Six-time San Diego Music Award nominee, Gayle Skidmore, is following up her latest full-length and coloring book combo Sleeping Bear (winner of the “Best Pop Album” in the 2014 San Diego Music Awards) with two new songs, live staples that have been requested by fans to be able to purchase: “Rag Doll” and “Barrel, Trigger, Gun.”

Recently, her song “Paper Box” was featured on HBO’s new show Looking.

Classically trained on the piano from the age of four, Skidmore started writing songs at age eight and, to date, has written more than two thousand songs. She also plays over twenty instruments including guitar, piano, the mountain dulcimer, banjo, folk harp, and balalaika. She also composes parts for her cellist and violinist. Furthermore, she does the artwork for her albums.

In 2014 her cover of “Lola” by The Kinks, a collaboration with Brandon O’Connell (of Singing Serpent), was placed on a national commercial. In addition, she has co-written ads for Facebook, Target, and many others.

Skidmore has opened for the likes of Jason Mraz, Lisa Loeb, Sean and Sara Watkins (of Nickel Creek), Sam Phillips, Grant-Lee Phillips, Coeur d’Pirate, and many others. She has recorded with such artists as The Softlightes, Bushwalla, Jason Mraz, and Tyrone Wells, and branched out into several genres including electronic swing, indie rock, and classical music.

[audio:Barrel Trigger Gun.mp3|titles=Barrel Trigger Gun|artists= Gayle Skidmore]
“Barrel, Trigger, Gun” by Gayle Skidmore

Tomorrow, February 3, 2015, Mishka Shubaly will release his third full-length album, Coward’s Path, a document of his wasted years. It is twelve tracks of drinking songs, snapshots from a life careening out of control. Somehow, it’s also funny.

He recorded the bare bones of the album on an 8-track reel-to-reel in an unheated, condemned squat in Long Island City in 2008, then sat on those basic tracks for years. Finally, Shubaly brought the 8-track recordings to his longtime friend and composer, engineer and producer Erik Nickerson. The result is a record that is less stripped-down rock n’ roll, like his previous releases, and more ensemble work, featuring accordion, upright bass, mellotron, vibes, weird percussion, maracas, bells, tape hiss, and even the sound of a passing airplane.

[audio:Pickup Lines.mp3|titles=Pickup Lines|artists=Mishka Shubaly]
“Pickup Lines” by Mishka Shubaly

Early in his sobriety, shabbily also began publishing his writing with Amazon. His biggest seller, “The Long Run,” a mini-memoir, sold more than 80,000 copies. For Amazon’s Kindle Singles line, Shubaly wrote an account of his redemption through running, as well as other episodes from a colorful life. His latest single is called Of Mice and Me and it captures the journey we all take in life — from being loved, to giving love.

Orchestral art rockers The Red Paintings are on tour in support of the release of their debut album The Revolution Is Never Coming.

Based in London and Los Angeles – and having been fortunate enough to already tour much of the globe – The Red Paintings are a five-piece group (guitar, violin, cello, bass and drums) whose sound evokes everything from child-like lullabies, to tearing, biting, alternative-rock numbers. They incorporate multimedia performance art wherever possible and seek submissions from local artists who paint the band’s live energy onstage in real time. With costumes, conceptual stage shows, live painting and human canvases their performance combines sound and visuals.

The debut album was 5 years in the making and features a 35-piece orchestra, 22-piece choir, harp players, French horn, Theremin and more across 13 tracks.

[audio:You’re Not One Of Them.mp3|titles=You’re Not One Of Them|artists=The Red Paintings]
“You’re Not One Of Them” by The Red Paintings