”Brad Armstrong sings like Richard Buckner at a closed-casket viewing and favors intensely Book of Revelations imagery. 13ghosts continue to reinvent themselves with every song, trying on new sounds and styles to see what fits…The Strangest Colored Lights is a persistently somber, mostly humorless album, but it’s so musically vigorous that you wouldn’t mind if they dwelt on death for the rest of their lives.”
— Pitchfork
Brad Armstrong was a principal songwriter and producer of the critically successful and financially disastrous band 13ghosts, which released 6 full length albums between 2002 and 2012 with Birmingham-based Skybucket Records and Atlanta-based This Is American Music.After the other songwriter quit the band in 2008, Armstrong became the only writer in the band, and released two more albums of material before leaving the South in 2014. He moved his family to the Hudson Valley, in upstate New York, and finished mixing the record he had written and tracked in Birmingham. Jason Lucia (13ghosts, Heath Green and the Makeshifters) plays drums and Maria Taylor (Azure Ray, solo artist) sings harmonies and one lead vocal track. The rest of the album is performed by Armstrong, with the exception of Jason Taylor on double bass and Sue Nuckols on fiddle. The new album is called Empire. It is a diverse and experimental record, in keeping with the work that he did in 13ghosts, and was released January 26, 2016 on Cornelius Chapel Records. It has sync placements on ABC’s Nashville and DirecTv’s Kingdom.
“Now we know what happened to the soul of Hank Williams when he died.”
— Esther Ciammachilli, WBHM 90.3 FM
Early James and the Latest is an Americana band based in Birmingham, Alabama. At age 23 Early James has been playing music for 8 years. He along with bandmates, Adrian Marmolejo and Devonte Hutchins attempt to spin what perhaps has not been spun before; a so called “fresh” take on Folk, Blues, Jazz, and Country with dark, rusty, crooner-esque stylings.
“What unites musicians in the ongoing Tulsa sound is not that they mimic a style, but it is the way they approach a song. The sound of Tulsa is an easy groove that does not need to be pounded into submission– the music glides on an easy wind. Jesse Aycock stays true to the mood of the sound while stretching all that it can become.”
— The Alternate Root
Jesse Aycock is a musician from Tulsa, OK that has built a strong fan base nationally and internationally. His music is sweeping with beautiful melodies, old school tones, and lyrical depth that is remarkable for someone his age. His style touches on everything from traditional folk, psychedelic, country, and early rock, which makes him appealing to a wide audience. Highly-respected by his peers, he’s quickly become an artist in demand for studio projects and touring due to his prowess on lap steel, pedal steel, electric guitar, and vocals. Jesse is a member of super group Hard Working Americans, as well as Paul Benjaman Band, and his toured with Elizabeth Cook, The Secret Sisters, Samantha Crain, and many others.
“They’re sweet. They’re a wreck. They’ve got something really cool, great energy, and the songs are so good.”
— STL Magazine
With soaring three-piece harmonies, and lyrics that can make you cry or make you blush, the River Kittens’ unique St. Louis sound is sure to melt your heart.
“She flaunts a philosophy major’s palette amidst echoes of vintage rockabilly and girl group pop: Gods battle, queens bid their rule, girlfriends enable druggy lovers.”
— Rolling Stone
A native of the south side of Chicago turned longtime Nashville songwriter, Tristen has released two critically acclaimed solo records — 2011’s Charlatans at the Garden Gate and 2013’s CAVES — and toured extensively as a member of Jenny Lewis’ backing band. The folk-oriented Charlatans at the Garden Gate earned her praise as “Nashville’s best-kept secret” (The Boston Globe), and the more synth-pop-oriented CAVES featured “tales of greed, alienation and heartache, made poignant but never saccharine by their electronically enhanced surroundings” (Nashville Scene).
With finely tuned chops and a knack for lashing exceptional melodies to her singularly poetic lyrics, she travels with a practiced backing trio of top-notch Nashville sidemen. Together, they bring Tristen’s lush, expertly crafted arrangements and outsized vocals to life—with performances that channel the rock ’n’ roll eclecticism of David Bowie and the creative prowess of Dolly Parton.
Her third album, Sneaker Waves, will be released 7-7-17 via Modern Outsider Records.
In 1971, in a dusty little five room farmhouse shack outside Montevallo, Alabama, five young and determined musicians mixed Buffalo Springfield/CSNY harmonies with SanFran jam band instrumental acrobatics, firmly establishing fresh territory in the palette on Southern live music. Built on a core of ringing guitars, honky-tonk piano and slinky pedal steel guitar, the band took the name Dogwood, from the tiny unincorporated town just down the road. Small shows at the nearby college and dances at local high schools soon led to several years of touring, playing clubs, colleges, and the occasional opening slot for national acts, primarily in the Southeast. The group’s five year run spawned a grateful, solid fan base, and a catalog of original tunes that join the best of today’s Americana standards with their genesis in that rich musical epoch.
More than forty years later, those tunes live again in their originators, all working players who went on to further decades’ renown as contributors in Alabama’s subsequent live music heritage. Recent hours in Birmingham’s WorkPlay studios have allowed these now-polished craftsmen to achieve an album of 15 unique tracks, to fuel fevered memories of hay field hippies from across the Nixon-era South– an energetic live set by the founding members of Dogwood at Secret Stages is a new generation’s best bet to experience an authentic (and surprisingly relevant) slice of historic regional counterculture.
“Hints of 90s rock nostalgia mingle with effervescent pop enthusiasm, making for a fizzy, rather enjoyable listen.”
— Fuzzy Logic
Austrian born and raised Cornelia (“Connie”) Calcaterra and husband/guitarist Frank, lead Tampa, FL’s DieAlps! (translated: The Alps!). Formed in 2012 and quickly becoming one of Central Florida’s more beloved acts, the band’s self-titled debut EP (Fall 2014) gave us swaying waltzy baroque-pop with lyrics reflecting Connie’s growing up abroad and her life changes in the States.
With a couple line-up tweaks and guitarist Frank now sharing lead vocal duties with Connie, DieAlps! are currently in the studio exploring new sonic territory heavily influenced by 90’s indie rock. Their debut full length, Our City, will be out Summer 2017.
“Jordan has a voice that only comes along every now and then…Jordan’s voice is massive.”
— Stereogum
Snail Mail is the Baltimore based indie rock solo project of 17 year old, Lindsey Jordan. She released a six song EP titled, “Habit,” on DC punks Priests’ Sister Polygon Records in July of 2016. The record features a full band with Shawn Durham on drums and Ryan Vieira on bass. In their “Best New Track” review for the EPs opening track “Thinning”, Pitchfork describes Jordan as possessing a voice that “sounds like it’s coming from a distance, perfect for a song with lines about wanting to lie face down on the floor for a whole year and the triumph of wasting time”. In addition to her standout vocal abilities, Jordan is a classically trained guitarist of twelve years and experiments often with various guitar tunings and techniques in order to generate Snail Mail’s unique sound.
“A reply to anyone who thinks that soul is missing from the indie-rock scene.”
— Village Voice
Daniel and Danny Chavis are natives of Raleigh/ Chapel Hill, North Carolina and East Village residents for the past 28 years. They are also co-founders of the groundbreaking band The Veldt, along with drummer Marvin Levi, who lifted their band’s name from a Ray Bradbury science fiction story. Musically reared in the church and juke-joints of their native southern state, the twins have been performing since they were children, listening to music that included gospel, Motown and Pink Floyd.
In their early days, the Chavis brothers making a name for themselves playing throughout the south at a time when fellow southerners REM and Superchunk were securing major label deals. As more black rock bands (Living Colour, 24/7 Spyz) began selling records and gigging throughout the world, The Veldt was courted by various labels, including IRS Records and Capitol.
Initially signed to Capitol Records in 1989, The Veldt embarked on a musical journey that changed their lives. Soon, they were in the studio with dream-gaze guru Robin Guthrie working on their debut Marigolds, playing American concert halls with Cocteau Twins, working with A.R. Kane, and opening for The Jesus and Mary Chain in England. The Veldt were a sensation from the start as they became a part of a movement of innovators who came of musical age at a time when rhythmic rebels were reflective, gritty and wild. Their sound inspired future generations of alternative artists, including TV On the Radio. In 1991, The Veldt were featured in multiple national magazines as “bands to watch” including Spin Magazine and this Artist Profile feature on MTV. “CCCP” from Marigolds (1992, Stardog)
They switched labels and Mercury Records released Afrodisiac in 1994. Their single Soul in a Jar was an underground hit.
As the brothers moved to expand their musical language, fusing more electronics into their soundscape, they retired the “Veldt” name and, for various reasons, began recording and touring under under the name Apollo Heights. In 1999, the Chavis brothers met bassist Hayato Nakao, who would become their permanent partner. Their music was loud, exploring color, space, sensuality and beat driven melodies with rhythmic and dynamic tension. Daniel’s falsetto vocals cast a contrast upon the wall of sound created by Danny’s heavy rock dreamscape guitar and Hayato’s pounding and licentious beats.
Although The Veldt had signed to two major labels after leaving Mercury Records in 1995, the brothers decided to remain indie and self-released their 2008 album White Music for Black People. “The major labels were always trying to get us to change our sound, our look or both,” Daniel laughs. “But, we had no interest in being the next Lenny Kravitz or Tony! Toni! Toné! Unfortunately, not everyone shared our vision. We weren’t trying to be rock stars, we just want to play our music and pay our rent.”
Apart from Robin Guthrie and A.R. Kane, who produced ‘And It’s You’ from this EP, they have collaborated with TV On The Radio, Mos Def and Lady Miss Kier (Deee-Lite), and have shared the stage with The Pixies, Throwing Muses, Echo & TheBunnymen, Cocteau Twins, Manic Street Preachers, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Oasis, Living Colour, TV on the Radio, and most recently with The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
In 2017, The Veldt are back with their new EP “The Shocking Fuzz of Your Electric Fur: The Drake Equation” which will be released on Schoolkids Records on June 2nd, 2017 worldwide! European and US Tour coming this Spring and Summer, more details to follow!
“Mad Squablz is the future of hip hop, his style, flow, lyricism and stage presence suggest that he’s been here before. I’m proud such a bright young talent is representing my city. Don’t sleep.”
— Reef The Lost Cauze
“MAD Squablz” was born in December of 1996 in Philadelphia, Pa. A very humble young artist when it comes to his talents. Mad Squablz preferred to play the background – never wanting to draw attention to himself. No one knew he had such a gift except him. It wasn’t until his Grandfather passed away from Cancer that Mad Squablz decided to let his parents know of this talent. After hearing him sing at the age of 9 the flood gates were opened. His love for singing birthed his passion for music production which eventually birthed his life’s passion for Hip Hop.The 2016 Philly Hip Hop Lyricist of the Year “MAD Squablz” is in position to move mountains in 2017 as the new young fresh face of vintage Hip Hop. The 20 year old West Chester University student has been called, “a young lyrical genius”a “Hip Hop Savior”and “the kid who will make Hip Hop the genre of choice again”.By the end of 2016, Squablz had viral videos on the internet exceeding 1 million views, he was one of TeamBackPack’s 2016 Mission Underground favorites and even tipped the scales with his EP “Art of BoomBap – Generation Next” coming in at TeamBackPack’s #7 Album of the Year. The miraculous thing about being #7, the Album was released on 12/20/16 – meaning it beat out thousands of other albums for the spot with only being released for 10 days. Squablz relationship with TeamBackPack catapulted last year when he entered their contest to find three 2016 Mission Underground Champions (a global Hip Hop show-of-talents that screened well over 6000+ hip hop contest entries from all over the world). By the end of the auditions, Squablz alongside two other underground artists beat out their competition and received the very prestigious 2016 underground award. Additionally, this experience included numerous invites to YouTube Space to record collaborative music videos projects.
“Killer Mike has…declared him ‘the now and future of ATL.’ ”
— Pitchfork
Skoolie Escobar, Theodore Montez Ware, was born in Bessemer, AL. Coming from a family of three children, Skoolie was always known to test the waters and push limits. This inquisitive nature cultivated his strong creative drive and culminated in his east coast flow with distinctive southern tones. This innovative 27 year old artist has the lyrical maturity of a rapper twice his years in the game and delivers striking wordplay that transcends regions. His originality entices even the most unschooled ear and evokes more than simple thought. He pulls emotive concepts from his audiences, which is reminiscent of his idols Biggie Smalls and A Tribe Called Quest.
At 10 years old, Skoolie knew he wanted to be a rapper. Although his parents didn’ t agree, with the support of his Grandmother he kept the dream of lyrically-living in his heart. After her passing, he knew he had to fulfill the dream in her honor. He performed his first show in 2005 in Birmingham, AL as part of a duo team, and continued with various talent shows around the city. His junior year in high school, he quit the basketball team to pursue rapping, winning freestyle battles from Huntsville, AL to the 2008 BET Black College Tour freestyle battle. His clever use of metaphors and masterful level of “word-wise-genius” leads him to overshadow the competition, demonstrated by his undefeated title at a local Club Onyx, dubbed “The House that Skoolie Built.”He gives a lot of credit for this success to T. Rose, noting that “She didn’ t think I could rap at first, but I owe so much to her because she gave me a chance, and I handed them all of their ‘ aces” back to them, from AL to the NY rappers that would fly in”. Diverse enough to rap with a live band and skilled enough to dominate a cypher, this hot young artist provokes the soul of hip hop, the beat-boxes of the past to the evolution of its future.
In 2010 Skoolie left college at Alabama A&M to devote his energies to the studio and produced two mix-tapes, gaining the attention of American Idol Ruben Studdard and eventually signing to his label. Duringthat time he toured with artists such as Mike Jones, and in 2011 he left Studdard’ s label to start his own label, Wise Up Music Group. Since its inception, he has worked with artists such as T.I, Big K.R.I.T, Gucci Mane, Curren$y, and Future. Known as the “Beat-Killer”, Skoolie creates his own take on popular beats and “kills” them. His music claims influences from Kanye West, Drake and J. Cole channeling their slick delivery and formidable wordplay. Skoolie sets himself apart by applying to these his unique content–his own struggle as an emcee 10 years deep in the game.
This father of two possesses the grit for success; his home is the studio; the booth is his sanctuary, and his objective is simple: to excel at rap and at being truly humanitarian. He says there’ s more to his desires than just being an artist; he wants to touch the world, through humanitarian efforts and through his artistry. The one thing Skoolie wants the world to know is don’ t be afraid to DREAM BIG! He also wants people to know that having confidence in your dream is not arrogance, terms he says people often confuse. He quips, “I’ m not arrogant, I just believe I will succeed in what I do”. He has a story to tell and won’ t stop until the world has heard it. With constant club bookings, dominating open mic appearances, and local radio play in his portfolio, it is only a matter of time until Skoolie Escobar is a household name.
When asked why his stage name is “Skoolie Escobar,” while his music is refreshingly creative and doesn’t speak of drug dealing, he simply answers “Cause ‘I’ am Dope – Driven On Pure Excellence. But you can call me Skoolie Escobar, the Coolest Nerd Neva Seen”…yet.
