Music

3 Is A Band: Flawes

What immediately got me hooked are the vocals: smooth yet not too soft, powerful but not too much, full-bodied and just perfect… perfect for the elegantly sparse setting and overall alluring vibe that Flawes create. Flawes… a half year old UK trio consisting of Josh Carruthers (vocals, keys), Freddie Edwards

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PHOTOS: Overcoats Surprise at Stephen F.'s Bar (SXSW)

If the name ‘Overcoats‘ makes you think of a folk band, you are already half way there: Hana and JJ are two friends, who met in college and started singing together to an electric guitar. They showed that side of their music during the first part of their set and

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SONG PICK: Lyon Apprentice - Alice

“Alice” by Manchester, UK via Australia sibling-duo Lyon Apprentice (Adam and Nathan Lyons) is not ‘yet’ another song about a woman named Alice, but it is a tribute to Adam’s long time friend, whom he met while working as a physiologist  and who told him about her marriage and

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PHOTOS: Mainland Give a Picture-Perfect Rock Performance at Sidewinder (SXSW)

Mainland played Saturday evening on the outdoor stage at Sidewinder. We’ve been there a few nights prior for Fickle Friends, when it was still way into the 90s but Saturday no longer. While it was rather cold that night, and all the festival excitement began to wearing of, and

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SONG PICK: Frenship - Carpet

Frenship are a duo from Los Angeles and they do a sunny brand of electro pop and the track “Carpet” is about a moment when a relationship and a love takes a turn – to the better, one can assume. It’s our Song Pick of the Day and a great

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PHOTOS: Dead Leaf Echo Play an Alluring Mix of New Material and Fan Favorites at Tellers (SXSW)

The prospect of attending a Dead Leaf Echo concert holds the promise of total immersion in sweeping guitars, mellow vocals and dreamy indie rock arrangements. Regardless whether on their home turf in Brooklyn, or as deep into the country as in Austin, Texas, the four members of Dead Leaf Echo

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PHOTOS: Empress Of rocks Hype Hotel (SXSW)

SXSW is primarily an opportunity to discovery new artists, but it is also fun to see somebody we know well in a new setting. We have been following Lorely Rodriguez aka Empress Of since CMJ 2013 and seen her many times on stage, but none of them was as grand

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SONG PICK: Closely - Empty

“Empty” is the striking debut single of Closely, a three-piece from Toronto, Canada and our Song Pick of the Day. I loved “Empty” from the spot with its heavy drum beats, chiming guitar, alluring falsetto and an overall beautifully ethereal vibe. Listen to “Empty” now:

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SONG PICK: Paradise Bird - Hallucinations

Who is Paradise Bird? The blurry photo doesn’t give much of a clue and the name is un-Googleable. All I know is that she is from England and joined by a producer of the name Arshaw. The track “Hallucinations” has a mysterious underground vibe and is up-to-date without following

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VIDEO: Shadow Monster - Out Of My Mind

Shadow Monster is the stage name of Gillian Visco, a singer/songwriter from New York, who is also an actor in theater and film, an experience she used in the new video for “Out of my Mind”. There is a theater company behaving strangely, a cemetery (Green-Wood?) and tears are

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SONG PICK: Echos - Tomorrow

I can’t help but I need to pick another boy/girl duo for our Song Pick of the Day: Echos from Portland, Oregon. “Tomorrow” is a dramatic track driven by big sounds and Lexi Norton’s chills-inducing vocals. “I know you’re leaving in the morning // but if tomorrow

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SONG PICK: Deep Dark Blue - Atomic

“Atomic” starts out all soft, with flittering flute sounds here and there, lustrous like a water color painting, with soft vocals who ask “Is this a real vision or is this an illusion”. “Atomic” is a magnificent track by L.A. electronic-duo Deep Dark Blue and it is our Song

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SONG PICK: Meadowlark - Paraffin

Meadowlark is a duo from the UK and our Song Pick of the Day is a beautiful piece of electro pop, which is kept close to the ground by a good dose of melancholy, even though singer Kate McGill expects this relationship to grow big. An EP is scheduled for

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PHOTOS: Morly plays a wonderful show at Hype Hotel (SXSW) and releases a new single "Plucky"

What better way to start our post-SXSW coverage than with one of the artists I was most excited to see live: L.A. via Minneapolis artist Morly (only a slight deviation from her real name, Kate Morley). She has already released her first EP “In Defense of My Muse”, a

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SONG PICK: Fierce Mild - Song He Never Wrote

“Song He Never Wrote” perfectly balances a mix of urgency and melancholy yet the same time, importance and heartbreak and on top of it, the track sports an overall compelling melody, with cool metal-vibe vocals. Our Song Pick of the Day by Melbourne’s Fierce Mild, reminds me of many

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Song Picks of the Day 16.2

The Hubbards Wildes LANY Overcoats Lyel Reyna

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SXSW 2016 Roundup Day 5: Morly // Mainland // Chaos Chaos // More

Day 5 at SXSW: the health and energy levels are on  decline, so we were lucky that our Saturday schedule was a somewhat easy one. We started off with a breakfast at the McDonald’s Loft, where we were looking forward to some chicken McNuggets and a BigMac. But apparently

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SONG PICK: Reyna - Ink On My Skin

We capped off SXSW with a sister duo and our Song Pick of the Day presents another one: the Banuelos sisters from Milwaukee, who perform and record now as Reyna. “Ink on my Skin” is an upbeat pop song with beach party vibe.

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SXSW Roundup Day 4: New Myths // Holy Nothing // Inhalt // More

On day 4 of SXSW we could use the wakeup call provided by Pretty City who opened The Aussie BBQ, which presented an astonishing lineup of up and coming bands from Down Under. We could have stayed the entire afternoon to see artists like Julia Jacklin, Big White, DMAs and

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SONG PICK: Lyel - Shadow

Our Song Pick of the Day is posted from SXSW and comes from an artist, who does not play here, but should be: Finland via Germany singer/songwriter Lyel with her third track “Shadow”.

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SXSW Day 3 Roundup: Lady Pills // Hunter Sharpe // Negative Gemini // Fews // More

The Berklee College organizes a showcase every year at Brush Park. We like it a lot, because we can snatch a few oysters and a cup of bubbly there. But this year they also had particularly good music. Right upon entering the tent, Boston duo mar|co caught our attention

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SONG PICK: Overcoats - Nighttime Hunger

Our Song Pick of the Day comes from New York duo Overcoats. They do folk music with vocal harmonies and then they do not. Curious? Check out their latest single “Nightime Hunger”.

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SXSW Roundup Day 2: Hælos // Doomsquad // Pretty City // Overcoats // More

Day 2 started off slowly: we were invited to a delicious brunch by ILA, an Austin record label with a new approach. Thank you! From there we headed to the Floodfest at Cedar Street Courtyard, which sports an incredible lineup this year.  There we were lucky to catch a full

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SONG PICK: LANY - Where The Hell Are My Friends

“Where The Hell Are All My Friends” is one of those synths pop songs that instantly embrace you with a pleasing melody and great hooks yet the lyrics stand in stark contrast with the mellow vibe when Paul Klein starts singing “Have I started to hate California, why am I

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SXSW Roundup Day 1: Skyline // Sextile // Empress Of // More

Here we are again in Austin, Texas for a week full of music. This year there was no easing in: our schedule was packed with events already on day one all across the city. Because we arrived fairly early, when the city was almost still asleep and it looks until