IU student radio station WIUX released the final acts of the Culture Shock 2018 lineup Friday at the Bishop and posted them online Saturday.
Culture Shock, WIUX's 32nd annual outdoor music festival, will take place April 14 at Dunn Meadow and feature a mix of local and nationally touring artists, as well as food trucks.
Chicano Batman
Chicano Batman, which began in Los Angeles, according to the WIUX website, released its debut album in 2010 and “Cycles of Existential Rhyme” in 2014. The band released its newest album, “Freedom is Free,” in 2017.
The band has performed at Coachella and toured with Alabama Shakes and Jack White.
“Four young men in vintage formal wear, playing songs that blended Brazilian Tropicalía with early ’70s psychedelic soul and the romantic pop of bands like Los Ángeles Negros," according to the website.
Chicano Batman can be found on Facebook, Twitter and its website.
Milo
Rory Ferreira, known by the stage name Milo, is a rapper and producer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He released his first solo album, “I wish my brother Rob was here,” in 2011, and has gone on to produce other records, some as Milo and others under the moniker Scallops Hotel.
“I tried to make something knowing that everything is pointless and nothing is meaningless,” according to Milo’s Bandcamp page for the album “poplar grove.” “This is how you rap with a hammer.”
He has collaborated with Busdriver, Open Mike Eagle and Hemlock Ernst, among others.
Milo is on Facebook, Twitter and Bandcamp.
Joy Again
The members of Joy Again met in boarding school and founded the band in 2015, according to bandcamp.com, an online music company. The band has played alongside acts such as Car Seat Headrest, Hinds, Daywave and Hoops, and has made appearances at music festivals such as 35 Denton, Savannah Stopover and South by Southwest.
The band released singles “Kim,” “On a Farm,” and an extended play, “EP,” in 2017.
Joy Again is on Facebook and Bandcamp.
Melkbelly
Melkbelly is a four person noise-rock band from Chicago. The band released its first EP, “Pennsylvania,” in 2014.
Its 2017 debut album, “Nothing Valley,” fuses dreamy vocal lines and cantankerous guitar racket, according to the band’s Bandcamp page.
A single from the album, “Kid Kreative,” revolves around the frustration of having to participate in a male-dominated music industry.
The music video features a kid stealing and eating other people’s ice cream, pizza and other food. The kid becomes overwhelmed and terrified at the amount and variety of food that slowly appears in front of him.
Melkbelly is on Facebook and Bandcamp.
Major Murphy
From Grand Rapids, Michigan, pop-rock group Major Murphy travels the country in a light blue Plymouth Voyager van, according to the WIUX website.
Its newest project, “No. 1,” will be released on March 30.
“No. 1” reimagines ‘70s radio rock with bristling sensitivity for our present era, according to the WIUX website.
Nice Try
Nice Try is a great band for chilling out or for dancing wildly around your bedroom, according to the WIUX website.
"With sweet vocals and driving bass, they provide a perfect backdrop for dancing, swaying and lying on warm grass," according to the tweet.
Nice Try's newest single "Restart" is on Spotify.
KAILACHARE
KAILACHARE combines rhythm and blues with an experimental electronic sound to create music about female empowerment, according to a tweet from the WIUX Twitter account.
KAILACHARE responded with her own tweet to express her excitement.
brz
Rapper and sound artist Elijah Pouges, who goes by the stage name brz, makes music with a focus on black millennialism and technology, according to a tweet from WIUX's Twitter account.
Pouges, who spoke with the Indiana Daily Student for a story published Sept. 5, 2017, started making music at age 9 by playing the cello. Later, he picked up the bass guitar and started electronic production.
His EP, "Don't Overthink This," has six songs that explore isolation, connection, technology and black millennialism.
“It really is my stream of consciousness throughout my undergrad career,” Pouges told the IDS for the same story. “It kind of talks about my social interactions, how they’re mediated by technology. A lot about love and ruminations on love, meditations on love, that sort of thing.”
Skull Cult
Newly-founded punk project Skull Cult was created by the people behind the Bloomington band Buttzzz.
The band released an Extended Play, "Vol. 1 + Vol. 2," with Erste Theke Tontraeger in Germany. ETT is a DIY punk label, according to the label's blog.
The band is going to release more music with Goodbye Boozy Records from Italy, according to the WIUX website.
Heaven Honey
WIUX announced Heaven Honey as its first Culture Shock artist on social media accounts, including Twitter.
Bloomington singer-songwriter Jordan Gomes-Kuehner, better known as Heaven Honey, started out as a drummer for the indie-pop trio Her Again for two years before going solo, according to 1212 Records' website.
Heaven Honey was one of the first two artists to sign with 1212 Records, a new record label started by IU alums Collin Thomas and Brian Berger.
Heaven Honey and 1212 Records are also working on a new single and debut EP, according to the website.
"Gomes-Kuehner began working on what would eventually become the early stages of Heaven Honey — a unique and distinctly personal brand of songwriting that combines elements of dream pop melodies, folk-twang'd vocals, and hard-hitting, rock and roll instrumentation," according to the website.
Christine Fernando and Clark Gudas
