Show Preview: Jessica Frech, Michael Castro, Rebecca Roubion & Mark Vikingstad – 8/17

Cause A Scene —  August 15, 2013 — Leave a comment

CAS August 17 - Jessica Frech

Clear your schedule this Saturday night for a lineup of unique and talented musicians. Jessica Frech is a folk pop artist and Nashville native who has been expertly using social media and internet mediums to spread her talents to a vast audience. Garnering viral buzz with the YouTube sensation “People of Walmart,” Frech has used social media platforms and her fan base thereof to launch a Kickstarter campaign to help bring the dream of her full length project Reality, to fruition.

Following suit in using modern mediums to expose one’s personal gifts is Michael Castro. Featured on season 8 of American Idol and brother of American Idol season 7 finalist, Jason Castro, Michael is a singer-songwriter and Nashville transplant from Dallas, TX, who is taking his talents beyond the television audience to the music gridiron, Music City. Castro has released 3 independent records and continually releases one original single each month via iTunes.

Also featured on the evening’s bill are two more Nashville transplants, the first of which is a Cause A Scene veteran, Rebecca Roubion. This indie-pop artist is making major headway, carving a name for herself in the Nashville music scene with a soulful, folk-infused sound. Roubion has recently released two EPs that complement each other as a sort of companion project, the first of which, Fields, released last fall and the second, Forests, this past spring. New York state native, Mark Vikingstad, will also be gifting us with his talents this Saturday. This singer-songwriter, having learned the guitar from a young age and having spent the last decade honing his songwriting skills, possesses a sound that is defined by feel good lyricism and upbeat acoustic melodies. Accompanied by a captivating live presence, Vikingstad is surely making his name known across Music City.

This spectacular night of talent will be going down at 1803 Blair Blvd. The doors open at 8:00PM and the music starts at 9:00PM. Get your tickets here for $7. Can’t make the show, but don’t want to miss out on this amazing lineup? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Get your tickets here to view this Cause A Scene show livestreamed via U Stream, for only $5.

– Christian Lerchenfeld

Jessica Frech- ‘Reality’

Michael Castro- ‘Young and Free’

Rebecca Roubion- ‘Love Me Now’

Mark Vikingstad- ‘My Heart Flies Up’

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Show Preview: Machines Are People Too with Vinyl Thief & The Joy of Painting – 8/16

Cause A Scene —  August 13, 2013 — Leave a comment

CAS August 16 - Machines - Web Ready

This Friday, we at Cause A Scene are proud to present a night of firsts. Not only is this our first show at one of Nashville’s best venues, 3rd & Lindsley, but it is also our first time featuring three of this city’s most fun and most promising bands. Machines Are People Too, originally formed in Chattanooga, TN, recently relocated to here in Music City and are quickly making themselves known among the local music scene and beyond. Fresh off the release of their second EP, Nickels and Dimes, Machines Are People Too are artfully crafting a synth-pop sound that is both vocally and instrumentally driven. We at CAS have been fans of this band’s catchy melodies for some time now. Having written multiple posts about their climb up the musical ladder, we are thrilled to finally have them on a CAS bill. MRP2 has devoted the better part of this year working on their new EP and are now focusing on a series of tour dates, one of the first of which was a slot at this year’s Lollapalooza, earlier this month in Chicago.

Completing the lineup for the evening are two other bands that both call Nashville home. Vinyl Thief are an electro-rock band that blend electronic samples and rock guitars to form a sound that has developed a strong local following. The band has spent the last several months on the road, touring across the eastern US as well as recording their first full album, Fathoms, due to release this fall. The album’s first single, “Smooth,” was released earlier this month. The Joy of Painting are another Nashville band with a garage pop sound that is defined by messy guitar riffs and carefully constructed melodies. The result is a unique and contrasting sound that has them beginning popping up on radars all across the Southeast. At a near breakneck speed, the band has recorded and released three EPs in less than two years, the most recent of which, Tender Age, was released earlier this summer.

You better bring your dancing shoes this Friday, because these three bands are going to put on one hell of a shindig that you will not want to miss! Listen below to a sample of what you will hear this weekend.You can purchase your ticket here for $10. Doors open at 9:00PM and the fun starts at 9:30PM.

– Christian Lerchenfeld

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Daily Discovery: K.Flay

Cause A Scene —  August 12, 2013 — 1 Comment

K.Flay

Katherine Flaherty is K.Flay, a moniker formed in her Stanford dorm room to serve intellectual and activist pursuits, namely to counter misogyny and dullness in modern rap.  A half dozen EP’s and mixtapes later, K.Flay has become a dominant female emcee and goes full bore with her genre-bending major label debut, What If It Is.

K.Flay delivers witty lyrics with a snappy flow and raspy timbre, her ethos aligned with the conscious hip hop of Talib Kweli and Gift of Gab.  Serving as her own producer, Flaherty curates cutting edge sonics, fusing live drum and instrumental samples with ultra-modern beats and synths.

So What plays more like a rock song; K. Flay’s breathy vocal glides on a thick drum and bass groove with churning organ and reggae guitar pops.  Although the lyrics are more mundane than her strongest efforts (see No Duh and Rawks), we can predict the track’s success within the ever-expanding alternative genre, especially alongside the dark, ambient pop of The Neighbourhood.  Today, we shine a spotlight on this crossover cut from the new EP (released August 6 via RCA Records).

And good news for Nashville readers, K.Flay performs tomorrow night, August 13 at Exit/In in support of Icona Pop. Tickets are still available here.

– Whitaker Elledge 

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Daily Discovery: Avicii

Cause A Scene —  August 9, 2013 — Leave a comment

Avicii at Vanguard Tickets House for Hunger Thur. Feb. 7th 2013!

For all you Cause A Scene followers who enjoy getting down to a little house music, Avicii is a name you want to keep on your radar. This Swedish DJ is only 23 and has been a hot name in the European DJ circuit for several years now, but it is his new single ‘Wake Me Up’ that caught my ear, and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it since. The track samples soul singer and hip hop artist, Aloe Blacc’s song by the same title and there is no other way to describe the track than infectious. With a powerful vocal hook and pulsing beat produced by the young Swede, ‘Wake Me Up’ has dominated the European charts. Released just this past June, “Wake Me Up” has garnered the crown of the UK’s fastest selling single of 2013 in just over a month. The song was previewed by BBC Radio 1 and was described as being ‘a complete change in style’ for the young DJ.

While it is only just beginning to get airplay in the US, remember that you heard it from CAS when we say that in just a few weeks time, “Wake Me Up” will be rivaling it’s UK popularity in the States. If the rest of you music lovers out there are as entranced by this track as I am, it will prove be exactly what Avicii needs to drum up a serious fan base here on the other side of “the pond.”

– Christian Lerchenfeld

 

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Show Preview: The Electric Hearts with Jeffrey James & Nick Africano – 8/14

Cause A Scene —  August 7, 2013 — Leave a comment

CAS August 14 - The Electric Hearts - Revised

Come on out next Wednesday night for another great CAS lineup at The Basement. The Electric Hearts will be headlining the evening with a sound that is self-described as “a blend of 60s and 70s rock, pop and psychedelia with a touch of modern indie rock,” and they are sure to be a good fit for the tight knit, homegrown vibe that The Basement so effortlessly provides. This Nashville-based band will appeal to fans of acts such as the Alabama Shakes and Gary Clark Jr. (both of whom the band has recently supported as they have toured across the Southeast), as well as Luella and the Sun and ZZ Ward. The band, currently Lightning 100’s Artist of the Week, also recently played Red Bull Sound Select with Airborne Toxic Event and Alanna Royale. The Electric Hearts released their most recent EP, The Life and Death of Fritz Pepper, just this passed June.

Also on the bill for the evening is another Nashville musician, Jeffrey James, who’s roots rock instrumentals, helmed by his soulful vocals, have made him a Cause A Scene alumni favorite and will also make him the perfect complimenting act to The Electric Hearts. James’s 2012 EP, Make Your Way To The Flashing Lights, was mixed and produced by Konrad Snyder, who has also worked with fellow hot Nashville up-and-comers, Night Beds and Kopecky Family Band. James is taking a different and more unconventional approach with his new material. Under the name the Wide Awake Project, James is releasing one song at a time. The turnaround between each song ends up being about every month or so, just as quickly as it can be written, recorded and promoted. The new format is an intentional removal from the traditional EP or LP multi song write/record/release method that takes place over several months. The new process seems to mimic a sort of artistic stream of conscious, and stems from James’s desire to experiment with the freedom and control that comes with being and independent artist.

Brooklyn, NY-based singer-songwriter, Nick Africano, will be rounding out the evenings lineup. With a sound described as being somewhere in between the mysterious space of rock and roll, storytelling and folk music, Africano has toured much of the US. As of recently he has also jumped the pond, touring in England and Sweden. Africano has independently recorded and produced two LPs, the most recent of which, The Butterfly Bull, he released in May of 2012. Africano’s new single, “Lonely Hearts,” was released just last week.

The evening’s music will start at 9:00PM. Doors open at 8:00PM. Tickets can be purchased here for $5 in advance. Tickets will be $7 DOS. All advanced online purchases will come with a free download of Jeffrey James’s new single, “Bad Woman,” which released just this week.

– Christian Lerchenfeld

The Electric Hearts- ‘Tired’

 

Jeffrey James- ‘I’m Wide Awake’

 

Nick Africano- ‘Lonely Hearts’

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