After two straight columns featuring Q&As with industry types, we’re going to keep the focus this week squarely on some awesome talent. Thanks for feeding my inbox ([email protected]); the level of artistry so far this year has been amazing.
SPOTLIGHT
Imagine Dragons (www.myspace.com/imaginedragons): The Vegas-based quintet embodies the restless energy of the city that never sleeps. Their brief but impressive resume includes sharing the stage with indie notables Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Nico Vega and The Envy Corps, as well as opening for mainstream acts such as Blue October and Kelly Clarkson. The band’s material is both anthemic and infectious, and the weasels are seriously sniffing around this one. The band’s achievements include winning the 94.1 FM Band
ON DECK
J-Best (www.myspace.com/jbest): There’s an exciting new sound on the rap scene, and it’s coming from this up and coming MC. J-Best is breathing new life into hip-hop, as demonstrated by his wide stage performance, which is gaining in popularity. Using his music to share stories about his own life, he continuously reaches a wider audience. For the past five years, his sounds and music have been heard at the
BAND UPDATE
Kicking Daisies: The band just finished appearing on Fearless Music on Fox-TV and syndicated nationally. They won the subsequent online contest for most popular performance and outpolled all the other bands combined which earned them a second week on the show. You can watch their performance right here. Additionally, they recently completed filming a live concert film project and are currently in the studio recording their first album with multi-Grammy-winning producer Mike Mangini (Jonas Brothers, Joss Stone). They’ve written 36 songs over the past nine months and will winnow the batch down to around 15 for the album. The recently released video of the self-titled song "Kicking Daisies" premiered on HD Net's Discovery program, and has also been picked up by the cable channels including Music Mix USA, Hits Records Nightlife, California Music Channel, Fox Tracks, R7R TV, A3TV and the MYX Channel. On top of that, retail chain Journeys put the song in heavy rotation for the month of January. They’ll be doing an East Coast showcase at SIR on March 3; sets start at 5:30 and 7:30. RSVP with [email protected] or [email protected].
DANIEL NIGRO: CRACKING THE CODE
The co-writer-producer of the moment, in his own words (12/11a)
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NOW WHAT?
We have no fucking idea.
COUNTRY'S NEWEST DISRUPTOR
Three chords and some truth you may not be ready for.
AI IS ALREADY EATING YOUR LUNCH
The kids can tell the difference... for now.
WHO'S BUYING THE DRINKS?
That's what we'd like to know.
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