1-800-bankrupt and Shut Up I Am Dreaming

Brooklyn, New York's (via Hudson, MA) singer songwriter Marykate O'Neil is set to release her sophomore album entitled 1-800-bankrupt. Maybe it was the endless hours of television watching as a young child or maybe it was countless hours of writing songs for an indie-pop band Piewackit in her college year in Boston, MA. Either way Marykate has expanded her songwriting skills to produce a solid album which will have folk rock fan wonder where she has been. With some of the songs being recorded from her apartment there will be an added bit of ambient to her folk style. Today is that day that all the hard work and never-ending hours pay off for Marykate as 1-800-bankrupt is released on nettwerk records in stores everywhere (including virtual). Marykate O'Neil – Stay Marykate O'Neil - Things Are Too Good (they're bound to go bad) Check out Marykate O'Neil's MySpace page for additional tracks and up to date tour information. Marykate O'Neil have a select number of shows that she will play in the United States over the month of May before heading over to Europe to show off her stuff in France. :: May 11th - Brooklyn, NY :: May 18th - Summerville, MA :: May 19th - Bridgeport, CT :: May 31st - Hoboken, NJ :: June 17th - Saint Di, France :: June 19th - Lyon

The New Music West festival rapped up this weekend in Vancouver, BC. This year was the 15th anniversary edition of the annual music festival and it does look like there is any slowing down for the organizers of the 5 day event. We let the festival pass us by without much notice and feel bad in doing so. We will learn and give it more attention next year. Matt Friedberger, the male half of Brooklyn duo Fiery Furnaces, is set to release his solo debut, a double album entitled Winter Woman/Holy Ghost Language School, on August 8th. :: more :: Canadian indie band Sunset Rubdown have officially hit the road today on their big tour around North America. As the new album "Shut Up I Am Dreaming" is released today on Absolutely Kosher Record this is a perfect opportunity to celebrate and promote their latest creation. They start in San Francisco, CA tonight and the bus doesn't stop until the end of the month. Have a listen to some tracks off their new album via their MySpace site and check them out if they hit your town along the way.

Experimental pop music has no better home then in Berkeley, California and this is exactly were Half-Handed Cloud have laid their roots. With the release of their 4th album entitled "Halos and Lassos" via their label Asthmatic Kitty Records laid back California folks now have a new cd for their lazy afternoons in the local park. If you like Simon and Garfunkel, or Sufjan Stevens then this just might be a new album for your collection. Being released back on March 7th we were able to find a lot of reviews for the latest album, some good some not so great. We won't bring it to your attention if we didn't think it was worth listening to at least once. Here are some other thoughts from "the experts": :: Jessica Suarez, CMJ :: Michael Metivier, PopMatters :: John Motley, Pitchfork :: Andree Farias, Christian Music Today :: Fred Cisterna, Harp