Tortoise
Simply put, Tortoise has spent nearly 25 years making music that defies description. While the Chicago-based instrumental quintet has nodded to dub, rock, jazz, electronica and minimalism throughout its revered and influential six-album discography, the resulting sounds have always been distinctly, even stubbornly, their own.It’s a fact that remains true on “The Catastrophist,” Tortoise’s first studio album in nearly seven years. And it’s an album where moody, synth-swept jams like the opening title track cozy up next to hypnotic, bass-and-beat missives like “Shake Hands With Danger” and a downright strange cover of David Essex’s 1973 radio smash sung by U.S. Maple’s Todd Rittman. Throughout, the songs transcend expectations as often as they delight the eardrums.Tortoise, comprised of multi-instrumentalists Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Doug McCombs, John McEntire and Jeff Parker, has always thrived on sudden bursts of inspiration. And for “The Catastrophist,” the spark came in 2010 when the group was commissioned by the City of Chicago to compose a suite of music rooted in its ties to the area’s noted jazz and improvised music communities.Tortoise then performed those five loose themes at a handful of concerts, and “when we finally got around to talking about a new record, the obvious solution to begin with was to take those pieces and see what else we could do with them,” says McEntire, at whose Soma Studios the band recorded the new album. “It turned out that for them to work for Tortoise, they needed a bit more of a rethink in terms of structure. They’re all pretty different in the sense that at first they were just heads and solos. Now, they’re orchestrated and complex.”“All of the songs went through a pretty intensive process of restructuring,” adds Parker. “We actually had quite a lot of material that we ended up giving up on. Oftentimes, we’ll shelve ideas and come back to them years later.”The album’s single “Gesceap” embodies the transformation of the original suite commissions, as it morphs from two gently intersecting synth lines into a pounding, frenzied full-band finish. “To a certain extent it’s more of a reflection of how we actually sound when we play live,” says McEntire of Tortoise’s heavier side. “That hasn’t always been captured as well on past albums.”Elsewhere, “Hot Coffee” resurrects an idea abandoned from the band’s 2004 album “It’s All Around You,” gliding through only-on-a- Tortoise-album sections of funktastic bass lines, straight-up dance beats and Parker’s fusion-flecked guitar bursts. “It’s progressive experimental music with pop sensibilities,” says Parker.“Rock On,” which McEntire says he and McCombs simultaneously had the idea to cover after having remembered hearing it on the radio all the time as kids, isn’t the only vocal moment on “The Catastrophist.” Also included is the bittersweet, honest-to-goodness soul ballad “Yonder Blue,” sung by Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley. “We’d finished the track and decided it would be good to have vocals on it,” recalls McEntire. “Robert Wyatt was our first choice, but he had just retired and politely said no. We were discussing asking Georgia to do something, but not that track in particular. Then we realized it would totally work.”Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook
Cracker
Cracker has been described as a lot of things over the years: alt-rock, Americana, insurgent-country, and have even had the terms punk and classic-rock thrown at them. But more than anything Cracker are survivors. Co-founders David Lowery and Johnny Hickman have been at it for over a quarter of a century – amassing ten studio albums, multiple gold records, thousands of live performances, hit songs that are still in current radio rotation around the globe [“Low,” “Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now),” “Euro-Trash Girl” and “Get Off This,” to name just a few], and a worldwide fan base – that despite the major sea-changes within the music industry – continues to grow each year.Website | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
L’Rain
Under the mononym L’Rain, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Taja Cheek records and performs music rooted in r&b, jazz, noise, and pop, using voice memos and manipulated samples as inspiration and source material.Cheek has toured in the US, Canada, and Europe with her band and her latest album, Fatigue, was released with critical acclaim. Rated the #1 album of 2021 according to The Wire and the #2 album of the year in Pitchfork, the record also earned praise from outlets including The New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker, and Artforum.Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify
Neptune
Neptune’s origins trace to 1994 as a sculpture project by Boston artist/musician Jason Sanford, who forged the band’s haphazard guitars and reluctant drums from scrap steel and found objects. Seven lineups, twenty-three releases and hundreds of instruments later, the band continues to wrench its sound spatter on self-built instruments to often confounded audiences around the world. In 2007, they released Gong Lake with avant arbiter Table of the Elements, home to art heroes Tony Conrad, Rhys Chatham and Faust. Neptune has shared the stage with a variety of influential artists such as The Ex, Mission of Burma, Ut, Oneida, Lightning Bolt, The Flaming Lips, Blonde Redhead, Melt-Banana, Charles Hayward, Liars, Black Dice, James Chance & the Contortions, Gang Gang Dance, The Dresden Dolls, Six Finger Satellite, and Wolf Eyes. Sanford and longtime Neptune collaborator Mark Pearson are currently joined by musicians/instrument inventors Kevin Micka and Farhad Ebrahimi, redefining their music and creating new sounds from scratch. Propulsive percussion and sonorous electronics tangle with Sanford’s microtonal string creations with a refined minimalism, adding a new chapter to the band’s ever-evolving story.Website | Bandcamp | Facebook
Alesana
Alesana is embarking on the second installment of their Trilogy Tour, this year playing the album ‘A Place Where The Sun Is Silent’ in its entirety as a follow up to last year’s successful performances of ‘The Emptiness’ across the US.Inspired by Dante’s ‘The Inferno’, and considered by many to be Alesana’s most theatrical release to date, ‘APWTSIS’ follows the journey of The Wanderer, The Temptress and The Fiend as they traverse the aftermath of its predecessor, The Emptiness. The album includes fan favorites ‘Lullaby of the Crucified’, ‘A Gilded Masquerade’ and Revolver Magazine’s 2011 Song of the Year, ‘Circle VII: Sins of the Lion’.Shawn Milke quote:“On the heels of the incredible fun we had last year playing The Emptiness, we are excited to announce The Trilogy Tour Part II. This time around we will be playing ‘A Place Where The Sun Is Silent’ from front to back, which means there will be several songs that we have never before performed live hitting the stage for the first time ever. Making this record was one of the coolest experiences of our career and we cannot wait to relive this chapter of the Annabel saga with all of you! Prepare to walk hand in hand with the damned.”Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify
Harbour
Since their formation in 2014, HARBOUR has gone from packing rooms in their native Cincinnati to selling out venues across the United States. With three tours already under their belt in 2022, and more cross-country shows on the way, the band has no plans of slowing down anytime soon. Members Ryan Green (vocals/guitar), Jarett Lewis (guitar), Ryan Sulken (drums), Walker Atkinson (bass), and Devon Turner (guitar) have curated an infectious indie pop/rock sound that transfers seamlessly into their live shows.During their tenure as a group, HARBOUR has delivered an EP and three full length albums. Their latest single, “Swimming In My Head,” is the third track to come off of their latest LP, poised for release in early 2023. The song vocalizes the insomnia-fueled thoughts that make a person feel like they’re drowning in their own head; the hypotheticals and hindsights that keep one up all night.The contemplative, often ruminating lyrical matter of HARBOUR’s music finds juxtaposition against playful melodies that perfectly encapsulate the boundless energy the band brings to all their performances – each of which begin with an enthusiastic shout to the crowd: “Let’s have some fun!”Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Reggae Reunion
Mickey Mills & SteelA pioneer of the reggae scene in North Carolina for decades, Mickey Mills is a talented singer, keyboardist, and songwriter once called “the fastest steel drum soloist on earth.” Born and raised in Trinidad, he first started playing steel drums at the age of 12. During his long career, he has worked with legendary artists such as The Rolling Stones, Johnny Mathis, and Mighty Sparrow. He has performed in the off-Broadway show “House of Flowers,” on the television show Matlock on NBC, and is no stranger to such prestigious venues as The Village Gate and Madison Square Garden. Mickey, who cites Bob Marley as one of his major influences, also works in schools conducting workshops with young people across the country as a music educator with his “Island In The Sun” and “Steel-o-Rama” cultural programs. Facebook
Brother Kent, Turquoise Trader, Tupelo Crush
Brother Kent Brother Kent is a Durham-based foursome. Their new album “What They Say Ain’t True” tours the American sonic tradition, as well as the landscape—from the moonshine-slur of small-town melancholy, to the crowded aloneness of the insomniac city, and all the open highways that connect the two. Rock ‘n roll road songs, barnyard stomps, funky folk, and spacey laments. It’s Indie-edged Americana with storytelling always at the heart. Website | FacebookTurquoise Trader Turquoise Trader is a 5 piece band that has been gigging around NC for the last two years, refining our original Americana Psych-Folk in front of audiences from the coast to the triangle. Our music is acoustic guitar driven with mandolin, fiddle, keyboards, electric guitar and pedal steel laid over. Although we love a tight pop hook & harmonies, we also love stretching out in search of those special moments that live music is made for. Website | Instagram Tupelo Crush Tupelo Crush is an “alt-country”/rock n’ roll band from the woods of NC. Inspired by the idea of Buck Owens joining The Replacements…Tupelo Crush is where twang and feedback, thunder and white lightning, pearl snaps and t-shirts and lonesome heartache come together to drown their sorrows. Facebook | Instagram
The Mountain Grass Unit with Big Fat Gap
The Mountain Grass Unit consists of three Birmingham pickers, Drury Anderson (mandolin and vocals), Luke Black (acoustic guitar and banjo), and Sam Wilson (upright bass). The Mountain Grass Unit has played music festivals, private functions and multiple music venues, playing bluegrass tunes and adding a bluegrass touch to country, jazz, funk, rock, and even metal. With the addition of Luke Black and Sam Wilson on harmonies, The Mountain Grass Unit has established the firm foundation to take on not only the vocal harmonies of traditional bluegrass tunes, but also the freedom to adapt songs from various genres to an all-acoustic format. Aside from their original songs, all three are equally comfortable restyling a Tony Rice number, a classic Grateful Dead tune, or covering contemporary acoustic masters like Billy Strings. The youthful exuberance and energy they bring to the stage is always remarkable. Their competency at what they do was best described by Birmingham music promoter Steve Masterson when the boys performed at his Acoustic Café festival: “They don’t just play good for their age, they play good. Period”. Sam, Luke, and Drury are excited to share with their audiences this new and exciting musical chapter.Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Joyce Manor
Joyce Manor is a band who have never relied on gimmicks. Since forming in Torrance, California, in 2008, the band—vocalist/guitarist Barry Johnson, bassist Matt Ebert and guitarist Chase Knobbe—have built-up a feverish fanbase by writing catchy, pop-punk songs that seem straight-forward on the surface but teeming with carefully crafted nuances upon multiple listens. This is undoubtedly true of the band’s sixth studio album 40 oz. To Fresno, an album that has songs that span the last eight years, yet comes together to form a cohesive album that marks the next chapter of Joyce Manor. “This is an interesting record because the final track ‘Secret Sisters’ was actually a B-side from [2014’s] Never Hungover Again and ‘NBTSA’ is actually a reworked version of ‘Secret Sisters’ that barely even resembles the original song,” Johnson explains. Although Joyce Manor were planning on taking a break prior to the pandemic, Johnson soon began writing to keep boredom at bay and much of the remainder of 40 oz. To Fresno came out of that period of focused songwriting.Produced by Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Tokyo Police Club) with Motion City Soundtrack’s Tony Thaxton on drums, the bulk of these songs were recorded in two separate sessions at Mant Sounds in Glassell Park, California. “The whole process was just really easy and it was also fun because as a band we hadn’t hung out very much lately,” Johnson explains. “We spent the last decade just talking, hanging out and drinking beers and then we went months without doing that for the first time in ten years.” Johnson adds that after their previous drummer Pat Ware recently left the band to go to law school, having Thaxton and Schnapf in the studio with them made for a seamless transition. “Tony was amazing to write with and he came up with amazing parts,” Johnson says, “and this was our second time working with Rob [who also produced 2016’s Cody] so there was already a lot of trust when it came to his musical vision. I think he made these songs a lot better.”As its title suggests, 40 oz. To Fresno is an album that indulges in the unorthodox—and correspondingly, the first track is a cover of “Souvenir” by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, which originally appeared on a split 7-inch with Jawbreaker’s Blake Schwarzenbach in 2021. Even though it’s technically a cover, Joyce Manor make the song their own via swirling synths, palm-muted guitars and Johnson’s distinctive croon. This somewhat sonic outlier also perfectly sets the tone for what comes next such as “NBTSA,” which features the band’s signature blend of melodic guitar leads, rock-solid bass and driving drums. However the band aren’t afraid to experiment on the album and “Reason To Believe” features chiming chords and falsetto vocals while “Don’t Try” sees Thaxton integrating inventive drum patterns to the verses, which make the song’s already infectious chorus stand out even more.That said, this is an album that will undoubtedly please fans of Joyce Manor who have been waiting for four years for the follow-up to 2018’s Million Dollars To Kill Me. “One song I’m particularly proud of is ‘Did You Ever Know?’” Johnson explains.Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
