Scrabbel was formed in 1999 with old high school friends, Becky Barron (#poundsign#) and Dan Lee (Aislers Set), and followed with a self-titled release available on Kittridge Records.

At the end of 2002 Dan began recording the next Scrabbel CD. 2003 proved to be a busy year for the Aislers Set, so recording became sporadic at best, but by the first half of 2004 a new CD was completed. The kazoos and speak n spells from the 1st record were traded in for cellos and violins on the 2nd record, "1909".

Some guest performers include Alicia Vanden Heuval (Aislers Set), Gary Olson (Ladybug Transistor), and Pete Nguyen (Total Shutdown and Ee). The live band has grown from a 2 piece to a larger ensemble of friends, including Hellen Jo, Nathalie Roland, Stanley Lam, and Atsushi Murase, featuring everything from drums, guitars, cello, violin, organ, and xylophone.

Scrabbel was recently named one of the top ten bands in 2004 to 'graduate from the local scene and take on the world' by the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

» contact Scrabbel  •  visit their website  •  listen to "1909"

The Invisible Cities is a San Francisco-based band that makes incandescent rough-around- the-edges sometimes-quiet sometimesloud rocknroll pop music with wiry guitars and boy/girl harmonies. Watertown is their first full-length record, born of late-night, halfremembered reflections about half-remembered places.

The band formed through the meetings of strangers and family. Han found Sadie with her craigslist ad that he says poorly described her musical sensibilities (see? strangers and yet family so soon!). And when Tim was looking for a chance to rock out a little in the midst of his jazz activities, he in turn answered their ad. Han's brother Gary heard what they were up to and started playing shows with them when he was in town, on vacation from his regular life as upright bass player in NYC.

They have been playing in various configurations in the Bay Area for the last couple of years, including performances piNoisePop 8 in 2003 and APAture in 2003 and 2004. They feel lucky to have had help from Matt Yelton (Pixies, Frank Black) when they started recording the album, and from Jon Evans (Tori Amos) for mixing it.

» contact The Invisible Cities  •  visit their website  •  listen to "Watertown"

Goh Nakamura cut his teeth on the Boston Music scene providing "stunt guitar" work for various local bands.

After a stint at the Berklee College of Music where he sharpened his ears, he came back to the west coast to write his own songs. He likes to think of himself as a combination of John Lennon, John Cusack and John Coltrane. However unholy this trinity is, it seems to work (at least in his head).

For the last 3 years, he's been playing his original songs as well as an eclectic spectrum of covers at assorted venues throughout the SF Bay Area. You can hear some of his homemade music and check out his performance calendar at his website gohnakamura.com.

Goh Nakamura's debut album, "Daylight Savings", was recently named one of the Top Ten Local Albums of 2004 by the San Jose Metro.

» contact Goh Nakamura  •  visit his website  •  listen to "Daylight Savings"

With a voice that combines the intimacy of Songs:Ohia with ethereal intensity similar to Sigor Ros or Jeff Buckley, Odessa Chen's music has been described as delicate, wintry, intelligent, haunting and comforting.

Her debut album, One Room Palace, explores themes of love, longing, beauty and death with accomplished lyrics, a fingerpicking guitar style that is almost classical, and arrangements both sparse and complex. Cello, bass, keyboards, and drums are performed by Odessa and members of Tom Wait's band, Nels Cline Singers, Thee More Shallows, and Winfred E. Eye.

She currently plays with Rich Douthit (of The Drift, Jargon, Boxcar Saints) on drums and Devin Hoff (of Nels Cline Singers and Good for Cows) on double bass. She sings on forthcoming records from Charles Atlas and Thee More Shallows. CD's are available at http://www.odessachen.com

» contact Odessa Chen  •  visit her website  •  listen to "One Room Palace"

Oliver Saria is a Stockton native who has performed in the San Francisco Bay Area as a stand-up comic, actor, and drummer for the local indie-pop band, The Skyflakes.

He has also produced numerous shows and conducted several workshops at Bindlestiff Studio. As part of the Jeproks production company, he has written his first feature film, Places (scheduled to finish postproduction by the end of this year).

He is currently shopping around a television sitcom pilot entitled, gun-powder*, which he wrote and directed.

For more info on his various projects, please visit:

www.jeproks.com
www.theskyflakes.com
www.bindlestiffstudio.org

» contact Oliver Saria

Hellen draws comics and is an unbearable abomination on the cello, but she is first and foremost a fervent student at college.

She looks forward to the inevitable date of her Academic Probation, the Imminent Expulsion, and the lifetime of freedom, comics, and vagrancy to follow thereafter.

» visit Hellen's website