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A-L | M-Z
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The 1990's - They were signed to Rough Trade Record Company (home of many notable acts such as The Strokes and The Long Blondes) when they were spotted at only their sixth gig, (a first for Rough Trade) and have released two albums so far, Cookies and Kicks. The band's second album, Kicks, was produced by Bernard Butler and was released on 23 March 2009. Their music has been licensing darlings – AT&T, Payless, Nissan, Community, Rules of Engagement, Diary of A Wimpy Kid, Desperate Housewives to name a few.
"You Made Me Like It”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lFjS2yEpxU
“59”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qY9blLWIg8
http://www.myspace.com/1990sband
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Michelle Anthony -
http://michelleanthonymusic.com/tornadoes/?page_id=81
-”One of the best Austin albums released in 2010.” Austin Music + Entertainment
-“You can sing me something sweetly’ is the song’s hook – and precisely what Anthony does, with lilting vocals and life-embracing lyrics.”– Holly George-Warren, MORE Magazine
-Time and trauma have served Anthony’s music well as she’s developed a mature pop sound that carries echoes of Aimee Mann and Sara Hickman, all lofty hooks and keen observations. Jim Caligiuri, Austin Chronicle
-“In sharp contrast to the title of the album, her music is a discriminate, precise whirlwind that leaves a path of beauty in its wake.
- Jon M. Gilbertson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel”
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Arid-
Jasper Steverlinck’s voice is often compared with great singers like Jeff Buckley or Freddie Mercury, this thanks to his great tonal range and his feeling for poppy melodies. Arid hails from Belgium and just completed performance on the TW Classic 2010 with The Black Eyed Peas, Mika and Scissor Sisters.
100% Publishing and Masters available for Licensing
“Broken Dancer”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dft1z3Cid4k&feature=player_embedded#
“You Are”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysl7i6iiqJ0&feature=player_embedded#
Big Papa and the TCB
“Who’s Your Daddy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDKSGmfQ5nY
“Go Big Papa”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Sn49S5Ins&feature=related
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The Black Box Revelation -
If the magic of rock’n’roll – as in life – is the journey rather than the destination, then watching Brussels, Belgium duo The Black Box Revelation’s headlong ascent further into a garage rock wonderland could be one of the most exciting journeys of all.
http://www.myspace.com/theblackboxrevelation
Placements: K-Swiss campaign; Mercy; Trauma; Vampire Diaries; Greek; Edgar Floats
“High on a Wire”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBA2vBFgCgc
“I Think I Like You”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZzknLiIFho&feature=related
“Set Your Head on Fire”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZZaW2zwCo&feature=channel
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Blue Box -
Recent placements:
- Land Rover commercial
- Army Wives
- Cutting Edge
- Word Travels
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Charlotte Caffey
Charlotte Caffey is a versatile songwriter. Best known for her work in the Go-Go’s in the 1980s, including writing "We Got the Beat". Charlotte led her own band, The Graces with Meredith Brooks and Gia Ciambotti who released, Perfect View. Caffey also co-wrote the theme song to the television series “Clueless” with Anna Waronker and played piano on the album version of “Foolish Games” by Jewel.
Charlotte co-wrote the #1 hit for Keith Urban “But for the Grace of God”
Caffey wrote the book, music, and lyrics for Lovelace: A Rock Musical with Anna Waronker. The rock musical debuted at the Hayworth Theatre in Los Angeles in 2008. A new production of Lovelace: A Rock Musical makes its UK debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2010.
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Doug Carrion
Doug Carrion played in underground favorites such as Doggy Style, Descendents, Dag Nasty and Circle Jerks. His interest in writing, recording, engineering and producing were all part of the same musical program.
Doug's reputation as a songwriter and player sometimes obscures the fact that he is also a capable engineer, mixer and producer.
Doug's work includes collaboration with Matt Hyde, Perry Ferrel , Pennywise, The Crow Soundtrack, Josh Freese, Daddy X and Kottonmouth Kings. His music has been heard on Breakout Kings, Blue Mountain State, Make it or Break it, Discovery Channel, lots of skateboard and extreme sports videos, Fox Sports.
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Chamberlin
Chamberlin drop debut album Bitter Blood & Tour America with Grace Potter + The Nocturnals
Forming in the summer of 2010, Vermont’s Chamberlin is ready to release their debut album, Bitter Blood on March 1st via Roll Call Records/EMI. Recorded in Burlington, VT Bitter Blood was produced by Scott Tournet of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, whom Chamberlin will be touring with from January 13th – February 12th.
Locked away in their secluded cabin in Goshen, VT (population 200), Chamberlin has written an album stained with the influence of whiskey-fueled bonfires, harsh winters, and the women that seem to run perpendicular to their lives. From the electric opening track, “Fools” – a stormy, scathing rebuke of two lovers – to the resolute, mostly a capella “Sixty Days,” the nine songs on Bitter Blood are photographs, or perhaps photograms, of Chamberlin’s world, with varying degrees of aperture. Despite its title, Bitter Blood is not without pleasantries. “Turn Around,” the B3-laden third track, may even sound best as a drink-in-hand, late-night back porch sing-along. While first single, “Dust," beautifully sums up their musical tenor with heavily percussive, electric guitar laden verses countered by the rim shots and acoustic drop out of the chorus.
Turn Around (Live cabin rehearsal)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfOD3rfsM_g&feature=related
Fools (Live cabin rehearsal)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fXkxmyXiEQ&feature=related
Dust (Live in studio)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voCe7fXgWeg&feature=related
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Josh Clayton Felt -
Hard to believe, but we're 10 years removed from the death of this L.A.-based singer-songwriter, who led the equally underrated '90s power-pop band School of Fish. Lost to cancer at just age 32, Clayton-Felt had a knack for sticky, Beatle-esque melodies when teamed with guitarist Mike Ward on minor hits such as "3 Strange Days" and "Wrong," and his solo work recalled a funkier, less-ethereal Jeff Buckley. Give him a listen.
“Windows”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz_p4A7w4xk&feature=player_embedded#!
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Joe Dexter -
“Revolution” is the theme song for Cartoon Network’s “Generator Rex” show:
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/generatorrex/video.html?episodeID=8a250ab027d33bfb01282b5fd8a0044e
British-born Joe Dexter in his early teens at the time - ORANGE effortlessly blend punk-rock sensibilities with infectious pop melodies, a fusion that caught the attention of Rancid front-man Tim Armstrong, who quickly snapped the band up to his influential Hellcat Records label. Three albums, “Phoenix,” “Welcome To The World Of…” and “Escape From LA” introducing ORANGE to an appreciative punk-rock community and earning the band support slots on tour with punk heavy hitters including UK Subs, The Misfits and The Addicts.
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Simon Dine - (producer-songwriter)
paul weller live on jools holland’s “later” tv show
performing “wake up the nation,” “aim high,” “find the torch burn the plans”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN8NCa15o6c&feature=related
Paul Weller Wake Up the Nation, Charts at #2 (album co-written and produced by dine)
Weller's new album's strikes gold all over again. Rating: * * * * *
The album Wake Up The Nation by Paul Weller has been listed for 30 weeks in 9 different charts. Its peak position was number 2, on the UK Albums Top 75.
Wake Up The Nation feature Weller’s first band's bass player Bruce Foxton, as well as contributions from My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields, The Move’s Bev Bevan and legendary session drummer Clem Cattini. Includes the single "No Tears To Cry".
Paul Weller '22 Dreams' Debuts At No 1 In The UK
(album produced by dine. co-write tracks # 2,5,7,9,12,13,15,19)
The album 22 Dreams by Paul Weller has been listed for 46 weeks in 10 different charts. Its peak position was number 1, on the UK Albums Top 75.
22 Dreams displaces UK chart topper Usher’s ‘Here I Stand.’
“A genuine trip…the risk taking Paul Weller is back.” Mojo Magazine
“This is his ‘White Album’ a sprawling, epic and compelling song cycle that channels a century of influences into 21 tracks, easily Weller’s finest solo album to date.” UNCUT
Noonday Underground – “Surface Noise”
“Boy Like A Timebomb”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M50cPCifkM0&feature=related
“When I Fall”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4ybq6EZ8Kc
“London”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxkW2L_h1NU
"Hello”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvC0Hp12u8U&feature=related
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The Dirty Diamonds -
Right Direction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV1qvNayyrA
The Dirty Diamonds have a penchant for balancing pop, soul and doo-wop. They will most likely be the soundtrack for many-a-folks’ summertime cookouts this season, because good pop music (such as theirs) and warm weather were basically made for each other. Keep their music on repeat all day long.
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ESQUE
Esque's first full-length, Tonightmares, is a brisk yet menacing, subtly psychedelic work of paranoid glam rock ala David Bowie of impressive scope co-produced by former Fiery Furnace Toshi Yano, with keyboard engineering from ex- Psychedelic Fur Joe McGinty.
http://esque.bandcamp.com/album/tonightmares
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EWW Yaboo
"Originally formed in Brooklyn, NY by life-long friends Nathan Andre and Drew Carsillo, Eww Yaboo is not your typical band. With members who have spent most of their lives writing/recording/touring in various projects, the four members of Eww Yaboo have now come together in the sleepy coal town of Sugar Notch, PA to crank out reverb-drenched, fuzzed-out gutter pop from a small residence simply referred to as ‘The Notch’. Within the band’s short existence they have shared bills with artists such as Nite Jewel (Mexican Summer/Stones Throw Records), Turbo Fruits (Ecstatic Peace Records), Shellshag (Don Giovanni Records), Grooms (Kanine Records), Sisters (Narnack Records), Junk Culture (Illegal Art Records) Woodsman (Mexican Summer Records), The Coathangers (Suicide Squeeze), Friends (Lucky Number Music), Ted Leo (Lookout Records) and have popped up at NYC venues such as The Bell House, Bar Nine, Piano’s and Death By Audio. "
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The Explorers Club are a pop rock from the coast of South Carolina. They are a 6 man band whose debut album was released by Dead Oceans. Their music is almost entirely influenced by the vocal harmony styles and production of The Beach Boys.
Their music has been featured on TV shows such as The O.C., How I Met Your Mother, and Bored to Death
“Forever”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgLiYy5uYhw&feature=related
“If You Go”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nPEtdGK5LM&feature=related
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Jason Falkner - A prolific session musician and producer who has contributed to dozens of other recordings by other bands and musicians.
Performances, Contributions, Co-writes, Appearances: Daniel Johnston, Paul McCartney, Air, Brendan Benson, Aimee Mann, Eric Matthews, Beck, David Holmes, Travis, The Grays
Soundtracks / Films: (Ocean’s Thirteen) (The Informers) (Josie & The Pussycats) (Shoot ‘em Up)
http://www.myspace.com/jasonfalkner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P90j_C_Ud9k&feature=related
http://jasonfalkner.net
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FIRE THROUGH THE WINDOW
Fire Through the Window is an indie rock group hailing from Durban, South Africa. The band have had success in music placements in ads for Apple, Almay, TEVO and if their music can't put a smile on your face you may want to check your pulse. Simple...melodic...catchy...pop.
Lonely Hearts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYAUvlAZXu0&feature=related
Golden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yheK1SVGfX8
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Neilson Hubbard -
Producer – Songwriter
- Glen Philips - Mr. Lemons
- Plover
- Garrison Starr – The Girl That Killed September and The Sound Of You And Me
- Strays Don't Sleep - Strays Don't Sleep
- Matthew Ryan - From A Late Night High-Rise
- Matthew Perryman Jones - Throwing Punches in the Dark
- Tyler James - It Took The Fire
- Kate York - Sadly Love
- Amelia White - Black Doves
- Mack Starks - Blind Spot
- Tariq - Goodbye Lonely
- Newton Dominey - Heater
- Clare Burson - Idaho
- Emily Deloach
- Carter Little - Dare To Be Small
- Aaron Robinson - We Are Racing Ghosts
“For Blue Skies”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q8xoRcnDC4
“Pretty Girl”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuvyO1cw8D4&feature=related
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Light FM
“Friends Aren’t Friends”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT87XfV8rBQ
"sticky melodies, crunchy, fuzzed-out guitars and synths on steroids" (buzzbands.la)
Light FM began as a beacon of hope for song writer Josiah Mazzaschi a poppy bouquet of cheerful songs with meaningful yet dark lyrics heavy on retro synths and grand orchestration.
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A-L | M-Z | Back to Top
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Maren Parusel
Maren Parusel's wistful pop melodies with shadings of Indy folk and rock could quench your thirst for Cat Power or Flora Purim. Parusel wields a widely contrasting range of musical colors and textures to paint pictures of longing, lost love, and other non-terrestrial lyrical subjects. “Artificial Gardens” is produced by Black Heart Procession's Pall Jenkins and “Days in Universe” will be featured in the new David Arquette Movie “Conception."
"Kiss You" Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRWCXW0Kd7Q&feature=related
San Diego Music Awards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVgKwtRSLtc
NBC in studio performance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRN7tYS3Pfk
Live Performance and Interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkrUdHscAEQ&feature=related
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Francis McDonald
We were all wondering what Francis was up to, hammering away at his little portable keyboard in the back of the Teenage Fanclub tour bus. "Maculate Conceptions" Francis' instrumental solo album was recorded on GarageBand on his Mac during Teenage Fanclub's European tour last year.
Francis drums with TFC and runs Shoeshine Records/Spit & Polish in Glasgow. He manages Camera Obscura, The Vaselines and Attic Lights.
He has released two previous solo albums: Nice Man "Sauchiehall & Hope ( A Pop Opera)" and Nice Man And The Bad Boys "The Art Of Hanging Out".
His music has popped up in TV/film/ads in the UK, US and Asia. Francis likes Bob Dylan, David Sedaris and The Moth. And bad puns.
"Aarhus"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JMgvYILtw4&feature=player_embedded#at=46
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Mnemonic Sounds -
"Buildings Like Boxes"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVEeo6EvdWg
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Jeremy Parise
Jeremy Parise is a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter who has just released his first full-length album, "The Year I Clung to Fantasy." Jeremy's world travels as well as his mix of an academic background and earnest spiritual exploration inform his music. He invests great care and feeling in his lyrics and melodies, and each song resonates on multiple levels. When not writing songs, Jeremy can be found scoring Hollywood feature films and in defiance of unwritten Los Angeles social codes, talking with strangers on the street.
My website: www.jeremyparise.com
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Patrick Park -
Patrick Park’s music strikes a graceful balance between the thoughtful end of indie rock and the introspection of the '70s singer/songwriter community
“Here We Are”
http://www.patrickpark.net/videos/hereweare.html
“Life’s a Song”
http://www.patrickpark.net/videos/lifeisasong.html
Songs licensed in:
Grey’s Anatomy – “How the Heart Grows Wicked”
The OC - "Something Pretty" and "Life is a Song"
One Tree Hill – “The Lucky Ones”
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Penetrators -
Electro outfit Penetrators combines the edgy eccentricities of early CBGB’s era with duo fronted vocals of Jimi and Liz. Penetrators have been supporting acts such as Fatboy Slim and Calvin Harris and hail from Northwest England.
http://www.myspace.com/urpenetrators
“Style”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwucLJfZYFs
“Gotta Get It Right”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEFqupaCbQ4
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Heather Porcaro is an american singer-songwriter. She comes from a long line of musicians, including a world-renowned percussionist (her grandfather Joe) and some of Los Angeles' most celebrated studio musicians (her father Steve and uncles Mike and Jeff, known for their work with Toto, Michael Jackson, Steely Dan and many more). Heather's album "Heather and The Heartstring Symphony" was produced by Tony Berg. Heather's songs have been heard on FX's "Damages" as well as "Justified".
LA Music Blog - A new name to the market, Heather Porcaro is always on the top of my list. With the right balance of roughed up range and feminine melody, I believe Porcaro to be reminiscent of The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde. Check her out and look for her to do great things as a woman vocalist in the near future.
Don't Take Too Long
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_TyHHKJclw
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Sara Radle
The story of Sara Radle’s music career is one that began in San Antonio, Texas in the late 90’s but she is probably most known for being the reason The Rentals reunited in 2005.
In 1996, at the age of seventeen, she began carving out a name for herself in the Texas music scene with punk-pop trio Lucy Loves Schroeder and her own solo project. Eight years later, ex-Weezer bassist Matt Sharp played a show with her in Dallas, and very soon after, he asked her to relocate to Los Angeles, CA in 2005 to re-form The Rentals. Radle and Sharp re-built the band from the ground up, wrote some songs together, recorded the group’s Last Little Life EP, and toured the world. Fans were sad to see Radle leave The Rentals in 2008, when she soon after joined Los Angeles-based indie-rock band Walking Sleep. With her September 2010 fourth solo album release, Four, it was time she returned to her true passion – writing and recording her own music.
With her upcoming fifth solo record, Same Sun Shines, Radle displays her full versatility as a musician by playing every instrument on the record, including guitars, drums, piano, and violin. She also entered new territory by engineering and mixing the record’s collection of ten infectious pop songs herself. “I’ve never officially released something I’ve recorded myself, so I was a bit nervous going into it,” says Radle. “But after fumbling around a bit, I found my way and I’m so happy with how it turned out. It was fun to figure out how to capture the songs the way they sounded in my head.” She jokes, “I guess I really created my ultimate control-freak fantasy with the way I made this record.”
Same Sun Shines continues Radle’s diary-entry lyrical style, using a mix of honesty, heart, humor, and bite to tell stories of love, loss, relationships, and even death. From intimate moments with scaled down instrumentation, to fully orchestrated arrangements that have you questioning how one person was able to make a recording that sounds as full as a room of musicians playing together, every song on Same Sun Shines reflects Radle’s unique signature style that mixes rock, 50’s and 60’s pop, Americana, punk, and classic country. The latter is apparent on her cover of Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys, a song made famous by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. The Same Sun Shines version features big guitars and driving drums, and Radle in a duet with legendary indie singer/songwriter Mary Lou Lord. “I’ve been a fan of hers for years,” says Radle. “I wanted to sing this song as a duet with another woman, because I think it takes on such a great, bitter tone from a female perspective. I asked Mary Lou if she would sing on it, and I was delightfully surprised she agreed. Words cannot express how happy and proud I am to have her on my record.”
http://www.myspace.com/sararadle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqHYO4GJxC0&feature=related
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Morgan Taylor Reid
http://www.myspace.com/morganreidmusic
Singer / Songwriter / Producer
Songs appearing in:
Ice Castles – “All You Are”
Army Wives – “All You Are”
Land Rover – “Clarity”
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Rubberbucket
"Silly Fathers"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4y1_jcWwZE
"Came Out of a Lady"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t2-rJo5bdw
Rubblebucket's hot off the press second studio album, Omega La La was produced by Eric Broucek (LCD Soundsystem, !!!, Holy Ghost) Deli Magazine says "The band is in a genre of its own, they have the vibrant soul of a funk band, magical vocals, spirit-possessing percussion and unique lyrics of poetic grade."
Here's what others are saying:
Spin - "A must-hear artist"
LA Music Blog - "They sound like hippies who have taken over a city, hog-tied any uptight citizens, and painted all the yucky grey/brown buildings in acrylic colors and neon war paint."
Jambase - "Their sound sits along the same horizon line as Yeasayer and Akron/Family, but unlike these peers they possess a warm, imaginative use of horns and a lead singer, Kalmia Traver, whose tantalizing pipes soar somewhere between Dionne Warwick, Tina Weymouth and Portishead's Beth Gibbons – a siren tug so potent you'd drink her bath water just to get a taste."
SF Weekly -"What it sounds like when eight different freak flags fly in perfect unison." Blurt "Rubblebucket has crafted a fine sophomore album that wakens the senses and ramps up the adrenaline. It simply kicks ass."
Relix - "The band delivered a raw, unfettered punch... The crowd was thrashing around - it was nearly impossible to stand still."
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Scattered Trees
For Scattered Trees, Sympathy is a labor of love that almost didn't happen. The band grew up together in the outskirts of Chicago, playing music together in various groups over the years. They became a family in more ways than one, with some of the members sharing last names -albeit for different reasons. Scattered Trees became a staple of Chicago clubs, but as time passed, the band's members were drawn to various parts of the country. Scattered Trees as a band looked all but over. And then, tragedy struck. Lead singer Nate Eiesland's father passed away, and while mourning, Nate picked up his guitar again and started penning a record dedicated to his memory. Those songs became the album "Sympathy."
"Five Minutes" (Live @ Schubas)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyc5-ru2tMs&feature=related
"Love and Leave"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2faowUp93s
"I Will Say This Twice"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZdEF1-9SW0&feature=related
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Annaliese Schiersch - Vibrant beauty, Annaliese, possesses a voice seeped with an earthy grace…
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/annaliese/from/payplay
Recent placements –
Fly Girls licensed “Sad Songs are for Happy People”
Co-wrote “The Bomb” which appears on the first track of Ego Music’s compilation also entitled “The Bomb”
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Neville Skelly has announced details of his debut album, Poet & The Dreamer, which is released through Setanta / Pias on Monday May 30th 2011.
The 12-track LP features covers of tracks by the likes of Jackson C. Frank, Woody Guthrie and Dion alongside Skelly’s own compositions.
The album was recorded at Ape Studios on the Wirral using an armoury of vintage equipment in a quick-sharp 10 days with Ian Skelly of The Coral (no direct relation) at the helm on production duties and the rest of The Coral contributing variously throughout the record.
Skelly had first made contact with the band via a shared love of Cole Porter and George Gershwin - Neville had done a ‘big band’ record which the Coral had admired. The Coral would go on to provide the encouragement and support Neville needed to record the songs he had written.
A true labour of love, initially inspired by a marriage break-up, work on Poet & The Dreamer first started back in 2008 and came to eventual fruition due to Neville’s persistence and the belief and favour of various artists, music industry sorts and producers who all saw the timeless appeal of the record.
The album is the crystalisation of over two decades of writing and therefore, as you might expect, is varied, rich and melancholic - lap steel guitars next to gently strummed acoustic guitars, capture a languid world-weary beauty. And above all of this, characterising these beautiful songs, sits Skelly's winter-dream of a voice.
Having relased 2 well-received EPs last year, Neville also toured alongside The Coral - he played at London’s Royal Albert Hall on the tour.
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Skybox
“In A Dream”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnCM2wHR5o4&feature=player_embedded
“Morning After Cuts”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNbPXU8BdhY&feature=player_embedded#at=67
Hailing from Chicago Skybox’s music has been described as Montreal glam to Flaming Lips exuberance while still finding a way to dial in some pin-drop heartbreak. In an age dripping with irony, Skybox has a refreshing sincerity that reminds us that great pop songs can mean what they say.
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Sons And Daughters
Records that instantly deliver greatness can often leave you wanting more, while others slowly but surely sink in its haunting hooks and refuse to let go - like Mirror, Mirror. Sons & Daughters’ third album is a slow burning sensation, a wiry, raw, sensual and spacious injection of primal monochrome rock with a potent undertow of post-punk dance that’s not only thrillingly contemporary but unique by 2011 standards.
But just as the album takes time to get under the skin, so it took its time to materialise.
Bunkered down in their rehearsal space inside an old town hall in Glasgow’s south-west district of Govan, Adele Bethel (vocals, guitar, piano), Scott Paterson (vocals, guitar), Ailidh Lennon (bass, mandolin, piano) and David Gow (drums, percussion) had the task of following up the denser, busier guitar-rock of 2008’s Bernard Butler-produced This Gift.
Scott: “We sound better when we’re more minimal. We wanted everything on the new album to be necessary, no added fluff, and only recording on 16-track.”
Adele: “We wanted something quite haunting and feminine. With an air of malevolence”.
Scott: “All we knew is we didn’t want to repeat ourselves. But for a year, we weren’t happy with what we’d written. But then “Rose Red” and a few other songs that followed finally gave us the direction we were looking for. But we weren’t prepared to record anything unless it was exciting, and fun. Once we did start recording, it only took a month.”
This time, the band enlisted the help of trusted mates, working at engineer Sam Smith’s Green Door studio, recording on analogue tape for that classic aural warmth and with Keith McIvor, aka JD Twitch of local legends Optimo Music, producing his first full-length album. “We knew someone like Keith could be really honest with us,” says Scott. “He’s been a big supporter, and he has great taste in music, and we also knew we wanted to start using electronics, and he’s really into his dance music. He’d play us tracks, like This Heat or Fingerprintz, to suggest a mood, or suggest something based on how he approaches remixing.”
For starters, Scott - who incidentally is singing more again after taking a back seat on This Gift, restoring Sons & Daughters’ original boy/girl dynamic - admits that several tracks changed shape on the day of recording. “Silver Spell” and “Ink Free” both had, “full on punk rock guitar” before the synths (vintage, of course) took over and they took on a different mood. “We’d think, ‘what’s the most prominent part of the song? Delete it,’” says Scott. “We wanted to put ourselves on the spot and create something new on the day. “Bee Song” was just a sketch on my computer, an ancient riff from before I joined the band. The beat was me tapping on a mike, through a Fender Twin amp with the bass all the way up, like a heartbeat.”
The tense sparse dynamic reaches back to their own past, namely 2006’s The Repulsion Box and the band’s 2004 mini-album debut Love The Cup, but also the 80s post-punk revolution in sound, from The Cure and This Heat to Gang Of Four, and then spun into something modern and timeless. Similarly, Adele talks of inspiration from Stevie Nicks (whose album Back Side Of The Mirror, Adele discovered after she’d named this one, was originally titled Mirror, Mirror…), Siouxsie, Kate Bush and PJ Harvey. Scott also mentions Fever Ray, and “Ink Free” has a similarly ominous undertow to that first lady of Swedish goth-folk-tronica.
It’s also in these dark, veiled spaces that Adele stirs in themes of fairytales, serial killers and witchcraft, as well as tapping her own inner demons. The album title – turned into a forceful mantra on the opening “Silver Spell” over claustrophobic electronics and a clomping beat – comes from reflecting on all that darkness. Adele’s stunning performance on “Bee Song” stems from the idea of ‘head bees’, meaning depression and the idea of entrapment. “It’s strange talking about depression,” she says,” but many people suffer from it, and for years we’ve done benefits for mental health.”
“Ink Free” and “Orion” come from a similarly troubled place. “Ink Free” recalls the writer’s block that afflicted Adele and Scott after This Gift; “Orion” may be rhythmically uplifting but it concerns, “feeling deflated and insecure after This Gift, and losing your inner glow.”
Even deeper and darker, “The Model” is based on a newspaper story about a model who threw herself from a balcony window. “The Beach” was initially written for the soundtrack to the film short Native Son, about the discovery of a dead girl in the woods while “Axed Actor” is another filmic reference, to ‘50s Hollywood and actress Elisabeth Short, known as the Black Dahlia, who was found dismembered in a field and her killer never found (bonus points for guessing the ‘80s cover - and ‘60s origins - of the song quoted in the middle…)
Have Sons & Daughters ever been this dark? “Maybe not,” says Adele. “But with so much time off, I became interested in different things and new ideas. On This Gift, it was ‘60s cinema; this time it’s Italian Giallo cinema [crime, mystery and evil) If any film represents this record, it would be like Dario Argento’s Suspiria.” But Scotland’s psycho-geographic nature also stains Mirror, Mirror. “I was raised on stories of famous Scots serial killers - my dad was interested in them – some of which operated in Lanarkshire, where we’re from,” says Adele. “Rose Red” was inspired by the so-called ‘Bible John’ in the late ‘60s, who found his victims at Glasgow’s Barrowlands ballroom. “When you live somewhere where something so dark and heavy has happened, you want to find out about it.”
Mirror, Mirror has the same capacity – it keeps revealing more and more as time goes on. “I love the feel of this album and it’s the most balanced thing we’ve done,” Scott reflects. “There are great rocking moments, for want of a better word, but it’s also reflective and dreamy. Someone who wasn’t a Sons & Daughters fan before said it sounds really spooky and weird but not like we’ve been forcing that. It sounds odd in a natural way.”
In other words, the pain was worth the gain. See you on the other side (of the mirror)…
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The Starlets -
Radio Friendly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsdKeo3tuBA&feature=player_embedded#at=36
Marie Claire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YKMyDb1DWs&feature=player_embedded#at=87
The Starlets are based in glasgow with a diverse range of influences, from the cinema and judy garl to velvet underground via the go-betweens; all have all inspired the band’s sound.
“..very original, top stuff” Richard Hawley
“..check out The Starlets, they’ve got soul, oh yes” Stuart Murdoch, Belle and Sebastian
….some of the finest pop songs you’ve never heard **** Sunday Herald
….major thumbs up Evening Times
….sumptuous European balladeering translated into an urban Scottish setting **** The List
In the top 100 albums by a Scottish Band Is this Music
“Beautiful, their melodies will haunt you all day, like a dream” **** Bang
“A polished, spellbinding little gem” **** The List
“Beautiful abstract collages with sumptous arrangements…lush and effortless…spectacular” Is this music?
“Staggeringly beautiful…occupying a beguiling sonic landscape somewhere between My bloody valentine, The blue nile, Michael Nayman, Prefab Sprout…” The Scotsman
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Sugarplum Fairies -
“Hold On to Me”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aey7hwjjuJE
“filled with ambiance, traditionally so, and is folksy and airy...Chinese Leftovers feels like those moments when something has just ended or something fraught has occurred in a person’s life. It’s casually sad and absolutely beautiful." (Performer Magazine)
Sugarplum Fairies have teamed up with Joey Waronker (Beck, REM) on drums, Gus Seyffert (The Bird And The Bee, Sia) on bass, Jebin Bruni (P.I.L., Aimee Mann) on keyboards and Martin Tillman (Dark Knight, Rickie Lee Jones) on cello. The CD was mixed by Todd Burke (Belle & Sebastian, Ben Harper) and mastered by 3 time Grammy winner Gavin Lurssen (T Bone Burnett).
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The Sweet Hurt -
http://www.myspace.com/thesweethurt
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TEAM GENIUS -
Team Genius are an 8-piece pop band from Brooklyn armed with the power of bouncy, bright choruses. We love; we hope you love too
.
While We're Asleep
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EFHA1yzgbU
Take Me Home
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O82qX32Ce1Q
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TIGERS CAN BITE YOU-
A staple of the Silverlake music scene, Tigers Can Bite You are redefining the parameters of indie rock. The trio capture the essence of Death Cab-ish indie rock, while setting themselves apart with electronics that have more in common with M83. The results are dynamic – Tigers Can Bite You don’t alienate their audience, but they are also not afraid to go outside the standard indie pop formula. The electronics are subtle, yet boast a strong presence, turning every track into a mini-epic. Tigers Can Bite You have shared the stage with Silversun Pickups, Irving, Sea Wolf, Earlimart, The Movies, The Airborne Toxic Event, Radar Bros, Division Day, The Happy Hollows, The Watson Twins and Rademacher. Check it out.
"Second Nature"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0KpNT013RY
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The Van Jets -
“Tee Vee”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v43JAzoGc2A&feature=player_embedded#!
“The Future”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNAXqUKuhbk&feature=related
“Richochet”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svjZECq5Ivk
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The Voodoo Trombone Quartet -
Voodoo Trombone Quartet aka VTQ are an 8 piece band London band whose unique sound skillfully blends the flavor of old ska 45s, lounge and exotica and dance floor beats. They have performed at Glastonbury and Brighton Festivals and have been heard on Ugly Betty and are the theme song to The Paper.
http://www.myspace.com/voodootrombonequartet
EPK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leTnXYSj6Eg
South Westerly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jIT2lg92ck
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Anna Waronker
http://annawaronker.com
“California Fade”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-aCy6jk7e8&feature=player_embedded
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Courtney Wing-
Courtney Wing’s band consists of members from Bell Orchestre, Arcade Fire, and Godspeed! You Black Emperor as well as a 10-piece opera collective called Liederwolfe. Together, this dynamic group contributes to Wing’s compositions with symphonic textures so rich they melt even the most bitter-struck hearts.
Lush, epic and surrounded by mystic beauty, Bouquet of Might and Fury, the third album by Courtney Wing, reveals a strong sensitivity towards the human condition and an extraordinary portrayal of musician and his devotion to his art.
Bouquet of Might and Fury invites the listener into an extraordinary indie-folk universe where a mighty barrage of choral Opera singers lilt amidst a larger-than-life, yet perfectly sculpted, orchestral background that is at times gentle, and other times fierce and grand. The title of the album and most of the lyrics refer to the concept of contrast. It visit’s the notions of social disillusionment, the perils of kindness, calm over devastation, and most true to the album’s premise is the notion of love, and the rise and fall of it – a theme that played itself out during Wing’s song crafting process. Courtney tells us “When something negative happens, inevitably something positive emerges. We are not always aware of it, but balance tends to plays itself out.”
“Holler”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJB5Yn07C34&feature=related
“Celebration”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HLK7JNnA_s&a=GxdCwVVULXfmA_0stqiK4UUHfPQ6DlIS
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LUCY WOODWARD
Lucy Woodward grew up surrounded by music. She spent summers in Holland visiting her composer/conductor father (who once conducted for the BBC), learning classical music. With her mother, a music teacher who sang opera and belly danced professionally, Lucy was also raised on plenty of opera music, as well as jazz, classic soul, pop, and rock.
You'll hear Lucy on commercials for Verizon, Kaye Jewelers, Chevy, Ford, Cool Whip, motion pictures "Accepted, First Daughter, What A Girl Wants, Ice Princess, Music & Lyrics, and New Suit."
Lucy's current album Hooked was released by Verve Records and seamlessly draws from a deep well of vintage jazz, swing, R&B and Latin music influences. Lucy is effortlessly engaging, deeply expressive, insightful, disarmingly witty, and a talented songwriter.
- check it out
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hooked-bonus-track-version/id371713051
"Love is Gonna Getcha"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fHsYSQpbEo&feature=related
"Hot and Bothered"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvZWarAAN7c&feature=related
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A-L | M-Z | Back to Top
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