Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Von Iva’s “Girls on Film” EP Set For Release Oct. 28

Band to make major film debut alongside Zooey Deschanel & Jim Carrey in Warner Bros’ Yes Man on December 19

National US Tour Begins October 15


San Francisco’s Von Iva special mix of musical madness and their distinctive blend of electro-pop-rock executed by synths, drums, and gritty soulful vocals is beautifully showcased on their new EP, Girls on Film (Oct. 28, self-released). The 6 song set features some tracks from their 2007 CD Our Own Island (i.e., “LALA,” “Birds of Prey,” and “Guise”) and some new songs (i.e., “Living For It,” “Emerald Eyes,” and “Electricity.”)

As infectious as the ladies recordings are, it’s the trio’s live shows that move the masses. “An ass-shaking mix of soul, disco and dirty, raw rock & roll, this San Francisco band rattles the rafters with an aural love potion.” raved LA Weekly. While SF Weekly says: “Believe the hype Von Iva is the new purveyor of soul, and it's got the groove-drunk fans to prove it.”
But it’s the uber cool Bust Magazine that really captures all one can say about Von Iva... “If you've ever wished for Franz Ferdinand, P.J. Harvey, Gary Numan, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to be bottled up into a love potion, here it is. They're soul-shaking dance-punk queens-and they're going to rock your world.”

Not only will Von Iva rock your world on stages across America this Fall, they are set to rock it on the Hollywood big screen when they make their movie debut playing the band that Zooey Deschanel fronts in her new film with Jim Carrey, Yes Man, out December 19, 2008. Von Iva also wrote the song “Yes Man” specifically for the film and it will run over the end credits.


Von Iva embarks on a national US tour this week. See dates listed below.

Von Iva on Tour

October 15 Santa Barbara, CA Muddy Waters
October 17 Tucson, AZ Plush Lounge
October 18 Las Vegas, NV Jillian’s
October 20 Los Angeles, CA The Viper Room
October 21 San Diego, CA The Pink Elephant*
October 22 Long Beach, CA Alex’s Bar*
October 23 Fullerton, CA Cal State Fullerton
October 23 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill*
October 24 San Jose, CA The Blank Club*
October 25 Reno, NV The Tonic Lounge*
October 26 Salt Lake City, UT Burt’s Tiki Lounge*
October 28 Denver, CO Benders Tavern
October 29 Lincoln, NE Box Awesome
October 30 Minneapolis, MN Club Underground
October 31 Milwaukee, WI Club Garibaldi’s
November 1 Chicago, IL Bottom Lounge*
November 2 Pontiac, MI Pike Room at Crofoot
November 4 Columbus, OH Bernie’s Distillery
November 6 Jamaica Plain, MA The Midway Café
November 7 Williamsburg, NY Supreme Trading
November 8 New York, NY The Knitting Factory
November 9 Long Branch, NJ The Brighton Bar
November 11 Philadelphia, PA The Manhattan Room
November 12 Vienna, VA Jammin Java
November 13 Charlotte, NC The Milestone
November 14 Spartanburg, SC Ground Zero
November 15 Atlanta, GA The Drunken Unicorn
November 16 Jacksonville, FL Jack Rabbits
November 17 Gainesville, FL 1982 Bar
November 19 Houston, TX Chance’s
November 20 Dallas, TX Sue Ellen’s
November 21 Austin, TX The Beauty Bar
November 22 San Antonio, TX Jack’s Patio
November 24 San Diego, CA The Pink Elephant
December 5 San Francisco, CA Café du Nord
December 6 Visalia, CA The Cellar Door
December 11 San Diego, CA The Casbah
December 12 Los Angeles, CA The Echo

*w/ Girl in a Coma

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Jacksonville's Platinum Rockers The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus -Guitar Hero Challenge this Saturday!

Hey Jacksonville,

I wanted to let you guys know that The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus will be participating in GameStop's Guitar Hero Challenge this weekend -- details below:

The St. John's Town Center GameStop in Jacksonville, FL is throwing a party this Saturday and they are inviting YOU to come rock out and challenge some of their buddies from Red Jumpsuit on the new Guitar Hero 4!

When:
This Saturday October 25, 2008 at 9:30pm

Where:
GameStop [St. John's Town Center, next to Target]
4611 River City Drive
Jacksonville, FL 32246

OHGR ANNOUNCES NORTH AMERICAN TREK

** Devils In My Details DTour 2008 to Hit 25 Cities **

** Long Awaited Solo Return from Skinny PuppyÕs Visionary Frontman hits Stores November 18 **


New York, NY, October 23 – Electronic music icon and Skinny Puppy vocalist Ogre is taking his OHGR project on the road with a 25-date tour kicking off November 18 in San Diego, CA. The tour is in support of the highly anticipated new release Devils In My Details, which arrives in stores the day the tour kicks off.

The opener for the tour is American Memory Project, consisting of two ohGr collaborators, filmmaker/guitarist William Morrison and drummer/composer Justin Bennett. American Memory Project is a unique and startling multimedia project mixing visuals and audio Òfrom the past, the future, and the present in real time.Ó

ohGr tour dates:

11.18.2008 — San Diego, CA / House of Blues

11.19.2008 — Los Angeles, CA / El Rey Theatre

11.21.2008 — San Francisco, CA / Slim's

11.22.2008 — Portland, OR / Dante's

11.23.2008 — Vancouver, BC / Red Room

11.24.2008 — Seattle, WA / El Corazon

11.26.2008 — Salt Lake City, UT / Murray Theatre

11.27.2008 — Denver, CO / Bluebird

11.29.2008 — St. Paul, MN / Station 4

11.30.2008 — Chicago, IL / Double Door

12.02.2008 — Toronto, ON / The Opera House

12.03.2008 — Montreal, QC / Les Saints

12.04.2008 — New York, NY / Blender Theater at The Gramercy

12.06.2008 — Boston, MA / Paradise Rock Club

12.07.2008 — Washington, DC / Rock & Roll Hotel

12.09.2008 — Carrboro, NC / Cat's Cradle

12.10.2008 — Atlanta, GA / Masquerade

12.12.2008 — Ft. Lauderdale, FL / Culture Room

12.13.2008 — St. Petersburg, FL / State Theatre

12.15.2008 — New Orleans, LA / House of Blues

12.17.2008 — Houston, TX / Warehouse Live

12.18.2008 — Dallas, TX / Granada Theatre

12.19.2008 — San Antonio, TX / White Rabbit

12.21.2008 — Albuquerque, NM / Launchpad

12.22.2008 — Tempe, AZ / The Marquee

Devils In My Details is Ogre's third solo disc and most personal and conceptual work to date in his 25-year career. The 11-track disc was recorded with longtime creative foil Mark Walk (Ruby) and is an immersive experience intended to emulate the feel of such 70's progressive rock classics as The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway from Genesis and Tales of Mystery and Imagination by The Alan Parsons Project -- both of which were major influences on Ogre and Walk while growing up. I'm grateful to be able to make a record like this, said Ogre. If we were in any other situation, the standard model is to write two hit singles and fill in the holes as best you can. ThatÕs the mode a lot of musicians are in right now. WeÕre trying to do things from the heart, regardless of what the commerce end of music dictates.

MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO

Announces Fall Mini-Tour
Headling Brainwaves Festival in Boston


San Francisco, CA - International electronic pioneers MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO (MBM) have announced a very brief but very highly-anticipated East and West Coast tour, kicking off November 19th with a return to NYC's Highline Ballroom (they played to a frenzied, near sell-out crowd in April). Among the four stops is a headlining spot on Boston's Brainwaves Festival, celebrating avant-garde and experimental sounds that includes festival mates Silver Apples, Matmos, Stars of the Lid, Lichens, and Peter Wilson and Peter Christopherson of Throbbing Gristle's new band, Threshold House Boys Choir. MBM will head back to the West Coast to the last half of the tours coming to Los Angeles and San Francisco with hybrid beatsmith Dub Gabriel.

Known for both their genre-bending, dance-inducing dubstep as well as their electrifyingly intense audio/visual live performances (which will undoubtedly be populated with soundbites from the current political whirlwind), MBM continue to be six steps ahead of the curve. With this their 20th anniversary, the ever-evolving MBM released their latest album Autoimmune early in April 2008 on Metropolis Records. Heralded by All Music Guide as "an exhilarating aural exploration of the past, present, and future, rampaging across genres along the way," its 10th album is a fascinating foray into the creative force of its mastermind Jack Dangers. At once embracing his past and thrusting himself into the future, he explores new sonic territory in an album that's both familiar yet expansive... or as IGLOO Magazine explains, "it could be said that Autoimmune, while not a drastic departure from the Meat Beat Manifesto sound, is an album worth owning for that very reason."

Those familiar with MBM and its futuristic explorations into the technology of rhythm and melody know that its sensory-overloaded live show is a multimedia extravaganza that's as much a communal celebration as it is a cerebral mindf*ck. As Wired.com describes, "Meat Beat's live show has generated a solid rep for being a surround-sound sensorium, and thumping Autoimmune tracks like 'I Hold the Mic,' 'Spanish Vocoder' and 'Solid Waste' are just part of the equation: Throw in Lynn Farmer's incendiary live drumming and smartass viz from [Ben] Stokes and Consolidated vet Mark Pistel, and you've got a politically explosive multimedia program that's nowhere near as boring as An Inconvenient Truth."

Tour dates are:
Nov. 19 Highline Ballroom
w/ Excepter
New York City
Nov. 21 Brainwaves Festival
w/ Silver Apples, Matmos, Stars of Lid, etc Boston, MA
Dec. 4 Knitting Factory
w/ Dub Gabriel Los Angeles, CA
Dec. 5 Independent
w/ Dub Gabriel
San Francisco, CA

An acknowledged innovator in the electronic music scene, Jack Dangers continues to stretch sonic boundaries and influence new generations of sound activists. As a premiere remixer, producer and sound designer, he has played a seminal role in defining tomorrows' music today. Past and current Dangers' production/remixing projects include: Public Enemy, David Bowie, Orbital, Nine Inch Nails, David Byrne, Bush, Depeche Mode, Tower of Power, The Bee Gees and DJ Spooky & Dave Lombardo (Slayer). MBM also contributed the track "Suicide" to the top-selling soundtrack to Underworld: Evolution and Jack's remix of Tower Of Power's "What Is Funk?" was nominated for a Grammy in 2006.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Elephant Lady Records Releases Kyle Andrews' Real Blasty on January 20, 2009!

"Real Blasty is the breakthrough album."
- Timothy Zila, Patrol Magazine

"This is a bed-room rock Brian Wilson of depth and character. Most highly recommended."
- Dot Shop (Scandinavia)

"If people saw the space I recorded in, they would laugh," admits Nashville pop wizard Kyle Andrews. Crafted mostly in the comfort of his own home, and at his parents' place in Chicago, the DIY maestro's second full-length Real Blasty is a marvel: crisp, quirky, studio-quality pop recorded using little more than a laptop. Meet the future of the music industry.

After releasing his whimsical debut LP Amos In Ohio and the sad, stripped down EP Find Love, let Go on Badman Recordings, Kyle Andrews has decided to go it alone. It is appropriate that his self-recorded, self-produced Real Blasty should be released independently, relying on Andrews' own imprint, Elephant Lady Records.

Real Blasty takes Andrews’ homespun tunes to a happier place—the words still tell their fair share of sad tales, but the sound is brighter, dancier and crackles with more mature technical dexterity. The opener, "Sushi," has evolved over the years into a fuzzed-out club track; as the emotional intensity rises he implores the object of his affection, "You gonna save me or not?" The irresistible, synth-heavy "Naked in New York" adds a slight edge to the proceedings, as waves of noise crash and recede, revealing a narrator desperate to hang onto an unstable woman. "Polar Bear" tackles life on the road and the people you can't take with you. The ramped-up, guitar-driven "A Constant Wavering Between the Real and the Abstract" gets apocalyptic about love, asserting "Everything special fades away / all hearts will be erased." Standouts "Put Your Hands Up" and "Call and Fade" channel vintage anthemic pop, allowing Andrews to show off his ample skill with pretty melodies and infectious choruses.

In between releases, Nashville’s prolific pop maestro has found time to open for Peter, Bjorn and John, and tour with Josh Rouse; Andrews was also asked to contribute an original song to a recent Crown Royal ad campaign. In addition, the soft-spoken songsmith has managed to reinvent himself as a performer—shedding the introverted acoustic incarnation while experimenting with new methods for translating his glitchy, dynamic songs to the stage.

Kyle Andrews third release Real Blasty drops Janurary 20th, 2009!

Track Listing

01. Sushi
02. Naked In New York
03. Polar Bear
04. Call and Fade
05. Tennessee Torture Dream
06. Put Your Hands Up
07. Wavering Between The Real And The Abstract
08. Blow It Out
09. Take It To Heart
10. I Wanted To Paint A Rainbow
11. Cut And Paste
12. Bus

Previous Praise for Kyle Andrews:

"Armed with a guitar, Casio keyboard and drum loops, Andrews escaped the crushing Nashville scene to create his own brand of indie-rock with a southern drawl. Reminiscent of poppy Bright Eyes, Postal Service and an adolescent Eels, Andrews has 13 tracks worthy of a thorough listen." - Perfect Porridge

"Amos in Ohio is an honest, quirky, spontaneous and heartfelt acoustic album underpinned with electronic beats. It might be a break-up album, but its reflective mood won't leave you feeling crippled." - Marie Clare UK

"Instantly memorable, the album is packed with infectious hooks, especially on the title track and the upbeat "Moon Tea." - NPR

"His lyrics are good, often seeming to laugh at themselves, yet maintaining a wholesome integrity and frequently laying bare our darkest instincts in a most unnerving way." - Jon Fletcher, New Noise

"Chicago native, Kyle Andrews, makes 'hook heavy' indie pop. You will listen and wonder why you haven't heard this music before, or at least someone saying you should hear Kyle Andrews... uh, you should. " - Alan Williamson, Six Eyes

MATES OF STATE EXTEND THE RE-ARRANGER TOUR NOVEMBER 7-23 HEADLINE RUN ADDED W/ BROTHER READE

Having kicked off their fall tour schedule with an appearance at AUSTIN CITY LIMITS that elicited raves from the AUSTIN CHRONICLE ("an act that's matured both personally and professionally") and THE ONION ("the duo continues to save itself by producing albums that are better than the previous ones"), and currently on tour with Santogold, the indefatigable MATES OF STATE have added a November series of headline dates to their Re-Arranger tour.

The new dates begin November 7 in Asbury Park NJ and run through November 23 in Baltimore MD. All dates will feature LA hip-hop duo Brother Reade as main support - see below for a full itinerary.

The Re-Arranger tour is of course named for the MATES' fifth album, Re-Arrange Us (Barsuk), which was released May 20, the same day marking the band's network television debut on LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN.

Re-Arrange Us has received the best critical (and public) response of MATES OF STATE's career: NEW YORK magazine called the record "a bona fide breakthrough," MAGNET praised it as "the best album of their career for a second straight time," while DETAILS and ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY focused on individual tracks, the former raving "'Now' has summer anthem written all over it" and the latter featuring "My Only Offer" as a "Choice Cut."

Gardner and Hammel will be joined on the upcoming dates by additional musicians Linnea Weiss (cello) and Chris Cosgrove (guitar, bass, electronics).

MATES OF STATE
THE RE-ARRANGER TOUR

11/7 Asbury Park NJ @ Wonder Bar
11/8 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
11/9 Morgantown, WV @ Mountainstage (NPR show)
11/10 Lexington, KY @ The Dame
11/11 Washington DC @ Black Cat
11/12 Charlottesville VA @ Gravity Lounge
11/13 Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre
11/14 Lexington KY @ The Dame
11/15 Louisville, KY @ Headliners
11/16 Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
11/17 Nashville, TN @ Exit / In
11/19 Jacksonville Beach FL @ Freebird Live
11/20 Atlanta, GA @ The Loft
11/21 Greenville SC @ The Handlebar
11/22 Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle
11/23 Baltimore MD @ Ottobar

FOO FIGHTERS DENOUNCE UNAUTHORIZED USE OF THEIR MUSIC BY MCCAIN CAMPAIGN

Having received confirmed press reports that John McCain has been using Foo Fighters' "My Hero" as the latest in a number of unauthorized theme songs at his campaign rallies without seeking permission from the band, its management, record label or publisher, Foo Fighters have issued the following statement: This isn't the first time the McCain campaign has used a song without making any attempt to get approval or permission from the artist. It's frustrating and infuriating that someone who claims to speak for the American people would repeatedly show such little respect for creativity and intellectual property. The saddest thing about this is that 'My Hero' was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential. To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song. We hope that the McCain campaign will do the right thing and stop using our song--and start asking artists' permission in general!

WAR CHILD AND ASTRALWERKS ANNOUNCE THE ALBUM "HEROES" WILL NOW BE RELEASED IN FEBRUARY 2009.

War Child and Astralwerks Records have moved the release of the album "Heroes" from November 2008 until early in 2009.

The "Heroes" album is a unique collaboration of music's biggest acts, with all-time legends nominating both the classic track and modern artist to record an exclusive cover version.
Since the album was announced recently a list of huge names have come forward with offers to participate in the record. This new release date will allow War Child to add further to their historic roll call of musical legends and modern greats. The initial list of participants included such luminaries as Paul McCartney, Duffy, Brian Wilson, Rufus Wainwright, Joy Division and Hot Chip.

War Child say: "We have been over-whelmed and amazed by the response to the project. The wealth of talent who have contacted us wishing to support the charity and contribute to the album is humbling and we are delighted to have been able to change our deadlines to accommodate some of them. It was impossible to say no."

War Child would like to thank everyone for their support and look forward to releasing a fantastic record in 2009.

Pegasuses-XL Announce Two New Albums and US Tour!

This is totally original, totally bizarre, and totally fucking rad. - Alternative Press Magazine

Pegasuses-XL truly represent a cornucopia of musical influences. The band's music is sometimes based in synthetic electro-punk, sometimes based in frantic post-punk, and most of the times just plain weird. - Pastepunk.com

Since we last heard from them, Athens' tweaked out synth-punks Pegasuses-XL have been busy gearing up for a fun-filled 2009 and are coming through your town on a mind-blowing US tour to remind us of their almighty ambitions.

The band's tour begins next week and sees them traveling the US w/ We Versus The Shark, playing alongside acts including Pattern Is Movement, Monotonix and So Many Dynamos, and hitting up both CMJ in NY and The Fest in Gainesville, FL! Check below for all tourdates.

On this tour PXL will have the first copies of "Electro Agitators," a 17 track collection of all the tracks on their first 3 EP's, remixed and mastered, as well as a brand new bonus track. "Official" release date may be a little further down the line, but we will have copies of this for everyone as soon as they arrive.

And don't think our favorite tweaked out coffee chugging synth monsters are just sitting back and resting before tour... Nope! - They are instead putting the finishing touches on yet ANOTHER brand new album to be released in early 2009. The current working team of Joel Hatstat (ex-Cinemechanica) Jeff Tobias (We Versus The Shark, Dark Meat) and Jeff Rosenstock (Bomb The Music Industry!) have churned out a record that is both oddly mature and weirder that we could have ever imagined (in the best way possible - and featuring tons of grand piano!). As soon as they get back from tour and finish up the mixes we'll start slipping some tracks out into an unsuspecting world.

More information to come, tracklisting for Electro Agitators and US Tourdates below!

Electro Agitators Tracklist
1. Welcome To It Me
2. Run The Gauntlet
3. $600 Man
4. Why Nautical
5. Working For The Weekend
6. Rorshak's Theorem
7. Into The Canyon
8. Major In Business
9. Untitled
10. Pixilated Flowers
11. Panzerfaust
12. Sunrise at Lake 2k
13. The Orchid
14. New Domestic Paradigm
15. Theme To Athfest
16. House Is Not A Homey
17. Iron Man Pt. 1 and 2

Pegasuses-XL Live!

w/ We Versus The Shark!
Oct 9 2008 Under the Couch Atlanta, Georgia w/ Pattern is Movement
Oct 10 2008 Cave 9 Birmingham, Alabama
Oct 12 2008 Midnight Mountain Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Oct 13 2008 Western Kentucky University - RevFest 08 Bowling Green, Kentucky
Oct 14 2008 HELP! Louisville, Kentucky
Oct 15 2008 Al’s Bar Lexington, Kentucky
Oct 16 2008 Cicero’s St Louis, Missouri w/ So Many Dynamos
Oct 17 2008 The Moperie Chicago, Illinois
Oct 18 2008 The Belmont Hamtramck, Michigan
Oct 19 2008 Bernie’s Distillery Columbus, Ohio
Oct 20 2008 HELP! Western PA, Pennsylvania
Oct 22 2008 Hello Sir Records CMJ Showcase @ the Bowery Poetry Club New York, New York w/ So Many Dynamos
Oct 23 2008 EJRC CMJ Showcase @ Cake Shop NYC, New York w/ Skeletonbreath, The Black Hollies, Chris Mills and more!
Oct 24 2008 The Silent Barn Brooklyn, New York
Oct 25 2008 Danger Danger Gallery Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Oct 26 2008 The Hexagon w/ We Versus the Shark Baltimore, Maryland
Oct 27 2008 The Bridge Charlottesville, Virginia
Oct 28 2008 TBA Greensboro, North Carolina w/ Monotonix
Oct 29 2008 TBA Clemson, South Carolina
Oct 30 2008 Caledonia Lounge Athens, Georgia w/ Sirhan Sirhan
Nov 1 2008 THE FEST 7 Gainesville, Florida

The Rockwells release Place & Time on December 2, 2008!

Hailing from Knoxville, Tennessee, The Rockwells is made up of two sets of of brothers: Fred and Jonathan Kelly, and Tommy and Trace Bateman. They met in high school and started The Rockwells as a long-distance recording project by Jonathan and Fred in 1999, while Fred was working in Memphis and Jonathan had moved to Knoxville for school. Tommy and Trace joined the band in 2000 when Fred moved to Knoxville. After recording four full-length albums and one EP by ourselves (on very primitive equipment), the band recorded an EP at Studio 613 with Don Coffee Jr. of Superdrag. This EP was called Tear It Down, since the studio was leveled to make way for I-40 shortly after we finished recording.

Place & Time was recorded entirely by The Rockwells in both Knoxville and Memphis, Tennessee. More than half a dozen locations were used, including various houses, a cabin, and local rock club The Pilot Light. The record was mixed by Howard Redekopp, who has mixed such Merge artists as The New Pornographers and AC Newmann (also of the New Pornographers.) He was in Canada at the time, and the band couldn’t afford to go up there, so the mixing process was done almost exclusively via email. Guests on the album include Jeremy Bain (May Gray, Slick) on lead guitar and Christina Horn (Hudson K) on piano on “Knot of Tension,” as well as guest vocalist Emily Robinson (Tenderhooks) on “Hole in the Wall.” Seth Hopper (Christabel and the Johns, Tommy Bateman and the Thunder Thieves) played all the violin on the record, as well as trumpet on “Hole in the Wall.” All other instruments, including trombone and French horn, were played by The Rockwells. It did, indeed, take over two years to finish the record. From the bands perspective, at least, that could be described as “forever.” Their lastest record Place & Time is being released December 2, 2008 on Migrant Records.

Previous Press for The Rockwells:

Place & Time is deeply textured and rich in its thoughtfulness. It would have been easy to just transplant The Rockwells’ phenomenal live act onto CD, but the boys seem to take a chance. There are elements that are not exposed until repeat listens. Once you’ve broken down all the topmost pieces, the soil of sound underneath presents itself. Whether it be extra percussion, the appearance of cars passing on a late night journey, or even the faintest brushes of an organ, you’ll long experience the album in new ways. - Paperthin Magazine
[Tear It Down] is actually the sixth CD by this foursome, and from this six-song EP, produced by Don Coffey, Jr. of Superdrag, it my be worth tracking down some of the others. It seems like catchy, up-tempo, streamlined, not too loud or garagy power-pop is breaking out all over, and with the harmonies between the Kelly brothers and solid support from the Bateman brothers, these Rockwells fit the bill. They spill the joy of finally getting a girlfriend on “Lonesome No More” and up the “back in the saddle” feeling on “Breakout,” though the best here is the Velvets/Sebadoh/Dumptruck-like “Lou Says.” But they can also ace two quiet waltzes (cue the close dancing) on “Theme From Miss Signal” and “Another Country Song”. - Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover

Kinetic Stereokids prepares for new album Kid Moves with the release of the “Have A Nice Day” EP including live performance on Seattle’s KEXP.

Kinetic Stereokids cut its teeth in Flint, Michigan-a city of abandoned auto industry, staggering unemployment and one of the nation’s highest crime rates. What started as childhood friends seeking refuge in basement jam sessions has since developed into an inspired, intelligent and innovative brand of modern rock.

With comparisons ranging from Beck to Mogwai, and the cited influence of Can, Elliott Smith and the Beastie Boys, the Kinetic Stereokids’ sound is gritty, beat-heavy, sample-laden, lo-fi sonic alchemy.

Kinetic Stereokids first earned recognition playing warm-up shows in the metro Detroit area for acts such as …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Secret Machines and Explosions In The Sky. The band was consequently signed to Brooklyn-based label Overdraft Recordings.

After the 2007 debut full-length release Basement Kids landed on the CMJ Radio 200 list, Kinetic Stereokids gained national momentum, touring from New York to Los Angeles and from Pop Montreal to South by Southwest.

Basement Kids’ lead single, “Explosions Were Heard” was featured as “Song of The Day” by indie rock heavyweights and web-radio pioneers KEXP-FM Seattle, and was also included on their groundbreaking “Music That Matters” podcast series. The buzz surrounding Kinetic Stereokids spread beyond the U.S., as well, with its “junkyard folktronica” dubbed “insidious and addictive” and “attractive in so many ways” by various UK sources.

In February 2008, Kinetic Stereokids headed into Ghetto Recorders to mix their second release, Kid Moves, with Detroit studio legend Jim Diamond (White Stripes, The Mooney Suzuki, The Dirtbombs). The result is a more sophisticated effort than Basement Kids, while still retaining Kinetic Stereokids’ distinctive grit.

Overdraft Recordings has now assembled the first taste of Kid Moves onto the Have A Nice Day EP. “Have A Nice Day” (MP3) is a long-time fan favorite - an organic, beat driven feel-good anthem demonstrating down-home goodness with catchy, pop-influenced refined sound and radio-friendliness. “Blunder,” however, establishes the true dichotomy of the band in epic proportion. “Are you on my side? I know you’re not...” sings front man Justin Ford, while the band lets loose a fury of swirling distortion and cacophony, compounding and then imploding in Kinetic Stereokids’ signature harmonious fashion.

Rounding out the EP is the bonus track “Explosions Were Heard” (Live on KEXP) from Kinetic Stereokids’ remotely broadcast on-air session in Chicago’s Engine Studios. This track encapsulates-as well as any recording can-the raw power and energy of the band’s dynamic live show. Superb mastering by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering (Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Wilco) brings the entire experience to another level of speaker-shattering sonic assault.

Kinetic Stereokids Live:

10/31/08 Flint, MI The Loft

11/01/08 Lansing, MI (Scene) Metrospace

11/08/08 Flint, MI The Aloha

EVEREST REACHES NEW HEIGHTS: QUINTET PERSONALLY INVITED TO JOIN NEIL YOUNG ON FALL TOUR, ALONG WITH WILCO AND DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE

LOS ANGELES, - It's not every day a young band gets invited to join a legend on stage, for what's shaping up to be a most anticipated tour. Los Angeles-based quintet Everest had that very experience when Neil Young asked them to support his national tour, joining Wilco and Death Cab for Cutie, East coast and West coast, respectively.

This collective of talented musicians is no stranger to touring, having just returned from a European jaunt with My Morning Jacket, in addition to each individual's resume, ranging from stints in The Watson Twins to Sebadoh. As the Los Angeles Times pointed out, the band members "sport resumes longer than the intro to 'Cortez The Killer.'"

Everest's debut album, Ghost Notes (Vapor Records), is sonically reminiscent of the classic vintage equipment used to capture it. Recorded at Elliott Smith's former studio, New Monkey Studio, one can't help wonder if the album title reflects more than just a name.

Their California sun-soaked pop songs mesh into rocking proggy jams or spacey ballads, propelled by the unmistakable Hammond, slide guitars and Russell Pollard's gentle vocals. The beautifully produced (Mike Terry) tracks emit a certain sense of vinyl-era aesthetic, yet balance with a modern-day vibe, drawing from their influences yet never veering from their own unique pedigree.

EVEREST WITH NEIL YOUNG, DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE

October 29 - San Diego, Calif. @ Cox Arena
October 30 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Forum
November 1 - Reno, Nev. @ Events Center
November 4 - Kansas City, Mo. @ Sprint Center
November 5 - Omaha, Neb. @ Qwest Center

EVEREST WITH NEIL YOUNG, WILCO

November 29 - Halifax, Nova Scotia @ Metro Center
December 1 - Montreal, QC @ Bell Center
December 2 - Ottawa, Ont. @ Scotia Bank Center
December 4 - Toronto, Ont. @ Air Canada Center
December 5 - Toronto, Ont. @ Air Canada Center
December 7 - Detroit, Mich. @ Palace Auburn Hills
December 9 - Chicago, Ill. @ Allstage Arena *
December 12 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ The Spectrum
December 13 - Worcester, Mass. @ DCU Center
December 15 - New York, N.Y. @ Madison Square Garden
December 16 - New York, N.Y. @ Madison Square Garden

* No Wilco

SOULFLY RETURN TO THE ROAD IN NOVEMBER FIRST HEADLINE TOUR IN SUPPORT OF CONQUER

New York, NY: The Soulfly tribe will spend November traipsing America on a headline jaunt in support of their recently released sixth album, Conquer. Praise has been heaped on the album, with Metal Edge exclaiming, "Grab your war paint and prepare for the onslaught" and Cleveland Scene declaring the album "a scorched earth campaign." ARTISTdirect emphatically stated that "Soulfly don't run to the hills. They burn them down." Frontman Max Cavalera is more than ready to get out in front of crowds and play the new songs off Conquer for his adoring fans.

The tour will kick off in Texas and will run throughout the rest of the month. The tour dates are as follows:

Nov.1 – Riverside Multiplex - Victoria, TX

Nov. 2 – Smokin Aces – Mission, TX

Nov. 3 – Granada Theater – Dallas, TX

Nov. 4 – White Rabbit – San Antonio, TX

Nov. 5 – Meridian – Houston, TX

Nov. 9 – Culture Room – Fort Lauderdale, FL

Nov. 10 – Freebird Live – Jakcsonville Beach, FL

Nov. 11 – Jester's Pub – Fayetteville, NC

Nov. 12 – Hooligans – Jacksonville, NC

Nov. 13 – Jaxx – Springfield, VA

Nov. 14 – Blender Theater at Gramercy – New York, NY

Nov. 15 – Webster Theatre – Hartford, CT

Nov. 16 – Crocodile Rock – Allentown, PA

Nov. 17 – Rex Theatre – Pittsburgh, PA

Nov. 18 – Al Rosa – Colombus, OH

Nov. 19 – The Machine Shop – Flint, MI

Nov. 20 – Pop's – Sauget, IL

Nov. 21 – The Pearl Room – Mokena, IL

Nov. 22 – The Rock – Maplewood, MN

Nov. 23 – The Beaumont – Kansas City, MO

Nov. 25 – The Black Sheep – Colorado Springs, CO

Nov. 26 – Sunshine Theatre – Albuquerque, NM

Nov. 29 – Marquee Theatre – Tempe, AZ

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

HEAVY METAL TITANS JUDAS PRIEST ANNOUNCE 7 DATE ‘PRIEST FEAST’ ARENA TOUR IN FEBRUARY 2009 WITH SPECIAL GUESTS MEGADETH AND TESTAMENT

London, 1st October 2008 – One of the worlds most popular and influential Heavy Metal bands – Judas Priest are set to rock the UK to it’s very core when they bring their ‘Priest Feast’ tour to play 7 arena dates in February 2009 with support from special guests – Thrash Metal veterans Megadeth and Testament.

Since 1974, Judas Priest has been one of heavy metal’s most successful bands, issuing such all-time classic albums as 1980’s ‘British Steel,’ 1982’s ‘Screaming for Vengeance,’ and 1990’s ‘Painkiller,’ and such

arena-rocking anthems as “Breaking the Law,” “Living After Midnight,” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’.” However, Priest’s influence goes far beyond their music - they were the first metal band to embrace the ‘leather biker look,’ a fashion that has since become synonymous with the musical genre. Additionally, Halford’s powerful four-and-a-half octave vocal range and the twin guitar harmonies of Downing and Tipton have

been ‘studied’ by countless metal bands in Priest’s wake.

Think ‘Double vinyl, gatefold sleeve concept album,’ and some of rock’s all-time classic recordings come to mind. But in the realm of heavy metal, there has never been a double vinyl (now disc!) concept album that

has managed to balance a thought-provoking storyline with metallic thunder. That was, until now. Metal legends JUDAS PRIEST released their sprawling double disc concept album, ‘Nostradamus’ via Columbia

Records on Monday, June 16th in the UK/Europe, and a day later in the US on Epic Records.

MEGADETH

As one of the most commercially successful heavy metal bands of all time, Megadeth have sold more than 20 million albums worldwide, including six consecutive platinum albums, with seven consecutive Grammy nominations for Best Metal Performance. Megadeth has remained a vital element in continuing to define and redefine the sound and the fury of metal music and with each new album, forges

new ground and stretches the very boundaries where metal lives.

TESTAMENT

Testament was one of the first thrash metal bands to emerge from the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1980's. Undoubtedly, they are the inventors of the thrash-metal wheel. Testament’s powerful sound, influence,

and longevity make them one of the Top 5 All-Time Legendary Thrash Metal Bands, putting them in the company of Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, and Anthrax. They re-formed with the original line up (vocalist Chuck

Billy, guitarists Eric Peterson & Alex Skolnick, and bassist Greg Christian – along with friend and former member, Paul Bostaph) to record their 9th studio album - their first in nearly a decade entitled ‘Formation of Damnation’ (released April this year) which also won them ‘Best Album’ at the Metal Hammer ‘Golden Gods’ Awards this summer.

Having the opportunity to see 3 such important and influential bands within the world of Metal on the same bill is cause for excitement. Make sure you don’t miss the chance to witness Metal history in the making

and ensure you are part of Priest Feast 2009.

‘PRIEST FEAST’

JUDAS PRIEST

With Special Guests Megadeth and Testament

February

Friday 13 Sheffield Arena
Saturday 14 Birmingham LG Arena
Monday 16 Glasgow SECC Hall 4
Tuesday 17 Manchester Arena
Wednesday 18 Nottingham Arena
Friday 20 Cardiff Arena
Saturday 21 Wembley Arena

Hooray For Earth release their self-titled LP on Dopamine Records on January 13, 2009!

People have a history of getting hung up on labels. Mention the band Hooray For Earth to folks and they hit you with the question that everyone loves to ask and everyone else hates to answer--"what do they sound like?" Telling people that listening to Hooray For Earth feels like being dragged down a flight of stairs while being sung a lullaby never seems to satisfy them. Another critic once wrote that the band's music sounds like "Enya and Nirvana breaking things in a video arcade in hell," which predictably led to more head scratching. The irrefutable evidence will show that a few years, an EP, and a full-length album into their career, Hooray For Earth is a band that plays music that's as timeless as it is impossible to classify.

Although the band first appeared publicly as Hooray For Earth in 2006, roots were planted a decade earlier when bassist Chris Principe asked singer/arranger Noel Heroux to join his high school band. The two spent the next few years’ underground, waiting out the wave of rap metal that plagued the good land during the earlier part of the decade. When they emerged from hiding Noel, already an accomplished guitarist at age 12, had assumed mastery over anything-you-can-make-music-with-and-certain-things-you-should-not--make-music-with. In 2003 the band added Seth Kasper, a visceral drummer of frightening proportions, to the fold. Keyboardist/guitarist Gary Benacquista would join the following year as the freshman band quickly gathered momentum. As the band's legend began to grow, so did Noel's skills as a songwriter/arranger. By the beginning of 2004, armed with Noel's stockpile of self-recorded yet fully realized demos, the band hit the studio to begin work on what would be their debut album.

It has been said that any truly great album has an equally awe-inspiring story about its creation. The album that came to be called Hooray For Earth is no exception. Recording for the album began on one side of the continent one year and ended on the opposite side two years later. Obstacles of biblical proportions were encountered along the way. Nobody broke out in boils but at a certain point anything seemed possible. Studios burned to the ground. Equipment was stolen. Hair went unwashed for months on end. Sleep was avoided at all costs. The album was thought to be finished several times only to have the restart button pressed again and again. Yet by the time the band headed to Seattle in 2006 to mix with co-producer Brian Brown (Juliana Hatfield, The Blakes), it was clear the juice was worth the squeeze and the band were sitting on a stunner of debut album. In 2008, Hooray For Earth teamed up with Dopamine Records for their first international release, the critically acclaimed Cellphone EP. Their LP Hooray For Earth is being released on the label on January 13th, 2009!

Dopamine Records Unofficial CMJ Showcase

Thursday, October 23, 2008 - Brooklyn, NY - Alphabeta
(70 Greenpoint Ave, Between Franklin & West)
Doors at 9PM

Line up: Hooray For Earth, Zambri, Pacific Theater, Paul Holmes, DJ Die Young, Baltimoroder

Other Shows (More to be announced)

10.29.08 - New York, NY - Pianos*^
10.31.08 - Allston, MA - O'Briens, Halloween Bash*

* with Zambri, Paul Holmes
^ with The Gang

Hooray For Earth

Track Listing

01. Want Want Want
02. How Are You Here
03. Heartbeat
04. Magazines
05. Carefree
06. Oh No
07. So Happy
08. Party
09. Take Care
10. This All Fades
11. Everything We Want
12. Something Strong

Praise for Hooray For Earth:

"Hooray for Earth's new self-released Hooray for Earth, an outlandishly good CD and one of the best local debuts in recent memory... Picture Squarepusher and Enya collaborating on songs for In Utero." – Boston Phoenix

Boston's Hooray for Earth sound big and famous even if they are still relatively unknown. But even if they aren't a band on a billboard just quite yet, they sure write songs catchy enough to ensure that one day their mugs will grin down on the great asphalt sea of commuters. - Oh My Rockness
"Hooray For Earth plays an exciting blend of raw rock & roll with keyboard and laptop elements that work together and make you say, "Fuck this is good." And then you like them forever."
– Weekly Dig

A. Armada releasing Anam Cara on January 27, 2009 via Hello Sir Records! Touring Europe Now!

Athens, GA - Speaking through actions is traditionally the task of self-assured, moral men adhering to a higher standard than lip service. Applying the same status to a rock-n-roll band is a woeful misstep but, at the same time, there is a similarity in the self-assurance it takes to maintain an instrumental rock band these days. Audiences are used to the bombast and beauty of Sigur Ros, the muscular U2-isms of Maserati and the soundtrack-worthy composition of Explosions In The Sky. Each speak to that particular portion of the human soul which seeks foundation and inspiration. The problem is the field of instrumental bands is becoming more and more crowded and why should you care about a band called A. Armada out of Athens, GA? Because A. Armada speaks to other needs.

Formed in 2004 by guitarists Matt Nelson and Josh McCauley, and now holding bassist Bryant Williamson (Cinemechanica) and drummer Jeremy “Catfish” Harbin in its ranks, A. Armada plays internally expansive music. That is, the instrumental methods of the band are clearly akin to the aforementioned groups (as well as Appleseed Cast, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, etc.) but rather than mimic the sound they have taken an inspiration. Whereas so much music produced by the other groups mentioned causes one to envision an open-ended world A. Armada’s music is more personal. If anything, the message from A. Armada is to work from where one is and to focus that inspiration internally. In many ways, it’s a bootstrap work-ethic translated into music. And considering that A. Armada has its roots in the tiny Georgia border town of Columbus, it seems clear that A. Armada means it.

On Anam Cara, the bands first proper record, A. Armada weaves its sound through ringing guitars dipped in echo and a rhythm section that serves more as propellant than mere support. The pieces shift from somber genteelness to intense consideration to soft cradling. This isn’t music to conquer the world by; this is music to conquer oneself with. But if you ask the band about this they’ll probably give you a blank stare. And that’s, really, the whole point. In making music for themselves they’ve inadvertently made it for you.

A. Armada has no gospel other than being as good as they can be. This is your opportunity to hear them out and do likewise. Hello Sir Records is releasing Anam Cara on January 27, 2009.

Tour Dates!

10.22.08 - Luxemburg - D:Qliq
10.23.08 - Paris, France - Glaz'Art
10.24.08 - Toulouse, France - Le Bikini (Festival Furia Antistatic)
10.25.08 - Nantes, France - La Barakason
10.26.08 - Blois, France - Le Chato'do
10.27.08 - Lyon, France - Lepicerie Moderne
10.28.08 - Karlsruhe, Germany - Jubez
10.29.08 - Munich, Germany - Orangehouse
10.30.08 - Graz, Austria - Forum Stadpark
10.31.08 - Brno, Czech Republic - Yacht Club
11.01.08 - Wiesbaden, Germany - Schlachtof
11.02.08 - Berlin, Germany - Cafe Zapata
11.03.08 - Hamburg, Germany - Hafenklang
11.04.08 - Dortmund, Germany - FZW
11.05.08 - Liege - La Zone
11.11.08 - Siegen, Germany - Vortex
11.14.08 - Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn *
11.15.08 - Athens, GA - Caledonia Lounge *

* with Silver Apples, Grails

Anam Cara

Track Listing

01. The Dam Was Split But The City Was Saved
02. The Moon Shifts The Sea The Sea Shapes The Shore The Shore Shakes The Sand The Sand Sinks The Ship
03. Fall-Triumph
04. Into Days & Nights & Years & Months
05. If Only You Knew What The Lost Soldiers Did To Me
...melodic post-rock in the vein of Explosions in the Sky and Godspeed You! Black Emperor and even borrows a little from '70s prog-rock outfits such as Genesis and Yes. - Flagpole Magazine

Kindercore Records proudly presents Ruby Isle's first LP Night Shot!

The newest project of Kindercore Records CEO Dan Gellar (of I Am The World Trade Center), Mark Mallman, and Aaron Lemay is a family band; the three-part harmonies of brothers Dan, Mark and Aaron Isle blend perfectly, adding to their electronic fancy to form the "party band of the Apocalypse."

Recorded in the basement of a church, then emailed to Geller's studio in Athens, GA for bass, beats and synths, Night Shot is a classic rock record dipped head first in a digital stew. The title track features guest vocals by internet "Chocolate Rain" pioneer, Tay Zonday. The LP also features a duet version of Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" with IATWTC's Amy Dykes.

Ruby Isle releases Night Shot for your dancing pleasure!

Ruby Isle stole their name from a 79 cent movie theater Mark and Dan frequented in their childhood home of Waukesha, Wisconsin. It was here the two played a game of chess, once a day for 90 days, and Mallman lost every time. After High School, they moved 1200 miles apart from each other. Since then Gellar has, among other things, become one of America's few breakdancing DJ's with a masters degree in Biological Engineering. Mallman has earned a silver star on the side of the biggest nightclub in Minneapolis, a world record, played over 20 US tours, and cultivated a permanent hangover. Lemay rounds out the family, bringing his spy-themed punk outfit International Espionage expertise, having been busted up by the cops at house shows and basement concerts from Redding, CA to Brooklyn, NY.

Previous Press for Ruby Isle

One listen is all it takes to get hooked on their high-energy take on electropop.
- Metromix New York

It's like Bruce Springsteen producing the Postal Service.
- Azltron

Sorta like new wave meets laptop, with a chaser of "Nasty Girl" thrown in. Utterly vapid, but so luscious that it's impossible to shut down. Throw this on at your next party and watch the heads turn.
- Aiding and Abetting

...each song they played seemed to increasingly sound better than the last until the very end, with the energy rising at a fever pitch to keep pace.
- The Yellow Stereo

MOLOKO FRONTWOMAN – ROISIN MURPHY – DEBUTS FIRST SOLO U.S. SHOW

Discos New Savior Scheduled to perform during CMJ Music Conference in October

New York, NY – (September 30, 2008) – “ROISIN HAS LANDED…DISCO’S NEW SAVIOR DESCENDS UPON US,” heralds OUT MAGAZINE in their October Music issue. This type of comment is just one of many that are about to transcend regarding the hot new dance diva-ROISIN (pronounced Ro-sheen) MURPHY who is preparing to take the United States by storm this October during the CMJ Music Conference in New York. Roisin will be performing her first solo U.S. show on October 24th at MANSION (530 West 28th Street, New York's largest and most celebrated nightclub; DOORS at 8:30pm) supported by UKTI (United Kingdom Trade & Investment), CMJ, and the Saint-at-Large brand. Roisin will be bringing to the stage 90 minutes of songs from her new album Overpowered to be released in the States in early 2009 and a couple of Moloko favorites. With over 1.5 million MySpace views, this Irish born Londoner has found popularity with her music being synced on various TV shows such as American hit Grey’s Anatomy (every song at one point from her album Ruby Blue) and on FOX TV’s So You Think You Can Dance (her song “Ramalama Bang Bang” http://www.metacafe.com/watch/707505/so_you_think_you_can_dance_ramalama_bang_bang/ ).

On Overpowered Murphy was joined by a stellar icon roster of musicians and producers that helped give this unique potion of dance floor vibe including Seji of Bugz in the Attic, Tom Elmhirst (Amy Winehouse, Grace Jones), Groove Armanda, Andy Cato, Richard X, Jimmy Douglas, and Larry Gold. The record also screams an eccentric view of fashion that is relatively effortless which has made Ms. Murphy a fashion designer favorite. Murphy has not only been hailed as Vivienne Westwood’s muse and chosen for Gucci for Fashion Rocks campaigns, she also regularly has top designers beckoning her to wear their high street designs. New York Magazine exclaimed in their New York Fashion Week coverage that Murphy is “fashionably delicious.”

With all of this success, the U.S. can only expect to be floored by what Murphy delivers. Below are quotes about this critically-acclaimed artist and her new album:
“A sumptrous 11-track, all-killer, no filler, electro-dash disco gem…The best grown-up dance-pop album since Madonna’s Ray Of Light. Yep – that good.” – Observer Music Monthly

“A thoroughly modern pop album.” – NME

“Wonderfully edgy dance music!” – Esquire

“If there’s a God this would be #1 forever and ever.” – Gay Times

“Move over Madonna. Here’s the electro/pop album of the year!” – The Sun

“She is funny, clever, hard breaking, and strident, the kind of disco singer Dusty Springfield never quite had the abandon to become…Overpowered is a triumph.” – Pitchfork

“An inventive, unpredictable record. Overpowered spits glitter with every song.” – BBC

“New York dance floor decadence that links Studio 54 disco and the druggy whoosh of late 80’s acid house…coming on like the perfect hybrid of Goldfrapp and Kylie for her excellent soul album.”
– Q Magazine


As you can see the tidal wave sensation of Roisin Murphy can’t help but seep over stateside. Roisin Murphy will be launching her new single “Movie Star” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hAV2VTbIRA) on iTunes worldwide on October 14, 2008. Murphy recently covered the Brian Ferry tune “Slave To Love” which is also featured in the adverts for the new men’s Gucci by Gucci Fragrance for their online and television campaigns starring actor James Franco (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BDazlHxKwo.) Stay tuned as this phenomenon continues to overpower Stateside.

Tickets are available NOW at www.saintatlarge.com- DOORS 8:30pm. For more information please log onto www.roisinmurphy.com or www.myspace.com/roisinmurphy.

FULL 36 CRAZYFISTS SHOW AVAILABLE ONLINE NOW

CURRENTLY ON TOUR WITH TRIVIUM, ALL THAT REMAINS, THE HUMAN ABSTRACT

Alaskan metal heavyweights 36 CRAZYFISTS have posted an entire show from their current tour online. The set was filmed at The Lost Horizon in Syracuse, NY and can be viewed at The UVTV website: http://www.undergroundvideotelevision.com/updates/live-performances/2008/36-crazyfists-live-show-at-the-lost-horizon/

The concert is also available on iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=168075141.

36 CRAZYFISTS will film its January 9, 2009 concert in Anchorage, Alaska for a forthcoming DVD. According to singer Brock Lindow, “the show will be monstrous as the ones in the past have proved to be what dreams are made of. But as the years have gone on, you can imagine the amount of ridiculous footage we have from backstage antics to being a 18-year-old skinny, punk-ass kid getting my long hair chopped off by [Steve] Holt [guitar] in a drunken stupor; it’s things like this that will be hilarious to sift through and add to our special features section of the DVD.”

The Tide and Its Takers was released on May 27 via Ferret Music and debuted at #155 on the Billboard Top 200.

36 CRAZYFISTS are currently on tour with Trivium, All That Remains and The Human Abstract, and will continue their North American onslaught with In Flames in November. Full tour dates are listed below.

36 Crazyfists with Trivium, All That Remains, & The Human Abstract:

9/30 – Fargo, ND – The Venue

10/1 – Sioux Falls, SD – Sioux Falls Expo Building

10/3 – Oklahoma City, OK – Diamond Ballroom

10/4 – Omaha, NE – Sokol Auditorium

10/5 – Columbia, MO – The Blue Note

10/6 – Cedar Rapids, IA – Hawkeye Downs Speedway

10/7 – Green Bay, WI – Riverside Ballroom

10/9 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall

10/10 – Ft. Wayne, IN – Piere’s

10/11 – Grand Rapids, MI – The Orbit Room

10/12 – London, Ontario, Canada – Cowboys Ranch

10/14 – Louisville, KY – Headliners Music Hall

10/15 – Millvale, PA – Mr. Smalls

10/16 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom

10/17 – New Haven, CT – Toad’s Place

10/18 – Richmond, VA – The National

10/19 – Charlotte, NC – Amos’ Southend





36 Crazyfists with In Flames, All That Remains, Gojira:

11/6 – Montreal, Quebec, Canada – Metropolis

11/7 – Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Sound Academy

11/8 – Mt. Clemens, MI – Emerald Theater

11/10 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues

11/12 – St. Paul, MN – MYTH

11/14 – Calgary, Alberta, Canada – MacEwan Hall Ballroom

11/15 – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada – Edmonton Events Center

11/17 – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Commodore Ballroom

11/18 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo

11/19 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theatre

11/21 – San Francisco, CA – The Warfield

11/23 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues

11/24 – Tempe, AZ – Marquee Theatre

11/25 – Albuquerque, NM – Midnight Rodeo

11/26 – Denver, CO – The Fillmore Auditorium

11/28 – Dallas, TX – Palladium Ballroom

11/29 – Austin, TX – La Zona Rosa

11/30 – Houston, TX – House of Blues

12/2 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live

12/3 – Atlanta, GA – Tabernacle

12/4 – Norfolk, VA – The Norva

12/5 – Baltimore, MD – Rams Head Live

12/6 – Worcester, MA – The Palladium

12/7 – New York, NY – Terminal 5

12/9 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant

12/10 – Milwaukee, WI – The Eagles Club

The Fireman Finds His Voice With Brand New Album Electric Arguments U.S. Release Date: November 18, 2008

The Fireman has returned after a ten-year break with something to sing about. Electric Arguments, the brand new third studio album from the mysterious duo--out in the U.S. November 18 on MPL/ATO--is their first release to feature vocals.

"Ambient dreams in rainbow arches describe the circles of The Fireman", is how the duo described their music in a rare interview around the release of their last album 'Rushes' in 1998. Their first album 'Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest', released in 1993, was a solid ambient dance album heavy on electronics. Around this time the identity of The Fireman was unknown until the press exposed the duo as none other than Paul McCartney and Youth. The now defunct music bible Melody Maker heaped praise on the project, "Paul McCartney has discovered dance music - the results are staggeringly brilliant. They (The Fireman) take a melody and, with dexterous genre-hopping through ambient, trance and house, evolve a number of breathtaking variations."

Last year The Fireman returned to work again to start work on what would become Electric Arguments, ultimately finding thirteen days and recording a song on each of those days over the course of a little more than a year. The results this time are entirely different from any previous Fireman release.

Earlier this year The Fireman donated a new track, Lifelong Passion (which appears on Electric Arguments) to the charity Adopt-A-Minefield. This new track marked a directional change for The Fireman, showcasing a more traditional song based sound with vocals, completely unlike anything on the previous two albums. Speculation increased as a 'studio source' was quoted in The Times of London as describing their new sound 'like Arcade Fire meets Led Zeppelin'. So what had The Fireman been up to and what does the album sound like?

Electric Arguments is an eclectic and varied album consisting of thirteen tracks, each written and recorded in the space of one day. McCartney and Youth went into the studio with no master plan or clear direction. Instead they let the project take a life of its own, with the results surprising them as much as anyone.

The record opens with a stylistically diverse trifecta: Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight is a classic rock attention grabber followed by a hairpin turn in the form of the acoustic driven Two Magpies and yet another direction with Sing The Changes, a euphoric upbeat song with an undeniable and instantly memorable melody. Electric Arguments continues in this fashion, each track with an entirely different personality yet all meshing perfectly. Other standouts include 'Light From Your Lighthouse', 'Sun Is Shining' and 'Dance 'Til We're High', all in keeping with the genre-hopping spirit of the first two Fireman albums and demonstrating Paul McCartney's unending interest in pure musical possibilities. This is an album set to both surprise and delight the listener. Made with no record company restraints or a set release date to work to, Electric Arguments is a work of complete artistic and creative freedom.

The Fireman
Electric Arguments

Track listing:

1) Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight
2) Two Magpies
3) Sing The Changes
4) Traveling Light
5) Highway
6) Light From Your Lighthouse
7) Sun Is Shining
8) Dance 'Til We're High
9) Lifelong Passion
10) Is This Love?
11) Lovers In A Dream
12) Universal Here, Everlasting Now
13) Don't Stop Running

Produced By Paul McCartney & Youth
All tracks written by Paul McCartney

MINUS THE BEAR SET TO RELEASE EXCLUSIVE EP, ACOUSTICS BAND EMBARKS ON NATIONAL TOUR THIS OCTOBER

Minus The Bear is excited to announce the release of ACOUSTICS, an exclusive seven track EP available this fall. The self-released EP via Tigre Blanco Records will be available in two formats and feature newly recorded acoustic versions of fan favorites from the Seattle quintet's prolific career and one new track entitled "Guns & Ammo." Beginning October 7th, ACOUSTICS will be sold digitally via online outlets such as iTunes, Amazon and Emusic. Physical copies of the EP will be sold exclusively on the bands headlining tour beginning in Spokane, WA on October 8th.

A band known for their unique brand of rock n roll full of finger-taping guitar riffs mixed with memorable melodies and progressive arrangements, ACOUSTICS is an excellent inside look into the band's history of winning and entertaining a rabid and rapidly growing fan base.

www.minusthebear.com

Streams available for preview on Amazon

TRACK LISTING:

1. Guns & Ammo (new track)
2. We Are Not a Football Team (from the album, Highly Refined Pirates)
3. Burying Luck (from the album, Planet of Ice)
4. Knights (from the album, Planet of Ice)
5. Pachuca Sunrise (from the album, Menos El Oso)
6. Throwin' Shapes (from the album, Planet of Ice)
7. Ice Monster (from the album, Planet of Ice)

TOUR DATES:

October 8th Service Station Spokane, WA
October 9th The Other Side Missoula, MT
October 10th American Legion Hall Casper, WY
October 11th Gothic Theatre Englewood, CO
October 12th Slowdown Omaha, NE
October 13th The Picador Iowa City, IA
October 15th Varsity Theatre Minneapolis, MN
October 16th Turner Hall Ballroom Milwaukee, WI
October 17th Vic Theatre Chicago, IL
October 18th Newport Music Hall Columbus, OH
October 19th The Majestic Detroit, MI
October 20th Grog Shop Cleveland, OH
October 21st Wilbur Theatre Boston, MA
October 22nd 9:30 Club Washington, DC
October 23rd TLA Philadelphia, PA
October 24th Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel Providence, RI
October 25th Webster Hall New York, NY
October 26th Starland Ballroom Sayreville, NJ
October 28th The National Richmond, VA
October 29th Lincoln Theatre Raleigh, NC
October 30th Orange Peel Asheville, NC
October 31st Bijou Theatre Knoxville, TN
November 1st Variety Playhouse Atlanta, GA
November 2nd Rion Ballroom Gainesville, FL
November 3rd Revolution Fort Lauderdale, FL
November 4th House of Blues Lake Buena Vista, FL
November 5th Freebird Live Jacksonville, FL
November 7th House of Blues New Orleans, LA
November 8th House of Blues Houston, TX
November 9th Waterloo Park Austin, TX **
November 10th House of Blues Dallas, TX
November 12th Warehouse 21 Santa Fe, NM
November 13th The Marquee Tempe, AZ
November 14th SOMA San Diego San Diego, CA
November 15th Glass House Pomona, CA
November 16th Music Box @ Fonda Los Angeles, CA
November 18th Empire Events Center Sacramento, CA
November 19th Bimbo's 365 Club San Francisco, CA
November 20th Standford University Palo Alto, CA
November 21st Lewis & Clark College Portland, OR
November 22nd Showbox at the Market Seattle, WA

** Appearing at the Fun Fun Fun Fest

MIRANDA LEE RICHARDS TO RELEASE NETTWERK DEBUT ‘LIGHT OF X’ FEBRUARY 10, 2009

Miranda Lee Richards’ story has taken a lot of twists and turns to get to this place and time. How many artists would mention members of Metallica, Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Jesus and Mary Chain just to explain the path they took to end up making the music they do?

“Courtney Taylor from the Dandy Warhols calls my genre ‘Pixie Fairy Dust Chick Music,’” says singer/songwriter Miranda Lee Richards with a laugh. “But I think another fitting description for Light of X might be ‘Psychedelic Chamber Folk Rock’.”

A revered singer and songwriter, MIRANDA will release her Nettwerk debut LIGHT OF X on February 10, 2009. For her new album, MIRANDA composed all of the material, string arrangements, acoustic guitar, piano and Hammond B3 on the disc. It’s an album that shimmers with folk, country, psychedelic and even a slight classical influence, balancing her beautiful, close to the heart vocals, with music that has the wide open, spacious feel of a desert sky or an empty church. LIGHT OF X is an album full of love and loss, desolation and salvation, both moody and comforting.

MIRANDA teamed with producer/engineer/mixer Rick Parker (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Von Bondies) who also contributed the electric and twelve-string guitar arrangements. RICHARDS and Parker assembled a top-notch group of players including Eva Gardner (Mars Volta, Tim Burgess) on bass; main drummer Keith Mitchell (Mazzy Star); Ben Peeler (Wallflowers, Shelby Lynne) on pedal steel; and Josh Schwartz (Beachwood Sparks) on guitar. The 13-song offering is highlighted by its first single “Early November” as well as preview track “Life Boat,” released last year in England as a vinyl single via Sonic Cathedral and which subsequently received airplay on Indie 103.1 FM in Los Angeles. To listen to “Early November” and “Life Boat,” visit: www.myspace.com/mirandaleerichards.

RICHARDS grew up in San Francisco, the daughter of Ted and Teresa Richards, stars of the underground comics revolution. Her bohemian background led her to play in school bands, but she never considered music as a profession until her senior year of high school. Fate offered a very unique hand when an older best friend started dating Kirk Hammett of Metallica, and Hammett soon taught RICHARDS her first few guitar chords.

MIRANDA recorded her first demo in the basement of Hammett’s studio. Dave Deresinski, the then manager of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, passed the tape along to BJM singer Anton Newcombe, who asked her to join the group. During that time, friend Ondi Timoner was filming the BJM for her seminal documentary DIG! (2004). RICHARDS was only in the movie briefly, but did provide some of the film’s memorable sound bites.

Shortly thereafter, MIRANDA moved down the coast to LA in search of a record deal. “I played clubs and open mics and worked day jobs while I made demos. A mutual friend introduced me to producer/musician Rick Parker and we’ve been working together ever since.” Because her debut The Herethereafter received huge exposure in the film and television worlds--its songs were licensed over 40 times for film and television--it allowed RICHARDS the freedom to continue to explore her musical path full time. She collaborated in the studio with Tricky, Tim Burgess (Charlatans), Neil Halstead (Mojave 3), and The Shore. In addition to opening for Neil Halstead on tour earlier this year, she joined The Jesus and Mary Chain for the West Coast leg of their 2007 tour, singing the duet with Jim Reid on "Sometimes Always" and "Just Like Honey."

Following is the complete track listing for LIGHT OF X:

1) Breathless

2) Life Boat

3) Savorin’ Your Smile

4) Hideaway

5) Early November

6) Mirror At The End

7) Hidden Treasure

8) Pictures Of You

9) Here By The Window

10) Olive Tree

11) That Baby

12) Last Days Of Summer

13) Oddity

The Rollo Treadway releases self titled debut on December 16, 2008!

The Rollo Treadway's self-titled album begins with a kidnapping and ends with a lullaby. The surprises don't end there—throughout the record, musical cues referencing everything from merry-go-rounds to old time radio shows weave around lead singer/songwriter David Sandholm's intricate melodies and lush harmonies.

"Kidnapped", the opening track, is 2 minutes and 35 seconds of psychedelic, baroque pop bliss, containing all the elements that make The Rollo Treadway's music so captivating: A stark, infectious opening riff, a galloping rhythm track (of the kind that would make Phil Spector envious), beautifully sinister vocals, a breathtaking string arrangement, an adventurous song structure and an original, offbeat lyrical subject.

Formed in 2006, The Rollo Treadway started as a two piece with David Sandholm and Blake Fleming (former drummer of The Mars Volta) and has expanded into a quintet with Tyler Wenzel on guitar and vocals, Jörg Krückel on organ, and Grant Zubritsky on bass and vocals.

Although the Brooklyn-based band's brand of psychedelic pop is built upon the foundation of the Beach Boys and the Zombies, their sound is undeniably fresh. With The Rollo Treadway, Sandholm has crafted his own style—often combining dark lyrics with cheery music to create an album so sonically intriguing that it should be listened to in its entirety.

the rollo treadway album art

"...They bring a freshness, wit and intelligence to their work that's pretty rare these days. I defy anyone not to like this, their debut album." - Bolachas Gratis

Track Listing

01. Kidnapped
02. Rua Gararu 188
03. You Laugh, I Cry
04. Dear Mr. Doe
05. Friday's Child
06. The Seahorse
07. Coast's Clear
08. Charlie
09. All Heads Turn
10. She's Got Me
11. Avenue X
12. The Children Of Table 34
13. Time To Dream

Alaska in Winter has recently completed his sophomore offering Holiday, out on Milan Records November 18th

Pitchfork:
"....far-flung variety of forms into chilly, beat-oriented, downtempo hymns: amorous Balkan strings, the melismatic vocal tapestries of classical Arabian music (often so gently vocoder-kissed as to sound more spectral than robotic), icily splintered piano loops (which are actually played live), skittering hip-hop percussion (ditto), and soaringly simple indie pop melodies obscured in an atmospheric haze."

URB:
"Sounds like: Ratatat meets robotic Balkan natives.

Alaska In Winter began when art student, Brandon Bethancourt spent a semester writing and recording music in an isolated cabin on the south coast of Alaska. Upon arrival back in New Mexico, he teamed up with Zach Condon of Beirut, Heather Trost of A Hawk And A Hacksaw and other friends, and thus began work on the album Dance Party In The Balkans. This debut release was released by Milan Records in July 2007 in the US after a release in the UK by Regular Beat a few months earlier.

After his critically acclaimed debut release, Bethancourt decided to quit his job, move out of his house and relocate to Berlin, Germany – a city he had been to before and had always dreamed of living in. He has spent the past 6 months writing and recording this upcoming release Holiday and begins his tour of Europe in late September. Holiday will be released on Milan Records on November 18, 2008.

Bethancourt takes much of his influence from his early years of growing up in the American South West, immersed in the musical low-rider culture of Santa Fe, New Mexico, as well as a slight Arabian influence on the part of his parents and their Byzantine church music. He combines these traditional sounds with programmed beats and use of the vocoder among other new technologies and techniques.

Because Bethancourt is the sole member of Alaska in Winter and does not read or write music, he uses multi-track recording to build his musical layers, using a variety of techniques. “For Holiday, I recorded everything in my living room on a laptop and an old micro cassette tape recorder and used a German ghetto blaster as my monitor speakers. The only things I brought with me to Europe were my Powerbook laptop, an effects processor, a small midi keyboard, a microphone, and the hand held micro cassette tape recorder,” he explains. “Because I didn't actually have any instruments with me (aside from the elements I recorded before I came to Europe), the album turned out very electronic, very synthy as those were the only tools I had.”

In comparing how Holiday differs from Dance Party in the Balkans, Bethancourt explains, “I've definitely been influenced by Berlin on this album - much more electronic than the last, heavily based on synths, bass, and dancier drums and with hints of minimal house elements creeping in ever so slightly. Even within the album itself I can hear a progression of the Berlin electronic music scene influencing me more and more with the amount of time I spent here. The Berlin techno parties and all night dance marathons were big inspirations for me.

Quotes and Quotes:

Comfort Comes
"There is not one bad track on this album."

Boomkat (UK)
"What do you get if you cross the Balkan folk of Beirut and A Hawk and a Hacksaw with the 80s disco reverie of the Junior Boys? Well, Alaska in Winter managed to find out when they recruited a certain Zach Condon and Heather Trost from Beirut to play on his record, which does exactly what it claims to - soundtracks a dance party in the Balkans."

Tasty (UK)
"A pleasant diversion and a brand new (mind) dance that may just grow on you. "

Culture Warrior (US)
"One of the best album titles of the year."

Fat and Confused (UK)
"Alaska in the Winter have created what may be the most original and ambitious pop album of the year."

N/A Magazine (US)
"This works as a very good introduction to a new artist and possibly a new genre(?). "

November and December U.S. tour dates are being firmed up for Alaska in Winter.

European Tour Dates:
Sept 25 - Rust, Copenhagen, Denmark
Sept 26 - Musikcaféen, Arhus, Denmark
Sept 27 - Klubb Republik, Norrkoping, Sweden
Sept 30 - Astra Stube, Hamburg, Germany
Oct 1 - Prinsenhof, Groningen, The Netherlands
Oct 2 - Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Oct 4 - Ekko, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Oct 5 - Rotown, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Oct 7 - Nijdrop, Opwijk, Belgium
Oct 9 - Feinkost Lampe, Hannover, Germany
Oct 11 - The Kings Arms, Salford, UK
Oct 24 - 93 Feet East, London, UK

www.myspace.com/alaskainwinter

The Rockwells release Place & Time on December 2, 2008!

Hailing from Knoxville, Tennessee, The Rockwells is made up of two sets of of brothers: Fred and Jonathan Kelly, and Tommy and Trace Bateman. They met in high school and started The Rockwells as a long-distance recording project by Jonathan and Fred in 1999, while Fred was working in Memphis and Jonathan had moved to Knoxville for school. Tommy and Trace joined the band in 2000 when Fred moved to Knoxville. After recording four full-length albums and one EP by ourselves (on very primitive equipment), the band recorded an EP at Studio 613 with Don Coffee Jr. of Superdrag. This EP was called Tear It Down, since the studio was leveled to make way for I-40 shortly after we finished recording.

Place & Time was recorded entirely by The Rockwells in both Knoxville and Memphis, Tennessee. More than half a dozen locations were used, including various houses, a cabin, and local rock club The Pilot Light. The record was mixed by Howard Redekopp, who has mixed such Merge artists as The New Pornographers and AC Newmann (also of the New Pornographers.) He was in Canada at the time, and the band couldn’t afford to go up there, so the mixing process was done almost exclusively via email. Guests on the album include Jeremy Bain (May Gray, Slick) on lead guitar and Christina Horn (Hudson K) on piano on “Knot of Tension,” as well as guest vocalist Emily Robinson (Tenderhooks) on “Hole in the Wall.” Seth Hopper (Christabel and the Johns, Tommy Bateman and the Thunder Thieves) played all the violin on the record, as well as trumpet on “Hole in the Wall.” All other instruments, including trombone and French horn, were played by The Rockwells. It did, indeed, take over two years to finish the record. From the bands perspective, at least, that could be described as “forever.” Their lastest record Place & Time is being released December 2, 2008 on Migrant Records.

Previous Press for The Rockwells:

Place & Time is deeply textured and rich in its thoughtfulness. It would have been easy to just transplant The Rockwells’ phenomenal live act onto CD, but the boys seem to take a chance. There are elements that are not exposed until repeat listens. Once you’ve broken down all the topmost pieces, the soil of sound underneath presents itself. Whether it be extra percussion, the appearance of cars passing on a late night journey, or even the faintest brushes of an organ, you’ll long experience the album in new ways. - Paperthin Magazine
[Tear It Down] is actually the sixth CD by this foursome, and from this six-song EP, produced by Don Coffey, Jr. of Superdrag, it my be worth tracking down some of the others. It seems like catchy, up-tempo, streamlined, not too loud or garagy power-pop is breaking out all over, and with the harmonies between the Kelly brothers and solid support from the Bateman brothers, these Rockwells fit the bill. They spill the joy of finally getting a girlfriend on “Lonesome No More” and up the “back in the saddle” feeling on “Breakout,” though the best here is the Velvets/Sebadoh/Dumptruck-like “Lou Says.” But they can also ace two quiet waltzes (cue the close dancing) on “Theme From Miss Signal” and “Another Country Song”. - Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover

Michael Zapruder returns with Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope. New release date November 18, 2008. Fall tour dates below!

"...beautiful folk-pop ballads..." Pitchfork

"...vast and varied..." Magnet

San Francisco-based Michael Zapruder will return with his new album, Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope, on its new release date of November 18th, 2008. The record will see release on Zapruder's new label home, Sidecho Records (home to Via Audio). Recorded with Scott Solter in two weeks of marathon day-and-night sessions, it's another beautiful record of sinuous melodies that straddles the line between classic songwriting and experimentalism.

Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope, the new record by Michael Zapruder, is a record of contrasts and oddities that moves with easy dreamlike logic from the everyday to the everynight, presenting opposites without attempting to resolve them. In the process, it offers a glimpse of wildness at the core of humanism.

Zapruder and Scott Solter (Mountain Goats, Two Gallants, Pattern is Movement, John Vanderslice) recorded and mixed the record in a two-week session at San Francisco's Tiny Telephone Studio. Somewhere in that undertaking, like fishermen dangling a net deep into the darkest waters of the Pacific, they ensnared something loose, weird, old, formless, and potent.

Zapruder brought a two-part mission statement with him. First was the idea of negative capability, the ability to be "in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason". The second was a line from a poem by contemporary poet Joshua Beckman: "This party is fucked without the karate chop of love."

With these in mind, Zapruder set about making something that would reside squarely where discontinuity and faith meet. Twenty-five songs went in and eleven came out, the survivors supported by the contributions of Zapruder's Rain of Frogs, a loose cadre of musicians and friends that now number in the thirties, and which sometimes includes members of the Decemberists and Tom Waits' bands (see www.michaelzapruder.com/rof.htm).

Minimal and tricky, Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope presents a world of large spaces and tiny details. It dwells in contrast and juxtaposition. Whatever intuition made Zapruder set the two-week limit on this record, it was a good one, because the recording lacks oversight and planning and thereby exposes common threads in songs that might have initially seemed too dissimilar to belong together. What results is a larger world that feels strangely effortless and surprisingly unified. And thanks to Scott Solter, on Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope for the first time, the quality of the recorded document equals the quality of Zapruder's songs. This is the best record that Zapruder has yet made.

Tour Dates
(Michael Zapruder will be available for interviews. Contact us for more information.)

10.24.08 - New York, NY - CMJ, Ace of Clubs
10.25.08 - Washington DC - Dahlak
10.26.08 - Pittsburgh, PA - The Coyote
10.28.08 - Peoria, IL - Gorman's Pub
10.29.08 - St. Louis, MO - Cicero's
10.30.08 - Omaha, NE - Waiting Room ^
10.31.08 - Greeley, CO - Atlas Theater ^
11.01.08 - Colorado Springs, CO - Rocket Room ^
11.02.08 - Santa Fe, NM - Meow Wolf ^
11.03.08 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified Arts ^
11.04.08 - Upland, CA - The Wire ^
11.05.08 - San Francisco, CA - CD RELEASE SHOW, Bottom Of The Hill ^
11.07.08 - Portland, OR - Roturre
11.09.08 - Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern ^

* with Via Audio and 1090 Club
^ with 1090 Club

Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope

Track Listing

1. Happy New Year
2. Lucy's Handmade Paper
3. Ads For Feelings
4. Can't We Bring You Home
5. Black Wine
6. Harbor Saints
7. South Kenosha
8. Bang On A Drum
9. White Raven Sails
10. Second Sunday In Ordinary Time
11. Experimental Film

Previous press:

"...one of the inheritors of Leonard Cohen's crown of thorns, Zapruder explores themes of isolation and eros without the customary whine." - Los Angeles Times

"It's probably not too much of an overstatement to hang the "genius" tag on multi-instrumentalist Michael Zapruder." - Amplifier

"This record belongs on the shelf between Lennon's Double Fantasy and Westerberg's 14 Songs. Go get it." - Performing Songwriter

"...gorgeous, uplifting, well-wrought, and magical." - Delusions of Adequacy

Hooray For Earth release their self-titled LP on Dopamine Records on January 13, 2009!

Hooray For Earth

People have a history of getting hung up on labels. Mention the band Hooray For Earth to folks and they hit you with the question that everyone loves to ask and everyone else hates to answer--"what do they sound like?" Telling people that listening to Hooray For Earth feels like being dragged down a flight of stairs while being sung a lullaby never seems to satisfy them. Another critic once wrote that the band's music sounds like "Enya and Nirvana breaking things in a video arcade in hell," which predictably led to more head scratching. The irrefutable evidence will show that a few years, an EP, and a full-length album into their career, Hooray For Earth is a band that plays music that's as timeless as it is impossible to classify.

Although the band first appeared publicly as Hooray For Earth in 2006, roots were planted a decade earlier when bassist Chris Principe asked singer/arranger Noel Heroux to join his high school band. The two spent the next few years’ underground, waiting out the wave of rap metal that plagued the good land during the earlier part of the decade. When they emerged from hiding Noel, already an accomplished guitarist at age 12, had assumed mastery over anything-you-can-make-music-with-and-certain-things-you-should-not--make-music-with. In 2003 the band added Seth Kasper, a visceral drummer of frightening proportions, to the fold. Keyboardist/guitarist Gary Benacquista would join the following year as the freshman band quickly gathered momentum. As the band's legend began to grow, so did Noel's skills as a songwriter/arranger. By the beginning of 2004, armed with Noel's stockpile of self-recorded yet fully realized demos, the band hit the studio to begin work on what would be their debut album.

It has been said that any truly great album has an equally awe-inspiring story about its creation. The album that came to be called Hooray For Earth is no exception. Recording for the album began on one side of the continent one year and ended on the opposite side two years later. Obstacles of biblical proportions were encountered along the way. Nobody broke out in boils but at a certain point anything seemed possible. Studios burned to the ground. Equipment was stolen. Hair went unwashed for months on end. Sleep was avoided at all costs. The album was thought to be finished several times only to have the restart button pressed again and again. Yet by the time the band headed to Seattle in 2006 to mix with co-producer Brian Brown (Juliana Hatfield, The Blakes), it was clear the juice was worth the squeeze and the band were sitting on a stunner of debut album. In 2008, Hooray For Earth teamed up with Dopamine Records for their first international release, the critically acclaimed Cellphone EP. Their LP Hooray For Earth is being released on the label on January 13th, 2009!

Dopamine Records Unofficial CMJ Showcase

Thursday, October 23, 2008 - Brooklyn, NY - Alphabeta
(70 Greenpoint Ave, Between Franklin & West)
Doors at 9PM

Line up: Hooray For Earth, Zambri, Pacific Theater, Paul Holmes, DJ Die Young, Baltimoroder

Other Shows (More to be announced)

10.29.08 - New York, NY - Pianos*^
10.31.08 - Allston, MA - O'Briens, Halloween Bash*

* with Zambri, Paul Holmes
^ with The Gang

Hooray For Earth

Track Listing

01. Want Want Want
02. How Are You Here
03. Heartbeat
04. Magazines
05. Carefree
06. Oh No
07. So Happy
08. Party
09. Take Care
10. This All Fades
11. Everything We Want
12. Something Strong

Praise for Hooray For Earth:

"Hooray for Earth's new self-released Hooray for Earth, an outlandishly good CD and one of the best local debuts in recent memory... Picture Squarepusher and Enya collaborating on songs for In Utero." – Boston Phoenix

Boston's Hooray for Earth sound big and famous even if they are still relatively unknown. But even if they aren't a band on a billboard just quite yet, they sure write songs catchy enough to ensure that one day their mugs will grin down on the great asphalt sea of commuters. - Oh My Rockness
"Hooray For Earth plays an exciting blend of raw rock & roll with keyboard and laptop elements that work together and make you say, "Fuck this is good." And then you like them forever."
– Weekly Dig

Proud Simon return with Night of Criminals on Nov. 11, 2008!

"This is a band whose sound fits very comfortably alongside contemporaries such as Sufjan Stevens, The Magnetic Fields, and The Decemberists yet Proud Simon has managed to carve their own little niche within this seemingly overpopulated genre" Ear Farm.

Proud Simon's newest record is an ambitious two-act whirlwind of cinematic Americana-tinged indie rock. The two sides of the record tell the story of a single summer's night, the first a testament to workaday hope, anticipation, and revelry, and the second a descent into the darkness, where good intentions find endless obsessions and temptations endure.

Paralleling this narrative, Night of Criminals moves seamlessly from uptempo pop (Clockwork On and On, Union Chains), through devastatingly dark ballads (Tar Washed Ashore, Honeymoon), on to strange accordion and violin-led gypsy chants (Tales as Tall, Second Hand Jackets). Sykes' keen drumming and Morgan's melodic McCartney-tinged bass lines transform Keenan's underlying folk tunes into pulsing, grandiose pop. At its core, Proud Simon is your traditional four-piece rock band, albeit with an extended family of talented string, brass, and woodwind players. Like Keenan's mythical Night, the overall effect is both familiar and exotic, with a streak of jagged menace and boozy unease.

“I was watching the sunrise over the condos springing up behind my apartment,” remembered Keenan, “and there was this defining moment where I could clearly see the cyclical nature of my life. No matter what happened, whether it was triumph or heartbreak, I could see the days laid out before me. This record is a year packed into that one single night." Their latest album, Night of Criminals, hits the streets this November.

Previous press:

"Americana with a chamber pop angle... whatever you prefer to name it, it's sweet with that slightly vintage, wobbly record player broadcasting a delicate folky waltz quality to it. Plus balls." CDBaby

"Made up of poignant, horn-drenched balladry and bright, wholesome pop ditties it's a record that keeps you listening throughout." Americana UK

Track Listing

1. Newspaper Boat
2. Clockwork On And On
3. Tar Washed Ashore
4. Everyone on the Train Could Use a Little Change
5. Everywhere
6. Honeymoon
7. Tales as Tall
8. Union Chains
9. Second Hand Jackets
10. One Night Stand on a Cadmium Yellow Avenue
11. Last One Left
12. Bled Red Wine

RADIOHEAD RECKONER REMIX PROJECT

After the overwhelming response to the Nude Remix Project, Radiohead are giving fans the opportunity to remix "Reckoner", another track from the band's latest album "In Rainbows" at http://www.radioheadremix.com

To make remixing easy, the separate 'stems'* from the song will be available to purchase on iTunes. The 'stems' available are bass, lead vocal, backing vocals, guitars, piano/strings and drums. All six stems will be available to buy for the price of a single track. Fans can mix them in any way they like, either by adding their own beats and instrumentation, or just remixing the original parts.

Fans who purchase the 'stems' from iTunes during the first two weeks they're available, will be sent an access code to a GarageBand file ready to open in GarageBand or Logic. However, you don't need GarageBand to do a remix, the stems are available in the DRM-free iTunes Plus format and compatible with several music software platforms.

Finished mixes can be uploaded to http://www.radioheadremix.com where the public will listen and vote for their favourite. Fans can also create a widget allowing votes from their own website, Facebook or MySpace page to be counted as 'mix votes' back on radioheadremix.com.


*'stems' are the component parts of the song.

STS9 ANNOUNCES 2008 FALL TOUR AND ANNUAL ATLANTA NEW YEAR'S PLANS

STS9'S NEW ALBUM, PEACEBLASTER,
CHARTS ON BILLBOARD AND iTUNES

This fall, STS9 hits premier indoor theatres coast to coast from Los Angeles to Washington D.C., and points in between. The 22 night tour wraps up a huge year for the electronic buzz band, who released their acclaimed studio release, Peaceblaster, in July of this year. Also just announced, the band will officially bid farewell to 2008 at their annual four-night New Year's Eve run at The Tabernacle in Atlanta.

Peaceblaster, released on the band's self-owned record label 1320 Records, proved STS9's rise has only just begun; the album reached #10 on Billboard's Electronic Chart, #27 on Billboard's Heatseeker Chart, #2 on iTUNES Electronic Chart, and #63 on CMJ's Top 200. Remix Magazine reviewed "STS9's new CD, Peaceblaster might take fans by surprise...the music is a lot darker, punchier, beefier and more cinematic."

STS9's fall tour and New Years celebration dates include:

October 22 The Catalyst Santa Cruz, CA w/ Alex Botwin of Pnuma Trio (DJ Set)
October 23 House of Blues Anaheim CA w/ Pnuma Trio
October 24 Marquee Theatre Tempe AZ w/ Pnuma Trio
October 25 The Joint @ Hard Rock Las Vegas NV w/ Pnuma Trio
October 26 Orpheum Theatre Flagstaff AZ w/ Pnuma Trio
October 29 Cain's Ballroom Tulsa OK w/ Pnuma Trio
October 30 Warehouse Live Houston TX w/ Pnuma Trio
October 31 Stubb's Austin TX w/ Pnuma Trio
November 1 House of Blues Dallas TX w/ Count Bass D
November 2 House of Blues New Orleans LA w/ Count Bass D
November 5 Lyric Theatre Oxford MS w/ Count Bass D
November 6 War Memorial Nashville TN w/ Count Bass D
November 7 Alabama Theatre Birmingham AL w/ Count Bass D
November 8 Tennessee Theatre Knoxville TN w/ Count Bass D
November 9 Headliner's Music Hall Louisville KY w/ Count Bass D
November 12 Charleston Music Hall Charleston SC w/ Count Bass D
November 13 Amos' Southend Charlotte NC w/ Count Bass D
November 14 The NorVa Norfolk VA w/ Eliot Lipp
November 15 9:30 Club Washington DC w/ Eliot Lipp
November 16 9:30 Club Washington DC w/ Eliot Lipp
November 19 Mr. Smalls Theatre Millvale PA w/ Eliot Lipp
November 20 House of Blues Cleveland OH w/ Eliot Lipp
November 21 The Rave Milwaukee WI w/ Eliot Lipp
November 22 First Avenue Minneapolis MN w/ Eliot Lipp
December 28 The Tabernacle Atlanta GA
December 29 The Tabernacle Atlanta GA
December 30 The Tabernacle Atlanta GA
December 31 The Tabernacle Atlanta GA

All shows on-sale now at www.sts9.com and on-sale locally soon through Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com.

THE CLASSIC CRIME To Headline Atticus Clothing's “Walk The Plank Tour”

After a heady Summer garnering plaudits for their second studio album The Silver Cord and a marquee spot on this Summer's Vans Warped Tour, Tooth & Nail recording artists THE CLASSIC CRIME are getting ready to hit the road this Fall, headlining Atticus Clothing's "Walk The Plank Tour," presented by Alternative Press. Launching at Anaheim's Chain Reaction and circling the country, The Classic Crime will be supported by A Change of Pace, with special guests Jet Lag Gemini, Artist vs. Poet, Lower Definition and Tyler Read performing on various legs of the tour.

"After a great summer at all the festivals, meeting tons of new people, and seeing amazing bands, we decided to pull some of our favorites together and hit the road in the United States late this year," says Mark Bubb, U.S. Director of Atticus Clothing. "The Classic Crime will be headlining the tour and have an amazing new album out called The Silver Cord! We highly suggest you go check it out!"

Recorded in February and March 2008, The Silver Cord is an album ripe with heavy, dense chords held buoyant with incredibly tight musicianship and infectious melodies. From the opening staccato guitars of "Just a Man" that break into intricate fretwork intertwining with Matt's seasoned vocals, it becomes readily apparent how much they've grown. "Elvis [producer] noted that we were a different band, and the vibe was totally different," recalls Matt. "We went about things completely different, recording the album like a 90's Alt record rather than a 2008 rock record. We didn't use click tracks or borrowed samples, we didn't quantize anything either... we can actually say that we played what you hear." The first single, "Abracadavers" is just one of many testaments to their strength as a band on this album, and proof to those who might have thought they have gone soft because of their acoustic EP. "We wanted to show that we enjoy and are capable of different styles of music," explains Matt. "You can't hear any folk on Albatross, but it's all over the Seattle Sessions EP. It may have been risky, but we'd rather have integrity musically than worry what people might think."

With the support from Alternative Press, Brian Ewing, SJC Custom Drums, and Epiphone Guitars, the Walk The Plank Tour will offer fans the chance to win some truly incredible prizes, tickets, and exclusive clothing (surf to Atticusclothing.com and Altpress.com for more information as the tour nears). Grounded in the culture of music, Atticus was founded by musicians with their morals and inspirations in mind.

The tour will be hitting the following cities (more dates to be announced shortly):

The Walk the Plank Tour
Featuring THE CLASSIC CRIME

11/11 Anaheim, CA Chain Reaction
11/12 Los Angeles, CA Knitting Factory
11/13 Victorville, CA Kamra
11/18 Eugene, OR Wow Hall
11/20 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
11/21 Seattle, WA Showbox
11/22 Spokane, WA The Blvd
11/23 Clarkston, WA The Grange
11/24 Boise, ID The Venue
11/25 Salt Lake City, UT Avalon
11/26 Denver, CO Marquis
11/29 Wichita, KS OZ Cafe
11/30 Iowa City, IA The Picador
12/2 Lacrosse, WI Warehouse
12/3 Chicago, IL Mojoe’s
12/5 Lansing, MI Mac’s
12/6 Cleveland, OH Agora
12/7 S. Hackensack, NJ School of Rock

ZOË VISION/ANTHEM ENTERTAINMENT TO RELEASE RUSH DVD SNAKES & ARROWS LIVE ON NOVEMBER 25 MUSICIANSHIP HIGHLIGHTED, EXTRAS ABUNDANT

"Thanks to epic songs, fantastical lyrics and extravagant drum solos, [Rush] rocks on
through the 21st century...the scope of [their] achievements is undeniable...” Rolling Stone

September 22, 2008 - Burlington, MA - Zoë Vision/Anthem Entertainment is pleased to announce the release of the Snakes & Arrows Live DVD on November 25 from the legendary rock trio RUSH. This 3 disc DVD set, also available as a Blu-ray Disc, follows their Zoë Vision DVD releases Rush-R30 (2005) and Rush in Rio (2003).

The Snakes & Arrows Live DVD (full track listing below) was filmed with 21 High Definition cameras in 16x9 widescreen format, over two nights in October 2007 at the Netherlands' Ahoy Rotterdam arena during the renowned rock trio's lengthy world tour. Additional SD footage was filmed in Atlanta this past July. The five month trek supporting Rush's critically acclaimed 2007 studio release, Snakes & Arrows, which includes the Grammy® Award-nominated track, “Malignant Narcissism,” topped Pollstar's Top 100 2007 Tours list at #12.

While previous DVD releases showcase different sides of the band , this DVD offers fans a rare and close up look at the prodigious musicianship for which the band is renown. Cameras follow bassist and vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart, closely, capturing not only their playing, note for note, but also the intimacy they share on stage. The diverse track list includes many new songs from Snakes & Arrows as well as old favorites like “Tom Sawyer” and “Freewill” plus an explosive rendition of “Between the Wheels.” Among the hidden gems and numerous special tour moments included as extras is the fan coveted “What's That Smell” vignette and outakes, a skit used to intro the second set, which capitalizes on the still emerging comedic talents of both Alex and Geddy who excel (and revel) in their roles as wild characters. Featuring collector's quality packaging and a choice of Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound or PCM Stereo for a superior audio experience, the DVD was mixed by frequent collaborator Richard Chycki (Aerosmith, Mick Jagger). Total running time is 221 minutes.

Snakes & Arrows made a triumphant debut on the Billboard 200 upon its release May 2007, entering the chart in the #3 spot. The album's popular success marked Rush's highest chart debut since 1993, as well as the group's eleventh top ten album in the U.S. Snakes & Arrows also debuted at #3 in the band's native Canada and at #13 in the UK - the band's highest British chart ranking in 16 years. In addition, the album premiered in the top ten in Sweden and Finland, and in the top twenty in Norway, the Netherlands, and Japan.

Since releasing their self-titled debut album in 1974, Rush has been universally regarded as one of the most inventive and compelling groups in rock, famed for virtuoso musicianship. Celebrated, critically acclaimed and respected worldwide, Rush is the most successful Canadian rock band of all time and they remain one of the biggest grossing arena rock bands ever. Their extraordinary body of work - which includes such acclaimed works as 1976's 2112, 1981's Moving Pictures, 1996's Test for Echo, and 2002's Vapor Trails - has achieved worldwide sales exceeding 35 million units.

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TRACK LISTING:
Disc 1
1. Limelight
2. Digital Man
3. Entre Nous
4. Mission
5. Freewill
6. The Main Monkey Business
7. The Larger Bowl
8. Secret Touch
9. Circumstances
10. Between the Wheels
11. Dreamline

Extras:
1. What's That Smell (DVD Content)
2. 2007 Tour Outtakes
3. What's That Smell Outtakes
4. Far Cry (Alternate cut featuring rear screen footage)
5. The Way the Wind Blows (Alternate cut featuring rear screen footage)
6. Red Sector A from the R30 Tour

Disc 2
1. Far Cry
2. Workin' Them Angels
3. Armor and Sword
4. Spindrift
5. The Way the Wind Blows
6. Subdivisions
7. Natural Science
8. Witch Hunt
9. Malignant Narcissism - De Slagwerker
10. Hope
11. Distant Early Warning
12. The Spirit of Radio
13. Tom Sawyer
Encore:
14. One Little Victory
15. A Passage to Bangkok
16. YYZ

Disc 3
Oh, Atlanta - The Authorized Bootlegs
1. Ghost of a Chance
2. Red Barchetta
3. The Trees
4. 2112/The Temples of Syrinx