Sawyer Hill
Sawyer Hill’s soaring baritone voice halts you in your tracks and will one day shake the rafters of the most iconic venues. The diamond-in-the-rough rocker hailing from Fayetteville, Arkansas is cutting through with Gen Z listeners on Instagram and TikTok where he’s amassed an audience of nearly 400k followers thanks to an unexpected sound influenced by Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains. The clever lyrical hook and refreshingly contemporary take on 90s rock guitar riffs in his song “Look At The Time” (“when you say that I’m the only one, did you mean that I’m the closest one around?”) propelled it to the top of the Spotify US Viral Chart. He is currently finishing up his debut EP and hitting the road where the fervor is coming to life with Sawyer selling out 200-300 cap rooms across cities in Arkansas, Dallas, and Austin.Website | Instagram | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok
Queef Jerky
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Sadurn
Intimacy is manifested in every moment of “Radiator,” the debut album from Philadelphia’s Sadurn. This feeling of closeness, of being able to lend your every sense to one’s confessions of internal conflict, has carried over from the band’s origins as the solo bedroom-folk project of frontperson Genevieve DeGroot. Now emerging as a four-piece with the addition of members Jon Cox, Tabitha Ahnert, and Amelia Swain, Sadurn delivers emotive indie rock on “Radiator” that explores the struggles and eventual beauty of grappling with multiple emotional realities, particularly when it comes to relationships. The album is a fleeting, impactful glimpse at one’s whole heart, and its sweeping, special nature is evident from the moment it opens. Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
Nation of Language
Four years on from the release of their unexpectedly self-assured debut album, NYC based Nation of Language have attracted a rapidly growing international audience via their danceable and impassioned take on new wave, post-punk & shoegaze genres. Following the critical acclaim of their their first LP Introduction, Presence, its 2021 follow-up A Way Forward pushed them to a wider audience—landing them their late-night TV debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and a string of sold out tours—and their 2023 record Strange Disciple has continued this momentum, landing Rough Trade’s coveted #1 album of the year spot. Now a mainstay atop lists of the best live acts of recent years, the band continue to charge synth-first into their latest chapter as a major festival draw at recent iterations of Austin City Limits Festival, Desert Daze, Pitchfork Festival, Primavera Sound, Corona Capital, Outside Lands, Bonnaroo and many others.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Hot Freaks
“Cause everybody wants to get away/ But no one ever does.”Hot Freaks are back with an unusual proposition. New single LET’S START A COUNTRY floats a utopian, if misguided fantasy anyone can relate to. Taking the form of a carefree calypso, LET’S START A COUNTRY explores the disappointment of an encroaching reality on the honeymoon period of an exciting new relationship.Once nearly lost to time, Minneapolis musician’s Hot Freaks resurfaced nearly a decade after disbanding once viral hit Puppy Princess broke out on socials, summoning their reunion tour and, lo and behold, fresh jams uncovered from ancient times circa 2013 to present day. LET’S START A COUNTRY is one such unearthed artifact. A treasure from a time capsule, having gestated for about 10 years, the infectious synth pop serenade has finally “found its home” as frontman Leo Vondracek puts it.Unearthing Hot Freaks signature sound mixing sweet disco beats with tongue-in-cheek sincerity a la Of Montreal, MGMT, and dare say even ABBA. Swirling melodies and syncopated rhythms easily encapsulate any new couples craving for the creation of a place to call their own. Kicking off with a fun little “whoo!” LET’S START A COUNTRY imagines a vegetarian utopia where lovers “living in a vacuum” start a country as easy as “one two three,” yet once the song’s narrator does “a little research” it “turns out you can’t just do this type of thing/ in fact it’s kinda regulated.” Despite the harsh light of reality, Hot Freaks’ uniquely catchy qualities, percussively perfect shakers, and preciously earnest handclaps, weave a wonderfully daydreamy ode to the romantic ideal of escaping into the paradise of a person you love more than the whole wide, and unfortunately real world.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok
Zack Mexico
Oh sure. Me and Zack go way back. I call ‘em Zack, but the thing about that is, well see when you get to know someone long enough you get to calling each other by just the one name. Used to be I called ‘em same as everyone else, Zack Mexico. But that was before. That was before I knew. That was back when me and Zack weren’t but about ye high… but time passed, as it often did in those days. Those days. Those days that so paradoxically grew shorter. And then of course, there were the nights too. The nights that grew longer. And I don’t mean longer like a clock. I mean longer like a train. I mean longer like a river, a rushing river- and not a babbling brook like blah blah blah, but a deafening roar like being born and the light is so white and the air is cold and what is this staring back at me so alien yet somehow so familiar? Which looks like my eyes inside my eyes inside my eyes inside my eyes? What is that sound cooing like a dove and then gone like my heart and now the colors that make me feel so afraid, flashing faster lasting less and less per blink as I grow longer? No, not longer like a clock, longer like a taffy giraffe laughing dripping down dropping slow and swirling faster spinning backwards pushing forward toward the edges. Longer like my breath is breathing paradoxes growing shorter slowing faster beating on against the morning like a drummer drumming something constant on the godforsaken sun! But now I just call ‘em same as you and everyone else: Zack Mexico… Of course, if you know know ‘em like I do, it’s just Zack Mexico. You get to know someone long enough you get to calling each other by just Zack Mexico. It’s just Zack Mexico. It’s Zack Mexico.Zack. Mexico.Zack… Mexico… …Zack… …Mexico…Bandcamp | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Souls of Mischief
1993, West Coast… Dr Dre vs Eazy-E, Snoop Doggy Dog on the rise with his debut album alongside the N.W.A don of production. Tupac with the summer release of ‘I Get Around’, but caught up in alleged gun fights and assault charges. G-funk the national conversation.So when Souls Of Mischief came onto the scene with their funky outfits, slammin’ beats and breazy attitudes – backed with a lyrical dexterity far beyond their teenage years – a fresh hop to the bounce of the West Coast was born.“Sometimes it gets a little hectic out there…”, Tajai exclaimed in the intro, “…But right now we gonna up you on how we just chill”.The California quartet announced themselves with harmlessly refreshing confidence, on more of a Tribe tip with jazz-drips and groove-infused rhythms – yet lyrically more adventurous and weed-scented; more of a Pharcyde vibe with endlessly cool rhymes and multisyllabic wordplays – yet more intellectual, energetic and freestyle-ready. A funky introspection was clear to see. This was Oakland, California in 1993….Now, 30 years on, 93 to 23, still infinity. Still hectic out there. Time flies but Souls are still chillin. “Now you have younger generations who were born in ’93,” says Phesto. “They’re like, ‘ ’93 ’til infinity.’ It means so many different things to so many different people”30 YEARS OF 93 ‘TIL INFINITY – AROUND THE WORLD IN 93 DATES#23tilinfinityFrom this February onward, Souls Of Mischief will go Around the World in 93 Dates bringing their effortlessly cool rhymes and rhythms to the world. It’s an anni worth celebrating. Full album renditions. Party feels. Dripping with Jazz. Flavoursome flows. Cali energy. Fresh garms (with limited runs for sale) and ripe freestyles.‘This is 93 ‘til infinity, you know, so it’s markin’ the time but also movin’ beyond the time, you feel me?’ – Yasiin Bey (Mos Def)Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Kelsey Waldon
Kelsey Waldon is one of Country music’s most singular voices. Across four acclaimed full-length albums full of both “heavy twang and spitfire pedal steel” and “coffeehouse confessionals” (Rolling Stone), she’s brought listeners into her world and shared her own experiences and perspectives. Her new project, There’s Always a Song (out May 10th via Oh Boy Records/Thirty Tigers), however, is about the singular voices that shaped her into the artist she is today. “It’s like, I kind of was able to find my voice through these voices, you know?” Waldon says. “A part of me doing this album is expressing so much gratitude for the music that I love, for music that has meant a lot to me and helped me.” These eight songs, from the earliest pages of the country and bluegrass music songbooks, helped the singer-songwriter from Monkey’s Eyebrow, Ky., find her place in the world before she became an artist whose own work generates buzz, lands on year-end best-of lists, and, in 2019, led Waldon to become the first artist in 15 years to sign a deal with John Prine’s Oh Boy Records. These days, they remind Waldon of why she wanted to make music in the first place. “There’s a lot of bullshit out there, and sometimes our goals and dreams get clouded by competition or become jaded. [These songs are] like something tapping into me and being like, ‘That’s why you love this.’ It feels like home to me; it feels like the truth,” Waldon shares. “It just brought me so much joy to work with my peers, my friends, people I really admire.” There’s Always a Song might not even exist, in fact, if not for S.G. Goodman, who in addition to also being a fellow western Kentuckian has been one of Waldon’s good friends since before they were making headlines with their music. During one of their frequent catch-up phone calls, Waldon told Goodman she would love to find a reason to collaborate and asked Goodman if she’d be up for recording a song together. Goodman suggested “Hello Stranger,” specifically citing the 1973 version by Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard. Waldon didn’t stop with Goodman, though. Fellow John Prine devotee and “kindred spirit” Amanda Shires joins Waldon on fiddle for the Bill Monroe classic “Uncle Pen” — arranged in half time like Goose Creek Symphony’s version from 1971 — while Isaac Gibson, lead singer of 49 Winchester, helps Waldon honor his fellow Virginian, Ralph Stanley, on the devastating “I Only Exist.” Margo Price, one of Waldon’s first friends in Nashville, rounds out the list of guests, singing with Waldon on “Traveling the Highway Home,” which Waldon selected from fellow Kentuckian Molly O’Day’s catalog. Waldon’s band, meanwhile, was a key inspiration for There’s Always a Song. The songs on this album are among those they frequently listen to in the van while on tour; Waldon and fiddler Libby Weitnauer, in particular, have bonded over their love of old-time and Appalachian music. Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok
Dyke Night
Join us as Dyke Night takes over Cats Cradle for a spring blowout celebration of iconic local queer talent hosted by your queens Nyx Adonis and Lady Dyke. Featuring the glorious return of Venus, Kali Fuchis, and Found Family, and the Dyke Night debutants of Tesoro, Miss B Haven, All Star Breakfast, and thee one and only KHX05. This allstar cast of drag and musical luminaries is the fantasy we all need to welcome in the summer. Bring your friends and everything else 😉
Kassi Valazza
There is a cult-like fascination growing around Kassi Valazza following the self-release of her 2019 debut album Dear Dead Days and her surprise 2022 EP Highway Sounds. She is seated squarely at the vanguard of new American songwriters strengthening and broadening the sound of country music as she tours with celebrated acts such as Melissa Carper and Riddy Arman. The Southwestern native resides in Portland, a hotbed of songwriters producing albums that both bear the torch and bend the arc of American roots music, where she recently signed with Fluff & Gravy Records — a label known for launching Anna Tivel and Margo Cilker. Valazza’s forthcoming new album Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing is a spellbinding collection of songs that dangle like protective magic talismans, catching dreams and glinting light. She hypnotizes listeners with a sturdy, yet gentle, voice and painterly songwriting imbued with an independent spirit. Though her music plays country cousin to British folk, calling to mind greats like Sandy Denny (Fairport Convention) and Karen Dalton, a Southwestern American streak carves its way through these solemn, sweetly sung melodies like a canyon. On the upcoming 10-song set, multi-instrumentalists from Portland’s TK & the Holy Know-Nothings appear in varying roles as Valazza’s backing band: Taylor Kingman (guitars, bass, vocals), Jay Cobb Anderson (harmonica, guitars, pedal steel, bass), Lewi Longmire (pedal steel, piano, bass, trumpet), Sydney Nash (organ, Farfisa, cornet, Wurlitzer), and Tyler Thompson (drums). The group’s swirling psychedelia combines with Valazza’s gutsy and graceful vocal poetry for a singular sound that washes over the listener like a flash flood, heavy and without warning. Album opener “Room In The City” introduces Valazza’s high-lonesome, but never lonely world with sharp harmonica and reeling organ. She sings of a touring musician’s longing for home, and a distant lover, with lyrical imagery of open skies, whistling winds, and sepia-toned rock formations: “Did you think I’d be out here feeling lonely? / If I said I thought so too it’d be a lie / When I talk to you it’s hard to be withholding / And I was born to chase this blue out of my eyes. / In the still, I often wonder about your breathing / I rise and fall to its rhythm late at night / Clay canyons turn to plaster in my grieving / And our ceiling overtakes the sky.” Using the physical world around her to paint metaphors from the soul, Valazza carries us through her mind and heart, ever the effortless narrator. “Watching Planes Go By” spins a cautionary tale about the dangers of standing still in life and accepting one’s own fate. The song sets a curious and cosmic atmosphere of psychedelic folk-rock as Valazza reflects on the struggles of moving on, “Autumn leaves turn to yellow / and green turns to jealousy / Watching days go by.” On “Corners,” fingerpicked acoustic guitar dances with bounding bass and twinkling piano, as twanging telecaster and a gentle backing choir flow behind Valazza like a stream through a lonesome vista. “The clouds move slower than they ever seemed to / Still, they find a way to pass me by,” she sings on her breezy lament about the longing that comes with an unhealthy love, “My friends, though, they wonder what I’m used to / To love a man who never treats me right.”Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
