The Maryland-based visual artist turned singer/songwriter Slim Sly Slender is a powerful creative mind who has been part of the art world for as long as he can remember. His work has been featured in countless group and solo exhibits and was inspired to start his music career after experiencing a warehouse jam session. His musical style is brit-pop inspired pop rock with a vibrance in style you won’t find anywhere else.
He just released his new single “Black Charger” from his upcoming album Pay to Play. It’s an interesting mash up between folk, hip-hop, and pop-rock. It’s almost like a Beastie Boys meets George Benson with the horns and the fast lyrics and upbeat tone and like Macklemore in the dynamic lyrics and playfulness.
“I wrote that while driving—every time I would see an angry and aggressive driver, they were always driving a black Charger,” shares Slim. The song is anything but aggressive, however. It’s more fun and playful, bringing some light to a frustrating situation. It’s a light song that brings some happiness to your day.
Listen here:
“I do this because I love it,” he says. “Music is unlike visual art because when a person buys a painting, they put it on a wall, and only they and their friends can enjoy the piece of art. Music is for everybody. I love sharing it, and I’m excited to get this album out there in front of more people.”
Nature Loves Courage takes the bounds of genre and blurs the lines, creating sounds with instrumentation and electronic elements. After years spent solo, bassist Jacob Bergman and drummer Garrett Smith join McKenna as LA-based Nature Loves Courage, the electronic art-rock group bending entire genres to their will. Out summer ’22, their self-titled debut confronts the absurdities of the digital age, proposing a brave return to humanity’s fabled roots atop McKenna’s multifaceted sound.
Their latest single “Dark Horse” and the accompanying video is going to be what makes their mark. It’s mysterious and aids in the story of the song. The red lighting with the horse imagery and the band coming in and out of frame helps create this space that’s unknown and intriguing.
We got a chance to speak with McKenna Rowe, the band’s front woman, about the video for “Dark Horse”:
Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?
This song was inspired by friends of mine exploring the polyamory scene and their stories about their experiences. The arrangement and feel to this song is dark and mysterious, as if it could serve as the soundtrack in a movie with a scene with a swingers’ club or party. For the video, we chose not to literally depict such a scene, due to the complexity of hiring so many extras, and with the goal of not being quite so literal. Instead, we decided to allow some more room for interpretation on the part of the viewer, depicting the band going into a “dream state” or “surreal dimension” when the song kicks off.
What was the inspiration behind this video?
The biggest influences behind the video concept are David Lynch and graphic novels. I have always loved how David Lynch depicts different dimensions of existence or timelines his characters move through. In nods to Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive, our video shows the discovery of a mysterious object that then “sucks” you into dream-like dimension, where the band appears to be trapped, eventually “spinning out of control” until the “escape” at the end…although we don’t really know if the ending is a return to “normalcy” or a teleportation into yet another strange dimension. The blacked out background and intense red color on subjects are also influenced a lot by Lynch’s choice of cinematography and lighting, and how we framed my face in many shots was influenced by how you might see a story depicted in comic book panels.
What was the process of making this video?
A big thank you to director Alyssa of Holy Smoke Photography (and assistant Claire!), who was able to take some tricky abstract ideas and translate into the finished product! She and I met before the shoot to discuss concepts…I made it clear that creating a mood was more important to me than telling a literal story with start-middle-end. Alyssa put together a shot list which is extremely helpful for a band to have…we had a good idea of how the day would go and what to expect. We used Peerspace (shout out!) to rent out a stage in Boyle Heights that had the blackout capability we needed to be able to achieve the surreal, red look to everything. Another thing we did was shoot some of the video performing the song at 150% speed, so that when it was slowed down to match the normal speed of the song, our motions themselves would seem more surreal. Alyssa also sometimes used a prism in front of the camera lens to create interesting transitions/effects. We went through about 3 revisions of edits to the video until we reached our final. I think it turned out very well considering the limited time, budget and resources and the fact that this was our first time making a music video. Personally, I learned a lot from the experience… have lots of ideas for the next video and how to set up shots so that I photograph best.
Jeff Hilliard is an award winning video producer and director who’s newest work, “Abandon,” is a visual and musical marvel. His vision for the song couldn’t have been done without a video. This metal ballad and heavy rock song is catchy and easily gets stuck in your head. The video is one that you watch many times to not just listen to the song, but try and find new things with each viewing.
We got a chance to speak with Jeff about his video. Let’s dive in:
Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?
Well I wanted to do an 80’s metal ballad, I thought it would be funny to tell the story of Dwight a 49 year old Uber driver that still holding onto his 80’s metal fantasy while living at home with his mother. He has a one stand with a married lady and he can’t let it go. While writing the song I knew I had to make a music videos for it, it’s just too good. The only way I good see the video was to make it verbatim to the song.
What was the inspiration behind this video?
I wanted to stick with the classic 80’s metal music video except my hero was not the cool guy.
What was the process of making this video?
They are all pretty much the same… I tell my team it’s time to do another and we set out and make it happen. I work with a brilliant cinematographer John Orphan and editor Bobby Hewitt. We work very well together and have a lot of fun making them.
Rafi Jag is a Filipino Canadian Artist based in Edmonton Alberta. Born in Baguio City, the City of Pines or more popularly known to many as the Summer Capital of the Philippines. Introduced to music at an early age Rafi was influenced by his very musically inclined family and began singing as young as three years old. Euphonious in tone with soulful notes that carry his stylistic choices and embody his roots in R&B music, Rafi is often hailed for his musicality and the way he tells a story through the music that he embodies within each performance.
New single, “My Love,” is a truly thrilling, exciting and very sexy piece of music that takes each listener into a feeling of serendipity. Layering Rafi’s vocals to create background vocals throughout the song evokes an ‘80s R&B experience.
With a lyrical mastery that speaks on all of life’s moments paired with a dynamic voice that reveals a well-traveled soul and the burning embers of passion within, Ollee Owens is a musical force of nature. Her 2021 breakout single “Every Step of the Way,” followed by the rock-tinged reckoning of her 2022 release, “Edge of Goodbye,” have both firmly set her intentions as a talented artist who deals in authenticity, openness, and honesty paving the way for a lasting musical connection.
From smoldering intro to blazing end, Owens’ latest single, “Raging Fire,” lends an important warning. Reflecting on her grandma’s influence, Owens states, “She used to say that our tongues have the power to burn folks to the ground…it is so important to watch what we say or we may find ourselves helplessly standing by as the consequences of thoughtless words take full effect.” Out of harsh lessons learned through personal experience, Owens calls listeners to be mindful of what “cannot be unheard.”
SOMBRA is music to turn the lights off to. For music that is created in total depravity of the outside world, SOMBRA’s brooding sound has a surprisingly celestial quality. A fusion of dance-worthy Alternative Rock, Hip Hop, Industrial Pop and Indie, yet at the same time completely indefinable, Matthew Cataldo of SOMBRA has created a signature sound that has caught the attention of music lovers and tastemakers alike.
His new single, “PYRAMIDES,” is his first release after a long break, and is a surprisingly uplifting and lyrically meaningful track. Following a climb of Mt. Fuji with some friends, Matthew felt a sense of enlightenment and happiness, despite being forced to give up and turn back before reaching the summit.
More than just his physical struggle to climb a mountain, “PYRAMIDES” is about his mental health journey, which has always been a key part of SOMBRA and his musical inspiration and drives. His experience at Mt. Fuji was the first time he gave up, but didn’t feel awful about it. It just felt like the right thing to do – to relinquish control.
Listen and watch here:
“The weird thing about Fuji is that, once you get above the tree line – you can see the top of the mountain the entire time you’re climbing,” says Cataldo. “The end is always in sight. This makes it such a spiritually challenging climb. I got ¾ to the top of the mountain – unable to continue climbing, legs destroyed and soul completely defeated. The idea for the song, and some of the first lyrics come out of this disappointment.”
Modern Mystery 
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