TurnStyle Music Group Presents
Thu
Jun
21
Katlyn Swanson & The Return
Eastern Front, Mojave Method, PANOOC featuring Pairosailor(s), Thug Magick, Hello Officer
I have been calling myself an artist ever since I began to write and produce my own music at 14. I learned how to play the piano, viola, and cello at a very young age, I picked up how to play a drum set in high school, sang in various choirs, danced, performed in musicals and theatre productions, and even taught myself how to play guitar. Despite having a widespread love for music, I have always thought of myself as a singer before everything else.
On my 14th birthday, my parents bought me a Mac laptop and a 49-key MIDI keyboard to start recording and producing my own music. I loved the feeling I got from transforming a song I heard in my head into a tangible work of art that I could easily share with anyone. I was so excited about my newfound passion that I decided it was time to graduate on to live performing. I started by calling up a trusty guitarist friend to play jazz and contemporary music with. We rehearsed weekly until I began booking our own shows around the Chicago-land area. One gig led to another until we had multiple shows a week! I knew for certain that performing and recording was something I wanted to make a career out of.
At 18, I moved to New York to study Recorded Music at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and have since gotten a full band together to perform with: Katlyn Swanson & The Return. We play at venues like The Bitter End, The Delancey Bar, The National Underground, Ella Lounge, The Iridium Jazz Club, Slane Public House, Bowery Poetry Club, The Living Room, The Hit Factory, and Rockwood Music Hall. Upon graduating, I plan to stay in New York City to focus on promoting myself as a recording artist in addition to working as a booking agent for TurnStyle Music Group. I’m now writing music for my up-coming EP, “Under Cover,” to be released in April of 2012.
Eastern Front
PANOOC (Leah Gough-Cooper) is a Scottish-born/NYC-based EDM (both experimental and
mainstream) Producer & Performer, having gigged internationally and in the US, with the likes of
Rudi Zygadlo, DJ The Wig, Vijay Iyer and Choral Chameleon.
Influences and styles range from 80's synth-pop, film score, sound collage and design, a range
of dance & house styles and minimalism, taking jazz elements and fusing them with the
electronica idiom.
Her songs are all at once humorous, deep and fiery, each telling a story with recognizable
elements from popular music.
Her weapons of choice are the Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI) and Alto Saxophone, as well as
using acoustic-based sounds for composing and MIDI performance.
Her jazz experiences include performing with the likes of Danilo Perez, Fred Wesley and Bootsy
Collins, along with airplay on NPR, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Scotland.
Often by her side is Miami/Baltimore-based Pairosailor(s), an electro songwriter who often
delves into the realm of film, video games and ambient music.
Performance experiences include Miami, Baltimore and Boston, using an array of MIDI gadgets
for live performance, that enables audience members’ participation in music.
I wrote a majority of these songs in a solemn, contemplative space; a garage. This was where my fears, thoughts, frustrations, setbacks, failures, infatuations, joys, and loss were translated into this musical language.
New York City is where this is happening.
Rising from the bustling, gritty streets of Brooklyn, New York is Hello Officer, a fresh face within the alternative rock scene which is just beginning to dawn upon listeners throughout the Northeast. Playing an infectious brand of driving, thumping tunes, this tight knit three piece group is creating a stir with the release of their debut EP, Trouble. Packed with seven inspired songs of 90s influenced rock, the record has ignited the fuse to the band’s eventual musical explosion. Formed by guitarist and singer Drew Blumenfeld with percussionist Peter Beer, the pair recruited a talented local bassist in Justin Marks, completing Hello Officer’s current lineup. Blumenfeld and Beer collaborated on a number of groups throughout high school, and reunited in 2010 to form their latest project after wrapping up their college careers. Falling right back into their original chemistry, the duo quickly started inking pleasantly volatile songs chock full of rock solid drum beats, distorted guitars, and memorable vocal choruses. Hello Officer’s influences are clearly derived from the explosion of alternative, grunge, and punk music in the 1990s, although they still manage to leave their own personal insignia on each song. Influenced by modern rock institutions such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, and Weezer, the band writes the music they grew up on, but with a slightly modern flair. With one spin of Trouble, listeners will find everything from grooving pseudo-ballads such as “Early On,” to distorted rock romps like “Fade Away,” which kicks off the record. While they’re clearly at the beginning of their budding existence, the Brooklyn unit has already begun performing at clubs and bars throughout the five boroughs. With shows at Arlene’s Grocery, Trash Bar, The Delancey, and Tammany Hall, Hello Officer is diving into the New York scene head first, kicking in the door and lighting up the amplifiers at any venue they can find. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before people perk their ears up, start paying attention, and jump on board with this runaway alternative rock train. Scheduling more shows throughout the area is priority number one for the band right now, as they intend on continuing to support the debut of Trouble.
Watch & Listen