Member Since: 9/12/2005
Band Website: SleeperCarBand.com
Band Members: Mike Musikanto (guitar)
Russ Mallord (drums)
Jamie Mock(bass)
Mean Gene (Violin)
J.J. Evans (Guitar)
Influences: Ray Charles, Iron and Wine, Calexico, Andrew Bird, Beck, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Sean Lennon, The Kinks, Poi Dog Pondering, Uncle Tupelo, David Gray...
Sounds Like: Illinois Entertainer - Best Of Around Hear 2006
"Pick any Sleeper Car track and you will be rewarded with a richly textured sonic tapestry of shimmering melodies bursting with intricately arranged instrumentation. Delicate brushes of violin, tingling pedal steel, jangly acoustic guitar, and gorgeous, yearning vocal harmonies blend into a genuinely intoxicating sound. If I could only listen to one song this month, the title track from Shy Me would be it."
The Onion
“Depending on which song Sleeper Car starts its set with, it may appear to be a country act, a folk group, or a band of blues revivalists. Eventually, the Chicago group will sound like all and none of those things, exhibiting the range and skill of a traditional-leaning jam band compacted into concise, fluid songs that don’t rely on clichés.â€
CD Baby (Editors Pick)
You know that a band has hit a musical genius vein when you can feel their music throughout your entire body- when shivers and shudders and gooseflesh come over you before you know what hit you. Sleeper Car is just such a band. Perfecting the alt country genre with the musical weight and influence of Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes and Wilco, this get-up astounds the ear with a startling balance of lush and atmospheric backdrops and simple, country-born, fiddling jangle. When the aching sounds of the countryside are mixed with this almost emo-like approach, pushed ahead by vocals that cry more than sing, you know that "Shy Me" has hit the jackpot.
WGN TV - Chicago
"eclectic and original; an enjoyable musical journey" Jeff Hoover - WGN Producer
Cleveland Scene
"Exposed Roots"
By Michael Gallucci
Chicago’s Sleeper Car bends alt-country expectations on its second album, Love & Anxiety. The fiddles and pedal steel add twang, but the band’s real forte is its commitment to a folk-rock tradition that stretches all the way back to the ’60s. All five guys, plant roots in a songbook that nods to Dylan, the Byrds, and, by extension, Woody Guthrie. That’s not to say they sound anything at all like any of them, but Sleeper Car’s Americana aesthetic paints a timeless portrait of wide-open spaces and endless highways.
Eartaste.com
The sleepy tune echoes “Waitin’ Around To Die†just enough to cause shivers, then quickly moves into its own groove with lyrics that are astute enough to almost feel like our friend has returned to visit. “You broke me in like a bar room door. You spoke, you moved, you laughed and then you cried.†It’s a voice from the past in some respects, but these guys are living and breathing and chugging out songs with the power and spirit of the best. The words tumble out smoothly and feel like songs I’ve sung forever yet I know I haven’t heard them before.
Metro Spirit - Augusta, GA
The band Sleeper Car reminds me of the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Marshall Tucker Band. This culmination of steel guitar and fiddle with acoustic style and impressive lyrics on "Love and Anxiety" is almost like folk music — but with more of a rock 'n' roll sound. You can imagine hearing this band on the contemporary soft rock channels on your radio and playing on the late night shows or in rotation on VH1 and MTV.
Read Junk.com
"Lyrics are more thoughtful than the usual lonesome desert highway crap, and the production is warm and lush."
Wonka Vision
Chicago’s Sleeper Car focuses on some of the Old West-style, with their horseshoe fonts and yellowed grainy photos. This isn’t exactly gun-slinging music, but more salt of the earth. Sleeper Car features guitar picks of The Byrds with gutsy rock similar to Memphis’ Lucero. Vocalist Michael Musikanto's passionate whines highlight this folk-Americana hybrid, especially on “Lay It Down.†The song profiles a heavy violin melody with a rambunctious beat and the verses are narrative in nature...
[By: Josh Spilker]
Neufutur
"Lay It Down" is the first track on Sleeper Car's "Love & Anxiety," and the use of strings during this track imbues the track with a folksy sound not far removed with that put out by a Banhart. However, Sleeper Car takes a different tack during "I Won't Break Down". During this track, the band unites the aforementioned folk style with an early country / bluegrass hybrd that, when all parts are taken together, result in a very current and contemporary sound. The second track on the disc is "I Won't Break Down" and it gives the spotlight to the instrumentation. Where it was a strong but not central part of "Lay It Down", the renewed focus on the instrumentation during "I Won't Break Down" shows that all parts of Sleeper Car are equally strong. The intense focus that this twangy, looking-back band is why they will be named alongside acts like Lucero and the Avett Brothers in the months to come. The six tracks on this EP constitute slightly over twenty minutes of music, ensuring that listeners will be clamoring for more just as soon as "Follow" closes up shop. The linkage of a softly-sang set of vocals with the strings and traditional arrangements of Sleeper Car are one of the distinguishing factors for the band. I know that I will be looking forward to hearing more of them in the months to come.
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Record Label: ..
Type of Label: Indie