Unsigned Artists


Aleutian
Sometimes described as Twin peaksesque psychedelic cowboy music, Aleutian's eerie tones have been haunting the dimmer corridors of college radio stations for years.

Frame Dragging


The Blame
The Blame
The Blame is gonna prove that rock and roll ain't dead yet. Get those lighters out, 'cause you're gonna be waving them high over your head as you inhale this amphetamine hurricane.

American Fool EP


Mark Boling Trio
Step into a dark night club to the scene of a murder. The cops have yet to arrive and everyone is suspect. The bartender looks at the doorman. The doorman looks at the patrons. The patrons look at each other and then at the corpse that lays sprawled across the floor with a knife in his back. The guitarist just takes another drag and keeps on playing.

Evidence


Button Happy
Button Happy is a spirited and sincere lo-fi emo-pop trio from the remote climes of Anacortes, Washington.

Pretty Darn Wee


China, the Beautiful
China, the Beautiful is on a melodic assault, armed with epic pop songs and seething, brooding instrumentals.

China, the Beautiful


The Cubby Creatures
The Cubby collective's musical offerings range from peculiar, off-kilter pop songs splashed and dripped with odd day-glo colors and decorated with strange little embellishments to complete and total delirious weirdness that defies rational explanation. If you feel like you're stuck in a rut, listening to this stuff is one way to get out fast.

The Blessed Invention - 2000
Who Remembers Kathy Barra? - 2001


D.I.Y. Dub Club
Reggae style and African sounds spar with the Teutonic penchant for high technology in the nightclubs of Tuebingen, Germany.

Untitled EP


Darkitecht
Darkitecht outlines plans for ritual sacrifice within a vacuum of abstracted sounds, the product of a fictitious interview with Diamanda Galas as a cyborg.

Deus Ex Machinations


Deep Fat Fried
This Oakland laboratory duo is credited with groundbreaking work in quantum breakbeat theory.

The Oakland Drum'n'Bass Experiment


Electrostatic
Acid breaks and funky techno at a pinnacle. If you're a fan of the Crystal Method, Uberzone, or End Recordings, you'll plug in for these upstarts. You might be in for a shock of delightful proportions.

Unreality
Sensitive Electronic Devices


Ex Self Conception
The rhythmic echo of electric sparks in a cavern surrounded by howling and menacing guttural dirges.

Ex Self Conception


Farm Team
Explosive audio mayhem with a classic Amphetamine Reptilian flavor. Fans of Big Black or The Jesus Lizard, or anything that's big and bad and rocks hard, are sure to like Farm Team.

Four Times Stronger/Free Uniform


Fingertwister
Originally a sax player, Sweden's Fingertwister has made a welcome jump into the electronic realm, becoming the master of many sounds. The Fingertwister ethic spans techno, dub, and everything in between, and is defined by clean production and a strong musical sense.



From Safety To Where
This trio from Columbia, South Carolina takes an almost pop sound, adds intricate yet catchy rhythms and harmonies, and then slices the whole mess in half with unsettling vocals.

From Safety To Where
Irreversible Trend - 2002


Full Blown Kirk
Hailing from Kent, Ohio, Full Blown Kirk offers these Ruby-esque cuts that bridge the gap between indie rock and electronic.

Zero Day


Galvanized
Galvanized sets a new standard for lower Manhattan cool with an insouciant, spiky brand of minimal punk-electro that gets under your skin in the dirtiest of ways.

Stripped - 2002


Gift Horse VA
Don't look Richmond, Virginia's Gift Horse VA in the mouth. Instead, express your profound gratitude for their unpretentious, unpolished, no-frills rock and roll.

Ampersand


Glitter Mini 9
San Francisco-based Glitter Mini 9 punches out short, catchy bursts of Kill Rock Stars-influenced power pop. As guitars buzz and female harmonies soar and dip, the grrl energy just bursts from every song.

Breakup at the Rock Show - 2000


Adam Guth
Rooted in tradition, drumming into the future, this jazz/funk disciple is spreading Philly soul as the new global spirituality.

It's Only Music


Hex Error
Mathy, angry, political, and intelligent hardcore from Atlanta GA, Hex Error has it all. One of the more interesting bands in this genre to recently come forward, this group is maybe best described as a post-modern John Henry West.

Hex Error - 2002



Jai Alai
New Orleans's Jai Alai combines subtle electronics, sweeping melodies, and jazzy flair to create a mellow and soothing almost-instrumental post-rock blend.

Division EP


Juju
Juju
Juju conducts a symphony of concussive pulses and paranormal tonality that stabs a syringe of adrenaline into docile bodies. This is the sound of a tribal festival of androids performing drum and bass microsurgery in the wreckage of conventional song architecture.



Lo Magnifica
One of the few Chicago bands influenced by the rock song format in recent history, Lo Magnifica does some perfect slices of Polvo- and Sonic Youth-inspired pop.

4 Song Demo


Lotus Mantra
With sedate artistry and intimacy, Lotus Mantra weaves somber folk lullabies for the romantically challenged.



Notch
Notch
This trio of Swedish computer technicians has discovered a rhythmic application for all equations based on the numbers 303 and 909.

Out Of Order


Persephone's Bees
Welcome to the hive! These Bees engage in some inspired musical cross-pollination to create their own utterly unique brand of psychedelic cabaret pop. Warning: highly addictive.

City of Love - 2000


pinq
If My Bloody Valentine were an emo band, what would they sound like? They might sound a bit like this San Francisco quartet, who submerge heartfelt indie rock in the miasma of dreamy half-consciousness.

Quiet Games For Hot Weather - 2000


Protolab
San Francisco's three person live drum and bass outfit, Protolab, have been know to rock a party. This is techno-influenced drum and bass at its very best.

Protolab Demo


Rainbow Flava
OK, so after twenty years, people can deal with rap music with a white face. Besides the Beasties or Eminem, even the Wu-Tang are rumored to have a wigga in the house. But rap with a pink face?

Digital Dope
Teil 3 vom Ei


Ray's Vast Basement
A loose-knit historically minded collective whose salty, sun-baked folk-rock ruminations lovingly sketch out an alternative cultural geography of California's north coast. Beautiful, literate, and highly unique.

On The Banks of the Time - 2000


Replicator
Post-punk with a vengeance. This Oakland trio rollicks through dissonant, rhythmic rock songs with enthusiasm and abandon.

Winterval
No Title EP - 2001


Resin
Resin
A Latin funk-pop hybrid that will jumpstart any party. One of the best Latin fusion ensembles in the Bay Area.

Where the Sidewalk Meets the Universe


Sappington
San Francisco duo Sappington blends ambient electronic sounds with blissfully spacey pop. It's a surprisingly enticing combination: sinouous, ethereal, exotic, and quietly lovely.

Sappington - 2000
Summer - 2002


Shortwave
Dreamy, haunting electronic downtempo...sorrowful and moody pianos take a ride over broken beats. Shortwave may be your hallucinatory ticket to another dimension.

Are You Receiving?


Steb Sly
Synthesized sounds are the specialty of Steve Sim -- aka Steb Sly -- who cuts it as a Detroit techno producer, a scratch DJ, and a freelance sound effects specialist.

Steb Sly


Professor Smith/Red Orc
Clean, minimal drum and bass from left coast producer Andrew Smith, who moonlights as the editor of the highly acclaimed XLR8R magazine.



Som
Receiving incoming transmissions: ambient, dubby bass movements from a blissed-out computer on high. An artificial intelligence's conspiracy to cause spiritual ecstasy throughout the globe.

Where Are You?


Starometska
Starometska is a dual guitar ensemble that sounds like a mixture between Edgar Allen Poe and a downed power line. Just two guitars, Starometska is as mournful as it is urgent.



sync, synthetic
A number of the electronic components are currently circulating petitions to stop this man. Epitonic holds the recorded evidence of the unspeakable things Claus Muzak has done to them.

sync, synthetic
Pore


Tarentel
Between lush ambient soundscapes and dramatic bursts of noise, Tarentel runs the gamut of musical expression, evoking a multitude of both urban and pastoral images.

Two Sides of Myself 7 inch - 2000
Looking for Things, Searching for Things 12 inch - 2000
The Order of Things - 2001


Towns of Five Hundred or Less
Drunken sugarplum fairies dance across guitar strings, synthesizers, and anything else within stumbling range in this no-tempo exploration of the difference between dissonance and the sound of crickets singing and rustling trees. If there were a game of concentration for your ears, this would be the picture you uncover.

Towns of Five Hundred or Less


Tracer
Elements of space rock, Brit-pop, and even some breakbeat make Tracer an infectious barbituate cocktail. Inject the music of this Chicago trio into your subconscious and you'll never come down.

Tracer
Indigenous EP - 2002


Transmo
Distant, haunting experimental noise. Transmo is the transcript of the strange sounds you hear on those late night walks on dark, deserted streets, abstracted and taken out of context.

InHale
Super Pong


The Trema
It's unlikely that you'll find a more ravenous bunch than this crowd. With a swarm of ear-blinding guitars and a front woman singing in a tenacious bitch-tone that just won't quit, you'll be itching for more music from this Columbia, SC quintet.



Larry Vincent
A master craftsman at the guitar, Larry Vincent's music reminds us that jazz is still vibrant and alive. Listen to these tracks from his debut album and you'll find yourself snapping your fingers to the upbeat.

In Exile


The White Octave
The White Octave
The White Octave take their protractor and redesign the Chapel Hill sound with an angular aggression like Shellac playing the buzzing indie anthems of the Archers of Loaf.