The Music Playground Presents

This witty, quirky throwback jazz outfit puts a modern lyrical touch on a retro sound that is sure to get your toe tappin and your mouth a laughin! Currently touring across the US, these 2 gentlemen have it in spades!

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This month’s episode of The Music Playground Presents features the Brooklyn-based duo Cultfever, comprised of songwriters Tamara Jafar and Joe Durniak. Their self-titled debut album is the type of record that will seep its way into your daily rotation and stay there for months. The album eludes labels from one track to the next, mixing spacy, downbeat, grooving tracks with intense and rhythmic pop songs. They write together almost everyday at their studio, conveniently located in the apartment they share as roommates. Cultfever is an exciting band, brimming with originality and instant appeal.

This was by far the biggest crowd for one of our tapings yet, and the energy is evident in the videos. The band has their own little devoted NYC following, making the “cult” in their name entirely appropriate. Cultfever’s forthcoming EP, entitled Animals, will be out in early 2013. Also, they’ll be playing at SXSW this year. We had the opportunity to sit down with Tamara and Joe following their performance to ask them a few questions. (more…)

J.Viewz’ leader Jonathan Dagan has been quietly making a name for himself among indie electronic artists since 2005, when Infected Mushroom remixed his song “Muse Breaks” into a club-ready dance track. Since then he has amassed a faithful following based on his technical prowess, his diversity, and his love of live elements mixed with laid back electronica. On top of that, a recent Grammy nomination for his album Rivers and Homes and an MTV O Music Award nomination for his “Rivers and Homes” music video suggest that J.Viewz has cracked the mainstream concrete shell. Dagan possesses the rare ability to invent sounds in his head that fill gaps in his genre, and then fully realize them on a record. For instance, Jonathan recorded the thick and summery single “Salty Air” in 2010, just as the “chillwave” subgenre, which the song fits nicely into, was being labeled. It is clear he is a pioneer of a new age of electronic music, where the novelty has worn off and the real work must begin. (more…)

This month’s installment of “The Music Playground Presents” features The Hot Sardines, a band that has gained a reputation for putting on unforgettably wild live shows all around New York City – and soon, the world. In fact, they have been invited to represent New York in front of 25,000 people during a nighttime set at the 2012 Festival d’Île de France in Paris. The Hot Sardines’ uniqueness lies in the fact that they get people both young and old dancing their asses off, by playing pop music that was written a century ago. Their concerts consist of all-out renditions of hot jazz numbers, New Orleans jazz standards, fever-paced tap dancing, and foot-stomping mayhem. (more…)

In the world of rock bands, a “power-trio” is—more often than not—a tricky setup. Bass, drums, guitar, and vocal duties split between three musicians, working at maximum efficiency to deliver a sound bigger than bands twice their size, is simply a tough formula to make deliver. Philly’s Big Terrible walks this tightrope with impressive expertise, and their strides are growing longer with each of their releases. (more…)

As far as fledgling bands go, Wishes and Thieves are more poised and ready to take off than most of their peers. The Brooklyn four-piece is on the verge of releasing their second EP, and has plans for a full-length album in the fall. There is a refreshing focus to the sonic atmospheres that Wishes and Thieves craft in their synth-laden songs. Perhaps it is that focus, and vision for exactly what they’d like the band to be that sets them apart. (more…)

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