We would love to be able to say that the Donkeys are simply four California beach bums who love to surf, drink cheap beer and jam as the sun sets over the Pacific. The long legacy of music hailing from California - from Bakersfield to the Beach Boys, Sweetheart of the Rodeo through Slanted and Enchanted - has shaped our sense that everything and everyone "out west" is laid back, comfortable and cool. And to be fair, when it comes to the Donkeys, some of this mystique is true - two of the band's members are indeed surfers, and all four have been known to down a six pack or two. These are everyday lives in the postmodern world expressed with a deep respect for classic songs from the 70s through the 90s -- for spacey grooves and soulful, jangly swagger -- that elevates the subject matter beyond the ordinary. Living on the Other Side, the band's second album, is not meant to hit you over the head with a flamboyant single - instead, imagine Ray Davies jamming with the Byrds, or a Gene Clark-fronted Buffalo Springfield -- and you'll get a sense of the tradition that informs this band. "Like a 1970s country-rock band without the accents or heavy-duty amplifiers, the Donkeys offer up a sun-streaked batch of acoustic guitars, harmonies, and laid-back rhythmic shuffle." --AllMusic.com

With one foot in the same Bay Area bayou that the Fogerty brothers once walked and the other foot in, well, the same Bay Are bayou that birthed The Dead, these mostly-Hoosier transplants have been known to make a stir from Mendocino to the San Joaquin to every honky-tonk and hipster bar in between. With Swagger to spare they steer a course between Beachwood Sparks' cosmic-country and the more trad. bluegrass leanings of The Avett Brothers, both with whom they have shared stages.

Recent Oakland converts, signed to Secretly Canadian. Like a glorious pillow fight in the heavens between Paul & Linda McCartney and Grandaddy, The Horns of Happiness are fuzzed out psychedelic pop songs composed with acoustic & electric guitars, pumping organs and dreamy vocals. They are interspersed with instrumental interludes where pianos mingle, banjos bark and tape loops shuffle. Built upon simple, spontaneous parts, and sculpted onto the tape, the songs as a whole take the listener by the hand guiding him to the revelation that music - in its most humble state - can transport the listener to another place. Fans of Maher Shalal Hash Baz, the Microphones and the Olivia Tremor Control will find a good friend here. "The Horns of Happiness are the equivalent of Jeff Mangum's Neutral Milk Hotel." --AllMusic.com