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Artists Worth Checking Out indie music Reviews

Jesse Macht lays it all out on Hotel Cafe Second Stage

Several years ago our friend Laura G. Falls (Red Boot PR) turned us on to one of her clients, Jesse Macht.  At the time he had just released what became one of our favorite albums, Suitcase Heart, which we reviewed back in January 2015 on AXS.com.

Macht’s father is actor Stephen Macht, and his brother is Gabriel Macht, star of USA’s Suits.  Although he isn’t an actor, he has still made a presence in Hollywood with the placement of his music in a multitude of shows, including The Next Great American Band, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, LA Ink, The Voice, and much of Viacom’s programming.

Through his publicist, Macht became affiliated with Keaton Simons and his step-father, Eric Roberts.  As a result, Simons placed his song “When I Go” on the Suits season 5 episode “Faith,” while Roberts became a recurring character on the show.

Macht brought his “A” game to the intimate Second Stage at the renowned Hotel Café.  His band included Rob Humphreys on drums Kenneth Belcher on guitar, Jeff Liffmann on piano and Tyler Carroll on bass.

During the show, he played songs from his diverse catalog, including the title track to his latest album, I Was Born, which was become one of his most successful songs, and “Broken my Faith,” which is one of our favorite songs off Suitcase Heart.  Despite some technical difficulties mid-set, Macht and his band turned in a superlative set, culminating in one of the best covers we have ever heard of the Tina Turner classic, “What’s Love Got to do With It.”

All in all it was a wonderful night of great music and catching up with friends, as Roberts and his wife Eliza were among the audience members, as well as Alisha and Dan Kalisher of Sleep Machine, another Red Boot client.  We highly recommend going to his live performance if he ever makes it to where you live.

 

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Artists Worth Checking Out

Sleep Machine premieres music video for ‘Animal High’

Sleep Machine is an amazing rock band based in Los Angeles, featuring Alisha Zalkin on lead vocals, Dan Kalisher on guitar and Kiel Feher on drums.  If you’ve been following this writer’s posts, then you know that the band has been nominated for several LA Music Critic Awards, and won the award for Best Video (live) in 2015.

The band has been hard at work on their sophomore EP, Animal High, which is set to drop on September 20.  It is our pleasure today to help those efforts by premiering their new music video for the title track, which the band released yesterday, September 5.

According to their website, the band touts itself as a modern-day female-fronted Led Zeppelin.  Although many bands fall short of their hype, Sleep Machine is right on with their assessment.  Take a listen to their video, and we are sure you will agree.

Sleep Machine has already garnered an impressive list of placements from their debut EP, Cover me in Gold.  Those placements include Quantico, Finding Carter, Younger, and The Royals.   That trend continues with placement of two of their new songs in a recent episode of The Fosters.

Besides the TV placements, Sleep Machine has also been featured in Entertainment Weekly and was chosen by Myspace as the “Artist of the Day.”  Individually, they have each performed on global tours and on such stages as The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The View and the MTV Movie Awards, as well as at such famous Los Angeles venues as the Hotel Café and the Viper Room.

These guys are the real thing.  Check them out through their website and Facebook pages, follow them on Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.