Matt Hunter & the Dusty Fates formed just before the pandemic, as a vehicle for longtime indie rock musician Matt Hunter to lead a band again. 

“The idea for the Dusty Fates is that it would be an unstable, constantly changing cast of people, with me as the sole full-time member,” said Hunter. “I love the idea that a band’s dynamic can constantly be in flux, based on whoever’s around, who wants to play at a given time, and who might be best for a particular song.”

“It means that your songs can be completely different every time they’re performed, and you have to be ready for that. I find that thrilling.”

Hunter has a long pedigree in underground rock music. He was a co-founder of Western Massachusetts’ New Radiant Storm King, which put out nine records on many different labels over 20 years. The band toured extensively, playing with bands like Guided By Voices, Grifters, Polvo, Built to Spill, and many others. 

Independently, Hunter has played or recorded with J. Mascis & the Fog, Silver Jews, King Missile, the Wharton Tiers Ensemble, and SAVAK, and also is in New York City’s The Whimbrels. His first solo record, New Rotations, was released on Darla several years ago.

For his latest album, and the first one to appear under the “Dusty Fates” moniker, he recruited drummers Roger Murdock (of King Missile) and Hampus Öhman-Frölund. Hunter handled most of the guitar and bass duties, but other friends were brought along to fill various roles – including a number of NYC luminaries.

Hunter’s former (and sometimes current) New Radiant Storm King bandmate Peyton Pinkerton added chiming Irish concert scale bouzouki to the dreamy “Sandcastle Row.” Dave Rick, of NYC legends King Missile and Phantom Tollbooth, added his unique squealing guitar sounds to “Narrator.” Gerard Smith, formerly also of Phantom Tollbooth and the Royal Arctic Institute, added bass to “Narrator” and “Take Your Sweet Time.” Robert Poss, of Band of Susans, added drone and noise to “Weed Garden.” Matt Sutton’s jarring and anxious pedal steel added a unique flavor to “Reindeer Soul,” and Jennifer Coates’ Appalachian-tinged pentatonic violin playing appear all over the album. Jim Santo, co-producer, engineer, and mixer, added guitar on many tracks, bass on a few, and helped make the entire thing happen.

“I think this approach really worked on this record. The songs are really diverse stylistically, and the variety of players pushed things in directions I didn’t expect. But despite that, emotionally the record feels coherent, all of a single piece.”

Hoboken’s Karyn Kuhl has always evoked the hum of NYC right across the river, with all of its tension and light. Her new Dromedary Records single No Traces (produced by Charlie Nieland) is no exception, evoking post-punk with a touch of the ethereal. Karyn draws a scene of loss and transcendence, with her lush voice and icy synths glinting off the driving guitars and drums, all tough and glossy. The Tower (produced by Larry Heinemann) rounds out the two-sided single release, with moonlit swampy grace. 

Karyn Kuhl first received national acclaim for her early bands Gut Bank and Sexpod, growing out of the vibrant Hoboken music scene and the legendary club Maxwell’s. Over the past 20 years, she has released nine LPs, EPs and singles under her own name and with her band. With her solo material, Karyn lets the unexpected and the familiar take shape into sculptures of melody and noise, sensual, ethereal and heavy. With her alluring mix of different rock styles, she continues to push the boundaries with No Traces‘ retro and modern sound, finding the enigmatic in the everyday. 

These days, she performs both as a solo act and leading Karyn Kuhl & The Gang. In addition to her long-time rhythm section of drummer Jonpaul Pantozzi and bassist Lou Ciarlo, the band now includes guitarist/producer Charlie Nieland (Debbie Harry, Rufus Wainright). Karyn’s music has been used in several films & series and is available on all streaming platforms. 

No Traces b/w The Tower will be available as a 7” single and digital download at dromedaryrecords.bandcamp.com

Discography

“I Feel Love” single

Overheard’s offbeat brand of indie rock is both tender and frenetic. Weaving together elements of folk with rock and grunge, their dynamic and melodic songs shift between delicate moments and knotty catharsis. Originating in the Hudson Valley, Overheard now has members in both Kingston and Brooklyn. 

After becoming friends at a dive bar in Kingston, NY, guitarists Erin Barth-Dwyer and Will LaPorte made a drunken vow to play music together. Unlike most promises of artistic link-ups made by 20-somethings, they committed. After adding Kenny Thomas on bass guitar, the group chose the name Overheard for reasons lost to time.

Having formed just before the COVID-19 pandemic, the band spent most of their first year together engaging in socially-distanced backyard practices. During this time, they honed Barth-Dwyer’s tender, folk-leaning songwriting and LaPorte’s tendency toward distortion and hard rock into original songs. Post-lockdown, the band went on to perform at many Hudson Valley staples, including Kingston’s Tubby’s, Catskill’s Avalon Lounge, and Woodstock’s Colony. After releasing their debut single ‘Doesn’t Matter’ in May of 2022, the trio was approached at a house show by Kenny Hauptman (Top Nachos, Larry Locust). Having heard the ghost of his future parts in their performance, Hauptman was an immediate fit, rounding out the group on drums. 

Overheard has become known locally for their ‘soft-then-hard’ style. Barth-Dwyer brings intricately finger-picked guitar and a voice that ebbs between soft lullaby and emotional belt, delivering lyrics of being, memory, and home. LaPorte, providing backing and occasionally lead vocals, writes of childhood and what it leaves us, underscored by tastefully chaotic, overdriven guitar melodies. Thomas carries the group through its moments of peace and aggression with their lush and harmonious bass lines, while Hauptman is either a smooth resident of the pocket or a blonde blur behind the kit – all while providing backing vocals. 

After a year of dialing in their sound, the band connected with Hauptman’s long-time friend, producer and local musician Dylan Nowik (Camp Saint Helene, Steady Sun). In January of 2024, they spent a week at Dylan’s Pine Knoll Studio in Palenville, NY. Over the course of seven long days, many fresh pots (of coffee), and several sandwiches, the band and Nowik crafted Overheard’s debut LP, the forthcoming indie rock diary, Intertwined. 

Sleepyhead was formed in a basement room at NYU’s Brittany dorm in the fall of 1989 by drummer/vocalist Rachael McNally, bassist Mike Galinsky and guitarist/vocalist Chris O’Rourke. They released their first 7″ single, the Kramer-produced “Play,” in 1991 on Picture Book Artifact Records. Four full-length albums followed, on three different independent record labels. Punk Rock City USA was released by Slumberland Records in 1993, followed by Starduster (Homestead 1994), Communist Love Songs (Homestead 1996), and The Brighter Shore (Sealed Fate 1999). They toured the United States and Europe throughout the nineties, sharing the stage with such legendary bands as Polvo, Half Japanese, Yo La Tengo, The Grifters, The Dambuilders, Nation of Ulysses, Helium, Royal Trux, Antietam, Luna, Versus, The Magnetic Fields, and Dungbeetle.

After a move to Boston and a few lineup changes, the band released Wild Sometimes on the esteemed Carrot Top Records label, which sadly closed up shop in 2016. Now, with a lineup including multi-instrumentalist Derek van Beever and bassist Ani Somasundaram, the band has found a new home with Dromedary, releasing the single “Hoping That You’re Lonely” b/w “Busted Lullaby” in advanced of a full-length coming in 2025.

JERSEY CRUNCH-POP

Our flagship band, STUYVESANT is the reincarnation of two New Jersey rock bands that were born in the early 90s. Footstone and Friends, Romans, Countrymen shared many a stage and a lust for the “have a good time, all the time” ethos.

Comprised of singer/guitarists Sean Adams and Ralph Malanga, guitarist Eric Greenberg, bassist Jeffrey Crowe and drummer Scotty Imp, the band are lovely, mild-mannered gents who bash away at their instruments like deranged dads. Over 13 years, the band has produced a bunch of records and 9 kids, along the way called “A zillion times over more smart and more sincere than the latest batch of ersatz flakes hogging the limelight” by The Big Takeover, with Spin magazine adding “even with the suburban mollification of the Vans Warped Tour, down-to-earth, old-school pop-punk is still spry and kicking.”

Discography

V/A “Make The Load Lighter: Indie Rock for Haiti” compilation

V/A – “From ’93 Til Infinity – A Dromedary Records Compilation

“Aardvark” single

“Jihad Me At Hello” EP – name your price digital download

“Hellbent for Heather” single

“Bison” single

“Fret Sounds” CD

“Shmyvesant” LP

“Crow” single

The Whimbrels are a power art-rock band with lineages to some of the most influential and raw music New York City has produced – loud art with a back beat. The sound is dense, rhythmic, hard and sweet, with hooks and riffs that pop out at unexpected moments. Their three-guitar lineup features Arad Evans (Glenn Branca Ensemble), Norman Westberg (Swans) and Luke Schwartz (Glenn Branca, Wharton Tiers), along with bassist/vocalist Matt Hunter (Savak, Dusty Fates) and drummer Steve DiBenedetto.

A Whimbrels show involves racks of guitars tuned in different and unconventional ways, with the players constantly switching between them. There are counterpoint choirs, dueling e-bows phasing against each other; chunking, poly and cross-rhythmic interludes, soaring arias of distortion from Westberg and Evans’ melodic and inventive guitars.

The New York Times once said Arad Evans was “on an index of creative or experimental electric guitar-based music in America – young lords of the wild in the post-rock tradition.” That description fits The Whimbrels perfectly. You may need earplugs.