These United States is a musical group from Washington, D.C. and Lexington, KY, made up of songwriter and bandleader Jesse Elliott, pedal steel and electric guitarist J. Tom Hnatow, drummer and vocalist Robby Cosenza, guitarist and keyboardist Justin Craig, and bassist and vocalist Colin Kellogg. The band released two albums in 2008, one in 2009, and one in 2010, all via Colorado-based record label United Interests.
When not playing in his full-time gig with Wilco, New Jersey native-via-Chicagoan-via-Brooklynite Mikael Jorgensen crafts pitch-perfect pop songs under the moniker of Pronto. The full story begins all the way back in 1995, the golden age of indie-rock, when Jorgensen was growing weary of the limitations of pop music. Fueled by healthy amounts of art school cynicism and the post-adolescent desire to create something unique, Movere Workshop was formed in the basement of a house in Leonardo, New Jersey.
Bad Veins is an indie rock duo from Cincinnati, Ohio, composed of Benjamin Davis and Sebastien Schultz. The band released their debut self-titled album on Dangerbird Records. Davis primarily writes the music, plays guitar and keyboard, and sings, while also recording backtracking music on a reel-to-reel tape player, nicknamed Irene. Schultz plays the drums. Davis also uses a megaphone and telephone to sing into, producing an unique sound.
Juliana Hatfield (born July 27, 1967 in Wiscasset, Maine, United States), is an American guitarist/singer-songwriter from the Boston area, formerly of the indie rock band Blake Babies. The daughter of Philip M. Hatfield (a radiologist) and The Boston Globe fashion critic Julie Hatfield, Juliana was born in Maine and grew up in the Boston suburb of Duxbury. She acquired a love of rock music during the 1970s, having been introduced by a babysitter to the music of the seminal Los Angeles punk rock band X, which proved a life-changing experience.
Mac Lethal is a hip-hop/folk artist from Kansas City, MO. After getting his start as a battle rapper at the prestigious, world renowned freestyle battle festival Scribble Jam, he shattered the stigma that battle rappers cannot write quality songs and began to self-release his own quirky music. Quickly he began to catch the attention of artists like Sage Francis, P.O.S, and Atmosphere, who he subsequently toured with.
Will Johnson is the frontman of both the alt-country bands Centro-matic and South San Gabriel. He played drums in the band Funland prior to these groups and has played solo throughout his career. He recently released an album with Magnolia Electric Co. frontman Jason Molina under the name Molina & Johnson. He is also the performing drummer for the band Monsters of Folk.
"They say the god of the wind lives / in a house made of straw." - Paleo, from "Hello & Behold" off A View Of The Sky For the last 5 years, living in a car, booking his own shows, producing all his own music, Paleo has become something of a mantlepiece in the American house show circuit. His tour history is a database for kindred spirits: over 700 shows across the US, about 150 a year since 2005. Daytrotter's Sean Moeller playfully crowned him their "Poet Laureate" in 2007.
Jana Hunter is a songwriter and musician, and was born in Texas. She is now(2010) based in Baltimore. She has recently(2009) formed a new band named Lower Dens and toured the USA with Future Islands(2010). She is signed to Gnomonsong, a record label run by Devendra Banhart and Vetiver's Andy Cabic. Her solo debut album Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom was the label's debut release. She later completed her second album "There's No Home" as well as "Carrion EP".
After walking away from huge hype and a major label deal in 1999, disappearing completely, UK's Merz (Conrad Lambert to his mum) returned in 2005 with his 2nd album, the critically lauded, Loveheart (released by UK indie Gronland Records). His third album, Moi et Mon Camion (released by Gronland in March 2008), produced the same kind of acclaim from all corners with its mixture of beautiful balladeering, heartfelt tunes, intricate production and a display of Merz