BEFORE I DIE: youbloom | HEADROOM #9 with Featured Artists from the Los Angeles 2015 Music Festival

Hit snooze twelve times.  Check. Drag self from bed.  Check. Shower. Coffee. Brush teeth (unless you’re one of those weirdos who does that in reverse).  Check. Check. No, I am not one of those weirdos. Dress self in some semblance of acceptable clothing. Take self out into world to accomplish goals.  Does an “Eat the Rich” hoodie count? Look out world, here comes me!   Many of you have #goals. But how many of those goals are ride-or-die? When you’ve got a burning passion, those aims of yours become something more. They become your Before I Die. Five of the youbloom Los Angeles 2015 Music Festival‘s heavy-hitters share what’s most important to them in this musical life.   Quinn Archer (singer/songwriter): “I am so excited to be playing the youbloom Festival, as I’ve been dying to get on the festival circuit.” 1| To play Coachella or SXSW would be a dream. 2| Go on tour with a band that I love. 3| If I could spend my life writing songs, performing them, and collaborating with other artists then I certainly wouldn’t be mad about it! A singer with undeniable vocal power, seeming to combine elements of Adele with the dark tonality of Lana del Rey, and power production song composition. These are really well-written songs that have an air of introspection and a knack for communicating dark moods without being morbid or cheesy. As an artist, she’s already done loads, and it’s this undistracted reach to be better and better that will see her to the top. For fans of: Paloma Faith, Adele, Florence and the Machine   Huxley Rittman (singer/songwriter): 1| Induct an artist I love into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2| Perform with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band 3| Get my own star on Hollywood Boulevard. Somewhere between Cher and James Dean is fine for me. 😉 An act who brings fresh footfall to the well-hiked trails of acoustic storytelling;  making it more about the listener than about himself, which is dignified and refreshing. Voice and guitar are respected for their rightful instrumental capacities, and Rittman delivers like a relaxed, neofolk Dylan, with an exceptional transportative timbre to his voice that’s instantly persuasive and warmly addictive. For fans of: Nick Drake, Hudson Taylor, Mark Kozelek  

Kivi (vocals, cowbell, donut pusher, Kittenhead): 1| Tour Europe with Kittenhead. We love to tour! We love to play shows! We love Europe (and Europe plays Kittenhead on the radio)! 2| Play a show with Paramour, because VJJ (strings, sourpatch kids, random TLC references, occasional rapping/backing vocals) would be insanely excited and might just set world records for jumping. 3| Record an album with no time or financial constraints so we could actually spend time mixing and mastering our music and allow for all the creativity that happens in Kittenhead when we spend time together. Combining growling vocals and that unmistakeable horror/surf rock hybrid which distinguishes some of the most fun bands in punk, Kittenhead are in no way confused about who they are. Their shows have been described as “high energy” and “exciting”. You won’t see another band like them at youbloomLA, so don’t miss it! For fans of: The Runaways, The Misfits, The Independents   Aristor Oberson & Edouarin Enide (Ded Kra-Z & Princess Eud): 1| Collaborate with some of the biggest names in world music. 2| Get a record deal from a major label 3| Build a foundation to help unfortunate kids back home and around the world While the music scene in Haiti is primarily dominated by mellow steel drum rhythms and the shameless use of autotune, Ded Kra-Z & Princess Eud are busy making funky beats and writing edgy, socio-political lyrics with the sting of some of hip hop’s finest. Musically nodding to their roots and cultural influences, while refusing to bow to stereotype, they represent a new wave of awareness from the small island. For fans of: William Onyeabor, M.I.A, Afrika Bambaataa   Julian Shah-Tayler aka The Singularity: 1| I want to headline Glastonbury, Coachella, Austin City Limits and The Hollywood Bowl. 2| Meet David Bowie for a collaboration. 3| Change lives for the better. (Not too much to ask for.) The perfectionist talents of The Singularity allow listeners a voluptuous electro experience that almost quite literally gets right under the skin. With influences as lusty and powerful as Kate Bush and the like, it’s no wonder, and frontman Julian Shah Taylor has the vision to see it through. There’s nothing else quite like it. It’s smart, relentless, and endlessly catchy. And you need to see it for yourself. For fans of: deep space, David Bowie, Electric Six   What’s on your list? Let us know in the comments!