart, a really good collection of what the Melvins do, what they can do and what they want to do, and Five Legged Dog (2021), an ambitious 36-track acoustic collection that reimagines their heaviest songs alongside covers of their favorite artists. Throughout their discography, the Melvins have collaborated with Jello Biafra, Mudhoney, and Fantômas for individual releases and toured the world many times over. Remarkably, they had the misfortune to be in both Christchurch and Tokyo for their 2011 earthquakes. In 2012, the Melvins completed the “51 States in 51 Days” (50 states +DC) tour, which was chronicled in the film “Across The USA in 51 Days.” The current incarnation of the band is Osborne, Crover, and Steven McDonald (Redd Kross). Previous line- ups included a pairing of Osborne and Crover with Jared Warren and Coady Willis of Big Business, a four-piece featuring the current trio plus Butthole Surfers’ Jeff Pinkus, as well as Melvins Lite, which partners Osborne and Crover with Mr. Bungle’s Trevor Dunn. Sometimes, if you’re extra lucky, one version of the Melvins will open for the Melvins. Website | Facebook Although the name Napalm Death has existed since 1981, as the band’s first line-up plundered the post- and anarcho- punk scenes for inspiration, it was 1987’s seminal Scum album that would ensure their place in the grand pantheon of heaviness. A visceral dismantling of conventions, it effectively kick-started the entire Grindcore scene, gaining Napalm Death something approaching household name status for their insane speeds, animalistic screams and uncompromising political stance. From that moment, the band became synonymous with both proudly-held ethical principles and the relentless pursuit of new ways to terrorise people with riffs and noise. By the early ‘90s, Napalm Death had coalesced around a steady line-up of vocalist Barney Greenway, bassist Shane Embury, drummer Danny Herrera and guitarists Mitch Harris and Jesse Pintado. Renowned for both unrelenting tour schedules and a steady stream of consistently well- received albums, they have powered forward ever since, weathering transient trends, media indifference and industry skulduggery along the way. Despite the sad passing of Pintado in 2006, the 21st century has seen Napalm Death continue to refine and redefine their still epoch-wrecking sound, with instant classic albums like Smear Campaign (2006) and Utilitarian (2012) adding further flesh to the bones of this ongoing legend. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
