Boy Eats Drum Machine is singer, producer, visual artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Jon Ragel. Boy Eats Drum Machine is a special breed of multi-disciplined solo artist, enthusiastically interactive in his approach to his craft. Ragel prolifically chronicles his writing and recording process on his website. He takes the stage as Boy Eats Drum Machine with a saxophone, turntable, microphone, sampler and green tom drum. Ragel’s clear voice sails over his expert jams, often causing show-goers to dance, sway and otherwise become transfixed.

That he has been met with near-universal acclaim, called “grievously underrated” by the Washington Post, “fresh and unexpected” by NPR, and just plain “awesome” by Music For Robots, is only part of the story. Because right there at the merch booth after the show every night is Ragel, showing you the vintage LP covers he repurposes by hand-screening his own artwork on. If there were ever such a thing as a one-man musical army, a virtual volcano of creativity and seemingly endless musical excitement, Boy Eats Drum Machine is that army, that volcano.

Phantogram

• Genre: Electronic Rock, Indie Pop
• From: Saratoga Springs, New York, US
• Band Members:
  • Josh Carter
  • Sarah Barthel

Phantogram’s music sounds like it’s made by a band from the city. Electronic loops, hip-hop beats, shoegaze, soul, pop — each finds its way into their songs. Unexpectedly, the band doesn’t live and work in a major urban center, but rather calls the town of Saratoga Springs, NY (population 26,186) home. Despite the cultural influence of local Skidmore College (where fellow beat-experimenters Ratatat formed) and a relatively small scene of adventurous musicians and listeners, Saratoga isn’t exactly teeming with fans of J. Dilla, My Bloody Valentine or Serge Gainsbourg.

But Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, the duo that make up Phantogram, have flourished in Saratoga. In fact, the town itself isn’t rural enough for their taste — they drive almost every day another 45 minutes into upstate farmland to a barn they call Harmony Lodge to write and record. Serving as their homemade studio/practice space/think-tank/bat-cave, the barn is equipped with various samplers, tapes, records, synths, drums, and both percussive and stringed instruments, and it’s there that Phantogram allows their natural surroundings and metropolitan influences to meld together creating beautiful, beat-driven dreamlike pop songs.

The Soft Pack

• Genre: Indie Rock
• From: San Diego, California, US
• Band Members:
  • Matt Lamkin – Vocals, guitar
  • Matty McLoughlin – Guitar
  • David Lantzman – Bass guitar
  • Brian Hill – Drums
• Official MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thesoftpack
• Official Website: http://thesoftpackofficial.com/

A brief synopsis of The Soft Pack’s meteoric rise: a duo writing songs in California at the dawn of 2008 goes on to supporting The Breeders, Last Shadow Puppets and Bloc Party as a quartet, and releases two attention-grabbing singles, “Nightlife” and “Extinction,” that same year. They were the toast of CMJ in 2008 and South By Southwest in 2009, then toured alongside Franz Ferdinand, Phoenix, White Lies and Black Lips in 2009, and delivered the limited edition 12 inch Muslims EP to much chatter in March 2009. And now, they’ve crafted their debut album alongside producer Eli Janney in Brooklyn, New York during the late summer of 2009.

Highlights include the perfect one-two punch of the first two singles, “Answer To Yourself” and the rallying call, “C’mon,” The Vaselines-inspired “Down On Loving,” live favorite “Parasites,” and a slew of songs written toward the end of the summer.