local music

In October, the Southwest Florida-based band Cobress dropped the fourth and final chapter of their album “Neon Royale.” Songs from each chapter embody aspects of the four sacred elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Air.We catch up with band members Colin Orion, Frankie Orion and Xid, as we hear music from the new album and explore their artistic endeavors outside the band.

Multi-faceted Southwest Florida-based artist Spencer Elles has been hard at work amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Under the pseudonym Duke Stamina, the self-produced queer rap artist dropped his debut full-length album, “Super Horse Dads 2 TURBO: Tournament Edition (Original Soundtrack) ,” in September after signing onto the Los Angeles-based indie record label Sweatband Records. His unique music creations draw from a blend of genres including rap, trap hip hop, EDM, and punk, infused with comedic satire and self-described “aggressively gay” lyrical content.

We continue highlighting ways Southwest Florida’s performing arts community is adapting to the challenges of the ongoing pandemic. We’ll hear from the founder manager of Poetz Realm Florida, LLC, Ernel Grant, whose open mic Monday virtual showcase events have gone virtual. The next event takes place Monday, Aug. 31 at 8:00 p.m. We’ll also meet Southwest Florida based rap, hip-hop and R&B artist Andre Hustle.

When businesses shut down and people began to isolate themselves due to the coronavirus back in March, a local musician found a way to keep his peers’ connected and their creativity flowing by creating weekly songwriting challenges. We’ll hear from some of the participants and the songs they made during “Songwriter Quarantine.”

The latest employment data from the U.S. Department of Labor indicates Florida is only behind California and Georgia in the number of first-time unemployment claims being filed. Local artists are among those who have seen their livelihoods upended amid the coronavirus pandemic, but many are finding creative new ways to utilize their skills.We’ll hear from the husband and wife team of multi-talented artists Colin Orion and Frankie Orion about how they’ve been adapting.

Singer/songwriter and Southwest Florida native Katie Lyon is releasing a new EP of original music amid the COVID-19 pandemic titled, “Some Things Take Time.” The five-song EP drops July 21, but is available for preorder. Lyon describes her sound as “the easy listening side of country,” with influences includes Brandi Carlile, Miranda Lambert, George Strait and Jason Isbell.

Local musicians are persisting and continuing to create new music amid the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. We take a listen back to some brand-new music from some of Southwest Florida’s favorite local musicians that they’ve been working on and releasing amid the COVID-19 outbreak. We’ll hear selections by singer, songwriter, composer and guitarist Kyle Anne from her new EP “Nostalgia,” that came out June 5.

We listen back to our show from earlier this year before the coronavirus pandemic with the Southwest Florida-based band Exploding Pages performing live in studio ahead of the anticipated release of their latest album “Steady Midnight.”

We’ll be treated to music performed live in studio by the Southwest Florida-based soul/reggae/rock band The Freecoasters!Amid the COVID-19 outbreak the band has released its much anticipated second full-length studio album titled, “A Different Kind of Heat.” The album follows the release of their debut album, “Show Up,” in 2016.We’ll learn more about band members Marc Davis (percussion), Claire Liparulo (lead vocals, guitar), Shane Praefke (organ, piano), Gina Calabrese-Hendershot (vocals) and John Schiller (bass) and their approach to blending musical genres. We’ll hear selections from the new album performed live, and explore how band members are coping amid the ongoing viral pandemic.

Amid the last several months of social distancing and staying home as much as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic, Southwest Florida singer, songwriter, arranger and guitarist Kyle Anne has been hard at work creating her EP of new music “Nostalgia.” We’ll catch up with Kyle Anne for a look at how she’s created these recordings in quarantine and how musicians like herself have been coping with traditional performance venues shutdown. We’ll also get a sneak preview of songs from the new EP before it officially drops on Friday.