Heather

!!! have just released their fifth full length album THR!!!ER and are hitting the road starting today for a month long US tour. Guest vocalist Sonia Moore (of “2 Legit 2 Quit” fame) will not be joining, so the band is going to choose one fan per city to come up on stage and sing along.

Sing With Chk Contest – Note from the band:

Come on, admit it. You’ve dreamed about singing with !!!. Only a few of us have been able to live that dream but now you can too. We’re not bringing Sonia Moore, the singer from One Girl/One Boy, so we want you to come up and sing w/ us when we hit your town.

Upload a youtube video of you singing along or send an mp3 to singwithchk@gmail.com. No big deal, just you in front of the mirror singing into the hairbrush style will do. We’ll sift through the entries and holler at you if you’ve got what it takes. You’ll of course be judged on your vocal ability, but dance moves and star quality definitely help. If anything, it’s a free ticket for you and your bff for the show. No flakes, no egos, no drug problems.

Click HERE to download instrumental music and lyrics

US TOUR DATES
MAY 
16 Cambridge, MA @The Sinclair *
17 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
18 Washington, DC @ Black Cat *
19 Durham, NC @ Motorco *
20 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel *
22 Atlanta, GA @ Earl %
23 Birmingham, AL @ Bottle Tree %
24 New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s %
25 Austin, TX @ Mohawk (Outdoor Stage) %
26 El Paso, TX @ The Lowbrow Palace %
27 Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress ^
28 Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom ^
29 San Diego, CA @ Casbah ^
30 San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw
31 Sacramento, CA @ Cesar Chavez Park

JUNE
1 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre ^
3 Portland, OR @ Bunk Bar ^
4 Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound Club ^
7 Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Café *
8 Chicago, IL @ The Bottom Lounge *
9 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick *
10 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern *
11 Montreal, QC @ Le Belmont *
12 Burlington, VT @ Signal Kitchen *
13 Portland, ME @ Port City Music Hall *
14 Hamden, CT @ Spaceland Ballroom
15 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *

AUGUST 
25 Los Angeles, CA @ FYF Fest
31 Seattle, WA @ Bumbershoot

Support
*Sinkane
%Shockwave Riderz
^White Arrows

Related articles

• Listen: !!! – “One Girl/One Boy” (musicallyamusing.com)
• !!! (chk chk chk) Share New Single “One Girl/One Boy” (hangout.altsounds.com)

The video for “Jewel” was produced by The Lab Magazine and stars Wynn Holmes and former So You Think You Can Dance Canada winner Nico Archambault.

Gold & Youth On Tour
05/19 Edmonton, AB | Pawn Shop
05/20 Calgary, AB | Palomino
05/22 Vancouver, BC | Fortune Sound Club
06/08 Toronto, ON | Fort York & Garrison Common | Field Trip Music & Arts Festival
06/11 Hamilton, ON | The Casbah *
06/12 Waterloo, ON | Starlight *
06/13 Montreal, QC | Club Lambi *
06/14 Toronto, ON | BLK BOX | NXNE *
06/15 Burlington, ON | Burlington Sound Of Music 
06/21 Brooklyn, NY | Union Pool *
06/28-30 Port Renfrew, BC | Tall Tree Festival
07/06 Kelowna, BC | Keloha Festival

Stream Beyond Wilderness here

Beyond Wilderness Track Listing

1. City Of Quartz
2. Little Wild Love
3. Quarters
4. Tan Lines
5. Cut Lip
6. Jewel
7. Come To Admire
8. Daylight Colours
9. Young Blood
10. Palm Villas
11. Time To Kill

“Dear Internet and users of the World Wide Web, it is with much joy that we wish to present the video for “Dark Water”. We feel that this video really encapsulates the tone of the song in a haunting and strangely beautiful way.  Also, there are claymation versions of us–which has been a life long goal. Mission accomplished” - Josh Epstein and Daniel Zott, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

“Dark Water” is off the band’s brand new EP, Patterns, which came out a couple weeks ago. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. are booked to perform their hit in the making “If You Didn’t See Me (Then You Weren’t On The Dancefloor)” on CONAN June 11th.

The guys have just come off playing a string of sold-out shows in support of the new EP, including a hometown Record Store Day show in Detroit and a Brooklyn show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Next up they will be performing at El Rey in Los Angeles tomorrow, May 16th. For a full list of upcoming show dates, see below.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. are gearing up for the release their sophomore LP later this year.

Confirmed DEJJ Tour Dates:
05.16     Los Angeles – El Rey
05.17     San Francisco – The Independent
05.24     Chicago – Lincoln Hall

Related articles

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. Release Claymation Video for “Dark Water” (hangout.altsounds.com)
• [Indie]: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – Hiding (brinkmusic.wordpress.com)
• Contest: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. At El Rey (thescenestar.typepad.com)
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. released new EP, played Music Hall of Williamsburg (pics) (brooklynvegan.com)
• Listen: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – “If You Didn’t See Me (Then You Weren’t On The Dancefloor)” (musicallyamusing.com)

“… they’re something special” – The New York Times, Paul Krugman

“[Lucius’] buoyant sound calls to mind the girl groups of the ’60s… ” – Wall Street Journal

“There’s no mistaking Lucius for anyone else… ” – Rolling Stone

“luscious, leonine, ’60s-indebted indie-pop” – SPIN

Momentum continues to build for NYC’s Lucius as the band hits the road this summer making stops at several high profile US music festivals and events including the Nelsonville Music Festival, Mountain Stage, Bonnaroo, Wilco’s Solid Sound and the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival. With emotionally charged, upbeat, 60s inspired songs and a sincere crowd connection, the quintet has solidified its reputation as a must-see live band.

Fans spoke and Lucius listened. Since airing on FOX’s hit show New Girl last week, Lucius’ demo version of “Until We Get There” was uploaded to YouTube by fans and has garnered 45K+ plays. As a sneak peek to the debut album coming in the fall, Lucius is giving a stream of the track to fans (and download for email exchange) HERE.

For a taste of the band’s seductive live show, check out the “Don’t Just Sit There” live studio video among other songs from their WNYC Soundcheck appearance last month and the infamous NPR “Tiny Desk Concert”.

Lucius Tour Dates

6/1: Nelsonville, OH @ Nelsvonville Music Festival
6/2: Morgantown, WV @ Mountain Stage
6/13: Pittsburgh, PA @ Three Rivers Arts Festival (FREE)
6/14: New Albany, IN @ New Albany Bicentennial Park Concert Series (FREE)
6/15: Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo (New Music Lounge / 5.20 – 6.10pm)
6/16: Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo (Sonic Stage / 1:45-2:15pm)
6/17: Charlotte, NC @ Stage Door Theater at Blumenthal PAC
6/19: Baltimore, MD @ The Metro Gallery
6/20: Sellersville, PA @ Sellersville Theater %
6/22: North Adams, MA @ Solid Sound Festival
6/26: Lewiston, NY @ Artpark *
7/31: Toronto, ON @ Edgefest
8/7: New Haven, CT @ Bar (FREE)
8/16: Lyons, CO @ Rocky Mountain Folks Festival
8/28: Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo #
8/29: San Francisco, CA @ Brick & Mortar Music Hall

% co-headlining with Hey Marseilles
*supporting Dispatch
# Touché supports

Portland, Oregon’s Typhoon - one of the most talked about new bands – is proud to announce the August 20th release of their new album White Lighter on MapleMusic Recordings and Roll Call Records.

White Lighter is the follow up to the bands acclaimed EP A New Kind Of House that caught the attention of countless music critics and listeners for what NPR’s Bob Boilen calls “absolutely stunning” and “so beautiful, it make’s me want to follow every single thing Typhoon does.”

Recorded at Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon, Typhoon isolated themselves from outside distractions to arrange and record this collection of songs with an impressive emphasis on storytelling and melody.

“On the farm, we were living inside the record” says songwriter Morton. “I had one place in the woods where I would write and rewrite one song, and a different place for working another. The whole thing was laid out spatially over so many acres. I built a small fort in the wood barn where I kept my books and guitar.  Slept a couple feet away from the recording desk.  When it was cold, we built wood fires, when it was warm we went swimming down the road.  Friends came and went, sometimes recording with us.”

Produced by the band along with their in-house engineer Paul Laxer, Typhoon created a dynamic recording – full of horns, strings and group vocal crescendos – that will establish the band as an immensely creative force.

An inspiring hybrid of literate lyrics and wide ranging pop music – new songs such as first single “Young Fathers,” “Possible Deaths,” “Prosthetic Love” and “Hunger And Thirst” – take listeners on a journey through the experience of having it all, fighting to keep the dream and accepting your fate.

“There are several layers to this new record” says Morton. ”It’s definitely the most autobiographical record I’ve ever done. I’m also trying to reconstitute disparate experiences into something like a meaningful sequence in the pale light of truth.”

Along with Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Alternative Press and more, Paste Magazine raves “Music critics throw around adjectives like ‘orchestral’ and ‘expansive’ all the time these days. But here’s a band that actually deserves such labels. Portland’s Typhoon is an indie rock geek’s dream: a dynamic 12-piece with a seemingly unending reservoir of energy, emotive vocals, arpeggiated guitars, horns, multiple drum kits and strings … Ladies and gentlemen, meet your new critical darlings.”

Typhoon spent most of 2011 on the road – sharing the stage with The Decemberists, The Shins and Explosions In The Sky and performing at festivals such as Lollapalooza, Osheaga and the Newport Folk Festival – winning over concertgoers with what KEXP calls an “awe inspiring” live show.

Already confirmed for this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival, Typhoon will set out on a US headlining tour this fall. Stay tuned for more news!

Songwriter Kyle Morton caught up with The Wall Street Journal to talk about the new record, to have a read – click HERE.

Listen/download: Typhoon – “Dreams of Cannibalism”

Related articles

• Typhoon Announce Anticipated New Album White Lighter Set for an August 20th Release (hangout.altsounds.com)

Listen/download: The Delta Routine – “New York Avenue”

“Milwaukee’s Delta Routine can rock the blues and deliver grade-A hooks just as well as any of its contemporaries. It’s no wonder they’ve been receiving plenty of accolades in their hometown”– MAGNET MAGAZINE

“Influenced by the Stooges, the Stones, Kings of Leon, the Ramones, and Robert Johnson, Milwaukee’s The Delta Routine is built upon the raw elements of guitar-driven rock. Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Nick Amadeus creates memorable hooks and quirky riffs all while paying homage to the old days of rock & roll.” - THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

“On its third full-length album, Cigarettes & Caffeine Nightmares, the band serves up 11 fat-free slices of hooky, slithery, and perfectly pitched tunes that wouldn’t be out of place in the early ’00s—or the ’70s that inspired those early ’00s. It’s an unabashedly enjoyable collection from one of Milwaukee’s most unabashedly populist bands. Cigarettes & Caffeine is a big step up from 2011’s More About You, and finds The Delta Routine up to its ears in songs exceedingly well-crafted.” – Matt Wild / THE ONION A.V.CLUB

“I won’t waste your time now,” Delta Routine frontman Nick Amadeus sings with his Liam Gallagher-esque vocals on the opening track. He’s true to his word. At 32 minutes, the album is mercifully low on fat but thrills all the same with warped organ and guitar reverb snarls on “Switchblade.” Likewise, “Around Your Neck” does its bluesy, White Stripes-like, swagger-soaked thing in less than two minutes’ time.”  – Piet Levy / JOURNAL SENTINEL

“The Delta Routine’s new single “Switchblade,” from their new album Cigarettes and Caffeine Nightmares sounds like early Oasis, but with a definite Midwest vibe.” -88NINE RADIO MILWAUKEE

“If you love a mixture of 60s rock ‘n’ roll, angsty punk and modern day indie, then The Delta Routine’s Cigarettes & Caffeine Nightmares is definitely an album you’ll love.” – SHOW ME SOMETHING DIFFERENT: UK

“Nods appreciatively at the likes of The Rolling Stones, Oasis and The Strokes whilst ensuring they don’t just sound like copycats.” – PLUG IN MUSIC

THE DELTA ROUTINE TOUR DATES

Dangerbird Records and MapleMusic Recordings are  proud to announce the release of Royal Teeth’s highly-anticipated debut full-length album “Glow” on August 13th.  Recorded this winter in Toronto with producer Gavin Brown (Metric), the band entered the studio focused and ready to showcase the energy and spirited joy of the live shows that have drawn audiences to the band all around the country. The follow-up to their widely acclaimed debut EP, Glow is an engaging collection of indie-pop tracks that celebrate the band’s thirst for exploration and youthful adventures into the unknown, themes first explored in the band’s infectious breakout single “Wild.”

The band’s debut EP, “Act Naturally”, gained rapid traction in early 2012 launching Royal Teeth into the spotlight as “Wild” found its way into a Buick Verano Commercial, in addition to several other major network placements, and the soundtrack to EA Sports’ top selling video game, FIFA 13. “Wild” has inspired sing-a-longs via radio as well, connecting with new fans through airplay on SiriusXM’s AltNation and influential Alternative radio stations like CHHR Vancouver, CILV Ottawa, KNDD Seattle, KTCL Denver, WROX Norfolk, WWCD Columbus, KRBZ Kansas City, and CFJB Barrie.

Royal Teeth’s six members come from three cities across Southern Louisiana, a state known for its colossal musical output over the centuries. Now residing in New Orleans, their beat-centric sound is a technicolor addition to the legacy of Louisiana. After performances at CMJ, SXSW, Austin City Limits, Voodoo, and Jazzfest , the band made their television debut on Last Call with Carson Daly.

Related articles

• Band to Watch: Royal Teeth (rlynnmoore.wordpress.com)

To their credit, the DC-via-Kentucky folk act Vandaveer understand how dark this old, weird America can be. Their new album, Oh, Willie, Please…, is a collection of “traditional murder ballads and songs of self ruin” that succeeds because the prettiness of the music only heightens the ugliness of the actions. There’s a matter-of-factness that makes the slicings, stabbings, stranglings, suffocatings, drownings, hangings and shootings all the more grim. Heidinger doesn’t shy away from the horror of “The Banks of the Ohio” or “Down in the Willow Garden” nor does he wallow in their gruesomeness. Singing about stabbing his lover and drowning her in the river—on both songs even—he trusts the material to deliver its shock. - PASTE

Vandaveer revisit the ghastly tale of “Pretty Polly” with a haunting and gorgeously spare arrangement on their new album of murder ballads, Oh, Willie, Please… using subtle restraint and carefully chosen notes from banjo and cello to perfectly create an atmosphere of foreboding and pain. – POPMATTERS

 The macabre has long held uneasy sway over the human condition. From ghost stories to creation myths, from CSI to Shakespeare, from cable news voyeurism to Edgar Allan Poe, the subjects of death, murder and all things ghastly have fascinated and frightened for centuries. Songs are no exception. From Old World roots to more recent incarnations in America, the murder ballad has traversed, shapeshifted and persevered. Despite our collective desire to be good and virtuous, people do very bad things. And then we sing about them.

Death, murder and ghosts have long been underlying threads coursing through Vandaveer’s original songs, but instead of weaving their own shadowy tales into their latest studio effort, Oh, Willie, Please…, the DC-by-way-of-Kentucky alt-folk collective have tapped into the wellspring of traditional folk’s darker side.

Related articles

• Vandaveer – “Pretty Polly” (video) (PopMatters Premiere) (Mixed Media) (popmatters.com)

Yeah, I know — I shoulda posted this yesterday…woopsies.

Anyways, The Lonely Island is coming out with a new album and they have an announcement to make. See below.

The Lonely Island, the comedic rap trio comprised of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone, will release the highly anticipated The Wack Album on Tuesday, June 11th. The group’s third studio effort on Republic Records will include new songs featuring Pharrell Williams, T-Pain, Billie Joe Armstrong, Solange, and other special guests to be revealed. These artists join previously announced collaborators Adam Levine, Kendrick Lamar, Justin Timberlake, and Lady Gaga.

Beginning, well, yesterday – the group is kicking off “Wack Wednesdays” on their YouTube channel. Every Wednesday leading up to the release of The Wack Album, they will debut new content including music videos, exclusive announcements, and world premieres of tracks. These videos will also be distributed on twitter via @thelonelyisland with #wackwednesdays.

Here’s the first video of The Wack Wednesdays Series:

The Lonely Island recently released The Wack Album’s lead single, “YOLO” (feat. Adam Levine and Kendrick Lamar), which has garnered over 40 million views on YouTube in only three months. The trio also boasts a staggering 1.2 billion overall views on their YouTube channel. Their 2011 album Turtleneck & Chain, which debuted at #3 on Billboard, was nominated for a Grammy^® in the category of “Best Comedy Album” and featured such talents as Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Snoop Dogg, Santigold, and Beck. The album’s first smash single “I Just Had Sex” (feat. Akon) was certified platinum. The second single, “The Creep” (feat. Nicki Minaj and John Waters) has over 74 million YouTube views. Additional singles, “Jack Sparrow” (feat. Michael Bolton) has 105 million views and “Threw It On The Ground” has 52 million views on YouTube.

Their 2009 debut album, Incredibad, included Emmy^® winning sensation “D*** In A Box,” featuring Justin Timberlake. The album also featured the follow-up gold records “J**z In My Pants” and “Like a Boss” which have over 234 million views combined on YouTube. The Grammy^® nominated third single “I’m On A Boat” (feat. T-Pain) went platinum and catapulted the album into over 430,000 copies sold making it the #1 selling comedy album in 2009 and 2010. The trio established themselves with the enormously popular series of corresponding Digital Shorts for their singles, which were frequently featured on Saturday Night Live beginning with the debut of the pop culture sensation “Lazy Sunday” in 2005.

Originally from Berkeley, California, the group splits their time between Los Angeles and New York City. To learn more about The Lonely Island, visit www.thelonelyisland.com, https://twitter.com/thelonelyisland andwww.youtube.com/thelonelyisland

Last month Theophilus London dropped his first new studio track in a minute. “Rio” is the first taste of what’s to come on his forthcoming album, due later this year. The song, featuring the Menahan Street Band, now has an official video, which was directed by Tim Cruz, and produced by Mike Mihail for Guerilla Hollywood.

Upcoming Tour Dates:
Sat, July 6th – Brooklyn, NY – Prospect Park (Celebrate Brooklyn, Free Show)
Thu, July 25th – Las Vegas, NV – The Cosmopolitan
Fri, August 2nd – Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza

Related articles

• New Music: Theophilus London – “Rio” (musicallyamusing.com)
• Theophilus London – “Rio” ft. Menahan Street Band (Video) (getmybuzzup.com)
• Stream: Theophilus London f. Menahan Street Band, “Rio” (thefader.com)