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.
The Dimes follow the path of The Decemberists with brainy history-ridden lyrics about wars and tragic fires and the devastating consequences of falling in love during the 1800s. Their latest effort, The King Can Drink The Harbor Dry has fingers into early American settler themes. The music they produce, on the other hand, is more along the lines of Fruit Bats or possibly Andrew Bird. Read More »The Dimes [Feature]
Oh I’m loving this! It’s the new video by (what seems like) Sweden’s only native-tongue-singing band [ingenting]. The song is “Dina händer är fulla av blommor” and it’s one of their catchiest yet, easily matching prior favorites like “Syster dyster”, “Har kommer solen” and “Slapp Inb Solen”. A loose, very poor translation (no thanks to very poor online translation systems) could be “In Your Hands Full Of Blossoms” or possibly even “Your Hands Are Full Of Blossoms”. It’s a sad song, one full of longing and loss. The theme is carried through the video quite nicely, making my forthcoming compilation of the year’s best videos even harder to pare down. Read More »[ingenting] – Dina händer är fulla av blommor [Video]
The name Letting Up Despite Great Faults stems from Blonde Redhead’s “Loved Despite Great Faults” off Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons. They often gets comparisons to The Postal Service, but I just don’t see it. Sure, it’s electronic pop at its best (a bit of a similarity) and there are occasionally some Tamborello-esque beats, but Letting Up Despite Great Faults isn’t nearly as clean nor does it possess those cut-and-dry vocals signature to Gibbard. The primary similarity is the band’s ability to create dreamy electronic indie pop tunes with a romantic edge. It’s a similarity in theme at best.
Read More »Letting Up Despite Great Faults: Letting Up Despite Great Faults [Album Review] 
Dreamy shoegaze pop never sounded so sexy as it does on Dead Leaf Echo‘s “Half-Truth”. That consistent machine gun snare and those sleepy seductive vocals mesh almost too perfectly with the atmospheric guitar, which at times even borders an angular Smiths-like jangle. It’s as if The Smiths and The Dears formed an unlikely union and the resulting brainchild was Dead Leaf Echo. You can also hear traces of select collaborators like Ulrich Schnass and Depeche Mode. “Half-Truth” is one of those songs that wears its influences on its sleeve, but still contains the ability to impress. Well done. Read More »Dead Leaf Echo: Half-Truth [mp3]
Opening track “Casualty” off Dragon Turtle‘s Almanac begins with a soft acoustic guitar and a set of soft backing instruments, from deep drums (tympani perhaps?) and what could even be a clarinet. The strum is prominent, while the rest maintain an ever-present drone. Basking in an immense reverb, the vocals enter just as quietly, echoing across the drone-created plateau. And then it happens: the song nears the midpoint (about 3:40 in) and feedback begins to take over – an incriminating dominatrix, ready to make your wildest and most bizarre fantasies come true. Read More »Dragon Turtle: Almanac [Album Review]
Here’s an amazing little video by Sweden’s Little Big Adventure. True to the band’s name, “Happiest Times” features a man on a journey in the more unconventional of senses. What makes this a good video is the near eerie way it progresses, with time sped up and a good concept: the character moves forward on his stomach with flowers and a briefcase, a wanderer roaming the countryside. Read More »Little Big Adventure: Happiest Times [Video]
Seattle is known for a few things. Fish is one, salmon in particular. Grunge in another. And then there’s rain. Salmon Thrasher, the latest (literally) garage band from The Emerald City, is a moniker that fulfills two out of three of those items. Apt title. So this news has is twofold: an introduction to the newest Seattle band, and the announcement of their first ever show. Read More »Here’s a First: Salmon Thrasher Live!
What a decade it’s been. 2004 was my first year in the so-called Real World; jobs, car payments, instability everywhere. Things weren’t all happy and seemingly upbeat like the mid 90s. After eight months in Seattle, I found myself unemployed and decided it was time for more education. I moved to the greater Portland area and began prep to enter a Masters in Business Administration program, taking night classes at WSU Vancouver and making a frequent trip out to Pullman, where I’d soon attend graduate school. The overall instability and open-your-eyes wake-up calls of 2004 seemed to extend beyond me. Two of the most honest and disturbing albums I’ve ever heard were released this year – another strong one in music overall.
Read More »A Retrospective Top 20: Best Albums Of 2004
Danish experimental psychedelic pop group Oh No Ono recently signed to Friendly Fire Recordings for their upcoming release Eggs. The first single is “Swim” and its accompanying video is one part disturbing and another inspirational. Featuring a young boy (what an eerie resemblance to the boy in The Shining!) who acts as the observer of all things within the hospital in which his mother works, he blurs reality with fantasy. Life, death, sex; they all happen in this somewhat risque video by Adam Hashemi.
Read More »Oh No Ono: Swim [Video] 
Hunters, Run! blend an interesting combo of post-punk and power pop that’s super infectious. “If I Had Half A Chance” is filled with power chords and it even highlights some emotive vocal harmony shouts. When the instrumentation drops out during the bridge, leaving little other than the “ohhh ohhh” vocals pattern, the band transcends standards for something on an entirely different plane. Read More »Hunters, Run!: EP2 [Album Review]
