Over the past decade and a half -- much of it spent on the road -- Yonder Mountain String Band has spearheaded a renegade movement to rewrite the definition of bluegrass. Alongside other neo-bluegrass friends, YMSB has thoroughly revitalized and contemporized the genre and introduced it to many thousands of new fans. Yonder Mountain String Band is comprised of Adam Aijala (guitar, vocals), Dave Johnston (banjo, vocals), Ben Kaufmann (bass, vocals), Allie Kral (violin, vocals), and Jacob Jolliff (mandolin, vocals).

PINES, Alison Sudol's third full-length as A Fine Frenzy is a fable about a pining tree who is given the unheard-of chance (for a conifer) to make a life of her own choosing. Drawing inspiration from the redwood forests and dramatic landscapes of Northern California and Washington's Cascade Mountains, the thirteen new original songs survey a sonic landscape as vast and deep as the woods, their namesake.   

Sudol crafted PINES in response to our accelerating pace of life in the 21st century. "Sometimes I feel like the world has been strapped onto the back of a giant rocket and it's hurtling us into the unknown at a pace we're not entirely equipped to deal with. All kinds of things are falling off, good and bad. It's a crazy, exciting, terrifying time- so much is changing, and fast. Yet some of the most wonderful things in the world are slow- rivers and seasons and turning leaves and growing older with the ones you love. I wanted to create an environment where a person could retreat to, somewhere vivid and real where their minds and hearts could wander freely. I wanted it to be a place you could go to feel, like a quiet spot in a forest or the sea on a cloudy day."

The adventure of PINES is further realized in a companion book and short film. The animated film PINES, (produced by TakePart, the digital division and Social Action network of Participant Media, whose mission is to create entertainment that inspires and compels social change) integrates hand-cut sets, puppets, stop motion, physical effects, and layered glass to augment the depth and texture of the film.  The book is a collaboration with illustrator Jen Lobo, whose aesthetic Sudol chose for her blend of “scientific precision and whimsical beauty.”

The ecological consciousness evident throughout PINES has been an integral part of Alison Sudol's life since she was a little girl in Seattle, Washington. She serves as a Goodwill Ambassador for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and performed at the 2011 Environmental Media Awards, subsequently joining their Young Hollywood Board, which supports school gardens in urban areas through funding and celebrity mentoring. 

As one of the first artists on Twitter, Sudol takes her responsibilities seriously, encouraging her 1.7 million followers to be more socially active within their own communities on and off line. A recent collaboration with Nokia at this year’s SXSW resulted in Sudol and her followers contributing to the planting of over 5,000 trees after an extreme drought in the area decimated their forests and urban tree population.

Since A Fine Frenzy's 2007 debut One Cell In The Sea, which spawned the hit "Almost Lover," Sudol has proven herself a consummate, imaginative storyteller. Produced by Keefus Green (Everlast, Cassandra Wilson, Joe Henry, Benji Hughes), and recorded at the legendary Capitol Studios, PINES rekindles Sudol's childlike sense of wonder after her 2009 electro-pop outing Bomb In A Birdcage.  

"I had been running to keep up with a world which I could not catch for so long, trying to find somewhere to belong, …somewhere along the way, I got lost. And then one day, I just couldn't run anymore. I didn't know where to go. It was only when I stopped that I found what I was looking for- or at least, I found how to find it. During that time, I was writing the story of PINES… I had to write it as a story- stories allow you to take a step back and actually look at what you're seeing, not just how you feel about it. They give you perspective. That perspective allowed me to see life in a different way, as an adventure; the record, the book and the film are my maps.”


Fiercely independent road warriors Wild Child, an “indie powerhouse,” has spent the past year stepping into that spotlight, playing stages as major as Austin City Limits Music Festival, Wakarusa, Firefly Music Festival, Bonnaroo, Osheaga, and Savannah Stopover.

Behind their second album, The Runaround, the premiere release on Ben Kweller’s Noise Company label, the Austin six piece earned NPR’s Top Ten Songs of 2013 honors for the song “Living Tree,” and saw five additional songs hit number 1 on Hype Machine’s Popular chart.  Their Spotify, Soundcloud, and YouTube streams have eclipsed ten million listens, and they’ve appeared on NPR’s World Cafe and an airing of eTown Radio. The lead single from The Runaround, “Crazy Bird,” debuted on Specialty Radio at number one fueled by an electrifying performance on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson. 

              Together since 2010, the band has been hailed as one of the top acts in music-rich Austin since the release of debut album Pillow Talk; their mix of folk, pop, and gypsy melodies make them sound like little else. Kelsey Wilson has “the voice of a Jazz Age Broadway baby,” writes NPR, “all coos and hiccups and shivers.” Among unanimously illustrious praise from the likes of Paste Magazine, Relix Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, Indie Shuffle, The Austin Chronicle, and American Songwriter, the Austin American­Statesman has anointed Wild Child as “Austin’s next national breakout act.”  Countless sold-out shows across the US suggest that that foretold future may in fact already be upon us.

              Incorporating violin, ukulele, cello, piano, bass, banjo, and horns in ways that few bands could conceive of today, Wild Child has broken through as one of the preeminent bands in one of the most storied music cities in the world, winning back-to-back honors as the city’s Best Indie Band at the Austin Music Awards.

“Music defines us,” says Wild Child’s co-frontman Alexander Beggins. “We get up every day to stomp, clap, whoop, holler, and dance with our family on stage and our friends in the crowd. We’re always looking for ways to expand our sound and push our boundaries musically, and we’re always looking for the next thing, the next sound, the next song. But in the meantime, it just blows our mind to stand on stage and look out into the crowd and see people singing along.”


New album, The Love Still Held Me Near - available now on Still Records.

Record label. Handmade goods. All together now.

Members: of clubs that will not have me. performer, writer, giver, taker, yeller, listener, love-lover, rule-hater. my first book, “THE ART OF ASKING” paperback is OUT NOW: http://www.amandapalmer.net i wrote it. i post often on instagram and twitter: @amandapalmer love.
sign up for the mailing list at http://amandapalmer.net/emaillist

all of the art i've been making over the last three years was funded by over 13,000 people on patreon.com. people there support me, my staff, and my collaborators so we can draw a sustainable salary to MAKE ALL THE THINGS. come join to help me make MORE THINGS and get special merch, tour pre-sales, and all album news first for as little as $1/month:
https://patreon.com/amandapalmer

partyeskimo is following