Band/Artist: Ape Men (stylized APE|MEN) Location: Industrialized world, South Eastern Fringe of the European Union Styles: Indie, Indietronica, Alternative, Indie Pop Similar to/RIYL: Kasabian, Nine Inch Nails, AWOLNATION, Beck, Panda Bear CD: APE|MEN – ZERO (2015, debut EP)
Accolades: This outfit hasn’t gigged outside clubs, but is a trio formed from indie band Gravity co. which has over 18 top musical achievement awards in South Eastern Europe, has opened for the Prodigy, Fun Loving Criminals, Stereo MCs, Kosheen, and others and has played festivals at EXIT (Serbia), Sziget (Hungary), Eurosonic (Holland), Bestfest (Romania), Spirit of Burgas (Bulgaria), and others.
Members/Instruments: Bobby, Ivo, and Petar
Bobby Cheshirkov – Vocals, guitar
Ivo Chalakov – Guitar, vocals
Petar Samanliev – Computers & gadgets Production:
Composed by Ivo Chalakov
Lyrics by Bobby Cheshirkov
Co-produced by Ivo Chalakov & Petar Samnaliev
Arranged by APE|MEN
Mixed by Petar Samanliev & Ivo Chalakov
Mastered by Plamen Yotov
Tracklisting:
1. Pictionary
2. Bye-Bye Devil
3. Up Is the New
4. Cash
5. Zero Pictionary
Bio:
Ape Men (APE|MEN) are an edgy indietronica trio from the post Iron Curtain fringes of the European Union formed in 2013. The band paint an urban soundscape with gritty scuzz guitars and moody lyrics over saturated synthesizers and thumping electo beats.
The band’s debut EP “ZERO” was released independently on Feb 19th, 2015. The EP is accompanied by a single and music video release for “CASH”. The video was directed by Ruscen Vidinliev.
Band: Slim Loris Location: Stockholm, Sweden Styles: Indie pop/rock/americana Similar to: Mumford & Sons, Arcade Fire, The Avett Brothers, The Band CD: Future Echoes and Past Replays
Members/Instruments: Mattias Cederstam: Vocals, bass, piano, Robert: Guitars (live also Jonas Ellenberg: Drums and Leon Lindström: guitars and vocals) Production: Slim Loris
Slim Loris, from Stockholm, Sweden, blends Indie Pop/Rock with Americana and a pinch of Swedish melancholy. The band formed in 2009 from the remnants of two indie acts, and released a collection of demos entitled “Amateur Night at the Asylum” the year after.
In 2011, Slim Loris’s debut album “Down To Earth” was released, led by the 1st single “Low”, showing the band’s fine-tuned song writing skills and classic rock sense of melody. Neufutur.com says “Slim Loris cuts nothing less than a shambling masterpiece” and gave the album an 8.7/10 score. Billboard Discoveries says of the release. What Slim Loris have accomplished on their full-length, “Down to Earth” is a sombre turn to the usually poppy sound of the 60’s British invasion”.
Two songs from Slim Loris were also featured in the Swedish film “Var kommer mjolken ifran”.
The follow up release entitled “Future Echoes and Past Replays”, a mature, emotionally charged album showing progression in the band’s song-writing and production, is due to be released on May 19th.
Indie-pop-rockers Cymbals release their new 8 song mini album, “Sideways, Sometimes” today on Tough Love Records. The London band recorded the songs over a 5 day period at the brilliant Lightship 95, a recording studio on a boat moored in the Thames. For this release they added Neil Gillespie, who took over from Sean on drums, while Sean returned to his first instrument, bass, filling out the space in their sound. Continuing the theme for somewhat special artwork, the band enlisted Robin Hulme, a fabric designer for Liberty, to create a one-off design that will grace the cover of the vinyl.
Listen to “Sideways, Sometimes” here. The band are on tour in May.
This profile is a first in a series for Frost magazine. We are profiling new music and trying to discover new artists. The artist might not be actually ‘new’, but someone who we think may be about to breakthrough or go onto another level of fame. They do say it takes ten years to become an overnight success….
Highlights/Accolades: Power Plant Beach was selected as one of Mother Jones Readers’ favorite albums of 2011. Emilia Cataldo was a finalist in the We R Indie singer songwriter contest in 2011. Nehedar provided most of the soundtrack to an upcoming independent film. (working title: Strike Anywhere Matches).
Nehedar is the project of New York-based singer-songwriter Emilia Cataldo.
The daughter of two New York musicians who fled urban life for the country, Cataldo was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts, where her family lived in a barn on the outskirts of town. Music always permeated their home – her mother a hippie piano teacher from a Jewish home & her father a Puerto Rican jazz saxophonist.
The Cataldo family which grew to six children, moved from Massachusetts, to Miami FL, & eventually to the religiously-infused town of Zion, Illinois, on the outskirts of Chicago where Cataldo briefly attended high school.
Cataldo quickly grew disenchanted with her small town surroundings. As soon as she was old enough, she left high school to travel the country, and later the world, on a journey that would eventually lead her to Israel, where she would study the Jewish faith in Seminary, and take on the Hebrew name Nehedar, which means ‘wonderful.’
In 2000, Cataldo settled in New York City, where she began writing & performing her own music in 2001 following a difficult period involving the loss of her mother to an aggressive brain tumor. She adopted ‘Nehedar’ as her stage-name & that of her band. Eventually, Cataldo would return to school to complete her B.A. in music at Stern College in Manhattan.
Nehedar has self-released five albums – Pick Your Battles in 2007, the critically-acclaimed Dreamlike in 2008, Pterodactyl Baby in 2009, Power Plant Beach in 2010 and just released her latest album High Tide on March 15, 2012. For the duration of her recording Nehedar has worked closely with Craig Levy of Little Pioneer Cider House in Brooklyn New York, although she has enjoyed experimenting with other producers. Nehedar’s backing band has included a revolving cast of friends and thereby changed shape over the years. Whenever possible Nehedar includes Luis Cataldo (her saxaphone playing father) in the mix.
While spanning indie-rock, folk, jazz and pop genres, the music of Nehedar has continued to deliver her blend of deeply personal lyrics, beautiful vocal harmonies & a variety of instrumentation. Momentary departures from strict chord progressions set her music apart, surely a result of her childhood spent listening to jazz. As a writer and performer she has enjoyed comparisons to Tracy Bonham, Bebel Gilberto and Ingrid Michaelson.
Band/Artist: Ape Men (stylized APE|MEN)
