• IODA at SXSW 2012
  • Ruthie Foster
  • Analogtronics
  • Featured Releases

Featured Artist: Vast Aire

367928 72 Featured Artist: Vast AireArtist: Vast Aire
Title: OX 2010: A Street Odyssey
Label: Fat Beats
Genre: Hip-Hop : Rap
UPC: 659123514620
Territory: World
Release Date: 5.31.11

Born in Mount Vernon NY (Uptown) February 5, 1978, Vast Aire relocated to Jamaica Queens in 1988 and shortly thereafter his love affair with the microphone began.

Known for his ability to draw and play football, Vast quickly fell in love with poetry and music. By the time he was sixteen he was performing at every underground hip hop club in New York city such as Wetlands, The Cooler, Nuyorican Poets Café, Baby Jupiter, SOB’s and the Knitting Factory. In Jamaica Queens, then in Harlem N.Y. Vast came into contact with countless emcees, one of them being Vordul Mega. With a passion for cutting school and rhyming, Vast and Vordul ran the streets together and in the process sliced up a lot of emcees. So when it came time for the duo to choose a moniker for their group, one name surfaced almost instantly- and Cannibal Ox was born.

Catch the rest after the jump!

Tour Date Roundup: Timber Timbre, The Glitch Mob, Hadden Sayers

363512 721 Tour Date Roundup: Timber Timbre, The Glitch Mob, Hadden SayersArtist: Timber Timbre
Title: Creep On Creepin’ On
Label: Arts & Crafts
Genre: Alternative : Blues
Release Date: 4.05.11
UPC: 827590610026
Territory: World ex- EU, AU, NZ

From guttural groans on lead track “Bad Ritual” to the eerie doo-wop-inspired pleas of “Lonesome Hunter,” the album is textured and commanding, stirring proof of the unwavering powers of obsession and possession. And while settings and collaborators continue to change for the band, the guiding inspiration behind the songs has not. “The idea is to make music we love and therefore embrace the risk of sounding like all the music we’ve ever loved, all at once,” Kirk explains.  With Creep On Creepin’ On, Timber Timbre has succeeded in reaching a place it was long destined for, where its music is as powerful and extraordinary as it has always been unmistakable.  Be sure to check them out in a city near you!

May 25: Park Theatre – Winnipeg, MB
May 27: Amigo’s – Saskatoon, SK
May 28: Central United Church – Calgary, AB
May 29: Avenue Theatre – Edmonton, AB
May 31: Alix Goolden Hall – Victoria, BC
June 01: Vogue Theatre – Vancouver, BC
June 03: Palace Grand – Dawson, YT
June 05: Yukon Arts Centre – Whitehorse, YT
June 07: Sunset Tavern – Seattle, WA
June 08: Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR
June 10: Swedish American Music Hall – San Francisco, CA
June 11: Bootleg Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
June 12: Casbah – San Diego, CA
July 21: Schubas Tavern – Chicago, IL
July 29: Osheaga Music and Arts Festival – Montreal, QC
Nov 05: Salle Rolland-Brunelle – Joliette, QC
Nov 06: Theatre Petit Champlain – Quebec, QC
Nov 07: Moulin Neuf – Terrebonne, QC
Nov 08: Theatre Granada – Sherbrooke, QC
Nov 09: Cinéma Laurier – Victoriaville, QC
Nov 10: Maison des Arts De Laval – Laval, QC
Nov 01: Union Chapel – London, UK

Catch the rest after the jump!

The Sound Culture Podcast: Episode #57 feat. Easy Star All-Stars, Liquid Stranger, Mark E

Check it out at Thesoundculture.com or thru iTunes. Grab all the tracks to go below and after the jump!

1.
 The Sound Culture Podcast: Episode #57 feat. Easy Star All Stars, Liquid Stranger, Mark ETimonkey
download icon The Sound Culture Podcast: Episode #57 feat. Easy Star All Stars, Liquid Stranger, Mark E “Daytime Melts” (mp3)
from “Astral Traveler”
(Muti Music)

service icon 4 The Sound Culture Podcast: Episode #57 feat. Easy Star All Stars, Liquid Stranger, Mark E Buy at iTunes Music Store
service icon 426 The Sound Culture Podcast: Episode #57 feat. Easy Star All Stars, Liquid Stranger, Mark E Buy at Amazon MP3
icon landing page The Sound Culture Podcast: Episode #57 feat. Easy Star All Stars, Liquid Stranger, Mark E More On This Album

 The Sound Culture Podcast: Episode #57 feat. Easy Star All Stars, Liquid Stranger, Mark E

 

2.
 The Sound Culture Podcast: Episode #57 feat. Easy Star All Stars, Liquid Stranger, Mark EEasy Star All-Stars
download icon The Sound Culture Podcast: Episode #57 feat. Easy Star All Stars, Liquid Stranger, Mark E “One Likkle Draw (Feat. Junior Jazz and Daddy Lion Chandell)” (mp3)
from “First Light”
(Easy Star Records)

service icon 4 The Sound Culture Podcast: Episode #57 feat. Easy Star All Stars, Liquid Stranger, Mark E Buy at iTunes Music Store
icon landing page The Sound Culture Podcast: Episode #57 feat. Easy Star All Stars, Liquid Stranger, Mark E More On This Album

 The Sound Culture Podcast: Episode #57 feat. Easy Star All Stars, Liquid Stranger, Mark E

 

 

Catch the rest after the jump!

Just Encoded: Esmerine – “La Lechuza”

359541 72 Just Encoded: Esmerine   La LechuzaArtist: Esmerine
Title: La Lechuza
Label: Constellation
Genre: Avantgarde/Experimental : Rock
UPC: 666561008024
Territory: World ex- IL
Release Date: 6.07.11

Esmerine enters its second decade with an expanded line-up and a new album – the band’s first in six years. As a duo co-founded ten years ago by percussionist Bruce Cawdron (Godpseed You! Black Emperor) and cellist Beckie Foon (Thee Silver Mt. Zion), Esmerine released two critically-acclaimed albums of modern chamber music in 2003 and 2005 that had one foot in the new music/experimental terrain of contemporaries like Rachel’s or Town And Country and the other in a more visceral and lyrical landscape populated by the likes of Dirty Three (and GY!BE themselves).  Bruce and Beckie have continued stoking the embers of Esmerine, with occasional special events in their Montreal home town over the past few years, often including invitations to guest musicians. While Esmerine had made deft use of guest players on previous records, their performances over the past two years opened the band up to two new musicians in particular who were invited to join as full members: harp-player Sarah Page (The Barr Brothers) and percussionist Andrew Barr (The Slip, Land of Talk, The Barr Brothers).

Catch the rest after the jump!

Featured Release: The Bewitched Hands – “Birds & Drums”

374774 72 Featured Release: The Bewitched Hands   Birds & DrumsArtist: The Bewitched Hands
Title: Birds & Drums
Label: Jive / Epic
Genre: Rock : Pop
UPC: 886977741524
Territory: Americas, UK, AU, NZ
Release Date: 5.23.11

With the support of NPR‘s All Songs Considered and others, The Bewitched Hands may very well be the next big thing coming out of France. They’ve been compared to the likes of Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene and The Flaming Lips, using three guitars and shared vocals from all six members to weave complex layers of sound that alternate between hypnotizing and infectiously catchy. The band operates as a creative collective, with each of the members contributing to the songwriting in a way that no single member dominates, making for a well-balanced symphonic sensibility. Combine their songwriting ability with their mesmerizing live performances, and there’s no way their debut album, Birds & Drums, will stay a secret for long!

Check out their track “Hard To Cry” live from their Take Away Show from La Blogotheque:

Featured Artist: Sean Jones

368013 72 Featured Artist: Sean JonesSean Jones
download icon Featured Artist: Sean Jones “No Need for Words” (mp3)
from “No Need for Words”
(Mack Avenue Records)

service icon 4 Featured Artist: Sean Jones Buy at iTunes Music Store
icon landing page Featured Artist: Sean Jones More On This Album

 Featured Artist: Sean Jones

As has become evident over the course of his five previous albums, trumpeter Sean Jones is particularly adept at plumbing complex emotional depths through his trumpet playing and composing. So when he set his mind to recording a set of love songs, it should come as no surprise that he delved into the evocative nuances of love rather than the more obvious boys-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl generalities. “I didn’t want to do your typical love songs record that just deals with one aspect of love,” Jones explains. “I wanted to do an album that really dealt with a few different shades of love.”

During the course of Sean Jones’ burgeoning career beginning with his Mack Avenue Records debut in 2004, Eternal Journey, the trumpeter/bandleader has embarked on a series of quests, mining the depths of different wellsprings of his life as a musician. His first album, recorded when he was 24, was his awakening, “my first step out into the recording world,” Jones says. That was followed by more steps with the theme of personal navigation at the center of his vision. In the process, Jones has developed into one of jazz’s top young trumpeters, known for both his lyrical fluidity and high-tier technical facility. “The idea of being on a journey has been in line with all my albums,” he says. “My second album, Gemini, explored both sides of my musical loves, r&b and jazz. I expanded that with Roots, where I revisited my youth and paid tribute to gospel. And then on Kaleidoscope, I created a collage of sounds, exploring different timbres by enlisting vocalists to be collaborators.”

Catch the rest after the jump!