"Ha Ha Tonka have created something special and unexpected with Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South, and it's one of the smartest, most striking roots rock albums to emerge in quite some time." 4 stars - All Music Guide
"Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South is a great accomplishment and, even with it's dark themes, a tuneful and bright listen throughout. Despite their lofty goals on this album, Ha Ha Tonka is first and foremost a great rock band. And it's a hell of a thing that the band gets to have it both ways. They'll make you pump your fist while they break your heart." 8/10 - Prefix
Loud Is the Night, Hacienda's official debut, was produced by the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and features members of Dr. Dog.
"Hacienda write eccentric pop songs and play them with flashes of T. Rex and the Friends-era Beach Boys on the fine debut album Loud is the Night. Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys produced the record with a kitchen-jam, bathroom-echo touch, like a central-Texas version of Paul McCartney's 1970 homemade solo debut..." - Rolling Stone
"Hacienda, a Mexican-American four piece... that seems to have found the eternal Summer that Brian Wilson was seeking on the battered shores of South Texas... Loud is the Night is an entirely soothing and invigorating dose of 60's pop made for a long afternoon siesta." - American Songwriter
"As improbable as a largely Canadian group reinventing Americana, so too is the ebullient, soulful pop erupting from San Antonio-based quartet Hacienda... Hacienda bends classic 1960s garage rhythms and swooning doo-wop with bursts of harmonies." - Austin Chronicle
"A truly talented quartet whose sound resembles the Beach Boys in a sort of Beatlesque fashion. In other words, these guys just rock!" - It Could Mainstream
HAIRSPRAYFIREANDGIRLS is a new Tucson super group of sorts, featuring members and post-members of various other cool local bands including: Red Switch, Chango Malo and Bombs for the Bored among others!... In a word - SWEET!
An EPIC BATTLE... The gauntlet has been thrown and Hairsprayfireandgirls face off with The Swim in a song-for-song and set-for-set rock 'n' roll duel. Who will come out on top???
Hairsprayfireandgirls is a new Tucson super group of sorts, featuring members and post-members of various other cool local bands including: Red Switch, Chango Malo and Bombs for the Bored among others!... In a word - SWEET!
"Equally informed by '60s pop and mondern indie- pop/rock, with just a hint of Americana, The Swim perform the type of songs you'll be humming long after thier album is done playing." - Tucson Weekly
The Swim: "Best New Band" - Tammies
Haley Bonar - a very talented young singer-songwriter that should resonate with fans of Aimee Mann, Elliott Smith, Tori Amos, and Shawn Colvin.
Haley Jane is one of Tucson's fastest up-and-coming acoustic rock bands.
Tucson Underground says, "Singer/guitarist Hank Topless revels in reptile-booted, over-the-top country singer fashion..." It is this fashion sense mirrored in the type of music Hank peddles: some of the best honky-tonk and classic country tunes ever penned and some damn-well written originals too. These odes are delivered with one of the sweetest country voices in Arizona, possibly the Southwest.
"Har Mar Superstar is a nasty, filthy, mean-spirited little man. He is Stevie Wonder's dark twin. He is the muddy sludge under Grandmaster Flash's turntable. He is absolutely delightful... To put it bluntly, Har Mar Superstar is a balding, out-of-shape white man with a pencil-thin moustache who croons sex-laden R&B tunes while breakdancing. His live shows, sung to the backing of a small boom box, usually culminate in Har Mar stripping down to his underwear (often of the tighty whitey variety). That's only part of the story, though, for he also happens to sing well and write some fine tunes. In fact, he has penned songs for Jennifer Lopez and Kelly Osbourne; the latter was also his date for the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards..." - All Music Guide
"Har Mar wraps glorious, melodic R&B styled hooks around lyrics that sound dangerously inappropriate coming out of the mouths of matrons in minivans." - Urb
"Pristine production renders this as vital as anything by Justin Timberlake." 4 stars - Uncut
"Har Mar's best effort to date (his newest - The Handler)" 8/10 - NME
"Led by two vocalists who alternate between guitarist and drummer roles, indie rock trio Harlem play spirited, rickety garage rock with a heartfelt passion and a knowing smirk... Tucson, AZ buddies Curtis O’Mara and Michael Coomers started making purposely sloppy punk music in high school... Discouraged by the monotony of day jobs, the two picked up again in Nashville and set out to play their way back home. Sleeping on floors and rotating bass players along the way, they eventually landed in Austin, TX, where they were picked to be included on a compilation of local indie hopefuls that was released by Matador Records... Soon after Matador signed the band and Harlem’s debut, Hippies, was released... really catchy and fun songs with a minimum of fuss. Harlem has done that on Hippies, and for that, they deserve all kinds of praise." 4 stars - All Music Guide
"Harlem... a garage band studied in the ways of Nuggets but clearly enamored with Pixies, they are committed to crafting bubblegum choruses flavored with booze and cigarettes." 8.1/10 - Pitchfork
"Hippies is an uncomplicated, brilliant LP about what it’s like to be young, stoned and having A REALLY GOOD TIME." 8/10 - NME
"Austin-by-way-of-Tucson garage rock trio Harlem follow up their 2009 debut, Free Drugs, with Hippies... Building on the lo-fi 60's garage revival sound established on their previous record, Hippies is a tighter, more calculated affair with catchier riffs and singsong choruses." 7/10 - Prefix
"Like Black Lips and The Strange Boys, their songs’ roots snake deep within instant-fix foundations laid by The Beatles and, later, the Ramones; at an intersection of pure pop and raucously infectious punk. There’s nothing challenging about (Harlem's) output, at all – and that’s precisely why it’s so great." - BBC
"Harry Merry... This is the weirdest single I have heard in quite some time. I'll have to say that Ole records is quite apt at digging out the most obscure gems around northern middle Europe. And this is the most seriously distorted one of them all." - Monochrome
Combining elements of both rock and folk music with a voice that is able to channel both the falsetto highs of Neil Young and the wavering raspy low tones of Leonard Cohen, Hayden has had the attention of the music critics for some time. But with his first full-length in four years and debut on the Fat Possum label set to drop this month combined with a recent tour as main support for Feist, more than just the critics are starting to take notice. There is a big buzz on this new record, and it is sure to garner the same acclaim that his past releases have claimed. Hayden is for fans of Iron & Wine, Lambchop, Elliott Smith, Cat Power, Jose Gonzalaz, Nick Drake and Neil Young.
"Hayden has spent more than a decade creating somber, subdued music, which makes In Field & Town such a startlingly pleasant change. Hayden hasn't done away with the intimacy of his previous work, nor does the singer's seventh studio album change his melancholic nature. For all intents and purposes, In Field & Town paints the same picture as Elk-Lake Serenade and The Closer I Get, but it does so with brighter colors and wider brush strokes" 4 stars - All Music Guide
"In Field & Town... an indispensable work from a singer-songwriter who merits more attention than he receives." - Paste
"In Field & Town... is both immediately accessible and utterly indispensable." 84/100 - Coke Machine Glow
"Hayden's melodies and deadpan delivery occupy their own peculiar kingdom." 4 stars - Uncut
"Like a technology-phobic Beck, Hayden tells his off-kilter tales with a wry eye." 4 stars - Q
"Hayden's delicate little songs are potent, precious things indeed." 4 stars - Mojo
For fans of John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, Joe Ely and Steve Earle, Hayes Carll is Lost Highway Record's newest golden child. There is a HUGE buzz about this guy and a ton of gushing reviews to match.
"Carll's debut ushers in a compelling major voice. Following in the tradition of his many Texas predecessors, Carll delivers a set of songs filled with little epiphanies, lyrical dexterity and dirt dry wit... A record like this shows you the trouble with normal country." - Boston Globe
"Singer-songwriter Carll makes nouveau-outlaw country, poetic diction delivered with a rasp. His best melodies are honky-tonk lamentations, with detours into banjo-plunking balladry and Stones-y rock." Grade A - Entertainment Weekly
"If you prefer your country musicians to be poets with drinking problems rather than cowboys who drive SUVs, meet the aloof Hayes Carll. This Texas bred singer-songwriter, whose easygoing demeanor is leftover from his years spent dwelling in shacks on the beach, channels coffee shop honky-tonk greats like Lyle Lovett and Townes Van Zandt, as well as his labelmate Lucinda Williams." - Playgirl
"Carll.. follows in the mighty footsteps of such Lone Star State country-folk-rock luminaries as Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Joe Ely. There's a bit of Steve Earle folksy philosopher lurking there too, but Carll's voice, as a writer and a singer, is as uncommonly distinctive as it is assured." - Los Angeles Times
"This Texas troubadour displays both heart and humor on an alt-country disc that gives Ryan Adams something to worry about." 3.5/4 - People
"On his first major-label album, Carll rocks as needed across a rowdy life-scape he describes pungently and sometimes ruefully." 4 stars - Blender
"Carll... covers plenty of bases on his third album, many of them alcoholic, and the tastiest perched between stadium rockabilly and Dylan-worship rock." 3 stars - Spin
"Carll's.. tone is spot-on and the songs have just the right amount of heft, humour and humanity." 4 stars - Mojo
Head Like A Kite... Can you say BUZZ?!?! Head Like A Kite is all-the-rage in Seattle - and likely everywhere else very soon. They are getting nothing but rave reviews for their newest release There Is Loud Laghter Everwhere just as they did with their debut, Random Portraits of the Home Movie. Fans of Pinback, Four Tet, Beck, American Analog Set, Stereolab, The Dandy Warhols, and DJ Shadow should dig their eclectic brew!
"Head Like A Kite... Sonic Youth guitar treatments upon Stereolab keyboards on top of Primal Scream-style vocal loops... a well-edited scrapbook of retro-futurism." - Magnet
"Head Like A Kite (create)... a mixture of straight rock 'n' roll tunes buried under layered synthesizers, topped with funk-guitar, drum machines and half-baked retro-futuristic vocal loops... In the end, they serve up a true genre-twisted party album that appropriately captures the sounds of an eclectic America." 4 stars - Urb
"Think Pinback's melodic tonalities with guitar treatments by Brian Eno. Head Like A Kite's live shows are an aural-erotic experience." - San Francisco Bay Guardian
"Head Like A Kite (create)... gorgeous pop melodies with electronic bleeps." 5/5 - Alternative Press
"Random Portraits is a beautiful pop album that pays personal homage to the past but has one eye on the future." - Remix
"Mixing tons of sampling and bits of electronica with alternative rock in the vein of The Pixies and Morphine, Random Portraits comes out sounding like a sane man's Nine Inch Nails." - American Songwriter
Headlights are on tour in support of their third full-length, Wildelife, to be released in early October! This is the follow up to the well-recieved Some Racing, Some Stopping
"Headlights' second full-length (Some Racing, Some Stopping) inspires awe at how deftly the band employs bells, organ swells, orchestral flourishes and stacked, co-ed 'oohs and 'aahs' for instant indie-pop bliss." 4 stars - Paste
"There are a lot of bands playing indie pop in 2008, but very few do it as well as Headlights do on Some Racing, Some Stopping." 4 stars -All Music Guide
"Headlights... cutie-pie pop rockers who can still hold their own in a fight... charming, but never boring." 3 1/2 stars - Spin
"Headlights succeed in creating intricate orchestral pop songs packed surging with emotional punches and infectious melodies." 8/10 - Under the Radar
"Recalling the work of Stars, another band that slathers chiming hooks atop deeply conflicted odes to relationships gone sour, Headlights conjures minor-key melancholy on its path to pop bliss." - NPR
"Headlights... has an uncanny ability in shrouding dark emotions with nicely crafted pop hooks." 9/10 - Pop Matters
"Jon Spencer (Blues Explosion) and Matt Verta-Ray (Speedball Baby) turn into grease-ball rockabillies Heavy Trash... Think Jerry Lee Lewis, The Big Bopper, Southern Culture on the Skids and Mojo Nixon rolled into one." Grade A - Philadelphia Daily News
"The musical meeting of Jon Spencer and Speedball Baby's Matt Verta-Ray is probably the best thing either has done in years... if you dug Spencer's Pussy Galore and the amazing Speedball Baby, you're going to dig this." 8.5/10 - Montreal Mirror
"Heavy Trash is just as good if not better than (Spencer and Verta-Ray's) main projects." - Billboard
"When Brian Setzer and the Stray Cats took a similar (rockabilly) approach, they polished the sound; Spencer and Verta-Ray go the other direction by keeping it as dirty and aggressive as they can." Grade A - Stylus
"the most accessible record Jon Spencer's ever recorded... It's ostensibly a rockabilly record, but that's just the jumping off point. Its a skewed nostalgic stew of sound-alikes. T-Rex's Marc Bolan... Elvis... John Hiatt channeling Jerry Lee... Lou Reed doing Marty Robbins, aranged by Leonard Choen and Dick Dale." - Creative Loafing
"Spencer and Verta Ray pull out all the country, blues, rockabilly and R&B stops, with twangy, brittle songs ranging from creepy, David-Lynch-soundtrack country to caucous ravers." - Junk Media
This rootsy Canadian singer-songwriter has a voice of gold! She is often compared to Patty Griffin.
"Heiruspecs follow in the lineage of hip-hop acts like the Roots but wear their indie, underground cred on their hoodie sleeves. The band have laid down the bounce behind iconoclastic trailblazers like Aesop Rock and Atmosphere..." - The San Francisco Bay Guardian
"Heiruspecs... create actual songs - not just loops. Smartly orchestrated shifts in mood and tempo give Felix and Muad'Dib, the crew's tag-team lyricists, a dynamic backdrop to work against... as forward-thinking as they get." - Blender
"No samples were used in this performance: the Minnesota-based hip hop outfit Heiruspecs takes the pre-recorded staleness out of rap in an actually live live show." - New York Times
"Heiruspecs, by taking hip-hop to the next evolutionary step of adding live instruments played to sound like computerized instruments, have actually devolved toward a time when people tried to figure out how to make computerized instruments sound like human players... Bonus: A Tiger Dancing is f**king excellent." - Splendid Reviews
"The Twin Cities up-and-comers are similar to the touring version of Atmosphere, with whom they've collaborated. Having grown up on the more progressive varieties of the music, the youthful hip-hop collective gears itself toward performance, with live drums, bass, keyboards and guitar adding the kind of textured sounds and human beats that taped and sequenced musical backdrops just can't provide. The emcees push for a new generation of conscious hip-hop in their brisk rhymes, much like Jurassic 5 and old-school heroes Tribe Called Quest." - Isthmus Magazine
"A Tiger Dancing (is) a well-rounded record that shows their maturation from an underground rap collective to a matured group who have found their voice in a crowded and commercial genre." - Pop Matters
"Heiruspecs... picture Atmosphere meets The Roots... A Tiger Dancing is a must for fans of unorthodox hip hop." - IGN Music
"Caesura marks something of a return to form for the Helios account - doing away with the vocals he employed on last year’s mini album Ayres to instead court electronics and post-rock - and the resulting ten tracks could possibly be his strongest collection of meanderings yet. Did I say possibly? Make that most definitely." 73/100 - Coke Machine Glow
"Wide open synth fields with pretty melodies and clicky clak rhythms are what Helios brings on his album Caesura. This is pretty winter romance music for sitting in front of the campus library with a latte and your lover of the week." 7/10 - Foxy Digital
Hell On Heels: an awesome all-female garage punk trio for fans of Holly Golightly, The Detroit Cobras, The Gore Gore Girls, The Come Ons, The Paybacks and the 5.6.7.8s.
Hello Stranger features Joachim Cooder, Ry Cooder's son, and a compelling and gorgeous, frontperson/keytarist Juliette Commagere. Hello Stranger's self-titled debut is produced by Ry Cooder. Should be down your alley if you are a fan of Blondie, Garbage and/or The Cardigans.