Faber and Faber has announced the launch of a new application on the iTunes App Store for the new novel from legendary rock musician Nick Cave, The Death of Bunny Munro available now!

The Death of Bunny Munro is a furious, funny, disturbing account of a traveling salesman’s last days on earth.

Nick Cave will be interviewed by Katherine Lanpher as part of the Upstairs at the Square series at New York City’s Barnes and Noble, Union Square, on September 14, 2009, at 7:00 p.m.

Enhanced Editions and Faber and Faber announced the launch of The Death of Bunny Munro App on the App Store. The app, which includes an enhanced e-book, cutting edge audiobook and videos of Cave reading the book, is exclusively available to iPhone and iPod touch users. It is a landmark release of a book for which Nick Cave wrote the first chapter on his own iPhone.

The Death of Bunny Munro App includes an unabridged audiobook read by Nick Cave, featuring an original soundtrack by Cave and long-time musical collaborator Warren Ellis. It is produced and sound-directed by British artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard.

The audiobook features a groundbreaking 3D audio spatial mix, specifically designed for listening on headphones, creating an immersive experience for the listener that is unprecedented for an audiobook. Forsyth and Pollard enlisted a team of leading acousticians at Arup Acoustics in New York to plot the sound in both physical and emotional three-dimensional spaces.

“The idea of creating a book which can be experienced in different ways is exciting for me. Iain and Jane, with Arup, have created a groundbreaking audio journey which allows the listener to experience the book in a hitherto unprecedented third dimension,” said Nick Cave. “Enhanced Editions have brilliantly entwined reading, listening to and viewing the story. The fact that the reader can choose his or her own experience is interesting because the true meaning of a book lies in the reader’s own interpretation and the circumstances of that interpretation.”

The e-book has been created by Enhanced Editions, a new e-book production house co-founded by Peter Collingridge of the digital design company Apt Studio, working in partnership with Canongate Books. As well as familiar e-book features such as the ability to change font size, and bookmark pages, the Enhanced Edition also includes the ability to switch between audio and text versions of the book or watch videos, which radically change the reading experience.

The app has been developed in partnership with Canongate Books in the UK, Harper Collins in Canada and Text Publishing in Australia.

“We are seizing the opportunity presented by the revolutionary iPhone to offer consumers a more immersive and memorable reading experience than current e-readers, whilst honouring the best traditions of book design,” said Peter Collingridge. “We are confident that this enhanced edition of Nick’s brilliant novel will bring new readers to the book who will also be delighted by the audio and visual features.”

“We set out to create an immersive and transportive 3D listening experience. We’ve not heard anything like this before – the result sits somewhere between a film soundtrack, a radio play and an hallucination,” said Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard. “Working from fragments of music provided by Warren and Nick, we introduced real-world sound effects, and then sent this to Arup with a spatialisation script to construct a complete soundscape for the narrative designed not only to enhance your experience but also to disturb and interrupt it. For example, you hear sounds occupy the acoustic space inside Bunny’s canary yellow Punto, you hear the infrasonic rumblings of elephants mating on the TV in the corner of the room and you experience the sound of fear rising from the pit of your stomach…”

Dan Franklin, Digital Editor at Canongate Books says: “Both the enhanced e-book and audiobook deliver on the promise of the digital era in books, first and foremost because of Nick Cave’s multi-faceted creative talent, but also because of the skills, flair and collaborative ethic of Warren Ellis, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, Enhanced Editions and Arup Acoustics. This is the real deal.”

Buy Music, Books, more:

Nick Cave on amazon.com

Nick Cave on amazon.co.uk

The long-awaited second novel from “one of the great writers on love of our era” (Will Self), Nick Cave’s shocking and funny The Death of Bunny Munro tells the story of a door-to-door salesman in search of a soul on a bizarre road trip with his son, Bunny Junior, and his adventures in violence, death, sex, and the occult.

“Put Cormac McCarthy, Franz Kafka, and Benny Hill together in a Brighton seaside guesthouse and they might just come up with Bunny Munro . . . [The Death of Bunny Munro] emerges emphatically as the work of one of the great cross-genre storytellers of our age: a compulsive read possessing all of Nick Cave’s trademark horror and humanity, often thinly disguised in a galloping, playful romp.” – Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting

“After a two-decade pause, the post-punk singer-songwriter finally follows up his well-received first novel (And the Ass Saw the Angel) with a lurid fantasia about a drug-addled salesman. This could easily be the literary companion to Cave’s recent howling performances with garage band Grinderman.” – Kirkus Reviews

“[The Death of Bunny Munro is] not just a wonderful read, but also a heartbreaking one. Cave writes novels like he does lyrics, with strokes of blood and sulfur and lightning.” – Neil LaBute, author of Reasons to be Pretty

“Bunny’s deterioration from swaggering Lothario to sputtering pity case suggests he is carrying around more guilt than he cares to admit, and his obsessive behavior . . . allows for an interesting portrait of modern family dynamics.” – Publishers Weekly

Other features include:

- Synchronisation between the audiobook and written text, allowing the reader to switch from reading to listening without losing his or her place.

- Eleven videos of Cave reading from the book, filmed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard.

- Option for fans to receive exclusive news from the author.

- Ability to tilt the device to scroll the text.

- Option to share quotes from the book with others by email.

The Death of Bunny Munro application on iTunes

The Death of Bunny Munro Official Website

Madonna’s highly anticipated video for “Celebration” has finally arrived!

Head over to iTunes to download the Jonas Akerlund directed video for free which features the Queen of Pop’s daughter Lourdes and Brazilian model Jesus Luz.

“Celebration” is the title track from Madonna’s forthcoming greatest hits album due out on September 29, 2009.

Buy Music:

Madonna on amazon.com

Madonna on amazon.co.uk

Madonna Celebration CD Track Listing:

CD 1:
01) Hung Up
02) Music
03) Vogue
04) 4 Minutes
05) Holiday
06) Everybody
07) Like A Virgin
08) Into The Groove
09) Like A Prayer
10) Ray Of Light
11) Sorry
12) Express Yourself
13) Open Your Heart
14) Borderline
15) Secret
16) Erotica
17) Justify My Love
18) Revolver

CD 2:
01) Dress You Up
02) Material Girl
03) La Isla Bonita
04) Papa Don’t Preach
05) Lucky Star
06) Burning Up
07) Crazy For You
08) Who’s That Girl
09) Frozen
10) Miles Away
11) Take A Bow
12) Live To Tell
13) Beautiful Stranger
14) Hollywood
15) Die Another Day
16) Don’t Tell Me
17) Cherish
18) Celebration

Madonna Celebration DVD Track Listing:

1) Burning Up
2) Lucky Star
3) Borderline
4) Like A Virgin
5) Material Girl
6) Crazy For You
7) Into The Groove
8 Live To Tell
9) Paper Don’t Preach
10) True Blue
11) Open Your Heart
12) La Isla Bonita
13) Who’s That Girl
14) Like A Prayer
15) Express Yourself
16) Cherish
17) Vogue
18) Justify My Love
19) Erotica
20) Deeper and Deeper
21) Rain
22) I’ll Remember
23) Secret
24) Take A Bow
25) Bedtime Story
26) Human Nature
27) I Want You
28) You’ll See
29) Frozen
30) Ray Of Light
31) The Power Of Good-Bye
32) Beautiful Stranger
33) American Pie
34) Music
35) Don’t Tell Me
36) What It Feels Like For A Girl
37) Die Another Day
38) Hollywood
39) Love Profusion
40) Hung Up
41) Sorry
42) Get Together
43) Jump
44) 4 Minutes
45) Give It 2 Me
46) Miles Away
47) Celebration

Celebration on iTunes

Madonna Official Website

Gary Go brings his “Go Phone” Stateside with an in-store performance at Apple’s NYC, Soho Store

Gary Go’s self-titled debut available now exclusively at iTunes

Fresh from a sold-out tour with Lady Gaga, rising UK troubadour Gary Go is making his mark in the US after scoring the coveted “Single of the Week” spot at iTunes this week.

“Wonderful”, the first single from his self-titled debut album can currently be downloaded for FREE with the full album available for purchase as well exclusively at iTunes. This comes one month prior to the physical album release of September 15, 2009 (Decca).

Download “Wonderful” from iTunes

Gary Go will also perform on his iPhone and Mac (as well as traditional instruments) at Apple’s NYC SoHo store this Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 2:00pm with an audience Q & A to follow.

Buy Music:

Gary Go on amazon.com

Gary Go on amazon.co.uk

Go, who describes his music as “anthemic, epic, sharp pop with honest words,” wrote many tracks for his first album using software downloaded to the iPhone. On his “GO Phone,” he recreated piano, guitars, drums, and a horn section to make the album demo using a virtual four-track recording studio. He then went on to perform several songs on his iPhone at Wembley Stadium to a crowd of 70K people.

Watch “Wonderful” video

More music and information:

Gary Go website
MySpace
Gary Go on Twitter

Pete Yorn’s ‘Back And Fourth’ was released exclusively via iTunes this week, and the album has already shot to No. 1 on the Alternative album chart and No. 5 on the overall sales count.

Buy Music:

Pete Yorn on amazon.com

Pete Yorn on amazon.co.uk

‘Back And Fourth’ – which was released on iTunes with the bonus track “Rooftop” – will hit stores and all other digital platforms Tuesday, June 23, 2009.

Early returns are in, and fan reviews are shaping up to be just as impressive as the early critical raves:

“A rare complete album with stunning lyrics. This is in the company of some of the best records to come out in a long time…” says Sebastion O, with customer perfectdarkling adding that “this is the type of music you can listen to all day and still find new things to like about each song.”

Critics are already hailing the alt-rocker’s fourth Columbia Records release as one of his strongest. Alternative Press gave the album four stars, The Huffington Post hailed it as “mesmerizing, in perpetual alt-pop motion, and on course as one of the best albums of 2009,” and Performing Songwriter called it “the most introspective disc of Yorn’s career.”

Pete Yorn will celebrate the release with an intimate New York City club performance, June 18th at Joe’s Pub, and then on June 24th at the Roxy Theater in Los Angeles. He completed a spring tour with Coldplay June 4, and returns to the road as a headliner July 9 for a two month run (Go to www.peteyorn.com for complete dates).

Recorded in Omaha, NE, with producer Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley), Yorn says the album was inspired by an escape from his everyday routine, and the change of pace between hometown Los Angeles and more rural Nebraska. “I think I found a different kind of inspiration there that helped carry the record home,” he says.

Visit Pete Yorn online at:

Pete Yorn Official Website
Facebook
MySpace
Pete Yorn on Twitter

Virgin Records pop-rock quartet My Favorite Highway has announced plans to join Person L and The Dangerous Summer as support to Ace Enders on a summer trek beginning June 19, 2009 in Vineland, NJ and will play select dates with The Secret Handshake and a month of dates with A Rocket To The Moon opening for The Cab starting July 5th in Columbus, OH (full Schedule below).

My Favorite Highway recently played The Bamboozle festival and are now out with Danger Radio and Stereo Skyline. Their debut album ‘How to Call a Bluff’ was released on May 5th and has been selected as one of the titles in iTunes “Next Big Thing” sale from May 12th through June 2nd. As part of this annual sale in which iTunes highlights a select group of developing artists, fans can purchase How to Call a Bluff for $6.99.

“We love playing live shows out on the road and are looking forward to playing with such great bands all summer,” said MFH frontman David Cook.

Before signing with Virgin Records, the suburban Washington, DC-based group, comprised of David Cook (vocals, piano, guitar), Will Cook (bass), Bobby Morgenthaler (drums) and Pat Jenkins (guitar, vocals) independtly released two ep’s and the full length ‘How To Call A Bluff’. They’ve sold over 100,000 individual track downloads and have had songs placed on popular MTV shows “Newport Harbor,” “The Hills” and in the trailer for the latter spin-off “The City.” The Virgin Records release produced by Paul Barber, and mixed by Jeff Juliano (John Mayer, Lifehouse, OAR) has been re-mastered with two additional new songs.

My Favorite Highway was recently featured in Alternative Press’ 100 Bands To Watch in 2009 issue in which the magazine predicted a bright future for the group; “If the polished power-pop and fresh-faced press pictures are any indication, quartet My Favorite Highway could be speeding down the same road of radio singles and success that the All-American Rejects and Boys Like Girls have enjoyed.”

To date, My Favorite Highway has over 5.8 million plays on myspace and nearly 50,000 friends on the social network site. They are also active on facebook and twitter.

My Favorite Highway Tour Dates:

(Dates and information subject to change.)

With Danger Radio and Stereo Skyline:
May 19th Denver, CO Marquis Theatre
May 20th Salt Lake City, UT SHO

With Ace Enders:
June 19th Vineland, NJ Hangar 84
June 20th Pittsburgh, PA Mr. Small’s Theatre
June 21st Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
June 23rd Pontiac, MI Pike Room
June 24th Grand Rapids, MI The Mixtape
June 26th Madison, WI The Loft
June 27th Chicago, IL Beat Kitchen
June 28th Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock Social Club

With The Cab:
July 5th Columbus, OH The Basement
July 11th Buffalo, NY Mohawk Place
July 12th Albany, NY Valentine’s
July 14th South Hackensack, NJ School of Rock
July 15th NYC, NY Highline Ballroom
July 16th Foxboro, MA Showcase Live
July 17th Hartford, CT Webster Underground
July 18th Philadelphia, PA North Star Bar
July 19th Allston, MA Harper’s Ferry
July 21st Farmingdale, NY The Crazy Donkey
July 22nd Lancaster, PA Chameleon
July 23rd Bloomington, IN Rhino’s
July 25th Cincinatti, OH 20th Century Theatre
July 26th Louisville, KY Headliner’s Music Hall
July 28th Washington DC 9:30 Club
July 29th Raleigh, NC The Brewery
July 30th Atlanta, GA The Masquerade
July 31st Orlando, FL The Social
Aug 1st Fort Lauderdale, FL Culture Room
Aug 2nd Tampa, FL The Orpheum
Aug 4th Houston, TX Warehouse Live
Aug 5th Austin, TX Emo’s
Aug 6th Dallas, TX The Pontiac Garage @ HOB
Aug 8th Tempe, AZ Clubhouse
Aug 9th Las Vegas, NV House of Blues

Follow the journey of My Favorite Highway at:

My Favorite Highway Official Website
MySpace
My Favorite Highway on Twitter

ZAP MAMA is teaming up with CARE to honor mothers around the world. Zap Mama will donate to CARE a percentage of the proceeds from the iTunes download of their song, “Hello To Mama,” the first single off their upcoming album ‘ReCreation’, due out on Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, on May 26th, 2009.

Watch “Hello to Mama” video:

In the developing world, one woman, every minute of every day, dies giving birth. The proceeds from iTunes download sales of “Hello To Mama” will help CARE’s efforts to reduce persisting high maternal mortality in the world’s poorest countries.

“A percentage of the hard earned money paid for this track will go to CARE with the vision and hope of setting the people of the world free through truth, love, and education,” says Zap Mama’s Marie Daulne.

For more regarding CARE and its partnership with Zap Mama, visit: Care.org.

Zap Mama has added new tour dates including appearances at Lollapalooza and the Essence Festival, as well as kicking the tour off with an intimate residency at Joe’s Pub with special surprise guests.

Buy Music:

Zap Mama on amazon.com

Zap Mama on amazon.co.uk

2009 Tour Dates:

(Dates and information subject to change.)

5/27/2009 Joe’s Pub, New York, NY
5/28/2009 Joe’s Pub, New York, NY
5/29/2009 Joe’s Pub, New York, NY
6/17/2009 El Rey, Los Angeles, CA
6/18/2009 Bimbo’s, San Francisco, CA
6/19/2009 Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Boonville, CA
6/20/2009 Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
6/21/2009 Triple Door, Seattle, WA
6/23/2009 Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Ann Arbor, MI
7/5/2009 Essence Music Festival, New Orleans, LA
8/7-9/2009 Lollapalooza, Chicago, IL

Zap Mama MySpace
Zap Mama Official Website

Empire Of The Sun release their debut album ‘Walking On A Dream’ on Astralwerks today. The electro-psychedelic project led by Luke Steele, the enigmatic wunderkind behind Australia’s The Sleepy Jackson and Pnau’s Nick Littlemore has already reached Platinum status at home in Australia and has been a chart hit worldwide.

The title track “Walking on a Dream” will be iTunes ‘Single of the Week” this week. Fans can download the track for free starting today.

The track, which Rolling Stone has called “an insanely catchy electro-pop tune”, will also be featured on tonight’s episode of 90210. The show airs on the CW Tuesdays at 9pm Eastern / 8pm Central.

For more info on the music featured on the show go to: 90210 Music

In addition, “Walking on a Dream” is heating up at Specialty Radio and is currently #5* on the FMQB Singles Chart.

Exotic, lavish, larger-than-life, Empire Of The Sun brings together these two unlikely collaborators from Australian pop. Their friendship which Luke describes as “this fireball of electricity”, eventually resulted in Walking On A Dream – a bold, visionary and brilliant album, which manages to sound exhilaratingly contemporary, audaciously forward-looking, yet also curiously archaic all at once. From Nick and Luke’s collective unconscious arose a rare marriage of rock and electronica, immediacy and depth, futurism and tradition, hi-tech production and creative spontaneity, pop melody and the cinematic.

The video for “Walking On A Dream” has received over 3.8 million YouTube views. The fantastic video was filmed in Shanghai. Watch video

Their new video for “We Are The People”, filmed in Mexico has already received over 700,000 YouTube views in just 7 weeks. You can check it out here:

Watch “We Are The People” video:

Buy Music:

Empire Of The Sun on amazon.com

Empire Of The Sun on amazon.co.uk

MySpace
Empire Of The Sun Official Website

Star of TV and film Miley Cyrus is the latest artist to perform at the Apple Store, Regent Street on Friday April 24, 2009.

The exclusive iTunes Live From London show is free for competition winners. Admission is for ticket holders only and there will be no tickets available on the door.

With sales of her first two albums (’Breakout’ and ‘Hannah Montana/Meet Miley Cyrus’) already in excess of 750,000 in the UK alone, Miley will be performing hits including “See You Again” and “7 Things” and her latest hit “The Climb”.

Miley is in town to promote her forthcoming film Hannah Montana The Movie which opens at UK cinemas nationwide on 1st May.

Buy Music, DVDs, more:

Hannah Montana The Movie on amazon.co.uk

Hannah Montana The Movie on amazon.com

The Official Soundtrack is available now on Walt Disney Records and her new single “The Climb” is due for physical release on 27th April through Hollywood Records/Universal Music.

Miley Cyrus will also be in Leicester Square, London on Thursday April 23rd for the anticipated UK premiere of her new film Hannah Montana The Movie.

Disney Channel’s phenomenally successful series ‘Hannah Montana’ jumps to the big screen in a fun filled adventure in which Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) is forced to choose between embracing her small town roots and her secret popstar persona, Hannah Montana.

The exclusive, iTunes Live From London show will be performed and recorded at Apple’s state-of-the-art theatre at the Apple Store on Regent Street. The set will also be available for download on iTunes.

Since its inception in April 2005, iTunes Live From London has featured performances from artists including R.E.M., Stereophonics, James Blunt, Duffy, The Fratellis, Sugababes, Kaiser Chiefs, Richard Ashcroft, David Gray, Keane, Elbow, The Kooks and Bloc Party. All recordings are available to download from the iTunes Store (www.itunes.co.uk).

Watch “7 Things” video:

Miley Cyrus Official Website
Miley Cyrus MySpace

Four years since the birth of their magnificent debut album, ‘Exits’, The Boxer Rebellion digitally release their much-anticipated, self-produced, sophomore record, ‘Union’, on January 11, 2009.

The Boxer Rebellion on amazon.com

The Boxer Rebellion on amazon.co.uk

In an unprecedented move, iTunes have awarded the band a “Global Single of the Week” spot on January 13th for the track “Evacuate”, which will run across every iTunes store on the planet.

Mixed by Chris Sheldon (Foo Fighters, Feeder) and mastered by Kevin Metcalfe (U2, Prodigy), ‘Union’ has also been awarded the Editor’s Choice album slot by iTunes US which will see it receive main page and front page (Rock/Alt) coverage.

Both ‘Union’ and ‘Exits’ will be available at an introductory price during their first two weeks of release (physical release dates forthcoming).

THE PAST:

Formed in London through a chance meeting between Tennessee native Nathan Nicholson (vocals/guitar) and Australian Todd Howe (guitar), the line-up was made complete with college friends Piers Hewitt on drums and Adam Harrison on bass. Following the release of an acclaimed debut EP in 2003, and on the eve of a potentially career-breaking tour with The Killers, Nicholson found himself deftly ill and on life-support, putting the band on indefinite hold.

Post-recovery, the band released limited copies of ‘Exits’, their debut album in 2005 to a rapturous response: Kerrang magazine proclaimed, “If you’re crying out for substance in your music, The Boxer Rebellion are here to soothe your soul,” while the NME stated, “This band can alter your life.” Both The Fly magazine and MusicOMH considered the album “flawless.”

THE PRESENT:

In ‘Union’, The Boxer Rebellion have produced a follow-up of epic proportions that somehow manages to surpass the vertiginous ambitions of its predecessor. While retaining the uniquely charged live sound that has won them a feverishly devoted following throughout Europe, ‘Union’ sees the band taking their already lofty ambitions to subliminal levels. From the tribal-drum explosion of opener ‘Flashing Red Light Means Go’, through the wintry atmospherics of enigmatic ‘The Gospel Of Goro Adachi’ to live favourites ‘Evacuate’ and ‘Semi-Automatic’, ‘Union’ is an album that transcends convention in a seismic blast of unfettered invention.

Listen to “Evacuate” from ‘Union’ on imeem

Currently being championed by KCRW Music Director and host of Morning Becomes Eclectic, Jason Bentley, ‘Union’ will be serviced nationwide to non-commercial and college radio stations in the coming weeks.

The band is currently preparing their Spring ‘09 tour schedule – dates soon to be released.

“The Boxer Rebellion’s albums are completely non-disposable bodies of work – perfectly balanced in exemplary song-writing, epic performances, and wide-ranging creativity that reward the listener time and time again.” – Stephen Brolan, The Fly

Photo credit: Tessa Angus

Listen to ‘Union’ at ReverbNation

The Boxer Rebellion MySpace
The Boxer Rebellion Official Website

VH1 has named singer-songwriter Lenka as its latest “You Oughta Know” artist, with a campaign kicking off in early October.

Her self-titled debut album became available on iTunes last week and in just a few short days had jumped into the iTunes’ Top 10 Albums chart.

The album will be featured on vh1.com’s “The Leak” beginning today and AOL will host a listening party for it next week. Lenka will play a special show at New York’s Mercury Lounge September 23rd, 2008 coinciding with the album’s wide release, and she’ll make her U.S. network television debut the following night on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”

She’s also confirmed to perform on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (October 16th) and “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” (October 22nd).

Lenka, former vocalist for the acclaimed Australian electronic/ambient band Decoder Ring, continues her residency at Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles, performing each Thursday in September 2008. On September 27th she’ll be the primary support for Juliana Hatfield’s show at L.A.’s Café Largo and she’ll join the Hotel Cafe Tour on November 11th. In between, she’ll play a couple of shows in her native Australia (see below for full itinerary).

“The Show,” the lead track from Lenka’s album, is climbing the charts at radio and 476,700 copies of the song were downloaded last week when it was featured as iTunes’ “Single of the Week.”

As noted by People’s recent “As Heard On TV” column, it’s been featured in Old Navy’s back-to-school television advertising campaign and in promotional spots for the hit ABC comedy “Ugly Betty”. It’s also been tapped for the Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies’ film Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging.

The video for “The Show,” directed by Moh Azima, received its online premiere earlier this month on iMeem.com. You can check it out here:

Watch “The Show” video:

Two other Lenka songs have garnered early attention as well: “Don’t Let Me Fall” was heard in the season premiere of the The CW’s new series “90210″ and Lenka’s haunting cover of Modest Mouse’s “Gravity Rides Everything” was recently featured as Entertainment Weekly’s “Download This” pick and by Vanity Fair’s “Hot Tracks” (along with “The Show”). The songs are available now on iTunes.

Lenka, who is a Clear Channel NEW! Artist for September (AAA format), has already appeared in the pages of Marie Claire and Teen Vogue and will be featured in upcoming issues of Blender and Spin as well as an episode of vh1.com’s “My Play List.”

Lenka 2008 tour dates:

(Dates subject to change.)

9/18 The Hotel Cafe -”89.9 KCRW PRESENTS” Los Angeles, CA
9/23 Mercury Lounge – Record Release New York, NY
9/25 The Hotel Café Los Angeles, CA
9/27 Largo (opening for Juliana Hatfield) Los Angeles, CA
10/27 Melbourne, Australia The Toff In Town
10/29 Sydney, Australia Oxford Arts Factory
11/11 Hotel Cafe Tour – Bluebird Denver, CO
11/12 Hotel Cafe Tour – Avalon Theater Salt Lake City, UT
11/13 Hotel Cafe Tour – Knitting Factory Boise, ID
11/14 Hotel Cafe Tour – Doug Fir Portland, OR
11/15 Hotel Cafe Tour – Chop Suey Seattle, WA
11/17 Hotel Cafe Tour – Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA
11/18 Hotel Cafe Tour – Henry Fonda Theater Los Angeles, CA

Lenka Official Website
MySpace

Despite their current city of residence, Low vs. Diamond is not only a Los Angeles band. They are, in every sense of the word, an American band – with all of the members hailing from backgrounds as diverse as their hometown cities themselves…Seattle (vocalist/guitarist Lucas Field), Chicago (drummer Howie Diamond), San Francisco (keyboardist Tad Moore) and the “Jersey Guys” (lead guitarist Anthony Polcino and bassist Jon Pancoast). This melting pot of musicians was established a few short years ago when they formed Low vs. Diamond.

While never concealing their nods to current bands ranging from U2, in scope, to the Strokes, in grit… Low vs. Diamond are clearly possessed by those that passed before them. It’s these roots that define the essence of what separates this band from the rest.

Low vs. Diamond achieve something uniquely intimate with their attention paid to songwriting. Real songwriting. You hear the complex song styling of Serge Gainsbourg, Burt Bacharach, and even Broadway. Real songs with real stories. Lyrically, Lucas weaves in themes dealing with family (such as “Actions Are Actions” and “Don’t Forget Sister”,) and stories about saying farewell to love (”Heart Attack” and “Wasted”). Each track on their self titled debut album is as lucid and cinematic in scope.

Kevin Bronson from the Los Angeles Times explains it best, writing that the band “stands precipitously between overwrought melancholy and chimey hopefulness, avoiding both excesses … the band’s music plays to an optimism that stops short of outright glee.”

Additionally, iTunes has chosen the quintet as one of their favorite up-and-coming bands of 2008. As part of their “Next Big Thing” program, iTunes is offering fans an opportunity to purchase the band’s upcoming self-titled album before its release this summer. An uncompromising powerful record full of cinematic tracks, ‘LOW VS. DIAMOND’ is now available for purchase on iTunes.

A band The Sun, NME, The Los Angeles Times, Paste Magazine and Time Out London all praised as a band to watch in 2008, will spend most of the year on the road including a stop at the first annual Pemberton Festival in Vancouver, Canada July 2008.

Audio: “Heart Attack” from Low Vs. Diamond

For more info, news, tour dates, etc. please visit the band’s official homepage:

Low vs. Diamond
Low vs. Diamond on Myspace

Virgin Records singer-songwriter and guitarist Tristan Prettyman has just released her second album for the label titled, ‘Hello’.

This collection of intimate, laid-back and tuneful confessional songs follows her mid-2005 Virgin Records debut album ‘twentythree’, and was recorded in London with the British producers and songwriters Martin Terefe (KT Tunstall) and Sacha Skarbek (James Blunt, Tunstall).

The highlight album track and first video, “Madly,” is the iTunes Single of the Week starting Tuesday, April 15th, 2008.

With a gorgeous, organic sonic palette of finger-picked acoustic guitar, pedal-steel, Wurlitzer, Hammond organ, and strings, ‘Hello’ is beautifully evocative of the influential country-blues and folk of The Band, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan.

Drawn to their “pure and uncontrived” music during her break following 2 1/2 years on the road behind ‘twentythree’, Prettyman says, “I think it made me write more bluesy songs.” Early notice has come in from Marie Claire magazine, with praise of the album’s “bluesy defiance,” Tristan’s “throaty whisper,” and its “crank-up-the-volume choruses on songs like ‘Madly.’”

Watch Tristan Prettyman – “Madly” video

Hello tracklisting:

1. Hello
2. Echo
3. California Girl
4. Madly Madly
5. Blindfold
6. Handshake Agreement
7. War Outta Peace
8. You Got Me
9. Don’t Work Yourself Up
10. Just a Little Bit
11. Interview with Who
12. In Bloom

Tristan Prettyman – Hello on amazon.com

Having wrapped up national dates supporting G. Love and Special Sauce earlier in the year, Tristan Prettyman continues to play headline dates through Spring, 2008 (see details below). Prettyman is also looking forward to a unique series of volunteer beach cleanup and restoration events between May and August 2008, sponsored by the Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project, in partnership with the Surfrider Foundation. She will join local residents on the beach and perform at a special end-of-day celebration.

Tristan Prettyman Spring 2008 tour dates:

Dates could be added or changed! Go to Tristan Prettyman’s Official Website for the latest tour dates and information.

April 15, 2008 Nashville TN 3rd & Lindsley
April 17, 2008 Orlando FL The Social
April 18, 2008 Jacksonville FL Jack Rabbits
April 19, 2008 Decatur GA Eddie’s Attic
April 20, 2008 Decatur GA Eddie’s Attic
April 22, 2008 Birmingham AL WorkPlay Theater
April 24, 2008 New Orleans LA The Parish
April 25, 2008 Houston TX Meridien Small Room
April 26, 2008 Austin TX Stubb’s Indoors
April 27, 2008 Dallas TX House Of Blues – Cambridge Room

Barefoot Wine Beach Rescue Project 2008 Event Dates:

May 31 Montauk, NY
July 12 Austin (Lady Bird Lake [formerly Town Lake]), TX
July 26 San Francisco (Ocean Beach), CA
August 23 TBD by online vote at Barefoot Beach Rescue

Photo credit: Sasha Eisenman

Tristan Prettyman Myspace
Tristan Prettyman

Graham Colton’s smash single “Best Days” has been all over the airwaves in the US – a hit at Hot AC radio and widely licensed for television, including episodes of American Idol and Oprah’s The Big Give in the last month alone.

Recently Colton received massive exposure, with three national television appearances in the space of one week. The singer-songwriter, named an iTunes “Editor’s Choice” for Top New Pop Artist, performed on Late Show with David Letterman (March 13th), Today (March 14th) and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (March 19th). He made his network television debut last month on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The anthemic “Best Days” was most recently featured in the premiere of The Big Give, Oprah Winfrey’s new primetime series airing on the ABC Television Network, and on Fox’s American Idol, which used it as the exit song in four episodes leading up to the Top 12.

“Best Days,” the lead single from Graham Colton’s solo debut album, ‘Here Right Now’, is included on the American Idol page on iTunes and Colton will be the subject of a “spotlight” feature on the American Idol website.

A poignant reflection on the importance of making the most of the time we’re given, “Best Days” has also been used in promotional campaigns for HBO and for ABC’s October Road, in the closing montage of CBS’ Thanksgiving Day football and was one of several Graham Colton originals used in a four-episode block of MTV’s Newport Harbor as part of the show’s “Featured Artist” program. The song has been downloaded nearly 700,000 times since selected as iTunes’ “Single of the Week.”

Check out the video for “Best Days”, lensed by Nigel Dick (Oasis, Nickelback, Travis).

‘Here Right Now’, produced by John Fields (Switchfoot, Rooney, Semisonic), debuted at #2 on Billboard’s Top Heatseekers chart, at #4 on iTunes’ Top Pop Album Chart and at #11 on iTunes’ Top Album chart.

For music and more information, go to:

Graham Colton Official Website
Graham Colton on Myspace

If, like me, you’re excited about the new Guillemots’ Red album, then you’ll probably want to check out the first installment of their new Podcast Series, recorded at their studio in east London, available for free from iTunes:

Guillemots Podcast on iTunes

Their second studio album, ‘Red’, is released by Polydor on March 24th, 2008.

Lead single, “Get Over It”, comes a week earlier on March 17th.

The band is set to appear on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross tomorrow night, February 15th, 2008. Be sure to tune in!

And don’t forget – Guillemots have made the A-M-A-Z-I-N-G “Kriss Kross” available to download as an MP3 COMPLETELY FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY:

Download “Kriss Kross” MP3

Guillemots drummer Greig Stewart – EXCLUSIVE interview on BandWeblogs.com

Red on amazon.co.uk

Guillemots on Myspace
Guillemots Official Website

Hailed by Q as one of the Top 100 best British albums, Simply Red’s smash hit, #1 LP ‘Stars’ will be released as a special-edition package, February 25th, 2008.

Originally released in September 1991, the eagerly anticipated re-issue will be available as a 3 disc (2 CD & 1 DVD) collector’s edition, to download and an iTunes bundle with exclusive content. As well as the full, original album, it’ll also feature 11 mixes by artists such as PM Dawn and Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley, plus bonus videos and a DVD live concert from 1992’s Montreux Jazz Festival.

Watch Simply Red – “Stars” video

Stars (Collectors Edition) on amazon.co.uk

Mick Hucknall – Simply Red Official Website