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(New York, NY) The mind-bending band that gave us what is largely considered the decade's most viewed music video (even the Simpsons parodied it), the treadmill-manned "Here It Goes Again" is back. Never content to rest on their laurels, OK Go is preparing to tread anything but familiar territory with their upcoming new album, Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky releasing on January 12, 2010 on Capitol Records.

The 13-track opus is the long-awaited follow-up to their acclaimed Oh No, which spawned the 2007 Grammy-award-winning video hit "Here It Goes Again" (setting numerous viewing records as it helped transform the then-fledgling YouTube into a household name)." Of the Blue Colour of the Sky is currently primed to kick off 2010 as one of the new year's most buzzed-about releases. According to lead singer, Damian Kulash, the new album springs from a different departure point than previous OK Go releases. "It's not so much that we headed in a new direction. I think we've just expended the guitar-rock ideas from our teens and we're starting to get at more root-level influences. There's a lot of Purple Rain on this record - an album I haven't stopped listening to since I got it when I was eleven."

Kulash added that record's title comes from an 1876 book promoting the erroneous theory that blue light cures all ills. As fits a record influenced by Prince and crackpot 19th century arm-chair scientists, the record is both danceable and contemplative; it's introspective, with a vein of surrealism running through it. There's a song that considers the earth before it was round, one sung by a man who's traded places with his reflection, and plenty of heartbreak and (attempts at) hope, mostly hung on a groovier backbone than we've heard from OK Go before. "We started these songs with a groove," Damian says. "They started as base feelings, not chord progressions or lyrical ideas, and then we layered." After 2005's Oh No, recorded nearly live with minimal overdubs, and their swaggering 2008 EP You're not Alone, backed by the trombone band Bonerama (a benefit for musicians displaced by hurricane Katrina), this new sound comes as something of a departure.

Funk-edged songs such as "Skyscrapers," "All Is Lost," "White Knuckles," and the Prince-inspired, odd-time-signature hip shaker "WTF?" embody the album's heady flow of adventurous undercurrents. "This album is the most layered production we've ever done," says Damian. Produced by ex-Mercury Rev member David Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT), Damian acknowledges that Fridmann's singular production style and secluded studio environment in Fredonia, NY ('you have to drive fifteen minutes for a cup of coffee' he notes) added to the CDs emotive heft. "We were there to work, and for weeks on end it snowed and we just lived in the bubble with our songs." Amazingly, the band's original pool of song ideas numbered more than a hundred, with the group eventually narrowing the choices down to manageable double digits.

Kulash has also kept himself busy with an assortment of activist endeavors - he testified in support of internet neutrality before a Congressional Special Task Force. He and bandmate, Andy Ross, met with leaders on Capitol Hill in the spring of 2008 to advocate for the same. The band also met with then-candidate, Barack Obama, about the specter of access-limiting online practices, and other issues, with the group eventually appearing in ads in support of Obama. OK Go also took time from their non-stop touring regimen (31 consecutive months over five continents) to raise money in support of New Orleans' music culture in the wake of Katrina. The band's efforts with Bonerama raised more than half of the money for soul legend Al "Carnival Time" Johnson's new home in New Orleans.

Damian and the rest of the band look forward to full-fan reaction to Of the Blue Colour of the Sky come January. "I think it sounds more like us than anything else we've done," he says. "Its more like the music that's in the back of my head, just out of reach, that I've been trying to get to for so long. And it embodies contradiction in a way I feel connected to. It's both the saddest and the most hopeful music we've made, and both the danciest and most thoughtful."

OK Go is Damian Kulash, Tim Nordwind, Dan Konopka, Andy Ross

Photo Credit: Moritz Waldemeyer has designed costumes for rock band OK Go, featuring LEDs that spell the band's name.

Labels: OK GO, press release

APSE To Release Double A-Side Single Featuring "3.1/The Whip" Out This Week

Taken From Their Forthcoming Sophomore LP Entitled Climb Up

Out November 10th On ATP Records / US Tour To Come

The bulk of this writing process then took place between the fall of 2008 and the spring of 2009. Forging the album through long days and nights in the quiet beauty of the winter months on outer Cape Cod. The record that's come out of it, entitled Climb Up is undoubtedly a reflection of the very process that made it - tying into the creative methods as well as the story of the lives of the band's members as they crafted the album.

Climb Up is dense, innovative, cinematic. Apse draw from a colourful palette of different genres, techniques, instruments and approaches - and with that have made what is likely to be one of the most curious, and probably largely unexpected albums of the year.

Listen, and be immersed.

Click Here To Listen To Double A Single "3.1/The Whip" On Stereogum >>

Labels: Apse, press release

On November 10, Atlantic Records will release Hello Hurricane, the seventh full-length album from the multi-Platinum, San Diego-based rock band SWITCHFOOT. Hello Hurricane is the group's first album on Atlantic Records and its first studio album since 2006's Oh! Gravity, which debuted at No. 18 on The Billboard 200. SWITCHFOOT has been hard at work on Hello Hurricane, tracking more than 80 songs at the band's self-built home studio and selecting the very best of them for the record. The band recorded the album with noted producer/bassist Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Rilo Kiley, Eminem, and Pink). The edgy, driving lead single "Mess of Me" goes for adds at Modern and Active Rock radio this week.

The back-to-basics approach employed has yielded a career-defining album that lead singer Jon Foreman views as "a new beginning." Elizondo's unique background facilitated a departure for the band, allowing it to build on SWITCHFOOT's foundation, punctuated by hard-hitting instrumentation and soaring choruses, and elevating the music to a new level.

"Hello Hurricane acknowledges the storms that tear through our lives," states Foreman. "This album is an attempt to respond to those storms with an element of hope, trying to understand what it means to be hopeful in a world that keeps on spinning."

The band recently kicked off the co-headlining Crazy Making Summer Tour with Universal Motown Records group Blue October and featuring special guests Ours and Longwave. Following that outing, SWITCHFOOT will open for Dave Matthews Band, on two Southern California dates (September 12th & 13th).

The track listing for Hello Hurricane is as follows:

1. Needle and Haystack Life
2. Mess of Me
3. Your Love is a Song
4. The Sound (John M Perkins' Blues)
5. Enough To Let Me Go
6. Free
7. Hello Hurricane
8. Always
9. Bullet Soul
10. Yet
11. Sing It Out
12. Red Eyes

SWITCHFOOT Playing With DAVE MATTHEWS BAND:
Sep 12 Cricket Wireless Amphitheater Chula Vista, California
Sep 13 Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Irvine, California

Labels: press release, switchfoot, videos

After an incredible breakthrough year in 2008, White Denim celebrate the first year anniversary of Workout Holiday (Albums of the Year from Observer Music Monthly, Uncut, The Sun and Clash) by releasing the eagerly anticipated follow up Fits. 2009 promises to be as incendiary. The band returns for live dates in May, shows that are bound to be rammed after their now legendary UK shows that killed it at Bloomsbury Bowling, Borderline, Cargo and culminated in the you-really-should-have-been-there Dingwalls show in November 2008 - one of The Independent's Gigs of the Year - "the kind of group that becomes one's favorite band. If they carry on at this rate, they should be one of next year's big crossover successes".

Fits; the title is both a knowingly bad pun and a reference to the odd tantrum endured in its creation- manages just that. Anyone familiar with the ferocious drive of the Texan trio's renowned live shows, where songs merge into each other and the playing guides the direction of the performance, will recognize their approach. Recorded and produced by the band in their infamous studio/trailer, Fits is more coherent than
debut Workout Holiday, yet sacrifices none of its imagination. Though there's barely a pause between tracks the set ebbs and flows, ranging from the soft-hearted to the ferocious.

Labels: cover art, press release, white denim

"Almost and Always" is David Mead's fifth full-length release. His most intimate work to date, the album examines life after marriage and the promise of things to come. Mead collaborated with producer Brad Jones (Sheryl Crow, Steve Earle, Jill Sobule, Butterfly Boucher, Over The Rhine, Josh Rouse, White Light Motorcade) and new songwriting partner Bill DeMain (Swan Dive) to create a quiet, soulful collection that sets 21st century pop songs in classic arrangements that recall Harry Nilsson, Paul Anka and Harry Belafonte.

As always, Mead's honeyed voice is front and center, gently accented with classical guitar, woodwinds and string quartet.

When asked about the three year lapse since the release of his last album, the critically acclaimed Tangerine, Mead is characteristically frank. "I had to take some time away from touring. I had basically been in a rental car by myself for eight months of every year since 2000 and I was just fried. And perpetually broke. It wasn’t fun anymore." After spending 2007 living in Brooklyn, Mead separated from his wife and returned to his native Nashville in early 2008, initially landing in a room in his father's basement for a few months. "The change was a little paralyzing. I had left pretty much every- thing but my books and a few lamps in Brooklyn, and there I was, back in Nashville, well into my 30's, doing manual labor and wondering what was supposed to happen next."


Listen:

David Mead - "Last Train Home" (mp3)

Enjoy!

Labels: david mead, press release

Decoder Ring, long revered for their uniquely sublime soundscapes, will digitally release their new album They Blind the Stars, and the Wild Team on August 18th via iTunes.

They Blind the Stars, and the Wild Team, a double album, was more than two years in the making and Decoder Ring's first since 2006's critically acclaimed, Somersault (OTS). To aid them in refining some of the many sounds they had amassed in the lead up to the recording, Decoder Ring enlisted the production skills of Scott Colburn (Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, Yeasayer).

Decoder Ring wash away many conventional songwriting norms by stripping out vocals, verses, choruses and bridges. What is left is a seamlessly linked group of strikingly textured and emotive pieces that allow the listener to fully immerse themselves into the vast sonic playground they build.

Listen:

Decoder Ring - "Beat the Twilight" (mp3)

Rock on!

Labels: decoder ring, press release

Leeds-based electronic trio, Heads We Dance, will be the FIRST act to stream the ENTIRE of an album pre-release on a dedicated iPhone app, as debut record, 'Love Technology' becomes available to hear through the band's new app a full two weeks ahead of its digital release.

The record, which will be released on download on June 1st and as a physical release two weeks later on June 15th, is available to hear in full through the new app available via iTunes and App store on iPhones and iPod Touch. As well as the album, fans can also check out the B-side to new single 'When The Sirens Sound', which features a guest appearance from Little Boots and is available to download from 18th May, plus remixes from Don Diablo and Frankmusik.

On top of that, the newly launched app includes exclusive photos, updates and a fan wall to chat to the band direct.

Grab It Here >>

Labels: heads we dance, press release

Charleston melodic indie rockers The Working Title return with Bone Island the independent release is available digitally, and brick-and-mortar through RED on July 21.

In a recent article, CMJ.com notes, "Bone Island has a more mature, emotionally raw sound than The Working TItle's earlier records."

Singer/songwriter Joel Hamilton explains: "[We stripped] each song down to the bone and [built] it from the ground up like a bunch of little bone structures that made a skeleton house."

With the help of friend and producer Jake Sinclair, the album was recorded in three weeks.

StereoSubversion.com zeroes in on the opener "Physical Love" that "may or may not shock the audience with its unrestrained bluntness. Slight distortion introduces the song, before giving way to fuzzy beats and clashing percussion reminiscent of something Californian outfit the Cold War Kids might have conjured up."

The Working Titled debuted in 2003 with their critically-acclaimed EP, Everyone Here Is Wrong, which received an impressive 5/5 review in Alternative Press. Three years later, the band released About Face, their full-length debut, on Universal Records, but parted amicably with the label shortly after the release.

Bone Island is the second full length from The Working Title.

Labels: press release, The Working Title

The Twilight Sad announce details of their hugely anticipated sophomore 'Forget The Night Ahead' album. Already trailed by opener 'Reflections Of The Television' - which dropped on Pitchfork during May, and forthcoming single 'I Became A Prostitute' on August 3rd, the new album will be released in the UK on 5th October.

In lyrical terms 'Forget The Night Ahead' is a darker set even than it's hallowed predecessor 'Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters', James Graham's portentous knack for unsettling lines, giving muforcefully delivered in his own Caledonian burr remaining very much on point. Speaking to Clashmusic.com at the start of the year James cautioned; "As with the last record, we aren't ch away with the themes because we like the listener to relate the songs back themselves and maybe try and figure it all out on their own. Plus, it's personal. I would like to keep it close to my chest. What I will say is that it's lyrically based around where we live, people we know, and the antics I have got up to and the situations I have found myself in, and being none too proud of myself. It's also about finding and losing people, friends and loved ones ." And to The Skinny: “We have definitely moved on from 'Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters', musically and lyrically." Guitarist Andy MacFarlane concurs "It is a step forward from the first record, the song writing and the sound of the band has moved on from that time, which is something we'll always try and do, we don't want to ever stand still and make records that sound like each other."

Produced and mixed by ex-Delgados' man Paul Savage and guitarist Andy MacFarlane at the legendary Chem19 Studios in Glasgow, musically too, the new record is no less tumultuous, MacFarelane's distinctive tremelo'd guitar creating seismic shifts between melancholy introspection and explosive release, the cacophony broadening to accommodate the band's most melodic and yet also most thrillingly discordant moments yet. Here the influence of artists like early 80's Cure, Neu, Wire or even Shellac are just as prominent as longer-standing comparisons to MBV or Joy Division. The album also features the talents of ex-Aerogramme member, Dok, who also contributes guitar and keys to the live line-up, and My Latest Novel's Laura McFarlane who plays violin on 'The Room' and 'That Birthday Present'.

Listen:

The Twilight Sad - "Here It Never Snowed. Afterwards, It Did" (mp3)

Labels: press release, the twilight sad

With a full North American tour just around the corner, Toronto-based group Rock Plaza Central's front man and literary award winner Chris Eaton has found a way to stay creative while spending time in the van. Eaton is teaming up with arts and culture zine Steel Bananas to write one story per day of no more than 140 characters, so that he may publish them for public participation on his band's Twitter account from the road. The tweeted micro-fiction project will be published in Steel Bananas' upcoming anthology, GULCH: An Assemblage of Poetry and Prose, to be released with Tightrope Books this fall. Eaton's first story went online this weekend on the 4th of July.

Like its predecessor, Are We Not Horses?, media across the US are praising, At The Moment Of Our Most Needing, Or If Only They Could Turn Around, They Would Know They Weren't Alone, released on Paper Bag Records. Early champions of the band, Pitchfork, just posted a stellar 8.0 review of the band's new album (link below), and gives a little insight as to why one might want to keep up with Eaton and the gang, "...Chris Eaton is more storyteller than singer. He's published two novels, including a "cover" of Thomas Hardy's A Pair of Blues Eyes...even singing, he remains a narrator...As a songwriter, he creates full mythologies...and as a singer, he gives his fantastical characters voice, but it's his band that makes those worlds seem real and relatable. On Horses, they gave his valedictories and conspiracies a soft, elegiac edge, and on their fourth and equally majestic album, they find new ways to illustrate his tales."

After an initial tour of the Eastern part of North America, Rock Plaza Central will hit the west coast and midwest, performing at several summer festivals along the way. Catch them if you can!

Listen:

Rock Plaza Central - "(Don't You Believe the Words Of ) Handsome Men" (mp3)

Labels: press release, Rock Plaza Central

New York legend Johnny Thunders raised the bar for how low you could go to find rock and roll inspiration. His licks sounded caked in dirt and shit, the grimiest, nastiest stuff six strings were capable of mustering. The Norwegian nightmares in Pirate Love know better than most – hell, they named their band after one of the beloved Dolls' songs. It's a fitting homage, though, considering Pirate Love's reputation as untamed 60s throwbacks and some of the wildest Scandinavians this side of Turbonegro. Not a distinction to be taken lightly.

They invented a genre to which they belong (more on that in a bit). But to those of us that don't speak Norwegian Rock Alien dialect, they're basically a mind-bending commingling of 60's garage, rockabilly and psychadelic-flavored awesomeness. Forging their sound since forming in Oslo in 2003, the band waited four years before unveiling their first record, a 7-inch vinyl featuring MTV Europe mainstay "Laughing Gas."

Listen:

The Pirate Love - "Laughing Gas" (mp3)

06-18 Toronto, ON – NXNE The MuseBox showcase - El Mocambo at 9pm
06-20 Toronto, ON – Neutral at 2am
06-21 New York, NY – Fontana's at 11pm
06-23 Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands 11pm
06-25 New York, NY – Piano's 9pm

Labels: pirate love, press release

The legendary Yoko Ono won the lifetime achievement award at this year's Mojo Magazine awards, held in London on June 11.

The award was the final award of the night and saw an emotional speech from Ono in response to a tribute film shown at the awards and a speech by Mojo editor Phil Alexander, who commented: "Yoko Ono helped change music as we know it...first by introducing avant-garde sensibilities to her husband and secondly, just as significantly, by continuing to push the boundaries of what was deemed the normal way after that. She is a huge influence on modern music and this award recognizes her inspirational qualities and ongoing questing. Yoko Ono is unique and we are thrilled to commemorate her lifetime on the frontline".

The Mojo award comes in a week when Ono topped the US club charts for the fifth time, this time with her song "I'm Not Getting Enough", and also received the prestigious Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement at the Venice Biennale.

On accepting the Mojo award, Ono said: "Thank you very much for this incredible accolade. I feel blessed that, after so many years and decades, my work is getting recognition in such a diverse way. John would have been very proud of me tonight. Thank you!"

Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band's new studio album "BETWEEN MY HEAD AND THE SKY" is released on September 21. Four songs are now available digitally on an EP titled "Don't Stop Me".

DON'T STOP ME! EP Featured In iTunes "What's Hot" Section

Labels: press release, Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band

Los Angeles, CA - Adam's Attic whole-heartedly lays down their armor to present their most vulnerable release, Skylines and City Lights. While the band originally planned to release the album in early 2008, the founding band members' mother had cancer and treatment all through 2008, which prevented the release. The band officially released this album in 2009.

With each song, Adam's Attic captures a snapshot in time, and this record is a time capsule of a personal journey through various "skylines and city lights".

Since the twist of fate that led Adam's Attic to relocate to Los Angeles from New Orleans, the band has been on three tours across the globe. The album title, Skylines and City Lights, signifies their privilege of touring domestically and internationally.

Adam's Attic front man, Joe Henry said, "Every band dreams of touring the world and sharing their music. For us, those dreams are materializing. Following the desire of our hearts has led us to perform domestically from Miami to Los Angeles and internationally in countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greenland, Singapore, and British Indian Ocean Territory. We have gone further than we ever thought, yet we know that are so many more 'skylines and city lights'."

When Adam's Attic hit the studio in the fall of 2007, they were ready. Three years had passed since the release of their last album, In the Blink of an Eye. The group had recorded other songs over the past few years, but nothing was right for release. This time, the five original band members decided to self-produce their collection of songs under the supervision of Joe Henry. Adam's Attic is Joe Henry, Derek Henry, Scott Boaz, and Frank DeSalvo. To capture his vision for this project, Joe Henry was tasked with the duty of assembling the right team. After interviewing Mike Troolines, the owner of Sound Asylum Studio in Santa Ana, Henry knew he had found the right place to track. After the songs were recorded, Misha Kachkachishvili of Axistudio in New Orleans provided expertise mixing the project. With a strong recommendation from Kachkachishvili, Bruce Barielle was enlisted to master the tracks.

As the songs were being mixed and mastered, creative director, Holli Elaine, cast a vision for the style, image, and presentation the album. With Holli's countless ideas, web designer Drew Geraci translated the look and feel into web design. Photos taken by Christan Parreira caught the new look of Adam's Attic collectively and as individuals. Journalist Nate Bates drafted the group's biography. Finally, Roman Ruiz implemented the album's graphic design in part by utilizing the album cover designed by Geraci and a photo by Parreira for the back cover.

Stream their music on the Adam's Attic Official MySpace Page >>

Labels: adams attic, press release

Sire Records and Regina Spektor are very proud to announce the release of FAR; the highly anticipated follow up to Spektor's gold album BEGIN TO HOPE. Set for a June 23rd release, FAR continues to reveal new layers in Spektor's songwriting as she pursues the next level in her inimitable musical style. With her uninhibited imagination and her hands on approach in the studio, FAR not only succeeds with 13 impressive and accessible tracks, but it spotlights Spektor's remarkable gift to craft intelligent and refreshingly honest odes to life. Four exceptional producers collaborated with Spektor on FAR: Jeff Lynne (ELO, The Traveling Wilburys), Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Eminem), David Kahne (Paul McCartney, The Strokes) and Garret "Jacknife" Lee (Weezer, REM).

Spektor's ability to explore rich soundscapes and combine them with her evocative and intricately structured melodies and lyrics has grown tremendously on FAR. From the gripping lyrics of the first single LAUGHING WITH to the intoxicating beat of THE CALCULATION, from the multilayered vocal work on BLUE LIPS to the rocking EET, FAR is the work of a talented, daring and important artist.

Spektor will tour the world beginning in June. Tour dates to be announced soon.

Labels: press release, regina spektor

On March 30, Beastie Boys' third album Check Your Head will be the next B Boys classic to receive the remastered expanded reissue treatment by Beastie Boys and Capitol/EMI, with pre-orders beginning at beastieboys.com for multiple configurations ranging from a high quality DRM-free digital download of the album (including its numerous and classic b-sides and bonus tracks) to an ultra-deluxe 4 LP 180HQ vinyl version packaged in a fabric-wrapped hardcover coffee table book case and limited to 2000 copies. The retail release date of all physical editions other than the 4xLP version will be April 7, with the ultra deluxe following close behind.

The Check Your Head reissue news coincides with the announcement today that Beastie Boys will headline the Hollywood Bowl on September 24. Following on a confirmed appearance at this summer's Bonnaroo festival and ongoing speculation regarding the band's appearances at various summer festivals, the Hollywood Bowl show is both the first headline show in the run-up to a new Beastie Boys album due later this year, as well as the first time Beastie Boys have ever headlined the hallowed L.A. venue.

Labels: beastie boys, press release

On Tuesday, March 10, The New Regime will premiere the first in a series of six live videos on imeem. Subsequently, imeem will exclusively debut a new video every Tuesday and Friday for three weeks on the artist's imeem profile. As the largest social music service in the world, boasting more than 25 million visitors per month, imeem is the perfect platform to host the premieres.

The videos represent tracks from the debut album, Coup. Each video was intentionally filmed in a live, non show setting at Swinghouse Studios in Los Angeles. According to front man, Ilan Rubin, "Rather than miming to a meaningless video treatment, I chose to utilize the video to highlight what a band should do best: play live."

The New Regime video premieres on imeem are scheduled follows:
March 10: "Order Restored"
March 13: "Take Control"
March 17: "The Collapse"
March 20: "Tap Dancing In a Minefield"
March 24: "This War Time"
March 27: "Haunt My Mind"

Touted as a "true solo project," The New Regime consists solely of 20 year-old Ilan Rubin, drummer of Nine Inch Nails and previously Lostprophets. No mere time-keeper, adept multi- instrumentalist, Rubin, wrote and recorded every note of bass, drums, guitar, piano, and vocals on The New Regime's 2008 debut, Coup. Playing in bands since the age of 9, Ilan has made his way into the Guinness Book of World Records for opening Woodstock '99 with his first band at age 11.

After recording 10 eclectic tracks in his garage, The New Regime's debut album Coup was released in November 2008.

Listen:
The New Regime - "Haunt My Mind" (mp3)

Enjoy!

Labels: press release, The New Regime

MuseBox's featured artist this week is none other than "Deadbeat Darling."

What a lovely and charming name.

Coincidence has been kind to Joseph King. What started as a seed planted in his native Austin, Texas, has transformed under New York City's bright lights, and all the possibility they represent, into something truly impressive. Through a series of chance encounters in the basement clubs of the Lower East Side and the West Village, an assembly of musicians have banded together with King to form Deadbeat Darling. The quartet's forthcoming debut, May's Weight of Wandering, brims with spindly, anxious rock powdered by the sort of romance and melodrama best delivered in a cavernous arena. And with a string of sold out shows across Manhattan and Brooklyn, and a run of big-ticket Bowery Ballroom gigs closing out 2008, King and company don't seem that far off. The first single from Wandering, "Without A Trace", is due soon, and will be celebrated with a release party at Mercury Lounge in New York this Friday.

Listen:
Deadbeat Darling - "Without a Trace" (mp3)

Enjoy!

Labels: deadbeat darling, musebox, press release

Launching The Prospect EP to a packed house at New York City's, The Annex last week, The Break Mission gave many their first opportunity to hear the new tracks in the live arena. Overwhelmingly, the response from fans and media suggests that The Break Mission have produced their finest release to date.

The Break Mission is a Brooklyn trio showcasing a unique talent for impassioned storytelling and lilting dynamics. Their newest release, The Prospect EP builds on the momentum of 2007's, As Much Light As It Will Take, and introduces a beautiful complexity to their endearingly fresh sound.

Be sure to tune into BreakThru Radio (BTR) to hear an exclusive live performance on Studio Live on February 17th.

Their most assured release to date; The Prospect EP will be released via iTunes on February 10th and features the following tracks:

1. The Prospect
2. "You're So Happy Now" (mp3)
3. Come By
4. The French Defense

Labels: press release, the break mission

RCA Records is proud to announce the Kings of Leon spring arena tour. These shows are the first set of US tour dates to follow their epic sold-out performance at the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York City on January 29th. In his review of the performance, Jon Pareles of the New York Times wrote, "The music swelled to fill the arena, from the ominous stomp that opened the set, 'Crawl' to the lean defiance of 'Knocked Up' and, suitable for the occasion, the triumphal 'Manhattan,' which promises to 'show this town how to kiss these stars.'" Kings Of Leon kick off the upcoming dates on the 19th of April at the Agganis Arena in Boston, MA and finish off at the Bill Graham Civic Center on May 21st in San Francisco, CA.

Nominated for three Grammy Awards (Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals), Kings Of Leon have seen their latest release Only By The Night (RCA) take them to new levels of success in the United States. Their lead single "Sex On Fire" has been #1 on the Billboard "Modern Rock" chart for nine weeks and counting. The second single, "Use Somebody," has just been released to radio and is following nicely in the footsteps of "Sex On Fire." The video has been named "Buzzworthy" by MTV and has had nearly six million views on YouTube to date.

Only By The Night was released on September 23, 2008 and debuted in the top five on the Billboard top 200 and #1 at the iTunes store. The band has since performed on Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman. The band appeared on the cover of Spin magazine's October issue, and was on the cover of Q magazine's December issue in the UK, in which they received "Record of the Year" honors.

Listen:
Kings of Leon - "Crawl" (mp3)

APRIL 2009

19 - Boston, MA - Agganis Arena (On Sale 2/13)
21 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre (On Sale 2/13)
22 - Pittsburgh, PA - Palumbo (On Sale 2/13)
24 - Fairfax, VA - Patriot Center (On Sale 2/20)
25 - Philadelphia, PA - Spectrum (On Sale 2/13)
27 - Norfolk, VA - Constant Convocation Centre @ ODU (On Sale 2/14)
28 - Raleigh, NC - Koka Booth Amphitheatre (On Sale 2/13)
30 - Charlotte, NC - Bojangles' Coliseum (On Sale 2/13)

MAY 2009

04 - St. Augustine, FL - St. Augustine Amphitheatre (On Sale 2/14)
05 - Orlando, FL - UCF Arena (On Sale 2/13)
07 - Miami, FL - Bank United Center (On Sale 2/13)
08 - Tampa, FL - Sundome (On Sale 2/13)
10 - Charleston, SC - North Charleston Coliseum (On Sale 2/13)
12 - Cincinnati, OH - National City Pavilion (On Sale 2/14)
13 - Cleveland, OH - Tower City (On Sale 2/13)
19 - Phoenix, AZ - Mesa Amphitheatre (On Sale 2/14)
21 - San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (On Sale 2/22)

Labels: kings of leon, press release

Superfly Productions and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2009 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The eighth annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 11 - 14 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. Every year Bonnaroo seeks to make history by offering unique and exclusive performances by rock's greatest legends as well as its most significant newcomers. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2009 lineup will total over 120 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days. Tickets go on sale exclusively through www.bonnaroo.com on Saturday, February 7 at 12:00 PM Eastern.

Continuing the Bonnaroo tradition of diversity and dynamism, the 2009 lineup draws top-flight acts from a staggering range of musical worlds. This year the festival features Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Phish, the Beastie Boys, Nine Inch Nails, TV on the Radio, Wilco, Al Green, David Byrne, Snoop Dogg, Merle Haggard, Animal Collective, Lucinda Williams, Femi Kuti, Mars Volta, Coheed and Cambria, The Del McCoury Band, Alejandro Escovedo and Rodrigo y Gabriela to name a few. This will be Springsteen and his band's only North American festival performance this year. This also will be Phish's only festival performance in 2009, and their presence at Bonnaroo holds a great deal of significance -- besides the fact that each of its members has shown the event great support, performing at the festival in various incarnations over the years, Phish's own festivals were notably one of the major inspirations for Bonnaroo's creation and operational strategies. Many of the organizers of those events (large scale, multi-day camping festivals with Phish as the solo performer) were brought on to help birth Bonnaroo in 2002, and continue to play a major role in the festival to this day. Phish will play two shows at the festival - a full two-set performance as well as an additional late-evening set.

2009 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival Confirmed Artists:

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Phish (2 Shows)
Beastie Boys
Nine Inch Nails
David Byrne
Wilco
Al Green
Snoop Dogg
Elvis Costello Solo
Erykah Badu
Paul Oakenfold
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Mars Volta
TV on the Radio
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Gov't Mule
Andrew Bird
Band of Horses
Merle Haggard
MGMT
moe.
The Decemberists
Girl Talk
Bon Iver
Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Galactic
The Del McCoury Band
of Montreal
Allen Toussaint
Coheed and Cambria
Booker T & the DBTs
David Grisman Quintet
Lucinda Williams
Animal Collective
Gomez
Neko Case
Down
Jenny Lewis
Santogold
Robert Earl Keen
Citizen Cope
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force
The Ting Tings
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Kaki King
Grizzly Bear
King Sunny Adé
Okkervil River
St. Vincent
Zac Brown Band
Raphael Saadiq
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Crystal Castles
Tift Merritt
Brett Dennen
Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue
Toubab Krewe
People Under the Stairs
Alejandro Escovedo
Vieux Farka Touré
Elvis Perkins In Dearland
Cherryholmes
Yeasayer
Todd Snider
Chairlift
Portugal. The Man.
The SteelDrivers
Midnite
The Knux
The Low Anthem
Delta Spirit
A.A. Bondy
The Lovell Sisters
Alberta Cross

Labels: bonnaroo, press release

Team Love Records is proud to announce the release of The Felice Brothers' latest full-length, Yonder Is The Clock. Due out April 7th, the album is the follow-up to their critically acclaimed self-titled record released in 2008, which was their first for Team Love. Yonder Is The Clock is the band's fourth record, including their 2006 self-released debut Through These Reins and Gone and their 2007 release Tonight At The Arizona. With Yonder Is The Clock, the Catskill Mountain natives look to build upon the praise heaped upon them in the past. No Depression wrote that the "ethereal, guns-and-sex-and-Dust-Bowl-metaphor- infused cannot be understated, while Uncut said, "The Felice Brothers is just glorious." "You won't find more American music than that of The Felice Brothers," wrote the New York Daily News. "With their wheezing accordions, broken-down pianos, flinty acoustic guitars and creaky vocals, the brothers capture the history - and mystery - of rural America."

Titled with a phrase drawn from the pages of Mark Twain, Yonder Is The Clock is a nod to all of the American ghosts that lend their narrative and characters to the forthcoming release. The Felice Brothers studio was built from the remains of an abandoned chicken coop and it was there over the summer and fall of 2008 that they wrote and recorded this new collection of songs. The record is teaming with tales of love, death, betrayal, baseball, train stations, phantoms, pandemics, jail cells, rolling rivers and frozen winter nights.

In February The Felice Brothers hit the road for a nine-date run with Old Crow Medicine Show, and continue on with headlining dates throughout the spring. Highlights include a record release party at the Bardavan Opera House in Poughkeepsie, NY on April 7th, and a swing through Austin, TX for SXSW 2009.

Listen:
The Felice Brothers - "Don't Wake the Scarecrow" (mp3)

Enjoy!

Labels: press release, team love records, the felice brothers

Other Lives' self-titled, full-length debut will be released on April 7th by tbd records, the ATO Records imprint that launched a year ago with the physical release of Radiohead's In Rainbows. It will be available at digital retailers beginning March 17th and lead single "Black Tables" goes to radio this month. The album (and the EP that preceded it) was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Joey Waronker (the Eels, Lisa Germano) and engineer Darrell Thorp (Radiohead, Outkast, Beck). Released in October 2008, the EP - also self-titled - was featured for three consecutive weeks on iTunes' "Rising Stars of Indie Rock."

Based in the college town of Stillwater, Oklahoma, the band - Jesse Tabish (lead vocals, piano, guitar, harmonium, organ, vibes, electric harpsichord), Josh Onstott (bass, melotron, backing vocals), Jonathon Mooney (piano, violin, organ, vibes, electric harpsichord), Jenny Hsu (cello, backing vocals) and Colby Owens (drums, lap steel) - has been playing music together for the past five years in various incarnations. They began as an avant-garde instrumental group, then added vocals and eventually evolved into Other Lives.

Praised by LiveDaily for its "captivating, cinematic sounds," Other Lives was one of the noteworthy new acts performing at last fall's CMJ Music Marathon. Upcoming tour plans include a series of dates with Delta Spirit (see below for itinerary) and a stop at SXSW.

The track listing for Other Lives is as follows:

1. Speed Tape
2. Don't Let Them
3. Black Tables
4. "End Of The Year" (mp3)
5. E Minor
6. Paper Cities
7. Matador
8. It Was The Night
9. How Could This Be?
10. AM Theme
11. Epic

Labels: other lives, press release

Francois Virot is a rare bird, who belongs to that endangered kind of musicians that are so devoted to their art that they never care to spend some time at home.

So you can tell, Yes Or No may be his first official album alright, that kid is no newcomer. In a nutshell, then: it's the record of a sage, recorded by a kid. Achieved with no superfluous addition of anything: one guitar, sometimes two, one voice, sometimes two, or three, plus an acoustic rain of hands on wood, bits and pieces of percussions. Or else, a beautiful suppressed anger against whatever, overflowing with generosity, acoustic guitar strings assaulted with no second thought whatsoever, escalating songs, funk to the core, rageously melodic, that never fears total exposure, be in it full sun or a car's headlights in your eyes, yet without ever overplaying the feelings.

Listen:
Francois Virot - "Cascade Kisses" (mp3)

Enjoy!

Labels: Francois Virot, press release

It’s been seven years since Portal leapt onto the local music scene by winning the final instalment of Kokanee’s Adopt-A-Band Challenge at Urban Lounge. Urban Lounge has collapsed and moved, the other bands from the competition have folded, and even most of the sponsors from the event have all but disappeared. Portal, on the other hand, have just released their fourth anthology, and if early reviews are any indication, Portal seem poised to take their greatest leap to date - onto the world stage. Blood Red Tape is already drawing Portal comparisons to contemporary progressive rock greats such as Tool, Porcupine Tree, and Dream Theater, but the album might be just what the band needs to finally elevate itself above the need for comparison and stand on their own two feet.

Portal emerged from a three-year hibernation at the end of August, wielding a seventy minute collection of songs that even long-time fans and supporters have described as “unexpectedly evolved”. While not a concept album in the strictest sense, Blood Red Tape contains some very focused themes, and its production, packaging, and branding all serve to support its message, one of social awareness and responsibility. The album contains the same complex rhythms and progressions that Portal has become known for, but with a production quality and attention to detail far exceeding that of its predecessors. From the groove-laden first single, Back in the Day, a future-set nostalgia for a present-day crumbling empire, to ten minute epic Your Kettle, a cinematic journey which was just licensed for inclusion on an upcoming Wii release, Blood Red Tape is brimming with layer after layer of seamless meter changes, soaring melodies, and instrumental twists and turns.

Listen:
Portal - "Back in the Day" (mp3)



Enjoy!

Labels: portal, press release

We are excited to announce that on Tuesday, March 3rd, Brooklyn-based band The Antlers will self-release their new full-length, Hospice, through limited edition CD and online download.

Hospice chronicles The Antlers' evolution from detailed dream pop to densely layered shoegaze, from solo effort to band. Beginning as Peter Silberman's solo bedroom arrangements and recordings, this upcoming release marks the first time Silberman assembled a group of friends to contribute: Darby Cicci (trumpet, bowed banjo), Justin Stivers (bass), Michael Lerner (drums), and Sharon Van Etten (guest vocals). Cicci and Lerner remain as core members of the live band.

Hospice is the follow-up to 2007's nuanced, upbeat In the Attic of the Universe, which became The Antlers' unexpected under-the-radar breakthrough thanks to blog word-of-mouth. Along with several other EPs, a successful CMJ and SXSW '08, and this past fall's midwest and east coast tour, Hospice is evidence of The Antlers'-and Silberman's--maturation.

Listen:
The Antlers - "Bear" (mp3)
The Antlers - "Two" (mp3)

Photo By Bryan Bruchman

Labels: press release, the antlers

The Break Mission is a Brooklyn trio showcasing a unique talent for impassioned storytelling and lilting dynamics. Critics and fans alike have described the band as sublime, anthemic and refreshing. Their newest release, The Prospect EP builds on the momentum of 2007's, As Much Light As It Will Take, and introduces a beautiful complexity to their endearingly fresh sound.

Drummer Matt Hershey and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Jeff Knowlton, recently welcomed Ben Lindell to the group, solidifying the new lineup as bassist and engineer. The Prospect EP comes on the heels of a considerable change in the group's history. Having just left NYC label RoHo Records, who put out the band's last two albums, Jeff and Matt also said goodbye to founding members Dave Murray and Richey Tally, as well as Bill Wathen who joined in 2007. The new chemistry has proven to be instant and undeniable, and this four-track release proves they are comfortable where they are, but poised for much more.

Having performed with the likes of Kristin Hersh, Matisyahu, Squeeze and Apollo Sunshine, The Break Mission is eager to take their new material on the road. Stay tuned for live dates which will be announced shortly.

Their most assured release to date; The Prospect EP will be released via iTunes in February and features the following tracks:

1. The Prospect (mp3)
2. You're So Happy Now
3. Come By
4. The French Defense

Labels: press release, the break mission