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(Upcoming Show) Get Back to the Barn – Codfish Hollow Sessions : The Roadside Graves, Dinosaur Feathers & Many More on 8/22/2010

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I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, “Where are you going?”
And this he told me…

I’m going on down to Yasgur’s Farm,
I’m gonna join in a rock and roll band.
I’m gonna camp out on the land.
I’m gonna get my soul free.

We are stardust.
We are golden.
And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.

— “Woodstock” by Joni Mitchell © Crazy Crow Music, 1969

This week marks the 41st anniversary of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, which took place August 15th – 18th, 1969 in Bethel, New York. The stories and myths of Woodstock continue as that generation looks back on their history. A festival planned with idea of a gathering of music, camping and art grows to epic proportions as over twice the expected crowd shows up. The idea of a music festival changed forever and subsequent festivals in history would always be judged in the light of that event.

Last year saw the beginning of the Daytrotter.com Barnstormer shows– coincidentally on the year of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. These shows were and are the brainchild of Sean Moeller– the Master of Ceremonies for everything Daytrotter. The idea started simply enough– pick a handful of Daytrotter favorite bands, load them in a bus and tour the Midwest countryside playing in barns. Daytrotter fans will show up and hear these bands, generating interest in Daytrotter and in these bands and hopefully the bands will be able to make some money selling merch. After learning some logistical lessons in touring and playing non-standard venues a good time was had by all!

I draw the comparison between Woodstock and the Barnstormer shows not to suggest that the Barnstormer shows are or will make their place in music history like Woodstock did, but to show that the original idea of Woodstock is the same– bring good music talent to a rustic setting, provide camping and art to mutual benefit of everyone involved. Based on the buzz of last year’s small Barnstormer runs, and the first one from this year the formula works and people who aren’t from this part of the country are interested in being part of it.

Frankly speaking, some of my favorite bands of 2009 and 2010 came from these shows and most of the headliners have gone on to perform to larger audiences and have become regulars on the festival circuit– notably Dawes and Local Natives— but other acts like Suckers, Ra Ra Riot and Delta Spirit are also gaining in national recognition. Seeing bands that can play the big stages of Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo in a small intimate setting like Mooney Hollow in Bellevue, IA, Codfish Hollow Barn, Seacrest Octagonal Barn and others locations in the Midwest is nothing, if not pure magic. The bands and crowds feed from each other for what the bands generally say are their best performances.

The three Barnstormer tours (plus one Fourth of July show) have been in a changing list of towns with two notable exceptions– the Seacrest Octagonal Barn in West Liberty, IA and Codfish Hollow in Maquoketa, IA. Both locations draw very good crowds.  In the case of Seacrest it seems to be related to the relative closeness to the Quad Cities and Iowa City/Cedar Rapids (and it is a really interesting barn!). In the case of Codfish Hollow it seems to be partially due to the proximity of these same cities, but also because of the efforts of Shawn and Tiffany Biehl who seem to have enough friends and relatives to damn near fill their barn– but also because they have really made the location part of the attraction. Literally located in a hollow– there isn’t enough parking near the barn for the growing crowds– nor is the winding gravel path down there wide enough for passing traffic. The solution? Have a shuttle to take campers and people parking down to the event. Not just any shuttle though– it’s an open-air hayride pulled by an honest-to-goodness International Harvester tractor! This year they opened a rustic art gallery on site making use of the unoccupied farmhouse, too. Adding to the charm of it all is an open field where fans and bands play horseshoes, fire rings scattered around to provide heat and light and the amazing food sold onsite by The Lunchbox which includes their famous “walking tacos” and chili.

Next Sunday brings a staggering number of bands back to Codfish Hollow— the headliner is Daytrotter and playbsides.com favorite Roadside Graves from New Jersey. I had the opportunity to see Roadside Graves last year in Bellevue at Mooney Hollow. They were in the area in between stops on their tour because they were taping their first Daytrotter session. Sean Moeller hooked them up with Mooney Hollow to play in trade for a place to sleep. It was a Tuesday night, so that didn’t bode well for a workweek crowd, but the few that showed up got an amazing and energetic show. People I’ve talked to that did make the show, still talk about that show– in fact, Tiffany Biehl says that show made her an instant fan of Roadside Graves and she is really excited to bring them to her barn!

This show on 8/22 was already an idea at the Barnstormer III show in April and has taken form and gained acts continually since the announcement of the show following the July 4th “Barn on the Fourth of July” show and the lineup is made up of some notable bands– most of whom are up-and-comers, but some are buzzworthy. When I talked to Tiffany at the Dawes show at Gabe’s last week she said that there might be a couple of other acts added to the eight (!!!) bands on the bill. Here’s the breakdown with a few words on each band with their essential links to help you learn more:

Roadside Graves from New Jersey : Anthemic Springsteen-influenced Americana
Website Daytrotter Session Facebook MySpace

Dinosaur Feathers from Brooklyn : Sunny Tropicalia like Talking Heads Swilling Pina Coladas
Website Facebook MySpace

Lonnie Walker from Raleigh : Fractured Psych Freak Folk-grass
Website Facebook MySpace Blog

Gold Motel from Chicago: Debbie Harry started a 60’s girl band.
Website Facebook MySpace Blog

The 4onthefloor from Minneapolis : Four stomping kickdrums drive bluesy riffs over originals and mutated covers.
Website Facebook MySpace

The Treats from Mount Pleasant, IA : Jammy garage– kind of Blues Traveler without the harmonica.
Facebook MySpace

What Happened Japan? : ? No Internet presence we can find…

Danger Ronnie and the Spins from Maquoketa, IA : Local band… Facebook but no samples of their music.
Facebook

Tickets are $9.00 in advance and $10 at the door. Starts at 3PM. It is recommended that you bring your own lawnchair if you want to sit down and cooler as it it BYOB. This is an ALL AGES show.

Come out, camp on the land and set yourself free!

Click Here to purchase tickets for Roadside Graves at Codfish Hollow.

Click Here to see the Facebook Event for Roadside Graves at Codfish Hollow

(Upcoming Show) Kopecky Family Band at The Mill Restaurant in Iowa City 8/12

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Growing up in Bellevue, IA there was a local family band with generations of members called the Sieverding Band. This band– as you might expect– was made up of a bunch of guys with the last name Sieverding.  They played the Catholic parish barbeque every year– and still do– and performed the polka mass as well. They are an institution, really.

The Kopecky Family Band is a band I hadn’t heard of before this week when their PR folks reached out to me. A group of seven from Nashville, they aren’t actually all related, but the idea of a tight-knit group of musicians being a family– sharing space and the closeness of working together– is one that clearly ties the members of the Kopecky Family Band together. In an interview with spinner.com from March of this year before they played SXSW, they talk about how Kelsey (the one member who is actually a “Kopecky”) gives the band members their per diem money in a hand-decorated envelope with an encouraging message before the tour. She’s also the person responsible for morning wakeup text messages with an inspirational quote or joke. Clearly, she has taken her role as the “mom” of this family band!

Disaster is the name of the new EP from the Kopecky Family Band and it was released on August 3rd. The band helpfully provides a streaming version of the album from their bandcamp page (below).

Some comparisons have been made to Arcade Fire by reviewers, and I think that is a pretty good place to start with Kopecky Family Band. I think that the anthemic style as well as their classical bent– strings and horns helps with that. My wife also said that the harmonies also reminded her a bit of Local Natives. But, you can listen for yourself:

The band has also made their previous EP Embraces available as a free download through bandcamp:

While the Kopecky Family Band won’t playing parish picnics or performing polka services at your local church, the will be playing at The Mill Restaurant in Iowa City on Thursday Night at 9PM. This is a 21+ show and the cover is $6. Evan P. Donahue will open.

Click Here for the Kopecky Family Band website

Click Here for the Kopecky Family Band MySpace Page

Click Here for the Kopecky Family Band Facebook Page

(Upcoming Release) Antibalas – Who Is This America? Reissued on 8/17

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I became aware of Antibalas around the time that I was working on a review of the very cool Scion Daptone Records Remixed compilation where I mentioned that Ticklah who is credited with the remix of “How Long Do I Have to Wait” by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, is David Axelrod who, among other things, has been a member of the Brooklyn, NY Afrobeat and funk ensemble since 1999.

Antibalas was formed in 1998 and modeled after Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 band and continues to maintain connections with members of Fela’s bands. In 2008 the band was involved in the off-Broadway and on-Broadway musical of Fela’s life titled Fela! The musical is based on the events of his life and particularly his politically motivated music career and oppression from the Nigerian government.

Antibalas’s influence from Fela Kuti extends further than just their afrobeat style, they also choose to make their music the platform for sharing their political views. No where is this more evident than their third album Who Is This America? which was released in 2004 on Ropeadope records. The band and label felt that their political and social statements on the album are as relevant today as they were during the Bush-era, post 9/11 period they were conceived in.

The re-issue of Who Is This America? will be on CD and digital download with a new bonus track “Money Talks” and with an iTunes-only track “Paz.” Notably, Ropadope is choosing not to release this album on vinyl. As luck would have it, Daptone Records released a vinyl version back in 2004 that seems to still be available on their site for $20 and has the “running man” cover artwork. Daptone also has Antibalas’s 2007 Anti- Records release Security on vinyl as well. Security was produced by John McEntire of Tortoise, incidentally. Ropeadope will have a special edition package that includes the CD, a download and a reprint of the “Running Man” teeshirt ($27.99). You can get just the teeshirt, too.

Click Here to download “Big Man” from Who Is This America?

Click Here to pre-order Who Is This America? from Ropadope.

Click Here to order the original (no bonus tracks) Who Is This America? 2 LP from Daptone.

Click Here for the Antibalas website.

Click Here for the Antibalas MySpace Page

Click Here for the Antibalas Facebook Fan Page

(Upcoming Release) Pezzettino – LubDub Kickstarter for Vinyl EP

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Margaret Stutt who goes by the nom d’cordion Pezzettino has collaborated with Milwaukee-based producer LMNtylist on her follow up to her 2009 release Lion. Titled LubDub, it is a 10-track EP of, well– I guess they are love songs. Well, maybe not all of them are love songs, but certainly they are related to love and appear to be roughly arranged in a timeline of a love affair that is having some fits and starts getting off the ground.

Originally the follow up to the moody, serrated toothiness of Lion was supposed to be a kinder, gentler album to be titled Lamb. In December of 2008 she posted the track listing for both releases on Facebook. When Miss Pezz blew through the Midwest last Fall it would appear that she had already moved into the mental space of Lamb in preparation for recording that album. By that time she had recorded the lead track for Lamb– the insanely catchy “You Never Know” which kind of took on a life of its own with its joyous video and vinyl 7″ release– each with a custom cover done by Milwaukee artist Dwellephant. For that Fall tour she’d already been performing “You Never Know,” “Hunting Season,” and “Falling Down” all songs that seemed fully formed and ready for the album. She also played a new song that was a quick favorite for me– “Where’d Ya Go.”

Anyone who knows Margaret well knows that she is constantly catering to her muse– typically recording inspired fragments of song anywhere and anytime they show up– many songs were written behind the wheel of her now-departed Civic on the long drives between the gigs on tour. It was a collection of these fragments that she gave to Milwaukee HipHop producer LMNTylist who was interested in trying his hand producing some pop songs. When she stopped through Cedar Rapids in January she played me the rough mixes that she had just received. I was at once shocked and excited at what I’d heard– the lead off track for LubDub “Replay” was pretty much cemented at that point as was “Cold Hard Chick.” This was a dramatically different direction for Pezzettino– she had given over to the production and the resulting songs still showed the fun and humor typically found in her music, but now had rhythm and were… funky!

The album pulls from a number of different influences ranging from the Reggae/Dub of the title track, to more the Jazzy “Only One” and “She Deserves” to the DooWop spin of “Replay” to a more “classic” Pezz piano track in “For You and Your Headaches.” Here is a video Margaret shot of a street mural painter that uses “Only One” as its soundtrack:

So, maybe it is fitting that the more mild-mannered Lamb would be quickly replaced by a more determined and immediate electronic release in LubDub. I guess the chops of Lamb will get to spend some more time slow cooking.

LubDub will be available for download on September 7th and on 12″ colored vinyl later this fall. Pezzettino has a Kickstarter drive going to attempt to raise the $1000 needed to press the vinyl. After an impressive week, she has raised over half of the funds and, at the time of this writing, still has over 30 days to go! Donations range from $1 to $1000 and have varying levels of perks at each level. Any donation over $15 gets you some copy of LubDub with pledges over $20 getting you the vinyl and the CD version of it along with four bonus tracks. Other levels get you things like cookies, her dress from the “You Never Know” video, private performance, or the ability to determine the next cover songs in her popular cover series. Click on the kickstarter widget below to see what your options are to help get this great release out.

The fantastically appropriate album art (shown above) was done by LittleTinyFish.

There are two release shows– one in each of her hometowns:

Milwaukee: September 11th at Turner Hall with Mondo Lucha, 8PM
Brooklyn: October 14th at Cameo Gallery, 9PM

In the middle of these shows is a quick run of the Midwest that includes stops in DeKalb (9/12), Iowa City (9/15 at The Blue Moose Tap Room), Omaha (9/16), Des Moines (9/18 at Vaudeville Mews) and Boulder, CO (9/23). Visit her MySpace Page to keep up to date on this tour. This tour is going to be the first time in a while she has toured with a small band– so I’m looking forward to these shows!

Track Listing for LubDub:

1. Replay
2. She Deserves
3. Cold Hard Chick
4. Only One
5. Intermezzo I
6. Lub Dub
7. Where’d Ya Go
8. Intermezzo II
9. For You and Your Headaches
10. I Did Not Use Those Words Yesterday

Click Here to download “Replay” from LubDub

Click Here to visit the Pezzettino Web Site

Click Here for Pezzettino’s Facebook Fan Page

Click Here for Pezzettino’s MySpace Page

Click Here for Pezzettino on Twitter

Click Here for LMNTylist’s MySpace Page.

Upcoming Show: Cheyenne Marie Mize at The Mill Restaurant in Iowa City 7/29

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If you haven’t heard of Cheyenne Mize before it is probably because her work tended not to be in the forefront of the bands she was in– at least not until recently. Hailing from Louisville, Cheyenne has been firmly entrenched in the folkie scene there. Supporting bands and artists like Arnett Hollow, Maiden Radio, Ben Sollee, Saredren Wells, Thomas A. Minor and the Picket Line, Joe Manning, The Health & Happiness Family Gospel Band, Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore touring band for Dear Companion. (Thanks to Question the Pop interview with Cheyenne for that list).

Last year Cheyenne partnered with Louisville’s reknowned son, Bonnie “Prince” Billy aka Will Oldham on an EP of duets titled Among the Gold. Among the Gold is a collection of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century standards like “Beautiful Dreamer” and “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.” Louisville indie label Karate Body pressed an insanely-limited edition (250 copies) 10″ colored vinyl pressing of it and only made it available at shows and at their online store. It is available for digital download from Cheyenne’s Bandcamp Page. The EP certainly demonstrated Cheyenne’s talents and beautiful soprano but really didn’t show her songwriting abilities. Cheyenne will be releasing her first solo record titled Before Lately on September 28th and it will be on another Louisville label sonaBLAST! Records.

Where Among the Gold was steeped in the old-time standards it was made of, Before Lately is more contemporary mix of ingredients. The album is drifting and dreamy– introspective, really.  The album is a very stripped-down affair with very little percussion and utilizes all of Cheyenne’s talents: vocals, violin, guitar and piano. The songs move between ethereal shoegazer-ish production on tracks like “Path” and “Lull” and more direct singer-songwriter style tracks like on “Doctor” and “Not.” Before Lately made an impression on me right away and tugs my disappointment that it isn’t available right now!

Cheyenne is currently on tour and will be making a stop in Iowa City on Thursday 7/29 at The Mill Restaurant opening for Portland, OR band Archeology. This will be the late show, which starts at 10PM and is a 21+ show. Tickets are $6. I’ll be interested to hear how these songs translate to the stage. You can listen to the whole album via this nifty player:

Here is “With(out)” from Before Lately.
With(out) by CrashAvenue

Cheyenne Marie Mize on Tour:
Sat Jul 24 – The Denver Post Underground Music Showcase – Denver, CO
Sun Jul 25 – The Denver Post Underground Music Showcase – Denver, CO
Tue Jul 27 – Czar Bar – Kansas City, MO
Wed Jul 28 – Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, IA
Thu Jul 29 – The Mill – Iowa City, IA
Fri Jul 30 – Uncommon Ground on Clark – Chicago, IL
Sat Jul 31 – White Rabbit Cabaret – Indianapolis, IN

Click Here for Cheyenne Marie Mize’s website

Click Here for Cheyenne Marie Mize’s MySpace Page

Click Here for Cheyenne Marie Mize’s Facebook Fanpage

Click Here for Cheyenne Marie Mize’s page at sonaBLAST!

Click Here for Cheyenne Marie Mize’s Bandcamp Page where you can listen to Among the Gold and Before Lately.

Gayngs Fall Tour Dates

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In early April, Sherry and I were in the Twin Cities visiting relatives and I managed to get a trip to the Mecca of Records known as the Electric Fetus. While I was flipping through their used vinyl and discount bins an unfamiliar soundtrack was playing overhead. Sherry asked me what it was, and I wasn’t sure but I was as enthralled as she was with the very mellow and groovy music. At one point I found myself singing along with one of the tracks, “You don’t know how to ease my pain, you don’t know…” I asked the guy behind the counter, “Is this a cover of Godley & Creme’s ‘Cry’?” He replied that the thought it was and said, “we’ve been playing this all day and I never noticed that!” He went on to tell me that it was a kind of “Minneapolis Supergroup” called Gayngs (I had to look at the “upcoming releases” board to see how it was spelled). Well, I promptly scoured the file sharing repositories for a leak of Gayngs album titled Relayted and found one. The album quickly entered my regular rotation until it’s release date on May 11th when I  purchased the gorgeous 2 LP vinyl in a white gatefold sleeve.

Gayngs is a 23-member (or should I say “participant?”) band/project assembled by Ryan Olson who had an epiphany of sorts waking up one morning to the strains of 10CC’s softrock mega hit “I’m Not In Love.” It was then and there that he decided he wanted to record an album of a similarly-inspired sound. One that would allow them to use all of those cheesy synth patches any self-respecting musician should stay away from. The beginnings of the album started with Ryan and Solid Gold members Adam Hurlburt and Zach Coulter. Over time Ryan added other members to the band drawing from friends and girlfriends until the assembled cast grew to 23. All 23 members don’t play together on any one song on the album. Other notable groups who donated members include Bon Iver (Justin Vernon, Mike Noyce), Megafaun (Brad Cook, Phil Cook, Joe Westerlund), P.O.S., Leisure Birds (Jake Luck, Nick Ryan) and Roma di Luna(Channy Moon Casselle). The album delivered by this large union of musicians is surprisingly singular in vision given all of the participants– which can only be a testament to how Olson managed the proceedings.

A couple of weeks ago we had a family get-together and my relatives from Eau Claire, WI showed up with a present for me– a copy of Relayted on CD and a copy of the May Vita.mn magazine with an article on Gayngs with a focus on the band leader/arranger Ryan Olson. Apparently my aunt is good friends with Ryan’s mom! It turns out that my aunt and uncle went to The Last Prom on Earth show at First Avenue in May and had a great time! Of course, this was a show that Sherry and I had debated on going to, but couldn’t make it and had been kicking ourselves about. Well, thankfully the band will be bringing their 69-beats-per-minute antics to a quick run of dates at the end of September and beginning of October cumulating in a visit to the Austin City Limits Festival on 10/10. While the Last Prom on Earth shows had all of the members of Gayngs, the touring version will only have 10 members— notably without the women but showcasing new arrangements and new material!

TOUR DATES
09/29/10 Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall
09/30/10 Chicago, IL – Metro
10/01/10 Toronto, ONT – Phoenix Theatre
10/02/10 Boston, MA – Paradise
10/03/10 New York, NY – Webster Hall
10/04/10 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
10/05/10 Washington, DC – Black Cat
10/07/10 Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge
10/10/10 Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Festival

Click Here for Gayngs website

Click Here for Gayngs MySpace

Click Here for Gayngs Facebook Fanpage

Click Here for Gayngs Vimeo Videos (a must-see, frankly)

Click Here to download “The Gaudy Side of Town” (an edit) from Relayted

Click Here to download “Faded High” from Relayted


(Free Download) Lyrics Born As U Were Cover Art Revealed – “Lies X 3” Single Free Download

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It was March of 2009 when Lyrics Born announced the follow up to the fantastic genre-bending Everywhere At Once. The album titled As U Were has had a sliding release window since then due to LB’s insistent and unrelenting demands for perfection. LB has cushioned the blow a bit by providing a steady run of leaked tracks and free downloads which has given us a pretty good picture of what the album will be like.

In March, 2009 we were given the retro braggadocio track “Funky Hit Records” with it’s accompanying video. The next track to surface was the reunion of Latyrx (Lateef + Lyrics Born) in the bobbing new-waveish “Pushed Aside, Pulled Apart” with its video produced by Raphael LaMotta of ApSci. In November we were delivered the crazy can’t-catch-a-breath windstorm of “Oh Baby” that you have to revisit repeatedly Where’s-Waldo-style to find all the funny turns of phrase that LB is known for.

Today the LB camp announced that As You Were will be released on October 26, 2010 and offered up the cover art to prove it! The cover was designed by Brent Rollins who also did Later that Day and Everywhere at Once. As if that wasn’t enough, we are also given another track in the pumping finger-jab-in-the-chest spurned lover vent of “Lies X3.” “If something just ain’t right, it’s just plain wrong… You’ve been lying to me.”

As U Were also marks the move to Decon who has an established multimedia track record working deals in licensing and other creative new avenues for music. Aside from the high-visibility Diet Coke commercial a few years ago and songs showing up on the occasional TV show, I always felt that LB’s music was bubbling-under a bit. I hope that the Decon partnership will finally kick the lid off that boiling pot.

One of the things I love about Lyrics Born is that he isn’t afraid to step out of the straight rap role, and in “Lies X3” he keeps a rhythmic pace in the lyrics, but he sings it all the way through. He’s expressed before that he doesn’t want to be pigeonholed into a predictable role and in the four tracks leaked from As U Were thus far, it is clear that Lyrics Born is again leaving a predictably worn MC path and stomping into the crunchy underbrush of his own direction.

Click Here to download the new track “Lies X3”

Click Here to download “Funky Hit Records.”

Click Here to download “Pushed Aside, Pulled Apart”

Click Here to download “Oh Baby”

Click Here to visit Lyrics Born’s website

Click Here to visit Lyrics Born’s Facebook Fanpage

Click Here to follow Lyrics Born on Twitter.

(Free Download) Karyn Paige – “Want To” from Hola Mademoiselle

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When it comes to HipHop I tend to favor the musical pastiche typically purveyed by the Bay Area. Some of this is because I really cut my HipHop teeth on the seminal Bay Area label artists on Solesides (later Quannum) including Lateef, Lyrics Born, DJ Shadow, Blackalicious. In some respects California HipHop is considered a second generation from the early New York days of HipHop and rap, but it might be this distance that makes California HipHop more of a converged sound with funk. Of course these days, Left- and Right-coast isn’t so much a discernible distinction. These days there are still stylistic differences between, say Jay-Z and Snoop but beyond that there has been a lot of cross-pollination so it is difficult to make the same comment about today’s HipHop and rap.

Still, the last releases from Lyrics Born, The Gift of Gab, Blackalicious and DJ Shadow really show a very wide view of their art and I think shows them pushing the boundaries of what defines HipHop.

It’s this cultural and musical diversity in the Bay Area that fosters artists like singer Karyn Paige who, after several years of working and performing with various bands and musicians including the Jazz Mafia collective as well as Lyrics Born (who also worked with the Jazz Mafia Orchestra “Brass Bows and Beats) and Chali 2na (of Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli), is ready to release her first solo record titled Hola Mademoiselle which will come out fall of this year. Prior to that she will release a digital EP this summer titled The KP EP.

The releases promise to be a “diverse blend of pop, R&B, New Wave, Soul and Funk” and this is certainly delivered in the first single being offered as a free download titled “Want To.” “Want To” was co-writted and produced by Joe Bagale and Matt Berkeley of the Jazz Mafia with Karyn and to me really recalls the purple funk heyday during Prince‘s reign in Minneapolis– the funky analog synths and beats that were the signature of Mr. Rogers Nelson and the production duo of Jam and Lewis. It is a super-catchy track  and has already made it to two of my car mp3 mixes! I can’t wait to hear the EP and album when they come out!

Do yourself a favor and grab this mp3.

Click Here to listen to “Want To” by Karyn Paige from her upcoming release Hola Mademoiselle.

Click Here to visit Karyn Paige’s website and sign up for her mailing list

Click Here to visit Karyn Paige’s Facebook Fanpage

Click Here to visit Karyn Paige’s MySpace Page

(Free Download) Local Natives Solicit Remixes of 4 Gorilla Manor Tracks

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Local Natives posted on their Facebook wall today that they are providing the “stems” of four songs off their new album Gorilla Manor to encourage some remixing. The songs the band is making available are “Camera Talk,” “Who Knows Who Cares,” “Wide Eyes,” and “World News.”  “Stems” are files of individual digital tracks of a multi-track recording which gives you the isolated instruments and vocals of the songs. This is useful for making remixes as you can edit and individually manipulate or replace parts and pieces of a song. To gain the .zip files of the stems you need to provide your name, e-mail address and postal zip code– a tricky way to build their e-mail list…

The band will be making the resulting works done by the remixers available on the stems page so keep an eye on that. The remixes will need to be submitted via e-mail to stems.fans@gmail.com. One idea for the band would be to provide an RSS feed of these remixes as the show up.

Click Here to get the Local Natives Remix Stems