Many people who troll the various trend-spotting websites and “lifestyle” publications have probably already seen or heard of PegLeg NYC – a brand solely born of New York City origin (redundant, but true). But, if PegLeg’s brightly patterned high-fashion “streetwear” have eluded your view, you should check out what they have in-store (www.peglegnyc.com) for the spring of ought Nine.

Conceived and crafted by NYC natives Harry McNally, Bobby Waltzer and Nick Poe, PegLeg is a revelation of the pulse of “downtown” Manhattan – not some referential t-shirt company relying on a few witty slogans to peddle their “garmento” gear. Both young and hip (not in a tragic way, rest assured) and grown and sexy, Peg Leg clothing is decidedly bold, a brand for those with the desire to keep it funkier than others and call attention to their swagger. Their label has quickly evolved from a tiny t-shirt operation to a fully equipped menswear brand, separating their line from the herd of “hip” (often homogenous) counterparts in NYC in their ability to bridge the visible gap (a “disconnect,” if you will) between “low-fi” t-shirt brands and a “high-fashion” sensibility. In the past couple seasons PegLeg have developed into a clothier of all types of articles, designing everything from shirts to sweatshirts, button-downs to jackets to custom New Era fitted hats. PegLeg has been growing steadily since the brand’s onset in 2005, earning their “chops” in NYC’s fashion “scene“ and building the label through word of mouth/media – while also dispersing their wares to friends and associates throughout New York, to stay true to the “homegrown” aesthetic that got them this far.

PegLeg’s spring ’09 line of clothing is looking as crispy as ever; mixing their notorious usage of boldly colored patterns, with more design-driven “cut and sew” pieces. With the ongoing success of their brand at trade shows and events throughout fashion and a loyal following of  “movers and shakers,” it shouldn’t be too long before PegLeg NYC is world renowned in the “gear-game.”

Check www.peglegnyc.com for images of their latest threads and accessories…

Words and photos by Jamie Newman

NASA’s collaborative spirit makes for a revolutionary sound, drawing from the collisions of various personalities rather than one DJ’s desire to mix and mash. N.A.S.A. music is like Baile Funk on steroids – it’s that “Baile Bonds” – hard-body from cover-to-cover and built by trained electro professionals to blast-off any party or personal paradise. Squeak and Zegon make music that defies any simple definition in genre, BUT if I had to label it, I’d call it: “Baile CRUNK.”

Words and Photos by Jamie Newman

These Arms Are Snakes  “Red Line Season”

Don’t let the unassuming, friendly off-stage demeanor of These Arms are Snakes (when not onstage) fool you, when they perform, they transform into maniacal musical mad-men, especially their frontman Steve Snere who is literally a modern day Gigi Allen (without the fecal matter and with a MUCH better band behind him.) The band can engorge a crowd in frenzied euphoria after only a few minutes with their driving beats and spine-tingling guitar riffs. It is rare, in the era of “pretty pop-star front-men,“to see the angst fueled riot that —- unleashes on every crowd he plays for. Bringing the noise with uncanny precision, nearly inciting riots (or fracas) with their heart-pounding intensity, These Arms are Snakes rage against anything and everything they feel like.

Some might label these arms are snakes as prog-post-hardcore (as found on the Wiki), but really their just some intelligent, sensitive dudes rocking-out punk music a lot like early against me! Both raw and musically inclined (not a sideshow in any sense of the word) These Arms are Snake live up to their absurd (and catchy) name – a dish best served live you will be replaying their onstage hjinx for at least the time it takes you for the nights hangover to wear-off.

Words and photos by Jamie Newman

The Coathangers – Stop Stomp Stompin

As Hockey’s “Song Away” would tell you, they make truthful songs over eighties grooves, but their music goes further than that – more diverse, but a good start in trying to describe their unique sound.

Hockey started their musical adventure as a two-piece. Jerm Reynolds (Jeremy, but nobody calls him that) and Ben Grubin got together when the two attended college together in Redlands, California. After moving to Spokane, Washington (on a whim) in hope of finding new band mates, they soon re-located to Portland (adding drummer Anthony, and later Brian on bass). Although Hockey calls Portland home when they aren’t spreading the gospel from the west coast to the UK, the band members hail from every corner of the United States and their musical style is the sum of their disparate parts.

The guys from Hockey are fun loving, laid back friends with nomadic tendencies (too edgy to be considered hippies), and the music is a reflection of their personality.  Hockey seamlessly weaves over and through genres with a powerful brand of soulful dance-rock -  infusing their tracks with all sorts of heavy textural sounds and strange samples. Mostly resembling “indie” on most of their songs, singer Ben Grubin’s punchy one-liners (and great hooks) make Hockey even harder to peg. Never shy of intelligence or sharing his thoughts, Ben Grubin’s lyrics often tell witty stories of past experience, often wrenched out with his raspy (sometimes gutteral) howl – adding spices of soul into their highly infectious melodies and up-beat rhythms.

Hockey talks about what they know, where they have been and what is on their minds, which seem to be fairly simpatico across the board – one of the main reasons that Hockey’s style seems so genuine – they are musicians on a mission to have their stories heard. After the release of their “Mind Chaos” EP, Hockey headed back into the studio to cut a full-length album of the same name, scheduled for release in the first half of 2009. The chaos inside the minds of the Hockey team must run deep, as they decided to stick with the title, shedding some light on what inspires their crazy brand of “New Wave Soul.”

Hockey are constantly hitting the road taking their game to venues across the US and the UK (and beyond), check out www.myspace.com/hockey for updates on their travels and tribulations.

Words and photos by Jamie Newman

Hockey – Too Fake

The red Rider’s driving brand of moody indie rock is catchy and hook-tastic: belted out by the snarky sneer of their front man/singer, Alex Grigg. The Red Riders are most certainly great at parties (Bar Mitzvah’s too, if they even have those in Australia). Check out these photos from their final show in Austin, at the Red Bull Moontower, they certainly know how to work a crowd. But, it would not surprise me if many of their witty gibes at the red-eyed and reckless crowd fell on deaf ears. After all, all this loud music has probably rendered many of the crowd members momentarily hearing impaired. I’m sure after this final night, I myself will be resorting to a bastardized form of sign language, as my ears are still ringing.

By Jamie Newman

For their first album, N.A.S.A.’s collabo-cup runneth over, aligning themselves with everyone from David Byrne of the Talking Heads to the RZA to Tom Waits, Karen O, Sizzla, Kanye and Santi Gold (too many more to mention). And those are just the people they assembled for their first mission (debut album), The Spirit of Apollo (Anti/Epitaph), an album somehow weaves between spacey trip hop to dirty up-tempo baile funk to grimy rap seamlessly, a true musical mas(h)terpiece. N.A.S.A.’s collaborative spirit makes for a revolutionary sound, drawing from the collisions of various personalities rather than one DJ’s desire to mix and mash. N.A.S.A. music is like Baile Funk on steroids – it’s that “Baile Bonds” – hard-body from cover-to-cover and built by trained electro professionals to blast-off any party or personal paradise.

N.A.S.A. recently blasted off a party @ Le Poisson Rouge in NYC, working the crowd into a sweat-drenched frenzy. By the end, even the industry stooges playing the wall in back were sweating through their button-downs.

We have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of these guys…sometime real soon!

Words and photo by Jamie Newman

As they professed  at the Red Bull Moon Tower, “knowing you’re making terrible decisions and knowing that you’re doing it. It’s a song specifically about Austin”. As with this statement, the Shout Out Out Out’s proved to be a good end note to more than a week of music, schmoozing and debauchery in Austin, Texas. The group barraged their listeners with heavy electro big-beat bass; making the crowd sway, shake and gyrate with all the last bits of energy they could muster (at least those who were not flying high on the free Red Bull’s). Shout Out Out Out had the amped-up capacity crowd shaking their moneymaker’s under the moonlight in no time, and offered some solace in their humorous hooks and quirky anecdotes.

Shout Out Out Out is like an electronic big-band; completely filling their stage with digital equipment of all shapes and sizes, a hallmark of the older electronic acts. While their sound is a little fresher heavily layered with vocals that actually have some story behind them or some meaning (unlike the lyrics of many electro outfits). Keeping it up-tempo and ruckus for the majority of their set, the Shout Out Out outs helped get the crowds at the red bull moon tower tapping feet and shaking booties – oh, that and all the gallons of FREE Red Bull – time to fly home…

Words and Photos by Jamie Newman

Adam Freeland has been spinning club bangers and re-mixing the hits around the globe since the hey day of electronica. He also happens to run his Marine Parade label and act as one of the pied pipers of the dance music scene. After years of mixing and mashing parties as a DJ, Adam started “Freeland” a full band of three performing his brand of dirty (sticky) electronica with live instrumentation.  Freeland’s first album COPE plays like dance music on steroids – a multi-dimensional mash of electronica and rock. COPE features the likes of Jerry Casale (Devo),  Twiggy (Marilyn Manson, NIN) and Joey Santiago (The Pixies).

Hailing from all over the globe, the members of Freeland each give their own taste and flavor to the group. Deep, heavily laden and infectious in the breakdown, Freeland is more that just the average electro outfit – there sound is hard to peg but easy to dance to. Built with an electro-skeleton and performed with the sweat and fervor of Rock’n’Roll. Now based out of LA, Freeland promises even more sordid electro confections adding yet another element to augment their sound – sunny skies and the blue waters of the California coast.

Grounded in the club banging electro where Adam Freeland started, there is no telling how far their music will go to make people move. The remix “Under Control” by Alex Metrics (Adam’s current favorite track to spin-out the club kids) has already garnered some heat, proving that there are so many ways to skin an electronic cat.

Words and photos by Jamie Newman

Lead singer Sierra Kusterbeck is only 18, her bandmates 20 and 21, and they’ve yet to be jaded by the rockstar lifestyle. While we’re talking someone randomly approached and offered the band a cake. A bit later, while we were actually talking about fans spotting them, a small contingent of teens came up. “They didn’t believe me that you guys were actually here outside!” explained the fan who brought her friends over. The band took it all in stride, and when the fans complained that they weren’t able to see the show, VersaEmerge began to contemplate a free streetside acoustic performance. Next thing you know, our photographer Jamie Newman was getting the fan a pass into the PureVolume tent where VersaEmerge is playing their only SXSW show.

They spent two weeks in the studio with James Paul Wisner, the producer behind Under Oath and Dashboard Confessional. “There’s something about him,” says Sierra, “he pulls the best out of you so you just get it done super fast.”  In addition to the top-notch production values, the band is playing the Ernie Ball Stage this year for the Vans Warped Tour, a pretty prime spot now that the tour has scaled back to only four stages. “They really wanted a new fresh band to get on the stage, and we’d love to do it,” said Devin Ingelido. Fans of the band will be out of luck if they can’t get into the show on Friday night – after that they head back into the van for a long ride out to the coast, where they’ll keep on playing hard and working hard.

Anthony Martone-Drums

Blake Harnage-Guitar-Vocals-Programming

Jerry Pierce-Guitar

Sierra

Sierra Kusterbeck-Lead Vocals

Devin Ingelido-Bass

Words by  Jacob Cottingham. Photos by Jamie Newman