Even a cursory run-through of Harlem’s recordings makes plain the band’s love of playing—and listening to—music. The trio rolls through sixteen tracks on Hippies, their second full-length, with each cut a nugget of garage-y rock filled with allusions to 50s girl groups, 60s pop, psychedelia, punk, and just about everything in between.

Harlem songs are stripped-down affairs, propelled by raw energy, chiming guitars and expressive vocals. The band traffics in driving rhythms and distorted chords, with most tunes barely pushing more than a couple minutes in length. Oftentimes the fellas sound like they’re in a hurry to run off a cliff, but on Hippies they manage to smartly throw in a few slower-tempo, lovesick numbers to balance things out.

Harlem——Coomers (nee Michael Coomer), Curtis O’Mara and Jose Boyer—started building their following one song at a time with their “Cover of the Month Club,” a long-running project in which the band produces their own loose versions of a wide array of songs from the likes of Devo, 60s girl group The Dixie Cups, Paul Revere and the Raiders—even Detroit techno group Drexciya. They subsequently self-release the 4-track bedroom recordings, offering them up for free on their Myspace page.

Hippies is both a welcome progression from and complement to their debut, Free Drugs . The album is due out April 6th on Matador Records.

Somber and steady, Mark Kozelek weaves a plaintive and vulnerable swath between experimental indie rock and sonorous folk music that some have dubbed “sadcore.” But don’t let the melancholy title worry you, this prolific singer/songwriter is a true American original, an
influential and respected craftsman, and one of the strongest voices to emerge in the last 25 years.

Background Check:

Born and raised in Ohio, Mark Kozelek spent time in Atlanta before moving to San Francisco and forming the immaculately sorrowful Red
House Painters in 1989. The group fused Kozelek’s bittersweet baritone voice with deeply intimate compositions. Formed around an often experimental slant, Kozelek lead the group through several acclaimed albums over the course of nearly a decade before the band dissolved.

At that time, Kozelek moved towards more acoustic centered solo material, releasing his debut album under his own name, Rock ‘n’ Roll Singer EP in 2000. The album included masterful reworkings of classic songs by the likes of John Denver and even AC/DC, a feat Kozelek would continue throughout his career. In 2002, Kozelek again assembled a

close knit group of musicians, including some Red House Painters alumni, to form the more accessible and straightforward Sun Kil Moon. Their debut album, Ghosts of the Great Highway, signaled a true embrace of Kozelek’s Midwestern roots and featured country inspired rock songs that Red House Painters had so often skirted for more
haunting and atmospheric aesthetics.

Sun Kil Moon continues to this day, most recently releasing April in 2008. Kozelek has also kept a full plate on his table with the founding of his label Caldo Vera Records, and a steady string of solo
albums, including 2008’s Finally LP and last year’s Lost Verses Live, a collection of his works presented in stunningly stripped down live renditions. Now one of the most recognized voices in music, Kozelek
still leads a generation of songwriters with his poetic and gentle songs.

Mark Kozelek is also playing the NoisePop festival.  See dates and buy tickets HERE

Singer/songwriter Jeremy D’Antonio is a well traveled, but not yet road weary troubadour whose humble roots inform on his sincere alt-country stylings. Now at home in the Bay Area,  he takes his
simple melodic approach to the fullest as the founder and frontman of Tiny Television.

D’Antonio traces his line in the sand to the streets of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was there that the young musician cut his teeth and honed his richly textured Americana folk rock under the Tiny Television
moniker. Imbued in a sense of the historic, D’Antonio moved to the snow tops of Denver and eventually found himself in the communal hands
of San Francsico.

The songwriter utilizes a large group of friends to accommodate his revolving door of collaborators within the confines of Tiny Television. Writing lyrical and true to life tales, D’Antonio takes
from his southwestern state of mind and creates impacting and immediate country rock. His debut album, Mission Statement, is as layered and enriched as the neighborhood it’s named for.

Tiny Television is an amazing avenue for D’Antonio’s powerful voice and traditional sound, one that allows the songwriter the freedoms of
his art and demands the fullest of his talents. No doubt that the maturing presence fronting Tiny Television is setting the stage for some truly remarkable records to come.

Where you can find them in Cyberspace:

MySpace

Tinytele.com

Facebook Fan page

On Tour:

JamBase

Tiny Television Plays Noise Pop on Thursday February 25, 2010 at the Rickshaw Stop.  Get tickets HERE!