Sondre Lerche - Trying to Say Goodbye

Born and raised in Bergen, Norway, Lerche was inspired by the music he heard emanating from his older siblings' bedrooms, be it A-ha, Elvis Costello or classic rock. Inspired, he picked up the guitar at the age of 8, and as a teenager performed at open mics at the club where his sister worked. Before his 16th birthday, he was signed to Virgin/EMI. "I had to start singing to get all these songs out there...No one else was going to!"

Lerche's triumphs and travails of the last few years certainly left a mark; he moved to the U.S. and dealt with various practical matters (including some green card issues), forcing some delays. But he also recorded the soundtrack to the hit movie Dan in Real Life. And, most importantly, Lerche left his major label home and struck out on his own.

Heartbeat Radio, his most current offering, is certainly Lerche's boldest and most challenging record. While it maintains the studio polish of his groundbreaking debut, Faces Down, there is also a sense of musical adventure that stems from his later work. The songs mix acoustic guitars with grand gestures of orchestral pop, with elements of anything from 50s Jazz, via 60s and 70s Brazilian psych-folk to state-of-the-art 80s pop masters such as Prefab Sprout, Scritti Politti and Fleetwood Mac.

Kay Hanley - Work Is For Suckers

Kay Hanley is one of Boston’s best loved musicians who doesn’t live in Boston. Hailing from Dorchester, MA, she is now based in LA, continuing her prolific output with her newest project Palmdale (featuring Linus of Hollywood). Kay may be best known for her time as the frontwoman for Letters to Cleo. Since that band broke up in 2000, Kay has done everything from solo albums, various films, touring with Miley Cyrus, and singing the national anthem for the New England Patriots. Kay has also been a performer and spokesperson for the semiannual Red Sox-related Hot Stove Cool Music concert and fundraiser since its inception. In addition to donating a song to The Right Track, Kay also performed at TargetCancer’s first fundraiser and concert in October 2010.

Will Dailey is an artist on CBS Records. His music is usually described as fantastic. Dan Aquilante of the New York Post said, “Will Dailey is the real deal.” And while it is hard to know exactly what that means Dailey has shared the stage with greats ranging from Willie Nelson and Neil Young to Butch Walker and Wilco. His songs have appeared in numerous television shows. He made it through a performance on Late Night with Craig Ferguson without fainting. He has worked with Grammy and Oscar winning producer T Bone Burnett. He once received a bouquet of flowers from author Steven King. Hailing from Boston he is twice the winner of the Boston Music Award for Singer Songwriter. He’s released three critically lauded albums that, if you had two zeros on the end, have sold a combined 5 million copies! So there is hope for him. There is indeed promise and just maybe his is the real deal.

In addition to his solo work, production projects (Drake Bell, TV/TV, Air Traffic Controller, Chris Mann) and commercial tunesmithery (Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez, Hanson), Bleu has organized and/or lent his voice and playing to inventive side projects like the rock band The Major Labels (with his pals and fellow pop geeks Mike Viola and Ducky Carlisle); the one-off ELO tribute L.E.O. (featuring Andy Sturmer of power-pop legends Jellyfish, Hanson, Matt Mahaffey of Self, and countless other aficionados of Jeff Lynne’s musical confections); LoudLion (with Taylor Locke of Rooney); and numerous others.

He’s also toured widely, sharing stages of late with Rooney, The Posies, Katie Herzig, Graham Colton, Creed Bratton of The Office, John Doe, Mike Viola, Derek Webb and Drake Bell, joining Tracy Bonham for a string of dates in 2010, and performing intimate shows on his own - usually with just his acoustic guitar and an impressively large-sounding collection of loops and effects, but also sometimes as a duo with drummer Joe Seiders. Bleu’s highly personal new album, Four, follows on the heels of 2009’s critically admired A Watched Pot.

David Wax Museum, “one of Boston’s hottest new bands” (The Boston Globe), fuses exuberant Mexican roots music with homegrown country, folk and rock to create a unique Mexo-Americana sound.  With Latin rhythms, call-and-response hollering, accordion pumping and donkey jawbone rattling, they have won over audiences across the country. After making a splash at this year’s Newport Folk Festival, NPR’s All Songs Considered featured their performance as one of the highlights of the festival.

They have toured nationally with The Avett Brothers and the Old 97’s and shared the stage with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Ben Kweller, The Low Anthem and Nathaniel Rateliff. David Wax Museum receives consistent play on XM Sirius Radio's Acoustic Coffeehouse; The Boston Globe selected the band’s album Carpenter Bird for its top 10 local albums of 2009; and NPR recently featured them on a segment about Mexico-centric indie rock. A new album produced by Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter, Langhorne Slim, Erin McKeown) will be released in February 2011.

Kim Taylor - World to Come

While originally from sunny Florida, the smoky and emotionally dynamic music of Kim Taylor was birthed from the rolling  hills within the regionally ambiguous, socially complex milieu of  Cincinnati. And only the multifaceted cultural smattering within  America’s first great boom town could have cultivated the wide  range of pensive, soaring, and intimate songs that make up Little  Miracle, Kim’s latest album. Kim’s gorgeously raspy, jazz-informed vocals convey a welcome earnestness lost on so many so-called troubadors. A favorite of NPR’s World Cafe, and handpicked by Ron  Sexsmith, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, and Over the Rhine to  support, Taylor’s past success has all been leading up to her most  mature and expansive full length to date, Little Miracle. 

Having grown up in rural central Queensland, Australia, Kate’s music is unsurprisingly very grounded and earthy with strong honest lyrics and a fresh approach to folk/pop. The singer/songwriter who developed a love early on for the unpolished sound of folk, draws on personal experience to mould her music, but it is Kate’s sense of emotional honesty and openness on stage that truly connects her to her audience.

Her unassuming sense of humor and imagination can be experienced in the music video for The Life Raft; a stop motion animation produced by Kate on a budget of $20, using 934 photos and taking over 100 hours to create. The music video has now been watched extensively in over 48 countries around the world.

"Kate is blessed with a soulful voice and a great rapport with the audience... at times she disappeared into her songs to such an extent that she could've been on an island alone, or on stage in front of thousands, and wouldn't have known the difference... any lovers of folky pop or soulful singers will discover a rare gem in Kate Leahy." - Mathias Kuntz

"...one of the best unsigned bands to come out of Minneapolis since Prince and The Time."
- Rolling Stone Magazine

Not one to be restricted to categorization or industry labels, Sonnyboy is known as an urban misfit on the musical scene. A multi- layered artist whose talents have taken him all over the world, Sonnyboy (legal: Sheldon “Shel” Riser) is a musician, singer, composer, producer, and band leader. With five independently produced albums to his name, his latest work is The Barfly Theory – thirteen tracks of “Rock N’ Soul mixed with some good old funk.”

Taken in total, Sonnyboy’s musical genius reveals a mastery of soul, funk, rock, and hip hop. He has worked with artists on the Paisley Park label, the Parliament Funkadelic family, Mary Harris of Spearhead, and countless others. He has also shared the stage with Prince, The Black Crowes, The Skatalights, and has toured across the country and throughout Europe. His live performances have been dubbed as “high energy Fishbone meets James Brown” and Rolling Stone acclaimed the group as “…one of the best unsigned bands to come out of Minneapolis since Prince and The Time.”

Born Angry is a new project from Brett Anderson, lead singer of the all female rock band The Donnas. Anderson has written, recorded, and toured with The Donnas for 17 exciting years and counting. Aim Twice, Shoot Once is the first Born Angry release.

In this song, the lyrics and music draw from the past and future, illustrating imaginary memories of being a child outlaw in the Wild West. Elements of Folk and Americana combine to create a torch song gone awry.

Longtime touring friend and recent collaborator Darian Zahedi, of Mack Winston and the Reflections, produced and performed on the track at his studio in Los Angeles California.

Joining the ensemble are Joey Valentine, also from Mack Winston and the Reflections, on drums, and Nate Walcott, of Bright Eyes, on trumpet. Mastering magic by Jay Ruston.

Before forming State Radio, Chad Stokes was well known to US college students as the voice behind rock band Dispatch. Forged from Stokes’ artistic response to the social and political fires burning across the globe, State Radio come armed with progressive political ideals and an infectious blend of rock, punk, and reggae beats, Stokes and band mates - Chuck Fay on bass and Mad Dog on drums - are creating songs with a conscience.

Us Against The Crown, the band’s debut self-released full length, was an introduction to Stokes’ commitment to the under-dog. Songs like “Camilo,” written about Camilo Mejía, an Iraqi war veteran and imprisoned conscientious objector and “Mr. Larkin,” championing the rights of the elderly and disabled, let fans know what drives this band. The music did not go unheard – Us Against The Crown has scanned over 28,000 units.

Year of The Crow, the second release on State Radio’s own Ruff Shod Records, continues to be the band’s best forum for expressing their thoughts on today’s political landscape. “Guantanamo,” the opening track, rails against the atrocities committed at the famous detention center. “CIA” and “Gang of Thieves” highlight the misappropriation of funds and the abuse of power reported in the newspaper every day. Recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios in Wiltshire, England with the acclaimed producer Tchad Blake (Pearl Jam, Soul Coughing and Peter Gabriel), Year of The Crow captures the band’s live energy and spirit.

As a teenager, Stokes attention soon shifted from his first instrument, the trombone, to a borrowed guitar, and he began writing songs at the age of 14. Before going to college, Chad spent six months teaching children in Zimbabwe. His experiences there cultivated the seeds of socio-political activism that had first been planted by the music of Bob Dylan and Bob Marley. Seeing firsthand the inequity of life in Zimbabwe raised his awareness, and to this day influences the music he writes and the life he lives.

Stokes’ eagerness for social change also expands to “How’s Your News?” a news show where the reporters are all in some way disabled. Traveling across the globe, the “How’s Your News?” reporters conduct interviews on street corners with their own style and charisma. Backed by South Park’s creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the original “How’s Your News?” documentary played every major film festival worldwide and ultimately was picked up in the US by HBO/Cinemax. Currently, “How’s Your News?” is in production for their first made-for-television series to be broadcast on the MTV Networks.

A classically-trained vocalist, violinist and pianist, Tracy Bonham is a Grammy-nominated performer and songwriter with four studio albums to her credit.  Having performed with everyone from Blue Man Group to The Boston Pops, she has drawn accolades from publications as wide-ranging as Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Mother Jones.  Meanwhile, her music has been featured in countless outlets from "The L Word" and "Brothers & Sisters" to "What About Brian" and "Rock Star: Supernova."  Tracy's latest album, "Masts Of Manhatta," was self-produced and is scheduled for July 13, 2010 release through Engine Room Recordings.

An achingly beautiful rendition of a timeless James Taylor classic by Joe Pernice and John Cunningham.

Over a 15-year career in music, Pernice has made 13 full-length records. he began in the mid-90's with Scud Mountain Boys, who released two albums (Pine Box and Dance the Night Away, later compiled as The Early Year) before signing to Sub Pop and releasing Massachusetts, considered by many to be an alt-country masterpiece. In 1998, Pernice disbanded the Scuds and assembled Pernice Brothers, recording Overcome By Happiness (Sub Pop) called "a startling slice of beauty" by The New York Times and "A thing of pernicious beauty indeed" by The Irish Times. In 1999 and 2000, he released two records, under the names Chappaquiddick Skyline and Big Tobacco. (More or less considered solo records, they do feature assorted members of the Pernice family circus, so that designation is a bit misleading. This naming inconsistency also dogs the enterprise to this day, and therefore, Pernice promises to call everything Pernice Brothers from now on, until he changes his mind.)

Marissa Nadler - Hyacinth

Marissa Nadler is an American dream-folk and fine artist based in Boston. She grew up in a small town in Massachusetts. She studied painting at Rhode Island School of Design but song-writing became her favored artistic outlet. While exploring old artistic techniques such as illustration, painting, bookbinding, woodcarving and encaustic painting, she also began to hone her songwriting craft. She is a self taught guitarist, who as a teenager learned to play in a style similar to Cotton picking, playing a steady bass pattern with the thumb and filling out syncopated rhythms with the index finger. She is also self-taught as a singer.

Her voice was described by the popular online music website Pitchfork Media as "a voice you would follow straight into Hades." She is known for her dreamy, atmospheric music, that, although rooted in folk traditions, is more ethereal than earthy. Her music was recently described as "ethereal reverberations" in the New York Times. In the Boston Globe, her voice and music is described : "She has a voice that, in mythological times, could have lured men to their deaths at sea, an intoxicating soprano drenched in gauzy reverb that hits bell-clear heights, lingers, and tapers off like rings of smoke. Hardly anyone considers Nadler a folk musician."

Music critics describe Nadler's songs as having American Gothic leanings; her stories often take place in an imagined, idealistic time with a cast of characters of her own creation. Yet, in recent years, it has emerged that the characters are less make believe than listeners thought and are based on real people, and their real lives, which she revealed in an interview with the music website Stereogum.com. Her links to American Gothic are reinforced by "Annabelle Lee," the last song on her debut album, Ballads of Living and Dying, which puts the poem of the same title by Edgar Allan Poe to a musical backing. Singing in a haunting mezzo-soprano, the foundation of her songs are her delicate acoustic guitar, often accompanied by a variety of instruments, ranging from organ to theremin to electric guitar.

Marissa Nadler released her first album, Ballads of Living and Dying, on Eclipse Records in 2004; her follow-up, The Saga of Mayflower May, was released in July 2005. Both records were distributed in the US by Eclipse Records, and by the UK label Beautiful Happiness in Europe. Eclipse Records' Ed Hardy, who runs a mostly vinyl record label formerly in the desert of Bullhead City Arizona, is credited by Marissa herself as having brought her into the musical world. Marissa released her third record Songs III: Bird on the Water on Peacefrog Records in Europe on March 12, 2007. The album was released in the US and Canada on August 12, 2007 by Kemado Records.

Songs III: Bird on the Water was nominated for two PLUG awards in 2008: best female artist of the year, and best Americana record of the year. Marissa won "Outstanding Singer-Songwriter of the Year" in the 2008 Boston Music Awards, with three nominations altogether. Her fourth full-length record, Little Hells, was released March 3, 2009, receiving high praise from many critics including 4-star reviews from magazines such as MOJO, Rolling Stone in France and Germany, Uncut, and Q. It received an 8.3 from Pitchforkmedia.com, with critic Grayson Currin writing, "Surrounded by little else but her own melancholy, Nadler sums up her career's existential despair: "Ghosts and lovers/ They will haunt you for a while," she sings. And while they do, Little Hells suggests through 10 of Nadler's best songs yet, the sadness will either kill you or keep you going."

Recorded over six months, Stay Epic is the newest offering from the politics pushing Boston band Dear Leader. This driving alt-rock rally-recorded by Paul Q. Kolderie (Pixies, Radiohead, Hole)-evokes traditions of New Order, The Smiths and the Pixies and places the band alongside contemporaries Interpol, The Doves, and the Rapture.

Singer/songwriter Aaron Perrino contends that he founded Dear Leader, which arose from the ashes of his old band, The Sheila Divine (Roadrunner). Despite a devoted following and prestigious billings with acts such as Coldplay, Morrissey, At The Drive-In and David Bowie, the band called it quits in 2003. Perrino, a frugal workaholic, quickly penned a dozen songs and with drum machines, computers, and the help of boy genius John Dragonetti, recorded The Good Times Are Killing Me LP and War Chords EP.

Then came the triumphant All I Ever Wanted Was Tonight and the buzz saw guitars of The Alarmist. But “Making Stay Epic was a completely different process… as Paul Kolderie would come in and change the song arrangements on the spot which gave a real freshness and urgency to the recording. Halfway through the recording process, an engineer turned the wrong knob and super-compressed Perrino's vocals. "When that happened, it sounded like I was singing in a crowded club, and it was easy to deliver the goods." This is evident throughout the record as Perrino's soaring vocals evoke Morrissey, Thom York, and lamentably, The Vienna Boys Choir.

While spending days at a time with Mr. Kolderie’s vast arsenal of amps and effects guitarist Will Claflin arrived at the album's signature guitar sound, equal parts New Order and U2 with a dash of brit-pop. Drummer Paul Buckley takes no shortcuts with his Manchester-by-way-of-amphetamines beats -- outpacing the drum machines at every pass. Bassist Jon Sulkow brings Buckley back to earth only when necessary, happy to fly along with him.

Whether you believe, it is undeniable that what holds Dear Leader together is the desire to make records like their heroes!

The Los Straitjackets has been making its brand of raucous, instrumental rock since 1994 and has become known as one of the most dynamic and skillful instrumental bands on the planet. Their renowned live show is filled with mind-bending guitar theatrics, group choreography and fuzzed-out experiments in high fidelity rock and roll showmanship.

And, don’t forget the wrestling masks each band member wears onstage. Right before the band’s first gig—back when they were still just The Straitjackets—Amis pulled out a bag of wrestling masks he’d bought in Mexico City. The Los Straitjackets were born. In the past few years, this gimmick has been brought full circle as the band’s last two gigs in Mexico City have been in front of stadium-sized crowds.

The band’s music can also be heard in on soundtracks for TV shows including Malcolm in the Middle and at least 10 feature films, including Meet the Parents, Harriet the Spy, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Two Days in the Valley. They appear as themselves in Psycho Beach Party.

They are also a favorite of NBC funny man Conan O’Brien and have appeared on his Late Night program about a half dozen times, most recently in January to perform “Fortune Cookie,” from new album The Further Adventures of Los Straitjackets.

Scarce was poised for a national breakthrough in the late 90's when the lead singer Chick Graning sustained a brain injury a week before Deadsexy was to be released. The release of the album was postponed, and Graning then spent the next nine months re-learning how to walk, how to talk, and then how to play his guitar and sing his songs. After his injury, however, Graning found that he and Joyce Raskin had drifted apart both musically and emotionally, and, shortly after the US release of Deadsexy the band broke up. Bassist Joyce Raskin wrote ACHING TO BE, a book about the experience that resulted in the band re-forming and playing their first-and sold out show in 11 years in Boston in the fall of ‘07. This past fall they toured the UK and Scotland to promote the release of Sally Irivine’s documentary about the band called “Days Likes These” and are set to release new tracks in 2010.

Rivers Cuomo (vocals, guitar)
Pat Wilson (guitar, drums)
Brian Bell (guitar, vocals)
Scott Shriner (bass, vocals)

Raditude’s swift appearance on the heels of 2008’s The Red Album is hardly the only surprise Weezer has in store on its seventh record. Raditude upends any expectations audiences may have of Weezer, amplifying their trademarks to a dizzying degree – the pop hooks dig deeper, the rock hits so hard it bruises – but the group subverts these signatures with a sly hand while pushing boldly into new territory.

Perhaps the collaborative nature of Raditude – arguably its calling card – is in the collective spirit of the band’s experience on their last tour. “It feels like an extension of all the fun we were having last year with the Hootenannies,” explains Rivers Cuomo, referring to Weezer’s innovative supporting tour for The Red Album. Inspired by the old folk sing-a-longs of the ‘60s, Weezer invited fans onstage- hundreds, at times- to play the band’s songs, teaching them the chords while Rivers, Brian and Scott sang.

The wild, wooly settings borne of the Hootenannies couldn’t help but push the band in new directions, turning Rivers into a demonstrative performer. “For 15 years I went onstage and looked at my feet as I strummed my guitar,” recalls Rivers. “That wouldn’t work at the Hootenannies! We had to come out of our shell. We feel like the experience of doing it was boot camp for being frontmen. If we’re comfortable walking into a room of a few hundred kids with random instruments, guiding them through the process of playing some Weezer tunes, we can feel comfortable in an arena, knowing that we can interact with a more traditional crowd.”

With its rollicking communal spirit, Weezer’s latest offering can be viewed as a natural progression from those resulting impromptu jam sessions. Raditude sees the band partying with Lil’ Wayne, hitting the clubs with Jermaine Dupri and bringing in a host of Indian musicians to push the band into a psychedelic, spiritual dimension. Within these 10 songs lie boundless possibilities and ceaseless excitement, proof that Weezer remains a band that defies easy summations and can never be taken for granted, a band who has grown as they’ve opened their horizons.

Part of Raditude’s charm comes from its thrilling unpredictability. No song offers an indication of what’s next: Weezer inverts Jermaine Dupri’s hedonism on his Cuomo collaboration “Can’t Stop Partying,” spinning it into a minor key that gives it an underlying ironic tension; the band pounds out a classic arena-rocker with the gleefully lascivious “The Girl Got Hot;” they ride a sleek electro groove on “I’m Your Daddy,” while “Love is the Answer” builds slowly, surely to its swaying anthemic close and “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” kicks it all off with its clanking acoustic guitars and Motown beat, setting the tone for an album that’s filled with thrilling surprises, infectious melodies, marrying Weezer’s hookiest pop with their heaviest rock. As Cuomo says, “It sounds like a roomful of people having a great time” but more than that, Raditude is Weezer’s wildest, weirdest, best record yet, easily supporting Cuomo’s assertion that “Raditude feels like the greatest realization of my musical goals.”

Raditude caps off a remarkable decade that saw Weezer reassert its position as one of the biggest, best rock bands in the world while also seeing their influence echo through a generation who absorbed the sound and feel of the group’s two classic ‘90s albums: their self-titled 1994 debut, dubbed The Blue Album featuring such era-defining hits as “Undone—The Sweater Song” and “Buddy Holly” and their cult classic 1996 sophomore set Pinkerton. Weezer refused to ride on those past glories when they returned in 2001 with The Green Album, sounding vigorous on the hits “Hash Pipe” and “Island in the Sun.” The hard, heavy Maladroit, featuring “Dope Nose” and “Keep Fishin’,” followed in 2002. Three years later, Weezer released Make Believe in 2005, an album highlighted by “Beverly Hills,” their first single to climb into the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The Red Album arrived in 2008 along with the single “Pork and Beans” whose YouTube-satirizing video won Weezer their first Grammy.

Ween is a prodigiously talented and deliriously odd duo whose work has traveled far beyond the constraints of parody and novelty into the heart of surrealist ecstasy. Despite a mastery for seemingly every mutation of the musical spectrum, the group refuses to play it straight; in essence, Ween are bratty deconstructionists, kicking dirt on the pop world around them with demented glee. The band's razor-sharp satire cuts to the inherently silly heart of rock & roll with hilariously acute savagery; fueled by psilocybin mushrooms and an all-consuming craving for hot meals, Ween has created their own self-contained universe, a parallel dimension where the only sacred cow is their own demon god, the Boognish. La Cucaracha, Ween's latest album, is an eclectic, dark, humorous, and bizarre assortment of songs, which even features saxophonist David Sanborn on one track. In other words, it's a typical Ween record. Thirteen tracks which can be at once joyful, morbid, humorous, and often frightening. From the tenderly introspective "Lullaby" to the disturbingly offensive "My Own Bare Hands," Ween pulls no punches on the album, which achieves its power through sharp wit, clever songwriting, and brutal honesty.

The Donnas are a band of influence, survivors in an industry known more for comet casualties than career success stories. And the Donnas really are a savvy, brazen success story; they are the American Rock n’ Roll Machine.

The legend begins in a Palo Alto junior high school in Northern California where four self-described “dorky pre-teen girls” form a rock n’ roll band at the age of 13 in 1993, under the influence of KISS, Motley Crue, and the Ramones. Over the course of the next 16 years, eight ever-evolving, critically acclaimed rock n' roll albums are released. The Donnas jet-set the planet several times over to an ever-expanding, international fan base of rabid “Donnaholics." From Palo Alto to the stages of Letterman and Saturday Night Live, to the pages of Rolling Stone and the cover of Billboard, The Donnas have grown up to become one of the best female rock groups of all time.

Sixteen sweet years later, the exact original line-up remains intact: Brett Anderson on lead vocals, Maya Ford on bass,Allison Robertson on guitar and Torry Castellano on drums–a steadfast longevity that is testament to their deep four-way friendship and career dedication. But there is a vast divide between the awkward tweens of the 1990s and The Donnas of the 2000s. Besides utterly poker-hot musicianship, the gorgeous foursome has entered into a new chapter of maturity, comfort, and nostalgia, looking back on their long career of growing up Donnas.

Cowboy Junkies - In My Time of Need

Cowboy Junkies are a Canadian alternative rock band. The group was formed in Toronto in 1985 by Michael (songwriter, guitarist), Margo (vocalist) and Peter Timmins (drummer), and Alan Anton (bassist). Their 1986 debut album, produced by Peter Moore, was the blues-inspired Whites Off Earth Now!!, recorded using an ambisonic microphone in the family garage. The group's fame spread with their second album, The Trinity Session, which was recorded in 1987 at Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity and featured their hit cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane.” Their sound, again using the ambisonic microphone, and their mix of blues, country, folk, rock and jazz earned them critical attention, a million-selling album, and a large following. The Los Angeles Times named the recording as one of the ten best albums of 1988. The group has continued to tour North America, Europe, Japan and Australia with extensive North American and European tours following album releases over the past 20 years. In 2008, they released Trinity Revisited, a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the original recording of The Trinity Session, featuring guest appearances from Natalie Merchant, Ryan Adams, and Vic Chesnutt.

Dean & Britta - International Velvet Theme (Caledonia Mix)

Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips, former members of Luna. Started by Wareham in 1992, Luna made 7 studio albums and played their final shows in February 2005. Tell Me Do You Miss Me is the film documentary about the band's final tour. Prior to Luna, Dean fronted Galaxie 500. Britta joined Luna in 2000. Before that, she played in several bands, starred in the movie Satisfaction (with Julia Roberts and Justine Bateman and Liam Neeson and Steve Cropper), and was the singing voice of ‘80s cartoon character, JEM. In 2003 Dean and Britta released L'Avventura, an album of covers and duets produced by Tony Visconti (Bowie, T. Rex). L'Avventura was recently released on the duo's own record label, Double Feature, and includes bonus tracks from the Sonic Souvenirs EP (remixes by Sonic Boom). Their 2nd album, Back Numbers was also produced by Visconti, and released on Zoe/Rounder Records on February 27, 2007. Dean & Britta have scored several films, most notably Noah Baumbach's The Squid & the Whale. Their current project is 13 Most Beautiful...Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, a project commissioned by the Andy Warhol Museum and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. The Screen Tests are silent film portraits that Andy Warhol shot at the Factory between 1964 and 1966. The subjects - both famous and anonymous - were visitors to Warhol's studio. The live show is a multi-media presentation, where Dean and Britta perform onstage with their band (Anthony Lamarca and Matt Sumrow), while the Warhol films are projected overhead. 13 Most Beautiful... is currently available on DVD from Plexifilm.

Linda Pettifer was born in London in 1948 to an ex-variety girl who called herself Vera Love, daughter of a vaudevillian. Linda was 6 when the family moved to a nice neighborhood in the notoriously rough city of Glasgow - her mother's hometown - where her father opened a TV repair shop. Linda appeared briefly in local folk clubs circa 1966, under the spell of "The Times They Are A-Changing," then left in '67 to pursue a degree at London University. Modern languages proved a tough discipline for a girl to maintain if she seriously wanted to be a folk singer. She quit school after 4 months and hit the coffee-houses full time, careful to conceal her day job as a jingle singer from the purists.

She soon found her element, falling in with Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, John Martyn, John Renbourn, and producer Joe Boyd. A sound was born and passions ran high; there were various pairings, musical and otherwise, accidents and deaths. The chronology is murky now, even to her.

With her marriage to Richard Thompson and the release of I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight, Linda's name became linked inextricably to her husband's. She was keenly aware of the reverence for his previous muse, Sandy Denny - a reverence she shared - and that gossip held that anyone could shine given the great Richard Thompson's songs to sing. But the truth was - and is - that she possesses a remarkable instrument. Certainly her husband knew the spell she could cast and wrote a trove of darkly dramatic songs for her: "Withered and Died," "Dimming of the Day," Walking on a Wire," "For Shame of Doing Wrong," "A Heart Needs a Home." She sang them all into the folk-rock lexicon with grace and authority.

In 1985 she released One Clear Moment, her first solo recording, with seven of her own compositions. The title track can be heard as a precursor to the grown-woman's rock that Bonnie Raitt was to distill years later; another ballad, "Telling Me Lies" written with Betsy Cook, was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Country Song category. Sales were disappointing however, and by 1989 a formal diagnosis of hysterical dysphonia had been made. The vocal condition was unresponsive to treatment, medical or psychological; musically, she seemed finished. She raised her children, traveled the world with her husband, became a partner in an antique jewelry stall in Bond Street, did studio and theater work, enjoyed some success as a songwriter.

In 2003, she made an amazing return to form with a brand new album, and her second ever tour of the US. The aptly titled Fashionably Late was, of course, several years in the making, the sustained vision of the artist and her producer, Edward Haber, who also assembled the retrospective compilation of her work, Dreams Fly Away, in 1996. Chief concert recording engineer for WNYC, the New York outlet for National Public Radio, Haber captures, rather than manufactures, sound. There are no special effects here, no audio pyrotechnics. Just that voice, and exquisite musicianship. Her dysphonia is under control these days; in fact, she has appeared on stage in recent years with the Royal National Theatre and with the avant popist David Thomas, of Pere Ubu fame. Her children are grown - her middle child, Teddy Thompson, is a serenely gifted musician in his own right, and on Fashionably Late, served as her extraordinary music partner.

She remains obsessed with the deep British folk music that she and her circle reanimated with the electricity of rock and roll. Like all great folk singers - Sandy Denny in particular, Richard's partner in Fairport Convention in whose shadow she sometimes felt herself to stand - Linda Thompson has an ancient voice, wilting, wounded and wise. She sings with the conviction of an eyewitness of thieves, beggars, drunks, street urchins and circus freaks, spurned lovers and murdering swine, centuries-gone.

Mike Viola is best known as singer, songwriter and musical architect of the Candy Butchers, a highly regarded indie pop-rock band from New York that recorded three critically acclaimed albums for Sony, including 2003's fan favorite Hang on Mike.

Viola's film work began a decade ago as the co-producer and lead singer of the title track That Thing You Do!, which went on to earn an Oscar® nomination for Best Original Song.

The latest Jake Kasdan/Judd Apatow film, Walk Hard starring John C. Reilly, features songs written by Mike. A spoof on the Hollywood music biopic, Walk Hard is a perfect playground for Viola's subversive, witty lyrics and catchy-pop expertise.

Viola joined the indie ranks in 2005 when he released an album of new songs on his own label, Good Morning Monkey Records. Recorded live at Largo in L.A., Just Before Dark showcases Mike's sharp abilities as a live performer. Once available on his website, mikeviola.com, the vinyl-only album sold out in three months.

His latest album, Lurch, is alive with the classic-pop euphoria and vivid storybook imagery that Viola's fans have come to treasure. Lurch has captured audiences internationally, thanks to tracks like album-opener Maybe, Maybe Not and first single So Much Better, which charted in Denmark.

As signed worldwide to EMI Music Publishing, Viola remains a prolific songwriter and/or producer on a multitude of projects. His work can be heard on Amanda Leigh, the recent release by Mandy Moore -- for whom he is also Musical Director in addition to collaborations with Inara George, Tim Christensen, Dan Bern, Steve McEwan, Kelly Jones, Ryan Adams, Drake Bell, Bleu, Adam Schlesinger, John C. Reilly, Mary Wood, Sam Bisbee, The Gentlemen, John Wesley Harding, and Ben Romans.

The kids today, they've got it easy. With all this webernet and porta-twitter happiness happening today, the serious music fans have access to mind blowing amounts of downloadable shit, lp blogs, streaming customized radio, a miasma of cross linked and referenced music geek splendor.

Growing up on the mean streets of upper middle class suburbia, the once skinny white boys of Buffalo Tom had no such advantage. These boys were faced with the dark reality of checking out laminate-bagged records from the town library and making regular trips to the town dump to look for music scraps in the swap shack. They'd beg their moms to leave them in the city for the day so they could stand in record stores all day reading the backs of LPs, 45s and the insides of fanzines to glean any bit of info about any and every rock band.

And so it was at Buffalo Tom's inception, the trio attempted to put the aggregate heap of their collected knowledge and experience into something cool and maybe even meaningful. They mounted their first (non)legendary college house party gigs, the young, nervous and sweaty former soccer players and stage band vets valiantly performed their rock numbers displaying not fine chops, but certainly impeccable influences(this is excepting perhaps the rumored infatuation by Tom the drummer with the English band Fad Gadget.) Stones, VU, The Clash, Husker Du, Sonic Youth, you know.

Initially, Buffalo Tom appealed mostly to the local pimply rock boys with a lust for fuzz, volume and a show of rock power. But in short time, they were finding some mass success. They quickly found a European audience and record label and their long stints at Hamburg's fabled Kino Disco Strasse marked a scandalous end of innocence for the boys. But in the face of all this, um personal growth, the band was showing a serious talent for melody and pop smarts. Within two years all members were professional enough to face the audience during concerts, Chris and Bill were getting confident enough to sing and not scream for entire god-damn shows and broken guitar strings were peppered, not ladled throughout their sets. Books, movies and poetry were always in the songs somewhere, but by now, the depth that you always suspected was there, you could actually be certain was, in fact, there.

Buffalo Tom songs work because of their tendency to disarm you with their hot bloodedness and then surprise you with some very smart, sharp lyrics. Not sure about this, but they seem to be singing about eyesockets, clobbered mountains, a Ford Pinto, soiled laundry, ghosts, demons, drugs, and a mass of bloody heartbreak.

The band followed the indie-cool SST records days with bigger deals with Beggars Banquet and various stateside labels including RCA, Elektra and Polydor.

Flash way forward past a stack of great records and eventually a nine year break from record making, Buffalo Tom is back with the new cd, Three Easy Pieces. This new one marks a return to a ramshackle, piecemeal style of record making that the band started with. Middle to later period Buffalo Tom records were done with band members meeting up to exchange personally recorded demos, weeding them out, writing and rehearsing for six months or a year and booking a studio to record and mix the whole record over a month or so, all in one fell swoop. But on this new one, the band went into the rehearsal studio and threw hooks and melodies at each other in real time, rarely analyzing or even talking about the music. The music was allowed to sprout organically or die in the same way. Recording mostly live in one room at at Q Division Studios in Boston, the songs keep a spontaneous feel.

The records starts with a steady amble in "Bad Phone Call," with Chris and Bill trading vocals parts that touch on guilt, longing, sadness and redemption. Any ordinary bloke will relate to the song and Buffalo Tom all told, because while the band invites you to feel the pain, they never deliver it in a big sad-sack.

In "You'll Never Catch Him," Bill could be singing about confronting a friend; "I went to face him, You know I almost hurt him, I had so many questions but he had to leave." In fact the song grew out of an exchange Bill had with his daughter in his backyard. As she was chasing a chipmunk, he told her, "you'll never catch him," Her response; "that's what everybody says to me."

The track, "Three Easy Pieces" describes starting your own family, blindly trying to keep everything in order, then seeing the only thing you can rely on in the end is chaos – you can't really control anything. The song wisely embraces the chaos with guitars and drums that spit at each other one moment but find a nice flow and harmony the next. And just like the folks in the song, Buffalo Tom has learned some lessons about control. Bill says, when talking about making records, "I think the band started to get too controlling of variables that we assumed we knew how to control, like songwriting and recording. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing." So while the more tightly controlled records wrought great results, getting back to something more improvisational was the perfect spark.

This is all classic BT, full of soaring vocals, sometimes punky, warm, occasionally weird, with cinematic sweep and real beauty all in there. There is a miracle in the hooking up of these guys – the good fortune of a few pals finding each other and bringing exactly the right combustive, combative elements to make a great band.

Thomas Allen and Sarah Cronin met in 2006 while working at the Middle East Club in Cambridge, MA. After trading secret demos of their own songs, Tommy persuaded Sarah to combine forces. They spent their first date drinking whiskey in bed and playing each other songs on an old guitar. They’ve been inseparable ever since. Several months later, they christened themselves Drug Rug, a name which has made strangers laugh and parents cry. The songs are inspired by the storytelling style of early folk musicians, comic books, campgrounds, funny hats, and the illustrations of Garth Williams.

Drug Rug's self-titled debut record melted hearts and ears, and earned them rave reviews and comparisons to some of rock's greatest duos. ‘Paint the Fence Invisible’ is certain to keep these trends going. While running the stylistic gamut, from the country duets of Ken and Dolly to the Pet Sound's harmonies of Brian Wilson, Drug Rug still stays true to their rock n' roll roots including The Velvet Underground and The Byrds. ‘Paint The Fence Invisible’ displays Tommy & Sarah's growth as true artists.

After touring with both Fiery Furnaces and Dr. Dog, the band's honed musicianship and lush vocals were laid down on tape with the help of Carter Tanton (Tulsa), Julian Cassanetti & Jeremy Black (Apollo Sunshine). The album was recorded primarily in a haunted house located in the Catskill Mountains of New York and their hi-fi approach to lo-fi aesthetics were effectively crafted. The result is a different and memorable record by a rock-duo who make their own rules. The magic captured feels both timely and timeless...sometimes at the same time. They believe in the imminent end of the world and will destroy each other with love before the apocalypse.

In 1995, Jed Parish, Lucky Jackson, Ed Valauskas and Pete Caldes came to Boston as The Gravel Pit -- an accomplished young rock band from New Haven, CT, seasoned by a few years of high-energy club gigs and a solid indie debut (Crash Land, on Feralette Records) based on influences like the Clash and The Undertones. Gradually incorporating a range of influences from mod to metal and invested with Parish's extraordinary gifts as a songwriter and singer, the band quickly generated a buzz on the Boston scene. Their early fans included such local pop stars as Kay Hanley and Jen Trynin, whose spirited support helped to bring the Pit to the attention of their Boston-based indie label, Q Division Records.

Within a year of their arrival in Boston, The Gravel Pit released the first of four Q Division releases. The Gravel Pit Manifesto (with pop-maestro producer Mike Denneen), was a brightly original, power-pop gem that earned them Best Indie Album and Best New Band at the 1996 Boston Music Awards. Their wildly energetic live shows and diverse catalogue of power-pop gems kept the momentum going strong for the next three years.

They played hundreds of dates, opened for acts as diverse as Graham Parker, Cheap Trick, Gang of Four and Morphine, and released three more records on Q,: 1997's full-length No One Here Gets In For Free -- Rare and Unreleased 1989-1997; the 1998 hit single "Favorite," produced by Denneen; and 1999's full-length Silver Gorilla, also with Denneen, which amassed critical raves across the country, from Raygun to Entertainment Weekly. The Gravel Pit won the Boston Regional Poll at the 2001 Independent Music Awards.

After their national Silver Gorilla tour, without the big break of a major label deal and commercial exposure, the band decided to tone down their intense live performance schedule and spread out their efforts for a while. Valauskas, Jackson and Caldes formed The Gentlemen, a hugely popular hard-rock act, with Mike Gent of the Figgs. Parish has been exploring the vast and varied terrain of his musical tastes as a solo artist.

Their separate explorations have not diminished their collective chemistry. With the release of Mass Avenue Freeze-out, their CD on Q Division, The Gravel Pit comes together to stake another claim as one of the most inspired power-pop outfits on the American independent music scene today.

Happy Ending's Carl Bishop wrote the song donated here, "Through Your Eyes," in tribute to his best friend and the founder of TargetCancer, Paul Poth.

Happy Ending is Carl Bishop and Michael Goodenow. Having grown up in the Western NY escarpment cities of Buffalo and Rochester respectively, they met later in life at school. Carl, the teacher had Michael as a student in class. Carl, also the lyricist and singer was looking for a musical collaborator and found one in composer and guitarist Michael. They both decided that the world needed more melodic pop rock songs about human weakness, animal strength and love saving the day.

Happy Ending draws its inspiration from the free association of Wilco and oblique worldviews of Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. Their music is epic, sweeping, and Americana-tinged, while combining elements that are delicate, yet powerful.

The songwriting of Carl and Michael is heavily influenced by the undeniable pop of the 80’s, from hit makers as diverse as R.E.M, the Cure and U2 to Joe Jackson, Duran Duran, and A-ha. Carl and Michael have set out to write melodic and memorable songs that tell stories reflecting true life, love, pain, and triumph.

After recording a few demos that reflected their singer-songwriter minds and rock band hearts, Happy Ending caught the ears and interest of award winning NYC Producer Jimi Zhivago and Grammy winning engineer Brian Thorn and began recording at The Magic Shop in April of 2009. Carl and Michael kept the project personal by playing most of the tracks themselves, while Zhivago filled in on additional instruments. The result is their debut album “Turn it On,” set to be released March 5th 2010.

Happy Ending’s sound is reminiscent of indie-rock bands such as Death Cab For Cutie, The Shins, Wilco, Spoon, The Swell Season, Phoenix, Ryan Adams, and Ben Kweller, among others.