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Talkhouse

A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Canadian songwriter Calvin Love plays a mix of lo-fi indie and lush, darkly romantic pop. Emerging from the same vibrant Canadian scene as contemporaries Mac DeMarco, Alex Calder, and Sean Nicholas Savage, he established himself as a pop stylist with an atmospheric sound and a keen ear for melody. His latest release is Highway Dancer, out now via Modern Sky USA. There’s a palpable mood at the heart of the record: a mood as mercurial, dream-like, and haunted as a late night on the open road. A lifelong musician, Love has always been influenced by his restless spirit and his travels. Highway Dancer is full of songs for travelers, but it also speaks to anyone who’s ever been in limbo, in transition, or in-between moving and standing still.

Calvin Love

Music

Introducing: Calvin Love’s “The Coin, The Stick, and The Take”

From the release of their 2005 debut, Juturna, Circa Survive has made a career of turning all of the things that make them difficult to categorize into their greatest strengths. The word “progressive” is often used to describe their sound, and while this term doesn’t really do justice to the band&#8217;s distinct identity, it does conjure the scope and ambition of those iconic bands from decades ago, the ones that managed to capture the attention of mainstream audiences without sacrificing their esoteric tendencies.
On their latest record, The Amulet, they continue this legacy, but filtered through the unique lens of their punk and alternative roots. Their mix of intricate guitars, muscular bass, and interlocking drums creates a dynamic foundation for vocalist Anthony Green’s unparalleled voice; however, the magic of Circa Survive isn’t just technical skill, it’s an ability to blend that technicality with undeniable sense of melody and hooks. It’s this focus on uncompromising yet satisfying songwriting that compels listeners, no matter their genre-of-choice.
(Photo Credit: Hayley Rippy)

Circa Survive

Introducing: Circa Survive’s “Flesh and Bone”

The language of sound has always been ingrained in Mich Cota’s identity. As a two-spirit woman, raised by a native father and a white mother in Southern Ontario, Cota began composing small melodies on the piano from the age of three to create her own sacred space in an intensely religious home. Inspired by her countryside surroundings, she would ingrain herself in nature, imagining herself in a place free of theology and restraint.
This is something Cota has carried with her throughout her creative existence. Her music is a way of navigating past traumas while exploring her queer experience, with open, unapologetic sincerity. It’s through her artistic expression that she relates to others, to build collective understanding and empathy, with the intention to heal and to challenge normative ways of being.

Mich Cota

Introducing: Mich Cota’s “Nibi / Water”

Owen Ashworth is an American singer, songwriter &amp; producer, best known for his former electronic pop project, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, &amp; current, slightly less electronic pop project, Advance Base. Owen also runs Orindal Records. He lives in Oak Park, IL with his wife, their two children, &amp; two cats.

Owen Ashworth

Introducing: Advance Base’s “Christmas in Nightmare City”

Nicholas Krgovich is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with No Kids, Gigi, and P:ano.  He has been releasing records under various monikers since P:ano’s acclaimed chamber pop debut, WHEN IT’S DARK AND IT’S SUMMER (2002).  This led to his recordings with the girl group inspired Gigi, the icy displacement of the R&amp;B informed No Kids, and most recently the singular pop dreams released under his own name.  Even though the material is often wildly diverse, there is an unmistakable sense of Krgovich’s deep commitment to exploring the endless possibilities of pop, his discerning ear for sonic detail, and an ambition that willfully borders on the absurd.
With songs that owe as much to the Great American Songbook as to perennial favorites like Sade, Prefab Sprout, and The Blue Nile, Krgovich has been creating a rich musical universe comprised of intricate vocal melodies, lush orchestral arrangements, layers of analog synths, slinky guitars and tight rhythms of the human (and inhuman) variety.
He has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia with his various projects, and has collaborated with artists such as Mount Eerie, Deradoorian, Nite Jewel, and Amber Coffman of Dirty Projectors.  In between recording and touring he has participated in a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts, written a one-act musical for Vancouver’s Push Festival, contributed songs to myriad film and television productions, and taken his dog, Sally, on countless walks around the neighborhood.

Nicholas Krgovich

Introducing: Nicholas Krgovich’s “Belief”

Being the weirdo in a small town has its drawbacks—something that Billy Moon knows all too well. Growing up outside of what you could call a bed-and-breakfast town, he found that music was the one thing that made his world his own. Thanks to one of the more powerful FM transmitters in Ontario, he was able to get the sounds of bands like Weezer, The Ramones, and The Velvet Underground sent to the clock radio in his tiny, rural bedroom. From there, he spent most of his adolescence sharpening his skills as a punk and rock music nerd. Eventually he made his way to Hamilton, Ontario, where he started playing shows and recorded his first studio EP, Young Adult.
After a handful of releases and a couple of cross-country tours, Moon has proven himself as a songwriter as well as a performer. Billy Moon is a band, it’s also a guy, and he thinks that talking about it too much is missing the point. His debut LP, Punk Songs, comes out September 14th via Old Flame Records.

Billy Moon

Introducing: Billy Moon’s “Living Room”

Channeling 50 years of hard rock heritage, Ben Katzman’s DeGreaser deliver heavy shredding and posi vibes. Currently based out of Miami, they’re dedicated to spreading the shred worldwide.
Formed in 2014 amidst the dirt and frenzy of Boston’s electric DIY community, DeGreaser is the unruly lovechild of one Ben Katzman (previously of Guerilla Toss), a self-trained shredder with deep roots in Miami’s metal scene yielding an undying love for KISS, Van Halen and the Ramones. Playful yet earnest, DeGreaser celebrates the rock and roll ethos, but with a dedication to the core belief that you can only be cool by being yourself. Mix in an obsession with astrology, cults, soaring guitar solos, and all things John Travolta, and you have yourself a potent cocktail of rippin’ good times.
The band has toured and played shows across the U.S. with La Luz, Mannequin Pussy, Colleen Green, Tall Juan and countless other fellow shredders. Their new album, Astrology 101, is out now on Starburns Industries Press.
(Photo Credit: Leeanne Drucker)
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Ben Katzman’s DeGreaser

Introducing: Ben Katzman’s DeGreaser’s “Too Old For Retail”

<div>Repo Fam is the new musical project of Baltimore singer, guitarist, and keyboardist Michelle Peña.</div>
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<div>Repo Fam isn’t Michelle’s first musical endeavor. She helped form the short-lived indie-pop trio Esmond and spent two years playing wild and urgent keyboards for the radical Washington, D.C. punk band Foul Swoops. After stints in groups led by other people, Michelle felt it was time she took the lead and forge her own musical path.</div>
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<div>Assisted by Sean Connell (Foul Swoops) on drums and bass, and recorded by John Howard (Nice Breeze, The Plums), the songs on Repo Fam’s self-titled debut jump from subtle to direct and from introspective to urgent without hesitation. The cigarette ash and tricky guitar bits driving through the album signal an above-the-noise writer aiming to knock the pedestal gargoyles back to Earth. Packed in a black bubblegum pop house, these eight songs transcend the basement scene and shake loose the foundations of discotheques across the land. Take a tape and bop around a new block.</div>

Repo Fam

Introducing: Repo Fam’s “Skip To My Lou”

Grim Streaker&#8216;s sound is a mix of the snotty, mid-tempo punk of late &#8217;70s New York and London and the fast, abrasive hardcore that emerged in LA and DC in the early &#8217;80s, topped off with a hint of angular, moody post-punk. Singer Amelia Bushell, guitarists Dan Peskin and Micah Weisberg, bassist Bill Dvorak, and drummer Piyal Basu formed the band in late 2016. Since then, the group has been making a name for itself in the venues and DIY spaces of Brooklyn, with live shows quickly becoming known for Bushell&#8217;s wild stage antics.
January 2017 saw the release of Grim Streaker&#8217;s first single, &#8220;Guts,&#8221;  produced by Mike Kutchman (Parquet Courts, Sharon Van Etten). They followed it with the release of their debut EP, Girl Minority, in July 2017. An upcoming debut LP, also produced by Kutchman, is nearing completion.

Grim Streaker

Introducing: Grim Streaker’s “Mojito”

<div>ASM is the new solo project of Mountain Man’s Alexandra Sauser-Monnig. When off of the flower farm and out of the weaving house, the NC-based Sauser-Monnig has spent time in recent years touring with Feist and recording with artists including Sylvan Esso, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Tift Merritt.</div>

Introducing: ASM’s Fantasy Boyfriend

<div>Stoner Control is an alternative rock band based out of Portland, Oregon. They grew out of a temporary side-project to become a powerhouse trio that has been making music since 2013. Taking inspiration from the rich sonic history of the Pacific Northwest, Stoner Control fuses a high-energy pop-punk sound with the unfiltered, lo-fi aesthetic of Portland&#8217;s thriving underground indie rock scene. Lead singer and guitarist Charley Williams infuses his lyrics with an honesty that is both playful and raw, creating driving melodies that echo the Thermals, Built to Spill, Superchunk, and Death Cab for Cutie.</div>

Stoner Control

Introducing: Stoner Control’s “Hollywood Hills”

Tim Kinsella is the frontman of Joan of Arc. He&#8217;s also the author of two novels, Let Go and Go On and On (2014, Curbside Splendor) and The Karaoke Singer’s Guide to Self-Defense (2011, Featherproof Books) and one book of non-fiction All Over and Over (2015, Joyful Noise/Featherproof Books). In 2014 he became the publisher and editor at Featherproof Books.

introducing