Pulled straight from the sonic viscera of New Jersey, Waking Lights is a powerful quintet that can easily serve as the defining sound of New York City indie folk rock, a necessary counterpart to bands like Okkervil River and Mumford & Sons (swapping the banjo for the violin).

Formed in 2005, the brothers Matthew and Tommy Maroulakos, Dana LaMarca, Kyle McCammon, and Nicole Scorsone are more a family than a band, endlessly digging into the depth of their unique musicality to ultimately create an organic aural experience, driven equally by strong instrumentation and Matt's intelligent, poetic lyrics.

After independently releasing their debut EP, The Rabbit Hole, on vinyl in 2009, Waking Lights have pushed themselves to a more fantastical wonderland for their second release, paying homage to the heavy rock and roll of Springsteen while maintaining a contemporary tone, resonating the harmonic zeitgeist of today's counterculture.

Courtesy Tier is always a surprise, sometimes even to themselves. Layton (drums) and Omer (guitar) have been playing together for the last seven years, but they weren’t always a duo. As members came and went, they perpetually conceptualized themselves as a four and sometimes six piece band. Then, during their second winter in New York, the boys had run out of other band members. Regrouping in a closet size practice space under the Smith Street overpass, they finally had enough room to rehearse, and they liked the sound. By the following summer they were ready to record, but a New York budget requires some finagling. With three mic’s in a 7x7 room, “The Resolution” was born.

Courtesy Tier is a two man cadre. Whether invoking the Meat Puppets, Morphine, Ataxia, J Dilla, Don Caballero, or Chris Whitley they synthesize the soul of rock with melodic blues. While a forerunner of the DIY movement in Brooklyn, they aren’t your usual Brooklyn sound. The album name exemplifies their process: go with what you’ve got and you’ll find your way there.

The Bailey Hounds, formed in early 2009, released their first full-length album Along the Gallows on October 30th, also known as Devil’s Night or Hell Night. Finding solace and inspiration in their hometown of Philadelphia, a town with as much history as you can get out of America herself; their songs are influenced by the melancholy sounds of an early winter graveyard and the folksy blues from tired travelers. Pennsylvania has an interesting history deep seeded in the founding of our country, the whiskey rebellion and the collapse of the steel industry. This bipolar depression has bread similar sounds from bands and hobbyist musicians alike in this region. Painted for us here is this Americana sort of gothic, downhearted and sometimes guttural compilation of songs. The Bailey Hounds have the power to evoke such images, memories and emotions of dilapidated, sunken graveyards, love gone wrong and the hand that Satan has played in our lives.