It's that time again. As the weather heats up—and so does the music, some songs will stand out above others. From heavy hitters to pop shop singers to indie stars to fresh-faced up-and-comers, you never know who will rise to the top.
Photo by Eliot Lee Hazel
Capital Cities, the L.A. duo comprised of Ryan Merchant and Sebu Simonian, premiered their new video for "Safe and Sound" on Thursday. The track is the lead single off the pair's forthcoming album, In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery, which takes its title from the song's lyrics.
**Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from Matthew Mayfield's interview in our new issue. The full feature can be found here.
Matthew Mayfield is a fighter. After his band Moses Mayfield disbanded in 2008, the Birmingham-based singer-songwriter set out to build a solid fanbase that—without the support of PR representation or radio play—carried him to crack the Billboard Top 200 with last year’s Banquet for Ghosts. Now the fighter is back, armed with a brand new EP, a covers EP and a live EP, and he is once again enlisting his supporters to assist him in conquering his next goal: radio. We had the chance to speak with Mayfield recently about these new releases and the road ahead.
2012 Mercury award winning band and triple BRIT nominees Alt-J is to collaborate with director Bruce Goodison to compose a soundtrack for the movie Leave to Remain.
Heading into this weekend's Grammy ceremony, breakout pop trio fun. in a new radio interview discussed their whirlwind year that will likely be capped off on Sunday with a gold trophy.
Photo by IAMKAT
Holland-based artist Blaudzun last week officially made his U.S. debut with new album Heavy Flowers. It is the third full-length for Johannes Sigmond, who played in several bands before venturing out solo as Blaudzun, a name inspired by a relatively unknown Danish cyclist.
It's no secret this year is already promising some of the biggest album releases, with some of the biggest names returning for highly anticipated new LPs. While it's only January, and this list will only continue to grow, we want to know whose album you're particularly looking forward to this year.
It's the beginning of a brand new year, and we want to make Variance better for you! As we mentioned in our latest issue, without you, we simply don't exist. Your feedback, your suggestions and your submissions are critical to what we do. In order for us to maintain a focus on The Sights and Sounds You Love, we're asking readers to take this short survey to improve the site and our content.
Two up-and-comers of 2012 are still a couple of our favorites heading into the new year, but wouldn't you agree that maybe next year alt-J and Chet Faker should collaborate? Britain's Mercury Prize-winning quartet alt-J and Melbourne, Australia electronic soul artist Chet Faker have been featured on the same bill opening for The Temper Trap, so perhaps a joint musical effort isn't out of the question. What do you think?
Photo by Blake Pellenberg
Tilky Jones may not yet be a household name, but his star is definitely on the rise. Following prominent roles on One Tree Hill and Pretty Little Liars, the 31-year-old actor-musician is back in the spotlight, recently joining ABC’s top freshman drama Nashville as Sean Butler, the new love interest for Juliette Barnes (Hayden Paynettiere).
As evidenced in last week’s episode, Jones’s character is having quite the impact on Juliette—the country starlet originally paired up with Sean for good PR. Now, the football charmer—a “Tim Tebow type,” according to Jones—is all wrapped up in the sudsy mess that is “Music City,” albeit a fictionalized version.
Editor's Note: This is an archive version of the original article, which was first published in a digital format.
