Genre: Miscellaneous

Old Sea Brigade

Ben Cramer describes 5 AM Paradise, his vivid and moving third album as Old Sea Brigade, as a coming-of-age record: ten songs that balance youthful abandon with maturity and restraint, full of imaginative flourishes, evocative textures, and graceful melodies that lend magnitude to mundane moments.Cramer first introduced Old Sea Brigade with his debut EP Love Brought Weight followed by his 2019 debut album, Ode To A Friend. He toured with artists like Julien Baker, Joseph, Lewis Watson, and Luke Sital-Singh, developing an undeniable chemistry with Luke that carried over to the studio on the collaborative All the Ways You Sing in the Dark EP. At the same time, Cramer was establishing himself as a sought-after producer to artists from around the world who stopped by his Nashville home studio, including Australians Angie McMahon and Lawson Hull, London’s John Joseph Brill, Montreal’s The Franklin Electric, and rising talent from his local community like Braison Cyrus and Paul McDonald. His 2021 sophomore album, Motivational Speaking, was called “some of the best quarantine art” (Consequence) and “sharply written and infectiously propulsive.” (Uncut)5 AM Paradise builds on those successes, as he revels in new sounds and ideas and explores the textures of everyday life in songs that make space for doubt and worry alongside joy and pleasure. He leaves his songs unresolved—posing more questions than he answers—so that they reveal more and more of themselves each time you hear them.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

Town Mountain

Hailing from Asheville, North Carolina, Town Mountain is the sum of all its vast and intricate influences — this bastion of alt-country rebellion and honky-tonk attitude pushed through the hardscrabble Southern Appalachian lens of its origin.“For us, it’s all about the interaction between the audience and the band — doing whatever we can onstage to facilitate that two-way street of energy and emotion,” says mandolinist Phil Barker. “Whether it’s a danceable groove or a particular lyric in a song, we’re projecting what we’re going through in our daily lives, and we feel that other people can attest to that, as well — it’s all about making that connection.”Amid a renewed sense of self is the group’s latest album, Lines in the Levee, a collage of sound and scope running the gamut of the musical spectrum in the same template of freedom and focus found in the round-robin fashion of the musical institution that is The Band — a solidarity also found in the incendiary live shows Town Mountain is now revered for from coast-to-coast, this devil-may-care gang of strings and swagger.“This is the sound we’ve been working towards since the inception of the band,” says guitarist Robert Greer. “We realized we needed to do what’s best for us. We’re being true to ourselves. It isn’t a departure, it’s an evolution — the gate is wide open right now.”“We’ve always had such a reverence and respect for those first and second-generation bluegrass bands, and it was that sound that initially inspired all of us to get together,” Barker adds. “And that will always be part of our sound. But, we also need to grow as artists, and as individuals — for us, that means bringing in a wider palette of sonic influences.”Formed by Greer and banjoist Jesse Langlais over 15 years ago on a ridge high above the Asheville skyline, the sturdy foundation of Town Mountain came into play with the addition of Barker not long into the band’s tenure. From there, the group pulled in fiddle virtuoso Bobby Britt and bassist Zach Smith. And though the road has been long, it’s also been bountiful.“It’s definitely been a slow climb. But, it’s been a climb nonetheless, where each new opportunity is filled with a sense of gratitude — to be able to make music, to be able to play music with your friends,” Barker says. “And to be able to bring music to the people, and have them want to show up and listen to it? Well, we’re thankful for that every single day.”Lines in the Levee also marks the band’s debut album release for famed Nashville label, New West Records. Well-known and championed as a fiercely independent act, the members of Town Mountain felt an immediate kinship with the record label — this genuine bond of creative fulfillment and sustained artistic growth to ensure the long game for the ensemble.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube

Weyes Blood – In Holy Flux Tour

Transcendent and sometimes wistful, the folk-pop of Weyes Blood (a.k.a. LA-based Natalie Mering) explores everything that drives us, divides us, and destroys us. This sounds like heavy stuff, but Mering is an effortless guide. Though burdened by doubt, sheis also buoyed by hope —her music unfurling with stunning nuance and ease. “Bob Seger meets Enya” is how she once described her work. When you consider Weyes Blood’s otherworldly expansiveness and hook-laden melodies, you realize that she isn’t exaggerating.Weyes Blood’s breakout album on Sub Pop, Titanic Rising(named one of 2019’s best by Pitchfork, NPR, The Guardian), was an observation of doom to come. Its follow up, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow, finds her in the thick of it, searching for an escape hatch, away from algorithms and ideological chaos. After five albums and years of touring, Mering has a lot on her mind.Mering grew up singing in gospel and madrigal choirs, before prodigiously picking up guitar at age 8. That —mingled with herlove of jazz, filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky, and scholar Joseph Campbell —has shaped her music, which tells stories of both ancient and modern myths. Why, you ask? Because, she says, “Shared myths are part of our psychology and survival.”And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglowis out November 18th, 2022.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube

Leven Kali

Born in the Netherlands and raised in Santa Monica, it doesn’t take more than one song to feel the soul and love deeply embedded in Leven Kali’s inspirational sound. His soothing voice and signature background harmonies have been making waves since his first independent single release “Joy” in 2017. Leven introduced himself to the music industry through a string of incredible collaborations and solo singles that year. Not bound by genre or style, he contributed to and was featured on projects such as Snoh Aalegra (Feels 2017), Playboi Carti (Self-Titled), Skrillex (HOWSLA), and Drake (More Life). Staying true to his roots, he remains surrounded by his hometown friends and family, crafting his unique and heartfelt sound with the people that he loves.Leven signed with Interscope in the winter of 2017. In January 2018 he released his first single “Do U Wrong (feat. Syd)”. Critically acclaimed and culturally adored, the track amassed over 50 million global streams and served as the leading single for his debut project “LOWTIDE” in 2019. “LOWTIDE”, in conjunction with the forthcoming “HIGHTIDE” serves as a two-part project which reflects on Leven’s life in the past two to three years, precisely on the time period immediately after his signing. The highly anticipated “HIGHTIDE” was released on May 1st, 2020. Produced and written by Kali, with the help of his band mates from The Moon, it was a development on the energy of “LOWTIDE”, another chapter in the story of Leven Kali, and features from Ty Dolla $ign and Syd from the Internet.In 2021 Leven became an independent artist, something he had always wanted to do. He spent much of his time that year writing and producing for other artists including Tinashe, Jazmine Sullivan, Yuna, Super Duper Kyle, and LoLo Zouai, to name a few. He also produced and wrote on 4 songs on Beyonce’s latest album, “RENAISSANCE”, including “Virgo’s Groove”, “Alien Superstar”, “Plastic off the Sofa”, and “Summer Renaissance”. In 2022, he signed to Independent Co. as his label and began releasing music again. His new EP “Let It Rain” drops in October before he heads out on his first headlining US tour.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube

5 Years of Get Sad Y’all: An Emo & Pop Punk Party

Links: Instagram | Facebook

Special Interest

On every level, Special Interest is uncompromising: in their adventurous sound, their high-energy live performances, and their convictions. Dance music and punk culture have flirted in the warehouse before, but Special Interest’s desire to dismantle genre is informed by a larger abolitionist worldview that resists constraint, category, and conformity. Their music is a soundtrack to dancing the pain away as much as raging against injustice.Brought together by New Orleans’ inventive DIY scene, Special Interest finds a new way of defining the “rock band,” a true collective unit rather than the dictated vision of a single member. Their sound is ever-fluid and continues to evolve — Special Interest actually began as the duo of Alli Logout and Maria Elena with guitar, drum machine, and a power drill, before Nathan Cassiani and Ruth Mascelli filled out its current line-up.2018’s Spiraling and 2020’s widely acclaimed The Passion Of further articulated the group’s style, driven by dance grooves and electronic textures as much as hardcore riffs, but Special Interest expands the vision with Endure. The writing of their latest album was informed not just by the bleakness of the pandemic, but the tremendous energy and righteous anger of the summer 2020 uprisings. Endure sets the intensity of that moment — from the gnawing despair of isolation to the euphoria of human contact and connection — to a driving dancefloor rhythm.Special Interest describes the experience of recording Endure as “inverted,” since the pandemic obviously stunted the possibilities of live performance, resulting in a new period of experimentation and sonic exploration in which old rules were cast out. Everything the group writes springs from the same source — a hard-hitting drum machine beat — but the possibilities are endless and the outcome always unpredictable. Ruth Mascelli’s work on drum machines and synthesizers provides a foundation, as varying beats lead the group into different directions: rave-ready drum and bass or ballroom-like house on the more dancefloor-friendly cuts, and marching kicks on No Wave-inflected tracks like “Foul” and “Love Scene.” “Cherry Blue Intention” brings together a sturdy post-punk bassline, shrieking guitar effects, and a jungle breakbeat into a driving anthem of an opening track.New songs like “(Herman’s) House” recall the art rock of Sparks and The B-52s as much as politically-minded punk, and on “Midnight Legend,” the group is more overtly pop than ever before — making something fun during a time of frequent sadness became a central priority. But that doesn’t mean anything is simple or surface-level, with a darkness often treading beneath the smooth production. For as much as the band plays with dissonance, Maria Elena’s expressive guitar work and Nathan Cassiani’s grooving bass lines effortlessly weave together, and shade out the soundscape brought into existence by Alli Logout’s commanding vocal presence. Collaboration is central to the band’s creative process, and it’s difficult to imagine even one element from the whole of Special Interest subtracted from the equation. Their songs are living organisms, open to the possibility of experimentation and interpretation, but also not the property or creation of any one person.Links: Bandcamp

EddieFest

EddieFest was created by the family of the late Eddie Watkins, to honor his memory and bring awareness to suicide and suicide prevention. It’s a day of music and art from many people who knew and loved Eddie. Local acts volunteer to play, and folks donate works for the silent art auction. Please join us for this special day. All proceeds benefit HopeLine, NC’s own crisis intervention and suicide prevention resource.Lineup:Tha MaterialsSecret Monkey WeekendPhineas Nyang’oroNikki Meets the HibachiJAMM Tha NubianZoneOort PatrolWhizthekidDonations for Silent Art Auction welcome!$10 Donation suggested.   https://www.hopeline-nc.org/about

The Red Pears

The Red Pears’ founding members, Henry Vargas (vocals and guitar) and Jose Corona (drums), draw their sound from the spectrum between the early 2000s New York indie rock scene and grunge to the cumbia and corridos that soundtracked their childhoods in El Monte, a sleepy suburban town just east of Los Angeles. After cycling through an assortment of lineups, mutual friend and bassist Patrick Juarez stayed on and expanded their operation. Now a solid three-piece band, these emerging alt-rockers, have come a long way from meeting at a local Battle of the Bands, practicing in their garages, and naming themselves after their favorite color and a pun on the word “pair”— a subtle nod to sonic inspirations The White Stripes and The Black Keys.The Red Pears first got on the map with self-releases For Today, For Tomorrow, For What Is, For What Could’ve Been and We Bring Anything to the Table… Except Tables We Can’t Bring Tables to the Table, touring behind them and learning the ins-and-outs of being on the road. In 2019, the band delivered their sonically and emotionally diverse heartfelt EP Alicia, named after Corona and Vargas’ mothers, that showcased a polished alt-rock sound without sacrificing the band’s roiling, fuzzed-out garage spirit. The Red Pears North Star continues to be their undying honesty and commitment to the craft. “It all boils down to effort and humility,” says Vargas. “We just want to do our best and make the music we want to make. Now we have more help and resources, but it’s about continuing to push and keeping that humility.”In 2021, Henry, Jose and Patrick introduced and solidified a new era for the band with their latest album You Thought We Left Because The Door Was Open, But We Were Waiting Outside. The album marks a matured reinvention of their nostalgic indie attitude as their early sounds, sonic inspirations and revives the rebellious spirit of garage rock take on a fully realized form in the name of friendship, growth and timeless rock ‘n’ roll. Channeling the tenacious fervor and reception of the album, the band has utilized the momentum to relocate their moxie to stages nationwide, selling out venues as they go alongside Beach Fossils, Wild Nothing, as well as on their own headlining routes. The Red Pears will continue to tour in 2022, anticipating a return to their biggest headlining run yet.Links: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify

Turnover

There is a closeness at the heart of Turnover’s aptly titled new album, ‘Altogether.’ Though it’s the first collection the trio has written while living on opposite coasts, the record actually represents the group’s most collaborative and connected work to date, showcasing the intuitive, near-telepathic relationship frontman Austin Getz has developed over the years with his bandmates.
“Instead of making things more difficult, being far apart helped us learn to appreciate each other even more,” says Getz. “As a band, we’re closer now than we’ve ever been before.”
Recorded at Philadelphia’s Studio 4 with longtime creative foil Will Yip at the helm, ‘Altogether’ finds the group breaking new ground on a number of fronts. Pop sensibilities inform the writing for the first time, with elements of funk, jazz, lounge, and disco mingling alongside the band’s trademark indie grit and punk energy. Lush melodies and infectious hooks reflect the newfound freedom and confidence that have inspired Getz since his cross-country move to northern California, while adventurous recording techniques and instrumentation lend a fresh perspective without sacrificing the kind of precise detail and rich intricacies that have come to define the band’s recent studio output. The result is an album that boasts both sonic sophistication and emotional accessibility in equal measure, a major leap forward in sound and vision that reveals time apart as the true key to togetherness.
The title is fitting in another way as well, according to Getz. “On this record, more than in the past, we wanted to keep in mind the beauty of writing ‘popular music,’” he explains. “By that I mean music for people who don’t have the time to delve into the niches and find fringe artists, music for those of us who are busy with work or our families or whatever problems might be around. Music is real magic that can change people’s days and lives, and the more people listening and loving, the better.”

Turnover first emerged roughly a decade ago in Virginia Beach, VA, but the group’s critical and commercial breakthrough didn’t arrive until six years later, when they cracked the Top 5 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart with their acclaimed sophomore album, ‘Peripheral Vision.’ The band—which consists of Getz, his brother Casey on drums, and their childhood friend Danny Dempsey on bass—followed it up in 2017 with ‘Good Nature,’ a streaming smash that racked up roughly 40 million plays on Spotify alone and which Vice proclaimed to be “their best album yet.” Reviews were similarly glowing around the world (Pitchfork praised the record’s “rhythmic propulsion and harmonized guitar sparkles,” while Exclaim! hailed its “shimmering instrumentation and luscious harmonies,” and The Line of Best Fit swooned for its “plush production” and “subtle maturity”), and the album earned the band headline dates everywhere from Brooklyn Steel to The Fonda Theatre along with their first appearance at Coachella.

“With ‘Peripheral Vision,’ I was starting to experiment with psychedelics, and I was feeling alienated from a lot of the things I’d been raised to believe and accept,” Getz reflects. “That album asked a lot of questions, and I felt like ‘Good Nature’ was my attempt to find the answers to those questions. This time around, though, I found myself in a very different place, both literally and metaphorically.”Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Rapper Big Pooh

Rapper Big Pooh, born Thomas Jones, is a member of the group Little Brother. Rapper Pooh released his debut solo album, “Sleepers,” in 2005. Rapper Pooh has toured with De La Soul, MURS, and Apollo Brown. In 2022 he will be releasing his first solo project since 2018 and 12th overall.Links: Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Twitter