Andy Fenstermaker is a music lover, writer, marketing professional, and entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to sharing his passion for music with others. He is the founder of FensePost, a renowned music blog that has been sharing the latest and greatest in indie music since 2006. Andy has always been fascinated by the power of music to connect people, and he started FensePost with the aim of sharing his love of music with others. Andy developed a passion for music at a young age. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Andy grew up surrounded by a vibrant music scene that left an indelible mark on him. He attended Washington State University, where he studied Communication and Business. He holds a BA in Communication and a Masters in Business Administration. After graduating, Andy started writing about music and created FensePost as the outlet. The blog has a strong focus on indie music, but also covers a range of other genres including folk, indie pop, psychedelic, garage rock, and experimental. Andy and the blog relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in 2020.
Fact: I never really dug Beach House. I often found their blend of minimal drone meets spacey bedroom pop a bit drab. Melodies didn’t seem to be all there, and the vocal parts, too, were dull. My interest waned in the first few songs of both their self-titled debut and their follow-up Devotion, so I’d pull them from the record player. Thus they found an inevitable fixed spot on my dusty record shelf.
Read More »Beach House: Teen Dream [Album Review]
2009 is a tough year to judge. I’ve checked out more albums this year than any year in the past. Well over 1,000. And there have been quite a few great ones as well. When this list began, it had 110 albums. I abandoned my top 33 and 1/3 for 45, and then said “screw it” and upped the number to an even 50. These are the top notch albums of the year, all worthy of praise.
Read More »FensePost Top 50: The Best Albums of 2009 
Super poppy lo-fi music often comes with a twee label; but even within a highly niche subgenre such as this, there are stark differences that can set one band apart from the rest of the herd. Sometimes that trait is a subtle one, just underneath the layers of standard genre-specific sensibilities. So it is with Paper City, whose Long Beach home brings forth imagery of palm trees, Mexico, and an intense longing for polka-dots and mojitos. Read More »Paper City: City Of The Future [Video]
Not surprisingly, this list is filled with EPs by quite a few bands you know and quite a few you probably don’t. Of the ones you don’t know, many are likely from Washington; a quick count leaves me with five bands, or 1/4 of this list. Many of these bands I consider among the most promising artists to surface in 2009. All are worth checking out, and you’ll want to keep an eye on them as we head into 2010.
Read More »FensePost Top 20: Best EPs of 2009 
Piece together a post-shoegaze era dreaminess with the calm of melody-driven pleasantries and the result is the seemingly soft Absense by Citified. The group’s new EP divides the standard loud-versus-soft for a fairly consistent volume level that is so soothing and tranquil, it’s almost easy to overlook the ringing noise that would, in effect, be created were it to be performed live. Every moment, no matter from which song we take that cross-section, fits the description. Read More »Citified: Absense [Album Review]
Not too long ago, Grant (aka. The Gumshoe of The Gumshoe Grove) and I pieced together some questions for Darlings, one of our mutual favorite bands from 2009.
Some were a little odd, some funny, some flat out dumb.
They were kind enough to provide us with some answers, no matter how ridiculous the questions. Here is the result, unedited and unfiltered. Enjoy…
Read More »A Darlings Interview 
It’s been a few years since we last heard from The Album Leaf, but they’re back. “Falling From The Sun” renews the band’s focus on vocals. Looking back at In A Safe Place and Into The Blue Again, those albums emphasized The Album Leaf’s ability to create a dreamy, atmospheric tune. “Falling From The Sky” lapses into those areas, but the true emphasis is on lyrics and vocals, and that in itself is a substantial change. Read More »The Album Leaf: Falling From The Sun [mp3]
His career spanned two decades and included collaborations with some of today’s most cherished musicians, indie and mainstream alike. Vic Chesnutt died on Christmas Day after rumors of his death spread across the blogosphere and Twitter. He was 45. According to the New York Times art blog, Chesnutt was in a coma after overdosing on muscle relaxants and succumbed to the event Friday evening. Read More »RIP Vic Chesnutt
When I compiled my original Best Of 2008 list last December, it was a snow day. The sky dropped about a foot, maybe a foot and a half of fluffy white stuff and we lowly sub-compact drivers could go nowhere. Between ranking albums and locating album art, I took a stroll around town with my camera. The above image comes from that trek. Overall, I was pretty happy with last year’s list but, in revisiting all the albums from 2008, I now see quite a few that I left out.
Read More »A Retrospective Top 33 and 1/3: Best Albums of 2008 
In 2009, Hometapes aptly demonstrated that they are a force to be reckoned with and a label to keep an eye on. They packed the year with great releases, some of which are likely to appear on my best of 2009 list, slated to go live late next week. To celebrate the holidays, they’ve done two things worth noting. First is Eight Days Of Christmas, which features Christmas tunes from eight Hometapes bands. Second is a Holiday sampler, which arrived in the form of a cassette via mail on Friday. Read More »Eight Days Of Hometapes: An Indie Christmas Music List
