Young folks focuses on the best, fresh folk, acoustic, singer-songwriter indie folk & alt-country jams. Turn it up Folks!
Alba James
‘Lighter Than Snow’
[chamber folk/indie pop]
Press Notes:
25 year-old French singer-songwriter living in Sweden. I believe in fairies, and that there are never enough backing vocals in a song.
Thomas Stajcer
‘Building A Home (Yip Walla Wahoo)’
[alt-country/americana]
Press Notes:
Thomas Stajcer draws on his unique voice, love of storytelling and father’s 80s rock and roll to write frank and endearing songs fashioned in the classic themes of country music. Historically likened in tone to John Prine, Sturgill Simpson, Lee Hazelwood or Gram Parsons, Building A Home (Yip Walla Wahoo) sees Stajcer particularly influenced by Roger Miller, but with big backup vocals and a rocking band. Music to mow your lawn to.
Denitia
‘All the Sweet Tea’
[folk/acoustic/singer-songwriter]
Press Notes:
Denitia is a singer-songwriter who exemplifies American cultural enlightenment.
Born and raised outside Houston, Denitia’s southern heritage forms a canvas for her evolving musical portrait. As a child, she performed in church choirs, and taught herself to play piano and guitar from her family’s trailer in the woods. She carried those experiences with her as she made her way around the country, moving to Nashville for college, and Brooklyn thereafter.
Now based in New York’s Hudson Valley, Denitia’s portfolio of work reveals melodic stories spanning states, cities, and times. In her latest release, she takes listeners on a drive through the lanes of love and longing over the course of American grandeur. Fusing elements of country, folk and rock, Denitia establishes a newfound American utopia, ongoing and indefinite, uplifted by wistful vocals and the chimes of a tambourine.
With her songs as mantras, Denitia aims to reimagine what it means to be home.
Great Klons
‘Forever Changes’
[psych folk/americana]
Press Notes:
The normie-dad lo-fi psych-folk Johnny Jewel.
By day, Scott Klon is a generic family man with three kids and a laptop job. At night, he creates trippy lo-fi indie tunes as part of Great Klons, working together with collaborators Courtney Hastings (violin) and Justin Levy (producer/bassist)
Klon has been making music for more than a decade, first as bassist with the 00/10s indie-psych band Eureka Birds, and then through his solo recordings.
2015’s No Photographs EP – Great Klons’ first release – tested the boundaries with dub-influenced noise pop. No Photographs was followed up with the soundtrack to David Jaffe’s indie film “Live a Little.” the Live a Little soundtrack was an exercise in spaghetti western guitars and dark ambient tones, and Great Klons took the template of this sound and applied it to the stark psych-folk of 2020’s Limited Minutes EP.
Great Klons are returning in 2022 with Forever Changers, a record which both expands the sound of Limited Minutes and enters new directions. The western-style tremolo guitars and sweeping violins are a feature throughout, but forays into Americana on the title track and space-age electro jams on All Jazz represent a turn toward new directions.
The Crescent Sky
‘Horizon Lines’
[indie folk/psych]
Press Notes:
The Crescent Sky is an indie-folk band from BC that creates music with soaring vocal harmonies and dynamic instrumentation. The band includes two couples: Anna Luth and Regan Luth, and Anna Ratzlaff and Jason Ratzlaff. Drawing on influences like Bon Iver and Fleetwood Mac, The Crescent Sky’s lyrics flow from intimate confessions to declarations in four-part harmony.
Their latest single “Horizon Lines” is simultaneously pensive and optimistic, and is an expression of the relief that comes from finding perspective amid challenging circumstances. Thoughtfully crafted arrangements support their lyrics that describe a search for hope, a sentiment in the foreground of everything they do.
Since forming in 2018, The Crescent Sky continues to gain recognition for their music, and have performed at numerous festivals and venues across the province and showcased internationally. They released their debut album “Wonder” in 2020 which is a representation of their versatility and ambition as emerging artists. They received the 2018 Abbotsford Arts Council Emerging Artist Award, and placed in the top 100 of CBC’s Canada-wide Searchlight contest in 2019.
Modern Diet
‘The Sink’
[indie folk]
Press Notes:
Modern Diet is an ever-evolving Brooklyn-based indie rock band led by Jake Cheriff. Cheriff is best known for his production/mixing work with bands such as Daisy the Great, Moon Kissed, My Son The Doctor, Talk Bazaar, Carli & The Dark, and countless other artists active in the Brooklyn music scene.
Modern Diet’s latest full-length record “The State of Things” (out July 2022) was recorded over the course of two weeks at Paper Moon Records HQ in Bushwick.
Dan Davidson
‘Warm Beer’
[country]
Press Notes:
One view of his music videos and you will understand that the fun, sincere energy Dan brings to country music is truly unique. The video for “Found” cost only $500 and yet somehow it was top 20 on CMT; the video for “Barn Burner” involved Dan dressing up as a mixture between John Wayne and Elton John, wandering the streets of Tokyo; and of course we cant forget “Say We Did”, which shows Dan converting his garage into a cardboard version Star Ship Enterprise.
Expanding his fan base internationally, Dan played shows in Beijing, China and Tours, France. He then went on to play in Milan and Budapest to film a music video for his upcoming single “These Are My People”. The idea for the music video came about when Dan discovered on YouTube that people from all over the world are line dancing to his songs. He has now played over 200 shows across 7 countries.
While on tour with Brett Kissel in 2019, Dan’s new EP “Juliet” was released, and debuted at #1 on the Canadian iTunes Country charts. The album was later nominated for Roots Album Of The Year at the 2019 CCMA.
Recently, Dan has found some hints of internet fame with the explosion of his “DD and The Butterlovers” bluegrass covers. His Megadeth and Billie Eilish covers landed him on the cover webpage page of BIllboard, Revolver, Kerrang and other top music blogs. From there he began to release a string of viral videos – for example: an infomercial for a non-existent Christmas album (90,000 views in a week) and his video for “I Do” (105,000 views in three days).
Dan was also the creator and host of Canada’s FIRST live digital music festival “Diesel Bird Fest”, which featured some of Canada’s top artists including Dallas Smith, Josh Ramsay (Marianas Trench), Shawn Hook, Corb Lund, Terri Clark, James Barker Band, and so many more. Diesel Bird successfully raised $54,000 for the Unison Benevolent fund.
Oceans Of Mercury
‘Foolish Zeal’
[americana/alt pop]
Press Notes:
Oceans Of Mercury is a collaboration project between Pittsburgh natives Tim Nelson and Dominic Bartolomucci. They have been on the Pittsburgh scene for many years . This is their latest attempt at a new sound that holds true to alternative rock with a good dose of technology and a plethora of various instrumentations mixed in. Dominic is a master sound manipulator/producer while Tim presents as a strong lyricist and catchy riff creator. Together the two have created some of the most interesting new grooving vibes today. This is a fresh look at combining the old with the new and the relevant with the enjoyable. Just listen and rock on. You won’t be disappointed. Band website for merch: www.oceansofmercury.com
West Coast Wolves
‘Factory of Bones’
[folk rock/country]
Press Notes:
Initially a 2-piece acoustic guitar duo, the Wolves are now a 5-piece ensemble with an original Wes-Kus flavour. As the Wolves sound continued to evolve, Pete picked up a banjo as the band started to explore the folk, country and bluegrass genre, fused together with their rock n’ roll, punk rock reggae roots… throw in some surf-punk & left field percussion then you start to get an idea! During the pandemic, the Wolves recorded their first full length LP “Don’t forget to Howl” which is being released now!
Beev Rations
‘The Movie Is Already In The Can’
[Southern rock/lo-fi rock]
Press Notes:
Beev Rations is an indie band of bedroom pop-rock, which music, always alternative, is deeply influenced by the root-styles of Rock, flourishing from the heart with full flavour in those juicy little pearls of songs, expresions of an own musical language.
Beev Rations is the natural expresion of his creator’s musical project, Alan James (Santander, north Spain). True musical artisan, he is songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist, who also produces Beev Rations’ records.
[All Press Notes provided by the artists]
Compiled by: Christos Doukakis