Donavon Frankenreiter:  To create his fifth full-length album Start Livin', Hawaii-based singer/guitarist/songwriter Donavon Frankenreiter holed up in a Southern California studio for seven days with his longtime bassist Matt Grundy - and no one else. The follow-up to 2010's Glow, Start Livin' is a nine-track selection of folk-infused songs that sweetly reflect the simplicity of their recording. With its smooth showcasing of Frankenreiter's rich, honey-thick vocals and masterful guitar work, Start Livin' bears all the intimacy of an impromptu back-porch performance and the tenderness of a treasured love letter. "Start Livin' is basically a love album," says Frankenreiter, who co-produced the record alongside Matt Grundy and Adam Ableman. "Most of the songs are about my wife and our two boys, and the life that we've built together in Hawaii." Thanks to Frankenreiter's infectious warmth and finely honed pop sensibilities, each of those songs has the singular effect of drawing the listener into that bright and breezy world for a blissed-out moment. Essential to the record's playful feel is Frankenreiter's inspired use of instrumentation. "This album's completely unlike anything I've ever done before, in that we skipped the basics and went for a whole lot of different instruments," he says. "We never brought in a drum set-instead there's handclapping for percussion, or the two of us banging on pots and pans. We were using everything from bells to singing bowls to Zippo lighters; at one point we put some beans and salts in a can and shook it around." Grundy played a key role in the wildly varied sounds on Start Livin', according to Frankenreiter. "Matt was playing ukulele and lap steel guitar and banjo - he'd grab an instrument and we'd do a take live and just build the track up from that. It was a real fun vibe." Despite that kitchen-sink approach, Start Livin' never comes off as cluttered. Each of the songs shines with a crisp, clean sound perfectly suited to the album's sunny spirit: "You" achieves a hypnotic dreaminess by layering lap steel over beautifully crooned harmonies and a twinkling acoustic riff; "I Can Lose" matches its island-breezy guitars with shimmering mandolin; and a gracefully plucked banjo backs up Frankenreiter's hushed, heart-on-sleeve lyrics on the quietly epic "Together Forever." On "Shine," meanwhile, ocean-wave-like effects merge with a swaying melody and smitten lyrics ("You and I, girl, are like a sun and moon/Lately you've been in orbit in my head like a good summer tune"). While love songs serve as the album's centerpiece, Frankenreiter also explores non-romantic love throughout Start Livin'. The gloriously ragtag "Same Lullaby," for instance, makes a sweetly hopeful plea for world peace. "I wrote that song a little while after the tsunami in Japan, thinking how lucky I was to have a family and be alive," Frankenreiter recalls. "The line that goes 'I believe the world could be fine if we could all sing the same lullaby'-that's me hoping we could all just get together and be on the same wavelength even for just one moment." On the irresistibly toe-tapping "Just Love," Frankenreiter turns his focus to his two sons, Ozzy and Hendrix. "Sometimes my kids'll get scared of things in the dark-you know, the monster under the bed," he says. "So that song's me telling them, 'Instead of thinking there's something bad there, think of it as just love creeping in. Embrace it. Talk to it.'" Elsewhere on Start Livin', Frankenreiter hones in on more heavy-handed matters. Undoubtedly the album's most somber moment, "A.I." pays tearful tribute to Frankenreiter's friend Andy Irons (a professional surfer who passed away in November 2010). "I'd never been that close to someone who passed away before. The song's about me telling Andy that I just wish I could see him one more time," says Frankenreiter of "A.I.," which pairs pained lyrics ("Help me get through another day away from you") with gentle guitar melodies and shushing percussion. Frankenreiter also says goodbye to a friend on "West Coast Fool," but this time it's a wistful takedown of "a Southern man with big ol' Southern plans." A high-minded twist on the typical kiss-off track, "West Coast Fool" pulls off the unlikely feat of seamlessly blending banjo twang with the soothing hum of a Tibetan singing bowl. For Frankenreiter, the essence of Start Livin' is most fully captured in its album-opening title track. Accented by handclaps and a stick-in-your-head harmonies, "Start Livin'" is a feel-good, uptempo call to "celebrate tonight." "To me the most beautiful thing about this record is it really reflects who I am today," says Frankenreiter. "Start Livin' means stop worrying about where you've been, where you're going-just start embracing what you have around you. Start loving what you have right now."

Sand Section: SAND SECTION takes its name from the area of Manhattan Beach, California where the band's three members grew up. In recent years, "sand section" has become a term used by real estate agents to denote the primo lots that abut the town's vast sandy beaches, but in the case of this ambitious three-piece band, the sand section is the border -- Where the suburban sprawl of greater Los Angeles gets pounded every moment by the deep blue Pacific Ocean-- Where a relaxed sun-soaked lifestyle collides with the infinite power and possibilities of the sea. Hence, the band's eclectic and melodic mix of bright coastal music combined with the dark undercurrents of the storm-out-at-sea punk music they played when they first got together ten years ago in middle school. Jeff Nisen (guitar, vocals, harmonica), Tony Gonella (bass, vocals, percussion) and Stefan Partelow (keys, percussion, guitar) came up playing in various bands, including MOSS which had successful gigs at venerable L.A. clubs like The Roxy and The Whiskey. Tony, Jeff, and Sam Mandelbaum (former drummer) formed Sand Section in 2008 and spent a year commuting between monthly shows at UC Santa Cruz (Tony’s alma mater) and UC Santa Barbara (Jeff and Stefan's alma mater). After graduation in 2009, they got down to focusing full time on music. Toward that end, they've been playing every show they can beg, borrow or steal in the South Bay cities of Manhattan, Redondo and Hermosa Beach, often sallying forth into L.A., including a March, 2010 show at the House of Blues in Hollywood and a sold out show at the Roxy in April. In August of 2010, Sam parted with the band and welcomed in Stefan as a utility player for the group. This change has led the group to a more vocal driven acoustic-rock tone. These gigs have enabled the band to hone in on their signature sound, and establish a solid local following. They have also been fortunate enough to share the stage with bands such as Pepper, The Dirty Heads, Ballyhoo, Slackstring, Tomorrows Bad Seeds, Iglu and Hartley, Common Sense, Sashamon, Tribal Seeds, and many more over their nascent career. If you ask them their creative influences, it's best to have a full pint in front of you because you're going to be there a while. Although rooted in punk bands like Green Day, Pennywise, and Cigar, their music branches beyond punk to feature lush harmonies, blistering guitar solos, and melodic bass lines. Among their favorite lyricists are John Lennon and Paul McCartney as well as Greg Graffin of Bad Religion. Although Sand Section tends to draw upon all genres of music instrumentally, their signature sound is attributed to Nisen and Gonella’s soaring vocal harmonies. Whether it be a piano ballad or a hard rock jam, Sand Section’s vocal harmonies are the backbone and major characteristic of just about every track. These harmonies were ultimately influenced by artists such as Crosby, Stills & Nash, the Eagles, and Dispatch. Nisen’s guitar playing is attributed to a combination of Slash, Randy Rhoads, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, while Gonella draws upon the busy bass lines of Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones combined with both Cigar and the Deviates’ speed-driven punk rock. Sand Section has often had trouble being classified within the vague taxonomy of genres, and has always focused on making good music for the sake of good music, rather than to fit any sort of idealistic standards. "If we feel like making an acoustic album with all sorts of weird experimental instruments, we want to be able to do it without pissing anyone off," Tony said recently. "Above all else, we want to remain a group of everyday guys making good original music." Beyond that, the band’s potential is as vast as the Pacific. Sand Section’s debut album, Truth Over Harmony was released in May 2010, and they are currently working hard in the studio on their sophomore effort which will be an EP called The Gun. It aims to showcase their abilities as not only musicians but songwriters as well. After spending over 6 months in the studio, the band is confident and ready to hit the road and take this world by surprise.

The Mattson 2: If you could soundtrack the jangle of the sea and the jazz of the surf, the Mattson 2 would most certainly be the composers. The foot stomps of a shoe-gazed salty air meets the tight groove and polished shake of the night with each of the duo’s multi-layered tracks. And with their third record, “Feeling Hands” (Galaxia records. Produced by Thomas Campbell), audiences around the globe are witnessing the growth of two musicians hitting full stride with deft layering, detailed composition and an altogether unmistakable sound. With their signature suits in tow, both Jared and Jonathan have relentlessly toured throughout Brazil, Paris, Spain, Japan, Denmark, Finland, The Netherlands, and the United States, generating global acclaim while also further curating their sound into a musical kaleidoscope that brings to mind everyone from Charles Mingus and Chet Baker to the Smiths and the Jesus and Mary Chain. They have acquired a pair of Bachelor’s degrees in music with an emphasis in Jazz and African studies from the University of California San Diego, and even more recently received their Masters of Fine Arts degrees in Music from University of California Irvine. At UC Irvine, they were a part of the Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology program (ICIT). Having performed with the likes of Ray Barbee, Tommy Guerrero, Money Mark, John McEntire, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Cornelius, Farmer Dave Scher, Dave Pike, Jeff Parker, Mark Dresser, Nicole Mitchell, Anthony Davis, and George Lewis, the Mattson 2 have grown up quick, accomplishing more in a short time than many musicians in their entire career, and thus further providing a mature sound that is equally at home on the beach as it is in the jazz club. So tighten that tie, turn up the volume, dig your toes in the sand and soak in the shimmery whitewash of the Mattson 2.