As a Milwaukee-based music website, it is our obligation to not only bring Milwaukee to the world, but bring the world to Milwaukee, as well. Five To Watch submissions are handled exclusively through ReverbNation. Click here to submit music to be one of our Five To Watch Presented by JBL Professional.
The summer is still red hot, and so are this month’s featured artists in Breaking And Entering’s Five To Watch Presented by JBL Professional! Every month, we have the difficult task of sifting through thousands of music submissions via Reverbnation to find our five favorites, and this month’s submissions were just as tough to go through. Here are five acts that you should know for the upcoming month:
Years Before (Cleveland, OH)
There’s something about well-crafted pop punk and summer that just go together, and Cleveland band Years Before are the epitome of that combination. In just over a year of being a band, the quartet have an EP out, and are already putting the finishing touches on a second release. The band have a solid sound that kind of feels like some weird combination of NOFX and All Time Low, and a knack for catchy choruses and layers that are timeless elements within the realm of pop punk. Check out their track, “Live Forever”, below:
Delo Reed (Bronx, NY)
Authentic hip hop lives and breathes in the Bronx, and Delo Reed embodies that in his tracks. Originally from the Dominican Republic, Delo finds a way to draw influence from both his home country and NYC, creating a flow that meshes well with his beat selection. A little bit of boom bap injected with a dose of modern swagger makes up the emcee’s sound, keeping his flow far from anything resembling stagnant. Check out his track “Fever” featuring Juanito Jones below:
Markis Tillman (Zebulon, NC)
When you think of hip hop in the south, harmony isn’t necessarily the first thing that you think of, but up and coming artist Markis Tillman makes an exception to that style with his sound. Drawing influence from mainstream hip hop, there’s a melodic flow from Tillman, who can hold his own vocally when asked to. That being said, though, he can also rap, with a natural sounding flow and cadence on his bars. There’s a lot of mainstream-friendly elements to Markis Tillman’s style, and you can hear that on tracks like “Loosed Screws”, which you can check out here:
Ali Henderson (Gaffney, SC)
You can almost hear the college and independent radio stations buzz with anticipation in the background during the opening notes of Ali Henderson’s song, “Homebodies”. The South Carolina native has been singing since the age of five, and made waves as a contestant on season 13 of American Idol. She impressed the judges, most notably Jennifer Lopez, during her run on the show, and now she’s looking to parlay that notoriety into a solo career. Ali writes the kind of songs that you want to hear over and over again, and you’ll see why when you check out “Homebodies” below:
Low Bodies (Seattle, WA)
With a touch of pop influence, and a hint of indie rock energy, and a whole lot of catchy, melodic songwriting, Low Bodies have a great amount of potential in their sound. With songs like “Missin You” which has a ton of variety in its individual sections, the band could very likely land on adult contemporary radio with just one hit track. Comparisons to acts like Maroon 5 and Matchbox Twenty come to mind, but in a way that is still unique to Low Bodies. When you think summer, and live music, songs like this come to mind. Get your first listen with “Missin You” below: