Sonnymoon

(...) First is Sonnymoon’s “Blast Off”, which kicks off the sampler, and takes you onto a hip-hop-laced journey into space while the other boasts an inspirational, soulful cut from none other than Big K.R.I.T. called “My Interpretation”. You can stream the tracks below and download them after the jump, where you can also find the track list. The full Summer Sampler drops next Tuesday, Aug. 24 (...) - http://potholesinmyblog.com

This past summer a friend of mine IMed me with a few of his favorite tracks of the moment. Some were great, others forgettable at best. But then he introduced me to a group I’m still kicking myself for not knowing about sooner. “Here, this one I know you’ll really dig” he said, while sending a file transfer curiously titled “Sonnymoon”.

Turns out, Sonnymoon (comprised of vocalist Anna Wise, and Dane Orr on beats) has a sound just as intriguing as their stage-name. They first created buzz for themselves after covering Drake’s “Houstatlantavegas”, crafting a laid-back minimalist version that had bloggers talking for months. But while this track prompted several folks to label Sonnymoon as an R&B duo, that ill-fitting box simply doesn’t fit their experimental art.

Anna’s voice, which somehow manages to be both delicate and haunting all at once, floats over laptop beats handcrafted by her Sonnymoon counterpart. Indeed, with Dane’s psychedelic cosmic spin, together they form harmonic balance –male/female, computer/human, earthly/ spatial, light/dark, hard/soft, yin/yang – making their moniker a perfect match for the pair.

With their innate chemistry and inspired sound, it’s hard to believe Anna and Dane have only known each other for a couple of years. It’s even harder to believe that they’re still undergrads in college. Dane, age 22, and Anna, 23, are both in their last year at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston and recently announced they’ve already signed to Los Angeles- based Plug Research Records, now joining the ranks of other notable artists including Grammy-nominated Bilal Oliver, who the duo collaborated with on the Levels EP.

Their first Plug Research release, the infectious “Blastoff”, has us anxiously waiting to hear more from these two. If they continue to explore their fullest potential, they could very well find themselves launched into the exosphere of stardom.

The Well Versed: Can you each talk about your musical backgrounds –how you first became interested in music?

Dane: My folks were always playing me Bob Marley and Stevie Wonder…they always made sure I knew about artists I should know about. So I have a lot to thank them for. I owe a lot to them for that. Then in 4th grade they made me take up an instrument—which I initially hated. I played saxophone. But [my interest in music] became a gradual thing for me…next thing I knew I had been playing for years and I realized ‘this is what I want to do’.

Anna: For me it was really early as well, I grew up singing in church when I was four or five. I’ve always had a natural love for singing. I played saxophone when I was young too. I played until high school. But I always knew from very early on I wanted to sing. I did other things too – sports and stuff like that. But it all eventually walked off to the side and singing was always still there.

TWV: So you guys met at Berklee, right?

Dane: Yea, we’re from opposite sides of the country—Berklee definitely hooked it up [laughs] I’m from Schenectady, New York

Anna: And I’m from San Francisco

Dane: We met on Halloween of 2008, the first semester we were there. We sort of ran with the same group of people. Then second semester we ended up both separately moving in with this guy who was looking for roommates—

Anna: Because no one else would move in with him! [laughs] Dane and I spent the first few nights as roommates just listening to music together and we discovered that we liked a lot of the same things and it evolved from there.

TWV: So how did the name Sonnymoon come about?

Anna: Dane came up with it

Dane: Yea, I remember we actually talked a lot about how we wanted the band to be….even before we started making all that much music we had a concept about the group, which was cool. Since we both had a jazz background we both wanted to pay homage to that. I was listening to a lot of Sonny Rollins around that time, and there’s this tune “Sonnymoon for Two”…and we knew we really wanted only just the two of us in the group because we could be a lot for productive that way. But the name also lends itself to the yin and yang feel which we really like

Anna: Constantly striving for balance…

TWV: Word. So how would you describe your sound?

Dane: We like to use the term ‘experimental’. We’ve studied classical and jazz, and with everything we do we like to experiment. There’s also a beat-heavy Hip Hop element. It’s a unique route.

Anna: We can even be pop sometimes – I’m a huge fan of pop music and you can hear that in some of the melodies we write together. But then with that we’ll add glitches to the beat and you can listen to different things that are going on beneath the surface. We feel like it’s accessible but we still take it further

TWV: Speaking of taking it further out there…you both seem to be very inspired by the cosmos…

Anna: The unknown!

Dane: Definitely…

Anna: We are so small comparatively to everything out there.

Dane: There’s a definite peace about the universe…it’s a very peaceful place but it’s scary and unknown. And there’s been a lot of things we’ve learned about recently that have been inspiring to us like M-theory

Anna: Or the Large Hadron Collider…

Dane: Yea, all these things about alternate dimensions and other universes.

Anna: It almost sounds like science fiction is becoming reality. We stare at the stars and we look up and dream about what could be out there…and now we’re finally starting to understand.

Dane: We have so much to learn about the universe still though – so that’s very inspirational

TWV: How else do you like to keep yourselves inspired?

Dane: You can take the littlest thing and be inspired by it – learning about new things everyday. It goes back to the thing about the cosmos. You don’t know what any day is going to bring to you. Something totally different might come out of us any day.

Anna: I can sit and watch an episode of Mad Men and start writing lyrics based on that. Plus we have such eccentric and artistic friends that are creating their own art – and that’s inspiring too. But also having alone time is important for me. Without my cellphone or technology. You can choose to live you life occupied by different mediums like cell phones or TV or even friends…or you can allow yourself quiet time to have thoughts come to you.

TWV: You recently signed with Plug Research Records, how did that come about?

Anna: We have to give a huge, huge thanks to Anthony Valadez at KCRW in Los Angeles. We released our first album, Golden Age, on December 25th 2009. Anthony played our music on his show on New Years Eve that year and he was so excited about us. We went to go meet with him in L.A and he introduced us to Plug Records—which we knew nothing about at that time—but he introduced us and got us talking.

TWV: Nice. So what can we expect from the first album you release on Plug?

Dane: Bigger and better of what you’ve heard. We’re still learning, and I’ve worked so, so much on my music since Golden Age. I think people can expect some weirder stuff.

TWV: You’re both young, talented, and already signed with a really great record label – does any of this make you want to say “Fuck College; I’m dropping out”?

Anna: [laughs] Yea, for me it does! It really does. But I have an obligation to my parents. I have one year left; I’m so close. I’m just pushing through it. But I appreciate school enough to know it’s important to finish.

Dana: I, on the other hand, am loving school right now. I don’t want to quit at all…so that goes back to the whole yin and yang thing I guess [laughs]. But Dru [Plug Research A&R Dru Lojero] has been really supportive of us finishing school too. Plug has been really supportive of that so that’s been cool. They just want us to take this slow and do it the right way… so we’re down with that.

Anna: And if I quit school and went back later the college experience would be different.

Dane: Plus school keeps us grounded so that’s good.

TWV: How has it been being at Berklee and already signed? Are the other students supportive or is there jealousy in the air?

Dane: So far everyone’s been incredibly supportive. No jealousy that we know of…at least not that anyone’s had the balls to show to our faces [laughs].

TWV: So what’s the next step for the two of you?

Anna: We just want to expand our sound and ourselves– We think of music as going into ether, but not the same ether that we originally thought was out there…because we have learned about theories of the cosmos and other things going on in science which changed (and continues to change) our original perception of things. This relates to how our musical perceptions and our musical paradigms change.

Dane: We want to be perceived as artists, but also as young explorers. We feel compelled to investigate new concepts and theories in lots of different studies, so we have a sense of what other young (and old) explorers are discovering.

People in the middle ages who were studying to be master craftsmen would be apprentices as youngsters…that was our jazz/classical/scholastic phase… The next stage before becoming a master was being a Journeyman. The Journeymen all lived together and would get rowdy and crazy and party. That’s where we are now, in college [laughs]. Finally, when the Journeyman was ready, he would finish his “Masterpiece” and become a master of his trade, opening up shop somewhere. Our coming out into the music business was “Golden Age,” but we don’t feel like we are masters yet. We don’t want to lose the excitement of not knowing, of being surprised at something we come up with, and learning new things.

To keep up with Sonnymoon’s imminent launch, visit Plug Research Music. Also, be sure to friend Sonnymoon on Facebook.
- http://thewellversed.com

What's so good?
Dane Orr and Anna Wise are Sonnymoon, a pair of intergalactic musicians based out of Boston. Both grew up with music, Dane on the saxophone and Anna singing, which led them to the prestigious Berklee College of Music. That’s where they met and soon began to experiment with Anna’s dreamy jazz-inspired vocals over Dane’s nascent electronic compositions. They released Golden Age for free in December 2009 and soon found their music proliferated over various music blogs and even in the playlists of influential radio stations like L.A.’s KCRW.

Having been compared to a chemistry experiment gone awry, their music combines a collage of influences to create something starkly original. The music has a spirited flare of originality while joining the likes of Little Dragon, Flying Lotus, and other modern progressive artists.

Do yourself a favor and take a trip to Sonnymoon before it gets too crowded. - http://www.indieshuffle.com/

I am sitting posting, and at first I was just listening to music on youtube, but then I decided to plug in my external hd with all of my music (which is tripping out for some odd reason) and as my files popped up I thought about the time I was on my Sonnymoon Kick. It lasted for a month, lol… literally! I played their album a month straight. Wel, alot of you may know about this duo, but alot of you don’t , so I wanted to BIG up them, and say check them out , because they are pure freshness! check out the houstalantavegas track below! Fresh! - http://imfresherthanyou.com/

Anna Wise and Dane Orr of Sonnymoon met as students at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. After they moved in together along with another friend, Dane began making beats and soundscapes on his laptop to accompany Anna’s powerful voice, and from there, the pair began to find their own novel sound.

The duo independently released their LP Golden Age for free on December 25th of last year, and after being played on L.A. radio station KCRW multiple times, a indie record label called Plug Research (Flying Lotus, Daedelus) signed Sonnymooon. They also performed at 2010's SXSW, Berklee’s “Grammy’s” a.k.a. Rock of Fame event, and have also played at shows and festivals with artists such as Ok Go, PVT, Free Energy, and Gobble Gobble.
There are so many minor elements in each Sonnymoon track that it’s difficult to classify them as one specific genre. They are often times placed in the electronic and experimental genres of music, sometimes trip-hop, and other times synthpop. Just the first couple verses in the album’s first track “Run Away” indicate Sonnymoon’s musical diversity – sporadic beats, tambourines, chiptune sounds, looped vocals, and galactic flares – and that’s only in terms of the music. Anna’s incredible voice ties the pop vocals of Ingrid Michaelson + an amorous twist, the lower, soulful vocals of Morcheeba, Björk’s avant-garde quirkiness, and the reverberating high pitches characteristic of M.I.A. Essentially, a lot of Sonnymoon’s music is a soundscape of arbitrary noises mixed together in a way that creates something highly original.
Considering their popularity on many music blogs and the abundant response to their debut album, hopefully Sonnymoon will release their sophomore album soon. - http://earlyjouvertmorning.com/

Sonnymoon is an electronic duo based out of Boston who recently signed to Plug Research, the Los Angeles label responsible for the latest releases by Bilal and Quadron. They self-released their debut album, Golden Age on Christmas last year, way after I made my year-end list, which pretty much ensures that they'll make it this year. The album is excellent all around but "Soular" for me is one of the standouts. It's a subdued but rubbery track that showcases the group's more playful side amidst an album that's heavy on atmospheric, experimental hip hop sounds mixed with hazy melodies. "Soular" is more immediate but no less enjoyable. It also serves as a proper introduction to how Sonnymoon perceive themselves, which is as artists who specialize in making music meant for another solar system. Listening to this track, it certainly feels like it could have come from outer space, or at least something Esthero would have created after landing on Mars.
- Hectic But Eclectic

Always absorbing so we can create,” seems to be the motto of the free-spirited group, Sonnymoon. Anna Wise (vocals) and Dane Orr (producer) bridge the gap from Northern California and New York to fuse eclectic sounds in Boston, Massachuttes. Boston is known for its die-hard baseball fans, late boy groups like New Edition and New Kids On The Block, but Sonnymoon are about to bring a new wave of energy to the state...
The Wrap Up: How did Sonnymoon come about?

Dane Orr: We moved into together because we knew a mutual friend who was looking for a roommate, so we didn’t know each other before that. That was a year ago, and then we started making music immediately after that.

TWU: Coming from London, what do I need to know about Boston?

Dane Orr: Make sure you watch out for the bums, don’t tick off Red Sox fans and check out Wally’s. It’s the oldest jazz club, but pretty much everyone from Berklee plays there.

TWU: As you said, Boston is well known for having die-hard Red Sox baseball fans, but describe the music scene there?

Dane Orr: It’s really jam band heavy. There are a few music schools, so the average level of musicianship is incredibly high. Making everybody a super harsh critic.

Anna Wise: But we’ve had a lot of fun playing at house parties, seeing as it’s a huge college town. That seems to the best scene that we’ve encountered in Boston.

TWU: With so many things to do in the world, what made you want to form a group and do music?

Anna Wise: When I sing, it’s like the best feeling. With everything I do, I guess I’m a pleasure seeker. I feel the most excited and happy when I’m being creative and music was the answer. When I started songwriting, there was never a question that I wasn’t going to be singing.

Dane Orr: My parents were always not necessarily musicians but always big fans of music. They were the ‘cool’ parents who were showing me and my friends’ new and old music. They made sure I knew Stevie Wonder. I started playing the saxophone in 4th grade and it just started from there. If you have a plan B that’s cool, but you’re allowing yourself the option of failure. I think it’s better to have a plan A, and go with it 100%.

TWU: Your mixtape, ‘Golden Age’, was presented as a gift on Christmas Day of 2009 and you also covered a song by Drake and made it your own. Tell us about that…

Anna Wise: It was our first project together, we just wanted to have a group of songs to give to people to show them who we were. We wanted to get gigs around Boston. It was something we did that we knew we had to do. Yes, we covered Drake’s song, ‘HoustaLantaVegas’. A lot of that comes from just being around and jamming. We have a cool apartment and we were just standing around messing around with music. More on the site ... - MTV.UK / THE WRAP UP / CULTURE SHOCK

It’s been a year since we’ve dropped our last Podcast series, which in our opinion is way too long. So we decided that it is time to bring the hotness back and there was no better way to do so then to have our 27th edition curated by none other than Sonnymoon

For those of you who’ve been out of the ‘indie know’ for the last six months, Boston based duo Sonnymoon has been making thunderous noise since independently dropping their debut album, Golden Age . Their sound is intergalactic and their LP consists of one explosive track after another. Now, it is time for us the fans, to hear some of the music that has influenced them.

Please listen, download and share this excellent listening experience featuring some of today and yesterday’s most influential artists. And be sure to look out for more upcoming podcasts, hosted by the Couch Sessions crew as well as a few other surprise guests hear and there.

Download Sonnymoon’s EP Golden Age: http://sonnymoon.bandcamp.com
Myspace.com/SonnyMoonMusic
Twitter.com/SonnyMoonMusic - The Couch Sessions

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine sent me a download for a band called Sonnymoon. Not knowing anything about them but the connection of my friend, I took the free download. Golden Age is the debut record for Boston’s Sonnymoon. As trained jazz musicians from the Berklee School of Music, Dane Orr and Anna Wise have created something completely perfect. This duo uses a production sampler and Anna’s voice to loop the samples and her harmonies on the ten tracks. The farther DIY music production goes, the more projects like Sonnymoon seem to bloom. Download Sonnymoon, tell your friends and go check them out in Albany on Saturday at the Midtown Tap and Tea Room.
Dane and Anna gave me a few minutes last week from their trip to Los Angeles to talk about the band.
Ashley Saupp: Where did your band name come from?
Dane Orr: Both of us come from a Jazz background. There’s this standard tune by Sonny Rollins titled “Sonnymoon for Two.” Since the band is just the two of us, Sonnymoon seemed fitting. However there’s also the sense of balance in the name, even though it’s spelled incorrectly, there’s the whole Sun and Moon thing, and we’re opposites in a lot of ways so the name is very true to ourselves.
A.S: Are you interested in getting signed?
D.O: Of course we’re interested, but we don’t want to rush into anything. We can and will make music together regardless of whether or not we’re signed.
A.S: I read that the two of you are from opposite ends of the country, how did you guys link up for this project?
D.O: We both are students at Berklee College Of Music. Almost a year ago exactly we moved in together with a common friend and started making music.
A.S: Your album is floating around as a free download all over the web. Was that the plan?
D.O: We originally planned on releasing it for free, so we’re quite happy about it actually. We want as many people to hear our music as possible.
A.S: I have noticed the recent praise for your cover Drake’s song “Houseatlantavegas” on the record. Whose idea was it to cover this?
D.O: That was my idea originally, we sort of did it for fun because were big Drake fans, but it’s definitely helped lead a lot of people to our music, which we’re thankful for.
A.S: Dane, what was your favorite song to assemble beats for?
D.O: Probably “Run Away”, I remember having an “Aha!” moment while making that, which was a door opening for how I thought we should sound.
A.S: Anna, what was your favorite song to add vocals to?
Anna Wise: “Nursery Boys”, definitely. The intro vocals are verbatim what Dane and I sang together over the beat the first time he showed it to me, so there is an element of improvisation to what you are hearing me sing on the recording.
A.S: Lastly, what are you guys listening to?
D.O: Listening to lots of Little Dragon, Lil’ Wayne, Toro Y Moi, Flying Lotus, J*Davey, and Animal Collective.
The record went up for download at the end of December and I encourage everyone to give it a listen!
http://www.mediafire.com/?nnjdmfnjxlw
For fans of Santogold, Animal Collective and DNTEL - http://www.adequacy.net/