Aaron Lee Tasjan writes folk songs for an indie rock crowd, weaving storylines with humor and social commentary. His debut full-length album, In the Blazes, includes friends from his former band, Everest, at the helm, and the vibe of Elliott Smith’s studio, New Monkey. Tasjan is touring heavily in support of the album, opening for Ray Wylie Hubbard, and playing solo and band gigs across the country. LISTEN HERE…
Anyone who combines quick wit and slick guitar playing doesn’t need much more to win over a crowd. Especially if his name’s Ian Saint Pé. After roaming around the world and playing guitar on its stages for the last decade with the Black Lips, Saint Pé wanted a change. So he recruited a gaggle of Atlanta’s finest, each having cut their teeth in their own respective rock bands, hit the studio, then hit the road. After a 15 hour drive, the band took their first of three CMJ performances on Thursday, but shoddy sound at the venue didn’t allow for the band’s unique elements, particularly the harmonies, to shine through. However, the following night was a different story.
The crowd, now triple in size from the night before, enveloped the band as they beamed with confidence, only to be reassured by the reaction in front of them: moving, grooving, mosh pits and all. It was an obvious outcome with tracks like “Kiss It Goodbye” and “We Follow,” replete with their infectious guitar motifs and power-driven bass and drums. By the time the Nashville-tinged “Southern Living” rolled around with its ragtime-y piano workings, it was obvious the band was on another level. We were too. READ MORE…
Both Koncept and J57 have been working on their collaborative effort for a good part of 2015, teasing fans with random loosies here and there. However, the BBAS brothers have now announced that their project, now titled The Fuel, has a release date of November 20th.
After cranking out the first single “Porcelain,” the duo – alongside guest vocalist Hollis (Macklemore, Ryan Lewis & ScHoolboy Q’s “White Walls“) unveil the visual accompaniment for the song. Filmed at Oregon’s Cannon Beach in Oregon, Koncept traverses throughout the windy dunes before linking with Hollis in an abandoned home which, conveniently, is loaded with various porcelain plateware… or does he? All I know is that J57 pops up throughout the video like a hip hop Carmen Sandiego, while paint balls and vases are being thrown like bullion cubes in chicken broth. Oh, and did I forget to mention that this was filmed at the same place where The Goonies was shot at as well? Next time, invite me to something like this guys; I would’ve made for a great Sloth. WATCH HERE…
Today marks the release of Ian Fisher’s debut country record on Snowstar records simply titled,Nero. Simple is such a breath of fresh air. Fisher crafts simple, yet emotionally complex meanderings straight from a place as tender as a newborn’s bottom. His voice a hoarser Jim Croce, with pen ready to strike a’la Billy Bragg meets an old Johnny Cash notebook.
Heartland drenched in pendulous pedal steel fills from Ollie Samland and scrumptious backing vocals from Alexia Peniquel, Nero is a quaint, quality country album from a man thousands of miles away from his home country. The record captured in a few studios, two bedrooms, and at least one basement whilst Fisher has been living in Berlin, Germany yet is as Middle American as a boy could possibly get, raised on a farm in Missouri. Fisher turned to country music to hopefully jumpstart some of that fleeting Patriotism, we’re glad he did. READ MORE…
“Ten beats a day for ten years, go ‘head and do the math. Gave up on a social life, sharpening my swords…” rapper/producer J57 expresses in a track from his 2014 released Wax Aesthetic EP.
Fast forward one year later, to this moment right now, and J57 and his business partner, Koncept, have found their artistry at an undeniably exciting and favorable crossroads. When reflecting on their work from the past couple of years, as created together as Koncept & J57, both musicians are at a place of passion and conviction, while looking limitlessly ahead.
Save for their collective work as members of New York City’s The Brown Bag AllStars, the story of Koncept and J57, as a duo, is technically still being written. Both artists have proclaimed and showcased the way this specific release is changing, and has changed, their lives thus far and through their music, listeners can see it, believe it and most importantly, feel true motivation from The Fuel’s message and mission, in order to be able to adapt it to their own lives. READ MORE…
Shepherds, masterminded by Jonathan Merenivitch, just released their album Exit Youth today and presented us with the super courteous and super-charged single “Courtesy”. Merenivitch’s musical resume checks his work with Janelle Monae, Dog Bite, Del Venicci, and more, where Shepherds finds him playing with Peter Cauthorn from Mood Rings on bass, George Bataille Battle Cry’s Adrian Switon on drums, with further rumbling bass rhythm considerations courtesy of Canivores and Del Venicci’s Ross Politi. Their debut album toast to rites of passage and the road to adulthood tackles the challenges and changes with a memorable motorik driving jam that is not your parents’ post-punk/kraut/prog/album rock/whatever.
“Courtesy” is noise-reared in a way where every controlled instrumental item (or implementation of audio chaos) is sharpened finally to use every iota of sound to wrap melodic textures around a state of constant, rapid percussive locomotion. From here Merenivitch and the gang serve up sections of reigned roars and primal yells that all abide on accord of harmonic-percussion principles. Nothing stops the roll that “Courtesy” coasts on where sequences of sea-sawing electric metal strings spring up like brontosaurus sized Lochness sized leviathans from the depths of lakes and oceans. LISTEN HERE…