People say there’s something about brother music, an ingredient that makes the harmonies soar higher and the beats slam harder. It’s not really something you can pin down or describe in words—it’s something you have to hear. Whether it comes from siblings growing up sharing a room, or from a listener hoping for something different, Writer has it. The Brooklyn based duo Andy and James Ralph, bashes, crashes, strums and shouts its way through songs that are scummy cement floor odes to real life, sung through aquarium glass to the prettiest girls they’ll never meet.

The band wasn’t always just the brothers. The sonic limitations of being a duo didn’t fit with their heavy vision, so James and Andy enlisted first one, then two, fellow musicians before realizing that they could make all the noise they needed on their own. This is perhaps most evident in their ultra frenetic live show, with James slamming away at a floor tom with a tambourine while pounding at the kick and playing a synthesizer—a true one man rhythm section—and Andy wailing into the mic and strumming his guitar or putting in time on keyboards. The brothers say they struggle with having only their own two hands to play with, particularly because they “try to record everything as close to live as possible,” according to Andy, on a 4-track recorder in their house.

“A comfortable place between garage-rock and lo-fi surf-pop… these guys have definitely found a sound that works.” - Filter Magazine

“...a Neil Young old vocal melody captured on a four track with sentimental scruff, some kinda dirty flanger, and SoCal fried noise aesthetics.” - Impose Magazine

“A loud, scruffy bear hug of music, propelled by a refreshingly airy and organic drum boom paired with a liberally employed borderline haphazard tambourine shimmer.” - Vice / Noisey

Noah Tabakin is the man behind Ssssnake, a hip hop, funk and gospel-inflected soul project with a wild, joyous vibe. Defying categorization, Ssssnake has been likened to the lovechild of Ray Charles and MF Doom or a hip hop Jeff Buckley.

Tabakin produces all the music for Ssssnake on Logic software, which he pipes on stage through his iPhone. Rhyming, freestyling and singing over the tracks, Tabakin's vocal work lands somewhere between Lenny Kravitz, Cee Lo Green and Lyrics Born. He often closes out the show in his underwear. Add in the antics of backup dancers Lil Bite and Venom, and the effect is a high-octane dance party with a sexual edge and a lot of humor.

"It's an outlet for me. I can process things. It's therapeutic," says Tabakin. "When I'm on stage, I get real high off it. I've played to one person and I've played to 15,000; I love it all the same. I'm confident it's what I'm here to do."

Ssssnake is the latest project from one of Chicago's most original and hardest working soul performers.

In addition to fronting Ssssnake, Tabakin currently songwrites and plays saxophone for national touring act Mucca Pazza, a punk circus marching band, with whom he has performed on the Conan O'Brien Show and Lollapalooza, and opened for Primus. He sings backup and plays keyboard and saxophone for art-rock band D. Rider as well.

Tabakin has been singing and making music for over two decades. His considerable tour of duty includes fronting three bands: soul and R&B group All Fours; live hip-hop band Tabakin, with whom he produced an album and opened for The Roots; and the soul-funk group Little Blue Crunchy Things, with whom he performed for ten years, selling 14,000 records.

Additionally, Tabakin has participated in a kaleidoscope of music collaborations and behind-the-scenes roles. From singing in the choir at the University of Wisconsin- Madison to contributing to the successful hip-hop compilation series "The Chicago Drop" to serving as co-director of the Tour de Fat's house band, Tabakin has earned his self-appointed handle "solider of music" many, many times over.