Rejuvenating, soulful, subtle, crystal-clear-thriller are the terms used to describe the Jamaican born International Music powerhouse Nickeishia Barnes. Her vocals effortlessly ease through the musical genres Jazz, Gospel, Rhythm & Blues, Reggae Soul, Hip Hop, World Dance Music, and Jamaican Dancehall. This multi-talented singer, rapper, songwriter, poet, author, and emerging producer without a doubt is heading for super stardom. Her vocal prowess has been likened to the greats Arethra Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Lauryn Hill and the Queen of Reggae Marcia Griffiths. 

A constant figure on the live music scene in Jamaica and the International sphere, due to her signature high energy and impeccable vocal styles on stage, Nickeishia Barnes has begun to lay a brilliant musical foundation in the recording studios, with the help of her technically grafted Street Team (NickeishiaB Street Team and Music Matters Campaign) which helps oversee all official promotion and management affairs. Nickeishia Barnes is capable of performing at any classy event anywhere in the world such as a Miss World Pageant, a Presidential Cocktail, a Ball Room Celebration or she can come down-to-earth in the Dance Hall and groove in Rocksteady Land. She is just incomparable. Nickeishia is perched on the edge to brand the airwaves with her vibrant, contagiously-sweet sounding vocals from live stage to LP, 45s and digital mediums.

From the stages of The Digicel Rising Stars competition Nickeishia Barnes has forged a path of success with her musical career, gracing all the major stages of musical festivals in Jamaica and the Caribbean. Nickeishia’s live performances are a sight to behold, as you are transported into her world of love, laughter, joy, sadness, struggle, healing, insecurities, family, motherhood, sacrifice, triumph and victory, this has been translated to her recordings in the studio as her sense of openness and vulnerability draws the listeners closer and closer craving more of this dynamic, versatile artiste. Thus far her catalogue of works include her impressive renditions of “Everybody Needs Someone To Love”, “Tonight’s the Night” produced by the legendary Donovan Germaine of The Pent House records fame, which has allowed Nickeishia to collaborate with Buju Banton on tracks yet to be released. Her collaborative efforts have also seen her work with Anthony B lifting her amazing voice against child abuse especially molestation in the aptly titled track “Dirty Step Daddy” which garnered rave International reviews.  Her smooth and agile vocals can be heard on tracks produced by Jam2 productions “Sweetest Mistake”, and a massive song favourite by her ever growing fan-base “In Love (Sha-la-la)” produced by Mario Lawrence of Music Factory and her friend Taffi Bryson of Psi Phi Productions. Her warm personality and great work ethic has seen her pen songs and record for musical producers Bobby Digital of Digital B Productions issuing a sweet sexy song called “Come Alive”, Ernie Wilks of Mista Wilks Production, Shocking Vibes Production, and J’Island Productions as well as Flava Squad Productions where her single on the Evolution rhythm “Leaving On A Jet Plane” is on constant rotation on the airwaves in Jamaica, Italy and France. Look out for Nickeishia Barnes; she is on the verge of exploding on the musical scenes. This time, like never before. Her latest works include her first (1st) EP entitled “Wounded In Love” with seven (7) stellar tracks written by her and produced by Triple Ace of J’Island Records. The EP is available on ITUNES https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/wounded-in-love/id594191563 with #SMASHHITS like “I Cry No, No,No” and “Bloody Streets” on heavy rotation on the airwaves of London, Mexico, France to Jamaica  #MUSICMATTERSALWAYS! Look out for the second EP dubbed “Lovers’&Souls” to be released in August 2013.

Brace yourself for some Thom Foolery. Spreading that good music steeze.

Saved by insanity is a metal band that is ready to explode into a musical climax! 
The creation point of the band was a coalition of the two bands Gastroc Nemius and Alive in early spring 2007, when they started playing together. A cloudy dawn in late fall 2007 they decided to evolve once more. With heavier riffs and more aggressive drums they were tearing another path into the scorned heart of their fans and up to a higher level. The first demo was fixed and trixed in cooperation with a real living legend, Roger Johansson, whom we all know from the bands such as Paganizer and Ribspreader. The demo was named Stray dog society, and it was followed by the bands second demo Truth reborn a year later. This time they collaborated with Brynjar Helgetun and Patrick Bruss from Ribspreader, Crypticus, Liklukt to name a few. By our metal-thrashed ears it sounds like a melodic orgasm within the bloody parameters of "Sit down and fucking listen!". They are a band in progress with influences from 70's hard rock via old school american thrash metal scene to the more modern Swedish melodic death metal scene.

"How to describe Future History’s sound… Ah, yes. Remember when Radiohead released OK Computer? Remember how bloody brilliant and awesome that era of their sound was, how the electronic elements balanced beautifully with rocking guitars and layered vocals?  Yeah, I miss when Radiohead wowed me."

-Open 'Til Midnight

Future (noun):  3.  A prospective or expected condition, especially one considered with regard to growth, advancement, or development 

History (noun):  2.  The branch of knowledge that records and analyzes past events 

To understand where Future History is headed, one must examine the road the band has traveled.

In the short time since the Feb 2010 release of their debut EP, "Self-Titled." Future History have made quite an impact on the independent music scene in Canada. Comprised of Kevin Ker, Justin Dillon, Chris Dawe and Mike Baggley, the music of Future History have been described as haunting and poetic, experimental alt-rock. Deeply metaphorical lyrics are simultaneously accessible yet beyond immediate comprehension.  The band has amassed a long list of accomplishments: a supporting slot on the 2011 Marcy Playground tour, multiple showcases at CMF and NXNE, Top Record of 2012 honours, nods for “Best Record” and “Best Singer/Songwriter” at the Toronto Independent Music Awards and many more.

In setting out to craft their sophomore release, the heavily lauded Loss:/self, the band took a left turn, one that proved intense and ultimately rewarding.  "The only thing [we] were sure of was that we wanted to make something meaningful, something cinematic in scope like our favourite records had always been," explains front man and songwriter Kevin Ker.  "The one major influential decision we made at the very beginning was that we didn't want to limit the creative pursuit by concerning ourselves with how we would reproduce it live. We decided the record would stand on its own and the live show would follow, not vice versa like we had done with self-titled."
 
Loss:/self was crafted and recorded over 12 months at Chalet Studios in Claremont, Montreal, random forests, basements, and -- while stranded during a hurricane -- in New York City. The band employed the use of over 50 instruments, devices and household objects, combined with a 35-person vocal, stomp and drum circle and the heartrending cry of a lonely whale. It also featured a slew of guest appearances; including Todd Clark (Pilot Speed), Jonathan Dauphinais (Beast) and Kevin Pullen (The Dunes). An anamorphic journey of a record, Loss:/self was released in early April 2012 to a sold-out Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto.

Adored by press and fans alike, Loss:/self  generated reviews from all over the world. The album yielded "Best Live Band" and "Best Singer-Songwriter" nominations at the 2012 TIMA's (Toronto Independent Music Awards) and beat out Metric and Bruce Springsteen in securing "Record of the Year" on Open 'til Midnight (http://otmblog.com/2012/12/13/top-12-albums-of-2012-part-two/)

The resonance the album holds with listeners perhaps lies in how deeply personal the songs are, and how well they capture the human condition itself.  "I was re-reading books like 1984, Brave New World and A Clockwork Orange... These Dystopian worlds didn't seem all too unfamiliar to me," Ker says. "Loss:/self was a realization of mass proportions -- not only about the world around me but also the internal struggle and how it so accurately reflected the external.   A lot of the songs may appear to be about someone else, but it was always an internal dialogue." 

The dawn of 2013 marked a new beginning. Future History wanted to follow Loss:/self with some form of resolution and immediately began making plans for their third record. Finding a hermitage in an old, decrepit and haunted cabin in the backwoods of Ontario, assembling a myriad of old recording equipment acquired over the years and utilizing old furniture discovered in the cabin, Kevin Ker personally spent 6 months in solitude writing the record. 

"With each new day, I began a meditative journey, stripping away inhibitions and expectations... It was an amazing experience to write without consequence," Ker relates.  Mirroring the gradual stripping down to the core self on the previous album, this opening up of the creative process brought a new understanding of life itself.  "When I listen back to the songs they all make perfect sense to me... They were the realizations I had been searching for [during the writing of Loss:/self]."  Summoning, discovering, creating and capturing: the result is a haunting 8-song trip that echoes and responds, entitled Lungs.

Opening with "Breathing", Lungs immediately pulls the listener into the space where the songs came alive.  Ker describes it vividly:  "The settling of the walls, the rain and wind outside, the creaking of the trees leaning in towards me, a strange pulsing as if breathing all around me.. The cabin had a voice of its own."

Rife with realizations, the album traverses a terrain where hopelessness gives way to anger and the expectations of the world that push against us from birth are shrugged off in search of being true to oneself.  In discussing "Take Two", Ker explains,  "We are not living life the way we should be… We are disconnected from nature -- from our nature.  From a living, breathing entity."   That connection underlies the sonic journey, a struggle to resist external pressures as ingrained as the Pavlovian response and carve a new path -- a new future from weary history.  By the time "Without (You)" swells to its stunning crescendo, one draws a deep breath of wonder as Ker sings, "The numbing is leaving/For the first time, I can feel my lungs breathing." 

"Intelligently poignant lyrics, accompanied by haunting, yet completely affable music, Future History’s sound is not only accessible, but can have the power to reach an incredibly broad audience. With their special brand of experimental music, Future History will be expanding minds wherever they go for a long time to come."

-Toronto Live Music Examiner

What lies ahead for Future History is unwritten.  The band refuses to conform to anything but an honest, passionate approach to their craft and therein lies a healthy unpredictability.  What is certain is their music will continue to tap into an unspoken, collective need within us all for self-reflection and meaning.  

After all, in the end, aren't we all future history?

OR

After all, in the end, our lives are a future history.



It was a dark and stormy mid-September night of two thousand and eleven in Philadelphia. Matthew Jurasek and Tyler March were preparing for their bi-weekly ritualistic “Cure World Hunger” feast by serenading one another with tunes of their childhood. It was as Matthew plucked his stringed wooden baton, surrounded by the flames of hundreds of candles (necessary for the ritualistic feast), that Tyler had a life-altering vision. Tyler quotes, “While Sir Matthew gracefully, yet aggressively coated me in a Dreamscape of sound, I came to realize that if either of us were going to make it through that night alive, we would have no choice but to start a band.” Tyler translated this message to Matthew through their shared telekinetic abilities, and the movement, now referred to as “Thee Idea Men”, had begun. Without a word uttered between them, they left their feast behind and trekked out into the world in search of bandmates, capable of both musical genius and sexual superiority.

Two days later, Matthew and Tyler found themselves deep in the deserts of Saudi Arabia. Both were growing weary of the journey they had endured thus far, but they knew what they had come for, and could not leave until they had found it. Urban myth states that, buried deep into the earth somewhere in the heart of the Ad-Dahna desert lives a being capable of performing the most beautiful bass lines ever heard by man. As Thee two Idea Men powered along aimlessly in the hot, dry desert, they began to feel a rumble beneath their feet. They rapidly moved closer to the source of the vibrations below them, slowly becoming more aroused with each step. When they had traveled just over half a mile, the tremors beneath them became so intense that both Matthew and Tyler fell to their knees, and climaxed. They had found what they had come for (get it?). When the tremendous earth-hum had subsided they began to dig. They dug straight into the dirt for five days straight with their band hands, accepting not a second of rest, nor a drop of water. Finally, just as neither Man thought they could go any further; their bloody fingers broke through the dirt below, and into a dimly lit cave. There he lie asleep, in all of his glory and talent, Mr. Kristopher Pirnat. As Matthew and Tyler did not want to risk the possibility of Kris saying “No” to their proposal to play bass for Thee Idea Men, they quietly lifted him from his bed, making sure not to disturb his slumber, and carried him back to Philadelphia. Kristopher awoke upon arrival (he is a VERY deep sleeper) and did not question his being in America. He simply looked his two captors in the eyes and knew that this was his purpose in life. He accepted his position in the band, and worked alongside Matthew and Tyler to conceive Getcho Groo Von, Thee debut Idea Men album.

A few months after having written and recorded Getcho Groo On, the three Idea Men decided they needed to crank up the pizazz levels. They felt that if they brought in a new member, they could skyrocket their success to the next level. The level they were on was great, but it was rumored that there was chocolate cake on the next level. So this is where they wanted to be. They scoured the country for weeks in search of the perfect fit for their sound, kidnapping and forcing every guitarist they came in contact with to play for them, in hopes that He would be the one. While at a rest stop in American Fork, Utah, Thee Men heard a sound coming from behind a nearby Eighteen-Wheeler that none could ignore. It was power-driven and soulful, the likes of which had not entered the three men’s earholes in far too long. They rounded the trailer bed and saw a young bearded man, who they assumed to be homeless, with an acoustic guitar, belting warm, gruff vocals, and drilling into his guitar with the deep passion that they had been on the search for all along. Matthew, Tyler and Kristopher glanced at each other, noticed one another’s erections, and knew they had found their match. They approached they’re potential new member and requested he play rhythm guitar with the band. While hesitant at first, the mysterious traveler, who later came to be known as Matt Raspanti, agreed to a practice session, and a night out on the town. The practice session went great, but the night out was what sealed the deal. Seven mimosas in and a solid few high-fives later, Matt decided he would play with Thee Idea Men, and the world has never been the same.

Singer Songwriter and Album Producer (e.g., composing, recording, arranging, editing, mixing, styling, photography, artwork, etc.).

Born and raised in New Jersey, graduated college then moved to San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Nashville.


Lyrics by Erinn Elizabeth
Musics by Jill Catarino
Production and Arrangements
by Erinn Elizabeth and A.C. Wells
"Til the End" 
"Alive"
"Paradise"
"Face"
"Bloody Mary"
"Moonlight"
"Hopeful Broken"
"Perfectly"
"Stop Pretending"
"Daydream"


Music and Lyrics 
by Erinn Elizabeth 
and A.C. Wells
"Silver and Gold"
"A World So Wrong"
"Look What The Devil Made Me Do"
"Another Shot of Jack"
"In My Blood"
"Bite the Dust"
"Let it Go"
"Sunshine or Rain"
"Flatlined"
"Heaven Changed Its’ Mind"
"Dirty Pretty Things"
"Weakened"
"Sugar and Spice"
"One Night Fairytale"


Lyrics by Erinn Elizabeth 
Music by Tero Potila
"But You Don’t Look Sick"
"We’re All Alone"
"It’s Early Morning"


Music and Lyrics by Erinn Elizabeth
Production by Steve Marinaccio
and Scott Monetti
"Rather Drown"
"Wings"
"Screams in Her Tears"
"Not Sorry"
"Touched My Soul"
"Judging Butterflies"
"Who Loves You"
"Pain is Only a Teardrop" 


Written by A.C. Wells 
Background Harmony 
by Erinn Elizabeth 
"Won’t You Please"
"Shines On You"
"Angel Without Wings"
"Weed, Whiskey, Women"
"The Devil’s Song"
"Steelmill"
"We’re a Lot of Things"
"I’m Sorry"
"Thank God I Did"
"The Last Time"

Garage-grunge trio from Ghent (Belgium) is storming their miniature subculture in their tiny progressive bubble of a little European city.

Firefang screams out against inequality, patriarchy, environmental destruction and the dying spasms of the capitalist insect...

It's an ungrateful job but someone's got to make money out of it!

In january the trio released their self titled debut album at the infamous 4AD club. The album received good press at home and abroad.

In just a few months time the jaded trio already shook the nihillist butts of gen Y at locally 'significant' venues like Trefpunt™ at Oorpijn (Earache)™ & Kinky Star™, got airplay on Urgent™ and released a DIY music video.

A nostalgic rock show and permanent tinitus with these politically correct effeminate anarchists from the Belgian squat scene...

__________________________________________________

“In a sea of imitation and instances belonging to an already existing music field, some bands manage to design their own universe using nothing but the finest essences of their inspirations”, “Fast as punk, desolated like blues, loud as rock'n'roll, Firefang smells like grunge spirit to anyone prone simultaneously to vulnerability and power”, “Long time since I heard an album with so many great songs. Particularly a debut album”, “Great songs, powerful vibes, outstanding guitars and wonderful singing.”
- aLive Reports (UK)

“Vanaf het eerste nummer wist Firefang me bij de keel te grijpen. Dit was bij momenten snoeiharde rock met inderdaad veel sporen uit de grunge maar ook met genoeg rock-'n- roll in de poriën en stevige ballen aan het lijf.”
- Musiczine

“Firefang rijgt het aanstekelijkste uit de grunge, garage, blues, stoner- of punktraditie aaneen vanuit complexloze muzikale oerdriften”, “Rauw en eerlijk.”
- Patrick Smagghe, 4AD

“Firefang verveelt op geen enkel moment”, “Een tiental nummers die een spoor van vernieling achterlaten zonder zichzelf (of elkaar) te verliezen in een muur van lawaai, ruis of overdrive”, “denk aan MC5, de energie van de Stooges, maar evengoed aan het vroege Nirvana”, “garagerock met invloeden uit zowel proto-punk, grunge, psych en blues.”
- Luminous Dash

“The fuzzy barrage of sound that escapes in to the room grabs hold of the listener and has them captivated by the Firefang offerings of rock 'n' roll and dirty blues”, “Able to deliver sound in a blaze of speed as well as slowing the tempo the trio superbly control what could easily become a chaotic confusion.”
- Emerging Indie Bands (US)

“Variatie troef en hoogtepunten genoeg”, “Een opmerkelijke entree”, “Firefang koppelt het prettigste dat grunge, garage, blues, stoner en punk te bieden hebben zonder complexen aan elkaar”
- Kinky Star Ce Soir

”… Hallelujah! Just what we need right now in these fucked up, chaotic Trump days! What you get is an avalanche of highly emotional outbursts. From full blooded Kurt Cobain grunge exorcism to far-out quiet/loud/quiet borderline hysteria and some reflective blues meditations in-between. Overall the record is an inflammable volcano. You can hear the band bleed, sweat, and cry. They bloody care about what they do and it’s definitely more fun than going into therapy. Try them and test your speakers…”
- Turn Up That Volume

”What a noise, what a voice, the screaming is beyond the combined force of the former couple Cobain-Love fighting at the top of their lungs,” ”Garage, grunge, psychedelic, Neil Young and more. It's all there, without losing an inch on consistency,” ”The album is -yes, a lot of noise, of course- varied, with great mood changes, great playing and loads, truckloads of enthusiasm that makes Firefang irresistible to listen to. It's dirty, grungy, smudged, but all honoured with a keen ear for spotting exciting melodies. So get out your old rags and start polishing. Underneath all that grime is pure gold.”
- WoNoMagazine (BE/NL)

"I Only Care About You and Me" Release date August 10th at Doug Fir

Blood Wisdom formed in Cape May, New Jersey circa 1998. Originally conceived as a solo project for Vocalist/Songwriter Eaden Rosvein (born Edward Palmer), Blood Wisdom would eventually evolve into a full band, featuring longtime member Ed Dymek, and an ever changing lineup of collaborators. Throughout the years, and over the course of numerous albums, the band has explored and blended many genres, including Alt- Rock, Shoegaze, Gothic Folk, Post-Punk, and Experimental Sound Collage. The genre hybrid project is unified by Eaden's poetic lyrics, surreal album artwork/flyers, and energetic live performances. Now residing in Los Angeles, CA , Blood Wisdom's current lineup is Eaden Rosvein - Vocals/Guitar/Piano, Ed Dymek - Bass/Drums/Guitar, and Jef Pauly - Drums. For more information, visit bloodwisdom.net

Henderson Amy is following