"For this record, I just had a sound in my head," says Norah Jones. "I wanted the grooves to be more present and heavy. And I also just wanted to do something different—I’ve been hanging with the same group of musicians for a long time, and I thought it was a good time for me to work with different people and experiment a little." The result of these experiments is the multiple Grammy Award-winner's new album, The Fall. The album is an exciting evolution from her previous three releases, which have sold a combined 36 million copies worldwide. The first obvious change on The Fall is a lengthy list of new collaborators. Producer Jacquire King&md...
Vessels & Veins is the second EP from Scottish post-rock monsters Penguins Kill Polar Bears. The band, formed in the winter of 2008, are Ben Proudlock (guitars, vocals), Fraser Sanaghan (guitars), Gavin Cormack (bass), and Kieran McGuickan (drums).The EP is a sweeping masterpiece, showcasing a band that are as comfortable with experimentation as they are with tried and true rock formulas. Each track explodes into action, with sheets of reverb-laden guitars, layered over the top of throbbing percussion, and offset by Ben's raw vocals. It's no surprise that Aereogramme are listed as one of their major influences.Following the release of their critically acclaimed debut EP Dawn in June 2010, the b...
With their 1978 eponymous debut, Van Halen simultaneously rewrote the rules of rock guitar and hard rock in general. Guitarist Eddie Van Halen redefined what electric guitar could do, developing a blindingly fast technique with a variety of self-taught two-handed tapping, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and effects that mimicked the sounds of machines and animals. It was wildly inventive and over the top, equaled only by vocalist David Lee Roth, who brought the role of a metal singer to near-performance art standards. Roth wasn't blessed with great technique, unlike Eddie, but he had a flair for showmanship that was derived as much from loung...
Tapes ‘n Tapes is a rock band from Minneapolis, MN, made up of Josh Grier on guitar and lead vocals, Matt Kretzmann on keys and horns, Erik Appelwick on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Jeremy Hanson on percussion. Grier said he formed the band in 2003, to "have fun with my friends. I always wanted to see if I could play music with others and for others." Grier and his buddies amassed "tapes ‘n tapes" of noodling, experimental jams and declared themselves officially a band. In the winter of 2004, the band now known as Tapes ‘n Tapes bought some recording equipment and headed out to a rustic cabin in the woods of Wisconsin. They recorded their self-titled, now long out of p...
Nero are drum and bass and dubstep producers from the United Kingdom. Also known as NERO UK, they first joined formation Records in the summer of 2004. Over the last couple of years Dan and Joe’s tracks have been causing quite a stir in the drum and bass scene, gaining huge airplay support from top radio DJs such as Zane Lowe, Jo Whiley, Steve Lamacq, Pete Tong, Rob Da Bank and frequently from Fabio & Grooverider (all from BBC’s Radio 1) as well as Hype on Kiss FM. In 2008, Nero launched themselves into the dubstep scene, making a good impression on the scene. According to the Me and You Songfacts, Nero have remixed the likes of La Roux, Daft Punk and deadmau5 and won the 2010 Beatport’s Best Dubstep Act. Their cut,...
2011 East Coast Music Award Nominees for "Fan Choice Entertainer of the Year", Alert The Medic is a four piece rock band from Halifax, Nova Scotia, whose anthemic sound and high energy performances have been captivating audiences on the east coast and beyond! Alert The Medic's sophomore album, "We, the weapon", received 4 2010 Music Nova Scotia Award Nominations including the category for Group Recording of the Year and Single of the Year for "Atlas". "Atlas" achieved national rotation for over 14 weeks and cracked Mediabase's Top 50 Active Rock Canadian Charts. The album continues to break new ground, charting on college radio stations from coast to coast. In 2010, Alert The Me...
The metronome is not a device known for its deviation. It strikes a predictable, functional pattern. Each time Metronomy release an album, on the other hand, there is a scorched earth change of pace and tone. Yet the pulse never disappears, it just reanimates for a brand new dancefloor. Anyone expecting more of the same digital melancholia as heard on the universally-lauded Nights Out is in for a shock – but a pleasant one. The English Riviera, Metronomy’s third album – and second, after Nights Out, on Because Music – is a belting, unashamed pop album, a gorgeous record full of languid, sunset funk songs, which looks set to propel Metronomy even further than they have tr...
PERRY FERYA - folk musician born and working in Central Pomerania. In cooperation with two other folk artists: Maya (Skala, Cosmic Liar & Murderer, ex- Rzepczyno Folk Band, OKW, Tetmayer & others) and Lech - local animator of Western African drumming traditions - plundered sounds recorded with them over the years to form the „Back Out" album. Works of Perry Ferya Band descend from the culture of local proletariat clubs. „Back out" reflects tradition of collective music playing ‘under the influence' out of the longing for the big world and reflections on human fate. If there's still anyone with undisturbed joy of playing, it's for sure the Perry Ferya Band.Perry Ferya Band are: Robert Roger...
We are Dada Life. Destroy dance music and have fun. Don’t look back in the past. Always go forward. Don’t think too much. Always follow the money. Do the Dada. The result? Big tunes, no frills....
Ask Gotye about his new album Making Mirrors and he’ll speak not of songs, but of sounds. He’ll describe the various valves through which strings and choirs cycle on his Lowrey Cotillion, a vintage organ bought for 100 bucks in a second-hand shop that features on the record. Or how he constructed a bassline by sampling the Winton Musical Fence, an unlikely instrument he discovered in the outback of Queensland, Australia, comprised of five large metal strings attached to wooden fence posts and a resonant chamber. He may mention the horn break from a traditional Taiwanese folk song he discovered on a 1970s Cathay Pacific promotional record, which he sampled, sped up and dubbed out, before ...
Like the Velvet Underground, their most obvious influence, the chart success of the Jesus and Mary Chain was virtually nonexistent, but their artistic impact was incalculable; quite simply, the British group made the world safe for white noise, orchestrating a sound dense in squalling feedback which served as an inspiration to everyone from My Bloody Valentine to Dinosaur Jr. ...
There’s no way to prepare yourself for the moment when Peterborough, Ontario’s Birthday Boys stumble out on stage. If you’ve come for the howling, piss-and-vinegar punk-rock - you’ll be stunned by the slow, dark rhythms weaving through the set like a call to raise the dead. Come for the haunting blues-stomp - and be flattened by the wall of sound and fury. Unleashed, the four men look as if they’re possessed by rock and roll. They stomp, spit, and sweat - their veins pop out, their eyes roll back, their pompadours hang in defeat. They drag The Blues across explosive guitar riffs and eerie desert soundscapes as they smash-and-grab their way from Muddy Waters to The Clash. All the...
Hopeless Records is excited to announce that we have partnered with The Used and their label, Anger Music Group to release their highly anticipated follow up to 2009’s Artwork.The final touches are being made to the album which will be released in the Spring of 2012. Vulnerable will be the bands 5th studio album.Already chosen as one of Alternative Press Magazine’s Most Anticipated of 2012, front man Bert McCracken explains, “Vulnerable is about taking one step back and two steps forward. The sound of the record is as evolved as it possibly could be, it maintains the same emotional integrity as the first record [2002’s The Used], yet it sounds like the future (and the future sounds bright). Vulnerab...
Bruce Lamont is known more for providing vocals, saxophone and other musical contributions to bands as diverse as metal's forward-thinking Yakuza and Bloodiest, industrial-influenced act Circle of Animals, and one of the country's most accurate and notable Led Zeppelin cover bands, Led Zeppelin 2.In July of 2006 Lamont made his debut solo performance, utilizing saxophones, guitar, voice, harp, percussion and looping effects. In 2007 Bruce recorded four tracks which he dubbed Feral, and three new tracks were recorded in 2010 called The Epic Decline; the two recordings were unified to form this, his first full length, Feral Songs For The Epic Declin...
Supernatural Cat Records have signed avant/extreme duo OvO for their upcoming sixth album Cor Cordium, which will be released on April 18th, 2011. The diverse, avant/conceptual ten-track opus Cor Cordium -- the title translating to "heart of the hearts" -- is an epitaph to the memory of idolized English Romantic poet and adventurer Percy Shelley. OvO hail from a realm of contaminated heavy rock, where noise elements act as breaks between the sonic deconstructive assaults as displayed on Cor Cordium. The hi-fi recordings captured on the album, for the first time in OvO's history utilizing any sort of overdubs, present a rational structure hidden under the apparent madness of the compositions. C...
Clinton Curtis grew up between the islands of Key West and Jamaica. The son of musicians and reggaehall owners, he was always surrounded by music. As a child, he helped sound-check all the acts that appeared at his parents' legendary Club Kokua on Negril Beach. He played with and learned from some of the Jamaican giants -- including Gregory Isaacs and Desmond Dekker. Now for his sophomore release, 2nd Avenue Ball, the album is set to be released with 27 Sound on 3/22/2011. ...
Diary of Destruction is a melodic metal band of Lille formed at the end of 2007 with the meeting of 4 friends coming from different musical horizons.It allies a powerful and intoxicating singing to incisive riffs sublimated by gothic tones.The band tries ceaselessly to improve the alchemy of the sweetness and the bewitchment of singing with the power of its guitars and its drums.Diary of Destruction is a metaphor based on the personal diary (symbol of the recession) and of the Destruction (representing the rough, impulsive aspect of the man).At the beginning of 2009, the band takes out an eponymic demo of 3 titles and realizes a serie of concerts France and in Belgium to make discover its music....
“booming voice delivers two-fisted power to this combustible mix of folk, country, and the blues" - whisperinandhollerin.comOn His OwnIn 2005, Chad Kichula sold his truck to pay for his first album. The result was a self-titled americana/roots-rock album that displayed Chad's development as a songwriter. With songs such "Sierra Leone”, Kichula showed he could craft lyrics and tell a story; just as Springsteen and Earle had. By working hard pruning and cutting trees by day, Chad was now clearing the way to cut his tracks and developed as a so...
In 1986 a young Ace Reporter (also born as Chris Snyder) saw Itzhak Perlman playing violin on Sesame Street and became enamored with the world of classical music. A few years later, Ace landed his first gig as a singer as the boy soprano on the soundtrack for The Crow. An electric guitar and a creative spark led Ace from recording tracks in his garage to forming The States in 2002, a band he spent 7 years with, releasing 3 albums and playing over 300 shows. In January of 2010 Chris embarked on the 365 Project to write, record and post a new song every day of 2010....
Sam Roberts Band is thrilled to announce the release of their new album, Collider. Set for a May 10th release on Zoë/Rounder Records, Collider reinforces the spirit of the band's classic pop song craft and infectious melodies that countless critics fell in love with. Joined by Califone percussionist Ben Massarella and Antibalas woodwind wizard Stuart Bogie, the band explores a world of rhythms, sounds and ideas that challenged their understanding of themselves and the music that they were making. Produced by Chicago-based producer Brian Deck (Modest Mouse / Iron and Wine,) Collider is the follow up to Roberts' critically acclaimed album Love At The End Of The World. The new energy is immediately apparent...
Corey King is a 19 year old singer songwriter from Alliance, Ohio. King has played in numerous bands and has touched been on many different musical journeys. A self taught musician, King plays all instruments on all his songs. He is also a self taught recording engineer. Though Corey focuses on the musical aspect of his work, he puts much effort into his lyrics as well. All songs by King are written and recorded by himself. Starting off with acoustic driven songs and some electronic, King has since evolved his sound into a folk/pop/indie style and continues to add different musical genres to his already distinct sound. Performing at venues with only himself and his laptop, which pumps out his backtracks (s...
Cody Massacre, or Cody Nesbitt, currently resides in beautiful South Lake Tahoe, California. He grew up listening to electronic music and it is one of his many preferred genres to toy with. You will find a variety of influences in his music, so eclectic that he even likes to consider it a unique style solely to "Cody Massacre." He started this project on September 19th, 2008 and has always been producing since. He's put together a few crash & burn EP's that he has made vanish from the internet but he has just released his first full-length debut album titled "HeXed" on Valentine's Day of 2012. When he actually first started, his...
This 19-year-old talent started his EDM career at age 13 by imitating sounds he heard in video games on a Sony music editing program. He has now upgrades his software and is on to producing suspense building, bass pumping dubstep tracks that the EDM crowd is eating up! His career has shown continued growth by providing solid tour support to Tiësto and Skrillex and making appearances at EDC and Electric Zoo. He was quickly signed to Skrillex's label OWLSA in the summer of 2011 and released his first EP "Spitfire". It crashed Beatport’s servers upon release, smashed its way to the #1 position and held it for 2 weeks solid. Since releasing his own album, he has collaborated with many artists and reached a mains...
Nick Diamonds' polymorphous pop band, Islands, is back with their third studio album, Vapours. The 2006 debut, Return to the Sea, found eccentric and mellifluous pop tunes performed with a cast of characters from Montreal's thriving music scene (including members of Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade), helmed by Nick Diamonds and Jamie Thompson. Thompson departed amicably from the group shortly after the album was released, and 2007's Arm's Way found the band turning in a new direction towards lushly orchestrated, guitar-driven prog-rock. Thompson has returned to the band for Vapours, a record that flits back and forth between moody synthesizers and drum-machine-heavy beats, while remaining firmly rooted in the classic pop sensibilities and multit...
Sean Pompey (Born in Harlem, New York NY, United States), better know by his stage name Smoke DZA, is an american rapper who first gained recognition in 2009 with the release of his first mixtape Substance Abuse. He follwed with the release of his 2010 mixtape George Kush Da Button, and his lastest release in 2011, Rolling Stoned. Smoke Dza often references movies and marijuana with his slow laid back style of rap.Hip Hop is just a hobby for some but for Smoke DZA, it is a way of life Born and raised in Harlem, NY, DZA (real name Sean Pompey) was raised surrounded by music, though it wasn’t necessarily hip hop, “My first exposure to music was through my Dad.” He reflects, “He played his oldies every weeke...
On their ninth studio album, Strange Cousins from the West, the Maryland hard rockers continue to grow musically. Due out July 7th 2009, Strange Cousins sees the innovative quartet stirring up a sonic crock-pot of chugging blues riffs, punk rock grit, bombastic funk beats and raw, infectious vocals. Guitarist Tim Sult rips through epic grooves on cuts like "Motherless Child," while bassist Dan Maines and drummer Jean-Paul Gaster lay an impenetrable rhythmic foundation on the likes of "Minotaur." Meanwhile, Neil Fallon croons out a soulful cacophony, lyrically conjuring an intergalactic pulp fiction. Invite these Cousins in, and you'll never be the same.Neil sees this record as a logical progression for the ba...
A blend of dizzying electro-pop with their roots in the rock scene, Denver, CO duo Breathe Carolina have their eyes on superstardom. Featuring their pulsating hit single "Blackout", their third full-length Hell Is What You Make It sees the band at their best - pushing their own limits, determined to bring their party to the masses.It's been quite the year for the band, as "Blackout"'s steady ascension up the Top 40 single chart, embraced by fans across the nation as their new party anthem, has made them one of the only independent acts taking on the pop goliaths at Top 40. Hell Is What You Make It debuted at #2 on the Billboard Electronic Chart, with The NY Times calling the album "one of the best pure p...
Born in Eugene, Oregon, singer/songwriter Mat Kearney began his musical career 400 miles south at the Chico branch of California State University, where he studied literature and played on the soccer team. After completing his junior year, Kearney went to Nashville with friend/producer Robert Marvin, with the intention of only staying the summer to lay down a few songs. However, after offers for recording deals started coming in, Kearney decided to remain in Tennessee to seriously pursue his songwriting career. Kearney's interesting blend of hip-hop and folk intrigued Inpop Records, which offered him the deal he'd been looking for and released his debut album, Bullet, in 2004. Kearney departed slightly from his ...
Initially hailing from the Houston area, the principle songwriters of Gold Beach, Tony Daugherty and Michael Winningham, grew up on the same street. The two relocated to Austin and put the band together, which includes a plethora of regional talent, including: Jeremy Gomez (x-Mineral, the Glass Family), Carlos Orozco (x-Western Keys, Black Drum Set), Nicole Kern (x-Balmorhea), Evan Jacobs (Tacks! the Boy Disaster, Polyphonic Spree), Andy Sharp (Girling), and Henna Chou (x-My Education).Since then, the band has been on a roll! They self released their first record which the Austin Chronicle called a "carefully crafted debut", supported national bands such as Memoryhouse, Talkdemonic, Wooden Birds, Balmorhea and re...
With a commanding presence, a distinctive voice that is recognizable throughout the world and titles such as artist, businessman, philanthropist and Grammy Award winner, Shaggy is and has been a forced to be reckoned with. A son of the brambly streets of Kingston, Jamaica, his discipline-which he credits to his military background-has been the foundation of his success.In 1993, Shaggy exploded on the music scene with his debut album “Pure Pleasure.” His remix of the Ska classic...
