New Music Mix: All Male Review - Spotlight on Emerging Out Artists!
So this week in our New Music Mix we’re taking the time to highlight some emerging and exciting out artists who deserve attention and seem destined for big things on the horizon. Sit back and read up on some cute male singers who are making their best effort at shaking up the music industry, some transgendered artists who are defying and defining new genres, and even a country cutie who’s pushing Nashville’s boundaries on sexuality. There’s something for everyone here and hopefully you’ll find an artist you identify with or a new song you love.
ON TOUR
Owen Pallet in concert
Owen Pallett
We are excited to unveil a brand new video for the song "The Great Elsewhere," a track off Owen Pallett's critically acclaimed album Heartland. The video was directed by Yuula Benivolski and Geoffrey Pugen and can be viewed here.
Pallett will also be playing live dates this month and next, in the U.S. and Europe, including a full orchestral presentation of Heartland at the Barbican in London, a special performance at the String Theory Music Festival featuring Nat Baldwin of Dirty Projectors in Minneapolis, and a performance at the MusicNow Festival in Cincinnati.
Full dates as follows:
20th April, GERMANY, Erlangen, Markgrafentheater
21st April, GERMANY, Berlin, Berghain (Friction Festival)
23rd April, POLAND, Gdansk, Centrum Stocznia Gdanska
25th April, SWITZERLAND, St. Gallen, Palace
26th April, SWITZERLAND, Fribourg, Fri-son
28th April, AUSTRIA, Krems, Halle 1 (Donau Festival)
30th April, DENMARK, Aarhus, Voxhall (Pop Revo Festival)
1st May, MALTA, Hamrun, Gejtau Band Club
4th May, SPAIN, Barcelona, Bikini
8th May, UK, London, Barbican Hall (Reverberations: The Influence of Steve Reich)
14th May, USA, Cincinnati, Memorial Hall (MusicNOW Festival)
Also be sure to read Pallet’s recent controversial interview in which the openly gay singer criticizes Morrissey for not directly answering questions about his sexuality. What are your thoughts? Should musicians have to answer honestly about their sexuality or should it all be about the music?
Tom Goss
On April 12 Washington, DC-based singer/songwriter Tom Goss released his third full-length album Turn It Around, a beautiful collection of richly constructed, heartfelt acoustic pop songs.
Turn It Around was inspired primarily by his recent marriage to his partner of five years, andevokes a gritty passion and fierce intelligence to matters both personal and political. On the track “All I Ever Wanted” Goss tells the tale of losing one’s faith, inspired by his personal struggle and experience leaving the Catholic seminary - Goss once aspired to become a Catholic priest but left after a year and a half, disillusioned and frustrated.
Goss is no stranger to accolades. He’s earned national exposure including the #1 spot on LOGO’s Top 10 Video List for his powerful song “Till The End,” and generated buzz with his DADT-themed video for “Lover.”
Goss kicked off an extensive solo acoustic spring tour on March 5th in Philadelphia at the Psalm Salon. The 50-city tour will take him everywhere from NYC, Boston, his hometown of Washington, DC, St. Louis and Houston with additional dates nationwide being added regularly. Check his site for details!
Tom Goss Tour Dates:
April 26 Seattle, WA Jewel Box Theater
April 28 Portland, OR The Q Center
May 1 San Francisco, CA Kimo’s Bar and Penthouse Lounge
May 4 Los Angeles, CA Ghengis Cohen
May 6 San Diego, CA Bourbon Street
May 15 Houston, TX The Artery
May 19 Wilton Manors, FL Gelati Martini
May 20 Venice, FL Unity Church of Venice
May 21 Jacksonville, FL Three Layers Coffeehouse
May 22 Jacksonville, FL Three Layers Coffeehouse
May 26 Atlanta, GA Smith’s Olde Bar
May 28 Dewey Rose, GA The River’s Edge
June 2 Richmond, VA The Camel
Derek Schmidt
San Francisco-based singer/songwriter Derek Schmidt will be playing at the Living Room in New York City on May 26th. The multi instrumentalist currently splits his time between his two musical projects: All My Pretty Ones, a folk band, and Adonisaurus, a more electronic-sounding band. Quite the multi-tasker?
Schmidt is an incredibly talented gay musician and his show in NYC will be in the songwriting vein, with piano, guitar and ukulele.
Check out his work with All My Pretty Ones over here and Adonisaurus over here and then be sure to catch his show on May 26th!
ALBUMS
Big Freedia
Here's the new EP from the queen of New Orleans bounce, Big Freedia. This is her first proper EP and a great introduction to Bounce music, aka the uptempo, bass-heavy, call-and-response-driven rap sub-genre from New Orleans.
Big Freedia is a transgendered artist who’s been blowing up fast, and if you haven’t already heard of her, then here’s a chance to taken a listen and grab yourself a free copy of her debut EP.
Post, share, dance!
To learn more about Big Freedia I highly suggest reading this New York Times article on the emerging act.
Declan Bennett
Written over the course of 2 years after the release of his sophomore album An Innocent Evening of Drinking, Declan Bennett presents hisbrand new album record: BREAKUP.
British born Bennett had most recently been performing alongside Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong on the Tony and Grammy award winning ‘American Idiot’ Broadway show. Soon after Bennett began touring across New York, showcasing a collection of new songs when Billie Joe unexpectedly turned up at one of Bennett’s late night gigs and was so moved by his body of work, that he financed the recording of Bennett’s album.
record:BREAKUP tackles stories of heartbreak and infidelity in a collection of 12 songs, designed as one continuous piece of music, encouraging the listener to engage in the sonic expression of a journey through the final weeks of a relationship. Self produced by Bennett and recorded in New York City with a band of his closest friends, the album is the conviction of an artist who has found his voice and is unafraid to share his view.
The video for his single "Freer" has just been released online. Watch here.
The out artist’s album is slated for a releaseon May 2nd with an official Album Release Party at Bowery Electric in New York (Ticket information can be found here)and Bennett’s already caught a fan in Boy George who praised Bennett, saying “He has a voice full of emotion and yearning, his lyrics and melodies have a pop edge without being lazy or radio-desperate”
Derek Jameson
Singer, songwriter and pianist, Derek Jameson was born and raised in San Jose, California and is presently based out of Los Angeles. Jameson’s music is a mix of piano driven pop with urban beat architecture. He has written and produced almost all of his material on his debut album The Invention of Love. Watch the video for his lead single “Ribcage”
Jameson got his start in entertainment at an early age as a character performer at Paramount Theme Park’s “Great America.” He has come a long way since then and currently tours the California coast playing the nightclub circuit. Jameson also is an actor who has had appearances on Bravo’s “Workout” and recently finished the lead role in “Bloody Mary 3D.”
SINGLES
Simon Curtis
The former Nickelodeon star Simon Curtis is quite the marketing guru. Without an official label, (he was offered one but turned it down because he said it was scary), Curtis has gone on to amass over 1 million plays on Last.fm and over 400,000 YouTube views and 20,000 Twitter followers.
He has unconventionally given away his debut album 8bit Heart for free on his website (go get a copy of it now if you haven’t already).
By way of mentioning pop superstars like Britney Spears and Lady Gaga throughout his songs, Curtis has himself been mentioned on fan sites by both artists, which only furthered his internet celebrity.
Curtis has gone on to open for Backstreet Boy member A.J. McLean and Glee star Cory Monteith, and has been invited to perform at ArjanWrites.com’s Superfraiche showcase alongside one of our Top 11 Artists to Watch for in 2011 Sky Ferreira.
Curtis is already working on his sophomore project RΔ. Take a listen to a megamix of Curtis’s new works here.
EXCLUSIVE SIMON CURTIS FIRST-LISTEN: "Don't Dance," "Enemy," "Pit Of Vipers" and "Laser Guns Up." by billboard
Brett Gleason
Are you a fan of Ben Folds or Trent Reznor? Then take a listen to the latest single and video by Brett Gleason, titled "Futile & Fooled" - the opening track off his first solo album The Dissonance.
The Brooklyn-based artist from Long Island, first got involved with music as a result of a speech impediment that lead him down a path of a more solitary lifestyle. During this time of contemplation, Gleason took numerous music lessons and now, at age 26, the out artist is finally ready to release his debut album on which he wrote every song and played every instrument.
“Futile and Fooled” is a futuristic fusion of rock, electronica and jazz, combining guitars, keyboards and a piano in a pounding pop chorus. Grab a donation-supported download via bandcamp.
Josey Greenwell
22-year-old Josey Greenwell, from Bardstown, Kentucky has been dubbed “the small town boy with the big time voice.” The young and out country singer first got his start in singing at the Colgate Country Showdown in 2006, being crowned the prestigious Colgate Crown, a title also held by Country Superstars such as Brad Paisley, Garth Brooks, Martina McBride, and Miranda Lambert.
Greenwell enrolled at Western Kentucky University and started attending Writer’s Nights in Nashville to test out new material. Much of the music was popular and he soon wrote and recorded an album entirely on his own titled, My Life On the Radio, writing all 13 songs on the recording.
In 2009 Greenwell won a national online voting competition for an opening spot on Little Big Town's Tour, along with Zac Brown Band. Since then he has also opened for Dierks Bentley, Mark Chesnutt, had his own music video aired on CMT and recently has been mentioned an upcoming star in country music by features ranging from CMA Close Up Magazine, to The Los Angeles Chronicle, and The New York Times.
With over 3.6 million plays collectively on his Myspace, Facebook, and YouTube channels, this internet sensation hopes to someday soon become a big name in music.
Take a listen to his cover of “I Wanna Go,” a track off Britney Spears’ latest album Femme Fatale. Greenwell's take on the song gets stuck in your head, easy!
Mark Tyler
The Phoenix, Arizona-native Mark Tylerhas some seriously powerful vocal ability: a five-octave range to be exact. Nicknamed Markiah because of this extensive vocal range similar to that of Mariah Carey’s, Tyler states his musical influences range from Elton John, to Michael Jackson and Queen. Celebrity vocal instructor Brett Manning has stated Tyler is one of the highest singing male vocalists he’s ever heard. Tyler has shared the stage with Fantasia Barino and actually made it to Hollywood Week on American Idol back in 2002.
Tyler’s debut single “Man in the Box” puts Lady Gaga’s “Judas” to shame. Take a listen to “Man in the Box” and judge for yourself.
VIDEOS
Aiden Leslie
Emerging pop artist Aiden Leslie moved to New York City from Ohio just six days after graduating high school. He was cast in an Off-Broadway play and by way of the sound engineer on set, was introduced to the underground dance music genre. DJ Junior Vasquez remixed Leslie’s track “Love To Hate You”, a remake of the Erasure hit, and the song took off in dance clubs across the world.
Leslie’s latest release “World’s Away” is a track about life’s journey, and how people face struggles. It’s currently the #4 most requested video on LOGO right now. Check it out...
Jessica 6
Transgendered NYC hip-hop artist Nomi Ruiz is most famous for contributing vocals to Hercules & Love Affair’s excellent debut album. Since then Ruiz has gone on to tour with Amanda Blank and Peaches and formed her own group Jessica 6
The latest single by Jessica 6 is “White Horse” and the video was directed by Marco Ovando, who also directed Cazwell’s viral video “Ice Cream Truck” and Amanda Lepore’s “Big Top.” Enjoy the video below and grab a free copy of the track here.
