You guys might have already known that we love polar bears. If you didn’t know, now you know… (Do you now have Biggie stuck in your head? I hope so.) I can’t really explain why we like polar bears so much, except for the fact that they’re basically real-life abominable snowmen… er snowbears. And since today is International Polar Bear Day, we wanted to share two things with you:

1. A free song.
2. A list of simple things you can do to help save the polar bears (mostly from Polar Bear International).

• • Bundle up and turn down the heat at your house.
• • Spring for a water heater blanket.
• • If you need to drive, begin a “No Idle” habit, by turning off your engine when waiting in a long line of cars.
• • Carpool/take the bus/run/walk/bike… or use some other form of transportation when you can.
• • Recycle. Sometimes there aren’t any recycling bins nearby, but then I think to myself, “What about the polar bears?” Then I decide to hold on to my nasty empty can of sugar-free Red Bull until I finally see one. Maybe that’ll work for you too.

-Joshua

The Seaweed Is Always Greener, In Somebody Else’s Lake…

You: “Joshua, did you just start this post off with a quote from an eighties Disney film about a red-headed mermaid??”

Me: “Yes… but to my defense, I have two little sisters, AND it’s less cliché, than saying: ‘The Grass Is Always Greener…”

The truth is, most musicians or artists in general are pretty competitive people. I would say it’s because when you are trying to create things, whether it’s a recorded sound, a string of lyrics, or a painting - you are constantly absorbing influences. You want to be inspired, and so you end up being inspired by so many different people and things.

The bright side is that when you do find inspiration and you harness it in a positive way, you now have the drive to do good work – and to get better. The dark side is that if you let it turn negative on you, you get jealous or you start wavering on what you are trying to create or who you are trying to become. You start wanting to be more and more like some other artist. Maybe you want their gear, their press, their style, their whatever. Even though if you actually got to be in their shoes, you’d find that at times they are probably looking to be more like someone else. You’d get there and see that they too are sometimes unhappy with the green-ness of their seaweed, and are admiring some other body of water’s algae. It’s a vicious cycle.

You: “Joshua… Wait, is seaweed actually algae?”

Me: “Yes, I saw that shit on the Discovery Channel, son.”

You: ”Whoa… Okay, so what does the above have to do with your guys’ new album?”

Me:  “Everything.”

A lot of you have been asking for an update on the album, so here it is. It is sounding better and better everyday. We are self-producing this one as well, and honestly, I can say that I am more proud of these songs than anything we’ve done creatively before. (And I know Flo feels the same way.) This album has been the process of us really finding our sound. We’re taking all of these influences that sometimes pull us in competing directions, and embracing the fact that we love so many various types of music. We want to take our favorite parts of the different genres and artists that influence us, and melt those things into our sound. We have a crazy, exciting schedule for recording and producing the rest of the album, but I know that what we will end up with, is something we’ll be proud of. Both us (GP), and you guys (the people who have continued to support our music). We want to end up with an album that defines where we are as a band, and that sets up the foundation for where we are going.

We will have another update soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

-Joshua

PS - “Mer-Man.” *cough* *cough* “Mer-Man!”

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season! We’ve been busy working on our next album but since so many of you have been asking for something new, we decided to put out a brand new track. Check out this crazy mix of our friends He Is We’s song “Pardon Me.” (CLICK the picture above.) If you like it, then let us know by commenting on our Facebook page. If you don’t like it, then you can shut your mouth when you’re talking to me.

Also, be sure to check out He Is We’s new album which is amazing, and came out yesterday.

Merry Holidays.

-Florin & Joshua

Have you ever felt that if you stared at an object long enough while concentrating hard enough, you could eventually make it move? You know it’s not possible, and yet you try anyways. There’s something magical about the mystery and suspense that’s born when you steer away from the predictable, and dabble into the unknown. Even if the outcome is less than extraordinary, the road to the answer is more than worth it.

We’ve all done it; whether to amuse an obsessive urge or simply rule out the possibility that we’re missing out on something special. We stare at the glass, trying hard not to break concentration until we come to the conclusion that we didn’t try hard enough. I mean, what if you were different but didn’t even bother to explore the possibility?

Life moves fast and it’s hard enough to take it all in, let alone reflect on it. We rely on others for reflection and the answer’s always the same. Our ears are flooded with stories of people that are better than us. We see them fictionalized in film and hear about them them in music. For every new reality show that airs and for every mass-tailored melodic pop song that comes out, we lose the ability to look within ourselves for greatness. Where is this going you ask? Well, I was unfortunately watching a marathon of the Kardashian wedding last week and couldn’t stop thinking about how short the marriage would end up being. Then I read the headlines and realized that I just made the glass move

-Florin

There’s no question that the entire music landscape has shifted. Even in our relatively short career as a band/producers, there have been noticeable changes. And honestly, I think way more of them are for the better than for the worse. But the fact needs to be recognized that for the masses, music is a free commodity. People of our generation grew up with downloading music, the second they wanted it - usually for free and sometimes before it was even available for purchase. So, that is our mind set as a whole and the trend continues in that direction. You like a song, it’s yours. However, as a trade-off it makes it possible for completely independent artists like us to release our music for download alongside major label acts, and start connecting with people without having to wait for someone to decide if it’s a “hot-ass-jam”.

The biggest difference for an artist today, is that even after getting a little radio play, or a song on MTV - the barrier to get someone to actually buy your music is so much larger. Someone has to not only like the song, but they must choose to support you individually over thousands of other bands trying to hustle and get their music heard. If it was just a matter of getting the song onto their ipod, it would be done in seconds, from a million different sites, for free. But the people that buy music, or go to concerts, or buy merch, or promote the hell out of the artists they care about, are the lifeblood of today’s music scene. The connections between the artist and supporters are so real, because the ocean of middlemen has been stripped away.

So basically, we just wanted to point out why all of you who have been with us over the past couple years are so awesome; and say thank you to each and every person who has supported us so far. We have no label. No manager. No producers. No agency. It’s just you guys and us. Holler.

-Joshua

Summer is finally here and we’ve been working like mad scientists on new music. We have a couple collaborations in the works, some remixes that just need their final sprinkling of magic, and of course we are also in the process of recording our next album. We’ve never been more excited about our music and it’s direction as we are right now. If you want to, sign up for our mailing list here, and you will be the first to receive information (or in some cases the songs themselves) before ANYONE ELSE.

In other news, we love you all like a bear loves honey. Please keep spreading the word about us to your homies, it means so much to us to have your support.

-Joshua and Flo

PS: After writing Florin’s name as “Flo” I have decided my new nickname should be “Hustle”, so we could sign stuff “-Hustle and Flo”. Dope.

PSS: On second thought, it’s probably pretty whack to give yourself your own nickname. So that was a horrible idea. And the nickname “Hustle” will not be instituted. Not Dope.

You all are overwhelmingly supportive. Thank you to everyone who voted and helped spread the word. We’ll keep you posted on the contest. In the meantime, please keep having fun to our music & showing us to your friends. You guys are the reason for every good thing that is happening to our band. We cannot explain how much you mean to us.

-Joshua & Florin (we included names at the end to add sincerity and overall epic-ness, because we really mean it.)