Foxhole is a post-rock band from Bowling Green, Kentucky. Founded in November 2000 on the campus of Western Kentucky University, the group was heavily influenced by other Kentucky-linked bands such as Slint and June of 44. Foxhole has released three albums on Philadelphia's Burnt Toast Vinyl label and in December of 2018 their latest LP, Well Kept Thing, was Grammy-nominated for "Best Recording Package."
Polvo is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The band formed in 1990 and is fronted by guitarists/vocalists Ash Bowie and Dave Brylawski, with Steve Popson playing bass guitar and Brian Quast playing drums. Eddie Watkins was the band's original drummer, but did not rejoin the band upon its reunion in 2008, after breaking up in 1998.
Sufjan Stevens is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released nine solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nominations.
Peter Edward Clarke, known professionally as Budgie, is an English drummer. He is the co-founder of the Creatures.
Starflyer 59 is an American alternative rock band from Riverside, California that was founded in 1993 by Jason Martin, brother of Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric. While Jason Martin has written nearly all of Starflyer 59's songs, the band has included a number of different musicians over the years, including Jeff Cloud, Frank Lenz, and Richard Swift. The band's sound was initially identified as an outgrowth of the shoegaze movement of the early 1990s, but the band's music has gradually evolved to the point of little resemblance to that of its early days.
Roadside Monument was an American math rock band from Seattle, Washington, who were active from 1994–1998 and then again from 2002–2003.
David Bazan is an American indie rock singer-songwriter from Phoenix, Arizona who now resides in Seattle, Washington. Bazan is the lead singer and creative force behind the band Pedro the Lion and was the lead singer of Headphones. In early 2006, he began performing and recording under his own name. In late 2017 he returned to playing under the Pedro the Lion name.
Unwed Sailor is an American, mostly instrumental band, formed in 1998 by Johnathon Ford, with recordings that range from instrumental rock to ambient drones. The band's touring and recording lineups have largely been in rotation over the years, with the core member being bassist Ford. Unwed Sailor has consistently toured throughout the United States and Europe since its inception in 1998.
Rosie Thomas is an American singer-songwriter and comedian, originally from Michigan.
Raft of Dead Monkeys was an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, United States, known for their controversy within the Christian punk scene. Described as a hypothetical band mocking rock culture, their early stage shows consisted of vulgar lyrics, male strippers and bloody nurses. They broke up on October 22, 2001.
The indie rock band Umbrellas was formed in 2005 by former The Lyndsay Diaries frontman, Scott Windsor. After they fulfilled their contract with The Militia Group, freeing them up to record and release their Beach Front Property EP in June 2007. Their sound is, at times, very mellow and atmospheric, yet can also lean toward a more modern/electro-pop sound. With their debut album recorded in a pseudo-haunted house, and their second album recorded in an abandoned comedy club, there are auras of emptiness and darkness swirling throughout the music. Their song "The City Lights" was featured during the climax of the Grey's Anatomy episode "Into You Like A Train," and "Ships" was featured during the Grey's Anatomy episode "Great Expectations, as well as the 7th episode of the 1st season of the tv series "Jericho"."
Denison Witmer is an American singer-songwriter from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States. His first release, in 1995, was a cassette titled My Luck, My Love. He has since released six studio LPs; two live albums, a cover album (Recovered); three EPs; and an LP with The River Bends—a side project consisting of members of the Philadelphia-based alt-country band One Star Hotel. Witmer's 2005 album, Are You a Dreamer?, produced by Don Peris of The Innocence Mission and featuring Sufjan Stevens, received acclaim, including positive reviews from Pitchfork Media and Entertainment Weekly. Witmer and Stevens appeared on Rosie Thomas's 2007 album These Friends of Mine, an album which included Rosie Thomas' version of Paper Doll, a track originally written and recorded by Witmer. Witmer toured with Rosie Thomas in support of that album in venues across the US and Europe.
Diversafest(Dfest), Oklahoma's Music Conference and Festival, was an annual live event that showcased independent and emerging artists and hosted educational music industry panels and a tradeshow. Dfest took place the last weekend in July in the historic Blue Dome District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The music conference and festival had the purpose of promoting and empowering emerging artists from around the United States. By 2008, Dfest had grown to include more than 140 bands performing on over 10 stages in downtown Tulsa and featuring music industry panels, clinics and a tradeshow during the days at the host conference hotel. Attendance over the two-day event in 2009, was nearly 70,000. However, the 2010 festival was cancelled.
Richard Swift was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and short-film maker. He was the founder, owner, and recording engineer of National Freedom, a recording studio located in Oregon, and worked as producer, collaborator, muse and influencer for acts including The Shins, Damien Jurado, David Bazan, Foxygen, Jessie Baylin, Nathaniel Rateliff, Lucius, Lonnie Holley, The Mynabirds, Wake Owl, Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab, Gardens & Villa, Cayucas, Fleet Foxes, Mango Safari and Guster. Swift was a former member of indie rock band The Shins and The Arcs. He was also a part of The Black Keys' live band during their 2014–2015 tour, performing as their touring bassist and backing singer.
Burnt Toast Vinyl is an independent record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Little Wars is an album by Unwed Sailor. It was recorded between December 27, 2002 and November 7, 2007. The album was released on April 1, 2008, by Burnt Toast Vinyl.
Motive for Movement was a Tulsa, Oklahoma indie rock band that formed in 2005. The band consisted of the 4 members now known as Foreign Home. The band has gone through many style shifts since 2005 but consistently combines angular guitar and syncopated drums for a style often described as ambient shoegazing indie rock with Britpop melodic sensibilities.
American singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens has released twelve studio albums, thirteen extended plays (EP), fifteen singles, eight promotional singles, and eight music videos. Through his record label Asthmatic Kitty Records, Stevens released his first two albums A Sun Came and Enjoy Your Rabbit in 2000 and 2001, respectively. For his next two releases – Michigan (2003) and Seven Swans (2004) – the singer partnered with Sounds Familyre Records for the distribution of both releases. Seven Swans was supported by Stevens' debut single "The Dress Looks Nice on You". The same album was reissued in 2009 and included the new single "I Went Dancing with My Sister". His fifth album, Illinois, was his first release to enter record charts, where it reached the lower positions in several countries and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of 500,000 copies. The Avalanche, a compilation album consisting of outtakes from Illinois, was released in 2006 and also reached various charts internationally.
Norman Music Festival (NMF) is an annual three-day American music festival created by Robert Ruiz, Wilmari Ruiz, Marta Burcham, Jim Wilson, Quentin Bomgardner, Kent Johnson, Jonathan Fowler, and Xian Pitt that takes place in downtown Norman, Oklahoma. Each year it highlights performances from many different genres of music. It has indoor and outdoor venues with musicians performing throughout the days and nights. Founded in 2008, in has grown to include food and art from local vendors. In 2013 an estimated 60,000 people attended the festival, which is free to the public. A business survey conducted by the Norman Arts Council that year estimated that the economic impact of NMF to the city of Norman was over $2.5 million.
