Archive for June, 2011

Dylan Champagne Shares Story of Growing up in Physical Isolation on Greenfield Manifesto Single

Dylan Champagne

“‘Greenfield Manifesto’ is a real life allegory about the loss of innocence,” Dylan Champagne (his real name) explains about his latest single. “It would be easy to imagine that the details in this song were apocryphal but it’s all true to the best of my memory.”

When Champagne was seven-years-old, he lived on a 50-acre ranch in the Northern California mountains with no electricity. “Our nearest neighbor was over a mile away. There were no paved roads. My two best friends were named Leaf and Forest. I had a horse. And there really was a unicorn farm on the ridge.”

Champagne’s latest album, Love Songs of The Apocalypse, Volume 1, the follow-up to 2008’s New Equation puts a strong emphasis on lyrics and unconventional composition mixing Math Rock, Punk, Folk, and Pop to create a syncopated rock tincture with narrative underpinnings.

“I suppose the reoccurring apocalyptic dreams began when I was about nine-years-old. It was the ’80s and Reagan was the king, and everywhere you looked was nuclear this, that and the other,” Champagne says of the content on new album. “It’s a shout-out to all the ghosts haunting the mid-sized semi-urban dystopia in my head. The characters are real.”

Love Songs of the Apocalypse, Volume 1 is out now. Champagne hopes to make a volume 2 and a volume 5 and a volume 20 before the world spontaneously combusts.


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Glen Campbell Drops Final Album, Ghost On The Canvas, On August 30

Surfdog Records has announced the upcoming release of Ghost On The Canvas, the remarkable new album from the legendary Glen Campbell. The album, which marks the iconic singer/guitarist/songwriter’s final studio recording, arrives everywhere on August 30th.

Glen CambellGhost On The Canvas sees Campbell capping his brilliant career with one of his most moving and energized works to date, a powerfully emotional song cycle that sees him accompanied by a truly dazzling line-up of songwriters and musicians. Among the tunesmiths contributing original songs to the collection are such modern luminaries as Paul Westerberg, Jakob Dylan, Robert Pollard, and Teddy Thompson, backed by a roster of players that includes Chris Isaak, Dick Dale, Billy Corgan, Brian Setzer, Rick Nielsen, Roger Manning, and The Dandy Warhols. The album is produced by Julian Raymond, who also co-wrote a number of new songs with Campbell.

Campbell will celebrate the new album as well as his extraordinary five-decade-plus career with a valedictory Worldwide concert tour, dubbed “The Glen Campbell Goodbye Tour.” A complete itinerary will be announced shortly.

Sadly, Campbell was recently diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. The multiple Grammy Award-winner discusses his health and his long career in an exclusive interview with People, available on newsstands now as well as via People.com.

For more than fifty years, Glen Campbell has been among popular music’s most successful and significant artists, a multi-talented superstar who can rightfully be declared a living legend and a true American treasure. The Arkansas-born Campbell took up guitar at an early age and in 1958, relocated to Los Angeles where he immediately became an in-demand session musician. He joined forces with the legendary Wrecking Crew, a group of session players whose work can be heard on a stunning range of recordings spanning from the 1960s thru the ’70s. The Wrecking Crew played with such artists as Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Simon & Garfunkel, Elvis Presley, and most famously, Phil Spector, with whom they helped create the famed “Wall of Sound.” In 1964, Campbell was invited to become a touring member of The Beach Boys, playing bass and singing falsetto harmonies, then later contributing guitar to 1966′s seminal Pet Sounds.

Campbell achieved his first major success as a solo artist with “Gentle On My Mind,” which proved a crossover smash upon its 1967 release. He followed it that same year with “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” marking the first in a string of collaborative hits penned by renowned songwriter Jimmy Webb that also includes such classics as “Wichita Lineman,” “Where’s The Playground, Susie,” and “Galveston.”

In addition to hit singles, Campbell also released a remarkable run of gold and platinum certified albums, including 1967′s Gentle On My Mind, the first of seven consecutive collections to hit #1 on Billboard’s “Country Albums” chart. Among them are full-length favorites like 1967′s By The Time I Get To Phoenix, Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell and the 2x-platinum certified Wichita Lineman (both released in 1968), and 1969′s Galveston.

As if his musical career weren’t enough, Campbell also drew acclaim as an actor and TV personality, with credits that include 1969′s True Grit (earning him a Golden Globe nomination as “Most Promising Newcomer”) and four seasons as host of CBS’ The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. The highly rated variety series saw Campbell joined by a spectacular assortment of stars including John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ray Charles, and Cream, while also introducing some of country music’s greatest artists (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard) to a wide national audience.

1975 saw the release of Campbell’s biggest crossover triumph, “Rhinestone Cowboy,” which earned RIAA gold certification while topping both Billboard’s “Hot 100″ and “Hot Country Singles” charts. Two years later saw Campbell repeating the feat with the gold certified, #1 smash, “Southern Nights,” marking his fifth-ever country chart-topper as well as his seventh on Billboard’s “Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks” tally.

In 2008, he united with Ghost On The Canvas producer Julian Raymond for one of the most unique albums in his canon, Meet Glen Campbell. The album found Campbell putting his inimitable stamp on songs by such artists as U2, Green Day, Tom Petty, Foo Fighters, and Jackson Browne, supported by members of Jane’s Addiction, Jellyfish, and Cheap Trick.

Over the course of his astonishing career, Campbell can lay claim to six Top 20 albums and 21 Top 40 hit singles. His track record as one of country music’s greatest stars includes 27 Top 10 country classics spanning 22 years, as well as nine #1 country albums.

Campbell has also received a stunning array of honors, beginning in 1967 when he made history by winning multiple Grammy Awards in both the Country & Western and Pop categories: “Gentle On My Mind” was honored as “Best Country & Western Vocal Performance, Male” and “Best Country & Western Recording,” while “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” was named “Best Vocal Performance, Male” and “Best Contemporary Male Solo Vocal Performance.” The following year saw Campbell earning yet another Grammy when By The Time I Get To Phoenix was named “Album of the Year” – the first country album to win the top award. What’s more, “Gentle On My Mind,” “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” and “Wichita Lineman” have all since received the “Grammy Hall of Fame Award.”

Among Campbell’s many other honors are seven Academy of Country Music Awards (including “Top Male Vocalist” and “Album of the Year” in both 1967 and 1968), three American Music Awards (celebrating “Rhinestone Cowboy” and the album that bears its name), three Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, two Country Music Association Awards, and the UK’s Q Award for “Q Legend.” In addition, Campbell has received the Academy of Country Music’s prestigious “Pioneer Award” and has been inducted to both the Country Music Hall of Fame as well as the Musicians Hall of Fame (honoring his membership in The Wrecking Crew).


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Rise Against and It Gets Better Project Announce Collaboration and Tackle Bullying

Rise Against

Rise Against and The It Gets Better Project® are proud to announce a collaboration in conjunction with the release of Rise Against’s new single, “Make It Stop (September’s Children)” from their album Endgame, which debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart.

The It Gets Better Project and Rise Against shift the spotlight to bullying via “Make it Stop (September’s Children),” a topic Rise Against lead-singer Tim McIlrath says really hasn’t been adequately addressed in the rock scene. “A number of events were the catalyst for the creation of Make It Stop, everything from the suicides in September 2010, to our own fans voicing their fears and insecurities from time to time,” says McIlrath. “I decided to create the song as a response, and when I discovered the It Gets Better campaign and [It Gets Better Project co-founder] Dan Savage’s commitment to such an important and concise message, I was moved. I immediately felt that if our song is the road, then the It Gets Better project is the destination. I hope the synergy between the two can reach people and make a difference.”

“Tim McIlrath has written a powerful song,” It Gets Better Project co-founder Dan Savage said. “With the release of ‘Make It Stop’ and the accompanying video, Rise Against is sending the message to its fan base that the bullying and harassment of LGBT teens needs to stop and that suicide isn’t a solution.”

Award-winning director Marc Klasfeld directed the “Make It Stop” music video in Chicago at Tim McIlrath’s high school alma mater. “I’ve been a fan of Rise Against for a while and it was amazing to work with them on this special video,” Klasfeld said. “As soon as I heard the song, I knew a powerful video could be made that could potentially help people and I jumped at the chance to be a part of it.”

The video depicts the band performing the song in the high school gymnasium alongside moving scenes of individuals from the LGBT community experiencing and coping with bullying from their peers in high school. The music video also includes snippets of multiple youtube submissions provided by the It Gets Better Project, with individuals sharing their stories and letting viewers know that “it gets better.”

Rise Against is well known for lending their voice to causes as well as their close relationship to their fans. Past songs with a bent toward social activism have included “Ready to Fall” in support of PETA and “Hero of War”, written in response to the military action in Iraq.

The It Gets Better Project is a non-profit organization created by syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage, who is featured in the video, and his partner Terry Miller in September 2010. Eight months later, IGB has turned into a worldwide movement, inspiring over 10,000 user-created videos viewed over 35 million times.

To date, the project has received submissions from celebrities, organizations, activists, politicians and media personalities, including President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Lady Gaga, Adam Lambert, Anne Hathaway, Joel Madden, Ke$ha, Sarah Silverman, Ellen DeGeneres, the staffs of The Gap, Google, Facebook, Pixar, the Broadway community, and many more.

The website www.itgetsbetter.org is a place where LGBT youth can see how love and happiness can be a reality in their future, straight allies can support their friends and family members, and where anyone can share their story, take the It Gets Better Project pledge, watch videos of love and support, and seek help through the Trevor Project, GLSEN and the ACLU LGBT Project.


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Blitzen Trapper Drops American Goldwing on September 13th with Tour Dates

Blitzen Trapper

Sub Pop Records has announced the new album from Blitzen Trapper entitled American Goldwing. Set for a September 13th release, American Goldwing is full of the introspective and striking storytelling that countless critics have fallen in love with. Beginning July 19th in Salt Lake City, Blitzen Trapper will head out on a North American headlining tour and introduce their new material to fans. Tour dates below and many more to be announced shortly.

With subjects ranging from falling in love to drug running good old boys and the final high school dance, American Goldwing is a freewheeling collection that balances the roughness of rock ‘n’ roll with fateful heartfelt loss. “It’s me trying to evoke a true American nostalgia” explains lead singer and songwriter Eric Earley.

“My vision and focus while writing our new album was on the inescapable past” Eric adds. “It’s about those feelings of being trapped in a small town. That fine line between the rural and the suburban settings that define much of America, that line between love and loss that occurs when you find yourself taking it too easy and sticking around a lonesome town for far too long.”

American Goldwing is “us letting our loves and early influences hang out for all to see. We entered into the sounds we grew up with – the hard guitar rock and country picking of our younger years mixed with glimmers of our usual space-aging technology and pawn shop Casios. Heavy guitar riffs and blasting drum fills live side-by-side with plucking banjos, wailing harmonicas and muddy slide guitars. The earthiness of these songs will make you want to get loaded and get in a fight, or find a girl and fall in love forever, simultaneously.”

Blitzen Trapper Tour Dates
July 19th Urban Lounge Salt Lake City, UT
July 20th The Bluebird Theater Denver, CO
July 22nd Riot Room Kansas City, MO
July 23rd Firebird St. Louis, MO
July 24th Wicker Park Festival Chicago, IL
July 25th The Blue Moose TapHouse Iowa City, IA
July 26th Slowdown Omaha, NE
July 28th The Filling Station Bozeman, MT
July 29th A Club Spokane, WA
July 30th Seasons Performance Hall Yakima, WA


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Against Me! Announce White Crosses Reissue On July 26

Against Me! White CrossesAgainst Me! has announced the re-release of their fifth full-length album, White Crosses. Originally released by Sire Records on June 7, 2010 and presented now in two parts, White Crosses and Black Crosses, the reissue will be the first release on the band’s newly launched record label, Total Treble Music.

This reissue is a 28-track collection that includes the original 10-song album with four bonus tracks, all produced by Butch Vig and mixed by Alan Moulder. The second half, Black Crosses, is a collection of alternate versions and unreleased songs. Of the 14 self-produced Black Crosses songs, nine were recorded with drummer Warren Oakes at Goldentone Studios in Gainesville, FL, shortly before he departed the band in Spring 2009. The other five acoustic songs were recorded at Crescendo Studios, also in Gainesville, in early 2010. Both the 3xLP vinyl and 2xCD versions of this release are presented in their originally intended packaging created by Steak Mtn., including a 32-page lyric and art booklet.

Against Me! are currently finishing up an East Coast US headlining run with Screaming Females and Lemuria, and will be performing their third stint on the 2011 Vans Warped Tour this Summer. On June 14, the band released “Russian Spies”/”Occult Enemies,” a two-song offering recorded with new drummer Jay Weinberg at the recently closed Smart Studios in Madison, WI. The band will be completing their Summer with a string of shows opening for Blink-182, after which they will begin preparing to record their sixth full-length album to be released on their own Total Treble Music.

White Crosses Tracklisting:
01. White Crosses
02. I Was A Teenage Anarchist
03. Because Of The Shame
04. Suffocation
05. We’re Breaking Up
06. High Pressure Low
07. Ache With Me
08. Spanish Moss
09. Rapid Decompression
10. Bamboo Bones
11. Lehigh Acres
12. Bob Dylan Dream
13. One By One
14. Bitter Divisions

Black Crosses Tracklisting:
01. White Crosses (Goldentone Studio Version)
02. I Was A Teenage Anarchist (Acoustic Version)
03. Because Of The Shame (Acoustic Version)
04. The Western World (Goldentone Studio Version)
05. Strip Mall Parking Lots (Goldentone Studio Version)
06. High Pressure Low (Acoustic Version)
07. Hot Shots (Goldentone Studio Version)
08. Spanish Moss (Goldentone Studio Version)
09. Rapid Decompression (Goldentone Studio Version)
10. Soul Surrender (Goldentone Studio Version)
11. Lehigh Acres (Goldentone Studio Version)
12. David Johansen’s Soul (Acoustic Version)
13. One By One (Acoustic Version)
14. Bitter Divisions (Goldentone Studio Version)


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The Shimmies Announce EP and Tour Dates – Friendly Fire MP3 Available Now

The Shimmies

Following up its To All Beloved Enemies album, Chico, California’s The Shimmies is gearing up to release a new EP, Growing Up Roanoke: Beloved B-Sides, a companion to the To All Beloved Enemies recording sessions, featuring four of the 15 songs feverishly recorded during that withering 100+ degree Northern California summer of 2009.

Comprised of three original songs and one cover (of The Shimmies’ best friend-band The Delta Mirror’s “And The Radio Played On”), the tracks on “Growing Up Roanoke” evoke the same thread of emotional chaos and vulnerability that has seen the band compared to The Avett Brothers, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, Jeff Buckley, and Sigur Ros.

The Shimmies sound and style that was established on To All Beloved Enemies was best exemplified in the band’s emotionally haunting song “Judas,” which you can get right here.

With the release of Growing Up Roanoke: Beloved B-Sides, The Shimmies have a few live dates planned including stops in Los Angeles and San Diego with The Delta Mirror.

“Growing Up Roanoke: Beloved B-Sides” is scheduled for release on June 28th, 2011.

The Shimmies Tour Dates
06/25 San Francisco, CA @ Kimo’s w/ Roy G Biv
07/01 Sebastopol, CA @ Aubergine’s w/ w/ Samvega, Little Lost Boys
07/14 Los Angeles, CA @ The Satellite w/ The Delta Mirror
07/16 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar w/ The Delta Mirror


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Metal Mother Announces Tour Dates as New Remixes of Shake Surface

Oakland’s Metal Mother (aka Tara Tati) will be taking her bewitching sound and style on the road for a series of west coast shows. Interest in the artist has steadily increased since the release last month of her self-produced, directed and styled video for “Shake,” the first single from the debut Metal Mother album Bonfire Diaries.

The popularity of the “Shake” single and video has drawn the attention of remix artists who have been posting their interpretations of the song. Tati is especially fond of DJ Shawna’s mash up of “Shake” with “All That” by Diamond Bass. The “Shake” remix by Alpha Code is also a favorite.

Tati developed Bonfire Diaries with nearly a dozen musical madmen, including Tommy Cappell of Beats Antique and Micha Grainger of The Yard Dogs Road Show. The 11 songs on Bonfire Diaries were mixed by Jeremy Black of Apollo Sunshine.

Metal Mother Tour Dates
06/30 Portland, OR @ The Woods w/ Branes, Wampire
07/01 Vancouver, BC @ The Cobalt
07/21 Los Angeles, SC @ Silverlake Lounge
07/24 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
07/31 Sebastopol, CA @ Aubergine


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Red Sparowes to Headline New Weird America Festival on July 2nd

New Weird America

Respected rock label Tee Pee Records and the LA Record will present the second annual New Weird America (NWA) Festival on Saturday, July 2 at the Nomad Gallery (1993 Blake Ave, Los Angeles). Following the success of the 2010 NWA Fest, this year’s installment promises an even “bigger and better celebration of the arts” that will open with a very special group art show titled Twin Infinities at the Nomad on Friday, July 1.

On July 1, all eyes will be focused on the Twin Infinities art show and festival launch at the Nomad. The event will kick off at 6:30 PM and feature original artwork and photography from such well known artists: as Melinda Beck, Ross Farrar (of Ceremony), Tim Kerr, Stephen O’Malley (SUNN O))), etc.), Mike Watt (Iggy and the Stooges, The Minutemen) and many, many more. A “very special musical guest” will also be performing. RSVP via the event’s Facebook event page here.

On July 2, New Weird America will crank up the sound, featuring some of California’s best rock acts. The show will spotlight a diverse array of tuneful talent including Los Angeles atmospheric duo Ides of Gemini (members of Black Math Horseman); Montalvo, CA metal act The Fucking Wrath; Humboldt County psych rockers, Radio Moscow; and LA hard rock quintet, Night Horse along with Dallas trio True Widow and the recently announced addition of Red Sparowes.

An official Facebook event page for New Weird America can be accessed here. Tickets to the fest will be sold for the low price of $10 to enable as many music fans as possible to enjoy the special one-of-a-kind show.

In celebration of the event and its “Summer of Sound”, Tee Pee Records has released a 16 song FREE label sampler featuring new and unreleased tracks from your favorite Tee Pee artists including Ancestors, The Atomic Bitchwax, Black Math Horseman, Karma To Burn, Quest For Fire, Priestess and more! Check out the 2011 Tee Pee sampler now here.

Tee Pee Records & The LA Record present:
The 2nd Annual New Weird America Festival
Saturday, July 2 · 2:00pm – 11:00pm
Nomad Collective Art Compound
1993 Blake Ave, Los Angeles, CA

Featuring:
Red Sparowes
Night Horse
Radio Moscow
True Widow
The Fucking Wrath
Ides of Gemini


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Ancestors Premier Two Songs From The New EP Invisible White

Ancestors

Los Angeles based psychedelic rock quintet Ancestors will release an EP of all new music titled Invisible White on June 21 via Tee Pee Records. The follow up to the group’s sophomore album Of Sound Mind, Invisible White marks the debut of new member Matt Barks on Moog / modular synthesizers and charts a new course for the band’s progressive, colorful sound.

“This record showcases another side of the band,” comments Ancestors guitarist Justin Maranga. “It’s a project that we’ve been talking about doing for a long time and with the addition of Matt to the lineup, we knew it would be a while before we were able to get the next full length out, so we decided that now was a good time to do this. We went into the studio with rough acoustic skeletons of the songs written and essentially let the songs chart their own course. It was a really different approach for us, as we normally go into the studio knowing exactly what is going to happen.”

Invisible White was recorded at Los Angeles’ Bright Street Recorders (Lykee Li, Sia, Grant Lee Phillips) on a 20 channel mixing desk formerly owned by James Brown. The songs on the EP feature a hybrid of orchestral and electronic instruments and assume an almost cinematic, film score feel augmented by guest musicians playing violin and vibraphone. Simultaneously playing to the strengths of psychedelia, prog and even rhythm and blues, the music retains Ancestors’ exploratory approach and adds a hauntingly emotional impact, pushing the band’s sound into interstellar overdrive.

The track listing for Ancestors’ Invisible White is as follows:

  1. Invisible White (7:22)
  2. Dust (7:40)
  3. Epilogue (14:07)

In addition to Maranga, Ancestors features Nick Long (Bass, Vocals), Jason Watkins (Organ, Piano and Vocals), Matt Barks (Moog & Modular Synthesizers and Vocals) and Brandon Pierce (Drums).

Brooklyn Vegan premiered the progressive new Ancestor’s song “Epilogue” – check it out now here.

Gun Shy Assassin also premiered the title track “Invisible White” – check it out now here.


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Big Audio Dynamite Announce August U.S. Tour Dates

Big Audio Dynamite

Big Audio Dynamite, the legendary band formed in 1985 by The Clash’s ex-guitarist and singer Mick Jones, have announced U.S. tour dates for August. The band was formed by Jones following his departure from The Clash, and released a string of acclaimed albums and toured extensively in the ’80s and ’90s before eventually disbanding in 1997. In January of 2011, it was announced that the original line-up had gotten back together, and the band played a rousing set at this year’s Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival in Indio, CA. The Coachella appearance represented the first U.S. show for the band in more than 20 years. The band will also be making stops at this year’s Lollapalooza festival in Chicago and Outside Lands in San Francisco. For a full list of the band’s upcoming U.S. tour dates, see below.

Big Audio Dynamite Tour Dates
8-02 Boston, MA @ The House of Blues Boston
8-03 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl
8-04 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
8-06 Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
8-07 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
8-10 Los Angeles, CA @ Club Nokia
8-11 Anaheim, CA @ City National Grove Of Anaheim
8-12 San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Festival


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