Category: Artist of the Week

Two bi-coastal brothers, who normally worked together from opposite ends of the continent, came together at the mid-point city of Austin last March for the South by Southwest music festival after being invited by the organizers.

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The fist thing that we noticed about Canadian DIY multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter, Joel Strauss is his voice – nasally, but somehow tolerable (like Dylan and others), even likable. The best comparison we can think of at the moment is that he sounds a bit like Colin Meloy of The Decemberists. In subsequent spins of Strauss’ songs over the ensuing months, we got to like his music all more and more, most especially the two singles included below.

Strauss has a remarkable sonic palette that is evident on his debut album, Don’t Lose That Feeling, DIY released on January 18th. He skillfully weaves together various styles, like pop, rock and folk into his songs, together with intelligent and inspiring lyrics. And that voice – one which some will turn away from, and others will embrace. Strauss’ music is ‘grower’ style, although there are sure to be listeners who like his music right away.

Adding to the well-deserved kudos, Strauss is basically a one-man band. That is, he not only writes, composes, and sings his own songs, he also plays acoustic and electric guitars, bass, drums, and piano, and then mixes them on his own into the final product. That takes a special talent, and it is reflected in the music.

It’s probably the most enduring and impressive aspects of One-Man Bands, and probably a big reason why the One-Man Band series on IRC has been so popular for so long – because other listeners also not only like the songs, but they also appreciate and admire someone who can do it all, from A to Z, to put an album out with virtually no help from anyone else.

That’s the wonder of today’s technological advances and the fact that a musician does not need a studio, producer, engineer, record label, distributor, publicist, manager, nor a lot of money, in order to put out their own material.

The artistic freedom and the unfettered control the musician has over his own music over the past decade is the music revolution of the new millennium, and it has opened the floodgates to endless streams of incredibly talented musicians around the globe. And Strauss is one of the best One-Man Bands we’ve heard in a while (and promise there are more coming up).

Strauss currently lives in the small town of Kelowna in British Columbia. We strongly recommend going to listen to more of his music if you enjoy these two standout DIY/One-Man Band singles.

“Don’t Lose That Feeling” – Joel Strauss from Don’t Lose That Feeling – Jan. 18th

“The New City” – Joel Strauss from Don’t Lose That Feeling

Check out Joel’s homepage for more music, news and videos

Previously Opened For: We Are The City, The Geese, Ari Neufeld, The Mighty River, Andrew And Zachari Smith

Major Musical Influences: The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan

“Indie Rock is rock and roll that sounds totally uncompromised [sic], true to the artist and not to the standards of anyone or anything else” – Joel Strauss

Grace Basement is the moniker of St. Louis songwriter, singer and musician Kevin Buckley. His acoustic folk songs are heartfelt and introspective, comprised of dreamy melodies, pleasant harmonies, soft instrumentation and Buckley’s soothing vocals, that have a remarkable likeness to Paul Simon, especially, but not exclusively, on Buckley’s cover of Simon’s classic acoustic single, “Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War,” from the must-have music collectors’ compilation, Hearts and Bones.

There’s no question, in listening to Grace Basement’s newest album, Wheel Within A Wheel, released last August, that Buckley is an artist who has been largely overlooked. Wheel Within A Wheel is one of the best overlooked albums of 2013. Grace Basement released its debut, No Sense, in 2007.

Even after listening to the album, and his other recordings, again and again, we’re still moved each time we hear Buckley’s music. His impressive talents as a songwriter, vocalist and musician are too great not to be known to more music lovers. It’s bewildering how an artist with Buckley’s music has remained pretty much under wraps until now.

“Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War” – Grace Basement from Wheel Within A Wheel

Buckley’s songs are masterfully composed and brilliant, especially considering that he tracked all of the instruments – acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, bass, drum – himself, as well as mixed and mastered them, making him eligible for the One-Man Band classification as well. Aside from his amazing covers, Buckley’s original compositions, and performances, are magnificent, as songs like “The Way To Be” and ‘Water Flowing Over a Mountain” so clearly demonstrate. The latter track is filled with upbeat acoustic melodies, world-sounding drum beats and the rising harmonies of Buckley’s exceptional vocals. Although all of the songs on the album are wonderful, “Water Flowing Over a Mountain,” is absolutely a stand out, and one of the more energetic songs on the LP.

“Water Flowing Over a Mountain” – Grace Basement from Wheel Within A Wheel

Although he is under the radar for the most part, Buckley is not as obscure as most other low visibility artists we feature in a given year (don’t miss past Artist of the Week profiles). Signed to the small label, Avonmore, Buckley has previously opened for big artists like the Counting Crows, The Jayhawks and Blue Mountain. That’s great and all, but he should be headlining his own shows, making TV appearances and be a feature artist at SXSW.

One of the marks of a great artist is not only how well they can write, compose and perform original music, but also how well they cover other musician’s music. As previously noted, Buckley’s cover of “Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War” is one of the best Paul Simon covers we’ve ever heard from another artist, and so is Buckley’s cover of Bob Dylan‘s “It’s All Over Now (Baby Blue).” Buckley doesn’t try to sound like Dylan, and doesn’t even play the song in the same time signature, yet he pays the song, and Dylan, the required respect, and still manages to make the song, for a few minutes, his own. It works; in fact, it works really well.

“It’s All Over Now (Baby Blue)” – Grace Basement from Wheel Within A Wheel

There is not one song from Wheel Within A Wheel that is a ‘throw-away’ – they are all, in our view, keeper songs. This is the kind of album that we’ll listen to for years, and part of the cafe’s permanent in-house music collection – as well as being permanently featured in the archives of IRC. Here’s another song we love from the album, “We’re Gonna Rock This Town,” which is much more mellow than it’s title suggests.

“We’re Gonna Rock This Town” – Grace Basement from Wheel Within A Wheel

Artists like Buckley give us much inspiration to keep digging through the submissions and listening to everything we can get our hands on, and to remember that there are simply too many immensely talented artists – that do not get the coverage they deserve – for us to give up on putting in all of the work required to sift through and listen to, research, listen to again, and then write up and schedule for publishing.

All we can hope is that sharing this music with the IRC community – as has happened with so many artists and bands we’ve featured over the years – gives Buckley a springboard to reach more music lovers. He’s destine for greatness. Contributing members include David Anderson, Jill Aboussie, Greg Lamb, Ian Walsh, Kaleb Kirby, Maureen Sullivan, and Jesse Irwin.

“The Way to Be” – Grace Basement from Wheel Within A Wheel

For more info, view Grace Basement’s official website

Listen to more on Grace Basement’s Soundcloud page

In March, DIY power pop songwriter, vocalist and musician Sam Page self-released his debut album, Breach, featuring ten original songs of excellent guitar-driven pop/rock that partially channels styles of the 1980’s and 90s.

Page wrote all of the songs himself, and recorded and mixed all of the vocals, guitars and bass tracks at his home in Mission Viejo, California. He also mixed in shakers, tambourines, and even various children’s percussive instruments that he picked up around his home. His friend, Jim Moreland, stepped in to play drums and mastered the tracks for the album.

Prior to the release of Breach, Page released a number of EPs and performed at more than 20 well-received gigs throughout southern California. He has a well-honed, driving guitar rock pop sound with strong melodic hooks as demonstrated on the single, “Hold On,” which almost sounds like an 80’s FM single, although the vocals and some of the production levels could be tweaked a bit to make it even better. The second song off Breach, “Now I Know,” has a catchy chorus, buzzing, jangly guitar riffs and an overall feel-good aura about it; the song reminds us of Matthew Sweet, who not surprisingly turns out to be one of Page’s major musical influences. Other influential artists include Jack White, CAKE, Cloud Nothings, Dinosaur Jr., Weezer, and The Pixies.

“Hold On” – Sam Page from Breach – March 16th

“Now I Know” – Sam Page from Breach

Page’s prolific work in the past two years has provided fans with more than a couple dozen tracks in a relatively short period of time. His discography features one splendid, enjoyable, and infectious hook-heavy guitar rock/pop song after another, as the terrific single, “I Wonder,” from his 2012 EP, Going on a Rampage, demonstrates.

“I Wonder” – Sam Page from Going on a Rampage – Jan. 1st, 2012

“Pass Me By” – Sam Page from Waiting For Another Spring – April 1st, 2012

Page Song Popular on Spotify?; Schoolhouse Rocks Comparison

A couple of weeks ago, Page said that another track, “Pheromones” had more than 27,000 streams on Spotify in a week, but he doesn’t know why. It’s possible those statistics could be a “false positive,” because we’ve counted at least four other songs with the same “Pheromones” title from different artists.

Therefore, it’s possible that people looking for the song of the same name, by another artist, were creating those streams, depending of course on Spotify’s reporting methodology. It’s also possible that the song – which is an excellent track on it’s own – simply went semi-viral – all it takes is one link from a blog post, or even a very popular Spotify user who just happened to include the song link in a playlist.

That said, “Pheromones” is a pretty good track and it even has a bit Schoolhouse Rocks charm about it. Schoolhouse Rocks was a long-running (1973-2009) ABC television series of short educational spots that used music and animated characters to teach school children about everything from grammar to how a bill is passed in Congress.

Page is not only the Artist of the Week, but he’s also an Artist to Watch. We keep listening to his tracks – they’re addictive when you’re in the mood for guitar-driven pop rock songs with super melodic hooks.

Learn more about Page’s work at his official website.

The reason he had not heard of the artist before is that we had not posted about him until now. He is Chicago-based singer, songwriter, musician and a highly sought audio engineer, Sean McConnell, who has been recording and releasing music under the moniker Cold Country throughout the summer. On June 28th, McConnell released his first EP, Missing the Muse, with a backup band. The EP was released exclusively via BandCamp. More recently, McConnell completed an in-house artist residency at Hill House in East Jordan, Michigan.

Prior to recording and engineering his own original music, McConnell has worked on releases with bands like The Bears of Blue River, Dastardly and Teenage Rage. His remarkable ear for the perfect notes and for just the right volumes and tones of certain instruments is apparent in the wonderfully dreamy song, “MIssing The Muse” – the same guitar and harmonica ballad that our traveling buddy has listened to “at least a dozen times” on his journey, “especially through the Great Plains where the land is as flat as a table for hundreds of miles in every direction, and where you see more cows than people for days on end” and “where you can still drive through one traffic light towns, sit at an old 50s-built counter with creaky old stools and get a grand midwestern breakfast with a smile for under six dollars.”

Cold Country’s songs, even though his a big city fella, capture a sense of time and place, weave bluesy harmonica with dreamy guitar playing and just the right touch of percussion. We always thought that audio engineers make great musicians, and Cold Country is a good example of that. The second song, “Carried By The Wind,” is also a fitting track on a road trip mixtape although it is a bit more energetic – a song more compatible with exiting the Great Plains and heading into the heart of the Mississippi River delta. There is no traveler from the West heading to the eastern United States that doesn’t cross the Mississippi River in some form or fashion on their journey across the United States.

As travelers who have done so by car, bus, and train (not counting airplanes), you don’t really know the country until you’ve traveled, on the ground, across it and can see and appreciate every day on your journey the changing landscapes, people, climates, cultures and music. Artists like McConnell, and thousands of others, contribute to the road trip experience, which is really the American experience, the right of passage, the freedom of the open road for thousands of miles into the future, and an open invitation to truly experience the amazing musical melting pot that America is.

“Missing The Muse” – Cold Country from Missing The Muse

“Carried Away With The Wind” – Cold Country from Missing The Muse

Check out Cold Country’s Facebook page

It didn’t take long to be drawn in by the music of Barcelona singer/songwriter, and art student, Francis White. The 23-year-old Spanish art student started his musical career out by playing other artists’ songs, but soon found himself writing and recording his own songs, many of which were written and rehearsed while sitting at the laundromat with his dog. He played the various instruments – guitar, bass, drums – in his bedroom again and again until he achieved the tracks he needed to mix the instruments and record the vocals.

Within a relatively short period of time (less than one year), White realized that he had enough songs that he was satisfied with to release his self-titled, debut album, one that is truly emblematic of a DIY artist from start to finish. Released in May, the results are songs like the upbeat, driving pop song, “Calipso,” which is arguably the crown jewel of his debut. The arrangements are inspired by “vintage sounds, soft vocals and lo-fi recording sound,” as White himself put it.

“Calipso” – Francis Whitefrom Francis White

We’ve listened to the album a number of times in the past couple of months, and one of the things that stands out is the range of musical styles that White embraces, from mid-tempo folk/pop ballads, such as “Like a Stranger,” and the hard rocking “On My Way” to the more edgy, punk-leaning angst of “Pleased To Meet You.” His music is as diverse as his biggest musical influences, including Richard Hawley, The Drums, Crystal Castles, The Beatles, and Salim Nourallah, among others.
“Like a Stranger” – Francis White from Francis White

Most people would probably agree that a self-taught artist in his early 20’s who writes, sings, plays, records and mixes all of the instruments for his songs, and then spends God knows how many hours mixing them all together, deserves extra points. Not many people can do that, even most other musicians. Although we certainly like these lo-fi recordings, it’s exciting to think how they’d sound with a great producer, engineered and mixer who all understood the importance to maintain as much of the gritty, DIY, lo-fi mystique as possible.

In choosing White as an Artist of the Week, we took all of these factors into consideration. The bottom line is that White has clearly demonstrated talent, ambition and promise, and we’ll be watching his progress. There are not many artists at his age that can pull off a feat like that from A to Z. Maybe in a year or two from now, more fans of DIY one-man bands will know about Francis White.

“On My Way” – Francis Whitefrom Francis White

“Pin Up” – Francis Whitefrom Francis White

Connect with Francis White on Facebook

Two bi-coastal brothers who normally collaborated from opposite ends of the continent came together at the mid-point city of Austin last March for the famed South by Southwest music festival, and delivered on the faith that SXSW organizers had in them enough to give them an official showcase, an honor for any musician or band. Since their SXSW appearances, which included four non-official showcase gigs, the duo have been on a roll.

Formed in 2010, Wildlife Control is comprised of Neil Shah, based in Brooklyn, and his brother, Sumul Shah, headquartered 3,000 miles away in San Francisco. While they spend a good amount of time as far apart as any two people can be geographically in the United States, they were about as close as any two people can be via the wonders of the Internet. The convenience of modern day “locale no importante” technology – like inexpensive recording software and high-speed Internet – has made it possible for the Shah brothers to collaborate musically almost as easily as if they were in the same room (and, as some brothers might say, “easier”; Ray Davies and Dave Davies of The Kinks may have benefited at one time in their long and legendary love-hate relationship had they had access to Skype and file-sharing sites).

Bi-coastal, Internet-connected collaboration and all, the Shah brothers regularly come together in the physical world, as they did for their SXSW premiere. On March 8th, about a week before their trip to Austin, Wildlife Control released their self-titled debut album. And while the official release of their debut LP coupled with playing SXSW was a milestone in the brothers’ musical career, Wildlife Control had been building up a buzz in the blogosphere for some time thanks to their infectious, dreamy electro psych pop.

As demonstrated on new stand-out songs like “Ages Places” and “Different,” the talented brothers weave together ambient layers and melodic hooks featuring reverb-drenched guitar jams, soaring synth compositions, muffled bass playing, driving, rhythmic drum beats, and wavering choruses, effectively creating what we like to call the ‘colorful light show in the mind’s eye,’ similar to the effect that electro psych pop pioneers like Animal Collective achieve in their kaleidoscope soundscapes.

During the past couple of years, the brothers have recorded and toured with collaborators on both coasts. Last August, Wildlife Control made it on to CMJ’s Radio 200 chart. The brothers followed their debut release with headlining shows at the Mercury Lounge in New York City, Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, and also performed durng NYC’s 2012 CMJ Music Marathon. Their innovative music videos have garnered praise from Wired magazine and been compared to groups like OK Go and Arcade Fire. Combining their big indie rock sound with time lapse and stop motion photography, the music video for the band’s debut single, “Analog or Digital” has been viewed over 350,000 times on YouTube alone.

“Ages Places” – Wildlife Control from Wildlife Control – March 8th

“Different” – Wildlife Control from Wildlife Control

Wildlife Control’s official website and Facebook page.
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Dabbling with elements of 70’s R&B soul, grunge, electropop, and rock since high school in his home town of Washington, D.C., relocated Los Angeles songwriter and musician Taiwo Heard knew since he was a young teen that making music was going to be his future. One of the most important milestones in pursuit of that dream happened last February when Heard released his debut solo record, Frontier To Eternity. The EP is a five-song celebration of indie rock and electro-pop, featuring infusions of new wave and dance beats, as songs like “Eternal Night” and “Front Page” demonstrate. Heard weaves together experimental and traditional compositions that draw from a remarkably diverse repertoire of his musical heroes like David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Muse, Bjork and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The xx, among others.

After graduating from the respected Berklee College of Music in 2005, Heard immediately moved to LA to pursue his musical ambitions. Right away he reconnected with long-time friend and collaborator Eddie Robinson to form the electro pop band, Swivel. In addition to performing and laying down the vocals, Heard wrote and produced the band’s first album, Landing. The reception by the music press, fans and bloggers was immediate, which led to numerous domestic and international festival tour dates and a nationally televised music video. However, for a variety of reasons, Swivel disbanded two years later, but not without first providing Heard with the all important credibility and contacts in the upper tiers of the fiercely competitive, nearly impregnable L.A. music business.

Less than a year after Swivel’s break up, Heard joined forces with Los Angeles rock band Surface To Air as lead vocalist and guitarist. Not long after that, the trio were performing regular gigs at some of L.A.’s most famed Sunset Strip music venues, like the Viper Room, The Rainbow Room, and the legendary House of Blues.

Heard’s latest EP, Frontier To Eternity, is available as a free download via Noisetrade; however, tips via Noisetrade are encouraged for such a talented artist.

“Eternal Night” – Taiwo Heard from Frontier To Eternity

“Front Page” – Taiwo Heard from Frontier To Eternity

Taiwo Heard on Facebook

“Indie Rock is any guitar based music that doesn’t strive to become part of the mainstream sound. It is the sonic representation of free thought and free will.” – Taiwo Heard

Chicago pop/rock artist Sonia Khaleel mixes 50’s doo-wop, 80’s rock and early 90’s ska with pop and indie elements to create a unique pop sound. In May, she dropped her debut album, SHARK, featuring 14 terrific songs that demonstrate not only her appreciation of various musical styles, but also her solid songwriting skills that are apparent in her lyrics. Plus, her sultry voice coos, jabs and soars across the tracks on Shark, proving to the world that she can write terrific compositions and lyrics, as well as perform and sing impressively.

Originally a native of Detroit, Khaleel has been involved with music since she was 8 years old performing in orchestras, jazz choirs, bell choirs and theatre troupes. As a young girl, Khaleel had a penchant for performance, singing into microphones and recording, playing the tapes over again and again until she felt the takes were spot on. As she matured, Khaleel spent more and more of her time studying classical, opera and jazz music – all of which are evident on SHARK. Her love for jazz music was enhanced greatly after she spent time in New Orleans volunteering after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The resulting floods from the storm destroyed the homes, as well as the instruments and equipment, of many of the city’s musicians.

“Wick” – Sonia Khaleel from SHARK

Khaleel’s education in music was further enhanced by her travels around the world. As a teenager, she travelled to Spain, Italy, Switzerland and France, singing in church choirs. As an adult, Khaleel travelled to Ghana and fell in love with Ghanian highlife and hiplife music – another musical education that helped inform the songs she wrote for Shark, a fantastic album that intelligently and entertainingly depicts her broad musical background and the diversity of influences, cultures and time periods in history.

“Come Over” – Sonia Khaleel from SHARK

Khaleel also traveled to India to study Carnatic music in her mother’s hometown of Chennai. While there, Khaleel also wrote for a music magazine in her father’s hometown of Bangalore. Upon her return, she moved to Chicago to perform as the lead singer for the R&B/soul band, Pasquale; her work is featured on the band’s 2010 EP, Cardiology.

“Spring” – Sonia Khaleel from SHARK

Khaleel first began writing songs for her debut solo album in 2010. Khaleel is also an avid painter and created all of the album art for SHARK. Veteran sound engineer David Elliot Johnson of Tricycle Sound Recording Studio produced the album. Khaleel said that she is working on four new music videos of her songs; at this time, her YouTube page includes a number of covers.

Visit Khaleel’s website; ‘Like’ her on Facebook; and get a copy of her amazing debut album.

Baltimore band Fiction 20 Down is not any ordinary indie band. Rather they push the envelope, and do so successfully, by blending various genres like rock, pop, hip-hop and reggae, and together with their energetic live performances, the band has built a growing fan base from the northeast to the southern tip of Florida, and increasingly, across the United States.

With the recent completion of  the “ideal band line-up,” and the success of their debut album, Where’s The Levity, dropped on April 30th, the stage has been set for F20D’s 15-city tour that kicks off at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, New Jersey today, June 20th. The five-week tour will take the band as far south as Florida for a series of shows through the end of July. If you happen to be in Vero Beach for the Fourth of July, don’t miss the band’s electrifying performance at Filthy McNasty’s.

Following a string of shows throughout south Florida, from June 28th to July 9th, and a show on July 10th at Bourbon Street in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the band will take a week off before setting out to perform another series of shows in the mid-Atlantic states of Maryland and Virginia starting on July 17th. F20D will wrap up their five-week tour on July 26th with an appearance at Bill Bateman’s in Perry Hall, Maryland.

The band’s sound has been compared to popular 90’s groups like Sublime and 311, but Fiction 20 Down, are unlike any band you’ve ever heard. They take their art form a step further with a more pronounced infusion of genre-mixing, compelling songwriting, clever instrumentations, and enticing vocalizations, creating an overall original sound that is unmistakably all their own.

Front man and singer/songwriter, Jordan Lally, says that F20D aims to be more artistic, fresh and original than “just another indie band.” This sentiment is evident on Where’s The Levity. The album’s lead single, “Down Like Hip Hop,” is a perfect example of the band’s experimentation with incorporating hip-hop and other genres together not as a gimmick, but as an exploration of a new musical style. The song, which is a favorite amongst Fiction 20 Down’s growing fan base, and a crowd pleaser at live shows, was a Song of the Day last month via our Twitter feed.

“Down Like Hip-Hop” – Fiction 20 Down from Where’s The Levity – April 30th

Lally said that Where’s The Levity is the first time he has incorporated “sampled drum loops, aka, hip hop beats,” as part of the songwriting process, and infused them into songs such as “Down Like Hip-Hop,” “Money Come, Money Go,” and “Lead On Me.” Lally said that the band plans to expand even more on infusing hip-hop into their live shows.

“For the shows on the upcoming tour,” Lally said, “we plan to use a backing drum track from some of those songs and allow Dre (drummer Andre “Dre” Toney) to come out from behind the drum kit to show off his MC skills displayed on the new LP and bring a fresh and interesting edge to the live show.”

Lally’s own vocal transitions, which range from pop-influenced crooning to rhythmic emcee-style singing, are complimented by Dre’s soulful harmonies and deep vocals to create a perfect balance in the band’s overall sound that comes across nicely on their recordings and in their live performances. With the added skills of Wes Anderson‘s brilliant guitar riffs and the groove-rich bass playing of D.J. Frtizges, F20D have emerged as a band to watch in 2013.

“The band members get along great,” Lally said. “We have the same priorities, objectives, lack of ego and work ethic. We don’t have the problems that plague some other bands as far as egos, fights, drinking and drugs.”

Lally brings a unique perspective to music as a former professional producer and engineer. When he opened his own studio some years ago to work with independent bands, he had a nagging desire.

“The more I produced and engineered for bands,” Lally said, “the more I wanted to be on the other side of the glass. So, I started playing the guitar and wrote a few acoustic-based albums with a friend who was a session guitarist. And things just evolved from there.” In 2008 and 2009, Lally recorded a couple of acoustic albums, but he considers the real beginning of F20D to have started with the 2010 release of the debut EP, Let It Ride, followed a year later by their second EP, Do Not Feed The Radio.

“Say So Long” – Fiction 20 Down from Do Not Feed The Radio

Since the release this past April of Where’s The Levity, the debut LP has been warmly welcomed by the band’s loyal following of fans, and also hailed by the music press. Skope Magazine called the band’s sound “an incredibly cool brand of music” and Indie Music Review dubbed it a “delightful, upbeat rock fusion mix with pop, hip-hop, reggae, and pure rock.”

Currently, F20D are in the process of creating a number of new music videos. The music video for the crowd-pleasing “Down Like Hip-Hop,” directed by Rod Lopez of New Style Independent Pictures, was released in April to coincide with the release of the band’s debut LP. Plus, F20D are set to release another music video next month for their second single, “My Prisoner,” and are also currently in pre-production on yet another music video with Lopez for the track, “Mr. Sunshine.” The band’s second EP, Do Not Feed The Radio features the single, “Say So Long.” The music video (above) for the single has had over 165,000 views on YouTube.

“Some Beautiful Days” – Fiction 20 Down from Where’s The Levity

For music lovers craving original and unique music that combines pop and rock and reggae and hip-hop, and that is well-written, fresh, exciting, and superbly executed, Baltimore’s indie quartet Fiction 20 Down is a band that achieves all of that and more.

Download Where’s The Levity for free (until July 17th) from F20D’s official website and connect with the band on Facebook.

F20D’s Summer 2013 Tour Schedule

6/20 – Wonder Bar, Asbury Park, NJ w/ Loose Fit
6/21 – Sunset Grill, Ocean City, MD
6/22 – Irish Eyes, Lewes, DE
6/28 – Al’s Landing, Tavares, FL
6/29 – Jake’s Tavern, Sarasota, FL w/ Crazy Carls
7/4 – Filthy McNasty’s, Vero Beach, FL
7/5 – Debaucher, Melbourne, FL
7/6 – ER Bradley’s Saloon, West Palm Beach, FL
7/9 – Ocean Deck, Daytona Beach, FL
7/10 – Bourbon Street, Myrtle Beach, FL
7/17 – Federal House, Annapolis, MD
7/18 – Looney’s North, Bel Air, MD
7/19 – Tortoise & Hare, Arlington, VA
7/25 – Angel’s Rockbar, Baltimore, MD
7/26 – Bill Bateman’s – Perry Hall, MD

View the full interactive tour schedule here.

Steelesque is the moniker that Pittsburgh singer/songwriter, producer, engineer and musician, Rob Eldridge, coined for himself when he set out to bring a “rough and ready indie blues sound” to Steel City last year. Eldridge recorded Steelesque’s lo-fi debut EP, Johnny On The Spot with the help of drummer Josh Egan. Eldridge played the guitar, bass and keyboards for the recording of the EP. For live performances, he is accompanied by Bob Bell on drums, Mark Shearman on bass, Eric Jameson on guitar and Scott Hazuda on keyboards.

The EP caught the attention of the U.K. indie label Tuppence A Bag Records, which signed Steelesque in a matter of weeks. Not long after, the label officially dropped a remastered version of Johnny On The Spot , after which, Eldridge scrambled to form his live band, even adding a horn section to the line-up in an effort to create a sound “reminiscent of mid-70’s Rolling Stones.” His sound is a fusion of southern blues-rock, pop, post punk, folk and Brit rock, which have all been intertwined neatly to produce an original, hook-heavy, rhythmic record that has a little bit of something for everyone.

As Seth Pfannenschmidt of the Pittsburgh City Paper so keenly observed: “The diverse influences are hardly distracting…establishing the EP as an original and cohesive collection of blues-rock.” Pittsburgh Music Magazine added: “the predominant vibe of what emerges is an unapologetic rock-homage to rock itself,” followed by Liverpool Sound and Vision‘s assertion that Steelesque’s sound is “rough, dirty and sensational, and with a quality that introduces itself from the first electrifying note (of the EP’s opening track, “Hooker A”).

“Hooker A” – Steelesque from Johnny On The Spot

In a relatively short period of time, Eldridge has created a jam-filled blues rock sound that has put Steelesque on the map as a Steel City band to watch, and Eldridge as an influential artist within the city’s rock culture. In fact, Steelesque, have racked up some impressive gigs and tours as the opening act for renowned artists like the Counting Crowes, The Jayhawks, Edgar Winters, Aimee Mann, Warren Hayes, Govt Mule, Blue Rodeo, and Tea Leaf Green. Eldridge listed his top musical influences as Wilco, The Black Crowes, Radiohead, Spoon, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan.

If you’re in Pittsburg, you can see Steelesque live this Saturday afternoon at NewburyPalooza, and on June 19th at Howlers Coyote Cafe.

“Life Fast Wheel” – Steelesque from Johnny On The Spot

“Raven Don’t Mind” – Steelesque from Johnny On The Spot

Listen to more of the tracks from the EP at Steelesque’s Bandcamp page.

Steelesque Official Website