LA-based WHISPERTOWN is the latest iteration of the unique vision of Morgan Nagler (songwriter, lead vocals, guitar). What was once The Whispertown 2000 has morphed into a less structured version of itself, with Nagler’s unmistakable vocals leading a revolving cast of musicians and artists.
As The Whispertown 2000, Nagler and company garnered support slots for Jenny Lewis, The Breeders, Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes, She & Him, The Elected, Azure Ray, Maria Taylor and many more. The band soon caught the attention of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, inspiring the first signing to their own Acony Records. Shortly thereafter, the band released 2008’s Swim, their debut release from Acony, comprised of classic songwriting and harmonious folk-pop.
WHISPERTOWN’S sophomore release on Acony Records, Parallel, sticks to Nagler’s earth grounded wisdoms while taking a turn toward a new form of lo-fi electronica. Parallel moves easily through rock gems like “Blood From Wine” and “State Of Mind” with lyrical prowess, only to be punctuated perfectly by stark dance tracks such as “Open The Other Eye.” Produced, recorded and mixed by Andy LeMaster (Bright Eyes), Co-Produced by Jake Bellows (Neva Dinova), and Executive Produced by David Rawlings, the stars have aligned here. This is classic music for the people.
Teen Girl Scientist Monthly. Bred and born on the windswept shores of Brooklyn, NY, Teen Girl Scientist Monthly jangle, stomp and spark, spitting sunny guitars and fuzzy garage pop by the hat-full. In February 2013 they released Modern Dances, their first LP, full of sharp shout-a-longs and bright light head-bangers. And in January 2014 they put out the We Run With Gangs mini-LP – 10 short, electric tunes written about and for their friends and fans, in anticipation of their second record, out later this year.
TGSM’s infectious sound (a la Unicorns and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!) is Morgan Lynch’s feral yowl, Matt Berger’s antsy chicken wire lyre, and the pure low purr of Master Gliva’s thick strings, all made the more merry on the wings of Mel Lusk and Pete Scalzitti’s synthetic suites and the pummel Daniel Muhlenberg’s skins and rims. They like drinking and they like dancing.
In June 2012, the group began recording what would become Modern Dances with producer Gary Atturio at Brooklyn’s GaluminumFoil Studios, spending barely a day apart until September. The result is a sweaty embrace of an album where threads of recklessness and impetuosity, affection and ferocity weave together into pop music almost unhinged in its enthusiasm.
Modern Dances is already getting some great press – “Summer Skin†was song of the day on Culture Brats and also at Panic Manual – “Summer Skin is a track by Brooklyn act Teen Girl Scientist Monthly and it’s the sort of short, energetic power pop track that can temporarily transport you back into the glory days of summer.”
Watch official music video for “Summer Skinâ€Â
STREAM MODERN DANCES HERE
*For review purposes only and mp3’s can be delivered upon request
SHARE + POST SINGLE “SUMMER SKINâ€Â
Teen Girl Scientist Monthly will be touring the Northeast this Spring in support of the new release, and at shows TGSM is selling a download of the debut Modern Dances with purchase of their very own hard copy choose your own adventure book. At 88 pages in length, and 14 different endings, you’re the new manager of Teen Girl Scientist Monthly and navigate the band to fame and fortune…or you might get killed by a wizard.
More Information:
http://teengirlscimo.com/
http://www.facebook.com/teengirlscientistmonthly
http://teengirlscimo.bandcamp.com/
B&W Press Band Photo
Color Press Band Photo
“Theirs is a world of stomping indie rock, marrying pulsating percussion with epic orchestral violin and adding a topping of effervescent male/female vocals. Dipping their toes in everything from country to post-punk they kick up a shitstorm of high energy sound that is as diverse as it is original, but never less than 100% engaging.”
 The Mad Mackeral
Sabina Sciubba was born in Italy and grew up in Germany, but for her first solo outing she’s eschewed the electropop of her New York-based Brazilian Girls troupe to record a more lilting, guitar-based, Nico-esque collection in Paris, where she now resides.
Everything about [her debut solo album] ‘Toujours’ (‘always’ in French), has an international flavour, and it’s sung in no less than six languages. On paper that might look like plain old showing off, yet the various tongues (often employed within the same song) always feel appropriate. Most importantly, the tunes — from the devilishly catchy title track to the clattering, anthemic ‘Viva L’Amour’ and the swoonsome, panoramic ‘Tabarly’, complete with romantic mariachi trumpets — are superb. You’ll feel love.
Visit Sabina’s website: http://www.sabina-sciubba.com and become enveloped in her love-drenched sonic and visual world.
Laser-Background is a project about childhood. Every aspect of our adult lives is transformed by what we absorb during the sponge of our youth. And it is this precise molten window, still nestled & thriving within our brainscapes, that Philadelphia’s Andy Molholt delves into with-LaserBackground’s debut LP-Super Future Montage.
“I wanted to create a psychedelic action/adventure LP,” says Molholt. “I look at-Super Future Montage-as a sort of mission statement, not just for-Laser-Background, but for life in general. I look at this album as my life’s work.”
Repetitive themes run rampant throughout the record, drawing parallels between birth, death, sleeping, waking, the monotony of the mundane & the peculiarity of the mystical. Molholt neatly wraps this colossal array into a confectionary web of confusion ripe for the tasting. “It’s a reminder of sorts, that existence is filled with beginnings & endings,” Molholt offers. “The human condition is basically one big lost & found. Once you really embrace the idea that security of any kind is an illusion, you can start to move forward & break new ground.”
Produced by Michael Johnson (Ape School, Lilys, Holopaw) & engineered by Michael Trillions (Norwegian Arms, Grandchildren),-Super Future Montage-pushes-Laser-Background-into unexplored sonic territory, hijacking expectations & forcing the listener to come along for the ride. Echoing influences like Of Montreal’s-Coquelicot-& Brian Eno’s-Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), Molholt forges a sound both reminiscent & all his own, a post psychedelic avant-pop vacation. If past, present & future are the fruits of time, here Molholt has created his orchard. And in this warped universe, where time no longer matters, the flowers are constantly in bloom.-
Phony Ppl are a collective. They’re a rap crew, a songwriting/ production team, a live band, and and burgeoning force in contemporary music.
After loosely collaborating on projects over three years, Phony Ppl culminated into a nine-man crew of musicians, rappers, singers, producers and DJs. Their unique blend of hip-hop, pop, jazz and R&B music has enraptured fans and critics alike. Grown on equal parts Jay-Z, John Coltrane and Jamiroquai, Phony Ppl are quickly becoming the flagship crew for a new generation of music lovers whose iPods are filled with sounds of all genres and eras.
Renowned Writer/Producer/Artist/DJ Fred Sargolini is as prolific as he is unique, constantly making music while exploring and creating in other artistic mediums. At its core, his urban perspective represents the bedrock of his musical and artistic process and is the key to his ability to create in a unique but accessible way.
Frederick Sargolini began DJ’ing, playing piano and guitar at age 10. Fred continued his musical journey studying jazz and classical piano at the Brooklyn Conservatory for Music.
Fred has gone on to share the stage with the likes of Sting, St. Germain. Run-DMC, Burning Spear, A Tribe Called Quest and The Roots.
Fueled by his interest in all media, Fred launched Patriarch Recordings, his production, artist and brand development company. He has scored numerous placements in TV, film, video games and advertising; including CSI, CSI:Miami, Weeds, Entourage, NBA Ballers, Stomp The Yard, The Real World, Delirious, and a national Chrysler TV ad campaign. Fred discovered, developed and produced the artist Kirsten Price for Columbia Records including her hit “Magic Tree.” Fred also created the Yo Yo Yo Kids brand. The first album, a children’s hip-hop Christmas record, features original holiday music and re-worked holiday classics. It was released by Razor & Tie and a toy featuring the original holiday song “Celebrate” will be released by Dan Dee Toys Christmas 2009.
Fred also co-founded Ming+FS and the Madhattan Studios record label. The duo of Ming+FS released four full-length albums and over thirty 12″ singles, all while touring their critically acclaimed live show around the globe.
With impressive musicianship, artistry and more than a little bit of wit Fred is the very model of the 21st century artist.
John Gold works as both a composer and producer from Frisbie’s west coast office. You’d be lucky to get to know him and and his music with all its west coast leanings.
Southern california and the music born of it are in my blood. i was born here, too, and i live here now. it’s a place of extremes in either direction, but most of the time the sun at the magic hour or the night blooming jasmine in the breeze or some fleetwood mac turned up with the car windows rolled down is enough to help us ignore what ails this place. Now here i go again i see a crystal vision…
the quick story goes like this: after a stint in new york city, i spent about eight years living in this apartment on wilton place in hollywood. it was really small but i didn’t mind because it was kind of like a tree house, and anyway it had everything I needed: a nice tube amp with a few shelves of lp’s, plenty of musical instruments, and a couple good microphones that attached to gear for recording ideas. my mom gave me our upright piano that now doubled as a desk to write on. when I was a little kid, harry nilsson made up a song for me on that same piano. i had a feeling that someday i’d sing songs, too.
so much went down on wilton: so much extreme shit around apartment fires, run-over pets, broken spirits and hearts gone cold. but there was always music, always my songs, and always this giant avocado tree in the sunshine outside my window. so-cal comfort. I wrote and recorded three albums there. a few songs were on tv shows and movies, and by some miracle people all over the world started letting me know that these transmissions from my tiny room were reaching them and keeping their souls warm.
i still had never sung a note more than 20 miles beyond the city limits, and a couple years ago I decided that if this music thing was gonna be real, i needed to make a change. i so badly wanted to move and i wanted to move forward! i felt stuck. i knew that the only thing that would make it happen would be to dream up some songs that no longer reported on and kept me living in the past, but that needed to dictate my future. i wanted to make something that sounded like the place i know, but maybe not a complete throwback to sounds like joni mitchell or csny – those are untouchable – just something new that feels good to be around and reflects my life here.
i asked my friend and musical wiz, scott seiver, to produce it with me and to get it well-recorded over the course of a couple months. he’s also a great drummer and can play a lot of instruments, so we covered a lot of ground between the two of us. my fairly sane but insanely talented group of friends in town (check those liner notes) played and sang and celebrated these songs with me and have everything to do with the songs sounding the way they do. a year later we somehow conjured the amazing shawn everett to mix it. my brother makes the album cover look like the music sounds.
so now i’m writing to you from a house not too far away from hollywood with orange trees in the yard and a one-year-old cat named ocho sleeping next to me and the album is coming out in June, thanks to the great people at vagrant records! i expect that some amazing adventures are on the horizon and hopefully along the way we’ll get to play the songs for you in person, wherever you are.
every word on this album is true to me. every line and each note stands for something important: it’s my own manifesto. it’s my own religion. my own cult of one. “don’t freak out” has been my mantra ever since keefus and benji hughes played their version of baby it’s your life for me. augusta vail has become my personal lord and saviour. i still drown it in white wine every now and again. best of all, what came of that seed of change has grown into the flower in my head, and it continues to bloom. I hope that you put it through your headphones. I want it to be like a flower in your head, too. your sun is coming up, and you’re still alive.
“Hailing from the hills of North Carolina, Drew Stroik specializes in dreamy soundscapes of lush, lo-fi, extremely melodic tunes he lovingly characterizes as “generic pop.” The lyrics are sometimes literal, often oblique, but always honest. Let’s put it this way; Stroik’s songs could provide the perfect soundtrack for a long road trip or for a plush, debauchery-drenched, nightclub setting.
There is a lot he has been through in his short 23 years, and that’s putting it mildly. He was born in Chicago, where he actually lived with his young single mother in a funeral home with the bassist and drummer of alt-rock group, Veruca Salt. From the Windy City, he moved to Miami where his mother briefly dated the owner of Al Pacino’s palatial drug mansion in the gangster flick, Scarface – no lie. He spent some time in Los Angeles, transplanted to Las Vegas for about five years, and finally settled in North Carolina with his mom and new stepdad. His first introduction to music came at the age of seven when he was given a bunch of movie soundtracks as a Christmas present. “One of them was the Lion King CD,” he recalls, “I was a normal kid at that time – or so my parents thought, I became obsessed.” In North Carolina, he was given a guitar as a gift at the age of 14, and he self-taught himself until he got “really good.” Stroik was kicked out of high school prior to his senior year (the details surrounding said expulsion remain fuzzy), and thus he was forced to find a full-time job to make ends meet. During this turbulent period, it was his music that kept him afloat. He saved enough cash to get himself a cheap computer and a Yamaha keyboard and started laying down his own tracks at home.
Ultimately when it comes down to it, the music reflects its maker. Speaking to Stroik is a whirlwind experience of human awareness and curiosity. One frenzied minute, he’ll be extolling the vibrant, dance-heavy video for the song “Cat Daddy” (featuring Chris Brown) by The Rej3ctz, and the next, he’ll be explaining the many duties (including forklift operation) he executes at his 9-to-5 factory job. It’s the same urgency, honesty and transparency you see in his music. “Basically what I try to address in my music is the fact that people think they have all the answers but they really don’t,” he emotes. “I’m just tired of all the facades and smoke screens that exist everywhere, so I just make music that’s real to me.” Well said.
Espionage, particularly the idea of living a double life, was the basis for Kaki King’s brand-new, stunning album Junior. And like a tantalizing spy novel that’s full of surprises, Junior delivers twists-and-turns: lyrically from exuberance and anger to heartbreaking melancholy; and sonically from experimental pieces to accessible pop. While there is some of the dazzling musicianship King has been renowned for, Junior showcases her further maturation as a well-rounded artist that defies categorization and expectations.
“I never made records for other people,” she says. “My evolution from record to record has been personal not commercial. For example there none of the guitar tapping that I’m known for. There not a single bit of it on the record except for a half a second on “The Hoopers of Hudspeth.”
As with her previous album, 2008’s Dreaming of Revenge, Junior was produced by Malcolm Burn (Patti Smith, Emmylou Harris) and recorded at his studio in Kingston, New York. But in contrast to that record, which was marked by deep textures and layers as well as unusual instrumentation, Junior was specifically made with only three musicians in mind in this case, King, multi-instrumentalist Dan Brantigan and drummer Jordan Perlson. The result was something more direct. “Prior to this I would have written a lot in the studio and played all the instruments myself,” King says. “This time, I really leaned on Dan and Jordan to help shape the songs and help me get the record written.”
The nearly-D.I.Y. aesthetic employed by King can be found on a couple of Junior’s tracks starting with the album’s punkish “Falling Day” and the noisy “Death Head.” “I was dragging this little ukelele around with me,” she says of the former song. “I tuned it weird and I came up with this one riff. The lyrics are basically nonsense. It’s a kind of rumination on a weird dream I had and imagery from that. It’s also got all these strange sounds that Dan came up with.”
Longtime fans may be surprised to hear a different side of King with the dance rock of “Spit It Back In My Mouth.” “I really wanted that to be my Cure song,” she says. “Like how the Cure would write these really happy, jangly songs and the lyrics would be utterly depressing. When I came up with that little groove, I thought this is way too happy, so I changed it to make people depressed.”
King’s mesmerizing guitar playing continues through Junior with a few instrumental pieces, including the electrifying number “My Nerves That Committed Suicide.” “I found a tuning on the guitar,” King says of that track, “and I was writing a little theme and a little melody. All of a sudden I thought, Why don’t we do this? and it really took off. Part of it is ear candy and a part of it is emotive air candy. You just go with that anthemic feeling and it kind of wins every time.”
The rawest song on Junior in terms of King’s passionate singing and wrenching lyrics is the folkish ballad “Sunnyside,” which is about the end of a relationship. “It happened very close to the time I was making the record,” the artist recalls. “It’s a very personal story about something that I went through with another person. Every reference to every lyric is true to life. I’m hoping there’s something universal in that song that someone’s gonna listen and think ‘Wow, I can relate to that,’ because I don’t want it to by my pity party.”
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