There’s something unwittingly surreal about the moment you come up for air after drowning in what an artist has elegantly drenched you in- and song-for-song, R.ariel has an elegance remarkable enough to give you such wholesome familiarity with her. Rachel Crocker, the creative behind the largely mature one-man project R.ariel, has all the trappings of someone deeply-rooted in the music scene. In her work, R.ariel captures the immediacy of full exposure to an album by way of ambient textures and mournful vocals. Rachel is a Phoenix native with the aptitude for music heavy with homespun refinement and momentous talent. We’re so pleased to be working with her while she tours Canada and the US.
shows
Too many to keep up with! Follow her tours on facebook.
Lonna Kelley is undoubtedly the queen of the underground. I am sure anyone that is in-the-know would agree. She has been self-releasing albums since the early 00’s. Quietly developing into a singular voice. These years have been littered with co-fronting the short lived (but celebrated) psych outfit, Cherie Cherie, and being a longtime member of Howe Gelb’s, Giant Sand.
In 2015, Lonna self-released Take Me Home Spiderman. This album was something of an awakening. A fully realized sound. A hot pot boiling over with lush pop melodies of the 60’s/70’s, brutally honest lyricism, minimal instrumentation and harsh noise. This album garnered praise by WFMU’s legendary music director, Brian Turner. This lead to being heavily played on the influential radio station through that year, and in turn the limited pressing of the album was quickly out of print.
For the last few years, there has been rumors of mysterious B sides to Take Me Home Spiderman. Lonna decided to finally dust off the old tape reels and unearth these lost classics, “Will I See You” and “Time Waits For No One”. They carry very similar nuances to Take Me Home Spiderman, however, these songs explore deeper the themes of loss, love and longing. Grappling with the idea of death and how brutal lost time is. Even in the darkness, there still seems to be light at the end. The last line in Will I see You, “I’m never, ever gonna stop believing.” It was sung in a way that she was clearly trying to convince herself to not give up. You can’t help but feel the earnest sincerity. The songs were made out of necessity, not vanity.
Lonna collaborated with John Dieterich (of Deerhoof) to solidify the sonic landscape. Not only did he perform mixing/mastering duties, but also sculpted the incidental noise throughout these tracks. This 45 is meditative and at times transcendent. It is still hard to believe that these songs haven’t always been around.
November 4, 2016– Gene Tripp Record Release w/ Cody Friend & Miss Moody @ The Newton – Phoenix, AZ
September 26, 2016 – Anna McClellan w/ Cody Friend, Wren’s Ghost & Confetti Club @ The Rebel Lounge – Phoenix, AZ
One thing Justin Moody will always keep under lock-and-key is the outright magnitude of honesty welling up in every poetically calculated confession. Moody’s lyrics are built around a longing for closure while staying clean enough to be the finest distillation of his pure talent for feeling. After bouncing around between Prescott, Tempe and Phoenix, Justin is finding his feet in the Phoenix music scene after the release of his latest album Bargain For A Bad Man’s Love. Singer/songwriter, and a truly gifted lyricist, Justin Moody is the open book that we all need time and again. Moody inadvertently spoon-feeds a grim story of truth and brokenness from a platter of stunning vocals made for a kind of pub communion that won’t let go.
shows
April 23-24, 2016 – Indie 500 w/ Justin Moody – The Trunk Space – Phoenix, AZ
March 26, 2016 – Them Savages w/ Justin Moody & Barrels @ Firecreek Coffee Company – Flagstaff, AZ
December 16, 2015 – Nana Grizol w/ Justin Moody, Toby Foster, KT Neely, Back of a Car & Simeon Beardsley @ Hansen Mansion – Las Cruces, New Mexico
September 10, 2015 – Justin Moody, Them Savages & Blessed Feathers @ The Lost Leaf – Phoenix, AZ
September 5, 2015 – Courtney Marie Andrews w/ Justin Moody @ Valley Bar – Phoenix, AZ
September 4, 2015 – Jerome Indie Film & Music Festival
June 13, 2015 – Great Lake Swimmers & The Weather Station w/ Justin Moody @ Valley Bar – Phoenix, AZ
May 6, 2015 – Justin Moody w/ Laura Kepner-Adney & Steff Koeppen @ The Hotel Congress – Tucson, AZ
May 17, 2015 – Alabama Death Walk & KT Neely w/ Justin Moody & Saw Fox @ (House Show) – Phoenix, AZ
April 25, 2015 – Tourkidd Launch Show w/ Justin Moody @ Icehouse – Phoenix, AZ
April 22, 2015 – John Moreland w/ Justin Moody @ Last Exit Live – Phoenix, AZ
February 28, 2015 – Christian Lee Hutson w/ Justin Moody @ Pub Rock – Scottsdale, AZ
February 28, 2015 – Bear State w/ Justin Moody, Cherie Cherie, dent, & fthia @ Stinkweeds Records – Phoenix, AZ
February 10, 2015 – Jessica Lea Mayfield w/ Justin Moody @ Last Exit Live – Phoenix, AZ
November 17, 2014 – Water Liars w/ Justin Moody @ Last Exit Live – Phoenix, AZ
October 5, 2014 – CB Art Project Depot @ Crescent Ballroom – Phoenix, AZ
Amplifiers, guitar cases, tangled of cords and other gear were stacked up in the corner outside Stinkweeds’ patio early Saturday afternoon.
Catching their breath, a few Bear State band members and friends were making sure they had everything they needed for set-up.
A supported release show, planned nearly 10 months in advance with the independently owned record store, was finally here. With the purpose of “local supporting local,” Bear State and its minimal art label, Moone Records, planned to raise and donate all proceeds of cassette, record, pre-order bundles, and other merchandise sales to Arizona FosterCare Initiatives. The non-profit organization supports distressed children, youth and families and promotes family wholeness.
Despite threats of evening rain, this brisk and cloudy Phoenix day couldn’t have seemed more warm.
Accompanied by other local bands and musicians like Fthia, Justin Moody, Dent, and Cherie Cherie, the show’s stage was coyly tucked behind the cluster of shops neighboring Stinkweeds along Camelback Road. As the afternoon went on, the parking lot quickly filled with familiar faces, eager guests, and curious onlookers. After some mingling tunes spun by other local artists Secret Attraction and Flower Festival, a heartfelt set on an acoustic guitar was played by Justin Moody.
Then, Fthia began setting up for one of the most memorable sets of the night. Jared, joined by his young son, performed ambient and instrumental arrangements. A small crowd gathered by Fthia and son to watch the boy strum on his electric guitar and mix layers by way of his dad’s floor pedals.
Knowingly or unknowingly, this spectacle of a father-son relationship, whole, thriving and creating together, was what we had all gathered for—the flourishing of families.
As the evening hours rolled on, gray clouds kept creeping in overhead while patrons enjoyed Short Leash Hot Dogs and perused through the boutiques and stores. Prepped with tents and willing hands to move gear out of the inevitable rainfall, Cherie Cherie’s dreamy, psychedelic female vocals and Dent’s experimental, lo-fi set paved the way to a satisfying end to the night.
Bear State cinched up the show performing two new singles, “Cool things” and “Dark Comedy” as well as older favorites. As a drizzling of rain came down, which quickly became a full storm, the crowd huddled together under tends and hoods, not wanting to miss a sound.
A fitting sense of gratitude and accomplishment coursed through the the band’s fingers and guitar picks, out of the speakers and through its audience.
Thanks to Stinkweeds, merchandise sales, generous donations, support and awareness made by AZcentral, Phoenix New Times, The Spec, The State Press, and AXS, Bear State was able to donate $1,500 to FosterCare Initiatives this week.
“Surfacing from Glendale’s ever-strengthening neo-psychedelia music scene, local artists Josh John and Luke Brunstein have brought us the trippy soundscapes featured on their psychedelic, yet minimalistically arranged singles “Elsewhere” and “Infinite Drift”. John and Brunstein’s skillfully syncopated rhythms make their cassingle: Panoramic Slams V.1 a model basement-production piece you’ll willfully get stuck in your player.”
While the idea of an album being born of finding peace with oneself is nothing new, in Micah Dailey’s hands it’s a beautifully symbolic harmonizing of past and present.
Beginning with an instrumental opening, Flower Festival’s latest album ‘Age’ offers up an invitation to tilt your ears between jittery analog texture and elegantly fluid drumbeats. But it’s the inward-looking songwriting that makes the best case for Flower Festival’s relatability from his professions of self-hatred to an overall detachment from common culture.
Flower Festival’s 3rd full-length album was written at two significantly different times in Micah Dailey’s life, taking music recorded over 8 years ago, revisited and finished with lyrics written today. Much of the album’s influence came from a newfound peace and appreciation for his upbringing. “It’s easy to dismiss art we’ve created in a different time- like I hear recording techniques; I hear riffs or instrumentation I wouldn’t do now. But the album came from a new way of engaging with art that really freed me, a peace about where I was at both of those times in my life.” Having grown up in the Middle East, Micah moved back to Arizona in 2011 where an internal tug-of-war rooted in guilt and inadequacies made for some significantly self-deprecating songwriting, as you might imagine being that his album at the time was entitled “Cry Baby”.
The push and pull of this mindset made Flower Festival’s album full of artistic parallels that marry the new and the old, without forcing the two. Becoming a father and husband, Micah’s way of living-room-recording had to be adjusted as well, getting to a point of contentment that there might never be a moment of complete quiet, but embracing that there may be faint samples of kids playing or guests chatting.
Having created an album in a way that both embraced and let go of significant restraints, a reconciliation derived from Flower Festival’s examination of his artistic ego. “Spending almost 10 years on an album is a long time, but as a musician I know I’m in no way prolific… and I’m making art that provides closure for the young artist I was. I had to go back to the places where hurt happened- like examining the darkest parts of marriage, losing close friends, the stuff you have to endcap to process.” Thankfully, Flower Festival’s way of creating art lent itself to a freedom found only when the external and internal pressures of making music “the right way” have all but gone- and from it came an album that was worth waiting for.
