PUMAROSA. The UK five piece who blew through SXSW earlier in the month (nearly everyone we talked too at the festival were knocked out by the band) stream second track online “Cecile”. A bit more conventional in its construction than its sprawling predecessor (“Priestess”), “Cecile” is a refreshing (Pumarosa sound like no other band out) exercise in dark well-made indie pop. We like it.
The SXSW standouts announce debut LP for Secretly Canadian, Light Upon The Lake. “Golden Days”, newly revealed from the LP, finds the Chicago band of Smith Westerns provenance neatly straddling 70’s pop/soul/country-influenced song structures with modern indie writing. We are digging it. Light Upon The Lake is out June 3.
Out today on our B3SCI Records is “Empire Underground”, the first new music from UK duo The Big Pink in over three years. Featuring single “Hightimes” which Pigeons and Planes noted would “immediately find its way into the memories of every listener” and Stereogum called second track “Beautiful Criminal” “a bit of a departure for the Big Pink, but the risk had plenty of reward”. Further details about the EP including purchase info can be found here at B3SCI Records. The band are currently in North America playing a series of dates (including SXSW) through the end of April.
03/04 – Marble Bar – Detroit, MI**
03/05 – Rumba Cafe – Columbus, OH**
03/06 – Duck Room – St. Louis, MO**
03/07 – Subterranean – Chicago, IL**
03/09 – Frequency – Madison, WI**
03/10 – Rave Bar – Milwaukee, WI
03/11 – Turf Club – Minneapolis, MN**
03/12 – Vega – Lincoln, NE**
03/13 – Bottleneck – Kansas City**
03/17 – Reeperbahn Festival Official Showcase @ Lucille @ SXSW – Austin, TX
03/17 – Austin Waterloo Road @ SXSW – Austin, TX
03/18 – Austin Tuned In @ Easy Tiger @ SXSW – Austin TX
04/18 – Mayan – Los Angeles, CA*
04/19 – Observatory – Santa Ana, CA*
04/20 – Soda Bar – San Diego, CA+
04/22 – Pop Scene @ Rickshaw Stop – San Francisco, CA+
04/23 – Dante’s – Portland, OR+
04/24 – Neumo’s – Seattle, WA+
04/25 – Biltmore Cabaret – Vancouver, Canada+
*Supporting The Kills
**w/ guests The Heirs
+ Headlining + supporting guests TBC
Mixtape art: Brock Lefferts
Today I am so excited to be sharing with you the inaugural edition of our monthly No Guest List Required feature. People are constantly asking me what I am listening to that should be on their radar. To answer that question, Danger Village is now curating a monthly playlist of hot new artists that we are placing our bets on.
As a launching pad, we have created a mix of artists that you have already heard from us like Miya Folick, BISHOP and Barrie Rose, and have added a few new artists like The Wild Wild, BECA, KYYN, and Shape King that we think you should have your attention.
In the past, my seasonal mixes included the first songs from many artists who went on to become successful artists: Chvrches, Lorde, Banks, SOHN, Benjamin Clementine, Neon Indian, Jungle, Jagwar Ma, and many more. Our No Guest List Required feature seeks to draw attention to more new artists that we think you should be watching out for.
Thank you for listening and checking out more from each artist! Please share the songs and playlist.
1. Goldroom – “Till Sunrise”
Tastefully rising and falling with its sun-drenched instrumental, “Embrace” is an exquisite piece of pop music. The vocals from Mammals twist and turn at will, carrying the song’s sticky melodies and undeniable chorus.
2. The Wild Wild – “When We Were Young”
With vibrant synths and vocals darting in and out, “When We Were Young” is exciting, danceable pop, as relatable as the subject it covers: the sun-splashed days of youth and summer.
3. Hawai – “In My Head”
Anchored by earnest vocals and easy-flowing rhymes, “In My Head” manages to be cinematic and casual at the same time, a harmonious duality that is usually hard to capture.
4. BISHOP – “River”
With punishing horns, a massive chorus, irresistible handclaps and stomps,
“River” is a musical tour de force that firmly establishes BISHOP as a breakout artist of 2016.
5. Miya Folick – “Oceans”
A reflection on fighting off the fear and panic associated with potential and desire, “Oceans” is a dimly lit daydream that builds to a biting rock ballad, trembling with emotion over a ghostly, echoing guitar.
6. BECA – “Enabler”
Propelled by a relentless backbeat, “Enabler” is insatiable, driving forward with timely flourishes of 80s influenced production and BECA’s ethereal vocals.
7. KYYN – “Walk On Water”
Backed by sparse production, KYYN’s sultry vocals welcomes the listener into her dark and brooding world. Her voice ranges from soaring to an intimate whisper to a stirring and haunting effect.
8. Shape King – “We Are Together”
From its whimsical opening keyboard line to the gloriously chaotic ending, “We Are Together” is brimming with good vibes and a charming ode to love without ever being syrupy or saccharine.
9. Greg Hvnsen – “What Would You Have Me Do”
Taking electronic music’s charming elements, “What Would You Have Me Do” is masterfully crafted with its earnest hooks, breezy demeanor and an exuberant instrumental break.
10. Barrie Rose – “Laffy Taffy”
Built upon a foundation of an infectious hook, throbbing synths and a touch of harp, “Laffy Taffy” is a poignant track that affirms Barrie’s unwavering commitment to her artistic aspirations.
11. Scot Sier – “The Painter”
Stripped and baring all, “”The Painter” is a wistful love song comprised of twinkling piano notes, tender vocals and lightly strummed guitar chords.
MØ, Goldroom and Beth at the Danger Village SXSW showcase 2014
With each playlist, we’ll be including a song and three question interview from one of our legacy Danger Village artists. This month, we have been honored to have Goldroom answer a few questions that I have been wanting to talk to him about for a while. I started working with Goldroom in 2012 to release his song “Fifteen.” Together, we developed his career and Danger Village was proud to land him press placements on Pitchfork, FADER, USA Today, MTV, The Guardian, Last Call With Carson Daly, The LA Weekly, NYLON and many more notable outlets. I also was able to introduce him to MØ and Alpine, and Goldroom crafted two of his most memorable remixes of those artists.
I have noticed a lot of hit songs now using piano synth lines that sound like what we were promoting from your music three years ago. What do you think of the current trends of Tropical House hitting mainstream music and do you think that EDM has hit its peak?
I think it very much depends on how you define a “peak”. We all know things move in cycles, and I’m sure there is a generation of kids getting older that think that standing around watching a DJ is the lamest thing you could ever do. The idea that EDM festivals will continue to be the gathering locations for the entire youth of America is pretty silly. We’ve probably seen the peak of that world. But that said, we’ve crossed a threshold with electronic music within popular culture to the point that I think you can say across all music fans that people aren’t scared or turned off by electronic sounds anymore. If you had synths in your music 10 years ago, you could just write off reaching a significant group of people. Thanks to EDM’s rise over the past 5 years, I don’t think that barrier exists anymore, which is great for me and anyone else making music with synthesizers.
As for Tropical House, I think the term and most of the music is incredibly corny. Like a lot of flash-in-the-pan music genres, its built on a vibe and a feeling and not so much at all in songwriting and writing important and timeless music. To be honest I don’t relate to most of it so I’m glad that my name has stayed pretty outside of that conversation. It’s definitely a bit of a bummer to have marimbas and congas used to blatantly to appropriate a vibe and a vibe alone.
You started off as a solo artist and now are playing big festivals with a full band. How does the process work in translating your music to a live setting, and does this affect your songwriting process?
I try as hard as possible to not let the live show influence the songwriting at all. Having been lucky enough to play in festival settings, I think it’s really easy to start to imagine playing
festival songs. You see it a lot in dance music, where producers will start make obviously club or festival friendly music once they’ve started to play a lot of shows, even though the music that got them their popularity in the first place came from their hearts, in their studios.
In writing my record, which I’m wrapping up now, I was really careful to separate the writing process from the fact that I’ll be playing it live. I want to write music that people will be playing for years on their record players. The way I see it, my job as songwriter/producer and my job as live band director are two completely separate jobs. I have to deal with how to play these songs only after they’re completely done.
I’ve always been in bands, and so the Goldroom live show really reflects that. We play as a six piece band, with tons of live percussion, real synths, guitars and bass. We’re bringing a live experience that’s pretty outside of the normal electronic space, and I think it starts and ends with the personalities on stage. I play with some incredibly talented people, and its the sum of our parts that makes the live show great.
At the Grammy’s we saw that all of Taylor Swift’s producers were men, and it’s unusual to see women like Grimes who are in charge of all of their production. How would you encourage young women to get into production and what do you think can be done to even the playing field for men and women for the future?
There are lots of unfortunate barriers that keep women from going down that road. They’re usually encouraged to be the face but not the brains, which is a huge bummer. I’m sure that has been true forever. The difference was, for someone like Joan Baez, there was a fairly obvious path. She just needed to pick up a guitar and learn how to play it. That feels like a tangible goal. Learning how to produce complicated music on a computer is an almost Herculean task if you’re looking at it from square one. So I think its pretty easy to discourage girls who are just getting started.
My advice would be the same advice I’d give you a guy asking me the same question. Start working! Start trying things! Most of the music you’ll make will suck, but very slowly you’ll get better and better. There’s no substitute for the work in this case, because it is hard to make electronic music.
The SXSW 2015 faves SHEER MAG drop off hooky new guitar jam “Can’t Stop Fighting”. Primarily driven by cool leads and an ever in motion rhythm track, “Can’t Stop Fighting” wins on it’s subtly strong melodic core (like try not to head-nod with that main riff). Get pumped, it’s new SHEER MAG.
Blossoms were highly recommended to Bruce Rave by leading BBC tastemaker Steve Lamacq. After seeing the band at SXSW and knowing they’d be at The Great Escape this year, Bruce targeted them as a rising band to hang with. Here we discuss their musical and live approaches, their Stockport roots (close to Manchester), the mistaken efforts of British media to pigeonhole them into a given category, and more.
Audio interview by Bruce Rave
Check out Bruce’s “Go Deep” show on Fridays 1-3 pm Pacific, 4-6 pm Eastern, 9-11pm GMT. Also listen to past shows at Bruce’s blog and follow Bruce on Twitter.
Blossoms 
(Facebook)
Interview by Bruce Rave
B3SCI was the vehicle that introduced me to these talented dudes. Lead singer Jake (“The Turntan”) wrote to me in January through the blog and he mentioned he liked some my “Rave’s Fave” posts. He attached their track “Little Grace”. All too often, these sincere notes are accompanied by music that isn’t quite my glass of scotch. I immediately liked what I heard and got in touch with Jake as well as band management. The rest of their “Bashful Creatures” EP lives up to the promise of that first track. Meanwhile, buzz was developing thanks for local radio support for the band in Minneapolis-St.Paul and an NME nod in England as one of the bands to watch in 2015. Reaction at SXSW was really strong and the band had one of the best weeks a new act could hoped for. They’re awesome live as you can see from their Conan appearance the week after SXSW. This chat took place just as that amazing week in Austin was getting under way for the guys.
Hippo Campus 
(Official)
Hear Bruce’s “Go Deep With Bruce Rave” weekly new music show on Indie1031/Los Angeles, KX 93.5-FM/Laguna Beach, and WSUM-FM/Madison. Details and archived shows can be found on his blog and be sure to follow Bruce on Twitter too!
Interview by Bruce Rave.
The Church is running strong decades after they graced the world with “Under the Milky Way Tonight” and other 80’s gems. They just completed a strong US tour and highly-buzzed SXSW run with great live shows. Their current “Further Deeper” album has been well-received. Bruce Rave was the band’s original US A&R exec. The two discuss current happenings for the band, and also delve very candidly into a label relationship that didn’t turn out well for The Church or for Bruce as their A&R guy.
Hear Bruce’s “Go Deep With Bruce Rave” weekly new music show on Indie1031/Los Angeles, KX 93.5-FM/Laguna Beach, and WSUM-FM/Madison. Details and archived shows can be found on his blog and be sure to follow Bruce on Twitter too!
The Church 
(Facebook)
Interview by Cheryl Dunn
Years & Years are having an incredible year. The band consisting of Olly, Mikey and Emre have been touring non-stop, opening for Sam Smith during his sold-out UK tour, headlining dates and playing the US all while releasing EPs and writing a new record. The band is heading to SXSW this week and I caught up with lead singer Olly Alexander to ask him about getting discovered while singing in the shower, their East Coast apocalyptic winter, and creating their upcoming debut album.
“I had a party at my house,” Olly stated, about to tell me the story of joining Years and Years. He continued, “The girl I was living with was friends with Mikey so she invited him. I met Mikey and Mikey told me he had a band called Years & Years and I was like ‘Oh! I want to be in a band again. Please let me join Years & Years!'” He explained, “I had been in bands before, and I remember he was like ‘Yeah, yeah, maybe. I don’t know…we’ll talk about it later.'” It did not seem like Olly’s request was going to be taken seriously, until the hangover set in and magic happened. “Then everyone was a bit drunk and a few people stayed over including Mikey. In the morning I took a shower and I was singing. Later, Mikey said, ‘I heard you singing in the shower, you have a good voice’ and I was like ‘Yeah! What do you think about me joining the band? I wasn’t messing around.’”
He finally agreed. Later, Olly joined some jam sessions and the rest was history. But what we really need to know is, what was that winning song he was singing in the shower? “Um, I think it was ‘Killing Me Softly” Lauryn Hill and the Fugees. That’s my shower song.”
As a band, their mounting success has been growing fast over the past year. I wondered, as a musician, when you realize making music with your friends is no longer just a hobby. Olly explained, “When it started we didn’t have the ambition [to turn the band into a job]. We were ambitious,” he clarified before continuing, “But it’s difficult because you don’t imagine, or start off thinking, ‘okay we’re gonna make it, and we’re going to do this this and this.’ We were just a bunch a mates, friends trying to write music and play music,” he said. Then, things started to change. He continued, “That changed very incrementally over the year. We would start playing shows, then we put our single out. Then we got management a couple years later and then we signed to Kitsune. Once we signed to Kitsune, we put more songs out and it gradually increased until suddenly it was like ‘Oh shit! We might be able to do this as actual jobs.'” Oh shit, indeed.
The band has been seemingly touring non-stop, releasing EPs and even won BBC Sound of 2015 this year. Olly reflected, “It has been a mental process because we have been doing everything at once: recording, touring, rehearsing and promo. The hardest part has been trying to get the album finished because we have to take a period of time, like four weeks or however long to make the album. Quite fortunately, we were writing at the time and had a lot of material from years ago that we put on the album, and new material just written recently.” With everything going on, Olly tells me, they thankfully did find time to finish. “We just have to do it when we can, but we finished now and we are very, very happy with it,” he exclaimed before continuing. “It’s going to be released in June in the UK. I’m not totally sure when it will be released in the US but I’m thinking it will probably be released around the same time.” Excited for the release, I asked if they have a title for the debut album yet. “We have a tentative title, but I don’t want to say because it jinxes it and I embarrass myself,” he laughs.
We spoke about Years & Years’ first show in the US at Rough Trade. Their first show due to be at Le Poisson Rouge the night before was cancelled due to weather. Originally Rough Trade cancelled their second show Tuesday as well, but retracted once they realized the weather wasn’t as bad as the media made it out to be. So those who had tickets and braved the cold saw an incredible show by the band.
“I felt so bad because we had to cancel the night before,” Olly reflected. “The news coverage was insane. Watching the news in New York was like an Oscar speech, ‘stay in your homes, be safe,’ and I thought, it’s going to be a proper apocalyptic snow storm! I was getting kind of excited to watch the snow storm unfold.” But then it didn’t. Seeing the weather was not as the media set it out to be, the band knew the show must go on. “It’s no apocalypse I guess we can do the show in Brooklyn, yay!” he said cheerfully. “It was one of our best shows. It was intense. It was so cool. It was our only show in the states so I guess I have nothing to compare it to, but it was just majestic and supportive. We had a great time it was so cool,” he remembered.
The guys are heading back to the US this week to play SXSW in Austin Texas. I asked how many shows they have lined up. “It’s going to be crazy, they were like ‘Maybe you could do three shows this day’ and we were like ‘Okay!!” he said enthusiastically but apprehensively. “I just can’t believe it! I’m excited to discover new music.” He continued, “I hope we have time to discover new music. I think that part is going to be cool. Literally every window and door you walk past is going to be a venue. I have been to SXSW before, but I was only there for one day. But the vibe was great. It was like a playground! I can’t wait,” he said excitedly.
After the festival, Years & Years are continuing their tour through the US. “We are playing some shows on the East Coast and West Coast. Hopefully San Francisco, L.A., New York, and maybe even Philadelphia and Washington D.C.” Unfortunately Philadelphia didn’t make the cut this time, but it looks like the Years & Years tour isn’t stopping any time soon. With the release of their album coming up in June, it is safe to assume we can expect the band back for a more extensive tour of the US.
When Olly Alexander performs, his energy on stage is radiant. You can tell that he is putting everything into each song. I wanted to know about the first time he really felt inspired by music. “The person I first felt like my life was changed by their music was Jeff Buckley. His voice was so incredible. He could do things with his voice that I never heard people do before. He could sing rock, classical and pop.” He continued, “I wanted to be able to sing with that kind of skill, but also that emotion. He had that emotion where it was like it was coming from inside of his guts, it was so raw. I remember hearing that and going ‘Oh, wow,’ I wanted to be able to sound like that,” he said before continuing.
“The music he wrote was so personal but poetic. I really felt like I could relate to it in my life. I realized how music could be a very transformative experience. You can hear it makes sense for your life and you feel better about your life, and live more of your life. That is so inspiring to me. I am just so inspired by what he did and if I could use some of that experience [in our music] I’d be happy,” he reflects.
*Catch Years & Years at SXSW this week and check out their East and West Coast dates below.
3/23/2015 AVALON HOLLYWOOD Los Angeles, CA
3/25/2015 Troubadour Los Angeles, CA
3/26/2015 Rickshaw Stop San Francisco, CA
3/29/2015 U Street Music Hall Washington, DC
3/30/2015 Royale Boston, MA
3/31/2015 Le Poisson Rouge New York, NY
4/17/2015 Trinity Ball Dublin, Ireland
4/20/2015 Le Trabendo Paris, France
4/21/2015 Ancienne Belgique Brussels, Belgium
4/22/2015 Gebäude 9 Cologne, Germany
4/23/2015 Bi Nuu Berlin, Germany
4/25/2015 Sala Wielka Poznan, Poland
4/27/2015 Pumpehuset Copenhagen, Denmark
4/29/2015 Paradiso Grote Zaal Amsterdam, Netherlands
5/1/2015 SOS 4.8 Festival Murcia, Spain
5/19/2015 Fibbers York, Uk
5/20/2015 Liquid Room Edinburgh, United Kingdom
5/23/2015 Southampton Common Southampton, United Kingdom
5/24/2015 Southampton Common Southampton, United Kingdom
5/30/2015 Bath University Claverton Down, United Kingdom
6/1/2015 O2 Academy2 Oxford Oxford, United Kingdom
6/2/2015 Junction Cambridge, United Kingdom
6/3/2015 The Lemon Grove Exeter, United Kingdom
6/7/2015 Wild Life Festival 2015 Brighton, United Kingdom
6/12/2015 O2 Shepherds Bush Empire London, United Kingdom
6/13/2015 O2 Shepherds Bush Empire London, United Kingdom
6/14/2015 Northside Festival Åbyhøj, Denmark
6/17/2015 Ibiza Rocks Ibiza, Spain
6/25/2015 Rock Werchter Rotselaar, Belgium
7/4/2015 Open’er Gdynia, Poland
7/8/2015 Rock in Rome Rome, Italy
7/10/2015 T in the Park 2015 Perthshire, United Kingdom
7/12/2015 T In The Park Scotland, United Kingdom
7/17/2015 Marlay Park Dublin, Ireland
7/19/2015 Latitude Henham Park, United Kingdom
7/22/2015 Croatia Rocks Pag, Croatia
8/12/2015 Tøyenparken Oslo, Norway
8/14/2015 Way Out West Festival Gothenburg, Sweden
8/15/2015 Flow Festival Helsinki, Finland
8/21/2015 Lowlands Festival Biddinghuizen, Netherlands
8/28/2015 Leeds Festival – NME/Radio 1 Stage Leeds, United Kingdom
8/30/2015 Reading Festival – NME/Radio 1 Stage Reading, United Kingdom
Brooklyn’s Body Language bring a four on the floor disco groove to Tei Shi’s irresistible 2014 blogo-smash “Bassically”. Tei Shi is definitely one to watch at this year’s SXSW conference; do not miss her in Austin.
Tei Shi 
(Soundcloud)
Body Language (Facebook)
Rating 8.4
“Home” is new from Des Moines, IA artist Max Jury. The 21-year old’s wistful piano-driven “Home” reminds a bit thematically of Elton John or even Paul McCartney at their more vulnerable moments. “Home” really impresses on its beautifully simple melodic phrasings and warm instrumentation. We love it. Mr. Jury has a new EP in the works and will be in Austin next week for several performances at SXSW.
Max Jury 
(Soundcloud)
Great name for a band, right? Three of the four Gateway Drugs peeps include Gabe, Noa, and Liv, the two sons and a daughter of bassist Prescott Niles of The Knack. Yes, this family grew up in the aura of that unforgettable “My Sharona” octave bassline. That was the #1 song of 1979 so how could it not be an influence, right? Their sense of melody is definitely present, but this band rocks hard, heavy, and raw. “Fridays” has a driving, hooky garage feel to it that will stick to you throughout, starting with the intro. Check out their Magick Spells album, which will show you the depth this band possesses. They are currently on tour with Swervedriver and will be at SXSW next week. Their Roxy show last week was a major success here in West Hollywood; the sound mix wasn’t favorable to their vocals but what came through was that these guys seriously know how to play and that they’re at the gateway to bigger things. Reviewed by Bruce Rave.
Hear Bruce’s “Go Deep With Bruce Rave” weekly new music show on Indie1031/Los Angeles, KX 93.5-FM/Laguna Beach, and WSUM-FM/Madison. Details and archived shows can be found on his blog and be sure to follow Bruce on Twitter too!
Gateway Drugs 
(Facebook)
