If you pulled the rusting factories, odd urban centers, and dairy farms of Connecticut into a sound, you’d come close to a band like Sunspots. The group has been described as a combination of "rootsy rock with soulful pop hooks" (Eric Danton, Hartford Courant) and is especially known for their dynamic live performances, which range from richly-harmonized pop songs to fuzz rock singalongs. Maintaining a relentless performing schedule, the band is based in Hartford, CT, where they are ardent supporters of the emerging, tight-knit music community, while branching out to perform frequently across New England and southward on tours down the East Coast.

In July 2011, the group will release a self-titled full-length album, which was engineered over seven months by guitarist Matt Sargent. With a quality described as "Motown-meets-Abbey Road" (Karl Messerschmidt, HardwareCityArts) the album presents Sunspots hook-driven live material within an expansive soundworld, pulled from a variety of unusual recording techniques and recording spaces (ranging from of microphones scattered around our apartment to late-night reverb recordings in the hallways and stairwells of a borrowed Samuel Clemens-era Hartford mansion).

Wrung from the rags of New London’s speakeasies, Daphne Lee Martin & Raise the Rent stir together a wicked musical cocktail, drawing from the deep well of the American songbook. Fusing honky-tonk torch vocals with swing and gypsy fiddling, swirling jazz-pop, and ragtime harmony singing, they bring together the gems of their own original songs with a top-shelf selection of beloved American broadsides of a bygone age. Whether you’re in the mood for an easy evening of sweet melodies or a night of swinging tunes, Raise the Rent is a band you must pull over to hear!

"Featuring the sultry voice of 'Dame Calico, Daphne Lee Martin' — whose melodies and delivery would be at home in a ’30s Parisian café, a midnight set in a Nashville honky-tonk, or a blues juke in East Baton Rouge — 'Raise the Rent' are one of the area’s finest and most unique bands. But it’s not just Daphne. Multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Craig Edwards, who’s fluidly adept in styles from sea chanteys to zydeco; drummer Matt Gouette, a fine pop songwriter in his own right; and bassist 'Brad Bensko' — across the board, this is a really intuitive unit." Rick Koster, The Day

"The musicianship on the record is awesome - the steady tight rhythm section of 'Brad Bensko' (bass) and Matt Gouette (drums) along with the fiddle and lead guitar work of Craig Edwards… you couldn’t hope for a better backdrop to lay your vocals on. The vocals are what most people are going to take away from this record and Daphne has really become known for her sultry cabaret vocal stylings. " Adam Wujtewicz, wailingcity.com