LOVESUCKER “Self-Titled” EP | Music News

Band/Artist: LOVESUCKER
Location: Charlotte NC
Styles: Indie-Funk-Desert Rock-Soul
Similar to/RIYL: The KIlls, The Black Crows, Erykah Badu, Funkadelic
CD: Self-titled
Members/Instruments: Crystal Crosby-Vocals/ Percussion
Zoltan Von Bury- Guitar, Bass, Drums, Organ
Production: Elddy Trevino and Zoltan Von Bury

Bio:
Original sounds are as rare as No. 1 hits in music but they do come along if you know exactly where to look. LOVESUCKER, the duo of Crystal Crosby and Zoltan Von Bury, brings two distinct and different musical styles and combines them into a powerhouse so strong that even the most educated listener will have to listen to each song over and over to pick out where one style ends and the other begins.

lovesuckerCrosby, with a gilt edged voice and a delivery straight from the heart, calls her style Gypsy Soul. “It’s a state of mind – freedom, movement, fire and heart, even if it’s fragmented… to move through a song and sound with fluidity and transparency, embracing those things that we speak of – love, spark and hope, dazzled with trickery and fury.”

Crosby owes her style to Etta James, Grace Slick and Tori Amos, for starters. “While many were painting the picket fences, these pioneers were torching the grounds with their guttural truths of the ache of love, revenge and survival,” she says.

Von Bury is a rocker at heart, owing his influences to the movement of the 1970s. I write music with an Indie sensibility, embracing early 70’s true funk tones and nuances,” he says. “Nothing more than that. So the descriptions ‘Indie Funk and Gypsy Soul’ actually have a true meaning or a power source, if you will. That is who we are and what we do.

Simple as that. There are no examples for those terms because there is no one out there doing this sound, this is OUR sound.”

LOVESUCKER’s self-titled debut record, is set to debut in October 2014 and will be
available on the band’s website and BandCamp.

“Mississippi,” which tells the story of a dead slave haunting his slave master, takes you so deep into the Delta that you’d swear that Robert Johnson was hiding in the bushes just around the bend.

“Show Me,” a funky soul vibe, is part Etta James and part Grace Slick to make a whole Crosby delivery and a Von Bury groove that is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

“Guns and Gasoline” is a look into the dark night of the soul when friendship is the rock when the heart takes a killer blow. The combination of Crosby’s strong, edgy female voice and Von Bury’s guitar chops is the signature sound of LOVESUCKER’s Gypsy Soul meets Indie Rock.

 

 

Rival Empire “Self-Titled” | Music News

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Band/Artist: Rival Empire
Location: Chicago, IL
Styles: Alternative Pop/Rock, Synth-Pop, Electronic Dance-Rock, New Wave
Similar to/RIYL: Duran Duran, Cut Copy, The Killers, Friendly Fires
CD: (Self-Titled): Rival Empire
Members/Instruments: Steve Rivera – (Riv): All Electronic Instruments: Drums, Bass, Guitar,
Piano, Synths, MIDI, and Vocals.
Matt Koliopoulos – (MFK): Lead Vocals.
Tim Franz – (Frantana): Rhythm & Lead Guitar.

Production: Steve Rivera: Producer, Recording & Mixing Engineer
Primary Recording & Mixing took place in: Home Studio, as well as, “The
Bunker” on Paulina / 35th Street Studios in Chicago, IL.
Final Stem Mix/Mastering Completed By: Crazy Daisy Productions in
Beaverton, Oregon.

Bio: The Rival Empire is an idea, born out of randomness and captured in the moment. The Album came from the most simple of beginnings. Two old college buddies, lets call them Matt & Steve, were hanging out one summer night when Matt said, “Hey, let write some songs.” Steve’s response, “For sure.” A few months down the road our two old friends met a new gentlemen along the way, lets call him Tim, and said “Hey Tim, we’re writing some tunes”. Tim’s response, “I’m in.” And so there were three, and so they wrote…

After writing their first three songs they realized that each of the songs were very different from one another, radically different in fact. They had started off by writing a dance song, a reggae song, and electronic rock song. At this point they probably should have questioned what in the hell it was that they were trying to accomplish. But that question never arose, and an idea did instead. That idea was the Rival Empire.

The Rival Empire was from then on not meant to be about writing a single genre album with a common style. However, the album was not necessarily meant to be about genre chaos either. They simply wanted it to be free from the more familiar structures of the “mainstream” album. Once you give the album a good listen you will clearly see that they still wanted to capture the essence of several popular genres, with the “Theme” serving as the main commonality and unifying factor. The principal theme here is an introspective and often satirical look into oneself, society, and pop/mainstream culture. Interestingly enough, throughout the writing
process, sometimes the best way to convey that theme was through the combination of genres within a single song, ie. Casino. Also, taking it a step further they also found that integrating key portions of popular songs into there own work added the artistic and satirical punctuation necessary to deliver their intended message, i.e. Reagan’s Rancho Del Cielo, Cameo Crush, Casino.

(Rival Empire would like to take a moment here in advance to respectfully thank: Phil Collins, Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson, Ronald Reagan, Christie Brinkley and their corresponding Publishers/Rights Owners, for their understanding of Rival Empire’s artistic use of repurposed lyrics and minor compositional melodies from: One More Night, Little Lies, Billie Jean, Ronald Reagan’s excerpts, and Ms. Brinkley’s namesake, respectively. All of the above uses were designed carefully to
fall under the fair use protection of section 107 of the Copyright Act. The uses of these works are clearly transformative and parodic, intended to serve as comment and social criticism. The key factor here being social criticism and commentary, as there is no intention of malice toward the above-mentioned persons.)

Beyond taking the above-mentioned artistic liberties, our friends at the Rival Empire, simply wanted to write songs that they enjoyed and that hopefully provide some meaning to you as the listener. This is a crucial element, because the Rival Empire isn’t only about the creation of what might seem to be at times, outlandish music. It’s also about we as people and viewing ourselves from a different perspective. Creative expression, social criticism, plain old fun, and free thinking is part of the essence of who we are as people. So if we all for a moment can step out of our collective structures and into the randomness, we can rise as a Rival Empire.

The Devine Xperience | Music Profile

Band/Artist: The Devine Xperience
Location: Los Angeles California
Styles: Electronica, Breaks, Dubstep
Similar to: Bassnectar, The Crystal Method, Uberzone, Rabbit in the Moon, The Freestylers.
CD: Self-Titled
Label: Let’s Beat Milo Records
Members/Instruments:
Robert Jaros AKA Robert Devine creates all of the music and also sings backup vocals. Vanessa Garic sings lead vocals and backup vocals. Enki Siruzis a live performer.

About The Album:
The Devine Xperience – Self-Titled debut Album contains classic Electronic Dance Music consisting of the elements of Dubstep, Breaks, Electro, Trance, and Acid. It is the brainchild of producer Robert Jaros AKA Robert Devine and singer & creative director Vanessa Garic. It contains messages in the songs regarding politics, aliens, and various other controversial and transcendental subjects and will elevate the listener to a higher state of consciousness. It features remixes from legendary recording artist’s: Jackal of Jackal & Hyde and previously of Dynamix II, Decoding Jesus, The Duke and The Kaiser, and DJ D-Xtreme. The DevineXperience Album release will be supported by an all encompassing Promotional Campaign consisting of 3 music videos, and full PR, College Radio, and Social Media Promotion. Look out for their upcoming performances at a Rave, Club, Concert or Festival near you.

Devine Xperience

All Songs Written, Produced, and Performed by: Robert Jaros & Vanessa Garic All Songs Recorded, Mixed, Edited, and Arranged by: Robert Jaros.

Bio:
The Devine Xperience is a live music act that plays a unique blend of electronic dance music with elements ofbreakbeat, dubstep, trap, and trance. Their music has been described as timeless by music critics that have tried to categorize it. Robert Devine creates and records the music. Vanessa Garic is the Creative Director guiding the artistic and visual aspects of the group also lending her skills as a live performer. Enki Siruz is the audio engineer and is responsible for adding the polish andsparkle to the music and is also featured as a live performer.

Robert Jaros AKA Robert Devine began playing the piano at the age of 5, then in junior high school he started to play the drums and percussion then he moved on to the guitar and bass in high school. Robert’s first live performances were with various punk bands that he played either the guitar, bass, or sang in during his high school years, in 1992 he attended what he believed to be a Deee Lite concert but it was actually very much more. This was the first Rave party that Robert had ever attended, that night he witnessed the Rabbit in the Moon performing live and it changed his life forever…. He immediately acquired a Roland XP-80 synthesizer and began work on what would become his passion in life, producing music. Throughout the 90’s Robert produced and performed Breakbeat, Drum & Bass, and HouseMusic Live P.A. Shows in the Southeast Rave Scene under the name of The Devine X-Perience while concurrently MC’ing at various parties. Then in the early 2000’s he began producing Hip Hop for various Artists all over the US and opening for various artists such as Lil Wayne, Young Dro, Cashis, D4L, Pastor Troy, and Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz and others of that caliber while continuing to develop what would become The DevineXperience on the side during what little free time he had. Robert has put his blood, sweat, and tears into this album that he has been recording during the past 6 years, Robert is a raver to the core and Believes in Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect as his guiding principles in life. His dream is to bring his magical and unique sound into the ears of all across the globe in the form of the Devine Xperience.

Vanessa Garic’s passion for artistry lead to her interest in makeup, special effects, and fashion. She attended Sunset Gower Studios Makeup Academy in Hollywood and later became a personnel stylist for Louis Vuitton in Beverly Hills, California. Assisting many of her loyal clients in the luxury of their homes, she helped build their wardrobes; also gaining long lasting relationships.

She later moved into the world of Haute Joaillerie, studying gemstones and providing buying advice to consumers for Chopard, the Swiss based luxury jeweler. Working in collaboration with Hollywood industry events, she worked with stylist dressing several people, often hand delivering a selection of jewels to choose from.

She has a passion for painting and the visual arts and she continues to paint, which had always been close to her heart.
Music and painting have always fueled her energy for finding ways to create new and exciting experiences, which she definitely has delivered with her contributions to this project. Some of her favorite musical influences are New Order, Elliot Smith, DJ Keoki, The DandyWarhols, Brian Johnstown Massacre, Coco Rosie, and The Breeders.

Enki Siruz was born in Los Angeles California and was raised in the San Fernando Valley. He grew up listening to a variety of musical influences such as the Doors, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Sublime, and Nirvana. He loves to watch live performances and is always attending various music events. He is a graduate of Musicians Institute in the Audio Engineering Program. His goal is to make some of the best sounding, high quality albums the world has ever heard by infusing different music genres to create Amazing Sounding Projects.

Beyoncé Releases Visual Album

With the secret release of Beyoncé’s self titled visual album today, Queen Bey is the woman that everyone is taking about. Get Beyoncé’s music video looks from Soft Paris, as featured in ‘Jealous’ and ‘Haunted’.

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Beyonce released her new album which went straight to iTunes without warning in the middle of the night. She announced it on Instagram. Bearing a brand new music video for each of its 14 tracks as well as four bonus videos, we are pretty excited and just in time for Christmas too. Let’s hope someone puts it in our stocking (metaphorically anyway)  A 30-second preview is below. What do you think?

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Pigeon Park Self-Titled | Music Profiles

Band: Pigeon Park
Location: Vancouver, B.C
Styles: Rock, Groove, Funk, Blues
Similar to: The Black Crowes, The Parlor Mob, The Trews, Led Zeppelin, The Red Hot Chili Peppers
CD: Pigeon Park

Accolades:
-Played at the 420 festival(2010-2012), played Cannabis day in Vancouver(2011 and 2012), played at Golden Spike Days Festival (2012)
-chosen as a top 20 finalist for 99.3 FOX seeds 2012 out of 500 bands, FOX seeds is a contest that has sprung the careers of artists like Bryan Adams, Bif Naked, Matthew Good Band etc.
-Toured nationally twice (2011, 2012)

Members/Instruments: Nick Weber – Vocals, Kevin Okabe – Guitars, Logan Pacholok – Guitars and Vocals, Artur Leppert – Bass, Hunter Elliott – Drums

Pigeon Park is a blues and funk-infused rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia. Crafting a signature sound with inspiration flowing from a variety of influences, they continue to grow with the seasons. Pigeon Park was formed in 2008 by founding members Nick Weber (Vocals) Kevin Okabe (Guitars) Logan Pacholok (Guitars and Vocals) Artur Leppert (Bass) and Hunter Elliott (Drums). Together the five of them began a musical journey embarking on two Cross Canada tours and recording two albums.

The band released their debut record ?The Sun? in 2010, and with the strength of this album managed to secure distribution in Sweden, Montreal, and Greece.

2012 saw the band touring nationally, playing popular BC festivals and being chosen as a finalist for 99.3 FOX seeds 2012, expanding their fan base across Canada. Upon returning from tour, they stepped into the studio and released their new EP “Lovelight” August 31st. The EP and music video for the title-track have been buzzed about in publications such as WHOA Magazine, The Province, the Music Mag, Follow the Signal and Mojophenia, who said of the album “Pigeon Park manage to illuminate the majority of guitar based genres in one superb release.”

Videos:
Lovelight Music Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfq_kepYmAk

LIVE @ The Vancouver Art Gallery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SepUNE4_1FE

On Tour in Quebec:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqoVLi_nako

Live:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MW09n06MSE

Websites:
http://www.facebook.com/pigeonpark
http://pigeonparkband.bandcamp.com/
https://twitter.com/pigeonpark
http://soundcloud.com/pigeon-park

Track listing:
1.Lovelight
2.Figures
3.Only Us Fools
4.Hopeless
5.Statues of Feathers
6.Its Not That Likely

 

CRUSHING BLOWS release self-titled EP ‘Crushing Blows’ Out 12 November

Kind of punky, kind of electro, a little bit thrash, a little bit pop. Crushing Blows may not be easy to describe but they are definitely worth your time to catch live.”John Robb, Louder Than War

 

Crushing Blows are a two-piece, noise pop band from Derbyshire who have drawn comparisons to Battles, Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire. Despite their broad influences (My Bloody Valentine, Talking Heads, Neil Young, Pixies) the band have a developed a sound that is both extremely distinctive and exceptional.

Since forming in 2010, Crushing Blows have been championed by Tom Robinson, Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens (who put them on at The Social) and had airplay from BBC 6 Music, Radio 1 & BBC Introducing. They have also played festivals such as Y Not, T in the Park & Liverpool Sound City and supported Cerebal Ballzy, D/R/U/G/S & The Xcerts to name but a few.

The new EP is due for release on 12th November through the band’s own label, Super Heavy Weight Records. It was recorded and mixed by Jim Cork (Crash of Rhinos) and the title track was made ‘Track of the Week’ by Simon Raymonde (Bella Union) on his Amazing Radio show.

Crushing Blows are; Andrew Foster – Drums / Vocals / Keyboard and Chris Jones – Guitar / Vocals.

 

 

TOUR DATES

 

Fri 19th October – Swn Festival, Cardiff

Sat 20th Oct – Carefully Planned Festival, Manchester (Matinee show)

Sat 20th October – The Shipping Forecast, Liverpool w/ Bear Cavalry

Sun 21st October – The Library, Leeds w/ Metz

Mon 22nd October – TBC

Tues 23rd October – The Old Blue Last, London w/ Bear Cavalry

Wed 24th October – The Firebug, Leicester

Thurs 25th October – JT Soar, Nottingham

Fri 26th Oct – TBC

Sat 27th October – The Cavern, Exeter

 

Track List:

1.       The People You Will Never Meet

2.        I Dream of Becoming A Girl

3.        Love is Dangerous

4.        No Halcyon