Spearfish, SD based electronic alternative rock act Blacklite District (BLD) has released two videos for their single, “Goodbye,” off of their third LP, Instant Gratification, one an official video and the second a Minecraft video.
Blacklite District follows no rules. With sounds of everything from electronic, EDM and hip-hop, to hard rock and alternative, the band truly stands out from the pack of what has become today’s generic sounding “Active Rock”. Formed in 2012 by Kyle Pfeiffer and Roman James, ages 12 and 11 respectively, the band grew organically in their local music scene through the years to come. In 2011, BLD was discovered by Grammy Award-winning producer, Stephen Short (Paul McCartney, Queen), which resulted in a 10 day recording session at the world’s largest residential recording studio, Sonic Ranch, just outside of Mexico in Tonillo, TX. The group re-located to Los Angeles and played some of the most famous venues in the world for the remainder of 2011.
In 2013, the group released “With Me Now” as the lead from it’s debut album Worldwide Controversy. “With Me Now” immediately went to #1 on SiriusXM channels Octane and Faction, hit the Top 40 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Chart (#32), and sold 100,000 copies. BLD went on a very successful US tour with Saving Abel in Jan-Apr 2014, with 26 of those shows SOLD OUT. After a legal battle with their management and record label, Blacklite District went on hiatus in late 2014.
On August 23, “The Struggle” was release to radio and To Whom It May Concern went for pre-order at digital retailers. Revolver Magazine premiered the music video for “The Struggle” on August 25. The band also announced a 41 date tour called “The Struggle Is Real Tour”. Blacklite District released a Nightcore remix of “The Struggle” to YouTube on September 6, which got over 2,000,000 plays and resulted in the single breaking the Top 40 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Indicator chart at #36.
One month later, on October 6, the group released a Nightcore remix of “We Are The Danger” which got over 400,000 plays on YouTube. A couple of weeks later, the band released “Broken Souls” to radio, as well as a Nightcore remix which resulted in 500,000 plays and hitting #30 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Indicator. This was the second song in the month of October to break the Top 40 (along with “The Struggle.”)
“The Ghost of You and Me” was released as a music video and a Nightcore remix on December 28, 2016. The song was yet again a success for Blacklite District resulting in 400,000.
On January 20, 2017, BLD released “Living In A Nightmare” as the first single from upcoming album Instant Gratification. With a coinciding Nightcore release, “Living In A Nightmare” broke the Top 25 on the BDS Indicator chart, marking the bands highest spot in chart history. The song has been streamed over 250,000 times.
On February 24, famed radio DJ Lou Brutus posted the bands video for “Cold As Ice”, which was released the same day. The song scored a whopping 350,000 streams in its first week alone, and as of May 2017, has over 3.5 million combined views on YouTube. “Cold As Ice” serves as the second single from Instant Gratification. In the summer of 2017, “Cold As Ice” was added to Spotify’s “Rock Hard” playlist, and was put into rotation on SiriusXM’s alternative channel Faction. In October, “Cold As Ice” was added to rotation on SiriusXM Octane, and it’s Minecraft music video has over 10 million views on YouTube. There are about 4 videos about a Herobrine invasion with zombies and “nether watchers” and how the main character, a player in a blue suit, survives. There are 4 songs in total in the order of The Struggle, Cold as Ice, We are the Danger (possibly not from Blacklite District), and Just so you Know.
Blacklite District released their third album Instant Gratification on September 22, going Top 10 on Amazon’s Top Electronic Albums chart.
LINKS:
http://www.blacklitedistrict.net
https://www.facebook.com/pg/BlackliteDistrict
http://www.twitter.com/officialbld
https://www.instagram.com/blacklitedistrict
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Herman Dune – Dreamin’ is Over, Callifornia
Herman Dune is David Ivar’s musical project. It was started in 1998 in Paris, France. David is a French/Swedish citizen who began playing antifolk in Paris at a time when no DIY scene existed, let alone with songs performed in English. In 2001 he started the MOFO music festival in Paris which featured acts like Daniel Johnston, Bonnie Prince Billie, The Silver Jews, Dinosaur Jr., and The Moldy Peaches.
After spending years in a Lo-Fi territory with the label Shrimper (The Mountain Goats), 2006 found Herman Dune signing to EMI/Source (UK Virgin) and releasing two albums. The album “Giant,” was certified Gold in France and both records had Herman Dune touring non-stop for the next two years. Herman Dune played 42 States in the USA and many festivals including; SXSW, End of the Road, Green Man, Benicassim, Primavera Sound Festival, All Tomorrow’s Parties, and Central Park Summer Stage festivals.
In 2008, Funny Or Die-produced the video for the song “Tell Me Something I Don’t’ Know,” featuring John Hamm and a puppet made by Jim Henson’s Studio.
Through a “Never-ending” life on the road, Herman Dune has toured with Arcade Fire, Jolie Holland, Kimya Dawson, Of Montreal, and opened for Sleater Kinney and Wanda Jackson. Whenever in the UK, he was always welcome at BBC1 to record exclusive sessions and holds a record for tracking 10 John Peel Sessions with the mythical British DJ.
David Ivar has also been recognized as a visual artist and his work has been seen in Playboy, Flaunt, and Spray magazines. His art has been shown at the FIAC in Paris, Art Basel in Miami, Triennale in Milano. He’s had multiple exhibitions in galleries in Paris (Nivet-Carzon, Agnes B), New York City (Cinders Gallery), Los Angeles (Small World Books), and institutions and galleries in Europe. David Ivar has written and recorded the soundtracks for theatrical movies like Mariage A Mendoza (Edouard Deluc), Blockbuster (July Hygrek, a NETFLIX film), and Chasing Bonnie & Clyde (Olivier Lambert).
David Ivar – On writing the album:
“Sweet Thursday” is the third volume of the Cannery Row trilogy by John Steinbeck. After leaving France in all kinds of clashes and hurries, I felt that in my new home in San Pedro, California, I had found my own Cannery Row. I moved to Santa Cruz Street, by the harbor, where life starts at 4 AM. The nine songs of “Sweet Thursday” were recorded live with my band (Kyle McNeill & Lewis Pullman) and produced by myself and Kyle. It was then mixed by Adam Selzer (M.Ward, Langhorne Slim).”Now an Immigrant in California, I set up a studio in my backyard, gave up my phone, stopped touring and started working intensely on music and art. I also drove around the South Bay in my 1992 Toyota with its old cassette deck. Most songs on “Sweet Thursday” are inspired by this new life and the doubts and fears of being an alien resident in the shift of the US during this current administration.
At a recent show of Mike Watt & The Missing Men in a warehouse on the docks near my house, Mike shouted out to the audience, “Release your own stuff! Put out your own music!”. I felt like the King of the San Pedro Punk Scene was pointing at me to inspire me in my process of going back to doing things myself, my own label, my own everything!
The album has strong visual themes to me and I decided to work with video artist Brett Sullivan of the NYC antifolk band American Anymen to help realize music videos for the entire album. I really dug his editing style in connection to music, so when he came up with the idea of a video campaign for “Sweet Thursday”, almost a movie, I really jumped on the idea and we got to work filming music videos about San Pedro that inspired the album so much.
LINKS:
http://www.davidivar.com
https://www.facebook.com/HermanDuneYeah -
Beauty In Chaos ft. Whitney Tai – Orion
“Orion” is the new video/single from Beauty In Chaos. This track and its accompanying otherworldly video feature the captivating Whitney Tai. BIC’s curator Michael Ciravolo says “Musically, Orion continues on the path set by “Stranger”, the final track on ‘The Storm Before The Calm’. Whitney’s lyrics and soaring voice were a perfect match for this track and sets the tone beautifully for our next record!”
Tai adds “When Beauty In Chaos reached out to me with the opportunity to co-write on a song for their upcoming album, I was immediately hypnotized by the glacial, meandering and crystalline use of guitars against this haunting and dark verbed-out atmosphere. My mind went down the rabbit hole of the past two years that our globe has faced. “Orion” is the ego of destruction. It’s about breaking free from the manipulators mind and severing the ties of deception. A story of an a-type personality, “the hunter”, and how the roles narcissism and exploitation torment the fears and strengths of the human psyche”.
As for this new video, Ciravolo says “We try to make each of our videos different from the others, while being true to the singer and the lyrics. “Orion” is like nothing we have done before; it has a very cinematic ‘big-screen’ look to it… and was really a lot of fun to make!”
Video Credits
Whitney Tai – vocals
Michael Ciravolo – guitar
Tish Ciravolo – bass
Dirk Doucette – drumsDirected and produced by GABB Productions
Art direction by GABB Design
Makeup by Jessica Zweig
Filmed on location at Schecter Guitar Research and FD Studios Los Angeles
Props courtesy of Prop HeavenSong Credits
Written by Whitney Tai, Michael Rozon, Michael Ciravolo
©2021Whitney Tai: voice and words
Michael Ciravolo: guitars and textures
Michael Rozon: bass, synth, and drum programming
Dirk Doucette: live drumsRecorded, mixed and produced by Michael Rozon at SAINTinLA Studio
Mastered by Dale Becker for Becker Mastering, Los AngelesLINKS:
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/beautyinchaosmusic
https://www.instagram.com/beauty.inchaos
https://twitter.com/_BeautyInChaos
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com/music-store
https://www.beautyinchaosmusic.com/bic-blog
https://soundcloud.com/33-3-music-collective
https://beautyinchaos.bandcamp.com
https://www.whitneytaimusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/WhitneyTaiMusic
https://twitter.com/Whitneytai
https://instagram.com/whitneytai
https://play.google.com/music/preview/A57is65aslv7gv4qdy74gwoeivq?u=0#
https://listen.tidal.com/artist/6337137
https://www.bandsintown.com/WhitneyTai
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCazKu-G82KhrvCpRiHDiCg
https://www.vevo.com/artist/whitney-tai
https://open.spotify.com/user/whitneytai
https://itun.es/us/D8HW6
https://soundcloud.com/whitney-tai -
Berries – Wild Vow
Berries recent single sees the band further explore their unique take on riff-driven rock with even more grit and confidence. “Wild Vow” boasts big riffs and choruses and further highlights the clever musicianship, weaving guitar and bass lines and well thought out drum patterns that this exciting three-piece are becoming known for.
The band has had an infectious buzz around them ever since they dropped their first release “Lights” last year, followed by singles “Waiting” and “Siren”. Their tracks immediately caught the attention of BBC London Introducing and they were hastily invited into the studio for an interview with Gary Crowley who openly showed his support for the band urging listeners to “keep an ear and an eye out for them as they have a lot of promise!” The band’s tracks have also received regular airplay by Jim Gellatly and Shell Zenner on Amazing Radio, Tom Robinson on BBC 6 Music and John Kennedy on Radio X.
Following the release of their debut EP Those Funny Things the band was approached by a member of Fender’s A&R team who expressed his interest in their unique and energetic playing style. They were endorsed with new gear and included in a playlist of Fender’s ‘Top 10 favorite new acts’ alongside Bryde and featured on Richer Unsigned. Their song “Siren” was then added to nationwide playlists in Richer Sounds stores, Samsung and Barclays. The band’s EP has been championed by Fred Perry Subculture, Gigslutz, Even the Stars and The Revue along with several other influential tastemakers and blogs. “Wild Vow” is their anticipated follow-up single.
The band has regularly featured on the Gigslutz girls show called ‘Get In Her Ears’ on Hoxton Radio and have also received great support from It’s All Indie who have mentioned them in in a recent interview giving a shout out to female musicians.
LINKS:
https://Soundcloud.com/Berriesband
https://Facebook.com/Berriesband
https://Twitter.com/Berriesbanduk
https://instagram.com/berriesband
https://Youtube.com/BerriesBand