Freelance Whales

Freelance Whales' quirky, clappy, electro-folksy tunesmithing is the product of a generation of indie musicians raised on Sufjan Stevens, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, Akron/Family and other Pitchfork-approved touchstones. Hailing from the New York City borough of Queens, the group was founded by one Judah Dadone in 2008. After amassing an array of oddball instrumentation (harmonium, waterphone, glockenspiel, banjo, etc.), Dadone and a bunch of equally eccentric musicians he met via Craigslist and big-city networking began busking all around town: subway platforms, neighborhood bars, city parks. Freelance Whales' penchant for seeking out strange and weird "venues" landed them in some truly interesting locales, such as Staten Island's abandoned Farm Colony in January 2009. Right around this time, the group undertook its first national and international tours as both an opener and headlining act. Freelance Whales' debut album, Weathervanes, dropped in April 2010. The album's lead track, the profoundly infectious "Generator ^ First Floor," has appeared in several Internet commercials and television programs, including an episode of the NBC comedy Chuck.