Q&A With Clara Engel

Check out my interview with Clara Engel over at The Truth About Music. She's talks about her favorite artists, lyrical inspirations, early live gigs and why listening to Adele makes her want to smash things! Click HERE to read.

Vandaveer Drops "Dig Down Deep" Video, Kicks Off Spring Tour

Washington D.C.'s own Vandaveer have released a new video for their single "Dig Down Deep." Filmed in Long Island, NY in the freezing January cold with collaborators Pierre Dejon and Just Philippot, who also shot the band's previous clip for "The Nature Of Our Kind," the video follows the band on a trek towards the sea.

The brainchild of alt-folk musician Mark Charles Heidinger, Vandaveer features a revolving cast of musicians and singers, with vocalist Rose Guerin as the sole mainstay. The results of this musical melting pot can be heard on Dig Down Deep, the group's third album released late last month. Churning rhythms, piano and steady guitar provide a melodic backdrop for stories of war, loss and love.

Vandaveer is also in midst of an extensive U.S. tour, which kicked off yesterday in Boston. Watch the "Dig Down Deep" video and view the list of tour date below.




05/03: Boston, MA @ TT The Bears #
05/04: New York, NY @ Rockwood Music Hall #
05/05: New Hope, PA @ Triumph Brewery #
05/06: Brooklyn, NY @ The Rock Shop #
05/07: Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox #
05/10: Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern #
05/11: Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle #
05/12: Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop #
05/13: Newport, KY @ Parlour @ The Southgate House #
05/14: Lexington, KY @ Natasha's #
05/15: Louisville, KY @ Uncle Slaytons #
05/16: Nashville, TN @ The Basement #
05/17: Winston-Salem, NC @ Krankies # *
05/18: Roanoke, VA @ Kirk Ave Music Hall #
05/19: Richmond, VA @ Sound Of Music Studios #^
05/20: Charlottesville, VA @ Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar #
05/21: Washington, DC @ IOTA #
05/22: Baltimore, MD @ The Metro Gallery #

# w/ Ferraby Lionheart
* w/ Marcus Hodges
^ w/ The Low Branches

Artist Profile: Clara Engel

Canadian avant garde folk/blues artist Clara Engel combines sparse instrumentation and biting, deeply personal lyrics about love, fear, loss and betrayal to create songs that are the equivalent of an emotional tsunami.

On "Lick My Fins," she channels early PJ Harvey with vocals that are both vulnerable and erotically charged. Starting off with a slow build up of drums and strings, the track fleshes out into a seductive groove, punctuated by tense stab of horns and ghostly harmonies. Engel spins a twisted web of desire with lines like "I want to crawl back to the ocean for you/Lose my limbs and my lungs/My agility of tongue/For you."

"Trembling Dust" takes a less sensual, but no less haunting approach, with Engel bending and twisting certain words to wring all the feeling she can out of them. Singing with a tender, quiet resolve, she tells her lover to "eat the dream from my eye/Eat the kisses from a mouth ravaged/By bitterness and lying." "Accompanied By Dreams" finds her sifting through the ruins of broken promises and abandonment. You said that we would reap/A brilliant harvest from this grief, she sings over a guitar and somber cello. "But it never rained/It's autumn in our veins."

Engel's Madagascar EP is currently out on vinyl. You can download "Lick My Fins" for free below, but other tracks are pay for download. You can hear more at Clara's bandcamp page.

Vid Pick: Vandaveer-The Nature Of Our Kind

Take a look at the video for alt-folk artist Vandaveer's single "The Nature of Our Kind." French duo Pierre Dejon and Just Phillippot directed the clip,capturing footage of vocalist Mark Charles Heindinger and bandmate Rose Guerin backstage and onstage during their U.S. tour back in January.

"The Nature Of Our Kind" is the first offering from Vandaveer's forthcoming album Dig Down Deep, set for release on April 26th. The band will also be hitting the road on May 1st for a spring tour with Ferraby Lionheart. Watch the video and view the full list of tour dates below.



04/08: Toulouse, France @ Le Saint Des Seins *
04/09: Pau, France @ Le Showcase *
04/10: Marmande, France @ Off Garorock Festival *
04/11: Bordeaux, France @ Secret Soiree: Drenched In Bordeaux *
04/12: Saint Nazaire, France @ Le VIP *
04/13: Clermont Ferrand, France @ La Coopérative de Mai *
04/14: Besancon, France @ Les Passagers du Zinc *
04/15: Lyon, France @ Festival Echo Orange *
04/16: Paris, France @ Café de la Danse *
04/17: Paris, France @ La Blogotheque’s Secret Soiree *
04/19: Palma de Mallorca, Spain @ Café Lisboa *
04/23: Rouen, France @ Le 106 *
04/24: Lion sur Mer, France @ Le Fabrique *

05/01: Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie #
05/03: Boston, MA @ TT The Bears #
05/04: New York, NY @ Venue TBA #
05/05: New Hope, PA @ Triumph Brewery #
05/06: Brooklyn, NY @ The Rock Shop #
05/07: Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox #
05/10: Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern #
05/11: Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle #
05/12: Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop #
05/13: Newport, KY @ Parlour @ The Southgate House #
05/14: Lexington, KY @ Natasha's #
05/15: Louisville, KY @ Uncle Slaytons #
05/16: Nashville, TN @ The Basement #
05/18: Roanoke, VA @ Kirk Ave Music Hall #
05/20: Charlottesville, VA @ Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar #
05/21: Washington, DC @ IOTA #
05/22: Baltimore, MD @ The Metro Gallery #

* w/ Cheyenne Marie Mize
# w/ Ferraby Lionheart

Artist Profile: Rachel Brown

Born and raised in New York City, 23-year-old Rachel Brown combines both her hometown's multi-cultural atmosphere and her Bermudian and Ethiopian heritage to create a sound that's equal parts pop, folk and reggae.

While she's only been performing since her junior year at Harvard, and is not classically trained in any instrument, Brown managed to learn the guitar and ukulele on her own. "My songwriting process—which started about five years ago— consisted of grabbing my guitar and learning to play it while I wrote these songs,” she said. “I just kind of play things until they sound right.”

This simple-can-do attitude spills over into her songwriting as well. The bubbly reggae-fused pop of "Bumblebee" finds her head over heels for a new infatuation, while "Diamond In The Rough" strikes a slightly more seductive tone, with the lines "Your smile is like a bonfire/It melts all my cares away." But Brown can also sing the break-up blues as well, as proven by the somber live track "Lullaby," where she tries to her best not to break down. "No that's not a tear/I swear/I just got somethin' in my eye."

Such emotional honesty has earned her opening slots for acts like Mary J. Blige and Robin Thicke, as well as an impromptu performance with her musical idol Wyclef Jean, who asked her to join him onstage for a cover of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song."

Brown is currently working on her debut album, set for a late summer release. Until then, click on the links to listen to a few tracks below:


Bumblebee

Lullaby

Diamond In The Rough

The Waifs "Falling"

Need a little respite from the non-stop stomp of electro pop? "Falling" by Australian band The Waifs, is the perfect antidote. A frolicking piece of folk pop, the song features a harmonica solo, a blast of trumpet, and warm, down-home guitars that twist and turn like leaves in the wind, conjuring images of soft summer nights under a full moon. Take a listen below:

The Waifs - Falling by sgcmedia

Artist Profile: The Seedy Seeds

Folk and electro seem as likely to mix well together as oil and water, but Cincinnati-trio The Seedy Seeds make it work, coming up with a sound that is whimsical and refreshingly innovative. Twangy acoustic guitars bop alongside dashes of feverish electro sounds in "Verb Noun," while "Ethel" meshes loopy samples and dramatic strings with a touch of R&B. "Telephone Constrictor" ups the wackiness, using a cacophony of strange voices and pares them against a bouncy pop beat complete with a banjo. Yes, a banjo. Listen below:

Find more artists like The Seedy Seeds at Myspace Music

Find more artists like The Seedy Seeds at Myspace Music

Find more artists like The Seedy Seeds at Myspace Music

Christopher Paul Stelling Debuts New Video, Announces NYC Residency

Singer/songwriter Christopher Paul Stelling arrived in New York City a few years ago with little more than a guitar and a duffel bag. But unlike so many other NYC transplants, taking the city and the world by storm was not on his to-do list.

But then again Stelling has always been a bit of a vagabond--studying with a master guitar builder in Coloardo, sleeping in a closet in North Carolina, roaming the streets of Seattle and managing a book store in Florida--before settling in the Big Apple. To eek out a living  he started playing and singing on subway stations before graduating to concert stages and now a residency at Rockwood Music Hall. Stelling will play at the hall every Tuesday in April at 8pm.

In the meantime, Stelling released a video for the song "Flawless Executioner," and is currently working on an official, full-lenth follow-up to his self-released debut. View the full list of tour dates below and watch the "Flawless Exeuctioner" clip below. You can also download Stelling's session with Daytrotter here.

 3/10 – NEW YORK, NY – The General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen (Live Performance & Artist Q&A)
4/05 - NEW YORK, NY - Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 1
4/12 - NEW YORK, NY - Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 1
4/19 - NEW YORK, NY - Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 1
4/23 – BUTLER, PA – Butler Art Center (AABC)
4/26 - NEW YORK, NY - Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 1

Artist Profile: The Monday Mornings

At first listen, Seattle-based band The Monday Mornings may sound like your standard issue folk-pop. However, tracks like "Shift The Sea, with its hushed harmonies and strings that are by turns tense and soothing, and the fluid guitars of "Shotgun Smile" show there are more to the songs than meets the ears. "Rhinestone Revolutions" builds its melancholy soundscape with churning drums and exotic guitar work, providing the perfect backdrop for vocalist and songwriter Michael Mearns' soft musings on love and the state of humanity. Take a listen below:

Find more artists like The Monday Mornings at Myspace Music

Find more artists like The Monday Mornings at Myspace Music

Find more artists like The Monday Mornings at Myspace Music