SCS: Celebrating Indie Artists

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:17:00 +0000

SCS is on hiatus until further notice while I deal with personal matters. If you're waiting to hear back about a feature, I truly apologize. When I come back I will do my best to get everyone up and running.

The legendary Allee Willis' first live performance in 37 years!

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 08:08:00 +0000

In 1974, Allee Willis walked off stage in the middle of her own show. Now she's finally coming back! The Grammy, Emmy, Tony and Webby award-winning and nominated songwriter, artist, singer, designer, technologist, collector, and party thrower comes to the El Portal Theatre in beautiful North Hollywood for one night only of songs, stories, and party games. Sing-along to Willis' greatest hits like "September", "Boogie Wonderland", "Neutron Dance", "What Have I Done To Deserve This" and "I'll Be There For You (theme from Friends)"! Win valuable prizes! Watch her as she attempts to get through the evening without walking off stage for another 37 years!

ALLEE WILLIS’ SOUP TO NUTS PARTY MIX – An evening of songs, stories and party games!

Tuesday, Oct.18, 2011
The El Portal Theatre
5269 Lankershim Blvd.
Beautiful North Hollywood, CA., 91601

Lobby opens at 7. Lots of kitschy food and drinks and beer and wine available.

Tickets $24.99 and $34.99.
http://www.elportaltheatre.com/events.html
https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/9248165

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"Ms. Willis…considers party-giving an art form" - New York Times

"Allee Willis' parties are the campiest hot tickets in town" - People Magazine

"..A rare look inside the process of one of the most prolific and tenacious interactive media artists working today." - salon.com

"Willis is the spokeswoman for this grand dance of junque nouvelle and vérité... as if Ozzie Nelson had acquired a sick and sudden taste for Surrealist poets. Her own interest in kitsch typifies the dichotomy that makes her interesting...The silliness, un-self consciousness, sense of whimsy and innocence are reflected in the absurd designs and bright colors (that surround her). Even the themes lack pretension... Hopeful images of a powerful America and its future." - LA Weekly

"...A singular vision by an artist, who if not limited by building codes, would be the Simon Rodia of the 21st century. " Chris Nichols, Los Angeles Magazine

Click here to buy the music featured on Such Cool Stuff!

Sevara Nazarkhan Finds the Acoustic Savor of Pared-Down Uzbek Tradition on Tortadur

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:48:00 +0000

The grief of eternal exile and the ancient ache of love echoed in the pitch-black studio. From gut strings and china saucers, from frame drums and clacking trains, singer Sevara Nazarkhan urged centuries of urgent whispers, secret sighs, and passionate prayers into a new and intimate life.

Supported by a carefully selected handful of musical elders, Nazarkhan has returned on Tortadur to utter simplicity and the audacious acoustic roots of Uzbek tradition—the once lively world of house parties and poet-kings, of black-browed beloveds and word-drunk Sufi saints.

Though a seasoned pop performer—her voice has wowed everyone from Peter Gabriel to Russian pop diva Alla Pugacheva—Nazarkhan turned away from electronic sounds and complex production to the pure, quiet presence of traditional instruments and haunting lyrics, some hailing from as early as the 15th century. Throughout, her voice feels so immediate that you can almost feel the breath on your cheek, the hand on your arm.

“I wanted to express the salt of our earth, so to speak,” Nazarkhan reflects. “People have forgotten, or simply don’t know, about this wonderful, rich side of our music, music that is very subtle and expresses our past.”

Click here to read the rest of the article!

Slide to Freedom Finds the Divine Crossroads of Indian Classical and Southern Sacred Music on 20,000 Miles

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:46:00 +0000

They sat in silence, holding their breath as the last note of a wild, twining jam faded in a legendary Memphis studio. “Well, what are we going to call that?” laughed sacred steel elder Calvin Cooke, looking across the room at the 17th-generation Indian virtuoso, the hard-touring Canadian folk musician, the merrytabla whiz, the bold singer-songwriter from Austin.

The answer: Slide to Freedom, an ongoing conversation exploring where many sliding, singing strings from across the planet meet. Created by established roots and world music multi-instrumentalist Doug Cox and revered Indian classical master Salil Bhatt, the project brings together fantastic flights of musicianship, wild slide inventions, and the great, transcendent ache that unites sacred songs and deeply personal ballads.

On 20,000 Miles, the band, now regularly joined by Canadian-Indian percussionist Cassius Khan, collaborated with Calvin Cooke, founding father of sacred steel, and members of electric gospel legendsThe Campbell Brothers, as well as special guest BettySoo, the Americana-inspired darling of Austin’s singer-songwriter scene.

Striking Indian classical pieces weave into newly forged spirituals. Unexpected covers (Hank Williams, Chuck Berry, The Zombies) trade licks with ghazals(Northern Indian songs touching on the divine and erotic). Sacred steel sounds alternate with the ingenious complexity of Bhatt’s satvik veena (a hybrid between a slide guitar and the traditional Indian veena) and Cox’s unique instrumentarium. The result: a catchy, uplifting reflection on the transcendent buzz and moan of mortality.

Click here to read the rest of the article!

Red Hot Two Step: Zydeco Scion C.J. Chenier Shows the World That It Can't Sit Down

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:42:00 +0000

C.J. Chenier talks a lot about energy. Ask him why he recorded a certain song and he’ll tell you he likes the energy of it. Why does he love zydeco music? It’s the energy. And so it should come as no surprise that C.J.’s new album, Can’t Sit Down is so jam-packed with energy it could power a small city!

Recorded live in one session at Rock Romano’s Red Shack Studio in Houston, Texas, Can’t Sit Down is all about truth in advertising: give it a spin and watch your feet get to work whether you want them to or not. C.J.—whose father was the late Clifton Chenier, perhaps the most celebrated zydeco musician in the genre’s history—cut the album live in the studio quickly, in order to capture the freshness—the energy—of the material. For that reason, he dispensed with a producer, opting to handle the task himself.

“I figured that nobody knows better what I want than I do,” he says. “Nobody knows better how I want my accordion to sound. Nobody knows better how I want my band to sound. So I decided to stop going with other people’s ears and start going with my own.”

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The Afro-Semitic Experience Gets Age-Old Prayers Dancing in the Aisles on Further Definitions of the Days of Awe

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:37:00 +0000

For The Afro-Semitic Experience, there is dancing before the temple of sound. The kings and queens of the Cotton Club trade eights with the rock stars of cantorial music’s golden age. Booker T and the MGs and Astor Piazolla inspire new visions of High Holy Day chants.

Joined by the last of the old-school cantors, Jack Mendelson, the group lays down Further Definitions of the Days of Awe, live explorations of cantorial music, jazz, Latin vibes, Afrobeat and soul. Innovative technique and rock-solid roots get feet tapping and spirits soaring. Just in time for the High Holy Days, the (Jewish) New Year and Yom Kippur, the album presents a positive, cross-cultural reimagination of repentance and catharsis.

Creating new settings for the midnight prayers of Selichot, the service that marks the beginning of the most holy time of the Jewish liturgical year, The Afro-Semitic Experience returns worship to its creative, vigorous roots. It celebrates the intersection of gospel spirit and the passion ofhazzanut (an ancient Jewish style of cantorial singing). It finds powerful new points of contact with the divine.

“Prayer and study are a major tenet of all three Abrahamic faiths. That’s great, but to get there, worshippers often got rid of cathartic experience,” reflects group founder, bassist and composer David Chevan. “But we need the dancing at the temple, those ecstatic moments. That’s really where we’re coming from.”

Click here to read the rest of the article!

Free tickets to see Giana Nguyen!

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:31:00 +0000

The lovely and amazing Giana Nguyen has contacted me with the offer of two free tickets to see her show this weekend! There is a quick turnaround on this one, since the concert is in a couple of days, so here are the details of the giveaway:

The prize is a pair of complimentary ticketsfor her upcoming show at the House of Blues - Los Angeles (Foundation Room) on Saturday, October 8th at 9pm.
Winner must be in the greater Los Angeles area (obviously).
Winner's name and e-mail address will be on the VIP list for tickets at will-call.
The usual Fine Print applies.

To enter, just comment on this post by 4:00PM Central time on Friday, October 7, 2011 with your e-mail address. Feel free to use funky characters to obscure the address from search engines. I will need the winner to get back to me quickly when I e-mail them so that I can get your name to Giana for the VIP list!

Ways to enter (one entry per action):

Comment here!
Tweet it (and post here that you did it)
Post it to Facebook/MySpace/G+ (one entry per site, post here that you did it)
Blog it (and post here that you did it - sensing a trend?)

This is a quick one. Good luck!

Frigg’s Expert Playfulness and Nordic Exuberance Return to North America

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:29:00 +0000

Dour Scandinavians? Don’t make the Finnish and Norwegian folk virtuosi of Frigg giggle.

“The overall picture people have of Scandinavians has very little to do with the music,” Antti Järvelä, fiddler and Frigg founder explains. “People think Finnish music in particular is melancholy and minor. But if you look at tunes from before World War II, seventy percent are in a major key. They are happy.”

This neglected joy—the good times of Nordic parties, dances, and weddings— inspired the seven-member group with deep folk roots to breathe fresh life into their ancestors’ wild and merry tunes. The result: the string-bending, tongue-in-cheek genre of “Nordgrass.”

On Grannen and on stages from Malmö to Malaysia, Frigg bursts with an energy and freewheeling fun that belies their intense musical training. Veteran international performers with decades of touring under their belts, Frigg return to North America this autumn for an extensive tour that is spreading the sheer pleasure of Northern tunes across the Upper Midwest and several major festivals (Chicago, Albuquerque, Bloomington, IN).

“Frigg is on the new edge,” Järvelä smiles. “And we are making very happy music.”

Click here to read the rest of the article!

British Icon John Martyn’s Legacy is Reimagined by Thirty Artists on Johnny Boy Would Love This…a Tribute to John Martyn

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:19:00 +0000

Among the contributors are David Gray, Paolo Nutini, Beck, Swell Season, and Robert Smith

In the late ’60s, the late British guitarist and songwriter John Martyn broke ground by leaping from acoustic folk into highly successful experiments with tape delay, wild recording scenarios, and jazz-inspired arrangements. He became a cult figure among British musicians. A list of his admirers reads like a who’s-who of rock, pop, and even trip hop: Eric Clapton, The Band’s Levon Helm, Lee “Scratch” Perry, The Cure’s Robert Smith, Beck, Morcheeba.

To honor his life, thirty artists reveal the full breadth of Martyn’s creativity on Johnny Boy Would Love This…A Tribute to John Martyn. The package will include a double CD digi-pak, 40-page booklet, and DVD that will feature interviews with a number of the contributing artists, performance videos, and rare live performances by John himself. Adding to this unique audio experience is the inclusion of John's actual guitar work on two of the tracks.

Musicians from several generations take on Martyn’s intense, sometimes joyful and sometimes despairing, but always influential work. They come from the fertile acoustic fringes (Vetiver, Beth Orton) and from the heart of rock and pop (Robert Smith, Phil Collins). They are elders of blues (Clarence Fountain and Sam Butler of the Blind Boys of Alabama) and young up-and-comers (John Smith and Sabrina Dinan).

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Quebecois Roots Trio Genticorum’s Fantastic Voyage Of Rising Hemlines, Singing Oarsmen, and Happy Trappers on Nagez Rameurs

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:54:00 +0000

Three young players with deep ties to Quebecois music sail to Borneo and Egypt. As they travel, they tell wild stories of shrinking skirts and noble cats. They sing forgotten songs of old New France, of its log drives and lost rivers. They play dance numbers with their tongues and feet, and unwind trippy reels.

A tall tale come true, Genticorum navigate the silly and somber moods of North American Francophone tradition on Nagez Rameurs. Firmly rooted in family and regional traditions, the trio’s wit, rich vocal arrangements, and masterful musicianship turn old songs about traveling into catchy and moving glimpses of a quirky New World.

“There’s a big chunk of Francophone repertoire linked to voyagers, because they shaped the colony by exploring and settling the country, and by interacting with the native peoples they encountered,” explains guitarist and singer Yann Falquet. “It’s interesting because unlike a lot of Quebecois songs, many of these songs are not from Brittany or Normandy. They aren’t about France. They tell the stories of people once they reached North America.”

Click here to read the rest of the article!

Terakaft Refines Rough-Hewn Desert Rock on Aratan N Azawad

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:25:00 +0000

Old-school rock rebels and musical elders from the desert. Terakaft brings together the raw sounds of minimal indie guitar rock and the swaying pulse of Saharan journeys. They harness the energy of flirtatious midnight songs and the gravitas of respected advisors calling for peace and unity.

Tuareg guitar warriors, Terakaft keeps alive the musical spirit honed by decades of oppression, rebellion, and exile on Aratan N Azawad. Drawing on traditional forms of this Saharan nomadic people, filtered through an utterly fresh take on blues and rock, Terakaft (“Caravan”) moves through Tuareg history and a sea of sand to take the plight of their people to the world—in angular guitar licks and pulsating grooves.

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Blimpcat Studio

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:32:00 +0000

BlimpCat is the design and video team of Kate & Jimmy Moore, who live and work together in Columbia, MO. They design unique and fun (and NERDY!) posters and stationery products for every occasion. They are offering readers of this blog an EXCLUSIVE discount through their Etsy store! Mention code SUCHCOOLCODEBC when you check out for 15% off. Nice!

Tell me about your art and how you originally got into your craft.
I'm Kate, and I'm the owner/designer/one-woman band behind Blimpcat. I'm a native Midwesterner living in oh-so-glamorous Columbia, Missouri, and I recently left my day job to run my Etsy shop and freelance business full-time. My husband, Jimmy, provides moral support, financial advice and an extra pair of poster-rolling hands, and our cat Mitzy graciously allows us the use of her image as our mascot.

Click here to read the rest of the article!

Heartour

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:33:00 +0000

Heartour is the creative outlet/alter ego of popular Los Angeles based band The Ruse’s drummer Jason Young. Having been a member of touring bands since he was a teenager, Young began recording solo material as Heartour in 2002. Ever since the first release in 2003 (Three), Young has been extra prolific, in addition to producing and performing with The Ruse he has dropped a full solo album every couple years.

Heartour’s progressive Electronic sound has grown by leaps and bounds with each project. However it was not until 2009’s Ate that he began to believe that he had something more than a pet project. The positive fan and critical feedback made it clear that the music he was making had a space in the marketplace. With renewed energy and new ideas Young released his best work to date in early 2011 in the form of Submarine Sounds.

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Iota Illustration

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:32:00 +0000

Oliver Lake is an experienced professional illustrator who likes creating illustrations that appeal to both children and adults. He has had a number of commissions, including work for Time Out magazine and The Independent newspaper. He has also illustrated a number of children's books and has exhibited and sold work at numerous art galleries. His work is available on Etsy and at http://www.iotaillustration.co.uk/.

Tell me about your art and how you originally got into your craft.
I decided quite early on that I wanted to be an illustrator. I did the normal thing and studied at University. After I finished university, I eventually managed to get some illustration work... However it took me a long time before I started to make work that I was happy with. There was a long process of working out exactly what it was I wanted to do.
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Boubacar Traoré and the Mischievously Subtle Guitar Blues of Mali Denhou

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:18:00 +0000

Boubacar Traoré took his guitar and strode out into the fields outside of Bamako, Mali. There, in the country quiet, he wrote a dozen new songs in a month. “Town is too noisy. And I didn’t go to the bush, but I left my guitar here, on my farm. Because I know here, I’m on a leash,” Traoré told a recent interviewer.

That leash, that connection to land and family, resulted in Mali Denhou. On Traoré’s first studio album in six years, the kindly, gritty voice of the veteran Malian bluesman intertwines with wonderfully idiosyncratic, cascading guitar. Wistful and pensive, Traoré exhorts, gives thanks, and reflects on love, history, and duty, with a deceptive simplicity and a deep, subtle knowledge of Mandingo tradition and West African vintage pop.

A legend in Mali since his groundbreaking hits of the 1960s, Traoré—possibly the eldest internationally-touring guitarist from Mali—has been around. He knows exactly what he wants. He insisted that if he was going to do a studio album, he had to have his longtime friend, the nimble French harmonica player Vincent Bucher, play with him. Bucher’s rich, pure tone moves in and out of Traoré’s succinct phrases and unexpected rhythms effortlessly on tracks like “Mondeou.”

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Sheri Miller

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:33:00 +0000

Once upon a time, in New York City, a young musician and artist named Sheri Miller, armed with her acoustic guitar, her electric sunburst 1969 Guild guitar, her Yamaha keyboard, and a pen and paper, began to write songs. Dozens of songs. She had a great love and a deep, soulful connection to music, as her mother was an opera singer and classical piano player, and her uncle a recording engineer.

During the evenings, Sheri was hard at work, paying her musical dues, working incessantly as a solo musician in the big city; fearlessly singing her heart out, banging on her guitar. Playing 4-hour covers gigs in bars and hotels, sometimes 5 nights a week. In the daytime, Sheri played keyboards and sang in a rock band for babies, as a music teacher.
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Eric Lillieberg

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:31:00 +0000

Look at Eric Lillieberg’s art and you would never guess the many things that have influenced his art and his path as an artist. Creating iconic images that can range from playful to professional, Eric’s work speaks for itself.

Playing a large part in Eric becoming an artist was his uncle, Dennis Briggs, who had shown him how to draw cartoons at a young age. It was his support and encouragement that gave Eric the confidence to keep practicing his art and to gain the attention of fellow classmates, who began asking Eric to draw pictures for them. While his uncle sparked his first inspirations into art, it was a two-year Visual Communications program at the Genesee Area Skill Center in Flint Michigan, that really fueled Eric’s passion for art and helped him find his style. Eric's artistic style surfaced at a college art class he took at the Flint Institute of Arts called Two Dimensional Study, which helped him find the confidence to begin his own design company.

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Moochie Mac & Superfriends

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:33:00 +0000

Rock band by day and beer fueled superheroes by night (or sometimes the other way around), Moochie Mac & Superfriends formed in the summer of 2008 after being inspired by a trip to Japan. As fate would have it our heroes, Moochie Mac & Hayashi wrote their first song together—titled Baan Thai—after getting smashed at Thai Beach Bar on Kamakura Beach. On the plane trip back to their native Singapore, the duo decided to form a band and write an album about all of the adventures they had in Tokyo.

Once they returned home, they recruited long time friend K-9 to complete the awesome trio and Moochie Mac & Superfriends was born.

Each member is equally capable of creating funky rock tunes and fighting evildoers. Lead singer and writer Hayashi possesses the power of the Vocal Blast (Screams and enemies fly away), Russian guitar player K-9 wrecks enemies with the Sumo Thump (jumps in the air and when he lands creates an earthquake) and bass player Moochie Mac freezes foes with Crazy fingers (moves his fingers so fast that it paralyzes the enemies by hitting their pressure points).

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Josh Moulton Fine Art Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:15:00 +0000

Josh Moulton Fine Art Gallery is now open in Lincoln Park!

The Gallery showcases original paintings of urban landscapes from around the country. There are many Chicago neighborhood scenes, architectural gems, and rural vistas.

Along with over fifty original paintings, there are large matted and framed prints of the paintings…and small matted prints. There are so many options for customers to browse and several different price ranges. There is something for everyone.
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Boho Chapeau

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:29:00 +0000

What do Vince Gill, Robin Williams, Zac Efron, Betty White, and Kermit the Frog have in common with the band Boho Chapeau? They’ve all recorded songs co-written by Kevin Quinn, lead singer/songwriter for the Los Angeles based indie/folk band. Quinn’s material has appeared in television, film and commercials, and has been nominated for numerous awards, including an Emmy.

A native of Los Angeles, Kevin has taken the multi-cultural aspects of growing up in Southern California and crafted them into colorful vignettes of the American Experience. “Boho Chapeau’s” sound is earthy and natural, with an artsy edge. Incorporating ebow, a variety of percussion instruments, acoustic guitars and bass, the songs are performed with “perfect imperfection”, leaving space for innovation and improvisation in every performance.

After many years apart Los Angeles-based Boho Chapeau has reunited to bring a fresh indie folk sound to fans and critics alike. Led by singer/songwriter Kevin Quinn the band boasts some of the best players in the country.

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MillyWarbucks

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:29:00 +0000

Hip-hop culture is in Brooklyn native Milly Warbucks’ blood. The 29-year-old emcee began his career at the age of nine when he was featured on a mixtape created by his older family members. Over the years Milly sharpened his skills by engaging in local cyphers and freestyle competitions throughout East New York—introducing his skills and unique name to the borough.

The moniker, Milly Warbucks is actually a derivative of a nickname given to him by his grandparents. “When I was younger I always talked about millions, so that name stuck.” He later added Warbucks (not to be confused with “Daddy Warbucks”) to his stage name to symbolize what he stands for. “The War part is because I’m always prepared and bucks is for the financial level I will achieve through music,” says Milly.

Unfortunately, with one foot in the industry—rapping and working as a promoter—and one foot in the street Milly eventually got caught up and was sentenced to four years in jail. Though he was incarcerated, it did not stop his love of music or his hunger for success. Once he was released, he attacked the NYC hip-hop scene with equal skill and aggression.

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Faerie Fabulous Finds

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:13:00 +0000

Faerie Fabulous Finds, offers a variety of handcrafted trinkets and treasures inspired by fantasy, nature, mythology, ancient religions, and fairytales.

Kat works with gemstones, brass and copper wire, filigree and stampings, crystals, beads, leather, silk, pre-knit wire and recycled calendars, as well as polymer, paper and epoxy clay, to bring her creations to life.

Click here to read the rest of the article!

Ellen Once Again

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:27:00 +0000

Ellen Once Again is a singer/songwriter and musician from Texas. Her blend of soul, folk and pop vocals blend effortlessly to make a sound that is vintage without sounding dated.

Known for her soulful heartfelt singing, positive lyrics, beautiful personality and infectious smile, Ellen is inspired by Ingrid Michaelson, Lauryn Hill, Sara Bareilles, Adele, Corinne Bailey Rae & Stevie Wonder but maintains her own "quirky" musical identity.

Though she has been a musician since the age of 12—playing in church and the occasional gigs—Ellen has finally decided to pursue a career in music. “It describes who I am,” she says describing the meaning behind her stage name. “I feel like I’ve been doing other stuff but I’ve always come back to music because this is really what I want to do.” True to her word, Ellen spends the majority of her time writing, recording and teaching music to children.

Ellen’s fan base has grown exponentially thanks to tech bloggers. Her husband, full time supporter and part time producer Andre, introduced Ellen to the iPad in an attempt to convince her that his gadget addiction was actually useful. Over the Christmas break the couple used a few iPad apps (Pianist Pro, Nano Studio and Bebot) and an iPhone 4 to shoot and edit her first video. The experiment quickly went viral, garnering over 20,000 views on YouTube. The video featuring Ellen singing covers of “Hey Soul Sister” / “New Soul” was picked up by a number of blogs and lauded as an innovative use of the technology.

Ellen plans on continuing to embrace her newfound blog fame by making more videos. However, traditional music is still her first love. Armed with songwriting ability, a serious passion for music and a dream, Ellen Once Again is a name fans will soon be repeating again and again.

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Directions in Groove

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:23:00 +0000

Acclaimed Australian acid-jazz / groove / funk band Dig (Directions in Groove) have toured internationally playing along artists such as Herbie Hancock and Bootsy Collins, with the original lineup - featuring keyboardist and vocalist Scott Saunders, saxophonist Rick Robertson, guitarist Tim Rollinson, bassist Alex Hewetson and drummer Terepai Richmond, alongside new guest vocalist Laura Stitt.

How do you describe your music to people, Scott?
I know it is a cliche but like many groups or artists our music keeps changing. The original idea was based around mapping Jazz style improvisation onto dance grooves, a kind of Jazz/Funk hybrid that is more about the groove. It used to get labelled "Acid Jazz" especially in the UK. Over time we incorporated elements of Hip Hop, Trip Hop, Drum & Bass, Electronica, Synthesisers etc.

On our current album we have several tunes that have a featured vocalist and a shorter pop song structure.

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Endway

noreply@blogger.com (Holly) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:22:00 +0000

Before rocking stages nationwide and getting their music played on numerous MTV shows, the members of Boston based band ENDWAY were nearly homeless. Band members Kevin McHugh (Guitar, Vocals), Dennis Walsh (Bass, Vocals), Andrea Belfiore (Drums), Morgan Dorr (Lead Vocals, Guitar) and Brian Lempert (Keys, Vocals), literally gave up everything to pursue their love of music. As a result the guys ended up playing over 200 shows nationwide—sharing the ENDWAY message with any and everyone that would lend an ear.

ENDWAY’s philosophy on the sacrifice was simple: Do what you love and you'll be great at it. They did it so much that their suitcases became their closets, and the couches and floors of fans and friends became their bedrooms. This connection to the audience and fan base is one of the many things that separate them from your everyday rock band.
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