Michael Nhat
I read somewhere that he wants to show people “what the music of a post-Vietnam War orphan would be like.” But Michael Nhat’s debut LP sounds more Angelino than Vietnamese, with humorous non-sequiturs, pent-up hostilities, portraits of hipster chicks, and admonitions about werewolves rapped and sung over tracks that sound like they were sampled right out of the air in Filipinotown or the less gentrified parts of Echo Park. Featuring catchy lo-fi looping keyboards, Nhat’s minimal beats propel his brutal, barking cadence towards something that is alternately poppy (”Everybody Knows Werewolves Kill”) and disconcerting (”Death by Bells”). Yet his charm has much to do with his unparalleled charisma in a live setting. A musical movement unto himself, he’s got this “I don’t give a fuck” attitude that is only foiled by the obvious care and commitment that he puts into his performances. - LA RecordBig Whup
The beginnings of Big Whup could be considered original, dainty and quirky, just fitting this band. Big Whup members Drew Denny [keys, vox] and Morgan Gee [viola, violin, saw, vox] started playing music together during the summer of 2007 when they were in EMT school and wanted “to make songs about defibrillators and seeing double rainbows”. Both Drew and Morgan had always dreamed of being in a band but both were too shy and critical about themselves. It wasn’t until they realized, while in EMT school, that if they had the daring to save lives that starting a band wouldn’t be as difficult, or unnerving. Rand Voorhies [drums, vox] and Jenna Eyrich [bass, vox] later joined and the name Big Whup was chosen. After a few lineup changes, Geoff Geis [guitar, vox] jumped in on guitar a bit before Big Whup’s first recordings in the summer of 2008; shortly thereafter, he also began to bring some of his songs to the band. With matching tattoos done in 2009, they’ve been the five together ever since. - Little Did They Know blogMoses Campbell
Teenage wunderkinds Moses Campbell — it’s a six-piece band, not some grizzled folk singer that the name might conjure up — seem to have bottled up the exuberance of youth and the dreariness of aging on one calamitous album. “Who Are You? Who Is Anyone?” (just out on the Smell’s olFactory Records) embraces the present as only kids can but also reinforces the notion that the best way to eye the future is to cast wary glances over one’s shoulder. Singer-guitarist Sean Solomon’s woozy tenor is perfect for such musings, and the sextet (including Pascal Stevenson, Miles Wintner, Daniela Jiminez, Pauline Lay and Andrew MacKelvie) frames them in bursts of unvarnished garage-pop, frayed folk and caffeine-spiked freakouts. You might have heard some of these chords before, but as playdough in the cherubic hands of Moses Campbell, it’s fun to see what shapes they can become. - BuzzBands
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