Location: Kingston NY

The latest from NY psych/shoegaze rocker Shana Falana, Darkest Light (Arrowhawk Records) explores extreme contrasts and the process of conversion. From anthemic pop (“Go Higher”) into gutsy sludge rock (title track) and moments of elegant, minimalist beauty (“Come and Find Me”), Darkest Light is described by Falana as “druggy music by sober people.” In her 40s and owning it, the veteran of the San Francisco and Brooklyn experimental pop scenes finds themes of rebirth and empowerment in the darkest materials. Falana worked for the third time with producer D. James Goodwin (Kevin Morby, Wand) to craft a record of great sonic and thematic substance. Shana combines live looping of reverb-drenched vocals and guitar with tribal drums and stunning visual projections. Her live experience has often been described as transcendental.

“Psychedelic dream pop dashed on the rocks of goth defiance” -Stereogum

“If you want to zone out, Shana Falana’s alluring debut LP gives many opportunities to do so.” -Pitchfork

http://www.shanafalana.com/

A southern occultist juxtaposed in the middle of New York City, Breanna Barbara writes songs that make your soul dance, songs that make you question how many lives you’ve led, or if you ever lived at all.

Through her rambling of the earth, she’s traced a map constellated with pins, strings, and patterns. Here’s one that charts St. Augustine to New Orleans, to New York City, knotting the places she has lived and gathered sonic inspiration. Another loops around the kingdoms of Scandinavia then, lower, ties the mountains of Switzerland, through the beaches of Italy, to the monuments of Paris where she sung her songs to foreign followers.

Over here, Nashville is tacked: a keepsake for her first album, ‘Mirage Dreams’, which she recorded with Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes), which gained praises from V Magazine (“her smoky quartz voice is one in a million”), Bandcamp (“fans of Chelsea Wolfe and King Dude will find plenty here to love”), and Action Bronson who invited her to perform on his VICE talk show.

The densest fragment of the tapestry, with strands criss-crossing throughout, covers North America, where she toured with trip-hop legend Tricky before recording songs for the his latest record and his label’s first compilation.

If you squint, these motifs might start making sense but don’t be fooled: the full picture is yet to come.

https://breannabarbara.bandcamp.com/

Toebow (pronounced tō-bō) is not only a band. It is a state of mind and a world of its own. The music is playful and lighthearted, yet also severe—a progressive cartoon rock soundtrack forged from the inner goofs of the human soul. Toebow was originally formed in 2013 by close friends and alumni of the defunct indie dream-pop group BOBBY (formerly active via Partisan Records) immediately following BOBBY’s dissolve in late 2012. The personnel has evolved slightly over the years, and has included members of other noteworthy New York bands such as Uni Ika Ai, Ensemble, et al. & Zula.

“Themes” is Toebow’s latest release, and showcases the band’s tapestry of positive, upbeat sounds that are at times odd and unexpected but remain palatable, accessible, and mostly danceable. Quirky guitar lines flutter over bouncy bass and rumbling percussion, while smooth male-female vocal harmonies, lush synth lines and the occasional drum machine tie the gentle chaos neatly together. “Themes” is a tasting plate of Toebow’s distinct flavors. Wacky by nature but severe in execution, Toebow “…artfully straddles the border between sincerity and goofiness” (ThrdCoast) yet their songs often confront the more stoic and sometimes somber sides of their experience.

Having spent several years incubating their material at home and at shows, Toebow developed a set of “core” songs that became the staples of the band’s live set. The songs on their latest album summarize the “Themes” of Toebow, comprising the fundamental tenets of the band’s serious yet playful sound.

toebowband.com

https://soundcloud.com/toebow

Bobby Chaniel is a vocalist and producer from Queens, New York.
Having found passion in music touching the ebony and ivory keys at the young age of nine years old, the Laguardia High School Alumni continued an extensive education having studied Classical Voice, Classical Piano, and Music Theory supplemented by his mentors outside of class by the likes of established musicians such as piano virtuoso Jiaxin Tian.
After Bobby’s unfortunate incident during his senior year of high school where he was arrested for exaggerated charges pertaining to him posting a threat on social media, his suspension along with time in and out of courtrooms made him reconsider his direction in life and decided to fully commit to producing and writing songs. With the financial assistance of his mother to acquire recording equipment, Chaniel began building a name for himself in the SoundCloud underground scene. His self-produced hit-single ‘My Bag’, off his debut album ‘The Birth of Bobby Chaniel’ garnered viral attention on Instagram featuring as a top post on #rapper.
Chaniel is currently studying Audio Engineering at SUNY New Paltz for an undergraduate degree with notable figures in the theatre and multimedia audio field, such as Sound Designer Sun Hee Kil and Jody Elff.

https://bobbychaniel.com/

Hi!! We are four piece “Indie, Post Punky Art Rock” band from NY. We put out our first record Dec 2019 called “Fresh Paint” which has been categorized and compared with Talking Heads, Pixies, Wire and Devo. We put out a record where 100% of the proceeds went to charity during the pandemic and are about to finish our first full length record this spring!!

we from the soil
we from the earth
we from the ground
we from the Dirt .

BattleaXXX is a band of three wom+n in Albany, NY. They want to put the raw in rock. You get it. Meg Hotter of Swamp Baby and knotworking is on bass and vocals. Brooke Degener of The Tender Breasts and Gay Tastee is on drums. Martha Moscowitz of Princess Mabel and The Tortfeasors is on guitar and lead vocals. Although they are unfailingly polite to check-out clerks and fellow drivers, they are ruuuuuude bitches with an agenda to put the P-Y in art, in order to make PARTY.

This has been a several years long project, on and off, now based in Kingston. We make self-produced, textured music with rock, electronic, experimental and other elements.

denmark.bandcamp.com

Carrying the banner of righteous weirdness, here comes Out of System Transfer, the city’s much-needed gonzo anti-folk punk rock radical leftist hootenanny. Their funny and fierce tunes blend the rage of Reagan-era punks like Dead Kennedys and Mojo Nixon with the rootsy feel and harmonies of acts like the Carter Family and Pete Seeger. With unparalleled energy, uncompromising radical politics, and an insatiable thirst for fun, these four anarchofolk weirdos share one primary main objective: to rock your entire ass off.

outofsystemtransfer.com

Luella Roche is an 18 year old singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist born in New York city and raised in Kingston, New York. Luella is making her solo debut with her EP titled “Falling Blue”, which she wrote and recorded when she was 17. Performing at O+ would be Luella’s debut performance of her new EP. Luella has been included and embraced in the Woodstock music community from a young age, having opportunities to play at Levon Helm’s barn since she was 10 years old. She has had the honor to play alongside and record with musicians such as Natalie Merchant, Larry Campbell, Gail Ann Dorsey, Ronnie Spector, Amy Helm, and Marco Benevento, as well as playing live shows throughout the community for the past 8 years with the Rock Academy in Woodstock. At 12 years old Luella auditioned and was selected to perform during Chloe Sevignys New York Fashion week show, as well as multiple other New York and Paris Fashion week performances for Ryan Roche. Growing up in a community with such rich music history, some of Luella’s musical influences include Stevie Nicks, Joni Mitchell, Led Zeppelin, Feist, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, George Harrison, Nick Drake and Kate Bush. Music has always been Luella’s most powerful medicine, and her mission as a musician is to create music that can be healing to others.