KÁRIN TATOYAN ///

"Think of Tatoyan as a baroque Bjork. If her haunting vocals don’t dazzle you, her odd music will — counterposing, as it does, weird electronics, sound effects and loops with the very organic tones of a French horn and cello. Seeing her is like watching an Escher come to life. Almost-mathematical repetition gives way to chaos; melodies build and build yet resist payoff, like stairways to nowhere" - Kevin Bronson, LA Times

"A performer who swirls between musical extremes, Kárin Tatoyan is the possessor of a unique and hauntingly gorgeous voice, one that alternately croons and erupts from the center of an increasingly left-field musical approach. Her music is a strange, prismatic nebula strewn with jagged, twinkling glass—it kisses even as it cuts, it shatters and shimmers simultaneously as layers of electronica fold into pockets of post-rock minimalism and booming orchestral majesty."- Web In Front

"Karin Tatoyan's bio says that her musical aspirations come from the toilet. Wait, is that a joke? Could be, but after listening to the dark, ambient side of what sounds like Bjork and a voice that comes close to a bipolar Cat Power, her musical "toilet" seems to represent a time when life craps all over you. As disgusting as it may sound, songs such as "Ver Cha Bess" can put you in an isolated conscious state with your own guilty thoughts. Either Tatoyan is a genius at expressing herself, or maybe I'm overestimating her ability as an artist." - URB Magazine

"In a city like Los Angeles, where one thing bleeds into the next and it is beginning to seem like every fucking band is starting to sound the same, there shines a brilliant, little light. Her name is Karin Tatoyan (pronounced kar-reen). She is beautiful. She is a muse. She posses a voice like that of a siren." - Kill The Microphone

"Karin Tatoyan is interesting to me because her style and music are very unique to her. There is something very otherworldly about her vocals, which would fit perfectly into an episode of The Twilight Zone. Watching her perform is like seeing a girl possessed, it reminds me a little bit of Karen O and a little bit of Fiona Apple, some people say she’s got some Bjork in there too, but I don’t listen to Bjork so I really wouldn’t know. Despite those random comparisons with other artists, this girl stands on her own as an individual amidst the indie, pop, grunge, electronica, whatever scene. She’s interesting and polite, she wanted to be a doctor until Ani DiFranco told her otherwise. This girl is so cool, that she even met James Brown, why not check her out to see what all the fuss is about? - Garrett Faber URB Magazine

URB Magzine interview

...can put you in an isolated conscious state with your own guilty thoughts... Tatoyan is a genius at exprssing herself.
- Josef Carmelo URB Magazine

H IS FOR HELLGATE ///

"..quality, soon-to-be-discovered band" - Seattle Weekly 11/2/06

"They used to be called Henkensiefken, but now they're called H Is for Hellgate. Unless the publicity photos lie, three of the four band members wear glasses. They have a slight Rainer Maria vibe, but that could be due largely to Jamie Henkensiefken's vocals. I would call them indie rock, but I think that'd make them sound more spineless than they actually are, so I won't. Lastly, Mayor Greg Nickels apparently told the band they were "great" after seeing them play, but I couldn't confirm that before press time (okay, I didn't actually try to confirm that before press time). And now you know all you need to know about H Is for Hellgate. Don't mention it." - Megan Selig Seattle Stranger 9/28/06

"Parts of the album wander through territory similar to the indie rock she's recorded simply as Henkensiefken. This time around, though...she's also experimened with instrumental songwriting heavily rooted in her appreciation for classical music as well as 'some straight up pop songs too, which I have a place in my heart for.'" - Ira Sather-Olson Missoula Independent 6/15/06

"Jamie Henkensiefken severs the biting, unpredictable guitars from math rock and grafts them onto riot grrrl-style dirges on this debut. The result is simultaneously cold and calculating and passionate. In short, it’s human." - Tizzy Asher Seattle PI 8/11/05

"Jamie has taken her lo-fi indie rock sensibilities and expanded Henkensiefken into an angular rock FORCE!" - Church of Girl 8/2005

"Jamie Henkensiefken has an ear for the sort of simply crafted, sincere pop vocals that endeared songstress Liz Phair (during her early years) to numerous indie fans. The new EP from Seattle-based Henkensiefken’s eponymous band proves that she, unlike the now over-produced Phair, hasn’t lost touch with the ragged and edgy craftsmanship that gives independent music its refreshing power." - Erika Fredrickson Missoula Independent 8/5/05

radio.wazee agregate

AMANDA JO WILLIAMS ///

"Almost everybody I’ve played this for has been all “seriously?” I don’t care. I love this shit, and I’ll take you all to task. Peppered in among the country-throbbed guitars and violins that link like lumbar to the spinal cartilage of this walking bass line, Williams’ voice sounds almost pretty, which -- and I’ll get to this in more detail when I review the whole album when the Glow returns from vacation -- is strange enough, since that’s certainly not the point, and her guttural affectations allow country and punk to coexist believably. This voice… this isn’t a Newsom argument, because I don’t think Williams wants us to like her music despite her voice -- the voice is the point, and like the greatest experimental players, she’s pulling out this whole inflective dada act like it’s the most natural thing in the would.

The revolving chorus structures that verbally palindrome onomatopoeic phrases into double-citations of the state’s name (o - HI - O - o - hi - O!) are enrapturing, and then when the key changes slightly for “just another man,” and Williams almost sings on key? Mindfuck. I’m not even entirely sure what “Ohio” is about, but I don’t care, because I’m square-dancing along with the hook (“ah-ee-wa-ooh-wa-ee-wa-ooh”) and just assuming that when she screams “I don’t know you / I don’t know you / I don’t know you / I don’t see you / You’re just another man” she’s pissed off. I don’t know you, Amanda Jo Williams, but I’m freaking out about your music. - Mark Abraham Cokemachineglow.com

"At times it's difficult to take seriously the first record by Amanda Jo Williams, Yes I Will Mr. Man(Stereotype). For one thing, Williams' voice is coerced into an over-the-top caricature of any number of country queens of old. The songs here veer from rockabilly-cum-indie rock to eighties cowpunk revival to country-chargers a la "Rawhide." This establishes a rowdy good-time atmosphere that enters at full tilt, and doesn't relent until the overtones of the last note fade from detection. And in the end, so what if Williams is dripping with irony? She and the band are having such fun with this, it is impossible for the listener not to, as well." - Skyscraper mag

"You can take what I’m about to say with the appropriate grain of salt, because who am I other than the Glow writer who normally covers the out/experimental/electronica stuff on an indie rock site, but seriously: this is unequivocally the best country album I’ve heard in years". - Cokemachingeglow

"Take a woman from Georgia to New York, throw her into the modeling world for a few years, introduce her to a guitar player named Matthew O’Neill, lock them up in a small cabin upstate with a cast of musical compatriots, turn on the electricity and take a walk. Come back and pick up your copy of “Yes I Will Mr. Man.” Remember I am the one who said you have never heard anything like it. Thank me later." - offthegrid.com

OLLIE BYRD ///

"If this is what Prozac makes you feel like, I'm going to start taking it recreationally. I suggest you do the same."
- thespacelab.tv (full review)

"Any band can score thousands of MySpace fans just by clicking the site's "Add to Friends" command for a few hours. But Ollie Byrd has the sound to make the conversion complete." - Billboard (full story)

"You guys are great.... You've got a great voice." - Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers

"I really enjoy this work...takes me back to early granddaddy and pinback. Back when music was music. Not crappy scenes. Just rock." clennan webber 'uncover your ears' - WOMR Radio
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"you're an amazing band. In my ears you're on your way to..., forget that, you're better than The Strokes and The White Stripes. But I don't know where you guys came from, though its absolute that you are a band to be remembered." - Amir Saeed

"Its sweetly sincere without being naive. Its street-smart and world-weary and it cradles you with both hands while wrenching your heart." - trampolinehouse.com

AntiMusic interview
Left Hip
Quick, Before It Melts
Macktronic

MIKE COYKENDALL ///

"Now based in Portland, Ore., Mike fronted for many years one of my favorite alt-country bands, the Old Joe Clarks (check out November and especially Metal Shed Blues). Now he's cut a solo record, and the music's as mesmerizing, haunting, and multilayered as ever." - Download.com 2005 Pics (article)

With a breath, something comes alive. There are intimations of birth pains but also abundant vibrancy, new colors between the old shades, a hint of wisdom in the woodpile. This solo debut is a far cry from Coykendall's Big Star-esque work in the Old Joe Clarks. Hello has the meditative layered bedroom brilliance of early Elliott Smith but with greater instrumental texture. A bent wit touches the production and oblique lyrics. Just when you think the flying saucer is about to lift off, you wobble into straight boogie - unpredictable but in a totally unforced way. He's just following the natural flow of the soul in these tracks. It's the rush of "Hope (the Good Angel)" into "If I Only Knew" that really punches you in the heart. That's meant positively. If you crawl inside Coykendall's world and let it envelop you, you'll discover his backyard spirituals may harbor foreboding, but light, diffracted and faint, breaks through even the Devil's haze. Glorious. - JamBase

Fromthe editors: At long last this fixture of the Northwest indie folk-pop scene is striking out on his own, and his debut solo LP is a hypnotically wise set. On "Hello Hello Hello," Coykendall crosses his experience playing with the Old Joe Clarks and producing M Ward, offering spooky psych-folk for our inner space cowboy. Syd Barrett would be wowed. -download.com

Miss this one at your peril. -F5 Magazine

"Hello, Hello, Hello" deftly assembles an excellent collection of songs in a cohesive and mesmerizing fashion. - The Oregonian

He pushes the envelope of expectancy with this strikingly eerie collection of songs - Miles of Music

"Adrienne Hatkin, the proposed "woman who rocks" in Autopilot, has Devendra Banhart style with a tinge more old tyme and a whole lotta loveliness." - ANIKA SABIN.

PJ GOLDEN ///

Philip Golden's latest album is the work of a man who, at the time of the recording, at least, had given up on making a career out of music. This, the second track on the album, spells out his disillusionment clearly, and with a really cool Belle and Sebastian-esque horn fanfare punching up the track. "I've spent nearly all of my time," sings Golden, "thinkin' about it day and night, all these songs that were born to die." Melodramatic? Yes, but, in the world of the disposable digital pop song, a fitting sentiment. - Mark Baumgarten, Willamette Week

From the editors: The artist formerly known as Mission to Mars has shed his celestial moniker on his latest record, and the move seems fitting given the album's everyday, of-this-world themes. Like a more earnest version of Pete Yorn on "Musicforthemorningafter," the Golden of "Walk under and on" lets pop-rock hooks document a torturous love affair with his own daily life. - CNET

Stereotype Records bossman Philip Golden says he's relaunched Stereotype as an "anti-label." "We're trying to reinvent the entire idea of what an indie should do since the traditional routes are (clearly) falling apart for everyone," says Philip. "First off, we try to tear down the commerce wall between listeners and artists by making every song on every release available for free [as a] download from our site."

He calls the idea "cartoonishly dumb," but says it pays off for the artists. Deal is, if listeners like what they hear they can buy tracks at iTunes or get the CD directly from the site and the artists get 80 percent of the CD sales and 50 percent from iTunes. Check out www.stereotyperecords.com - Portland Mercury

The thing that caught my eye about Stereotype Records (aside from the outstanding fact that they give away every song by their artist roster free) is that they recently inked Mike Coykendall. I've spoken about Mike a number of times here as the man twiddling knobs for M. Ward, Richmond Fontaine and as the mind behind the fabulous Old Joe Clarks. Mike's solo record Hello Hello Hello is now available to download. I'd post some tracks but that seems a bit superfluous given that you can download the whole thing. The entire Stereotype roster seems high quality and it don't cost nothing to check it out, so head on over. - Bars and Guitars blogspot

Stereotype (have) a confidence that the act(s) is/are so fresh, the music so damn good, you'll want to become a fan and you'll happily pay for the music down the line. Stereotype Records - whose roster includes not just electronic artist Thomas Greene, but the epically ragged PJ Golden, and the deep-throated Mike Coykendall - it remains to be seen. But in the current climate, you can't blame any of them for trying. In fat, you should be thanking them. Via paypal - Tony Fletcher's iJamming

(full article link)