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Pleaser Magazine •

Grace Gardner’s Back in New York City, But This Time In Brooklyn

The alternative music scene necessitates watching artists perform more than once. The venues these artists frequent are often passed off from one night to the next, so many musicians share stages with their peers, and sometimes back-to-back. Saturday, May 31, was my second time watching Grace Gardner perform. This time I saw them at the Sultan Room, the night after I watched Jillian Dawn sing on Sultan’s rooftop.The Sultan specializes in creating a warm, close-knit community for its shows. The s...
Pleaser Magazine •

It’s a Jillian Dawn Summer

In an interview with Pleaser before the show, Dawn said she’s already released three singles so far in 2025: “Almost Like” in March, “Like My Friends Do,” in April and “The Bullet” in May. Before its release, I had the opportunity to listen to "Like My Friends Do" during Dawn's December Baby's All Right show in Brooklyn. When performed at Baby’s, Dawn played an acoustic version of the track, highlighting its introspective and vulnerable nature. The lyrics discuss the ease in which friends cut of...
Pleaser Magazine •

Glenna Jane Was Born To Be A Singer, She Just Didn’t Realize It

When you have a passion, nothing can stop you from chasing your dreams. Your relentlessness is driven by your desire to make it in an industry that sometimes seems to be against you. Your failures are nothing if not fuel, driving you to work harder, think bigger and do anything and everything to show them who you really are. In my life, that would be my pursuit of journalism. I’ve fallen down about 100 times, but I’ve stood up again 101. For Glenna Jane, music is her passion, and she continues t...
Pleaser Magazine •

The Ever-Winding Road of Finding Yourself, with Catie Turner

The path to self discovery is non-linear. It has twists and turns, regressions and advances, and highs and lows. It's work, it takes time, and it looks different from person to person. Catie Turner, the Los Angeles-based indie pop artist, knows firsthand what it takes to find yourself, and she’s not done yet. In an interview with Pleaser, Turner said her music is conversational, like a friend sitting down on your bed to divulge a crush or existential thoughts. She used her hit song “God Must Hat...
Pleaser Magazine •

Don’t Even Think About Asking Zoe Ko Her Relationship Status

Have you ever felt the feminine urge to completely separate yourself from men in the pursuit of genuine freedom? Zoe Ko has, and she even wrote a song about it. “Not ur girlfriend” is the title track for Ko’s sophomore EP, released on March 21. She told Pleaser Magazine that this track transcends the EP release and more wholly represents her current phase in music.“I like that I’m talking about not being attached to anyone, focusing on my own life. I enjoy the feminine perspective, the feminine...
Pleaser Magazine •

Grace Gardner Knows No Bounds

This tour, titled the “After Knowing Tour,” was accompanied by Gardner’s recently dropped EP, After Knowing. The seven-song record was released on December 27, with the four-show tour announced soon after. Gardner explained on stage that guitar player Lonnie Davis played a big hand in the release of the EP, and not only by co-producing, mixing and mastering it. Gardner said Davis filled an emotionally supportive role after the two met at a party during Gardner's first visit to Philly. An Instagr...
Pleaser Magazine •

For Hometown Heroes, This is Juniper

Finding a tangential connection with budding musicians is one of my secret obsessions. Whether it be a neighbor, distant cousin or a friend of a friend’s friend, if there’s a musician in my social web, I will be interviewing them for Pleaser Magazine. This time, I spoke with Juniper, an indie-rock band whose lead singer and guitar player Scott Johnson graduated from Wellesley High School in 2017, the year before I did. Dummer Alejandro Marin is from the neighboring town of Brookline and guitar p...
Pleaser Magazine •

The Band Next Door: Your Neighbors

Flash forward to this October 25, Your Neighbors released their indie-pop single “DOGMA.” An introspective track that follows the results of Robsinson’s religious upbringing, “DOGMA” highlights his existential dilemma with religion. He explained in a recent interview with Pleaser that the lyrics describe moving away from religion as a result of prayers seemingly falling on deaf ears. “There's a bit of ego depicted in the bridge where the person feels like they’re ‘owed’ a miracle because of how...
Pleaser Magazine •

No One Has More Fun Than Hinds

Carlotta Cosials and Ana Perrote, the minds behind Hinds, were so elated to be on stage that their energy was palpable. The two said that Hinds made their debut about 10 years ago, and their journey has not exactly been scoff-free. The duo was initially a four-piece, but their bassist and drummer devastatingly decided to leave the band in 2020 after the release of their third album, The Prettiest Curse. The group had also recently split with their management team, lost touring revenue due to loc...
Pleaser Magazine •

Briston Maroney Brings Us His Newest Banger: “Monday”

If anyone can intertwine meaningful, compelling lyrics with a groovy beat, it's Briston Maroney. We saw it on “Ultrapure”, Maroney’s sophomore album released in 2023, with tracks like “Chaos Party” and “Body.” Both songs open with a sturdy melody, “Chaos Party” is guitar-driven and rock-centric, while “Body” leads with a synthesized piano that repeats its scale intermittently throughout the track. Even though the songs are energetic in sound, the lyrics in each are introspective and meaningful,...
Radio Free Brooklyn •

Jillian Dawn, 25 singer/songwriter on a journey to her dream

If you wander into any bar in New York City with a backroom-turned-stage on any given night, you’re almost guaranteed to find pure, unrestricted talent. The city is brimming with young hopefuls looking to perform in front of what many consider one of the most challenging audiences to win over. However, I’ve found that most of the crowds in these small, dimly-lit rooms are warm and vibrant. Most of us bask in the presence of an undiscovered artist, so we quickly bond over our passion for attendin...
Pleaser Magazine •

Let’s Talk Change: Valley Discusses Their New Album and The Work it Took to Bring It To Life

One of the only things inevitably true about our lives is that, despite our best efforts, everything will change. The world today is dependent on constant motion, to new cities, to different jobs, leaving behind what you know and moving on. Whether you’re the one left to ponder or the one expanding their horizons, coming to terms with changes takes time to process. Valley, a Toronto-based alternative pop band, explores the complicated emotions that come with change and much more on their new rec...
Radio Free Brooklyn •

A Night at the Bandshell with LA LOM & Thee Sacred Souls at BRIC! Celebrate Brooklyn

The Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park was vibrating on a Tuesday night, sending gentle guitar sounds and spirited melodies into pink skies. Having to go to work the next morning did not deter the crowd, nor my friend Sam and I, from a free concert by LA LOM and Thee Sacred Souls, two West Coast bands that delivered soul-infused beats all night long. 

One of my mottos is, “If it’s free, it’s for me,” so the opportunity of a concert that did not require an entrance fee was my draw to the ba...
Pleaser Magazine •

Heartbreak House: The New Genre For Those Who Want To Dance the Pain Away

I’m not sure why, but I’ve always gravitated to slow, emotive music. As a sad girl at heart, something about the vulnerability and sensitive nature of the lyrics made them more relatable to me. I’ve always had big feelings, and hearing them reflected by my favorite musicians is always a cathartic experience that can take place any time, anywhere. As fate would have it, I had the pleasure of chatting with Noah Henderson, a singer/songwriter from Sacramento, California who also appreciates a nosta...
Pleaser Magazine •

Vote for Rebounder: The New York City Rock Band That’s Soon to Be Your Newest Favorite

“Sunset Vision,” the latest release from the band, has a nostalgic, summer sound that's easy and sweet. Described by Chenfeld as, “a fun combination of surf rock and ‘90s hip hop,” “Sunset Vision” opens to slow, melodic guitar plucks matched with high energy “oh-oh-ohs.” The combination of the two solidifies the beach-rock sound that carries throughout. The first verse sets up someone seeking a fresh start, but disappointed to find that escaping a physical setting or your appearance can’t improv...
Pleaser Magazine •

The Tale of Two High School Besties Who Ended Up In Utah; Kilby Block Party Review Edition

My best friend from high school, Evelyn, and I bonded over our love of music. Instead of talking about our anatomy and physiology homework senior year, we were talking about The Vamps, Louis the Child, or Niall Horan’s new solo career (which was new in 2017, by the way. Do we not remember the rage that was Flicker? “Slow Hands”? “This Town”?). When we found the fourth iteration of the Kilby Block Party lineup through a random Instagram ad in February of 2023, featuring favorites like Dominic Fik
Radio Free Brooklyn •

Comfort Club - Distance, Defeat, and The Fear of Moving On

Have you been through a breakup that left you feeling shattered and alone? Are you pondering what it means to grow through your twenties and find purpose? Well, so is Colin Tracey, better known as Comfort Club. His debut album, The Fear of Moving On, explores the feelings of those of us who love too hard, struggle to let go, and are afraid to be alone.

In an interview with Radio Free Brooklyn, Tracey said the album is a creative project that allowed him to cope with the complicated emotions of

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