We are Healing Gems, a 6.1 surround sound experience! (The .1 is you, the beautiful listener!) We are a delicate blend of space-age, exotica, Latin-lava-lounge, tropicalia, and bossa nova. Let our music embrace you and take you away from your everyday lives. Dive into a tropical celestial destination full of colorful cacti, broken hearts, desert tarantulas, and driving on ls
Instagram: @healing_gems
“Billy Changer has the name of the everyman in a Philip K. Dick story, and like the everyman in a Philip K. Dick story, there may be something special about him—something powerful even—that he neither knows about nor fully controls. This self-titled LP—originally one side of a split tape with Corners bandmate and frontman Tracy Bryant—is an understandably uneven listen. It was put together more from experiences that transformed into songs than as a plotted album, so you can’t ever be sure what’s coming next. Maybe an experiment: “Black Angel,” like the very early Spacemen 3 when they couldn’t quite keep their heads held up, with intently reverent subway-sound Velvet Underground guitar. Maybe a scene from a movie never made: instrumental “Chiller” is strange and a stand-out for it, a song with vibes so heavy it needed like an actual vibraphone. It’s urgent, nervous, even menacing—a walk alone as headlights flash off your back. Or maybe a deep one like “Sweet Time,” a Daniel Johnston heartbroke valentine with loose-as-hell Sticky Fingers production. Side two is where the album starts to dissolve into itself, where the songs can’t quite hold to each other and Changer brings out the slide guitar to show just how slidey everything can be. By closer “You’re My Girl,” we’re in a Flies On Sherbert waking dream with a song so loose it’s suddenly all around you. What makes this album far different from the usual “I made this!” autobio recordings are the vast wells of tension and want and id within—and the way the songs drift uneasily above them, sometimes warping and distorting in ways you’d never expect. “Band of Brothers” seems like it must just be about a night out with friends … but there is something staggeringly desperate and even tragic happening there, too. It’s like a song from a car going off a cliff—a snapshot of the instant just before moving forward becomes falling down. If there’s a Joy Divison influence at work here, it comes in three places: the lockstep rhythm at the second half of the resolute “Island Fever,” the razor’s-edge production precision and then these stark and fearless moments at the precipice. Changer always brings you back, but I wonder if that’s even scarier—he does know the edge is there, right?” —Chris Ziegler (LA Record)
The Paranoias consists of five musicians within LA’s “underground” music scene, a buoyant bossa nova-tinged style and attitude. Hailing from South LA, the group has steadily become one of the city’s top bands by sheer virtue of their magnetic live performances at the annual SkaWars festivals. The band has shared the stage with legends like Celso Piña and Inspector. As part of an assembly of local bands called LACollective, The Paranoias play a true LA
sound that is equal parts Latin as it is American. Lead vocalist Ralf Velazquez brings a soulful, romantic touch that matches the strumming of his rhythm guitar along side Nico Curiel’s bilingual vocal backing. Albert Arevalo, Javier
Gonzales and David Campos lead the majority of the instrumental work on guitar, drums and bass respectively; contributing some of the most inventive riffs and ska harmonies heard in recent years
Lily Waters is fronted by 20-year-old singer-songwriter Gabbi Green and lead guitarist Robert Cifuentes, formerly of the adored LA post-punk outfit Corners. Gabbi’s tormented vocals and Robert’s harmonic compositions span a wide range of musical styles and influences including blues (Etta James, Muddy Waters, Amy Winehouse), rockabilly (Wanda Jackson), country pop (Patsy Cline), jazz (Billie Holiday, Nina Simone), indie (Cat Power, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), shoegaze (Mazzy Star), and psych (Jimi Hendrix). As a result, Lily Water’s sound is filled with grit and from the soul. After releasing their self-recorded single “Breath in the Wind” via Soundcloud, Lily Waters has secured supporting positions for the likes of Blac Rabbit, Hockey Dad, and Broncho, and show no sign of stopping in their tracks anytime soon. They are currently working on their debut full-length album with producer Kyle Mullarky (Allah-Las, The Growlers, Tomorrows Tulips) at Lolipop Records, which is sure to be a hit.
Directly from the city of hope – Mexico City, Mexico – in the month of March, 2012, the six-man group EL CONJUNTO NUEVA OLA released its first musical production, an album that is sure to make history. A very unique musical collective, one that will revolutionize the recording industry. The first promotional single from their album is titled “CHIDO, CHIDO” (“Cool, cool”) a classic title in the history of tropical music, but one that here takes on a completely different vibe.
The group is comprised of lead singer Urbano López, guitarist Luzio Nava, bassist Primitivo Ríos, percussionist Hipólito Madero, El Tacho on timpani and El Raio Manzares on keyboards. Their mission is simple: bring flavor and get people to dance to the rhythm of cumbia, mixing new wave, rock and disco sounds into hits from various iconic groups like La Sonora Dinamita, to the late Chico Che & Rigo Tovar.
Formed in 1994, Tijuana-born Almalafa is best known for popularizing Mexican ska music across Baja California and beyond.
Formado en 1994, Almalafa nació en Tijuana, y es mejor conocido por popularizar la música ska mexicana en toda Baja California y más allá.
Tom Kenny & The Hi-Seas are a Los Angeles-based RocknRoll/Soul/R&B band that “brings the party” wherever and whenever they perform. They are the embodiment of no-holds- barred, all-in rock n roll. Simply put, their mission statement can be summed up as follows: “Hey, let’s have as much fun as humanly possible!”
Drawing on influences ranging from Sam Cooke to The Shangri-Las to The Righteous Brothers, their rockers cause dance floor mayhem and their soulful ballads induce swooning. There’s no doubt that you and your socks will part company once you experience Tom Kenny & The Hi-Seas.
The band’s manic front man is Tom Kenny. Tom is the highly regarded voice actor behind the immortal “SpongeBob SquarePants”, The Ice King from “Adventure Time”, many voices on “Rick and Morty”, and literally hundreds of other animated characters. He won an Emmy in 2018 for outstanding contributions to an animated program.
The Hi-Seas’ band leader is Andy Paley. As The Paley Brothers, Andy and his brother Jonathan brought their sunny pop/rock to stages ranging from CBGB’s to Madison Square Garden. Post-Paley Brothers, Andy went on to perform with and produce numerous major artists including Ramones, Patty Smith, Brian Wilson, Madonna and, Jerry Lee Lewis.
Girl Group trio The Damselles add a glamorous dimension to the line-up, bringing sultry tight harmonies, and top-flight choreography to the mix. It’s as if the glory days of the Ronettes, and The Supremes had never ended.
A blastin’, honkin’ horn section, features a rotating cast of game players who have toured and recorded with the likes of Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Four Tops, Cheap Trick, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lorde, Fitz & The Tantrums and many more.
Inspired by reggae, sound system culture and the myriad of musical styles influenced by Jamaican music old and new, The Lions’ sound is firmly placed in soul music.
“All the guys in The Lions grew up on classic Jamaican records so since we began we have wanted to give our records that same edge and roughness that we grew up hearing on LPs by The Upsetters, Soul Syndicate, The Rockers Band and Roots Radics. The rhythm section was all recorded to tape, the Hammond buzzed a little, fuses blew and good mistakes were left in. We basically made the dusty reggae soul LP WE have been wanting to hear for years.” – Dan Ubick (producer)
The band draws together a dozen or so of LA’s elite reggae and soul forerunners who loosely coalesced as The Lions in 2007. Members of the legendary ska band Hepcat, Deston Berry and Alex Désert, form half of the vocal team, and the latter also has a successful career on screen, including roles in the films Swingers and High Fidelity. The other half is the sweet falsetto of Malik Moore and DJ stylings of Black Shakespeare, the charismatic cousin of Robbie Shakespeare (of Sly & Robbie fame) and co-runner of the i&i Sound System, a customised ice cream van bringing bass to the streets of the west coast and featured on the cover of both Saul Williams’ self-titled album and an issue of XLR8R Magazine.
Other members include guitarist Dan Ubick, formerly of Breakestra, Macy Gray co-writer and collaborator Dave Wilder on bass, plus musicians who have played with the likes of De La Soul, Barrington Levy, Beck, Raphael Saadiq, Big Daddy Kane and Black Eyed Peas.
For over 20 years, Cut has toured the globe searching for music. Now the time has come to share that collection to the public every 1st and 3rd Saturday. The show will feature different segments to tackle different genres such as cassette culture, new wave and rap demos, deep funk 45s, world beats and even contemporary artists and live guests.
“I’ve been missing the ‘party in a box’ feel of mix shows that used to exist 20 and 30 years ago like NYCs Red Alert show or the LA and Bay Area’s Wake Up Show. This is my chance to bring it back and share all the great music and talent I’ve run across over the years.”
-Cut Chemist
Instagram: @cutchemist
Live-wired, straight-shootin, dirty-mouth’d pelvis-pushin’ juke music featuring Ty Taylor, Nalle Colt, Rick Barrio Dill & Richard Danielson.