NEW LANGUAGE is an Los Angeles based group that was started by Tyler Demorest and Matt Cohen. The two have been writing and playing in bands for almost a decade and in 2016 formed NEW LANGUAGE.

Recently the band has released an EP entitled, “Everybody Screams” and two music videos for their songs “Everybody Screams” and “Show Me.” I had the opportunity to chat with Demorest and Cohen about their new releases.

Tell me about your song “Show Me,” what is it about?

TD: We started jamming with a friend of ours and it just grew instrumentally that way. Lyrically, it is about things that I [Tyler] is struggling with. I left it open for people to interpret what they are struggling with. For me [Tyler] its about what goes on around me and like if you’re not raised a Christian, you can still be a good person for example.

Did you come up with the concept for the music video?

MC: The concept itself is just a fun tone with our mascot. It was filmed all in one shot and Tyler did the animations.

TD: We just thought it would be cool to have Richard [our mascot] dance in the streets of LA and have like dancers and confetti canons but not be too over the top or silly.

Explain the meaning behind the title track off the EP, Everybody Screams.

TD: Theres just a lot of yelling from both sides and not a lot of listening. People are just not willing to listen to each other and have an intelligent conversation anymore.

The music video is a little different, what was the concept about?

TD: With the video we wanted to show that concept of the song. So we photoshopped pictures of ourselves with big mouths just covering the whole face. That just represents the concept of people screaming. And behind us are just images that symbolizes what the song was saying and creating a feeling of how big the world is and how many problems people have. Just gives you a sense of humanity, I guess.

Is there a theme or message throughout the EP?

TD: I wouldn’t say that there is a theme or message with our EP, I just write about what I’m feeling or wrestling with at the time. We don’t sit down and say “okay this EP is going to be about this theme.”

Which song off Everybody Screams  would you recommend to a new listener?

TD & MC: Show Me because it just represents what anyone can be going through. Its up to interpretation by the listener.

How would you describe your stage performance?

MC: I would say that whenever we get up on stage we just kind of give it our all. I would call it energetic and inducing. We always like to get the audience involved and we hope that audiences feels the same energy we feel.

Anything set for the future of NEW LANGUAGE?

TD: Yea we have a few songs coming out in the next couple of months and some shows set for us to play in the beginning of May. But generally just more shows, more music and hopefully a new EP in the summer.

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You can check out NEW LANGUAGE’s songs on their Youtube and be sure to stay up to date on NEW Language news you can follow them at their social media links below.

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Photos provided by Bradley PR + Marketing

Is it possible for an album to give you the stank face but also be full of puppies and rainbows? I never thought it was possible until I listened to the long awaited mixtape by BTS’ J-Hope.

For over a year now, fans have been waiting for J-Hope to release a mixtape to complete the rap line’s collection of solo albums. The day finally came in mid February when he announced that his mixtape was set to release March 2, 2018.

On the day of the release, the 7 track album went out along with the music video for the lead single, “Daydream.” I’ll be honest, I listened to that song for a solid 30 minutes on repeat after it was released. For anyone that knows J-Hope, or at least anyone who is familiar with his bright, off the wall personality, will understand when I say this is a “J-Hope” song.

The music video along with the lyrics and the beat of the song match perfectly with J-Hope’s personality and vibe. He always brings a sense of “hope” and sunshine to the group and it shines bright with this song. Another song on the album that compliments this match to personality would be the title track, “Hope World.”

But when you get past the puppies and rainbows vibe songs you get songs like “Base Line” and “항상 (Hangsang) ft. Supreme Boi.” These songs are where his true roots show with hard base lines and intense lyrics that give you that “stank face” reaction.

This even blend of hard and soft makes for a mixtape that throws all sorts of emotions in your face and perfectly depicts his style and personality. Overall, I’ve been playing this album on repeat since its release and I’m incredibly pleased and proud of J-Hope for taking his time to release a solid album that he’s proud of.

The album is available on iTunes and Spotify.

Nokay is an East Coast based Indie/Pop/Electronic songwriter who has been featured on Huffington Post, AXS, Tattoo.com and many more. His previous single “Fear” (which has received 50k plays on Soundcloud) made my playlist for the year and was one of my favorite releases of 2017. You can read a short review of his song “Fear” here. Nokay just released his follow up single “Passenger” which is featured on his upcoming debut EP “The One I Feed.”

Being a fan of Nokay’s smooth, rich, voice I was excited to be asked to review his debut EP. As previously stated, “Fear” was a music highlight for me for 2017 and his new single “Passenger” is climbing the list for 2018. There are movements to this song that remind me of being on a boat. The verses are slow and steady like a calm ocean, just floating on the water enjoying the scenery.

But when the chorus kicks in, the waves start to hit. The boat is rocking and you’re holding on, trying not to fall off. The moments of calm and chaos add to the story behind the song and a journey in his life. You can read the full story behind the song on Genius. The length of time it took to make this song paid off, because it’s beautifully composed and executed.

The next two songs on the EP are “Mercury” and “Antares” and the EP closes with “Fear.” One thing that I love about Nokay’s writing is the journey that he takes you on through his words and his supporting insturmentals. His songs have mountains and valleys that emphasize his vocal abilities, emotions and meanings or inspirations for each song.

When listening to music I want to be taken on a journey, feel the emotions of the songs, be wrapped up in the world of the artist, basically get lost in it. Nokay is an artist that allows you to do just that and really experience his music. I am excited to see where this EP will take him and I’ll anticipate more work from him in the future.

You can listen to Nokay’s music on Soundcloud, iTunes and Spotify.

Be sure to check Nokay out on his social media sites for the release of “The One I Feed” and other upcoming events from him.
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*Photos curtesy of Bradley PR + Marketing*

Boy Hero is an LA based post hardcore band thats on the rise in their music scene. I’ve done some reviews for them in the past and was pleased to have a chat with singer Dan Rudd to learn more about the group and their music.

How did you meet the other members in the group?
Through different music ventures. It comes down to just friends, meeting people through other shows and bands.

It seems like there was a name change from Kings to Boy Hero? Why is that?
We originally were Kings and we had a logo and everything planned out for that. And what ended up happening was that there was another band that put out a logo that we were going to use right when we were going to launch everything. So we had to come up with something different.

The story behind Boy Hero is that Ben came up with it through a different project name that he never used. And being on the spot we had to use something so we went with it. But as time went on past that point, for me, it took the meaning of going it alone and doing it yourself. Don’t sit there and wait for the phone ring just go out there and make as much happen as you can on your own.

Let’s talk about the self titled EP, what was the writing and recording process like?
The writing process was where I had written a bunch of songs before the band was even a thing. I was kind of getting back into music from stepping away for a year or so. Then Jason, the original drummer, had produced the entire album. It was a thing where we were both new to LA and it just started off just demoing some stuff in my bedroom. It just came together.

You collaborated with Tyler Carter of Issues on the song “Desperate”, how did that fall into place?
That song was from my old band that was never released. So I rewrote it to fit the style of Boy Hero. I’ve been friends with Tyler for like 6 years or so I just asked him if he was interested in doing it and he was all for it.

What are the meanings behind the titles “10912” and “Vivian Grey”?
“10912” is actually a date. If you separate the numbers it ends up being in October and is actually the day my best friend growing up died. That song is my story of what I felt like happened. There are more songs that are about that, but this is kind of the start. I didn’t know how to title that track, because it was a really tough one to write. Its my feelings and I didn’t want anyone to feel like I was being disrespectful in any way.

“Vivian Grey” is definitely a metaphor. It started out as an inside joke. We used it as a way of saying “don’t be a baby” or “don’t be stupid” and the song just took shape around someone who was like that. So it was like a joke that became sort of like a real thing.

Recently you’ve released, “Last One” and “Stay Away”. What are those songs about?
Basically I had an idea to do a Halloween themed EP and I’ve been working on that for the past year and a half or so. We are still in the process of editing and mixing it right now, but I just wanted to put out some new music. So these songs are going to be a little darker, heavier or intense but its still going to fit the music and be fun.

It’ll have moments where, what me and my friends like to call, stank face moments, where you’re just like “oh yeah.” And those songs will be going on the EP, but we are still in the process of editing and getting things mixed and possibly adding more songs. But theres no release date set for it yet but hopefully around October at the latest.

If you could put together a dream tour or collaboration, who would be included?
My dream collaboration would be to write lyrics and vocals with Gerard Way or Bert McCracken. I would love to do work with Matt Good, the guitarist of From First to Last, or something with Ryan Key of Yellowcard. There are so many people that I look up to and would love to just sit in a session with them or work with them. I would take away so much from an opportunity like that.

I would love for there to be a tour of My Chemical Romance and The Used. I would kill to open for something like that. But a dream tour would be to tour with friends of mine. I would love to open for Issues or One Ok Rock, or with my friend Dakota who is in Blindwish. Just to hang out with my friends and play music everyday.

What would you say are the highlights of 2017 for you? What can we look forward to for 2018?
Highlights of this past year is just getting going on the EP. It was a huge step for me, personally, to get back in the saddle because I was kind of in a writers block for a while. I just wasn’t feeling anything, but I found new forms of inspiration from things that I like and started bringing life experiences into those stories.

Next year, I wanna tour and release the EP. I don’t want to set the bar too high, I just want to work as much as I can and try to get out there and get on a tour hopefully. I’m going to try and do some more videos and make that a regular thing, and just try to do as much writing as possible and work on our craft and get better.

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Boy Hero’s current self-titled EP is available on iTunes for purchase as well as Spotify.

You can find Boy Hero at all the link below.

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