Aquilo, In The Valley Below, Lewis Del Mar, Beach Baby, The Moth & the Flame, Cardiknox

Aquilo are a musical duo from Silverdale, Lancashire, England: Tom Higham and Ben Fletcher.

"We like raw power as much as the next noisehead - we particularly like Raw Power - but if you're going to offer the opposite it should always be as limpidly lovely as Aquilo's, as dreamily atmospheric and addicted to melancholy. ... As career moves go - these days they use laptops and Logic to create dolorous downtempo electronica and ethereal R&B - this one is up there with Status Quo's switch from psychedelia to boneheaded boogie or the Stranglers shift from organ-fuelled punk to waltz-time pop baroque. They have been compared to Mount Kimbie and London Grammar, the latter particularly pleasing to Aquilo because they were "blown away" as soon as they heard them." --Guardian UK


Seldom has a debut single seduced so many, for so long. Two years since its release, In The Valley Below’s “Peaches”, which was first picked up by European alternative radio, continues as an international airwaves staple – testament to the enduring viral power of its sunny yet smoldering songcraft and celebratory surrender to mutual attraction.

In The Valley Below – Angela Gail and Jeffrey Jacob – meld adventurous art rock, squelchy synth pop, harmony-laden Americana, and woozy blues into something altogether different: stylistically elusive, yet oddly inclusive. Her loaded purr cajoling his weathered inflections, they craft gauzily compelling music at once introverted and all-embracing.

A small-town girl from Michigan, Gail discovered songwriting while holed-up on an even smaller Caribbean sailboat. A thousand miles away in Memphis, Jacob was inhaling Link Wray’s ragged rebellion and the darker side of Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel. In The Valley Below was born one Texas night when the pair, performing at SXSW in an experimental L.A. rock band, recognized their rare on-stage connection. Back in California, they plunged into collaboration with twin-like telepathy and a feverish, fated chemistry

Though never intended as a gigging band, ITVB’s genre-ambiguous, dreamily accessible expressions traveled well, inducing tireless touring. High-profile stops included England’s Reading and Leeds festivals, Rock en Seine in Paris, The Late Show with David Letterman, and Conan. They shared their journey with the likes of The Airborne Toxic Event, White Lies, Cold War Kids, and Robert DeLong.

In The Valley Below’s debut album, The Belt, is a mysterious, mesmerized and relentlessly melodic record that bares powerful tales of lust, loss and faith like open wounds, while hinting at hidden meanings. Opening with “Peaches”, it also births the huge, hands-aloft hooks of “Neverminders” and “Stand Up”. The deliciously lingering deathbed farewell of “Hymnal” and lived-in, love-in nostalgia of “Take Me Back” lend a throbbing urgency to the insistent, intravenously wanton “Palm Tree Fire”.

Self-written and produced, two of The Belt’s 11 songs were also mixed by Gail and Jacob, with others handled by John Congleton (St. Vincent, David Byrne), Pete Min (Airborne Toxic Event), Lasse Mårtén (Lykke Li, Peter, Bjorn & John), and Dave Sardy (Oasis, Band of Horses).

Personified by “Peaches”’ sunlight-through-the-eyelids abandon and cult-ish caress, The Belt is that most elusive of records: arcane, authentic, and effortlessly resonant across cultures and eras. Though the duo’s bond is uniquely theirs, we are all In The Valley Below.




Lewis Del Mar is a duo based in Rockaway Beach, NY


Although rooted in the UK’s capital city, Beach Baby’s crisp, soaring take on apathetic alternative-pop finds it roots across Dorset and Sheffield, as well as Athens, Greece. The four-piece band – Lawrence (guitar, vocals), Ollie (guitar, keys, vocals), Iraklis (bass), and Shep (drums) – met in the musically-rich halls of Goldsmiths College in London, where the co-vocalists placed an ad looking to build on their then-folk-driven, dual songwriting partnership. Future bassist Iraklis (an Athens native) turned up dressing like a ‘50s college freshman (and swiftly got the gig), before drummer Shep completed the equation. While supporting their burgeoning pursuit with patchwork jobs ranging from a teaching assistant to feature-film script reader, the band have arrived fully formed at the distinct, occasionally dream-like sound and visuals of Beach Baby.

“Ladybird,” with humble origins that map back to Lawrence’s simple experimentation with drop D tuning, is an evocative blend of British post-punk and ‘80s new wave peppered with hints of noisier grunge, shoegaze, and lo-fi indie rock. The results are a hazy and bittersweet, yet forward-focused, twisted alternative love song that traces the subconscious workings of a relationship (“I wanna be your brother / Take a bite of the apple and just spit it out / I wanna be your mother / Raise you up and f*ck you right up”). Driven by Ollie and Lawrence’s languid but harmonic dual vocals, ‘Ladybird’ was co-produced by friend William Lowes in various bedrooms and living rooms across London, and mixed by Cenzo Townshend (together PANGEA, Skaters, Franz Ferdinand, The Fall).

The ideas of femininity, suburban malaise, and college romance are woven throughout the single (which features gorgeously languorous B-side “Bruise”) – from the John-Hughes-via-South-London artwork’s sisterly but distant teenager (see image below), to the band’s striking forthcoming debut video. Like the titular insect, ‘Ladybird’ (or ladybug, to us Stateside) conjures visions of a long, hot summer ahead.


The Moth and the Flame have been creating earnest and heady alternative indie-rock since 2011. They have been heralded as one of the top emerging artists in the western United States, and as a “band to watch” coming out of their new home in Los Angeles.

Formed in the high desert of Provo Utah, TM&TF is singer/guitarist Brandon Robbins, keyboardist/vocalist Mark Garbett, and drummer Andrew Tolman. Their songs feature weaving layers of Robbins’ haunting baritone, dense instrumentation, and fresh moments of simplicity. The band extends this layered philosophy to their audience by integrating installation art with their live performances; filling cities with twenty-foot-tall anthropomorphic giants, and transforming venues into lunar visions, starry nights, and floating-lantern dreamscapes.

TM&TF’s latest release, &, is a collection of five complex and thematic songs produced by celebrated drummer Joey Waronker (Beck, Atoms for Peace). Released in late 2013 as the band joined Imagine Dragons on their European Night Visions tour, & begins with their first major single, Sorry. It follows the success of their 2011 debut, a self-titled album, and their signing to RED Distribution/Hidden Records.

The success of & has anticipation already buzzing for the band’s next full-length album, produced by Peter Katis (Interpol, The National, Jonsi) and featuring string arrangements by Rob Moose (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens). It was tracked while living isolated in Katis’ Connecticut studio for several weeks, and is set for release in late-summer 2014. -C.R. Holgate




New York-based Cardiknox is the duo of Lonnie Angle and Thomas Dutton. Having grown up in Seattle playing classical piano on Lonnie's side and punk music on Thomas' end, the pair originally teamed up to create and produce rowdy musicals before moving to New York.

Cardiknox was thereafter born from a love of folding their unique talents into an original craft—mixing 80's beats and production with ferocious vocals and dynamic hooks.

Their debut single, "Hold Me Down," is an indelibly hard-hitting, giant tiger bite of a song that will take hold of your brain and not let go.