Beth Orton
English singer/songwriter Beth Orton’s latest album Weather Alive was one of the most critically acclaimed records of 2022, landing on year-end ‘Best of 2022’ lists from NPR, Pitchfork, and The New York Times—the latter of which praised Orton for her “modal vocal phrases and marveling [stories].” Pitchfork also named the title track a Best New Track, calling it “a slow-burning tour de force,” while The Late Late Show with James Corden invited Orton and her band to perform album highlight “Fractals.” Orton self-produced Weather Alive, laying the foundations of the album on an upright piano that she installed in her garden shed at home in London. When the time was right, Orton invited an incredible group of collaborators to join her across the album’s eight tracks, including jazz poet Alabaster DePlume, The Smile drummer Tom Skinner, multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily and Mercury Prize nominated bassist Tom Herbert of The Invisible. The musicians locked naturally into Orton’s sensibilities, expanding the emotive and dream-like world she’d created and conjuring a deeply meditative atmosphere that remains long after the final note has evaporated.Orton has long been regarded as possessing one of the most unique and expressive voices in music – a voice that has grown evermore rich and wise over time. Her 1996 debut, Trailer Park, pioneered a synthesis of electronic and acoustic sounds, while its 1999 follow-up, Central Reservation, garnered international success. Further albums like the Jim O’Rourke-produced Comfort of Strangers and 2016’s largely electronic Kidsticks co-produced by Orton deepened the breadth of her craft. A turbulent life that progressed with long periods of ill health slowed her down and made for experience that she was only able to process through music. She began to spend more time making music at the piano than on guitar and the songs she wrote turned into the eight-track Weather Alive, the first album she’s ever self-produced in her nearly 30-year career.“Music has always worked as a way of seeing,” she says. “I found myself writing until the words lost sense, which is really scary in the real world but really interesting when you’re making music. It gives all meaning new meaning. One of the most exciting elements of writing songs is how they reveal their truth as the process develops.” Indeed, the first notes of the album-opening title track usher the listener into an expansive, emotive and dream-like world of sound with little precedence in Orton’s prior work. The artist challenged herself to create music accordingly. Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden or Alice Coltrane come to mind at times throughout the record.“I had brought myself a cheap old piano but it had a resonance that really spoke to me, almost an emotional resonance. I could explore in a way I wasn’t able to on guitar — I was able to find a depth, a voice I’d never trusted before. I worked with the atmosphere the piano created as an instrument in and of itself.” On producing she enthused “It wasn’t about proving myself to myself. That would be reductive, but in the end I did find capabilities I wasn’t aware I held. This was a collaboration between my unconscious self and some wonderful musicians and the piano was the constant anchor.”Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube
We Are Scientists
We Are Scientists is an American rock band started in California in 2000 who’ve carried out their last 20 years of art business from a base in New York City. Founding members Keith Murray (guitar) and Chris Cain (bass) have played with guys like Adam, Michael, Andy, Danny, Chris, Matt, and Gary on drums, but for over five years now have had Keith Carne, who looks like he isn’t going anywhere. Their first album, “With Love & Squalor,” was certified gold in the U.K. and enjoyed by dance rock fans in many other countries. Subsequent records like “Brain Thrust Mastery,” “TV en Français,” and “Megaplex” saw the incorporation of more synthesizers, strings, and a horn. Although 2021’s “Huffy” returned to a guitar-driven sound, “Lobes,” the band’s eighth studio album, is their synthiest, electronic beatiest collection yet. So, really, who even is We Are Scientists? The release of “Lobes” on January 20, 2023 was celebrated with a very special hometown show at Brooklyn Made, followed by touring in the U.K. and Europe. The band is currently on a run of European shows and festivals this summer. Additional U.S. dates follow in the fall.
Houndmouth: One Night, Two Night, Three Night Tour
Three Night Pass tickets still available here!Thursday / Friday Two Night Pass tickets still available here!Houndmouth is an American alternative rock band from New Albany, Indiana formed in 2011, consisting of Matt Myers (guitar, vocals), Shane Cody (drums, vocals), and Caleb Hickman (keyboard, vocals). Nostalgic sounds from their first album seemed to serve as a welcome escape for listeners from the relentless demands of the digital age. This led to performances on Letterman, Conan, World Cafe, and several major festivals (ACL, Americana Music Festival, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Newport Folk Festival). SPIN and Esquire.com named Houndmouth a “must-see” band at Lollapalooza, and Garden & Gun said, “You’d be hard pressed to find a more effortless, well-crafted mix of roots and rock this year than the debut album from this Louisville quartet.” Through their humble start, genre-defining hits, and experimentation, Houndmouth makes an impact with their unique take on storytelling through music.
Houndmouth: One Night, Two Night, Three Night Tour
Friday / Saturday Two Night Pass tickets still available here!Houndmouth is an American alternative rock band from New Albany, Indiana formed in 2011, consisting of Matt Myers (guitar, vocals), Shane Cody (drums, vocals), and Caleb Hickman (keyboard, vocals). Nostalgic sounds from their first album seemed to serve as a welcome escape for listeners from the relentless demands of the digital age. This led to performances on Letterman, Conan, World Cafe, and several major festivals (ACL, Americana Music Festival, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Newport Folk Festival). SPIN and Esquire.com named Houndmouth a “must-see” band at Lollapalooza, and Garden & Gun said, “You’d be hard pressed to find a more effortless, well-crafted mix of roots and rock this year than the debut album from this Louisville quartet.” Through their humble start, genre-defining hits, and experimentation, Houndmouth makes an impact with their unique take on storytelling through music.
Houndmouth: One Night, Two Night, Three Night Tour
Friday / Saturday Two Night Pass tickets still available here!Houndmouth is an American alternative rock band from New Albany, Indiana formed in 2011, consisting of Matt Myers (guitar, vocals), Shane Cody (drums, vocals), and Caleb Hickman (keyboard, vocals). Nostalgic sounds from their first album seemed to serve as a welcome escape for listeners from the relentless demands of the digital age.This led to performances on Letterman, Conan, World Cafe, and several major festivals (ACL, Americana Music Festival, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Newport Folk Festival). SPIN and Esquire.com named Houndmouth a “must-see” band at Lollapalooza, and Garden & Gun said, “You’d be hard pressed to find a more effortless, well-crafted mix of roots and rock this year than the debut album from this Louisville quartet.” Through their humble start, genre-defining hits, and experimentation, Houndmouth makes an impact with their unique take on storytelling through music.
Barns Courtney
Frenetic, electrifying, and viciously creative, Barns Courtney possesses an unbridled passion that’s increasingly rare in the modern music landscape. On his forthcoming third album, “Supernatural,” the UK-born, Seattle-bred singer/songwriter offers up a body of work informed by his far-ranging obsessions (the writings of Oscar Wilde, ritualistic iconography and ancient mythology, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, to name a few), all crystallized in an elaborate narrative centered around a post-apocalyptic cult leader. Expanding on the extraordinary dynamism that prompted Rolling Stone to praise him as a “stomping, swaggering rock & roll balancing act teetering between blinding light and total darkness,” the album ultimately marks the start of Courtney’s most captivating era yet. Barns has already received critical acclaim with multiple Gold singles in the US and UK including “Glitter and Gold” and “Fire” Gold Certified, as well as hitting Top 5 Alternative Radio with “99.” Performances on Conan, The Late Late Show with James Corden and video game syncs including Apex Legends, FIFA 17 and more, have all helped propel Barns to the forefront of the rock world. Boasting over one billion global streams to date, Barns Courtney is soon to be “out with the old” and eager to return with even more accolades. Made with producers like six-time Grammy Award-winner David Greenbaum (Beck, Gorillaz, Cage the Elephant), Courtney’s latest effort emerged in a series of free-flowing sessions at legendary studios like Sunset Sound, Henson Recording Studios, and United Recording, ultimately being completed by Barns and Martin Eden at the Libertines Studio “The Albion Rooms.” “I’ve never had more fun in the studio than we did at United,” he notes. “We erected a tiki bar in the hallway and there was a revolving door of musicians and drifters coming in and out, plus an immense amount of mushroom chocolates. It’s not rock & roll if you don’t enjoy a bit of frivolity.” While each song spotlights the commanding vocal presence he’s brought to past hits like “Fire” (a Top 5 Triple A radio smash) and shown onstage at such illustrious gigs such as opening for The Libertines, Ed Sheeran, My Chemical Romance, The Who, and more, the album unfolds in a high-wattage sound ranging from glam to punk to gloriously scrappy garage-rock. And as Courtney reveals, creating such an ambitious project helped to undo the disillusionment that followed a prolonged period of relentless touring. “After five years of doing what I absolutely love, I felt extremely tired and burnt-out,” Courtney recalls. “Making this album allowed me to corral the things I care about, like climate change and our dying planet, and explore them in a way that felt just as invigorating as when I started my first band 15 years ago.” Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Austin Snell
Fusing hard-rocking sonic aggression with the deep-feeling confessions of a country troubadour, River House Artists/Warner Music Nashville’s Austin Snell is an emerging country talent for whom the rules have never really applied. A Georgia native and Air Force vet who grew up on a steady diet of Nickelback, Three Doors Down, Creed and Alan Jackson, the Nashville newcomer has bucked Nashville’s “10-year town” moniker, arriving in 2022 and quickly starting work to make “grunge country” a household name. With distorted, dark-energy guitars, thundering drums, and a wounded vocal at the end of its emotional rope, his gritty debut single “Excuse the Mess” has now racked up more than 10 million streams and landed elite playlist placements across Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and more, as the track co-written with Presley Aaron and Christian Yancey leads the charge into Snell’s opening chapter. The rising star now counts 36 million total streams and over 250,000 active users on TikTok to his credit, plus a rare SiriusXM Highway Find accolade – the same one bestowed on now-superstars like Maren Morris and Luke Combs. He is also the second artist ever chosen for SiriusXM’s Artist Accelerator program, and with a growing touring footprint that has put him on the road with country’s brightest stars, he’s set to drop another handful of hard-core country rockers as 2023 goes on. Mixing blacked-out rock aggression with late-night country reflection – plus a bit of an electronic buzz – “Pray All the Way Home” (co-written by Snell, Andrew Baylis, Michael Whitworth, Cam Walker) points the way ahead for one of Nashville’s most exciting new talents, proving once and for all: Some rules are really more like suggestions.Website | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Spotify | YouTube
Blue Cactus
Blue Cactus:Blue Cactus, the North Carolina duo of Steph Stewart and Mario Arnez, make Dream Country: a blend of grit, glitz, groove, and twang that evokes a celestial soundscape of mid-century heartbreak and harkens comparisons eclectic and iconic as Bobbie Gentry, Fleetwood Mac, and David Bowie. Their sophomore album, Stranger Again, released in 2021 on Sleepy Cat Records, nabbed enthusiastic attention from tastemakers including No Depression, American Songwriter, FLOOD Magazine, Talkhouse, and INDY Week, among others. Following their critically acclaimed 2017 debut and a string of singles in 2020, Stranger Again saw the band taking their sound to an ambitious new plane, where country-rock and light psychedelia mingle, vocals soaring over twangy slide guitars and propulsive bass lines. The North Carolina duo have performed at several beloved festivals including Nelsonville, Red Wing Roots, Muddy Roots and Hopscotch and shared the stage as support for an array of artists from The War & Treaty, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, and Lilly Hiatt to Town Mountain and Junior Brown. Between the comfort of classic country and the glamour of 70s rock, Blue Cactus resuscitates a fleeting style of honest-to-goodness country music considered valueless to a “new” country music where songwriting is officiated by financial analysts and teams of marketing plutocrats instead of woebegone troubadours. With a high lonesome twang, an Emmylou-like southern drawl, and blistering guitar techniques, Blue Cactus exercises the honky-tonk muscles to firmly bear the flag for a new generation of country music.Tobacco City:“Perpetually in humble beginnings, Chicago’s Tobacco City serves up urban country sway for good times and bad. Starting as diner co-workers, Lexi Goddard and Chris Coleslaw began performing Neil Young cover sets and writing their first EP, and in 2021 released their debut full length album Tobacco City, USA (Scissortail Records). The duo’s harmonies provide a bed for their nostalgic, melancholy and often silly lyricism. With rhythm section grooves by Josh Condon and Eliza Weber, and tasty pedal steel additions by Colin Croom, Tobacco City promises a live show that will leave you pining for the next drag.”
JULIA., Late Notice
JULIA.We are JULIA., and we’re here to make you move.Our cause is intergalactic, traveling across the stars themselves aboard the sacred Mothership to bring you our purest funk concoctions – equal parts primal psychedelia, buttery beautiful soul, and grievously groovin riffs that’ll make ya mama wanna get up and dance the night away. Guaranteed to bring the funk right to your face.LinktreeLate NoticeRaleigh based band, Late Notice, began during the summer of 2021 and has continued cultivating the East Coast with their unique blend of rock, funk, hip hop, and blues. The high energy 6 pieces’ 4 debut originals can be heard on all streaming platforms, and they are currently finishing up recording their first EP which will be out this fall. Beyond the music, the band is composed of a group of best friends and their love for each other shows during their insanely fun live performances. InstagramGallowayLinktree
Boom Unit Brass Band
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