Jesse Fox
Jesse Fox – a name that echoes within the realm of soulful artistry and immersive storytelling. Each performance is a gateway to an emotional landscape where heartfelt melodies and eloquent narratives seamlessly entwine, resonating deep within the core of one’s being. Rooted in the musically diverse landscape of North Carolina, Fox emerges as a master craftsman of lyrics, weaving songs that stir even the most stoic of spirits. From his early musical explorations with the acclaimed folk band Love & Valor, Jesse embarked on a journey to define his voice as a singular singer-songwriter. Guided by the echoes of the past, he channels the timeless resonance of songsmiths like Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. Concurrently, he embraces the sonic tapestry of modern troubadours like The Avett Brothers, The Lumineers, and The Civil Wars. The result is an enchanting fusion of Americana, folk, and deeply emotive ballads. With a gift for delving deep into the human psyche, Jesse Fox’s lyrics resonate with profound honesty. They navigate the intricate pathways of love, the hollow echoes of loss, the reflective inner gaze, and the relentless quest for personal evolution. His narratives are a rich tapestry of life’s shared experiences, stirring a sense of collective authenticity among listeners. Complemented by a skilled ensemble of musicians, Jesse’s live performances radiate with a distinctive energy that electrifies, while simultaneously nurturing intimacy. Each note and harmony fill the room, wrapping audiences in a tapestry of shared emotion and musical unity. Be it on the grand stage of a festival or the close quarters of a small venue, Jesse’s empathic connection with the audience pervades every corner, creating a truly shared experience. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud
Atmosphere – The Traveling Forever Tour
For over two decades, Atmosphere has maintained a course of rigorous output, releasing over two dozen studio albums, EP’s and collaborative side projects in as many years. In that time, the venerated duo have built a legacy out of bringing honesty, humility and vulnerability to the forefront of their music, continually challenging themselves to evolve without straying too far from their roots. Slug has proven masterful at storytelling and writing compelling narratives, leaving a trail of his own influence while paying homage to the rappers and songwriters that helped shape him. Ant has skillfully molded the soundtracks with inspiration from soul, funk, rock, reggae, and the wizardry of hip-hop’s pioneering DJ’s and producers, creating his own trademark sounds while providing the pulse for songs about life, love, stress and setbacks. At its essence, Atmosphere has been a musical shepherd, and with each new album comes a new journey as they guide generations of listeners through this thing called life. Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | TikTok
Surfer Girl
Introducing Surfer Girl, led by the charismatic Carter Reeves, the former front man of the hip-hop/pop sensation Aer. Embodying the laid-back spirit of coastal living, Carter has seamlessly transitioned from his Aer days to craft a sound that’s all about good vibes and groovy rhythms. Their music seamlessly combines indie-pop, reggae, surf-rock, and hip-hop elements. Hailing from Wayland, MA, Carter’s music captures the essence of sun-soaked days and breezy evenings. In the past year, Surfer Girl has left an indelible mark on the festival circuit, gracing major stages at Sea.Hear.Now, SunFest, Cali Vibes, Reggae Rise Up and many more. Carter’s magnetic stage presence and Surfer Girl’s infectious tunes create an atmosphere that’s both nostalgic and fresh. Audiences can’t help but get swept up in the sonic journey, making every performance a memorable experience. As a seasoned performer with a knack for connecting with diverse crowds, Carter Reeves and Surfer Girl bring a unique blend of musical prowess and beachy coolness to every show. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Alisa Amidor
The day Alisa Amador decided to walk away from her career in music was, ironically enough, the day her career truly began. “I was burned out and dealing with all this personal grief and trauma, and I finally just came to the conclusion that I couldn’t go on the way I was anymore,” she reflects. “And then as I was walking through the logistics of how I would break the news to everyone in my life, I got a phone call telling me that I’d won the NPR Tiny Desk Contest.” Now, two years later, Amador is an artist reborn, both spiritually and sonically, with a stunning full-length debut to show for it. Recorded with co-producers Tyler Chester and Daniel Radin, Multitudes finds the bilingual singer/songwriter formally introducing herself with a bold, captivating self-portrait, one that serves not only as a testament to how far she’s come, but also as a celebration of where she comes from. Slipping effortlessly between Spanish and English and featuring guest appearances from Gaby Moreno, Madison Cunningham, and Quinn Christopherson, the songs here are raw and vulnerable, at once steeped in devastating loss and uncertainty, but also laced with the hope and resilience of young woman learning to find her voice and stand her ground in the midst of a personal and professional maelstrom. Certainly, Multitudes is a beautiful record — the way Amador’s crystalline voice cut through the album’s lush synthesizers, dreamy guitars, and cinematic string arrangements is nothing short of spellbinding — but more than that, it’s a fierce work of discovery and affirmation that reveals new secrets with each repeated listen, a profound, revelatory meditation on triumph and loss, endings and beginnings, identity and belonging, all delivered by a songwriter convinced she would never write again. “When NPR called, I genuinely considered asking them to give the honor to someone else,” Amador recalls. “I felt like a fraud because after the death of a close friend in 2020, I’d completely stopped writing. But in that moment, it felt like something was telling me to surrender to the reality that music is and always would be my purpose.” Amador’s passion for music is no coincidence. Born to a pair of Latin folk artists, she began singing with her parents’ band, Sol Y Canto, at the age of five, and spent much of her childhood traveling the country on an endless series of tours along with her twin brother, Zia. She spent extended periods with her grandparents in Puerto Rico and New Mexico, as well, before attending college in Maine, which enabled her to study abroad in Buenos Aires for a semester. “From a young age, I saw exactly how insane and difficult it was to make a life playing music,” Amador recalls. “But I also knew I’d be lying to myself if I tried to do anything else.” Fresh out of school, Amador began touring and recording as a solo artist, releasing a pair of well-received independent EPs and crisscrossing the country just as she had during her childhood. But over time, something about her experiences began to feel off, and the purpose and meaning she’d found in music began slipping through her fingers. Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud
Bob Mould Solo Electric
This is a seated show. Bob Mould is an American musician/singer/songwriter now in his fifth decade of making and performing music. Bob has released 15 solo albums since his 1989 solo debut Workbook, after forming and leading Minnesota punk rock innovators Hüsker Dü starting in 1979. Along with two albums in the group Sugar, Bob has redefined guitar driven rock across 23 studio albums over the last 40-plus years. In addition to a catalog of over 250 songs, Bob contributed the theme song to TV’s The Daily Show and has served as a creative north star to legions of musicians ranging from Dave Grohl to Billie Joe Armstrong. Bob’s most recent album was 2020’s Blue Hearts, released to continuing critical acclaim. Rolling Stone said “Blue Hearts gushes more piss and vinegar than Stanley Kubrick could fill a hallway with, but what makes it jaw-dropping is the precision with which Mould has focused his ire on conservatives, evangelicals, homophobes, while leaving room for some self-criticism as well.” “The fire in Bob Mould’s belly can’t be extinguished,” gushed Under The Radar. “Blue Hearts is Mould at his fiercest and most deliberate.” Bob Mould tours as both a solo artist and in the Bob Mould Band featuring Jason Narducy (bass) and Jon Wurster (drums). Bob has solo tours set for the remainder of 2024, with two runs in the USA in September and October, and his first visit to Australia and New Zealand in more than a decade in November. Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
The Queen’s Giant, The Phoebes
Fusing elements of Rock, Blues, Country, and Electronica, The Queen’s Giant brings a high energy sound with a refinement and flavor that oozes originality. Accompanied with an inventive rhythm section and diverse keyboard synthesizers, Brendon Jacobsen drives this project via attractive songwriting and a raw, penetrating guitar. Forming in 2021 in Wilmington, NC, The Queen’s Giant aims to establish a brand that offers a professional, highly entertaining live act while we meticulously craft our debut album. Each musician in this band comes from a completely different background, and it is our understanding of each other’s unique perspective that drives the creative direction. The variety of influences each artist applies to the project produces an amusing, dynamic sound complemented by a dazzling lead guitar, a sturdy, guttural bass, and a sentimental yet striking match of keys propelled by bolting percussion. Brendon describes the music as a fun and refreshing take on arrangement. “We like to honor the sounds across genres; honor Country music, EDM, we like to honor the Blues… we don’t want the project to sound the same every song, we want the show to be spontaneous.” Every musician in this project has had to overcome their own extended period of personal struggles to get where they are today. In an existential attempt to explain the foundation of the projects content, it could be argued the lyrics of some songs express a longing and desire of some missed opportunity, a motif that conveys the paralysis of personal struggle. This theme, coupled with driving rock’n’roll and multi genre elements, engenders an identifiable experience that conveys to the listener that no matter our struggles, no matter who we are, the world doesn’t stop, and it is our responsibility to accept and overcome our defects. “At times, these thoughts can be a little cliche when applied to songwriting,” Brendon confesses, “but we really just want to make good music, a consistent sound that has changes, a sound that evolves and tells a story as the album progresses.” What started as a few acquaintances that just wanted to have fun and play some tunes, The Queen’s Giant has developed into lifelong friendships that created something organic. “I had a few songs, you know, folk type singer/songwriter stuff I brought to our first meet. I could tell right off the bat this wasn’t going to work for these guys, so I had some rock’n’roll type stuff I started to play instead,” Brendon states. What followed was an original sound written on top of some contemplative lyrics. “I got what he was saying right away,” bassist Austin Redwine states. “Not only that, but what his guitar was saying was equally as interesting.” Recognizing he needed a supporting cast to continue his concepts, Brendon charged Christopher Rocca on keys to add a fresh perspective to the work. “These guys are able to see things I can’t,” Brendon describes. “We really do complete each other in a totally cheesy way.” Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud
Uz Jsme Doma, Weird God, Server
Uz Jsme Doma, (pronounced oosh-smeh-dough-ma), are a progressive avantgarde kazz-punk band from Czech Republic. It was active in keeping freedom during the totalitarian system in former Czechoslovakia and due to that, the band had played mostly on illegal level and in constant danger of jail. The band´s approach to arrangements is unique in the world of rock. They bring the instruments and vocals in different directions within the same scales and keys to create a dense melodic atmosphere. In addition, their rhythms often accent off-beats and half-beats, throwing the listener in unexpected directions. The band is also fond of shifts between time signatures and the insertion of extra beats in the shaping of the mood of the song. Band tours frequently whole the world – till now they visited 43 different countries, major part of them took USA (more than 700 shows in almost all states), but as well as Japan, New Zealand, Israel, France, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, etc etc. The band has, to date, released eight proper studio albums, two live albums, several DVD’s a many compilations all over the world. They collaborate to theatre, film or occasionally they play with symphonic orchestra. They collaborated very closely to the world famous band The Residents on their Freak show and later they released album Moravian Meeting, where UJD and Randy, the singer of The Residents, perform together. Artist Martin Velisek is the non-playing and mostly non/travelling UJD member. His unique, absurd cartoon style, replete with alarming flourishes of realism, gruesomeness and beauty, gives UJD records their distinct look. Lineup 2024: Miroslav Wanek (guitar, keyboards, lead vocal) Martin Velisek (brushes – non/playing, non/traveling, but painting) Adam Tomasek (trumpet, vocal) Pepa Cervinka (bass, vocal) Vojtech Boril (drums) Website | Facebook | YouTube
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
