NYC Scene Report – Chanpan, Lockimara, & Nara’s Room

This week’s NYC Scene Report features Chanpan having a trio of confessions, Lockimara bringing us “December” in the summer, and Nara’s Room taking us to “Reseda.”

* Everybody loves a good “local band makes good” story, and NYC trio Chanpan certainly qualifies as one.

The band, which features Grace Dumdaw, and identical twin brothers Lance and Matthew Tran, got their start busking in Chinatown looking to raise money to fund their first EP.

Now they not only have their second EP, titled autogratis, set to be released on June 25th, they’ve also leveled up from busking in Chinatown to hitting the stage at Governors Ball this coming weekend!

Check out the video for Chanpan’s latest single, “confessions iii,” which sees them on a much different stage … but it’s one with a jungle gym, and a tire swing, so that automatically makes it awesome.

* The sun may be shining, and we may have plugged in our air conditioners, but NYC, by way to Toronto, artist Lockimara, is ready for “December.”

“December” is the lead single off Lockimara’s upcoming album, Only Sun, Only Moon, which will be released on July 24th.

Discussing the inspiration for the song – for which he’s joined on vocals by Caro y el fin del mundo – Lockimara said, “I usually veil my emotions and life in stories and fiction, but I was going through a difficult goodbye with someone I loved in November, and I felt like it deserved the respect of honesty, and candidness in expressing how I felt, even through song.”

Even if you aren’t a big fan of the winter months, Lockimara’s “December” requires no shoveling, and sounds fantastic, so give it a play.

* Brooklyn-based indie rockers Nara’s Room recently released their sophomore album, titled Tearless, thoughtless, and it includes the standout single “Reseda.”

Frontperson Nara Avakian, who originally hails from California, revealed the inspiration for the song, saying, “This song is a breakup song, before the breakup even happened. It’s a song about knowing something is over. I think when I experience change and loss, I tend to recede toward familiar places and things that no longer exist anymore. Reseda Blvd. is a long and winding road in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, where I grew up. It intersects with Sesnon Blvd. These roads intersect at almost the exact point of my childhood home, now gone, and yet I still recede. The loss of this relationship led me to recede to the idealized past of Reseda Blvd.”

Click play on the video, and recede to Reseda with Nara’s Room.

For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.