For Brandyn Burnett and Molly Moore, making music as Cosmos & Creature means infinitely drawing form their eclectic fascinations. Driven by a shared passion for timeless melody and sonic innovation, the L.A.-based duo bring a certain wide-eyed wonder to each of their songs. “Our name came from thinking about how big the universe is and how small we are, and how somehow it all works together,” says Burnett. “So much of our music is about seeing yourself in the grand scheme of things, and exploring the biggest emotions but in a very close and human way.”
In all of their output, Cosmos & Creature show a refined sense of songcraft shaped by their backgrounds as solo artists.A New York native who started writing songs when she was seven, Moore had A #1 Hit on the iTunes dance chart with “Peace of My Heart” (A track from her 2015 debut Shadow of the Sun), and also lists Lea Michele’s 2017 single “Letting go” among her songwriting credits. Previously signed to Warner Bros. Records, Burnett’s songwriting achievements include Hedley’s Triple-Platinum “Kiss you inside out”, which nabbed a Juno Award nomination for single of the year.
Arriving last September, “Young” earned massive attention for Cosmos & Creature, promoting the duo to gain more than 36 million collective streams on Spotify. Made with Step Goodman and Aaron Accetta of Dirty Canvas Music, the Intensely Catchy Yet Wistful Track ended up sparking their signing to PRMD Music. Cosmos & Creature also recently headed out on their first tour, delivering a kinetic live show whose raw vitality they carefully infused into their upcoming debut EP.Hands-on in every aspect of their music, Cosmos & Creature continually turn their most intimate expression into songs with major emotional power.
-Minami Seo
C & C have played our Hunnypot party a couple times now, their fab. We love em'! - Hot Tub Johnnie
“In a time where many bands from his generation are starting to fall short of expectations during their live performances, Howard Jones seems to be getting better with age. If you get a chance to Howard Jones on tour in support of his “Solo – The Songs and The Stories Tour”, do so – you will not be disappointed!”
The early eighties were a magical time for music. The New Wave revolution was just beginning to take off, and bands like Depeche Mode, Pets Shop Boys, and New Order were just beginning to make a name for themselves here in the states. Whether you were in the UK or here in the US, electronic music was making a name for itself and many of these artists (and many others for that matter) were rocketing up the charts in record fashion. It was evident that a musical shift was taking place - from blues and rock to a new sound that incorporated the best aspects of punk, disco, ska, electronic, and mod. In the wink of an eye, the New Wave movement was born and began to flourish around the world with the help of an upstart satellite television channel called MTV.
Fast forward a few years, and a little-known English musician by the name of Howard Jones arrived on scene. His humble beginnings in 1983 quickly morphed into a very distinct style of music that blended his amazing talent as a pianist / keyboardist with genius storytelling. 35 years later, his amazing music has touched the lives of millions of fans all over the world. On Sunday, February 4th, Howard Jones took the stage at the Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts in Whittier, CA for an intimate night of music and conversation that captivated a near-capacity crowd from start to finish.
Opening the show for Howard Jones was New York singer / songwriter Rachael Sage. Her 6-song set-list was jam packed with some amazing songs such as “Spark”, “I’ve Been Waiting”, and my favorite of the evening “Haunted by Objects”. Rachael’s ability to connect with the crowd was noticeable, as many in the front rows were smiling intently and singing along to songs that were fresh, catchy, and energizing. In addition, Rachael’s voice was simply breathtaking and echoed joyfully throughout the Shannon Center. It was perfect place to showcase her amazing talent.
After a brief intermission, lights at the Shannon center dimmed as Howard Jones took the stage in support of his “Solo – The Songs and The Stories Tour”. Armed only with his trusted Roland Piano, he opened the show with “You Know I Love You, Don’t You?”, opening track off his 1986 release, One to One. This song has a nice up-tempo beat and was a wonderful way to start Sunday’s show. Next up was “Specialty”, a B-side off the 1986 Dream into Action album. I have never heard Howard play this track live and hearing it ‘unplugged’ was a real treat. He had no trouble bringing this track to life with his amazing vocal range and brilliant piano skills.
Over the next hour and a half, fans were treated to an incredible set list that again encompassed Howard’s entire catalog. From fan favorites such as “New Song” and “Everlasting Love” to more obscure classics like “Soon You’ll Go”, there was something for every HOJO fan. One of my favorite moments Sunday evening was an incredible cover of the Beach Boys classic, “God Only Knows”. Howard absolutely nailed this truly iconic song paying homage to one of his major influences, Brian Wilson.
The 12-song set came to an end with two Howard Jones classics, “No One is to Blame”, and encore “Things Can Only Get Better”. Although these songs are some of his most famous, they are staples of an amazing time in musical history that seem to transcend time and space. Great songs to end what many considered one of his best performances of the tour so far.
As a lifetime Howard Jones fan, I could not have been more pleased with his performance on Sunday evening. His voice was crisp, his piano playing was on point, and his wit was as sharp as ever. What impressed me the most was adding the storytelling element to his performance. To me, this took it to a whole new level and allowed fans a unique and intimate perspective into each song Howard played on Sunday evening.
Overall, I think this was one of my all-time favorites HOJO shows (and I’ve seen him perform live well over 20 times since the 80’s). No one, and I mean no one, in that venue walked away disappointed from this performance. In a time where many bands from his generation are starting to fall short of expectations during their live performances, Howard Jones seems to be getting better with age. If you get a chance to Howard Jones on tour in support of his “Solo – The Songs and The Stories Tour”, do so – you will not be disappointed! Until next time…
Stay Frosty and Rock On!
For more information on Howard Jones current tour (and to buy tickets), click HERE
Setlist
You Know I Love You, Don't You?
Specialty
The Prisoner
Hide and Seek
Stay with Me
New Song
God Only Knows (Beach Boys cover)
Everlasting Love / Twist and Shout
Soon You'll Go
Life in One Day
No One Is to Blame
Encore
Things Can Only Get Better
Red Velvet attracts the whole world with "variegated, sophisticated music and performances" from the biggest Korean entertainment company “S.M.Entertainment”.
The group name came from, a High-impacted and Fascinated color “RED” and femininely, mild atmosphere “VELVET”.
Members are Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, who come via S.M.Entertainment’s trainee team "SM ROOKIES”. Joy who was the first girl to graduate the S.M.Rookie training system. The last member is Yeri who joined 2015.
In their brand new song “Bad Boy”, they changed from dark and cool women different from previous cute, colorful songs.The melody is based on R&B mixed with Hip-Hop, that is different from popular typical K-POP melodies.
In addition, don’t miss in this video their dance starts from the same pose as the last pose from the last single/video “Peek-a-Boo” released in November 2017.
-Minami Seo
Hunnypot video pick is Cuban Doll's "Bankrupt" she has gained notoriety on Instagram and Twitter with follows from Drake and Cardi B and upwards of 500K followers. Cuban Doll, real name Aaliyah Keef 19 years old from Dallas, Texas released her demo titled "Aaliyah Keef" featuring single "Exposya". July 2017 Cuban Doll reached 30,000 views for her video her song "Rat B*tch". Within a years time Cuban Doll went from a social media personality to having professional official music videos similar to Carbi B and Asian Doll.
-Morgan DeShields-McClure
Hunnypot Live! is the most Superb Owl. What a night! Hot Tub bathed us with an early DJ set of hits and hearts. Maureen Crowe sat down with us to discuss her illustrious music supervision career and brought a set of music that no one could #resist dancing to. BNTLY, an "oh baby! band" rocked our socks off. Grace Blue came back to drop beats and lift hearts, The YeahTones pummeled us with that real rock n roll life, AMERA TechYES'd us with crazy good electronic rock and Memento once again rapped hard and left us with something to remember. Photos and recap by J. Gray 02/05/2018
Lauded by Neil Portnow, President of the Recording Academy, as "a force of nature" Maureen Crowe is a powerful voices in music and media. As the first female President of the LA Chapter of the Recording Academy, she spearheaded the effort to secure voting rights and award status for music supervisors. In 2008, Maureen Crowe co-founded the Guild of Music Supervisors (GMS), the first and only organized advocacy for professional music supervisors. In just a few short years the GMS has had an astounding impact securing both Grammy and Emmy Awards status of music supervisors, secured stories in top publications including The New York Times: Arts and Leisure, The Hollywood Reporter , Variety and Billboard and establishing the annual the Annual Guild of Music Supervisor Awards which highlights the incredible impact music and music supervision have in every field of media.
She is known for her exceptional creative work, financial and marketing acumen. Some of the most groundbreaking achievements in the field including the Grammy award winning soundtrack and chart topping single "I Will Always Love You" from The Bodyguard, the platinum selling soundtrack for the cult classic Wayne's World, and the multi-platinum Grammy and Oscar winning film Chicago.
BNTLY was formed by the siblings Adam and Julia Feldman and Adam Levy. The band has influences ranging from 70s soul/funk, classic and alternative rock to the current wave of jazz-oriented hip hop. Their newest single/video is "Wolves" which they will preform during their live appearance Monday Feb. 5th 2018 Hunnypot Live at The Mint. It's a high concept adventure and lots of fun.
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Grace Blue is an alternative-pop music duo based in Los Angeles, California.
The music duo, that consists of vocalist Grace Mogz and keyboard player Joseph Arazi, have decided to move to Los Angeles this past May in order to pursue their passion and hunger for music.
Their debut music video for the single "Our Eyes" was released June 4th and had reached over 100,000 YouTube views, followed by their self-titled debut EP, that has been released July 29th.
Their music is a combination of dark emotionally driven vocals, alongside catchy, up-tempo alternative-pop.
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The YeahTones is the tenacious rock ‘n’ roll brainchild of bandleader and frontman Jake Pinto. Born of a natural healer and a business schemer (read: Florida man), Pinto’s deep-rooted lust for “peaceful” resistance has been long in the making. In 2012, Jake graduated from private university with a degree in music, thousands of dollars in debt and an ample angst for the injustices of the world. Plagued by the typical anger and isolation of a 20 something New Yorker, Jake set aside his pricey jazz education in search of a new more liberating form of expression, enter The YeahTones. On stage The YeahTones explode with punk energy to deliver the straightforward anguish of Jake’s unassuming songwriting. The band makes audiences thrash and scream then hands out a goody bag of catchy riffs and melodies to take home for later. They do all of this while wearing matching outfits. The Brooklyn-based band are supporting their debut record, Eviction Notice, the first presentation of their fearless, unpretentious rock ‘n’ roll.
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Contrary to the popular notion that Electronic Artists just "Press Play", based out of heart of Los Angeles, AMERA is a true live performance band which takes you a sonic journey with epic soundscapes and ground-shattering drop that engage the audience for both head-banging and dance-floor experiences.
Already performing hundreds of shows worldwide, Brooke Adams (Vocals), Mikael Oganes (Synths/Keys) and Donovan Butez (Guitar) have formed a trio which is ready to unveil their sound and sonic force with the power of a tidal wave.
Crafted with organic smash of live performance AMERA is a modern fruit of musical adventure
Vocals/ Brooke Adams Guitar/Donovan Ananda Keyboard/Mikael Oganes
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Combining the lush richness of a film score, the rhythm section of a rock band, and the introspective storytelling of underground rap, Memento is a hip-hop artist from the San Francisco Bay Area.
He loosely categorizes his music as “hip-hop with an indie rock sensibility” — meaning that he uses live instruments and records his vocals within a few takes to capture raw, genuine emotion. Memento avoids the use of studio trickery in order to achieve authenticity, and always believes that less is more.
He approaches his music with the mindset of a composer: he wants the instruments to say what the words are saying, without the words. In order to do this, he pays great attention to detail while crafting his melodies and rhythms. Once the instrumental can express the emotion on its own, Memento paints a picture through his stories, his emotions, and his observations, all while maintaining a brutal honesty.
February 3rd, Hot Tub Johnnie will be spinning a special Hunnypot set for the live performance of Eric Tessmer with Nancy Wilson of Heart. Eric Tessmer, Richland Center, Wisconsin native made a name for himself in Austin, Texas as one of the hardest working guitarist in Austin, TX and for recreating the classic blues-rock sounds from legends such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton. Eric Tessmer is bringing his vintage-tones of blues-rock soul-chedelic to The Mint on February 3rd, accompanying is Nancy Wilson, one half of the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame inducted band Heart. Including performances by Dizzy Box Nine, The Dunphys, Resurrection Road. Grab Tickets HERE.
Bumzu is known as a Korean Hip-Hop musician but he also leans in to Rock and EDM. Now his work is based on composing and producing famous artists, but last month, he released a brand new album!
“I’m Good” is the title song of his new album “27”. The lyrics deal with reality and composition inspired from his expressive feelings. "I'm Good" is extension of his songs released September to November 2017. Powerful rapper Sik-K, also from Korea is featured on the single.
Bumzu has proving his abilities on this album, "Forever Young", "For a Time" are other stand out songs. Bumzu continues appealing to his music fans with new efforts and his distinct stylings.
-Minami Seo
Kali Uchis is a very talented Colombia-American artist who is also a songwriter, record producer, music video director, and fashion designer.
In 2017, she was nominated for Latin Grammy for “Record of the Year”, and “best R&B performance” with Daniel Caesar in this year.
“After the storm” is brand new song collaborated with Tyler The Creator, Bootsy Collins and the video produced by Ontario trio, BADBADNOTGOOD.
Her last video “Nuestro Planeta” was cool and sexy worldview, and hip-pop melody. In this time, consist of old style R&B music and eccentric/ far-out world.
According to the press release, this song will be set on her new product which is released in Spring 2018.
-Minami Seo
Yngwie Malmsteen is arguably one of the most incredible guitarists on the planet today. Inspired by classic composers such as Paganini and Bach, this virtuoso from Stockholm, Sweden has taken the world by storm since going solo in 1984 and has never looked back. A touring madman, Malmsteen is back at it again in 2018, blazing trails across the US in support of his latest album, World on Fire. Over the past 20 years, I have seen Yngwie perform on countless occasions, and each time I am blown away by the sheer magic that pours out in every performance. His distinct sound is like no other guitarist on the scene today - fusing classical music with rock into a melodic masterpiece that transcends time and space.
On January 24th, Yngwie Malmsteen marched back into Orange County (his first of 5 local shows) for a night of guitar wizardry at one of Southern California’s premier concert venues, The Observatory – OC. There would be no opening act tonight, only the Maestro himself, Mr. Yngwie J. Malmsteen. In speaking to many fans prior to the show, it seemed like the majority had been following Yngwie since his early days with Steeler or Alcatrazz. A few others had just started listening to his music recently and we’re captured immediately by his incredible guitar prowess.
With moments to go until downbeat, a rabid Yngwie disciple ran back and forth through the photo pit screaming at the top of his lungs, “Yngwie, Yngwie, Yngwie”. Many in the near-capacity crowd followed suit in hopes of coaxing Yngwie out ahead of his expected 8:30pm start time. Energy levels were taking off and the show had yet to begin. I could tell this show was going to be one for the ages.
As the crowd continued its “Yngwie” chant, the stage began to fill with a dense fog and lights dimmed. The place erupted as Yngwie Malmsteen finally took the stage. Silhouetted against a massive wall of Marshall Amps, Yngwie launched into his amazing setlist with "Rising Force" off his 1988 release, Odyssey. He seemed to have his Custom Fender Strat dialed in on Wednesday night as he sounded nearly flawless. Next up was "Into Valhalla”, off his 2010 album, Relentless. Probably one of my favorite live Yngwie songs and took energy levels to a whole new level down in the pit area.
For the next hour and a half, Yngwie absolutely killed it with 25 more tracks that spanned most of his 20 studio albums. Throughout the show, Malmsteen demonstrated his amazing guitar prowess on classical pieces such as “Violin Concerto #4 in D Minor” (Niccolo Paganini Cover) as well as “Adagio in G Minor” (A Remo Giazotto Cover). In addition, Yngwie scorched the Observatory stage with a blazing rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” (A John Stafford Smith Cover). The Orange County crowd went absolutely nuts as Yngwie paid tribute to our National Anthem in signature form along with his trademark salute when the song came to an end. Truly amazing and a highlight for many in attendance Wednesday evening.
And if you thought it could not get any better, Yngwie wrapped up his monster set with a killer encore including classics “Black Star” and “I’ll See the Light Tonight”. These fan favorites capped off an amazing evening of rock at The Observatory – OC and were a perfect choice to end an incredible evening of rock and roll with the Maestro himself.
If you are one of the few who have not seen Yngwie Malmsteen live, you are missing out on one of the most talented guitarists on the planet today. His overall performance on Wednesday was remarkable, and his precision guitar work was (as always) second to none. And when you consider that Yngwie has been shredding for almost 40 years, it makes a performance like tonight’s even more spectacular.
Stay Frosty and Rock On!
For more information on Yngwie Malmsteen and his and his 2017 World on Fire World Tour, please click HERE.
For more information on Southern California’s premier concert venue, The Observatory – OC, please click HERE.
Setlist
Rising Force
Spellbound
Into Valhalla
Baroque & Roll
Soldier
No Rest for the Wicked
Top Down, Foot Down
Like an Angel (For April)
Badinerie (Johann Sebastian Bach cover)
Violin Concerto #4 in D Minor (Niccolo Paganini Cover)
Adagio in G minor (Remo Giazotto cover)
Far Beyond the Sun
The Star-Spangled Banner (John Stafford Smith cover)
Seventh Sign
Overture
From a Thousand Cuts
Arpeggios from Hell
World on Fire
Now Your Ships Are Burned
Evil Eye
Trilogy Suite Op: 5
Blue
Fugue
Drum Solo
You Don’t Remember
Encore:
Acoustic Guitar Solo
Black Star
I'll See the Light Tonight