Album Title: Hip Hip Hooray!!! & The Stationary Set
Featured Tracks: “A Promise & A Threat” & “Brick & Mortar”
Record Label: Unsigned
Website:  www.myspace.com/thestationaryset

Bio: Now, it should be said, that if the service industry is good for anything other than a quick buck, it’s good for meeting new people. That’s how The Stationary Set happened.That’s where Andrew Lutes (vocals) met Gabriel Kubitz (bass) and Logan Baldwin (drums). But long prior to that, through three separate movements, friends Lutes, Josh Hoisington (guitar, keyboards) and Josh Davis (guitar, keyboards) all found themselves in the greater New York area from Michigan.

The Stationary Set had been an abandoned thought, left behind in Michigan, unattended to as the big city’s end of month bills kept showing up. It was Josh Hoisington, a co-founder of the first Stat. Set arrangement, who found it, dusted it off, and presented it back to Andrew Lutes aside whiskey and a little heated conversation.

The Stationary Set had a very simple idea when it finally solidified: to write songs of a greater nature that it found appealing and attainable without sacrificing any content, without dumbing anything down or being afraid to be loud or blatant. It sought to make the “pop” in “pop music” not such a dirty word. Their songs prove lyrically complex while dance-laden and up-tempo, tackling with tinges of sarcasm and sentiment the structures of nostalgia, mortality and the concepts of “home”. Virally melodic, epic in nature, The Stationary Set have injected elements into the traditional 4-minute pop song that today’s indie-rock fandom haven’t heard in a long time.

Album Title: Ghosts
Featured Tracks: “Hard For You” & “Every Little Thing”
Record Label: Afternoon Records
Website:  www.myspace.com/onefortheteam

Bio: One for the Team is an indie rock group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band was formed in 2006 by American songwriter Ian Anderson, who is also the founder of Afternoon Records, and is completed by co-lead-vocalist and keyboard player Grace Fiddler, and drummer Elliot Manthey, and bass player Jacob Huelster.  Originally intended as an outlet for Anderson’s pop-songs that didn’t quite the aesthetic of his first band, Aneuretical, One for the Team started as a strictly-studio side project with Manthey and original bass player John Krueger. In 2006, One for the Team released “Good Boys Don’t Make Noise” on Anderson’s own Afternoon Records and received a mass of critical acclaim, which moved the project from the studio and onto the stage.

ATTN Pop Rock lovers, have we got a treat for you! Queens Club (you’ve seen ‘em before in our Download of the Week as well as a nice little featured artist blog) kick off a new tour on May 28 in Spokane, WA! The band will be supporting Emery on the ‘Are You Listening? Tour’ in addition to Sent By Ravens and Kiros.  Make sure you grab their latest album, Young Giant, on iTunes before the show so you can sing along!

Album Title: N/A
Featured Tracks: “Say No” Hey Champ Remix
Record Label: Loose Change Recordings
Website: www.myspace.com/moneypennyofficial

Bio: Moneypenny is an alluring female electro pop duo born from Chicago’s burgeoning indie/electro scene and poised to pop in 2010. Though the group has yet to officially release any music, they’ve licensed three songs to ABC, played Lollapalooza and performed at key tastemakers events in LA, SF, New York and Chicago. They’ve opened for acts like Robyn, La Roux, and Chromeo and have their own established Chicago club night – SPANDEXXX – which has welcomed acts like Miike Snow, Dragonette, The Golden Filter, and more to the Windy City. Tastemakers in their own rite, Moneypenny have partnered with the Chicago-based ColorJar Venture Accelerator (of which Priceline founding member Jeff Hoffman is a Partner) to form Loose Change Recordings a new-model record label/media company celebrating the music, lifestyle, and culture of Chicago’s indie/electro scene. Look for Moneypenny’s debut EP this spring/summer via Loose Change, with a number of subsequent releases from great Chicago-based talent to follow.

Album Title: Gamble House
Featured Tracks: “Rising Tides”
Record Label: Unsigned
Website: www.myspace.com/gamblehouse

Bio: This Fall, Ben Becker’s recorded debut as Gamble House, Gamble House, sees his one-time bedroom recording project flourish into an astonishing full-fledged album. Begun in Brooklyn after finishing NYU, Ben completed the recordings in his hometown of Los Angeles.Written, recorded and produced by Ben, Gamble House is at once as intimate and warm as the homes within which it was made, yet incredibly refined and as sonically dynamic as the vision that it seeks to capture. Mastered by Paul Gold (Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors) in Brooklyn, the results are rich in both clarity and scope.From the lush opening of ‘Central Park’, each song seems to begin as a film score, slowly giving rise to catchy melodies and intimate lyricism, eventually capsizing into spacious landscapes, or tightly knit arpeggios. Elements of ’60s pop and choral music radiate through ‘Bonny Doon’ with multi-part harmonies, cyclical prose, and sharp, distorted electric guitars, giving way to big, rolling drums and cymbal crashes. Infused with a sense of mystery and beauty, Gamble House revels in folk psychedelia on songs like ‘Blow by Blow’ as omnichords sweep through choruses, flutes swell in tandem, and contrapuntal vocal parts ebb and flow. Banjos and glockenspiel fall into place on ‘Only Days Away’ and ‘My Brother’ with a whimsical naturalism, as ever-evolving melodies and soaring vocals lift the songs to expansive heights. The epic orchestral finale to the nostalgic ‘Eugenia’ provides a graceful send-off to Gamble House.

A few months ago we introduced you to a little band from Helsinki called Rubik. Well, we didn’t want you to miss your chance at seeing this band rock the USA while on tour with mewithYou and David Bazan.  The dates are listed below and if you didn’t pick up the whole CD yet, make sure you do. Maybe we’ll see you there?

June 2 Off Broadway St. Louis, MO
3 Granada Lawrence, KS
4 Marquis Theater Denver, Co
5 Murray theater Murray, UT
7 El Corazon Seattle, WA
8 Hawthorne Theater Portland, OR
10 The Boardwalk Orangevale, CA
11 Chain Reaction Anaheim, CA
12 Henry Fonda Los Angeles, CA
13 Martini Ranch Phoenix, AZ
15 Emo’s Austin, TX
16 The Door Dallas, TX
17 Diamond Ballroom Oklahoma City, OK
18 Outland Ballroom Springfield, MO
19 Juanita’s Little Rock, AR
20 M-Lounge Birmingham, AL
21 Hi-Tone Memphis, TN
22 Masquerade Downstairs Atlanta, GA
23 Exit/In Nashville, TN
24 New Brookland Tavern Columbia, SC
25 The Square Room Knoxville, TN
26 Mad Hatter Covington, KY
27 Eagle Theatre Pontiac, MI

Album Title: East
Featured Tracks: “I’m Gonna Be Your Ruin”
Record Label: Merrifield Records
Website: www.myspace.com/thedanvilles

Bio: The Danvilles, consisting of Mike Hindert, Brian Dexter, Kenny Pirog, Anthony Pirog and Gary Schaaf, was started in a tour bus while Mike was on tour with another band, using the internet to work on music with Gary and Dex who lived on each coast.   When his tour was done, Mike moved back to Virginia where he inlisted brothers Kenny and Anthony.  All members grew up together in the suburbs of northern Virginia where their elders taught them about the tasteful music of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s.  The Danvilles play poppy, garagey, surfy, rock and roll with an occasional reggae bass line thrown in…

Album Title: N/A
Featured Tracks: “Bird’s Eye View”
Record Label: Merrifield Records
Website: www.myspace.com/nikkiandtheweeps

Bio: One day Nicole’s brother Michael, from the band The Danvilles, asked her to write some words and a melody a song that was more suited for a female’s voice than his own, she far surpassed either of their expectations and as a result Nikki and the Weeps was born.  She joins The Danvilles to play live when she can take a break from her busy schedule as mom, wife and phd student…

Album Title: Mirros
Featured Tracks: “Mirrors”
Record Label: Unsigned
Website: http://www.myspace.com/geminiclub

Bio: In sweaty loft parties, packed dance clubs, rock n’ roll joints and virtually anyplace with speakers you’ll find Gemini Club, who UR Chicago called ‘Chicago’s rising-star indie-electro act’.  Formed in March of 2009, the trio comprised of Tom Gavin, Daniel Brunelle, and Gordon Bramli have wasted no time in making their presence felt not only in Chicago, but across the U.S., and the rest of the world.  Generating buzz almost immediately after they released their debut EP Future Tidings in August of 2009, Gemini Club truly has the makings of an act destined to make the big break in the music industry.

The desires of the band are simple:  Create brilliant dance music, and have fun doing it.  But, there is more to these guys than the enjoyment of creating music.  The trio has spent countless hours developing a live rig that is designed to successfully fuse the energetic and precise aspects of DJing with live vocals, synthesizers, guitars and bass.  While the desires are simple, the objective is clear:  Redefine what a “live” performance means.  People have been talking, and the talent buyers have been listening: Gemini Club has already managed to share the stage with Hercules & Love Affair, Voxtrot, Solid Gold, Hey Champ, Tigercity, French Horn Rebellion, and DATABASE, with shows to come with DJ Falcon, Juan MacLean, and Depressed Buttons.

Given the massive attention Gemini Club has received since they released their EP, it should come as no surprise that Gemini Club’s first-ever remix, of The Vanish’s “Hold On”, hit #5 on the Hype Machine Charts; any aspiring producer would kill to receive that much attention on a first-effort.  Gemini Club plans to keep that momentum going with remixes on the way with the likes of Housse de Racket, Hey Champ, and Moneypenny, as well as releasing their long-awaited – and highly lauded – single “Ghost”.  Given all of this production work, and all of the work spent on configuring a cutting-edge live rig, it should come as no surprise that Gemini Club is a busy group.  The trio wouldn’t have it any other way.

Remember back in September when we introduced all of you to the The Nervous Wreckords? Members of this group include: Brian Karscig (Louis XIV), Mark Maigaard (Louis XIV), Ray Suen and Mark Stoermer (The Killers), Anthony Saffery (Cornershop), Steve Smith (Dirty Vegas), Matt Molarius (Transfer). Check out the music video for one of our favorite tunes here, “Doin It To Do It.” Enjoy!