Vagrant Records will release EELS’ eighth studio album End Times on January 19. EELS is the ever-changing project of singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Oliver Everett (aka E). End Times follows on the heels of EELS’ critically acclaimed 2009 release Hombre Lobo, hailed by Vanity Fair as “anti-anthems that get your dopamine pumping instead of your fist” and praised by Rolling Stone for its “muddy roadhouse rockers.” Largely self-recorded on an old four track tape machine in the basement of Everettt’s Los Angeles home, the “end times” he writes about isn’t “Mayan calendar conspiracy theory bullshit,” says Everett, but, “the state of the desperate times we live in. The bottom line-ness of it all.”
While Hombre Lobo was written from the point of view of a fictional character (namely, the Dog Faced Boy of EELS’ 2001 album Souljacker), End Times is purely real life as Everett sees it: a “divorce album” with a modern twist. He equates his personal loss with the world he lives in losing its integrity. This isn’t Everett’s first break-up record. His 1993 solo effort, Broken Toy Shop, chronicled the broken heart of a young man in his twenties. End Times focuses on the loss of a middle-aged man growing as an artist. The loss has more weight.
As for the timing of the release, “I felt guilty about the long gap between the last two albums so I’m making up for lost time,” Everett says. The longest gap between EELS albums (four years between the 2005 release Blinking Lights and Other Revelations and the 2009 Hombre Lobo) is being followed by the shortest (six months between Hombre Lobo and End Times).
During the four years prior to Hombre Lobo Everett embarked on a number of projects including his acclaimed book Things the Grandchildren Should Know and the BBC produced multiple-award winning Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives documentary film about Everett and his quantum physicist father, Hugh Everett III, which was broadcast on PBS’ Nova series in the fall of 2008. Everett says he’s now “back to my real job: making music full time.”
Check out the new track “Little Bird” from End Times :
Through a “tweet” on Twitter today, DAVE MATTHEWS BAND have announced that they are giving away their new single, “Funny the Way It Is,” as a free download for one week. Dave (@davejmatthews) and bassist Stefan Lessard (@slessard) are both very active on Twitter, keeping touch with their huge fanbase and decided it was the perfect place to get the word out. The song comes off their upcoming album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, which hits stores on June 2nd. It will be the band’s first studio album since the death of saxophonist LeRoi Moore last summer. The “GrooGrux King” in the album title refers to Moore’s nickname within the group. Matthews created all of the artwork for Big Whiskey, including the richly detailed cover illustration that puts a GrooGrux spin on New Orleans’ traditional Mardi Gras parades while evoking the joy and the sorrow expressed in the album’s songs. Matthews has designed logos and other elements in the past, but this is the first time he has created the entire packaging for a Dave Matthews Band album.
Guitarist Tim Reynolds will play on the album, making it his first recording with DMB since 1998’s Before These Crowded Streets. The album was produced by Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Goo Goo Dolls). Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King will also feature the recording debuts of Rashawn Ross who joined the band in 1996 but hadn’t played on any of their studio releases yet and Moore’s replacement, saxophonist Jeff Coffin who also is a member of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. DMB just released a trailer for the new album which can be seen below.
Dave Matthews Band kicks off its 2009 tour tonight with a show at Madison Square Garden in New York City and will be on the road through October 2nd. Please visit http://www.davematthewsband.com for a full itinerary of the band’s spring and summer tours – and also check the website for the launch of the Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King pre-order later this week. Fans who pre-order the CD at the band’s website will receive the group’s upcoming live album, Live Trax 15, for free. Live Trax 15 captures the group’s August 9th, 2008 show at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI, one of the most fan-requested shows for release from last year’s summer tour.
Download “Funny the Way It Is” for FREE here all this week
Album Trailer:
As one half of The Raveonettes, Sune Rose Wagner has spent the past seven years offering up noir-ish gutter rock and fuzzed out pop with his bandmate Sharin Foo. This week, however, the Danish-bred songwriter takes his bow as a solo artist with his eponymous debut, ten tracks of vintage Specter-esque sounds and hazy rock n roll. The album comes on the heels of a successful year for the Raveonettes, whose February release Lust Lust Lust has already landed year-end accolades from Paste Magazine, MTV2, and a host of others. Distinctly setting it apart from his output with Foo, Wagner’s solo album is delivered exclusively in his native tongue. But, don’t fret, Danish is a beautiful language, complimenting the US transplant’s soothing coo perhaps even better than the English he employs on countless Raveonettes releases. The stand-out here is the blissful “Beruset of Forhadt”,
Download Sune Rose Wagner’s “Beruset Og Forhadt”
Sune Rose Wagner Tracklisting:
01 Hvad Der Sker
02 Et Underfuldt Liv
03 Afgrunden
04 Altid
05 Tyskerpiger
06 Samme Vej
07 Svinske Mænd
08 Gi’ Mig en Pige
09 Beruset og Forhadt (MP3)
10 Din Mund
Check out more online:
http://www.myspace.com/sunerosewagner
##
DM Stith will release his debut EP recording, CURTAIN SPEECH, next week (Dec 9). Critics at home and abroad are already talking about Stith, a recent signee to Asthmatic Kitty Records: Pitchfork, TheFader.com, Time Out London, Les Inrocks and others have praised this first bit of music from Stith.
Label-mates Sufjan Stevens and Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond contribute to the song “Around the Lion Legs,” which is available here to download:
DM Stith - “Around the Lion Legs” (right click, save as)
Bio:
David Stith comes from a musical family: his father is a college wind ensemble director and former church choir director; his grandfather is professor emeritus in the music department at Cornell University; his mother is a pianist; his sisters sing opera, play piano, tap dance, play timpani and are excellent soft ball players. David Stith grew up dreading the family ensemble’s appearances in church, preferring instead to draw mazes on the blank sides of church bulletins during services. In fifth grade, a harrowing performance of Phantom of the Opera at a school assembly (accompanied by his mother on piano) nearly turned him off to music for good. He started a noise band in high school, called Starchild (or Starchildren, or The Pool –they never did quite decide); but they preferred painting their guitars over playing them. David wrote a lot of bad poetry during this time.
In college, David attempted writing a novel and a children’s book, illustrating his work with original woodcut prints. His pursuit of writing and illustration brought him from Rochester to Brooklyn, where he took up work as a graphic designer. While in Brooklyn, David befriended Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond), and soon after began facilitating, in small technical ways, the recording of her album Bring Me The Workhorse. This, in turn, spurred David to begin writing and recording songs of his own. It was a casual, private affair. He spent countless days stored away in his bedroom, sketching folk songs with epic electronic gestures, a rekindling of passions for his first familial love: music.
David completed his first catalog of songs for an album called Ichabod and Apple, written and recorded in the first month of his song-writing experiments. Since then, he has set out to record his first album with Asthmatic Kitty, available sometime next year.
It was no grand injunction that encouraged David to return to music. He writes songs for the same reasons he enjoys a good conversation: it’s just natural. His songs come out of a knock-about life, pressed by the urge to overcome insecurities, to probe questions, to revisit dreams and visions.
Check DM Stith out online:
http://www.myspace.com/dmstith
#
NYC band zerobridge continues to release a new track every month from July until with end of the year with September’s previously unreleased and not available until now selection entitled “There We Were, Now Here We Are” – available as a FREE download at their MySpace page: myspace.com/zerobridge and as a direct link below. Here’s a note on the song from lead singer/songwriter Din with more information:
“There We Were…” is a tune that I dug out from the vault from like 10 years ago. It was a song I had written with a friend of mine at the time for a different band. It was shafted but I had always loved it and kept it in the back of my mind. I finally decided to revisit the song and wrote a new arrangement and lyrics. It ended up fitting really nicely with the rest of our music and has since become a live favorite. Someone once said it’s the best Replacements song they’ve heard since the Replacements broke up!
I guess the song is some ways about coming to terms with the past or people in your past. What happens when you come face to face with someone you lost touch with or wanted to forget? You want to be as graceful as possible but it’s impossible to completely forget all that happened. Living well is ultimately the best revenge, right? Interesting note, there’s a reference in the song to Oasis for all the trainspotters.”
Download the song here: “There We Were, Now Here We Are”
More:
It may seem like a gimmick, but zerobridge are self-releasing a single every month for the remainder of 2008 because there is no other alternative. Din explains, “We’ve been STRICTLY independent for as long as we’ve been together and maybe even more than we would like to be. We’ve accumulated a catalog of songs that no one’s heard outside our regional fan base and have not recorded until now. It seems that in this digital age for music, the single is the format of choice by the fans – and what better way for a band like us to establish ourselves and get our music heard than to use the internet as our distribution company. It’s still a challenge. Creating music still takes time and money, but it’s on our terms and while I still think they are necessary, we don’t have to deal with labels - just directly with music fans.”
It’s not often you hear about a band like zerobridge. Lead singer/guitarist and songwriter Mubashir “Din” Mohi-ud-Din and drummer Mohsin “Mo” Mohi-ud-Din are two brothers whose parents are from the disputed territory of Kashmir, nestled between northern India and Pakistan. Greg “The Quota”, seasoned NYC bass player, and guitarist Jay Barclay (Ben Kweller, Damnwells), round out the quartet who have been playing their own unique brand of melodic, guitar driven rock n’ roll for the last three years. With two independent releases behind them, zerobridge released the Havre de Grace EP that illustrates the band’s penchant for classic song writing and a passion to become the only band that matters.
The name zerobridge comes from an actual bridge in Kashmir’s capital, Srinagar, which earned the lesser known epithet of the “the city of seven bridges.” The story goes that when they built an 8th bridge, no one knew what to call the original first bridge. The solution is a case of pragmatics taken to the extreme: they decided to name it zerobridge. The bridge itself is a sentimental place for anyone familiar with Kashmir. Just across the bridge, after passing through military checkpoints and barbed wire fences, is a cafe called the Zero Inn; a place where the bothers, family and friends go when reunited in Kashmir to hang out and have “cold coffees” (which are like frapuchinos, but far better according to the brothers).
Other songs on the EP include the title track, “Havre de Grace,” the name of a town in northern Maryland, close to where the brothers grew up, meaning “Harbor of Grace.” The incendiary political satire of “The Shake” sheds light on the hypocrisies of religious extremism. A reworking of “Suffering Moses,” originally off the bands first LP, is an unabashedly beautiful ode to Kashmir which is followed by the razor edged bravado of “This is My Version,” a live favorite that sounds like a mashup of the Smiths and the ragged snarl of Iggy Pop. Mo passionately adds, “No gimmicks. We put our hearts, souls and sweat into whatever we do. It’s about love, war, and curiosity I suppose. It’s just painfully true, good rock n’ roll.”
MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/zerobridge
YouTube channel:
The Raveonettes unveil the second installment in their digital-only EP series this week, with the release of Sometimes They Drop By. The Danish noir-rock duo made headlines earlier this month after surprising fans with a free remix EP to kick off the series, designed to follow up this year’s critical smash, Lust Lust Lust, with new perspectives and heretofore untouched aesthetics. The inaugural remix release features radically altered versions of Lust Lust Lust standouts – from 80KIDZ’s take on ”Dead Sound,” to Alec Empire-conspirator Nic Endo’s remix of “Aly, Walk With Me,” and Danish DJ extraordinaire Trentemøller’s re-envisioned “Lust”. Sometimes They Drop By extends the first EPs pension for electronics with a deeper investment into the sampled beats and textures that have always lurked underneath the band’s sound. Later this fall, the series continues with releases on October 21st and November 25th, the first twisting the Rave’s signature guitar-based sound, and the last modernizing the band’s favorite Christmas songs.
Listen to The Raveonettes’ Sometimes They Drop By
Download The Raveonettes’ Remixed EP
Tracklisting for Sometimes They Drop By:
1. Way Out There
2. Blood Red Leis
3. Sometimes They Drop By
4. Vintage Future
I am just like you, I am Nobody Famous
Some people spend their entire life trying to be something they are not. Others were put here for a reason, but do not know what that reason is. But when a person finds themselves and knows their purpose, a beautiful thing takes place. Through the centuries, billions of people have graced the face of the earth, lived an everyday life and were just regular people or Nobody Famous. When you take certain traits from each of these individuals you get the blueprint of genius. When the blueprint is constructed into a tangible form, genius is conceived. In December of 1982, genius was conceived. This blueprint was constructed by God and placed on this earth to change the face of an element, which contrary to scientific belief is essential to our very existence. This element is music. The musical expressions that Nobody Famous composes are essential to the future of hip-hop, the future of music and the future of life. Some people may not understand the movement, but that is understandable, this is God’s plan. Some people may even attempt it diffuse the movement, but it will stand, because it is God’s plan. So ask yourself, will your stand for or against the movement? Will you try to stop God’s plan or will you help facilitate it? This is the movement of music; I am doing this for people just like you. I am just like you…
Check out Nobody Famous on FlowTV:
http://flow.tv/shows/14/episodes/385?season_id=32
http://flow.tv/shows/14/episodes/386?season_id=32
DOWNLOAD “STAY UP! (VIAGRA)” FEAT. KANYE WEST NOW!
Over the years, 88-Keys’ distinctive brazen-beats-meets-atmospheric production have appeared on a number of high profile works including releases for Black Star, Macy Gray Pharcyde among others. The Death of Adam is 88’s first solo release, coming from behind the scenes to front man MC under the direction of long-time friend and executive producer Kanye West. The album forms a narrative outlining human-kind’s most common story line - relationships between men and women.
Let The Death of Adam be a lesson for us all.
Featured artists include Kanye West, J*Davey, Kid Cudi, Redman and Bilal!
www.myspace.com/88keys
www.imeem.com/88-keys
www.deconrecords.com
Carlito once again delivers with another smash hit “Ridin’ Wit A Boss” which is featured in
his highly anticipated independent album “Carlito’s Way - The LP. With backing from
Industry heavyweights like DJ Khaled, DJ Vlad, Nu Jerzey Devil, and DJ Enuff.
Yes people the album is dropping next month!!! Carlito’s Way - The LP
with features from artists like Paul Wall, D12 & Shyboogs to name a few.
Check the tune out here: Carlito - “Ridin’ Wit A Boss”
http://www.carlitomusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/thisaintamovie
http://www.youtube.com/carlitomusic
As he gears up to release his ninth studio album, one of the most respected Hip-Hop narrators has encouraged the attention of three of the industries most recognized mixtape DJs. Reverse Racism, an aural dedication to the Queensbridge rapper, Nasir Jones has been put together by DJs Scream, Dub and Justo Award winner Furious Styles.
The tape which is available for free download is a testament to the man who has brought us classic albums such as Illmatic and Godson. Nas has since declaring Hip-Hop dead and tentatively titling his next album Nigger, encouraged debate within the board rooms of his label home, has incited opposition from the most revered Reverends and has fueled many a barbershop and street corner discussion.
The sheer ingenuity of his lyrical prowess and story telling has been molded into this epic collection of tracks by three of the hardest working DJs in the game. Aliging songs such as the Lauryn Hill assisted If I Ruled the World with the Salaam Remi produced Made You Look and War, this 32 track opus solidifies Nas’s tenure and future in not just Hip-Hop but in addressing the attitudes and direction in which life evolves.
“You get to hear Nas’s point of view from the perspective of 3 prominent DJ’s that represent The North and the South. Nas’s music has had an effect on anyone who loves hip hop regardless of gender, race and geographical location.” –DJ Furious Styles
“This tape is crazy. Me, Dub and Styles went in. Its a historical ride through the career of one of the most influential hip-hop artists of our times” - DJ Scream
“We’ve had a chance to see Nas grow as an artist from Illmatic to now. Like all the unheralded greats, he’s going through his share of adversity for making a social statement with his album title. The lynchings continue at the hands of the new overseers, the police. So to even give the man problems over his album title after similar album titles were released by NWA and Ol Dirty Bastard is ridiculous.” - DJ Dub
TO DOWNLOAD REVERSE RACISM, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
PLAY
