Reviewsic [ri-vyoo-zik] -noun: Music worth talking about

Care Bears On Fire
Age: 13, 13, and 15

Though surely not a band name we’d let our children listen to, nor one we entirely understand, both Spin and New York Magazine have featured and praised these pint sized pop punk rockers- so who are we to judge? The band formed back in 2005…when the girls were 5th graders. After the release of their first full-length I Stole Your Animal in 2007, success wasn’t far off, and the trio was able to release their next LP, Get Over It, via S-Curve Records. While most of the songs are made by the Brooklyn babes themselves, they have collaborated with Adam Schlesinger from Fountains of Wayne, and We The Kings’ Travis Clark. Frontman…er we mean girl, Sophie has also been featured singing one of CBOF’s songs for a Converse commercial in 2007. Since their inception, the band has played acclaimed festivals such as SXSW, Bamboozle and Lollapalooza- not bad for a group considered for the kiddies. They offer a simple female equivalent to the ever popular pop punk genre with a hint of garage rock, an age appropriate sense of defiance, and love it or hate it, they’re way cooler than most of us were at 13.

Owl City
Age: 23
A viral internet phenomenon (as is the fast track to fame these days) Adam Young, better known behind the guise of his electronic project Owl City, has gone from creating late night tracks for myspace to selling out New York’s Bowrey Ballroom- even fellow young success Taylor Swift came out. Bubbly yet pensive, with relatively mom friendly lyrics, Owl City’s track ‘Fireflies’ has taken the charts by storm more recently, and the young musician has discreetly signed with Universal Republic for his next album. The synthpop sound is comparable to that of The Postal Service, albeit slightly more generic and definitely without that hint of darkness Ben Gibbard is so good at lacing between bleeps and bloops. None the less, the 20-something is touring internationally, selling out venue after venue and undeniably a success.

Artist: Sean Kingston
Age: 19

With his 2007 reggae-influenced single ‘Beautiful Girls’ the Miami native topped the charts, achieving platinum status all before he turned 18. Since breaking out into the music world Kingston has toured with the likes of Beyonce and Gwen Stefani as well as collaborated big names Flo Rida and Natasha Bedingfield. His sophomore album, Tomorrow only mildly crept into the charts at #37, but it’s single “Fire Burning” was all the way up to the top 5 of Billboard’s Hot 100, along with a number of international charts.

Artist: Never Shout Never
Age: 18
Another product of the internet, Christofer Ingle began promoting his music via homemade videos and self-recorded songs using the moniker Never Shout Never in 2007, quickly drawing an online fan base that eventually attracted the attention of MTV’s TRL. The Joplin, Missouri native made it to perform on the live countdown, gain 45 million Myspace plays and over 125,000 tracks sold on iTunes- all by his barely legal self. Having toured with Hellogoodbye and Ace Enders, among other big names in the Pop/Indie world, the young musician is now on his own, going across the U.S. on a tour promoting his upcoming album What Is Love? which is due out January 26th. The youth recently signed with Warner Bros. and had the chops to finagle the right to run and press releases on his own imprint label, Loveway Records.

Julia Nunes
Age: 19
Composing her own music using such delightful instruments as guitar, melodica, piano, and ukulele, the spry 19 year old released her first album Left Right Wrong in 2007. More recently she has opened for Ben Folds (four times, at his request in fact), been dubbed inspiration for learning ukulele by Molly Ringwald on Good Morning America, and released her sophomore album, I Wrote These in 2008. The New Yorker gained famed (once again!) online, through her unique and interesting YouTube videos, and is in the midst of recording her third album on Junu Records, working alongside Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose as producers.