Brian Sella

Brian Sella is the co-founder, guitarist, lyricist, and lead vocalist of the indie rock band The Front Bottoms.Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

There’s an ancient Japanese legend in which a horde of demons, ghosts and other terrifying ghouls descend upon the sleeping villages once a year. Known as Hyakki Yagyō, or the “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons,” one version of the tale states that anyone who witnesses this otherworldly procession will die instantly—or be carried off by the creatures of the night. As a result, the villagers hide in their homes, lest they become victims of these supernatural Invaders. Such is the inspiration for the latest album from Earthless. “My son is really into mythical creatures and old folk stories about monsters and ghosts,” bassist Mike Eginton explains. “We came across the ‘Night Parade of One Hundred Demons’ in a book of traditional Japanese ghost stories. I like the idea of people hiding and being able to hear the madness but not see it. It’s the fear of the unknown.” Whereas 2018’s Black Heaven featured shorter songs and vocals from guitarist Isaiah Mitchell on much of the album—an unprecedented move for the San Diego power trio—their latest is a return to the epic instrumentals Earthless made their unmistakable name on. Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons is comprised of two monster songs—the 41-minute, two-part title track and the 20-minute “Death To The Red Sun.” “Originally, we were trying to figure out how to condense the title track so it would fit onto one side of an LP,” drummer Mario Rubalcaba explains. “But the more we kept playing, the more we kept finding different places to go with it. We eventually just decided to let it breathe and go long.” The scenario that allowed for this kind of exploration was a stark contrast to that of Black Heaven. At that point, Mitchell was living in the Bay Area, which made it difficult for the band to get together and work on the type of long instrumental pieces they’re known for. But in March 2020, the guitarist moved back to San Diego. More specifically, he moved back the night the pandemic lockdown kicked in. Bad timing, perhaps—or maybe perfect timing. “With Isaiah here, we were able to get together once or twice a week to work on these jams,” Rubalcaba says. “We got back to our original songwriting process of just playing and building off each other little by little. And we actually had the time to do that, which was creatively Inspiring.” Plus, they were all on the same page about not wanting to do another record with vocals. “In away, I think this album was a reaction to our last record,” Eginton says. “Black Heaven was outside our comfort zone. I think it was a good record, but it was challenging to write songs in a more traditional verse-chorus-verse format. This one was more enjoyable. I’m sure we’ll do more vocal tracks in the future, but for the time being I see that album as a one-off.” Website | Instagram | Twitter | FacebookMinami Deutsch/南ドイツ was formed by Kyotaro Miula (guitar, vocals, synthesizer) in Tokyo in 2014. The band members being self-professed “repetition freaks” who heavily listen to minimal techno.Instagram | Facebook

Lø Spirit

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Hayes & The Heathens, featuring Hayes Carll and The Band of Heathens

“Hayes & The Heathens” does not mean Hayes Carll with “opening act” The Band of Heathens or the other way around. It means ONE hellaciously talent-stacked band from downbeat to encore, fronted by three acclaimed singer-songwriters (Carll and The Heathens’ Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist), armed to the teeth with guitars, swagger, and some of the most irresistible American rock ’n’ roll, folk, country, and soulful blues anthems of the last two decades.Far from coming out of nowhere, Hayes & The Heathens is a union born out of years from mutual respect. Their respective award-winning careers have run parallel and criss-crossed many times, most recently back in October of 2023, when Carll and The Heathens shared a freewheeling family jam in Luckenbach, Texas.“We had such a blast collaborating and playing together out in Luckenbach, that we wanted to take this on the road and share it with more people,” says Quist.Whether through combining their celebrated catalogs, writing and recording new music, or reinterpreting their favorite musical works by others…There’s a whole lotta roots-rocking funky coolness coming your way. The kind gets exponentially cooler when two of the scrappiest and most respected acts to ever tumble out of Texas — Hayes Carll and The Band of Heathens — join forces.“We’ve played a lot of music together over the last 10 years,” says Carll, “and our creative relationship continues to evolve into its own thing. Hayes & The Heathens is that thing.”“This sort of medicine show, revival, rock and roll circus is a unique presentation of our music,” adds Jurdi. “I think anyone who loves the spontaneity and chemistry of a live performance is going to be in for a magical evening. I know we’re going to have a good time!”And whether that magical good-time lasts for one quick fling or continues to evolve into who knows what more down the road, this much is a given: The collective stomp and holler of Hayes & The Heathens is gonna be righteous.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

lighthearted

Twin sisters Eliza and Gracie have been playing music together since they can remember, but the band officially formed in 2019. “lighthearted” is an alternative folk indie rock band based in Athens, Georgia. Ethan Fogus of Immersive Atlanta said it best: “[they write] the type of hushed, kaleidoscopic songs that appeal to anyone that takes to gorgeous harmonies and plumbing the depths of human nature. Together, the band makes perfect music for any long, introspective drive.” They released their debut album in April 2023, releasing four singles in the process that span timbres from introspective and chill to fresh and buoyant. Upon releasing their debut album “from here on out,” the title track off the record was added to Spotify editorial playlists “Fresh Finds,” “Fresh Finds Indie,” and “Fresh Finds Folk.” As a fully independent artist, lighthearted has been on tour and love playing to crowds across the country.Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Soundcloud | TikTok

Symphony X

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Mighty Poplar

At its heart, bluegrass music is about what happens when you commit to the moment. The joy of improvisation keeps the music fresh, and the fun of crafting ideas on the fly keeps the musicians on their toes. This true spirit of bluegrass infuses the self-titled record from Mighty Poplar, a new all-star roots project featuring Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse, Noam Pikelny and Chris Eldridge of Punch Brothers, bassist Greg Garrison (Leftover Salmon) and fiddler Alex Hargreaves (Billy Strings) coming March 31, 2023 on Free Dirt Records. Regarded as some of the finest players of their generation, the playing is never showy and always in service of the song. Though Pikelny, Eldridge, Garrison all knew each other from their early work with Punch Brothers, impromptu backstage jams with Marlin at festivals across the country were the key that unlocked the project. A lifelong song collector, Marlin selected and sang lead on most of the songs here, bringing classics as well as deep cuts from greats like Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard, John Hartford, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Norman Blake. Throughout, the songs and tunes are as immediate and emotionally impactful as the playing is tasteful. Gathered knee-to-knee in a rural studio outside Nashville, the collaborative 10-track album emerged organically over a few days. “It felt so special and effortless; it didn’t take work,” says Eldridge, “other than the work and effort we’ve put in the rest of our lives.” With their debut album, Mighty Poplar has captured the fierce and playful energy of an all-night jam between old friends who just happen to be grandmasters of the music.Speaking to the band, it’s clear that each player joined out of pure excitement to play music with each other. “I’m convinced Alex Hargreaves only knows how to play the perfect notes at the perfect times,” muses Eldridge. Pikelny speaks highly about Marlin’s innate musicality: “We listen to a lot of Watchhouse at our house. Supporting a singer and songwriter of Andrew’s caliber is about the most rewarding thing I get to do, so I leapt at the opportunity to collaborate when Greg first pitched the idea for this project.” Marlin talks up the other players’ instrumental virtuosity. “When I think about it from a player’s perspective, I didn’t feel like I belonged in this group; I haven’t spent my life trying to improve my chops. I’ve been more of a song gatherer,” a humble Marlin admits. That last point is key here, as it focused the approach to the new album on an appreciation for the roots of bluegrass and for the songs especially. Inspired by the 1980s albums of The Bluegrass Album Band, which united some of that era’s best bluegrass players, Mighty Poplar sought to emulate the fun and spontaneity of those inspirational recordings. “My love for the sound and feel of those Bluegrass Album Band records–the energy, the undeniable chemistry, the subtle virtuosity–led me to imagine what that might look like in our collective gumbo of today’s bluegrass,” says Garrison. “We grew up on those records,” Eldridge continues. “We loved the idea of musicians banding together for a special project where you explore your common influences.” But don’t mistake Mighty Poplar for a tribute record; the band aimed to find their own arrangements and deliver fresh takes on the songs. In Eldridge’s words: “It’s an homage to where we came from, without it being a recreation of an earlier era.”Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | TikTok

Tinariwen

Tuareg nomads and cowboy drifters. Camel trains and mustang horses. The timeless horizon of the endless Sahara and the wild frontier of the Old West – and when the day is done, guitars around the campfire, singing songs of loss and longing and ‘home on the range’. Several thousand miles of ocean may divide the desert blues of Tinariwen and the authentic country music of rural America but the links are as palpable as they are romantic.On Amatssou, their ninth studio album, Tinariwen set out to explore these shared sensibilities as banjos, fiddles and pedal steel mix seamlessly with the Tuareg band’s trademark snaking guitar lines and hypnotic grooves. In the two decades since Tinariwen emerged from their base in the African desert to tour the globe, they have got to know many renowned American country, folk, and rock musicians including Kurt Vile, Cass McCombs, Micah Nelson (son of Willie Nelson), Cat Power, Wilco, Bon Iver and Jack White – and the story of Amatssou begins in 2021 when White invited Tinariwen to record in Nashville at his private recording studio. White is a long-time fan and lent Tinariwen his engineer Joshua Vance Smith to mix the group’s last album, 2019’s Amadjar. The plan this time was for Tinariwen to fly to America to record with local country musicians and Grammy-winning producer Daniel Lanois, whose production credits range from U2 and Bob Dylan to Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris. Founder members Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Touhami Ag Alhassane and Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni plus bassist Eyadou Ag Leche, percussionist Said Ag Ayad and guitarist Elaga Ag Hamid were all ready to make the trip until the global pandemic prevented them from travelling. Plans were hastily redrawn instead for Lanois and a handpicked group of American country musicians to travel to Africa and to work with the band in their natural surroundings of the desert. Tinariwen’s last album was recorded at a camp in Mauritania under the stars. This time the band decided to head for Djanet, an oasis in the desert of southern Algeria located in the Tassili N’Ajjer National Park, a vast sandstone plateau that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and famous for its 10,000 years old prehistoric cave art. There among jagged rock outcrops and dramatic sandstone vistas, they set up a makeshift studio in a tent, with equipment borrowed from fellow Tuareg band Imarhan’s studio in Tamanrasset, a two day drive away and where the first iteration of Tinarwien formed some 40 years ago. With Imarhan’s gear came the band’s guitarist Hicham Bouhasse to contribute to the recording but in the second blow dealt by the pandemic, Lanois then contracted Covid and the American contingent was forced to remain at home. Happily, the integrity of the project remained intact via the wonders of modern technology, with Lanois adding deft touches from his studio in Los Angeles, country musicians Fats Kaplin and Wes Corbett recording their parts in Nashville and Kabyle percussionist Amar Chaoui recording his in Paris.Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

Podcast About List

This is a seated show.Join Podcast About List for an evening of unabashed mirth and intellectual amusement, where refined comedy is delivered with the precision of a finely tuned symphony. Buy your tickets now and become part of an elite community that appreciates the finer things in life.Website | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

Skating Polly

Over the past decade, few artists have embodied the unbridled freedom of punk like Skating Polly. Formed when stepsisters Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse were just 9 and 13, the Oklahoma-bred band have channeled their chameleonic musicality into a sound they call “ugly-pop,” unruly and subversive and wildly melodic. With Kelli’s brother Kurtis Mayo joining on drums in 2017, they’ve also built a close-knit community of fans while earning the admiration of their musical forebears, a feat that’s found them collaborating with icons like X’s Exene Cervenka and Beat Happening’s Calvin Johnson, touring with Babes In Toyland, and starring as the subject of a feature-length documentary. On their double album Chaos County Line, Skating Polly reach a whole new level of self-possession, ultimately sharing their most expansive and emotionally powerful work to date. The follow-up to 2018’s The Make It All Show, Chaos County Line finds Skating Polly working again with Brad Wood, the acclaimed producer behind indie-rock classics like Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville. As their songs journey from art-punk to noise-rock to piano-driven power-pop, the band matches that musical complexity with a sharply honed narrative voice that manifests in countless forms (ultravivid poetry, diary-like confession, fearlessly detailed storytelling, etc.). Not only the outcome of their constant growth as songwriters, Chaos County Line’s scope and depth has much to do with Skating Polly’s newly heightened clarity of vision. “All these songs are the most special to me of anything I’ve ever written, and I think Kelli feels the same,” says Peyton. “In the past I didn’t always write with a clear purpose, but this time I knew exactly what I wanted to say. We both ended up writing about the most difficult emotional experiences we’ve ever been through, and instead of being terrified of saying exactly what I was feeling it just all came out so naturally.” Whether they’re opening up about matters internal (identity, disassociation, unhealthy coping mechanisms) or external (obsession, deception, gaslighting), Skating Polly imbue that outpouring with an unfettered emotional truth. On songs like Chaos County Line’s frenetic lead single “Hickey King,” Kelli and Peyton trade off vocals as they share their distinct perspectives on closely related experiences—in this case, the minefield of power dynamics in sex and relationships. “In Peyton’s verse she’s talking about never knowing how far to go or how much of yourself to give to someone, and when my part comes crashing in it’s about guys being possessive and always trying to leave their mark on you,” Kelli says. “To me it’s the most Skating Polly song on the record, because it’s all these different energies happening at once.” Meanwhile, on “I’m Sorry For Always Apologizing,” Skating Polly deliver a bouncy piece of bubblegum-punk in which Kelli calls herself out on certain messy behavior in her past. And on “Double Decker,” Peyton examines her own possibly self-sabotaging patterns, magnifying the song’s mood of confusion with a dizzying guitar solo and breakneck vocal performance. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube

Genre: Miscellaneous