Fox Theater

Based in LA and originally from Illinois, multi-platinum artist K.Flay, born Kristine Flaherty, started rapping and writing songs on a lark while attending Stanford University, and soon began releasing her self-produced mixtapes. In 2017 she released her major label debut album Every Where Is Some Where, earning two GRAMMY Award nominations for the album’s iconic smash single “Blood in the Cut” and sending her to arenas around the world with her kinetic live set. As a songwriter, musician, and producer, she’s lent her talents to numerous collaborations, working with Fitz and the Tantrums, Bishop Briggs, Tom Morello, Louis the Child, Kaskade, Walk the Moon, Imagine Dragons, grandson, The Regrettes, Two Feet, MisterWives, and more. Whether working on her own music or with others, K.Flay’s output remains rooted in her undeniable lyrical skills, an element she attributes to her innate love of language and its infinite possibilities. This spring she announced her fifth studio album MONO – due out September 15th. The LP is her first for Giant Music and is her first since going suddenly and completely deaf in her right ear at the end of last summer. Although K.Flay’s hearing loss deeply informed her songwriting on MONO, the album marks the start of a new era for the artist who explores an entire spectrum of existential questions and complex matters of the heart and mind on the LP. Additionally, K.Flay wrote an original song “T-Rex” for Neflix’s groundbreaking new animated film Nimona which was released last month. A relentlessly boundary-pushing artist with more than 1 BILLION streams and 100K+ tickets sold, K.Flay continues to commit herself to constant growth by holding herself to higher and more rigorous standards in every aspect of her artistry.

The first Houses release in five years, Drugstore Heaven, marks a major artistic shift for L.A.-based songwriter/producer Dexter Tortoriello. Abandoning the heady concepts of his previous records for some of his tightest songwriting yet, Tortoriello is embracing the most fascinating character in his musical universe: himself.

Drugstore Heaven delivers a dynamically textured sound partly shaped by Tortoriello’s exploration of rave and drum-and-bass artists from the late ’90s. “At the time all that stuff was coming out, electronic music was just being discovered, so there was this really pioneering sense of what was possible,” he says. The lead single “Fast Talk,” featuring backing vocals of longtime Houses member Megan Messina, unfolds in hazy rhythms formed from chopped-up breakbeats and live percussion from timpani, glockenspiel, and a couple bottles of antidepressant medication. “That song is meant to be a memorial for a group of friends I had back in my late teens,” explains Tortoriello, adding, “Thematically it’s almost like a ballet where you keep driving around the same blocks, and people start disappearing from the car because they’re going to jail or dying.”

On Drugstore Heaven, embracing the personal also has its joyful side. The EP’s punchiest moment, “Left Alone,” emerges as bright and bouncy anthem celebrating the bliss of solitude, while closer “Pink Honey” is a lavishly romantic number built on ethereal vocals, delicate guitar tones, and luminous synth. “I was trying to turn that one into a sweeping love song, like something out of Casablanca,” says Tortoriello.

For Tortoriello, the deepest achievement of Drugstore Heaven lies in building a body of work that feels entirely true to the world in his head. “In the past I’ve felt self-conscious about the person I put forth in my music, but these songs feel very reflective of who I really am,” he says. Being this open still feels new to him, but for the listener, it’s a rewarding glimpse into the mind of a vital and forward-thinking artist.