Born in Hawaii and raised in Hong Kong, Singapore and Arizona, Charlene's love of music started with classical piano training at age five. At 13, she began teaching herself punk songs on her mom's nylon guitar and was further influenced by her sister's love of classic rock bands such as Queen and Led Zeppelin. After graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in English, she moved to New York City to pursue a career in music. Things have been nonstop for the ambitious songwriter-performer ever since. Her 2011 single "Dress and Tie"-featuring longtime friend and Glee star Darren Criss-was featured in a promo for NBC's Chuck, was selected as official boarding music for Delta Airlines, and has amassed over 20,400 downloads on iTunes to date. Last November, she opened for internet sensation Team StarKid and played guitar in their backing band on a sold-out national tour. Charlene has shared a bill with Big Boi, Minus the Bear and Holly Miranda, and her music has been featured on mtvU, The Atlantic Magazine online and The Huffington Post. Last summer, she launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds forAnimal Love, setting a goal of $20,000. Enthusiastic fans netted her upwards of $33,000. While her first record, 2008′s Things I Will Need in the Past, primarily employed acoustic guitars, piano and strings in an avant-folk vein, Animal Love has greater emphasis on pop production, with drum samples, synthesizers and electric guitars populating the soundscape.
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DANCE FOR THE DYING
Dance for the Dying is a synth-driven dance-rock quartet that effortlessly fuses the joyful with the melancholy to craft infectiously catchy tunes. The band has a distinct sound of 80′s and 90′s goth and pop with fast paced rock rhythms. Simply put - Dance for the Dying creates songs you could roller skate to on laser night. Dance for the Dying released their eponymous debut EP in July, 2011. Shortly thereafter, select tracks from the EP became available on the Rock Band Network for Xbox. The strong demand for these tracks led to their inclusion for gameplay on the PlayStation 3 format as well. The band's song "Echo" was included on Paul Frank's Academy of Awesome compilation (released Thanksgiving, 2011) and was listed as one of the Top 10 Songs of 2011 by DC 101′s "Local Lix" radio program. The band has also received steady air time on internet radio stations in the United States and Canada. Dance for the Dying has continued to write new music while playing live shows for the past several months and will be returning to the studio to record new material in Spring, 2012.
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JAY STOLAR
Jay Stolar is on a journey. With an exceptional voice, infectious melodies, and honest lyrics, the New Jersey born artist has become a respected member of the NYC music scene. After writing hundreds of songs and delivering thousands of performances, he has truly arrived at a signature sound. Playing over 500 shows internationally, having a charted single on FMBQ, multiple appearances at SXSW and CMJ, winning national contests and, most importantly, building a musical relationship with the members of the band. Everything culminated at CMJ In October 2011 when top audio engineer, Ari Raskin (Robin Thicke, One Republic, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West), came to one of Jay's shows at Rockwood Music Hall. Jay's band that night was comprised mostly of former members of Julius C, and the chemistry impressed Raskin. He immediately offered to record the band at Downtown Records Studio in NYC, which led to the recording of a 4-track EP to be released in Spring 2012. Jay Stolar, along with that same band, is played several showcases at SXSW this year.
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MEGAPHONE BARONS
From a basement near the National Zoo emerges Washington DC's most melodious answer to socio-political events: The Megaphone Barons. This trio of wanderers from California, Northern Virginia and Russia (by way of Idaho) fuses Sonic Youth-inspired tension rock with dark-yet-playful commentary on today's burning issues. On August 8th 2011, Megaphone Barons independently released their debut EP, Menagerie. The EP's first three singles, Send Somebody Else, and, Soggy Ground, and Pink Elephant have been a staple of leading rock radio station DC 101's local music program since mid-June. In late August, they were voted as Washington, DC/Baltimore's Band of the Month by readers of the Deli Magazine.
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