Esha Makes Friends Tom Percival

The ever talented ill-esha returns with her sophomore LP, Open Heart Surgery, due for a fitting February 14th release date on Gravitas Recordings. Taking an excursion from her norm, this multi-talented artist shows off her impressive vocal chops throughout 11 tracks. While the album hints at the bass heavy vibe of releases past, the redefined focus falls on the deep passion which can only be expressed through heartfelt vocals. Perfect for multiple listens, Open Heart Surgery will undoubtedly prove to transcend the current disposability of music, finding its way onto playlists for many years to come.

Lo Tom is made up of David Bazan (Pedro the Lion), Trey Many (Velour 100, Starflyer 59), TW Walsh (Pedro the Lion, The Soft Drugs), and Jason Martin (Starflyer 59), friends who started playing music together when they were still pretty much kids. While many bands are a collaboration between artists with a message, a shared vision for a record, or an idea of a sound they want to create, Lo Tom is a group of friends who missed making noise together and wanted to hang out. The off-hand almost dismissive way they talk about the experience of making their self-titled debut masks the excellence of the music theyve written and produced together as Lo Tom, but perhaps their casual approach to the whole endeavor is part of why it came out so great.

What's the quickest way to ruin a friendship? Do great friendships have anything in common? Are close friendships in the workplace such a bad thing? These are just a few of the questions that #1 New York Times best-selling author Tom Rath asked when he embarked on a massive study about the impact of friendships.