Music Snitch

Los Angeles’ Airborne Toxic Event added 6 US radio dates to its busy schedule following a grueling 30 straight shows in 30 days tour in the UK. The US shows begin December 6 a mere week after completing the UK run with a show at Boston’s Orpheum Theater.

While the band has wowed the UK press with the endurance it has taken to do the tour, ultimately it’s the music that has won them over, with the NME writing, “Firmly on the right side of dramatic, their engaging stage presence and mawkish violin justifies the Arcade Fire comparisons. There’s a beautiful yet deftly macabre spine to their songs, and “Sometime Around Midnight” is a stirring demonstration of their power. …if you haven’t seen TATE, you should.”

Speaking of endurance, the first single off the band’s eponymous debut album, “Sometime Around Midnight” has now spent 15 weeks on the Alternative Chart, and continues to rise moving up another 4 places on the chart from 35 to 31. It’s a very rare occurrence for a song. The songs continued strength was borne out in some radio station research which the song to be #1 among males 24-30 at the Alternative format.

On top of the great radio play and press reaction the band is currently one of 8 bands in Heavy Rotation at MTV2 for “Sometime Around Midnight.” As with radio the endurance and slow burn of the song is why it is in the top rotation, more than three months after the video had been added to the playlists of MTV2, VH-1 and MTVU. Also in the television media The Airborne Toxic Event are part of a 10 second NBC Promo which will start over Thanksgiving weekend and is expected to be seen by over 50 million viewers.

Below are the US dates with more to follow in the upcoming weeks:

December 6 - Boston - Orpheum Theater

December 8 - New York - Blender Gramercy Theatre

December 10 - Kansas City, MO - The Midland

December 11 - Austin, TX - Emos

December 13 - Tuscon, AZ - TCC Exhibition Hall

December 18 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom

Sometime Around Midnight - Video

Uncle Earl member and John Lennon Songwriting Contest winner to be featured on nationwide broadcast on November 22nd

NEW YORK, NY - Kristin Andreassen, solo artist and guitarist/vocalist/clogger with the acclaimed stringband Uncle Earl, will be performing live on the nationally syndicated popular radio program A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keilor on Saturday, November 22. Andreassen will also participate in a live performance of the program on November 21. For tickets and a full list of stations carrying A Prairie Home Companion, visit http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/stations/.

As a vocalist, songwriter, and dancer, Kristin Andreassen has been one of the most visible artists of the current American string band renaissance. She is one-fourth of the captivating “all g’Earl” band Uncle Earl. Andreassen is also part of the super-group Sometymes Why with Ruth Ungar (the Mammals) and Aoife O’Donovan (Crooked Still), who will be releasing a new studio album on Signature Sounds in February of 2009.

Andreassen recently released Kiss Me Hello, a beguiling solo album that blends roots music elements with Andreassen’s own quirky, personal pop sensibility. Kiss Me Hello’s opening track “Crayola Doesn’t Make a Color for Your Eyes” won the Children’s category of the 2006 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. “Crayola” will be featured in Andreassen’s performance on A Prairie Home Companion, along with a selection of material representing Andreassen’s range, wit, and inventiveness.

Kristin Andreassen MySpace

Better late than never, here are some albums to check out this release Tuesday. Now with fancy schmancy links to buy or check out the albums on iTunes and Amazon (Which ever they are available on)

Anathallo Canopy Glow

Sleeping States Old vs. New EP

HelloGoodbye Ukulele Recordings EP

We first heard Dan via his incredible Notorious B.I.G cover ‘Hypntz’ earlier this summer. Its lush Sigur Ros -meets-Rhianna take on Biggie’s gangsta posturing set the blogosphere alight, getting props from Perez Hilton and some serious Radio 1 love from Zane Lowe and Jo Whiley.

Now signed to A&M records, Dan is finally set to release his debut single proper. ‘Yours’ is a propulsive, electro anti-love song (”I don’t want to be yours no more”). Its amazing, accompanying video (directed by hip Parisians Chic Et Artistic, think distant cousin to New Order’s True Faith video) showcases Dan’s chic hyper-coloured modernity even more brightly. The single will be released on the 1st of December.

Living in self imposed exile in Paris, Dan Black meshes sounds and genres with the same fluidity, ease and cultural nous as his heroes David Bowie and The Neptunes to create his own blue-eyed culture clash of soul, hip hop, rock and electronica and the result is utterly beguiling. Dan is currently at work on his debut album, which is set for release in early 2009.

Dan Black’s MySpace Page

I picked up Parts & Labor’s latest album a few weeks ago and my trusty Last.fm account informed me that they would be playing a show here in Tampa on the 13th and I thought, “sweet, I haven’t been to a show in a while, I need to check this out”. I started doing some background searching and found that other bands on the bill were local and Florida bands which sweetened the deal a little more. So I grabbed my new camera (which has HD video recording capabilities ), and headed off to the show.

I arrived at about 8:30, just before the first band started playing. It was a local trio called Hi-jack D.C. which wasn’t listed on the bill playing their first show ( at least their first with their new bass player), and I have to say I was impressed. Now, usually I can give some kind of reference to a band using by comparing them to a band that I already know, but this time I came up dry. They had a style all their own that was more instrumental than vocal, and it had my feet tapping.

After Hi-jack D.C. came Flexxehawk, another local band out of St. Petersburg. They had a style that reminded me of Oxford Collapse, kind of garage anthem-y. I had checked these guy out on myspace before the show and the tracks they had posted there didn’t really seem to capture the energy of the band at a live show. While many members of the band sang lead on various songs, I thought that some of the vocal harmonies got confusing and was most impressed with the songs where the drummer did most of the vocal work.

Lush Progress came up next, and the first thing that struck me about the band was how dialed in their sound was, and there was cello (i heart cello). I was pretty much entranced by the cello for their relatively short set which ended with a flawless Smashing Pumpkins cover.

The last band before Parts & Labor was, of the Florida bands, the one that sounded most impressive on their material posted on myspace, Averkiou. These guys gave me the feel of a shoegaze early Death Cab and, as with a lot of bands, the live set blew away the stuff on myspace. They felt like a comfortable indie rock old friend.

Finally, this was a long show for the measly $10 cover, Parts & Labor hit the stage. Parts & Labor was, well pretty much what you’d expect from them: Well put together semi-noise rock with all the electronic bleeps and blips you could ever want. I particularly enjoyed the enthusiasm of the keyboardist,  Dan Friel, who banged his head so much I had no idea how he could continue to function, let alone keep the show as good at was. I recorded as much video footage of the Parts & Labor performance as I could with the batteries dying in my camera (forgot to charge it before the show, doh.) Below is the video of them performing the song Nowheres Nigh off their latest album Receivers.

I just want to say kudos to the local bands and thanks for putting on a great show, I hope to see more local bands of this caliber at more shows. And hopefully Parts & Labor won’t do what a larger number of bands have been doing lately, ignoring Tampa on their tour routes. We would like it if you come back! Oh, and sorry for the lack of pics, I think I need to bring a tripod or something next time.

Parts & Labor - Nowheres Nigh Live 11/13/08:

Band Myspace Profiles: Averkiou, Lush Progress, Flexxehawk, Hi-jack D.C., Parts & Labor

TICKETS GO ON SALE NOVEMBER 15 AT 10AM EASTERN

(Asheville, NC) — Warren Haynes is pleased to add John Paul Jones, Coheed & Cambria, Roosevelt Collier, Karl Denson and Audley Freed to his 20th Annual Christmas Jam line up.

Single Day and 2 Day Tickets will go on-sale to the public through Ticketmaster and at the Asheville Civic Center Box Office on Saturday November 15th at 10AM Eastern. Tickets for each night are $55 + $1 Facility Fee. VIP Tickets are still available, visit www.xmasjam.com for more details.

“John [Paul Jones] sat in with us [Gov't Mule] at Bonnaroo and after seeing him at the Led Zeppelin concert in London, we spoke about him performing at the Christmas Jam and I’m thrilled he can make it,” said Haynes.

Haynes recently joined Coheed & Cambria on stage during their “Neverender” concert series in New York on the classic “I Shall Be Released.” The pairing went so well, Haynes invited the band to this year’s Jam.

For its Twentieth Anniversary, Warren Haynes Presents: The Christmas Jam will expand to 2 nights for the first time ever and will take place Friday December 12th & Saturday December 13th at the Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, NC. As always all proceeds from the Christmas Jam will be donated to Habitat For Humanity.

CURRENT PERFORMER LIST (Listed Alphabetically)
Allman Brothers Band
Coheed & Cambria
The Del McCoury Band
The Derek Trucks Band
Steve Earle
Michael Franti with Jay Bowman Acoustic
Gov’t Mule
Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk
John Paul Jones
Joan Osborne
Travis Tritt
Johnny Winter

W/ SPECIAL GUESTS ALSO SCHEDULED TO APPEAR (Listed Alphabetically)
Mike Barnes
Roosevelt Collier
Karl Denson
Ruthie Foster
Audley Freed
JJ Grey
Col. Bruce Hampton
Robert Kearns
Kevn Kinney
Eric Krasno
Mickey Raphael
& Many More

List of Performers Subject To Change, for more details visit www.xmasjam.com.

New Haven, CT’s These Green Eyes have shared the stage with the likes of Fall Out Boy, New Found Glory, Gym Class Heroes and a host of other artists who have called the spotlight home over the past number of years. With the sophomore record, Relapse To Recovery, due out March 24^th, These Green Eyes will look to claim a piece of that same spotlight for their own.

The video for “Sucker Punch (Won’t Get Away With It),” the first single off the forthcoming album, will kick off that bid with a national television debut on FUSE. Steven’s Untitled Rock Show will play host to the video this Wednesday, 11/12 at 2pm when the video air as “Steven’s Pick” for the show. See the video below.

Check out the video “Rosa” by Samuel Markus:

“Samuel Markus’ recent full length album, New Dawn presents folk-based tunes with pop-realm
accessibility. Within each song are familiar folk stories, delivered with near-dangerous
catchiness. These tunes remain in the heads of their listeners, but their intelligent and
narrative content makes them welcome.”

Samuel Markus: MySpace Page

Hello all, today we bring to you Meeting Of Important People. Formerly named “The You”, these Pittsburghians(?, Pittsburghites, …Pittsburghulars) released and album in 2006 called “For the Masses”, partially produced by Brain Deck who was also worked with Modest Mouse and Iron & Wine.  The album had a nice rocking feel to it, but the new name and newer music that I have heard so far has a real raise the bar vibe, especially on the track Mothers Pay More. Their Myspace page says they will be releasing a full length in early ‘09, and we’ll be sure to review it as soon as we get it.

Check out their Myspace for a listen

And you can find their album as “The You” on iTunes

Meet Fallbrooke: Eric McNeely (guitar/vocals), Kevin Schwarz (drums/vocals) and Augusto Vega (bass). The South Florida alt rock band joined forces in the summer of 2005, fine tuning their sound and stage show in the Southeast and East Coast. In ‘07, Fallbrooke was discovered and snatched up by RMR Music Group founder Paul Palmer (Trauma Records: Bush, No Doubt) who flew the band out immediately to Los Angeles after hearing a few songs. They are currently wrapping up their debut for release this winter and you can check out several tracks from the effort on Myspace: www.myspace.com/fallbrooke.

MP3 “Losin It”: http://www.fallbrookerock.com/06LosinIt.mp3

Above is a link to an MP3 of the lead track “Losin It”