New Releases

Nettwerk management artist Matt Wertz has released a new EP today called While We're Becoming, which features 5 new tracks from the Nashville-based singer/songwriter. Grab your copy of the EP from iTunes HERE; available everywhere else March 23. For a short time, visit the Matt Wertz website for limited-edition pre-order bundles. 

Wertz has just kicked of March and April tour dates supporting Five For Fighting. In the past, he has toured with the likes of Gavin DeGraw, John McLaughlin and Jamie Cullum, as well as sold out headlining dates across the country. (full list of dates below)

Watch the first of a series of video shorts on the making of
"While We're Becoming" HERE

Jenny Owen Youngs returns with a special EP just in time for her March Spring Break Forever tour with Bess Rogers and Allison Weiss. The "Last Person EP" features the album version of the track from Jenny's latest full-length, Transmitter Failure, as well as 5 alternative versions of songs from the album. The live recordings of "Led To The Sea," "Start + Stop," "Secrets," and "Last Person" were recorded by Dan Romer in Brooklyn, and "Dissolve (The Lovely Light re-think): was arranged and recorded by Saul Simon-MacWilliams at the Lovely Light (Brooklyn) and performed by Saul and Jenny. Check out the EP HERE, and make sure to catch Jenny in your city (tour dates below).

Our friends at Filter Magazine were nice enough to exclusively premiere the brand new video for "Black Crow" from Angus & Julia Stone's upcoming sophomore album Down The Way, out March 30. Watch the video above and check out the full post on FilterMagazine.com.  Fans can also purchase the recently released single at iTunes HERE. 

As reported by Filter, "Black Crow" was directed/animated by Nick Murray Willis, and is a reworking of one of an art school projects that Angus and Julia took a liking to. Here's the story according to Willis:
"In the late 80s/early 90s I grew up in the forests of Winnie the Pooh, South of England. After studying at Norwich Art School and doing an animation degree at Solent University I've spent the last few years working on various animation projects. The video for "Black Crow" is a remake of my degree film The Hatch, a bleak look at a prisoner trying to break out of his mundane world. Angus and Julia sent me the track for "Black Crow" and knowing they liked The Hatch I suggested editing a version to the song. Angus had a few ideas on the direction they wanted the video to go so I worked them in as well as I could and that's how the video came out."

Norwegian foursome Katzenjammer have revealed a brand new video for their upcoming single "Tea With Cinnamon," out on March 2.  The video premiered yesterday on Brooklyn Vegan, check it out above!

Katzenjammer will release their N. American debut Le Pop on June 1, and have already been confirmed to take part in this summer's 2010 Lilith Tour. The ladies first stormed the States with their circus of a live show in Austin at SXSW last year, where they commanded the attention of industry types and music lovers alike with their raucous set consisting of the rotation of up to 29 instruments on which that the four women are self-taught, including the tuba, the balalaika bass, drums, harmonica, piano, banjo, accordion, mandolin, guitar, melodica and trumpet. They also caught the attention of David Byrne, who invited them to play his artist-curated stage at 2009’s Bonnaroo, alongside Santigold, the Dirty Projectors and Dave Byrne and Brian Eno, and ended their US run with a stop by Summerfest where they opened for Elvis Costello.

Today sees the release of new albums from two Nettwerk recording artists: BT and Hadouken!.

Internationally renowned artist, visionary producer, film composer and technologist BT is back with his 6th studio album These Hopeful Machines. USA Today gave the album 3.5 out of 4 stars in today's paper, saying, "It's not often that a double-disc, two-hour album holds your attention consistently. But post-techno wizard BT's lush, electro-organic soundscapes are so textured, nuanced and melodically inviting that even techno-phobes will be seduced by his forward thinking musicality."

Britain's most dynamic young band Hadouken!unleash their demented blend of alternative electronic rock with their N. American debut album For The Masses. The band brings their live show over here for the first time ever, with dates confirmed in New York City on February 8 at the Mercury Lounge, Toronto on February 9 at El Mocambo and Los Angeles on February 11 at the Viper Room (free!). 

Boston trio State Radio has unveiled an epic music video for their punk-fueled song “Knights Of Bostonia,” featuring a battle at a historic fort that dates back to the Revolutionary War, an army of State Radio fans, and a retired Boston Police horse. The track is from the band’s latest release, Let It Go (Ruff Shod Records).

Directed by Andrew Mudge, the video was shot over 3 days in Boston at 11 locations (including the battle scene at the historic Fort Revere) with over 100 extras. Mudge’s work has screened on HBO, Sundance and Discovery. Says the director, “I imagined the band as these sort of rag tag knights, skating through an urban landscape, and then breaking kids free from a school. Chad [Stokes, frontman] and I spent several days together hashing out the story elements, bringing in stuff from our childhood - bows and arrows, running from cops, and horses!"

 “Four ladies who thrash banjos, pluck fiddles, and bang marching drums, garbage cans, and cookie jars (!) like Appalachian witches drunk on White Lightning.”
– Spin.com

Norwegian all-female foursome Katzenjammer are set to release their debut album Le Pop in North America on May 4, 2010, with their new single “Tea With Cinnamon” out March 2.

Le Pop, which was produced by Kåre Westrheim and Mike Hartung (known for their work with notable Norwegian artists Marit Larsen and Superfamily), showcases the ladies eclectic blend of genres, which one Norwegian reviewer described as ”a mix between Eastern European folk music, B-52s, the sisters Kate & Anna McGarrigle, seasick bluegrass, country blues and a carnival orchestra on the run.” Le Pop not only earned Katzenjammer a nomination for “Newcomer of the Year” at the Norwegian Grammy Awards, but also the distinct honor of opening the show with their hit single “A Bar In Amsterdam.”

The quartet first stormed the States with their circus of a live show in Austin at SXSW last year, where they commanded the attention of industry types and music lovers alike with their raucous set consisting of the rotation of up to 29 instruments on which that the four women are self-taught, including the tuba, the balalaika bass, drums, harmonica, piano, banjo, accordion, mandolin, guitar, melodica and trumpet. They also caught the attention of David Byrne, who invited them to play his artist-curated stage at 2009’s Bonnaroo, alongside Santigold, the Dirty Projectors and Dave Byrne and Brian Eno, and ended their US run with a stop by Summerfest where they opened for Elvis Costello.

 "The Prodigy's energy, Dizzee's vocal delivery and Bloc Party's indie-dance."
-- MixMag

Britain’s most dynamic young band Hadouken! release their second single “Turn The Lights Out” today. The album track, along with 3 remixes, comes just two weeks before the highly anticipated release of their North American debut album For The Masses (February 2). Check out the official video for the new track HERE.

Hadouken! will celebrate the album’s release by making their way to North America for their debut shows in New York City, Toronto and Los Angeles the week of February 8 (more info below). Additionally, the band will make their first ever stop at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival on Sunday, April 18, sharing the day with other artists like Gorillaz, Pavement, Thom Yorke, Phoenix, Florence and the Machine and more. 

A full North American tour is in the works for this Spring, but the band is already making an impact. Hadouken! landed on MTV’s Buzzworthy Blog as a “Buzzworthy Obsession” (see it here) recently for the video to their first single “M.A.D”. MTV said of the video: “The mix of humor and aggressions perfectly matches the London it-band’s dance punk sound (sometimes referred to as grindie, or grim meets indie), as wild synth squelches and sloganeering soundtrack the scenes.” Check out the video for first single “M.A.D” here.

BT's official single, "Suddenly," from his upcoming full-length These Hopeful Machines, along with five additional mixes is out today via iTunes and other major DSPs. The track opens to a minute's worth of glitchy breakbeats made using BT's own software, Breaktweaker, before morphing into a powerful, guitar-driven anthem that is among the album's most memorable songs. Check out the track HERE.

"Suddenly" Single EP track list:
1. Suddenly (Radio Edit)
2. Suddenly (Celldweller Mix)
3. Suddenly (Cicadad Mix)
4. Suddenly (Ferry Corsten Mix)
5. Suddenly (Dave Darell Vocal Mix)
6. Suddenly (JJ Mix)

These Hopeful Machines, out February 2, is a double-disc opus that carries listeners through 2 hours of sweeping orchestral arrangements, pulsating electronic beats, heartfelt vocal melodies and even simple acoustic guitar.

There are only a few records you can associate with being synonymous with the emergence of rave culture around the world and only a few individuals that can say they were there to see it happen.

A match made in the late 80’s and on underground sound systems in the US, DJ Dan’s latest tribute in the ‘Future Retro’ series doesn’t get much more retrospective than this; back to where it all started, ‘Voodoo Ray, or a ‘Tribute To Voodoo Ray’ as Dan has appropriately called it.

Not a favourite record nor a simplistic stab at nostalgia; for Dan, the beginning, an initiation, the inspiration for the last two decades in the electronic music industry. ‘Tribute to Voodoo Ray’ is just that, a major shout to the past with a heavy glance to the future.