SPECTRE Artists take over KEXP tomorrow!

SPECTRE works with KEXP to transcend all charts and go beyond the promotional walls to share with them an in-studio experience with a couple of SPECTRE's biggest artist of 2008! The Dirtbombs hitting the Top 20 at CMJ join KEXP in-studio and live on the air at NOON PST.

Atmosphere just dropped it's brand-new album and will share live some samples from the record at 3pm PST.

KEXP is one of the leading non-commerical radio station in the United States--having now branched out even further, broadcasting in New York City!!

And as always, you can listen online at KEXP.org

Our friends over at Tender Loving Empire are turning one! And THEY’RE THROWING A BIRTHDAY PARTY ON MAY 11TH!! And it’s gonna be so so so so so so so fun! Mark your calendars!

Here’s all the info:

What: The ALL AGES Tender Loving Empire 1st Birthday Party!
When: Sunday, May 11th. Doors open at 7pm Music starts at 8pm (so
we can fit in ALL 7 BANDS!!)
Where: Berbati’s Pan (213 SW Ankeny St., Portland, OR 97204)
Who: Finn Riggins
Jared Mees & The Grown Children
Super XX Man
Boy Eats Drum Machine
Nadine Mooney
Southern Belle
Newspapers
Special Side Show Guests

What else?: We’ll be releasing our first ever FRIENDS AND FRIENDS
OF FRIENDS COMPILATION that night! The FIRST 50 PEOPLE THROUGH
THE DOOR WILL RECEIVE A FREE FAFOF COMP!! After that they’ll be $2
all night and then $5 at the TLE store or website! The comp
includes tracks by Finn Riggins, Super XX Man, Jared Mees & The
Grown Children, Eskimo and Sons Starving Daughters, Nadine Mooney,
Southern Belle, Boy Eats Drum Machine, The Righteous and
Harmonious Fists, Small Sur, Newspapers, Dash!, Nick Caceres, Mill
Race, Lions and Lambs, Le Fleur, HillFolk Noir, Church, Sister
Suvi, and Orem the Sink,
You and all your friends are invited!!! Hope to see you there!

GANG OF FOUR MINUS TWO

The original and best-loved line-up of famed post-punk icons Gang of Four reunited in 2005 to great acclaim and success - unfortunately all good things must come to an end. Bassist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham are moving on, although singer Jon King and guitar-player Andy Gill will continue, focusing on writing and recording new music as Gang of Four. Burnham last performed with the band at All Tomorrow’s Parties in the UK in December 2006, while Allen played a few shows alongside drummer Mark Heaney in 2007, and recently worked on new material with King and Gill. Read More

Scarlett Johansson: Please No Lindsay Lohan Comparisons
Posted Tue Apr 29 by Billy Johnson, Jr. in Video Ga Ga

Isn't Lindsay Lohan's "Rumors" song and video exactly what you expected when you heard that the then teenage actress was planning to release a pop record? It was full of paparazzi angst, hip hop choreography and drum machine effects. It made you think Britney as did Paris Hilton's "Stars Are Blind."

These tabloid darlings clearly didn't give the impression that they intended for anyone to take them seriously. Mission accomplished.

Equally as beautiful, though an acclaimed actress, Scarlett Johansson shows them how it's supposed to be done with her May 20 singing debut, Anywhere I Lay My Head, for which she sings 10 Tom Waits covers and one original song.

Read more and see the Video here!

After celebrating the launch of the second year of the Free Yr Radio campaign at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, TX, in March, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (TMS) announced today details about this year’s Free Yr Radio program—including some of the bands slated to perform in the upcoming concert series as well as this year’s partner radio stations. Created in 2007 by Toyota Yaris and Urban Outfitters, the Free Yr Radio campaign equips its partner independent radio stations with tools to increase exposure and listener support through various promotional activities—including the free station-hosted concerts.

This year's concert series will consist of 10 shows, from May through October. Each concert will be hosted by a partner independent radio station. Although each show is free, concert-goers must present an invite upon entry. Invites can be printed at www.FreeYrRadio.com prior to each concert.

Confirmed tour dates, bands, locations and corresponding benefit stations include:

May 21 White Williams benefiting WERS – Boston, MA
June 14 !!! benefiting Ohio-FM – Columbus, OH
July 23 Mudhoney and No Age benefiting KEXP – Seattle, WA
July 30 Yeasayer benefiting The Current – the Twin Cities, MN

Specific details about each show—including location and time—can be found at FreeYrRadio.com. The additional tour dates will be announced later this spring.

In addition to generating awareness and support through the promotional concerts, participating radio stations are also given the opportunity to award a brand new Toyota Yaris to a listener to help boost fundraising or listener appreciation efforts. Each partner station will also receive proceeds from a Free Yr Radio compilation that will be released at the end of this year's campaign.

Confirmed 2008 Free Yr Radio partner independent radio stations include:

KEXP Seattle, WA
KRCL Salt Lake City, UT
KUSF San Francisco, CA
OHIO.FM Columbus, OH
The Current the Twin Cities, MN
WERS Boston, MA
WPRB Princeton, NJ
WVUM Miami, FL

New York’s Wordless Music Series is about to make its first appearance in Portland, OR...

Holocene and SPECTRE Entertainment Group are proud to bring New York’s renowned Wordless Music Series to Portland, Oregon. The Wordless Music Series “is devoted to the idea that the sound worlds of classical and contemporary instrumental music – in genres such as indie rock, free jazz, and electronic music– share more in common than conventional thinking might suggest. To illustrate the continuity between these worlds, the series will pair rock and electronic musicians in an intimate concert setting with more traditionally understood classical and chamber music performers. In so doing, the series will bring together audiences and introduce listeners of both classical and contemporary music to composers they might not otherwise encounter, for a completely new concert experience. It will also demonstrate that the various boundaries and genre distinctions segregating music today – ‘popular’ and ‘classical’; ‘uptown’ and ‘downtown’; ‘high’ art and ‘low’ – are an artificial construction in need of dismantling.”

As Oregonians, we pride ourselves on being eclectic. Our food, our weather, our lifestyles, and, yes, our music tastes, run a remarkable gamut. With Wordless Music, we seek to embrace that outlook; this first pairing of concerts features one electronic and one classical headliner, one “traditional” venue and one church, one strictly 21+ and one all-ages event. But, ultimately, these concerts are more about what the artists have in common than anything else.

On Thursday, April 17, Stars of the Lid will perform with a string quartet and projections, on a program opened by electronic composer and Ghostly recording artist Christopher Willits. Also appearing will be members of Portland’s Classical Revolution PDX, to perform Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 in C minor and Arvo Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel for piano and viola. The two-day kickoff event continues on Friday, April 18, at the Old Church, where Portland native and Wordless Music favorite Eluvium will make his second appearance for the series, on a program with local new-music ensemble Third Angle, which will perform chamber music by Chen Yi, Zoltan Kodály, and Portland composers Tomas Svoboda and David Schiff. Tickets to both inaugural Portland Wordless Music events can be purchased at brownpapertickets.comand local Jackpot Records stores.

Portland’s Wordless Music Series will continue with additional pairings of shows, with more to be announced this summer.

WORDLESS MAKES PITCHFORK'S TOP NEWS!

Portishead have linked up with Current TV for an exclusive 40-minute broadcast performance. The show includes eight songs from their new album, Third, and will air multiple times on the television channel over the following week.

April 14, 2008 at 8pm EST / 5pm PST
April 15, 2008 at 3am EST / 12am PST
April 16, 2008 at 6pm EST / 3pm PST
April 17, 2008 at 12pm EST / 9am PST
April 18, 2008 at 12am EST / 9pm PST

Don't have Cable? Don't worry! Stream it here!

Rhymesayers and Rose Presents bring you Soundset 08: the official Midwest kick-off festival of the summer with eight hours of the best independent Hip Hop music in one day.

Confirmed artists for Soundset 08 include: Atmosphere, Dilated Peoples, Aesop Rock w/ Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz, Little Brother, DJ Babu, Rhettmatic, J-Rocc of the World Famous Beat Junkies, Brother Ali, Eyedea & Abilities, P.O.S, Blueprint, Mac Lethal, Abstract Rude, I Self Devine, Musab, Psalm One, Grayskul, Los Nativos and more to be announced!

In 1997, Rhymesayers gathered over two dozen local artists and more than a dozen local DJs and B-Boy's to perform at a South Minneapolis warehouse until dawn to a capacity-filled crowd. Two years later, Rhymesayers expanded the concept at First Avenue, with Soundset Wednesdays, drawing a crowd of over 1700 people for the opening night and maintaining sellout capacity for its entire run. This was the birth of Soundset and a catalyst for the success of Rhymesayers, now one of indie Hip Hop's most successful and respected labels worldwide.

On stage, Soundset 08, year one. Atmosphere, fresh off their sixth studio album, When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold and a 20-city album release tour, come back home to Minneapolis to headline Soundset 08. As forerunners of the independent west coast rap movement, the legendary Dilated Peoples (Evidence, Rakaa Iriscience and DJ Babu) will join us from Los Angeles, CA. On the wheels of steel, from the West Coast, we welcome the World Famous Beat Junkies (DJ Rhettmatic, J-Rocc and DJ Babu), performing individual DJ sets. Reigning from NYC's Def Jux camp, Aesop Rock, along with Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz, return to Minneapolis after last year's sold out performance at First Ave. North Carolina MC's, Phonte and Big Pooh, aka Little Brother bring to the stage one of the finest shows in Hip Hop. After much broad critical acclaim for his Undisputed Truth album, Brother Ali is set to deliver his raw emotion and political views to the Twin Cities. Rhymesayers' artist and local hero, P.O.S, of Doomtree fame, returns to the Dome parking lot after performing there on last year's Warped Tour. 16 artists performing on the main stage, a second stage with additional local artists, a slow & low custom car show, skate demo and more fun for the whole family!

GENERAL INFORMATION:
Rhymesayers Entertainment and Rose Presents
Soundset 08
Date: Sunday, May 25, 2008
Venue: Metrodome Parking Lot
Address: 34 kirby pucket place (outdoor parking lot 11th ave & 5th street), minneapolis, mn 55415
Ages: all ages
Doors: 11:00AM (rain or shine)

Sponsored by - B96, The Current and The Onion

Tickets:
Special fan-pre sale, 3 days only
Fan Pre sale $20 available at www.ducatking.com and Fifth Element on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 11:00am CST
National On Sale Date Saturday, April 12, 2008, Tickets $25 at Ticketmaster
Week of show starting May 19, 2008 Tickets $30

Don’t Miss Del the Funky Homosapien on The Late Late show with Craig Ferguson – April 10th

Del the Funky Homosapien is set to bring the funk to late night on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Thursday, April 10th. Del will be performing the single, “Workin’ It,” from his new album, 11th Hour (Definitive Jux). The latest CD from the seminal rapper also hit #1 on CMJ’s Hip-Hop chart last week, in addition to debuting as the #1 Top New Artist on the Nielsen Soundscan HeatSeekers Chart, #12 on the Rap Charts and #34 on the R& B Charts.

Del also recently appeared as a guest on one of NYC’s biggest NPR shows, Soundcheck, with John Schafer and New Yorker scribe, Kelefa Sanneh, as well as dropping by to judge the competition on BET’s 106 & Park Freestyle Friday.

Del’s US tour continues with additional west coast dates:

04/10: Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
04/12: Los Angeles, CA @ USC
04/19: Irvine, CA @ UC Irvine
04/25: Berkeley, CA @ UC Berkeley, Red Bull Music Academy Workshop
04/26: Reno, NV @ The New Oasis
05/02: Santa Cruz, CA @ Catalyst
05/03: San Luis Obispo, CA @ Outdoor Festival