Independent's Day Radio

CDBaby is a beautiful anomaly. As the music industry has contracted and become a bastion of seemingly soulless corporate behemoths, the little website that founder Derek Sivers created in 1997 to start selling his music online has grown to handle CD sales and digital downloads for nearly 300,000 artists - and they did so by embodying a genuinely independent ethos. CDBaby is based on the notion that music and artists should come first - and this admirable position saw them grow while other industry stalwarts were collapsing like a house of cards. President Brian Felsen took over the helm in 2008 after Sivers sold CDBaby to the replication company DiscMakers. The CDBaby umbrella that Felsen wields also includes managing BookBaby and HostBaby. But Felsen is not just another suit - he is a working artist as well, having produced photographic art, poetry, plays and a documentary film.

Just like The Dude, out there taking it easy for all of us sinners, The Neighborhood Bullys have taken up the flag of no-BS rock and roll for the good of everyone. In a world of manufactured synth-pop divas, wannabe metalheads and softhearted boys wearing eyeliner, the Bullys' elemental ethos is a breath of fresh air that hits you with gale force. Raw doesn't begin to cover it. The Bullys' ringleader, Davey Meshell, is a veteran of the LA scene - and his approach to music is primal. Meshell holds the careening ensemble together with his rock stance bass playing while singing a Memphis shriek over the top. A pair of untamed guitar players flanks him, belching out solos and riffs made of lightning and broken glass. Behind them all, aptly sitting on a throne, drummer Mike Sessa plays his kit like he's throwing it down a flight of stairs. The whole thing hangs together in a way that makes you understand that the world needs the Neighborhood Bullys - keeping it real. Literally.

The origin of Glen Iris can be traced to the symbiotic relationship between poet and singer Debbie Miller and musician Steve Marr. Miller's carefully penned poems longed for music to inhabit and Marr's songs and melodies lacked lyrics to help them fly. When they met in 2007, they quickly discovered that their combined talents formed a cohesive whole. The duo worked up a pile of songs and played them at any venue that would have them - shaking out the lineup of accompanying players that would eventually become the six-piece band on their self-titled debut album. Glen Iris' sound is an enthusiastic take on modern pop that is replete with singalong melodies and inventive arranging.

LA native Jack Littman started off being inspired by classic rock stalwarts like Neil Young, Bob Marley and Roy Orbison. But Littman is also part of the new generation of artists who grew up with ever present hip-hop and alternative styles on the radio. Since looking back wasn't enough, Littman dumped all his influences, old and new, into a blender and set it on "high." The result is a pleasing mish mash of the state of music in 2011. His music uses David Gray's acoustic guitar-over-techno-beats pop as a jumping off point for a ride during which you have no idea where the song will turn next.

Singer and songwriter Nikki Lang is indeed young, but her comfortable and confident style shows more promise than many artists twice her age. Since penning her first song by the age of twelve, Lang has been on a tear - touring far beyond her hometown of Los Angeles, recording an EP called Feel Better and working with some heavy hitters in the industry. As she approaches her twenties, Lang is slated to open for Kool and the Gang, record a new EP, perform in front of thousands at Los Angeles' Free to Be festival and play a series of shows up the California coast.

Bobetsky loves independent music and he pulls no punches when talking about the changes in the music business. His dynamic company, Plaid Elephant, provides artists with a wide range of services: from consulting to music management, music supervision and music licensing. He has watched the industry change around him and kept abreast of the latest trends in how artists are using new channels to find their audience. Bobetksy has got a lot to say about how artists can successfully navigate the new model and get themselves heard.

Bodin got his start like a lot of kids did, woodshedding guitar in his bedroom for hours and playing in local bands. But Bodin had bigger plans. After a stint producing bands such as Kill Hannah and American Jet Set in Chicago, Bodin packed up and moved to Los Angeles with the goal of getting his music on the big screen - and he has succeeded. In addition to his acclaimed film and television scoring work, Bodin has continued to release independent instrumental albums; his most recent is The Radioactive Werewolf and other Tales from the Southwest.

Edwards is a Los Angeles-based songwriter, indie pop journeyman, performer, guitarist, vocalist, actor and consummate frontman who leads his eponymous Eugene Edwards Band. Eugene and his band espouse a Springsteen-esque work ethic combined with an Elvis Costello sensibility.

The new media environment is a tumultuous place. Many companies are holding on by diversifying - record labels aren’t just making records anymore. Morgan Margolis and Bruce Duff have eked out careers in a business that started out as a live music venue. Knitting Factory then branched out into the record business and artist management. How do they keep expanding their media universe when the rest of the industry is contracting? Tune in to Independent’s Day and see.

Nathan has the kind of experience in the music business that is at once rare and common. He hustled his way in working for a record label when he was only 15 years old and rode the wave of the heyday of rock & roll. Since his early start he has worked in A & R, promotions, artist management and for a major music electronics company. His dance card includes turns with Sire Records, Playboy's Beserkley imprint, RCA, IRS, Atco, Atlantic and Universal Music Group. In short, he has been around the block and has a wealth of knowledge to share. Listen up, folks, Marc will tell us the straight dope about a career in the music business.

Calexico is the seminal desert noir band. Their music is a melting pot where traditional Latin and southwestern elements of mariachi, conjunto, cumbia and Tejano styles peacefully and harmoniously coexist with alt-country, indie rock and a trace of jazz. Founded in 1996 by singer Joey Burns and drummer John Convertino at the University of California - Irvine when the pair met while Convertino was playing in the group Giant Sand, Calexico started as a side project and grew to its current six members and an identity all its own. John will join us from his home in Tuscon, Arizona and we'll talk about the process behind recording the soundtrack for Circo - a documentary about a century-old Mexican circus.

Sean Hoffman's brilliantly facile guitar work and Leyla Akdogan's hushed vocals form the nucleus of the duo Loch and Key. Their debut album, Jupiter's Guide for Submariners, is a love song to the artistically area just north of downtown Los Angeles. Their ethereal mix of bossa nova, folk and pop perfectly complements the band's beautifully endearing visual artwork.

Singer-songwriter Jay Souza and his quartet are journeymen on the LA music scene. They play a confident and catchy amalgam of folk, rock, country, blues and soul that is cohesive enough to make people think that it's really just one style - rock and roll. Their core sound flirts with both rock and country without making the other feel jealous. They tour nationally; have released several albums over their storied career and played over 1000 live shows… and counting. Souza and his band dropped by the ID studios to play tracks from there brand new album, Be Happy, just released on Knitting Factory Records.

Correatown is the brainchild of singer and writer Angela Correa. The band is an anomaly in the fertile scene centered in Los Angeles’ east side and Echo Park area. Rather than flirting with the traditional twangy folk and indie rock of the local bands, Correatown molds its complex sound out of washy guitars, pop-y synths and ethereal harmonies. The amalgam is catchy, creative and just a bit haunting. The band’s brand new EP, “Etch the Line” is being released today – both digitally and on vinyl at select Independent record stores.

Flournoy first made waves on the LA scene with The Brokedown - the band that eventually would become indie darlings The Broken West. The Broken West toured nationally and garnered critical praise and a loyal fan base. When the band folded in 2009, Flournoy cured a case of writer's block with a little help from NPR and then picked up where he'd left off and founded Apex Manor. Ross will join us live in the studio to perform live on-air and talk about musical reinvention.

Rick Shea is a journeyman guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, writer and singer who wields his Telecastser with a deft touch reminiscent of Mark Knopfler and the best of Bakersfield twangers. He grew up in San Bernardino, California, back when the town was an outpost at the very farthest reaches of Los Angeles’ empire. San Bernardino in 1978 was still home to honky-tonks and truck stops where country music found fertile ground. He cut his teeth playing folk music in coffeehouses and soon found work in the country music scene, sometimes playing 7 nights a week. Aside from his work with alt-country pioneer Dave Alvin and R.E.M., Shea has recorded several albums of his own songs and still actively plays around the southwest and beyond with his band, The Losin’ End. His newest record, “Shelter Valley Blues,” includes performances from members of Los Lobos.

Dafni is a singer/songwriter who centers her melting pot of folk, jazz, pop and other styles with her breezy vocals and several albums’ worth of accessible songs. She'’s a true professional with a work ethic that gets her scores of gigs while other musicians are still trying to decide which hat to wear to their shows. She’s a modern day renaissance woman who holds advanced degrees in psychology and chemistry and maintains a rigorous exercise regimen on top of her busy career in music. (Makes one wonder when she sleeps, if at all.) Her musical aspirations brought her from her sleepy hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to her new home in Los Angeles where she fronts a regular band and can be found playing throughout the city.

Ludwig is the bastard son of a Born To Run-era Bruce Springsteen and country rock pioneer Gram Parsons. In other words, his music is replete with roots rock earnestness in a time when wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve may not be in fashion. His confident melodies will get you singing along in no time and his able backup band, The Santa Fe Seven, will get your feet moving… or at least hoisting a lighter right before their encore. Maxim and The Santa Fe Seven have been tearing up Los Angeles in the last couple years and have just returned from a very buzz-y trip to SXSW this March where they opened up for Duran Duran.

Mason is a man of many talents. Aside from being an artist, musician and music producer, he made a name for himself by building a music scene centered around the Taix 321 Lounge, located within the Taix French Restaurant in Echo Park. Mason built this scene the only way an honest working guy from Chicago could… by building it from the ground up. As building blocks he used top-notch bands from the growing East Los Angeles area. He made unlikely bedfellows of artists playing rock, electronic, experimental, jazz, folk, Americana, country, rockabilly, garage, alternative, and indie rock genres. Until his departure in 2010, Taix was a place where a discerning music fan could waltz in, pay no cover, take a seat at the bar and catch a high quality, buzzworthy band nearly any night of the week.

Omar D. Brancato is a musical chameleon... he can be found writing, arranging and recording band and theme park arrangements in his studio, odibeestudios. You can find him onstage acting and playing bass simultaneously in the musical: Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. And if that isn't enough, you just might find him putting on a little make up and rocking out in grand style playing bass in techno-industrial rock band, Carbon 9.