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This week we’re throwing the spotlight onto KCRW’s 2024 Young Creators Project finalists. Catch ‘em all for a very special (i.e. totally FREE + ALL AGES) episode of School Night at Bardot on Monday, April 8.
Slideshow – “By The Way”
Greater LA (plus San Gabriel Valley!) band Slideshow arrives as a reminder that the future belongs to Olivia Rodrigo… The rest of us are just lucky to be here for the kiss-off anthems written in her honor. While none of Slideshow's members — Ava James, 12 (vocals/keys/guitar), Layne Brisbois, 13 (vocals/guitar), Mila Tambaoan, 14 (vocals/bass), and Lockett Pentz, 13 (drums) — site Rodrigo as a direct influence, her self-aware pop-punk cadence can be felt all over their song "By The Way.
Veritus Miller – “Days With You Are Beautiful”
The past decade or so has cemented Los Angeles as a world capital of contemporary jazz — thriving and forever pushing boundaries. Artists like Jameal Dean, Sharada Shashidhar, Terrace Martin, Thundercat, Kamasi Washington are just a few of the relatively young musicians that keep LA forward-facing. Veritus Miller could be next to join their ranks. The 19-year-old pianist, percussionist, and composer’s debut “Days With You Are Beautiful” is a frenetic yet tightly paced epic. If this is where we begin, just imagine the sensory adventures that lie ahead.
Great Big Cow – “Carbondale”
Great Big Cow are an indie folk band hailing from a part of Los Angeles that knows a thing or two about that particular genre — Laurel Canyon. From Jackson Browne to Father John Misty, generations of troubadours have made their plaintive melodies echo from the hallowed ravine. Great Big Cow’s “Carbondale” easily settles into this lineage with its sympathetic chords and yearning vocals from one of the group’s rotating singers, 18 year-old Wyatt Nash. The rest of the band members — Finn Darby, 18 (bass, vocal harmonies) Paolo Pesce, 19 (drums, additional vocals), and Will Angarola, 19 (guitar, additional vocals) — each play a significant role in giving “Carbondale” the degree of heft that makes it a radio ready gem.
The Lemonfrogs – “Naive”
San Fernando Valley ensemble The Lemonfrogs are among the latest to turn heartbreak into a sonic soft place to land. On “Naive,” singer-songwriter Sienna Kochakji (15) strums a gentle yet insistent waltz on her yellow Fender Stratocaster while Rina Berardinelli (15) keeps the steady drum beat, Bix Keith (15) holds it down on bass, and Sarah Vattano plays additional guitar and contributes perfectly complementary vocal harmonies. It’s an absolute dream of an indie-pop-comfort song so don’t be surprised if you find yourself humming along to it on repeat.
Kaiden Surti – “We Beat Together”
Yorba Linda’s Kaiden Surti gravitated toward instrumentation at age five. The now 13-year-old tabla percussionist, violinist, and composer learned tabla first, which Surti notes was inspired by his Indian grandparents. The following year, he picked up the violin which he feels connects more to his American side. Soon thereafter, he was itching to combine the two and push sonic boundaries.
Surti’s Young Creators Project entry, “We Beat Together,” showcases an artist who has mastered this approach. The violin sounds robust and urgent with the tabla beats building steadily to meet the track’s frenetic peaks. And with just the right amount of electronic enhancements, “We Beat Together” wouldn’t be at all out of place on your next dance floor excursion.
