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Hurray for the Riff Raff Launches “Body Electric Fund”, Listen to Unreleased Song for Trayvon Martin

Hurray for the Riff Raff‘s Alynda Lee Segarra is known for taking a strong stance against hatred, violence, and inequality through her music, weaving social messages into songs like  “The Body Electric”, a moving ballad against gender violence. Today, Hurray for the Riff Raff announced a campaign on indiego go to establish “The Body Electric Fund”, intended to create awareness surrounding and provide financial support for the causes and movements championed in the music.

“The process of writing ‘The Body Electric’ was very powerful for me,” says Hurray For The Riff Raff’s Alynda Lee Segarra. “I felt the waves of a 26-year span of desires to see all women free from violence crash into me. It was anger, a desire for justice and a dream of change…I hope to use our platform as a band to shine the spotlight on those organizations that do the work that can truly change our futures.”

The campaign will support both the creation of a video for “The Body Electric” that will raise awareness of violence against women, minorities and LGBT groups and “the Body Electric Fund” which will in turn benefit a variety of organizations working to promote peace for those in these communities, including the Third Wave Fund and The Trayvon Martin Foundation.

Those who donate $10 or more to the indiegogo campaign will be able to download a previously unreleased track, “Everybody Knows (for Trayvon Martin)”, which premiered at TIME. The band hopes to raise $20,000 to fund the creation of “The Body Electric” video and The Body Electric Fund. $10,000 will go toward the making of a music video which will shed light on violence against women, minorities, and the LGBT community. After the video expenses have been met, the rest of the money raised will go to The Body Electric Fund. The Body Electric Fund is powered by RPM, a nonprofit agency that provides artists with strategy and support for their activism and philanthropy.

About the Third Wave Fund

The Third Wave Fund is the only national fund that supports and strengthens youth-led gender justice activism who proudly bridge feminist, queer, and trans organizers and donor communities for the sake of a stronger, more resourced movement for gender, racial, and economic justice.

About the Trayvon Martin Foundation

The Trayvon Martin Foundation’s purpose is to create awareness of how violent crime impacts the families of the victims and to provide support and advocacy for those families in response to the murder of Trayvon Martin

Hear New Mariachi El Bronx Single “Wildfires”

HEAR NEW MARIACHI EL BRONX SINGLE “WILDFIRES”

Mariachi El Bronx just released the lead single “Wildfires” from their forthcoming new album, ‘Mariachi El Bronx (III),’ out November 4 via ATO Records, and it’s available for streaming here: https://soundcloud.com/thebronxxx/wildfires

Mariachi El Bronx will celebrate the album’s release with a fall West Coast run that will kick off November 5 with a record release show at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. The band will be touring Europe in December, supporting ATO labelmates Gogol Bordello.

With the new album, Mariachi El Bronx added new electronic elements for the first time to its signature acoustic style. Frontman Matt Caughthran found himself confronting dark influences in the lyrics.

“There were things that I thought I had already written out of my system. My dad passing away. Some slip-ups that really dragged me down. But I think that with this record I finally got those monkeys off my back,” he recently told the Wall Street Journal. “There was a time a couple years ago when ego had gotten the best of me, and I made a lot of mistakes. ‘Wildfires’ is about being driven by something that’s stronger and darker than yourself.”

Caughthran wrote the song as local winds were causing fires around the band’s hometown of Los Angeles. But the song ends on a hopeful note as he sings, “How did I survive, burnt but still alive?” He says, “The thing that I love about the soul of mariachi music, and El Bronx, is its feeling of triumph.”

MARIACHI EL BRONX – 2014 TOUR DATES (TICKETS HERE)

West Coast Headline Tour

11/5 – Los Angeles, CA @ The El Rey Theatre

11/6 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ SLO Brewing Co

11/7 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Velvet Jones

11/8 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent

11/10 – Bellingham, WA @ The Wild Buffalo

11/11 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile

11/12 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre

11/14 – Sacramento, CA @ Assembly Music Hall

11/15 – Fresno, CA @ Strummers

Supporting Gogol Bordello

12/1 – Gdansk, POL @ B90

12/2 – Krakow, POL @ Rotunda

12/4 – Warsaw, POL @ Stodola

12/5 – Berlin, GER @ Astra Kulturhaus

12/6 – Osnabrück, GER @ Hyde Park

12/8 – Newcastle, UK @ O2 Academy

12/9 – Liverpool, UK @ O2 Academy

12/11 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Academy

12/12 – Sheffield, UK @ O2 Academy

12/13 – London, UK @ The Roundhouse

12/14 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City

12/16 – Dublin, IRE @ The Academy

Listen to Primus’ “Golden Ticket” from Primus & The Chocolate Factory, Out 10/21

SPIN just premiered the latest track from Primus’ upcoming album Primus & The Chocolate Factory, the band’s dark, strange interpretation of the classic “Golden Ticket” from the 1971 Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory film.

SPIN says, “Heard below, that memorable cut from the film is reborn with help from bounding bass, chiming vibes, Claypool’s deep warble, and a handful of eerie effects — taken all together, this is the aural march of a demented carnival barker leading a band of skeletons wielding toy instruments. Our conductor and colonel’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade pitch in on the album too (credited as the Fungi Ensemble), making for a robust bunch of tried and true rock experimentalists, playing in service of a canonical slab of cinematic psychedelia.”

Listen to the track below, and check out their tour dates, including recently added shows on the West Coast. Tickets are available at http://primusville.com/tickets/.

Primus tour dates:

October 22 – Upper Darby, PA @ Tower Theatre
October 24 – Albany, NY @ Palace Theatre
October 25 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
October 26 – Burlington, VT @ Flynn Center for Performing Arts
October 28 – Waterbury, CT @ Palace Theater
October 29 – Baltimore, MD @ Hippodrome
October 31 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
November 1 – New Brunswick, NJ @ State Theatre
November 2 – Rochester, NY @ Main Street Armory
November 3 – Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit
November 5 – St. Louis, MO @ Peabody Opera House
November 7 – Cincinnati, OH @ Taft Theatre
November 8 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
November 9 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
November 11 – Miami Beach, FL @ The Fillmore Miami Beach at The Jackie Gleason Theater
November 12 – Clearwater, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall
November 14 – Biloxi, MS @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
November 15 – Austin, TX @ ACL live at the Moody Theater
November 16 – Dallas, TX @ The Majestic Theatre
November 17 – San Antonio, TX @ Majestic Theatre
November 19 – Phoenix, AZ @ Orpheum Theatre Phoenix
November 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Orpheum Theatre LA
November 22 – Escondido, CA @ Center for the Arts
December 31 – Oakland, CA # Fox Theater*
January 2 – Portland, OR @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
January 3 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theater

*annual New Year’s show, without Chocolate Factory

Jessica Lea Mayfield – No Fun (Live)

Fly Golden Eagle – Horses’s Mouth (Official Live Video)

Fly Golden Eagle joins ATO Roster, “Quartz” Out 10/14!

We’re incredibly excited to announce the newest addition to the ATO Records roster: Nashville’s own Fly Golden Eagle. Their upcoming album Quartz will be released on October 14, and they’re heading out on tour with labelmates J. Roddy Walston & The Business (scroll down for dates, tickets are available on their website). Read more about the album below:

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When you lower the needle down onto a Fly Golden Eagle record, you’ll hear a few different things at once. You’ll hear the stomp-heavy drama of T. Rex. You’ll hear the swirling colors and textures of The Doors. You’ll even here a growl of punk rock mixed effortlessly with the choral echoes of the gospel church. And it is all of these – the psych-rock-glam-funk-gospel sounds – that unify to fully form this Nashville quartet and their upcoming LP, Quartz, the band’s first-ever release on ATO Records.

 

“I wanted this album to be a real reflection of the whole band effort, of the vibes of us playing together,” said founding member and lead singer Ben Trimble. “I want people to listen to it and be able to feel the chemistry.”

This was a definite contrast from Fly Golden Eagle’s previous psych-funk release, Swagger, and Trimble’s work through-and-through.

“It [Swagger] was my thing,” he describes. “Quartz is about something bigger.”

To be released on October 14th, Quartz is a 26-song epic, a collection of songs that join together to form a narrative arc describing a story that is sometimes vulgar, sometimes profane, and sometimes beautiful. The album lines up with the groundbreaking 1973 film The Holy Mountain, an avant-garde masterpiece directed by Alejandro Jodorowski, produced by The Beatles’ manager Allen Klein, and funded by John Lennon and George Harrison. Trimble found himself inspired by the film while writing the material that would become Quartz. It was not a given that the music and the movie would run in tandem, but as Trimble continued to write the through-lines of both works matched up, leading to an inspirational set piece of visuals, music, and story.

These combined efforts are certainly evident in the overall power of the record that also translates to Quartz Bijou, a 12-song abbreviated version of its originally intended 26-track version, Quartz. Bijou ebbs and flows seamlessly; it’s a deeply satisfying stand-alone musical effort, with the bonus realization that there’s more to be heard and experienced.

Fly Golden Eagle has also worked extensively with Andrija Tokic, cut music in The Bomb Shelter, and played on some of the most significant albums representing the new Nashville sound, including Benjamin Booker, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Majestico and Alabama Shakes. They have also toured with Alabama Shakes and other acts including Dr. Dog, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, the Arctic Monkeys and more. Coming off of summer festival performances at Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, the band will hit the road this month with rollicking rock quartet J. Roddy Walston & The Business, dates below.

Whether live or on record, Fly Golden Eagle’s music is a ride and it’s one that you should take as often as you can, with the volume turned up. Just say yes to the question posed in slinky seduction of “Horses Mouth:” “I’m never bending to the imitations/ Why don’t you come and take a trip with me?”

Tour Dates

9/11 – New York, NY – Glasslands

9/13 – Burlington, VT – Nectar’s

9/26 – Chattanooga, TN – JJ’s Bohemia

9/27 – Charlotte, NC – Double Door Inn

9/28 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theatre#

9/29 – Asheville, NC – The Mothlight at Mr. Fred’s

9/30 – Athens, GA – Georgia Theatre#

10/1 – Oxford, MS – The Lyric Oxford#

10/2 – Jackson, MS – Duling Hall

10/4 – Norman, OK – Opolis

10/6 – Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck#

10/7 – St. Louis, MO – Plush#

10/8 – Fayetteville, AR – George’s Majestic Lounge#

10/13 – Tucson, AZ – The Flycatcher#

10/14 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up Tavern#

10/15 – Los Angeles, CA – The Satellite

10/16 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubador#

10/17 – San Fran, CA – The Independent

10/20 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge#

10/22 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile

10/27 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater#

10/29 – Dallas, TX – Trees#

10/30 – Houston, TX – Fitzgeralds#

10/31 – Little Rock, AR – Stickyz Rock N Roll Chicken Shack#

11/2 – Birmingham, AL – Workplay Theater#

11/3 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West#

11/4 – Winston Salem, NC – Ziggys#

11/6 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair#

11/7 – New York, NY – Stage 48#

11/8 – Philadelphia, PA – Theater of Living Arts#

# = with J. Roddy Walston & The Business

Benjamin Booker Debut Out NOW!

We’re incredibly excited to bring you the debut album from New Orleans based blues-punk wunderkind Benjamin Booker. You can pick up the vinyl or CD at Benjamin’s store, download it now from iTunes, or listen to the album in its entirety at NPR First Listen.

Check out his blistering performance of “Have You Seen My Son?” on CONAN, and read what the critics have to say about his debut below:

“A fierce debut.” – Rolling Stone “Contender for rock record of the year.” – SPIN “The #1 Under the Radar Artist You Should Be Listening to Right Now” – TIME Magazine “a raucous, unruly mix of punk, blues rock and soul” – New York Times “The suavest kid in Southern Rock.” – GQ “If you’ve not heard of Benjamin Booker yet, get ready.” – NPR

Benjamin Booker’s self-titled debut album is out now on ATO Records. Benjamin Booker is a young New Orleans based singer-songwriter, influenced by The Gun Club, Blind Willie Johnson, and T. Rex. The album has already earned early raves from SPIN (“a contender for rock record of the year”), GQ (“The suavest kid in Southern Rock”), Rolling Stone (“a fierce debut”), ELLE (“The god we’ve been waiting for”) and Vice (“a layer cake of guitar shredding, incorporating Dinosaur Jr. quality riffs with an insistent, punk-like forward motion”).

When Benjamin Booker played Lollapalooza, Rolling Stone named him the weekend’s Best Rock Star Moment (“though Lollapalooza is always filled with countless rock acts, Booker may have been the strongest and most refreshing”). When he played Newport Folk Fest, Billboard named him the second best performance of the entire event (“a tight, raucous set that comes with enough well-placed gaps in the riffage onslaught to highlight his searching, soulful lyrics”). When he toured opening for Jack White, Jack brought him back out during his own set for a show-closing guitar duel.

Naming him the first of ten July “Artists You Need To Know” last week, Rolling Stone said Benjamin sounds like “Howlin’ Wolf’s scrawny, bipolar little cousin discovered a fuzzbox.” Watch his “Violent Shiver” live video:

Directed by Rick Alverson (‘The Comedy’ and videos for Sharon Van Etten & Bonnie Prince Billy), “Have You Seen My Son” finds Benjamin roaming an abandoned Virginia prison in stark, beautiful black & white. Watch here:

 

Benjamin Booker Tour Dates

08/20 – San Francisco CA @ Brick & Mortar

08/21 – Los Angeles CA @ The Echo

08/22 – San Diego CA @ Soda Bar

08/24 – Los Angeles CA @ FYF Fest

09/25 – Nashville TN @ High Watt #

09/26 – Louisville KY @ Zanzabar #

09/27 – Chicago IL @ Schubas #

09/29 – St. Paul MN @ Turf Club #

10/01 – Kansas City MO @ The Record Bar #

10/03 – Dallas TX @ Three Links

10/04 – Austin TX @ Austin City Limits Festival

10/10 – Austin TX @ Continental Club

10/11 – Austin TX @ Austin City Limits Festival

10/17 – Birmingham AL @ The Bottletree #

10/18 – Atlanta GA @ Vinyl #

10/20 – Washington DC @ U St. Music Hall #

10/21 – Philadelphia PA @ World Cafe Live – Downstairs #

10/22 – Cambridge MA @ TT The Bear’s #

10/24 – Tallahassee FL @ Club Downunder

10/25 – Tampa FL @ Coral Skies Festival

10/26 – West Palm Beach FL @ Coral Skies Festival

10/29 – Orlando FL @ The Social

10/30 – Gainesville FL @ High Dive

10/31 – Mobile AL @ Soul Kitchen

11/01 – New Orleans LA @ Voodoo Music Experience

SOJA – I Believe (Feat. Michael Franti & Nahko)

STARS Announce New Album ‘No One Is Lost’ (Out Oct. 14) and Headlining Tour

NPR Music Premieres First New Song “From The Night:” http://shorefi.re/XWHlbJ

Pre-Order ‘No One is Lost’ On iTunes: http://smarturl.it/StarsNoOneIsLost

STARS have confirmed the October 14 release of their new album ‘No One Is Lost’ (ATO Records) and a headlining North American tour, including shows at NYC’s Modern Sky Festival plus dates in DC, Boston, Chicago and more (full schedule below). The follow-up to 2012’s ‘The North,’ ‘No One is Lost’ is comprised of 11 original songs and was produced by STARS and Liam O’Neil (Metric, The Stills). NPR Music premiered “From The Night,” the lead track off the record, calling it “a misnomer to describe a song about embracing darkness as ‘sunny,’ but its silver linings – “Let’s be young / Let’s pretend that we never will die” – are as insistent as the propulsive thump of the chorus.” Listen here.

“From The Night” revels in the chances you take and the loves you make or break on any given evening. Lead singer/songwriter Torquil Campbell explains, “I always find it so moving and beautiful to watch people have their nights out. There’s something so heartbreaking about it. People have jobs that they have to get up for, jobs they hate, and they live for the weekend; they live for these moments. And they put everything they have into it.”

For ‘No One Is Lost,’ STARS craved autonomy, and serendipitously inherited the Mile End rehearsal space last December above the now defunct, Royal Phoenix nightclub in Montreal. STARS built a functional studio out of the former space of then-disbanding Handsome Furs (and site of Arcade Fire’s first rehearsals); Mile End became a home away from home. Then the nightclub (and life) crept in, resulting in STARS’ most urgent record to date. Drummer Pat McGee explains, “The sub-bass throb coming from the club below our studio was undeniably and unavoidably influential. It motivated us to out-throb the throb.”

“This record’s called ‘No One Is Lost’ because that is a fucking lie,” says Torquil. “We are all lost, we are all going to lose this game and, as you get older, you lose people more and more. I just wanted to close my eyes and jump and hope that was true. Life is loss, love is loss. And loving people is about accepting that you’re going to have to say goodbye to them. And that’s why it’s fucking brave. That’s STARS ethos: this life is very heartbreaking and sad… so let’s get completely fucking arseholed and listen to some Dionne Warwick.”

‘No One Is Lost’ translates all that anxiety into pure ecstasy, from the laser-cut new-waved precision of Millan’s “This Is the Last Time” to the soaring, Mozzerific chorus of Campbell’s “Trap Door,” to the dreamy duet “Look Away.” And the titanic title track – the sound of a dancefloor being swallowed whole by an ocean of sweat and swapped spit – feels like the moment STARS entire 15-year journey has been leading up to, a euphoric house banger that distills all the hope, fear, joy, sadness, and sex in the band’s songbook into a pair of unshakeable mantras: “put your hands up because everybody dies / put your hands up if you know you’re going to lose.”

‘No One Is Lost’ Tracklist:

1. From The Night

2. This Is The Last Time

3. You Keep Coming Up

4. Turn It Up

5. No Better Place

6. What Is To Be Done?

7. Trap Door

8. Are You OK?

9. A Stranger

10. Look Away

11. No One Is Lost

STARS 2014 Tour Dates:

08/18 – Stratford ON, Canada @ Stratford Music Fest

08/30 – Calgary AB, Canada @ Xfest

08/31 – Edmonton AB, Canada @ Sonic Boom

09/07 – Toronto ON, Canada @ Riot Fest Toronto

10/05 – New York, NY @ Modern Sky Festival (Central Park)

11/08 – Portland, ME @ Port City Music Hall

11/09 – Boston, MA @ Royale

11/12 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer

11/13 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club

11/14 – Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre

11/15 – Atlanta, GA @ The Loft

11/16 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge

11/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue

11/21 – Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre

11/22 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre

11/23 – Buffalo, NY @ The Tralf

STARS is: Amy Millan, Evan Cranley, Patrick McGee, Chris Seligman and Torquil Campbell, with Chris McCarron.

STARS On The Web:

http://www.youarestars.com/home/

https://www.facebook.com/starsstars

https://twitter.com/youarestars

http://www.youtube.com/user/StarsMontreal

Benjamin Booker – Have You Seen My Son?