Dent May: (Los Angeles, CA)

“The craft of songwriting is 100% what I'm about,” says Dent May. “That's what keeps me going.

My goal is to just live a long life and write a ton of good songs.” With the Mississippi-raised, Los
Angeles-based musician and pop auteur what you see is what you get: a restless and prolific
artist who worships at the altar of a memorable hook and a sharp lyric. There is no gimmick or
press-ready narrative about May overcoming past trauma, mental breakdowns, or surpassing
insurmountable obstacles. This is simply a guy who is extraordinarily good at making warm and inviting tunes. He’s done it for over 15 years and isn’t stopping anytime soon.
The 38-year-old artist has made a career of impeccably crafted pop songs starting with his 2009 debut The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele, which came out onAnimal Collective’s label Paw Tracks. His follow-ups in 2012’s Do Things and 2013’s WarmBlanket solidified him as a bedroom pop pioneer whose songs felt equally timeless and ahead-of-the-curve. Following a move from Mississippi to Los Angeles, May signed with Carpark and released two increasingly adventurous albums in the psychedelic Across the Multiverse from2017 and the silky Late Checkout in 2020.

His latest LP is What’s For Breakfast?, his sixth album and third with Carpark, marks a shift from timeless pop to more guitar-driven rock. The 10-song collection is some of May’s most energetic and immediate tunes yet. It mirrors his relentlessly prolific streak, which includes platinum-certified singles with Eyedress and guest appearances with The Undercover Dream Lovers, BobJr., and Paul Cherry. Alongside two other artists, he operates and works out of the recording studio Honeymoon Suite in northeast Los Angeles.

Jimmy Whispers: (Los Angeles, NC)

A lot has changed for everyone over the 8 years since Jimmy Whispers released his debut LP, especially for Jimmy himself. In another lifetime, he was that sweet kid from Chicago who stole our hearts with his aw-shucks Midwestern attitude and his knack for writing catchy old-time melodies. Legendary critic JessicaHopper once called him the city’s “greatest new homegrown musical enigma,” and he turned a mixtape of iPhone voice memos (Summer in Pain) into a profound racket, that saw him perform at the Pitchfork Music Festival and earn praise from that outlet and places like Stereogum, Spin, Brooklyn Vegan, VICE, NME, and many others. If you caught a glimpse, it was exciting, but it was just a warm-up to his second act. As for today, Jimmy Whispers is alive and well inLos Angeles. He's still making music—quite a lot of it. He's got a blossoming new career as a music video director and filmmaker. He’s become a co-writerfor others including Drugdealer and Dent May. He’s got his sobriety, a new commitment to making life-affirming art, and a 1988 Buick Reatta. JimmyWhispers has returned with a new LP The Search For God out June 9th onCarpark Records. His first since his 2015 debut, the album was co-produced by Ziyad Asrar of the band Whitney, and returns to some jewel-box era teeninfluences out of step with the chill/lo-fi LA indie rock scene he’s found himself lumped in with.

Fancy Gap: (Raleigh, NC)

Fancy Gap emerges as the brainchild of Stuart McLamb (songwriter, producer with The Love Language, Merge Records) and Charles Crossingham (songwriter, producer). What began as a Love Language album under Charles’s production slowly morphed into its own entity, revealing an undeniable chemistry between the two. Nestled in the serene mountains of Fancy Gap, VA, their collaborative magic brewed within a remote cabin, birthing a sound that pays homage to ’90s radio rock icons like The Wallflowers, Oasis, Band of Horses, and Wilco, tinged with a dash of country hues.

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