THE BLED TOUR WITH DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN
March 20, 2008
THE BLED have recently announced they will support Dillinger Escape Plan on a handful of U.S. dates this April. Please see all tour dates below.
The Tucson quintet have been on the road supporting their latest album, Silent Treatment, with tours across the U.S. with Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance on Projekt Revolution, supporting The Used, Saosin, and most recently, Every Time I Die on the Take Action Tour. The tour, which wraps in New York City on March 23rd, is donating 10% of ticket sales to Do Something, a non-profit organization that gives young people the opportunity to personally help change the world.
Silent Treatment (9/25/07, Vagrant), recorded with Brian McTernan (Thrice, Senses Fail), marks The Bled’s third release, and left ALTERNATIVE PRESS to comment “… the band stepped up their technical prowess with time changes, hyperactive alternate pickings and dynamics so striking a certain canyon in the band’s homestate comparatively pales.” The first single, “Shadetree Mechanics,” recently appeared on the Take Action Vol. 7 compilation, of which 5% of the suggested retail price will be donated to Do Something.
The Bled tour dates:
3/19 Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre **
3/20 Clifton Park, NY - Northern Lights **
3/21 Worcester, MA - The Palladium **
3/22 Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore at the TLA **
3/23 New York, NY - The Fillmore at Irving Plaza **
4/7 San Francisco, CA – Bottom Of The Hill #
4/8 Reno, NV - Club Underground #
4/9 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre #
4/10 Seattle, WA - El Corazon #
4/11 Boise, ID - The Venue #
4/12 Salt Lake City, UT - Avalon Theatre #
4/13 Las Vegas, NV - The Canyon #
4/14 Phoenix, AZ - Brickhouse Theatre #
4/16 Denver, CO - Marquis Theatre #
4/17 Lubbock, TX - Jake’s #
4/18 Ft. Worth, TX - Ridglea Theatre #
4/19 Austin, TX - Emo’s #
4/20 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live #
** Take Action! Tour w/ Every Time I Die, From First To Last, August Burns Red & The Human Abstract
# w/ Dillinger Escape Plan
We Are Scientists’ Brain Thrust Mastery
March 20, 2008
Astralwerks is pleased to announce the US release of We Are Scientists’ Brain Thrust Mastery on May 13, 2008. The release follows the New York-based band’s critically acclaimed 2005 debut, With Love & Squalor which Spin asserted- “It might take an alchemist to morph lead into gold, but these Scientists can mix punk, funk, and a lil’ bit of disco to yield a shiny, metallic bar of infectious, genre-bending rock.”
Sugar Blue
March 20, 2008
Grammy award winning Sugar Blue has been called the Jimi Hendrix or the Charlie Parker of the Harmonica, both appropriate names for the revolutionary and eclectic blues harpist. He grew up listening to jazz – specifically, Lester Young and Dexter Gordon, and soon fell in love with Muddy Waters and the blues greats. He has toured and recorded with The Rolling Stones, Willie Dixon, Bob Dylan, Stan Getz, Ray Charles, Frank Zappa, Prince and many more.
Keller Williams - With a Little Help from Some Friends
March 20, 2008
He is talented beyond belief, a showman beyond comprehension, and humble to a point of pure charm. Keller Williams hasn’t had it easy, hell; the man has fought through the muck to earn himself a place in a community of music enthusiasts that thrive on the art of improvisation.
Now in 2008 what Keller Williams has channeled artistically for close to a decade is changing. Traditionally a one-man band sustained by the technological dominance of looping devices, now has Williams teamed up with String Cheese Incident bassist Keith Moseley, drummer Jeff Sipe, and guitarist Gibb Droll to form his dream live band: the Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Cobra Starship w/ Metro Station, We The Kings, and The Cab
March 20, 2008
CONTEST 1 - THE ANIMATION SHOW: VOLUME 1 - 3
March 19, 2008
MTV Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment Present:
Prize: MIKE JUDGE’S 2007 COLLECTION OF AWARD-WINNING ANIMATED SHORTS AVAILABLE ON DVD: VOLUMES 1-3
Animation Show Year 3 Trailer:
cforms contact form by delicious:days
Sugar Blue - by Diana Olson
March 19, 2008
Grammy award winning Sugar Blue has been called the Jimi Hendrix or the Charlie Parker of the Harmonica, both appropriate names for the revolutionary and eclectic blues harpist. He grew up listening to jazz – specifically, Lester Young and Dexter Gordon, and soon fell in love with Muddy Waters and the blues greats. He has toured and recorded with The Rolling Stones, Willie Dixon, Bob Dylan, Stan Getz, Ray Charles, Frank Zappa, Prince and many more.
Sugar Blue was born James Whiting in New York City in 1950. The son of a singer/dancer who regularly performed at the legendary Apollo Theater. Blue received his first harmonica from his aunt, and proceeded to hone his chops by wailing along with Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder songs on the radio. He was soon to be influenced by the jazz musicians such as Dexter Gordon and Lester Young. Sugar Blue has used this background to his advantage, creating an ultra-modern blues style and sound.
Blue began his career as a street musician, and made his first recordings in 1975 with blues figures Brownie McGhee and Roosevelt Sykes. The following year he contributed to recordings by Victoria Spivey and Johnny Shines before moving to Paris on the advice of Memphis Slim.
While in France, Blue met Mick Jagger and members of the Rolling Stones, who invited Blue to join them in the studio. Besides his work on the Some Girls album, he can be heard on Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You. He appeared live with the group on numerous occasions and was offered the session spot, but he opted to return to the States. Before returning to the U.S. in 1982, Blue cut two albums: Crossroads, and From Paris to Chicago.
Blue’s decision to return home, despite his growing renown as a session player, was spurred by his desire to work with and learn from the best blues harmonica players. Thus, he came to Chicago and proceeded to sit in with Big Walter Horton, Carey Bell, James Cotton and Junior Wells. Blue went on to spend two years touring with his friend and mentor Willie Dixon as part of the Chicago Blues All Stars before putting his own band together in 1983. He then jointly received the 1985 Grammy Award for his work on the Atlantic album, Blues Explosion, recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
He recorded on Dixon’s Grammy-winning Hidden Charms album in 1989, and has performed on festival stages with artists like Muddy Waters, B. B. King, Art Blakey and Lionel Hampton. He sat in with Fats Domino, Ray Charles, and Jerry Lee Lewis for the Cinemax special, Fats Domino and Friends, and has appeared on screen and in the musical score of Alan Parker’s Angel Heart, starring Robert De Niro. He has appeared across America, Europe and Africa at many festivals - Chicago, Zürich, The Hague, Antibes, Nice, Cannes, Montreal, Pistoia, Berne, etc U.S. In 2007 he released CODE BLUE.
SUGAR BLUE: LIVE AT BUDDY GUYS LEGENDS, CHICAGO 3/15/08
We were treated to another mind-altering performance by the legendary Sugar Blue here in Chicago on Saturday night. I have kept in contact with him as a fan for many years and was first introduced to him at Rosas here in Chicago by none other then the late great Blues bass player Willie Kent.
I have always been in awe of Sugars Blues playing and asked him to sign my guitar and he willingly obliged. He started out his set, burning the house down at Buddy Guys with a stunning top-speed version of “I Aint Got You” and continued on throughout the night to support his new Live album “Code Blue”, playing at Warp Speed, with the technical ferocity of his Harmonica playing seeming to become more intense, as all the shimmering delicate notes began to rain down upon the audience almost like some type of magical, meteor shower from the stage.
There was a time in the 1990s when people were pointing to John Popper of Blues Traveler as the next great harp wizard. If he were to engage Sugar Blue on stage he would be found to be a mere “pre-school” student of Sugar Blue, and pales in comparison to the speed and precision of this absolute master of his instrument.
Quite simply put, Sugar Blue is a Living Legend of the Blues and Jazz. He is one of the all time greatest of the genre and once you have witnessed this performer live, and in person, you will understand why he is known as the “Jimi Hendrix” of the Harmonica.
I must say that he is beyond a shadow of a doubt, Sugar Blue is the Greatest Harp player of any style, and of all time. Dan Rogers, Chicago
I asked Sugar what his favorite gigs were and he answered, “Favorite gigs I have played with The Greats?? That’s tough!!! I have had the great fortune to play with cats like Lionel Hampton, Dexter Gordon, Bob Dylan, BB King, Hubert Sumlin, Muddy Waters, Taj Mahal, Prince, James Brown, Fats Domino, Frank Zappa, Rick Danko, Phish, Johnny Littlejohn Stevie Wonder, Sunnyland Slim, Louis and Dave Myers, Toots Thieleman, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Paul Butterfield, Branford and Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Rogers, James Cotton, John Lee Hooker, James Cotton, Jimmie Reed, Louisiana Red, Willie Dixon, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Sammy Price, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Eddie Jefferson, Larry Grahm, Howard Johnson, Mick Taylor, Lucky Peterson. Lonnie Brooks, Phil Collins, Paul Quinicette, Buddy Tate, Archie Shepp, Rico Mcfarland, The Kinsey Report, Melvin Taylor, Hiram Bullock, Fats Domino, Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry and many more truly monster players!!! I don’t mean to be a namedropper but I am really very proud and fortunate to have been in the same room with these wonderful musicians let alone to have played, jammed and hung out with them! How do you possibly choose which player or situation? It would be like choosing a single star from the universe and saying it was brightest, I can’t do it! Is there anyone that I’d like to play with? Sure man, but just who that is will be something I know when it happens!”
”I just got back to the EU a few hours ago and jet lag’s got me in its clutches!” said Blue. Do you like touring? I asked. “Does Dracula like pretty young girls? I couldn’t live without it baby! That’s where the living, loving and creating happens, on the road and on the stage!” said Blue. It’s a good thing he likes touring…. look at this schedule just for the next month:
March 28 Borgosesia Blues Festival Borgosesia
29 Rain Dogs Savona
31 Le Batard Club San Prospero, Italy
April 1 Deep Blues York
2 Borderline London, UK
3 BBC Session London, UK
4 Unta Da Lindn Steyr
5 Budapest Festival – Petofi, Hal Budapest
6 Blue Garage Frauenthal
8 Tunnel Wien
9 Gwoelb – AT Komeuburg
11 SPAZIO MUSICA Pavia
12 Dimmi DiSi Rome, Italy
28 Ingolstadt Blues Festival Ingolstadt
“With regard to my CD “CODE BLUE” My favorite trax?…hmmm! Let it Go, Chicago Blues, Walking Alone and Crystalline I guess but not necessarily in that order, oh and High You Can’t Buy! Cold Blooded is cool too…I really like them all ya know!”
I asked Sugar what he wants to be doing five years from now. “I want to be living the life I love, watching my daughter graduate college at the head of her class and see a little more peace, love, understanding and appreciation for the planet we live on and those we share it with! Thank you very much for your interest and for promoting the music. It is one of the keys to the door to harmony among Gaia’s children and I’m sure Mother Earth likes that as well! Blessings on you and all!”
BROOKLYN’S READY AIM FIRE READY NEW ALBUM RELEASE
March 19, 2008
Set your targets on READY FIRE AIM – A new music collaboration between multidimensional artist SAGE RADER and DJ/Producer STAKKA. Debut CD This Changes Nothing out May 27 on Expansion Team Records!
rephlektor inkorporated and Expansion Team Records are pleased to announce the May 27 release of Ready Fire Aim’s debut CD This Changes Nothing. A collaboration between singer, poet, author, actor and political commentator Sage Rader and DJ/ producer Shaun Morris (AKA Stakka), Ready Fire Aim have come up with a stealth concept album that conjures shades of Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, The Postal Service and even Pink Floyd, but with a twisted, hyper-processed and hypnotic sound that truly sets them apart. And you can dance to it.
DOWNLOAD READY AIM FIRE - HERE!
From the creepy opening strains of electric violin squeezed and squelched through a phalanx of effects pedals on “End of Over,” to the Reznor-esque clipped beats and crackles of “Lush But Dark,” the album is a raucous journey through electronic beat styles and modes of signal manipulation, often harking back to ‘80s Brit synth pop, but also conjuring the dystopic dreams of a music from the future. Vocally, Sage runs the gamut from gravel-voiced romantic with a dark secret (”Happy Love Song”) to caterwauling champ who could give Perry Farrell a run for his lucre (”I Would for You.”) Lyrically, he tackles topics ranging from relationships long past their prime (on the club-funky anthem “Beautiful Thing”) to backroom jockeying for power (the rocked-out “Laff It Up”).
Sage first got into music through the violin, which he picked up as a child while living in London. Then in high school, he studied violin performance at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of Stephen Clapp, now the Dean of the School of Music at Julliard, before chucking it all to roam the earth. Along the way, he became a poet (he was reviewed by The Guardian as the “Michael Moore Of Poetry”), writer and actor, grabbed a choice role in the film Beyond The Ocean (nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize), publishing an illustrated confessional called Sex Drugs and Sunday School and performing his poetry and political standup in venues around the world.
Shaun “Stakka” Morris grew up in Brighton, England, where he began DJing at an early age. As a fan of everyone from Jean-Michel Jarre to Just-Ice, he developed a wide-ranging palette and eventually got into making beats of his own just as acid house and big beat were giving way to London‘s hardcore rave scene and, eventually, drum ’n bass. He adopted the name Stakka and teamed up with Keir Tyrer to produce a string of progressive dance tracks for the Liftin‘ Spirits label (as Stakka & K. Tee), while also working with Nathan Vinall under a litany of aliases. After moving to New York in 2002, he and DJ DB began collaborating as Ror-Shak and released an album, Deep, in early 2007.
This Changes Nothing is released May 23, 2008 on Expansion Team Records.
Tracks
1. “End Of Over”
2. “Wannabe Your”
3. “Beautiful Thing”
4. “Welcome Home”
5. “So Fine”
6. “As If It Were That Easy”
7. “I Would For You”
8. “Laff It Up”
9. “Happy Love Song”
10. “Shouldn’t Oughta”
11. “Better You Than Me”
12. “Lush But Dark”
SANJAY’S LONELY BREAKS NEW GROUND
March 19, 2008
Sanjay has been getting and overwhelmingly positive response from the reggae market for his transformed image.
Sanjay’s new single, Lonely has been doing very well locally and internationally. The song on the Renaissance ‘Legal Riddim’ has been receiving good airplay both locally and internationally with regular spins on BBC 1Xtra, Big Up Radio and 876radio as well as continuous rotation on local radio stations.
Lonely has broken new ground for Sanjay as he now has a burgeoning following in Germany and England. The video of Sanjay’s Lonely is also a regular feature on reggae cable stations, boasting a more regular than usually rotation on Hype TV, RE TV, local TV stations and international reggae oriented stations in New York, Miami and Germany.
Sanjay has been getting and overwhelmingly positive response from the reggae market for his transformed image. The artiste, who cut his hair in the video for Lonely, sees this as validation for the considerable amount of work he has put in to ensure his work is always of a good quality.
“I am receiving good reviews for Lonely both internationally and locally. I am pleased with the responses so far and I would just like to let the fans know that they can expect bigger ad better things from Sanjay” – Sanjay, Recording Artiste
Watch Lonely Here:
RICK ROSS DOES IT AGAIN – DEBUTS AT #1 SOUNDSCAN WITH TRILLA
March 19, 2008
Slip N’ Slide/Def Jam recording artist Rick Ross joins the exclusive VIP club reserved for MCs whose first two consecutive major label album releases have entered the Soundscan chart at #1, as TRILLA (in stores March 11th) debuts at #1 on first week sales of over 198,000 units. The #1 chart debut- and #1 Digital Album - was powered by Rick’s current single, “The Boss,” featuring T-Pain, coupled with an aggressive street marketing campaign and a release week performance on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live. TRILLA follows the success of Port Of Miami, Rick’s IDJ debut album (released August 2006) which entered at #1 with first week sales of 187,000 units.
“We are thrilled to bring home this hard-fought #1 for Rick Ross,” said Island Def Jam Music Group chairman Antonio “LA” Reid. “The Def Jam and Slip N’ Slide staffs, and especially Ross himself, pushed really hard to get here. I’m proud of the work, but more importantly, I’m proud to have Ross cemented among hip-hop’s elite, where he belongs”
“The Boss” was produced by Jonathan Rotem, L.A.-based hitmaker for Sean Kingston, the Game, Snoop Dogg, Jennifer Lopez, Chamillionare, and others. The new single moves up to #14-bullet on both the R&R/BDS and Mediabase Urban charts; and also breaks the Top 40 on both the R&R/BDS and Mediabase Rhythmic charts. The song’s Hot 100 Airplay audience continues to build, now over 28 million with 3,600-plus spins.
Online, Rick’s personal “TrillaWorld” blog is in its second month of operation. His http://www.myspace.com/rickross website shows more than 14.3 million profile views, and over 366,000 friends, with an amazing 22.8 million total plays.
