Essenger & Puppet with special guest Young Medicine
Essenger stands on the cutting edge of electronic music, blending an array of influences for a sound that pays tribute to modern alt rock, EDM, and synth wave. The artist marks his highly personal songwriting style with striking lyrics, and the result is a singular creative style that opens new possibilities for both retro and future synth music.The artist’s adept compositional skills and production chops helped his early singles attract a significant following while racking up hundreds of thousands of streams on individual songs. Essenger soon connected with prominent labels including Seeking Blue and Monster cat, and those early successes led to an album deal with independent synth wave label FiXT Neon in late 2019.In early 2020,Essengerand FiXT Neon released the artist’s full-length album After Dark to widespread acclaim. The album became an immediate success on Spotify and Bandcamp, earning a place alongside some of the most significant synth wave albums to date. In early summer of the same year, the artist announced a full remix album of After Dark with an eclectic mix of artists from EDM, synth wave, and all spaces in-between.The remix album sets the stage for the next chapter of Essenger’s career with innovative and exciting new music to come.Website | Instagram | Twitter | FacebookBrendan Baldwin pka Puppet is an electronic rock artist based in New York City. After his debut and consistent releases with Monster cat in 2014-2017, he quickly became known for his stand out sound, blending pop-punk vocals, rock focused song structures and real instruments with electronic production. In 2019 he released his Give Up The Dream EP independently, which showcased an even deeper fusion between traditional rock and electronic music. In 2020 he released his debut album I Know You Know Who I Am which cemented his status as a pioneer of the rock / EDM fusion. 2022 began with a mini tour which showed off his unique live set in front of hundreds of fans across the country. His sophomore album New York Family was released on May 4, 2022 and was followed by his first ever US headline tour. So far in 2023 he’s released 4 songs, the most recent being a collab with prolific edm talent, if found.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Citizen
With the ability to excel in both quiet ballads and distorted rock anthems, Citizen (which recently expanded to a full quintet with the addition of former touring members drummer Ben Russin and guitarist Mason Mercer) has an incredible knack for channeling raw emotion and energy into singalong songs. On their new album Calling The Dogs, the band exemplifies that passionate songwriting and styling while stripping back to what they do best: guitar-driven rock ‘n roll. Picking up labels ranging from post-hardcore to shoegaze over the years, it’s reductive to try to categorize Citizen as anything other than one of the best rock bands around today. Evolving from teenagers playing local dives to a vibrant band capable of selling out theaters and hitting major festivals around the world, vocalist Mat Kerekes, guitarist Nick Hamm and bassist Eric Hamm have earned their reputation as both tremendous songwriters and a must-see live act. Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
An Evening of Music with Valerie June, Rachael Davis, Thao, Yasmin Williams
This is a seated show.An Evening of Music with Valerie June, Rachael Davis, Thao, Yasmin Williams is a collective of multi-instrumentalists influenced by a kaleidoscope of musical traditions. Allthese powerful artists were invited by the visionary promoter, Anya Siglin, toperform atthe Ann Arbor Folk Festival. After an exhilarating evening of songs and stories thattransfixed the audience, each artist was excited to take the show on the road. Theirperformancesweaveinteractive conversation segments with songs in a Nashville-styleround. This powerhouse collective of women from uniquely different backgrounds, ages,and views share united auras of sound and music.The Musical Conversation Meet & Greet Experience Includes: – General Admission ticket to see The Musical- Conversation live (varies by city)- Access to an exclusive pre-show experience including:- Acoustic performance of 2-3 songs not being performed during the show that night- Moderated Q&A- Meet & Greet with group photo opportunity- Commemorative VIP laminate- Merchandise shopping opportunity prior to doors opening to the public- Early entry to the venue
Squirrel Flower
The music Ella Williams makes as Squirrel Flower has always communicated a strong sense of place. Her self-released debut EP, 2015’s early winter songs from middle america, was written during her first year living in Iowa, where the winter months make those of her hometown, Boston, seem quaint by comparison. Since that first offering, Squirrel Flower amassed a fanbase beyond the Boston DIY scene and has released two more EPs and two full-lengths. The most recent, Planet (i), was laden with climate anxiety, while the subsequent Planet EP marked an important turning point in Williams’ prolific career; the collection of demos was the first self-produced material she’d released in some time. With a renewed confidence as a producer, she helmed her new album Tomorrow’s Fire at Drop of Sun Studios in Asheville alongside storied engineer Alex Farrar. Before Tomorrow’s Fire, Squirrel Flower might’ve been labeled something like “indie folk,” but this is a rock record, made to be played loud. As if to signal this shift, the album opens with the soaring “i don’t use a trash can,” a re-imagining of the first ever Squirrel Flower song. Williams returns to her past to demonstrate her growth as an artist and to nod to those early shows, when her voice, looped and minimalistic, had the power to silence a room. Lead singles “Full Time Job” and “When a Plant is Dying,” narrate the universal desperation that comes with living as an artist and pushing up against a world where that’s a challenging thing to be. The frustration in Williams’ lyrics is echoed by the music’s uninhibited, ferocious production. “There must be more to life/ Than being on time,” she sings on the latter’s towering chorus. Lyrics like that one are fated to become anthemic, and Tomorrow’s Fire overflows with them. “Doing my best is a full time job/ But it doesn’t pay the rent” Williams sings on “Full Time Job” over careening feedback, her steady delivery imposing order over a song that is, at its heart, about a loss of control. Closing track “Finally Rain” speaks to the ambiguity of being a young person staring down climate catastrophe. The last verse is an homage to Williams’ relationship with her loved ones — ‘We won’t grow up.’ A stark realization, but also a manifesto. To be resolutely committed to a life of not ‘growing up,’ not losing our wonder while we’re still here.Website | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Sun June & Runnner
The five members of Sun June spent their early years spread out across the United States, from the boonies of the Hudson Valley to the sprawling outskirts of LA. Having spent their college years within the gloomy, cold winters of the North East, Laura Colwell and Stephen Salisbury found themselves in the vibrant melting-pot of inspiration that is Austin, Texas. Meeting each other while working on Terrence Malick’s ‘Song to Song’, the pair were immediately taken by the city’s bustling small clubs and honky-tonk scene, and the fact that there was always an instrument within reach, always someone to play alongside.Coming alive in this newly discovered landscape, Colwell and Salisbury formed Sun June alongside Michael Bain on lead guitar, Sarah Schultz on drums, and Justin Harris on bass and recorded their debut album live to tape, releasing it via the city’s esteemed Keeled Scales label in 2018. The band coined the term ‘regret pop’ to describe the music they made on the ‘Years’ LP. Though somewhat tongue in cheek, it made perfect sense ~ the gentle sway of their country leaning pop songs seeped in melancholy, as if each subtle turn of phrase was always grasping for something just out of reach.Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Twitter | FacebookFor the last five years, Los Angeles-based musician Noah Weinman has been Runnner, and for much of those five years, Runnner has been working. Working on his 2021 collection album, Always Repeating; working as a producer on the Skullcrusher records; and, of course, working towards his debut full-length, Like Dying Stars, We’re Reaching Out. From LA to Ohio and the Northeast and back, he’s been deep in the craft of sound. This is music made at home, using anything and everything: cell phones and handheld tape recorders, the hum of an a/c unit, voicemails from friends. Rubbing cardboard together, stretching acoustic sounds out to near liquid, or stacking delay pedals at random to scramble the smoothness of a song can make something known into something unknown — something ordinary into something cosmic. These are songs where the edges have been left deliberately rough because perfection invites predictability, and imperfection imbalances, and those imbalances ask the listener to listen again, and again. And in that listening, the sound can become earnest, can ask a question, can hold a conversation.”I was sifting through my demos trying to decide what songs would go on the album, and I sort of started to notice this theme about the limits of language,” explains Weinman. “You’re trying to articulate something to someone, and it either doesn’t come out right or you end up not saying anything at all. It’s a pattern I see in my life, just having a hard time expressing myself to the people I’m close with.” So it’s no surprise that from a young age, Noah was drawn to other modes of expression: first studying trumpet and jazz, then falling into guitars, banjo, pianos and synths, and along with them discovering a love for stitching together songs and recordings. “It wasn’t until I got out of the studio environment and started recording at home that it became something I really love doing,” he says.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Caique Vidal and Também
Também – Ingrid Nora Knight & Deborah Rosengarth founded Também in 2018 over a mutual love for Brazilian jazz and their first songs exemplified samba and bossa nova styles. It soon became clear, however, that they were meant to create something more…daring. Welcome to an electric mashup of Brazilian music heavily influenced by classical chamber music and American jazz. Over the past three and a half years the ensemble has grown from a duo to a quartet with the addition of bassist Andy Powell and drummer Gastón Reggio. The quartet includes a diverse set of musicians who have unique backgrounds and skill sets. This medley of musicians allows the ensemble to explore a wide range of rhythms, textures, and languages all involving the intersection of Brazilian and American music. Caique Vidal – Caique Vidal (ka-EE-kee vee-DAHL) faithfully shares the Afro-Brazilian traditions of his Bahia birthplace. He is an educator and community organizer for the Brazilian diaspora in North Carolina. As a young man, Caique joined a new wave of politically-charged street musicians in the city of Salvador da Bahia, known as “the Black Rome of the Americas”. Playing with Olodum, the founding family of samba-reggae, Caique established the genre’s infectious rhythms and message of Black empowerment in Brasil, Europe, and the Americas, starring in a Spike Lee and Michael Jackson music video along the way.A studied rhythmic and choral arranger, Caique collaborated with producer Mikael Mutti on Percussivo Mundo Novo, an experimental reinterpretation of traditional Bahian percussion. He has proudly shared the stage with acclaimed musical ambassadors Suzana Baca, Carlinhos Brown and Gilberto Gil.
A. Savage
Parquet Courts frontman A. Savage presents his new single/video, “Thanksgiving Prayer,” and announces a fall North American tour. “Thanksgiving Prayer” marks Savage’s first new solo music since 2017’s Thawing Dawn — “a handy guide for keeping your cool as the world degenerates into a hot mess” (Pitchfork) — and follows the release of Parquet Courts’ acclaimed 2021 album, Sympathy For Life. “Thanksgiving Prayer” is anchored by Savage’s poetic musings, observations that are accentuated by saxophone flourishes from Euan Hinshelwood. “Thanksgiving Day is every day I write a song like this,” Savage croons atop instrumentation from Magdalena McLean (violin), Jack Cooper (guitar), and Dylan Hadley (drums/percussion). “When I get down on all four paws and drag myself // by my own jaws toward a feeling.” Of the single, Savage adds: “Well, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and every year on that day I write down some words having to do with gratitude. Some years are better than others, but the last one I celebrated these words just sort of came out of me. It was a pretty special holiday actually, because in fact we were recording this song, but I made everybody take a day off. [Producer] John Parish and his wife Michelle were kind enough to allow me to take over their kitchen to cook the meal for everyone. Dylan and I were the only Americans, so there was a bit of explaining to do. So it was the band, the studio staff and the Parish family, and it was an absolutely lovely day. I was in awe of the kindness and mercy, and that’s what the song is about; being in awe of humans. When I got back to my room I was on such a high so I started writing and this song is what was on the page the next morning, when we recorded it.” The accompanying “Thanksgiving Prayer” video — directed by Tiff Pritchett —is a black-and-white homage to silent film, with Savage adorned in makeup and surrounded by his band and handmade decoration. Of the “Thanksgiving Prayer” video, Savage adds: “The video is directed by a brilliant young director Tiff Pritchett, and she had this idea to sort of do a silent film tribute. The scene from Renoir’s film Rules of the Game where Danse Macabre is played was referenced, as was Klaus Nomi.”
Arcy Drive
With time to kill and an attic to jam in, Arcy Drive, a group of four good buds from Northport, New York began forming their scratchy but spirited sound. Traveling in a 1989 Toyota van, they shared their music locally which they coined “Attic-Rock.” After a summer in their hometown and newfound passion of playing live, the four renovated an old school bus and began touring the US before their first official release. Many dive bars and music halls later, their “Barefoot Tour” landed the band a new cult following. So far, the group has released two studio singles and a Live Album amassing over 4 million combined streams. In March of 2023, the band launched their fully SOLD-OUT headline run — The Stattic Tour. This included a sold-out show at Bowery Ballroom in NYC and across the US, selling out LA, DC, Nashville, CHI, ATL, PHX and Philly. This April, the band will be announcing Part Two of The Stattic Tour and getting back on the road. This run will include playing Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and City Gates’ Festivals. Hope to see you on the road this year and keep your eyes out for some new music coming your way soon!!! -Nick, Pat, Brooke, Austin
Yeule
yeule is the Singapore-born, Los Angeles-based nonbinary musician, performance artist, and painter also known as Nat Ćmiel. First self-releasing songs at age 14, they have since emerged as a cult art icon, whose experimental pop songs of emotional excavation and self-reclamation have attracted a dedicated following of fellow outsiders who seek catharsis from physical and mental struggle. A chameleonic auteur guided by a multidisciplinary ethos, they craft entire worlds and personas through their music, weaving together everything from the classical canon, hypermodern internet cultures, academic theory, the esoteric, and their own carnal desires. While their critically-acclaimed 2022 breakthrough album Glitch Princess was driven by the digital realities and intimacies they discovered to cope with the reclusion of their teenage years, yeule found themselves careening back into another self-made world—this time, more somatic and tactile—during the isolation of the pandemic. In 2020, yeule was forced to return to Singapore while in their final year at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London to finish their degree. In the midst of pandemic chaos and broken ties, grief was abundant when they lost a close friend from an overdose. They poured out their anguish into a total of eight journals, filled with handwritten dissections of these potent feelings. They began playing acoustic guitar obsessively for the first time since they were a kid and relistened to the early 2000s alt-rock music they grew up on, increasingly becoming immersed in their memories By setting these inner musings to cathartic punk riffs and ethereal electronics, yeule crafted Soft Scars, their debut album on Ninja Tune arriving September 22. On the blistering project, they closely examine the anatomy of their long held emotional wounds, making for their most penetrating and daring work yet. By liberating their repressed memories through images of blood, flames, porcelain, and angel wings, they honor the way that pain has shaped their past selves and built their instinct for self-protection Throughout, yeule also writes of relationships, either with themself or others, that were so transformational they feel almost metaphysical. “sulky baby” sees yeule having a conversation with their younger self, rekindling a childlike connection that they had long forgotten, while “ghosts” is written from the perspective of someone who is untethered to the physical realm, talking to the only person who can see them. Meanwhile, “aphex twin flame” is about meeting someone so familiar, you can’t help but suspect you were the same person in a past life. “I took the metaphor of the scar to represent each song, and each scar remains soft,” yeule says. “Whether you’re healing from emotional trauma or a physical wound, time never heals a scar completely. There’s no more pain, but you can still see the mark afterward. I have a deep feeling that the things my ancestors went through got passed down; there’s some trauma that just sticks. There was always decay and distortion in my life, there’s always been something wrong or ugly. So the scar reminds me that I’m being protected, and I should protect myself.” Though its subject matter is heavy and arcane, there is a sense of joyful catharsis that emanates throughout the project, which was written and produced by yeule and their best friend Kin Leonn, with additional magic from Mura Masa and Chris Greatti’s production (Yves Tumor, Willow Smith).
Djunah
Chicago-based Djunah spotlights the talents of Donna Diane, who pulls triple duty, simultaneously playing guitar, singing, and pulverizing a Moog bass organ with her foot — a feat some have described as “mind-blowing.” Drawing a broad range of comparisons from Diamanda Galás to Melvins, Djunah (pronounced “JUNE-uh”) pairs her powerful, unrestrained vocals and abrasive guitar with punishing drums courtesy of drummer Jared Karns (Their/They’re/There, Hidden Hospitals).Known for their massive, intense live sound, Djunah is fueled as much by big emotions as it is by love of gear. Diane, who has been featured on Premiere Guitar’s Rig Rundown, is a self-described gearhead who learned to build footswitches to make simultaneously playing both instruments possible. Shortly before the pandemic started, she launched a YouTube series called “Can I Touch Your Gear?” to help represent women’s voices in the gear space.CVLT Nation called Djunah’s first album, “Ex Voto” (2019), “an angular noise rock escalator run on power and beauty … a record that should be heard by all music lovers, no matter what scene you are a part of.” New Noise called it “an instant classic, like we’ve got a new Melvins on our hands.” Everything Is Noise raved, “Seismic guitar … 100% pure emotion … You gotta see it to believe it.” Djunah’s newest album, “Femina Furens,” fuses influences from formal poetry and heavy music to tell the story of diagnosis and continuing recovery from complex post-traumatic stress disorder, or C-PTSD. Animals, chariots/sleighs, and mythological figures appear prominently on the album as a way of exploring themes of emotional regulation, power, and control — some of the core features of trauma disorders. The album’s title comes from the Latin for a “raging” or “furious” woman.Website | Instagram | Facebook
