Nevermind The Posers

See ya in the pit.

Hozier – Take Me To Church March 9, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — NVMP @ 2:45 PM
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I can’t get enough of this song.  Please enjoy this song/video from Andrew Hozier-Byrne via Dublin, Ireland.  

 

“Beach Boys Biggie” by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – Listen Up February 15, 2014

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. have released a Mixtape – Produce (Mixtape Vol 1.) that you need to check out. 

“Beach Boys Biggie” is a mashup of The Beach Boys “I Just Wasn’t Meant For This Time” and Notorious B.I.G. “Hypnotize”.

“Against The Law” featuring Tunde Olaniran

Full Mixtape here:

 

A Little Crazy by Spinn February 3, 2014

Filed under: CD Reviews,New Music — NVMP @ 11:11 PM
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Album review by Jon Warhol
Spinn

Consisting mostly of Monmouth University alumni and managed by a Monmouth alum, Spinn is a New Jersey based rock/pop turned alternative country group whose second full-length release, A Little Crazy, is an easy to listen to collection of tunes with some very solid and catchy melodies/compositions.

By no means are these talented ladies amateurs – Spinn has been around since 2006, has played many shows in the NY/NJ area, and released two full-length albums and an EP. One thing that caught my eye from their bios is that besides love, pain, trust, confusion and good friends, they cite tequila as a source of inspiration. After listening, it’s no wonder I can see most of these songs as suitable background music to a bar scene in a movie. Let’s begin…

A Little Crazy, track by track

1. “Quicksand” – A solid opening track that will give you a good idea of what’s to come. After listening a few times, I have come to appreciate how this track wastes no time; it jumps right into the chorus and takes you on a ride through a powerful chord-riff and clear backing vocals. The lead vocal is confident and reminiscent of Heart’s Wilson sisters. 

2. “Regret on the Rocks” – A little less in-your-face rocking sound, but nonetheless a catchy melody that I could hear playing in the background of a bar. Strong use of lead guitar fills the gap between verses. Musically speaking, the song has a chord structure that I swear I’ve heard somewhere before but can’t really place…and in no way is that a bad thing. “Regret on the Rocks” keeps the listener interested with different sections and melodic backing vocals.

3. “Heartbreak” – There’s nothing better than chunky distorted chords and a driving rhythm! Three songs in, this is the shortest song on the album but it packs the most punch. The lyrical hook of “Heartbreak” was catchy enough to have me humming along on first listen. If there is anything missing from this track, I feel it needs a short but dirty guitar solo somewhere to break up the structure and feel of the song.

4. “So Hurtful” – Halfway through the album and it’s time to get a little emotional. The lyrics are obviously written by someone who has been “done wrong” as they say. Instrumentally speaking, this song introduces a small, but intelligently placed string section to add to the mise en scene and feel of this track. Spinn’s talent for harmonies definitely can be heard here.  

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Left to Right – Megan Battaglia, Stephanie Spinner and Cheryl Lynn Spinner

5. “Addicted” – Just like “Quicksand,” this track starts off the second half of A Little Crazy with power chords that don’t waste any time making their point. I feel this song makes the best use of dynamics on the album – the loud parts are loud, the quiet parts are quiet. The lead guitar fills between verses have great tone, but I feel that a powerful song like this should feature a quick, meaningful instrumental solo. Don’t be shy to play more notes, lead guitarist!

6. “A Little Crazy” – Before listening, my expectations for this song were high, as they are for any title track on an album.  This is a solid piece that wouldn’t seem out-of-place among the most popular country rock songs. The vocal hook stays with you like something from Sheryl Crow or Shania Twain.

7. “Goodbye Missouri” – This is my personal favorite. As one of the more mellow selections from this album, the lyrics tell a story, the harmonies are on point and the chorus is the catchiest I’ve heard yet! This song is a good example of Spinn putting to use their talent for flowing melodies and compositions.

8. “Shine” – Spinn closes with arguably the poppiest song on the album. Once again, they stick to their verse-chorus-verse-chorus formula to deliver a catchy tune that is liable to be stuck in your head.

Whether Spinn feels like rocking out or playing unplugged, they do so in a consistent way from track to track that will definitely resonate with fans of Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, Heart and the Gin Blossoms. The production quality of the album is very good; sounds professional enough to blend in perfectly with 90’s rock or on the country charts. The lead and backing vocals steadily deliver strong female leads, harmonies and lyrical storytelling from song to song. Spinn’s talent for catchy melodies connects the most in songs like “Quicksand,” “Goodbye Missouri” and “Shine”. The group is obviously adept at lyrical and melodic composition. Who would I recommend A Little Crazy to? Any of my friends who appreciate the talents of groups like the Dixie Chicks, Ray Lamontagne, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, and other bands of the genre. Although A Little Crazy sticks to a certain formula and style, it does so very well. If Spinn keeps releasing recordings along the likes of A Little Crazy, I believe they will find even greater success, recognition and airplay.

Check out Spinn
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Buy A Little Crazy
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Reel Big Fish “Don’t Stop Skankin’!” US Tour November 19, 2013

By Jon Warhol 

11/10/13 at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey

I had the lucky opportunity to sit down and talk with the hardest working ska group in show business, Reel Big Fish, as they kicked off their Don’t Stop Skankin’!” US tour.  The tour lasts until November 22, after which they head to the land down under to play Australia’s Warped Tour.  RBF has been around as long as me (22 years!) and are a hilarious and energetic band.  They were happy to talk about everything from their favorite albums, junk foods, and beers, to their appearance in the movie Baseketball.
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Jon Warhol:  Your latest release was 2012’s Candy Coated Fury. What makes it different from your other records?

Aaron Barrett:  I think it has the first good songs I’ve ever written. Ever. I’m really proud of it. It also has the longest songs we’ve ever written. We used to be able to do about 30 songs in a set in about 90 minutes. Now it’s six songs, ha!

Matt Appleton:  If I’m not mistaken, the idea behind these songs is that they should all be good dancing songs, right? You were thinking about what makes people move, and what gets people excited.

Aaron:  That’s a good answer, I like it. I think I read that off Wikipedia. It’s not always on the website or the bio.

Matt:  That’s how I know it’s right. (laughter)

Jon:  The Candy Coated Fury track I can relate to the most is “Everyone Else is an Asshole” because I get really bad road rage when I drive. Did you have a really bad driving day and felt compelled to pull over and write the song?

Aaron:  Ha ha! No, that song was inspired by our old trombone player, Dan Regan. For a few years he was in a really bad mood. Extra bad, worse than usual. No matter who was in the room or what was going on, he just fuckin’ muttered stuff under his breath. He was so mad that when you said “Hey Dan, good morning.” he said “Fuck you good morning.” So one day I was like “Oh yeah Dan, everyone else is an asshole but you!”

Jon:  One of the things I like about your lyrics is that they are really straight forward. There are other songs by other artists where you wonder “What the hell is this about?”

Aaron:  They’re not poetry, I know…there’s the song called “I Want Your Girlfriend to be My Girlfriend,” it goes like this: “I want your girlfriend to be my girlfriend!” That’s what it’s about!

Matt:  There’s no hidden messages; it is what it is.

Jon:  Who are some of your major influences, lyrically speaking?

Aaron:  Uh…well I don’t know, I’ve never been asked that question in 22 years! No one has ever said “Who influences your lyrics,” so it’s impossible to answer!

Matt:  Can’t we read it on Wikipedia yet? (laughter)

Aaron:  I don’t know, I don’t think I have a lyrical influence. I just go off intuition, whatever comes out.

Jon:  Top five favorite albums ever. Go.

Aaron:  AAAWWWWW!

Johnny Christmas:  That’s so hard! It’s hard to answer because you’re talking to people with such diverse musical influences.

Aaron:  ARRRG!

Matt:  I’ll go first! 1) The Beatles Revolver 2) Beach Boys Friends 3) The Police Outlandos d’Amour 4) Fiona Apple When the Pawn…that’s all I can think of off the top of my head.

Aaron:  I have too many favorite albums to pick a top five.

Johnny:  1) Louis Armstrong plays WC Handy.

Aaron:  I don’t know what the hell you just said.

Johnny:  I know…2) Miles Davis Relaxin’.

Matt:  Johnny, every time I get in your car, you’ve got Metallica or Megadeath on.

Johnny:  I’ve been pissed off for the past year. 3) Megadeath Greatest Hits.

Billy Kottage:  1) The Beach Boys Pet Sounds 2) The Beatles Revolver 3) Grateful Dead American Beauty 4) Thelonious Monk Alone in San Francisco 5) Westbound Train Transitions.

Aaron:  You guys are all wrong. Your opinions are all wrong.

Jon:  I’m a Dire Straits fan, and your album titled Monkeys for Nothin’ Chimps for Free makes me wonder are you also a fan or was the title just too irresistible?

Aaron:  I like Dire Straits…Except that one line about that trumpet playin’ band ain’t what they call rock n roll. I was like FUCK THAT! FUCK YOU SULTANS OF SWING! Not a huge fan, but I like them.

Johnny:  For our generation growing up with MTV, that “Money For Nothing” video was on ALL THE TIME! And it was a great video.

Jon:  It’s one of the first 3-D videos.

Johnny:  Yeah, you couldn’t get around it. I didn’t even have cable and I listened to it.

Aaron:  Just think, a lot of our fans now don’t even remember when MTV was a music TV channel.

Johnny:  They don’t understand that the M stands for MUSIC Television.

Matt:  They think it stands for mister. Mr Television.

Johnny:  Stands for really bad reality TV.

Jon:  What’s the most “rock star” thing you’ve ever done? Any crazy tour bus stories?

Matt:  Didn’t something happen a little while ago where we thought “This is one of those things we would tell in an interview!” I don’t remember…

Johnny:  For me, it was playing the festival in Dubai with Megadeath when I was going out to play my solo. I was going to go out on this big long ramp but my mic cable got stuck on one of the lights. I didn’t even make it to the ramp and I had to play my solo from the side instead of the ego ramp.

Aaron:  That’s not a rock star moment, that’s like a disaster story!

Johnny:  It’s like a Spinal Tap moment!

Aaron:  Remember when we did the press conference with Dave Mustaine?

Jon:  What happened with that?

Johnny:  There was this press conference with us, Megadeath and Three Doors Down. We were the only bands playing this show in Dubai. Reel Big Fish, Megadeath and Three Doors Down…because those are complimentary items. I’m sitting at this big long table talking to our bass player, Matt Wong, and a red-head guy comes up and goes “Hi, my name is Dave, and I was a huge fan of The Specials and Madness.” I went “What?!? Dave Mustaine was a ska kid!?”

Aaron:  We were at the Kerrang! Awards show in England, and each table had a bottle of whisky, bottle of rum, bottle of vodka…every single table. Everyone was really hammered drunk after they served food and stuff. I started throwing bottles all over the tables and I got glass all over somebody from The Used. I ruined someone from Good Charlotte’s food. Bowling for Soul threw a table over and they got in trouble but I didn’t get in trouble. Then I went to an after party and met Paris Hilton. She was going out with Derek from Sum 41. She said “I’M PARIS.” I said “HI.”

Jon:  Favorite junk food and favorite beer?

Aaron:  This should be easier!

Matt:  Favorite beer- Heady Topper from the Alchemist in Vermont. Favorite junk food- Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Billy:  Favorite beer- Heady Topper from the Alchemist brewery in Vermont as well. My favorite junk food…is PB&J junk food? I eat one before bed almost every night.

Johnny:  My favorite beer is the St. Bernardus 12 from Belgium. Favorite junk food is plain Lays potato chips.

Jon:  Plain, like unsalted?

Johnny:  No, salted. OG chips.

Aaron:  My favorite beer is Delirium Nocturnum. Favorite junk food is chili fries and volcano burgers from the place across my high school, with no cheese. Best thing I ever ate in my life. Just from that place. I don’t really like chili fries from anywhere else.

Jon:  Do you ever get tired of playing your big hits from back in the day or are they still entertaining years later?

Aaron:  Some of the newer members might not be as sick of the old songs as others. I definitely am not sick of playing the favorites because I like pleasing the crowd and making them dance. When you play one of those songs, the crowd goes WILD! That never gets old for me.

Jon:  So it’s the crowd reaction that keeps it going for you?

Aaron:  When we start playing a song and nobody reacts, it’s the worst feeling in the world. Being on stage like OH THEY HATE ME RIGHT NOW!!! Anytime we play those old songs and people go crazy it’s awesome.

Jon:  When you find the songs that don’t get a reaction from people, do you kick them off the set list for next time?

Aaron:  Yeah, we rotate them and give songs a new try. Sometimes the songs that get the best reaction over time are forgotten. The people who come to the shows at the time don’t know that one anymore.

Johnny:  And you also adjust the set list for what country you’re playing in. The big hits in UK might not be in USA. Cheer Up is way huge over there.

Aaron:  But even that, 10 years ago, you play something from Cheer Up and they would know every word of every song, but now, is not the case anymore, I’ve noticed. They just know the three favorite ones or whatever.

Jon:  Are you guys satisfied with the ska scene or would you prefer it more mainstream? If so, what would it take to get it there?

Aaron:  Of course we’d like to be super rich and famous and playing stadiums, but this is our job. We don’t have to go home to real jobs. So for us, the ska scene is pretty awesome. It’s going strong in the underground.

Jon:  I’m a huge fan of Baseketball, how did you get to be the band in the movie?

Aaron:  We were hot shit back then! We were the happening new band! I think our record label, MOJO, was somehow put in charge of releasing the movie’s soundtrack and I think they just said “Hey why not put RBF in there?” I guess…I don’t know. They needed a band? We never knew the real reason.

Jon:  Did you get to meet the South Park guys?

Aaron:  Yeah, I was like “Hey!” and they were like “Hey, my name’s Matt.” “Hi, my name is Trey. We gotta go, we’re busy.”

Johnny:  You think making a movie is glamorous and really interesting. It’s really a lot of waiting around for ten hours and then being on set and doing your thing for an hour. Back when I had long hair, I was in the movie Cable Guy.

Jon:  You were an actor in the movie?

Johnny:  I worked at Medieval Times and they needed a trumpet player in a scene for the movie.

Aaron:  At least he knows how he got in the movie. Someone just called and said “You’re going to be in a movie with the South Park guys,” FUCK YEAH! They actually filmed another scene we were in – me, Scott and Dan were sitting on a couch at a party scene and then Scott kicked over a bowl of popcorn and it went all over. They had to stop shooting and clean it all up. He RUINED THE SCENE! So somewhere there’s a scene that we’re in.

Jon:  The Baseketball stadium, was that an actual stadium, or a set built for the movie?

Aaron:  That was the Olympic Auditorium in LA. They had a lot of fake people. Cardboard cut outs of people all over. They moved the extras to where they were filming. Movie magic!

Jon:  Did you see the movie?

Aaron:  Yeah, it’s pretty funny.

Johnny:  It turned out to be a cult classic. Played all the time on HBO and things like that.

Aaron:  More people know us from that movie than from anything else.

Jon:  What is your definition of a poser?

Aaron:  Like a model?

Johnny:  Like a mannequin?

Billy:  Blue Steel. That’s what I think.

Matt:  Somebody who tries to fit into a group of people even though maybe they’re not interested in that. Someone who’s trying a little too hard to fit in.

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NeW bEAT FUNd “SCARE ME” Series Of Horror Movie Parodies On Instagram October 30, 2013

New Beat Fund, the group behind the SiriusXM Alt Nation hit “Scare Me,” is celebrating Halloween by rolling out 14 Instagram video parodies of scenes from some of the most esteemed horror movies of all time at http://instagram.com/newbeatfund/.
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Check out all of their hilarious spoofs below and be sure to follow New Beat Fund on Instagram here and check back on Halloween for a compilation reel!

Psycho: http://instagram.com/p/fgXjNusriP/

Frankenstein: http://instagram.com/p/fi7sC9Mrog/

Blair Witch: http://instagram.com/p/fljjt3srlR/

The Fly: http://instagram.com/p/foLvyesrl4/

The Birds: http://instagram.com/p/fqvgBiMrlj/

The Grudge: http://instagram.com/p/ftVj4asrto/

The Ring: http://instagram.com/p/fv-Iz0srt_/

The Shining: http://instagram.com/p/fyfkUDsrst/

Child’s Play: http://instagram.com/p/f1KFd8MrhG/

Cujo: http://instagram.com/p/f3kNxvMrl4/

Night Of The Living Dead: http://instagram.com/p/f6OePxMrm6/

Friday The 13thhttp://instagram.com/p/f9AZq6srth/

Nightmare On Elm St.: http://instagram.com/p/f_P39Ssro9/

Carrie:  http://instagram.com/p/gBh5QtMrn3/

New Beat Fund Tour Now with 3OH!3, The Summer Set and Wallpaper
Oct. 31                      Minneapolis, MN                    Varsity Theatre
Nov. 1                       Des Moines, IA                        Wooly’s
Nov. 2                       Milwaukee, WI                       The Rave
Nov. 3                       Chicago, IL                                 House of Blues
Nov. 5                       Nashville, TN                            Cannary
Nov. 7                       Orlando, FL                               House of Blues
Nov. 8                       Ft Lauderdale, FL                    Revolution
Nov. 10                     Atlanta, GA                               Buckhead theatre
Nov. 11                     New Orleans, LA                     House of Blues
Nov. 12                     Houston, TX                              House of Blues
Nov. 13                     Dallas, TX                                   House of Blues
Nov. 15                     Albuquerque, NM                   Sunshine Theatre
Nov. 16                     Denver, CO                               Summit Music Hall
Nov. 18                     Boise, ID                                     Knitting factory
Nov. 19                     Spokane, WA                           Knitting factory
Nov. 20                     Seattle, WA                              Showbox at the Market
Nov. 21                     Portland, OR                             Wonder Ballroom
Nov. 23                     Reno, NV                                    Knitting Factory
Nov. 24                     San Francisco, CA                   Fillmore
Nov. 25                     San Diego, CA                          House of Blues
Nov. 26                     Los Angeles, CA                       House of Blues

Watch the official video for “Scare Me” 

 

Lou Reed October 28, 2013

by Jon Warhol

Rock legend Lou Reed died on Sunday Oct 27, 2013. I remember where I am and what I’m doing at the moment I found out one of my heroes passed – first George Carlin, then Christopher Hitchens, now Lou. Today, I’ll never forget how I opened my facebook tab to check for notifications and the first thing on my news feed, posted only seconds ago by the page “I bet I can’t find 100,000 people who know John Cale!”, announced the passing of an icon who not only had an enormous effect on the world of music, but my life and musical taste.

I’ll also never forget how scared I felt the first time I heard “Walk on the Wild Side” on the radio driving to high school one morning. It is by no means a “scary song,” but let me give some perspective: I was a young and impressionable high schooler with innocent ears, whose music taste was mainly classic rock influenced by my dad and surf music. There was something about Reed’s anti-singing that left me awestruck and unable to turn the dial. Lou’s signature cooler-than-cool NYC deadpan voice spoke of blowjobs, transvestites, drugs, colored girls and things I was too young to totally get and characters years before my time. As soon as I got home, I did research and found he was in a band called The Velvet Underground and decided to give them a listen. If “Walk on the Wild Side” scared me, you can only imagine what sort of madness was going through my head as I sat through “Heroin.” Like the effect of the drug Lou sang about, after just one listen, I was hooked.

Throughout his half-century career, Lou has had personal and musical high high’s and low low’s. No matter what direction he took himself and his music, he did so in a unique and artistic way. From the commercial glam rock of Transformer to the hour-long white noise of Metal Machine Music to the spoken word of The Raven to ambient meditation music from Hudson River Wind Meditations, Lou produced an incredibly long and diverse body of work. As the Velvet Underground’s principal songwriter, he created four studio albums, two bootleg albums and four live albums worth of material. As a solo artist, he made 22 solo records, 12 live albums and 44 singles. I own a good amount of his work, but still have a lot to go if I want to complete my collection. Whether or not you enjoy every single piece of his work, there is no denying he has been one of Rock’s most prolific and prominent composers.

He is one of very few, if not the only, to have made it onto both Rolling Stone’s lists of greatest singers and greatest guitarists of all time. It could be argued that without Lou Reed, David Bowie’s career would not have taken off the way it did, glam rock would not have happened and there would be no industrial music. However he is critically remembered, it is important to remember that historically speaking, Reed furthered Rock as being taken as a serious art form. He sung about topics considered risqué and taboo for his time but continually insisted that no one would find it weird if his lyrics were printed in a novel or a film script.

Reed’s artsy and non-radio-friendly songs have had the greatest impact on me. Even today you may never hear “Heroin,” “Venus in Furs,” “Street Hassle” or any number of his best works on the radio, but the noisier and more profane his compositions can be, the more beautiful I find them. I can’t even begin to think about amount of time, from the first time I heard “Walk on the Wild Side” to the present, how many hours/days/weeks I have spent listening to, buying, thinking about, talking about, reading about, researching, playing and enjoying Lou’s music. In the midst of all the “RIP LOU!” messages, tweets and whatevers by fans and celebrities, perhaps the short yet moving message by Reed’s life-long friend and band mate, John Cale, holds the greatest impact: “The world has lost a fine songwriter and poet…I’ve lost my ‘school-yard buddy’”.

Although I did not know him anywhere near the level John Cale did, I feel in a way, I too have lost a friend – a friend who left me more than 50 years’ of music to discover and further impact my life. A great regret will be that I can never see Lou perform live. His legacy and songs will not just live on in my heart, but in the heart of anyone who has ever picked up a guitar.

Long live Lou Reed, and long live Rock n Roll.

 

Doomed by Chuck Palahniuk October 7, 2013

Filed under: Book Reviews — NVMP @ 9:32 PM
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A book review by Alexander Castiglione

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Well, the old adage, “If you have nothing nice to say don’t say it at all,” that’s getting thrown out the window.  Now, anybody that reads my reviews knows I am a huge fan of Mr. Palahniuk, but his new release and sequel to Damned falls short of the mark.

Then again, maybe my expectations are too high, since most of his books I’ve read multiple times, equally enamored each time around.  Maybe it’s the fact that the protagonist is an undead tween, donning a skort, battling obesity and dealing with a serious inferiority complex; and as a twenty-something male, I find that a tad hard to relate to.  My ability to relate aside, points to Palahniuk for being able to create and maintain a unique alienated teenage voice for near 600 pages between the two novels.

Of course the book has its vile twists and turns and sordid sub-plots (no Chuck book would be complete without them), but save for the end, I found this entire piece weighed, measured, and found wanting.  A gut feeling tells me it’s part of a trilogy, and I truly hope so.

Damned, well, it was pretty damned good.  A truly twisted tale of Hades, Hell, the underworld; whatever name you put on it.  With candy as currency and pools of bodily fluids making up the landscape, it was as hilarious as disturbing.  However, it’s sequel left something to be desired.  Doomed, just like its prequel, ends with a question mark (IE The End?) and I truly hope this is prophetic of a 3rd installment, as this one left much to be desired.

Doomed comes out October 8th, 2013 via Doubleday.  Grab a copy and decide for yourself.

 

Psychic Friend Releases Video for “We Do Not Belong” October 6, 2013

Psychic Friend is a band that should be on everybody’s watch list.  William Schwartz, who also fronts Imperial Teen, called upon an old college buddy to help make a video for the second single off of My Rocks Are Dreams.  That college buddy was Sarah Silverman and the video is “We Do Not Belong.”  Based roughly on a Nova documentary called Secret of the Wild Child, about a young girl who had spent her entire developmental period without societal contact. The young girl, played by Silverman, responds to nothing scientists present for stimulation until music is introduced. “We Do Not Belong” stands as the backdrop of Silverman’s character’s recovery, as she dances throughout the last half of the song, leaving Schwartz’s scientific role feeling both proud and accomplished.  This song and Psychic Friend’s music is infectious with a vintage sound and notes of melodic 70’s songwriting.

 

FREE 2013 Topshelf Records Digital Sampler! October 1, 2013

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Who doesn’t love free music,especially from a great label like Topshelf Records!  Click here to download: http://topshelfrecords.com/2013/

Boston indie Topshelf Records has released a FREE 78 track sampler featuring songs from all the bands on their roster such as: The World Is A Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die, Have Mercy, Tancred, A Great Big Pile of Leaves, Slingshot Dakota, Defeater, Hop Along, The Sidekicks, Lemuria, Owen, Pity Sex, Citizen, Iron Chic, Pentimento and Many more!

Discover and Enjoy!

 

 

Who’s Betty Who? September 22, 2013

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The next up and coming pop icon, that’s who!  I have been obsessed with her music for a couple of months now.  She reminds me of early Madonna or an 80’s pop diva, mixed with Katy Perry and a touch of Robyn.  Born in Australia, Betty Who (Jessica Newham) moved to the States to attend Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, followed by Berklee College of Music in Boston where she met producer Peter Thomas.  She now lives in New York City.  You might have already heard one of her songs without even know it.  Have you seen the video of the marriage proposal with the flash mob?  The song they were dancing to was “Somebody Loves You” by Betty Who.  If you haven’t yet seen the video, check it out here (if you’re like me, grab a tissue).  

Since the video posted on 09/11/2013, the video has 10,066,035 and keeps on growing!  On 09/13/213 she performed a sold-out headlining show at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn with JOYWAVE.  Obviously this was going to grab the attention of some major’s, but RCA made the deal.  Read all the details on Billboard.com here.  Her EP The Movement is still available as a free download on SoundCloud here.  My favorite track fluctuates, but right now it’s “High Society.”  Check out a live performance of the song at NYC’s Pianos last month.