Residing on the Southern California coast, young songwriter William Alexander infuses sound and culture and turns them into compact pop gems. For years he has  been developing an extensive song catalogue as sun-streaked and sugary as his SoCal peers but with a relaxed modernity that is distinctly his own. Now with the help of east-coast indie upstart Yellow K Records, Alexander will finally share his recordings. His debut album, Strangest Things, is available on vinyl for the first time!

After sorting through a pile of micro cassette recordings he’d made over the last handful of years, Tony Ruland (The Lonely Forest) decided it was finally time to do something with them. He needed some help, so he called up Erik Walters (Silver Torches) and Kyle Holland (Cumulus), and thus, the core of Soft Sleep was born.  The project will feature many guest appearances from past bandmates and touring friends alike – a revolving door!

The Soft Sleep EP includes two of the first completed tracks from the project. Featuring Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie) making bass, mellotron, and vocal contributions. This first release from Soft Sleep is divided into 200 clear and 300 pink 7″ vinyl records, and will be available for a limited time from Rocket Heart Records.

Session Americana (Boston) is a rock band in a tea cup, or possibly a folk band in a whiskey bottle. This band/collective of talented musicians craft an musical experience unlike any other. On stage is a collapsible bar table wired with microphones, a vintage suitcase recast as a kick drum, an old Estey field organ, a pre-war parlor guitar, a mandocello and all of its smaller siblings, a harmonica case fire damaged when Jack’s bar went up in flames and graffitied by Depeche Mode roadies, and an assortment of other instruments that get passed around in this freewheeling modern hootenanny. The anything-could-happen feel of a Session show depends on craft that’s not accidental or easilywon; they bring a kind of ease and genuineness to this timeless music, sometimes presenting the latest batch of original songs, sometimes reaching back into depths of the American “song bag”.

The new album, Pack Up The Circus, was mixed by Paul Q. Kolderie, engineered by Matt Beaudoin and Ry Cavanaugh, recorded at Q Division and Larboard Studios, and mastered by Ian Kennedy at New Alliance Studio.

Since its beginning in late 2012, Seafair has been turning heads and confusing critics who want to place the sextet into a carefully constructed box. The thing is, with six musicians whose backgrounds range from classically trained to punk rock roots, the band can’t be pigeonholed by genre.

From the heavy hitting of drummer Ryan Kelly to the acrobatic guitar and bass lines of Michael Flaherty and Joshua Riehl, the band builds a soundscape that is completely their own. But it is this, with the combination of the trio of women at the band’s epicenter, that make this ensemble more than your typical indie-rock band. Andrea Belding Elson and Tara Hanish blend precise and poignant violin and cello voices amidst the band’s sound, while the presence and strength of frontwoman Chayla Hope makes the experience of seeing Seafair live one that will not soon be forgotten.

In 2014, Seafair took its live performances on the road, from New York to Denver. In Denver, the band recorded its forthcoming album at ​Black in Bluhm Studio with ​Chris Fogal. The album​, The Querencia,​ is scheduled for release in May 2015.

Anthonie Tonnon is a songwriter and performer based in Auckland, New Zealand.  His new album, Successor, is available now – vinyl purchase includes unlimited streaming as well as a download.