News
The Wonder Years Nervous Energies Session
The Wonder Years have recently done an acoustic session with Nervous Energies for the new album, Suburbia I’ve Given You All and Now I’m Nothing. You can check out the band play “Local Man Ruins Everything” below. Go to Nervous Energies here to also check out acoustic versions of “Don’t Let Me Cave In” and “Woke Up Older”.
Stream Chadwick Stokes’s ‘Simmerkane II’
Simmerkane II, the first solo release of Dispatch usual-lead-singer and State Radio frontman Chadwick Stokes, hit stores yesterday via Ruff Shod/Nettwerk Records. One of my most anticipated releases of the year, the album is a collection of Chad’s memories and experiences while hopping freight trains across North America and features Carly Simon, Blake Hazard of The Submarines, Matt Embree of RX Bandits, The White Buffalo, and Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars.
This album will not disappoint fans of Chad’s past work, staying true to his folky-rock, Americana roots. You can listen for yourself below, courtesy of Nettwerk Records. You can also check out Chad’s solo tour dates for the fall, giving the singer-songwriter some time off following recent tours with both State Radio and Dispatch. For those of you unfamiliar with his discography, both Dispatch and State Radio are well-known for their live jam sessions, improvising and soloing throughout; Chad’s solo show should be no different and should definitely be checked out.
Jimmy Eat World To Play ‘Bleed American’ In Its Entirety
Ten years ago, Arizona alternative rock band Jimmy Eat World released their critically-acclaimed Bleed American. To celebrate, the band has decided to perform the album in its entirety on September 29th at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. Pre-sale tickets will be available on July 28th, with the public sale beginning on the 30th.
When the band decided to play both Bleed American and Clarity back to back at London’s Forum, the band sold out both shows – a feat not entirely surprising for a forefront of the emo and alt-rock movements. Their latest album, 2010’s Invented, was rated highly (read our review here) and was just 500 sales shy of becoming the band’s third album to debut in the top ten.
You can check out more of Jimmy Eat World’s 2011 tour dates below.
Explosions in the Sky Video
Despite being in the post-rock business for over a decade, Explosions in the Sky have released their first ever music video for the song “Last Known Surroundings” off of Take Care, Take Care, Take Care. You can watch the triptastic video at their website here.
Gossip Girl’s Penn Badgley Cast As Jeff Buckley
Penn Badgley of “Gossip Girl” fame – he plays Dan Humphrey – has nabbed the role of Jeff Buckley, the late singer/songwriter. According to Indiewire, Badgley will step into the role for the film Greetings From Tim Buckley, which is not the biopic film that we previously heard reports about. Instead, this film will cover the events surrounding Jeff Buckley’s 1991 performance at his father’s tribute concert in St. Ann’s Church, the same concert that launched his career.
I know what you’re thinking – will a star on a teen guilty-pleasure show be able to handle the role? Badgley seems to be prepared, stating “To play a man who was singularly gifted as an artist, greatly misunderstood and mythologized as a human being… It’s something very special and sacred. I’m going to give all I can to this project.” We’ll see.
XOXO, Gossip Girl.
Watch Bon Iver on The Colbert Report
To promote their newly-released record, Justin Vernon-fronted Bon Iver dropped by The Colbert Report to perform two songs: the lead single “Calgary” from Bon Iver, Bon Iver and long-time fan favorite “Skinny Love” off For Emma, Forever Ago. Hit the break to check out the videos.
The new album was released yesterday in the UK and Europe via 4AD and is now available everywhere else via Jagjaguwar. They’ll be dropping by on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” tonight for another performance. If that’s still not enough, be sure to check out one of Jagjaguwar’s listening parties for the LP across America. You can check out those locations here.
Bon Iver – “Calgary”
Bon Iver – “Skinny Love”
Listen: Leann Grimes – “Yeah We Up”
Leann Grimes, the side-project of Now You See Them‘s Shane Conerty, has just released a new track entitled “Yeah We Up”. The track samples and remixes GIVERS‘ “Up Up Up”, which is the opening cut on the indie pop band’s new album In Light. As with his own debut album, Shane chosee to show his appreciation for music blogs and indie bands by reconstructing songs posted on blogs and adding his personal spin to them.
Listen to or download “Yeah We Up” below. You can check out the self-titled Leann Grimes release on his Bandcamp here.
Listen: Wild Flag – “Romance”
All-female supergroup Wild Flag debuted the first single from their upcoming self-titled debut today on WFMU’s Cherry Blossom Clinic. “Romance” will be released on Wild Flag, which is set to be released on September 13th via Merge Records.
Wild Flag is composed of former Sleater-Kinney members Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss, Helium‘s ex-frontgirl Mary Timony, and The Minders‘ former keyboardist Rebecca Cole. Listen to the track and check out the band’s upcoming tour dates below.
Breathing Blue Announce Barbeque In July
Breathing Blue, a 5-piece New Jersey-grown band that seems to be exploding all over the tri-state area, is throwing a party to celebrate summer with their fans. The “Breathing Blue Barbeque,” will take place all day starting at 2p.m. on Saturday, July 9th at local venue staple The Brighton Bar.
Ever since Breathing Blue released the Breathing Blue EP in June 2010, their presence has been increasingly well known in the alternative music scene. With numerous reviews and positive feedback on the band showing up in the press in places like Absolute Punk and Alter The Press , it can be anticipated that their catchy tunes and intricate guitar work will soon be showcased on rock stations across the nation. Popular tracks like “Sparkle,” and “Chase The World” draw listeners in with vocalist Justin Sanford’s rich lyrics and sound with strong guitar, bass and drums to back it up.
Breathing Blue is known for their unique style in thinking outside-of-the-box when it comes to self-representation. Any band can play a show, but they always stand out above the rest and take it to a new level, especially for this show by inviting other vendors like award-winning Bullfrog’s BBQ to provide tasty cuisine for the crowd during the show, serving more than your average backyard burgers and hotdogs. They’ve invited at least half a dozen other special guests to share the outdoor stage with them to rock this all day event, and when nighttime falls, the party will continue inside The Brighton Bar. Admission is $10; it is a rain-or-shine event, and is all ages to enter, 21+ to drink.
Breathing Blue’s EP can be purchased over at Amazon
Free Download of The Kooks’ “The Saboteur”
The Kooks, who are returning with their third studio album Junk Of The Heart, announced earlier this week that they would be offering fans a chance to unlock a brand new song. Each tweet that contained the Twitter hashtag #junkoftheheart unlocked an additional 0.01 seconds of the song. Within hours, the new song, “The Saboteur”, was already unlocked.
You can listen to and download the new song now via The Kooks’ website here.
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