The Skygreen Leopards

The Skygreen Leopards

Pastoral folk-pop duo the Skygreen Leopards formed in 2001 in California. Bandmates Glenn Donaldson (Thuja, Blithe Sons, Ivytree, and co-founder of the Bay area experimental folk label Jewelled Antler), and Donovan Quinn (Verdure) released their first collection of improv folk songs -- some of which were recorded outdoors, with the bulk being laid down on an old reel-to-reel -- as two companion albums named Life & Love in Sparrow's Meadow and I Dreamt She Rode on a Pink Gazelle & Other Dreams. Both discs appeared in 2001, as did a handmade vinyl 12" titled Child God in the Garden of Idols.

The group issued Story of the Green Lamb & the Jerusalem Priestess of Leaves in 2002, followed by One Thousand Bird Ceremony in 2004. Life & Love in Sparrow's Meadow and the six-song Jehovah Surrender EP arrived in 2005, followed by Disciples of California in 2006. The latter album was the first to be recorded outside of the Leopards' own studio, as the band decamped to Jason Quever's studio in San Francisco and tracked the bulk of Disciples of California during live recording sessions. They reprised their collaboration with Quever several years later, when Gorgeous Johnny marked their sixth full-length album in 2009. The band faded out of the activity for a bit, Quinn teaming up with Six Organs of Admittance main man Ben Chasney in the early 2010s to work on side project New Bums. Skygreen Leopards would return in 2014 with their considerably poppier album Family Crimes, their first for the Woodsist label. - Allmusic

Lower Plenty

Fire Records delve further in to the Australian underground with the signing of Melbourne-based four-piece Lower Plenty. Their transfixing LP 'Hard Rubbish' was voted Album of the Year 2012 on Aussie indie bible Mess + Noise and was released worldwide back in April.

Named after a Melbourne suburb, Lower Plenty are comprised of some of the city's most talented musicians, the quartet of Daniel Twomey, Jensen Tjhung, Sarah Heyward and Al Montfort hail from various other bands such as Deaf Wish, Total Control, UV Race and The Focus. A departure from the harsher sounds of their other projects, Lower Plenty create beautifully melancholy, suburban-country music that's made (and often performed) while sitting around the kitchen table.

Raw and delicate, 'Hard Rubbish' was recorded on eight-track reel-to-reel tape, often in just a single take. Their folk-tinged indie rock is flecked with experimentation whilst retaining a firm hold on some fantastically memorable melodies. With a non-traditional set-up of two guitars, drums and processed percussion with four vocals - Lower Plenty are set to take us on a very exciting ride.

J Fernandez

There is strange dissonance resonating in the Chicago-based musician J Fernandez. You might also find it strangely familiar. While his tunes catch you with their impeccable hooks, hypnotic grooves, warm tones, and crafty structures there lies subtle darkness in these songs. Whether it comes from the woozy combo organs fighting frequencies or the bummer lyrics that leave you feeling hollow, Fernandez is grasping for something real. While "nostalgia" is a comfortable word to describe these tunes, not all pop music has to fall into that blasé carefree zone. In fact, that might undermine not only Fernandez's craft but also the amount of painfully, self-conscious awareness that makes his compositions so reflective and true. They are personal tunes but ones crafted so well as to ring in our collective unconscious, instantly begging the question Where have I heard this before?