“Soulful, spacey lounge pop and r&b crossed with a very subtle funk-rock vibe… and still some more other piquant gusts… it brings an old soul classiness to an interesting bent of blues and rock. ” - Jeff Milo, Deep Cutz - February 9, 2011 “…Field Trip EP… it’s fucking awesome. From the soulful title track to the last beat, every song is an Arthur Lee and Love-inspired winner.” - Brett Callwood, Metro Times Detroit - June 21, 2011

The Third Coast Kings are a proper deep funk and soul outfit in the classic tradition of sixties and seventies funk groups. The Kings detonate with an explosive sonic force that is guaranteed to make you move. Their gritty sound is a raw concoction of horn driven hooks, devastating rhythm and an overall tightness that has made them a crowd favorite in the Metro Detroit area. They draw influence from the many artists whose music was carefully salvaged by the crate digging revolution.

Another great FREE hardcore show in the Garden Bowl!

Every Tuesday in the Magic Stick Lounge!

Using entire shows from the Grateful Dead’s 30 years of extensive touring as a launching pad, Dark Star Orchestra recreates the original song for song performance set list for an entirely new generation of Deadheads. Dark Star Orchestra performs Grateful Dead classics in the same way that an orchestra interprets music of classical composers. The composer spirit is derived and channeled as the players capture the excitement and innovation of the original performances and compositions. Touring nationwide for nine years to the tune of 1300 shows since forming, the band’s determined commitment to ‘raising the Dead’ has drawn national media attention.

For the Love of Music: A Concert Benefitting The Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation FEATURING three extraordinary local bands; Kat Orlando, Mainstreet Soul and Big Will & the 360 Degrees Band. They are all well known and highly regarded in the Detroit music community.

Kat Orlando – Kat is the lead vocalist of The Hidden Agenda Band and has been a part of the local music scene for over 25 years. She has started her own solo project with original jazz numbers that keep her in step with stars like Whitney Houston and Chaka Khan.

Mainstreet Soul – Mainstreet Soul is a 10 piece horn band that has been playing locally for the last 3 years. This band is comprised of many veteran local talent. They were featured in the movie “Salvation Boulevard” filmed in Michigan last year and you can also hear them playing the original music in the national commercial: Android Promotion featuring Magic Johnson for Quicken Loans.

Big Will & the 360 Degrees Band – Once a part of The Sun Messengers, Big Will has started his own project and is bursting onto the scene with great dance numbers and high energy shows!

Along with great music, you will see other local Detroit businesses helping out for the cause such as Rock City Pies, Lesson Rooms in Royal Oak, speed painter Dave Santia plus much, much more!!

Bring the whole family for a night of fun, shopping, silent auctions, music and dancing to help benefit The Children’s Hospital of Michigan Foundation!

LP Release Party for Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor’s Spectra Spirit and Psychedelic Supper II featuring a free Indian food buffet.

Lead guitarist of Detroit’s garage rock band The GO and country-psych rockers The Volebeats, Is now fronting his new project Ultraviolet Radio, a new-wave, synth-based experimental pop band. Dark, hypnotic, melodic and ethereal.

To some, it must seem like this young electronic producer came out of nowhere this year, but those in the know have been following Emancipator since he self-released his first album, “Soon It Will Be Cold Enough,” at the age of 19 in 2006. His agile melodies layered over headnodic, immaculately-produced beats captivated fans across the internet and across the world. “Soon It Will Be Cold Enough” was picked up by Japanese super-producer Nujabes, pressed in Japan and sold 5,000 copies in the first six months. Emancipator landed a Puma sponsorship, gave an interview to Rolling Stone Japan, and even had his song “Maps” played at the Bejing Olympics.

His latest album “Safe In The Steep Cliffs” blends new instrumentation and organic samples with the signature Emancipator style of clean production, silky melodies and addictive drums. Dense layers of choirs, horns, American folk instruments such as the banjo and mandolin, violin and some distinct Asian influences make for a playful but refined album built out of intricate tracks listeners can enjoy on as many levels as they want. Dance to it, chill out to it, immerse your mind in it.

Free show!

Slip into those sequins and grab your best gal (or guy) – Detroit’s swingingest cocktail crooner makes a stop at the Majestic Cafe for a Valentine’s Day warm-up performance!

Hosted by Hair Legendary Phylis Patillo and Nina Ross

Stylists, barbers, fashion designers, make-up artists and models will be showcased.

Stylist lineup includes:

TIFF THE BARBER-FINISHING TOUCH SALON
JENINE-A-LIST SALON
MAKIBLA @ COREYS ON WOODWARD
FABULOUS @ SALON DNA
PHYLIS PATILLO @ SALON EUPHORIA

Fashion line-up includes:

FASHION LINE UP INCLUDES:
I LUV GIRLZ APPAREL
NOVA BROWN COLLECTION
EXOTIC BOW
MARIEJANE
$10 Advance ticket( General Admission)

$20 Runway Seating (includes reserved seating at runway stage, express entry to event)

$25 VIP (includes reserved table, dedicated server; with complimentary buffet and express entry to event)

Show your beloved just how much you care with a romantic evening at the oldest bowling alley in the country! For $15.95 per couple you’ll get:

One hour of open bowling

A heart-shaped pizza with one topping

Pitcher of soda

Reserve your lane today- advance tickets available at the Garden Bowl service counter. Up to 4 people per lane. Special runs Feb. 12 thru 14.

Scion A/V announces the release of a new five-track EP from Los Angeles dubstep producer/DJ 12th Planet called Scion A/V Presents: The End Is Near. The release will be available as a free download at http://www.scionav.com/ beginning on January 18th. In support of the release, Scion A/V will present 12th Planet’s 28-city, North American tour to kick off on February 2nd in Miami, FL. A music video will soon follow.

Named one of bass music’s foremost purveyors in Billboard’s Year In Music issue, 12th Planet dominated 2011 with a sold-out, 50-date North American tour alongside Skrillex, released the ‘Who Are We?’ EP on his influential dubstep label SMOG, which just celebrated their 5-year anniversary, and co-produced a track on Korn’s latest foray into dubstep. With his star rising internationally, 12th Planet was also dubbed “US dubstep godfather” by UK’s dance music bible Mixmag, as he’s emerged as an ambassador of the now fully established American dubstep movement.

“Scion A/V has been working in the dubstep genre for over 2 years, and has helped to bring it to the masses,” says Jeri Yoshizu, manager of sales promotions for Scion. “We are proud to support 12th Planet’s cultural rise, as he not only represents the exuberance of youth dubstep culture, but exemplifies all the things that came before it and are moving ahead with it. ”

12th Planet, born John Dadzie, is an electronic music veteran who spent seven years touring the world as drum-n-bass maestro Infiltrata. In 2005, inspired by the burgeoning dubstep sound developing in the UK, John decided to push his own interpretation. Since then, he has lent his signature crushing bass and resonating energy to remixes for MIA, John Legend, Travis Barker and more, worked on Korn’s track “Way Too Far” with production partner Flinch, and has collaborations coming out with Dizzee Rascal, among others.

Bass DUBauchery brings you another fun filled evening of BASS with only the Finest Bass Technicians! This a full Pajama Party so come wearing your most comfy PJ’s or sexy Lingerie. Prizes for best Pajamas or Lingerie. COME AND RAGE WITH US!!

AT DAWN WE RAGE

DUBSTEP/DNB.ELECTRO

Phoenix, AZ.

In a short amount of the At Dawn We Rage have released a vast number of remixes and originals that have received praise worldwide. Their EP!s “Winner/Kit Two” and single “A Life Once Lost” release via Heavy Artillery Recordings have both appeared in the top 20 on Beatport while their self released EP!s and singles have had over 70k downloads in just three months. Their tracks have been supported by such artist as Rusko, Figure, Borgore, Reid Speed, HavocNDeed, Urban Assault and Donald Glaude just to name a few.

At Dawn We Rage has shared the stage with Diplo, Funtcase, Pendulum, Porter Robinson, Borgore, Doctor P, Figure, Nit Grit, Boyz Noize and are currently playing headlining shows around the US with plans for international touring in 2011.

Remixes:

Ellie Goulding – Starry Eyed (at dawn we rage remix) (Played on KissySellOut

Radio1 UK)

Fake Blood – Mars (at dawn we rage remix) (supported by Rusko at Coachella

of 2010)

Felix Cartal – Love (at dawn we rage remix)

Dada Life – Unleash the Fucking Dada (at dawn we rage remix)

Deadmau5 – Sofi Needs A Ladder (at dawn we rage remix)

The Chain Gang of 1974 – Hold On (at dawn we rage remix) (WarnerBrothers)

Arkasia – New World Disorder (at dawn we rage remix) (Heavy Artillery)

Midnight Conspiracy – Discord (at dawn we rage remix) (KillPop Records)

Originals

Entitled Two Six (Original Mix) Released Beatport Exclusive 2/9/11

Winner/Kit Two EP Released Beatport 5/3/11 via HEAVY ARTILLERY

A Life Once Lost (Original Mix) Released 6/15/11 via HEAVY ARTILLERY

Until The Light Takes Us EP Released 8/15/11 via WE RAGE AT DAWN

Since forming in 2002, Elliot BROOD has become a Canadian music institution. (The 2004 campus radio hit “Oh, Alberta!” remains a national treasure.) But after touring with acts like Wilco, Blue Rodeo, Corb Lund and the Sadies, playing festivals across North America, Europe and Australia and scoring the 2010 film Grown-Up Movie Star (for which they earned a Gemini nomination for Best Original Song), the band now also has a global presence. Elliott BROOD are Casey Laforet (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass pedals, bass guitar, mandolin, banjo, lap steel,vocals) Mark Sasso (banjo, guitar, harmonica, vocals) and Stephen Pitkin (percussion, drums, piano, vocals).

PillowTalk is Sammy D, Ryan Williams and Michael Tello. Based out of the famous Lower Haight District inSan Francisco, PillowTalk’s music fuses classic R&B, boogie and disco with underground house and techno with an original feel. With releases out on Visionquest, Life & Death and Wolf + Lamb, 2012 is shaping up to be a huge year as they hit the road with the live band.

It’s time to polish up those grimy Converse All-Stars, hit the thrift store for some old/ new threads and spiff that quiff – the Third Annual Punk Rock Winter Formal is upon us! Once again hosted by those affable fellas- The Bill Bondsmen, who will keep the dancefloor slammin’.  Remember to mosh lightly with your date, gentlemen; you wouldn’t want to crush that corsage.

$6.00 – proper attire

$10.00 – regular clothing

There’s a thin line between rock’n’roll and religion, and nowhere thinner than in the intense, sharp, sweat-drenched, duelling-guitar euphoria of Mona. The four-piece Nashville-based band – or family, or gang, or band of brothers – are young, charismatic punk preachers. They’ll testify to the thrill they get from hunkering down in a Nashville, Tennessee basement, writing and recording the best debut album of 2011.

Mona are Sun Studio’s Million Dollar Quartet (Presley, Perkins, Lewis, Cash) rebooted 54 years on. They’re rock revivalists, in the sense that they like, as Nick puts it, “the golden age of the United States – the James Dean, Marilyn Monroe type stuff.”

The only thing slick about Mona is their hair. The rest is arm-pumping, vein-throbbing, knee-jittering, raw-throated, singalong rock’n’roll.

BY POPULAR DEMAND, THIS SHOW HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE MAJESTIC THEATRE! Magic Stick tickets honored at the door.

We could tell you about Young The Giant’s explosive live show, but there’s really no point. We could tell you what it’s like to be in the sticky, sweaty crowd, jumping up and down in perfect unison, but that’s neither here nor there. There’s just too much to be shared, like how lead singer Sameer Gadhia’s pristine, powerful vocals translate as well live as they do on the band’s self-titled debut album, recorded and tracked completely live with the entire band sitting in a room and playing together, like they always do.

Take it from Morrissey, who himself said he’d be kneeling with gratitude on a hardwood floor for many years to come over Young The Giant’s “perfect” record, which the band co-produced with Joe Chicarelli (The White Stripes, My Morning Jacket, The Shins). Or from Incubus, who hand selected the band to rile up the crowd as the opening act on their first US tour in three years.

This isn’t a story about five boys who meld together as a French Canadian-Persian-British-Indian-Italian musical melting pot. Nor is it of a group whose alternative rock chart-topping, anthemic explosion of a song “My Body” hits you like a kick in the back of the knee. It’s about a band that has meticulously written and crafted songs together for three years, lived out of shared bedrooms and messy suitcases for two years, and hopped on and off of planes, buses, vans, cars and their beloved bicycles for over one full year, having played more than 150 shows in the past 365 days.

Last May, after Young The Giant performed just two songs on Later…With Jools Holland, their entire UK tour immediately sold out. They had been in the country for less than six hours.

There’s something undeniably special about this band. So much so, you may just have to see it to believe it.

We’re just gonna let the band sum themselves up in their own words:

“We love rocking out and having a good time. I mean come on who doesn’t like rock and roll”

Nuff said!

Musical anthropologists interested in the study of just how fast a band can evolve need look no further than the six upright, upstanding men in Oregon’s Larry and His Flask. Formed by brothers Jamin and Jesse Marshall in 2003, the Flask (as the band’s expanding army of fans calls them) spent its first half-decade stuck in a primordial, punk-rock goop, where a blood-sweat-and-beers live show took priority over things like notes and melodies. Don’t misunderstand: The band was (somewhat) skilled…

Presented by Butter Made Records and 5e Gallery

Come join us as we celebrate the life, music, and legacy of Titus ”Baatin” Glover.  Most remember him as one of the founding members of the Slum Village, as the group’s infectious style attracted many fans and inspired artists worldwide.  Despite his untimely death, he is respected and revered all over the world for his music, his spirit, and his contribution to hip hop as a whole.  On March 14,  his creativity and inspiration will be on full display, as his family, peers, fans, and contemporaries join together to honor this great man.  Won’t you join us?

Troubled Sleep currently reside with varying degrees in enthusiasm in Brooklyn, NY where they divide their time. Made up of two twin brother/sister duos, the four in total came together in May, 2011. Two autobiographical concept records about twins finding a musical kinship with other twins will soon be released by Ripe and Puzzle Pieces.

The Blue Effect is a Jam/Psychedelic Rock band from Detroit, making waves and on the rise. Their unique sound features vocals reminiscent of Jim Morrison, the jamming guitar of The Grateful Dead, and a little influence from Sublime as well.

Culminating a weird mutant sound through rapid juxtapositions between rock, metal, punk, funk and experimental, the shape-shifting entity known as DOWNTOWN BROWN has forged a diverse sound that is as fully developed as well as it is broadly enjoyable. DTB has hypnotized thousands throughout the country with their highly-entertaining live show, long pursuing a grassroots mission to unite the people of the world in an environment where “no man shall feel stupid for wearing a giant foam cowboy hat.” Their quest has hammered on since 2001, with numerous independent albums to boot – all of which garnered strong reviews from both international and local publications.

2002 marked the release of DTB’s first full-length album, “Moist and Ridiculous” on Detroit-based indie STATIC RECORDS. Since, DTB has released a total of six full-length cds, including four on the band’s own label CHOCOLATE STAIN RECORDS.

DTB adopted a rigid tour schedule early on, firmly establishing themselves first in the Midwest and then throughout the entire US through several self-booked national tours. These jaunts took them from coast to coast playing such notable venues as the KNITTING FACTORY in NYC and the VIPER ROOM in LA. The band was also personally invited by WARPED TOUR founder Kevin Lyman to play multiple dates on both the ‘06 and ‘07 tours. In their travels, DTB has shared the stage with numerous industry mainstays including SLIGHTLY STOOPID, PEPPER, ANDREW WK, INSANE CLOWN POSSE, THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE AQUABATS, ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMMES, the late WESLEY WILLIS and DEE SNIDER.

DTB caught the ear of DC-JAM RECORDS president DARRON HEMANN in 2010, and promptly signed a deal with the label to release their seventh cd, ‘Grabbleton’s Beach’. The album, which was mastered by Derek O‘Brien (Social Distortion, Adolescents) and features guests like WAX (Def Jam) among others, was released on NOV 13th, 2010. ‘Grabbleton’s Beach’ is the band’s first fully-promoted international release, and will take the band all over the US, Europe and Japan in the months to follow.

Vinnie Caruana (vocals), Brandon Swanson (guitar), Michael Ireland (guitar), Brett “The Ratt” Romnes (drums) and Kellen Robson (bass) formed I Am the Avalanche in the fall of 2004 and quickly released their debut self-titled album in 2005. Over the course of the next two years IATA toured the world relentlessly in support of this album, which quickly became a cult favorite among fans and the band’s peers. Prior to forming IATA, Caruana had fronted the beloved and influential band The Movielife. His popularity as one of the most respected singers in the punk rock community helped the word spread quickly about his new band’s incredible live shows. Before long IATA had established their own intensely dedicated following around the globe.

Pile is the end result of youths spent listening to Fugazi and Shellac and early adulthoods obsessing over Black Sabbath and Otis Redding. They have three self-released LPs out, ranging from sparse acoustic morality tales to riffs stacked atop riffs at lightning speed; the most recent of these LPs is called Magic Isn’t Real (which you can stream in its entirety here) and was released in the fall of 2010 by the Boston MA-based band.

Introducing France’s latest exciting export! Pierre Leroux and Victor Le Masne, aka Parisian duo Housse De Racket, has joined the ranks of label extraordinaire Kitsuné to release their superb second album, “Alesia”.

Pierre and Victor both grew up in the suburb of Chaville, situated between Versailles and Paris. Starting out as in-demand session musicians-for-hire with local bands Air and Phoenix, plus touring band members behind Chilly Gonzales, Alex Gopher and Stardust singer Benjamin Diamond, the boys were simultaneously making their first steps as Housse De Racket. Fast-forward to the close of 2008 and the duo’s debut album Forty Love sees the light of day. Hungry to conquer the world, Housse tour the album relentlessly, playing over 200 live shows from Lisbon to Tokyo via Berlin and Beijing.

New album Alesia looks set to establish the band as a force to be reckoned with. Having written a batch of new tunes Pierre and Victor met with Philippe Zdar, the respected Parisian producer and one half of Cassius, to play him some demos. Highly enthusiastic, Zdar follows the album’s creation from start to finish, getting increasingly involved, in between his sessions with The Rapture, stimulating the boys’ curiosity at every opportunity, widening their musical scope, encouraging them to break every rule they have set themselves. As the ideas for the album take shape, Housse’s endless touring away from their native France gives the album an unusual thread: of their homeland seen from afar. Resulting in multiple references to their own culture: Chateau and Alesia (French history), Empire (cinema’s auteur theory), Les Hommes Et Les Femmes (the French outlook on relationships).

Amongst all the complex harmonies, from the futuristic chaos (Human Nature and Chorus) to the timeless pop anthems (Chateau and Roman), Housse de Racket have given new life to a certain psychedelic heritage. And yet they relate far more to today’s era of electro pyro-technicians than yesteryear’s prog-rockers. Trust us, when the archaeologists of the future look back at 2011, Alesia will have established itself as one of the cornerstones of 21st century French pop.

CHAIRLIFT

Chairlift is Caroline Please and patrickWhat. Chairlift’s songs pivot around a hazily romantic, fragmented, psychedelic sense of humor and love for pop music. After touring their ?rst record, Does You Inspire You (2008), the band retreated into the a spare room of an antique shop for a year to produce their upcoming album, which is currently being debuted in live-band form throughout the spring/summer of 2011. New themes in their music include gothic pastoral, pizza punk, infomercial spiritual, road-rage surf, and faux-jazz sulk.

NITE JEWEL

On her epic debut Good Evening L.A. based Ramona Gonzales aka Nite Jewel beautifully mumbled words nobody could understand. Still, everybody liked her DIY approach to New Disco. Last autumn in Lausanne we spend some minutes with her. This marvellous student of philosophies led us from Ariel Pink to Arthur Russell, from spiritualism to synthesizers and from Martin Heidegger to herself.

Since dropping their debut full-length, 2003’s Turn It Around, COMEBACK KID has been an undeniable staple of the hardcore community. Each subsequent release has built upon the foundation of its predecessor while continually experimenting with and incorporating new musical elements from beyond the confines of modern hardcore.

‘Economical’ is usually only a positive attribute for mid-sized sedans, but there’s a blessed economy to the tunes of Cloud Nothings, the work of twenty-ish Cleveland kid Dylan Baldi.

Routinely two-minutes and a handful of chords, the songs are short and sharp. Lyrically, Baldi finds simple phrases and repeats them, (“I always knew/I’d follow you/and now I know that it’s much better,” for example). And, having cut his teeth as home-recorded, lo-fi enthusiast, Baldi favors a direct, uncluttered production sound.

Baldi burst onto the blogosphere, in 2010, as an 18-year-old college dropout. After suffering under an audio-engineering teacher who proselytised Steely Dan as the peak of studio perfection, Baldi holed up in his parents’ basement, and authored an awesome punk-rock riposte: a string of bratty two-minute jams recorded in the crappiest fidelity possible. Baldi’s home-made tracks found almost instantaneous internet acclaim, eventually collected onto the noisy mini- album Turning On.

His self-titled debut LP marks a step forward: made in an actual studio and approaching ‘mid-fi’ quality. Baldi’s songs have grown snarlier, snottier, punker; the influence of the ’80s US hardcore/indie scene growing more and more obvious. Born in 1991, Baldi treats bands like The Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, and The Adolescents as archaeological artifacts, remnants from an ancient-past that hold the same sort of romanticism as the ’60s have for prior generations of rockers.

What’s His Age Again?

Yet, whilst the ’80s-underground influence is the tasteful angle to take on Cloud Nothings, in truth his sound owes more to obnoxious ’90s pop-punk. Baldi’s first-ever high-school rockband —near history, considering his age— played Green Day covers, and more than one wag has compared Cloud Nothings to early Blink-182.

In this case, it’s somehow a compliment: Baldi setting himself apart from lo-fi blog-buzz bands by writing super-fast, super-catchy tunes verily bursting with melody. Jams like “On the Radio,” “Nothing’s Wrong,” and the 69-second rave-up “Heartbeat” are instantly, insistently memorable.

If it came out, like, 16 years ago, the self-titled Cloud Nothings album could’ve taken Baldi on a path to bona fide kiddie-punk stardom. In 2011, his pop-punk sound sounds weirdly refreshing; like he’s the first hipster on the block to revive 1995. Wavves and Best Coast are professed Blink-182 fans, but this is something else entirely: a 19-year-old kid getting nostalgic for a childhood he’s barely out of.

Shabazz Palaces are percussionist Tendai Maraire and Ishmael Butler, formally of Digable Planets and Cherrywine. While Tendai employs ancient instruments from his homeland Zimbabwe, Ishmael provides the group’s vision and vocals.

For Butler, who never stopped making music since he released his classic album by Digable Planets , ‘’Blowout Comb’‘, Shabazz palaces is his latest place to play with ideas. Those ideas have always been simultaneously global in their expansiveness and basement ceiling low in their commitment to hip-hop’s bottom line.

After releasing several recordings themselves on small time labels, in 2010 they contracted to release an ep with Sub Pop and have collaborated in recordings and on stage with artists such as Mc Silk, THEESatisfaction,. They deliver sincere and radical lyrics with sounds and beats that include sounds from around the world. Containing echos of funk, minor-key jazz, London dubstep and mbira sounds they structure their songs outside the 16-bars/chorus/repeat form of much hip hop.Their music won them the first ever Music Genius award from The Stranger in 2010.

The group which also features mixing engineer Erik Blood, often dress in elaborate costumes and masks for their live performances.

Their video for Belhaven Meridian is a one-shot bw music video, shot in Watts, LA, homage to the 1977 classic film Killer of Sheep, a film set around the Watts Riots. It features a cameo by Ernest Wadell from The Wire.

Dope.

“The most unique element of The Revival Tour is the camaraderie that it’s based on and the collaborations that are bred from that essence,” explains Americana singer/songwriter and original tour organizer Chuck Ragan. Borne from the rich folk tradition of giving and openness and propelled by an innate need to tell a story in its naked acoustic state, The Revival Tour begins its fifth year with a company of amazing storytellers in Ragan, Dan Andriano (Alkaline Trio, The Emergency Room), and longtime Lucero collaborator Cory Branan, Tommy Gabel (Against Me!), and renowned singer/songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff. Sponsored by Daytrotter, Paste Magazine, Ernie Ball and Brixton Clothing, The Revival Tour kicks on March 20th in Dallas, TX, making a stop at Austin’s South By Southwest Music Festival, before circling around North America including Canada, adding many surprise guests along the way (tour dates below).

Loosely structured in the form of old-fashioned folk musician get-togethers, The Revival Tour is an ensemble collective in which the participating musicians collaborate and jam, frequently creating unique and inspired once-in-a-lifetime moments of brilliance – often multiple times in a single night. “I love the volatile, steel-strung, structureless by design, hydra-headed Revival Tour,” says Cory Branan. “I’m stoked as hell to be involved. I always wanted to join a gang!”

Two-time Revival Tour veteran Dan Andriano adds, “I’m just happy to be a part of this again. The time I had with The Revival Tour overseas last Fall was one of the best I’ve ever had. The music, the fellowship, the camaraderie… basically everything Chuck has been building over the past years is, to me, what touring and songwriting is all about. So to be asked to be a part of that again here in the U.S. is a real honor… We’re gonna have a good time!”

Tickets will be available beginning at 10:00am EST today (February 1st) atwww.therevivaltourtix.com, and to make the tour even more special, four separate presale packages will be available to purchase from the site:

1) General Admission ticket with an instant download of the 2012 Revival Tour Sampler (five tracks)

2) General Admission ticket and Limited Edition and numbered Lithograph plus a download of the 2012 Revival Tour Sampler

3) General Admission ticket and Limited Edition New Saw Blade 7 inch Red Vinyl which includes a download card plus an instant download of the 2012 Revival Tour Sampler

4) General Admission ticket and Limited Edition 2011 Revival Tour LP Red Vinyl which includes a download card plus an instant download of the 2012 Revival Tour Sampler

In celebration of this year’s tour, SideOneDummy Records will be releasing a very limited edition die cut 7” on April 3, 2012 in the shape of a saw blade. Featuring two unreleased tracks from Chuck Ragan’s Covering Ground recording sessions (“Field Holler” and “Live By the Sword”), an exclusive red version of the vinyl will only be available with pre-order tickets for The Revival Tour.

The Frankenstein Brothers are:

Brian Carroll (born May 13, 1969), better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 35 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists. His music spans such diverse areas as progressive metal, funk, blues, jazz, bluegrass, ambient, and avant-garde music.

Buckethead is famously known for wearing a KFC bucket on his head, emblazoned with an orange bumper sticker that read FUNERAL in capital black block letters, and an expressionless plain white costume mask. More recently, he switched to a plain white bucket that no longer bore the KFC logo, but has since switched back to his trademark KFC bucket. He also incorporates nunchucks and robot dancing into his stage performances.

An instrumentalist, Buckethead is best known for his electric guitar playing. He has been voted number 8 on a list in GuitarOne magazine of the “Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time” as well as being included in Guitar World’s lists of the “25 all-time weirdest guitarists” and is also known for being in the “50 fastest guitarists of all time list”.

Mike Silverman, better known as That 1 Guy, is an American musician based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He frequently performs and records as a one-man band, singing and using a variety of homemade musical instruments.

Silverman is a classically trained double bass player who attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and developed a career in the progressive jazz scene in the 1990s, performing live and as a studio musician. He developed his own style of playing and gained a reputation as a one-man rhythm section, incorporating traditional and slap-bass playing with percussive elements using the body of the instrument. When he began to feel limited by his instrument and a heavy schedule of playing and recording for other people, he started to devise a new instrument that would allow him the range to create his own music. At first he sought out professional help in building his instrument, but decided to make it himself because of the projected cost. The end result was the Magic Pipe, a 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) collection of steel plumbing pipes and joints, orchestral bass strings, and electronics.

Hi, I’m Protest The Hero. I’ve been alive for 20 years now, and I finally have my own kitchen. I’m very excited about this, and generally excited by anything else that falls into the “cute” or “cozy” categories. I learned to play guitar when I was twelve from this guy named Ronnie who came over to fix my parents’ computer. I like quilts. But that’s probably because I’m always freezing cold. I LOVE Nashville. That’s where I live, when I’m lucky enough to be there. I over-think and over-plan and over-organize. I’ve been like this since I was a baby, before I was gigantically tall and over-talkative. These days, I’ve been trying to classify my thoughts into two categories: “Things I can change,” and “Things I can’t.” It seems to help me sort through what to really stress about. But there I go again, over-planning and over-organizing my over-thinking! I write songs about my adventures and misadventures, most of which concern love. Love is a tricky business. But if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be so enthralled with it. Lately I’ve come to a wonderful realization that makes me even more fascinated by it: I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to love. No one does! There’s no pattern to it, except that it happens to all of us, of course.

I know I don’t always say the right thing at the right time or speak up when I should, but I write it all down. I get my guitar and a pen and all of a sudden, I have a chance to say exactly what I meant to say in real life. Some of the things I wrote about are things everyone saw me go through. Some of the things I wrote about are things nobody ever knew about. I’m beyond excited for you to hear these stories and confessions. I think it’s important that you know that I will never change. But I’ll never stay the same either. Must be a Sagittarius thing. I love you like I love sparkles and having the last word. And that’s real love. –Protest The Hero

Lucero is an alt-country/punk rock band from Memphis, TN. Formed in 1998, the six-piece has built its reputation on writing sing-along songs about small town life and love, putting a modern edge on classic Americana subjects. The members may look like tattooed tough guys, but they write resonant songs that tug the heartstrings of even the most hardened rock fan.

Lead singer Ben Nichols’ signature whiskey-soaked voice is arguably one of the most recognizable in rock and roll today. The band is rounded out by original members Roy Berry (drums), John C. Stubblefield (bass) and Brian Venable (guitar). Recent additions Rick Steff (piano, organ, accordion) and Todd Beene (pedal steel) contribute to the fuller sound of Lucero’s recent records.

Since 2001, Lucero has played between 150 and 200 shows a year in North America. The band has released seven full-length albums and two DVDs. The latest album, 2009’s “1372 Overton Park,” was the first Lucero record to feature a horn section, and the horns also occasionally accompany the band on the road.

Lucero has shared the stage with Social Distortion, North Mississippi Allstars and Drive-By Truckers, among others. Nichols also co-starred in season one of MTV’s “$5 Cover,” a quasi-fictionalized series about the Memphis music scene.

Lucero doesn’t have fans as much as diehards who come to every show and scream the words to every song. And that’s just the way it should be.

The deep working class roots of singer/songwriter Don “Doop” Duprie echo throughout his music. Front man for the Detroit area alt-country/roots rock band , Doop is a laid off firefighter born and raised in industrial River Rouge, Michigan. He teamed up with legendary Detroit producer Jim Diamond (White Stripes) to record his albums “Blood River,” “Everett Belcher” and now “What am I supposed to do?”

Doop’s songwriting has received national attention, having been hailed “hands down the best songwriter we (Detroit) now have to offer the American World” by Don Zelaznv (AmericanRoots.com).

The albums made the Top Ten List in Metro Times and AmericanRoots.com. “Everett Belcher” won the Detroit Music Award for “Outstanding County Recording” and was named “Album of the Day” by Country Music Pride’s podcast American Daily. Doop’s music has been featured on the American Public Media radio show “The Story,” the award-winning podcast Digivegas.com and the #1 Americana podcast, “Americana Root Roundtable” on NoDepression.com.

Now with Pete Ballard on the pedal steel guitar, Katie Grace on bass and Danny Kanka on drums, Doop and the gang just released their third full length album.

Hanni grew up in San Franscisco, California. The son of Palestinian and Filipino immigrants and the first American in his family, he became obsessed with classic Americana and pop culture of the 1950s and 60s. Influenced by pioneers of early rock and r&b (Johnny Burnette, Sam Cooke, Johnny Cash), El Khatib created a musical aesthetic to match his vision. The multi-instrumentalist serves as singer, songwriter & producer for his one-man band (live he is joined by a drummer) that is part blues, part garage rock, part soul, part folk & part doo whop.

As the creative director for HUF and lifelong skater, El Khatib professes to a love for well-crafted objects: classsic cars, cans pomade and stiletto switchblades. This craftsmanship carries over into his music, where El Khatib is inspired and informed by the specificity of a guitar tone or the fuzziness of an amp sound . His background in DIY and skate culture manifests as a desire to “keep mistakes in” and make things “as raw as possible.” Merging primitive rock sounds with punk aesthetics, El Khatib toes lines between all genres and ends up firmly in his own.

His diverse interests in music, zines, art, photography, and film, converge around his singular personal aesthetic, which reveals itself in all of El Khatib’s work. Combining the old weird America with the brave new frontier of home recording, El Khatib bridges the past and the present to create music that already sounds timeless and were written for anyone who’s ever been shot or hit by a train.

ON SALE JAN.17TH!

School Of Seven Bells are back with their third release,Ghostory, out February 28 on Vagrant Records/Ghostly Inernational. The highly-anticipated album finds the band’s lineup has evolved along with the music; formerly a trio, the band is now a duo: guitarist/producer Benjamin Curtis and vocalist Alejandra Deheza.

Recorded in-between tours, Ghostory exemplifies a fervent progression of SVIIB’s growth as artists, preserving the common themes found on their last two releases but exposing them in different fashions. The familiar ethereal and enigmatic tones are omnipresent, surrounded by layers of influences from ’80s pop, shoegaze and ambient electronic sounds. However, Ghostory comes with a story in mind; the tale of a young girl named Lafaye and the ghosts that surround her life.

School Of Seven Bells formed in 2006 as a trio (including Claudia Deheza) and released their debut full-length, Alpinisms, on Ghostly International in 2008. The group’s appeal grew exponentially, with their signature sounds stemming from pieces of electronic subgenres and shoegaze bands before them. By 2010, the group released the critically acclaimed Disconnect From Desire on Ghostly International and Vagrant. Ghostory is truly their defining work, beautifully crafted and haunting, with the story of Lafaye permeating the psyche long after the music stops.

CD release party for Against the Grain’s 2nd album “Motor City Speed Rock”.

Brought to you by Black Iris Booking.

“When you make a record, it has to be the single most important thing in your world. This time around, I wanted to do something that encompassed all I love in rock ‘n’ roll music. It’s got everything from Brtzmann and Berry right through to Dennis and Brian Wilson. I’m obsessed with music and the way you put it together and I don’t believe there are any rules.” So says, J. Spaceman, commenting on the recording of his new album, Sweet Heart Sweet Light, which is due for release on Mississippi-based independent Fat Possum in March 2012. Recorded over the past two years in Wales, Los Angeles and Reykjavik, and mixed for a year in the confines of his own home, Sweet Heart Sweet Light will be Spiritualized’s seventh studio album and the first release since last year’s epic Radio City Music Hall rendering of their 1997 game changer Ladies In Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. Coming four years after release of the internationally acclaimed Songs In A&E, Heart Sweet Light promises to be one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of 2012. Taking musical risks is a hallmark of Spiritualized’s outlook. Witness them playing the new album, unannounced, from start to finish live at London’s historic Royal Albert Hall recently – something unheard of in today’s clamour for instant hit gratification. As J.Spacemen says “I don’t believe there are any rules” and this album will testify to that.

M83 are an indie pop act by French musician Anthony Gonzalez. It is named after a spiral galaxy, Messier 83. The band was founded in 2001 by Gonzalez and former member Nicolas Fromageau in Antibes, France. The musical style of M83 owes something to the shoegazing genre in its extensive use of reverb effects and lyrics spoken softly over loud instrumentals, although M83’s songs employ considerably less guitar than most shoegazing bands. Gonzalez and Fromageau parted ways shortly after touring for their second album Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, and now Gonzalez records mainly on his own, often with the help of his brother Yann Gonzalez, vocalist/keyboardist Morgan Kibby, and drummer Loïc Maurin.

Dispute is five close friends from the Upper Midwest with a mutual passion for using music as a means to express, challenge, inform, and connect, but also as a fantastic excuse to have fun, make tons of new friends, and travel anywhere and everywhere that people will have them. Always learning, often touring, sometimes writing (as much as time and circumstance allows), La Dispute has been making music for 3-6 years now (depending on how you look at it) and intends on continuing to do so for as long as they’re all physically and emotionally able to. Also of note, they love their friends and families immensely and are probably too proud about where they come from. Come say hello and they mean that.

Neon Indian is the brainchild of Alan Palomo, who’s 2009 debut record Psychic Chasms not only earned the 20 year-old a spot on numerous year-end lists, but assisted the forming of a genre that, though known by a few names now (hypnagogic pop, glo-fi, chillwave), summoned a very unique and specific electro-mangled sound. Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and SPIN all praised Palomo for his adventurous new sound, and he was tapped to perform at top festivals like South by Southwest, Bonnaroo, and Sasquatch and also scored opening slots for bands ranging from Massive Attack and The Flaming Lips to Phoenix and Chromeo.

After nearly two years on the road off the success of his debut, Palomo returns this fall with his proper follow-up LP, Era Extraña. This time around, we see a darker shaded sound document that tosses somewhere between an 8-bit shoegaze record and peering through the fence of a teenage apocalypse drive-in flick.

Written and recorded last winter in an efficiency apartment in Helsinki, Finland during its short solstice days, Era Extraña was ice sculpted from arpeggiated synth-scapes and scribbled journal entries made during his stint there alone in constant solitude. “It’s the closest you can get to feeling like you’re at the edge of the earth,” he says. “And there were moments where I lost sight of what I was really there to do.”

The sample-happy stylings of his previous efforts have been traded in for acid-stained commodore 64 jams (See ‘Polish Girl, ‘Future Sick’) and bit-pulped guitar sludge ballads (see ‘Hex Girlfriend’, ‘The Blindside Kiss’). All throughout, the undulating moods of the record are guided by a haunted three-part instrumental titled Heart: Attack, Heart: Decay, and Heart: Release. Once completed, the layers were then thawed and reassembled by Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, MGMT), who mixed the album and did additional production with Palomo at his upstate Tarbox Studios. The album sessions there were briefly taken on a scenic detour by a drop-in four-song EP collaboration with The Flaming Lips which was released earlier this year.

The album’s Spanish title plays with the loose-hinges of the word extraña, which not only directly translates into ’strange’, but also means to ‘command the act of longing’. These themes of feeling an eerie absence in new strange times are explored throughout the album as a whole in his teenage ethos peppered lyrical musings in an end-days obsessed climate. Many of this is inspired by an ongoing love affair with the notion of what cyberpunk means in a year like 2011. The feeling can best be described in a recent interview where he noted, “We’re now living in the era mysticized by a lot of future-geared 70s and 80s cinema, but it’s definitely not quite how they imagined it.”

Era Extraña is slated for a September 13th release on Palomo’s own Static Tongues imprint in conjunction with Mom and Pop Records in North America, Transgressive Records in the United Kingdom and Europe, Pop Frenzy/Inertia in Australia and Big Nothing Records in Japan.

From Joyce’s Dublin to Springsteen’s Asbury Park, environments have always had a massive influence on writers and musicians’ creative output. Such is also the case with singer/songwriterAnthony Green’s debut solo release Avalon. Recorded last March over an eight-day period with Green and some friends at his fiancé’s parents’ house in the sleepy beach town of Avalon, New Jersey, the album spans Green’s adolescence and adulthood and shows him at both his most visceral and vulnerable. “We had a short timeline [to record this album] and that’s the way I used to work back in the day; you’d only have three days in the studio so you had to plan out everything and then just go for it,” Green explains. “I’ve been wanting to record these songs for the past two years and this was the perfect time and place to make it happen.”

Although the 26-year-old Green is best known as the lead singer for the Philadelphia-based progressive punk act Circa Survive, he’s also an accomplished instrumentalist in his own right and has been penning the songs that would eventually become Avalon consistently for the past decade. “Some of these songs are brand new, but most of them are really old,” Green explains. “For one of the versions of ‘Dear Child (I’ve Been Dying To Reach You)’ that’s on this record, I wrote the lyrics for it four or five years ago and the music even years before that,” he elaborates, adding that many of these songs were composed while he was still a junior in high school. Although Green initially intended many of these songs to be used in Circa Survive, ultimately he decided that in order to fully realize his artistic vision he would have to tackle these tracks on his own—a decision that was due to communicative issues as much as they were musical.

“I think at the time that I was writing a lot of these songs I wasn’t necessarily able to articulate to [Circa Survive] all the stuff musically I wanted to do with them,” Green explains. “I don’t know chords; I don’t know scales; I can’t talk to anybody about time signatures, so I couldn’t really explain how I wanted these to sound without doing something ridiculous like humming something out that doesn’t make sense to anyone except myself,” he adds. The logistics surrounding the writing and recording process of Avalon allowed Green to present his songs exactly the way he envisioned them, making this album the first true glimpse into the inner workings of Green’s psyche.

However despite the fact this is a “solo” album, that doesn’t mean that these songs are all composed of Green plaintively singing and strumming an acoustic guitar (although songs like “Drugdealer” are beautiful representations of just that). In fact, from the lush, Cure-inspired pop of “Babygirl” to the electronically driven ballad “Springtime Out The Van Window” and the harmonica and keyboard augmented “Slowing Down,” the inventive arrangements on these tracks perfectly complement Green’s distinctive vocal stylings. Then, there’s “Dear Child (I’ve Been Dying To Reach You),” which was the recorded on the West Coast with producer John Feldmann — and, although it has a completely different production value than the rest of the disc, effortlessly fits into the context of the album and is a perfect example of the artistic scope inherent on Avalon.

Although he prefers to allow his lyrics to be open to interpretation instead of laying out exactly what they’re about, Green will admit that every song on this album is related to something that he’s experienced personally over the past ten years, adding that instead of cloaking his message in metaphor and symbolism these songs contain some of the most direct lyrics he’s written to date. “‘She Loves Me So’ is about exactly what you think you feel about love and I wrote ‘Devil’s Song’ after a conversation I had with Saves The Day’s Chris Conley about how much of your soul you put into your music,” Green says about two of his favorite tracks. “I think everyone is always trying to look for what the meaning of everything is and what’s funny to me about these songs is that they’re all so obvious.”

While one might assume that after spending most of the year touring, he’d want to spend some time off relaxing, Green is adamant about constantly writing songs and making them available for his fans whether it’s in the form of Avalon or via demos he circulates on the Internet. “I’m always busy, I’ll be busy all my life; that’s just the way I like it,” he explains with a laugh. “I never liked working hard until I found something that didn’t make me feel like an alien to what I was doing; I think with music and art I belong there and I’m a native so I don’t mind doing it all the time. In fact, I embrace it.” Hopefully you’ll also embrace Avalon as a labor of love that Green has crafted as much for his fans as he has himself, because although it was recorded in scantly over a week on Seven Mile Island, Avalon truly took decades to unfold.

Rasputina works as an anomaly in popular music. By ignoring fashion trends and maintaining artistic integrity coupled with musical enthusiasm, the group has thrived as time has passed. They expose passionate fans to historical tales, and inspire young string players to seek alternatives to the classical world.

Born and raised in Kansas, Melora Creager – who has operated Rasputina for the past 19 years– comes from a musical family and received classical training. At 18 she moved to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design. While majoring in photography she began playing her cello in rock bands and became involved with drag performers. She formed “The Fingerlakes Trio,” a falsely geeky classical group that performed covers of disco hits, before joining NYC’s Ultra Vivid Scene who recorded three albums for cult British label, 4AD. It was her first exposure to the professional rock world – UVS opened for label mates like The Pixies, Belly and Throwing Muses. Following a tour with Nirvana as a cellist on their In Utero tour she desired to do a project of her own, and she created Rasputina.

The concept for the group came to her fully formed; the idea was written as a manifesto. Her intention was to create an electric cello choir – no boys or guitars allowed. Through want ads she recruited like-minded young cellists. Rasputina evolved, employing elaborate costuming, as they were unable to move about while forcibly stationary in their chairs. What began as strictly “Victorian Whites”- bloomers, corsets and hoopskirts – has evolved into an amalgam of historical feminine icons – Indian princesses, Hawaiian handmaidens and fallen medieval queens, and Rasputina keeps their cultish following enthralled with intimate recitals and post-show receiving lines.

This summer, the cello-driven steampunk trio will release their seventh album, Sister Kinderhook. This will be the first full length release by their most recent line-up. Joining Melora is — for the first time ever — a male cellist, Daniel De Jesus and punk-folk drums is Catie D’Amica. The new album was recorded at Filthy Bonnet Studios in Hudson, NY, and produced by Creager.