Quarantine Online Sets: Version 61

Culture Collide had two singers on a recent Friday afternoon. Starting it off at 4 p.m. was Madi Sipes. First thing I noticed was that there was a photo of Elvis hanging from the wall. She has a soulful voice with a blues sound. 

Her lyrics of the set were, "I've never seen someone so sexy, I want you bad." A lyric about not being able to express your feelings to someone else. 

Be it on the guitar or piano, she likes to play chords and then include some complementary notes that glide along side. 

She ended her set, telling those watching, "Moments of deep breaths to your Friday."

Madi Sipes

Coming on at 6 p.m. was Nova Miller. She has blond flowing hair and a vivacious personality. Per Culture Collide, she has a sizable TikTok following. Her vocals carried her to some high notes as she promoted her new album, "The Passion." Along with her, out of view from the camera, was a friend who provided that live audience feel.

Nova Miller

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 53

Culture Collide used to have this awesome music festival in Echo Park that brought bands from across the globe. I so miss it. Well, recently, they had RONI on for an online set. She came on from New York City. She brought some blues jazz tunes to their Instagram set. She started the set on the guitar before shifting over to the piano and then back to the guitar. One of her covers was Ariana Grande's "Into You." For the cover she played both the guitar and piano. Some of her songs started off with her doing some improvisation on her guitar. It was a enjoyable 52 minute set. 

RONI on Culture Collide

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 35

The Gooms got to take over Culture Collide's Instagram Live on a recent Tuesday afternoon. They played outside the drummer's apartment complex. That led to an interesting couple encounters. As they were playing one song the upstairs neighbor asked them to quiet down, because she was working from home. The encounter apparently caught the attention of a couple people who were walking pass. Once the song ended, the folks on the sidewalk gave the band some compliments that contrasted with the upstairs neighborhood. Both encounters were just heard and not shown on Instagram.

The band did their best to accommodate the upstairs neighbor. The drummer stopped playing his drum and instead tapped the side of the apartment wall. 

I have to check my records, but I think I've seen this band more than any other in this online world. They have such a playful style to their music.

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 14

Tuesday was an excellent day of music. Suzanne Santo hit up The Boot's Facebook page at 1 p.m.while BIIANCO took over Culture Collide's Instagram page at 6 p.m. I've followed Suzanne Santo for a number of years via Honey Honey. Honey Honey has gone into hiatus, I guess. The last time I ran into the band, they were playing backup for another band in 2017. So, yeah, a long time since I've seen Honey Honey. It was great seeing Suzanne Santo playing live. Her love of music comes through so clearly. I'm putting her down on my short list of artists I definitely need to see play live and photograph when music venues open up again.

Suzanne Santo

BIIANCO took her electronic-synth beats into the evening hours. A contrast to the more country-folk sounds of Suzanne Santo. Like Suzanne Santo, I've followed BIIANCO for years via Smoke Season. The one thing I wished was far better in this world of online sets: I wish technology was good enough so that I could capture solid photos of her slamming her synths and doing her artistic dance moves. Stinks that I can no longer capture on camera what I used to be able to capture so cleanly at a live show.

BIIANCO

WFNM on Wednesday's has recently featured some artists that I just love. The prior Wednesday, it was Disco Shrine. This week they had The Mowgli's. This is a band you want to catch during this period of social isolation/stay at home orders. They'll infuse you with positive thinking and if you're feeling down, they ask for you to reach out and say hello.

The Mowgli's

Jasmine Crowe came on with a light show going on in her living room. And her dog Wolfgang singing (barking) backup. She came prepared to put on a show. Rett Madison put on that Southern accent and charmed us all. Liam Ross started his set with the lights on low. Then we all learned that WFNM forgot to mute their sound. So we heard them talking about how his lights were too low. Hearing that, Liam brought in more lights. His music brought that chamber choir sound where there is just a touch of echo that came through his microphone and home studio instruments. Just perfect.

Jasmine Crowe

Rett Madison

Liam Ross

Sam DeRosa sang about former lovers, but with a smile on her face to show she wasn't holding any long-term grudges. She closed out her song with the catchy "Pill for That." The night ended with the pop cheer of Alke. The lead singer mentioned that this was the first time she put on make-up and gotten dressed for two months. I have to admit that I haven't combed my hair for around the same time frame.

Sam DeRosa

Alke