Sunday, February 1, 2009

popwreckoning updates

popwreckoning updates

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Mansions to Release Full-Length/B-Sides Albums

Posted: 31 Jan 2009 03:30 PM CST

Mark it on your calendar bitches; March 3rd will be day that Christopher Browder will change your life with the release of his project Mansions debut full length New Best Friend. In addition to the album, pre-orders for the 12 song release will include an 11×17” poster, a 5×5” original watercolor painted by Browder himself (limit 200) and an mp3 collection of the entire initiative project that the group ran through the late months of 2008.

Tracklisting:
Disc 1 (New Best Friends)
01. I Told a Lie
02. Talk Talk Talk
03. Por Favor
04. Holidaze
05. Curacao Blue
06. Insulated
07. Take It Back
08. Gotta Be Alone
09. The Worst Part
10. Sub Angel
11. Millions
12. All Eyes on You

Disc 2 (The EP Initiative MP3s)
01. OMG
02. I Swear
03. Never Enuff
04. Last to Leave
05. LtsBSdTgthr
06. When I Sleep
07. Shoes On, Pants Off
08.  The Constant
09. Seven-Eleven
10. Eighteenth Bday
11. You Got Caught
12. When She’s Not Around
13. I Told a Lie (Remix)
14. The Worst Part (Remix)
15. Curacao Blue (Remix)
16. Gotta Be Alone (Remix)
17. All Eyes on You (Remix)
18. Insulated (Remix)
19. Talk Talk Talk (Remix)
20. Substitute Angel (Acoustic)
21. Take It Back (Acoustic)
22. Por Favor Is Spanish (Acoustic)
23. Millions of Pieces (Acoustic)
24. Holidaze (Acoustic)
25. Tangerine (Acoustic)
26. The Worst Part (Demo)
27. Gotta Be Alone (Demo)
28. Por Favor Is Spanish (Demo)
29. Substitute Angel (Demo)
30. Millions of Pieces (Demo)
31. Curacao Blue (Demo)
32. I Told a Lie (Demo)
33. All Eyes on You (Demo)
34. Holidaze (Demo)
35. Insulated (Demo)
36. Take It Back (Demo)
37. Tangerine (Demo)
38. Talk Talk Talk (Demo)

Furthermore, look for Mansions to hit the road with label mates Weatherbox in the months of March and April 2009.

Mansions: myspace | Mansions review

Mansions
Price: USD 4.98
30 used & new available from USD 2.01

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Scotland Barr & The Slow Drags - All The Great Aviators Agree

Posted: 31 Jan 2009 12:45 PM CST

For the last few weeks, All The Great Aviators Agree by Scotland Barr & The Slow Drags has been on heavy rotation. It’s a solid set of lively, good-timing country made for bars and hanging out on porches. The songs are accessible and should appeal to fans of both alt. and more mainstream country. Barr isn’t pushing the genre, but when the quality of the songwriting and musicianship remain consistently high throughout the album it doesn’t matter at all. The mix of classic rock chords and country twang just sounds good.

Barr’s slightly scratchy, warm voice and clear vocals are perfect for his clever and catchy story songs. The album is full of good lines, those turn of phrases that add that an essential detail to the story and draw out a grin. “Fall Hard” includes a couple hard luck tales, but my favorite is “I guess she only lied to me twice /once when she drank all my whiskey /the other when she stole my wife.” It’s a punchline wrapped in a vignette that let’s the imagination fill in the rest. “Juanita” has a great sing-along chorus and includes a description of a girl I’d love to meet: “she sells sea shells, guns, and monkey parts.”

If you like those two songs, check out “She’s Happy”, another one of my favorites. You can stream the entire album on Scotland Barr’s website. Or just pick up the album. You won’t be disappointed.

All The Great Aviators Agree is available now on Monkey Bar Records.

Scotland Barr & The Slow Drags: website | myspace

All The Great Aviators Agree
Price: USD 16.99
28 used & new available from USD 1.94

Written by: Jesse Gelwicks

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PT Walkley - Mr. Macy Walks Alone

Posted: 31 Jan 2009 10:15 AM CST

From the moment the string quartet began sawing away during “Introduction”, the beginning track to PT Walkley’s new album, Mr. Macy Walks Alone, it is blatant that this is not your usual acoustic sing-a-long. Although Walkley is far from unbeknown to the music industry, this album is ultimately definitive of his excellence as a singer, songwriter, and recording artist.

Characterized by a sophisticated array of instruments (string quartet, brass, flutes, bells, choir, saws, etc.) and Walkley’s delicate croon, Mr. Macy Walks Alone creates three distinct characters whose stories are interwoven throughout the album. The basic plot-line consists of a rich record executive, his spoiled daughter and an aspiring songwriter/coroner (awkward, I know, but once you listen to “Audrey Macy”, you’ll realize the significance of the coroner in this tale), who is ultimately screwed by the aforementioned executive.

A fluctuation in tempo throughout tracks enunciates various conflicts in the plot line and with accompaniment from some highly-regarded musicians and engineers such as Sean Lennon (guitar and piano), Larry Campbell (guitar), Steven Bernstein (trumpet), David Campbell (directed string quartet), and Trina Shoemaker (mixer), the album is instrumentally and lyrically exceptional. Although Walkley’s combo of instruments, tempo and lyrics is rather unique, the tracks “Punch Drunk” and “Audrey Macy” sound stylistically similar to artists such as Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash (ironically, guitarist Larry Campbell worked with Bob Dylan and string quartet director David Campbell previously collaborated with Johnny Cash). “Introduction” emanates of acoustic pop glory that can be attributed to artists such as Devandra Banhart.

The fictional aspect of the album is emphasized by the ethereal additive of a symphony and Walkley’s lullaby-esque vocals, ultimately making this album, in a sense, the perfect “bedtime story.” I’d prefer not to spoil the ending, but it’s quite a riveting account of irony, the lust for fame and the familiar lesson: “Money isn’t everything.”

Tracklisting:
01. Introduction
02. Why
03. Audrey Macy
04. No One Needs to Know
05. Daydreaming
06. Coming Over
07. The Lucky Ones
08. Sunshine
09. Run
10. Calvin the Coroner
11. Evolution
12. Ides of March
13. Lonely
14. Punch Drunk
15. Magic
16. Sanitarium
17. Mediocre
18. Somebody

PT Walkley: website | myspace

Written by: Tatum Hengel

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Music Is My King Size Bed

Music Is My King Size Bed

Amy Winehouse Headlining @ Coachella

Posted: 01 Feb 2009 12:52 AM CST

Amy Winehouse Photo Via Amy's Official MySpace Page
I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Amy Winehouse is a headlining act at this years Coachella music festival in April (April 17th - April 19th). This is good news! Apparently the lineup announcement was delayed while concert officials were negotiating with Amy's people some sort of a guarantee that she would appear. She's been vacationing in the Caribbean so I'm counting on a relatively well-rested Amy Winehouse this Spring. Maybe she'll have had a chance to work on some new material by then? This looks like it's going to be an awesome concert. Wish I could make it up there.

Coachella 2009 Lineup

Poster Via Official Coachella Website

Howie Day, Annie Lennox, Anastacia, Hot Coco & More!

Posted: 31 Jan 2009 11:30 PM CST

Howie Day Photo is cropped from an original on Howie's official site
Howie Day: More randomness for you today. Now that I have a BlackBerry, my email is always accessible, assuming I'm above ground. I got an email from Howie Day's official list the other day, informing us that he has a new tour coming up to promote his forthcoming album Counting On Me, due out in the Spring. This new album will be his first of new material in nearly 6 years so it's long over due! I saw him a few years back at a club in Boston. I loved the set, but was annoyed that he came out late. Oh well, he's a young talent that is due for a comeback so hopefully this will be it for him. According to his MySpace blog, the tour will consist of Howie "playing new stuff, old stuff and everything in between." The first set of tour dates is below. He'll be announcing East and West coast dates shortly. Also be on the look out for a free download of a new Howie track via his MySpace blog in the weeks to come!

Tour Dates:
3/6 - Fox Theater - Boulder, CO
3/7 - Bluebird - Denver, CO
3/11 - Waiting Room - Omaha, NE
3/12 - Redstone Room - Davenport, IA
3/13 - Varsity Theater - Minneapolis, MN
3/14 - The Rave - Milwaukee, WI
3/16 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH
3/18 - The Ark - Ann Arbor, MI
3/19 - The Basement - Columbus, OH
3/21 - Lake Shore Theater - Chicago, IL
3/24 - Blueberry Hill - St Louis, MO
3/25 - The Record Bar - Kansas City, MO
3/27 - House of Blues - Dallas, TX
3/28 - tba - Austin, TX


Annie LennoxAnnie Lennox: Via ArjanWrites via Spinner.com I stumbled upon Annie's new video for "Shining Light," her Ash cover that's serving as the first single off her forthcoming The Annie Lennox Collection compilation album due out February 10th. It's one of two new tracks on the album, the other of which is a cover of Keane's "Pattern of My Life." The video features Annie (looking amazing) in multiple roles, as various players in a band. It's a fun pop song and Annie sounds great.

Anastacia

Photo via Coverlandia Blog

Anastacia: Nothing new to report on the Anastacia front...in fact I'm still waiting to find out if she plans on releasing her album Heavy Rotation, here in the states. If not, then I have to pick up the import pronto. New European single "Absolutely Positively" is fast growing on me, as is the Moto Blanco remix that's making it's round at the clubs in Europe. Hot!

State FarmModern Music: On TV the other night, a State Farm commercial came on about young drivers. The song playing was a fresh, contemporary electro-rock cover of "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" from The Sound Of Music. At the end of the commercial, they plugged the State Farm website where you can download the song for free. I did and I love it! The song file was pre-tagged with the artists name listed as Modern Music. According to their website, Modern Music "delivers custom scores, original songs, remixes, sound design and complete music supervision services for advertising, film, television, gaming and new media." Interesting. I also learned via the Modern Music website that they are writing an original song for a direct-to-DVD hip hop sequel to the 2000 film Center Stage. Doubly interesting.

Jennifer Coolidge

Photo Via www.myspace.com/jennifercoolidge

Jennifer Coolidge as Hot Coco: On a recent episode of the cutting edge FX drama Nip/Tuck, actress Jennifer Coolidge reprised her character Candy Richards, coming back this time as a "rapper" called Hot Coco. She comes to the doctors asking to be given "black features" so she can have a successful rap career. It sounds controversial but it was actually rather hilarious. Jennifer Coolidge is a true comic genius. You have to check out the video for yourself. Inappropriate? Yes. Very. But hilarious all the same.

Jennifer Hudson

Photo Via Jennifer Hudson's Official Site

Jennifer Hudson: Don't forget to check out Jennifer Hudson singing the National Anthem before this Sunday's big game! It's her first public performance since the tragic deaths of her mother and nephew.