Indie pop-folk singer/songwriter Eli Lev returns with his latest project born from the pandemic called Walk.Talk.Dance.Sing. The EP is set for release in April, though his string of releases from this project have already hit fans by storm. His catchy beat and infectious melodies married with his deep passion and love for his craft is what makes his work so inspiring.
He has released 3 singles previous to his most recent indie pop song “Vacation,” which was released in February. Each song was written about a specific emotion we all had during the pandemic. The first release, which inspired Walk.Talk.Dance.Sing, “Be Your Someone” is a nice Bon Ivor meets Ben Harper style sound about learning to coexist with your partner. This led to the next single, released a year later, called “Dancin’ on the Lawn,” a song with an Ed Sheeran vibe to it, is about the hope Eli has for the future of live music; he’s hopeful that we will all be together together again. Finally, “Move As You Do” is the slowest and most intentional. It takes on the ideas of the future and how fast you “should” be going to achieve life’s biggest moments. He takes is slow and says that he will get there when he gets there.
“Vacation” takes on a Jason Mraz vibe with a catchy beat and memorable lyrics. He sings about taking the little things in life during the lockdown and making them fun. He explains that it’s all about the mindset. “Escape! Travel! Movement! These three things were essentially non-existent and forbidden for two years during the pandemic so I wrote Vacation as a way to remind myself that everyday I could put myself in the same mental state if I was thankful for my partner and everything we had in life,” shares Eli. “We could be each other’s escape and peaceful feeling. I wrote this song turning all the mundane tasks of everyday living during the pandemic into something exotic and special and interesting – kind of like an extremely long vacation!”
Listen to Vacation here:
All his music is available for purchase and streaming now. Be on the lookout for his upcoming EP.
(Detroit, MI) January 27, 2022 – Ahead of her newest country inspired release, country and folk singer/songwriter Aspen Jacobsen announces her upcoming performances in 2022. “When I write a song, I start with a feeling—my main goal is to have a strong emotional exchange with the audience through my music,” shares Aspen. Not only is she a gifted guitar player, but she’s an extremely talented multi-instrumentalist who also plays bass, mandolin, piano, keyboard, and ukulele. She contributes these skills as an accompanist and arranger for other people’s songs.
Although the year has just begun, Aspen has already been booked for multiple shows for 2022. In February, she will be one of several singer-songwriters featured in the 2nd Annual Interlochen Singers & Songwriters showcase at the Traverse City Opera House, Traverse City Michigan. She is also one of six Interlochen singer-songwriting students that were selected to tour the Midwest together this spring between March 12th and 20th. The details haven’t been announced yet but will be posted on Aspen’s website before the tour. This summer, she will also be headlining her own show at the Trinity House Theatre on June 4th in Livonia Michigan and will be one of several musicians highlighted in Singers in the Round at The Parliament Room at Otus Supply in Ferndale, Michigan. She will also be playing some of Michigan’s most popular music festivals including No-East’r Music and Art Festival (6/10-12), Buttermilk Jamboree (6/17-19), and the Wheatland Music Festival (9/11-13).
Her new single, “Shouldn’t Give A Damn,” out now, is her take on toxic relationships in a modern country style, similar to Kacey Musgraves and an early Taylor Swift. The song will also be reimagined as a separate acoustic single later this year, featuring producer Dominic Davis on upright bass. “Shouldn’t Give a Damn” is the second release from Aspen’s 2022 limited-edition CD that is available for purchase on her website aspenjacobsen.com/music. She is only publishing 500 of these CDs and is personally signing and numbering each of them. For $40 fans will receive a CD while supporting her musical endeavors! These signed, limited edition CDs are planned to ship in August.
Aspen Jacobsen’s Americana, Folk, and Country sounds are not one typically heard with artists as young as Aspen. She hopes to carry the traditions of this genre while also making it more palatable with her generation.
Aspen previously explored musical theater, professional acting and opera, and these formative experiences may account for her polished onstage demeanor. She has played major music festivals in Michigan including Arts Beats and Eats; Wheatland Music Festival; Earthworks Harvest Gathering; Ann Arbor Summer Festival; and the Buttermilk Jamboree. She has also been invited to perform as an opener at premier Michigan listening rooms such as The Ark, 20 Front Street, Trinity House, and the Grand Rapids Listening Room. In 2019, Aspen was the youngest singer-songwriter to ever be featured in the Radio DJ Showcase at the Folk Alliance Region Midwest annual conference.
Where and When You Can See Apsen This Year: 2/3/22 2nd Annual Interlochen Singers & Songwriters at Traverse City Opera House, Traverse City, Michigan 3/12 to 3/20/22 Interlochen Singer-Songwriters Midwest Tour (details will be announced on Aspen’s website) 6/4/2022 Aspen Jacobsen @ Trinity House Theatre, Livonia, Michigan 6/11/22 No-East’r Music and Art Festival, Mio, Michigan 6/18/22 Buttermilk Jamboree, Circle Pines Center, Delton, Michigan 7/12/22 The Parliament Room at Otus Supply Singers in the Round, Ferndale, Michigan 9/10/22 Wheatland Music Festival, Remus, Michigan
As she prepares, she’s also writing new music amidst her bustling life as a 17 year old musician, balancing school, recording sessions, rehearsals, and applying to colleges. “Sometimes I wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and see guitar string marks ingrained on my face,” she quips. “But I know who I am, and I know what path I’m on. Every time I perform, I pour out my heart and soul and I feel my purpose.”
More About Aspen Jacobsen At just 9 years of age, Aspen found her purpose while busking for tips with a little red ukulele. Since then, the prodigiously gifted musician has earned awards and scholarships; has actively released EPs and singles; and she has performed at a variety of well-respected venues and festivals. Today, Aspen furthers a variety of Americana styles through a series of personal and purposeful singles.
Her story exudes classic Americana mysticism. Aspen bought a guitar purchased from busking, and, although she had your typical parents-mandated piano lessons previously, she immediately took to playing roots music on stringed instruments like it was fated. “I have no idea where it came from—something just clicked within me,” she says. She learned the basics by ear—a method that works for her today—and, at the age of 10, began songwriting. Soon after, Aspen was performing at listening rooms and festivals and was awarded multiple scholarships for her astounding musicality.
To date, Aspen has released two critically acclaimed EPs, and her songs have garnered prime recognition and nominations from such prominent songwriting competitions as the Independent Music Awards; Alternative Country Best Song Category; Blues & Roots Radio’s Song Contest; and International Songwriting Competition’s Teen Category. Aspen was awarded a scholarship to attend the Singer-Songwriter program at the Interlochen Arts Academy, one of the most prestigious boarding fine arts high schools in the United States. Most recently, Aspen has the distinction of being one of six singer-songwriter finalists in the YoungArts 2022 program, a competition which receives more than 7000 applications per year. She also holds sponsorships with Fishman, Reunion Blues gig bags and instrument cases, and Shubb Capos.
As of late, Aspen has been recording in Nashville and consistently releasing new songs which feature personal perspectives on social issues. The first single in this new project of songs is “Damned Dynasty,” a smoldering dose of indie-folk with tasteful melodic blues-guitar licks, an ear-worm vocal motif, and vocals that veer from honeyed low-tones to soaring high-tones. The minimalist production here leaves ample room to soak in Aspen’s insights on faith and religion. Her first verse is viscerally thought-provoking.
Aspen tells stories like a country artist and speaks her mind like a folk musician. Her personal and progressive original songs recall the approach of Joni Mitchell, and Ani DiFranco—two artists steeped in music history but not bound to it.
Los Angeles based pop artist, Lauren Waller, just released a new single that is sure to keep you coming back for more. “Dopamine” is the song we didn’t know we needed. This dark and textured pop song has a Lorde vibe in the music itself, yet her vocals are very much like Ingrid Michaelson. Her intimate and poetic lyrics in a song about a failed love story has an interesting relationship with the music. She manages to create this interesting space where the music makes the listener feel distant and disconnected, yet the lyrics tell a familiar story.
“Dopamine” is harmonic and melodic while also having an ere of dissonance to show the disconnect between these two people who are not really in love. She gets you moving and singing along while also making you feel out of place. It’s masterful.
Listen to “Dopamine”:
Lauren Waller has already had a strong career in music. Her resume includes performing on RTE, Ireland’s National Television, at the International Rose of Tralee Festival, and appearances at the Viper Room and the Hotel Café. She’s even opened for many iconic bands such as Wilson Philips, Anna Nalick, A Flock of Seagulls, and most recently: Tower of Power. She was set to open for KT Tunstall prior to COVID-19, but the show has since been postponed.
Her collection of work includs two EPs, a Christmas cover song, and a collection of original singles! Her latest EP—her second overall— no names here, blurs the line between the observational and the personal. Themes of relationships course through the five-song EP, and, in tone and lyrical content, Lauren expresses raw truths without feeling the need to tilt narratives in the way of happy endings. no names here is rife with stunning songs that whisk the listener away to sonic hemispheres replete with dizzying sensual vocals, undeniable pop hooks, and sleek electro-tinged atmospherics. Since releasing her second EP, Waller has shared a collection of singles that follow similar tones of mystery and edge, but also embracing the voices, accepting lost love, and playfully toying with the object of her affections.
Most recently, Lauren has shared new singles that mark a stepping stone in Lauren’s arc as a growing writer and singer; Lauren’s has entered this enlightened era with both confidence and swagger in her singles titled “Night Stalker” and “Best Coast.” “Night Stalker” is a sickly-sweet pop single featuring an edgy beat and sinister lyrics that are punctuated with slasher-esque references and harmonies. Between the lyrics, the melodies, and the production: Night Stalker melds culturally relevant, chilling horror with an up-tempo urban dance track. “Best Coast” is a summer anthem highlighting the party lifestyle that some know all too well in California. The lyrics poke fun with a fresh take on party culture. “Best Coast” is reminiscent of catchy 2000s hip hop and pure pop. The beats and production make “Best Coast” catchy, danceable, and relatable because we all know that in California, we like to party.
Pianist, violinist, composer, recording artist, and singer/songwriter, Ferera Swan is the voice for those who feel the same sort of pain and grief. As an adult child of adoption, Ferera is a beacon of hope for other adult children of adoption, using music to guide them and others through the feelings of grief, pain, suffering, shame, secrecy, and generational trauma. Her poignant lyrics and her cinematic inspiration is what makes her unique. In the past 3 years, she changed her name to reflect her Filipino-American heritage and the identities of her birth parents. In doing so, she is celebrating her cultural identity and acknowledging her painfully complex birth story.
Her epiphany has happened many years into her music career. One way to think of this new music era is as if Ferera Swan is a new artist 15 years in the making. To date, she has written, arranged, and engineered music for other artists in varying genres, and she has worked as a session musician in a variety of contexts.
Her new cinematic pop single “To Say Goodbye” takes that grief and puts it in the forefront of the song. She saying that it’s ok to not be ok, that this sort of pain is normal, and you are not alone. Her voice is like Kelly Clarkson, it’s soulful and purposeful. “It’s easy to dismiss people’s pain, but it takes a kind of bravery to be curious,” shares Ferera.‘”To Say Goodbye’ is an invitation of empathy: May we have the courage to empathize with another’s grief that we will never understand; that in doing so, we may discover deep empathy for our own.”
Listen to “To Say Goodbye” here:
On this song, her lyrics come from a place of strength and self-awareness hard fought from years of pain and confusion. She shares some insight, saying “Some of our greatest gifts can be found in our deepest pain. Through allowing myself to explore what hurts, I’ve found purpose, self-compassion, and the meaning of courage.”
AP Tobler uses their own life as a guide for their music. Unlike many musicians out there, you can hear their passion and intimacy with the music, not just the words. We can hear their rawness and vulnerability in their work, allowing the listeners in and feeling along with them. AP Tobler is authentic and that’s what makes them, and their music, so amazing.
Their newest single, “Eclipse” was too big for a single song, so they gave us “Blunt Force,” the single that lives on the B-side. “Blunt Force” is the perfect companion piece to “Eclipse,” a grungy rock song that sounds like Nirvana meets Green Day. “Eclipse” This song is a personal one for AP that most people been through. It describes the way trauma affects our minds and bodies in the music. “Eclipse is about the mental block that comes with suffering a past trauma,” shares AP. “I wrote this song while I was replaying painful events in my head. I was sick of feeling upset over things that had happened years ago. When I write music about personal experiences, the lyrics and melody tend to come together very quickly. This is the case with Eclipse. I was actually on a phone call with friends and started feeling anxious. In the middle of the call, I opened my Notes app and started typing fragments of lyrics about how I was feeling.”
The companion piece, “Blunt Force,” is about a time in which a close friend to AP just left, suddenly and unexpectedly. There was no notice, they were just no longer friends with no explanation. This grunge song depicts this experience and the repercussions it had on AP. “After two years without resolution, I finally wrote a song to express the lingering emotions I was feeling,” says AP. “One night I picked up my guitar and wrote a cord progression that I liked. I started to write the lyrics and within 30 minutes I had a melody and lyrics to represent the emotions of this painful experience. I refined the song over a few sessions, adding layers to fill it out. The writing process was cathartic, as I had encapsulated this traumatic event into a song.”
Listen to “Eclipse” and the B-Side “Blunt Force” here:
Stormin’ Norman Zamcheck is a pianist and singer/songwriter. He has been writing songs since he was old enough to pick out a tune on the keyboard and write down the lyrics on his mother’s linen napkins. During the course of his four-decade career, Norm has penned over five hundred musical compositions.
A New York transplant, Norm hales from the Boston area. He has performed in venues up and down the East and West coasts as well as internationally. In the late 70’s his band, Stormin’ Norman & Suzy, was referred to by the New York Times as the “hottest act in town, ” unleashing a deluge of media attention. Since then, Norman has played Carnegie Hall (twice); recorded for the Polydor/Polygram label; written scores for several movies and off-Broadway shows, appeared on a Dick Clark TV Special and worked as composer and music director for Pilobolous Dance Theater. He also toured with the Andy Statman Klezmer Orchestra, playing to appreciative crowds in Poland, Israel and Brooklyn.
As a composer of songs, Norman Zamcheck has been praised in publications from Rolling Stone Magazine to The New York Times, which called him “exceptionally good and exceptionally original.” Early on, Norm drew writing inspiration from a rich tradition of folk music. Over the passing years he harkened to personal muses such as Mose Allison, Randy Newman and Tom Lehrer. Like them, he brilliantly fuses melody, wit, humor and irony. He sees songs in terms of “novellas” and populates his tunes with amusing characters, memorable stories and rich allusions to nature and humanity (see Music Tree page). Stormin’ Norman’s music rocks with a blues/New Orleans beat; his unique sound as a hard-driving pianist has been described as boogie woogie meets twelve tone. His primary pianistic influences include Fats Waller, Thelonious Monk and Dr. John.
To support his growing family Norm stopped performing regularly in mid-career to become an inner-city teacher and principal . Once he retired from education, he has caught up for lost time and booked himself gigs from the Shenandoah Valley in the South to the piney woods of Maine; from the Berkshires in Massachusetts to Boston; New York to Los Angeles; and across the pond in Paris. His new release, “Euphoria” blends Latin jazz with boogie and rock and roll.
The sounds of reminiscent past of smokey old piano bars laced with the happiness of yesterday we all wish we could feel again. The song “Queen of Rosebuds” really plays to a modern Broadway jazz sound that has edgy sensual notes. The song “Everything is Turning (On the Wings of Love) is a beautiful lulllaby-esque song filled with hopeful notes to create a beautiful melody. Norm does a fantastic job at creating a moving piece of music that is eclectic and yet still all speaks the same language. On this record, Norm has cultivated a pianistic style rooted in the jazz of New Orleans with shades of Latin influence. Simultaneously nostalgic, Euphoria is a totally unique sound. The album reflects the driving rhythms of the rock ensembles he toured with for years around the Northeast. Real Stormin’ Norman is an ensemble fronted by the thundering vocals of Genevieve Faivre and features a stellar group of sidemen, including rising jazz superstar Jonathan Saraga (trumpet and arrangements), Russian bass master Arthur Sadowsky and drummer Tobias Ralph, who is acclaimed as “one of the best drummers in America” by Drummers World. Real Stormin’ Norman calls New York City home and is currently touring Euphoria around the Big Apple.
Norm states “Euphoria is the perfection I’ve always wanted to do. The songs are beautiful. The singing is powerful. Tight, imaginative arrangements. This album is way more realized than the previous Real Stormin’ Norman records. We were able to perfect music that I had been working on for years.”
Listen to Euphoria here:
Additionally, Norman found time to score a long-forgotten Nicholas Ray movie that has been locked in a vault for decades called We Can’t Go Home Again. And with the urging of Ray’s widow, Susan, Norm also scored a documentary about the legendary auteur film director. Both films were screened internationally and featured several times on the Turner Cable Classic network.
Modern Mystery 
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