Thursday, April 23, 2009

Check out the addictive new Nite Club single “Left Right” right NOW.

Nite Club at a night club. Celebrate the release of My Tronic at Public Assembly in Brooklyn on April 30th. Check out the addictive new single “Left Right” right HERE.

RIYL: Claude Debussy, The KLF, Yes, Bobby Brown, Devo, The Sea and Cake, The Orb, Tangerine Dream and Mobb Deep.

“With Spitzer’s knack for emotive melodies and nasty grooves, Nite Club proves that drum machines can indeed have some soul.” – URB.

Nite Club’s latest My Tronic is out now on Tape Theory Music. To celebrate this positive moment in time, Nite Club aka Richard Spitzer will perform with Osbourne (Ghostly International) drummer Steve Bryant laying down the backbeat LIVE on Thursday, April 30th 9pm at Williamsburg staple, Public Assembly. Their combined background of live jungle, indie rock and hip hop makes for an upbeat and dreamy atmosphere reminiscent of early 90’s UK rave scene. Not to be missed!

Check out “Left Right,” (MP3) the latest single from Nite Club’s My Tronic, as well as additional tracks and the video for “No Matter Which Way” via the links below!

Nite Club is the project of multi instrumentalist Richard Spitzer. Born into an Orthodox Jewish / Cuban family, music was a natural part of daily life. Either the salsa and mambo infused family parties or the introspective soulful prayer at the ultra Orthodox Hebrew Temple. Diversity in music was Spitzer’s calling since he was little.

Spitzer started performing at rave events at 16-years-old. He blossomed as a player with prog rock, punk and live drum n’ bass groups using modern classical composition as his backdrop. Spitzer then pursued a music education in college where he was composition classmates with electronic artist Dan Deacon.

Spitzer has performed across the US, Europe and Japan opening for The Rapture, The Roots, Jamie Lidell, Lightning Bolt, DJ Oscar G, DJ DB, Kool Keith, and The Locust. Spitzer has also performed at major international super clubs such as Crobar, Avalon, and Spirit. He counts Claude Debussy, The KLF, Yes, Bobby Brown, Devo, The Sea and Cake, The Orb, Tangerine Dream and Mobb Deep as influences.

Currently, Spitzer enjoys collaborations and remix projects with his Japanese extended musical family including of members of j-hip-hop group SBK and the first nu-rave / minimal techno band from Japan, The Samos. Showcased in the live setting Nite Club becomes a collaboration with Osbourne (Ghostly International) drummer Steve Bryant. Manipulating all kinds of instruments Spitzer’s experiences come together with Nite Club. While having the New York night life as his backdrop he creates a beautiful project that shines in the night sky.

Artist: Nite Club
Title: My Tronic
Label: Tape Theory

01. Compose
02. Left Right (MP3)
03. National
04. Good Life (Kanye West) (MP3)
05. Time Fighter
06. No Matter Which Way (MP3 | VIDEO)
07. Collection Agency – Reebok Pump Mix
08. License Control
09. BK Nights
10. Electric Cycle
11. Cape Navril – Frost Mix
12. Change Your Love
13. Down Days
14. Aquarell
15. Eff$
16. Burma

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On The Web: www.myspace.com/niteclubmusic
www.myspace.com/tapetheorymusic


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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Deleted Scenes’ Birdseed Shirt nabs an elusive 8.0 rating from Pitchfork as band announces upcoming tour dates.

Album track “Ithaca” gets remixed, group premieres video for “One Long Country Song” shot in the same Metro station in which it was written.

Washington, DC-based band Deleted Scenes recently released its debut album Birdseed Shirt to much critical praise. Notably, the album recently received an 8.0 rating from tastemaking culture website, Pitchfork Media (LINK). The band is currently walking through that opened door by shining a brighter light on its album – one that reveals a record with a style that has already been referred to to as “an acid-trip that is absolutely habit forming” (Madison Isthmus), “gently glazed with cold medication” (The Onion), and “Steeped in a blurry digital haze” (Washington City Paper).

Deleted Scenes will embark on a series of a dozen or so dates throughout May and June in support of Birdseed Shirt. To tide new fans over while they wait to see the group live for the first time, DC DJ AutoRock recently remixed “Ithaca” one of the standout tracks from Birdseed Shirt. Notable blog Arjan Writes debuted the track HERE and it can also be downloaded via the link below.

Additionally, a takeaway-style video for “One Long Country Song,” another album favorite, was recently shot by Brightest Young Things in the same DC Metro station in which the song was initially written. This fascinating clip is posted on the Brightest Young Things website HERE and can be viewed in hi-res on YouTube HERE and embedded via the code included below.

The band offers more insight about the creation of the “One Long Country Song” clip explaining, “It’s illegal to shoot on the DC Metro for homeland security reasons. Luckily nobody arrested us. The setting is perfect for its continual interplay with the lyrics. The song begins ‘It’s one long country song to the Metro / which is five blocks by anyone else’s count,’ and proceeds to process the previous evening’s romantic disaster through the bleary brain-chemistry of an awkward all-nighter.”

“The video’s best moment juxtaposes shots of indifferent commuters in headphones ignoring the performance, with the lyrics ‘and as the long song’s killing you / through white headphones with no bass / and the bottom end is dropped out of your chest / know the morning travelers are all feeling quite the same / oh, but still nobody’s jumping to the tracks.’ The vid starts out a little noisy, but gets perfectly audible after the first verse. An announcement from the conductor concludes the one-shot performance at DC’s Dupont Circle Metro station, which is the station in which the song was actually written, at 6AM, one February 15th.”

In an effort to provide the media with a clear and concise pathway towards covering Deleted Scenes, the band has graciously provided a guide to writing about the group which can be found below. Be sure to check out the MP3s linked below, as well, and check Deleted Scenes out when the band embarks on its upcoming journey across the nation.

Artist: Deleted Scenes
Title: Birdseed Shirt
Label: What Delicate Recordings

01. Turn To Sand
02. Fake IDs (MP3)
03. Take My Life
04. Mortal Sin
05. Got God
06. Ithaca (MP3 REMIX)
07. City That Never Wakes Up
08. One Long Country Song (MP3 VIDEO)
09. Deacons
10. Another Worse Cliché
11. Get Your Shit Together For The Holidays

Deleted Scenes Live:
04/26 College Park, MD @ WMUC In-Studio Performance
05/05 Baltimore, MD @ The Talking Head
05/18 New York, NY @ Piano’s
05/21 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
05/29 Baltimore, MD @ Hexagon
06/02 Nashville, TN @ The End
06/04 Atlanta, GA @ Star Bar
06/06 Jacksonville, FL @ Eclipse
06/11 Dallas, TX @ The Lounge
06/12 Houston, TX @ Notsuoh
06/13 Austin, TX @ Club de Ville
06/15 Phoenix, AZ @ Trunk Space
06/17 Los Angeles, CA @ Silverlake/Fold
07/04 Montreal, PQ @ Divan Orange

It’s Easy To Write About Deleted Scenes
1. A DIY bootstraps story. Band (Deleted Scenes) from a town (Washington, DC) that made DIY into a religion begins booking its own national tours, and sets off in a shitty van to play one sparsely attended show at a time. Months after releasing their debut album to little fanfare and no press campaign, a lucky Pitchfork review (“brave and ferocious,” 8.0) suddenly makes people listen. Band does it the hard way, develops as a live force over three years, and is said to deserve every kind word. Yards of local column inches tell the story of a band “doing it right,” in the words of Washington Post music editor David Malitz.

2. An experimental pop odyssey. Band draws from disparate sources (Radiohead’s restlessness, Dischord’s angst, Morrissey’s sadness, Modest Mouse’s not-mere cleverness) to produce something heart-crushingly fun. Preparing to record its first CD (Birdseed Shirt), band discovers an obscure album of monster songs (The Rude Staircase’s Sookie Jump) and is compelled to hunt down its mysterious creator-the ingenious, first-nameless L. Skell-to recruit him as producer. After recording basic tracks with DC icon J. Robbins, the band holes up for nine painstaking months in a bedroom studio with the socially abhorrent Skell, hacking and screwing together this beast-a thing made less of chords and rhythms than of hair, wire, and skin. They release it on Skell’s own tiny What Delicate Recordings label-a record company run more like an art gallery, with Skell and Andrew Becker (Dischord Records) as its curators.

3. An existential coming of age. A former creative writing student quits fiction, and starts singing what he knows-spiritual despair, hope, disgust, and manic-depression. He goes on to create a confessional coming-of-age work that defies easy summary. Suffused with sadness, humor, self-loathing and post-post-modern self-dismissal, his lyrics are notable for contradictions that transcend simple irony. Lines like “I don’t mind you lying to me / If you think you’re right, you must be” (“Fake IDs”) and “you can fake whatever it takes” (“Get Your Shit Together For The Holidays”) offer problematic solutions-the only kind he can begin to accept. Other songs explore moral hypocrisy, romantic disappointment, and loss of faith with statements that double over on themselves: “If the water should rise, I’m going on a vacation” (“Mortal Sin”); “If you were counting on ideals or a dream / Stay awake, she will steal them in your sleep” (“One Long Country Song”); “Got God, got boring/ Lost God, stayed boring, got drunk” (“Got God”).

4. A band of bros. Four high-school friends put funk-rock on hold, part ways for college and/or shitty jobs, and reconvene, a few years older and more adventurous, to start Deleted Scenes. The musical rapport they developed as kids comes back as naturally as if it had never left, and the band is a unit. It plays like one, garnering one fawning live review after another. Songwriting pair Dan Scheuerman (guitar/vocals) and Matt Dowling (bass/keys/vibes/flexotone) explores a tendentious partnership-Dowling a dynamic rhythmic thinker and Scheuerman a quirky melodic one-and develop into a symbiotic unit, contributing equally to each song. Thoughtful and powerful drumming by Brian Hospital, and polyrhythm-heavy guitar playing by Chris Scheffey complete the Deleted Scenes sound.

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www.myspace.com/deletedscenes
www.whatdelicate.com
www.myspace.com/whatdelicate

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Deleted Scenes In The Press:
“Brave and Ferocious... 8.0” – Pitchfork

“[Deleted Scenes] has hit its stride in a major way on debut album Birdseed Shirt” It’s an album of smart, slippery and varied indie rock songs, but it never feels like the band is forcing things just for the sake of being different. Some songs have the nervous energy of early Talking Heads, while others succeed thanks to intricate subtleties that show an obsessive attention to detail.” – Dave Malitz, Washington Post

Birdseed Shirt, the debut LP from Deleted Scenes, is a creative and emotional album of soaring, hook – laden highs and more tempered lows, with each mood skillfully executed and full of rich imagery and metaphors. Taking the odd title from a Jonathan Safran Foer novel, the duo from Brooklyn and Washington, DC make playfully unpredictable songs that veer in unexpected directions while remaining completely infectious.” – NPR.org

“Not since the days of Fugazi and Discord Records has a D.C. band made such a stir on the national music circuit.” – Washington Post Express

Deleted Scenes’ recent album, Birdseed Shirt, often sounds as if it’s been gently glazed with cold medication, but that doesn’t mean it’s creatively sluggish. All that fine – tuned, morose reverb and space opens up on a band that has enough subtle craft to explore everything from its mopey side (‘Get Your Shit Together For The Holidays’) to psych – rock aggression (‘Mortal Sin’).” – The Onion

“So go see the Deleted Scenes in a small club while you can.” – Madison Isthmus

“The range of emotions – the strength of anger, the saturation of joy – pour out of this new bundle of songs.” – Pasta Primavera

“The first full length album from the Deleted ScenesBirdseed Shirt will take you back to a time when indie rock was not just the sophisticated soft rock that it has morphed into in recent years. Each and every song on this album is not only a musical example of song writing at its best, but a lyrically as well. The strongest songs on the album are many layered walls of sound. The more subdued songs create a cyclical rhythm with catchy hooks that will have you bobbing your head or hosting your own personal dance party.” – Sen Baltimore

“On ‘Mortal Sin,’ the band takes an acid–rock trip that’s absolutely habit – forming, while ‘Ithaca’ (MP3) features a beat that’s weirdly reminiscent of the old Filter tune ‘Take a Picture.’ Even ‘Turn To Sand,’ which begins like a pretty straight–ahead pop song, surprises after a few bars thanks to a sneak attack of blues licks. – Madison Isthmus

Birdseed Shirt is one of the D.C. area’s finest indie–rock CDs ever released, sounding a bit like the reverbed Americana of My Morning Jacket if that band wasn’t always lost in the Grand Canyon, or a more vibrant version of Galaxie 500’s gentle psychedelia.” – Washington Post Express

“It’s shocking that this band isn’t huge.” – DCist

“Delicately psychedelic Americana that makes judicious use of musical gizmos and gadgets to instill an autumnal stoner vibe. Songs like ‘Fake IDs’ (MP3) are steeped in blurry digital haze, as if somebody tried to play the Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory song ‘Pure Imagination’ through a modem circa 1997.” – Aaron Leitko, Washington Post Express

“Where are the labels that should be chomping at the bit to release a band like this?” – J. Robbins on jrobbins.net

Monday, April 20, 2009

And The Moneynotes records Daytrotter session in preparation for tour and release of new On The Town, On The Vine EP, produced by Nick Krill.

“Appalachian-roots-inspired country-punk.” – Popmatters

“They fan the flames and make a person want to start distilling their own booze.” – Daytrotter

Pennsylvania band And The Moneynotes stopped by the Daytrotter studios in Rock Island, Illinois last month to record a session (hear it HERE) featuring tracks from the band’s upcoming digital/7-inch EP On The Town, On The Vine, set to be released by Prairie Queen Records on May 5th, 2009. The band will also hit the road for about a dozen dates starting this week.

And The Moneynotes began in 2006 as Dr. Horsemachine & The Moneynotes. Based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the group sand-blasted audiences with a unique blend of vaudevillian country bluegrass pop. Backed by a tight rhythm section, the song writing of Mitchell Williams blended wonderfully with the virtuosity of violinist Coleman Smith.

In 2007, after the completion of their first EP, This Year We Hunt, bassist Austin Smith retired to his native Texas. No one man could fill Austin’s shoes, so the band added two new members, Pat Finnerty and Manny Quinn, formerly of Okay Paddy. With added dimensions of new personnel and instruments, not to mention different song writing perspectives, a name modification was in order. Thus: And The Moneynotes. Wishing to capture a moment of inspiration, the group quickly entered the studio and began recording their first full length, New Cornucopia!, a well received collection of jazz, ‘60’s surf, swing, garage-rock, and bluegrass. Continued below…

And The Moneynotes Live:
04/23 Washington, DC @ Velvet Lounge
04/25 Philadelphia, PA @ The M Room
05/06 State College, PA @ Bar Bleu
05/07 Pittsburg, PA @ 31st Street Pub
05/08 Youngstown, OH @ Cedar’s Lounge
05/09 Fort Wayne, IN @ Brass Rail w/ The Orange Opera
05/11 Indianapolis, IN @ Local’s Only w/ The Orange Opera
05/12 Lexington, KY @ Green Lantern
05/13 Murfreesboro, TN @ Boro Bar & Grill
05/14 Chattanoga, TN @ JJ’s Bohemia
05/15 Charlotte, NC @ Sung Harbor

Artist: And The Moneynotes
Title: On The Town, On The Vine EP
Label: Prairie Queen Records
Release Date: May 5th, 2009

01. On The Town
02. Magnetism
03. On The Vine (MP3)
04. Souraina

Continued from above…
Within months of the release of New Cornucopia!, the band has produced a new group of songs for a 7-inch vinyl EP. On The Town, On The Vine is a four song set that reflects the blessing and the curse that is living in Scranton, PA, And The Moneynotes hometown. Faces, personalities and experiences have all seeped into the albums lyrics and over all theme. This time, they have called on old pal Nick Krill to help with production from the start. To round out the record, the band has included “Souraina,” recorded during their second session at Daytrotter Studios. On this new effort, the bands’ sound has evolved once again by adding a blend of folk and early rock and roll to the mix.

With lead vocals on the record split evenly between Mitch Williams (acoustic guitar) and Mike Quinn (electric guitar), and background vocals from the rest of the band ranging from heartfelt four-part harmonies to raucous gang hollers, the listener is captivated for the entirety of the EP. When the song calls for an instrumental break, Roy “Norge” Williams (piano) and Coleman Smith (violin) weave their swing-influenced layers over the foundation of Quinn, Pat Finnerty (electric bass), Setty Hopkins (drums) and Brian Craig (percussion).

The current line-up of And The Moneynotes has taken their traveling road-show (often featuring intricate segues, giant horse heads and kazoos) throughout the Northeast, South, Southeast and Midwest over the past year including a stop at South By Southwest 2009. And The Moneynotes have had the pleasure of performing with Ra Ra Riot, The Spinto Band, Loney Dear, Illinois, Oxford Collapse, Hoots & Hellmouth, Drink Up Buttercup, Sam Champion, The Rosewood Thieves, Tally Hall, Explorers Club and many other local and regional favorites.

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www.andthemoneynotes.com
www.myspace.com/drhorsemachine
www.prairiequeenrecords.com
www.myspace.com/prairiequeenrecords

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Dish featured on NPR, dishes up more tracks from its latest album (R.I.Y.L. Cold War Kids, Okkervil River, Latin Playboys.)

Stream the entire disc HERE (and be sure to check out drummer Nathaniel Aguilar’s bizzaro found junk-gypsy percussion setup, too.)

Roberto and Nathaniel Aguilar are brothers. No Jack-and-Meg-White mystery about it. The two members of Dish have bickered on family car trips, fought over bunk beds and cruised the streets of their hometown of Damascus, Maryland their whole lives.

But more importantly, they discovered music together, and the pairing of Roberto’s organic, genre-busting singing and guitar work with Nathaniel’s junk-gypsy found percussion has been a decade in the making (check out plenty of shots of Nathaniel’s “junk” drums HERE.) That’s exactly what Dish is, two left-of-center musical minds preternaturally in tune with each other to create a sound without peer on the current pop scene.

Check out the Dish tune “Cold Is” (MP3) as featured on National Public Radio HERE.

Dish’s debut EP Los Angeles, which has been called an impressionist dreamscape, came from a feverish three-day recording session in Los Angeles produced by drummer Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant, Beck, Ray Lamontagne) and Jen Condos (Don Henley, Ryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen) and engineered by Ryan Freeland (who recently helmed Aimee Mann’s The Forgotten Arm).

A year later the Aguilar brothers took a year and produced the album Ma Raison De Vivre Ton Amour (Your Love Is My Reason To Live) (STREAM) which is their most complete work yet. With collaborations and the room to stretch out artistically, Dish has been described as “Jeff Buckley as an ADHD-riddled nine-year-old playing prodigious poly rhythms on pots ‘n pans” and been compared to Flaming Lips with snippets of Radiohead.

Their latest CD is raw, organic, strong, dark and beautiful, (something their fans are accustomed to in their live shows – see HERE.) It’s that intensity of performance and song craft that have, quite simply, leveled audiences wherever Dish has played. Come for the buckets, stay for the groundbreaking music. Dish will play your kitchen sink and blow the roof off the place. There are no mistakes, only sounds with intention. Intention is everything.

Artist: Dish
Title: Ma Raison De Vivre Ton Amour
Label: ROA Records
Streaming E-Card: HERE

01. Chase My Ghost
02. Cold Is (MP3)
03. This Ain’t Livin’ (MP3)
04. Interlude
05. Death And Romance
06. I Saw A Bird
07. Zombie Love Song
08. Letter To You (MP3)
09. Tired Of Writing Songs
10. I Will Run For Our Love
11. Closer Dead
12. Family Tree
13. The Song I Couldn’t Say
14. Pictora
15. Flutter
16. Because The End Is Near

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On The Web:
www.roarecords.com/dish
www.myspace.com/dishtheband
www.roarecords.com

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Friday, April 17, 2009

Austin punk-folk legend Gretchen Phillips launches new album aided by members of Shearwater, Team Dresch, The Butchies.

“Lyrically, I Was Just Comforting Her retains themes and emotions that distinguish this Texas Music Hall Of Fame inductee, such as a desire for empathy and human connection in a world plagued by alienation. Sonically, the album is rich and diverse, an indication that Phillips will continue to inspire fans for another 20 years at least.” -- Exclaim!

“Equally comfortable working in sublime lilt and cheeky raunch, Phillips artfully navigates her way around the nexus of esoteric femme folk and punk rock cabaret. What’s significant about Comforting is the way it builds upon Phillips’ left-field pedigree to find more universal chords.” -- Austin Chronicle

When influential and adventurous musician Gretchen Phillips first began making music in the 1980’s, the notion of singing songs about being a lesbian was as alien as the thought of a black American president. Happily, today Phillips finds that many things have slowly-but-surely changed. “Back when I was first starting out it was a big deal to have a song about being gay, but 20+ years later that’s just not so novel, and I’m totally happy about that,” she says. “I’m glad that the world has progressed to where that’s not such a big deal.”

Phillips, who has just released her first new album in five years, I Was Just Comforting Her, (see below for links to four MP3s from the album) built her reputation singing about lesbianism while at the same time trying to avoid being marginalized by the mainstream. The Texas Music Hall of Fame inductee’s influence paved the way for many performers to follow -- Phillips was even given a notable shout-out in the song “Hot Topic” by Le Tigre. “Even though the world has The L Word now,” Phillips writes in a recent treatise, “my particular take on things, my unique lesbian vision is not ubiquitous.”

This type of ubiquity, however, is certainly her goal. “I don’t want my lesbianism to alienate people or for it to just place me into a niche,” she says. “Rather, I want to be able to show myself honestly and completely and to have that honesty create a connection because people can relate to it, even from the most disparate quarters. I believe that the more specific I am, the more universal I am.”

In completing her expansive new disc, Phillips was aided by an impressive cast of contributors, including drummer Melissa York (Butchies, VitaPup, Team Dresch), percussionist Thor Harris (Shearwater, Bill Callahan, Angels of Light and The Gretchen Phillips Xperience), former bandmate Andy Loomis (Gretchen Phillips Experience) and longtime collaborator Dave Driver. Phillips has engaged in multiple musical genres, from 80s punk band Meat Joy to 90s country/disco/rock/folk/pop band Two Nice Girls and onward into myriad other territories as a solo artist. I Was Just Comforting Her draws upon her vast array of creative genre-bending to make what ironically might be her most pop-oriented album to date. However, the album still retains the thematic elements that distinguish her work: a call for empathy and connection amid cultural and social alienation.

Artist: Gretchen Phillips
Title: I Was Just Comforting Her
Label: Seasick Sailor Records

01. Red State/Blue State (MP3)
02. Burning Inside (MP3)
03. Honey, I Feel So Good
04. Peola
05. Your Drinking
06. LYLAS
07. Swimming (MP3)
08. YOY?
09. In Case of Rapture
10. To the Lady C (MP3)

Gretchen Phillips Live:
05/10 Austin, TX @ Momo's
05/21 Atlanta, GA @ TBD Mondo Homo Fest
06/20 Chicago, IL @ Women and Children First Books
07/19 Guerneville, CA @ Fabulosa Fest

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www.gretchen-phillips.com
www.myspace.com/gretchenphillips

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(continued from above…)
Produced by Rob Halverson and Phillips, it is, as its maker describes, “a big, thick slab of humanism.” This may be the theme of Phillips’ pioneering career. Though out and proud as a lesbian since her teens, as an artist Gretchen Phillips has always reached beyond her natural constituency to make music for everyone. Her seminal early 90s group Two Nice Girls was as notable for its unabashed joy in lesbianism as for its legions of non-lesbian fans. Phillips’ other bands have been similarly spirited and inclusive. Spanning folk, rock, country, gospel, punk and her own idiosyncratic take on the singer-songwriter form, Gretchen Phillips has blazed a twenty year trail of uncompromising personal artistry and openhearted musical communion.

Phillips observes just how things have changed over the years, writing “twenty years ago a couple of boys from the band Mary’s Danish popped into a show I was doing with Two Nice Girls and really enjoyed it. Later when we were talking it they told me that they’d gone to see Phranc because she was touted as an ‘all-American Jewish lesbian folksinger.’ They’d thought to themselves, ‘hmmm, we’re straight guys. What does an all-American Jewish lesbian folksinger have to say? Let’s check it out.’ And they loved her show. I don’t think that being out as lesbian needs to limit your crowd. Connecting with straight people has always been super important to me. I want for things to change and I want to be a part of that change. But we do want to be able to dance at this revolution. And, laugh and cry and fight and make up and perhaps be even a little better friends because we made it through that conflict. People are capable of so much more than is being expected of them. I’m interested in the challenge.

“And honestly, that’s what I love about I Was Just Comforting Her. I think I fucking pulled it off. I think that it’s a really listenable album. I don’t think that it sounds super preachy, but it has lyrical substance. It also has musical substance. I like to think that you can get into it upon a first listen, but that it really reveals itself with subsequent listens. Because it’s deep. I don’t mean to brag, but I listen to albums all day long and this is one of those deep ones.”

Phillips’ first release since Togetherness, her 2003 collaboration with Dave Driver, I Was Just Comforting Her stresses that longing for communion in stronger terms than ever. Opening with “Red State/Blue State” (MP3), a roiling electro-pop plea for hope and understanding, the album traverses broad sonic territory but stays rooted in a personal vision that insists on love and kindness in a divided society. The soaring country of “Honey, I Feel So Good,” the coiled rock of “Burning Inside,” (MP3) and the effervescent pop of “Peola” and “In Case of Rapture” stand along side harder to categorize pieces like “Swimming” (MP3) and “YOY?” to reveal the complex interior life of a musician at the peak of her artistry.

“For the last number of years I’ve been making albums more modestly than I did back with Two Nice Girls,” Phillips says. “And then I got hungry for really big production. Not big production for big production’s sake, but to make an album that utilized every instrument and sound that I felt would serve the songs. I decided not to scrimp on my recording budget and not to give myself any time constraints. I wanted to work on it until I was totally satisfied.”

Rob and I had a lot of fun meticulously going thru every song and basically putting down everything we wanted to hear and then we just mixed and mixed for maximum emotional impact,” she elaborates. “Since I gave myself free reign in terms of time, we did just joyfully work on this thing until it was done. And then when it was done we could tell.”

Phillips’ artistry has taken on a new dimension in the last two years. In addition to playing concerts, she has written and performed two acclaimed one-woman shows combining stories and songs into musical memoir. The first of these, Don’t Stop Believing, premiered in 2007 at The Off Center as part of the Rude Mechanicals’ prestigious “Throws Like A Girl” performance series. The latest, Manlove, the saga of Phillips’ struggles and triumphs loving the men in her life, premiered with a sold-out run at The Vortex Theater.

Along with expanding her performing frontiers, Phillips has applied her artistry to the packaging of the new album. Each and every copy comes in a package hand assembled by the artist herself.

Phillips considers I Was Just Comforting Her an epic saga full of individual songs, but meant to be heard in its whole sweeping scope. “It’s my grand concept album, like Spirit’s Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus” she says. “I love a bold statement, so I made one.”

Taking her inclusive message on the road, Phillips intends to tour behind I Was Just Comforting Her for the better part of 2009. Having already completed a west coast swing in February, plans also include trips to Canada, the midwest and the northeastern United States.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Sado-vaudevillian punks Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat premiere slinky, tongue-in-cheek video for “Grey” from Take That!

Speaking of taking, the duo also offers up additional MP3s from its new album. Marlene Deitrich, Dresden Dolls, Cramps fans take heed.

Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat takes Weimar-era cabaret and throws it down the velvet goldmine. The Cramps would be proud. There will be leather. There may be guns. You will submit.” – Austin Chronicle

Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat is the naughty brainchild of Stephanie Stephens and Adam Sultan, two musicians and actors and from Austin, TX. The duo recently completed a video (LINK) for the charismatically clever track “Grey” (MP3) from their debut album, Take That! Sample lyric: “I see a red door and I want it painted grey. Did you a expect a rhyme other than grey? That would be fancy. Like Sid & Nancy. Not grey.”

Initially a cabaret act influenced by Weimar Republic Berlin, Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat soon expanded into what one critic calls “Sado-vaudevillian punk.” Their diverse sound combines everything from classical music to classic rock, performed with outrageous style and irreverent humor that touches on half a century’s worth of history.

Their debut CD, Take That! (Pressing Records) ranges along the German countryside from Marlene Deitrich to Kraftwerk, then crosses the border into Eurotrash dance, punk rock theater, and even Texas swing. The CD’s dozen songs attack everything from synth pop to polka, without fraying the strands from Mistress Stephanie’s proud whip. The CD’s sound is brought to life in the band’s always memorable stage shows—in which the brazen Mistress humors and challenges the audience (see “Grey” LIVE) while her “Kitty” contrasts with sneering insouciance and manic guitar slinging.

Adam Sultan began his musical career as a guitarist for Sony Recording artists Poi Dog Pondering, the eclectic folk dance group that currently resides in Chicago. Since then he has performed solo and with his own bands, while also working as an actor and composer in the Austin theater scene. He has ventured into several improvisational and jazz-tinged ensembles including Golden Arm Trio and Spank Dance Company.

Stephanie Stephens is a singer and an actress who has performed in numerous Austin plays, musicals and operas. She has produced avant-garde recitals and shows, and performed with various artists including Golden Arm Trio and The Walter Thompson Orchestra. Ultimately though, she is the Mistress – a sultry chanteuse with a punk rock heart and a guitar-slinging pussy. Meow.

Artist: Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat
Title: Take That!
Label: Pressing Records

01. Weimar
02. Get Off My Chest
03. Shake Your Dance Stick
04. Too Hard
05. Heaven
06. I Hate Cabaret (MP3)
07. Awfully Confusing
08. Grey (MP3 VIDEO LIVE)
09. Little Death (MP3)
10. Down Boy
11. Johnny Gewürztraminer
12. You Say You Love Me

“Grey” Video Embed Code:


Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat Live:
4/25 Austin, TX @ The Parish

Tools and Hi-Res Photos:
www.fanaticpromotion.com/rosterdetails.php?indexkey=1440

On The Web:
www.mistressandkitty.com
www.mistressstephanieandhermelodiccat.com
www.myspace.com/mistressandcat

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Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat In The Press:
“They dress up in costume (Mistress Stephanie in lingerie, the guitarist/cat in cat ears) and play German Cabaret music. This, gentle readers, was spectacle…” – Evil Sponge

Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat navigate the waters between cabaret and sadomasochistic pop candy.” – Greg Beets, Austin Chronicle

“When I saw Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat for the first time last summer at the Chain Drive, it was one of those right place, right time moments. The Mistress, with her jet-black bob and bustier, was Louise Brooks with Norma Desmond’s sense of dark comedy. She ignored, berated, and sung in perfect harmony with Her Melodic Cat, stage left with a guitar, baring ass cheek and wearing a half-interested sneer as their cabaret punk was thrown out with Weimar vitriol. I desperately wanted them to play a cover of The Doors’ ‘Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar),’ which is actually a cover of a Kurt Weill song, which is appropriate, as some of the set was in German. And this was at a gay leather bar.” – Audra Schroeder, Austin Chronicle

Mistress Stephanie succeeds in spicing everything-vaudeville, hard rock, holly-jolly-pop-with a dose of S&M.” – Dante, Austin.com

“The find of the night was Mistress Stephanie & Her Melodic Cat. They're a cross between Kraftwerk and Cabaret, which sounds weird, but works really well, especially in a live setting.” – Tim Trentham, Austin Metroblogs

Monday, April 13, 2009

Linda Draper's third Planting Seeds Records release "Bridge and Tunnel" produced by Brad Albetta (Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Teddy Thompson).

Grab the album’s first single “Time Will Tell” HERE.

Linda Draper approaches folk music with spare songs and a high register not unlike folk mama Joan Baez.” – Time Out New York

“...one of the true and real genuine talents of the twenty-first century. Highly recommended...” – Babysue

“What great artists sound like when their music is stripped down to its elements...succeeds in every respect.” – American Songwriter

“An absolute master class of exquisitely delivered song craft.” – Losing Today Magazine (UK)

Bridge and Tunnel, the latest album from Linda Draper, showcases ten fresh new songs further exploring Draper’s signature sound - light, enchanting music with gentle, heartfelt honest lyrics. “Limbo” leads off the LP capturing the very essence of morning’s first ray of sunlight. It is followed by the stripped down splendor of “Sharks And Royalty”. The collection’s charm continues to shine bright in the tracks “I Will” and “Pushing Up The Day” - both primed to be sure classics.

A trio of tracks - “Time Will Tell” (MP3), “Broken Eggshell” and “Bridge And Tunnel” unveils Draper’s vibrant, melodic pop side. The LP also includes Draper’s uniquely unadorned take on The Rolling Stones classic 1966 hit “Mother’s Little Helper.” Added into the mix are drummer Anders Griffen (Kimya Dawson, Regina Spektor, Jeffrey Lewis), bassist Rob Woodcock (see also Draper’s Keepsake LP), along with multi instrumentalist/producer Brad Albetta (keyboards, Wurlitzer, bass, and electric guitar). Bridge and Tunnel will no doubt have the listener back for repeated plays with its timelessly captivating sound.

Linda Draper has been described as a folk, antifolk or indie-pop artist. After one listen to her charming (and deceptively addictive) songs, and the listener can understand how Draper’s music transcends categorization. Draper’s CD releases have garnered praise from critics and fans worldwide. Drawing such comparisons to songwriting luminaries such as Aimee Mann, Suzanne Vega, Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell, Draper has still managed to carve out a sound that is all her own.

Draper’s music is brutally honest yet fearlessly vulnerable, warming the hearts of even the most jaded of listeners. She has found a home in the New York City music community where she records and performs, attracting a grass roots collective of new fans and friends wherever she goes. Linda Draper began writing songs and playing guitar when, at age 14, she picked up her mother’s old guitar. Musical talent runs in Draper’s family – her father is an accomplished classical guitarist who studied under Andres Segovia and gave a critically acclaimed debut performance at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1976. Bio continued below…

Artist: Linda Draper
Title: Bridge and Tunnel
Label: Planting Seeds Records
Release Date: April 14th, 2009

01. Limbo
02. Sharks And Royalty
03. I Will
04. Time Will Tell (MP3) (LIVE VIDEO)
05. Pushing Up The Day
06. Close Enough
07. Broken Eggshell
08. Bridge And Tunnel
09. Mother’s Little Helper (Rolling Stones Cover)
10. Last One Standing

Linda Draper Live
05/21 New York, NY @ Googie’s Lounge (Upstairs at The Living Room) CD Release Show
06/04 Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland
06/05 Los Angeles, CA @ Room 5
06/07 Carlsbad, CA @ Hensley’s Flying Elephant
06/08 Silverlake, CA @ Home
06/14 San Francisco, CA @ The Make Out Room

Bio (continued from above):
Draper recorded her debut LP Ricochet in 2001 with producer/indie music icon Kramer (Low, Ween, Galaxie 500, Urge Overkill, Lou Reed). Their partnership would continue with her next three long players: 2002’s Snow White Trash Girl, 2003’s Patchwork, and her debut LP with Planting Seeds RecordsOne Two Three Four. In 2007 she co-produced her next LP Keepsake with Major Matt Mason. Linda Draper’s impressive catalogue continues to grow with each year with appearances on a variety of compilations from around the globe.

In the last several years, Draper has toured in the US and UK, which included support for Teddy Thompson at The Enterprise Club in London. She has played countless US performances and festivals such as the Athens Popfest (Athens, GA), The Cutting Edge of The Campfire Festival (at the legendary Club Passim in Cambridge, MA), The International Pop Overthrow Festival, as well as several appearances at the Antifolk Fest in NYC.

Linda Draper has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Regina Spektor, Kimya Dawson, Jeffrey Lewis, The One AM Radio, Eric Gaffney (Sebadoh), and Lucy Wainwright Roche, among others. In the summer of 2007, she played her first West Coast tour, which included stops in Olympia, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Now residing in Queens, NY, Draper enjoys performing at several well respected venues around the city such as The Knitting Factory, Rockwood Music Hall, The Living Room, Cake Shop and The Sidewalk Cafe.

Tools and Hi-Res Photos:
www.fanaticpromotion.com/rosterdetails.php?indexkey=1472

On The Web:
www.lindadraper.net
www.myspace.com/lindadraper
www.plantingseedsrecords.com
www.myspace.com/plantingseedsmusic

Subscribe To Fanatic:
www.fanaticpromotion.com
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Linda Draper In The Press:
“Brilliance from the simplest pairings of voice and minimal guitar...an artist in the best sense of the word.” – The Sentimentalist

“...warm and personal...a treasure chest of thoughtful tunes and melodies” – Pop Matters

“a shining light of excellence...a delightful voice that immediately enchants.” – Tasty (UK)

“another example of the excellent work being done within the folk field these days; it is at once anachronistic and futuristic.” – Americana UK

“a talented songwriter on the rise... this underrated talent is about to punch her ticket to widespread acclaim” – Unfinished

“what the major label heads call the total package. Great songwriting, beautiful music, loads of talent...” – Ear Candy

“Highlighted / Noteworthy Release – Linda Draper has an absolutely captivating voice. It has a steady, tender quality that draws you in, pressing your ears to the speaker, to listen carefully to the quiet lyrics she slips into her simple acoustic arrangements.” – Punk Planet

“...a terrific songwriter, one that should be above the radar...” – Dagger

“She reminds me of early Suzanne Vega, with whispery vocals...putting the focus on her to-the-point lyrics.” – Sing Out

“Coolly rendered neo-folk ...it’s a whimsical, open-hearted, and affecting journey... “ – Pop Culture Press

“There’s some captivating magic here very, very worth exploring.” – All Music Guide

Friday, April 10, 2009

NYC hip hop trio The Beatards announces the re-launch of its MixtapeRiot.com website, goes national with new single and video “Nasty Funky”

NYC hip hop trio The Beatards, made up of band members DJO, Chuck Wild and UTK The INC,will re-launch its popular Mixtape Riot website (LINK) next week with a celebration at Manhattan club The Beauty Bar. The MixtapeRiot.com launch party will be a celebration of the re-branding of the very popular Captain’s Crate music blog (originally launched in February, 2005) which became widely known one of the web's most popular music blogs for soul classics and rarities.

April 14th, 2009. The Beauty Bar (231 E 14th St.) No cover charge, 2 FOR 1 drinks from 10PM-12AM, and FREE mixtapes for the first 100 through the door!

The new website is more than just another blog – with regular updates from The Beatards, Captain Planet, and DJ outfit Soul Imperial (LINK) among others, MixtapeRiot.com provides an outlet for exclusive original tracks, remixes, and mash-ups as well as music from friends and artists the band loves (old and new). Expect the content to be as varied as the motley collective behind the site – spotlighting everything from new dance floor bangers to vintage afrobeat to forgotten classics and virtually all things in between.

The Mixtape Riot family has always been about diversity of sound, and the new website is just the latest development in the ongoing mission to share and promote good music, videos, art and the regular events that the group puts together in NYC. The April 14th event promises to be a night of particularly rowdy musical mayhem and dirty dancing (what The Beatards do best!) With live performances from The Beatards and Maggie Horn (LINK) plus mix mastery all night by DJO, Chuck Wild and Soul Imperial.

For those outside the NYC area that would like a taste of what The Beatards are cooking, the group has just released the latest single from its Big Bad Beat EP, “Nasty Funky” (MP3) along with an accompanying video (LINK) directed by Christine Taylor for Say It Loud. Grab the MP3 and embed codes below and re-post!

Fans of The Beatards‘ sound will be happy to hear that the group is currently at work on a debut full-length in-between a multitude of other projects such as UTK’s upcoming appearance in the next Liam Neeson film, DJO’s burgeoning Mama O’s Kimchee business, and an animated Beatards cartoon for as-yet-undisclosed network. Stay tuned for a preview of a track from the album, and more details about the side projects mentioned above.

The Beatards Live:
04/11 New York, NY @ The Studio at Webster Hall
04/14 New York, NY @ Beauty Bar Mixtape Riot Launch Party
04/23 New York, NY @ Ella Lounge

Artist: The Beatards
Title: Big Bad Beat
Label: Mixtape Riot!

01. Doobie
02. Music Is My Occupation
03. Bid Bad Beat
04. Make The Bed
05. Dang Diggy Dang
06. Nasty Funky (MP3 VIDEO)
07. DMUB
08. Checkin' Out
09. It's So Easy

“Nasty Funky” Video Hi-Res Embed Code:


Tools and Hi-Res Photos:
www.fanaticpromotion.com/rosterdetails.php?indexkey=1490

On The Web:
www.thebeatardsnyc.com
www.myspace.com/thebeatards
www.mixtaperiot.com

Subscribe To Fanatic:
www.fanaticpromotion.com

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Reigns unleashes meticulously illustrated video for “Everything Beyond These Walls Has Been Razed.” Monotreme album The House on The Causeway out now.

“A treat of dirty surrealism and sumptuous coastal eccentricity.” – Plan B

“…makes me think of the pastoral prog segments of Kevin AyersConfessions of Dr. Dream. But instead of Nico’s voice rifling in through the hedges, what you hear is a loop of something sad and pre-literate. Very cool.” – The Wire

“Sinister, yet sublime… Reigns are the soundtrack to inspiration. (4/5)” – Drowned In Sound

Daily Motion recently premiered the first video from the latest album by Reigns (LINK). The clip for “Everything Beyond These Walls Has Been Razed” (MP3) the first single from the band’s latest album (and Monotreme Records debut), The House On The Causeway is a meticulously animated piece developed by acclaimed producers Medlo (Prince, Roots Manuva) (LINK) and rendered in pen and ink by Phlegm Comics (LINK). The video has already racked up some 15,000 plays. The video can also be viewed in hi-resolution via YouTube HERE.

See below for embed codes and please re-post this clip along with two additional MP3s from The House On The Causeway via the links below. As with all Reigns recordings after listening please do not drive, exercise or operate heavy machinery.

More about Reigns: Operatives A & B began recording for the Reigns organization in 2002. Their first album, We Lowered A Microphone Into The Ground, was a series of recordings made within a seemingly “bottomless” hole found upon the Somerset Downs. Their follow-up, Styne Vallis, was recorded in and around a submerged village that had been evacuated and strategically flooded in 1970 to make way for a new reservoir. The House On The Causeway is their third long player. Bio continued below…

Artist: Reigns
Title: The House On The Causeway
Label: Monotreme Records
Release Date: March 17th, 2009

01. (Frontplate)
02. Bad Slate
03. Everything Beyond These Walls Has Been Razed (MP3)
04. Mirrors At Night
05. Crex, Crex, Crex
06. Vaulted
07. Mab Crease (MP3)
08. Take It Down
09. Your Tiny Hand Is Frozen
10. The Black Cramp (MP3)
11. (Endplate)

Reigns – “Everything Beyond These Walls Has Been Razed” Video:
Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8ovs6_reigns-everything-beyond-these-wall_music (Daily Motion)
Embed:
www.youtube.com/fanaticpromotion
www.facebook.com/pages/Fanatic–Promotion/7297716716

Reigns Bio (Continued…)
Between Black Ven and Golden Cap, a slim, man-made promontory of granite cobbles extends unnecessarily a half-mile out into the English Channel. Nothing of note lies at its end nor at any point along its length. This apparent futility has ensured that the causeway has, over the years, been excluded from all but the most painstaking of cartography. Even to the naked eye it seems to elude detection for the almost perpetual gathering of fog that seems to hover over its entire reach, and its brief moments out from under this oppressive vapor are instantly curtailed by the ravening attentions of the tides. Only the briefest window of opportunity arises to explore this altogether pointless finger of slimed and stinking rock.

It was during one of these rare moments that Reigns Operatives A & B came to record a perplexing audio phenomenon captured here on The House On The Causeway. It is said that the fog that so vigorously clings to the causeway has an inexplicable irregularity: that when it reaches a certain density, purportedly when light can no longer penetrate it, it emits a high pitched ringing similar to the onset of tinnitus. Apparently, it is this ringing that generates in the listener a temporary but profound befuddlement of the senses that has caused many an excursionist to wade, disorientated, into the sea.

Unfortunately, despite an abundance of fog, the Operatives heard nothing but the slow lapping of the glutinous, clotting water. Furthermore, due to the fog’s impenetrability and their vehicle’s inability to negotiate the cobbles, the Operatives tarried too long and were roughly ushered by the tide to the causeway’s furthest point. Stranded upon a raised and wooded tumulus they found themselves face to face with a most unexpected sight: a house; a house that had most assuredly not been visible from land. The house was unlocked and uninhabited, but in no way abandoned for its chambers were in a state of high expectancy, as if visitors had been, for a prolonged and industrious period, eagerly awaited. The Operatives, for want of anything better to do, entered the house and, for reasons that still seem to elude them, moved from room to room, taking photographs and recording the strange resonations that seemed to emanate from the walls.

They left the house almost two days later in a state of high distress and with the recordings you now have before you. It was only as they made their way back to the mainland and the house was out of sight that they were at last aware of an insistent high pitched ringing...

Reigns In The Press:

Reigns describe their sound as ‘pastoral electronica,’ but it’s a whole lot more human based than that description lets on. ‘Corners & The Straights’ / ‘Recurring Attic Dream’ has one side that combines keys and strings in a semi gentle acoustic way that makes me think of the pastoral prog segments of Kevin AyersConfessions of Dr. Dream. But instead of Nico’s voice rifling in through the hedges, what you hear is a loop of something sad and pre-literate. Very cool.” – The Wire

“Another masterpiece of eerie ambience and ghostly electronics… this record’s underlying majesty shines brilliantly. (8/10)”. – Rock Sound

“Now this is a real treasure chest, a glowing pastoral delight, and an album you must not miss out on…” – Organ Magazine

“Surely one of the most ‘complete’ albums I’ve come across this year…. Highly recommended. – Boomkat

“Really quite enchanting stuff.” – Rock-A-Rolla

“...a spellbinding mix of ethereal post-rock, combined with folk guitars, chiming glockenspiels, and fragile electronics, with spoken word and computer-manipulated vocals… This is a perfect winter album; engrossing and warm.” – White Noise Revisited

“Ultimately this is a highly intriguing concept for an album and strikingly the musical content is just as interesting, atmospheric and otherworldly throughout.” – Progressive Ears

“Exceptionally beautiful…The overall feeling is one of understated grandeur…Call this music folk, electronica, whatever you like – the fact of the matter is that there won’t be a better release of its kind all year, and that’s the opinion culled from many, many listens. If any of those envelopes prove me wrong, I shall publicly eat my words. Unless those ghosts take me first... (4.5 stars)” – Drowned In Sound

“[A] magnificent album … make sure to check this sublime release without delay. Beautiful music.” – Boomkat

We Lowered A Microphone Into The Ground is a truly intriguing piece of work, so fragile and delicate it threatens to collapse at any time, but holds on with style. Reigns’ music feeds on dreams and illusions, and trying to rationalize it is pointless. This established, the bottomless hole becomes once again a very attractive reality. (4.6/5)” – The Milk Factory

“A brilliant debut single.” – Penny Black Music

Monday, April 6, 2009

Is the music business really in crisis? Fanatic Promotion’s Sean Boyd debunks myths in Fox News Network interview.

Tales of financial woe are commonplace for nearly every major industry today, and the music business is no exception (aside from its oft-rumored impending death ever since home taping began.) However, just how accurate are assertions that the CD is dead and record labels are quickly becoming extinct?

Fanatic Promotion partner Sean Boyd, interviewed on the Fox News Network debunked many of the current myths about the music industry (watch HERE). “All of the press coverage is unfairly presenting the point of view of the major label companies,” Boyd suggests in a written statement. “Further, they are obfuscating the real issue by saying the industry is dying and that music sales will cease to be part of the equation and that songs will simply become adjunct content for other entertainment media as well as advertising. This is not the case at all.”

In the Fox Business interview segment, Boyd elaborates how the industry is changing. “Over the last 10 years, the amount of recordings sold has increased even though revenue is going down,” Boyd explains. “The reason for that is we’re paying less for music -- 99-cents per song on iTunes and AC/DC is selling for $8.99 at Wal Mart, 3 million copies. Basically we’re paying less for music but selling more.”

What is the music industry doing to survive?

“Lawsuits. They’re suing [illegal file-sharing sites] and that’s the main income for most of those large companies because they can’t adjust to the new retail price quickly enough to remain profitable. So, [the major labels’] biggest revenue stream is coming from suing people who are giving music away.” While the Recording Industry Association of America recently announced plans to abandon its practices of suing individuals for illegal file-sharing, the major labels’ lobbying group has instead enlisted the aid of Internet Service Providers in tracking and prosecuting violators.

“The industry is strong and will be here long after the majors are dead, and we will all still buy music,” Boyd says. “The story we are not getting is that there are more units sold than any other time in history.” Meanwhile, tales of the music business collapse overlook the rapidly strengthening new paradigm for the industry.”It’s all about newer companies coming out with lower expenses,” Boyd says.

While Fanatic has already positioned itself as one of the pioneers in a new breed of promotion companies, its latest venture, Fanatic Records (LINK) launches soon and will take advantage of the knowledge that Boyd exemplifies in the Fox piece. The record label branch adds all-inclusive recording at its own state-of-the-art studio, as well as album production, marketing and distribution to its comprehensive and innovative means of developing its artists.

More about Sean Boyd:
Sean Boyd
has had success in managing business in a diverse array of industries. His first venture was Reasonable Resources, a firm specializing in supplying office supplies manufactured from post-consumer recycled materials. To offset the additional expense of products with recycled content, Reasonable Resources had its own in-house graphic design team. By taking advantage of the advent of desktop publishing technology, artwork for collateral was created at a lower price than clients were familiar with so the overall cost to the consumer was the same as buying products manufactured from non-recycled materials. His next venture was Grove Restaurant in Greenwich Village. Serving as many as 300 customers per day and well received by the New York press, the restaurant had revenues of over a million and a half dollars per year. For the past 10 years, Boyd has been the owner and in-house producer of Artfarm Recording (LINK), a state-of-the-art recording facility in upstate New York that includes housing for bands. Joining Fanatic Promotion in 2006, Boyd was instrumental in bringing efficiency to the data systems, financial management and human resource management of a company already successful in the promotion realm.

More about Fanatic Promotion, Inc.
Fanatic Promotion, Inc. began in the summer of 1997 with a passion for building connections. Now, working in the areas of radio promotion and press relations, it is an organization of a dozen “Fanatics” with the connections to channel those passions. As the name implies, Fanatic is made up of an innovative collective of music enthusiasts who have learned to work within the increasingly consolidated major label system while still utilizing their contacts within the already existing and thriving independent scene. Fanatic believes that artists should have the right to grow their careers in an intelligent and strategic manner that suits their particular style, market and technical expertise. Fanatic enables artists and record labels to navigate the industry, develop a buzz, and properly distribute their products by offering an array of proven marketing techniques.

Known for nearly a decade of marketing and promoting expertise, Fanatic has proven itself time and time again as a loyal and successful promotions partner for breaking new artists. The list of artists that Fanatic has represented is not only impressive, but makes up much of its collective record collection. Throughout the years, Fanatic has created a strong reputation among tastemakers in all of the key media markets. This has created a focused and effective outlet for artists to develop the fan base and tools necessary to succeed. With an extensive contact list, experience in the field, and a unique ability to cross-market and cross-promote their projects, Fanatic can expose both new and established artists. Fanatic’s combination of underground and commercial media contacts, together with its long-term industry relationships creates a way for clients to develop the concentrated campaigns which they feel their artists deserve.

Further Reading:
Music Industry To Abandon Mass Suits:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122966038836021137.html

AT&T First To Test RIAA Antipiracy Plan:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10203799-93.html

The Orchard Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2008 Financial Results:
www.marketwatch.com/news/story/orchard-reports-fourth-quarter-full/story.aspx?guid=%7B1CFF2DED-52FB-455A-BC64-CB5DF4188801%7D&dist=msr_3

Downloading Increases While CD Sales Decline:
www.pollstar.com/blogs/news/archive/2009/03/18/655077.aspx

AT&T Learns From Mom In Fighting File Sharing:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/att-learns-from-mom-in-fighting-file-sharing

Subscribe To Fanatic:
www.fanaticpromotion.com