You know what niche of indie pop I can’t get enough of? Husband and wife duos. I mean, think about it, the songs are always more intimate and personal. The music is always more complimentary and balanced, and the people on stage playing it are usually the happiest couple in the world. There’s something about combining music and love that just makes sense. With that in mind, may I present the Woodlands.

he Woodlands is Hannah Robertson and Samuel Robertson, both of whom claim the guitar and voice as their instruments. Together, they have traveled the world, returned home to Portland, OR, and created music from the heart. The couple began writing songs together after marrying and backpacking through Europe.  They experimented with transforming their shared experience and wonder into delicate and harmonious bits of indie pop. But it would be some time before these ideas fully matured.

For soon enough, the Robertsons again found themselves drawn to the world around them, this time in Central America where they even volunteered at an orphanage. Can you get any nicer? I submit that you cannot. After some time, the pair returned again to Portland to finally realize their enduring desire to make music and share a different kind of joy with the world.

That joy arrived in 2009, in the form of the Woodland’s debut self-titled album, which they recorded and released on their own. The record contains musing, melody, and intimacy galore, but it also carries a sincere strength that comes naturally to a couple so deeply entwined with another. In hushed tones and layered storytelling, the Woodlands share a tranquil musical bond that’s easy to see and even easier to love.

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

This Southern California folk rock quartet is young… high school young, and yet they write songs that are filled with such maturity and wit, it’s hard not to label them as prodigies. They’ve just signed to Sub Pop and are working on their debut record.

Avi Buffalo revolves around one person, the singer, songwriter and guitar player of the group, Avigdor Zahner-Isenber. This 18 year old Long Beach Native was introduced to the professional music world at the age of 13, when he fell under the tutelage of a local seasoned blues man, Joel Weinberg… think Lisa Simpson meets Bleeding Gums Murphy.  After three years of showing the tween Avigodor how to play and perform, the young upstart began recording at home. He mined the traumas of high school romance to fuel his songwriting, and eventually collected an ensemble of like-minded musicians to fill out the sound.

They’ve only been on one tour, up to Seattle and back; however they’ve garnered a lot of attention with their remarkably catchy songs and virtuoso playing. There will undoubtedly be backlash against their hype, as a result of their age; however, once you give the music an honest listen it’s going to be hard to refute that this is a talented and capable band. If you want to get in on a good investment early, check out Avi Buffalo and watch how they grow.

Avi Buffalo plays the Noise Pop Festival on February 27th at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco.  Tickets are on sale here