Cold Nose

Known for some time now as "America's greatest semi-active band," Fred Nicolaus and Daniel Rossen's Department of Eagles have beguiled music fans at slow and steady pace for just over four years.

Their debut album, the Whitey On The Moon UK LP (titled as an homage to the band's former name), sounded like nothing else at the time of its first release in October of 2003. No one had ever heard such distinctive, experimental, beat-driven montages laid next to such exquisitely structured pop songs, all laced with playful and witty undercurrents. Imagine The Notwist, Randy Newman, Underworld, and Ween accidentally booking the same studio time, and you get the idea. Rossen, who sings most of the Department of Eagles' songs and plays most of the stringed instruments on the album, is currently one of the main songwriters and vocalists for the highly acclaimed Warp Records act Grizzly Bear.