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Talkhouse

Chad Staehly is a member of the bands Hard Working Americans and The High Hawks. The latter&#8217;s self-titled debut is out now via LoHi Records.
(Photo Credit: Jake Cudek)

Chad Staehly

Music

On Being a “Lifer”

Award-winning Icelandic composer, musician and writer Barði Jóhannsson has composed or contributed to upwards of 30 soundtracks and scores across film, television — including shows such as The O.C., X-Files, and The L-Word — and theatre. He has written and collaborated with the likes of Sia, M83’s Anthony Gonzales, AIR’s Jean-Benoit Dunckel, Ladytron, Keren Ann, and more, performed his work with symphonies and orchestras all over Europe, and has been nominated for or won countless awards at festivals including the Icelandic Film Awards and Scandinavian Film Awards. In addition to his work in film scores, Jóhannsson has co-produced and co-directed short films for the National Theatre of Iceland, Reykjavik City Theatre, and Centre Dramatique d&#8217;Orleans. He has also curated an arctic drone festival in Northern Iceland, and even has a statue of himself in the Icelandic Museum of Rock ‘n’ Roll. (Photo Credit: Saga Sig)

Barði Jóhannsson

If You Are Jealous and Boring, You Probably Won’t Go Far in Iceland

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Caleb Cordes is a songwriter, musician, and writer-on-occasion living in Nashville, TN. He is the sole member of the project Sinai Vessel and yet insistently calls that project a band. Sinai Vessel self-released their third LP, Ground Aswim, in October 2020.
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Caleb Cordes

Strange Negotiations Is a Record About Small Compromises

As the frontman of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Kip Berman wrote songs about the thrills and ills of young adult life with the care and concern of a cool older sibling. The long-standing New York City indiepop group disbanded soon after releasing their final record, The Echo of Pleasure (2017), and Berman found himself at a creative crossroads. He wanted to keep making music, but the themes and sounds he was interested in had shifted; it felt time for a course correction.
Enter Tethers, Berman’s first solo record as The Natvral, which finds him coming to terms with the changes in his own life by observing those transformations in the people he’s known — a self-portrait in relief. In the time between making his last record with his former band, Berman’s life and location have shifted dramatically, as he welcomed a daughter, then a son, and moved from Brooklyn to Princeton. With his new identity as a parent came a crucial shift in how he approached music. Gone were the months in a cramped tour van and late nights rehearsing with his band in a windowless warehouse space. In its place were amorphous, suburban afternoons playing whimsical songs to two young children, while writing music for himself after their bedtime.
But in this time away from the life of a touring artist, Berman discovered an unvarnished, broken folk rock sound — a marked departure from his previous work.
(Photo Credit: Remy Holwick)

Kip Berman

Richard Thompson Isn’t Just a Boomer Folk-Rock Guitar God

Tyler Anthony is a Knoxville songwriter performing under the moniker Cereus Bright. His sophomore album, Give Me Time, is due May 28, 2021 — a patient record that intimately explores Anthony’s flaws and rough edges, his triumphs and maturation.

Tyler Anthony

Things Didn’t Turn Out How I Hoped They Would

Juan Wauters’ fifth solo album, Real Life Situations, is a multifaceted ode to surrendering control and taking life as it comes. References to radio abound on its 21 tracks, and with good reason – the album spans genres, narrators, languages, and perspectives with the ease of spinning a rotary knob. Mining older songs, phone notes, new material, and snippets from TV and YouTube, Wauters has crafted an aural document of the year through his eyes.
(Photo Credit: Lucía Garibaldi)

Juan Wauters

Juan Wauters is Rediscovering His Hometowns

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

Without Astrology, Ben Katzman Would Have Never Started Shredding

Jessica Dobson is an American singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist who formed the band Deep Sea Diver. She has performed with several other bands including the Shins, Beck, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Deep Sea Diver released their third album Impossible Weight in October of 2020.

Jessica Dobson

I Fell In Love With the Drummer

Brian Fennell is a self-taught producer, programmer and engineer as well as guitarist, percussionist and classically trained pianist with deep roots in the Pacific Northwest. SYML, Welsh for &#8220;simple&#8221; and pronounced &#8220;sim-muhl,&#8221; is Fennell’s solo project after departing from the Seattle indie-rock band Barcelona, which he started shortly after college and toured with for over a decade. He shared his self-titled debut in 2019 with the now Platinum-certified single “Where’s My Love” and the wordless EP You Knew It Was Me in November 2020. His new EP DIM is out now.

Brian Fennell

On Grieving Someone Before They’re Gone

Inspired by the honest writing and timeless melodies of American greats such as Hank Williams Sr. and Joni Mitchell, Esther Rose’s songwriting has been called “The happiest saddest music.” Her 2017 debut, This Time Last Night, caught fire as her listeners tuned-in to a storied chronology of this soulful, heart-worn artist. Her latest record, Safe to Run, is out April 21, 2023 on New West Records.
(Photo Credit: Rett Rogers)

Esther Rose

Esther Rose Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

Annie Blackman has been writing her way into and out of heartache since adolescence. The 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Montclair, New Jersey, makes droll yet stirringly vulnerable music to bridge the gap between the head and the heart and untangle what it means to want. A compulsive archivist, Blackman draws inspiration from her own diaries, schoolwork marginalia, and the hallowed grounds of the Notes App on her iPhone. Loving, liking, and longing inform Blackman’s lore. With measured vocals and hypnotic production, Blackman faithfully leads us through her world of faded dorm room furniture and pensive walks-home.
(Photo Credit: Daniel Dorsa)

Annie Blackman

Annie Blackman Raises Unanswerable Questions

As an active paramedic, firefighter, and veteran of the war in Afghanistan, Vision Video leader Dusty Gannon has seen more horror in real life than in the classic movies he draws inspiration from. When not saving lives on the front line, Dusty dons torn fishnets, combat boots and makeup to play post-punk that recalls the genre’s heyday when the lines between goth and pop blurred to create some of the underground’s most beloved acts such as The Cure, The
Smiths, and Joy Division. But hidden within Vision Video’s catchy hooks and danceable beats is a nostalgic yet desperate message exploring the darker undertones of our existence. At its core, Vision Video’s debut album, Inked In Red, looks inward to understand the effects of war and the global pandemic. Dusty’s experiences in service have imparted an authentic gravitas to the music, revealing a cautionary tale of unhinged mental illness born of trauma.
(Photo Credit: Olivia Mead)

music essay