EIPR Presents: Wake The Neighbors CMJ SHOWCASE
Phony Ppl either crash-landed from the past or the future: critics and fans can’t decide. Since throwing warehouse shows around New York in 2011, Phony Ppl has tossed together vintage astral funk, colorful world music, and dusted-out hip-hop either from the future or the past. Co-founded by writer/arrangers Elbee Thrie and Aja Grant, the band flipped D.I.Y recordings into self-released hits like “I Wish I Was A Chair” and “End of the Night,” and tours with like-minded experimental elders Theophilus London, Erykah Badu and The Roots. Their latest effort, 2015’s “Yesterday’s Tomorrow” gained rotation on BBC1 and Odd Future Radio, and the L.A. Times applauded it’s “meteoric rise” via social media, peaking at #6 on iTunes. The band will be on the road with the record throughout the year.
Fame School
Soulful. Feminine. Free-Spirited. Three key words to describe the look and sound of Stella Santana.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Stella took after her father, legendary musician Carlos Santana, in her natural ability and keen ear for music. While, piano was her instrument of choice from the tender age of 5, Stella has inevitably gravitated toward the guitar.
Destined for a career in the music industry, she often visited her father in the studio and on tour and was surrounded by some of the most incredible musical talents of our time. However, education always came first. She enrolled at Pepperdine University where she focused on Intercultural Communication.
After graduation, Stella searched for a much needed change of pace and set her sights on New York. With a one-way ticket, to New York she ventured leaving behind all family and friends. Stella began to work for a holistic doctor and learned a great deal about this type of health and wellness philosophy. Though gaining knowledge, there was still a void. Fatefully like many artists, heartbreak led to inspiration and countless hours of writing. Finally having a voice of her own and needing an outlet, she sought comfort in her first love – music.
In August 2014, Stella released her debut single “The Reason” with producer Hardy Indiigo. An EP will follow later this year.
BLXPLTN
“Taking form last spring, BLXPLTN stands out both for its future-sound take on Eighties American
hardcore – compete with live electric drums – as well as effectively capturing an attitude that’s both
hostile and inspiring.” -Kevin Curtin, Austin Chronicle
“The Austin-based trio blends punk fury with industrial and electrocrass sounds on “Stop and Frisk”
and “Train.” Building from a minimal electro beat and distorted bass “Stop and Frisk” eviscerates the
tactic. …Sounding something like Black Flag with an electronic drum kit, the trio of TaSzlin Muerte,
Jonathan Hortsmann, and Khattie Q inject raw minimalism with a new fire.” -Nathan Leigh, Afropunk
Our bass player should be sending our tech rider over by Wednesday.
BLXPLTN (Blaxploitation) is a cutting-edge new electro-punk music project out of Austin, TX. Power trio
TaSzlin Muerte (electro drums, vocals) Javelin Horstmann (bass, synth, vocals) and Lil K Big Q (guitar,
screams) comes together to create music that has distinct punk, new wave, and even hip-hop influences.
Audience reactions to live shows range from enthusiastic headbanging to drop-jawed, drooling disbelief.
All multi-instrumentalist veterans of live performance and touring,TaSzlin, Jonathan, and Khattie are
quickly gaining recognition and support both locally and nationally. They are currently completing their
first full-length studio album with Autry Fulbright (…Trail of Dead, Midnight Masses) and Elliott Frazier
(Ringo Deathstarr), and on their first single and music video.
Sunny Gang is a four-man Punk Rap band from Newark, NJ. Based around a shared love for music, partying, and all things gnarly, the band draws influences from genres as wide-ranging as Punk, Hip-Hop, Rock, Funk, Metal, Soul, Ska and Hardcore with the express purpose of making crowds move by any means necessary.
Formed on campus at Rutgers-Newark in early 2012 as a backing band for frontman Nasty Nate’s solo performances, the band, featuring Chris Bacchus on lead guitar, Joe Sap on Bass and Marshal on the drums, quickly began writing as a group and by the end of the summer had enough material to release a self-produced demo, entitled “C’mon Sun!”, including early crowd favorites “Bloc Party” and the band’s cover of “Sail” by AWOLNation.
Meanwhile, the band had begun to establish itself as a local spectacle in the Newark underground music scene, performing in bars, lofts, art galleries, The Newark Bears Stadium, skate shops and anywhere else that could handle their energetic stage presence and wild fans. By December 2012, Sunny Gang began catching the interest of a handful of local media outlets, most notably the Brooklyn-based website/organization AfroPunk, who posted a review of the demo which called the band “proudly hedonistic” and applauded them for “working overtime to rehabilitate rap/rock’s shattered image.”
Seeking to capitalize on growing interest in the band, Sunny Gang began their campaign to perform at AfroPunkFest 2013. Through aggressive online promotion, and a pair of memorable performances at the AfroPunk Battle of the Bands at FreeCandy in Brooklyn that involved instrument destruction, a life-sized dummy and a near-riot, the Jersey underdogs achieved their goal and were selected to perform on the main stage at APFest ’13. As a result of their inclusion in the festival, Sunny Gang was invited to join the Red Bull Sound Select program, and began drawing more attention from writers and audiences. Their performance on the festival caught the interest of outlets like RollingStone.com, BrooklynVegan, OkayPlayer and more, further cementing the band’s reputation as force to be reckoned with.
Since the festival, Sunny Gang has been working hard on completing their upcoming self-produced EP, “ReadyMadeRiot”, due for release early this summer. In March, they released the first single and video for the project, entitled “1:35”. The band has also been expanding its reach as a live act in the Tri-State area, and has shared the stage with a number of nationally-touring artists including Danny Brown, Trash Talk, Shinobi Ninja, Kool A.D. (of Das Racist), Mykki Blanco, The White Mandingos (featuring Murs and Daryl Jenifer of Bad Brains), The English Beat and Air Dubai.
Outside of performing as Sunny Gang, all four members of the band are active members of the Rutgers University Newark community. Vocalist, “Nasty” Nate Hitchcock, is an Economics major at RU-N and worked as a solo rapper/producer prior to forming Sunny Gang. He is also one of the founding members of the Rutgers Real Estate Club and is the Program Director at the campus radio station, WRNU. Nate also plans and designs all of Sunny Gang’s merchandise. Guitarist, Chris Bacchus, is a Journalism Major at RU-N and writes for the school newspaper, The Rutgers Observer, and RU-N’s Scarlet Magazine. He also serves as Sunny Gang’s booking agent. Before joining Sunny Gang, Bacchus performed in various metal bands. Bassist, Joe Sap, and drummer, Marshal, are the founding members of the Rutgers Audio Production Club. Sap graduated from RU-N with Honors in May 2013 with a degree in Marketing. During his tenure as a student he became the Manager and Lead Engineer at RU-N’s on campus recording facility, RetroVista Studios, where Sunny Gang produces all of its music. He has served as Lead Engineer for all of Sunny Gang’s recordings, on projects by other Newark artists, including Mars Hoffa and OhWon, and Nate’s 2012 solo mixtape “Self-Medication”. Before joining Sunny Gang, Sap was in a ska band called “At The Ready!” Marshal is currently a Marketing major, with a concentration in Entrepreneurship, and serves as President of the Audio Production Club. He works alongside Joe at RetroVista as an engineer, both on Sunny Gang’s material and projects with other musicians. Before joining Sunny Gang, Marshal played in a punk band called Spectrophilia.
What happens when you cross-pollinate the celebratory funk of soul music with the risk taking swagger of authentic rock and roll? You might decide to swirl in some infectious pop and cast a spell across the Universe! This very potion yields the heart pumping sounds of Brooklynn. Beamed in from the heavens our young artist is the unchallenged Queen of Soul Pop & Roll. Keep your eyes on the night skies and you might get a glimpse of Brooklynn’s constellation.