Michael Martinez has come a long way since his days of street busking on the streets of Bend, Oregon. More than a decade into his career you can find him in the studio writing and recording with heavy hitters in Los Angeles, producing custom music for brands like LG, Samsung and Facebook, as well as running his own film production company where he directs projects for Marvel and Disney. And on top of all that, he still finds the time to make impeccably written and flawlessly produced Americana records under his artist moniker Meekoh. This week he released “From The River”, the lead single from his upcoming EP “The Sun”. The song was written as a tribute to the love of his life, whose tragic struggle with cystic fibrosis necessitated their retreat back to his home state of Oregon in the leadup to the pandemic lockdown in Los Angeles. “We […]
In her stunning new single “Visiones Doradas” (“Golden Visions”), singer/songwriter Loli Molina conjures up an introspective journey through the rugged terrain of the Andes region. The overall tone of the song is melancholy, meant to evoke both the harshness and beauty of the environment. The “golden visions” are an apparition, a mirage in the desolate landscape. The poetry doesn’t translate so well into English, but perhaps it’s beside the point. The music tells its own story, as all great songs do. Loli Molina was born in Buenos Aires but is now based in Mexico City. Her deep connection to Latin America, as viewed through the lens of her own Andalucian ancestry, has an omnipresent influence on her sound. Her goal in music is to always transport her listeners to faraway places, bringing these locations to life and showing that anything is possible. Written and recorded in collaboration with Argentinian singer/songwriter […]
We’re often asked what kinds of songs are in high demand and low supply for sync, and one of them is “sexy but not sexual”. It’s a tricky balance, but you know it when you hear it. Chi-town native Johari Noelle absolutely nails this vibe with “Get Free”. In the opening minute of the song her soft and sultry voice sits atop a subtle dancehall rhythm, then out of nowhere a smooth drum fill launches us into a Badu-esque neo-soul groove. Johari wrote this song to try to bring ease and joy to herself and others, just like that old adage you can’t love anyone until you first learn to love yourself. “My music is about getting out how I feel and being very present in that moment. It’s important for me to embrace myself in a way that empowers me to feel each emotion and remain in touch with […]
British singer-songwriter Jacob Browne releases his brand new single “Say Something” today, an infectiously rhythmic pop song about the tension that arises when communication breaks down in a relationship. “I remember getting to the studio the day of writing and felt so trapped in my relationship. I had been with my partner for over four years, but things just didn’t feel right and we weren’t talking as honestly as we used to. I was so madly in love, but the communication between us was breaking down to a point of no return. After messaging her a few times with no reply and having already confided in my struggles with my songwriting partner; that’s when “Say Something” was born. After this point, we knew we needed to create a production that was extremely powerful and exceptionally melodic as to ensure we were matching the emotive story that we had come up […]
When Scary Pockets joined our roster back in March it seemed less like an artist signing than a full-on enterprise level partnership. The band is like a well-oiled machine, relentlessly cranking out a new cover every week accompanied by a professionally filmed live video posted to their highly successful YouTube channel. Their massive catalog has single-handedly more than tripled our covers library, opening up some excellent opportunities for us to work on productions requiring a degree of recognizability. This week Scary Pockets released a new cover of one of our all-time favorites, the Isley Brothers classic “It’s Your Thing”. This isn’t so much of a reinterpretation as it is a gender flip, with the fabulous Brooke Simpson absolutely crushing it on vocals. Scary Pockets is comprised of two core members, musicians Ryan Lerman (John Legend, Michael Buble, Ben Folds) and Jack Conte (Pomplamoose, CEO of Patreon), featuring some of LA’s […]
Dan Berk is a bit obsessive, which might actually be his secret weapon. As a child, his deep love for acoustic cover artists like Leroy Sanchez, Megan Davies, Boyce Avenue and Emma Heesters led him to start over-analyzing every detail of the craft. He soon found himself cracking the code to the perfect acoustic cover and set out to begin recording his own. Starting in 2018, Dan released a steady string of acoustic covers that quickly racked up well over 100 million streams on Spotify. These covers seemed to resonate deeply with the Gen Z crowd who found comfort in his emotional renditions of songs like “Solo”, “Burn”, “Hey Brother” and “Ruin My Life”. Now with a devoted fan base of 1.1 million Spotify monthly listeners, Dan Berk is moving into the next phase of his career by finding his own voice as an artist. This past week he debuted […]
We all have regrets, and from time to time our mind wanders to what might have been had we made different choices. No decision impacts us more deeply than those relating to love, which for better or worse can completely reroute the course of our lives. It’s this concept that Beth Crowley contemplates in her poignant new single “Storm Chaser”. For over a decade, Nashville singer-songwriter Beth Crowley has been writing and recording songs inspired by Young Adult Novels such as Dark Artifices, Divergent, The Lunar Chronicles, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, The Fault in Our Stars and Shatter Me. Writing songs from this unique perspective has given her sound an undeniable cinematic quality, channeling their emotional themes and providing a powerful soundtrack to these revered storylines. Since 2011 Beth has been a strong presence on YouTube, amassing more than 30 million views and 142k dedicated followers to her official channel. In addition to her […]
Having just authored the definitive guide on how to write your own bio and then five days later getting a piece he wrote published in the New York Times, it seemed only fitting that this week’s update is guest-written by the brilliant Adam Schatz. We just added in some hyperlinks and corrected the typos. Please enjoy! Landlady’s newest album is called “Landlady”, and it could not arrive at a better time! That’s because Landlady’s chief songwriter and executive director Adam Schatz has absolutely no other work at the moment, so he can put his full body-weight into promoting the new album, their self-determined most mature album to date that continues to tackle the evergreen topics of loss, joy, and the cosmic anchor that can be latched onto by a seemingly simple act of playing in a band. “Landlady” the album is a capture of the magic that can come from […]
Starting his musical journey as a drummer and eventually finding his way to the guitar, Minneapolis-based folk/country artist Michael Gay (f/k/a Almighty American) draws his inspiration from his dad’s record collection. With the sounds of Willie Nelson, John Prine and Jerry Jeff Walker deep within his heart, Michael is releasing the first two new singles this week under his own name. A matched set, “Long, Cold Winter” is about persevering through the cold hard winter while “Good Night” is about enjoying a summer night by the Mississippi River. According to Michael: “It is my little ode to Minnesota, celebrating both sides of the coin. Living here has taught me to embrace seasons in life even when you’re looking for that chapter to close. We’re stronger for it.” The sentiment resonates with a lot of us this year, just as we enter what is likely to be an unusually long, lonely […]
Amidst the most turbulent year in living memory, “Still Wandering” by Bronze Radio Return is an inspiring ray of light. The song delivers the positive message that despite the despair that comes from being on an uncertain path, a healthy sense of wonderment always keeps life interesting and new. “I think this song speaks to those who are out there searching for something different or better, and being open to change along the way. This band has endured a lot of change and challenges over the years, yet we’re always excited for the future, and as we open the next chapter, we approach it with more wisdom, but the same drive we had over a decade ago when we were getting started. We’re still keeping on, and still wandering.” – Rob Griffith Though a stripped-down sentimental ballad, the song still manages to deliver the band’s signature big choruses. The layered […]