Since John Mayer’s last album ‘Battle Studies’ was released, 2009, he has been through a disastrous roller coaster ride. He did two famous self-destructing interviews in 2010, one with Playboy and the other with Rolling Stone. The interviews turned out to be a blessing in disguise. After them, he pulled way back from the spotlight and went into hiding.
The L.A. duo Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno perform under the moniker Best Coast. They blew up the indie-pop charts with their debut album “Crazy For You” in 2010. Out today, through Mexican Summer Records, Best Coast cleans up well in their second studio album ‘The Only Place’, losing the fuzziness and gaining some clarity in Cosentino’s, now confident, ever so sweet vocals.
Childhood friends Deric Williams (Lead Vocals, Guitar), and Daniel Clark (Percussion, Drums) formed as Motive for Movement in 2005. The past seven years have brought them lineup changes, countless shows/tours/ festival dates, multiple albums (Including their 2010 self-recorded/produced full length "Our Concrete Neighbors,” mixed by Mike Majors), and a considerable progression of sound. They changed their name, this year, to Foreign Home to better represent where they are going instead of where they’ve been. Foreign Home will be releasing the “How Strange the Night EP” sometime this spring. The new EP was produced/mixed by Costa Stasinopoulos at Blackwatch Studios (Norman, OK) and The Church Studio (Tulsa, OK) and Mastered by Mike Marsh (Phoenix, Two Door Cinema Club, Klaxons) at The Exchange Studio London. With a belief that there are only two kinds of music, good & bad, Foreign Home isn’t afraid to draw from and incorporate any style of music into their genre-bending tunes. Finding influence in everything from surf music to progressive rock, post-punk to pop, the guys of Foreign Home (Deric Williams, Daniel Clark, Tobie Munroe, and Chris Davis) have set out to redefine what American Indie can be, and succeeded.
The Audition’s debut LP “Controversy Loves Company” was released through Victory in September of 2005. From January 2008- March 2010 they released three more full length albums including; their second full length LP entitled ‘Champion’ (January 2008) which made it on the Billboard 200 list, 'Self-Titled Album' (April 2009), and ‘Great Danger’ (March 2010). In January of 2009 it was announced that original bassist and founding member Joe Lussa would be leaving the band. Bass duties were handled by Tim Klepek and the band continued for this period as a four-piece. Besides playing Warped Tour in 2006, 2007, and 2008, they have also played with acts such as; The Academy Is..., Silverstein, Mae, Head Automatica, Jack's Mannequin, New Found Glory, Boys Like Girls, All Time Low, Valencia, and We The Kings. In September 2011 the band announced that their original bass player, Joe Lussa, had rejoined the band and that original guitarist, Seth Johnson, had left and is now replaced by Jimmy Lopez. The Audition was signed to Victory Records from 2005-2011 and during that time they released four magnificent albums, but those years are now behind them and they are now “on their own.” I say that in quotes because, after having completed their contract with Victory Records, they started a Kickstarter and with the help of their fans they met their goal, plus more, and were able to record their newest EP titled “Chapter ll”. While some people might disagree with bands using Kickstarter to make money off of fans, I want to believe that bands that genuinely have talent and a passion for music will use the money to their advantage and put out a record that everyone will be proud of. So let’s support The Audition as they take on “Chapter ll” of their music careers. You can now purchase it on iTunes, Amazon MP3 and other digital music services. If you haven't had a chance to read the interview I did with Danny Steven's, a few months ago, then you can read it here.
Hailing from of Orange County, NY, Young English started out when Chris (vocalist) drunkenly called Gorse (Bass), to say that they should start a punk band, a month later the writing began. Liking the music they came up with they knew they needed more band mates, so Gorse called upon former band mate Matt (Gutiar) and Barry (Drums) to make up the remaining components. Almost instantaneously the guys hit it off. ‘I Hate My Friends “was written over a 3 month span and was recorded with Alex Goot. This album gets a vinyl treatment and hits stores on December 6th, 2011 on a limited edition 7" through Panic Records.
For pop-sensation Rihanna, 2011 has definitely been a promising year. With a bunch of her songs constantly topping the charts the anticipation for her sixth studio release was ridiculously high. Talk That Talk was released on November 18, via Def Jam Recordings.
Opening the record is “You Da One” which is the albums second single to date. Similar in structure and style to likes of “Man Down” which featured on her last album Loud, “You Da One” sticks to a steady, Caribbean like beat equipped with easy sing-along lyrics.