*Ben Swardlick
*Eric Luttrell
*Andy Coenen

This San Francisco trio are an electronic music group that are signed to Skrillex’s label OWSLA. The group achieved initial viral success with a teaser video for their two-part album Metropolis. In April 2012, the group released Metropolis Pt. I, the first installment of their two-part concept album. Metropolis Pt. I premiered online in Rolling Stone magazine’s online edition, followed by a worldwide release the next day. Metropolis Pt. II was released on February 19, 2013. Inspired by the film ‘Metropolis’, the two EPs tell the story of the dystopian city of Metropolis. A text/illustrated version of the story is also available in the form of digital liner notes on the band’s website. When performing live, the group designed, built, and performed its own live visuals in the form of a massive LED version of their iconic ‘M’. In addition to original material, the group has run official remixes for Bruno Mars, Passion Pit, Datsik/Kill The Noise, Madeon, Empire Of The Sun, Dog Blood, Mat Zo, and Arty. The M Machine have performed at high-profile festivals including Electric Daisy Carnival (Las Vegas & NYC), Tomorrowland, Outside Lands, South by Southwest, Nocturnal Wonderland, Electric Forest, Electric Zoo, and Camp Bisco.

You can check out a sample of their song ‘Superflat’ below in the media player.

Thanks to https://www.facebook.com/themmachine/info for some biographical information.

Image source: http://themusic.com.au/

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Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (Lana Del Ray) is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is a throwback to the musical influences of the 1950s-1960s. Elizabeth grew up in Lake Placid, New York but moved to New York City at age 18 where she started singing at open mic nights like Lilo’s Lounge in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She also lived in a New Jersey trailer park for some time. Del Rey first released a three-track EP titled ‘Kill Kill’ in October 2008 under the name Lizzy Grant, featuring the tracks ‘Kill Kill’, ‘Yayo’ and ‘Gramma (Blue Ribbon Sparkler Trailer Heaven)’. In 2010, Elizabeth released her first studio album on the independent label ‘5 Points’. The album was called ‘Lana Del Ray aka Lizzy Grant’. It appeared briefly on Itunes and got a decent reaction but then was pulled shortly after. Speculation is that Lana pulled the album off Itunes and bought back the rights to the album from the label as way of making it unavailable to the public.

Elizabeth explained the change of her stage name from Lizzy Grant to Lana Del Ray by discussing her love of the Spanish language and Miami and the way that the name brings a touch of glamour when you hear it for the first time. Lana would release the single ‘Video Games’ on youtube and the video for the song was shot with iMovie and directed by Lana. The song went viral and became a huge hit and helped Lana to get the attention of major music labels. In 2011, Del Ray signed a joint deal with Interscope and Polydor and released another album called ‘Born to Die’ that was launched worldwide on January 31, 2012. The album went #1 in seven countries. Del Ray would do a live performance on SNL which got a lot of negative attention from critics who said that her performance lacked confidence and that the singer looked nervous performing live in front of a studio audience. Del Ray has kept pushing past the critics and released another music video for the song ‘Carmen’. She plans on re-releasing her fist album ‘Lany Del Ray aka Lizzy Grant’ sometime in 2012.

You can listen to a tiny bit of her single ‘Video Games’ in the media player below.

Thanks to http://www.nme.com/ for some biographical information.

Image source: http://www.last.fm

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*Jordan Gatesmith: Lead guitar and vocals
*Brent Mayes: Drums
*Ian Nygaard: Guitar
*Max Petrek: Keyboard
*Jay Simonson: Bass

Howler is an indie rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Gatesmith and Petrek helped to form the band after a chance encounter at a Planned Parenthood clinic where they met each other and found out that they had the same taste in music. Howler released its first EP, ‘This One’s Different’, in the United States in February 14, 2011. London-based record label Rough Trade Records signed the band to a record deal in the Summer of 2011. Howler’s debut album, ‘America Give Up’, was released in January 2012. NME publication in the UK has named Howler their #3 Best New Band of 2011 and Complex magazine has Howler in their top 20 to watch list for 2012. The band will be playing Reading & Leeds Festivals in August 2012 and are hoping to have a second album out sometime in 2013.

You can check out a sample of their song ‘Back of your Neck’ below in the media player.

Thanks to http://www.wikipedia.org for some biographical information.

Image source: http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk

[audio:https://boobnewb.com/blog/audio/Howler_ArtistSpotlight.mp3]
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Frank Ocean, is an American singer-songwriter from New Orleans, Louisiana. Frank Ocean began his career with the producer duo The MIDI Mafia. Since 2009, he’s been a part of the hip-hop collective known as ‘Odd Future’ which also features popular hip-hop artist/producer Tyler the Creator. He has written several songs for such artists as Justin Bieber, John Legend, Brandy and Beyonce Knowles. On February 18, 2011, Ocean released his first mixtape, ‘Nostalgia, Ultra’, to critical acclaim. The single ‘Novacane’ was released to iTunes on May 31, 2011, by his music label Def Jam records. In the summer of 2011, Ocean worked on the Kanye West and Jay-Z collaborative album ‘Watch the Throne’. Def Jam records is set to release his debut album in Spring 2012. Ocean’s first lead single, ‘Thinkin’ Bout You’, will be released to retailers on April 10, 2012. Ocean is set to go on tour as the opening act for the band ‘Coldplay’ in July-August 2012.

You can take a quick listen to his song ‘Thinkin Bout You’ on the media player below the article.

Image source: http://www.xclusiveszone.net/

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*Simon Ridley: Guitar
*Shane Parsons: Drums

Simon Ridley and Shane Parsons are two musicians hailing from Brisbane,Australia. They infamously began their musical career by playing loudly at parties and enjoying being rock stars in a country that often finds rock stars ‘cheesy’. The thrash rock band have supported the Foo Fighters on a recent Australian tour and toured Britain with the band ‘Cerebral Ballzy’. Also, the band has played three shows at the SXSW festival in 2011 and followed that up with another six performances at the festival in 2012 which featured a guest appearance by musician Andrew W.K. Their first single ‘Dollar Chills’ is taken from the band’s debut record ‘Bloodstreams’ which is coming out in the US on May 8th.

You can listen to a sample of their debut single in our music player below the article.

Image source: http://www.last.fm/

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