Yuma House

Power pop quartet Yuma House started to make waves in its Washington, D.C. home base following the release of its second album, Future Perfect. The album earned local publication The Journal's Local Album of the Year award — impressive considering the plethora of amazing Washington, D.C. bands, namely Fugazi, who had released its much-celebrated Argument album the same year — and the paper's music writer, Lou King, referred to the Yuma House song "Smiles" as not only "brilliant" but also his personal "song of the year."

Before becoming the toast of Washington, D.C.'s local rock scene, the quartet — comprised of singer/guitarist Don Brasek, guitarist Danny Espinoza, bassist Eric Chang, and drummer Lee Huber — released its self-titled debut album in 1998. Following impressive radio play for the album on college radio — reportedly getting played on over 200 college stations — Yuma House hosted its music on various websites, exposing the band to an even greater audience. Thus, the band set the stage for its 2002 follow-up, Future Perfect. Garageband Records released the album, which included seven songs as well as an MPEG video for the album-opening "(Write Off) Summer." Next came an extensive East Coast tour to promote the album that stretched as far west as Chicago, where the band performed at the International Pop Overthrow Festival in March.