Stargrooves is a collection of Berklee graduates under the direction of Teddy Watson whom are based out of NYC. This nine piece ensemble is interested in long range pop composition in the post-rock direction. The full cast is:

Teddy Watson (Banjo, Vocals) Charlie Rauh (Acoustic Guitar) Bryan Percivall (Upright Bass) Enrico de Trizio (Accordion) Oskar Häggdahl (Drums) Jesse Stacken (Toy Piano) Concetta Abbate (Violin) Sarah Goldstone (Melodica) & George Lykogiannis (Harmonium)

The video below is their performance of What The Snowman Learned About Love originally composed by the analogous group Stars. Meanwhile, Stargrooves is currently cutting their teeth in the studio and prepping for a fall tour so stay in touch with the sizable group via Facebook and Twitter. I look forward to watching and listening to this ensemble as they grow.

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The Ballroom Thieves is a Boston based trio that has been quietly amassing their reputation for two years now. Their members are Martin Earley (Guitar/Vocals) Devin Mauch (Percussion/Vocals) and Rachel Gawell (Cello/Vocals). Furthering the excitement of the folk music reawakening, the Ballroom Thieves bring riotous vocal harmonies alongside compelling songwriting and sterling musical talent to their debut five song EP The Devil & The Deep.

This tasty video is a live performance of their song Loose Lips and was shot while cruising the Block Island harbor.  Read on for the band's full information as well as the studio version of the song from their bandcamp page.

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With one part Nina Simone and one part Brooklyn counter-culture, Rayvon Browne's newest EP Companion strikes the perfect balance between post-postmodern and traditional pop music. 

Released to tape cassette on May 18, 2012 on Basement Floods Records, Companion boasts a slew of musicians on guitar, ukulele, keys, mandolin, melodica, flute, percussion, and voice all collaborating to bring music together that is wholly unique to it's time and place. At the center of this enterprise is Morgan Heringer and Cal Folger Day. 

Read on for my full thoughts on this engaging unconventional EP. 

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I've been doing little posts of pairs of tunes the past few weeks and enjoying it, so I don't see why I shouldn't keep it going. Tonight we have Michael the Blind and I Am Bart(ek).

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Got a pair of tunes for your Thursday night, both different takes on guitar-heavy indie rock. One is from Hammer No More The Fingers and the other from White Fang. Read on to check 'em out.

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Not sure if anyone's noticed, but we've been slacking a bit lately. No Roundup on Sunday, for instance. It's crazy at Dig HQ so posting is unfortunately more sporadic than we'd like. I'm going to share some quick hits as best I can until things calm back down to at least give you all something to enjoy in the mean time. Click on for a pair of sweet tunes.

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Wolfgang Schaefer and his brother Benjamin are from Milwaukee WI and have released a new album entitled Typewriter. Their work is acoustically driven, but vocally centered which leaves plenty of room for the thoughtful lyrics to speak clearly to the listener. Their sound world is noted for tasteful use of bluegrass instruments, brass, piano and vocal harmony. A strength of the album is the layering of these textures which create arrival points as well as high and low dynamic plateaus.  

The full album is nine tracks of intimate song writing that deals heavily in nostalgia and melancholy. The first track, Pocket Full of Pills, is an excellent representation of the album as a whole for both it's lyrical and musical content. The opening gesture of mandolin and piano pull in the audience with its engaging crescendo before Wolfgang's tranquil voice enters to spin a tale love's less than sunny side. Typewriter feels like an overcast morning with an era of familiarity and comfortable melancholy. It is that part of sadness which we can all relate to and sometimes look back at with sentimentality.

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Royal Canoe is a new Canadian band I've been enjoying. They have a debut EP called Extended Play (get it?) and some cool videos you should watch. It's all a click away.

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Hope everyone had a nice Record Store Day. Completely unrelated to that (or is it?), I wanted to share this video from Tashaki Miyaki for their song "Best Friend."

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Last year, I had the good fortune to stumble onto the wonderful digital – and sometimes physical – record label, Bad Panda Records. They put out consistently interesting and worthwhile singles on a weekly basis. One of my favorites was Dumbo Gets Mad and the awesome track "Eclectic Prawn" (shared here, and also in my top 10 tracks of 2011) Their latest release is a cool collaboration with Venice called "Viaje Astral."

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