G. Love & Special Sauce is an alternative blues and hip-hop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed in 1992, the trio are known for their unique "laid back" blues sound. The trio released their first album; self titled, in 1994 on Okeh/Epic, a subsidiary of Sony Music. On the strength of the single "Cold Beverage", in part due to MTV rotation, the album nearly went gold. After which, trying to capitalize on the success of the album, the group toured heavily, eventually landing a spot on the H.O.R.D.E. tour. In 1995 they released their follow up album Coast to Coast Motel. Though it did not sell as well as the first album, it is generally considered among critics as the stronger of the two albums. On tour following the release of the second album the group nearly broke up, due to bickering of finances. Deciding on a hiatus the three members went their separate ways, working on various side projects. By October 1997 the group had reconciled their differences and released their third album, Yeah, It's That Easy, which along with their own work, showcased their collaboration with several other bands and musicians, including All Fellas Band, Philly Cartel, King's Court, and Dr. John. This soul-influenced album showed to be similar with their debut album then previous release. Soon after G. Love & Special Sauce set out on another world tour, returning to Philadelphia in 1999 for the release of their fourth album, Philadelphonic. Philadelphonic was followed up with Electric Mile in 2001, an album that shows the wide-ranging influences of the trio, incorporating hip-hop, funk, psychedlia, blues, and soul in equal and ambitious measure. Ever the road band, "Mile" was followed by extensive touring. By 2004 and The Hustle, G. Love (with the help of his bandmates and others) went solo and had eased up a little on the kitchen sink approach, offering instead a cohesive, dry groove reminiscent of his earliest efforts. Hustle was also the first G. Love release under Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records banner; the two had been pals at least since Philadelphonic, which Johnson had been a guest on. Special Sauce did a series of shows in 2004 with Jack Johnson and fellow Brushfire artist Donavon Frankenreiter, and the trio also found time to issue a brief live EP, titled Some Live Songs. In the summer 2005, the band was featured (along with the less well known Philly local Chuck Treece of 80's skate-rock band McRad) in an advertisement for the launch of Coca-Cola Zero, featuring the groups own unique version of the noted Coca-Cola advertising song I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing. G's 2nd electrical solo release Lemonade also included Special Sauce on some tracks. Jack Johnson, Tristan Prettyman, Ben Harper, Jasper, and Blackalicious also contrbuted. G. Love still continues to tour with the Special Sauce in the meantime.

Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad is relentless reggae sound. Roots reggae and experimental dub. North American International Body Music. Giant Panda recently had their touring van converted to run on waste vegetable oil. The sextet will be playing at Rothbury, Reggae On The Rocks, and Wakarusa this summer. GPGDS played 180 shows in 2008, including performances at Mountain Jam, and Wakarusa. 2007 highlights include a three-week stint in Jamaica, numerous national tours, and a concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC). Thanks to their aggressive touring schedule and dynamic sound, Giant Panda has developed an extensive following. Formed in 2004, this Rochester, New York-based group has made a name for themselves through hard work on the road. GPGDS plays an eclectic blend of roots reggae, dub, and afrobeat; their impeccable musicianship and explosive live show have received widespread acclaim. Giant Panda will be releasing a new album in 2009. Their 2006 debut "Slow Down" is receiving regular airplay on Sirius and XM Radio. Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad has shared the stage with reggae greats Toots And The Maytals, The Wailers, Lee Scratch Perry, Yellowman, Culture, The Meditations, Don Carlos, Morgan Heritage, Mad Professor, and Edi Fitzroy. They've been joined on stage by members of Brazilian Girls, Thievery Corporation, and Umphrey's McGee. "This is some of the most intense roots reggae we've ever heard..." - Knoxville's Metro Pulse "...heavy, air-tight dub and roots reggae pressure..." - Washington Post "...a viable contributor to the modern reggae movement." - Metro Santa Cruz

Los Lonely Boys (Henry, Ringo, and Jojo Garza) announce the upcoming release of 1969, an EP of covers that pays tribute to one of America’s most musically hailed years. Five years after crossing into the mainstream with the GRAMMY winning single “Heaven,” the brothers take this opportunity to invoke the sound of a generation that walked the moon and transcended Woodstock. They lend praise to songs that provided a soundtrack for so many and inspired their own multi-platinum success. With their signature blend of Latin rhythms, searing guitar leads and impeccable harmonies, the band takes the opportunity to trace their musical lineage through the following tracks: Carlos Santana’s “Evil Ways,” The Beatles’ “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window,” Tony Joe White’s “Polk Salad Annie,” and The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues.” Legendary engineer Andy Johns provides his signature, timeless sound to 1969. In addition to recording Blind Faith’s “Well All Right” – also a featured track on the EP – Johns is well known for his work on Led Zeppelin II, III, IV and The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St. Close friend Carlos Santana once told the brothers "When you're up on that stage or when you record, you want to be the tool that shines light through to everybody." Los Lonely Boys always took his message to heart and more so now than ever with their spirited renditions of these classic tracks that they hope will appeal to their current audiences as well as attract new ones that appreciate this generation of music.

 

Poi Dog Pondering is a band currently based in Chicago, Illinois but was formed in the mid-1980s in Honolulu, Hawaii and membership has evolved around the creative vision of lead singer-songwriter Frank Orrall. Orrall took the band's pop folk direction into electronic & ambient house music in the later 1990's ,but has since returned to explore the soft rock, folk, country & soul influences that gave the band it's initial audience on the indie Texas Hotel imprint and eventual major label contract with Columbia/Sony in the late 1980's. Poi Dog Pondering "the little big band with the strong back and supple/stubborn heart" has been following its intuition for 20 years. From bohemian street buskers to impossible-to-market major label sacrificial lambs, PdP have ripened into staunchly independent musical voyagers. Every sound that has excited them flows through their music and floods it with ever changing colors - acoustic, folk, global music, big band disco, electronic textures, orchestral collaborations, ROCK and SOUL - threaded with lyrics that embrace both the beauty and pain that life can bring. Poi dog Pondering formed in Hawaii in 1986. The first live performance was at the Honolulu Arts Academy. Filled with youthful exuberance and inspiration from ready about Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground's "Exploding Plastic Inevitable" projected film and music happening, PdP projected films of lava eruptions, ocean and other natural environments over the band as they performed. The tradition of projected imagery along with PdP live performances has developed and matured over the years and continues. There is a bolstered sense of history within the band now, a swagger that comes from having steadfastly carved their own path. It is quite apparent that PdP has always been, and ever will be in it for the love of it; creating and performing. Line up changes are par for the course. PdP is an organic entity, it changes like life does. But there is a core with strong roots, open to new eras and ready to experiment. That's what keeps it vibrant. Band leader, Frank Orrall's interest in electronic music garnered him respect from the Chicago House/Electronic music community for his solo project 8fatfat8, and lead him to become a member of Thievery Corporation as percussionist and vocalist. All this influenced 2 of PDP’s Natural Thing and In Seed Comes Fruit albums which saw the band experimenting with electronic textures, beautiful lush arrangements and un-hurried, sometimes instrumental song structures, letting musicality determine the song structure, rather than traditional "verse / chorus / bridge" style song writing. Poi dog Pondering delivered a Rock and Soul record with " 7 ",their 7th studio album, 14 cuts deep and layered in horns, strings, immediate guitars; sometimes shimmering and liquid, & sometimes "crunch and gristle". A painter's pallete of unique instruments, vintage keyboards, "on the sleeve" lyrics, gripping bass & drums and beautiful harmonies. Known for following their heart, this record finds PdP playful, intimate, honest, cocky, boisterous and definitely ready to take it live. “Poi is becoming one of the longest running and most spirited do-it-yourself musical institutions in the country, defying the odds of commerce and interpersonal relationships by keeping a 12 piece band viable…” – GREG KOT, CHICAGO TRIBUNE “The Poi Dog sound happens because of the real and deep connection between the players, which shows in how they listen to one another in performance. The fact that most of them have been doing just that for two decades only increases the power of community they bring to the stage.” - NO DEPRESSION (January 2008, Live Review)

Abra Moore (born June 8, 1969 in San Diego, California) is a folk-styled alternative rock singer-songwriter. She is an icon of the Austin, Texas music scene. When she was 19 she founded Poi Dog Pondering with a group of friends, moving to Los Angeles in 1988 and to Austin in 1992. Moore left the band shortly afterward to pursue a solo career. Her first album was Sing (1995), followed by Strangest Places (1997), which had a companion CD "Live from the Strangest Places", featuring acoustic versions of several tracks from the album. Abra continued to work on her next studio album "No Fear", while contributing songs to several soundtracks. Amidst rumors of creative differences and contractual conflicts, she changed management and recording companies and the album was eventually shelved, although her record label did release promo copies. Most of the songs later appeared in slightly altered versions on her latest album, "Everything Changed" (2004) released on Koch Records.

At age 22, Erika Wennerstrom moved to Cincinnati and met Mike Lamping. They hooked up and began playing gigs as the Heartless Bastards, which was originally formed as a four piece band with members Dave Colvin on drums and Michael Weinel. They played their first live show at The Comet, a bar in the Cincinnati community of Northside, in August 2003. After parting ways with Colvin and Weinel, the group reformed as a three piece with Kevin Vaughn on drums. The band was signed to Fat Possum Records in 2004 after Patrick Carney from The Black Keys passed on a demo he received from Erika. Rolling Stone reviewed their debut album Stairs and Elevators and opined, "the Heartless Bastards are a small-town band who are ready to show the big city no mercy". The Village Voice proclaimed: "deadeye accurate in pitch and message... what we've got is a hard, gnarled voice singing simple-seeming melodies that feel archetypal rather than ordinary, which is no easier to explain than it is to do". Stylus gave the group high praise, stating, "(Erika Wennerstrom) and her two band mates have created an album with more rocking songs and fat hooks than most bands can dream of. It’s not just that they rock, it’s that you believe what you hear, that they love the sound they make, that Wennerstrom lays her soul bare in her lyrics without sounding like Sarah McLachlan, that the women of rock who labored to make it OK for a girl to dream of playing guitar deserve far better than Avril Lavigne or Kelly Osbourne as their descendants." The second full-length album from the band, All This Time, was released on August 8, 2006. The band road tested many of the tracks on the record prior to releasing it and received rave reviews from audiences. The album relies less on guitar riffs and belted vocals and more on musicianship, without leaving behind the group's unique sound. After moving to Austin TX in early 2008, Erika wrote The Mountain (released in 2009) and recruited old friends Jesse Ebaugh and Dave Colvin as her new bass player and drummer. Mark Nathan joined the group shortly after as lead guitar. On the prestigious modern rock station WOXY, the band was ranked #12 on the 97 Best of 2005, putting the band among the likes of Spoon and ahead of blues rockers The White Stripes. According to Wennerstrom, the name of the band comes from a question on a Mega Touch trivia quiz game at a bar. A question asked the name of Tom Petty's backing band, and one of the options was "Tom Petty and the Heartless Bastards." She thought it was funny, and used it when she later formed a band.

There are two bands using this name: an American folk-rock band and a British heavy metal band. 1. Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American folk-rock band which consists of singer Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss. Toad the Wet Sprocket was formed in 1986 at San Marcos High School just outside of Santa Barbara, California, when singer-songwriter Glen Phillips was just a 14-year-old freshman, and the other members were 17-year-old juniors. The band drew its name from the Eric Idle monologue "Rock Notes" on Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album from 1980. Their first public appearance was at an open-microphone talent contest in September 1986 (which they lost). Toad the Wet Sprocket's first album came out in 1989. Named Bread and Circus, it was their first effort for Columbia Records, who had signed them out of high school. The album spawned the singles "Way Away" and "One Little Girl," which made the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, but did not receive much attention. The follow-up, Pale, was released in 1990 and saw their sound mature. Featuring the singles "Jam" and the Modern Rock Chart hit "Come Back Down," the album was still not a massive success. The band finally achieved fame with their third album, Fear (released in 1991), which became the band's first RIAA certified platinum album. Also, the singles "All I Want" and "Walk on the Ocean" reached the top twenty on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1994, after years of heavy touring, the band released their follow-up to Fear, Dulcinea. This album spawned the hit singles "Fall Down", which reached #1 on the US Modern Rock charts as well as #5 on the Mainstream Rock chart, as well as "Something's Always Wrong", which also charted. This album was also certified platinum by the RIAA. A compilation album of b-sides and rarities, In Light Syrup, was released in 1995; it included the single "Good Intentions", which was featured on the soundtrack for the television show Friends. Largely due to the strength of the single, this compilation was certified as a gold album in 2001. The release of Coil in 1997 acted much like a follow up to 1994's Dulcinea. Featuring a more electric, rock sound, it contained the Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock hit "Come Down", as well as the radio hit "Crazy Life" (which did not chart). The album, despite the success of "Come Down" as a single, failed to reach any sales benchmarks. Toad the Wet Sprocket formally broke up in July 1998, citing creative differences. Since breaking up, the band has continued to perform together since their initial 2002 performances at a Rape Crisis Center benefit and opening for Counting Crows. As of May 2009, they have shows slated to play through out the summer 2009 concert season. 2. Toad The Wet Sprocket was an nwobhm (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) band active from the mid-70s to 1982. They released two singles, "Pete's Punk Song" and "Reaching the Sky", before their breakup. Their song, "Blues in A", was included on Metal for Muthas compilation (1980).

Originally conceived as a loosely-knit collective showcasing four of Austin’s best up-and-coming artists, The Band Of Heathens are quickly becoming one of the most exciting new acts in American Music. The band’s debut album, LIVE FROM MOMO’S features dynamic songwriting with powerful vocal harmonies and superb musicianship.

Midlake was formed in 1999 by a group of jazz students at the University of North Texas. The original lineup consisted of Tim Smith (vocals, guitars, keyboards), McKenzie Smith (drums), Paul Alexander (bass), Eric Nichelson (guitar), and Evan Jacobs (keyboards). Their initial work — under the working name The Cornbread All-Stars — consisted of funk/jazz explorations heavily influenced by Herbie Hancock. Later the band began to lean more toward an indie rock sound. Tim Smith quit playing saxophone and began writing songs that were heavily influenced by bands such as Jethro Tull, Radiohead, Travis, and Grandaddy. Smith says about that: "We don't want to get called a Radiohead rip-off band. I think Radiohead is a lot closer to my natural tendencies as a songwriter than a band like, um, Jethro Tull. I listen to way more Jethro Tull than I do Radiohead these days, but I could write 10 Radiohead songs before I could write one Jethro Tull song. I want to sound more like Jethro Tull, but I just can't. That's a big struggle." Jacobs left the band and Eric Nichelson took over on keyboard. Jason Upshaw joined the band as a guitarist. Live recordings from this period, recorded at Denton's Panhandle House studio, were never released as the band felt they had moved beyond the material. Soon before their debut EP, Milkmaid Grand Army, was recorded, Upshaw was replaced on guitars by Eric Pulido, a longtime friend of drummer Smith, to form the current lineup. Their debut full-length album, 2004's Bamnan and Slivercork, was recorded at home in Denton, Texas and mastered at Abbey Road Studios. It showed a move in the direction of lo-fi psychedelic electronica, embracing influences such as Grandaddy and The Flaming Lips. The album even caught the ear of skateboarder-turned-actor Jason Lee, who produced and directed the music video for the song 'Balloon Maker'[1], and who continues to support and promote the band. In 2006, after nearly a year and a half of recording and re-recording, they completed their second release for Bella Union – The Trials of Van Occupanther. The album was met with generally positive reviews.

Miike Snow is an electropop band from Stockholm, Sweden, consisting of American songwriter Andrew Wyatt and Swedish producers Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg. Their eponymous debut album was released in 2009 to much critical acclaim, with the lead single 'Animal' appearing on shows such as Gossip Girl. While you may not have recognized Karlsson and Winberg by their full names, you have surely heard their work as production duo Bloodshy & Avant. The duo has written and produced for Kylie Minogue, Madonna and Britney Spears and claimed a Grammy for their work on Britney Spears’ Toxic. Wyatt is fresh off co-production duties with Mark Ronson on Daniel Merriweather’s April release, Love And War.

The Barcelona-based synthpop crew Delorean isn't originally from Barcelona, and they didn't start out as a synthpop crew. The band began in the Basque country, playing emo with a heavy Elliott Smith influence. It's taken them eight years, three albums, and remixes for the likes of El Guincho, the Teenagers, Glasser, and the Big Pink to get to where they are right now, but where they are right now is a pretty glorious place.

On their brand new BNM'ed EP Ayrton Senna, they play a deliriously sundazed but seriously hooky form of dance music, with liquid house pianos and burbling bass that dissolve beautifully into each other. These days, the band drops New Order's name more than anyone else's, and it makes sense. Not too many bands can pull off New Order's fusion of open-hearted emotional melodicism with dancefloor intensity, but Delorean is one of them. [Pitchfork]

Mumford & Sons are a folk/bluegrass group formed in London in September 2007. Having received critical acclaim from The Guardian on their “Band of the Day” online forum, and resounding praise from nearly everyone who has witnessed them supporting The Maccabees and Laura Marling, Mumford & Sons continue to turn heads in London’s growing folk scene. Their debut EP, Lend Me Your Eyes, features four tracks, including lead single "Roll away Your Stone". Chess Club released their second EP, "Love Your Ground", on the 3rd November 2009 on 10inch vinyl. The third EP, "The Cave and the Open Sea" (which was limited to 500 vinyls) is available as a download from their official rawrip page. Their debut album Sigh No More was released on Gentlemen of the Road/Island Records on the 5th October 2009, and the first single "Little Lion Man" came out a week earlier. The line up consists of Marcus Mumford (drums, guitar, vocals), Country Winston (banjo, slide guitar, vocals), Ted Dwayne (double bass, drums, vocals), and Ben Lovett (keyboards, vocals). http://www.myspace.com/mumfordandsons http://www.mumfordandsons.com/

The Middle East are a unique band out of Townsville in Queensland, Australia. They use various influences from post-rock to folk to ambient, creating a magical, hypnotic sound featuring varying instrumentation and gentle, addictive guitar hooks. In 2006 they released a split EP with local Cairns band Sleeping In Trains. Their debut full-length was released on 24th April 2008. They released their work as an EP in the United States in fall of 2009 and is available here at http://www.themiddleeastmusic.com. Their live shows have been describe as "surreal" and often create a very calm, space-like atmosphere. Recently, Pitchfork Media offered a free download of the song "The Darkest Side" as a part of their weekly Forkcast; describing the song as "a simple, finger-plucked acoustic affair with alternating and harmonizing vocals that lend the hushed track a sense of beleaguered hope." Their music is often played on triplej (a nationwide Australian radio network) and their song "Blood" is rumoured to be appearing in a film to be released sometime in 2009. Please visit http://www.myspace.com/visitthemiddleeast or vote for them on triplej unearthed: www.triplejunearthed.com.au/TheMiddleEast