Thursday, May 14, 2015

Pop songs that are both ultra-catchy, socially conscious: Unlikely pairing is masterfully handled by Houston-based band The Wheel Workers.

Named one of city’s best pop acts by Houston Press, band set to release new album “CITIZENS” May 26th.  Hear “Burglar” via PopMatters now.

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The Wheel Workers (L-R): Craig Wilkins, Steven Higginbotham, Allison Wilkins McPhail, Jason Williams, Tyson Sheth. Photo Credit: Patrick Bertolino.

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The Wheel Workers – In The Press

“Painfully catchy.” – MAGNET

“Houston's brightest hope. Damn. Seriously righteous.” – BLURT

“Sincerely progressive and catchy as hell.” – Space City Rock

“Sociopolitical consciousness with a memorable hook.” – The Big Takeover

“New Wave synth stylings meet sharp lyrics.” – PopMatters

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“Burglar” is the latest single from CITIZENS by The Wheel Workers.  Hear it via PopMatters or at the links below!





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Check out the premiere of the music video for “Yodel” by The Wheel Workers via The Big Takeover

The Wheel Workers is a Houston-based five-piece recently nominated as Houston’s “Best Pop Act” in 2014’s Houston Press Music Awards. The band also received a nomination for Steven Higginbotham, the group’s lyricist, as “Best Songwriter” – an especially noteworthy accomplishment for a pop band.

“I love artists who’ve had something substantial to say beyond the standard lyrical fare in pop songs,” Higginbotham says.  The Houston Chronicle called The Wheel Workers’ previous release “one of the best albums made in Houston last year,” and now the band will follow it up with a new record CITIZENS, scheduled for release on May 26th , 2015.

When Higginbotham talks about substance in pop songs, he’s talking about the pairing of sociopolitical consciousness with a memorable hook. After all, there’s a reason that listeners are still moved by the catchiest folk and punk protest songs of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and The Clash.

This approach to music-making by The Wheel Workers is the reason why the Houston Chronicle went on in that same piece to call the album a “thoughtful recording that offers new rewards during repeated playings.”  On CITIZENS, the band’s way of doing things has become masterful, with the album’s opener “Yodel” providing a vibrant example of the pairing of hook and substance.

Learn more about The Wheel Workers and the upcoming CITIZENS album via this album preview video!

The album’s latest single (and a perfect example of just how The Wheel Workers can conjure an earworm) is “Burglar,” recently premiered via PopMatters.

“The original idea for the song was written a day after my house was burglarized, thus the title,” Higginbotham explains.  “Fortunately, they didn't go upstairs, so my recording gear was intact!  I had been drinking, and my singing style on the song is reflective of my weird, drunken, semi-angry and vulnerable state at the time.”

Along with Higginbotham, The Wheel Workers is comprised of Allison Wilkins McPhail (a fellow Houston Press Music Awards nominee as “Best Keyboardist”), Craig Wilkins, Tyson Sheth, and Dan WorkmanCITIZENS by The Wheel Workers arrives on May 26th , 2015.

Members of The Wheel Workers are available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.

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The Wheel Workers – Live

05/22 Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s CITIZENS Record Release Show
05/25 Austin, TX @ House Show w/ Czars
05/29 Beaumont, TX @ Texas Rose Saloon
06/13 Houston, TX @ Numbers
06/14 Houston, TX @ Beerfest
07/18 Bryan, TX @ Revolution
07/25 Houston, TX @ Rudyard’s
08/07 San Antonio, TX @ Josabi’s
08/14 Beaumont, TX @ Texas Rose Saloon

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The Wheel Workers
CITIZENS
(S/R – May 26th, 2015)


Track Listing:

01. Yodel (STREAM | DOWNLOAD | MP3 | VIDEO)
02. Burglar (STREAM | DOWNLOAD | MP3)
03. Whole Other World
04. Smokescreen
05. Wage Slaves
06. Run Away
07. Dream
08. Citizen Incorporated

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The Wheel Workers Links


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Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion


Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Kansas-based 17-year-old producer Brooks Brown makes new four-song EP “Sidetracked” available for free download today.

“There are a ton of producers trying to make records this good, but most of them don’t even come close.” – The Music Ninja

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Brooks Brown as photographed by Skylar Rain

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Brooks Brown – In The Press

“His age has no impact on his delicate, evolving sound.” – Earmilk

“Confident and incredibly mature.” – The 405

“We’re still on the hunt for the future... Brooks Brown is as close to it as we’re getting.” – Complex

“An outlet of escapist productions to enlighten your world.” – Impose

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Brooks Brown
“Sidetracked” EP
Available Now



Track Listing:

01. Sidetracked (ft. Madi Walsh) (STREAM)
02. Countdown (STREAM)
03. Lights Out (STREAM)
04. Awake (STREAM)

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Check out the premiere of the title track from “Sidetracked” via Earmilk and check out “Countdown” via PureVolume.

Brooks Brown was recently interviewed by Impose.  Read it here and check out the premiere of “Lights Out” at The 405.

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Brooks Brown is a 17-year-old producer, multi-instrumentalist, and self-described “seemingly normal teenager” originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma and now based in Leawood, Kansas. 

“My love for music defines my life,” he says. “It has grown into an infatuation and fuel for my dreams.”

Brown releases a new four-song EP called “Sidetracked” today.  The EP includes two new instrumentals along with two new vocal tracks, one featuring Brown himself on the mic for the first time.  The other, the EP’s title track and first single, features the beautiful voice of singer Madi Walsh, who Brown met when both were attending GRAMMY® Camp in Los Angeles in 2014.  The track was recently premiered exclusively via music discovery website Earmilk.

“I was working on music with Madi in mind when ‘Sidetracked’ first creeped onto my computer,” Brown recalls. “I sent her the tune, and within a few days, she sent me back a gorgeous vocal.”  As the pair started to think about how they wanted to release the track, it eventually became the core of what is now the “Sidetracked” EP, four cuts that hold together as a dreamy, hopeful, and optimistic set of songs.  Not bad for “seemingly normal” teenager.

Other cuts from “Sidetracked” can be heard via Impose, The 405, PureVolume, and the artist’s own Soundcloud and Bandcamp pages.  The “Sidetracked” EP by Brooks Brown is available for free download now.  Brooks Brown is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.

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Brooks Brown – Live

06/04 Kansas City, MO @ Mosaic Ultra Lounge
06/05 Kansas City, MO @ Workhouse Castle


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Brooks Brown Links


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Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion


Monday, May 11, 2015

Classically trained guitarist Jeremy Bass to release Bossa nova-inspired “New York In Spring” June 9th, his second of 2015’s two seasonal albums.

Musical Director of NYC’s OBIE Award-winning Secret City performance gathering, Bass scheduled to play Rockwood record release show June 7th.

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Jeremy Bass as photographed by Robyn Hasty.  Design by cultivate+.

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Jeremy Bass – In The Press

“Hope can be heard shining through.” – Exclaim!

“Daring and simple all at the same time.” – Guitar World

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Hear “Firefly” from New York In Spring, the second of 2015’s two seasonal albums from Jeremy Bass, via BLURT or at the links below!




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Jeremy Bass – Live

06/07 New York, NY @ Rockwood Music Hall “New York In Spring” Record Release Show
06/22 Brooklyn, NY @ Pete’s Candy Store 9PM

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For the last decade, Brooklyn-based songwriter Jeremy Bass has been the Musical Director of The Secret City, the OBIE Award (Off-Broadway Theater Awards) winning performance gathering.  Bass started with the group when its membership numbered in the single digits, and has seen The Secret City’s membership grow to the thousands during his tenure.

Even with such a substantial and supportive artistic community as an integral part of his daily life, Bass wrote his new pair of albums in literal isolation.  Returning to single living in Brooklyn after a rough divorce in late 2013, Bass found himself secluded in an empty house, sifting through his memories.

“All I wanted to do was hole up in a cave and wait for the storm to pass,” he remembers of that brutal winter of 2013. 

Ultimately, the period resulted in two distinct but complimentary records - Winter Bare, a Merle Haggard, Tom Waits, and Johnny Cash-influenced group of songs that feature the mandolin and banjo, “divorce gifts” that Bass bought for himself, and the upcoming New York In Spring (June 9th), a collection of Bossa nova-inspired tunes featuring Bass’ live band, and influenced by the great Bossa nova composer Jobim and Brazilian guitar masters Luis Bonfa and Baden Powell.

“We worship art” is The Secret City’s slogan, and Bass’ determination to complete Winter Bare and New York In Spring to his standards, and in such a short span of time (the records both being released in the first half of 2015), shows that he believes.

“The need to finish New York In Spring kept me so busy that I didn’t notice the cold and exhaustion any more.  I became obsessed with creating a completely different sound than what came before,” he says.  The first of those sounds from New York In Spring can be heard on “Firefly,” the album’s initial single, recently premiered via BLURT.

“I wrote it for a girl I fell in love with at the restaurant where I was working when I first moved to NYC,” Bass recalls. “I was teaching myself to play Bossa nova at the time, something they didn’t teach at the classical conservatory where I was studying. It’s a tricky technique, but becomes part of your muscle memory. ‘Firefly’ was the first tune I wrote using this technique, and it paved the way for the songs that followed, many of which ended up on New York In Spring all these years later.”

Thematically, Bass describes the song as “just a sweet, green love song about a guy trying to get a kiss from a girl.”  Winter Bare by Jeremy Bass is out now.  New York In Spring arrives on June 9th, 2015.

Jeremy Bass is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.

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Jeremy Bass
New York In Spring
(Self-Released)
June 9th, 2015
  

Track Listing:

01. Berimbau
02. Style
03. Firefly (STREAM | DOWNLOAD | MP3)
04. Julia
05. Work
06. Theme from El Decamaron Negro
07. Prayer (Banjo for Annie)
08. New York in Spring

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Jeremy Bass
Winter Bare
(Self-Released)
Out Now
  

Track Listing:

01. Introduction (Shoreline)
02. Lift Me Up (STREAM | DOWNLOAD | MP3)
03. Winter Bare (STREAM | DOWNLOAD | MP3)
04. One More Cigarette
05. Coming Back Home
06. Red Tailed Hawk
07. Winterlude (Banjo for Annie)
08. Counting
9. (Lookin’ For) The Heart of Saturday Night (Vinyl-Only Bonus Track)

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Jeremy Bass Links


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Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion