Lovecartel

“In between being asleep and awake, there’s a place just for broken hearts.
And in the chaos and calamity, this illusion is to me such a welcomed start.”
-In Between Chaos & Sleep, Battle Scars

Lovecartel is Ash Kernen and Anthony Phillips, two bleeding hearts who have coalesced around music’s curative power and their shared passion for songcraft. The Philadelphia duo draws on their inspiring, yet at times tragic, breadth of life experiences to create introspective and emotionally-potent alt/indie rock. As the name suggests, Lovecartel’s music is born of a fierce love… of self and of others; one that refuses to quit in the face of spiritual tyranny and which sees things not for what they are, but what they could be.

Infused with elements of pop, hip-hop, and electronica, Lovecartel’s unique sound melds fuzzed-out and ambient guitars with eletctro-synthetic accompaniment and climaxing rhythms over which Kernen delivers his punchy vocal musings on living, dying, and everything in between. The result is a sound that has been praised for its distinction while being familiar enough to recognize their list of influences which include Cold War Kids, The Kills, The Neighbourhood, Silversun Pickups, and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The band is currently prepping the late-Spring 2019 release of their forthcoming EP, Sayonara ’til Tomorrow, with a host of live shows scheduled in support of the arrival of the EP’s first single “So We Slowed”, expected in May.

BACKGROUND

The duo are veterans of the Philadelphia music scene, having played at many of the area’s most coveted venues and festivals including MusikFest, Theater of Living Arts, World Cafe Live, Johnny Brenda’s, and The Trocodero.

In late 2013, Lovecartel released their debut album, Battle Scars. Recorded at Cedar Street Studios in Philadelphia and co-produced by Ted Richardson, the album employed a varied and talented set of musicians including Teva Teva drummer Darren Keith, Twalib Kwali/Idle Warship bassist Brady Watt, and a killer horn-section led by saxophonist Bobby Michaels. The result has been a sonic experience that blends vintage analog instruments, both acoustic and fuzzed-out electric, with a new-age digital backdrop, all the while staying true to the band’s love for ‘the headnod’. Battle Scars was received with warm praise by the local press and found its way on to college radio. In April 2013, the band released a video for the first single off the album, In Between Chaos & Sleep.

“Every so often, like Halley’s Comet, there is a band that lights the sky so brilliantly. Lovecartel’s Battle Scars is that comet. Sprouting from the post-punk, indie rock soil and blossoming into something all their own, Lovecartel is a band to watch.“ -ThatMag

After a year-and-a-half of shows supporting the release of Battle Scars, Kernen and Phillips returned to the studio in Fall 2015 where they began working with Philadelphia-based hip-hop producer Ali McGuire (‘A-Mac’). The result of the dalliance was ‘Abandoned Lick‘, an unsuspecting marriage of rock and hip-hop which features the lyrical stylings of Philadelphia rapper Carl Kavorkian. Six months later, the band would follow-up the release of Abandoned Lick with yet another experimental single, the electro-dance rock single, “The Longest Walk Off“. The single cemented Lovecartel’s reputation for being a band that can cross multiple genres and yet carry through a familiar sound that is distinctly their own.

In early 2017, the band took an extended hiatus from live performance so that Kernen and Phillips could focus on crafting the next iteration of the band’s sound. Over the course of the ensuing two years, the due wrote and recorded the songs that would eventually makeup their forthcoming EP, Sayonara ’til Tomorrow. The 5-song EP, mixed by Alex Santilli of Spice House Sound, brings a more refined and confident sounding Lovecartel and is bulwark of high-energy indie-rock that weaves it’s way from pure analog seduction to toe-tapping electronica. Scheduled for release in May 2019, the band has selected “So We Slowed” to be lead-off single.

In early 2019, Kernen and Phillips brought on two local Philadelphia powerhouse musicians to join them as they reinvigorated their renowned live show. Multi-instrumentalist Will Brown (Deadfellow, Billy Brown Band) has joined the band on drums and Dan Drago (The Way Home, The Sobriquets, 25 O’Clock Pod) rounds out the rhythm section on bass. In addition to reasserting themselves as a prominent presence at home in Philly, the foursome also have plans to expand the band’s reach into the greater Northeast U.S. as they ramp up for a packed summer live season on the road.