Emcee Les Izmore and producer D/WILL make up the electrifying hip-hop duo Heartfelt Anarchy. The two artists blend their respective talents together in this project to create a vital, prolific musical collective for the Kansas City scene to enjoy. We talk with them about their upcoming appearance at Middle of the Map Fest.

Show you don’t want to miss at Webster Hall on April 10th with Lucius and Caveman (both bands graced our rag’s cover in the Spring 2012 issue and the Summer 2012 respectively, see pictures). Caveman’s debut album is a beautiful psych pop gem that Pi(a)tchfork managed to ignore, triggering fury and disconcert at The Deli’s headquarters – BS we say! The band’s sophomore, self-titled full length was released yesterday under Fat Possum’s wing – may this propel Caveman to the interstellar overdrive stardom they deserve! Check out the second single from the record below.

What can we say about Lucius that we haven’t said already? One of the best live shows and two of the best voices in town, even NY Times political opinionist/economist Paul Krugman agrees… be there.

Brooklyn to Austin, Walker Lukens has traveled a long way.  His newest record "Devoted" is out today.  The video for "Dear Someone" (streaming below) is a refreshing take on music videos.  It is a charming stop motion polaroid love story.  I asked Walker about the making of it and he explained that there were in between 400-500 polaroids taken to create the stop motion.  What does one do with that many polaroids?  Currently they are stored in an Impossible Film tote bag at Lukens’ studio and for everyone who orders a 7” through his website a polaroid gets thrown in.  

One of the characters in the video is Louis the Lion who is Lukens “travel-gnome/Sancho Panza.”  Walker had a lion logo before he met Louis but when he found him in a trash can he knew it was fate.  “I’m walking home from work. (I should have gotten on the subway but ended up procrastinating and walking three miles home.) I see this lion statue, lawn ornament, super-gauche living room decoration sitting in a trash can on the corner of Avenue A and East 4th. I took photos of him all along the way in bars, on benches, on the subway, and in the street.” Thus starting his side hobby of photographing Louis who is expected to be in future videos.  

"Devoted" was written while spending much of last year traveling, visiting family and touring. Lukens confessed to a few obsessive habits while on the road.  “If I’m driving I listen to an inordinate amount of This American Life. If I’m flying or sitting on a train, I read a lot of fiction. In both cases, I drink a lot of coffee. It seems like such a waste to sleep when you’ve got all of this uninterrupted alone time.”   

The release show for the new record is set for this Saturday April, 6th at The ND.  Doors open at 10pm and the show begins at 10:30.  You can stream all 10 songs on Devoted via his website. – Courtney Pierce

 

Interesting show at Cameo tomorrow (April 4) for those who seek new local, folky music.

Such Hounds (pictured and streaming below) is a rather new Brooklyn based band that plays extremely well crafted rootsy rock’n’roll full of attitude, solid arrangements and memorable choruses – at least that’s what we hear in their 3 song debut EP, released in January 2012. Definitely a band with potential.

Yokel and the Heavyweight offer a more intimate and authentic kind of Americana, built on acoustic guitars, meoldies and harmonies referencing old time country, with semi-whispered vocals conveying a mellow, confidential tone to their songs.

We had the pleasure to see Frances Cone live at our unofficial "Hangover Hideout" SXSW show a couple of weeks ago, and we are glad to report that this talented young singer songwriter can definitely sing – we already knew she can write good songs. She released her debut album "Come Back" in February and she’s will be headlining this show.

This track was added to our SoundCloud playlist of emerging NYC artists here.

Andrew Cedemark belongs to the neverending list of underappreciated artists NYC has to offer, and we hope (and are confident that) his upcoming sophomore record due in July will manage to promote this young man’s evolving psychedelic pop tunes to a wider audience. The new album, entitled "Home Life," features a rotating cast of musicians, proper studio production and it’s reported to have a more aggressive rock sound. Check out "Hard Livin" from Andrew’s 2010 debut EP, streaming below.