Tag: Santa Barbara CA

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Anselyn Shares a Breezy Pop Gem

Anselyn is an emerging Cape Cod-born singer/songwriter, who traces the origins of her music career to her childhood: Although she was a painfully shy girl, who was too afraid to sing or perform in front of large groups, she did enjoy singing to her dogs and cats.

When she grew up, the Cap Cod-born artist, spent most of her adult life working jobs in industries that weren’t particularly creative. Whatever songs she did write, she didn’t finish. But she finally decided it was time to finish some of those songs she had written and record what would be her full-length with debut with producer Elliott Lanam at Santa Barbara, CA-based Hidden City Studios.

The Massachusetts-born artist’s single “Triggered” is an Easy Listening/Quiet Storm-like pop song with elements of smooth jazz that will remind some listeners of Sade but with a subtly modern edginess — and anchored by Anselyn’s coy yet coquettish delivery.

“‘Triggered,” as Anselyn explains “is a song about tortured love, where you wanted to be with someone badly (and ached for them to love you back), yet they drove you crazy with their hot-then-cold indecisiveness . . . Their emotional swings would drive one mad.”

New Wave by William Ruben Helms

The inaugural Totally Tubular Festival will tour across 17 markets across North America starting June 28, 2024 in Santa Barbara, CA and closing out July 27, 2024 in Cincinnati. The tour includes a July 18, 2024 stop at Pier 17.

The festival’s first lineup features a collection of artists that exploded into the pop culture zeitgeist in the early to mid 1980s as a result of regular rotation of their music videos on MTV. Because of nostalgia — and the songs were great — the sounds of the 80s and the artists, who created that song have seen a resurgence in popularity over the last handful of years.

The artists performing on the 2024 tour include:

“This is a dream lineup for those who love the music of the early 1980’s, and for those who want to relive the days when life was…plain and simply–a total party,” says Jon Pleeter, CPO (Chief Party Officer) of Totally Tubular Festival. “You wore dayglow, you wore parachute pants, you had big hair, perms and more perms, mullets, leg warmers, along with tons of buttons and lots of rubber bracelets. You wore sunglasses at night. The choruses were big, and the hooks were bigger—the party didn’t end.”

A portion of proceeds from ticket sales will go towards food banks locally in each market.

TOTALLY TUBULAR FESTIVAL tour dates include:

6/28 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl

6/29 – Los Angeles, CA – YouTube Theatre

6/30 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theatre

7/3 – Phoenix – Arizona Financial Theatre

7/6 – Englewood, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre

7/9 – Irving, TX – Pavilion @ Toyota Music Factory

7/10 – Houston, TX – 713 Music Hall

7/13 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheatre 

7/16 – Bridgeport, CT – Hartford Healthcare Amphitheatre

7/17 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall @ Fenway

7/18 – New York, NY – Pier 17

7/19 – Atlantic City, NJ – Hard Rock Live @ Etess Arena

7/20 – Bushkill, PA – Poconos Park Amphitheatre

7/23 – Laval, QUE – Place Bell

7/24 – Missisauga, ONT – GCT Theatre

7/26 – Detroit, MI – Meadowbrook Amphitheatre

7/27 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center Amphitheatre

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Me.Kai Shares Brooding “Why It’s So”

Me.Kai is a singer/songwriter and guitarist, who began her career busking on Santa Barbara‘s streets covering an eclectic array of artists including Ella Fitzgerald and Dua Lipa, among others. Gradually transitioning from cover artist to solo artist, she became a staple in her hometown’s music scene, collaborating with Area 51, Everything’s Fine, and a number of up-and-coming producers, including Gold Man and Burko. As as solo artist, she has developed and honed a genre-blending style and sound that draws from  Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks, and her love of bass heavy, indie electro pop. 

Some of her songs have landed on Insomniac’s In/Rotation Label list, and several high-profile Spotify playlists. She has also had some of her work appear in the Netflix series All American. Building upon a growing profile, the Santa Barbara-based artist plans to be very busy: a number of collaborations with popular EDM producers and her debut EP are slated to on the horizon in the upcoming months. 

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Bump in the Night,” an accessible and sultry bop built around Me.Kai’s coquettish, come hither delivery and a breezy bop, glinting guitars, wobbling tweeter and woofer rattling low end, dancehall-like riddims and twinkling synths. The song is full of carnal longing and desire and features a narrator, who boldly expresses that she has sexual needs and desires that need to be fulfilled — now.

Her latest single “Why It’s So” is a brooding bit of singer/songwriter synth pop featuring a sinuous bass line, skittering boom bap beats, atmospheric synths paired with Me.Kai’s plaintive vocal. While seemingly nodding at a synthesis of R&B and Dido, “Why It’s So” is rooted in lived-in personal experience.

“‘Why It’s So’ was a very personal project for me,” Me,Kai explains. “It follows the ups and downs of being in an abusive relationship with the love of my life, finally making it out safely.. and then the hardship that follows afterward, even knowing you made the right decision for yourself in the end. I hope this song can take people on an emotional journey through that process of persevering through love and hardship.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Me.Kai is a singer/songwriter and guitarist, who began her career busking on Santa Barbara‘s streets covering an eclectic array of artists including Ella Fitzgerald and Dua Lipa, among others. Gradually transitioning from cover artist to solo artist, she became a staple in her hometown’s music scene, collaborating with of Area 51, Everything’s Fine, and a number of up-and-coming producers, including Gold Man and Burko. She has developed and honed a genre-blending style and sound that draws from Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks, and her love of bass heavy, indie electro pop.

Some of her songs have landed on Insomniac’s In/Rotation Label list, and several high-profile Spotify playlists. She has also had some of her work appear in the Netflix series All American. Building upon a growing profile, the Santa Barbara-based artist plans to be very busy: a number of collaborations with popular EDM producers and her debut EP are slated to on the horizon in the upcoming months.

But in the meantime, her latest single “Bump in the Night,” is a sultry and accessible bop centered around the Santa Barbara-based artist’s coquettish, come hither delivery and a breezy production featuring looping and glistening guitars, wobbling tweeter and woofer rattling low end, dancehall-like riddims and twinkling synths. Seemingly drawing from contemporary pop, dancehall and Quiet Storm soul, “Bump in the Night” is a song full of carnal longing and desire with a narrator boldly expressing that she has sexual needs that need to be fulfilled — tonight.

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

Although the San Francisco, CA-based quartet of City Tribe formed in 2010, they can actually trace their origins back to 2007 when founding members and co-lead vocalists Duncan Nielsen and Jacob Jones were young musicians […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

http://www.npr.org/templates/event/embeddedVideo.php?storyId=264894944&mediaId=264895919 When Zach Gray’s (vocals and guitar) and Tom Dobrzanski’s (piano and vocals) previous project, Lotus Child ended, the duo continued onward as the Zolas, and with their latest project, the duo of Gray and Dobrzanski have continued a […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

AM and Shawn Lee’s sophomore effort together as a duo, La Musique Numerique (translated from French it means “Digital Music”) was released earlier this year through Park the Van Records. With the release of the new album, the […]

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

I recently came across some live footage of the legendary Bob Marley live in Santa Barbara, CA back in 1979. Marley as a performer was an electric performer, and some of the footage I’ve come […]