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If you're going to be weird, then it helps to be good. If you're going to wail and flail, forcing people to either come with you or sit ther gawking, then you need to hit all the notes and include moments of exquisite beauty. Local rock trio Umbrella Tree manage all those things. Artsy, quirky, dramatic - maybe even a little spastic - this band's dynamic balance and emotional intensity remain relatable. Both guitarist Zachary Gresham and keyboardist Jillian Franklin (who pass singing duties back and forth) have expressive, musical voices that prevent their sound from ever veering toward farce. Their songs are atmospheric collections of bizarre images drawing on offbeat themes - Gresham's "Bat's in the Belfry" sounds a bit like your crazy old uncle playing an out-of-tune piano in the attic, but in a charming gothic way. That's the thing about this band: they're idiosyncratic, at times dissonant and often strange, but never boring-especially onstage, where they perform with the reckless energy of a high-speed chase.
- Nashville SCENE, April 27-May 3, 2006

This record will give you the Seabee-jeebies All We Seabees have slowed things down a bit. That may be a matter of necessity—singer and main songwriter Bryan Fox recently relocated, at least temporarily, to Knoxville—but with their new album MKultra, it has also come as a welcome choice. "Our last two albums were done in a spastic manner," Fox says. "Both took no more than three days to record and both were done in homes that we lived in. This was the first time we had equipment outside of our own grasp and a studio to fiddle with it. New keys, new pedals and sounds.... I know this record represents that." Recorded by Umbrella Tree's Zachary Gresham and released on that band's label, Cephalopod, MKultra finds the Seabees fleshing out their sound while revisiting some of the lyrical themes familiar to fans of the band's other work: geographic dislocation, loss, deception, friendship. Opening the album, the band compresses a life's worth of influences into a little over four minutes and arranges them like photos on a timeline. Opening with an a cappella chant that recalls the spirituals of a bygone and unrecorded era—and hovers achingly close to the melody of "Amazing Grace"—"Tigers" leans into a banjo-led shuffle, then strides slowly but strongly toward an electrifying finish filled with churning crash cymbals and overdriven guitars. It's a song that favorably recalls the folk-fuzz of Neutral Milk Hotel while retaining the Seabees' unusual, characteristic lilt. Though the band already proved their skill at pleasingly lush, almost rustic numbers on the interstitial EP Lady Alaska (and again on MKultra with more subdued songs like "Hartsy Fartsy" and "Needle"), they are at their best when the pace is quicker and the songs become tense and foreboding. On "Alt Country," Fox's melody is relentless and accusatory, and he sings like he's digging by hand through his own song to find some kernel of truth to hoist out of it: "Everyone's returning back to the South / Though they don't really mean it, it carries no clout... / But you're returning, are you returning or are you just walking?" As someone who, in his own words, "fled Detroit" three years ago for Tennessee, Fox might not even know the answer himself. But he leads his battalion of Seabees through a thoughtful and beguiling album, one with many questions worth asking.
- By Steve Haruch, Nashville Scene Published September 04, 2008

Mary Bue likes creaky clanky pianos and falling asleep playing guitar. She wants to sing to you about what she's cooking for dinner or what she dreamt about last night. Sometimes carthartic, sometimes joyous and always bittersweet, this newly transplanted minneapolitan is making a soft winter nest of music for you. Blend the sound of Ben Folds' joyous piano pop, Carole King's earthy soul and Tori Amos' quirky, intense intimacy and you'll get an idea of what Miss Bue sounds like. In her teenage days, songs were born out of locking herself in her bedroom with notebooks and her fender squire with a hot pink strap (ask her, she still has it). Eleven years later, the twenty-five year old Bue has been the recipiant of two artist residencies in Florida, nominated for Best Local Folk Act in Providence, RI, toured nationally, led songwriting workshops and independently released two full length albums with the third to be released APRIL 7th, 2007 in Minneapolis. Her first album "Where the Monarchs Circled" (2001), was reviewed by Low's Alan Sparhawk who said "While the last ten years have seen a good handful of new piano-and-voice artists who are endlessly mimicked, Bue has a unique feel of her own in her songs." Her latest release is a mash of mary's songs and production; a bunch of wonderful musicians from Duluth and Minneapolis and a few super talented sound engineers: Eric Swanson (Sacred Heart - Duluth), Chris Mara (Nashville) and finally Mike Whitney & Tom Herbers from Third Ear Studio in Minneapolis. This pixie haired troubador will soon be coming to a town near you since she's paired up with Ripple Entertainment LLC and Cephalopod Records. And more songs are sure to come from her travels as she tends to write lots of poems on the road. Be sure to buy her a coffee or a nice glass of red wine next time she sings in your town!

An eclectic experience reminding each one of us where music came from and where music is going. Karma Kite uses Junk store treasures to create soft melodies while instilling a sense of beautiful dilapidation, which in turn invokes feelings of honesty and comfort. Honesty indeed, for Karma Kite is providing peaceful onlookers with some of the freshest, realest, most sensual music we have heard since our first taste of The Arcade Fire, American Analog Set, and Joanna Newsom. It is Indie music in its purest form and it has room to grow into something all its own.
.::maxwellwheeler::.

Crowned Whale is a project involving mostly Ryan LaFave and anyone else that wants to tag along on recordings or long van rides. As of lately Ryan has mainly been writing and looking for thirsty advocates who have similar aspirations towards writing and music. He simply needs more hands. While his band is in "pre-production" Ryan continues to help head up the Nashville based indie label, Cephalopod Records. An album is in the near future for Crowned Whale and his performances will most likely be solo for now, but in Ryan's head he'll hear more and want more.

i wanna be a locomotive consistently leans toward a folk sound yet still allowing the more obscure to seep into the mix. With quiet songs off their soon to be released ep like "Baptism song" or "He has come to take" an aggressive track like "Wolf to die" with its dirty drum sound and dueling voices is a surprise that really rounds out the sound. Sandy Lee Craven is the main conspirer in this body of music, but Zachary Scott Gresham also worked along side her during the arranging / recording process. everyone at cephalopod is looking forward to this project being released, please take some time to listen to some tracks that are up on the i wanna be a locomotive site.
derek_pearson