IAMLOVEDRUG: And You Can Be Too
Hailing from Alliance, Ohio, Lovedrug has formed a strong brotherhood through years of arduous touring and disappointing label support. Now they are forgoing major support and taking contributions of any size to fund the recording and production of their upcoming fourth album. With the help of PledgeMusic, they’ve created the IAMLOVEDRUG movement. Tastemakers Mag: Tell us about your new record and the IAMLOVEDRUG effort. Thomas Bragg (bass): We met, we… continue reading
Nov 27 2010
21 Tales of Tastemakers: Old Skool Tastemakers Radio Crew
Hark! For the very first time since 2009, the “classic” Tastemakers Radio line up, including Nick Mendez, Andrew Phan, Kyle “One Eyed Dog” Risley, VJ Tursi, Mel “Old Skool” Bertoldi and Jared Smith has reunited! Catch up with the crew as they swap their favorite stories about hot knifing, Jared’s conquest of the sexual spectrum, VJ’s dead grandfather and what not to say during an interview with Google. Also, learn about… continue reading
Nov 15 2010
21 Tales of Tastemakers: Mel Bertoldi
Among other reasons, Tastemakers is awesome because it provides a crash course in music journalism through several media: print, online, and radio. Of these three outlets, I’d have to say that the one I’ve had the most fun with throughout the past two years is radio. Enter (at your own risk) my experience with the wonderful, often linguistically caustic world of Tastemakers Radio. Being brave had never really been my… continue reading
Nov 08 2010
21 Tales of Tastemakers: Erick Serna
One of my first shows, if not the very first, at Northeastern’s afterHOURS featured The Dear Hunter. While I was losing my voice trying (emphasis on trying) to sing along with Casey Crescenzo’s powerful delivery, my attention was not on the familiar singer on stage (you could say he looks like Zach Galifinakis with a guitar strapped around his back standing behind a Rhodes) but instead was on the tiny… continue reading
Nov 01 2010
21 Tales of Tastemakers: Andrew Phan
The long hair, unkempt facial hair, flowery patterned button-down shirt and long fur coat had him standing out amongst the crowd on the Cambridge sidewalk. To him, I was a familiar face in a sea of strangers. To me, it was a moment when I realized that this whole extracurricular music journalism thing could actually be legitimate. I had only met Zach Carothers once before- two months earlier during an… continue reading
Sep 23 2010
A Weekend of RX Bandits: Preview
This weekend the RX Bandits will invade West Hollywood, selling out 3 straight nights at the famous Troubadour on Santa Monica Boulevard. Each night, the Bandits will be performing one of their three most recent albums in its entirety. In October, 2006 (my first semester in college) RX Bandits released ‘¦And The Battle Begun. To be honest, up until then I had only known them as ‘that ska/punk band from… continue reading
Sep 15 2010
El Ten Eleven: Tonight @ Middle East
If you haven’t heard of El Ten Eleven, there’s a good chance you’ve already heard them. Their instrumental music is a fantastic blend of electronic and post-rock, driving dance beats. Add that up with an innovative and memorable live set-up and placements in several TV shows and films and a DIY work ethic, it equals one hell of a force in the independent music scene. Tastemakers Magazine (TMM): How would… continue reading
El Ten Eleven – These Promises Are Being Videotaped
The names of the songs alone should be reason enough to buy this album on iTunes. The first two songs of the album are called ‘Jumping Frenchmen of Maine’ and ‘I Like Van Halen Because My Sister Says They Are Cool.’ El Ten Eleven is an entirely DIY and self-released instrumental band from Los Angeles. A quote on their website describes the most recent album as ‘Kraftwerk in the Sky’… continue reading