Death Vessel, Blood Warrior, Air Waves, frog

Death Vessel is Joel Thibodeau's work as both a solo artist and band leader. His music, captured on the resplendent record "Stay Close", is an eloquent distillation of a life's tales. Born in Berlin, Germany before The Wall fell... raised in Kennebunkport, Maine before the senior Bush's presidency... this musician lived a childhood where the ghosts of Cold War casualties and seaport tragedies haunted the alleyways and beaches. Leaving Maine as a teenager, Thibodeau moved to Boston, Providence and New York. In Providence he was a founding member, songwriter and performer of the group String Builder. Now as then, Thibodeau captures the surreal and the sublime in wondrous song.

Thibodeau's vocal delivery is astonishing. Perhaps his singing is best-described as descendent from "the high lonesome sound" - unleashed upon the world by Roscoe Holcomb in the early 1960's. With this voice, Death Vessel delivers stunning lyrical poetry that transcends the "whisky 'n' haystack" imagery of its neo-folk contemporaries. Thibodeau brings this same unusual experimentation to the acoustic guitar (his primary instrument). The daringly melodic plucking of strings and the odd tempo changes provide expertly unexpected accompaniment.
To watch Death Vessel perform live is to watch an audience under a spell. This applies whether it's just Thibodeau alone with an acoustic guitar or with an expanded lineup that often includes regular contributors to Death Vessel Pete Donnelly (The Figgs) and Erik Carlson (Area C).


Haunting melodies, chant vocals, ritual drums, spacious electric guitars, pianos, harmoniums and casios, sparse acoustic guitar, and emotionally charged vocals.

After realizing that they had not played music together in almost a decade, childhood friends Greg Jamie and Joey Weiss decided to start a band. They named the ship Blood Warrior, and began recording songs by themselves on an old tape machine.

They recorded their first album, Blood Warrior, in various locations, including a childhood home in Long Island, NY, and a temporary home in Portland, OR. The entire album was made without the use of computers. They filled their songs with group chanting, ritual drums, spacious electric guitars, organs, pianos and casios, sparse acoustic guitar, sea shanties and ballads. The album was originally shared amongst friends, leading to an eventual release by the Brooklyn-based label, Ernest Jennings.


The Brooklyn-based songwriter first found solace in her guitar, composing escapist songs with fantastical stories and catchy choruses. A four piece Air Waves serves up fantastic imagery with unforgettable melodies with named influences such as Neil Young, The Clean, and the Velvet Underground. Passive towards trends, image, genre and all things on the periphery of being in a rock band, there is a genuineness in Nicole's voice that echoes throughout every aspect of Air Waves, cutting straight to the essentials of communicating something larger than words.

Critics have labeled Air Waves as everything from sparse pop to folky punk, a sign that Air Waves does what every great band in their time has managed to do – find a way to be both comfortable and compelling in being themselves while creating a body of work beyond genre classification. Already in a short time span Air Waves have not only made a name for themselves in Brooklyn, but elsewhere by touring extensively down both the East and West coast sharing the stage with such notable acts like Cat Power, Songs: Ohio, Beach House, Dan Deacon and The Rapture to name a few.

"Uncanny knack for crafting infectiously breezy and moving folk-pop melodies that feel like small, world-weary anthems." --GORILLA VS. BEAR


Frog is a two person band that lives in queens. No amount of partying will ever let frog forget that, except if it does, and we wake up somewhere else. Frog plays good music, mostly about flies, female frogs, and the ups and downs of living in the swamp. Frog deeply loves eachother. Frog fails, Frog flails, Frog pales, bails, and sails through life, ailing and wailing into rock and roll history.