Tamar Berk

Indie pop singer-songwriter Tamar Berk grew up playing piano and started writing songs on guitar as a teenager. Regarding her new album The Restless Dreams of Youth, she says, “I was an incredibly restless child. I was always dreaming and I could never sit still. I always wanted what others had, and had a deep emptiness that I couldn’t really understand. I thought when I grew up, those feelings would disappear, or at least change, and I could find some peace within myself. But now, I’m just as restless, and when I look back at my life and where I am now, I still feel a deep emptiness and struggle with accepting myself. The Restless Dreams of Youth turned into a sort of love letter to myself. It was a very emotional journey, and I realized that I’m still uneasy, and unsure, and I might never be at peace with myself, and that’s okay.” The album was preceded by singles for “Better Off Meditating” and “Cleveland.” A video for the latter track matches her own Super-8 home movies from childhood alongside images of her grown up and making a life for herself in San Diego.

Sonido De Le Frontera

Karlos Paez is best known as vocalist for Latin music project The B-Side Players. Luke Henshaw is the producer for First Power Crew and a member of Planet B and Satanic Planet. DJ Unite is a veteran DJ for Tribe of Kings Soundsystem as well as First Power Crew. The trio’s band Sonido De Le Frontera will digitally release their album Sonidero Guerrilleros on September 24 via Three One G Records on all platforms, along with a limited edition of 500 copies pressed on orange vinyl. The album is so far preceded by a single for “Somos Sonideros.” According to the band, “The sound system is at the heart of many genres of modern music. People gather to hear their favorite music over massive speakers, and dance for hours on end. At the center of these events is the DJ, raising the energy of the crowd by selecting the right tune at the right time. In Mexico, these DJs are hailed as sonideros...Sonido De La Frontera is a mixture of all the different sounds and culture found in the southernmost part of California, San Diego. It is cumbia music with a production approach similar to hip-hop and electronic music.”

Ryan Ellis

Gospel singer-songwriter Ryan Ellis spent five years in the U.S. Navy, including a tour of Afghanistan, before becoming a founding member of the Jabbawockeez hip-hop dance crew. Going solo, he self-released a pair of EPs, Live From the Upper Room II and Kingdom Glory, and followed up in 2019 with dual albums, one called Lyfe and the other named Rysponse. The singer recently signed to the Provident Label Group/Sony Music label, which released his single “Heart of the Father,” accompanied by a lyric video. Footage in the video includes Ellis wandering while playing his guitar around local beaches and boardwalks, intercut with shots of a lone skateboarder as seen from a variety of ever-shifting angles, including a long overhead crane shot. “This song was written in a season where I was really discovering the grace of God and His kindness, patience, and mercy,” says Ellis. “I was a worship pastor living in a city called Isla Vista, California. The goal behind our ministry was to show the people in the party city that it doesn’t matter where you are or what stage of life you’re in, there’s always going to be the grace and love of God waiting for you.” An acoustic song session with Essential Worship is streaming online.

Daring Greatly

Describing their sound as blood harmony rock, family band Daring Greatly relocated from Calgary, AB Canada to San Diego in August 2015. The group is fronted by Dail Croome and his two sons, Patrick and Liam, who were brought up on stage with their father when they were five and three years old respectively. The trio has been singing and playing music together ever since. A five-song EP titled My Ecstasy was released at the end of 2014, followed by an 11-song full-length in July 2015. After signing with an L.A.-based booking and PR agent, they played their farewell show in Canada and relocated to San Diego. They have a new single called “Leaving” featuring Aaron Young. Says the band, “We follow up our Give Myself to the World EP release with this brand new song that we recorded and produced with our friend and music mentor, Aaron Young, in Calgary in December 2020. The lyrics frame the feelings of love and heartbreak while honoring the trials and tribulations of a romantic relationship between two artistic souls who have committed their lives to create.”

Flogging Molly

Celtic punk band Flogging Molly got its start playing Irish music in bars and pubs, recruiting increasingly more members until being signed to SideOneDummy Records after record company owners attended a concert and noted their intensity. While the band works on their Rise Records follow-up to their last full-length, 2017’s Life Is Good, they’ve reissued their classic 1999 album Swagger with exclusive tracks, an Irish traditional set, a 60-minute video feature, and exclusive merch in a collectable box set. Coming up, they’ll join the Violent Femmes (celebrating their 40th anniversary this year) for a fall co-headline tour that kicks off September 3 in Maryland Heights, MO. Flogging Molly will also headline the 6th Salty Dog Cruise, setting sail March 28 through April 1, 2022 with friends Descendents, the Distillers, Frank Turner (Duo), Me First & the Gimme Gimmes, Broilers, Möngöl Hörde, Authority Zero, Dave Hause & the Mermaid, Thick, The Cherry Coke$, Punk Rock Karaoke, Guise, and more to be announced. They’ll perform at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, TN on September 5.