Cary Morin is by far one of the most impressive guitar players you’ll ever encounter. He wonderfully marries the varied musical traditions and styles of America defined by his fingerpicking style and sultry voice that conveys grit and elation. He characterizes his style as roots-infused Native Americana with hints of bluegrass, folk, blues, and rock.
Cary just released his cover of R.L. Burnside’s blues rock song “Goin’ Down South” with his band Cary Morin and Ghost Dog. Their rendition withholds the blues rock style of Burnside, but includes a folk and roots rock sound. Their version of “Goin’ Down South” has a Bob Dylan meets The Allman Brothers kind of vibe. Their hook and accompanying melody is catchy. You find yourself instantly dancing along.
It’s no wonder Cary Morin has so many accolades. “Goin’ Down South” is exactly what you want in a cover song; it stays true to the bones of the original song while also giving it an artistic spin that’s unique to the cover artist. Cary Morin and Ghost Dog’s version is uniquely Cary Morin. The roots rock and blues is what makes their sound so special.
Nature Loves Courage is the rising electro-pop and dubstep trio who just released their debut single “Shapeshiftr.” This is a quirky rock electronic tune. It intermingles some synth and dubstep influences with a harder rock edge.
“Shapeshiftr” has an airy and ethereal sense about it though the beat keeps it grounded. It’s a metaphor for a change or a shift within us when it comes to pleasurable and survival situations. The melody is catchy and easily gets stuck in your head.
“The song is about a being that can shape shift into different animals but it’s also allegorical for sex and how we can morph into different beings during that activity, depending on the inspiration,” shares McKenna, the lead vocalist and keyboardist for the band. “The line ‘nothing digital can replace this’ is a commentary on how some people are consuming too much online porn.”
McKenna Rowe is driven by sound and all it’s complexities. She’s intrigued by the many ways you can manipulate it to create pleasurable sensations within us, giving our bodies a surge of serotonin. When it comes to writing her music, genre isn’t in her mind. She fascinated by everything from trip-hop and dubstep to catchy melodies, rock, and orchestrations.
Dan Hartman and Charles Ingram began making music together at age 15 united by a bold desire to explore the outer limits of alternately tuned guitars. The pair had an immediate intuitive connection, and hunkered down in a storage shed to home in on its avant-garde aesthetic. They emerged as Phantom Zell, a weird indie-punk band that specialized in curious guitar tunings and abstract and abrasive musicality. “We played punk shows, but we were the only band in the scene that broke the punk rules by not playing that typically fast and aggressive sound,” says Charles. By age 17, Dan and Charles’s songs were earning placements on compilations alongside diversely popular acts such as Of Montreal, Fugazi, Jawbreaker, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Converge.
Eventually, the band drifted apart, the scene changed, and Dan and Charles began to also go their separate ways. Though not actively creating together, the guys set out on parallel artistic paths finding inspiration in the synergy with films and soundtracks. And there were other uncanny connections. Over the years, they were bonded by unique correlating circumstances, including near death experiences such as near fatal car accidents, dying in a house fire, being struck by lightning, and escaping armed robberies.
“I had a 10-year relationship end, and, out of the blue, after a few years of not being in touch, Charles called me and said his marriage had ended at the same time,” Dan recalls. “At the time, I had completely stopped playing and creating music.”
The eerily similar life circumstances, the guys’ parallel creative paths, and the telepathic musicality they once shared made a powerful case to continue the musical dialogue. Inevitably, Dan envisioned a cohesive project and sent Charles that fateful text to start the impliers.
They just released their 3rd single, “Lightning,” which features their iconic experimental music with atonal sensibilities and playful nature. Their vocals provide a Beach Boys harmonic quality to it while their music provides a David Bowie meets Pink Floyd sound.
“Lightning” is chaotic in nature, with an ever changing tempo and a melody that’s just out of grasp. The music shares a story of the chaotic mind. They share yet another story with this song as they both were diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. The song is a beautiful reflection of that experience through their atonal music and gripping lyrics. “While ‘Lightning’ constantly shape-shifts in mood and genre, it has its roots in a part of a song Charles made in 2005,” shares Dan. “While writing the concept for our upcoming record ‘cocoon,’ the lyric from that old riff came to mind and surprisingly; the entire idea for the rest of the song came as if it was always there. In about an hour, the bones of the song were written and recorded (the verses recorded that day are in the final version). By sending recordings back and forth, we traded disarming forks in the creative road, sending the song down a meandering but distinct path and arriving at the final version in the following weeks.”
Wurmy Wormfield (also known as Charles Herman-Wurmfield) is an artist, musician, filmmaker, teacher, gardener, beekeeper, parent and partner creating since the age of 13. This Silverlake, CA based entertainer helped overturn a Los Angeles public school parking lot and transform it into a community garden and educational center. This call to action inspired a transformative personal journey that brought forth a lifelong love of music which led to Wurmy Wormfield being formed and culminated in the opulent folk-pop album, For You, the Garden
Chances are, For You, The Garden is not your first experience with Wurmy’s artistry. As a director, his work includes D’Arcy Drollinger’s award-winning rock operas, Cereal Killers and Possession of Mrs. Jones, seminal collaborations with Tony-nominated cabaret singer and actor Justin Vivian Bond; and the feature films Fancy’s Persuasion, Legally Blonde 2, and Kissing Jessica Stein.
For You, The Garden is a compilation of Wurmy’s previously released EPs and singles into one convenient place. The 18 songs bring to life the community garden he helped put together in Silver Lake, CA.
Charles speaks from his heart stating, “Let’s dream for a moment as long as we are singing and dancing. Let’s imagine there might be a community garden here one day! Let’s see, I’ve got these pumpkin seeds here in my pocket, we could write our intentions on them, add water and see what sprouts up! So grab a pumpkin seed and let’s imagine a community garden. Shall we…” (Garden Song)
While the album was made for kids, specifically dedicated to his own, For You, The Garden is really for all ages. There is always something to be learned, especially when it comes to our Earth and empathy. There is no defines genre and no topic not sung about. Adults can enjoy the music from Wurmy too.
As an older dad, and a pandemic dad, he states he is aware of the time passing, and wanted to make sure and set nature / love of nature to a song so the kids could always know how he felt about it, and even share that joy with their own children, one day. The light hearted music dances on the breath of a dream and spins its web into the garden of the future.
John Greska has been intrigued by music since the second grade when he, like so many others, started playing piano. Since then, music has been a constant, from playing in the school bands to experimenting with Musecore. The young artist has never stopped chasing his dream of being a singer/songwriter and his latest single, “Mamma Maybe,” proves he’s got what it takes.
“Mamma Maybe” is an alternative folk and folktronica song that goes through a story of a fictional mother and son. He was inspired by the recent events in world history, at least since World War two. He became interested in Japanese history when he started learning the language and he realized that he doesn’t know anything about their history outside of the American point of view during the war. He thought about the people that grew up during that time and thought about what they would think about the world as it is today.
He takes the theme of change and allows us to grasp it. He recognizes and acknowledges that change is the key to becoming better humans, so that we don’t repeat history. As time goes on, ideas evolve with it and that can sometimes be hard for people to accept.
“The writing process was surprisingly difficult,” shares John. “Taking out the fact that I was trying to write about something extremely intricate and not really song-like, the actual music was super tricky. There were certain parts that had to sound happy and certain parts that had to sound ominous and the ending was rewritten three times. The ending of the song was the hardest part to find, because how do you end a story like this?”
Featuring Lightmare, North by North, and KINDA EVIL
The pop rock band Dear Daria is set to release their debut album, Can I Be Frank?, on Friday, May 27th. On Sunday, they will perform live at the Pie Shop in Washington D.C. for their album release at 8pm. They will perform alongside the soul-punk band Lightmare, Chicago-based rock and roll duo North by North, and blues rock band KINDA EVIL.
Dear Daria is a “choose your own adventure” pop rock band, blending elements of power pop, indie rock, and pop punk. They’ve been compared to Paramore, Rilo Kiley, and The Donnas. This diverse musical melting pot is composed of Eamonn Donnelly on bass, Joshua Hunter on guitar, Maryjo Mattea on vocals, keys and guitar, and introducing Dan ABH on drums (Scott Manley provided the drumming for the recording of Can I Be Frank?). They were voted WAMMIE Finalists in 2022 for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Artist/Group.
Pie Shop is an independent woman-owned Washington D.C. legacy small business, baking some of the D.C. area’s favorite pies since 2010 & rebranded in 2020. Pie Shop is also an independent live music venue dedicated to supporting the D.C. area’s vibrant local music & arts community.
Lightmare is a six-person soul-punk arrangement out of Washington, D.C. making songs about love, death, and revolution, overlapping and in any order. Smooth and sharp, warm and galvanizing, punchy, political and personal. Their set is guaranteed to get your body moving and your feelings flowing.
More About North by North
Formed in 2012, North by North is the rock & roll dream of two weirdos from Chicago. Their music has been forged through years of teen angst, twenty-something alienation, sleeping in vans and living on a stage. Anchored by syrupy hooks, roaring guitar and bombastic drums, North by North produces a huge sound that has captivated thousands of people over hundreds of performances and festivals across three countries. Since 2016, Nate Girard (guitar, vocals) and Kendra Blank (drums) have performed at over 800 shows throughout the US, Canada and UK.
More About KINDA EVIL
In the Spring of 2022, KINDA EVIL rose from the ashes of DC band Dad Legs – Amanda Dove (vocals & guitar), Nolan (guitar), and Mason Henry (bass) – with the addition of heavy artillery drummer Christopher Peli. Weaving a darkly potent blend of blues, garage, punk, and rock & roll, this four-piece gets the blood pumping with their electrifying stage presence, big hooks, soaring guitars, and explosive grooves, appealing to fans of The Dead Weather, Priests, and All Them Witches.
Modern Mystery 
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