Underground Bands and Indie Music Reviews

It’s the beginning of March and everyone is dying to break out their shorts and hit the beach…too bad it is still so cold! Five Times August will warm you right up, despite their chill sound.

Five Times August is really just one man – Brad Skistimas. He wants you to remember his name though, so he uses his birthday instead.

Brad has traveled all over these United States, and I have been privileged enough to see him perform live and meet him. The band’s performance at Warehouse Live in Houston, Texas, was amazing – he really interacts with the audience.

You may have heard their music on TV before! Brad got every single song from his first official album on TV (the first show to feature one of his songs was actually the popular Laguna Beach, featuring “Better With You”).

Five Times August creates magic with a simple blend of vocals, guitar, and piano…all performed and recorded by Brad himself. His natural feel and talent for music can bring a relaxing summery feel to anyone’s day, no matter how cold it might actually be outside.

Check out some of his acoustic sessions on YouTube – he’ll even take requests! Here’s his latest:

Today is International Women’s Day. Last week, I went to see the one-night showing of the Half the Sky documentary. Based on Nicholas Kristof’s and Sheryl WuDunn’s New York Times bestseller of the same name, the documentary focuses on three issues affecting women around the world: sex trafficking, maternal mortality and violence against women.

Unfortunately, it was a one-night only event, so I can’t encourage everyone to go see it. But the film did feature appearances by a few great musicians! I love it when artists use their influence to support good causes. It’s just like the Hope for Haiti Now Benefit concert I wrote about a while back. It is great to see that these artists are truly passionate — not only about their music but about doing good things with it.

Half the Sky features these artists:

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April Meservy is a local artist located here in the Provo/Orem, Utah area. April has been in the music industry for many, many years, working with many other musicians. She has been on many gospel cds and just recently released her first album, Somewhere Between Sunsets, which is available on itunes.

April is an indie singer/songwriter. She plays the piano and the guitar. However, her voice is probably her most admirable quality. She has such as warm, inviting, and clean sound. The amazing thing about April is that she has proven to be able have extremely diverse vocals. She has enjoyed jazz/blues, pop/rock, dance/electronica, and even gospel/contemporary. I personally think that her pop sound is the best and will help her to become more successful.

One cool thing about April is that she not only is extremely excited about her music, but is just extremely excited about life in general. April is probably one of the nicest, most genuine persons that you will ever meet! So I hope you get a chance to meet her sometime. She has a great smile and a huge heart, which is probably why her music is so heart-felt.

Carli Cutchin from the Reno News and Review said about April Meservy, “[she] is sometimes soulful, sometimes blithe, but always passionate.”

One of her new songs, “Truth Speaks” really is a reflection of April. For she does truly speak truth in her music. I recommend April Meservy for encouraging, feel good music.

Truth Speak

I Like Mondays

If you enjoyed the two songs above, you can find April Meservy on itunes, youtube, myspace, facebook, and on her official website.