LAKE STREET DIVE

( boston, massachusetts )

Lake Street Dive‘s new album, Obviously, was released March 12 on Nonesuch Records.

Obviously was produced by Grammy Award-winning producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Mike Elizondo who is best known as a songwriting collaborator for Dr. Dre, Eminem, and 50 Cent and has also served as a record producer for Fiona Apple, Mary J. Blige, Carrie Underwood, and 21 Pilots, among many others. Utilizing Elizondo’s hip-hop record-making expertise coupled with the permanent addition of keyboardist Akie Bermiss, Lake Street Dive’s wide-ranging taste in pop, rock, R&B, and jazz have blended together to make an impressively cohesive sound, combining retro influences with a contemporary attitude.

DAWN RICHARD

( new orleans, louisiana )

Dawn Richard’s Second Line: An Electro Revival released worldwide April 30, 2021, on Merge Records. Much like the New Orleans-born artist who created it, Second Line is an unapologetic genre bender that pushes boundaries, expands possibilities, and shatters expectations. It’s more than just an album: Second Line is a cohesive sensory experience that questions traditional ideas of sound, production, and visual aesthetics as they relate to music.

J. WORRA

( los angeles, california )

Classic house meets new school tech with Native Chicagoan now-Los Angeles based DJ and producer Jamie Sitter, a.k.a. “J. Worra”. Best known for her creativity as a producer and skills behind the decks, she brings an inimitable swagger and technical prowess to dance music’s underground scene, lending these unique skills to every venture of her life spanning music, fashion, and art.

Hailed as DJ Mag’s 2019 Breakthrough Music Producer of the Year, she’s released on tastemaker labels such as Club Sweat (‘So Excited’/‘Do It This Way’ Double A-Side), Techne (‘Now Ya Know’), Realm Records (‘Bounce Back’, ‘Just Because’) and more, along with a plethora of official remixes for GRiZ (‘Medusa’), Gryffin and Gorgon City (‘Baggage (with AlunaGeorge)’), and Kaskade (‘Tight’).

GILLIGAN MOSS

( chicago, illinois )

You could say that Gilligan Moss originally formed in the early 90s in an unassuming pre-school in downtown Chicago. Comprised of Evan and Ben, the two have used this deep-rooted friendship to form a psychic bond to explore a new vision for what it means for pop music to live in the club. The duo from Chicago, has a distinct style that fills the cracks between several genres — they are drawn to strange melodies, polyrhythmic percussion, and driving basslines.

On the success of their first single “Choreograph” and a remix for Glass Animals’ “Gooey,” they took to writing a batch of tunes and the resulting Ceremonial EP was released in August 2015 via AMF Records, an imprint of Virgin EMI.

HALEY HEYNDERICKX

( portland, oregon )

It takes a mix of skill and luck to tend a garden well, but it’s impossible without a certain amount of kindness tended. While the cyclical nature of gardening seems inherent, in some ways, Haley Heynderickx is just beginning. Her debut album, named I Need to Start a Garden out of a search for calm through these waves of uncertainty and upheaval, was released via Mama Bird Recording Co.

For the empathetic singer/songwriter, the reasons for seeking such acceptance and understanding stem from a life of paradoxes. Heynderickx grew up in a religious household in Oregon, closely identifying with her Filipino roots, but also straddling multiple cultural identities. Now residing in Portland, her faith is not overt, but her introspection and continued struggle for self-actualization are easily accessible and relatable.

Y LA BAMBA

( portland, oregon )

Y La Bamba has been many things, but at the heart of it is singer-songwriter Luz Elena Mendoza’s inquisitive sense of self. Their fifth record, Mujeres, carries on the Portland-based band’s affinity for spiritual contemplation, but goes a step further in telling a story with a full emotional spectrum. Coming off Ojos Del Sol, one of NPR’s Top 50 Albums of 2016, Mujeres exhibits the scope of Mendoza’s artistic voice like never before.

The record exists in the post-2016 landscape of a national identity crisis, and Mendoza explores what it means to be a Mexican American woman by leading us through places we are afraid to go. Mujeres ventures in to the discomfort of the stories we tell ourselves. Those of our past, our futures.

WAJATTA

( los angeles, california )

Coming from different worlds, but sharing a passion for the rich history of electronic music, beat-boxer/comedian/musician Reggie Watts and electronic music artist/DJ/producer John Tejada bring out the best in each other’s formidable skill sets. Having grown up with similar musical influences, Austrian-born Tejada and German-born Watts draw from their love of electronic music. Exploring the intersection between influences and innovation, the two describe Wajatta’s music as “electronic dance music with its roots in Detroit techno, Chicago house, ’70s funk and New York hip hop.” It’s a sound that is both familiar and wholly original—and, like all great dance music, ultimately life-affirming, as Watts vocalizes, sometimes without words, the joyful energy of his and Tejada’s funky, shape-shifting productions.

MANIC FOCUS

( denver, colorado )

Manic Focus is the musical conception of John “JmaC” McCarten, a music producer from the Twin Cities. Combining original beats with vocal samples from all types of genres, Manic Focus is a musical experience like none other. From fast paced, melodic grooves to down tempo dub, Manic Focus is a fresh, new electronic sound that energizes the party and excites the crowd.

With a classically trained ear and over a decade of self-taught, beat making experience, Manic Focus tracks bang with the best of them with complex, original melodies and pulsating bass lines. Manic Focus spans a wide range of genres, and appeals to an incredibly wide audience, getting people from a variety of backgrounds to groove to one rhythm.

MANNEQUIN PUSSY

( philadelphia, pennsylvania )

At the start of 2020, everything was looking up for Mannequin Pussy. The Philadelphia punk band had released their third album, Patience, to abundant critical acclaim, and was touring steadily behind it. After nearly a decade of playing, the band finally had gotten the chance to turn music into a full-time occupation. And then, just as their career was lifting off, the world around them collapsed. COVID-19 reached the United States, rescinding life as many people knew it.

Mannequin Pussy’s new Perfect EP bursts forth from those sprawling months of social isolation and internet-fueled anxiety. They brought two pre-written songs into the session, but opted to write new material together on the fly from the excitement of reunion.

ANGEL DU$T

( baltimore, maryland )

Comprised of Justice Tripp (Vocals), Daniel Fang (Drums), Pat McCrory (Guitars/Vocals), Brendan Yates (Guitars/Vocals), and Jeff Caffey (Bass), Angel Du$t is a band averse to boundaries. Stacking hooks and harmonies over unorthodox acoustic guitars, beds of hand percussion, and the occasional saxophone, Angel Du$t are leaders for the shifting zeitgeist into punk circles. That is their rebellion.

CHAD VANGAALEN AND THE BLEACH WIPES

( calgary, canada )

2020 was a terrible year for gardening. It was terrible for peppers, it was terrible for tomatoes, it was terrible for the condition of the soul. But Chad VanGaalen somehow raised a garden all the same: carrots and sprouts and broccoli and a revivifying new album, all of them grown at home.

He likes to eat directly off the plant, he says—”I get down on my knees and graze. It’s nice to feel the vegetables in your face”—and the 13 songs on World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener were harvested with just such a spirit: in their raw state, young and vegetal, at the very moment, they were made.

ALGIERS

( london, united kingdom )

Even those aware of the ideals of this outspoken 4-piece will find their latest direction traversing unprecedented ground. Coming off two years of nonstop world-touring for their The Underside of Power—including Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic States and the Balkans, where they have established a rabid following—new album There is No Year solidifies & expands upon the doom-laden soul of their foundation, toward an even more epic, genre-reformatting sound, one somehow suspended in the amber of a different era.

From the instant synth-pulse of the album’s opening seconds, it’s clear that Algiers have set out to stake new ground, internally as much as sonically. There Is No Year encompasses future-minded post-punk R&B from the trapped heart of ATL, where they began.

TOMMY CASTRO & THE PAINKILLERS

( san jose, california )

Born in San Jose, California in 1955, Tommy Castro first picked up a guitar at age 10. He fell under the spell of Eric Clapton, Elvin Bishop, Taj Mahal, Mike Bloomfield and other blues-rockers. Almost every major rock and soul act, from Ike and Tina Turner to Janis Joplin to Elvin Bishop to Taj Mahal, toured through the area, and Castro was at every show. He saw John Lee Hooker, Albert King and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells at the same local blues bar, JJ’s, where he often jammed, dreaming of one day busting out. Mixing the blues-rock he loved and the soul music he heard blasting out from his Mexican friends’ lowriders, Tommy started to create his own personal sound and style. He honed his guitar skills and intense vocals, learning how to capture an audience as he performed on San Jose’s highly competitive bar scene.

XIU XIU

( san jose, california )

Xiu Xiu is an American experimental band, formed in 2002 by singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart. Xiu Xiu was born on a dance floor, arriving alone at the club and going home alone from the club. Currently, the line-up consists of Stewart (the only constant member since formation) and Angela Seo. The band’s name comes from the film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl, which has influenced the sound of their music, according to Stewart.

The music is drawn from British post punk and synth pop, modern Western classical, noise and experimental musics, Asian percussion musics, American folk, torch singers, house, techno and 1950s rock n roll. Xiu Xiu released their eleventh new album titled Girl with Basket of Fruit in 2019 via Polyvinyl, and their twelfth album, Oh No, was released in March 2021.

OPEN MIKE EAGLE

( los angeles, california )

Humor can conceal and alleviate the pain of trauma, but no joke will erase it. Even Wu-Tang Clan told you that tears come after laughter. Relief comes only from opening every emotional and psychological wound.

Open Mike Eagle spent the 2010s finding comedy in rap music and American nightmares. On albums like ​Brick Body Kids Still Daydream ​and ​Dark Comedy​, he delivered hilarious socio-political insights via half-sung verses laid atop progressive production. Acclaim from publications like ​Pitchfork​, ​Rolling Stone​, and​ NPR​ coincided with headlining solo tours and top-billing at events like Adult Swim Festival. Between studio sessions, Eagle co-founded The New Negroes, a standup-meets-music variety show that explores perceptions of blackness.

DELVON LAMARR ORGAN TRIO

( seattle, washington )

The Seattle-based trio’s music is best described as “feel good music.” Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio conjures the smoky 1960s jazz stylings of Jimmy Smith and Baby Face Willette, and the snappy soul strut of Booker T. & The M.G.’s, The Meters, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and Charles Earland. Within DLO3’s distinct jazz stew, are also dashes of Motown, Stax Records, blues, and cosmic Jimi Hendrix-style guitar. It’s an aesthetic that only these three could muster, as these are the sounds and vibes imprinted in the trio’s DNA.

Live, the band is telepathically musical, easing through improvisational ideas, grooves, and extended jams with silken swagger.

MOLLY BURCH

( austin, texas )

Celebrating the timeless delights of a well-crafted pop song, Molly Burch’s captivating new album, Romantic Images, marks a distinct evolution, both from an emotional and a sonic perspective. Produced by Tennis’ Alaina Moore and Pat Riley, the collection flirts with Blondie, Madonna, and even Mariah Carey as it forges a joyful soundtrack to liberation and self-discovery, one that finds Burch shedding the insecurity of her 20s and embarking on a bold new chapter marked by a radical embrace of her womanhood. Burch wrote the album with her live show in mind and deliberately worked with more female collaborators than ever before on the album, and the results are utterly transcendent, prioritizing ecstasy and escape at every turn and reveling in the passion and the power of the divine feminine.

FRANK LEONE

( chicago, illinois )

Frank Leone is a hip hop artist, producer, singer, and composer from the woods south of Chicago. Blending genres and fusing influences of nature into each of his album’s worlds, Frank has made a home for himself far off in the sonic wilderness he creates, taking heavy inspiration from late 60’s Brazilian music, neo-soul, Neptunes beats, and Kanye level majesty.

Currently set to release his third album in a year, Frank’s previous two works DON’T & SUNDROP were built to reflect a foggy romantic stasis set in the most serene of California countrysides, as the world burns. For the end of it all is always on the tip of Frank’s tongue, even when discussing the most insignificant love affairs that inspired each record.

ANJIMILE

( boston, massachusetts )

If each song on Anjimile Chithambo’s introspective 2020 debut, Giver Taker, was its own self-contained micro-journey of grief, hope, and identity, then their subsequent orchestral Reunion EP is fitting as a homecoming. It’s almost an extension, or sequel, to the ideas of rebirth Chithambo began excavating last year — a simultaneous resettling into, and reimagining of, their songwriting.

Reunion features airy, emotive string compositions from the Los Angeles-based musician and composer Daniel Hart, known for his work with bands like Polyphonic Spree and St. Vincent, as well as his film scoring work for Pete’s Dragon and A Ghost Story. Here, Anjimile’s songs are built out with violins and guest vocalists.

PINKSHIFT

( baltimore, maryland )

Pinkshift is a fem-fronted rock band new to the scene from Baltimore. With writing inspired by 90s grunge and 2000s pop punk, the band walks the lines between riot grrl, punk rock, and post-hardcore. Melting together different musical roots through a common love for angsty rock, the band embraces their diverse backgrounds to create an authentic and powerful sound.

The band was born in 2018 out of Paul Vallejo and Ashrita Kumar’s original project, Sugar Crisis. The pair met in college and started writing and recording a number of full-band demos as Sugar Crisis. The following year, they met their drummer, Myron Houngbedji, and chose a handful of those demos to play, as well as a new name (Pinkshift), for their first show. In 2020, Pinkshift adopted Erich Weinroth as their bassist through a Tinder swipe.