Jennifer's career began in Atlanta, where after college she joined Violet, a band compared to X and the Pixies. She started playing solo after quitting Violet and moving to NYC. Her influences are other artists with a fresh take on self-awareness, from Destroyer, Silver Jews, Aimee Mann, and Smog, to Dylan and Petty, as well as Jay Z, Kanye West, and Dizzee Rascal.

Jennifer released her debut EP, Truth Love Work, in 2000. 'Time Out' wrote, "O'Connor is another Liz Phair or Elliott Smith waiting to happen. Her understated guitar-based songs lack the primping, preening and obviousness of Phair and the sad-sack whining of Smith. Rather, her matter-of-fact lyrics tell stories that us regular joes can relate to." Her self-released, self-titled debut followed in 2002, and Red Panda released the acclaimed 'The Color And The Light' in May 2005.

'Over The Mountain...' is her 3rd full-length, but it has the immediacy of a debut. The past year saw many personal upheavals which informed it more than she expected. "It's been so tumultuous, I think that inevitably crept into my songs," she says. "I wouldn't say that I always write from experience, but I did a lot of it on this record." For her most emotional songs yet, she self-produced and got rid of reverb and extraneous sounds, giving them an urgency that her other records didn't always have. She explains, "There's a lot of space; we purposefully pared everything down to what was necessary for the song."

While Jennifer writes (and often performs) alone on guitar, each song here (save the acoustic single-take "Today") is fleshed out with a band that includes her longtime drummer Jon Langmead, James McNew (Yo La Tengo) on bass, Kendall Meade (Sparklehorse, Mascott) on keyboards & vocals, and other friends including Britt Daniel (Spoon) on vocals, and Al Weatherhead, who produced 'Color...' & plays guitar on many tracks.

The record was recorded by Jim Bentley at The Fort in Brooklyn.


Websites:
http://myspace.com/jenniferoconnor
http://jenniferoconnor.net
http://matadorrecords.com/jennifer_oconnor


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Graham Smith is the third most famous graduate of Downers Grove North High School; he is slightly less popular than Emo Phillips and Randy the Macho Man Savage.

Mr. Smith also made some of the most underrated indiepop music of the late 1990s and 2000s, most notably "Ponyoak" (pictured right). Fans of this notable Downers' Grove personality know him as an incredibly talented and prolific artist, albeit with an inflated ego and hampered by the visual aesthetic reflected in self-designed covers such as this one.

But see past the half-man, half-wolf that he is and ye will find pop greatness.

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Amy Bezunartea is a Brooklyn, New York based singer and songwriter whose debut album 'Restaurants & Bars' was released on Kiam Records in November 2010.

The record runs the gamut from chamber-folk songs about the unstable and chaotic existence that comes from working in restaurants (Doubles, Restaurants & Bars), to breezy, bright pop songs about not being able to sleep (I Lie Awake At Night (But That's All Right)) to spare, introspective tales from the road to self-acceptance (All The Things We Were Supposed To Be, Bridges) to a devastating look at "how sad it is to be a girl" (The Light) that was written in part as a response to the death of the actress Brittany Murphy.

"Amy's record is real life storytelling reminiscent of the classics of the 50's and 60's. But a closer listen to her songs reveals an original and important new voice." - John Agnello, Producer.

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