Since John Mayer’s last album ‘Battle Studies’ was released, 2009, he has been through a disastrous roller coaster ride. He did two famous self-destructing interviews in 2010, one with Playboy and the other with Rolling Stone. The interviews turned out to be a blessing in disguise. After them, he pulled way back from the spotlight and went into hiding.
The L.A. duo Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno perform under the moniker Best Coast. They blew up the indie-pop charts with their debut album “Crazy For You” in 2010. Out today, through Mexican Summer Records, Best Coast cleans up well in their second studio album ‘The Only Place’, losing the fuzziness and gaining some clarity in Cosentino’s, now confident, ever so sweet vocals.
For someone so seemingly mired in obscurity from the popular consensus, Anya Marina has forged her music into the ears of the masses as her music has been featured on numerous television sitcom soundtracks including, most recently, the “New Moon” film soundtrack.
Not to be confused with John McLaughlin, Jon McLaughlin is a promising pop rock artist from Indiana. Promising Promises is his third full studio album. He has been spotted on tour opening up for acts like Kelly Clarkson and Sara Bareilles. Along with writing and performing music, he also made an appearance playing a song for the Disney movie Enchanted, which led to a famous performance at the 80th Academy Awards. Jon McLaughlin has accomplished plenty of things at his young age of 29, and I strongly believe that he will continue to do so with his immense talent.
Childhood friends Deric Williams (Lead Vocals, Guitar), and Daniel Clark (Percussion, Drums) formed as Motive for Movement in 2005. The past seven years have brought them lineup changes, countless shows/tours/ festival dates, multiple albums (Including their 2010 self-recorded/produced full length "Our Concrete Neighbors,” mixed by Mike Majors), and a considerable progression of sound. They changed their name, this year, to Foreign Home to better represent where they are going instead of where they’ve been. Foreign Home will be releasing the “How Strange the Night EP” sometime this spring. The new EP was produced/mixed by Costa Stasinopoulos at Blackwatch Studios (Norman, OK) and The Church Studio (Tulsa, OK) and Mastered by Mike Marsh (Phoenix, Two Door Cinema Club, Klaxons) at The Exchange Studio London. With a belief that there are only two kinds of music, good & bad, Foreign Home isn’t afraid to draw from and incorporate any style of music into their genre-bending tunes. Finding influence in everything from surf music to progressive rock, post-punk to pop, the guys of Foreign Home (Deric Williams, Daniel Clark, Tobie Munroe, and Chris Davis) have set out to redefine what American Indie can be, and succeeded.
The Audition’s debut LP “Controversy Loves Company” was released through Victory in September of 2005. From January 2008- March 2010 they released three more full length albums including; their second full length LP entitled ‘Champion’ (January 2008) which made it on the Billboard 200 list, 'Self-Titled Album' (April 2009), and ‘Great Danger’ (March 2010). In January of 2009 it was announced that original bassist and founding member Joe Lussa would be leaving the band. Bass duties were handled by Tim Klepek and the band continued for this period as a four-piece. Besides playing Warped Tour in 2006, 2007, and 2008, they have also played with acts such as; The Academy Is..., Silverstein, Mae, Head Automatica, Jack's Mannequin, New Found Glory, Boys Like Girls, All Time Low, Valencia, and We The Kings. In September 2011 the band announced that their original bass player, Joe Lussa, had rejoined the band and that original guitarist, Seth Johnson, had left and is now replaced by Jimmy Lopez. The Audition was signed to Victory Records from 2005-2011 and during that time they released four magnificent albums, but those years are now behind them and they are now “on their own.” I say that in quotes because, after having completed their contract with Victory Records, they started a Kickstarter and with the help of their fans they met their goal, plus more, and were able to record their newest EP titled “Chapter ll”. While some people might disagree with bands using Kickstarter to make money off of fans, I want to believe that bands that genuinely have talent and a passion for music will use the money to their advantage and put out a record that everyone will be proud of. So let’s support The Audition as they take on “Chapter ll” of their music careers. You can now purchase it on iTunes, Amazon MP3 and other digital music services. If you haven't had a chance to read the interview I did with Danny Steven's, a few months ago, then you can read it here.