Springfield, MO
RIYL: My Morning Jacket, Oakley Hall, These United States and Delta Spirit
“Ha Ha Tonka are emphasizing their Southern musical heritage while sounding smart and thoroughly contemporary... if you’re looking for music that’s smart, ambitious, literate, and fun at the same time, Death of a Decade could well be your introduction to your new favorite band.” - All Music Guide
San Antonio, TX
RIYL: The Band, Graham Parsons, Eels, The Thrills, Beachwood Sparks and The Beach Boys
Loud Is the Night, Hacienda's official debut, was produced by the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and features members of Dr. Dog.
"Hacienda write eccentric pop songs and play them with flashes of T. Rex and the Friends-era Beach Boys on the fine debut album Loud is the Night. Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys produced the record with a kitchen-jam, bathroom-echo touch, like a central-Texas version of Paul McCartney's 1970 homemade solo debut..." - Rolling Stone
"Hacienda, a Mexican-American four piece... that seems to have found the eternal Summer that Brian Wilson was seeking on the battered shores of South Texas... Loud is the Night is an entirely soothing and invigorating dose of 60's pop made for a long afternoon siesta." - American Songwriter
"As improbable as a largely Canadian group reinventing Americana, so too is the ebullient, soulful pop erupting from San Antonio-based quartet Hacienda... Hacienda bends classic 1960s garage rhythms and swooning doo-wop with bursts of harmonies." - Austin Chronicle
"A truly talented quartet whose sound resembles the Beach Boys in a sort of Beatlesque fashion. In other words, these guys just rock!" - It Could Mainstream
RIYL: Television, Richard Hell, The Mooney Suzuki, Afghan Whigs and The Saints
HAIRSPRAYFIREANDGIRLS is a new Tucson super group of sorts, featuring members and post-members of various other amazing local bands including: Red Switch, Chango Malo and Bombs for the Bored among others!... In a word - SWEET!
"Based on the lineup alone, HAIRSPRAYFIREANDGIRLS has the makings of a great rock band... I Am. And I've Been Looking For You (HSF&G latest) is song after song of guitar-heavy rock that flaunts its charisma with flair... It's almost like the Stones never aged and formed a new band with the Sex Pistols." - Tucson Weekly
St Paul, MN
Haley Bonar - a very talented young singer-songwriter that should resonate with fans of Aimee Mann, Elliott Smith, Tori Amos, and Shawn Colvin.
RIYL: Ben Harper, Ben Folds 5, Counting Crows and Weezer
Haley Jane borrows from country, rock, folk and pop, these boys bring their noise in fits of passion, bouncing back and forth between heartfelt poetics and pulse-thumping rock! Haley Jane is one of Tucson's fastest up-and-coming acoustic-driven rock bands.
Brooklyn, NY
Local Band!
RIYL: Merle Haggard, Charlie Pride and George Jones
Tucson Underground says, "Singer/guitarist Hank Topless revels in reptile-booted, over-the-top country singer fashion..." It is this fashion sense mirrored in the type of music Hank peddles: some of the best honky-tonk and classic country tunes ever penned and some damn-well written originals too. These odes are delivered with one of the sweetest country voices in Arizona, possibly the Southwest.
RIYL: Herp Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Calexico instrumentals, Bossa Nova and 60's lounge music
Island melodies without the grass skirts. Blues without the sorrow. Hans Hutchison (of Duo and Combo Sonido) always provides a great Latin-infused set.
Come in for Happy Hour seven days a week, 11am-7pm! Drink specials include $2 well cocktails and $2.50 draught beers poured by your favorite bartenders!
Local Band!
Local Band!
St. Paul, MN
Genre: Baby Makin' Music
Local Band!
"Har Mar Superstar is a nasty, filthy, mean-spirited little man. He is Stevie Wonder's dark twin. He is the muddy sludge under Grandmaster Flash's turntable. He is absolutely delightful... To put it bluntly, Har Mar Superstar is a balding, out-of-shape white man with a pencil-thin moustache who croons sex-laden R&B tunes while breakdancing. His live shows, sung to the backing of a small boom box, usually culminate in Har Mar stripping down to his underwear (often of the tighty whitey variety). That's only part of the story, though, for he also happens to sing well and write some fine tunes. In fact, he has penned songs for Jennifer Lopez and Kelly Osbourne; the latter was also his date for the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards..." - All Music Guide
"Har Mar wraps glorious, melodic R&B styled hooks around lyrics that sound dangerously inappropriate coming out of the mouths of matrons in minivans." - Urb
"Pristine production renders this as vital as anything by Justin Timberlake." 4 stars - Uncut
"Har Mar's best effort to date (his newest - The Handler)" 8/10 - NME
San Diego
Genre: alternative/pop rock
Born Hargobind Hari Singh Khalsa in Eugene, Oregon, the-artist-later-to-be-known-more-simply-as Hargo grew up surrounded by music. His parents, both accomplished musicians, filled the young Hargo's soul with everything from the religious music of their Sikh temple to the classic rock of his father's youth and everything in between. "Growing up around music from day one, hearing my dad play Beatles songs, Tom Petty, and traditional Sikh songs… There's soundtrack to every day of my life that I can remember. Looking back, me becoming a musician seems like it was meant to be from day one."
Austin, TX
RIYL: Black Lips, Jay Reatard, The Strange Boys, The Generationals, The Kinks and the Modern Lovers
"Led by two vocalists who alternate between guitarist and drummer roles, indie rock trio Harlem play spirited, rickety garage rock with a heartfelt passion and a knowing smirk... Tucson, AZ buddies Curtis O’Mara and Michael Coomers started making purposely sloppy punk music in high school... Discouraged by the monotony of day jobs, the two picked up again in Nashville and set out to play their way back home. Sleeping on floors and rotating bass players along the way, they eventually landed in Austin, TX, where they were picked to be included on a compilation of local indie hopefuls that was released by Matador Records... Soon after Matador signed the band and Harlem’s debut, Hippies, was released... really catchy and fun songs with a minimum of fuss. Harlem has done that on Hippies, and for that, they deserve all kinds of praise." 4 stars - All Music Guide
"Harlem... a garage band studied in the ways of Nuggets but clearly enamored with Pixies, they are committed to crafting bubblegum choruses flavored with booze and cigarettes." 8.1/10 - Pitchfork
"Hippies is an uncomplicated, brilliant LP about what it’s like to be young, stoned and having A REALLY GOOD TIME." 8/10 - NME
"Austin-by-way-of-Tucson garage rock trio Harlem follow up their 2009 debut, Free Drugs, with Hippies... Building on the lo-fi 60's garage revival sound established on their previous record, Hippies is a tighter, more calculated affair with catchier riffs and singsong choruses." 7/10 - Prefix
"Like Black Lips and The Strange Boys, their songs’ roots snake deep within instant-fix foundations laid by The Beatles and, later, the Ramones; at an intersection of pure pop and raucously infectious punk. There’s nothing challenging about (Harlem's) output, at all – and that’s precisely why it’s so great." - BBC
Rotterdam, Netherlands
"Harry Merry... This is the weirdest single I have heard in quite some time. I'll have to say that Ole records is quite apt at digging out the most obscure gems around northern middle Europe. And this is the most seriously distorted one of them all." - Monochrome
RIYL: Slint, Codine, Jesu and Hum
Havarti Orchestra, a new band in town that plays a nice mix of instrumental indie-experiamental rock. They show a lot of promise!
Toronto, Canada
Combining elements of both rock and folk music with a voice that is able to channel both the falsetto highs of Neil Young and the wavering raspy low tones of Leonard Cohen, Hayden has had the attention of the music critics for some time. But with his first full-length in four years and debut on the Fat Possum label set to drop this month combined with a recent tour as main support for Feist, more than just the critics are starting to take notice. There is a big buzz on this new record, and it is sure to garner the same acclaim that his past releases have claimed. Hayden is for fans of Iron & Wine, Lambchop, Elliott Smith, Cat Power, Jose Gonzalaz, Nick Drake and Neil Young.
"Hayden has spent more than a decade creating somber, subdued music, which makes In Field & Town such a startlingly pleasant change. Hayden hasn't done away with the intimacy of his previous work, nor does the singer's seventh studio album change his melancholic nature. For all intents and purposes, In Field & Town paints the same picture as Elk-Lake Serenade and The Closer I Get, but it does so with brighter colors and wider brush strokes" 4 stars - All Music Guide
"In Field & Town... an indispensable work from a singer-songwriter who merits more attention than he receives." - Paste
"In Field & Town... is both immediately accessible and utterly indispensable." 84/100 - Coke Machine Glow
"Hayden's melodies and deadpan delivery occupy their own peculiar kingdom." 4 stars - Uncut
"Like a technology-phobic Beck, Hayden tells his off-kilter tales with a wry eye." 4 stars - Q
"Hayden's delicate little songs are potent, precious things indeed." 4 stars - Mojo
Houston, TX
For fans of John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, Joe Ely and Steve Earle, Hayes Carll is Lost Highway Record's newest golden child. There is a HUGE buzz about this guy and a ton of gushing reviews to match.
"Carll's debut ushers in a compelling major voice. Following in the tradition of his many Texas predecessors, Carll delivers a set of songs filled with little epiphanies, lyrical dexterity and dirt dry wit... A record like this shows you the trouble with normal country." - Boston Globe
"Singer-songwriter Carll makes nouveau-outlaw country, poetic diction delivered with a rasp. His best melodies are honky-tonk lamentations, with detours into banjo-plunking balladry and Stones-y rock." Grade A - Entertainment Weekly
"If you prefer your country musicians to be poets with drinking problems rather than cowboys who drive SUVs, meet the aloof Hayes Carll. This Texas bred singer-songwriter, whose easygoing demeanor is leftover from his years spent dwelling in shacks on the beach, channels coffee shop honky-tonk greats like Lyle Lovett and Townes Van Zandt, as well as his labelmate Lucinda Williams." - Playgirl
"Carll.. follows in the mighty footsteps of such Lone Star State country-folk-rock luminaries as Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Joe Ely. There's a bit of Steve Earle folksy philosopher lurking there too, but Carll's voice, as a writer and a singer, is as uncommonly distinctive as it is assured." - Los Angeles Times
"This Texas troubadour displays both heart and humor on an alt-country disc that gives Ryan Adams something to worry about." 3.5/4 - People
"On his first major-label album, Carll rocks as needed across a rowdy life-scape he describes pungently and sometimes ruefully." 4 stars - Blender
"Carll... covers plenty of bases on his third album, many of them alcoholic, and the tastiest perched between stadium rockabilly and Dylan-worship rock." 3 stars - Spin
"Carll's.. tone is spot-on and the songs have just the right amount of heft, humour and humanity." 4 stars - Mojo
Los Angeles, CA
RIYL: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes, The Decemberists, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Rilo Kiley
Ft. Collins, CO
RIYL: Yonder Mountain String Band, David Grisman, Sam Bush and Bill Monroe
Known for their awe-inspiring live performances, rapidly rising newgrass quartet Head for the Hills continues to garner increased attention all across the country.
"Head for the Hills (self titled album)... album has it. The electricity that fuels Head for the Hills’ live performances has been harnessed and captured in the studio, which is no small feat." - Scene Magazine
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