BrandsForBands

Brighton based Fear of Men is set to release a compilation of singles on marbled vinyl 12" and as a digital set under the title "Early Fragments" on February 12, 2013 via Brooklyn based indie Kanine Records. To date, Fear of Men has released singles on various UK labels, and they are excited to have their first release in the US, to be followed by their first live appearances (including SXSW).

About Fear of Men: Fear of Men, born of an art school project, has turned into one of the most promising bands of 2013. Drawing their inspiration from art and philosophy, Fear of Men deliberately juxtaposes iconic museum imagery and lyrical themes of loneliness and fragmentation with buoyant pop melodies.

While studying for a Fine Art & History of Art degree, Jessica Weiss (vocals + guitar) was exhibiting some of her home recordings of ambient soundtracks to short films when these recordings caught the attention of Daniel Falvey (guitar). The two began swapping mix tapes and started a friendship based on a shared love of melody and an eclectic mix of artists such as The Chills, Grouper, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Magnetic Fields, and The Byrds, ultimately leading to the start of a more pop-focused project which they called Fear of Men.

Starting out, the duo recorded their music on a 4-track and transferred it onto their laptops, which Jess would then use as part of her degree work. They uploaded their songs to bandcamp and immediately caught the attention of UK blogs. Enlisting the help of friends to play drums and bass, Fear of Men approached DIY promoters and immediately began playing live shows.

Fear of Men, completed by Michael Miles (drums) and Robyn Edwards (bass), began releasing singles on DIY and independent UK labels and capturing the attention of Pitchfork, NME, Gorilla vs. Bear, Stereogum, The Fader, Drowned in Sound and topping the Hype Machine charts. For a wider introduction into North America, Fear of Men is releasing "Early Fragments" a reverse chronological collection of their previous single releases, many of which were only available in Europe on limited edition 7" and cassette pressings.

Fans of Broadcast and Julie Doiron will instantly gravitate toward Jess' tender vocals and melodies. The songs are beguilingly sweet while the lyrics are often bleakly nihilistic, meaning that you'll find yourself singing along to these intelligent, well-crafted pop songs while unwittingly sinking deeper into Fear of Men's world.

Fever Charm got their start in Oakland over 10 years ago. Yianni, Theo and Ari met in middle school when they discovered they all happened to share the same birthday. Fuelled by their undying love for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the movie “School Of Rock” they began to write their own original music. Instead of doing their homework, they spent night after night playing, writing, and recording music in a dusty basement. What began as a casual jam session in Ari’s basement developed into a decade long passion project.

In 2011 the band moved to Boston for college, where Yianni met JT in their very first class. It was not long until this friendship bloomed into the current lineup of Fever Charm. Together they lived in a putrid, rat infested basement unit in a downtown apartment complex infamously known as “THE DEN”. Basking in the otherwise creative and youthful air of Boston, they collaborated with many great musicians, producers, and artists. During this time the band recorded song after song and played show after show, ventures that included their Sound of Summer EP, for which they traveled to Austin, TX as well as several west coast and east coast tours.

Following graduation, the band relocated to Los Angeles to fully pursue their careers in music. Immediately after moving, the band went straight to the studio, recording demos every night after their 9-to-5’s. The resulting demos evolved into Retrograde, but the creating has never stopped. They continue to write endlessly and look forward to what the future has to offer.

"FIDLAR channel elements of classic acts like the White Stripes and Pixies, while practically begging for a co-headlining tour with contemporaries like Bass Drum of Death and JEFF the Brotherhood" - SPIN

"The tune can be summed up in a handful of image descriptions; sandboarding, grim reaper, suicidal flip-up hat, skull mask, and shred." - Filter Magazine "We all have a major music crush on FIDLAR here at VICE" - Vice.com

"They remind me of Pixies a lot (an obvious link, given the singer's Frank Black style screeeeeeam), but there's also some really, really nice'n'fuzzy guitars in there that sound like they've been nicked from the blueprint Death In Vegas followed on 'Aiesha'." - NME

"FIDLAR has an agressive, straightforward, but melodic conception of punk." - LA Times

"But one wouldn't mistake the band for one of its slacker subjects, not when they play this fast. The tracks sizzle with the aggression and bargain-price fidelity of the SoCal punk tradition, though FIDLAR's catchy hooks have more in common with Social Distortion and Wavves than Black Flag. " - MTV Buzz

After listening to the first few tunes by Fortunetellers, you might wonder where they have been all your life. Moonlighting as teachers, students, music producers, and world travelers, it took 25 years for these assiduous souls to cross paths. Even at first listen, though, you are quickly convinced it was well worth the wait. This Chicago based indie-rock band will have you on your feet (or at least tapping a toe or two) with their melodic pop tunes and sweet dance grooves.

Emanating from the barrier dunes of Virginia, Freedom Hawk’s heavy riffs, rolling groove, and soulful guitar melodies to produce a sound that is distinctly their own. The trio’s brand of heavy rock capitalizes on the best of the heavy ‘70s, but presents a fuzzy take that’s modern and based around quality songwriting rather than style-over-substance retro posturing.

Guitarist / vocalist T.R. Morton, bassist Mark Cave and drummer Lenny Hines made their debut on Small Stone with 2011’s Holding On. The follow-up, and their fourth album overall, is Into Your Mind, which brings a new dynamic to their buttery fuzz with all the stomp and swagger one could ask for after Holding On, but with a more pointed delivery, assured and farther ranging than their last time out, grown more into their style than ever before.

Songs like “Journey Home”, “Lost in Space” and “The Line” push the boundaries of what Freedom Hawk have previously accomplished sonically, bringing in elements of laid back psychedelia and space rock to the band’s otherwise terrestrial song-craft. Veterans already of Roadburn in the Netherlands, Freedom Hawk return to Europe in support of Into Your Mind, playing Germany’s Freak Valley Festival prior to the release with more live dates to follow as they continue to expand their reach both in terms of music and fan-base around the world.

For fans of: Clutch, Fu Manchu, Crobot, Black Sabbath, Grand Funk, Greenleaf, Lord Fowl, Gozu, Lo-Pan, ASG, and all things that Rawk

Ignoring the cliched trappings of antiqued rural fetish that seem to make tired the modern folk movement, and the urban love-fest which holds the majority of indie-culture enwrapt, Frontier Ruckus instead celebrates and insulates itself within a world that is obsessively suburban- childhoods realistic and recent enough to remain vividly smoldering with intense memory and graphic personal mythology. The world of oversized 90s obsolescence, pinning down weighty love and familial weirdness-elephantine copy machines in the home offices of the briefly affluent parents of grade-school friends, VHS cassettes rotting sun-bleached on early bedroom shelves, tragic birthday parties, aggressive soccer coaches, grandmothers' oxygen tanks and daytime-TV-time crosswords, porn stashes found behind Taco Bells.

Hailing from Echo Park, CA, Froth combines a forward-thinking garage rock sound with elements of shoegaze and psych-pop washed in the dreamy textures of omnichord and jangly 12-string guitar. Getting their start in 2012, Froth has quickly risen through the ranks of the Los Angeles DIY music scene, playing with the likes of The Growlers, Cosmonauts, La Luz, Mr. Elevator & the Brain Hotel, Mystic Braves and many more. Along with playing popular local events like The Growlers' annual Beach Goth Party and Burgerama, Froth has also gained exposure to an international audience after being hand-picked by Hedi Slimane to score the Saint Laurent AW14 menswear collection runway show. After releasing their debut album, Patterns, via Burger Records and Lolipop Records in the fall of 2013, Froth continues to attract new fans with their strong hooks and high-energy live show, and remains dedicated to exploring the sonic possibilities of their expansive psychedelic sound.

Fugu a.k.a Mehdi Zannad is a one-man-band from France. the idea of Fugu germinated while he was studying architecture in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1993, as his first demo lead him to record a 7" on Liverpool label "Sugarfrost". A couple of years later, with encouragements from both High Llamas' Sean O'Hagan and Stereolab, Mehdi recorded his first E.P and a handful of 7" singles (among them, a split single with Stereolab, another one with St Etienne and a favourite, "F31-she's coming over" on Elefant records). Fugu's first album, "Fugu 1" was conceived as an idiosyncratic baroque sequel to "Sgt Pepper" meeting "Smile" and meant to be made in perfect 60's facsimile. It gained critical success, got released in US by Minty Fresh and in France on Yann-"Amelie's" fame-Tiersen label "Ici d'Ailleurs". "For Us Records", the in-house label of the Rough Trade Shop released it on vinyl in the UK and it became album of the week on Xfm. Fugu then opened for Stereolab on a coast-to-coast US tour which started at SF's Fillmore East and ended at the Irving Plaza in NY. Mehdi collaborated on "happy-go-unlucky", the last Lp from ultra-talented songwriter John Cunningham, who was part of the Fugu line-up for the US tour. Straightforwardness was the idea for "as found" which has just been released in France and Japan. These are pop songs in the true sense and most classical "canon", tackling US 70's early powerpop, post-60's Beach Boys and McCartney in his first solo album impersonation. The Lp was recorded in Rouen with Tahiti 80 co-producing, playing, overdubbing, drinking beers, eating de-frozen food and also with Simon Johns from Stereolab on bass, and an appendix lost on the way. "Here Today" is the right introduction and it's for you folks. So be glad and sing "i'm in love, i'm in love, i'm in love", because it's here to stay.

Baba Yaga, the second full-length album by Athens, GA’s Futurebirds, marks a milestone in the continuous evolution of the eclectic ensemble. The 13-song album finds Futurebirds – Thomas Johnson, Carter King, Dennis Love, Brannen Miles, Daniel Womack, and Payton Bradford (who has since left the lineup to pursue a non-musical career path) – delivering an expansive yet intimate set that takes the band’s trademark mix of earthily accessible songcraft and free-spirited experimentation into inspired new territory.

Like the band that made it, Baba Yaga defies easy categorization, boasting a beguiling blend of warmly catchy tunes, stirringly evocative lyrics, distinctive sonic textures and unexpected melodic twists. The music is both intense and uplifting, capturing a good deal of the soaring, primal, sweat-soaked spirit of Futurebirds’ live shows, which have already won the group a rabidly devoted fan base and a reputation as a singularly inspired, bravely unpredictable performing unit.

Throughout Baba Yaga, Futurebirds’ inventiveness and energy are suffused by a bittersweet, introspective melancholy that lends added emotional resonance to such compelling tunes as “Virginia Slims,” “Serial Bowls,” “Death Awaits” and “St. Summercamp,” which showcase the band’s indelible melodies, vivid lyrics and vibrant instrumental rapport.

“This album definitely feels like a big milestone for us, no question,” King says. “Just the fact that it’s finally coming out feels like a milestone in itself,” adds Johnson. Indeed, Baba Yaga’s long journey to the public’s ears is a story in itself, but the music more than justifies the album’s long and often frustrating birth cycle.

Early in their existence, Futurebirds’ balance of homespun roots and forward-thinking exploration made the band a favorite in and around their bohemian hometown. The 2009 release of their self-titled debut EP was followed the next year by their first full-length debut album, Hampton’s Lullaby. It was followed by the self-released EP Via Flamina, and the limited-edition 2011 Record Store Day release Live at Seney-Stovall Chapel, which sold out on the day of its release.

Futurebirds continued to build its fan base by touring relentlessly, sharing bills with the likes of Drive-By Truckers, Widespread Panic, Heartless Bastards and Alabama Shakes and performing at such prestigious festivals as Austin City Limits, Outside Lands, Hangout, Wakarusa, Forecastle and Bonnaroo. Futurebirds was also featured on 2011′s Bonnaroo Buzz tour, playing between Gary Clark Jr. and headliner Grace Potter & The Nocturnals.

Futurebirds’ combustible musical chemistry reaches inspired new heights on Baba Yaga. “In some ways we’re like one organism with six brains, but at the same time everyone in the band is vastly different,” King observes. “We had five different songwriters in the band on this record, with very different influences and inspirations. We get into the studio and people bring in their songs, and by the time we get done with a song, there’s a piece of everybody in it.”

“We all come from different backgrounds and chase different sounds, but when we play together there’s this weird dark chemistry amongst us,” Johnson notes, adding, “I can hear a song that someone else wrote and know exactly what I can bring to it, and the same goes for the others when they hear my songs.”

Baba Yaga was recorded in 45 studio days over the course of seven months, with the band touring between sessions in order to pay the recording bills. The musicians originally demoed about 30 songs for the project, 25 of which they recorded during the sessions, before paring that batch down to the 13 that appear on the finished album

“The songs on this album seem to all come from a similar place,” adds Johnson. “They don’t all sound the same or have the same vibe, but we’ve shared so many experiences that there’s an unspoken understanding amongst us as to where a song is coming from and where it wants to go.”

The bumpy road to the album’s release – which resulted in a near two-year gap between Futurebirds releases—included making difficult decisions in finding the proper home for the album, but helped to inspire the band to name it Baba Yaga, after a forest-dwelling, child-eating witch from Slavic folklore.

“It was a long and painstaking process trying to get this album out,” King explains. “We got pretty discouraged, feeling like maybe it would never see the light of day, and one day I was talking to Thomas and started saying, ‘God, is this record some mythical creature out in the woods that only exists in our imaginations?’ Then we read about Baba Yaga, and that perfectly described how we were feeling about this record.”

Fortunately, Futurebirds has emerged from its business travails a more confident and determined creative unit – a fact that the band plans on demonstrating by touring as much as humanly possible.

“The songs can take different lives from night to night,” King says, “because you feed off the energy of the crowd, and that energy can be really different from night to night. The most important thing is to keep things fresh and not be up there going through the motions.”

“Musically, we’re a lot sharper now than we’ve ever been, and that’s a product of playing so many shows,” Johnson concludes. “Going into the recording of the record, we were much better musicians, songwriters and collaborators than we’d ever been, and we feel like the end result reflects our maturity and development.”

With Baba Yaga finally a musical reality rather than an elusive myth, Futurebirds are more than ready to show the world how they’ve grown.

Futurebrite is singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Karen Kanan Corrêa's radiant first solo project. Produced and co-written by Josh Grant, mixed by Alex Aldi (Passion Pit), and featuring a small collection of incredible guest musicians (rapper Staf Sharif, drummer Sekou Lumumba of Bedouin Soundclash and 24/7 Spyz, and string players from New York's composer-collective Anti-Social Music), Futurebrite is chimerical, dark, romantic electro-pop. Prior to Futurebrite, Karen led the "dizzyingly addictive" indie trio Demander. After two albums, tours across the US and Europe with the likes of The Hold Steady, New Model Army, and Art Brut, TV song placements and video collaborations, Karen decided to go solo. While writing the songs that will become the first Futurebrite album, Karen toured as bassist for Swedish rocker Moneybrother, played with the composer/performer collective Anti-Social Music, sang on UK artist Gary Go's newest album, and won both an artist residency at the prestigious Millay Colony for the Arts and a spot at the ASCAP Lester Sill Songwriting Workshop in LA.