Archive for Friends

Interview with Roy Silverstein of Rarefied Recording

Coming up in a little under a month on Saturday, December 13, 2014, Handmade Holiday is a fundraiser held in the courtyard of the new San Diego Central Library (330 Park Boulevard) between 9:30am-4pm. They’ll be featuring over 30 local artists, designers, and vendors “to get a jumpstart on the holiday shopping.”

But why are we talking about it? Because of the afternoon entertainment!

Starting at noon, four local musicians — hand-picked by Villains friend Roy Silverstein of North Park’s Rarefied Recording — will hit the auditorium stage.

The four artists are lounge singer and pianist Normandie Wilson, banjo-and-ukulele shoegrass band Kalashnikov My Wife, indie rockers The Gift Machine, and solo artist Erik Canzona of The Heavy Guilt.

Below, you can read a little about Roy’s thought process in choosing these musicians and his thoughts on the music and art communities.

(And if you want to read more about the musicians, I’ll be posting interviews from each on the Handmade Holiday blog in the coming weeks.)

Click to read the interview below.

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Artist Preview: Jordan Chini’s “The Hour Glass” from His Upcoming Debut EP

EDIT: Jordan Chini’s debut EP is out now on Bandcamp!

Jordan Chini’s self-titled, debut EP is a blast from the past that meshes 60s and 70s rock with modern sensibilities. The amount of vocal harmonies and instruments on this EP is dizzying, especially when you realize Chini played, recorded, mixed, and mastered it all at recently-opened Sound JAR Studios in Valley Center, CA.

All seven songs have an old school and vintage feel to them. First impressions from the Villains camp includes comparisons to the Beatles in opening track “Oxygen” and Fleetwood Mac in “Lost Soul” and “Berry Lane.” For a more modern comparison, I can’t help but think of Elliott Smith’s croons in “Berry Lane.”

His single “The Hour Glass” is charming and features quick fingerwork, beautiful harmonies and lyrics, and an interesting sounding pedal steel guitar paired with glockenspiel.

Listen to the single below and keep a lookout for the full release on November 2, 2014.

Happy Villaintine’s Day!

Villaintines Day compilation 2014 cover

Our fourth annual compilation releases TONIGHT! After hours of mixing, mastering, and sequencing, Villains and company present to you an eclectic mix of dream pop, folk, electronic, and more.  We were hard at work hand screening CDs, CD sleeves, and posters all week, and we are excited — quite an understatement — to finally have physical copies!

The album is available exclusively to those who join us tonight at the CD release party at The Griffin, with a digital release on Bandcamp TBA this weekend.

To jumpstart the Villains 3-day mini tour tonight, local acts Mariel, Muscle BeechPrivet, and LA’s Sullen Ray will join together at The Griffin.  This will be Privet’s debut of their new audio-visual performance and Sullen Ray’s debut of the new band.

Albums will be available at the subsequent Ventura and Los Angeles shows.

We can’t wait to see you all there!

14th: MUSCLE BEECH, Privet, Sullen Ray, Mariel @ The Griffin (1310 Morena Blvd, San Diego) [Facebook event page]

15th: ANDREW SAKS, Tarah Who?, Sullen Ray, Mariel @ The Dragon Room (The Golden China, 760 S. Seaward Avenue, Ventura) [Facebook event page]

16th: TARAH WHO?, Sullen Ray, Mariel @ The Down & Out (501 South Spring Street, Los Angeles) [Facebook event page]

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