Get your headphones ready and tune in to new music coming out of Northeast Ohio. (As always, there’s plenty to catch up on.)
Our Cleveland Current playlist features 30 songs by various musicians and bands, showcasing new pop, rock, metal, hip-hop, synth-pop, and more.
Read on to hear from a few featured musicians below, and be sure to follow the playlist on Spotify for a new batch of local tunes, every month.
Emyrson Flora, Every Song Is About You
In the two and a half years that have passed since she competed on the 20th season of American Idol (and, impressively, finished in the final 10 contestants on the show), Twinsburg native Emyrson Flora has been busy. The now-19-year-old musician found a manager, graduated from high school, moved to Nashville and has kept busy writing, recording and performing music.
This month, she’s preparing to release her new EP, Every Song Is About You, which arrives on Nov. 22. She’ll support it with a hometown show at the House of Blues’ Cambridge Room on Nov. 30. The five-track project is an emotional exploration of past situation-ships, Flora says.
”These songs, for me, are what it feels like to grieve a toxic relationship, friendship, person, place,” Flora says.
The new music showcases Flora’s powerful pipes — the same voice that wowed American Idol’s judges not all that long ago. It also shows a more seasoned side to the musician, who had never performed live before hitting the hit TV show’s stage.
“Going from your room to millions of people is kind of insane. I took the time to practice — still am practicing — and feel like I’m ready for this,” Flora says. “I believe in the music I'm making.”
Floco Torres, This Creative Life
On his 38th birthday, Floco Torres released his 38th project: a full-length genre-blending album called This Creative Life. Kicking off with the track “1986” in honor of Torres’ birth year, the introspective 14-track project examines what it means for the musician to lead a career in music.
“Every job I've ever had, I lost or fell through, or the company went under; the thing that was always there for me was music,” Torres says, “so, I’m gonna do the f*** I want, how the f*** I want to do it, and at least I know I can bet on myself and let the chips fall where they may.”
On the project, you’ll also hear other voices and musicians, including Akron’s Uno Lady and Rachel Osherow (a member of Angie Haze’s band), along with Goodie Supreme, one of Torres’s frequent collaborators based in Macon, Georgia.
For Torres, who says he once aspired to land major label deals, his artistic intent is central both to the album and to his own perception of what it means to live a creative life. “The highs and lows, the ups and downs, the uncertainty: I’m going to lean 100% into this. I’m going to be vocal about it. I'm going to be vulnerable. I'm going to be loud about it. Because I feel like people don't really understand what it is to do that, to be your own manager, your own booking person, on your taxes, doing all the artwork, producing the entire album, file management, just like the day-to-day stuff that I do,” Torres says.
And he’s keeping his creative life going, with plans to release his 40th project in time for his 40th birthday.
Currently, Torres is working to plan more solo shows in Northeast Ohio. In the meantime, you can catch him and HR3 performing in their band Free Black at the Panza Foundation Benefit Concert at the Happy Dog (Nov. 23).
Solon, “Right”
After an unfortunate car accident led to a concussion, spine fractures and symptoms like vertigo, Solon DiSanto found herself stuck in her room, out of work for a month. There, while recovering, she at least managed to find a silver lining: the time to create a new song.
“It was hard because my back is fractured, so it hurt to sit at the desk and make music. So I was really glad that worked out pretty quickly, and I didn't have to be there too long,” she says. “I finished it and wrote it and everything in like an hour, which is really rare, and it just worked out really well.”
She penned her new single “Right” — her first new release of 2024 — and released it in late September. It’s the latest from the self-taught musician, who first started writing, producing and releasing her unique, experimental synth-pop music on Soundcloud in 2015. Currently, she performs with a full band and regularly appears at local venues.
You can catch Solon at a handful of upcoming December shows — at the Rock the Halls charity concert at The Roxy (Dec. 7), at the Happy Dog (Dec. 20) and Mahall’s (Dec. 27). You can also check out Solon’s annual music festival, “Solon & Friends,” held in June. Each year, the locally focused event has grown. “I think it’s just going to get bigger every year and hopefully be a full-scale big festival in Cleveland one day,” she says.
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