Miami Music: van*gloria

Anytime I hear a Miami band that doesn’t play Latin dance music or other people’s records, I am always happy to do what I can to help promote them. Such is the case with van*gloria, a Miami-based quartet that recently dropped me a note.

Van*gloria formed in 2005, in the midst of that year's seeming non-stop hurricane season. Music students Nick Kruge, Paul Bender, Luke Moellman, and Matt Gajewski used the time during post-hurricane power outages to play music and write songs. The result was brooding and somewhat jazz-influenced; something you might expect to have come from the calm after the storms. Once power was restored, van*gloria took their music into the studio, touched it up, and, in late 2005, released their self-titled debut through local label Atomisk Records.

Right now van*gloria are planning to get out of Miami before this year’s hurricane season starts in June. They’ve just released their second album, Bluebird, and are preparing a tour that will take them probably anywhere there are not hurricanes.

Today’s music is a couple of songs from the first album.

Headstrong Gotham.mp3
Hey Tuscaloosa!.mp3

For more information, more music, and to buy either album, click over to the van*gloria Website.

Labels: indie, local stuff

posted by aikin @ 10:44 AM