It’s rare for a band to be great and be the first band its members are in. Not to say that the bands that the guys from Universe Contest have been in weren’t damn good, but something is going on with this incarnation that never quite clicked completely in the way it does now. The press has been universally (pardon the pun) positive in its praise of the band. Fans in the crowd have been rowdy, smiling and singing along, and the band has found itself in a position of having multiple songwriters that can bring something to the table, creating an infectious sound that varies from discord to harmony within the same song in a way that always keeps the listener enthralled.

The lineup includes Tim Carr (vocals, guitar), Joe Humpal (vocals, guitar), Brenton Neville (drums, vocals), John Freidel (keys,vocals) and Bonehart (bass, vocals). They’ve been compared to Modest Mouse, MGMT and Dismemberment Plan, yet a most recent review said “Take away the Modest Mouse overhang and they’re harder to pin down. As the name implies, they’re spacey, but not shoegaze spacey or Bowie spacey. Spacey like a group of Midwestern hillbillies who got ahold of a stack of Popular Science magazines and figured out how to build their own spaceship from abandoned grain silos, Case tractors parts and the cockpit from a hollowed-out ’73 Maverick. I can see them now sitting on the launchpad in their overalls, their hippie hair sticking out of their gold-painted football helmets. 10.9.8.7…” (Lazy-I, Omaha)

“Modern Man’s influences are many, they all revolve around a taste for rich sonic textures, making Walk Away an absorbing listen with a litany of complexities to explore.” – FreeTimes SC

“There is a reason why it seems like no matter where you are in SC you’ve probably heard of Greenville’s Modern Man. The band has played out of town almost religiously since it’s inception and are now starting to see it really pay off …. Anyone who has been paying attention to the SC music scene in the past year has probably passed crossed paths with indie-rock band Modern Man, and knows what a stir this quartet has made in such a short amount of time.- WeAreTheUpstate.com

“There is something about Teaadora Nikolova’s music that you won’t find anywhere else these days. Driven by an ethereal and otherworldly beautiful voice, her slow-burning experimental folk songs never entirely step out of the darkness, there always remains something very unsettling about them despite a blooming surface.” No Fear of Pop (Berlin Blog)

On this special tour she will be touring with bass, cello, and her voice/guitar, in support of her newest record “A Jamais Vierge” LP.

He was formerly in one of Animal Collective’s favorite bands of the present, called Prince Rama who signed with Paw Tracks, played All Tomorrow’s Parties, and is now working with Animal Collective and Ariel Pink. He is now on a pilgrimage to resurrect his grandest vision in the shadow of his greatest former accomplishments. We are blessed by him coming back.