BrandsForBands

Highasakite make songs unlike most things yet to come out of Norway. Pop music with a twist. Let's start in Brooklyn. Via Monrovia to Piraeus and Norwegian mountaintops on to Stockholm. Irresistible soundscapes full of tasty hooks and mysterious stories, musicians from some of Norways best young bands and then some – Highasakite is undoubtably one of the most original and exciting indiebands you've come across in a while.? Keyboards, zither, pounding drums and the occasional noise guitar together with Ingrid Helene's distinctive voice makes a delicious blend of exciting indie pop inspired by artists such as Lykke Li and the movie Where The Wild Things Are. ? Highasakite's debut album "All That Floats Will Rain" has received rave reviews throughout the Norwegian press, some even calling it album of the year (Dagbladet) and saying that "No song on this album is redundant, it's all brilliantly brought to life. This, ladies and gentlemen, is pop music!" ?Highasakite is playing many of Norways biggest and most important festivals this summer, amongst them Øya and Hove, in support of their debut album 'All That Floats Will Rain'.

Therese Aune (NO) plays expressive dream pop with influences from both mainstream indie and classical minimalism. Cinematic soundscapes where melodic beauty and sophisticated playfulness go hand in hand.

Whilst writing the songs herself, Therese Aune brought along a whole score of great musical friends when recording the album, all of which contribute to the album's subtle, but stunning, beauty. Ida Løvli Hidle (accordion), Hanna Furuseth (violin), Katrine Schiøtt (cello), Heida Karine Mobeck (tuba) and Hans Hulbækmo (drums) accompany Therese as she sings, plays the piano and harmonium.

Therese's music is elegant, seamless, and full of small surprises and dramatic moments. It feels warm, enveloping and compelling, with a slightly ominous shimmer surrounding it, all contributing to a wonderfully haunting album.

Her short musical career has taken Therese to Iceland Airwaves (ICE), Popkomm (DE), by:Larm (NO) aswell as a vast array of cities around Europe, amongst them Moscow, Oslo and Berlin.

Therese Aunes debut album, out November 9th, 2012, is produced and mixed by Icelandic superproducer Mio Þórisson (Björk, Owen Pallett, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Ane Brun).

Hindu Pirates, out of Huntington Beach, includes five young dudes (all 18 to 21), who are fusing garage rock and blues...definitely in a similar vein as Fidlar, Allah-Las, The Soft Pack and Surfer Blood. They have all been friends since high school ( which was only about 3 years ago for most of them), where they also launched the band as well. The band has received great support from Hurley (4-song EP + performing at the upcoming US Open of Surfing with Grouplove and White Arrows). Recently, the guys opened for Delta Spirit and Tijuana Panthers at The Observatory, and have also performed with Allah-Las, Har Mar Superstar, JJMAZ, Gantez Warrior and many other local standouts at well-known venues in OC and LA - The Smell, House of Blues, La Cave, The Satellite (this past month they played with The Union Line), Avalon, Detroit Bar, The Observatory, Constellation Room, Continental Room, etc.

Cab 20 is a four piece rock & roll band from El Segundo, California that formed in 2010. They've earned a growing amount of critical acclaim through their energetic live performances and their well produced albums in a genre that is noted for it’s mostly casual, lo-fi approach to music. With two releases already under their belt, they have released a highly anticipated full length studio album, Holy Denim Faded Vibrations, in February of 2013. No strangers to the spotlight, Cab 20 has already shared the stage with such bands as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Howlin Rain, Hacienda, FIDLAR, and Night Beats. They've had songs featured on Degrassi, Burton and more. Truly a band not to miss out on.

Detroit's masters of heavy soul, The Sights, are a five-piece rock 'n' roll band renowned for both their incendiary live shows and acclaimed song-writing. Think Big Star & Badfinger fronted by Steve Marriott and you'll get a pretty good idea of what makes these guys tick. Hailed by critics and fans alike, they continue to build on an incredible 14-year legacy of uncanny blues-rock meets power pop.

Turrentine Jones are an English indie rock band formed in 2012 in Manchester, UK. The band consists of Julian Neville (guitar/vocals), Joe Chilstone-Vause (bass) and Rich Watts (drums/backing vocals). They have released one studio album:Our Days (2014) and one live album Live in York (2015) as well as two singles.

The band cites Booker T. & the MG's, The Mar-Keys and the Rolling Stones as influences.

The band has been labelled a “Future Classic” and described as “infectious blues-rock” by national radio station, Real Radio XS and proclaimed by Hattie Pearson of XFM to be “one of Manchester’s finest exports in recent times.”

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The sound of Gypsyblood is somewhat like hearing an old familiar song playing at high volume in a distant room, the melody smudged within the walls, making it impossible to discern the exact tune. It's like watching old home movies in a hazy, distorted soft focus. There's a rare, comforting timelessness to the Chicago quintet's distortion-ravaged and hook-laden tunes on its forthcoming debut album, Cold in the Guestway due April 12, 2011 on Sargent House.

Gypsyblood formed in 2009 when longtime friends and former bandmates Adam James and vocalist/drummer/bassist Kyle Victor healed the somewhat fresh wounds of their previous band's breakup (initiated by Victor storming off stage after the last song and hitchhiking home.) The pair later made up and James invited Victor to hear demos of new songs he was working on. Gypsyblood was born shortly thereafter and the pair quickly wrote an impressive 50 songs together within two months.

Of those 50 initial songs, the pair recorded 30 tracks working on their own in the dead of Chicago winter in an old building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The songs were captured on equipment normally used for film audio recording. Faint sounds of the band's bustling neighborhood outside can be heard at times throughout. There's a distinctly haunted, living presence to both the recording and the songwriting of Cold In the Guestway that cannot be replicated in a sterile studio environment. Many musicians and other lucky few who have heard Gypsyblood have succinctly remarked, "my new favorite band." ?Dave Davison of Maps & Atlases, who brought the band to Sargent House, remembers the first time he heard, Gypsyblood. "One evening I was walking to get dinner when I was called into a parked car containing Chris Alvarez, Kyle Victor and Adam James. They were listening to the first mixes of the Gypsyblood album Cold In The Guestway and upon hearing the songs, I immediately wanted a copy for myself. When I finally got sent a copy a week later I was hooked! I first met Kyle and Adam while they were playing in the band Karma With a K. Gypsynlood offers a more refined, but equally raw version of the music that I've come to enjoy from Adam and Kyle and their live performance is every bit as entertaining and even sometimes scary as it ever was. Whether in a small gallery or outdoor festival stage, the way that Adam is able to utilize and incorporate space into his performance is part of what makes him truly fantastic frontman."

Gypsyblood's songs tend to start dissent among listeners trying to describe exactly of what their songs are reminiscent. Some common references include a strange amalgam of Pavement's early hazy-pop singles, The Jesus and The Mary Chain and early Guided By Voices. Put simply, it's a noisy, soft-focus approach to classic pop.

"Everything revolves around that feeling of restless old souls, a timeless aspect to the music," explains vocalist/guitarist Adam James. "We've all been on this planet -- whether we were in a past life, or whatever. We've all been singing these same notes for decades and now it's finally getting out to people's ears. It's something that comes from deep down within. It's unique to anyone who understands it."

Everything about Canadian power-duo Indian Handcrafts seems to defy possibilities: a two piece that's louder than a hundred bands, kicking out one of the year's most riff-rollicking albums that was recorded while the guitarist had a broken hand! They're two friendly, soft-spoken Canadian guys sounding like the Funkadelic Mothership crash landing on top of the Planet Caravan in Interstellar Overdrive.

Indian Handcrafts' well honed, massive melodic heft seems to belie the simplicity of instrumentation between drummer/vocalist Brandyn James Aikins and guitarist/vocalist Daniel Brandon Allen. While their songs feature hints of heavy, technically skilled bands like Big Business, Hella and Tweakbird, there are also strong melodies and a vocal intensity inviting comparisons to artists ranging from Death From Above 1979 to Jack White. Top that all off with a rhythmic groove reminiscent of a hybrid of ZZ Top's Tres Hombres and Funkadelic's Standing On The Verge of Getting It On and it's clear that Indian Handcrafts are much, much more than the sum of their parts.

Bursting out of Barrie, Ontario this pair of charming gentlemen immediately impacted the world with a self-released 8-song debut album in 2011. Cathy Pellow of Sargent House quickly took notice and signed the band on to management and the label. Shortly thereafter, Civil Disobedience For Losers was recorded in Los Angeles with Kasai and featuring special guest appearances by Melvins drummers Dale Crover and Coady Willis. Even with such superfriends assisting the proceedings, Indian Handcrafts prove their own exceptional strengths throughout the album.

"The doctor said if you go and record that's your problem if it gets worse," Allen explains of recording with a broken hand. "It was a little painful some days, but because of being there in the surroundings it was easy to get around that. It healed fine." Overall, the duo says the recording came together very quickly under Kasai's guidance, but it's the bond between Aikins and Allen that gives Indian Handcrafts its lean, ferocious personality. "We first started this band when playing in another band that was pissing us off," Aikins says. "We were the two who always got along. I can't ever see us having anyone else in the band. Unless Toshi played tambourine."

All Hail Bright Futures could be taken as both an ethos for the album and the band at this point in time. There is a new color scheme in place: new textures, emotions, sounds and voices. The 12-track, 43 minute album is dominated by a sunnier disposition, a positive uplift that more closely matches the euphoria the Northern Ireland trio has been instilling in audiences through their music in a live setting for the last five years.

There are moments of tropical guitar pop ("Rats On Rock"), percussive bleeping song foundations paired with infectious vocals ("The Stay Golden"), a trumpet arrangement ("Young Brave Minds"), an orchestral interlude ("Trails"), singalong mantras ("Big Things Do Remarkable"), harmonic hooks ("Like A Mouse"), a flute melody ("Mend And Make Safe") along with cutup vocals and handclaps ("Ka Ba Ta Bo Da Ka"). All of these new additions to the ASIWYFA sound are underpinned by their trademark guitar riffs that bliss the musical brain, complemented by the colossal and increasingly expressive rhythm section that comforts as much as it bludgeons.

Continuing the unparalleled pace at which they've been touring for over five years now, ASIWYFA have taken their uplifting sound to places other bands could only imagine. Since the release of 2011's second album Gangs (also on Sargent House), the band have added China, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus to their already considerably stamped passports. As well as these far-flung, seldom played places, the band have gigged all over North America and Europe, bringing their total show tally close to 500.

A band can't play 500 shows worldwide without a fanbase and ASIWYFA have a legion. And you can't build a legion of fans across the world without great songs. Gangs earned the band a second Choice Music Prize nomination for Irish Album of The Year 2012 and they recently signed to Sargent House worldwide (home to Omar Rodriguez Lopez, Boris, Fang Island, Chelsea Wolfe and more) for management and label -- which will release the band's third album All Hail Bright Futures in March 2013.

All Hail Bright Futures is ASIWYFA's first recording done as a three-piece following the departure of Tony Wright. The band will head back out on the road as a four piece with their new full time member Niall Kennedy. The album was recorded with Rocky O' Reilly at Start Together Studio in Belfast. It is their boldest statement yet, an album bursting with a positive vigor that states a renewed case for a magnetizing band at their best.

The shifting movement of red hot sand, spiralling around the withered trunk of a gnarled tree are among the hypnotic visions KYLESA evoke with "Spiral Shadow". Drawing deeply from the roots nourishing their unique sound with the essence of crust punk, psychedelic and stoner rock as well as sludge metal, the US-band is tapping into an even deeper musical universe than ever before. It all begins in Savannah, Georgia, where guitarist and singer Philipp Cope founds KYLESA together with Brian Duke on bass and drummer Christian Depken of his former Sluge Metal act DAMAD during the year 2001. They are joined by singer and guitarist Laura Pleasants from North Carolina, who at the time attended the Savannah College of Art and Design.

The name KYLESA is derived from the Buddhist concept of "kilesa mara" meaning delusionary states of the mind. The band essentially came from a Crust Punk background, which DAMAD was a part of and like NEUROSIS included weird effects into its sound. Cope and Duke were admittedly big fans of the latter, but also deeply into the Stoner Rock scene and other styles of hard guitar driven music. To this fundament Pleasants contributed her own liking of Crust, Punk and Thrash Metal as well as Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and Deep Purple. This eclectic mixture of tastes converged into their heavily explosive debut "Kylesa" (2002), which has been aptly described as a Metal-Punk hybrid with sombre guitar attacks, groove laden drumming and brutally corrosive vocals.

In May 2001 KYLESA were well on their way to finish the recordings of their debut album and a first show with MASTODON and CREAM ABDUL BARBAR was played in their hometown Savannah on June 2, 2001. Only four days late tragedy struck: bassist Brian Duke died from an epileptic seizure during the night of the 6th of June. After a painful period of grief and mourning the band decided to honour their late bass player and close friend by finishing the record and two more songs where added with the help of local friend Michael Redmond taking over Duke's bass duties.

KYLESA inked their first deal and released the 7" EP "Point of Stillness" (2002) shortly before their self-titled debut "Kylesa" (2002) was finally unleashed, which had already been recorded one year before. The artwork for both releases was created by famous graphic designer Pushead, who is probably best known for his work for METALLICA and his band logo remains in use until today. Corey Barhorst joined KYLESA during the year 2002 as a permanent replacement for Duke. Barhorst already contributed to their split EP with Memento Mori (2002), which was quickly followed by a split album with Floridians Cream Abdul Babar (2003).

Ever since the year 2002 the band has turned the road into their second home and toured heavily all over the US and increasingly from 2005 onwards added the cities of Europe to their places of residence. As regards recordings KYLESA found the next outlet for their burgeoning creativity with another EP titled "No Ending/110 Heat Index" (2004), Christian Depken deserted his drum stool, on which Brandon Baltzley took seat next. Baltzley joined just in time for the recording of KYLESA's sophomore album "To Walk a Middle Course", but left soon again after its release in 2005.

This renewed vacancy on the drum post turned out to be a blessing for KYLESA as the band then decided to have two drummers with Savannah local Carl McGinley of Unpersons and Jeff Porter joining in 2006. This dual drum attack added a new dimension to KYLESA's already unique sound and was first employed on their third album "Time Will Fuse Its Worth" (2006). By now the band had gained a large domestic following and largely become internationally recognised as well. The constant touring took its toll as the band parted ways with Corey Barhorst in 2007, who rejoined in 2009. Also during 2007, McGinley, Cope and Pleasants recorded two Pink Floyd cover songs: "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and "Interstellar Overrdrive". The latter appeared on a "Tribute to Syd Barett", while the former was offered on the KYLESA Myspace page for free downloading. Laura Pleasants regards these recordings as a turning point since she started to sing seriously for the first time and kept developing her striking vocals ever after.

During the year 2008 Porter could not join in for the next European tour and was in turn replaced by Eric Hernandez, who was recommended to the band by their friends from TORCHE and also appeared on KYLESA's highly acclaimed fourth full length "Static Tensions" (2009). On both sides of the Atlantic critics and fans strongly applauded this release and the band received an invitation to embark on a tour with MASTODON, which gained them even more attention. With their style now firmly established KYLESA finally substituted Porter with Tyler Newberry to keep the impact of their twin drumming.

With their new line-up KYLESA went into studio to record the successor of their masterpiece "Static Tensions". Album number five received the title "Spiral Shadow" and was the first release in the band's new partnership with international label Season of Mist. Unleashed in October 2010 "Spiral Shadow" immediately scored a hit and entered charts on both sides of the Atlantic. KYLESA gained several "Album of the Month" titles in major magazines like Metal Hammer, Rock Sound, and Visions as well as being featured on the front covers of Terrorizer and Inferno Magazine among others. Several tours through Europe and the US with bands like CONVERGE and HIGH ON FIRE among others are currently following or in preparation. With "Spiral Shadow" KYLESA have fine tuned their formula, which has come close to perfection now. Let the fiery passion of these burning riffs engulf you!