Fronted by Dugan Cruz, Los Angeles born MADUS effortlessly charm with sexy indie lullabies that scratch an unforgettable nostalgic itch. In 2018 they caught the ear of Japanese blog Fancy Melancholic with the release of their first single "Find Another Girl," garnering over 100,000 views on YouTube. While Cruz was attending CSU Northridge, MADUS won an "Artist of the Year" competition, which led to their further development via a student-run record label called VOVE, securing them opportunities to record and perform with support from a collective of students now working in the music industry.

Naturally, MADUS’ sound is melody-driven in pristeen 6-speed manual. Pat Rector dutifully weaves between lush chord voicings and pulsing riffs which perfectly surround Cruz’s dulcet vibrato and sultry tone (think Casablancas meets Buckley). Sweetness and all, MADUS can still flex savory musical muscle and make it clear how boldly mellifluous they can be. With a well-postured rhythmic spine supported by James Prinzi on drums and Brett Carpenter on bass, MADUS serenades warm shots of the early-aughts from a personally-distilled electricity that is clearly not solely bottled by -- or for -- the Brits. Lyrically, Cruz’s poeticism paints Turner-esque tableaus of reflection, relationships, and night-life romance while walking the tightrope between yearning for something to be real and true, while accepting it’s alright to lean into the lurid tongue-in-cheek salaciousness on occasion.

With influences ranging from Queen to the Cure, Stevie Wonder to Talking Heads, and Spoon to Blondie, MADUS exude a creative matrimony they are boldly proud to live loud and catalyze unique sonic mating rituals. The range of their sound recalls early Arctic Monkeys and Strokes while weaving between the lines of Broncho and QOTSA, but MADUS’ soul is still seductively their own, with inertia well-worth leaning into.

Now with a growing collection of their musical prowess available on all streaming platforms, they’ve set out to alakazam a new era and album into existence that chronicles unthinkable heart ache and gut wrenching setbacks only a medium as profound as music could convey.

-- Michelle Shiers, resident photographer of The Greek Theater