TEEN official site | TEEN on Facebook | TEEN on Tumblr | TEEN on Bandcamp | TEEN on Carpark Records

TEEN’s second album, 2014’s The Way and Color, was a stunning creative breakthrough. Singer and multi-instrumentalist Teeny Lieberson’s voice is starkly highlighted, but the whole record is a conversation between her; Katherine Lieberson’s crafty, minimalist drumming; Boshra AlSaadi’s lithe, sinuous bass lines; and Lizzie Lieberson’s irresistible synth hooks. Now the group is back with its strongest release to date: the third full-length of their discography, Love Yes.

Born out of a creative process that included a dismal winter workshopping in Woodstock, a writing renaissance for lead-singer Teeny Lieberson in Kentucky, and a triumphant return to home in Nova Scotia to record, Love Yes is a lush, bold new creation that builds upon the group’s previous efforts and takes off.

On the album cover, the quartet is bejeweled in crystals and bathed in Venusian red. This red is the color of vitality and pulsing life—unmistakable traits of Love Yes. It is the iconic red of Dorothy’s slippers and Eve’s apple—potent with society’s tales and notions of innocence lost. In Love Yes, something else more mysterious and tender is gained.

TEEN was founded in 2010 by lead-singer and multi-instrumentalist Teeny Lieberson (Here We Go Magic). She self-recorded and self-released the beguiling lo-fi Little Doods LP the following year, then formed a band that included sisters Katherine and Lizzie, and signed to Carpark for 2012’s In Limbo. Produced by Sonic Boom (Spectrum, Spacemen 3), In Limbo encompasses everything in between sprawling, ethereal ballads and trancey but kinetic pop. Rolling Stone listed its opening track “Better” as one of the “50 Best Songs of 2012.” The Carolina EP followed in 2013 and was even more varied and accomplished; the band was growing by breathtaking leaps and bounds. TEEN’s second full-length, The Way and Color, mixes the band’s melodic psych with the sound of post-millennial R&B. The LP has its share of darkness—fear, regret, and loss are all in the picture—but it’s always redeemed by the sheer soulfulness and powerful ingenuity of the music. The album is a reflection on the aggressive times we live in, one that often lacks selflessness. TEEN’s response is one that uplifts and brings a sense of happiness and joy. Love Yes continues this communication, this time exploring the disharmony and empowerment that both sexuality and spirituality can create within the modern woman’s psyche. Universal ideas of loyalty, pleasure, purity, power, aging, and love are confronted with a knowable specificity. There is a quality of wholesomeness, but also an edge—a kind of wise anger and electricity.

Photo credit: Hannah Whitaker

Sharkmuffin Official Site | Sharkmuffin on Bandcamp | Sharkmuffin on Facebook | Sharkmuffin on Twitter | Sharkmuffin on Instagram

Sharkmuffin’s name fits. The Brooklyn 3-piece outfit crafts adorable pop music with jagged, garage-aged fangs. With 12 years of guitar playing under her belt, Tarra Thiessen (vocals/guitar/theremin/pocket piano) discovered bassist/vocalist Natalie Kirch at the Jersey Shore on July 4, 2012 only months before the very beach house in which they met was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. After a run with a couple drummers, a trip to SXSW, the release of their first self-titled 7”, and the release of their first EP “She-Gods of Champagne Valley” in April 2013, Janet LaBelle joined the sonically crushing trifecta during CMJ 2013. Soon after they released the “1097” EP, named after the beach house Natalie and Tarra first jammed at, providing four quick but intense slaps in the face, as each biting track clocks in at less than two minutes.

With a short West Coast Tour and tracking scheduled for February 2014, Janet LaBelle suddenly unfortunately had to step down due to an arm injury. Patty Schemel (Upset/Death Valley Girls/ex-Hole) filled in last minute for Sharkmuffin’s LA dates and also recorded 10 tracks with Sharkmuffin for their first LP. The rest of 2014 was filled with touring with a beautiful cast of fill-in drummers including Leslie Hong from Haybaby, Rebecca Derosa from Fisty, and Mattie Siegal from Granny, playing on the east coast and Midwest with Dead Stars, a few Warped Tour dates, and a full solo west coast tour. With a recipe of influences, from The Breeders, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Hole, The Ventures, to early Black Sabbath, Sharkmuffin has evolved their super-heavy, noise-punk-meets psychedelic power pop. Their debut LP, “Chartreuse,” featuring Patty Schemel on drums, will be released Summer 2015.

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Photo Credit: Trent McGinn

Looms official site | Looms on Facebook | Looms on Bandcamp
 
Formed in the winter of 2012, Looms consists of frontman Sharif Mekawy (vocals, keys, guitar), Harry Morris Jr. (guitar), A. Hammond Murray (bass) and Zach Eichenhorn (drums). The groups’ music is written around vocals and melodic instrumental arrangements. Each song has its own identity, an evolving catalogue that runs the gamut of song construction. Rock, pop, jazz, electronic, country and folk music are dissected and deconstructed down to their basic components, and then reassembled during the bands writing process. Following the release of their debut LP, Waking Days, the band is already set to record new material in early 2015. Looms’s newest compositions are equal parts rhythm and content with insightful, emotionally engaging vocals. Looms has built a grassroots fan base by captivating its audience. Fans return knowing they are not going to see a cookie cutter set because of the groups’ improvisational acumen within bridge and solo sections. Non-traditional covers and varied set lists build the mysticism and musical prowess of the group.