Ben Jelen will be touring with Pete Yorn this summer in support of his new album Ex-Sensitive. The release will be available in stores on July 17 th through Linda Perry’s Custard label. Ben will kick off his new CD and tour with a record release party at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC on July 16th and an in-store performance on July 17th at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square.
Los Angeles, CA — Ben Jelen will kick off his new CD and tour with a record release party headlining the Bowery Ballroom in NYC on July 16 th and in-store performance to follow on July 17th at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square. Jelen will then set out on tour with Pete Yorn on his East Coast tour starting in St. Louis on July 21st. See all confirmed tour dates below.
Ben Jelen’s sophomore CD ex-sensitive will be available in stores on July 17th through Linda Perry’s Custard label. Jelen is the first artist release for 2007 from Custard, home to multi-platinum selling “You’re Beautiful” singer James Blunt. Jelen recorded the tracks for the album with producer/label head Linda Perry whom also mixed the majority of the songs in addition to two mixes from famed producer Bill Bottrell (Shelby Lynne, Tom Petty, Rosanne Cash, Elton John).
Jelen, whose first album was released in 2004 ( Give It All Away, Maverick Records), sought Perry’s éclat as an artistic luminary to produce his second album. When first meeting with Ben at her studio, Linda found him as that ever-rarer gem in today’s music landscape: a unique artist who is best served when serving only to his art. “Lyrically and melodically, Ben’s perspective is creative, visual and beautifully stated,” says Perry. Production soon began to capture Ben’s vision with an organic, classic approach. Upon recognizing their achievement during the production, Perry made the decision to release the CD through her own Custard label.
Jelen’s latest CD speaks of his growth as an artist, songwriter and human being. “I feel like I have lived a bit more, I know who I am right now and I feel we captured that on the album,” he says. Jelen has long dedicated a significant portion of his time to working with organizations and charities (United Nations, Natural Resources Defense Council, Live For Darfur, Amnesty International, Rock The Vote, among others) that he feels are affecting change in a positive and meaningful way, a common theme throughout ex-sensitive. Jelen’s career has given him the opportunity to work closely with such organizations and as a result, Jelen has developed a strong ethos for using his voice not only to express himself, but also to speak out on behalf of others.
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London’s Roundhouse was simply knackered from hosting the wild antics of The Stones, The Who, The Doors and all forms of naked performance art and avant-theatre in the 1960’s and 70’s, so it decided to close and sleep in the early 80’s. In 2006 it woke up and re-opened its doors. The Dresden Dolls held a conference and decided that yes, this would be the ideal place for a party.
It was a scene to behold: the café was covered in prints that Nick shot during illegal urban explorations of squats in Berlin, there was a bunch of half-naked Australians lurking out in the freezing cold practicing an esoteric Japanese dance form, a makeshift gypsy band hidden under the concrete stairwell, an aerialist from Montreal hanging above a pair of drunken secretaries from L.A., a beat-boxing New Yorker looping himself infinitely, a pair of British buskers with Mohawks beating wildly on household objects, a collection of puppeteered Barbie dolls lip-synching to “Ace of Spades,” a roving confessional booth and a magnetic science experiment using My Little Ponies. Oh, and then The Dolls beat the living daylights out of a piano, and a drum-set while everyone sang along.
If you weren’t there, it’s a bloody shame. But through the magic of modern technology you can buy this DVD and pretend!
The Dresden Dolls - “Backstabber” VIDEO
The Dresden Dolls - “Coin Operated Boy” VIDEO
The Dresden Dolls - “Girl Anachronism” VIDEO
TRACKLISTING:
1) Sex Changes
2) Gravity
3) Modern Moonlight
4) Mrs. O
5) Backstabber
6) Coin-Operated Boy
7) Two-Headed Boy
Mandy Goes To Med School
9) Lonesome Organist Rapes Page Turn
10) Slide
11) The Jeep Song
12) Dirty Business
13) Shores Of California
14) Sing
15) Mein Herr
16) Mad World
17) Girl Anachronism
Against Me! have launched the third episode of their “Making of the Record” series on YouTube.com. In the new episode, the band takes you inside their rehearsal space where they put the finishing touches on the new songs before they hit the studio. Against Me! has also released a video for the Butch Vig remix for “White People For Peace.” Against Me! will release their new album, New Wave, on July 10th. If you pre-order album now at Interpunk.com or Smartpunk.com you will receive a limited edition 7″ of “Thrash Unreal.”
Rock/Ska group Reel Big Fish releases Monkeys For Nothin and the Chimps For Free on their label Rock Ridge Music on July 7th, 2007. They are also going on tour this summer with Less Than Jake, the dates are posted below. Listen to Party Down, or go to their Official Website for more information.
After more than 15 years of conveying negative vibes, warning listeners about the dangers of being in a band and lamenting their time in the music industry (case in point: the band’s radio hit, “Sell Out”), the members of Southern California ska-punk stalwarts Reel Big Fish want to let the world know of a big change: They’re finally happy.
Some of that happiness stems from being released from their former label’s contract. “We’re very happy to be off the major label because they didn’t understand us,” says front man Aaron Barrett. “They didn’t know what to call us, how to market us or who to market us to. They are used to pre-packaged pop and radio-ready rock and I think we were just too weird for them to comprehend. So eventually they just ended up doing nothing.”
Freed from such obligations, Reel Big Fish is finally releasing its first independent studio album since leaving its former label. The self-produced Monkeys For Nothin’ And The Chimps For Free finds the members of Reel Big Fish doing things their way. In fact, it features material done their way, from quite a long ways back.
“We decided we were going to do a B-sides and rarities thing, but we didn’t have anything to release, so we were going to re-record some things that we were going to call B-sides and rarities,” explains Barrett. “But then we realized that most of that stuff no one had ever heard, so it wasn’t really B-sides and rarities, it was just new songs. But those weren’t good enough, so we wrote some new songs that were actually new, and suddenly we’re making a new album.”
TOUR DATES (with Less Than Jake):
7/3 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre
7/4 - Milwaukee, WI - Milwaukee Summerfest
7/5 - Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oake Music Theatre
7/6 - Grand Rapids, MI - The Intersection
7/7 - Buffalo, NY - The Town Ballroom
7/8 - Quebec City, QU - Festival D’Ete-d’Youville Square
7/10 - Clifton Park, NY - Northern Lights
7/11 - Providence, RI - Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
7/12 - Hampton Beach, NH - Hampton Beach Casino
7/13 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
7/14 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
7/15 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Lot
7/17 - Allentown, PA - Crocodile Rock
7/18 - Boston, MA - Avalon Ballroom
7/19 - New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom
7/20 - Norfolk, VA - The Norva
7/21 - Richmond, VA - Toad’s Place Richmond
7/23 - Ft Lauderdale, FL - Revolution
7/24 - Saint Petersburg, FL - Jannus Landing
7/25 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
7/27 - Houston, TX - Meridian
7/28 - Corpus Christi, TX - The Pavilion @ Concrete Street
7/29 - Dallas, TX - The Palladium Ballroom
7/31 - Anaheim, CA - The Grove of Anaheim
8/2 - Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern Theatre
8/3 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
8/4 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre
8/5 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
8/6 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Great Salt Air
8/7 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
8/9 - Tulsa, OK - Cain’s Ballroom
8/10 - St Louis, MO - The Pageant
8/11 - Omaha, NE - Sokol Auditorium
8/12 - Sioux Falls, SD - Rankota Exhibit Hall
8/14 - Minneapolis, MN - The Myth
8/15 - Chicago, IL - Congress Theatre
8/16 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Theatre
8/17 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogarts
8/18 - Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
8/19 - Rochester, NY - Water Street Music Hall
8/21 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Zoo
8/22 - Scranton, PA - Tink’s
Art in Manila is a new band with some familiar faces. Saddle Creek will be releasing their debut album Set The Woods On Fire on August 7th!
After Azure Ray disbanded in 2004, Orenda Fink, one half of the beloved Omaha-via-Athens duo, put her energies into a solo record. In 2005, she released Invisible Ones, an under-the-radar but critically-acclaimed debut album.
Through the Invisible Ones touring cycle, Orenda assembled several different touring bands with revolving members, along the way making profound musical and personal friendships with her bandmates. With a little astrological nudge and some serendipitous circumstances, Orenda decided to form a new band using the cream of the crop of her touring crew. The band they formed was called Art Belle. Fearing the wrath of paranoid radio listeners “West of the Rockies” (in addition to fearing litigation), the band shortly changed its name to Art in Manila, a nod to radio host Art Bell’s exodus to the Phillipines. Art in Manila is comprised of Orenda on guitar and vocals, Adrianne Verhoeven on keys and vocals, Dan McCarthy also on keys, Steve Bartolomei on guitar, Ryan Fox on bass guitar, and Corey Broman on drums. Band members play or have played in… Mayday, McCarthy Trenching, The Anniversary, The Good Life, Mal Madrigal, Bright Eyes, Little Brazil, Dance Me Pregnant, Neva Dinova, and plenty of other groups both recognizable and not.
When writing tracks for Set the Woods on Fire, Orenda’s writing process was informed by the possibilities and potential of working with a live band again. She could now write songs with each of the Art in Manila member’s strengths in mind. At times, Art in Manila travels the lush path set forth by her previous work, however, it is here subsumed with edge and backbone. The band flirts playfully with genre wanderlust without ever abandoning cohesion. Moody slow-burners follow four-to-the-floor rockers which butt up against serene ballads. And it all works. Orenda and company have deviated from their collective musical pasts without forsaking it… and have conjured a powerful debut record in the process.
Set the Woods on Fire, Art in Manila’s debut album, was recorded in Omaha, Nebraska, by Joel Petersen (The Faint, Broken Spindles) and mixed in Athens, Georgia, with longtime Orenda Fink collaborator Andy LeMaster (Now It’s Overhead).
Check out the title track from Set The Woods On Fire. Starting today you can pre-order the album from saddle-creek.com! If you order from them, they will ship it two weeks before street date!
“First Time” Music Video:
http://www.lifehousemusic.com/player/default.aspx?mid=3271&bhcp=1
Lifehouse’s new album, Who We Are, was released last Tuesday and debuted at # 3 on the iTunes album chart remaining there for a full week! The album debuts on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart at #14 this week while first single “First Time” explodes on the Billboard digital sales chart with a 69% increase jumping from #81 - #48. Across the country Who We Are was a top 10 selling album this week in markets such as Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Denver, San Diego, Milwaukee, Columbus, Grand Rapids, Salt Lake City, Harrisburg, Albany, Wilkes Barre, Des Moines, Green Bay, Austin, Rochester, Omaha, Cedar Rapids and South Bend.
At radio “First Time” is #7 on the Adult Top 40 chart and debuts at #39 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart. A fond look back at the excitement and initial rush of romance, “First Time” is poised to be the song of the summer!
The video for “First Time” was shot in Los Angeles and features real couples falling in love for the first time or experiencing that ‘first time’ feeling. One couple gets tattoos together for the first time, while another guy teaches his girl how to skateboard for the first time and then you have the couple falling in love on the beach. Perhaps the most poignant moment is when real life husband and wife embrace after the husband returns from the military. In fact, the gentleman you see in the video did serve in Iraq and just returned from his tour of duty two months ago! The passion of being involved with someone for the first time is expressed through the urgency of Lifehouse’s performance in the video. Shot in a white room the band is wearing all white clothes and playing all white instruments. As the energy of the song intensifies the passion between the couples does as well and the white room and band’s clothing begin to change from white to a ruby red, exploding in vibrant color just how passion explodes inside us when we are in love for the first time.
On Who We Are, singer-songwriter Jason Wade – along with drummer Rick Woolstenhulme and bassist Bryce Soderberg – gets back to the basics of what made him first form the band while still a teenager in suburban California. Their fourth Geffen album in seven years, Lifehouse, all still in their mid-20s, are really starting to enjoy the fruits of their success and have some fun. Their multi-platinum 2000 debut, No Name Face, produced “Hanging by a Moment,” a #1 alternative hit which crossed over to become Top 40’s Most Played Song of 2001, while 2005’s self-titled platinum effort yielded “You and Me,” a giant hit ballad that set a record by spending more than 60 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Who We Are was recorded in Los Angeles and was produced by Jude Cole (Rocco Deluca, Mozella), who co-wrote the band’s last hit “You And Me” with Jason, and Lifehouse
Lifehouse is currently out on the road with Goo Goo Dolls this summer! See below for a complete list of remaining tour dates:
7/2 Kansas City, MO Starlight Amphitheatre
7/3 St. Louis, MS Riverfest
7/15 Raleigh, NC Walnut Creek
7/16 Baltimore, MD The Pier
7/18 Bushkill, PA Mountain Laurel Center
7/20 Holmdel, NJ PNC
7/21 Wantagh, NY Jones Beach
7/22 Boston, MA Tweeter Center
7/24 Saratoga, NY Saratoga Perf. Arts Center
7/25 Hartford, CT Mohegan Sun
7/27 Atlantic City, NJ Borgata
7/28 Buffalo, NY Darien Lakes
7/29 Pittsburgh, PA Sandcastle Amphitheatre
7/31 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park Amphitheatre
8/1 Pensacola, FL Pensacola Civic Center
8/3 West Palm Beach, FL Sound Advice Amphitheatre
8/4 Tampa, FL Ford Amphitheatre
8/23 Chicago, IL Charter One Pavilion
8/24 Minneapolis, MN Minnesota State Fair
8/26 Detroit, MI Freedom Hill
8/28 Cleveland, OH Tower City
8/29 Columbus, OH Lifestyle Community Pavilion
8/31 Dallas, TX Smirnoff Music Centre
9/1 Austin, TX The Backyard
9/2 The Woodlands, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion
Official site:
MySpace page:
Shot with Ixpress 96 - Hasselblad Winder CW
The iconic British duo of Andy Bell and Vince Clarke have announced they’ll set off on their own headlining tour this summer–entitled “The Light At The End Of The World Tour”–in support of their May 22 release, Light At The End Of The World (Mute). Erasure have announced over 15 solo tour dates, which will start in early July in Florida (playing Miami on Saturday, July 7 at the James L. Knight Center) and continue on through early August. The complete list of tour stops are located below, and tickets are currently on sale.
Erasure E-Card:
http://www.erasureinfo.com/sundaygirl/
“Sunday Girl” Streaming Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVnExIdukQM
Erasure Official Website:
http://www.erasureinfo.com
Erasure Myspace Page:
http://www.myspace.com/erasureofficial
Light at the End of the World Tour Dates:
Fri 7/6
Tampa, FL
Carol Morsani Hall @ TBPAC
Sat 7/7
Miami, FL
James L. Knight Center
Sun 7/8
Orlando, FL
Hard Rock Live!
Fri 7/13
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Coliseo Roberto Clemente
Sat 7/14
Altos de Chavon, Dominican Republic
The Amph @ Altos de Chavon
Mon 7/16
Mexico City, Mexico
Metropolitan Theater
Thu 7/19
Monterrey, Mexico
Arena Monterrey
Sat 7/21
Anaheim, CA
Grove of Anaheim
Tue 7/24
Seattle, WA
Moore Theatre
Fri 7/27
Minneapolis, MN
First Avenue
Sat 7/28
Milwaukee, WI
Pabst Theater
Sun 7/29
Kansas City, MO
Uptown Theater
Tue 7/31
Detroit, MI
Music Hall
Wed 8/1
Cleveland, OH
House of Blues
Fri 8/3
Brooklyn, NY
For some, living the rock ’n’ roll dream means fame, fortune and all the excess that comes with it. The Marble Index are living a different dream. It involves the proverbial blood, sweat and tears. It involves perseverance and effort. It involves working like sons of bitches and making the most of opportunity. If this dream doesn’t sound as sexy, you’ve read too many magazines. This is good, old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll spirit, with nothing airbrushed, steroid-pumped or collagen-enhanced – but sexy indeed. In fact, if you compare The Marble Index’s self-titled debut and their latest, “Watch Your Candles, Watch Your Knives,” you’ll hear a band who haven’t lost an ounce of muscle, but have gained a remarkable amount of finesse. Even as their album was landing on new shelves in new countries, the Index had regrouped at home to record “Watch Your Candles, Watch Your Knives.” They hunkered down for several weeks at Hamilton, Ontario’s Catharine North Studios, with producer Scott Shields (the Mescaleros, G.U.N.) at the helm.
On a particularly nasty night at the Cleveland Music Festival in 2003, two Midwestern bands (Bridge and Outspoken) performed on the Agora stage to a rowdy rock ‘n’ roll crowd. After the show, Geo Teubl (Bridge) and Frank Green (Outspoken) drunkenly fought in the parking lot, solidifying a friendship in only the way excessive amounts of Southern Comfort and rock star antics can. Two years later, Outspoken broke up and Outspoken guitarist Kevin McCreery joined platinum-selling band Tantric for three years, touring with such acts as 3 Doors Down, Godsmack and Default. McCreery then contacted Teubl after hearing Bridge had parted ways. The two began writing immediately and after their first jam session with Donnie Highland (drums, Outspoken) and Green (bass guitar), the band Ugly was formed. Front man Teubl says, “We had an immediate chemistry, mutual admiration for each other’s sound, and, most importantly, we all wanted to put the art back in party with raw rock!”
In the club’s early 90’s heyday, the versatile GEE kept delirious audiences going through spinning at Limelight’s “Future Shock” dance/techno nights and performing with his live band as well as spinning at the club’s “Rock And Roll Church” metal/rock/industrial nights. The crowds kept coming back to Limelight, just like they did in Australia, Japan, Italy, Spain, Scotland, Austria, Hungary and Belgium to name a few. GEE is a recurring headliner at Sensation, Thunderdome, Mysteryland, and Love Parade, where GEE played before one million people. His diverse appeal keeps him performing weekly at all types of musical events and concerts. GEE has shared the stage with everyone from Hatebreed and Biohazard to Crystal Method, Busta Rhymes, Kurtis Blow, and Afrika Bambaataa. His GEEness has also has spun at many Slipknot and Korn after parties with his good friend, DJ Starscream a.k.a. #0 of Slipknot.
Here are this week’s GHIDRAH songs:
SONG 1: The Marble Index – “All That I Know”
SONG 2: Ugly – “Sex, Drugs, and Rock N Roll”
SONG 3: Rob GEE – “P.F.U. (edit)”
PLAY
