Mayer Hawthorne :: No Strings

Mayer Hawthorne grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, just outside of Detroit, and vividly remembers, as a child, driving with his father and tuning the car radio in to the rich soul and jazz history the region provided. “Most of the best music ever made came out of Detroit,” claims the singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, who counts Isaac Hayes, Leroy Hutson, Mike Terry, and Barry White among his influences, but draws the most inspiration from the music of Smokey Robinson, Curtis Mayfield, and the legendary songwriting and production trio of Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, and Eddie Holland Jr.

The “retro” tag is added to almost any contemporary work that sounds like it was originally recorded between 1966 and 1974, and Hawthorne, among the newest contributors to the genre, is aware of how trends come and go. After being introduced to Stones Throw label head Peanut Butter Wolf by Read the full story

Violens :: Acid Reign

Violens summon influences as diverse as 60s psych-pop, thrash metal, and Miami freestyle. Their music channels the sophistication of Roxy Music and the no-wave roar of Sonic Youth, all within the laughing nightmare spaces of Stanley Kubrick or Nobuhiko Obayashi. The New York-based 3-piece release their highly anticipated debut album Amoral November 2nd via Brooklyn label Friendly Fire Recordings and their own imprint Static Recital.

Producer/multi-instrumentalist Jorge Elbrecht, also a member of the art company Lansing-Dreiden, formed Violens in late 2007 as an additional outlet for his songwriting. Iddo Arad (synth) and Myles Matheny (guitar) complete the vocal harmonies, and currently join Elbrecht at the core of the group’s sound. Since releasing a self-titled EP in 2008, Violens have toured the US and Europe, performing with the likes of Grizzly Bear, Bat for Read the full story

In the Spring of 2010 Chris and Yorg, while recording demos for the new BUMP record, noticed that their musical ambitions had changed and the styles were not melding into a cohesive sound. During this time of uncertainty Clint Carpenter was asked to replace the drummer for the national touring artist Uncle Kracker. We fully supported Clint’s choice to try out for the band and he has toured with Uncle Kracker for the past two months. After 9 years, we have come to the decision to call this last tour BUMP’s farewell tour.  As October 2nd approaches, its hard to put into words the ups and downs, accomplishments and dreams left unrealized; the physical injuries, the emotional and financial successes and hardships, all of the amazing people we have met in 47 of the lower 48, and being able to live our dream day in and day out. However, looking back, it was worth every millisecond, and looking forward, the future is as bright, ripe and luscious as the first Read the full story

Eisley :: Vintage People

When listening to Eisley’s new album Combinations, it doesn’t take long to hear why the Tyler, Texas, quintet has earned such ardent fans. In the first minute of the album’s opener — the rock-oriented “Many Funerals” — sisters and vocalists Stacy and Sherri DuPree trade lines and harmonize with a beauty unique in modern music, as the guitars and drums carry the song along.

Building on the success of their lauded debut Room Noises, the guitar-driven Combinations is a diverse collection of songs that nevertheless fit comfortably together. The lyrics shift effortlessly from romantic to quirky (“Invasion” even involves an alien takeover), but always keep the listener fixated on the track at hand.

But where Room Noises contained a mix of new songs and re-recorded older tunes, Combinations is the band’s first full-length of all new Read the full story

“I think it is safe to say that All That Remains is a metalcore band,” says Philip Labonte, All That Remains’ singer. “We try to cover lots of ground, but do stuff that is still true to ourselves: we do solos because we like them, we do breakdowns because we like them, we have clean singing because we like it. We please ourselves first.”

All That Remains are lucky. Some bands please themselves at the expense of a potential audience, while others strive to please an audience first and end up lamenting their own sound. In the case of this Massachusetts-based quintet, writing and performing their own brand of heavy music has taken them far and won them widespread acclaim.

This Darkened Heart, All That Remains’ second album, showcases a kinetic sound drifting seamlessly between melody and relentless Read the full story

To say that the Poison Control Center’s Sad Sour Future is one of the finest albums you will hear this year is such a misguided response to its soaring ambition that we might as well pack it in right now.

Over 2008 and into 2009, the band’s four members living in four different cities tethered their relationship by periodically exchanging a demo-of-the-day to document their daily life. During a week in May of 2009, these four songwriters hauled over 40 songs a collective 1500 miles from their respective homes to a turn of the century schoolhouse on the Mississippi River filled with analog recording equipment.
The result is a double-album encompassing the motions and emotions of separation, loss, and the struggles of leaving your 20’s behind and growing older in your own skin, this from a band described as “dynamic, versatile, and just a little bit frightening.” (KEXP). Read the full story

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Small Black :: Photojournalist
Class Actress ::  All The Saints

Formed at the tail-end of 2008 as a bedroom recording project, Small Black first made waves with their eponymous debut EP. Recorded in the attic of singer Josh Kolenik’s uncle’s remote Long Island beach-house/surfboard workshop, it served as an ideal introduction to the group with its pulsing patchwork synths and addictive, stay-gold hooks that seemed to unfurl themselves gradually over repeated listens. Slightly more immediate and polished than its predecessor, Small Black’s new album “New Chain” remains a continuation of this contrasting ethos – a delirious smudging of the lines between melancholy and nostalgia, tension and celebration, unabashed pop music and experimentation. Read the full story

In the beginning, it almost seemed like a terrible mistake, but it was destiny that heavy metal and punk would eventually crossover. In the early 90s, heavy metal was bloated and uninspired while punk rock was becoming more and more pretentious and disgruntled. Aggressive music needed a rebirth; moreover the two styles needed a renaissance. It was this marriage of thrash/speed metal’s power and the savagery of hardcore punk that would ultimately spawn a new age in heavy music.

Bands like Venom, Exodus, Discharge, Cro-Mags and Integrity took that initial spark of the crossover ethos and reinvigorated the sound each and every time, thus continuing the legacy and inspiring countless followers.

Fast-forward to 1995 in Washington DC, (what many would consider the home of modern hardcore music) where another chapter of both hardcore/punk and metal history would be written. Classically unassuming and, in many ways, keeping in true punk spirit, DC gave birth to the band that would bring both Read the full story