Gang of Four Announces North American Tour, New Album Due Jan. 2011

Gang Of Four has announced a new North American tour kicking off February 4 in Toronto in support of the band's upcoming album C O N T E N T, due January 25 on Yep Roc Records. It's the group's first album of first new material in 16 years.
The tour includes stops in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Preview C O N T E N T by listening to the track "Never Pay for the Farm" here.
While never a commercial force - the band's biggest "hit" was the modern/alternative radio song of it's day "I Love a Man in a Uniform" -  Gang of Four made its mark, from the band's 1979 debut, Entertainment to  Songs of the Free and the retrospective A Brief History of the Twentieth Century.  For three decades, the group has inspired and influenceda wide range of punk, post-punk and indie rock bands, including R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sonic Youth, Bloc Party, The Rapture, Franz Ferdinand and numrous others.

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Gang of Four Tour Dates:

February 4         Phoenix Concert Theatre             Toronto, ON
February 5         Theatre of Living Arts                 Philadelphia, PA
February 7         Paradise                                      Boston, MA
February 8         Webster Hall                               New York, NY
February 9         9:30 Club                                    Washington, DC
February 11       Metro                                          Chicago, IL
February 12       First Avenue                                Minneapolis, MN
February 15       Venue                                         Vancouver, BC
February 16       Showbox @ the Market                Seattle, WA
February 17       Wonder Ballroom                         Portland, OR
February 19       The Fillmore                                San Francisco, CA
February 20       House of Blues                             Anaheim, CA
February 21       Music Box                                    Los Angeles, CA

Iron & Wine releasing 'Kiss Each Other Clean' January 2011

Indie folk-pop group Iron & Wine will release a new album, Kiss Each Other Clean January 25, 2011, available through Warner Bros. Records in North America and 4AD in Europe, Japan, and Australia.

The upcoming release is the first new music in more than three years from the band led by Sam Beam. The album's opening track, "Walking Far From Home," will be released on 12" vinyl and as a CD single sold exclusively through independent retailers in conjunction with "Back to Black Friday" on November 26.
Iron & Wine will play Radio City Music Hall in New York January 29 and the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles January 26. Tickets for both shows go on sale Friday, November 12. The band also recently announced a select nine-date tour, which begins November 13 in St. Louis and wraps up in Houston just a few days before Thanksgiving. 
The songwriting of South Carolina-born, Texas-based Beam arrived with Iron & Wine's  debut album in 2002, The Creek Drank the Cradle followed by the 2003 EP The Sea & The Rhythm EP. 2004 saw Our Endless Numbered Days, along with Beam's version of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights," on the Garden State soundtrack. 2005's In the Reins  was a collaborative album with Calexico and  Woman King EP was released the same year, while  The Shepherd's Dog in 2007 debuted at No. 24 on Billboard's Top 200 Album chart and earned much critical acclaim. Iron & Wine's song "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" was featured on the 2008 soundtrack to the movie Twilight.

Kiss Each Other Clean track listing:
1. Walking Far From Home

2. Me And Lazarus

3. Tree By The River 

4. Monkeys Uptown

5. Half Moon

6. Rabbit Will Run

7. Godless Brother In Love

8. Big Burned Hand

9. Glad Man Singing

10. Your Fake Name Is Good Enough For Me

Iron & Wine Fall tour dates:

11/13 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
11/14 Memphis, TN Minglewood Hall
11/15 Asheville, NC The Orange Peel
11/16 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
11/17 Jacksonville, FL Florida Theatre
11/18 Miami Beach, FL Fillmore Miami Beach
11/19 Tallahassee, FL The Moon
11/20 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
11/21 Houston, TX Fitzgeralds


www.ironandwine.com

Concord Music and Post Office Team Up for Holiday CD 'Let It Snow'

The U.S. Postal Service and Concord Music Group have teamed up again for a second holiday CD, Let It Snow, available now at select U.S. post offices throughout the country.

The 11-track release includes seasonal sounds spanning the decades and music genres - recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles with Betty Carter, Jason Mraz, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Chris Isaak, Mel Tormé, Rosemary Clooney, Vince Guaraldi, Paul McCartney, and the Jackson 5. The point-of-purchase CD offer provides the ultimate musical keepsake for those among the vast USPS customer base seeking an exclusive, pre-packaged gift for easy shipping.
Concord Music Group has worked with the USPS to create two previous exclusive releases — Letters to Santa in 2009 and Ella Fitzgerald’s Love Letters from Ella in February 2010 for Valentine's Day. Letters to Santa hit #1 on the Billboard Seasonal Holiday Chart last November and stayed on top for more than six weeks. The 2009 holiday release has sold more than 130,000 copies. 


Let It Snow Track Listing:


1.  Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – Ella Fitzgerald
2.  Santa Claus Is Coming to Town – Frank Sinatra
3.  Baby, It’s Cold Outside – Ray Charles and Betty Carter
4.  Winter Wonderland – Jason Mraz
5.  Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Mary Chapin Carpenter
6.  Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Chris Isaak
7.  The Christmas Song – Mel Tormé
8.  It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Rosemary Clooney
9.  Linus and Lucy (from A Charlie Brown Christmas) – Vince Guaraldi
10. Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney
11. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus – Jackson 5

The 'Collapse' of R.E.M. - New Album Due Spring 2001

The 15th studio album from R.E.M. will be called Collapse Into Now., due Spring 2011 on Warner Bros. Records. The news comes from BBC Radio 6 on its Twitter feed after band manager Bertis Downs revealed the title at the In the City conference.

The upcoming release finds singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, and bassist Mike Mills, re-teamed with Grammy Award-winning producer Jacknife Lee, who produced the group's previous studio album Accelerate, and has also worked with U2, Snow Patrol, The Hives, Kasabian, Editors, Aqualung, and Bloc Party.

R.E.M. and Lee recorded Collapse in New Orleans at the Music Shed and also in Berlin's Hansa Studios, the home of legendary albums such David Bowie’s Heroes,U2’s Achtung Baby, and Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life,. Additional recording and mixing took place Blackbird Studio in Nashville.

2008’s  Accelerate, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart, topped the Alternative, Rock, Digital, and Internet charts in the U.S., and debuted at No. 1 in Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. It featured  three hit singles “Supernatural Superserious,” “Hollow Man,” and “Man-Sized Wreath.” The band followed with the two-CD live set R.E.M. Live At The Olympia.

October 26, New West Records will release R.E.M. Live From Austin, TX — a DVD a full live performance for PBS’ Austin City Limits television series, plus three songs that didn’t air on the original broadcast. The 17 songs include several from Accelerate and R.E.M. classics such as “Losing My Religion” and “Man On The Moon,” re-mixed and re-mastered in LPCM stereo and DTS-HD 5.1 Surround Sound.

'Definitive Dave Brubeck' Coming Nov. 16 from Concord

Concord Music Group will release The Definitive Dave Brubeck November 16 on Fantasy, Concord Jazz and Telarc

The two-CD collection is being issued in celebration of what would have been the 90th birthday of the legendary pianist/composer/bandleader on December 6. While based in jazz, Brubeck's work touched on classical, Latin, pop and other styles and genres of music. 
The upcoming release - the latest in CMG’s ongoing Definitive series — includes some of Brubeck’s earliest session work from the 1940s as well as several of his more recent recordings from the past few decades. The Definitive Dave Brubeck is set for release on November 16, 2010, in celebration of the music icon’s 90th birthday on December 6.
The 26-track retrospective features liner notes written by music journalist and historian Ashley Kahn, based on a recent interview with Russell Gloyd, Brubeck’s manager/producer/conductor of more than 30 years.
Disc 1 spansthe Fantasy years, from the very beginning of Fantasy Records in the 1940s to the end of 1953.  Disc 2 follows the artist from the 1980s to the early y21st century. 
“The link between these two discs is one of consistency,” said Gloyd, producer of The Definitive Dave Brubeck. “Most of the elements of Disc 2 — melodic ideas and musical innovations, the choice of songs and sidemen — can be traced back to Disc 1, especially with the early Trio recordings.”
Among the tracks on the set are versions of standards such as "The Way You Look Tonight" and "That Old Black Magic," along with a rendition of Brubeck's legendary piece, "Take Five." 
In December, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will also celebrate Brubeck’s birthday with the premiere of Dave Brubeck: In His Own Sweet Way, a new documentary executive-produced by Clint Eastwood and narrated by TCM Essentials co-host Alec Baldwin. Directed by Bruce Ricker, the film features interviews with George Lucas, Sting, Wynton Marsalis and Bill Cosby and performances by Keith Emerson, Yo-Yo Ma and David Benoit.


The Definitive Dave Brubeck Track List:


Disc 1
I Found a New Baby
The Way You Look Tonight
(Back Home Again In) Indiana
Laura
Singin’ in the Rain
That Old Black Magic
Sweet Georgia Brown
Perfidia
Avalon
How High the Moon
Look for the Silver Lining
This Can’t Be Love
My Romance
Lulu’s Back in Town
Over the Rainbow
How High the Moon
All the Things You Are


Disc 2
Koto Song
Black and Blue
St. Louis Blues
Take Five
(Variations On) Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Here Comes McBride
Waltzing
Day After Day
Forty Days

Brad Paisley Releasing 'Hits Alive' Studio-and-Concert Double CD Set in November

One of country's biggest hit-makers, humorists and all around nice guy Brad Paisley will release a two-Cd set Hits Alive November 2
A combination of live and studio recordings, the collection includes 15 of Paisley’s #1 songs and four Top 5, hits plus the instrumental "Time Warp" and his current single, "Anything Like Me."
The release features 21 songs and 24 tracks in total. Disc one features 13 studio hits plus a new version of “Online” that mashes studio and live renditions. while disc two includes previously unreleased live versions of 10 numbers, plus the closing “Online (Reprise).”
Paisley is currently his H2O World Tour.  For concert dates and more, visit his official site, www.bradpaisley.com.

Brad Paisley Hits Alive track list:

Disc 1:
1. Mud on the Tires
2. Ticks
3. Anything Like Me
4. The World
5. Little Moments
6. When I Get Where I’m Going (Featuring Dolly Parton)
7. Celebrity
8. Then (Piano Mix)
9. I’m Still a Guy
10. He Didn’t Have to Be
11. Alcohol
12. Whiskey Lullaby (Featuring Alison Krauss)
13. We Danced
14. Online

Disc 2:
1. Water
2. American Saturday Night
3. Waitin’ on a Woman
4. I’m Gonna Miss Her
5. Mud on the Tires
6. She’s Everything
7. Time Warp
8. Letter to Me
9. Then
10. Alcohol
11. Online (Reprise)