Victoria Abraham defines one up and coming artist each week so you can impress your friends with your musical brilliance. This week, she tackles Capital Cities, an electro pop band from Los Angeles, California.
Capital Cities is the awesome result of two talented singers and multi-instrumentalists finding each other through Craigslist and realizing that they can make something great. Fortunately for all of us, their realization was an accurate one, which means more fun to dance to songs in our futures, and countless opportunities to marvel at Sebu’s ferociously badasss beard. Their debut album, In a Tidal Wave of Mystery is due to be released on June 11, 2013.
Origins: Los Angeles, California
Band members: Ryan Merchant (frontman), Sebu Simonian (frontman), Nick Merwin (guitarist), Manny Quintero (bassist), Spencer Ludwig (trumpeter), Channing Holmes (drummer)
Known for: Capital Cities is known for expertly crafted melodies and Ryan and Sebu’s voices singing in unison
Used in a sentence: Capital Cities make the perfect music to dance to, whether you’re at the beach, at a bar, or whipping up dinner in your kitchen
File next to: The Mirrors, Goldfrapp
Download now: “Safe and Sound”
Five fun facts:
1. Ryan and Sebu met on Craigslist
2. They have performed with Chromeo, LP, Asher Roth, Jane’s Addiction and Theophilus London
3. Ryan is originally from San Francisco and Sebu was born in Syria
Victoria Abraham defines one up and coming artist each week so you can impress your friends with your musical brilliance. This week, she tackles Mia Martina, a pop princess from New Brunswick, Canada.
Don’t let Mia Martina’s glam girl appearance and catchy dance pop sound fool you. She is a devoted musician who has worked her way up from delivering CDs to radio stations as an intern for CP Records, to being one of their main artists. Oh and she gets bonus points for being Canadian.
Origins: Saint-Ignace, New Brunswick
Full name: Martine Johnson
Known for: She is known for her infectious sound
Used in a sentence: Even if you’re a dedicated metal fan, you can’t help but tap your foot and hum along to a Mia Martina track
File next to: Inna
Download now: “Heartbreaker”
Five fun facts:
1. Mia went to Carleton University, which just so happens to be the university I attended
2. The video for her song “Heartbreaker” was shot in Toronto
3. She speaks French, English and Spanish
Fans of electronic dance music were baffled at the inclusion of an unknown performer in the Best Dance Recording category for the 55th annual Grammys. Nominated among Avicii’s “Levels,” Calvin Harris and Ne-Yo’s “Let’s Go” and Skrillex and Sirah’s “Bangarang,” was Al Walser’s ”I Can’t Live Without You.” HUH? Considering the calibre of the artists nominated it was surprising that a relative unknown was included… especially after you watch the quality of his music video.
Walser’s Facebook page currently has 1586 likes (compared to the millions for his competitors) and up until this morning at 6 am, the two official versions of his YouTube music video had fewer than 7000 views combined, according to Spin.
There were a few other disappointments last night when the Grammy nominations were revealed. including snubs for One Direction and Justin Bieber. Of course, there were some class acts that got nominated (including Mumford and Sons) but then there were a few questionable nods.
Something seems fishy about this particular one. Do you think he deserved to be nominated or his he the Rebecca Black of dance music?
Watch his music video here
One of the best ways to really get to know someone is to ask about their experiences growing up. You can learn a lot about a person when you investigate what everyday normal things they used to like as a teenager. In this series we achieve maximum nostalgia with Ellie Goulding. It was like vintage shopping for memories. It’s not surprising that Ellie was popular in high school but we never knew she had a nerdy side. In this episode of ‘Way Back When,’ she tells us about Teenage Mutant “Hero” Turtles, Dream Phone and her obsession with Scottish history. Do you remember Dream Phone? That game was so good even guys wanted to buy it.
In light of current events and some rather heated debates, we wanted to get Diplo’s opinion on a serious issue. Which presidential candidate would he like to get high with and on what drug? We also go further down the rabbit hole to discuss the effects of illicit substances on the creative process. Do drugs really make you a better producer or songwriter? Are musicians really expanding their creative horizons or just getting high?
If you didn’t get a chance to party at the 2012 Tomorrowland Festival this past July in Belgium, here’s your chance to pretend you were one of the 180,000 visitors there. The festival featured more than 400 artists, including Steve Aoki, M83 and Skrillex.
Based on the newly released Tomorrowland 2012 Official Aftermovie it was a sensory explosion. We can only imagine that if you weren’t already consumed by the music, then the bubbles, fireworks, substances, confetti and dancing would be enough to make your head EXPLODE.
Things that would make out head explode in a good way:
Bubbles
Fireworks Read more…
