QUICK PICKS
Below you’ll find the best new music our writers have been digging this past month. For full reviews and to stream tracks and videos from the artists listed here, please head to performermag.com. Enjoy! CHEATAHS Self-titled London, England (Wichita Recordings) The self-titled debut full-length from UK’s Cheatahs features a more melodic and structured take on the typical British pub rock/shoegaze/motorik onslaught of the past decade. Hypnotic and fully engrossing, Cheatahs will likely replace Arctic Monkeys as your new fave Brit rockers… read the full review at performermag.com/reviews. Follow on Twitter: @cheatahssuck Benjamin Ricci
DAMIEN JURADO Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son Seattle, WA (Secretly Canadian)
DEADKILL No, Never! Seattle, WA (Good to Die Records)
Sweet, worldly and remarkably inspired folk painted with the bold vivid hues of the past…psychedelic veins pulse with indescribable variance, one moment a battalion of strings swell and arch (“Magic Number”) then fade, exposing simple guitar fretwork and solemn harmonies (“Silver Katherine”). Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son is a sparkling pinnacle for a career filled with timelessness, an easy candidate for album of the year…read the full review at performermag. com/reviews. Engineered & Mixed at National Freedom Studios, Oregon by Richard Swift Produced by Richard Swift Follow on Twitter: @damienjuradok Christopher Petro
Deadkill is among a handful of amazingly abrasive, cocksure, noisy-as-fuck bands from the Pacific Northwest (most of whom have found a home with Good to Die Records). The band’s first full-length, No, Never! is a bombastic affront to your senses. In a word: brilliant. Cop it on vinyl, turn it up full blast and wait for the neighbors to call the cops…read the full review at performermag.com/reviews. Recorded by Matt Bayles at Red Room Studios Mastered by Ed Brooks at RFI Follow on Twitter: @deadkillseattle Benjamin Ricci
HANS CHEW Life & Love New York, NY (At The Helm Records) Compelling, dynamite piano-fronted classic rock…these songs are beautifully recorded and masterfully produced…poetic and creative, this album is filled with surprises during each fresh new listen...rich in color and mood, many other artists will be happy to find it influential in their own songwriting process…read the full review at performermag.com/reviews. Follow on Twitter: @hanschew Shawn M Haney
JOHN THE CONQUEROR The Good Life Philadelphia, PA (Alive Naturalsound Records) Another winner for Alive, the new John the Conqueror record is a hearty gumbo of raw, electric blues-rock at its absolute pinnacle. Gritty vocals bash around grittier, nasty guitar riffs while hypnotic drum and bass grooves thump your speakers across the floor. There’s more soul in the opening 10 seconds of “Get Em” than in most major label output combined in the past decade…read the full review at performermag.com/reviews. Engineered by Joe Boldizar, Jesse Gimbel & Barry Knob Mixed by Jim Diamond Follow on Twitter: @JTCband Benjamin Ricci
TINARIWEN Emmaar Kidal, Mali (ANTI- Records)
DAVID POE God & The Girl Los Angeles, CA (Self-released)
Emmaar is in some ways a return to the understated sounds of the band’s earliest releases. Chanted vocals and deliberate rhythms evoke the open spaces of the desert. The sound is at once ancient and ultramodern, with electric guitars applied to song forms and styles that could be predecessors of American blues…read the full review at performermag.com/reviews. Mixed by Vance Powell Follow on Twitter: @tinariwen Eric Wolff
An examination of the human condition accompanied by mellow acoustics and haunting vocals, “poignant” is the only word fit to characterize the chronology of a record overflowing with emotion, life, and spirituality…primarily a record of reminiscence, the closer of God & The Girl is all about progression: “May we all live as long as we like. May we all be as strong as the wine”…read the full review at performermag.com/reviews. Recorded & Mixed at the Night Kitchen, Los Angeles Mastered by Reuben Cohen Additional Engineering by Yonotan Elkayam Follow on Twitter: @poedavid Julia DeStefano
GET REVIEWED - SEND YOUR MUSIC TO EDITORIAL@PERFORMERMAG.COM 6 APRIL 2014 PERFORMER MAGAZINE