Made In America - BEVERLY, "Careers" (2014)

Frankie Rose is one of those wildly talented, hyperactive musicians who seems to have somehow tapped into a bottomless pool of creativity. Always on the go, always on the lookout for that next sonic fix.

Formerly of the Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls, and under the moniker Frankie Rose and the Outs, Rose has recently been performing as part of a duo with Drew Citron under the name Beverly. Citron has been playing with Rose's live band as well as the band Avan Lava.

Made In America - Upset, "She's Gone" (2013)

The girls of Upset have musical pedigrees that anyone would be jealous of. Ali Koehler (guitar and vocals) played drums with Vivain Girls and Best Coast, Jenn Prince (bass) co-founded La Sera and also played with Koehler in Vivan Girls and indie veteran Patty Schemel (drums) banged around with Courtney Love in Hole.

The Los Angeles based trio's debut album She's Gone is out now on Don Giovanni Records. On it Koehler steps from behind the drums, steps away from a rocky departure with Best Coast, and takes up guitar and vocals. With Upset Koehler unleashes a hand full of minute, fizzy-pop gems that are not dragged down by over-complication but contain the right amount of depth that demands more than just a fancy passing.

Made In America - The Babies

One of the best things about the do-it-yourself ethic of the independent music scene is the camaraderie that exists between musicans and their willingness to work with each other for the sake of making good music. Often this leads to great side-projects and sometimes these side-projects turn into full time bands. If not for this we would've never had bands like The Breeders or Sebadoh.

The Babies are one of these types of bands, a one time side-project turned full time band. The Babies originated at Brooklyn house party meeting between Vivian Girls guitarist Cassie Ramone and Kevin Morby, bassist for the indie-folk act Woods. Originally meant to be another creative outlet between Ramone and Morby, they would later add drummer Justin Sullivan from Bossy, release a handfull of 7" singles on various lables and then a demos E.P. for New Images Records in 2010. 2011 would find the band releasing their self-titled debut on Shrimper Records. 

Their lo-fi jangly guitar sound with call-and-respond vocals would become more refined the following year while working with Los Angeles based producer Rob Barbato (Darker My Love, The Fall, Cass McCombs) and would lead to thier most recent album Our House On The Hill, released last year on Woodsist Records.

Ramone and Morby share songwriting and vocal duties throughout the album and deftly dish out songs with swirling meloncholic peaks that leave you wonderfully dizzy at times. Our House On The Hill is indie-pop to the core but gets you there through folk and punk rock territory with scatterlings of organ, piano and saxaphone used nicely to fill in that sound.