With his third album for Spring Garden Records, June Rodriguez continues to push his deep and progressive house productions into almost meditation-like territory: patterns ebb and flow, reverb swells and dissipates.

"Los Magicos", the album's opener, showcases Rodriguez's style perfectly as basslines pump to a repetitive percussive pattern while machine-like sounds burst alongside throbbing synth pads.

Released Friday, May 28th 2021.

Casa Blanca (sgr025)

Casa Blanca

June Rodriguez - Los Magicos [from the album Casa Blanca]

Christopher Michael Stevens and Paul Geissinger dropped by J. Michael Harrison's show The Bridge on WRTI, Friday, August 15th ahead of the release of Stevens' album "From Then Til Now".

Christopher Michael Stevens and Paul Geissinger on WRTI 8/15/2025

Amari’s debut EP That One is also the first release on the newly minted Spring Garden Records.  Amari is Shanice Manley: artist, producer and songwriter, Philadelphia born and raised.  

Amari began singing and taking piano lessons at the age of four, and started producing her own instrumental productions at the age of fourteen. She was inspired by her grandmother who studied opera and performed in gospel choirs across the Philadelphia region. Her love for harmonies and experimenting with a diverse sonic palette keeps her focused in the studio.  Amari previously received musical training as a student on scholarship at Settlement Music School, and studies piano performance and music production at the Community College of Philadelphia.

That One accomplishes everything you could want from a debut release.  Its depth, sophistication and genre-mashing showcases an artist that has a clear vision for her sound.  The opening title track sets the tone with it’s reversed waves of synthesis and stacked vocal harmonies.  “Love Hate” finds Amari contrasting vocal styles: intimacy meet megaphone.  “Hooked” and “Little Heart” take the production and songwriting in a very different direction, but logical progression; non-traditional percussion drives both tracks.  That One finishes with 4x4 stomper “Nebula Reflection” leading into the opus, nearly seven-minute, “Let Go”.  As an introduction to the sound of Amari, That One, displays the depth and musical versatility as well as a profound facility for narrative storytelling and heartfelt emotion.

Spring Garden Records is the official record label of the Community College of Philadelphia, providing a platform for the release of diverse genres of music created by students, alumni, members of the College community, and other Philadelphia artists engaging in Philly's Music Hub.

That One

Amari - Hooked (from the That One EP out now)

"Whatcha Got Do Bout Dah" is taken from the new Aviance full-length album, It's Aviance, out now!

It's Aviance (sgr002)

Aviance - Whatcha Gon Do Bout Dah [from the album It's Aviance]

The first official release from Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter Sean Danger Smith drops on Spring Garden Records while we are all practicing social distancing, holed up in our homes, to minimize the devastating effects of the covid-19 pandemic on our communities.  Born Sean Patrick Smith, Smith’s Space Camp is an autobiographical and intimate look into this unique artist’s take on life and engaging storytelling.  Armed with only guitars, the occasional synthesizer and a microphone, Smith creates stunning arrangements which require repeat listens to expose their true depth and beauty.

Some comparisons will be drawn to contemporaries including Bon Iver and Ry X, but Smith’s soaring melodies and captivating hooks hold their own.  After spending a year at Loyola University in New Orleans, Smith found the root of inspiration for his sound and drastically changed the way he structured his songs as he references in the opening track titled Same Way.  His virtuosic control of the acoustic guitar can be heard in Unsupervised where in one pass he finger picks his way through cascading rhythms.  In Svedka, Smith shares a personal story, told from a woman’s perspective, which seamlessly leads into Blood Shot Eyes, another love song filled with alcohol and cigarette references and raw storytelling.  On the title track, and epic EP closer, Space Camp, Smith looks into his past singing, “pick me up, I’m tired of Space Camp, the other kids make fun of me.”  Sean Danger Smith is the kind of storyteller we need to uplift us during this time: fresh, crude and an open book.
 
Spring Garden Records is the official record label of the Community College of Philadelphia, providing a platform for the release of diverse genres of music created by students, alumni, members of the College community, and other Philadelphia artists.  Spring Garden Records, Philly’s Music Hub.
 
All Songs Written by Sean Patrick Smith.
Recorded by Michael Amrhein.
Mixed and Mastered by Starkey at RBOS Audio.

Amari - Hooked (from the That One EP out now)

Spring Garden Records

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