Alex Brown Church made his second visit to Laundromatinee last year. This time we were able to host Brown and his Sea Wolf gang at our fantastic studio partner, The Pop Machine. Church and crew spun a few lush tales of angst, romance, longing, and desire for us.
Throughout September and part of October, Church will embark on a solo acoustic tour in the US. Available on the tour, Church and Dangerbird Records will be releasing a 7" vinyl-and-digital-only single for "Turn the Dirt Over," from his 2009 LP White Water, White Bloom. The 7" single will include a remix by Broken Social Scene's Brendan Canning, and the digital version will also contain an unreleased Sea Wolf track called "Where the Wind Blows." read more

A few months back I headed over to First Avenue to see the [Current] Best Band in America, The Avett Brothers. I hadn't yet heard The Low Anthem, and really didn't know much about them beyond the buzz they were getting in certain dusty corners of the Internet. The audience was motley crew, at least 40% of whom were employees of a certain ubiquitous retail chain who were just there to get “crazy” and sing loudly and badly at each other about their January weddings. As the curtain lifted, the Rhode Island quartet slowly ambled on stage, looking more than a little like the waitstaff at an organic restaurant, and leaned into a gentle and layered rendition of To The Ghosts Who Write History Books.

That’s right. Rather than come out and vainly try to knock the audience back on their heels, The Low Anthem stuck to their gameplan and doled out one the most seductive, slow-burn sets I have heard in years. The audience thawed from indifferent, to confused (“Is that a saw?”) to accepting, and by the time the band kicked into stomping The Horizon Is A Beltway, well, even the broad in front me stopped spilling her drink long enough to pay attention.

The next day I tracked down Oh My God Charlie Darwin, and I’ve gotta say, as much as I enjoyed these guys (and gal) live, that’s a record best experienced alone. Deceptively simple songs skillfully draped in unorthodox instrumentation. However, these numbers recorded at Laundromatinee benefit from the best of both worlds: the dynamic interplay of the live setting under controlled conditions. read more

Slothpop are an exciting breath of fresh air in the Indianapolis music scene. Vocally, the band is led by Kristin Newborn and Lauren Eison. With beautifully harmonizing voices and a concentration on projection rather than lyrics, the pair compliments each other better than pearls and lace. Newborn, a multi-instrumentalist and leader of the pack, backs her striking voice with equal parts guitar and piano while Eison draws a bow over her violin and finger plucks the strings. The unique Slothpop sound is rounded out by Dan Zender on lead guitar, Matt Martin on drums, and Jeffrey Vyain on cello.

Imagine the scene from The Little Mermaid during which Ursula steals Ariel's voice. Then chop it up a little, drop in a driving beat, add some strings, and ice your Slothpop cake with tribal-like vocal interjections. It's hard to fathom a sound so stunningly elegant yet quirky and unconventional, but the band gets it right with their not-so-slothy and not-so-poppy assortment of endearing songs.

Slothpop seem to perfectly fill the wide Indianapolis music scene/orchestral pop/folk void left by Margot and The Nuclear So & Sos' departure. Expect their debut full-length to release this Fall. read more

Indianapolis "echo-sleaze" three-piece, Burnt Ones are the first signees to MyOldKentuckyBlog.com's new record label, Roaring Colonel Records. The band blends glam, psych, garage, surf and 50's/60's girl pop into a lo-fi wash of rock. NUVO says, "Burnt Ones sound like the band at a 1960's zombie prom." In that same article, lead singer, Mark Tester explains the goal behind the new project, "Once you strip it down to the basics of what's good about rock and roll or pop music...that's what I'm interested in." says Tester. "I just want it to be simple.... that's when it's better." Under the fuzz and the the falsetto, that's what you'll find...simple, enjoyable, face-melting, pop/rock without pretension. read more

Is it possible for a city like Indianapolis to handle the creative charm of Beta Male? In 2009, we read about the then one-man concept-band turned new wave sex-rock hula-hoop band of gender progressives being harassed and physically assaulted in Broad Ripple (Indianapolis, Indiana) by skinheads for obvious reasons – Indianapolis as a society is not as progressive as once thought. Resisting hollow threats from Hitler Youths, Beta Male persevered and presently serves Indy's indies by challenging gender role expectations in the music industry with debauched, charismatic, irresistible, confident, new/third wave music that is both authentic AND wildly infectious. At the moment, Beta Male consists of P. David Hazel, Jess Hack, TJ Briggs, Allison Hazel. Over the years, different talents such as Tyler Bowman (Pravada), Vess Ruhtenburg (the Zero Boys) and more have supplemented with Beta Male, but the current 4-piece is more stable and consistent with their sound than ever. In 2010, Beat Male, now more of a music machine, is finishing one record, with another one on the way. In their sonic future, expect for these four would be deviants to further refine their sound, please audiences with their audio/visual expertise, and continue to demonstrate that it is possible for a post-pubescent Le Tigre to emerge from the Ranch in Indianapolis. read more

Since forming in early 2008, Heavy Hometown has made a serious impression on the Indianapolis music scene. These (mostly) local dudes manage to put together some incredible songs that combine a polished, composed sound with an intimate, bedroom-recorded feel. Divided between Indy and Louisville, the trio is made up of guitarist John Wood and drummer Corey Barnes (who also split up the singing duties) and keyboardist Eric Park. Their synth-laden garage pop brings to mind lo-fi legends like the American Analog Set, Galaxie 500 and at times Sonic Youth. The songs are thoughtful set pieces that sway from sad to hopeful and back again that grab onto you quickly and lure you down into their rabbit-hole. They self-released their debut album "Action Figures" last year. read more

If vikings time-travelled to the 80s, took semen samples from Grandmaster Flash, Beastie Boys, Michael Jackson, Prince and Poison, came back to the present, inseminated Peaches, and then brought her to the future to have the baby and have it raised by breakdancing robots, you might end up with Andy D. Andy D is a hurricane of sex, sweat, and day-glo. He burst onto the Indianapolis scene about a year ago, after moving down to Bloomington via Brooklyn. His live shows immediately became the stuff of legend. Combining rap, rock, and comedy, Andy D is best experienced in flesh rather than talked about. read more

The pride of Murfreesboro, TN, Those Darlins are equal parts sequins, sweat, Patsy Cline, pop and punk rock. The holy trinity of Nikki, Jessi and Kelley Darlin, backed up by drummer “Sherriff” Linwood Regensberg, are old-school road dogs that travel across the country spreading a new-school revival sound. Their near-legendary live shows have attracted the attention of modern heavies such as Elvis Perkins and Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, who the band recently supported on a recent national tour. The influences are diverse but work well together, as if the Carter Family started covering The Ronettes in a garage with the Allman Brothers. It’s whisky-soaked roots rock, served up southern-style. read more

Bad Veins - or the trio of Benjamin Davis, Sebastien Schultz and a 1973 reel-to-reel player named Irene - may come from the humble midwest, but their music is nothing short of epic in scope. The band's self-titled debut is packed with three minute dramatic opuses. The band joined us at Monolith Music Festival for an acoustic Esurance session. read more

Jookabox combines rock, blues, soul, hip-hop, psych and more. Everything and the kitchen sink is melded, looped, blended, stirred and baked. Some might claim too much, or too weird, but the result is fun. And fun goes a long way in my book. read more

Avi Buffalo, from Long Beach, California, is the project of songwriter Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg. The band, full of kids barely out of high school, has signed to Sub Pop Records and will release their self-titled debut this coming April. Avi grew up with skateboarding aspirations, but when he couldn't conquer the fear of dropping into the half-pipe, he turned to guitar. For the uninitiated, you can expect high-pitched pop with catchy guitar hooks, comparable to Ween and even The Shins, with smart songwriting well beyond the years of band. read more

2009 was a great year for the latest wave of Scottish bands, particularly for Fat Cat Records labelmates Frightened Rabbit, Twilight Sad, and We Were Promised Jetpacks. Laundromatinee.com had the chance to record with both Twilight Sad and We Were Promised Jetpacks at the 2009 Monolith Music Festival. The interesting thing about We Were Promised Jetpacks is their sound fits very well inbetween the two aformentioned acts, drawing key strengths from both - as Pitchfork puts it - the tough with the tender. This makes sense since the band lists both Frightened Rabbit and Twilight Sad as influences, but it is rare when a band can pull intelligently without mimicking. WWPJP's debut album, These Four Walls, was released in June of 2009. read more

Chapel Hill, North Carolina startup The Love Language make music so unabashedly drenched in teenage romance that throwing the term 'emo' at them might actually stick—that's even how the band describes itself on its MySpace page, which, of course, features a backdrop of two young lovers kissing. But such a tag would be misleading; whiny sad-puppy fake-punk this is not. Let's try this instead—The Love Language play the music they're named after. Gorgeous, longing and playful songs that speak to the universal emotion that drives us all. Say it with me now—love. The sound is a mix between scrappy, lo-fi garage rock and harmonious, joyful 1960's girlpop, all smushed together in this beautifully messy package, tied with a ribbon of Stuart McLamb's simple, emotive vocals. Untie it and look inside. Promise, you'll fall in love. read more

Justin Ringle's songs sound like the soundtrack to Flannery O'Connor stories: emotive, dark music that feel like they should be sung in abandoned old churches set against dark stormy skies. His solo work under the name Horse Feathers attracted the attention of fellow Portlander Peter Broderick of Norfolk and Western who lent his arrangement talents to Ringle's lyrical talents. On cold winters nights like these, there is no better band to sit down with than Horse Feathers. Their stark, contemplative music is the kind that lends itself so well to quiet, thoughtful nights by a warm fire with a hot drink. We caught them last year as they came through town to play songs from their latest recording House with No Home on Kill Rock Stars. read more

REPOST : Originally posted in October of 2009, I decided to repost this one today as this performance of One Red Thread probably ended up being my favorite session song we recorded last year. We promoted two excellent shows with Blind Pilot in 2009 as well...Portland, Oregon's Blind Pilot started as the two-man project between Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski. The duo made waves touring by bicycle up and down the west coast. In the last year, the band has expanded to six members to more accurately match their recorded sound. That sound, on their album "3 Rounds and a Sound", has been likened to a mix of the Shins and Iron & Wine. Pop songs with a folky flavor, driven by guitar and drums, with an emphasis on lyrics and vocal melodies. read more

When Nashville-based Mat Kearney released his first album on Columbia Records in 2006, he toured, incessantly, with the likes of Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Jason Mraz and the Fray. To say his brand of pop music is simply accessible would likely be an insult. His songs have been featured on a slew of hit TV shows including Grey's Anatomy and Scrubs, and he headlined the first ever VH1 'You Oughta Know Tour.' I imagine many teenage girls, soft-hearted saps and AAA/adult contemporary radio fans have already anointed Kearney as a likely ascender to the throne of radio-friendly pop. read more

Based out of both Lexington, KY and Washington, D.C., These United States started out as the brainchild of Jesse Elliott and collaborator David Strackany (better known to most as Paleo), with an ever-changing, shifting collective of collaborators. The lineup has more recently solidified into its current incarnation (Elliott, Robby Cosenza, J. Tom Hnatow, Justin Craig, and Colin Kellogg). You can find their sound in the same wheelhouse as Midlake or Delta Spirit, with the freak-folk sensibilities of Devandra Banhardt haunted by the ghost of Gram Parsons. We were able to sit down with three of them at this year's Monolith Music Festival to catch a song off of their most recent album Everything Touches Everything (United Interests), one from their 2008 release Crimes, and an oft-covered version of the classic 12 Gates To The City. read more

In 2008, Wild Light won “Outstanding Rock Act of the Year” at the Boston Music Awards, but in 2009 the band, a handsome young quartet from New Hampshire, saw their profile raised considerably this year. The band started off the year, along with Tapes N Tapes, on their first national tour. Obviously they turned a few heads and ears because they were asked to open for The Killers tour not long after. It was on this tour the band stopped through our Pop Machine Studio to record an acoustic session for Laundromatinee.com. Wild Light's debut release, "Adult Nights," was recorded in Los Angeles with reknowned producer Rob Schnapf. Schnapf has worked with both Beck and Ellilott Smith previously. Adult Nights was released through Startime International. read more

Wild as mink but sweet as soda-pop, Nashville based Caitlin Rose specializes in the drink-away-your-heartache Country-with-capital-C music that brings rhinestone legends Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn to mind. There's a dose of the singer-songwriter, one voice/one guitar ethic of Kimya Dawson or Daniel Johnston thrown in there as well. Her voice is both delicate and twangy, like a banjo with butterfly wings. Her 2008 EP "Dead Flowers" (her only release to date) showcases her fragility ("Answer in One of These Bottles") mixed with some healthy cynicism and humor ("Docket" and "Gorilla Man," respectively). She also gives us a great cover of The Rolling Stones' "Dead Flowers," the second of this year after Deer Tick. read more

As I stated when we launched Laundromatinee's first session with The Antlers, we spent some great time with the band at The Monolith Music Festival. Despite their "Rising" and "Best New Music" status from Pitchfork.com, as well as the non-stop praise for the 2009 re-release of album "Hospice," the band remains as humble, friendly, hard-working and down-to-earth as you would hope. The songs from "Hospice" were partially inspired by lead singer Peter Silberman's thoughts and feelings experienced during a visit to a loved one in a children's cancer ward, but despite the grim undertones, the album is hauntingly beautiful and uplifting. For our Monolith Esurance session, the band trades in the electric guitar and big keys for an acoustic and small Korg, but the results are every bit as powerful as their electric brethren. read more