Oakland-based Hello Yello released two tracks as a duo called My Life As A Teenage Robot. Songs "Lifeguard" and "I Really Loved You," which as the band says are two tracks that lend "...a softer hand to their innovative mash-up of punk and grunge sounds." The project continues a busy year for the group, following the release of their debut EP Love Wins earlier this year, and they just started their North American tour. Catch them and listen in. It's alternative, grunge and something we can't put our finger on. -Lucille Faulkner

It’s refreshing to find a band so hard to describe. Hello Yello’s debut EP, Love Wins, is rock n roll and it’s punk; it’s hip hop and it’s soul; it’s touched with pop and straight punk rock. Track “Without Me” starts with distorted, Hendrix-esq guitar work that pans trippily across your speakers then opens into emo-rock and surprisingly into thrashing punk. “Feel That Again” mixes poppy hip hop with a pure, emo vibe (even purer is the music video). 

They’ve got a touch of the Lenny Kravitz (ever heard his B sides?), are like a cooler version of Evanescence, and to be blunt: they just have something really likeable about them. They’re young, talentful, creative, and they’ve got heart. Hello Yello is Dylan (22, vocals and guitar), his younger brother Jaden (20, bass) and their friend Martin (20, drums). Come see them at The New Parish on April 11th. - Michelle Kicherer, Associate Editor

Photo credit Julian Burgueno