Credit: Crystal Lee Farris

With a few exceptions, Domino Record Co. has had a particularly strong run this past year. From last year’s Beach Music, to January’s Gumption and this month’s Pool, the label has been instrumental in introducing the talents of certain bedroom pop heroes to the masses. Domino label-mates Porches, Alex G, and Your Friend will soon join forces on an extensive spring tour, which includes a night at the Rickshaw Stop on March 28. You’re smart. You already bought tickets. The show is now sold out.

Your Friend (aka Taryn Miller) released one of the biggest surprises of the new year with her debut Gumption LP, the full-length follow-up to her self-recorded Jekyll/Hyde EP from 2014. Lush with vibrant field recordings, skeletal drum loops, synths and guitar samples, Miller lays down flowing, dynamic textures as the backdrop for her expressive songwriting. Recorded with producer Nicolas Vernhes at the Rare Book Room in Brooklyn, Your Friend’s Gumption is a perfect rainy day soundtrack for 2016. Stream it below.

Following a successful string of mostly self-released albums, DIY poster boy Alex G released his Domino debut, Beach Music, last October. Already a brilliant songwriter, Beach Music finds Alex G taking a more refined and thoughtful approach to crafting his latest full-length. More recently, Alex G contributed to the outstanding Art Week 2016 compilation (curated by Sam Ray) under the cheeky pseudonym Alan J. Listen to “I Was Here” below. Additional gems from the artist’s repertoire can be discovered on his Bandcamp page.

Porches released its Domino debut with Pool earlier this month. It’s the latest effort from New York songwriter Aaron Maine, and a slight change of pace from the somber guitar jams of 2013’s Slow Dance in the Cosmos. Pool finds Maine tinkering with drum machines and synthesizers to construct a gorgeous collection synth-based pop songs from the security of his Manhattan apartment. Mixed by Chris Coady in Los Angeles, Porches’ Pool is deep and reflective.

On writing single “Be Apart” (video above), Maine explains, “there was something special about recording this album in my new home. To be surrounded by the city and in my own world at the same time. I quickly became obsessed with the energy around me, and my experience of New York – I was forced to see my music in an entirely different context. This was challenging, but also exciting, when the songs started to sound like a true reflection of what I was feeling in my new surroundings.”

Porches, Alex G, Your Friend
Rickshaw Stop
March 28, 2016
7pm, $15-18 (SOLD OUT)