Chris Weingarten interviews Laura Stevenson & the Cans for the Village Voice!

What is "Master Of Art" about?

"Well, when I started writing it we were in a weird place as a band. I was kind of holding everyone back from being able to tour all the time because I was spending too much time on my backup plan, getting my masters in art history. Plan B started getting in the way of the band and I felt crazy and we were pretty much glued to New York. Then, when I was finished with classes, things started getting hectic and we did a whole string of stressful--and at points not very successful--touring to kind of make up for lost time. We did a lot of sleeping in the van. It was pretty rough. So, the second half of the song is a promise that it'll get better. Which I think it is." Read the rest and download the song at the Village Voice!

Robin Bacior's "Man Before Me" out now!

Yesterday marked the release of Robin Bacior's new single! "Man Before Me" is the A side and it's backed with "Headless Sheep" via Consonants & Vowels Recordings. It's the follow up to the quietly released but widely loved ep, Aimed For Night, that came out last fall. The two songs show her songwriting and instrumentation growing beyond the constraints of acoustic folk into more intricate and diverse territory. "Man Before Me" premiered last week at RCRD LBL and is featured this week as "New and Noteworthy" across the iTunes store from Singer Songwriter, Alternative and listed in Indie on the front page of the music section. She just returned from her first time performing at SXSW and will celebrate the new single at Brooklyn's Union Hall on April 11th. May will see her and her collaborators travel to San Francisco to record her debut full length with John Vanderslice in his Tiny Telephone studio!

What the press is saying:
"Her impressive vocals are front and center and benefit from the lack of distraction, and we are left with an elegant reminder of what it is to craft a song." RCRD LBL

“Lyrically minded and carefully constructed to rip out emotion.” – The Brooklyn Paper

"Does the indie-world need another alt-country/folk singer/songstress? Does Brooklyn? In the case of Robin Bacior, the answer is yes." - QRO Magazine

“There’s no shortage of folky coffeehouse ladies who strum guitars and tell tales of wow and woe, but Ms. Bacior has a toughness that is often lacking. She sounds strong, as if any depression or lost love that might inspire her to craft a tune might also incite her to crack her instrument right over your head should the situation call for it—and that is a little exciting, no?” – New York MetroMix

"Brooklyn’s Robin Bacior released the Raised For Night EP last Autumn and the resulting four songs are simply gorgeous." Lost At E Minor

"With a choir chiming in behind her like ghost of a bygone era, Robin Bacior sings a song of love, loss and change. The musicians backing her are top notch, and extra props must be given to the drummer for playing the spaces with such excellent tension. Bacior’s voice is effortlessly beautiful on this single from her “Aimed for Night” Superfan

Brass Bed head out on tour!

To kick off their tour, please do download Brass Bed's "Miniature Day Parade", turn it up loud, clear the aisles and host your own mini-parade where ever you may be.

"I... was kept put with their clear influences from The Kinks and Television. Take those and them put into an indie-pop-and-country-twang-lick blender and you've got Brass Bed." RCRD LBL

"Brass Bed, a quartet that sounded like Spoon's younger Four Loko addicted cousins." The Oregonian

"Last night, in the walk-in closet that is Mi Casa Cantina on East Sixth, the band delivered from beginning to end. There were the all out, everything in your face moments, where organ, guitars and drums unleashed in unison. There were more subtle touches, too. Mader held his own on lead vocals. The bouncy, piano driven moments would have made Wilco fans smile. Those moments never last too long though, before the band’s grittier side fought back." Austin Statesman

"The songs on "Melt White" are figures that let us believe in something that's characteristic of what we'd imagine that fountain of youth that Ponce de Leon was searching for down in Florida sometime almost five centuries ago might have held. We seem to hear the bright yellow sunlight ripping through the blinds to awaken these people and yet, there's that dark-tinge to any of those happy moments - just as there would have been had de Leon found what he was looking for." -Daytrotter

"Brass Bed showcase a muscular song-craft that delivers a square gut-punch to indie-rock pedestrianism. MELT WHITE, whose title sounds more like an image-poem than a rock & roll album, fuses shimmering balladry, jangly psychedelia, and orchestral pop into a curious set that suffers no fillers." - Oxford American

"Brass Bed carried on with a set of loud, loose and catchy rock 'n' roll songs full of squalling guitar breaks, driving bass and Mader's lilting vocals, which floated easily through the thicket of sound." Spinner

"Playing organic indie-pop that's grabby, earthy and intelligent, Brass Bed spices its psychedelic sounds with country nods like pedal steel, resulting in a compellingly distinctive assembly of instrumentation that dutifully serves each song." - Creative Loafing

Upcoming performances:
03.23.11 - Hot Springs, AR @ Valley Of The Vapors Festival
03.24.11 - Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar
03.25.11 - Des Moines, IA @ Drake Univeristy
03.26.11 - Omaha, NE @ O'Leaver's Pub
03.27.11 - Sioux Falls, SD @ Phoenix Lounge
03.28.11 - Aberdeen, SD @ Red Rooster
03.29.11 - Minneapolis, MN @ Honey
03.30.11 - Rock Island, IL @ Daytrotter
03.31.11 - Dubuque, IA @ the Lift

04.01.11 - Iowa City, IA @ Mission Creek Festival
04.02.11 - Iowa City, IA @ Mission Creek Festival
04.03.11 - Madison, WI @ The Frequency
04.04.11 - Chicago, IL @ Pancho's
04.05.11 - Bloomington, IN @ the Bishop
04.06.11 - Champaign, IL @ Mike 'n Molly's- Boneyard Arts Festival
04.07.11 - St. Louis, MO @ Firebird
04.08.11 - Memphis, TN @ Young Ave Deli
04.29.11 - Lafayette, LA @ Festival International
04.29.11 - Lafayette, LA @ Artmosphere

Watch Sea Of Bees perform a Tiny SXSW Concert at NPR's All Songs Considered Blog!!

"Sea Of Bees, the musical project of Julie Ann Bee, stopped by NPR Music's room at The Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas, during SXSW 2011. With her backing band in tow, she blasted a little beauty for us — and now you. Watch the band perform a stripped-down and woozy rendition of "Gnomes," from her album Songs for the Ravens." Head over to NPR to see the performance!

RCRD LBL Premiers the lead single off of Big Pauper's new album!

"The artist formerly known as Panzah Zandahz, Big Pauper is a Portland producer, DJ and visual artist with a penchant for mixing media. A little jazzy, a little psychedelic, with electronic and synth elements and obscure film clips dotted throughout, it's much more Tribe meets The Books than amphetamine-addled top 40 mash up. Instrumental hip hop with that crackled, old-time feel, "Big Sick" is a peek at what already seems to be an intelligent take on the genre. Catch the rest onBeyond My Means, Pauper's LP out April 26 on Circle Into Square and Fake Four Inc." Head over to RCRD LBL to download "Big Sick"!

Austin!! Riot Act is coming to party with you!

SYFFAL raves about the free ep from Big Pauper!

"Atmospheric and cinematic, moody, sampley in a good way, overall I find Cops Eat Flowers to be a fucking awesome introduction into a catalog from an artist I had never heard of before seeing the album available for free from circleintosquare." Read the rest at SYFFAL.com!

Great Buried Beds review in QRO Magazine!

"Formed around Eliza Jones & Brendon Beaver, Buried Beds mix their voices, as well as big & small instrumentation, on Tremble. There's up-tempo and even a kind of grand uplift to pieces such as opener "Steady Hand" or "Your Modern Age", led by Beaver, while Jones' vocals come to the fore in the smaller and sweeter "Mother", "Telegram", and "Home"." Read the rest at QRO!

Impose Magazine premiers the brand new video for "Salt" from Triumph Of Lethargy Skinned Alive To Death

Catch it at Impose Magazine:

Two new Sea Of Bees videos!

From NPR: "One of my Top 10 artists of 2010, Sea of Bees, has a new video for "Willis," from last year's thrilling, experimental rock and pop album Songs for the Ravens."

From The London Guardian: "Live, however, the tracks from her debut album, Songs for the Ravens, are given a more playful spin with Baenziger introducing each one with carefree anecdotes and drunken psychobabble. This part of her personality is brought to the fore in this Guardian exclusive of her new video for Sidepain, a song inspired by Jenny Lewis. It's a simple idea: Baenziger plays up to the camera before a host of mates join her to gurn, mug and stand in a line. The song is a joyful shuffle, anchored by the lovely closing statement: "You're the sweetest pain in my side."

Laura Stevenson and the Cans named to the Top 100 Acts at SXSW 2011

"I knew what to expect. I knew how you're going to be sleeping on hardwood floors, and that's going to suck, but you wake up and get in the van, and you're with your friends." Read the entire interview and download the new single, "Master Of Art" at Spinner!

QRO Magazine caught Robin Bacior at her month long residency at Pete's Candy Store

Head over to QRO to see all the footage!

Band Booking talks literature with Spencer Moody from Triumph Of Lethargy Skinned Alive To Death

Your band’s name was inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned — how did that come about? What first drew you to this book? Do you find Fitzgerald’s life and work more a source of inspiration or more of a cautionary tale?

I was drawn to this book by the title and figured I should try the fancy writers every one likes. I read [The] Great Gatsby after this and felt Damned was by far the better book. Let the rich have Fitzgerald as far as I’m concerned.

Read the rest at Band Booking!

The Idle Hands release Life Is Beautiful - Interview at City Pages!

"Beautiful is strikingly unadorned, purposefully devoid of the radio-slick sheen that characterized the Needham tracks on the debut. The approach lends songs like "Uptown Burning," which references the closing of the beloved Uptown Bar, a gritty realism that underscores rather than masks Daly's despondence." Read the rest at City Pages!

Brass Bed "People Want To Be Happy"

Stereogum shares a new track from Triumph Of Lethargy, Skinned Alive To Death – “Let’s Leave The Elephant In The Room”

"Some Of Us Are In This Together is one of my favorite album titles of 2011 — for nostalgic, depleted, pragmatic, hopeful, cynical, romantic, and otherwise reasons. Sonically, Triumph Of Lethargy Skinned Alive To Death’s sludgy, slow-mo, pained, elegiac, cathartic sixth proper LP isn’t too shabby either. As mentioned when we posted “Dirty Street,” it’s a bit like the Pacific Northwest back-patch punk take on Harvey Milk’s A Small Turn of Human Kindness. (Or, say, if Unwound decided to go glacial.) Take a listen to the noisy, raw “Let’s Leave The Elephant In The Room” homily if you need to shake the cobwebs this afternoon." Check the rest at Stereogum!

Buried Beds new album, Tremble The Sails, out today... currently on tour with Murder By Death!

Early Press:
"In step with their idiosyncratic name, Buried Beds make chamber music that rocks as much as it emotes." Under The Radar

"It's a big, dreamy rock album. It's catchy. It's ambitious. It's wonderfully, unabashedly lush." Philadelphia City Paper

"If you were previously unaware of Buried Beds and you haven’t been waiting all this time for a new dispatch,Tremble the Sails is one of those nugget albums--a treat that’s discovered, unexpectedly shining amongst other pebbles. There’s an intelligence in lyrical content, a characterful delivery, and some of the sweetest yet perhaps understated musicianship you’ll hear in a while. This has to be considered one of this year's ‘must haves‘ of the Indie-Folk set." Buzzine

"It’s hard not to listen to Buried Beds' sophomore album, Tremble the Sails, without wondering how a duo-to-quintet from West Philadelphia could craft such an exuberant ‘60s AM pop record." The Deli

"Buried Beds are back, and amazingly, better than ever." Phrequency

"This is one of those bands that's so good, you simply cannot understand why the world hasn't discovered it yet." Connect Savannah

Download and share "Ivory Towers" and "Breadcrumb Trail" with your readership!
Band Bio, Press Photos and more are here.