Song We Like: Chemistry by Powersnap

This is New York City kids weaving a whole bunch of interesting and big sounds back and forth around a beat, with occasional heavy guitars and screaming and coughing and maybe a flute. This kind of thing only works if the conceptual artists behind it are really good, and it works here

Song We Like: If You Wanna Go by The Kindest People

The Kindest People in Johnson City thrash around and harmonize for 1:19. So nice you need to hear it at least twice.

Song We Like: Down, In Carolina by Hnry Flwr

Deep and sensitive, but deeper than that. He’s so low. There are some parts where you think he’s going to go lower, and then he brings you back up in such a pretty and satisfying way. It’s a great song.

Song We Like: Insubordinate by Thee Sidewalk Surfers


Thee Sidewalk Surfers are back to rock you in their friendly Beatles way. The music arcs around in different nice ways in the verse and in the chorus. Music is philosophy. 

Song We Like: Overdoser by Acid Bombers

Grungy, messed-up sounding music that maybe was recorded in a deep cave. We love it. Particularly the bass. Nice work

Ep 51: Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds, The Royal They, Suburban Living, RMBLR, The Ferdy Mayne

Cinnamon raps again. John is JayZ. Avengers. Plus lots of great music! (Follow us on Facebook! Instagram! Twitter! And lots of stuff about these and other bands, including artist interviews, is at www.hlycrp.com.)

The Styrofoam Turtles “Pipe”

Introducing The Styrofoam Turtles and their latest song “pipe.” We will be interviewing Tristen for our “4 Questions in 5 minutes” video series this week.

Experiment: Band Management: Blog 4: Easter Sunday

I am a band manager this year. It was a slightly “Murray” experience this weekend. Murray is the band manager for “Flight of the Conchords.” Someone who believes in the band – and then sets them up with shows in aquariums and elevators. I believe in “Band A” – and I stood with maybe a dozen people at the brewery, watching the band, which dwindled to a single family by the end of the second set. But it was great. Two sets of great garage rock. The bass player split his pants. Highlights include addition of synth sounds. Good lead singer and good drummer. The rest of the band could work on their stage presence, but they were loose and having fun. And they have songs. So, the point of this year-long blog is to take this band, “Band A,” and take this music, and propel it toward a much larger audience. After the show “Band A” sat down with the management (me) and wanted to know exactly what I was up to….So first I’m going to buy some “social media” likes. There – I said it. I know a bunch of bands frown on this gauche and obvious behavior. But I’m the manager – and I don’t care. Social media has changed. It used to be that you had a chance at building an organic following. Or something like that – but now social media curates your feed. (That’s why liberals only get liberal news and conservatives get garbage.) Nowadays you basically have to pay to share content, to get those likes. I asked all my friends to like “Band A” – and “Band A” has 242 likes. I am going to buy 5,000 likes. Because I believe that 5,000 likes will make it easier to reach my three goals: get on a label, play at a festival, and draw an audience of 100 people. Let’s see how much it costs and how this goes… Also I need to get their latest album on iTunes and SKYPE…. In other blog news – as you know this blog series is matched with the Holy Crap Records video series “4 Questions in 5 minutes” – when I talk to people in the industry about how to make a band more successful. So I’ve reached out to: Jessica at Co-Sign (Artistic Development Agency), Sean Bohrman at BURGER RECORDS, Godless America Records, Father and Daughter Records, and John Richards at KEXP… (I will also be interviewing Tristen Colby about the scene and touring.)