Band Central

Check out some of these cool musicians that you should be listening to!

CAKE ON CAKE is the band of 27 years old HELENA SUNDIN. She grew up in a small village in the north of Sweden and has been playing various instruments since childhood. She started to record music while studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Umeå, and in June 2004 Cake on Cake was formed.

In between painting and drawing, Helena recorded music in her art-studio, were she happened to have a lot of instruments. To begin with the music was rather experimental but soon it started to shape into pop-songs. She found U.S indie-label Desolation Records (because of their pretty website with blurry birds on it) and sent them a demo by regular air-mail. She quickly got signed and they released her first two albums "I See No Stars" (2005) and "I Guess I Was Daydreaming" (2007).

Helena went over seas and toured the U.S two times. Back then Cake on Cake was a one-woman-band. Now she is backed up by ANDREAS GABRIELSSON on bass and KRISTINA SUNDIN on metallophone and vocals. Cake on Cake has also released an EP and a remix album. Cake on Cakes third album will be released on Sleepy Records.

LKN is the moniker for Portland, OR recording artist Lauren K. Newman. Her highly anticipated fifth full-length, Postulate II picks up where 2006's Postulate I left off, displaying an uncompromising and unflinching look into the world of LKN. Both accessible and highly personal, equally emotive and melodic, Postulate II also continues Newman's tradition of writing, recording, and playing all instruments herself, yet somehow accomplishing a sound more full and complete than most bands achieve. The second in a series of three connected albums covering the diverse musical spectrum Newman exists in, flowing from loud, angry hardcore into beautiful, melodic rock, all delivered with the intensity of a driven songwriter, Postulate II displays an artist in her prime and a talent just beginning to be tapped.

Lauren K. Newman was raised in Pensacola, Florida, where she began to play drums in punk bands at age 15. When she first began writing music, Lauren said she wanted to write what she wanted to hear but what no one else was doing; the first incarnation of this was StellaMarie, which began as 4-track recordings and became a touring band that lasted four years. In 2003 Lauren began performing as LKN, writing and recording all of her own material, and taking friends and fellow musicians on the road, sharing stages with the likes of Mono, Bellini, Viva Voce, Mary Timony, Scout Niblett, TalkDemonic, and many others over the past four years. The live show, currently consisting of Lauren on vocals/guitar/drums, label mate Bobby Dezfulli (The Empty) on bass and Terrica Kleinknecht on drums/guitar, is a whirlwind of raw energy which mirrors the passionate melodicism of LKN's studio recordings.

Ben Sollee: It was the cat-poles around the lake at his grandfather's farm that inspired Ben Sollee's debut album Learning To Bend. The frailty of those awkward looking plants standing stoutly against winds that challenged even the strongest of nearby trees is an affecting metaphor for human struggle and perseverance. This idea is central to Learning To Bend.

Key tracks on Learning To Bend include two reactions to the current political landscape, "A Few Honest Words," and an adaptation of Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come," in which Ben has written updated, politically relevant verses. Other highlights of the album are the playful, soul track, "How To See the Sun Rise" and the vulnerable yet insistent "It's Not Impossible," where Ben laments the unfortunate status quo that "boys don't cry."

Ben has found considerable success in recent years through his ability to bend. In 2007, he was named one of NPR's "Top Ten Unknown Artists of the Year." His distinctive cello technique and soulful voice have been marinating for years in his work with avant-garde bluesman Otis Taylor, The Sparrow Quartet, (featuring banjo-master Béla Fleck), and on the internationally known Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour.
Being born and raised in Kentucky, Ben is very proud to have recorded Learning To Bend with Duane Lundy in Lexington, KY and releasing the album with SonaBLAST! Records, a Louisville based label. In fact, almost all aspects of the record are rooted in Kentucky in some form - from the photography, to the design of the disc, to the videos.

Ben's unique performance experience and creative vision trump his 24 years and traditional classical training; he is poised to emerge as a solo artist, bridging genres and demographics with earnest and dynamic songwriting. However, the single most salient quality of Learning to Bend, is Ben's contagiously optimistic worldview. Ben is not just expressing his personal quest for flexibility, he is asking the entire country to learn to bend, learn how to cry, learn how to see the sun rise... He is at the forefront of a movement that is happening right now: a zeitgeist in which a nation can face reality and empower itself to evolve and feel deeply and stand up for the power of hope.