Year: 2016

In Dee Mail, Vol. XXVIII – Stella Nova, Bud Collins Trio, Amery Rey Tuesta, Mahdi Khene, Parker Rose and Jack Mosbacher

Posted on by August W. Zander

We’ve gotta close out 2016 with one more post, featuring DIY and small label indie bands from across the United States, Canada and Sweden. It’s hard to believe this is the XXVIII (28th) posting for the In Dee Mail (aka, in the mail) series.

Have a safe, happy and healthy 2017!

In This Installment:

Stella Nova – Denver, Colorado
Bud Collins Trio – New Haven, Connecticut
Amery Rey Tuesta – Gothenburg, Sweden
Mahdi Khene – Washington DC
Parker Rose – Santa Clarita, California
Jack Mosbacher – New York, New York
Morning Fame – Toronto, Canada

Stella Nova – “Old School Radio”

Denver teenager and DIY one man band Dominic Ellerbee has bigger things to worry about than most teens these days. His family has been on the verge of becoming homeless once again, he recently told IRC, and he has lost his “best friend, my girlfriend and my band.”

And yet you wouldn’t know from listening to this 19-year-old’s latest single, recorded under the moniker, Stella Nova, that it was such a troubling year.

In fact, “Old School Radio,” is infectiously upbeat, and nearly impossible to turn away from, with it’s indie, alt. rock and pop radio influences. When you consider that Ellerbee wrote the song, recorded all of the instruments – guitar, bass, drums and vocals – and mixed and mastered everything himself, it’s a pretty solid DIY drop.

Despite his 2016 tribulations, Ellerbee highlights as well the positives, writing on Facebook: “But this year also saw an immense growth for me: I met some amazing people; found myself a little more; wrote a whole bunch of music, and best of all, started work on this album.” He is referring to an album that he plans to drops in early 2107.

Stella Nova’s overall style is influenced by different eras of rock, pop, and alternative, with his favorite artists to include The Strokes, Lil Yachty, Arctic Monkeys, Weezer, Mobb Deep, and Sam Cooke. Another single that we find particularly interesting is the alt. rock like “Zephyr.”

Via Soundcloud – “Zephyr” – Stella Nova from TBA

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Bud Collins Trio – Quasarmoto

Connecticut’s long-running music group, the Bud Collins Trio (BC3), is not really what you might imagine at first; for starters, they are not a trio. They were once though. That identifier, ‘trio,’ isn’t usually used in any other context that we know about except jazz trios, and BC3 is not a jazz trio.

However, there are jazz elements interwoven in the band’s remarkably eclectic discography, as there are funk, punk, prog rock, psych, electronic, and many other genres. Yet BC3’s overall sound is mostly pop and rock wrapped within the warm and welcoming blankets of alt. and indie rock.

And that’s the great thing about alt. and indie rock music – you can mix and match whatever genres, styles, eras you want without anyone saying “you can’t do that.”

IRC has been featuring talented, under-the-radar artists and bands for 10 years now, and the BC3 is definitely one of them.

The band’s latest EP, Quasarmoto, is more decidedly electronic-influenced than other releases, and features the fast-paced, electro-driven, “Bad Kids Wander Away,” the slower, space pop-like, “I Don’t Understand” and the melodic shifts, and wild guitar solo, on “Useless People.”

Referring to “Bad Kids Wander Away,” band member Chris Duers says, “this tune is actually written about my youngest daughter…about all of the things I worry about, and things that I might say to her or want to say to her… about growing up and some of the dangers of the world, and some of the ways you can get lost, drift away from the right side of the world, get sidetracked.”

MP3: “Bad Kids Wander Away“ – Bud Collins Trio from Quasarmoto

Watch: YouTube video for the track, “The Last Thing Ever,” circa 2014

Bud Collins Trio on Facebook

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Amery Rey Tuesta – Mr. Black Pants

Now it’s time to enter the world of the eccentric, experimental Peruvian musician Amery Rey Tuesta who now lives in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Tuesta’s 2016 album, Mr. Black Pants, is decidedly unique and guitar-driven, with many interesting tracks, such as the memorable, “You Don’t Understand,” which sounds like 1970’s TV cop show music interlaced with off-kilter heavy metal music; the guitar licks are sparkling and the horn section adds a memorable finality.

While Tuesta’s vocals are not necessarily perfected, it’s also what helps set him apart from many of the other bedroom musicians; he certainly has the angst, and accompanying guitar licks, of a novel heavy metal/punk DIY one man band – writing and playing all of the instruments himself and mixing the masters.

His blistering guitar work is time and again the dominate force riffling through many of the tracks on Mr. Black Pants – from obscure theatrical arena rock (“Un Mejor Lugar”) to predominantly punk (“Roar” and “What Do You Mean?”) to influences of spaghetti western rock (“Ironic Life); surf rock (“What Did You Say?”); mid-60’s guitar rock with 70’s horn sections and Mexican music influences (“My House”).

Standout songs like “My House,” and “You Don’t Understand” are perhaps most accessible; Tuesta may not be smooth around the edges, but he exhibits a wide understanding and appreciation for the freedom that indie allows in mixing genres in creative and unconventional ways.

Via Soundcloud:  “You Don’t Understand“ – Amery Rey Tuesta from Mr. Black Pants

Amery Rey Tuesta on Facebook

Mahdi Khene – “Over Now”

Mahdi Khene is a Washington DC-area acoustic folk musician who was born in Algeria and immigrated legally as a toddler to the United States. Growing up hearing the music of Bob Dylan and The Beatles at home with his family, Khene became addicted to music.

By the age of 11 years old, he asked his father for a set of drums. His father made a deal with him: learn to play the guitar first, and the drums will follow. In short order, Khene learned with great earnest how to play the guitar. His father kept his side of the agreement and purchased Khene a new drum set.

Continuing to perfect his skills playing the guitar and drums, Khene was writing songs by the age of 14.

“I’ve been writing songs since I was 14,” he says. “All i do is write. I may have around 200 songs. I just wanna share them.”

MP3: “Over Now“ – Mahdi Khene

Mahdi Khene on Facebook

Parker Rose – “Little Dreamer”

Inspired by The Kinks and the early Motown Records catalog, California songwriter, vocalist and musician Parker Rose has harnessed the inspiration of his biggest influences to release a number of commendable singles during the past couple of years, including a couple of tracks that received a nice helping of online love from music lovers.

There’s no doubt listening to songs like “Slow Drive” and “Little Dreamer” that Rose has a love and a knack for indie pop music influenced from the sounds of yesterday, but still very much relevant today.

The latter track, “Little Dreamer,” had a good run on Soundcloud for a while, amassing more than 5K plays with nearly 50 comments from listeners.

In social media world, we call that excellent engagement and reach because people don’t comment unless they really like a track a lot. Comments range from “Feeling the vibe! Very funky and soulful” to “amazing!” Rose has opened for artists like The Withers, Fidlar, Together Pangea and the Allah Las.

Parker Rose on Facebook

Jack Mosbacher Band – Sunny Songs for Shady People

Raised in Woodside, California, and now living between New York City on one coast, and California on the other, songwriter, vocalist and actor Jack Mosbacher was obsessed with The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson and Motown music from a young age.

“I am passionate about telling a story — be it through music, on a stage, or on a screen—that makes the world a little brighter, bit by bit,” says Mosbacher. Mosbacher has an extensive palatte – he is just as comfortable “covering pop crooner Ed Sheeran as he is belting out a Stephen Sondheim number from Sweeney Todd,” his bio reads.

In 2014, Mosbacher founded the Jack Mosbacher Band, and the band has performed at venues in and around the city. His band has also performed in San Francisco at the Great American Music Hall during a California tour to support the release of the debut album, Sunny Songs for Shady People.

Bolstered by radio-ready pop tunes like his cheery debut single “I’m in Love” and funky slow-burner “Bad News,” Sunny is an eclectic mix of genres, moods and stories. Mosbacher is also hugely influenced by Bob Dylan and Van Morrison.

Via Soundcloud: “I’m in Love” – Jack Mosbacher Band from Sunny Songs for Shady People

Morning Fame – “Dreamality”

Based out of the increasingly influential Toronto indie music scene, the indie rock band Morning Fame, incorporates alt. rock and elements of classic rock with big, booming sounds, 70s-80s style guitars, and a psych rock jam halfway through, and a blazing end on the band’s track, “Dreamality,” from their upcoming new album to drop in early 2017.

    “The song portrays being trapped in a dream,” says guitarist Joe Liranzo, “and the pace of this song illustrates the chaotic feeling one might have if they were a prisoner of such a mystic place.“

    Comprised of band members from all backgrounds and musical genres and influences, like songwriter and vocalist Vik Kapur and drummer Alan Dennis, Morning Fame has been rocking the Toronto scene for years, building a following along the way. There are definitely some Detroit rock influences in the band’s gritty rock sound.

    Liranzo skillfully use insightful imagery to bring their lyrics and ideas to life as evident in an animated music video for the song, “Time of the Blackened Sun,” a sweepingly ambitious video and long-play song about Native American culture and history. The band will drop a new album in early 2017.

    Morning Fame on Facebook

Fresh Indie Rock Tracks, December 2016, Vol. II – The Sleeping Tongues, Rio Wiley, The Grenaways, Satellite Citi, Telamor, Jay Elle

Posted on by Max Hammer

Well, another year is winding down. Here is the second installment of Fresh Tracks for this month – featuring indie folk from England; 80s pop rock sounds from Brooklyn; modern, emotive date rock from Phoenix; lashing alt. rock from LA; more 80s’-tinged rock radio from Massachusetts and much more.

The Sleeping Tongues – Brooklyn, New York
The Grenaways – Cornwall, England
Rio Wiley – Phoenix, Arizona
Satellite Citi – Los Angeles, California
Telamor – Gloucester, Massachusetts
Jay Elle – New York, New York

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The Sleeping Tongues – The Sleeping Tongues

New York City area band The Sleeping Tongues is comprised of members from completely different backgrounds and locales, including a Queens born and raised Asian drummer and Jui Jitsu expert; a Miami Jewish bassist with cyber security chops, and a Scandinavian born pilot and vocalist/guitarist from Minnesota.

Two other members were born and raised are from Bronx and Brooklyn; so NYC is well represented. This diverse mix of musicians contributes to the band’s eclectic style; earlier this year they dropped their self-titled debut album.

The newest single from the album, “Bullet Train,” is a romping, strutting dance-invoking pop track with a bit of a old skool melodic pop structure reminiscent of 80s bands like Adam and The Ants and The Stray Cats.

We also featured TST this past summer for the terrific track, “Lyra.” The band has already started working on a new album for release next year.

The Sleeping Tongues on Soundcloud

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Rio Wiley – Young Ghost

Based out of the desert southwest capital city of Phoenix, Arizona indie band Rio Wiley (not to be confused with the popular, now defunct, band Kilo Riley) is a new solo indie pop project of songwriter and vocalist Rio Wiley Stinger.

It may be a brilliant moniker, or perhaps confusing for other indie lovers who were already Kilo Riley fans.

Either way, it is the music that ultimately decides a solo artist’s fate. Stinger’s Rio Wiley’s solo EP, Young Ghost, is his first foray of releasing music not performed with his long-time band, I Remember Burning, which was founded in 2012 and have made some waves in the local music scene.

His newest guitar-ringing track, “The Love We Used To Share,” leans more towards the mainstream rock/pop sound than indie, but Stinger really shows promise on this track. It’s almost an irresistible track. Here’s the video.

Stinger’s solo work is heavily influences from various genres of music, but mostly from radio pop rock, as well an occasional acoustic-leaning track, such as “Tired & Done,” featuring Anthony Perre III of DAISY.

Following the tracks release, he began to attract a new fan base. From there, Stinger spent half of a year writing and recording the songs for Young Ghost, “a concept album about losing all sense of your identity, following the loss of someone you love,” Stinger says.

After nearly selling out Crescent Ballroom, alongside other local Arizona artists, Rio Wiley performed a third show/CD Release Party to a sold out crowd last October 29th at the Pub Rock in Scottsdale.

Soundcloud – Stream Young Ghost on Soundcloud

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The Grenaways – Skath Vyghan

Hailing from the southwestern most coast of England in the ceremonial and ancient land of Cornwall, where the Celtic Sea meets the English Channel, the members of the Celtic-influenced indie folk band The Grenaways have just dropped a touching and inspiring EP, Skath Vyghan.

One of the tracks on this profound release, “Rowan,” was written and produced, according to lead male vocalist and guitarist Kris Lannen, “in memory of a young guy called, Rowan Draper, who was killed in a car crash while we were on tour last November. The last time he was seen by his mother was dancing at our gig in Norwich.” Draper was also the cousin of the band’s lead female vocalist, keyboardist and flutist, Laura Garcia.

The song is emotive and melancholy, but as it progresses, the mood changes, subsequently breaking out into a joyous and optimistic song. At times, Garcia’s voice sounds a lot like Dolores O’Riordan‘s of The Cranberries voice.

The folksy, organic track “Old Mast” is “a story an old ship mast that overlooks the sea from a hill above Port Isaac,” featuring musician Joe Lee on an old beat up double bass and Garcia using the church’s mini-grand piano.

“The drums and guitars were recorded in a barn and at the St Peter’s Church in Port Isaac working on the keys, vocals and trumpet,” she says.

Band members also include drummer Henry Cavender; lead guitarist Joff Phipps; violinist Isabelle Roberts (originally from Switzerland) and trumpet player Claude Lamon (originally from South Africa).

The backing vocals on the song “Fisherman” – a song about the struggling fishing industry – were recorded at a packed pub called Cornish Arms located in Pendoggett. The title track, “Skath Vyghan,” (“Little Boat”) and the song “Cornish Girl,” were recorded in the Cornish language.

“It’s been really significant for us as a band, even though none of us are actually Cornish, to explore writing in this beautiful Celtic language and although the arrangements are contemporary, they feel grounded in the ancient.”The band’s song, “Ghost,” is about a butterfly – the Tykki-Duw of Cornish, has received play on Balcony TV.

As a band, they see part of their mission to be one of “adding a sense of their own ties to the region and especially it’s Celtic heritage,” according to The Grenaways website bio. “But, they are a band set for far wider horizons than just Cornwall with a massive and alternative sound billowing through their musical sails.”

Soundcloud: Listen to more music from The Grenaways

The Grenaways on Facebook

Satellite Citi – “Rootless”

In the band-saturated city of Los Angeles, it takes a lot for a band to stand out. But that’s exactly what the alt. rock duo Satellite Citi is aiming to do.

Featuring lead vocalist and drummer Anna Gevorkian and guitarist and backup vocalist Shaunt Sulahian, the duo craft intricate compositions that mix genres – including hard rock, world music, indie and acoustic rock – “to create a truly unique and dynamic atmosphere of sound,” Gervorkian says.

Satellite Citi’s newest single, “Rootless,” does exactly that. The song, she says, is about “being pulled from your roots and feeling stuck.”

“Musically, we had a big vocal melody idea to use for the chorus, giving the song it’s big presence.”

The video includes shoots in and around the Hollywood Hills with the ocean in the backdrop and cool fly overs with a drone. One of the duo’s videos “Rock Bottom” was featured in the Pomegranate Film Festival. Satellite Citi are influenced by artists such as Muse, The XX, Glen Hansard, A Perfect Circle, Massive Attack and Tool.

Satellite Citi on Soundcloud

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Telamor – Good Bad Love

The man behind the Telamor moniker – musician Tom Hauck – has appeared on IRC before with his springy, bright guitar and percussion-driven pop rock songs.

The prolific Boston area (Gloucester, the famous seaport town, to be exact) songwriter has just released his fifth album, Good Bad Love, featuring another batch of mixed 80’s genres like pop, new wave, alt. rock, indie rock, punk elements and even jerking rhythms (“Back and Forth”) influenced by bands like The Talking Heads.

The most likely accessible track on the album may just be a cover of Courtney Barnett’s irresistible “Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go to The Party.” All the elements of the song come together, and Hauck really captures the 1980’s. It’s interesting, I always felt the track has an incredible likeness to “What I Like About You” by The Romantics.

An astute music enthusiast will probably also pick up hints of The Kinks and The Knack as other clear influences. At times, some songs (“Human Performance” and “That Ain’t For Me”) have the over-the-top theatrical type of rock pop art of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. At other times, as with the title track and “Nothing But Hope,” Hauck’s one-man band skills come shining through.

Listen: Telamor’s Good Bad Love

Jay Elle – Rising Tide

During this past summer, New York City singer, songwriter and guitarist Jay Elle made a bit of a buzz on college radio and on Soundcloud with the emotive folk rock song, “Twelve On Sunday,” amassing more than one million plays on Soundcloud alone. That is no small feat in the days of social media and music saturation.

Elle’s new album, Rising Tide, dropped earlier this month, straddling the musical spectrum of acoustic mellow tracks like the title track, the haunting “Twelve On Sunday,” and elements of pop, rock, blues and urban folk.

Rising Tide is rich with track after track of Elle’s soothing and passionate vocals, heartfelt lyrics, mixed genre instrumentation and unique guitar arrangements.

Jay Elle’s official website

Fresh Indie Rock Tracks from Teleskopes, The Penthouse, Gabriel Lynch Band, Pete Lord, Lovelast, Blisss

Posted on by flytrap

The latest fresh indie rock songs and releases that we are digging right now including standout tracks from the rising Los Angeles trio Teleskopes, plus one of Boston’s hot new indie rock bands, The Penthouse, and more amazing DIY and indie tracks from the west coast, east coast, the Heartland and overseas.

Teleskopes – Los Angeles, California
The Penthouse – Boston, Massachusetts
Gabriel Lynch Band – Melbourne, Australia
Pete Lord – Chicago, Illinois
Lovelast – San Francisco, California
Blisss – London, England

Teleskopes – “Lazers”

The Los Angeles based alt. rock/shoegaze trio Teleskopes have just dropped the hard-hitting, blazing new ‘space rock’ single, “Lazers,” which, besides being an ass-kicker from start to finish, is at the same time a meticulously arranged, rehearsed and recorded composition that puts Teleskopes into the category of new DIY bands to watch in LA.

The beginnings of the band’s two premiere singles dates back to 2014 when members Fox Fagan (bass, vocals), Pelle Hillstrom (guitar) and Jesper Kristensen (drums) cut the tracks at Dave Grohl’s (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) Northridge Studio 606.

“Because we had played that song so many times live in LA clubs,” says Fagan, “when it came time to record at Studio 606, we did it in three takes…[and] used a lot of the guitars and atmospherics from my bedroom demo sessions.”

Fox and his band fellow band members next handed over their tapes for “Lazers” to famed music producer Joe Chiccarelli (White Stripes, Spoon, Jeff The Brotherhood, Morrissey) who put his final magical touches on the tracks to give the band the sound that they were gunning for.

Mix master Maxime Le Guil, who worked with Nigel Godrich on Radiohead’s “A Moon Shaped Pool,” and Ken Sluiter, assisted with mixing.

The band’s newest single was proceeded by the psych alt. rock, grandiose sound of the searing debut single, “Criminal,” dropped officially on Oct. 26th.

The members of Teleskopes have some serious mojo going on with an upcoming show (Dec. 9th) at the famous Viper Room in Hollywood and a couple of hot alt. rock singles under their belts. If you’re in the wood, check them out.

Via Soundcloud: Listen to the brand new Radio Edit for “Lazers”

Teleskopes on Facebook

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The Penthouse – “Another Day”

The world-renowned Berklee College of Music has spawned many artists and bands over the years – way more than probably anyone has ever been able to count.

They include Grammy-winning artists like John Mayer, Donald Fagen (Steely Dan), Ben McKee (Imagine Dragons), among many others. And there are countless other artists and bands who have graduated from Berkelee.

The relatively newly spawned indie rock band, The Penthouse, are current Berkelee students. The band has recently been playing gigs in notable venues like Pianos in New York City (Dec. 9th) and receiving more attention from live music goers and the press.

The band’s funky, tropical indie pop track, “Another Day,” with its intricate instrumentation at points, reminded us a lot at first of Ra Ra Riot mixed with The 1975. We really love when the song goes into the instrumentation and just wish that the jhammin’ part of the track lasted longer.

Frontman Patrick Minogue says the band’s overall sound combines “skinny jean, iconoclastic, gritty, white-boy funk influenced by bands like Two Door Cinema Club, Arctic Monkeys, The 1975, and Cage the Elephant.”

Minogue says the songs are “a visceral fashion of love, life, and the pursuit of happiness. Basically we want to make you dance and feel some type of way.”

In addition to Minogue, the band members include Eric Derwallis, Kyle Raney, Jacob Arias, and Jesse Mason with musical backgrounds that include blues, classical, rock, pop, indie rock and funk.

The Penthouse on Facebook

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Gabriel Lynch Band – “Language of the Affair”

The Melbourne recording artist, Gabriel Lynch, who has built a following of loyal fans over the years, is back with a new emotive single, “Language of the Affair,” featuring fellow Australian vocalist Jennifer Lackgren.

The song highlights Lackgren’s emotive, soft vocal style, along with Lynch’s heartfelt and honest songwriting style. The B-side of the new single, “Drink Your Love Away,” is a nice little bonus.

Lynch’s biggest musical influences include Radiohead, Elbow, Muse, Snowy Belfast, Saskwatch, Svavar Knutur, Megan Washington, Fleet Foxes, and Rage Against the Machine. Lynch is currently living and performing in Kuala Lumpur.

Via Soundcloud: Listen to more tracks from Gabriel Lynch Band

Gabriel Lynch on Facebook

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Pete Lord – “I’ll Be There”

Pete Lord is a Chicago songwriter, keyboardist, and vocalist with a voice that recalls the styles of traditional pop rock singers he emulates, including Marvin Gaye, Steve Perry, and Michael Bolton.

As evident on his chart-making new single, “I’ll Be There,” the golden days – when pop rock singers were superstars and didn’t use auto tune – seem to somehow be channeling Lord, who compliments the genre additionally by writing, singing and performing for more than a decade. The track is from Lord’s new sophomore album, Keep The Faith.

“The album means a lot to me,” he says. “I wrote many of these songs about relationships and about life and just how short it is. This album really came from my heart.”

Over the years, Lord concentrated on perfecting his vocal style and performing in venues throughout the Chicago metro area, building a local following before the surge of social media where ‘followers’ are what exactly? No one is really sure. Lord enjoys human interaction in person, seeing and singing to the audience and talking to them before and after sets.

Growing up in the Windy City suburb of Elmwood Park, Illinois, Lord began taking vocal lessons at a young age as his passion for singing and rock music grew. In fact, Lord was chosen by the popular Chicago band Paradise to be the band’s leader singer.

His debut solo album, The Only One, was a favorite among the adult contemporary radio market. In addition to the vocalists who influenced him the most, some of Lord’s favorite bands include Earth, Wind & Fire, Chicago, Foreigner and Little River Band.

Pete Lord official website

Lovelast – “Run”

Last year, we featured the music of San Francisco inspiring recording artist Chase Jenkins, aka, Lovelast. His ethereal, emotional compositions, soaring synths, dance beats and remarkable vocals on songs like “Promises” and “San Francisco” captured the praise of IRC listeners worldwide. That post itself received over 600 Likes, with a good chunk going to Lovelast’s tracks.

Lovelast’s latest standout single, the driving, uplifting, “Run,” from the new EP, The Beauty and The Fire, swirls and soars with more synth pop elements than his debut EP.

“I knew I wanted a more keys-driven sound while re-introducing some of the edge that the first EP had,” Jenkins said.

We also featured another single from Lovelast not long after the first big post called “Halfway To You,” which turned out to garner nearly 10,000 streams on Soundcloud alone.

Jenkins musical influences include Magic Man, The Naked and Famous, Parade of Lights, and Broods.

Lovelast on Facebook

Blisss – “Chalk Air”

Emerging earlier this year from a self-imposed retreat in a cabin in Kentish Forest to record some songs he had been working on, London multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and vocalist Tom Greenwood, aka, Blisss, just dropped his self-titled EP in September.

The EP includes the catchy lo-fi track, “Chalk Air,” which he says is the culmination of his love for Britpop, gospel music, and alt., classic and psych rock, with influences ranging from Primal Scream, Jungle, Tame Impala, Mac Demacro, and Lou Reed.

Blisss on Facebook

London Band Curse of Lono Drop Videos for ‘Saturday Night’ Indie Short Film and Debut EP

Posted on by indierocker

The UK rock band Curse of Lono has been releasing a visually striking series of music videos that are part of a four-chapter, 18-minute short film and accompanying debut EP.

This newest, and third chapter, of the short film is “Saturday Night”, was inspired by a waitress that songwriter Felix Bechtolsheimer met while he was living in a sober house.

“I wrote [“Saturday Night”] for a beautiful waitress I met while I was living in a sober house…[she] died of a heroin overdose less than a year later and the song spent years sitting on the shelf gathering dust.”

Years later, he says, “When I stumbled across ‘Saturday Night,’ I had a big smile on my face. Lyrically there’s a lot of sexual innuendo but under the surface it sums up the sense of weariness and nihilism that surrounded my group of friends when we were in our teens and early twenties.”

The compelling, at times even dazzling, video was created with director and cinematographer Alex Walker (A Bird’s Nest, No One Will Know) and was shot by cinematographer Bart Sienkiewicz.

The collection of songs that emerged since then has formed a stunningly cinematic EP that combines spaced out, melodic, harmony-laden indie roots with driving, gothic guitar alt-rock elements, and a visually compelling story from start to finish.

Bechtolsheimer formed Curse of Lono in London in 2015 following the breakup of British roots pioneers Hey Negrita. Last summer, ex-Hey Negrita drummer Neil Findlay; lead guitarist Joe Hazell; bassist Charis Anderson and keyboardist Dani Ruiz Hernandez all joined Bechtolsheimer to complete the band.

Listen to more on the Curse of Lono’s Soundcloud page

Curse of Lono official website

Indie Rock Halloween Playlists with Beach House, Radiohead, Beck, The Kills, Arctic Monkeys, Wild Beasts, The Kinks

Posted on by August W. Zander

It’s Halloscreem again.

Our site is getting more hits for Halloween indie playlists that we have been putting together and posting for at least seven years now.

So, if you have never heard IRC’s popular Halloween Songs playlists, here are just a few you can enjoy now.

+ 50 Great Indie and Alt. Rock Halloween Songs – With Beach House, Pavement, Radiohead, The Kinks, Beck, The Black Keys, Cults, The Kills and many others.

+ All Hallowen Playlists – Just what it says. Almost a dozen playlists.

+ IRC’s Halloscreen Playlist – Featuring artists like Arctic Monkeys, The Mountain Goats, AIR, Wild Beasts and many others. Still being edited.

Fresh Indie Tracks from Corusco, Jack Kotz, Joseph Eid, Aux House, Kingsley Flood, Pacific Radio

Posted on by August W. Zander

The latest edition of Fresh Tracks includes new singles, albums and videos from artists and bands we’re digging are featured in the playlist below as well in their own sections of this post below.

Don’t forget to follow us, Like us and check out our playlists that we’ve worked on for years via Spotify (must listens!); via Facebook; new tracks and more via Soundcloud; announcements and other goodies via Twitter and please help us build up our Instagram by following with love Otherwise the indie-loving elves behind the scenes get cranky. Please don’t let them get cranky. :-)

Corusco – College Station, Texas
Pacific Radio – Los Angeles, California
Joseph Eid – West Hollywood, California
Jack Kotz – Wilmington, North Carolina
Aux House – Grand Rapids, Michigan
Kingsley Flood – Washington, DC

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Corusco – “Twin Ghosts”

South Texas songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Aaron Gonzalez and his band, Corusco, have spent the past year recording and touring from Texas to New Hampshire, stopping in many cities along the way.

Based in College Station, Corusco started as an acoustic solo side project of Gonzalez’s in 2015. Soon after, it “accidentally grew into a full band,” Gonzalez says, bringing on Ryan Corb on guitar, Phillip Baugh on bass and Carlos Garza on drums.

The inspiration for the band’s latest single, “Twin Ghosts,” Gonzalez? says, “is the story of the weekend one of my friends passed away…he was one of the kindest, smartest guys I’d ever met. I wrote it from the perspective of his roommate and his best friend, and what I think they would have told him if they could see him again.”

It’s a hauntingly beautiful song, and together with their tantalizing August release, Don’t Give Up, puts Corusco on indie map.

“We’re a band that wants to write music that is meaningful and though a lot of the material we deal with is somber or heavy, we always want there to be that glimmer of hope through it all,” Gonzalez says.

Via Bandcamp: “Twin Ghosts” – Corusco from Don’t Give Up

Corusco on Facebook

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Pacific Radio – “Katie”

Based in the city of Los Angeles, the indie rock quartet, Pacific Radio, deliver a sound that “ranges from rock n roll to West coast ballad,” according to band member Kyle Biane.

Pacific Radio’s new single, “Katie,” is a bright, uplifting romp, highlighted by singer Joe Robinson’s well-honed vocals and the awesome talents of his band members. The second half of the track blossoms into a full blown, infectious celebration.

But Pacific Radio (not to be confused with Pacific Radio radio) is not simply an indie band that creates musical magic in the studio. In fact, the band has been very busy performing shows and touring.

Earlier this year, the band performed four shows at South By Southwest, including for showcases Red Gorilla Fest and the Midcoast Takeover.

Via Soundcloud: “Katie” – Pacific Radio

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Joseph Eid -“One and Only” – Exclusive Premiere!

Southern California musician, singer and songwriter Joseph Eid‘s engaging new video, “One and Only,” was filmed on West Hollywood‘s famed Sunset Strip, giving the smooth, alt. folk rock ballad a nice touch against the backdrop of the city in his new video for the track.

Eid says the song itself “is about finding and longing for true love in a place where instant gratification and temporary thrills are the norm,” referring to Hollywood. He adds that the song could also be interpreted as a story about a common experience adults face in life – longing for a special relationship and holding on to it while fighting the temptations of the future.

“It’s the realization and confession that the short term fulfillment of a new thrill or adventure cannot compare to the true and everlasting fulfillment of a love that goes beyond the surface,” he says.

When making the video, Eid and director William Sanford set out to convey use the night lights of the Sunset Strip to convey the emotions and sense of loneliness in the middle of one of the largest cities in the western hemisphere. Brian Soucy co-produced the single.

His influences, not surprisingly, include Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Billy Joel, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, Prince and many others. Eid has been performing around the Pacific Northwest for much of the year. He is working on completing the new EP, Watch It Fall.

Joseph Eid official website

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Jack Kotz – “Orange Neon Nectar Juice”

Last spring we featured some exciting new tracks from Wilmington, North Carolina musician and ‘one man band’ Jack Kotz‘s debut album, What’s All The Fuss About?.

Kotz has just released his followup to Fuss with his sophomore album, Neon Orange Nectar Juice. For fans of guitar rock, funk inspired beats and rhythms, and psych pop, Neon is a tour de force of high order.

Here is the tantalizing title track, followed by an electrified cover of Jack Johnson, one of Kotz’s musical influences.

Via Soundcloud – “Orange Neon Nectar Juice” – Jack Kotz from Neon Orange Nectar Juice

Via Bandcamp: “Taylor” (Jack Johnson) – Jack Kotz from Neon Orange Nectar Juice

Jack Kotz official website

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Aux House – “Antique Radio”

Based out of Grand Rapids, the DIY alternative rock trio, Aux House, offers listeners something more than the regular fare. And yet they manage to appeal to a larger audience with their fun and eclectic brand of alternative rock.

Perhaps founder, guitarist and vocalist of Aux House, Tristan Rudolph, explains it best as a revival of the “Bowian idea of the space-alien rock star.”

The Michigan trio’s debut self titled DIY album release contains a mix of rock and pop punk angst with sci-fi elements, and alt. rock overtones, creating a larger than life sound and stories about girls, cars love and troubles, which are no better demonstrated than on the irresistible “Antique Radio” and the delightful and unusual track, “Aliens Can’t Dance.”

Rudolph said the band’s top musical influences include Sufjan Stevens, Bruce Springsteen, Pavement, Wilco, and Bright Eyes. There’s a nicely suited eclecticism about that selection of artists and bands.

Aux House on Facebook

Kingsley Flood – “To The Wolves”

The Washington DC band Kingsley Flood, sports a gritty, and yet at times, sassy, sound on their new music video for the edgy track, “To The Wolves,” from the new album, Another Other.

The band was founded by Palestinian-American born singer and songwriter Naseem Khuri in 2009, and has won praise for his work from the press, including NPR, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Paste and American Songwriter.

The band has toured nationally, opening for artists like Grace Potter, Lucius, Langhorne Slim, Angus and Julia Stone, and Brett Dennen. They were also invited to perform at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival.

Khuri tackles a number of issues in his music, including the lingering – stoked by presidential candidate Trump – bias against Arab born Americans, who he says, don’t deserve to be treated as “one” – Khuri reminds people that the vast majority of Arabs, or Muslims, are peace-loving, law abiding hard-working members of society.

“At the end of the day, I’m American,” he asserts. “The only Arabic words I know are foods and swears. It’s just that more jarring to somehow always be labeled ‘an other’ when you don’t even see yourself that way.”

Via YouTube: “To The Wolves” – Kingsley Flood from Another Other

Kingsley Flood official website

Best New DIY & Indie Rock Music of 2016, Vol. III – Maps of Suburbia, Cheops’ Cave, Empire of Gold, The Modern Savage, La Historia

Posted on by Max Hammer

This is the third installment of Best New Indie and DIY Rock music of 2016, with installment IV already in the works. This time around, we have an incredibly talented, emotive band from New York City; a rising new indie rock DIY band from Sweden; more from LA alt. rocker Michael Dole; sultry alt. rock from Alaska, and an exciting coming up indie folk rock band from Illinois (or as Sufjan Stevens so popularized with the song, “Illinoise”). (The bands are not featured in any particular order.)

Also in the works – 5 Bands You’ve Gotta Hear; Best Indie and DIY Debuts of 2016, and many other posts.

In This Installment:

Maps of Suburbia – New York, New York
Cheops’ Cave – Hässleholm, Sweden
Empire of Gold – Los Angeles, California
The Modern Savage – Anchorage, Alaska
La Historia – Rockford, Illinois

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Maps of Suburbia – Maps of Suburbia

New York City musician and songwriter Nicholas Perlman joined up with some friends in 2015 to form a new DIY indie band called Maps of Suburbia.

Perlman knew that he wanted to write and record songs with a diverse and distinct sound that vacillates between genres from alt. country and surf rock to folk and pop. Perlman, the lead vocalist and guitarist, is backed by Andy Porta on drums, guitar, and mixing-board sorcery, Seth Nicholson on bass, and Danny Flinn on bodhrán, with everyone lending their vocal talents.

The band dropped its self-titled, debut EP on June 30, featuring songs like the beautiful, “Highway One,” with its emotive, heartfelt vocals, heavily melodic acoustic and electric guitar parts, gentle drum and crashing cymbals.

Other tracks like the sombre song, “You Always Knew,” the boozy, Conor Oberst-like, “Friends, Lovers, Etc.,” the soft, yet somehow edgy, acoustic guitar (interesting tuning and nylon strings) number “Every Ghost” are all evidence that this new EP, and band, belong on the radars of indie folk-rock enthusiasts.

The other members of MoS include Andy Porta (drums, guitar, mixing); Seth Nicholson (bass) and Danny Flinn on bodhran.

Via Soundcloud: “Friends, Lovers, Etc.” – Maps of Suburbia from Maps of Surburbia

Maps of Suburbia on Bandcamp

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Cheops’ Cave – Old Not Gold

In 2013, five high school students from Hässleholm, Sweden, with similar tastes in artists like Foals, The Stone Roses and Makthaverskan, among others, began jamming together in their parents’ garages. They called themselves Cheops’ Cave.

Two years later, they were winning praise from the press, gaining followers, and, within less than a year, the members of Cheops’ Cave were traveling around Sweden performing at venues large and small.

Earlier this year, the band released their debut album, Old Not Gold, featuring a number of standout singles, like rocking lead-off track, “Get It Right,” with the type of energy, wit and raw talent of bands like Arctic Monkeys, which band bassist Erik Lundow, acknowledges is a huge influence on the band’s sound.

Listen to more from Cheops’ Cave via the band’s Soundcloud page. The band has just completed a new video for another standout track from the album, the irresistibly catchy single, “Grey End.” It’s probably the most memorable song on the album, and just sounds like a hit. We will be featuring the video itself soon.

“The song itself is about escaping your regular day life and finding your ‘grey end,'” Lundow says. “The term, ‘grey end’ is supposed to symbolize a distant place where everyone is free to do whatever they want, whenever they want. It is also a state of mind that can help you reach out from your boring day to day life and make you desire something more out of it – something not really safe and structured.”

The band members, in addition to Ludlow, are August Rauer (vocals); August Olsson (guitarist); Sebastian Wihlborg (guitarist) and Marcus Brixne (drummer).

Cheops’ Cave on Instagram

Cheops’ Cave on Facebook

*Note: Will be featuring more Best Indie Debuts of 2016 later this week.

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The Modern Savages – Unfazed

Perhaps one of the quietest great DIY EPs of 2016 so far has been Alaskan band The Modern Savages’ riveting alt. rock Unfazed. It’s risky, energetic, deep and overall one of the best DIY alt. rock EPs of 2016. We can only wonder what the response would be if the band was hitting the clubs in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco or LA for a year – very likely, they’d become a hot new band on the scene. And as this fourth release proves, they are not only talented, but they are very tight, musically and otherwise, as a band, and they’ve got their sound down.

The exceptional guitar playing on the EP from John Cripps and Matt Eley is one of the hallmarks of the band’s success – Cripps’ and Eley’s alt. and indie rock, with post-punk influences, playing styles are many things – hard, raw, complex, crunchy, haunting, and other times, shimmering, floating, ascending as they do so beautifully on the title track, featuring frontwoman Jenni May’s gorgeous vocal abilities, and the perfect timing of bassist Ivan Molesky and drummer David Devlin. The more you listen to the EP, the more you realize just how hard these musicians have worked to create a solid band, and how serious they are about making rock and roll that stands out.

Other tracks like the irresistibly captivating, funky and sultry, “More,” show again how adept the entire band is as a unit – May’s vocals are once again at another range, and once again electrifying. Unfazed is an EP that pays homage – the Alaskan way! – to the bedrock of the alternative/garage rock (“Animal Sounds”) movement, while also having the imagination, creativity and flexibility to create songs that are funky slow rockers (“Comet” sounds a bit like Gwen Stefani); ska-pop elements (“Go”); straight up indie pop, complete with catchy choruses (“Surrender”) and driving guitar post-punk and 80’s-influenced synth and blazing guitar rock (the seductive, “Rage City” and “June Bride”); other times, heavily melodic pop rock with layers and multiples of guitar and synth chord changes running throughout the album.

Unfazed is a perfect listen for indie rock purists who are loyal to truly talented alternative and indie rock artists and bands who are simply damn good, especially at a time when ‘indie rock’ itself has become more mainstream.

Someone needs to get these guys to come to the mainland and totally go for it. Naturally, things are picking up for the band, including landing praised performance slots at regional and state music festivals. Now it’s time to throttle forward to the mainland. The band is currently recording their fourth album.

Via Soundcloud: “More” – The Modern Savage from Unfazed

The Modern Savage on Facebook

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Empire of Gold – Jack & Cocaine

A little over a month ago we featured the new music video for Empire of Gold’s single, “Intoxicated” from the recently released album, Crass. He’s just released the second single from the album, “Jack & Cocaine.”

Chicago musician Michael Jack Dole is the entire band and production team; otherwise known as the proverbial one-man band – behind Empire of Gold. He is also a huge fan of grunge and alternative rock.

Dole is also a man who doesn’t give a shit whether people like his music or not. As he contends, he’s a DIY musician who works a blue collar job by day. He refuses to change anything or to bow to anyone. His lo-fi, distorted punk-inspired garage rock sound is not something he does to satisfy the industry’s predetermined, cutter-cookie, over produced format that record execs and radio program directors want to proliferate.

“I will gladly wither away for the rest of my life in the warehouses I work instead of seeing my music be over-produced,” he says defiantly, without self-righteous indignation.

He gets a bit testy when it comes to this particular topic. Dole is not a fan of the endless refinements that go into modern popular music, where the line between human and tech/computer talent and skill sets is very blurry indeed these days.

“Fuck that cookie-cutter, overly produced and refined crap on the radio pumped with computerized samples of other peoples’ music, programmed beats, auto-tune and fake instruments.”

“When people listen to this album,” he says forcefully, “ I’d rather they hear the passion, rage and hard work of ONE man’s efforts, instead of critiquing or caring about the overall production value because it’s supposed to be raw and unrefined.”

As a tenaciously fierce DIY warrior and bedroom artist, Dole does not have and does not want access to a studio or a producer. Instead, he is self-trained on guitar, bass and a Mac mini with Logic Pro, a pre-amp, and some plugins.

“I don’t care about having a band,” he says. “Right now what matters to me is to keep improving my sound and production skills while retaining the edgy, unrefined sound I love so much.”

For the new album, Crass (named for “the sound I adore”), Dole is resolute in his stance of remaining true to his work, avoiding, at all costs, any noticeable sense of fine-tuning.

Songs like the standout, Nirvana-inspired, “Intoxicated,” and the tragic, blazing guitar and bass of, “Jack & Cocaine,” his newest single, as well as the sluggish, edgy, “No Sleep,” the 90’s alt-driven “Beautiful Mistake,” and the punk/garage rocker jam, “Dumb,” among others. The album, in total, has a blazing, buzzing, raw and angry sound.

“I like when people call my lyrics and my sound brash and crass,” he says, “hence the album name. I love my guitars *loud* like sludge metal, which is the biggest reason for the drums and bass being lower. I have always been driven by guitars more than anything. When I was a kid, I didn’t listen to lyrics, drums or bass. I was all about the vocal melody and riffs. I faded out the rest.”

His cover of Nirvana’s “Sappy,” he says, is a track he is ‘very proud’ of, adding, “I made it unique and it would be so humbling if, even in a small way, some Nirvana fans felt it was a good homage to the band, since I realize that it is a really high bar, and not one that many musicians aim for in fear of being ridiculed.“

Last summer, in June of 2015, Empire of Gold’s debut EP, Raw, was released. Crass is his new debut LP album.

Empire of Gold on Facebook

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La Historia – Low Mimetic

The member of La Historia, an indie rock band from Rockford, Illinois, are (formerly of bands like Gods Reflex and The Braves), dropped their debut LP, Low Minetic, earlier this year, featuring standout tracks like the heavily melodic, “Please Do” and the more upbeat, poignant track, “Fall Right Through,” among others.

The album was produced by Mike Hagler (Wilco, Mekons, Neko Case) in Chicago at Kingsize Soundlabs. Band members are Kevin Schwitters (guitar, vocals); Jesse Carmona (drums, vocals); Phil Goudreau (guitar) and Luke Kramer (bass, vocals).

La Historia has toured the midwest opening for bands like Textbook, Joie de Vivre, Warren Franklin FFs, The Bollweevils, Les Jupes, with musical influences ranging from Jawbox and Superchunk, to the Replacements, and Bloom.

Via Soundcloud: “Please Do” – La Historia fom Low Minetic

La Historia on Facebook

Artist to Watch – Way Zen

Posted on by Kate Stevens

Located in the university town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, psych rock multi-instrumentalist Tim Knowlton, aka, Way Zen, weaves wailing lo-fi guitars, swishing, hip-hop influenced rhythms and percussion, various samples and his well-honed vocal style on the intoxicating title track of his new album, Relics of the Heart.

“The album puts the contours of the human heart in sharp relief,” Knowlton says, “illuminating the heartbreaks and ego of a love-obsessed individual.”

The second standout track is the poignant, “I’ve Got Reasons to Never Stay The Same.” Knowlton is one of the rare ‘one-man band’ musicians that stands out from the never-ending flow of one-man bands these days. This track is just more evidence of that, as is the album itself.

But Knowlton is not the ordinary bedroom musician; he is a Berklee College of Music graduate, engineer, and trained musician since he was in his teens.

And while it’s true that most DIY musicians, or one-man bands, or ‘bedroom musicians,’ whichever phrase works in whatever context, do not have the luxury of having gone to perhaps the best music college in the U.S., it’s ultimately what grads do with that education that matters. On Relics of the Heart, Knowlton has proven that he was not wasting his time at Berklee, both as a musician and an engineer in training.

His musical influences are many and include Kevin Parker (Tame Impala), Ruban Nielson (Unknown Mortal Orchestra) and Elliott Smith, “particularly how they wrote for and played every instrument on their records,” he adds. Some of his favorite bands include Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Wilco, and The Velvet Underground.

Knowlton has recently decided to take a hiatus from recording in order to build sustainable strawbale homes in Utah as part of an effort to help folks there adapt to climate change. After this volunteer project out west, Knowlton says he will begin recording his second album.

Free MP3: “Relics of the Heart“ – Way Zen from Relics of the Heart

Bonus Track: “Ive Got Reasons to Never Stay the Same“ – Way Zen from Relics of the Heart

 

New Indie Rock Song Premieres from Cloud Safari and Pomonasounds; Plus, Norwood, Alx Kawakami & More

Posted on by Rick Sosa

Cloud Safari is the moniker of Pennsylvania indie synth pop musician Travis Pierson, a 21-year-old songwriter, singer and musician based out of State College who began writing and recording his own guitar and synth pop songs as a teen. premies

His new single, “Pleasin’ You,” premiering today on IRC, is a watery blend of chilled out, reverb-heavy psych pop rock, swimming in waves of heavily distorted vocals, melodic grooves, swaying rhythms, and a Steely Dan-like electric guitar jam set against a backdrop of warm synths and an understated beat throughout. It’s the perfect lazy summer day track.

“It was a song that I wrote the basic melody to on an acoustic guitar a long time ago,” he says, “but I didn’t fully conceive all the parts until about a year ago. It was one of the first songs I’ve ever written and recorded. It was written to my girlfriend as something of a reassurance when she is upset or something in life goes wrong.”

“Pleasin’ You” is the first single from Cloud Safari’s upcoming EP to be released sometime this fall.

Pierson made a DIY splash on Soundcloud late last summer with a number of singles, including January’s “Sunset Park,” and last fall’s “Wonderer,” amassing an impressive 10,000+ streams and plays online and over 300 likes on Soundcloud.
Pierson played in several bands during high school and has been writing music since his early teens.

He officially launched Cloud Safari in the fall of 2015 after experimenting with another moniker – Oceans – that didn’t work for him because it made it too difficult for his followers to find him, and there were too many existing bands named the same. That’s when Pierson came up with what we think is a creative, non-run-of-the-mill moniker; Cloud Safari. His top musical influences include Pink Floyd, Tame Impala, MGMT, and Marc Demarco.

Listen and like on Soundcloud
Cloud Safari – Facebook

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Pomonasounds – “The Girl (After Midnight)”

As children growing up in London‘s crumbling, post-industrial Southend, the band members of Pomonasounds, know all too well about hard economic and social times and the struggle of the working class in the age of globalism and an increasingly oligarchical world order.

The band’s dark, minimalistic, Velvet Underground-like, lo-fi rock sound, as evident on their premiere debut single, “The Girl (After Midnight),” has a haunting and mysterious allure.

According to PomonaSounds’ guitarist Lee Smith, his band mate, songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Andrew Blake, wrote the song about a broken up relationship that he was having difficulty overcoming.

“For a while he found himself experiencing crippling realistic dreams of her and her presence,” Smith recounts. “So apparently he wrote this song in an effort to combat these dreams, and it worked. The girl after midnight being that of the girl in his dream.”

The other band members, also from the same area of south London, include bassist John Bailey, and a revolving door of drummers recently as the band looks for a permanent replacement.

“The list of our musical Our influences is nearly endless and mainly originate from the punk, new wave, classic rock and the indie/alternative rock scenes, including bands like AC/DC, Jesus & Mary Chain, Nirvana, Joy Division, and The Clash, among others,” according to Smith.

The band named themselves after Alistair McDowall’s play Pomona, in which all roads lead to where journeys end and nightmares begin. Meanwhile, the band continues to work in the studio on their debut EP, expected to drop later this fall, and perform at gigs around London.

Pomonasounds on Soundcloud
Pomonasounds’ official website

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Alx Kawakami – “Count From Ten”

Hawaiian songwriter, producer and musician Alex (or ‘Alx’) Kawakami, has overcome many challenges in his life. One of the most profound has been his struggles musically.

As a child, defying the Hawaiian ukulele masters (including Roy Sakuma) he schooled with, Kawakami would return from lessons and practiced by playing ‘upside down.’

As Grammy nominated songwriter and world-renowned pianist, Jim Brickman, recalls: “The first time Alx grabbed a ukulele, he held it left-handed but kept the strings tuned right handed. That was the start of a very upside down journey into the music world.”

After high school, where he continued his musical pursuits, Kawakami left Hawaii for the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he was soon discovered that he was not allowed to move forward in the music program “because he played upside-down and backward,” according to Kawakami. So, he decided to return home to Hawaii and founded the musical project ManoaDNA.

Since then, ManoaDNA has recorded five albums. In the summer of 2014, Kawakami co-produced a cover of the famous Men at Work’s song, “Land Down Under,” which made it onto the Billboard Top 40 list.

As a preteen, Kawakami went on to study with one of his idols, Jake Shimabukuro (became one of the first YouTube sensations in 2007 for his ukulele cover of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”), a ukulele virtuoso and composer known for his fast and complex finger work. In the course of his studies, Shimabukuro encouraged Alx to play the ukulele in whichever way made him most comfortable.

Kamakami’s newest single, “Count From Ten,” is from his solo debut album, Rise & Shine, which dropped officially on August 9th.

Via Soundcloud: Listen to Alx Kawakami’s  Rise & Shine

Alx Kamakami on Facebook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fgUNu_FR5M

Norwood – “Notes To My Blood”

Based out of Queens, New York, Norwood is an acoustic indie rock band founded and fronted by guitarist and vocalist Chris Norwood. The band’s new single, “Notes To My Blood,” is, according to Norwood, for the ‘middle children of culture.’

“They are the people who are constantly being told what’s cool and how they should think,” he insists. “These songs [on the band’s new release] are for people who take life on a person-by-person basis rather than lumping people into easily marketable groups, cliques, races, social classes, genders…for anyone who feels pinned down by a thousand voices telling them they aren’t good enough for a million bullshit reasons.”

The other band members include Keith Michael Pinault on bass; Max Maples on drums, and Hajnal Pivnick on guitar.

Norwood describes the band’s sound as one “rough and tumble.” He was inspired to pick up a guitar and start writing music after listening to Sublime Acoustic: Bradley Nowell and Friends.

“Music was something outside of everything,” Norwood says. “And the bands I clung to were the bands that couldn’t be clearly defined.”

“Sublime was my first really favorite band,” he says. “They were punk, but not. They were ska, but not. They were even kinda pop sometimes, but definitely not too.” Norwood contends that his mantra became, ‘I am not a genre.’

“That album [Sublime’s Sublime Acoustic] made me want to pick up a guitar and play music,” Norwood says. “That led to all kinds of bands – ska bands, singer-songwriters, classic rock, R&B, and whatever They Might Be Giants would be called.”

Via Bandcamp: Stream Notes To My Blood

Norwood on Facebook

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Beth Marlin – “Railroad”

With a background that includes writing and recording children’s’ music (Bethie; Disney TV, Sesame Street Live), San Francisco songwriter, musician and vocalist Beth Marlin turned a new leaf over a decade ago, dedicating herself to folk music in most recent years, with an particularly recent revivalist Americana roots focus, she says.

Marlin’s new EP, Railroad, is an ode to the traditions of the American folk singer of yesterday, as her own special cover of the title track implies.

Marlin is well aware of the history of the song, with its original late 1800’s racist lyrics. In the folk tradition, Marlin explains, it’s not uncommon to take such a song and reconstitute it to preserve the musical aspects of the song – which is a derivative of an African slave spiritual. In the 1880’s, the original spiritual from slaves was taken and corrupted with disgustingly racist lyrics.

Other songs on the four-song EP include “Juliana Valentine” – written for one of the child victims of 9/11 who was on her way to Disneyland when the plane she was on crashed into one of the Twin Towers in NYC, and “Califor-ni-an,” about Marlin’s falling in love with the Golden State when she first arrived there years ago as a young musician.

Marlin is experiencing positive reviews for her new EP, which includes contributions from many LA musicians and artists.

Via Soundcloud – Stream Railroad on Soundcloud

Beth Marlin on Facebook

David Jacobson and the Space Wizard

David Jacobson and the Space Wizards – “8 AM”

With heavy melodies, soaring electric guitars and drum-bass jamming, David Jacobson and The Space Wizards, which is really the one-man band of Jacobson, recently let it hang out on the single, “8 A.M.” from the Brooklyn indie psych rock project’s debut album. The band has opened for other local bands like The Main Squeeze, Foxtrax, Best Behavior, The Magic Beans. Their album was released on July 3rd.

Via Soundcloud – “8AM” – David Jacobson and The Space Wizards

David Jacobson on Facebook

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Mr. Thundder – “I’m The Conquering Lion”

Twenty-five-year veteran musician and award-winning Los Angeles songwriter, Mr. Thundder, recently dropped his new single, “I’m The Conquering Lion,” a follow-up to his last EP, With The Love, which was DIY released in 2014. It’s available on Spotify here.

His breakthrough song from the EP was “Rolling Thundder.” He has performed at L.A. venues such as Amplify and Angel City Cafe.

Fresh Tracks – New Indie Rock Songs by Beta Play, Sandmoon, The Sleeping Tongues, Elizabeth Geyer, Pearla

Posted on by Kate Stevens

The first Fresh Tracks for August is here, featuring a band from Santa Barbara, another from Brooklyn, and a third from across the world in Beirut, Lebanon, as well as artists that have come to our attention, including Elizabeth Geyer and Pearla, both gifted singers and musicians from New York City.

Beta Play – Santa Barbara, California
Sandmoon – Beirut, Lebanon
The Sleeping Tongues – Brooklyn, New York
Elizabeth Geyer – New York, New York
Pearla – New York, New York

Don’t forget to follow us for regular music all the time: IRC on Facebook; IRC on Soundcloud and IRC on Instagram

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Beta Play – “The Way We Play”

Beta Play is the talented, relatively new indie pop trio from Santa Barbara who are probably most known in the coastal college town for their quirky and earnest dance grooves and anthemic love pop songs. The band was founded in 2014 by guitarist and vocalist Tom Cantillon, his brother, Mike Cantillon, on keys and Mike Dyer on bass.

Their new dance-driven single, “The Way We Play,” with its unmistakable 80’s integrated influences, is the follow-up to their 2015 crowd-funded self-titled debut EP mixed by Eric Palmquist (Thrice, MUTEMATH, Bad Suns). Beta Play have performed opening spots for touring bands like Toad The Wet Sprocket and Plain White T’s.

Another standout track,”Do You Love Me,” was produced by Matt Wallace, who has previously worked on albums from The Replacements, Maroon 5 and Faith No More. The band has also performed at LA’s famous Troubadour and are currently working on the next release. The trio is heavily influenced by The Talking Heads, The Killers, and Foster the People. The band enjoyed robust radio play and online plays for their single from last summer, “Heaven Is Under The Sun.”

Bonus track (Via Soundcloud: “Heaven Is Under The Sun” – Beta Play from 2015 single that helped

Beta Play on Facebook
Beta Play Official Website

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Sandmoon – “Time Has Yet To Come”

Beirut has flourished for hundreds of years as an essential international crossroads between East and West, with a wonderful tradition of diverse art, food, education, history, and most definitely, music.

One young girl was particularly influenced by her cultured surroundings growing up in the vibrant cosmopolitan capital city.

Beirut born and raised, pianist and vocalist Sandra Arslanian’s fluid piano-playing and emotive vocal style are unforgettable.

Arslanian’s particular musical influences range from traditional, and modern, music of Lebanese and Middle Eastern musicians, as well as indie and rock artists, such as Cat Power, Radiohead, Bright Eyes, Bob Dylan, Portishead, Bob Dylan and Granddaddy.

Her band, Sandmoon, include talented musicians like Maen Rajab (guitars); Ribal Kallab (cello); Khaled Omran (bass); Maya Aghniadis (drums) and Raffia Elmadjian (trumpet).

Sandmoon’s new melancholy track, “Time Has Yet To Come,” features ringing guitars and mysterious synths, 70’s funk-inspired percussions, and Arslanian’s hypnotic, sad, almost grieving, vocals to make it one of the best overseas DIY singles we’ve heard so far this year.

Via Soundcloud: “Time Has Yet to Come” – Sandmoon from #InTheEnd EP

After performing in the local city circuit and festivals around the region, Arslanian and Rajab set on a mini European tour – stopping in Stockholm, Brussels, and Paris – as an acoustic duo last summer.

In an article about Arslanian, the publication Your Middle East, wrote “She knows how to tell a story well. Sandra puts them into words, music, and she visualizes them. As a concept artist, she narrates her stories and illustrates the feelings that they evoke at the same time.”

We echo those sentiments. Today, the band is exploring new avenues – from the orchestration of new songs to the recording of intricate soundtracks. The five-track EP, #InTheEnd, is a uniquely eclectic EP, featuring a blend of indie pop, rock, folk, country, and blues. The EP was entirely written on ukulele and vocals.

Sandmoon on Facebook
Sandmoon on Soundcloud

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The Sleeping Tongues – “Lyra”

Starting with an initial catalog of songs written by bassist Craig Kepen during a period of homeless car living, Brooklyn indie rock band The Sleeping Tongues have been performing around the NYC area since their formation in late 2014. The band thrives on live performance and authentic songs that mix modern influences with classic rock feel and instrumentation. The band members are totally DIY – producing, recording and mixing all of their own material.

The Sleeping Tongues’ new single, “Lyra,” from their self titled debut, has 80’s rock/soul feel with its drum machine beats and Prince-like sexiness helped along by intricate keyboard work from Evan Ignatz; hard-hitting, perfectly timed drums and cymbals from Alex Chung; exotic guitar work from Chris Fatcat and Kepen’s soulful, R&B-influenced vocals.

Via Soundcloud: “Lyra” – The Sleeping Tongues from The Sleeping Tongues

The band has opened for artists like Yabadum, Aotearoa, Shapes On Tape, Lofi Lincoln, Shayfer James, No Sky God, and are heavily influenced by The Cure, The Clash, New Order, Bob Marley, and Queens of the Stone Age.

Second single (Soundcloud) : “One-Eyed World” – The Sleeping Tongues from The Sleeping Tongues

The Sleeping Tongues on Facebook

elizabeth-geyer-music

Elizabeth Geyer – “The Wall”

Australian songwriter, vocalist and jazz trumpet extradonaire Elizabeth Geyer, who has performed at top festivals like the Monterey Jazz and Newport Jazz festivals, waited seven years before writing and recording her newest album, The Bridge. She was ‘waiting’ for a moment of inspiration to come.

“That moment finally came late one night,” she said, referring to an evening in late 2014, “after a few seconds into my first listen of an album that had arrived from America, Paul Adams’ The Land Where I Come From …I was hooked straight away by its unique beauty and wondered about talking Paul into joining creative forces.”

Before long, she was on a plane to meet musician and producer, Paul Adams, whose music she loved so well. The result is a 13 song album of intoxicating, gorgeous and introspective music.

The lead single, and title track, “The Bridge,” exemplifies Geyer’s heartfelt, gorgeous vocals, her emotional expressions with each line delivered, and touching, thoughtful lyrics, not to mention her undeniable talents as a pianist, guitarist and flugelhorn player.

Geyer’s accomplishments are many. She was a featured singer for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards ceremony; the Legends of Jazz at Jazz in the Domain; and performed in backing bands for artists like James Morrison during the opening of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, and artists Marcia Hines, Harry Secombe, and Gene Pitney.

She travelled on the road as a trumpeter and jazz singer for years, and she was looking for a change. Then, sometime at the turn of this century, that change came out of the blue.

“I suddenly realized I couldn’t do it anymore,” she said. “As grateful as I was, I had to find my own voice.”

That’s exactly what she did – setting out on her own to record and release her debut album of jazz standards in 2000 after a decade of working as a freelance trumpeter and jazz singer.

Now, years later, Geyer is set to release her fourth album, The Bridge, featuring the lead single, “The Wall.”

“My dream was always to make music that might touch others like it touched me,” she said recently. “The Bridge has been a long journey, a whole series of leaps of faith…my hope is that these songs capture that.”

Via Soundcloud: “The Bridge” – Elizabeth Geyer from The Bridge

Elizabeth Geyer Official Website
Elizabeth Geyer on Facebook

Pearla

Pearla – “Waking Up”

New York City artist Pearla, the moniker of singer/songwriter Nicole Rodriguez, dropped her debut single last week, “Waking Up,” the first of a number of songs she is working on for her debut EP to be released later this year.

The track, as with all of the songs she writes, is a reflection, perhaps even a therapeutic journey, of her own life struggles – something that many listeners can all relate to.

“This song is essentially about coming out of a dark place in life,” she said. “It’s about suddenly seeing all of this beauty that you had been blind to for so long – ‘waking up.’

The producer of the track, and the upcoming EP, Devon C. Johnson had originally sent an acoustic guitar track from an old folk album that he hadn’t time to finish to Rodriguez, who wrote the lyrics almost immediately.

“I wrote the lyrics in a stream of consciousness over the track in less than a half hour,” she says. ” We did not edit much because it captured the feeling so perfectly and came about so naturally.”

Rodriguez’s moniker was adopted from, and is an homage to, her late grandfather, singer Jeff Pearl, who headed the doo-wop group The Neons. Rodriguez’s interest in music began to accelerate after her grandfather’s death, and she soon picked up a guitar and started listening to Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Her other musical influences range from Fiona Apple to Alanis Morissette, and Conor Oberst to Laura Marling.

Via Soundcloud: “Waking Up” – Pearla from forthcoming EP

“I would take the bus to NYC almost every day from when I was 16 to collaborate with different writers and producers. It has eventually led me to this project which is the culmination of all of that.”

Pearla has performed at The Count Basie Theater and The Stone Pony in New Jersey and The Bitter End in New York.

Pearla on Facebook
Pearla on Bandcamp

Revered Irish Singer/Songwriter Ultan Conlon Drops New Album, ‘Songs Of Love So Cruel’

Posted on by Max Hammer

Galway singer/songwriter Ultan Conlon arrived in America earlier this summer from his native Ireland to share a collection of new songs – from his latest album, Songs Of Love So Cruel – that bridges the gap between the traditions of Celtic music from the homeland and the tendencies of the younger generation to explore new sounds while respecting the old. Conlon strikes that balance well on Songs Of Love So Cruel, which will officially drop on Friday.

Conlon’s eclectic compositions are well admired on the Emerald Isle; his lyrics celebrate, and appeal to, the human spirit; his voice likened by some critics as an “Irish version of Roy Orbison,” and his songwriting skills are admired by fellow musicians, music lovers and critics.

His international reach continues to expand in recent years. He performed his first U.S. show at Largo at the Coronet as part of an In The Round event hosted by Inara George with Elani Mandell, Mike Viola and Mike Andrews. Having just returned from a string of shows in Texas, he is also scheduled to perform in New York City next month.

Conlon’s new single, the uptempo, breezy track, “Lonely Avenues,” with its country-western tinge and open road allure, features his register-shifting – with hints of crooning – vocals; soaring slide guitar; fierce acoustic guitar playing, shakers, and light drums. It may remind some indie fans of Conor Oberst or M. Ward.

The album was co-produced and mixed by acclaimed engineer Colin Elliot (Richard Hawley). Conlon and his band recently performed the entire to a full house at the Viper Room in Hollywood.

Songs Of Love So Cruel is an impressive collection of mature, painful and wonderfully crafted songs, with a depth and warmth that is a gift rather than contrived, and along with his amazing voice, Conlon’s album will naturally appeal to an international audience, older and younger, across genres because his music is ultimately universal.

Ultan’s back catalogue – two EPs and two full studio albums to date – has received extensive international radio airplay. Plus, in 2014, five of Ultan’s songs, along with a score he co-composed with guitarist Eoin McCann, were included on the soundtrack for the award-winning movie, Songs For Amy, which was screened at the Boston Film Festival as well as The Newport Film Festival, where it took home the Just Award.

His music has been featured on Irish national radio, including RTE, Today FM and Newstalk as well as receiving extensive airplay in the UK on BBC Radio 2. Conlon has shared the stage with artist such as John Grant, Eddi Reader, Patty Griffin and Richard Hawley, and performed duets with Glen Hansard and John Martyn.

Ultan Conlon – Official Website