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Hey, hey, hey, my INDIEcent brothers and sisters. Thanks for tuning in to Episode #44 of INDIEcent Exposure. I’ve got some killer tunes lined up for you, and I guess I was in the mood for music that rides a little harder, because these tracks definitely don’t show the softer side of yours truly, your host, the mongrel, known in an alternet zip code as Jay V.
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Editor’s Notes:
• This post may contain affiliate links
• Musicians’ bio info comes from the artists, their websites, or their publicists. Click on names below to visit their websites where you can get the full story, photos, and very often video.
I’ve got another great interview, with a great artist, waiting in the wings, but right now let’s kick things off with some tunage. We’ll hear from Imran Mandani, who conjures up Godzilla, Kim Logan, who warns us that Oedipus Wrecks, and Gürschach, who take us on a tour of their Undead Empire. First though, let’s start this set off with an amazing Pop and Neo-Soul artist who hails from Georgia — And I don’t mean the state that sits between Alabama and South Carolina.
SALIO
SALIO hails from the Republic of Georgia, a place known to some for its harmonic scales and the birthplace of wine, but not by most. A remarkably gifted vocalist and composer from a young age, she decided to leave her home country and find her place in the wider world.
SALIO
Moving to London and working with Andrew Hunt provided her with the Lost World EP and him with a Music Producer’s Guild Award for Breakthrough Producer of the Year. The title track of the EP then won 2nd place in the Unsigned Only Music Awards Pop Category the year after.
Bass player, Deon Estus, of Wham! fame and platinum selling jazz saxophonist, Dean James, started making arrangements to meet. The natural beauty in her voice broke Dean’s heart, literally. Just days later he was in hospital for a quadruple bypass operation.
SALIO; submitted photo.
Tony Coluccio – a man who has worked with greats such as Bette Midler, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson – then brought her to record in New York City. Tied in with a quick, secretive Sofar performance and a cameo at renowned Small’s Jazz Club, it seems that no matter where she goes, those who appreciate true musical ability will find her.
IMRAN MANDANI
Chicago native hip-hop recording artist, Imran Mandani, loves a good challenge; in the entertainment industry where only a handful of Asian Indians have reached mainstream success as comedians, musicians, or actors, the Windy City rapper and graphic designer enjoys carving his own path while evolving his brand.
Imran Mandani
In the rap genre, trap music currently dominates the charts and most rappers stick to the subgenre’s usual thematics, but Imran takes an unorthodox approach to his craft. From writing hip-hop verses over a pop ballad to putting poetic prose over a rugged rap instrumental, a listener wouldn’t know what to expect next, but the unpredictability has recently garnered interest from a variety of audiences.
“I try to be diverse,” says Imran, whose musical influences are just as eclectic as the plethora of playlists on his iTunes app. However, he wasn’t always a music connoisseur. During his school days, Imran was more concerned about coming up with impromptu rhyming retorts to stereotypes during freestyle battles on stage than creating wide-ranging albums.
“Everyone had the same ‘7:11-on-the-dot’ punchlines and clichés for me” he explains, and although people were impressed with his lyrical abilities, he became discouraged.
“People loved me for my verbal talent, but I was still Indian and didn’t try to act ghetto. My culture also had different expectations of me, so hip-hop just became a pastime,” he elaborates further, understanding now what he didn’t back then; that music trends keep changing and that people should follow their passions in life.
Imran Mandani; submitted photo.
Having shared stages with the likes of Macy Gray and performed with legends such as Joss Stone, SALIO has become one of the most recognised faces in her home country and is now an admired judge on TV show The Voice. This year she has also been invited to judge The Eurovision Song Contest, 2021.
Here she is now with her single “Wayside”
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KIM LOGAN & The Silhouettes
Kim Logan is a songwriter, opera singer, poet, performance artist, rock and roll torchbearer from Florida.
Following the release of her debut self-titled album in 2013, Kim has spent the years since touring America and Europe with a wheel-of-fortune display of diverse backing musicians, continuing a 17-year career in staged opera, and pursuing general interdisciplinary attempts at following the muse.
Kim Logan
Calling Paris, the UK, and the States home all at once, Kim draws from the veins of many varied musical sub-genres as reference points for her expression, and works to blur the lines between them all.
The next oeuvre of Kim’s work, “Pseudoscience,” began its release in late 2016, produced and developed by the formidable sonic wizards Vance Powell (Jack White, Arctic Monkeys), and Brett Orrison (The Black Angels, Widespread Panic). In 2017 came the R&B/soul EP “Fresh Juice,” and a cover of Serge Gainsbourg’s 1964 tropicalia hit “Couleur Café.”
The second LP for Kim, “Shadow Work,” was released on 21 February, made in the UK with her Parisian band The Silhouettes, and mixed/mastered back in Nashville with her collaborators from Sputnik and Infrasonic Sound, the engineers behind The Raconteurs, Seasick Steve, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton. The album was led by the explosive singles “Dirty Business” and “Oedipus Wrecks,” and will be followed by 2021 tour dates COMING SOON.
Liber Electro: submitted photo.
And that was Gürschach, with Undead Empire. Before that we heard Oedipus Wrecks, from Kim Logan, Imran Mandani, with Godzilla, and starting us off was Salio, with Wayside.
GÜRSCHACH
Gürschach (pronounced Ger-shock) is a four-piece Experimental Metal band from the San Francisco Bay Area, whose main vision is to create an unfamiliar, yet captivating listening experience for their audience.
X, Leyland Reid, and Daniel Justo- Sanchez originally formed the band in late 2011, mostly playing songs that X and Leyland both wrote together while they were still in high school. It wasn’t until 2014 that Scotty McRib joined the band to complete the lineup. On October 10, 2015, Gürschach released their first EP, BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARES, independently on a micro-budget, as an embodiment of the phrase DIY. The music on the EP would be the first and last time the band would release a straightforward Thrash Metal record.
Gürschach; submitted photo.
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Just below those buttons are some other buttons. I call them the money buttons. I must love producing this podcast, because I’ve been doing it pretty much for free for a long time. But some of you have gotten in touch with me and said they want MORE. MORE episodes, some special features, maybe some live events, and they wanted to know what it would take to get me to do that. The answer is simple. Cold. Hard. Cash. If I can get enough supporters to show me the money, I can quit doing the other things that actually pay the bills. Makes sense, right? I want to podcat full time. You want me to podcast full time Together, we can totally make it happen.
So tap one of those money buttons and give ’til it hurts.
YARD OF BLONDES
French/Californian Los Angeles rock band YARD OF BLONDES is composed of Vincent Jacob (vocals/guitar), Fanny Hill (bass/vocals), Burak Yerebakan (guitar) and Forrest Mitchell (drums/vocals).
The band released 4 EP’s and will be releasing their debut album “Feed the Moon” in 2021.
Yard of Blondes
It’s a perfect mix of stoner, grunge, hard rock, punk and pop with haunting melodies, catchy phrases and undertaken musical choices.
The 1st single “You and I & I” features a special guest: Davy Portela (Pleymo); it was plugged on editorial playlist « French Noise », as well as FM radios, Sirius XM, and internet radios in USA, UK, Germany, France, Norway, New Zealand and Canada. The song reached #1 of USA College Radios charts on February 1st 2020.
Yard Of Bondes continues their ascension with the 2nd single « Lowland » that reached #6 of USA College Radios charts in May 2020 and is played on 200+ radios worldwide, acceding new territories through major stations airplays in Japan.
With labels DIE LAUGHING RECORDS (California) and GOLDEN ROBOTS (Australia), « Do U need more » is the 3rd single from their debut album, released on October 16, 2020. Upon the release, the song entered the editorial Spotify playlists « All new rock »,« New Music Friday », and « French Noise ».
With their female bassist, raw energy and influences we can’t help but being reminded of bands such as Sonic Youth, the Pixies and the Smashing Pumpkins.
Yard of Blondes photographed in Laurel Canyon. Vincent Jacob, vocals, guitar, French; Fanny Hulard, keys, vocals, French; Burak Yerebakan, guitar, Turkish; Forest Mitchell, drums, American; photos by Victoria Smith.
Next up, we have that interview I promise with Vincent Jacob from Yard of Blondes. They’ve been written up in the pages of magazines from Rolling Stone to Heavy MusicHQ, and I’m thrilled that Vincent took time out to have an INDIEcent conversation.
And that was “Teenage Dreams” by Yard of Blondes. I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Vincent Jacob — he’s a really down to earth artist and I encourage you to download and listen to HIS podcast, “Hanging On Sunset.” His most recent episode, he interviews Indie reporter Jes Fama, who has been covering the L.A. music scene for years.
I provide a link to that, as well as links to all the artists points of contact on the web, right there in the shownotes. Why, because I love you darling. You know I do. But now we have to part…no no no, shhhh. don’t cry. It’s just for a little while. Just until next episode, when we hear a one-of-a-kind conversation with rising artist Gina Brooklyn.
Till then, thanks for listening, and live to rock another day.
