2022
SoupFest 2022 Performing Artist
Alex Cameron
Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Bandcamp | Secretly Canadian
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Secretly Canadian Records’ singer-songwriter indie pop outfit Alex Cameron and his saxophonist/business partner Roy Malloy have taken over the US since the release of Jumping The Shark in 2013. The Australian duo is known for their high-concept character work, performing in the persona of a tragic cabaret singer.
MORE: Pitchfork | Rolling Stone | The Guardian | GQ | Over/Under | PF Festival
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SoupFest 2022 Performing Artist
NNAMDÏ
Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Bandcamp | Sooper Records
CHICAGO — When attempting to define “genre-bending,” Nnamdi Ogbonnaya should immediately come to mind — Chicago’s favorite oddball has a taste for it all. Math-rock inspired hip-hop? Sure. The DIY mainstay has been a mainstay in the Chicago scene since 2006. After recently completing successful 2021 tours with legends Wilco and Sleater-Kinney, the Sooper Records (yes) label founder’s 2020 hit album, BRAT, received rave reviews.
MORE: Pitchfork | NPR | Chicago Tribune | The Fader | Vice | Adult Swim
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SoupFest 2022 Performing Artist
Biitchseat
Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Bandcamp
CLEVELAND — The feisty lake rock quartet from The Land has been pollinating ear buds since early 2017. A member of the Refresh Records family, 2022 will be a big year. 2021 effort, I’ll become kind received critical acclaim from our friends over at BrooklynVegan recalling the familiar sounds of punky, power-poppy side of ‘90’s alt rock — an absolutely soaring voice adds suspense and intensity to the bright, catchy songs.
MORE: Get Alternative | BrooklynVegan | The Guest List | Janglepophub
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SoupFest 2022 Performing Artist
Wasp Factory
Instagram | Twitter | Bandcamp
COLUMBUS — Wasp factory, Sam, Sniper, Cobi and Jules – are from the great city of Columbus. These rippers have been having at it since early February 2019’s Wasp Factory Is Being Detained. The Columbus hard-to-define DIY veterans impressed with 2021’s rippyman and want to set the record straight on their ever sought after title of “the world’s only clout punk band.” In 2022 they’re entering their opening for Alex Cameron era – we’re just thankful to be a part of it.
MORE: The Lantern | Music in Motion | CD 92.9
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SoupFest 2022 Performing Artist
Tom Evanchuck
Website | Instagram | Bandcamp
CLEVELAND — Tom Evanchuck is a storyteller on stage, weaving through tales of love and heartbreak, friendship and the allure of the Midwest. But this is also a musician that seems born from another era. Drawing on the influences of the likes of Bob Dylan, Otis Redding, Neil Young and even the Beatles. Coming from the Midwest, Evanchuck never strays too far from his roots. You hear it in the raw guitar, and Tom’s ability to both croon and crank out a harder song at a moment’s notice on stage to provide a true experience, and a chance to envision the early days of folk, blues, or rock ‘n’ roll.
MORE: The Vinyl District | SoFar Cleveland | Live from Bad Racket
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SoupFest 2022 Performing Artist
Govan Jones
Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Prysm Talent Agency | Drink the Pain
COLUMBUS — Self-proclaimed “tech-house toolbag” and former rapper, Govan Jones, reclaimed his love for music in the summer of 2018. His newfound passion for house music has fueled Columbus’ dancefloors since first curating Timmy’s House monthly parties in 2019. The ODFM Records artist has a mission to have asses shaking any time he’s spinning.
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SoupFest 2022 Performing Artist
DJ BOATSS
KANSAS CITY — Good DJ’ing is important. Just ask KC-native Cameron Birdsall, a fixture of the Kansas City nightlife scene since 2015. One half of the #ASSJAMZ podcast and prolific poster in The Chat, Birdsall keeps his audiences vibing from start to finish.
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2021
SoupFest 2021 Performing Artist
Christian Lee Hutson
Website | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Bandcamp
LOS ANGELES — On his ANTI- Records debut, Beginners, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Christian Lee Hutson embeds every lyric with his most intimate self-dialogue, painful confessions and private jokes, imagined conversations, and daydreams. The album — produced by his friend and collaborator, Phoebe Bridgers, spotlights nuanced songcraft and understated candor that all but erases the distance between feeling and expression. Throughout this collection of songs, Hutson ultimately speaks an illuminating truth about regret and forgiveness and the endless confusion in growing up.
MORE: Pitchfork | Rolling Stone | The Guardian | Paste Magazine | Guitar.com
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SoupFest 2021 Performing Artist
Runnner
Website | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Bandcamp
LOS ANGELES — Runnner is the project of LA-based songwriter and producer Noah Weinman. Sometimes working alone, other times acting as a musical collective with a close group of friends, Runnner fuses intimate songwriting with experimental production to create what he calls “bandcamp songs for Soundcloud kids.”
MORE: The Wild Honeypie | Various Small Flames | The Line of Best Fit
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SoupFest 2021 Performing Artist
Skullcrusher
Website | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Bandcamp
LOS ANGELES — Skullcrusher, Secretly Canadian Records, is the stage name of LA-based musician Helen Ballentine. As Skullcrusher, Ballentine blends gorgeous alt-folk hymns with delicate instrumentals that tug at your heartstrings. Her debut EP offers an airy, intense, and unflinchingly open collection of songs written about, and from, one of life’s in-between gray areas, a stretch of uncertainty and unemployment in parallel with a subsequent search for identity.
MORE: The Line of Best Fit | The Fader | Pitchfork
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SoupFest 2021 Performing Artist
Whitmer Thomas
Website | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Bandcamp
LOS ANGELES — Comic, musician, skateboarder, infamous Blink182-stan. LA-based Hardly Art Records artist, Whitmer Thomas, can do it all. In his rave-reviewed HBO comedy special The Golden One, Thomas explores his upbringing, ambitions, and sense of destiny-as-identity. Whitmer tapped the source of it all through the writing of the one-man-show packed with his own original music. Songs from The Golden One features Whitmer’s darkwave bangers, synthesizing relatable-content — millennial anxieties, therapy-speak jokes, and the annals of his own childhood tragedies.
MORE: HBO Special | The Fader | The Ringer | GQ | The Daily Beast | Pitchfork
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SoupFest 2021 Performing Artist
Bartees Strange
Website | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Bandcamp
WASHINGTON DC — Off the heels of his highly-acclaimed EP, Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy, a collection of reimagined versions from The National’s catalog released via Brassland, D.C.-based musician Bartees Strange broke new ground with his debut LP, Live Forever, via Will Yip’s Memory Music label in 2020. On this fascinating debut album, the Oklahoma native moves freely through different styles — arena-rock, folk, rap — all mixed into a masterpiece composition about freedom as a Black artist and so much more.
MORE: Pitchfork | Rolling Stone | NPR | Stereogum | Uproxx | Washington Post
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SoupFest 2021 Performing Artist
Mukiss
Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Bandcamp
COLUMBUS — Mukiss (Coyote Hand Puppet Records) is the recently launched solo project of prolific Columbus-based artist Caeleigh Featherstone. If Caeleigh looks familiar, it’s because she is. Featherstone is an active member of local folk-rock heroes Saintseneca, as well as a touring member of The Sidekicks, and Foxing. Featherstone’s Mukiss project infuses guitar-based indie rock with a heavy dose of keyboards and electronics under beautifully confessional lyrics.
MORE: Stereogum | Columbus Alive
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SoupFest 2021 Performing Artist
Infinity Crush
Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Bandcamp
RALEIGH — Infinity Crush is the bedroom pop project of North Carolina-based singer-songwriters Caroline White and Derrick Brandon. Formed in Maryland, much of the project’s style is influenced in part by the abundant, yet desolate nature that surrounds them. On her 2019 album, Warmth Equation, released via Run for Cover Records, White weaves her guitar and voice through shimmering keyboards, distant drums, and harmonies — enveloping the listener in an otherworldly atmosphere.
MORE: Post Trash | Stereogum | Get Alternative
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SoupFest 2021 Performing Artist
Govan Jones
Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Prysm Talent Agency | Drink the Pain
COLUMBUS — Self-proclaimed “tech-house toolbag” and former rapper, Govan Jones, reclaimed his love for music in the summer of 2018. His newfound passion for house music has fueled Columbus’ dancefloors since first curating Timmy’s House monthly parties in 2019. The ODFM Records artist has a mission to have asses shaking any time he’s spinning.
LISTEN
SoupFest 2021 Performing Artist
DJ Boatss
KANSAS CITY — Good DJ’ing is important. Just ask KC-native Cameron Birdsall, a fixture of the Kansas City nightlife scene since 2015. One half of the #ASSJAMZ podcast and prolific poster in The Chat, Birdsall keeps his audiences vibing from start to finish.
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2000
SoupFest 2020 Performing Artist
Hanif Abdurraqib
Website | Instagram | Twitter | NPR Podcast | Bookshop
COLUMBUS — New York Times bestselling author, and recent recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant, Hanif Abdurraqib is a local legend. His poetry and essays are heavy with emotion and personal reflection, ranging from music and his Ohio roots, to cultural history and thoughtful social commentary. His reading from They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us in 2020 was a magical moment for everyone in attendance.
MORE: Poetry Foundation | GQ | New York Times | The Guardian | MacArthur
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SoupFest 2020 Performing Artist
Spencer Radcliffe & Everyone Else
CHICAGO — Singer-songwriter Spencer Radcliffe has been putting out devilishly clever music for quite some time now. From the original soft, ambient recordings of Blithe Field to the modern, sharp commentary of his Spencer Radcliffe & Everyone Else project, the Run For Cover artist's newest alt-country album is a natural progression that’s received strong reviews. Photo: Dakota Sillyman
MORE: VICE | Pitchfork | Strereogum | The Fader | Spin Magazine | Bandcamp
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SoupFest 2020 Performing Artist
Ethan Samuel Brown
Website | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube
NASHVILLE — The Nashville-via-KY singer-songwriter blends Appalachian bluegrass with hints of all your folk favorites. Often playing with his full backing band (the 96' Bulls) Brown brings a full stage, can't miss experience. Photo: MK Gannon
MORE: Now It’s Nashville
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SoupFest 2020 Performing Artist
Wished Bone
Instagram | Twitter | Bandcamp
LOS ANGELES — Wished Bone is the recording project of LA-via-Ohio musician Ashley Rhodus. Rhodus, the biologist turned bartender's "dark twee" is an Appalachian dream. The Fader describes her as "unhurried, comforting indie rock with an edge". Photo: Joshua Cobos
MORE: The Fader | Sterogum | Topshelf Records
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SoupFest 2020 Performing Artist
Fluung
Instagram | Twitter | Bandcamp
SEATTLE — Seattle-via-Ohio three piece rock n' rollers simply love to make some noise. Self-described 'amplifier worshippers' blend pivotal indie jams with distorted vocals seamlessly.
MORE: Post-Trash
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SoupFest 2020 Performing Artist
Junegrass
Instagram | Twitter | Bandcamp
CHICAGO — Shape-shifting psych rockers from Chicago, Junegrass bridges gaps between genres new and old to open doors to new sonic dimensions. Get your boogie on. Photo: Elizabeth Smarz
MORE: The Deli Magazine
