PureVolume

+ + + + THE ATARIS + + + +

The band originally consisted of singer/songwriter/guitarist Kris Roe and guitarist Jasin Thomason. Using a 4-Track, they wrote and recorded demos in Kris's bedroom, with a drum machine as the drummer. Fast forward a few years and a few albums, and the Recording of The Ataris - Welcome the Night began in February 2005. Along with it came five new members - Sean Hansen filling the bass position, Shane Chickeles on drums, and guitarist Paul Carabello, Angus Cooke (Who played Cello on The Ataris - End Is Forever), and Bob Hoag on 3rd guitar, Cello, and Keyboards respectively. The group spent all of spring and summer recording at Seedy Underbelly in Los Angeles.


+ + + + WAX ON RADIO + + + +

Wax on Radio live video -


"Earnest & Anthemic" - New Yorker
"Wall-of-sound style rock & roll" - NPR

To the lucky few who caught the first live shows of new Chicago-based quartet Wax on Radio, those performances may be remembered as the launch of a strikingly original new voice in rock music. The customary buzz of cocktail chatter and the click of cell phones fell to a hush as jaded concert-goers stopped and craned their necks to see just who was making the riveting, emotionally-captivating music that was pouring forth from the stage. Wax on Radio brings a fresh, well-developed sound to rock music at a time when the genre seems to have reached a creative plateau. Familiar, successful formulas like emo, nu metal, hardcore are being played out all over the charts but there is an undeniable restlessness among fans and a sense that rock is overdue for a blast of fresh air. Enter Wax on Radio, which mixes catchy songwriting, intelligently evocative lyrics and an engaging style.


+ + + + ASOBI SEKSU+ + + +

Yuki - Keyboard, Vocals
James Hanna - Guitar, Vocals
Haji - Bass
Mitch Spivak - Drums

Asobi Seksu presents its new album, Citrus: eleven slices of guitar-swirling, sweet-and-sour, bilingual dream pop. Frontwoman Yukis voice is more assured than ever, swinging from a girlish falsetto to plaintive laments and switching effortlessly between Japanese and English lyrics, all the while anchored by the lush, turbulent guitar of James Hanna. This is the sound of a band coming into its own, and having fun doing it.

Asobi Seksu (colloquial Japanese for playful sex) released its debut album in 2004 to significant critical acclaim, winning rave reviews from the New York Times, Nylon, Under the Radar, YRB, and XLR8R, among others; scoring a #1 video on mtvUs Deans List with the song Walk on the Moon; garnering a top ten spot on CMJs radio charts; and becoming an instant favorite in the NYC scene, playing packed shows at the Bowery, Knitting Factory, and Mercury Lounge.


+ + + + BLACKPOOL LIGHTS + + + +

Blackpool Lights frontman Jim Suptic tends toward understatement. Upon the release of the Kansas City bands debut album, This Towns Disaster (June 20 on Suptics own Curb Appeal Records), he says: This is just sincere, unpretentious rock music. Were a bunch of guys from the middle of America who love rock n roll. We dont have a gimmick; what you see is what you get.

But the level of craft and passion underlining these 11 songs suggests theres more to Blackpool Lights than Suptic lets on. Hes candid, for instance, about the bands birth, after the death of his previous outfit, the Get Up Kids. I took a few months to clear my head and figure out what I was going to do, he confides. Im an art school dropout, and I was thinking of going back to school. But I had these songs, and I thought, if I dont give these songs a shot, Ill regret it the rest of my life. Ive got to do this.

This, of course, was finding a new band, now comprised of Suptic (vocals, guitar), guitarist-singer Thom Hoskins, bassist Brian Everad and drummer Billy Brimblecom. Blackpool Lights started as a bunch of people whod just quit other bands and wanted to do something fresh and exciting, Suptic explains. Were all very focused and we agreed, if were going to do this, lets do it right; lets really give it our all. Their all is an albums-worth of perfect-power-pop nuggets like first single Blue Skies, which propels itself out of the speakers with a descending guitar riff that pays off big time in the sing-along chorus: Im watching these blue skies turn to grey/ And all these friendships fade away/ These clouded memories are seen through bloodshot eyes/ Im watching these blue skies turn to grey.