Benjamin Cartel, Brett Harris

After earning a buzz as one of New York City’s up-and-coming songwriters, Benjamin Cartel put his solo career on hold in 2004, the year he co-founded the indie folk duo Kaiser Cartel. Now he's playing solo again, showcasing "top notch music, up close and intimate" (Secrets of the City). CMJ happily reports that "after all the rocking and road work he’s put in over the years, he has finally released the first proper Benjamin Cartel solo release, the Money & Love EP, six songs of the straightforward heartfelt songwriter stuff that comes from, well, all that rockin’ and roadwork." On the record, Cartel builds a bridge between old and new, love and loss, to arrive at a "rock-solid folk-pop creation" (Pitch).


Brett Harris is a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from Durham, NC. His first full length album, Man of Few Words, was featured by Paste magazine's "Best of What's Next", NPR's "All Songs Considered: Second Stage" and made several "Best of 2010" lists, drawing comparisons to the music of Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Harry Nilsson, and Emitt Rhodes.

Additionally, Brett has participated as a core band member in live performances of Big Star's Third, playing in the US, UK, Spain, and Australia. He has also served as a touring member of jangle pop progenitors The dB's.

Brett has recently completed work on a new LP due out later this year.

"...pop ease and gospel earnestness, soul gusto and country textrue - into seamless syntheses that stick on first listen. It's the sort of thing that gets described or dismissed as Beatles-esque, but the material is artfully built and efffortlessly rendered, wearing its cool within its craftsmanship."
-Grayson Currin, Independent Weekly

"Mr. Sunshine certainly recalls Big Star - ornately produced songs that have a pop sensibility and a lurking darkness"
-Rudi Greenberg, Washington Post