It’s been almost a decade since the first time I saw Jesse Keeler & Al-P, the Canadian duo known as MSTRKRFT (pronounced “Master-Craft”). Nearly 10 years after they played at Los Angeles’ last Electric Daisy Carnival in 2010, they were back in LA. Academy LA was hosting MSTRKRFT’s EP debut Release Party and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity see these two guys throw down a live set.
After a bit of a hiatus, MSTRKRFT teamed up with Deadmau5’s mau5trap label to drop a 4 song EP entitled, Sunshine Of My Life. This dropped on October 18th, 2019, right in the beginning of their tour with Deadmau5. As they make their way from the southwest up to the northeast, both opening sets for Deadmau5 and headlining shows along the way, MSTRKRFT unveiled this new EP as a draw to their act. They used this specific show on October 19th, 2019 in Los Angeles as a night to showcase this EP (amongst other material) in live format.
I made my way to the venue excited for MSTRKRFT, but I’ll admit I didn’t know who the opening act was. Once I got through security and entered the main room, I was greeted by the dark eerie beats of local Los Angeles DJ, Joey Zander. There’s a feeling you get when you walk into some of these venues. Joey Zander’s use of haunting samples and creepily soothing synths coupled with beat driven LED visuals on the ceiling of Academy LA’s main floor sent a chill or two down my spine. We were in for one of those nights.
One thing I noticed from Joey Zander is he never picked up the microphone to speak to the crowd. The entire time I was in there, he let the beats do the talking. As we neared midnight, Zander teased the crowd by lowering his BPM, only to raise it again. The lights in the venue even went white bright for a few split seconds to signify the end of the set, but the bass lines kept rolling. He played with the crowd’s emotions as the anticipation for MSTRKRFT grew. I turned away from the DJ booth for a moment, and when I turned back, there were two different men in the DJ booth. Again, without saying a word to the crowd, Jesse Keeler & Al-P opted to communicate with the room with nothing but beats.
I had listened to Sunshine Of My Life on my way to the venue a few times. It’s only 4 tracks and totals 26 minutes and 37 seconds. I gave it a couple of spins on my drive into the city. I knew MSTRKRFT gave the electro-house and dance-punk a bit of a break and returned to some old school techno influences. But you can never fully grasp what a live set is going to sound like just by hearing the EP. Once they mixed those tracks in with some of their older material, I saw a whole different side to MSTRKRFT. They maintained their same classic MSTRKRFT ambiance, but they committed to a darker dance vibe than I was expecting. They delivered a no-bullshit two-hour set of a combination of hard repetitive techno kick drums, screeching synths, and never-ending deep basslines. When they gave you a break from their haunting samples, they delivered an onslaught of hi-hats to keep your body moving into the wee hours of the night.
Shout out to MSTRKRFT for an amazing EP release party. It was great to see them in action after so long. It was also great to see them push limits and expand as artists while regressing to some of the origins of EDM, paying homage to some old school elements of techno. Kudos to the venue too. The show would not have been what it was if it wasn’t for that massive monstrosity of an LED panel hanging from the ceiling from the DJ booth all the way to the back of the main room. The venue was a match made in heaven for a duo like MSTRKRFT to deliver a night that Los Angeles won't soon forget. I sincerely hope these guys make another run down here soon. Their show was simply awesome!
The Songery just released a music video for the song "The Dark". It's dancetastic, it's a little edgy and it's fun. Shine a light on "The Dark" and boogie down the block.
The Hunnypot Live community at The Mint has been an absolutely warm, fun, creative and uplifting biweekly that I have had the honor to be apart of. As a music supervisor networking event, each night is carefully curated to have musicians/bands/artists that are on the cutting edge of music showcase their talents.
What the Hunnypot crew has done is create a place for artists, music-lovers and any curious onlookers to come and congregate and celebrate music and artistic expression. There is a mingling of the occasional label and manager that artists come by, but in its purest form, all have come to hear organized and unorganized notes that make bodies move and hearts thump.
All genres of music can be heard at Hunnypot Live. So many great bands and artists have been discovered by new fans. It is a platform that has brought together music enthusiasts to their highest place. It's importance lies in live performance which has been utterly replaced by YouTube and online videos. It brings a community that cares about music together to listen to and discover music together.
The year is 2000, and Hunnypot launches the last of America's deep music probes. In a freak mishap, its pilot, Hot Tub Johnnie, puts the party music trajectory into an orbit which unleashes hot dance music and moves, to Earth, 427 shows later. Last night Hunnypot Live got us all ready for the future. Hot Tub perfectly landed a ship full of hot trax. Michael Frick came by to tell us about his international music supervision career and history and brought a great party set of music. Hunnypot veterans, Velvet Starlings, came back to rock the nations, WYO showed up with Rocky Mountain rock music. Mystical Joyride got us dancing and vibing on the trip. Roet is a one person pop music factory and Hot Tub cleaned up with another historical dance music party. 10/14/2019
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Christian Gisborne is an independent singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and founder and lead singer, guitarist and keyboardist of Velvet Starlings. Gisborne is known for a powerful 60s era Eric Burdon influenced vocal style and a commanding and dynamic stage presence inviting media & industry insider comparisons to Jack White and Ty Segall. Early musical influences include artists such as The Beatles, The Who & The Doors.
Gisborne’s debut self-titled EP, Velvet Starlings was a collaboration with British producer/writer Roger Gisborne (leader of 90s Brit Rock band,Plastiscene) for Sound x 3 / Rock N Rolla Records which was released in late 2018 and supported by dates at the Live At Heart Music Festival and SXSW ME in Sweden, where Gisborne’s performances resulted in performance opportunities at Summerfest, Canadian Music Week, The Great Escape and other international festivals.
The single, "Sold Down The River” showcases Dylan-esque lyrics, a soulful Hammond B3 organ, gritty guitars and raw blues inspired vocals. The track caught the attention of KROQ and reached #1 (twice) on Kat Corbett’s “Locals Only” show. The official video released in May, 2019 features the mural work of Shepard Fairey, world-renowned American contemporary street artist, activist and founder of Obey.
2019 kicked off with a sold-out show supporting Barns Courtney in Los Angeles. In May, 2019 Sound x 3 / Rock N Rolla Records released the much anticipated follow up mini-album, “Love Everything, Love Everyone” produced and written by Christian Gisborne and Roger Gisborne in Los Angeles, with engineering and mixing by Josiah Mazzaschi (Smashing Pumpkins, The Kills, Jesus & Mary Chain and Deep Valley) and mastering by Brian Lucy (Cage The Elephant, Black Keys, Beck, Arctic Monkeys) who also mastered the self-titled EP.
The mini-album adopts a slightly heavier sound, mirroring the dynamic live performance and is lyrically and sonically the next step in the evolution of the Velvet Starlings’ sound. The first single “Kids in Droves” released in Summer, 2019 speaks to an era where “everyone spends all of their time on devices ‘liking’ and ‘loving’ everything says, Christian Gisborne. “Kids in Droves” also received favorable reviews and airplay in the USA (including influential stations such as KROQ, Sirius XM, 91x and KCSN) as well as BBC Radio in the UK. Legendary BBC Scotland DJ Billy Sloan has been a massive supporter of Gisborne. Other supporters include Shepard Fairey, Dave Davies (The Kinks), Kevin Bronson (KCSN DJ, BuzzbandsLA & former LA Times Music Editor) and legendary tastemakers, DJ Rodney Bingenheimer and DJ/curator Tim Pyles. Both releases charted on FMQB reaching #5 on the Album Chart and #8 on the Singles Chart.
In support of the 2nd release, Velvet Starlings toured across the pond twice with its first full UK tour in May, 2019 followed by a US tour sponsored by Acura/Honda, anchored by an emerging artist slot on Summerfest (where Velvet Starlings won best emerging artist competition $5,000 worth of gear) and PBS’s Woodsongs in Lexington Kentucky, along with dates in Nashville at The Basement and the Cubby Bear in Chicago.
Velvet Starlings returned to Europe a second time for a very successful Scandinavian tour, which included many sold out dates and key performances at the Live At Heart Music Festival, along with a headline slot at King Tut’s in Glasgow and several dates in England, which included a live radio performance at the BBC and shows at The Dublin Castle and Camden Assembly, where new songs off of Velvet Starling’s third record was debuted.
Velvet Starlings was also invited to showcase at Indie Week in Toronto and will be performing select dates in Brooklyn and New Jersey in November, 2019. In 2020, Velvet Starlings will perform at The Great Escape festival and conference in Brighton for Impressive PR’s stage at the request of Mel Brown (Cold Play, Muse). Velvet Starlings will soon be releasing two videos for “Bitter Pill” and “Karmic Lemonade” produced by French director Joseph Calhoun (Lauren Ruth Ward) in support of the mini-album. Christian Gisborne has plans to record his third work in early 2020.
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Los Angeles' WYO makes cinematic music inspired by frontman Andy Sorge's home state of Jackson, Wyoming. Taking inspiration from the imposing landscapes and majestic mountains he grew up around, singer-songwriter Andy Sorge utilizes an organic instrument palette to create the soundscape that is WYO.
After attending film school in New York, Andy met multi-instrumentalist, Scott McKay Gibson, and the two retreated to Wyoming and began delving into Andy’s original songs that would soon become their debut album, Untamed. Released in early 2018, WYO teamed up with veteran Los Angeles-based producer, Brad Wood (Smashing Pumpkins, Pete Yorn, Ben Lee), to provide a fresh ear to finalize the LP.
After a successful debut release, WYO released their sophomore album Changes on May 31, 2019, which further explores their panoramic sound. A sound that has led to sharing the stage with Robert Earl Keen, Avi Buffalo, The Fruit Bats, and WhiteHorse, headlining School Night, and playing venues like The Belly Up, Peppermint Club, House of Blues, Viper Room, State fairs in San Diego and Wyoming, as well as SXSW in Austin and Genius Loci Festival in Mexico.
In addition to performing as WYO, Andy and Scott frequently compose music for documentaries, commercials, and short films together. Perhaps this explains the reason that WYO’s music has a way of evoking such striking visuals that stir the imagination. WYO embodies the search for a place that’s alive and wild. It’s an endeavor that deals with love, loss, and constant exploration. It’s a tale of reconciling city life with the unyielding need to retreat to nature’s gravitational pull.
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Mystical Joyride is an LA based hubby and wifey "cosmic duo", Leah (the existentially inspired vocal nymph) and Joel (the multi-instrumental wizard) making Psychedelic World Pop music to shake your hips and ride the mystery to. With eclectic beats and a unique style, their name could not be more fitting for their musical journey.
Fresh off of performing at California Worldfest and their debut full-length album "Conducto" release, Mystical Joyride is ready for high vibes and dancefloors.
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Zach Alwin, creatively known as Roet continues to deliver striking music to the forefront of emerging alternative electronic talent. Drawing influence from a tapestry of musicians by the likes of Van Morrison, Death Cab for Cutie, Jeremy Zucker, and Porter Robinson, Roet’s signature sound is a righteous blend of mellow dance music and indie vocals. A full circle creator, Roet is the mastermind behind his entire catalog, producing his own beats and tracking his crystal cool vocals to parallel. His unique approach to songwriting stands as one of the most vital pillars of his craft. His initial writing approach begins with classical instrumentation and flow of consciousness, only later translated into the electronic gems that fans hear today.
Outside of Roet, Alwin is a songwriter for various musicians across the nation with anywhere from 500k to 1M streams, and has even composed for commercial advertisements. Despite being a relatively new face to the electronic music industry, Roet produces luxurious sounds that are far from novice. His distinct voice led him to ink a deal singing backup vocals for MAX and Gnash’s orchestral version of “Lights Down Low.“ With 100,000 streams on “F*ckin Love” and support from tastemakers like Cloudkid, it comes as no surprise that EP 1 will come to fruition as a teeming a triumph. “Love You/Love Me” is the lead single to the forthcoming project. This breezy composition is a an indie-electro triumph with an introspective thesis. “Love You/Love Me” explores self-love, self-admiration, and self-embrace through lush soundscapes and extraordinary lyricism.
New band, new video, who's this? It's Crisis Couture with "Take Back The Power". Hunnypot Alumni, Brendan McKian (Young Beautiful in a Hurry), fronts a new exciting hard rock band. It's progressive, it's funky, it's heavy, it's often dance-able and it's loud.
Check out the video for "Take Back The Power" and head bob to the winks and nods.
We all knew what we were in for as the line started to grow outside the historic Hawthorne Theatre in SouthEast Portland. References to Nakatomi Plaza and Nintendo blended in seamlessly with the dragons on the shirts of the audience eagerly awaiting for the doors to open. Tonight, being a self-described geek would be a strength.
Everyone's favorite, over-the-top, guitar-driven, nostalgic trip through memory lane, Dragonforce were amidst a tour to promote their latest album, Extreme Power Metal. Along for the 90's flashback; Horror-themed, Dark Synthwave masters, Dance with the Dead were also out promoting their latest release, Loved to Death as well as the brutal Chicago-based, Metal amalgamation, Starkill currently touring their latest album, Gravity, as well.
Starkill, a band who were a brutal concoction formed of equal parts Melodic Death, Symphonic, and Power Metal didn't waste any time making a name for themselves to their fans in the audience. The quintet was certainly not one to skip on the thematic either; adorning themselves in black paint and music just as merciless as a fight to the death in the Thunderdome. Founding member and guitarist/vocalist, Parker Jameson and the newest inclusion to the band, Sarah Lynn Collier played off each other's vocals with an equal amount of intensity and raw power perfectly complimenting the force of their instrumental counterparts.
By the look on the confused faces around the venue, who were primed for a night of fret wizardry and 90's nostalgia, no one was expecting the next act who, based on their early albums lived somewhere between synth-infused Electronica and a neon-lit, industrial dance party. Dance with the Dead, one of the prominent leaders of the newly established, Electronic-based genre, Synthwave had arrived and were here to make a bold statement.
Two guitar-wielding silhouettes appeared out of the neon smoke. Justin Pointer and Tony Kim stood on opposite sides of the stage with two ominous towering stacks of electronic audio equipment behind them. A pounding drum beat had the walls reverberating inside the sold out venue. Pointer and Kim smashed riffs on their guitars and violently banged their heads along with the intensity of the music that played behind them, creating a far more abrasive sound than any of their studio albums led us to believe. Dance with the Dead have grown more aggressive on their most recent albums and played tracks off of their latest release, Loved to Death; their iconic 90's horror-influenced, masterpiece, The Shape and even a few of their more ferocious, Industrial tracks off their B-Sides: Vol. 1. Toward the second half of their set they set their guitars to the side and manned the keyboards, thrashing uncontrollably to the violent dance music they performed live. Dance with the Dead drilled a hole straight through the skulls of the stunned audience sending even the most hardened metal fan into a frenzied madness.
The lights dimmed and suddenly I was 10 years old all over again; walking into an arcade with a pocket full of loose change and only the flickering of neon lights and the beeps of a wall of arcade games to comfort me. An orchestrated laser light show began to dance in unison to the intro of "Highway to Oblivion" the first track off of Dragonforce's latest album, Extreme Power Metal and we knew it was time to go full-geek. Marc Hudson, the aviator-wearing, frontman let out a soaring scream channeling the greats of Operatic Metal that came before him. Herman Li and Sam Totman, the band's founders, led a otherworldly, twin guitar attack and after seven studio albums, haven't lost any of their gusto or precision since the last time seeing them perform over a decade ago. Hudson asked with a show of hands, who were fans of RPG's (role playing Fantasy games), specifically Skyrim die-hards, before introducing the song, "The Last Dragonborn" off of their latest release.
During the break before their encore, guitarist Herman Li, ever the performer, snuck into the audience behind me until the spotlight was on the two of us. Li told the remaining band on the stage, "I wanted to join the party!" He shook my hand, grabbed his Ibanez, and climbed onto Starkill's merch table and hopped across each table, shredding a cover of Celine Dion's Titanic-hit, "My Heart Will Go On." They ended the night with a laugh, announcing their encore as "that damn song that won't die from a game that shall remain nameless." Confetti exploded in front of the audience and Dragonforce pounded through their most celebrated hit, "Through the Fire and Flames", off the album, Inhuman Rampage.
Grab your Powerglove, pull that battered copy of Nintendo Power out of storage and get yourself on board to experience a night of Extreme Power Metal with Dragonforce, Dance with the Dead and Starkill before you miss your chance to merge your childhood with the proud Metal geek you've become today.
Tove Lo performs her new single, "Sweettalk my Heart", live and stripped down (instrumentally). It's a Hunnypot do!
The Shocker is an American punk rock band, featuring L7 bassist Jennifer Finch (aka Jennifer Precious Finch) performing vocals. The band also includes lead and rhythm guitarists, drums, and bass.
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The first official cannabis cafe in the United States opened up in West Hollywood this week. Hunnypot isn't the type to wait around for permissions. It was just another new year last night and we celebrate HIGH holidays every other week. Last night we did like we always have. Hot Tub Johnnie keefed it real and lit up the night with a starting DJ set. Adèle Ho jumped in the hot tub for her origin story interview and ripped a playlist of party tunes. Sarah Rogo returned with her loaded blues and rhythm voodoo. Peter More performed dank melodies and harmonies. Sugi Dakks left everyone satisfied with high energy raucous funk, pop & rock. The Singularity brought us higher conscience electro rock and Hot Tub blazed a dance party set for a new wave of fans. 09/30/2019
Recently Adèle Ho has joined the team at Supergroup Sonic Branding, a full music supervision company based in Toronto and LA working in film, TV, ads and branding. Adèle relocated to Los Angeles from her native Canada to pursue music supervision. She completed the Music Business program at UCLA Extension and then began her music supervision career by interning at Neophonic, Inc. before spending the last few years working with Joel C. High at creative control.
Prior to music supervision, Adèle worked in politics with stints on Parliament Hill in Canada, Washington, D.C. and Asia. She then decided to pursue her dream of working in music and worked on the programming and production for major festivals in Canada working with artists like Broken Social Scene, Bon Iver, Frank Turner, Calexico, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Timber Timbre and a Tribe Called Red to name a few.
Credits Include: Yellow Rose, JT LeRoy, G-Funk, Tyler Perry's Acrimony, 1999- Wish You Were Here, Honey: Rise Up And Dance, Dean and more.
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SARAH ROGOSarah Rogo has been refining her craft and leaving a long-lasting impression on audiences of all ages and musical backgrounds with her energetic and soulful performances. Claiming the title as 'Soulful Roots,' she blends old blues, soul, and folk styles with a youthful twist. Sarah captivates audiences with her haunting slide guitar work and unique genre-defying style. Authentic and soulful, she paints vivid pictures through sound and song. A captivating dance between grit, beauty, and skill.
Sarah Rogo is a young, and gifted artist and it’s all reflected in her infectious live performances, where her energy is contagious. Steeped in the eclectic mixes of traditional music like blues, jazz, ragtime, klezmer, and classical, Rogo finds new ways to express timeless emotions and feels.
Rogo's full studio album with co-writes and production by notable producer David Ricketts (David and David, Toni Childs, Sheryl Crow, Meredith Brooks) is slated to be released in 2020.
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Over the years, Peter More and his bandmates have called many places home. Originally from Fort Worth, Texas, More joined forces with Spanish flamenco guitarist José Juan Poyatos, Mexican bassist Diego Noyola, and French-American drummer Adrien Faunce in San Miguel de Allende, the colonial arts haven three hours north of Mexico City. There, the band began to record with prolific drummer Rick Shlosser (who played on many Van Morrison and James Taylor classics, among hundreds of other credits).
A chance encounter with Steely Dan's Donald Fagen, who happened to be visiting San Miguel, led to Fagen producing More's debut album, "Beautiful Disrepair," and his follow-up EP entitled "Shoulder." Best described by Donald Fagen as music with "a smart savvy edge...its an American dish served with hot sauce." More's layered stories naturally have evolved with the band’s continual movement through recording sessions beyond San Miguel that took place in Fort Worth, New York City, and Woodstock.
Wanderlust underscores More's music, weaving the many influences and intersections from the songwriter's unconventional journey. The road just seems to strengthen the bond between the band-mates and the power of More's heartfelt songs.
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Sugi Dakks is the brainchild of LA based Kyle Donald, a Jazz Piano Performance major, his dual interests in poetry and music merged into the pop/soul/jazz/hip hop sound that is Sugi Dakks. His blend of rap, singing, jazz piano is largely self-produced and draws inspiration from Kendrick Lamar, Anderson Paak, Stevie Wonder and Miles Davis.
As a writer/producer he has upcoming cuts with Wale, DWY and Raina Rich. His early artist singles have reached over millions of plays, #1 on Hype Machine, spun on BBC Radio and supported widely by tastemakers. In 2018 his debut mixtape ‘The Business’ was recognized widely by key industry figures followed by a much touted debut EP – ‘Black Coffee’.
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What if Bowie, Prince and the Cure had a baby?
Blog and radio attention has been universal using lots of superlatives like: “Genius, Massive, Perfection, Brilliant, Great, Outstanding, Exquisite, Remarkable, Pure Beauty, Excellent, Impressive, Inspiring” and seem to feature the words “I Love” a lot. The most important people are the fans. They are lovely people who genuinely seem to love it!
