From the staging of this session and what the band had packed in their arsenal for the performance, no time was wasted doubting whether this one was going to be special. This performance is as intimate as music gets. Elliott BROOD gave us three friends in close quarters of brick and steel, singing songs of rumination and hope, to be broadcast to an audience of God knows what size, but it was precious few for the recording between the brick walls of Big Car Service Center. read more

Via Audio is a fan’s band. The music is accessible, the members are approachable, and their stage presence is infectious. Despite long and undoubtedly exhausting hours spent traveling from sea to shining sea, the group has a passion for music that is catching, a feat that cannot be claimed by many on-the-road-and-living-in-a-van groups. read more

Ann gives you the lowdown on Timber Timbre, opening for Feist on April 30th, 2012 at the Murat read more

Tennis definitely put work into their music but also retain a sense of fun, darning their name as a joking reference to guitarist Patrick Riley’s tennis playing days as a college student. Riley and wife Alaina Moore started the band after meeting in college and were later joined by drummer (and obvious third wheel) James Barone, completing the current lineup. Only two years old, the Denver-based trio has made a fair amount of progress up the indie-rock ladder, catching the attention of NPR with their first album, Cape Dory, and having Patrick Carney of The Black Keys produce their second album, Young & Old. read more

Every year we run into a few choice "indie anthems" that are deemed digestible enough to make their way onto the mainstream plate. With playful melodies, bouncing rhythms and universal sentiment that anyone with a pulse can relate to or at least appreciate, these anthems are hard to hate, especially when our tapping feet have a tendency to betray any repressed feelings which we believe to be in opposition to our better judgement. read more

On their fourth album, Arrow, Austin-via-Ohio band Heartless Bastards drive home the statement that they are the torchbearers as the finest purveyors of the new classic rock. The four songs of this Saturday afternoon in-store set at Luna make that downright obvious. read more

If Maps & Atlases is guilty of anything, it’s releasing an upbeat single in the middle of what is arguably the most dreary of the four seasons: winter. While most of us are still wallowing in Justin Vernon’s “jagged vacance thick with ice,” the Chicago-based quartet lures us out of hibernation with a toe-tapping anthem fit for the summer months. These bandmates have undoubtedly had their fair share of unconventional winters, which qualifies them to deliver a message of “salt covered shoes” that leaves fellow Midwesterners nodding in agreement. read more

Releasing a full-length album for streaming four months before its official release date is a risky move. Either listeners are going to love it enough to put money down for what they’ve already had the opportunity to commit to memory, or they’ll add it to their “been there, heard that” list and keep the change. Of course, when the stream is nothing but an uncomprehensible drone that spans over a two-thousand seven hundred and nine hour period (because writing it out makes it seem even more unfathomable), its hard to expect that even the most thrifty of listeners will be satisfied. read more

Not many bands can boast such a colorful array of instruments as do the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Complete with jugs, bones, harmonicas, and every type of banjo imaginable, CCD creates music so truly and, dare I say it, authentically Southern that it almost makes one feel guilty for living north of the Mason Dixon line. read more

Having just completed their winter tour of the American West with A Lull, Deleted Scenes stopped by the Big Car Service Center and shared two songs from their latest LP, Young People’s Church of the Air. In this session, the D.C. area quartet – consisting of Dan Scheuerman on guitar/lead vocals, Matt Dowling on keyboard, Brian Hospital on drums, and Dominic Campanaro on lead guitar – strip their brand of indie-pop/rock to deliver a tender, yet powerful performance. read more

Despite all of the chaos and uncertainty that defines our existence on Earth, we still manage to find partnerships that are all but destined to exist; two or more seemingly unrelated entities that, when put together, create something much greater than the sum of the parts. Such partnerships include peanut butter and jelly, French wine and tailored clothing, Lennon and McCartney, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and Burt Reynolds and the mustache. read more