CLR welcomes along Dave Sumner for an entry to their podcast series. Xhin, Equalized and Martyn are blended with plenty of forthcoming Sandwell District material.

Drum Werks XVII (the third installment in the L.A. Rock Essentials Series) provides versatile signature rock grooves ready to write new music from signature grooves from such bands as Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, ZZ Top, Toto and more.

The System 6000 MKII can now be controlled and updated over a network or via Wi-Fi, making for more convenient and flexible installations and updates. Presets from System 6000 will load on the System 6000 MKII. Included is a new Matrix mixer for summing flexibility.

Yet another GINORMOUS set from DJ Luxy … check it out its a FREE DOWNLOAD …

you lucky people!

Tracklist

1/ Pyramids (Intro) – EngineEarZ Experiment
2/ Laid Blak – RED (Chasing Shadows remix)
3/ Jump – 16 Bit
4/ Normalise – Flux Pavilion
5/ Scars – Basement Jaxx (EngineEarZ Experiment remix)
6/ Sweet Shop – Doctor P
7/ Kaliyuga – EngineEarZ Experiment
8/ Gear Up – EngineEarZ Experiment

Enjoy!!

Just in time for the release of their new LP, the music video for The New Pornographers' somewhat title track, "Your Hands (Together)," has premiered today via Spinner.  Directed by the collective's very own, Baine Thurier, the video features the Vancouver dance group Hybrid Movement performing karate-infused choreography and urban acrobatics while dressed up as ninjas. 

Together is now available via Matador and check out "Your Hands (Together)" below.

Enjoy at FILTERmagazine.com

Kele Okereke, vocalist for acclaimed indie rockers, Bloc Party, has just announced a handful of US tour dates in support of his first solo album, The Boxer.  Known for his distinct voice and reserved demeanor, Kele has been hard at work promoting his solo efforts (mostly in Europe) while his band remains on hiatus.

His first single, "Tenderoni," will be available June 14 and the full album will be released shortly after on June 22 via Glassnote Records.

Kele Okereke Tour Dates
July
23 Chicago, IL - The Metro
24 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theatre
25 Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall
27 Detroit, MI - Crofoot

August
2 Boston, MA - Royale
3 New York, NY - Webster Hall
6 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
7 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club

Applauded for their live presence, Norwegian rock trio Bigbang definitely put on a show at SXSW in March.  Their latest album, Edendale, (released early this year) highlights the rich, cultural history of Silver Lake/Echo Park.  Though they are currently on tour in Norway, check out exclusive live footage of their SXSW performances for "Head Over Heels," "Isabel," and lead single "Call Me" - available for your viewing pleasure under the cut.

Enter to win a rad Telecaster from Fender and Bigbang HERE.

Enjoy at FILTERmagazine.com

On the morning of May 1, 2010, the threat of a riot hung in the air. It was the kick-off of the 2010 Groovin' the Moo music festival in Bendigo, Victoria (Australia), which would travel to five locations across Australia over two weeks. Gates opened at 11:30 a.m. and at 3:00 p.m., festival-goers were still in a queue that lined the streets and wrapped around corners as far as my eye could see against the glare of the sun. I slapped on my shades and rode in between the seats of one of the band vans (thank you, British India); so anything I write about the ridiculous line will not be a true testament of my experience - I admittedly, had preferential treatment.

Once in, I reveled in the familiar festival feeling. It was whimsical, with people dressed in cow costumes, purple lycra bodysuits, superhero capes, wigs and wings. It was carefree, with people doing karate moves, dancing, or brandishing Sponge Bob Squarepants impaled on a stick. It was also expensive, shelling out the usual 6 dollars for a hot dog with an appalling bread-to-dog ratio, and 5 dollars for a baby handful of limp fries.

And it was loud. The Moulin Rouge tent emitted the party sounds of the likes of the hybrid hip-hop-soul Space Invadas, electro duo The Only, Funkoars, Bag Raiders, Killaqueenz, Kid Koala (presenting The Slew), Ajax, and track mash-uppers Yacht Club DJ’s. Housing beats all day. I’m sure you can imagine that the Moulin Rouge tent is where the majority of the jumping, thrashing, and oscillating took place. Meanwhile, across the meadow and past the bungee jumping, acts alternated between the MySpace Stage and the Triple J stage. Melbourne’s Neon Love were the first to perform, and the energy on this side of the festival gained momentum as we danced our way through British India, Miami Horror, Spoon, Tegan and Sara, Grinspoon, Empire of the Sun, Vampire Weekend, and home-grown Silverchair.

The line-up provided a nice balance of pop, rock, fun, and weirdness, and also lent itself to plenty of sing-alongs and dance-offs; there was something for both the girl in the ankle-length T-shirt that just wanted to spin in a circle with her arms in the air and the overweight drunk guy with the cut-off sleeves.

FREE DOWNLOAD – Quantic – Addis to Axum – Music, Words & Arrangements of Ethiopia

Pre-Order/Buy – Timeless DVD

Last year I went down to LA to witness a concert that I knew would resonate beyond one night. Mulatu Astake, the Ethiopian Jazz composer was performing with an all-star cast of the very best players in LA including Phil Ranelin, Benny Maupin, and on and on. The producer of the event was Mochilla, a production company run by the visionary photographers B+ and Coleman, who was shooting video of the show. They were not messing around in supplying the night with an amazing aura of music before the main event, including having Quantic dj (the amazing download above), as well as having Cut Chemist do one of the most improbable dj sets I have heard in my life (one turntalbe, one guitar foot sampler, all Ethiopian records, endless live remixes, I hope that’s on the box set). Now just over a year later a box set of DVDs of the entire 3 night concert series is available in a limited edition, featuring the Mulatu concert as well as the Suite for Ma Dukes and the Arthur Verocai performance. Truly Timeless!

Post by Oz

If anyone had listened to the predictions, albums would be irrelevant by now. Instead, finding a way to weave music into a coherent narrative of tracks, and imbuing the object with meaning and value, matters more than ever. Finding time and resources is as much a challenge as ever, but there are some new tools for funding and finding music, even in the age of exploding global population and output. Auditory Canvas’ record “Fabric of Life” is one of the many gems out there to discover. It’s a sparkling, delicate dreamscape of music, noted by our friend stretta (known for his own lovely music in the monome community). I’m not as fond of the final cuts on the album, personally; the spoken political narrative for me isn’t nearly as evocative as the opening numbers. (It’s nonetheless nice to hear music injected with such a point of view.) But there is a strong sense that creator David of Summer Rain Recordings is traversing a varied and personal musical terrain. It’s the kind of music that could bring you some spring inspiration. Just as significant, Auditory Canvas made the album possible by crowdsourcing “kickstarter” funding at kickstarter.com. And lest such projects become selfish, by purchasing the album, you generate revenue to go back into the kickstarter system. Album production, after all, is far cheaper than it once was, but it isn’t free. “Fabric of Life” demonstrates what could happen to musical ecology if this kind of micro-lending invested in good, new work. And your purchase becomes a way to turn David into an investor himself in the system, keeping the cycle going. To make that purchase worthwhile, Auditory Canvas put some thought into the lovely presentation; the limited edition has an almost theatrical approach to packaging, and even comes with a papercraft KORG synth (which I can add to my paper Minimoog from GAS). David writes with a number of talking points:

• Funded via a kickstarter project ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/auditorycanvas/be-a-part-of-the-fabric-of-life-album-release-0)
• $1000 from sales going back into other people’s kickstarter projects.
• 10% of sales going to charity (NextAid.org)
• CD packaging produced using recycled plastic, recycled paper, and soy inks
• Released on my own label, Summer Rain Recordings (all artists donate a portion of their royalties to charity, the label matches their donation)
• Limited edition and standard CD and digital available here: http://auditorycanvas.net/store
• Available on all digital retailers 17 May
• More info at: http://auditorycanvas.net or http://summerrainrecordings.net

The interesting thing about the release strategy is, while it does make the album available through digital channels, it provides some big incentives to go straight to the artist. And that kind of self-motivated album release may increasingly become essential. For a stunning visualization of why, look no further than the lovely blog Information is Beautiful. Using data and analysis from The Cynical Musician, it paints a sobering portrait of the harsh realities of digital distribution. Artists would have to get 1.5+ million plays on Last.fm’s streaming service just to make a month’s living wage. It’s certainly a glass half-empty / half-full situation, though: you’d only need to sell 143 self-pressed CDs. And that should be optimistic: online tools, even those that sell music, are great promotional tools; boutique sales of physical objects (or even of downloads, in situations where the artist gets a bigger cut) are where the revenue is. And even if that doesn’t help you quit your day job, that could be essential in being able to invest in your next record and keep artists productive. (This is also, it seems to me, a great argument for the potential value of torrents and Creative Commons licensing. If the online file is a promotional tool, best to get it far and try to leverage the things that do bring in money than try to get a few extra nickels and dimes.) It also pretty clearly makes the challenges facing the business of music about format and economies of scale, not piracy (or, at the very least, not piracy alone – not by a long shot, if the “legal” services aren’t generating measurable revenue, either). HOW MUCH DO MUSIC ARTISTS EARN ONLINE? Thanks to David for sharing his lovely music. And I expect, whether you’re a great fan of the album or not, this should get some wheels turning about that album you’ve been trying to finish.

Before even hitting the road with Broken Bells later this month, Berkeley quartet the morning benders have announced that they will also hit the road with The Black Keys later this Summer.  The new dates kick off in July in Washington, DC.

the morning benders fantastic new album, Big Echo, is out now.

Continue reading at FILTERmagazine.com

So we’ve added a neat feature on Let’s Mix which let’s you use a set of hotkeys to randomize mixes! We think of it as randomixing, and it’s helped us come across some pretty good music and users. Other than using search and related mixes to delve into the vast library of mixes and users on Let’s Mix, you could try any of the following when you’re logged into Let’s Mix.

Randomixing House (PC: Alt + Ctrl + H / Mac: Alt + ⌘ + H)
Randomixing Rap (PC: Alt + Ctrl + R / Mac: Alt + ⌘ + R)
Randomixing Electronica (PC: Alt + Ctrl + E / Mac: Alt + ⌘ + E)

Just a little something to start make navigating and discovering music easier should you run out of ideas.

Ryo Murakami, Tiger & Woods and Sascha Dive, that's what. Juno Plus lift the lid of the Berlin duo's currently consuming.

Deadmau5' European tour kicked off this weekend with a double header at London's famous Brixton Academy venue. For the next two weeks, Deadmau5 and his support act Moguai will play shows in Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Luxembourg, Paris, Glasgow, and London. German DJ and producer Moguai recently became the only artist other than the Canadian superstar to release an album on Deadmau5' label Mau5trap - his LP 'We Ar Lyve' was released at the beginning of April. With the mau5 having grown into such a huge worldwide phenomenon, we asked Moguai to send us constant blog dispatches from the tour to keep us up to date with everything that happens on the road. Here is his first video, notes, and photos from this past weekend.

Read more on Beatportal