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Frog Eyes
Expands Tour, Announces Opening Acts

Victoria, BC's Frog Eyes will be heading out on tour in support of its fourth album, Tears of the Valedictorian (out May 1), and the band has added an additional sixteen dates to its North American tour since we last updated you. The band has also selected its openers for the tour, with recent Jagjaguwar signees Alex Delivery (who some have described as Faust-meets-Arthur Russell-meets-Tom Tom Club) taking the first stretch, while Brooklyn singer-songwriter and Absolutely Kosher label-mate Chris Garneau will hop on board for four shows. For the Canadian dates, it will be Himalayan Bear, which is the solo project of Ryan Beattie who recently joined Frog Eyes' live bandÊas the second guitarist, and then Brooklyn's Yeasayer will join them for four dates towards the end - they will have a record out on the Monitor labelÊin the near future.

FROG EYES TOUR DATES

4-14 - Victoria, BC - Logan's Pub %
5-01 - Seattle, WA - Crocodile #
5-02 - Portland, OR - Holocene #
5-04 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill #
5-05 - Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland #
5-06 - San Diego, CA - TBA #
5-07 - Phoenix, AZ - Paperheart #
5-08 - Tucson, AZ - Plush #
5-10 - Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves #
5-11 - Austin, TX - Emo's #
5-12 - Houston, TX - Proletariat #
5-13 - Baton Rouge, LA - TBA #
5-14 - Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn #
5-15 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 #
5-16 - Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel *#
5-17 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's *#
5-18 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge *#
5-20 - Boston, MA - Middle East *#
5-22 - Montreal, QC - La Sala Rossa %
5-24 - Toronto, ON - Sneaky DeeÕs %#
5-25 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom +
5-26 - Bloomington, IN The Bluebird +
5-27 - Chicago, IL - Schubas +
5-28 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th St. Entry +
5-29 - Fargo, ND - Aquarium &
5-30 - Winnipeg, MB - Collective Cabaret %
6-01 - Edmonton, AB - Velvet Underground %
6-02 - Calgary, AB - Marquee %
6-06 - Vancouver, BC - Media Club %
6-08 - Victoria, BC - Logan's Pub %

* = w/ Chris Garneau
% = w/ Himalayan Bear
# = w/ Alex Delivery
+ = w/ Yeasayer
& = w/ Pit er Pat, Priestbird

MP3: "Bushels"

www.myspace.com/frogeyes
www.absolutelykosher.com

MATTHEW DEAR
'ASA BREED'
GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL
JUNE release

Matthew Dear's Asa Breed finds the Detroit-based electronic artist achieving new artistic heights Ð it's more robust, more accessible, and yet still undeniably Matthew Dear. Incorporating his uniquely crafted textures alongside international rhythmic influences and his Texas upbringing-inspired lyrical storytelling, Asa Breed is a completely fresh musical experience.

Since his debut at the decade's beginning, Matthew Dear has been championed as North America's brightest new electronic talent. His 2003 debut, Leave Luck To Heaven, garnered unequivocal praise from the likes of Rolling Stone, Spin and Entertainment Weekly, and in the period since, Dear has conquered the international techno scene under the alias of Audion. But when it came time to return to his roots, there was only one path to take.

Matthew returned to the music that he had started making before his techno explorations and a three year process ensued, leading up to Asa Breed.

With each track, Dear tells a unique, and sometimes coded, story about life and relationships with lovers and friends. Dear uses his throaty timbre and nuanced beats to create a new musical amalgam that feels familiar but strikingly new. In sum, Asa Breed represents a new feeling and a more expansive look into the psyche of an artist coming into his own.

www.spin.com
pitchforkmedia.com
pitchforkmedia.com

Stream the upcoming single "DESERTER" at ghostly.com/matthewdear/deserter

MATTHEW DEAR'S BIG HANDS
Debut performances !! SPECIAL PREVIEW SHOWS !
APRIL 20th 2007 Ð MAGIC STICKS Ð DETROIT
APRIL 21st 2007 Ð EMPTY BOTTLE Ð CHICAGO
JUNE 1st 2007 - MUTEK

MATTHEW DEAR has a new band !! and a new highly anticipated sophomore album "ASA BREED" coming this June Ð to celebrate (before he and the crew head off for a 2 month long extensive European tour that will include headlining the SONAR festival in Barcelona), Matthew Dear's Big Hands will be doing two very special preview shows in his home town of Detroit and neighboring Chicago.

What do we mean by this? PREVIEW means just that Ð these are the first ever public gigs. We're not looking for you to publicly review these shows Ð if you want to go and check them Ð awesome! just let us know Ð and then post show send us your comments. We'll give these to Matthew and he can use them to adapt and improve the show.

Matthew Dear's Big Hands will be doing a full national tour in September. You can review the show then when it's seriously road tested and kicking. ÊNot that these show will suck. We just want you to experience them in the spirit.

Foreverinmotion
On DJ Rossstar's Punk Rock Show
Tonight At 7pm PST;
The Beautiful Unknown In Stores May 8th;
Sample The Entire CD On Purevolume;
On Tour Now With Rookie of the Year;
Confirmed To Play Bamboozle May 5

Tune in to DJ Rosstar's Punk Rock Show (www.idobiradio.com) tonight, Wednesday, April 11 at 7pm pst to hear a live phone interview with Brendon from Foreverinmotion (One Eleven Records/East West). IM your questions to AIM screen name: Staridobi.

Foreverinmotion's The Beautiful Unkown will be in stores May 8th.

View The Beautiful Unknown e-card at: www.111records.com/ecard/foreverinmotion
and sample the entire CD on Purevolume: www.purevolume.com/foreverinmotion

"Foreverinmotion is part Statistics, part Bright Eyes, and part Dashboard Confessional..Disarming indieÊpop with emotional rock outer layers...Editor's Pick" - Smother.net

Foreverinmotion on tour:

Apr 11 2007 6:00P THE HIDEAWAY w/ Rookie of the Year & Making April Johnson City, Tennessee

Apr 12 2007 6:00P THE MUSIC STOP w/ Rookie of the Year & Making April Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Apr 13 2007 7:00P VINOS w/ Rookie of the Year and Making April Little Rock, Arkansas

Apr 14 2007 6:00P THE TREE w/ Rookie of the Year & Making April Claremore, Oklahoma

Apr 15 2007 7:00P AG PARK w/ Rookie of the Year & Making April Columbus, Nebraska

Apr 16 2007 5:00P THE VAUDEVILLE MEWS w/ Rookie of the Year & Making April Des Moines, Iowa

Apr 17 2007 6:00P THE TOYBOX w/ Rookie of the Year & Making April Minneapolis, Minnesota Apr 18 2007 6:30P THE LOFT w/ Rookie of the Year, Making April Madison, Wisconsin

Apr 19 2007 6:00P THE OASIS w/ Rookie of the Year & Making April West Chicago, Illinois

Apr 20 2007 7:30P COFFEE NATION w/ Rookie of the Year & Making April Bloomington, Illinois

Apr 21 2007 7:00P THE EMERSON THEATRE w/ Rookie of the Year & Making April Indianapolis, Indiana

Apr 22 2007 6:30P THE ATTIC w/ Rookie of the Year & Making April Kettering (Dayton), Ohio

Apr 23 2007 5:00P LEGZ GOLD w/ Rookie of the Year & Making April Ridgeley, West Virginia

Apr 24 2007 6:00P CUE CLUB w/ Rookie of the Year & Making April Delran, New Jersey

May 3 2007 6:30P HIGHER GROUND | SHOWCASE LOUNGE w/ Rookie of the Year Burlington, Vermont

May 5 2007 11:00A BAMBOOZLE - IN STUDIO STAGE East Rutherford, New Jersey

On The Web: www.foreverinmotion.net

Southerly
Dark Pop Tunesmith Southerly Delivers New Album, Fans of The National, Brendan Benson, Richard Ashcroft and Elliott Smith Take Note.

There are few true auteurs in pop music. The closest most so-called pop auteurs come to multi-tasking is mustering a balance between singer and songwriter. Southerly, the nom-de-tune of Krist Krueger is the product of a bona fide DIY visionary. Not only does Krueger sing, write and arrange the music of Southerly, he's a seasoned recording engineer, record label manager and professional booking agent. He remains hands-on in all aspects of his music.

The Portland artist's lush, orchestral pop is reminiscent of The National, Brendan Benson, Richard Ashcroft, Elliott Smith and former Tindersticks frontman Stuart Staples. Krueger recorded the second Southerly album, Storyteller & The Gossip Columnist, with his own full orchestra and horn arrangements. The arrangements flesh out the songs, which center on Krueger's otherwise intimate singing style. Even in his solo performances, you can almost hear the sweeping and swooning violins, horns and backing vocals that surround Krueger's every note.

Recently dubbed "a one man musical army" by Skratch magazine, Southerly revisits the golden era of lush pop orchestration. His songs include signs of great craft while finding a way to stray far outside the traditional verse/chorus structures often dictating the final product of too many modern artists. Southerly began as many musical projects do, in a basement and bedroom, this one in 2003. Touring constantly both solo and as a full band for 3 1/2 years straight, Southerly meddles with both antifolk, rock and alt country roots while taking cues from old-timers like Woody Guthrie, Jimmie Rodgers and Bill Monroe with his gypsy-like touring habits.

Southerly's previous album, Best Dressed And Expressionless featured an array of players including Ryan Heise (System and Station), Cory Gray (Desert City Soundtrack) and Andi Camp (Andi Camp). Originally recorded in April 2004 at Haywire Studios (Portland, OR) by Robert Bartleson (Wilco, Desert City Soundtrack) and produced by both Bartleson and Krueger. It is a concept album about death and coping, dedicated to three close friends and Krueger's grandmother who all passed away in 2003. The album features four "Accidentals", one for each person passed on and personalized for each individual.

In 2006 Southerly became a full band. No longer a solo singer/songwriter project, the band features players from the recordings including engineer Bartleson on bass guitar, Heise on drums and Casey Montgomery on guitar, accordion, organ and more. In July and August of 2006 the band embarked on the Kill Rock Stars' The Sound The Hare Heard Tour in support of the compilation of same name which Southerly appears alongside players such as Sufjan Stevens, Colin Meloy (of The Decemberists) and Laura Veirs.

Krueger and cohorts recently completed putting the finishing touches on Storyteller & The Gossip Columnist, Southerly's first album for the Portland, OR based Greyday Productions, which will be released worldwide on May 15th, 2007.

Southerly Live
04/18 Seattle, WA Crocodile Cafe

Storyteller & The Gossip Columnist Tracklisting:
01. Visage Sans Expression
02. Close to the Crime
03. Soldiers
04. A Coarse Design
05. Taking Stock
06. For the Speechless Coward
07. How To Be a Dreamer
08. If We All Forget
09. Pistols in Paradise
10. Cold Caller
11. Dreams That Make Men Free
12. Breath of My Youth
13. When We Have To Go
14. Simple Simon

On The Web: myspace.com/southerly

Winterpills

NPR Dubs Winterpills' Dark Tune "Song of the Day", Band Compared to Elliott Smith, Neutral Milk Hotel. Recent Session on KOOP Radio Station Hits the Interwebs, Group Slated to Play with Fountains of Wayne.

"Matching the girl-boy vocals of Flora Reed and Philip Price, 'Handkerchiefs' isn't exactly the stuff of summer drives and beach parties: 'A great divide / I didn't know her best friend died,' the pair sings, adding, 'Drawn in black-light chalk / her ankles tied in flower stalks.' But the song gathers steam and snappiness as it progresses, morphing into an agreeably ambling pop number. It may bathe in pathos along the way, but it comes out smelling like spring flowers." -- Stephen Thompson, NPR's Song of the Day.

"Over the course of two records, 2005'sÊWinterpills and the newÊThe Light Divides, the band has carved out a singular niche using pre-owned indie-rock tools. You can taste Iron and Wine, recall Elliott Smith and hear shimmers of Neutral Milk Hotel, but the sensibility is all the 'Pills' own: fragile, angry, solicitous and self-conscious the way very smart people can be. And it's all free of the smug solipsism that makes so many like-minded bands juvie bores. Price's lyrics are densely packed but hugely evocative, tiny bombs of feeling and meaning. -- DC Express

"Delivering melodies that draw on influences as diverse (and yet harmonious) as the Beatles, the Carter Family, Elliott Smith and Neil Young, the band presents the results as an organic whole" - David Dye of NPR's World Cafe.

Winterpills recently captured the coveted NPR "Song of the Day" title for the third track from its new album The Light Divides. "Some (of the group's) songs have all the hallmarks of bleak dirges Ñ themes of death and alienation, mournful harmonies, deliberate pacing, a touch of slide guitar," writes NPR's Stephen Thompson. "But, it's an overall effect that seems strangely uplifting. Witness Winterpills' 'Handkerchiefs,' which stuffs all those grim ingredients into a winsomely pretty package that feels strangely sparkly, even downright lilting." Listen HERE.

According to a recent interview with the Bangor Daily News, Winterpills keyboardist and co-vocalist Flora Reed reveals, "We would congregate at Dennis' [Crommett, guitarist] apartment, and we'd start swapping the guitar around, playing cover songs. We did a lot of Neil Young and the Beatles. Occasionally some Abba. Whatever we felt like playing. One night Phillip [Price, lead singer and songwriter] and I sang 'The Book of Love' from the Magnetic Fields' '69 Love Songs', and that was when we were like wow, this sounds really good." After realizing that their collaborations were worth more than just playing cover songs, they began writing and recording their own material. Upon listening to Winterpills' new album The Light Divides, which the band refers to as "more of a true studio effort" (the group's debut was recorded in vocalist Reed's home), the beauty and talent that each individual member brings to the group is immediately recognizable.Ê The sound is a band playing togetherÑeach member supporting the others' musical leaps of faith. The individual musicianship on The Light Divides is impeccable, though never at the expense of letting loose with an ultra catchy pop hook ("Broken Arm") or getting deeply intimate with some of the most compelling vocal harmonies you'll hear this year ("Lay Your Heartbreak"). What is most amazing is how effortless it all sounds.

The Northampton, MA band is returning home from a successful tour, including several shows at SXSW and live performances on several radio shows, including KOOP. The KOOP set can be heard HERE.

Winterpills shares a zip code with rock legends J. Mascis, Kim Gordon, and Thurston Moore, and the way the press has raved about the band's self-titled debut, and now The Light Divides, this group is on the road to being the next big thing to come out of this otherwise sleepy New England town's thriving music scene. The band is currently preparing for a homecoming show with the wildly popular Fountains of Wayne.

Winterpills Live:
04/21 Northampton, MA Pearl Street Nightclub w/Fountains of Wayne

The Light Divides Tracklisting: Stream The Album HERE

01. Lay Your Heartbreak
02. Hide Me
03. Handkerchiefs
04. Broken Arm
05. Shameful
06. Eclipse
07. July
08. A Ransom
09. I Bear Witness
10. June Eyes
11. Angels Fall
12. You Don't Live Long Enough
13. A Folded Cloth

On The Web: www.winterpills.com
www.myspace.com/winterpills
Full Album Stream

Klaxons

North America Tour Dates:

04-08 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace

04-10 New York, NY (sold out) - Bowery Ballroom

04-11 Boston, MA - Great Scott

04-13 Brooklyn, NY - Studio B

04-14 Philadelphia, PA - Transit

04-16 Chicago, IL - Schubas

04-17 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry

04-19 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge

04-21 Los Angeles, CA - Ex-Plex

04-22 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards

04-23 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe

04-24 Portland, OR - Dante's

04-26 San Francisco, CA - Popscene

04-29 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)

Veda Hille
Vancouver's Veda Hille is getting the first U.S. release of her critically acclaimed 2005 releaseReturn of the Kildeer willAndy Partridge's Ryko-distributed Ape House.

Veda plays piano and tenor guitar, dabbles in banjo, accordion, and protools, and has a new love affair going on with a Rhodes piano and other vintage keyboards. She writes about the natural world, the trickiness of love, the constant threat of tragedy, and anything else that amazes her. She has recently begun writing and directing short films and puppet shows, and was the curator of a cabaret series in her East Van neighbourhood. A new interest in musical theatre has led to various collaborations, including a stint as the musical director of Hair in Whitehorse, YT. Veda continues to tour when her schedule allows it, and last year traveled across Canada with the Scrappy Bitches, a feisty ensemble made up of Veda, Oh Susanna, and Kinnie Starr.

Veda Hille was born in 1968 in VancouverCanada. She started playing piano when she was 6.Her family moved around a lot, from the city to the country and back again. Veda ran around in the woods and the streets, practiced piano, read books, and thought that maybe she would be a psychiatrist. First she played classical music. Then came pop music, then a few years of jazz. There was the ill-fated year as an inept lounge musician. Then Veda went to art school. The EmilyCarrCollege of Art and Design in Vancouver. She studied sculpture, film, and performance art. She also worked as a cook. She began to get a handle on the idea of making things. She put that idea together with the music idea, and started writing songs in 1990. It became pretty obvious that she would not be a psychiatrist.

Veda put out an indie cassette (remember those?) in 1992. People liked it and she started playing around town. She slowly started the business of touring Canada, and also began a long relationship with the Canadian modern dance scene. In 1994 she released her first cd, and has released an album roughly every 18 months since then. By the time she started working with her current band (assembled in 1997) she was regularly touring Canada, the US, and Germany. Touring and recording and various special projects have filled all her time since then.

Veda Discography
Return of the Kildeer,
Probably her finest yet, and her first release on Ape Records.
Escape Songs, 2004
A minimalist computer manipulated album of tiny songs, made
collaboratively with Christof Migone.
Auditorium, 2002
A live recording of Veda and her band and guests, taken from two nights at
the Vancouver East Cultural Centre.
Silver, 2002
A quick and dirty document of the song cycle written for the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Made as a limited edition of 500 copies, sold out. Field Study, 2001
A solo album of songs about science and nature.
You do not live in this world alone, 1999
An epic band recording. A collection of fairy tales for adults. Here is a picture, 1998*
A song cycle about the Canadian painter Emily Carr. Made with the band and guest cellist Peggy Lee.
Spine, 1996*
Veda's dark pop record. Made with a fine cast of Canadian musicians.
Live at Women in (E)motion, 1996
A document of two performances in Bremen, Germany. Some solo songs, and others with Veda's band at the time.
Path of a body, 1994
Veda's first full length CD made with Stephen Nikleva, Steve Lazin, and
Martin Walton.
Songs about People and Buildings, 1992
The independent cassette that started the whole shebang.

2005 ushered in many exciting projects from the Hille empire. Duplex!, an indie rock kid's band that Veda co-founded, has its first release, Ablum, on Mint Records. There are commissions in the works from the Leaky Heaven Circus (Vancouver), The Longest ÊNight Society (Whitehorse), spoken word artist Ivan Coyote (Vancouver), and dance company The Crying Collective (Montreal). Veda's long term interest in birds has paid off in a new friendship with XTC's Andy Partridge. Her new record Return of the Kildeer will be released on his imprint Ape Records, which will launch Veda and her band on a run of tour dates in Canada and beyond. Stay tuned, because as Veda freely admits in her music and her life, nobody knows what the heck is going to happen next.

Chin Up Chin Up
Windy city avant-pop combo Chin Up Chin Up hit the road with label mates Minus the Bear this Spring. The tour is in support of their most recent release, This Harness Can't Ride Anything on Suicide Squeeze Records. The band has had a busy few months- short trips with with Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, well received turns at 2007 SXSW Festival, covering "Material Girl" for Pancake Mountain and even stopped by AOL for a most rockin' Interface session. CUCU Interface

As you may have heard/seen, CUCU have a new video for the title track, "This Harness Can't Ride Anything" CUCU Video directed by Eric David Johnson (who directed M Ward's "Chinese Translation" video), with help from the animation team UniBros. Pitchfork describes it as "soaked in color and Yellow Submarine animation. And like the title track, the video has some some cool little details: The frame shakes and bounces when the song gets to its sparkling chorus, and the venue the cartoon band play is inexplicably lined with candy and soda vending machines"

Since its debut on You Tube, its received over 240k views and now, the good folks at MTV2 Subterranean are giving its network TV debut this Sunday April 8 @ 1AM EST/12AM CT! Tune in!

TOUR DATES

4/23 Lawrence KS Replay Lounge

4/24 Denver CO Larimer Lounge

4/26 Seattle WA the Vera Project the Can't See

4/27 Portland OR Hawthorne Theatre

4/28 Eugene OR Indigo District

4/29 Reno NV the New Oasis

5/1 Orangeville CA the Boardwalk

5/2 Santa Cruz CA the Catalyst

5/3 San Francisco CA Great American Music Hall

5/4 San Luis Obispo CA Downtown Brew

5/5 Los Angeles CA Ex Plex

5/6 Solana Beach CA Belly Up Tavern

5/8 Las Vegas NV House of Blues

5/10 Colorado Springs CO the Black Sheep

5/11 Lawrence KS Granada Theatre

5/12 Iowa City IA Picador

5/13 Champaign IL High Dive

5/14 Sauget MO Pops

5/15 Chicago IL Beat Kitchen 18+ show

5/16 Milwaukee WI Pabst Theatre

5/17 Minneapolis MN Triple Rock Social Club

5/18 Minneapolis MN Triple Rock Social Club

5/20 Sioux Falls SD Nutty's North

5/21 Omaha NE Sokol Underground

5/23 Denver CO Bluebird

5/24 Aspen CO Belly Up

5/25 Salt Lake City UT Club Sound

All shows with Minus the Bear except where noted. ***CUCU ONLY! 2 SHOWS!

This band just keeps getting sharper, and rarely hold anything back. This is pop for the detail oriented - PITCHFORKMEDIA

Touching on the Modish pop of The Shins, The Sea and Cake's fluid jangle and Pavement's arched eyebrows, it's both so clever and so very charming - MOJO

...the group went pop, with lush Phil Spector-style production Ð complete with multilayered guitars and soaring vocals - ROLLING STONE

This Harness Can't Ride Anything boasts the band's trademark grainy reverb and wavering vocals, but there's still something contagiously sugary about [it] - SPIN

Chicago's got another band on the Up-swing - CMJ

...Chin Up Chin Up creates classic Chicago avant-pop of the highest order Ð quirky, melodic, and wonderfully optimistic - V MAGAZINE

It's nothing short of their highest point to date -ALTERNATIVE PRESS

Chin Up Chin Up has indeed kept their chin up and made their newest album, This Harness Can't Ride Anything , one of their best - THE TRIPWIRE

Chin Up Chin Up have crafted an infectious record of loss and optimism - CHICAGO SOCIAL

...everything on This Harness Can't Ride Anything fits, flows and works together in a way that'll charm the pants off anyone - AVERSION

If the movie Pretty in Pink were made today, Chicago's Chin Up Chin Up would replace Psychedelic Furs as the soundtrack band. A pining Jon Cryer and a dopey-eyed Andrew McCarthy notwithstanding, Pretty in Pink had a clap-ready, tear-jerking hometown feel to it that the band could only make better - VENUSZINE

Frankie Ray
(New York, NY) - KOCH Records is proud to announce the release of Frankie Ray, the debut album from singer songwriter, JonathanWilson, on June 26th, 2007. Wilson has been traveling and recording in Georgia, New York and now the canyons of California. Frankie Ray is a 16 track collection that evokes the spirit of Nick Drake, Alex Chilton and Gram Parsons. And as Wilson explains it "I live to elude the sonic spectrum, play tricks on it, duck and move.stay on my feet and let the frequencies collide."

Wilson's recently toured and played with Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Vetiver, Jenny Lewis, The Elected, The Autumn Defense, Bert Jansch and spent time on the road with John Stirratt and Pat Sansone from Wilco. SPIN has already praised Jonathan stating, "Wilson plays softly, haunting acoustic ballads that evoke the spirit of Jeff Buckley." Friend and collaborator Chris Robinson also comments, " This is sweet music for your mind and soul as you traverse the Red Road." Wilson, formerly with the band Muscadine, has also been busy recording not only his own work, but also collaborating with Chris Robinson (for the latter's new solo album as well as for the new Black Crowes' album) and Gary Louris of The Jayhawks.

MySpace.com/SongsOfJonathanWilson

New Candlelight Record Releases
AVERSE SEFIRA
This is a special reissue of the band's long out of print debut album, originally released by Boston label Lost Disciple. Battle's Clarion finds its re-release just as the band start their North American tour supporting labelmates 1349, underway now. Upon the tour's completion the Austin-based band will return home to continue work on their new album expected later this year.
+ www.aversesefira.com +

BENEA REACH
From a dark alley where aggression and melancholy meet comes a new hybrid - a musical inferno with all the requisites to set the metal scene on fire. Loaded with both technicality and feel, Monument Bineothan showcases a fresh approach to extreme metal as ignited by musicians in their prime. The band's musical pedigree speaks for itself - ex-Extol guitarist, Christer Espevoll, together with founding associate, Marco Storm are the driving force behind the refined yet punitive song-writing on Monument Bineothan. Imagine Mastodon-inspired riffs played with the chilling precision of Meshuggah and arranged using Tool's hard-hitting progressive approach. A debut that has that extra kick you would only expect from a collection of seasoned pros.
+ www.beneareach.com +

BLOOD TSUNAMI
This debut amongst is membership Bard "Faust" Eithun (ex-Emperor, Zyklon & Aborym). Kerrang! recently said "a total riot of unstoppable pedal-tothe-metal old school thrash mayhem," in their KKKK review on the album's European release. Now available in the US this album will appeal to fans of early Testament, Exodus, Nuclear Assault (for the Americans) plus Destruction, Kreator, and Sodom (to add in their European heritage). The interest on this Norwegian band is only just beginning.
+ www.bloodtsunami.com +

FUNERAL
Following a four-year hiatus and a personnel reshuffle caused by bassist Einar Frederiksen's untimely passing in 2002, Funeral continue the doom-spreading crusade that once earned them the label of "most depressing band in the world". Constantly challenging themselves musically not to bind their offerings to pure funeral doom (a subgenre spawned by their earlier recordings), Funeral discharged the opera-oriented female vocals of Hanne Hukkleberg in favour of Frode Forsmo's more somber timbre. The band was hit by yet another tragedy when long-time guitarist, Christian Loos recently died. Still hot from signing a new record deal and vowing to carry on in Loos and Frederiksen's memory, Funeral's remaining founding member, Anders Eek recruited guitarist Mats Lerberg. Recorded and produced by Kjetil Ottersen at Vektor Studio in Norway, "From These Wounds" Ñ weaving melancholia-inducing riffs with sagacious lyrical content Ñ makes the perfect companion during the forthcoming dark and grim months this year. Not for the faint-hearted.
+ www.funeral_doom.tk +

FURZE
UTD-letters themselves is only known to The Reaper...yet the 3rd and definitely strongest Furzement so far bears the full title: UTD: The Wealth of the Penetration in the Abstract Paradigmas of Satan / UTD Beneath the Odd-Edge Sounds to the Twilight Contract of the Black Fascist. "Fascist" is to be understood in the existential UTD lyrical context and is not a political/historical vomit!!
+ www.furze.net +

MASTERPLAN
Formed in 2002, Masterplan immediately hit Europe by storm. Their self-titled debut received the prestigious European Border Breakers Award. It received "Album of the Month" honors in Rock Hard, Heavy Oder Was, Sweden Rock, Aardschock and countless others. The album hit chart positions in Sweden, Spain, Germany, Japan while impressing fans at numerous festivals and their extensive tour with Hammerfall. Masterplan is Jorn Lande (Ark), Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch (Helloween), Jan S. Eckert (Iron Savior) with Axel Mackenrott. Released to critical acclaim throughout Europe earlier this year, Aeronautics is a true gem. It is a timeless record that will appeal to fans of traditional heavy metal (Dio, Whitesnake), progressive rock/metal (Dream Theater, Symphony X) as well the more adventurous fans of Opeth, Iced Earth and others.
+ www.master-plan.net +

OMNIUM GATHERUM
Omnium Gatherum is a band of many directions and styles, some of them clearly visible while others more unseen. Namely working and keeping it all together under the monicker of melodic life-and-death metal and bastardizing it by various influences from a whole lot of genres and sub-genres, OG produce complex but accessible death metal that incorporates elements of thrash and tradl metal without ever sounding derivate. Top quality Finnish steel, in other words. It has said also that if you mix At The Gates, Katatonia, Death and Judas Priest there's the recipe to Omnium Gatherum... The third magnum opus of the band Stuck Here on Snakes Way is now available, and Omnium Gatherum are going stronger than ever, 10 years after the creation of the band!
+ www.omniumgatherum.org +

ONSLAUGHT
The new album Killing Peace from long-running British thrash metallers Onslaught was produced by Andy Sneap (Trivium/Testament) and finds the band's original lineup back together for the first time since 1989! Media worldwide is embracing Killing Peace while Candlelight USA gears up for the special reissue of the band's currently out of print back catalog (coming in July!).
+ www.onslaughtfromhell.com +

PAGANIZE
With heavy riffs and shapes thrown on stage, Paganize are determined to put heavy metal back on the map.With roots from the 70's and 80's metal, where melody and twin-guitars are in focus, Paganize set the standard for heavy metal in the new Millennium! Paganize is based in Notodden, Norway, and have lately focused on writing music and recording demos. The band have evolved from being a side project for the members, to being a solid, ambitious and independent act with one goal: To paganize the world! Paganize have been described as a melting pot of the grands of music, parallels have been drawn to the likes of Queensryche, Black Sabbath, Dio, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Accept. The band pays little regard to this, but focus on their own style, where they mix the best from the entire metal genre. The result is hard, melodic, groovy and progressive metal.
+ www.paganize.no +

SWALLOW THE SUN
The most luminous death/doom-metal act of Finland, Swallow the Sun, got started in the turn of the millennium when the guitarist Juha Raivio collected a group of friends around him. The first recording was well prepared during few years and now a rare collectors item, "Out of This Gloomy Light" was recorded in January 2003. This demo brought the first record deal with Firebox Records. Debut album, "The Morning Never Came" was released in November 2003 and brought Swallow the Sun to the knowledge of metal world. Inferno-magazine chose the band as the newcomer of the year and Kerrang! gave full 5 K's to the album and quoted it as "One of the doom metals finest moments to date!".Swallow the Sun took hold of the live scene by touring clubs and festivals in Finland and abroad. Even though they spent many hours on the road, the work for next album was already on its way and the recordings for "Ghosts of Loss" started in February 2005. First single of the album, "Forgive Her...", went to Finnish Official Album Charts, positioning on fourth place and stayed there for six weeks. Once again, after touring Finland and other countries, the band closed itself in September 2006 to an island next to Helsinki to record their coming album Hope. Swallow the Sun had the privilege to have Jonas Renkse (Katatonia) and Tomi Joutsen (Amorphis) to appear as guest vocal on the album. The album has already received high praises in closed listening sessions and on 7th of February 2007, "Hope" will be released worldwide via Spinefarm Records. First single and it's video, "Don't Fall Asleep", was released on 10th of January 2007.
+ www.swallowthesun.net +

THRONE OF KATARSIS
Throne of Katarsis was spawned in 2003 in Norway by the demonic visions of Grimnisse and Vardalv. Their prophecy was and still is to craft purified and atmospheric occult Black Metal in the true vein of the early 90-ties Norwegian Black Metal, and focused on spreading the unholy message through their blasphemous lyrics. Their line-up is simple, yet effective: Vardalv play the drums and Grimnisse take care of the rest of the instruments.March 2004 the now infamous demo recording entitled Unholy Holocaustwinds was unleashed upon the world. There were initially only released 40 copies of the demo, but after massive unforeseen response and requests the demo has been re-released on pro-printed MC and 10" LP by German Warfront Production and on MiniCD by UK based Paradigms Recordings. Unholy Holocaustwinds was recorded on a four-track cassette recorder, partly in the Liarlund Forrest. Throne of Katarsis spent 2005 focusing on recording their debut full-length, the almighty An Eternal Dark Horizon...
+ www.throneofkatarsis.com +

MPRESS RECORDS ANNOUNCES CD RELEASE BENEFITS
TO CELEBRATE VOLUME 2 OF THE NEW ARRIVALS SERIES
PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT WORLD HUNGER YEAR

APRIL 4, 2007 - New York, NY Ð Built on the entrepreneurial spirit and creative vision of its founder and 2005 Independent Music Award Winner Rachael Sage www.rachaelsage.com , New York-based MPress Records is readying the second in a series of annual rising artist compilations with New Arrivals: Volume Two (NAV2), available in stores nationwide May 8, 2007. Select cities and line-ups have been announced for CD release parties beginning May 5 in New York City.

Like its predecessor, 100% of the proceeds from sales of NAV2 will benefit another worthy organization, World Hunger Year worldhungeryear.org. Sales from New Arrivals: Volume One continue to benefit Gulf Coast Hurricane Relief, following the devastation of the region by Hurricane Katrina in September 2005.

Notable indie pioneers Melissa Ferrick, Anne Heaton and Rachael Sage add to the diverse and talented roster from across the country including: Spin Doctors front-man and native New Yorker Chris Barron; Texas-based Americana vocalist and 2006 Independent Music Award Winner Kristy Kruger; Vermont-based singer/songwriter Gregory Douglass; Chicago rock / soul artist Todd Carey; and Boston Music Award Nominee Mieka Pauley. In addition, hitmaker Jeff Cohen (who has penned songs for such artists as Macy Gray, Sugarland and Tietur), appears with his NYC roots-rock outfit Pancho's Lament.

The New Arrivals CD release parties will feature performances from artists on both volumes of the compilation and proceeds will benefit World Hunger Year (WHY). WHY will organize food drives at each show to support local organizations / food banks and fans are encouraged to non-perishable foods including Neighbors Together Corporation (Brooklyn), Atlanta Community Food Bank, Services and Food for the Homeless (New York City), San Francisco Food Bank and Rosie's Place (Boston).

The New Arrivals CD release parties are scheduled for the following cities:

May 5 NEW YORK, NY Mo Pitkin's

May 6 BROOKLYN, NY Galapagos Art Space

May 13 BOSTON, MA Paradise Lounge

May 21 LOS ANGELES, CA Hard Rock Cafe (Universal City)

May 26 SAN FRANCISCO, CA Hotel Utah

June 16 ATLANTA, GA Eddie's Attic

Line-ups for each date are noted below, and are subject to change without notice

5/5 Basya Schecter, Andy Mac, Noe Venable, Jenny Bruce, Rachael Sage, Jill Sobule

5/6 Michal, Paul Brill, The Rideaways, Rachael Sage, Patti Rothberg

5/13 Divine MAGgees, Anne Heaton, Rachael Sage, Edie Carey, Mieka Pauley, Trina Hamlin

5/21 Rob Giles, Rebekah Jordan, Rich Price, Todd Carey, Kristy Kruger, Rachael Sage

5/26 Noe Venable, Rebekah Jordan, Kristy Kruger, Rachael Sage, Todd Carey

6/16 Divine MAGgees, Jennifer Daniels, Pancho's Lament, Rachael Sage

ABOUT NEW ARRIVALS: VOLUME ONE (NAV1): Culled from over a thousand emerging artist submissions, New Arrivals: Volume One is MPress Records' first-ever indie music compilation, featuring tracks by Jill Sobule, Patti Rothberg, Girlyman and more than a dozen other emerging artists; it is the first in an annual series devoted to highlighting exceptional independent talent.

All of the songwriters on New Arrivals: Volume One are fast-rising and award-winning. Paul Brill won CMJ'S 2005 Band Search; Jenny Bruce's music has been featured in the trailer for CBS TV's "Ghost Whisperer" with Jennifer Love Hewitt; Noe Venable was recently voted the "Best Female Artist" by the Bay Area Music Awards; Michal received a 2005 Emmy Award for Music; and Rich Price was featured on the Shrek 2 Soundtrack.

ABOUT WORLD HUNGER YEAR: WHY, World Hunger Year, is a leading advocate for innovative, community-based solutions to hunger and poverty. WHY challenges society to confront these problems by advancing models that create self-reliance, economic justice, and equal access to nutritious and affordable food. WHY was co-founded by the late singer-songwriter Harry Chapin, and present Executive Director and radio talk show host Bill Ayres in 1975.

CASEY NEILL TO TOUR IN SUPPORT OF FORTHCOMING FULL-LENGTH, "BROOKLYN BRIDGE", FEATURING GUEST APPEARNANCES BY MEMBERS OF THE DECEMBERISTS, JOHN WESLEY HARDING, ERIN MCKEOWN, ERIC AMBEL, AND MORE

Portland, Oregon-based singer-songwriter Casey Neill has announced the initial tour dates in support of his forthcoming album, "Brooklyn Bridge" on Portland, Oregon-based indie In Music We Trust Records. Ê"Brooklyn Bridge" features guest appearances by The Decemberists? Jennie Conlee and Chris Funk (both play in a Pogues tribute band Neill fronts entitled KMRIA), John Wesley Harding, Eric "Roscoe" Ambel (of Steve Earle and The Dukes), Erin McKeown, and others.

Current tour dates:

4/20/07 - Crystal Theater - Missoula, MT

4/22/07 - Monks House of Jazz - Salt Lake City, UT

4/24/07 - Trilogy Wine Bar w/ Jefferson Hamer - Boulder, CO

4/26/07 - The Eldo - Crested Butte, CO

4/27/07 - Puccini's Golden West - Albuquerque, NM

4/28/07 - Solar Culture - Tucson, AZ

5/01/07 - Silverlake Lounge - Los Angeles, CA

5/03/07 - The Hemlock w/ Bonfire Madigan - San Francisco, CA

5/04/07 - Beginnings - Briceland, CA

5/05/07 - Clay Street House Concerts - Ukiah, CA

5/06/07 - The Attic - Santa Cruz, CA

5/10/07 - The Eagles Hall - Olympia, WA

5/12/07 - Mission Theater (CD release show) w/ Bonfire Madigan - Portland, OR

5/25/07 - Sunset Tavern (KEXP's PDXplore series, happy hour) - Seattle, WA

"Brooklyn Bridge" moves from indie-rock to Celtic, from pop-rock to Americana, all with an earnest, punk mindset that few singer-songwriters can touch - and mean it - when weaving through various genres not only on the same album, but sometimes on the same song.

The 12-track collection of songs was produced by legendary Scottish fiddler player Johnny Cunninghan, well-regarded in the Celtic and folk worlds as a top-notch player and producer (among many others, he produced Solas, an Irish folk supergroup that covered one of Neill?s songs), his reach going as far as punk band The Dropkick Murphys, who have previously tapped Cunningham to work with them.

Neill met Cunningham in 1993 and the two began working together when Cunningham produced Neill's second full-length, "Skree" (Appleseed Recordings). Later, it would be Cunningham that convinced Neill to play electric and make a record that encompassed all his influences - from The Pogues and New Model Army to PJ Harvey, Fugazi, and legends Nick Cave and Bruce Springsteen, in addition to his folk and Celtic ones.

"Brooklyn Bridge" would be a long, exhausting road, but ultimately rewarding one for Neill. The exhausting and most devastating, and reason for the delay in completing the record, was the untimely death Cunningham, who died of a heart attack on December 15, 2003.

"We had 12 finished songs in 2003 and we had begun to shop it. I had moved to back Brooklyn from Portland, Oregon. Johnny and I put a band together in the city to perform the material. We played a residency at the Living Room in October of that year," recalls Neill, discussing the completion of "Brooklyn Bridge" before Cunningham's death. "Johnny passed away suddenly that December and it was devastating. Two nights before he died, we sat in our local pub, the 11th Street Bar, and he gave me a talking to about life and music and his faith in this record. It was almost like he knew he was on his way out. I recorded a few more songs and edited the project since, always trying to imagine what his calls would be."

From the title track, which opens the album, "a love song for a girl and for the city", as Neill puts it, to the rocking "We Are The City" ("another New York City anthem inspired by the underground community on the Lower East Side in the 90s"). Through the Celtic-infused folk-rock of "The Holy Land", a song that takes place in 19th century New York and tells the story of a John and a prostitute dancing in Water Street outside of Kit Burns' Sportsman's Hall, a notorious venue where rat fights took place, Neill has a knack for storytelling and engaging his audience, all while giving them something to emerge themselves into and forget their worries for awhile.

"Next door to Sportsman's Hall was a brothel run by John Allen where hymns were sung in the main room. Both Burns and Allen were hated by the moral and religious establishment of the day," explains Neill about the song.

One song Neill likes to talk about is "Watch For Me", a bleak break-up song, but one where the melody doesn't get lost or forgotten in the bleakness. Something that worried Johnny so, "Johnny instructed me to party 'til dawn the night before the sessions so I'd sound like hell, like Mark Lanegan, because we were concerned it was going to be too pretty".

Neill also wrote "King Neptune" after Cunningham's passing and added it to the album.
"I wrote the song for Johnny and recorded it with his brother Phil playing piano and accordion. I wrote it for a tribute show we did for him at Town Hall in New York," Neill explains. "The summer before he died he went to the Coney Island Mermaid Parade dressed as King Neptune."

It was a long road to see "Brooklyn Bridge" through, but one that helped shape and give the record its sound. Neill is happy to finally pay homage to Cunningham once again, putting out the record he believed in so much to the world and allowing them to hear it.

With "Brooklyn Bridge" soon to be released, Neill and his band are gearing up to tour in support of the record and will tour both in the summer and the fall.

Mystery Supergroup Neon Horse to ReleaseÊTooth & Nail Debut, Will Music Video Betray Band Identities?

Meet Neon Horse, a musical trio that arose from the same Los Angeles music scene that's filled with myriad cookie-cutter bands who've played hundreds of shows at local clubs like the Troubadour, Spaceland, Viper Room, El Rey, Knitting Factory and many more with so little to show aside from their day jobs that span everything from catering temps to postal workers. While so many fallen artists descend into this inevitable cliche, the members of Neon Horse met a simple twist of fate the day a man by the name of Norman entered their lives.

The band first met their larger-than-life frontman back in the winter of 2005 at the recently closed nightclub Teddy's inside the old Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. After an uncomfortable encounter involving Norman and a four-foot length of chain in his hand, the trio agreed to meet for what would be the first official band rehearsal. Two songs later the lineup was settled and Neon Horse was born. In the tradition of their humble beginnings, the members of Neon Horse prefer to leave their identities a mystery. With the exception of establishing Norman as the face of the group, the band simply wishes to be known as: Neon Horse.

Neon Horse exhibits a wide-ranging sound that takes the rock of disparate influences AC/DC, Oingo Boingo and the Stooges and partners it with the flare of Depeche Mode, Bauhaus and the Sisters of Mercy to create a sound all its own. The uniquely bizarre nature of its singer shines through on every track of the group's self-titled debut, especially on the album's opening track "Cuckoo!" Eclectic and manic, this is a band that displays rock'n'roll in the purest form: an ever changing, mercurial and addictive continuation of Rock's re-inventive nature.

The video for "Cuckoo!" will be released to the public in the coming weeks, with the album to follow on May 8th. While the band aims for anonymity, the video is reported to show some very familiar faces of the rock world. Will the video give away the identities of our cloaked heroes? Stay tuned...

Neon Horse Track Listing:

01. Cukoo!

02. Speed Killz

03. I Know (I Just Don't Care)

04. Crazy Daisy

05. Kick Yer Asking For It

06. Go. Stop.

07. The Bathroom Wall

08. Nice For You

09. Little Lamb

10. Pretty Face Divided

11. Horsey

12. Merciless Mother

On The Web:
myspace.com/neonhorse
toothandnail.com

Don't Believe A Word About The Clutters...Except What Rolling Stone, Paste, Nashville Scene and Others are Saying.

"The Clutters' tight, urgent rock n roll retains the rawness that made them so compelling as The Young Americans without sacrificing one bit of the booty-moving lurch that made them so much fun to see live." - Nashville Scene

"The Clutters have a loose notion of place and time -- with a push and punch ("Crack Your Heart," "Oh!") back-dated to Fifties Memphis and Hamburg's Star Club in the mid-Sixties -- so I'm not so far behind the eight ball. I've yet to see the band live, but I damn well know what to expect when I do." - David Fricke, Rolling Stone

"Most impressive is the sense one gets that this band is simply doing what it wants to do, and doing it in a city that plays host to lightly fluffed pop and glossy production." - Paste Magazine

Being a garage rock band in a town that is hailed as "the country music capital of the world" may not be the easiest task to pull off, but The Clutters do it, and they do it well. The quartet got its start by playing covers by other groups in the garage rock vein like The Sonics, The Mummies, and The Oblivians, and they soon started writing originals that rivaled the classics. That's not to say that some of that Nashville twang didn't find its way out of the city's studios and clubs and onto The Clutters' records. The band has found an incredible balance between staying true to their garage rock roots, and infiltrating their own jangly, honky tonkin', punk rockin' style into their music.

The Clutters will soon unleash Don't Believe A Word, the full-length follow up to the band's 2005's debut T&C, which appeared on numerous year-end top ten lists, and was recommended and passed around so much that even film director Cameron Crowe said, "I just got a CD from someone who said, 'Trust me, this is going to be your new favorite record.' And I look at the cover and I know they're right already." The Nashville outfit shakes, rattles, rolls, rips, roars, and screams through Don't Believe A Word's dozen tracks. For those of you that haven't experienced the mayhem of a Clutters live show, here's (LINK) a little taste of the band playing the song "Fire", the fifth hard hitter off of Don't Believe A Word.

Whether it's playing air drums to time keeper Stephanie Filippini's pounding beats, banging your head along with lead singer Doug Lehmann's Frank Black-esque yelps, howls, and fierce guitar riffs, bouncing in your office chair to Ali Tonn's Farfisa and Jake Rosswog's thumping bass lines, or keeping up with the hand claps on the first track "9999 (Ways to Hate Us)", Don't Believe A Word is going to make you move. And you can forget about standing cross-armed while watching one of The Clutters notoriously raucous live performances, because this quartet is out to make you dance your ass off. With each tune clocking in under four minutes (the aptly named "The Short One" is only 44 seconds long), The Clutters sophomore album is immediately infectious and addictive.

Last August, The Clutters' label, Chicken Ranch Records and Monster Trilogy director and Aqua Teen Hunger Force producer Jay Wade Edwards teamed up to release the soundtrack to Stomp! Shout! Scream!, which is Edwards' homage to his love of B-movies. The soundtrack album to the rock and roll monster beach party movie is includes a fuzzed up, psyched out cover of "Tainted Love" by the Clutters, a track by fellow Chicken Ranch artist Tiger! Tiger!, as well as a rare track by The Fleshtones. Chicken Ranch owner Mike Dickinson asked The Clutters to contribute their version of the oft-covered song to the soundtrack after hearing the band play it at a show. "It's a fantastic live moment, and the recording is exclusive to the soundtrack."

Catch The Clutters Live:

04/07 Chattanooga, TN JJ's Bohemia

04/21 Nashville, TN WRVU 91.1 FM

04/22 Murfreesboro, TN WMTS 88.3 FM

04/24 Nashville, TN Grimey's

04/27 Nashville, TN The Basement

05/03 Memphis, TN Murphy's

05/04 Dallas, TX The Double-Wide

05/05 Austin, TX The Mohawk

Don't Believe A Word Tracklisting:
Release Date: May 1, 2007

01. 9999

02. Radio

03. Living Thing

04. Rockaway

05. Fire (VIDEO)

06. The Way Home

07. On Repeat

08. The Short One

09. Aww, Cmon

10. Let It Roll

11. Temperature

12. Surrender

On The Web:
www.theclutters.com
www.myspace.com/theclutters

BLUE CHEER Kickoff US Tour w/ An Albatross! For the first time ever, bear witness to two of psychedelic metal's greatest pioneers, each representing their own generation of fans, and together, blowing minds and eardrums nation-wide.

On April 6th, this beautiful trek will kick-off in Philadelphia, PA and extend through major Northeast cities (including New York and Boston), up to Montreal and Toronto, through the Mid-West, and back to the Southeast. Courtesy of Solid PR and Wonder Booking (and sponsored by Revolver Magazine and Steaz Organic Energy Drink), who, after witnessing the two bands perform a groundbreaking performance together @ 2006's CMJ Marathon, made this passing thought a reality for all to see.

More information:
BLUE CHEER:

"The single most powerful band I've ever seen" - The Doors' Jim Morrison about Blue Cheer

"Most critics point to Sabbath and Zeppelin as influences for current metal bands such as Wolfmother and Mastodon. But Blue Cheer's unrelenting rawness, interesting use of distortion and love of blues has as much to do with those sounds as anyone else." - Columbus Alive

"The sheer kerrang and ballast of Blue Cheer's cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" quickly struck a chord with the unwashed masses of the era, and helped put the danger back into rock 'n' roll." - The Montreal Mirror

"Before I knew what was happening, the band picked me up and body slammed me with their sound. Blue Cheer was a revelation. More than anything, they showed me how heavy things were and made me wonder why things weren't as heavy now." - LiveNewOrleans.com

"The Who ripped these guys off!" - Pitchforkmedia.com

"Fathers of metal, godfathers of grunge, garage gods, the first ever loudest band in the world... many attributes, one name: BLUE CHEER." - Jambase.com

BLUE CHEER are the legendary cult heroes of all things rock n' roll. Formed in the late 1960's in San Francisco, the band helped blaze the trail of heavy metal music in America. A "power trio" named after a brand of LSD created by Owsley Stanley (Grateful Dead), the band broke through to the masses in 1968 when their cover of the song "Summertime Blues" climbed to #14 on the Billboard top 100 (the song appeared on the band's debut release "Vincebus Eruptum" and would later be covered by the Who in 1970).

While going through several lineup changes through their career, BLUE CHEER went on to release a catalogue of stellar albums that would go on to impact the world of heavy music (and many largely successful bands) forever, including "Outsideinside," "New! Imroved! Blue Cheer," "The Original Human Being," "Oh! Pleasent Hope," and also performed w/ legends such as the MC5, Jefferson Airplane, Vanilla Fudge, Ike & Tina Turner, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Clear Light, Captain Beefheart, and more. After a temporary split in 1971, the band reunited in '79 and toured the world w/ the likes of The Yardbirds, Biohazard, Danzig, Mucky Pup, and other heavy bands of great stature at that time.

Currently, the band is together and active, and within this past year, have toured the US w/ the likes of Witch (featuring J Mascis), Dead Meadow, Goblin Cock, and others, as well as performing at Vice's 2006 Intonation Festival (alongside the likes of Bloc Party, Ghostface Killah, The Boredoms, Dead Prez, Annie, High on Fire, and others.), and 2006's CMJ Music Marathon in New York City.

The current Blue Cheer lineup features 2/3 of the original band, Richard "Dickie" Peterson on lead vocals and bass, and Paul Whaley on drums. The two are joined by Duck MacDonald on guitar and have plans for an upcoming release in the Fall of 2007.

www.myspace.com/bluecheer

AN ALBATROSS:

"The quintessential neo-extremo screamo freakout outfit" - The Village Voice

"On Blessphemy, the same concert histrionics that have occasionally gotten An Albatross banned from venues bleed into their musicianship. The Zornographic jazzcore breakdowns on "Lysergically Yours, My Psychedelic Bride" verge on grindcore with precision, and the squealing dual-guitarisms on "The Trilogy: Behold the Light" would fit, for the less than half a second they appear, on Iron Maiden's Powerslave albumÉ before they break into a malaise of sax-y jazz, that is. Also, the band seem to have bumped their speed up a couple MPH since their last full-length." Ð Decibel Magazine

"The six-piece charge through layers of maniacal noise made complete with an onslaught of assaulting guitar riffs, machine gun percussion, squiggly synths, and Gieda's volatile vocal thrusts." - Spin.com

An Albatross is a psychedelic sonic orgasm; a barrage of mechanical, jerky and discombobulated time signatures eclipsed by hectic Farfisa organ/synthesizer melodies. Not unlike sitting down with an average American family during primetime television, the music is unquestionably attention-span friendly for an ADD-diagnosed society: unbelievably short, complex, infectious bursts of polyrhythms and spirit.

After solidifying their early tour experiences and songwriting in the studio, a fledgling incarnation of the band in 2000 released the 12" EP "Eat Lightning, Shit Thunder" on Philadelphia upstart label When Humans Attack! The enhanced CD version, featuring explosive live footage that captures the unique synergism between the band and their audiences, followed soon afterwards on Bloodlink Records.

In 2002, An Albatross caught the attention of New York City's Ace-Fu Label and forged a relationship that culminated in the 2003 release of the 8-minute merciless, aural onslaught, "We Are the Lazer Viking," an enhanced CD EP produced by sonic savant Wharton Tiers (Sonic Youth, Helmet, Dinosaur Jr.). Quickly thereafter, the band released a follow-up split EP with Oakland's legendary noise-rock outfit XBXRX on the Gold Standard Labs (GSL) label. September 2004 marked the beginning of the current line up featuring incendiary percussionist Edward Klinger, writhing, psychedel-evangelist vocalist Eddie B. Gieda III, rhythmic contortionista bassist Jay Hudak (who can also be seen playing bass in his side project Moon and Moon), circuit-bent breakneck speed-guitarist Jake Lisowski, and Farfisa-master, Phillip Reynolds Price.

With an unparalleled spirit stimulated by the current line-up and several recent releases in its pocket, the band set forth on an unbelievably rigorous tour schedule, crisscrossing the U.S. multiple times and making two transatlantic pilgrimages that amassed a staggering total of 600+ performances. The most noteworthy of these dates included a slot on the July '04 French Eurockeennes Festival, a March '05 BBC session - initiated by the late John Peel - and a support slot for the East Coast leg of the legendary Melt Banana's 2005 spring tour as well as romps w/ metal-gods The Dillinger Escape Plan and Japan's equivalent to Led Zeppelin, DMBQ.

The band's performances have now acquired a quasi-legendary status, surpassing the traditional concert schema by facilitating a complete fusion of band and audience. Under the mythical banner of future-primitive/psychedelic entities like the Lazer Viking and The Electric Coyote, An Albatross' Revolutionary Politics of Dance are executed nightly through their electrifying performances.

www.analbatross.com
www.myspace.com/analbatross23

BLUE CHEER / AN ALBATROSS Tour Dates:

Apr 6 2007 Northstar Bar Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Apr 7 2007 Rebel NYC, New York w/ Stephen Brodsky's Octave Museum

Apr 8 2007 Great Scott Allston, Massachusetts w/ Doomriders and Stephen Brodsky's Octave Museum

Apr 9 2007 La Sala Rossa Montreal

Apr 10 2007 Sneaky Dees Toronto

Apr 11 2007 The Underground Hamilton, Ontario

Apr 12 2007 Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, Ohio

Apr 13 2007 Mac's Bar Lansing, Michigan

Apr 14 2007 Schubas Tavern Chicago, Illinois w/ Del Rey

Apr 16 2007 31st Street Pub Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Apr 17 2007 Black Cat Washington DC

Apr 20 2007 BLUE CHEER @ The Roadburn Festival in Holland

On the recently-released Chautuqua, sun-scorched Californian longhairs The Willowz straddle the line between retro-minded revivalism and timelessness, channeling voices from the past sixty years of recorded music, while grounding themselves firmly in today's grassroots 60s renaissance. Echoing the yellow'd ease of bluesmen like Mississippi Fred McDowell, the God-given soul and dusty charm of vintage southern allstars like Greg Allman and his Bros, and the bare-bones swagger of any rock'n'roller to ever slay an ax, Chautuqua fans open like a rock history photo album, each page plastered with pictures of the most influential musicians of all time.

"...the band does demonstrate an ambitious tendency to segue from cynicism to optimism from song to song (and sometimes even within a single tune), in the manner of the White Album or Led Zeppelin III" - High Times "The Willowz are an ingenious hybrid, devising clever arrangements and deploying convulsive vocals and slowly but surely getting under your skin." ? Harp

"Willowz' un-Anaheim sound won them the coveted title of "Most Hated Band in Anaheim." Follin, whose rocking chops fall between Jack White and Robert Plant, shifts between raw, garage rock-driven performances and softer, folk-inspired tunes." - Spin Lead-single, "Evil Son," is all spook and strum, as Richie James Follin's ghostly voice quivers above a dirty southern rock boogie strung-up by flowering string arrangements and a slow, steady drum pound:

MP3: The Willowz - Evil Son

In support of the album The Willowz will be hitting the road for a slew of US dates, a few of which find the band venturing out of your average watering holes and into fancy-pants radio stations like KEXP, WOXY, WNYU. Catch The Willowz on Tour!

04-10 The Aquarium Fargo, ND

04-12 Vaudeville Mews Des Moines, IA

04-13 Downtown Records Lafayette, IN

04-14 The Beat Kitchen Chicago, IL

04-15 Main Stage Green Bay, WI

04-18 The Northside Tavern Cincinnati, OH

04-19 WOXY Cincinnati, OH

04-19 The Blackout Festival @ The Union Athens, OH

04-20 The Lime Spider Akron, OH 04-21 Beachland Cleveland, OH

04-22 The Red and Black Washington DC

04-24 WNYU 89.1FM New York, NY

04-25 Mercury Loung New York, NY

04-26 Oasis New London, CT

04-27 Asbury Lanes Asbury Park, NJ

04-28 PA'S Lounge Sommerville, MA

05-01 The Undergroun Hamilton, Ontario

05-02 Horseshoe Toronto, Ontario

05-03 Bugjar Rochester, NY

05-04 Mohawk Place Buffalo, NY

05-05 The Bohemian Detroit, MI

05-07 Birdys Indianapolis, IN

05-09 Springwater Supper Club Nashville, TN

05-11 The Milestone Charlotte, NC

05-14 New World Brewery Tampa, FL

05-1 Blackboot Orlando, FL

05-29 Plush Tucson, AZ

By now it's old news that the music industry is going through a huge transformation. The old ways just aren't working the way they used to. Artists have the means to promote themselves like never before, and album sales are dropping across the board. It's becoming more and more apparent: artists don't need record labels like they used to, and, instead, promotion is the key.

Toronto's Hello Operator are a prime example of how things are changing. They've been called newsmakers, a band to watch, and been praised in the Canadian press. They've been featured on MTV, Much Music, E Talk Daily and more. And still, Hello Operator continues to operate outside the confines of a record label. But that's not to say they've gone un-noticed by the industry, far from it. Coalition Entertainment & S.L. Feldman jumped at the opportunity to book and manage the band, sending them on highly sought after tours, including Hilary Duff's national tour.

Their influences of new wave, brit-pop, punk and 70's rock all stand strong while Hello Operator falls back on creating something new rather than mashing old genres together. This has proved to work, radio stations across Canada and California picked up Hello Operator's first EP and spinning the tracks to much enjoyment from listeners.

Their US tour is underway, take a listen to the MP3 links below and let me know what you think. Take a chance to go and see them when they hit your town, the next time they come through it might be difficult to get through the legions of groupies and screaming fans. Hit me up for more info.

MP3s:
55 Regrets
Chasing Satelites
She Lies Like The Devil

www.myspace.com/hellooperatormusic

April 5th - Seattle - The Central Saloon

April 6th - Portland - Portland State University (noon show)

April 6th - Portland - As Street Saloon

April 8th - San Francisco - 12 Galaxies

April 9th - Sacramento - Press Club

April 10th - Reno - Zephyr Lounge

April 12th - Los Angeles - Viper Room

April 13th - Las Vegas - The Bunkhouse

April 14th - San Diego - Beauty Bar

April 16th - Mesa - Hollywood Alley

April 17th - Tucson - Club Congress

April 19th - Austin - Beauty Bar

April 20th - College Station - Texas A&M (noon show)

April 20th - Houston - Super Happy Funland

April 21st - Dallas - Bar of Soap

April 22nd - Tulsa - Mooch and Burn

April 24th - Birmingham - The High Note Lounge/Rock'n Horse

April 25th - Pensacola - U. of W. Florida

April 26th - Tampa Bay - The Orpheum

April 27th - Miami - Studio A Club Revolver

April 28th - Orlando - The Copper Rocket

May 9th - Boston - T.T. The Bears

May 10th - New York - Pianos