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The often-rumored, seldom-believed, sometimes-feared-to-be-mythical Jim Boggia live album has finally, factually found its way into physical form. Jim Boggia Live: Ample Seating Available - an album that lets you re-live the memories of stellar live performances most people weren’t around for to have memories of having lived in the first place! I thought this would never happen - but Jim Boggia's Live Record is finally ready for preorder. You have three options: 15 USD: Ample Seating Available (1 CD, signed) 25 USD: Ample Seating Available + Live in Japan at Cafe Goatee (2 CDs, signed) 35 USD: Ample Seating Available + Live in Japan at Cafe Goatee + Handmade Live Rarities (3 CDs, signed) Buy it HERE!

The new band of Brian E. King (Oranjuly) is called Parks . Their first single " Sweater Weather " is streaming on bandcamp.com (see below). To make it short: it's a blast. Give us a full record, Brian! Sweater Weather by Parks

Again a bit early this year (but hey, it's tradition!): here they are - My Top Ten Records of 2012 : 1. Mike Viola - Acousto de Perfecto With a LP-friendly two sided concept of Acousto De Perfecto , half new songs half new interpretations of older songs and all the StageIt.com web-concerts, giveaways (Kenmore Square), the tip fight (resulting in Future Horror Hockey Game ) , the superb Fac ebook Fan Grou p (you pe ople are the best!) , the complete Mike Viola discography project and the re-release of the Blue Thumb Candy Butchers record it was a very very special year regarding Mike Viola.  Highlights: Secret Radio, I'm Your Dog, God Give Me Strength, Hair Of The Dog , Date Night 2. David Myhr - Soundshine Soundshine is a record title which couldn't fit better. This album is so uplifting, positive and listenable, it shines. Highlights: I Love The Feeling, Looking For A Life, Got You Where He Wanted, Loveblind 3. Air Traffic Controlle...

It's only 24 days until Christmas Eve: here is my Mix Tape for Xmas 2012 - hope you like it: 01 - Kelly Jones - Kissing Santa On Christmas Eve 02 - Mike Viola - Give Me A Second Chance For Christmas  03 - She & Him - The Christmas Waltz  04 - Bleu - Cold, Cold Christmas  05 - Jim Boggia - Christmas Baby Please  06 - The Nines - It's Christmas  07 - Farrah - Santa Don't Go 08 - Travis - Alone On Christmas Day  09 - Jet - Back Door Santa 10 - Ron Sexsmith - Maybe This Christmas  11 - Aimee Mann - Whatever Happened To Christmas  12 - Ben Folds Five - Stumblin' Home Winter Blues  13 - Eels - Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas  14 - David Mead - Christmas Is So Far Away  15 - She & Him - Baby, It's Cold Outside  16 - The Nines - Winter Song  17 - Billy Mack - Christmas Is All Around  18 - Jim Boggia - Christmas Wish  19 - The Pogues - Fairytale Of New York 20 - The Darkness - Chr...

Kelly Jones , known for her stellar record SheBANG! from 2008 (which was produced by Mike Viola) and the Melon EP (2010) returns this Christmas with the single Kissing Santa On Christmas Eve . The song is an instant classic. Kelly is featured on vocals and glockenspiel, along with Mike Viola (guitars, bass, keyboards, also he produced the song), Eric  Summer (strings) and Scott Seiver (drums). Kissing Santa On Christmas Eve is available online ( amazon.com and  iTunes ) December 4th, 2012. You won't be disappointed - it is a perfect christmas song! Listen here: Kelly is also featured in the Bleusikal - the short musical for To Hell With You - the new record by Bleu ( see my last post ).

William James McAuley III , or as you may also know him - Bleu - releases his new record To Hell With You in February 2013. And he started a crowd funding campaign for it at Pledgemusic.com. You can get autographed CDs, handwritten lyrics, house concerts (international!), a special for the 10th anniversary of the Readhead record (which is a very cool idea), skype concerts and he even produces your own EP! So folks - you know what you have to do! See more here: Bleu at Pledgemusic Watch the promo video - it's the Bleusikal - mini-musical (featuring Kelly Jones): Listen to three of the new songs at soundcloud:

Bleu - New record The new Bleu record is out in February 2013. You can listen to two of his new songs here: Oh, and there's a Bleu Fan Group on Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/240351826090477/ Mike Viola - Candy Butchers on vinyl The never released first Candy Butchers record (some will know it as The Blue Thumb record ) gets a very limited re-release.  More information here: http://www.mikeviola.com/candy-butchers-lp-gmmr-008-preorder It includes: LP, CD and digital download (all the mixes on the LP, a live concert from 1996 in New York City, home demos from Mike’s Bethune Street apartment).  So people, hurry. This is preorder over soon! Sunday Sun - EP I, II & III physical release The three EPs of Sunday Sun are for sale now as a 3CD set in a beautiful package here:  http://www.sundaysunmusic.com/ Neil Finn (Crowded House) - closing song for The Hobbit The closing song for the New ...

So, there are two new bands I'd like to share with you here. The first one is Hi-Electric . If you like PowerPop and bands like Fountains Of Wayne, Semisonic or *gasp* Big Star , you should listen to their self-titled debut record which is out now. The band - led by Neil Bartlett, backed by bassist Alan Yee and drummer Henry Talbot - is ready to take Hi-Electric outside of the city limits of Memphis, Tennessee. Highlights: Tightrope, They're Only Words, Can't Say, It's Not You Listen to Hi-Electric at soundcloud: Official site: http://hi-electric.com Official site : hi-electric.com

So, new band number two: Didn't Planet . They started as a cover band, after ten years they began to write their own songs which lead to the record We're Going Nowhere . It is a concept album about being a cover band. Being a cover band is explained by Didn't Planet : "We know it ain’t easy. Friends that 'promise to be there on Friday night… REALLY!' bar owners who inexplicably can’t remember who you are after 7 years of booking with them, countless requests for songs you don’t play, and even more countless requests to 'turn down the drums.' Add to that the sheer number of us out there... if cover bands were pigeons, Greater Boston would be Harvard Square at lunchtime. Thousands, identical to the untrained eye, all vying for the same French Fries ." Musically Didn't Planet is settled somewhere between alternative rock (Green Day) and power pop (Fountains Of Wayne). Now for the songs: MaryAnne(e) and We're Going Nowhere are...

This is the third time Mike Viola is guest at The Time Machine with Michael McCartney . Listen here:

You never heard of Dustin Cann ? Me neither. Til today. Listen! Dustin, this is a extraordinary first single. Keep going! Official website: www.dustincann.com

Ken Stringfellow is a musician, songwriter, producer and arranger with more than 20 years of music experience. His band The Posies releases critically acclaimed records since 1988, he was part of rock legends Big Star and spent ten years on the road and in studio with R.E.M. Ken's onstage and on-album appearances range from Snow Patrol to Neil Young , Patti Smith and Death Cab For Cutie . He even had time to put out three solo albums - 1997: This Sounds Like Goodbye , 2001: Touched and 2004: Soft Commands . Ken is set release his fourth album, " Danzig in the Moonlight " October 1st on Lojinx in Europe. By the way, I love the wordplay with the album title. I wonder how many people misread it. Track list: 1. Jesus Was An Only Child 2. 110 Or 220 V 3. Superwise 4. Shittalkers 5. History Buffs 6. You're The Gold 7. Drop Your Pride 8. Pray 9. 4am Birds - The End of All Light - The Last Radio 10. Odorless, Colorless, Tasteless 11. Even the...

" Sunday Sun provides the ideal soundtrack for carefree days with timeless pop songs to fall in love." This is from the official website from Sunday Sun . Though it looks like a cliché, it fits perfectly to them. The band is the brainchild of Koen-Willem Toering, Yoshi Breen, Wouter Rentema and Jan Strasbourg, they come from the Netherlands (you may suggested it already). EP I and EP II are already out - EP III is released on October 12, 2012. And I highly recommend them to you. Please listen below. By the way: thanks to Miyuki who introduced them to me. I'd missed so much good music without your help! I by Sunday Sun II by Sunday Sun Official website: www.sundaysunmusic.com

There are loads of new record releases either out this month or coming in the next weeks. Let's start with... Freddie Mercury - Barcelona (Special Edition) “ I’m moving into opera now. Forget rock and roll ” Freddie Mercury (1987) 25 years after the original release, Queen singer Freddie Mercury ’s Barcelona album recorded in collaboration with Spanish operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé , is to have a special re-release. The record will get a fully orchestrated rework. It'll be available on CD, CD Special Edition (CD1: A full orchestrated rework of the Barcelona album, CD2: Rarities from the Barcelona sessions, CD3: Barcelona instrumental version and a DVD with videos and interviews) and on vinyl (release: September 3 2012). Listen to the samples here: Aimee Mann - Charmer Aimee 's all new record Charmer is available for preorder (release: September 18, 2012) on CD and Vinyl (you can also get things like a Charmer turntable slip mat and...

One of the two singer songwriters that were the initial reasons for this blog* - Bleu McAuley - will have a new record out. It is set for February 2013, and the first song from it - It's Not Over ('Til it's Over And Done) - is streaming on soundcloud. It's musically located somewhere between Four and Redhead . The song is more electronic, powerful and gripping. If this is an indication for the direction of the new record, I'm jazzed! Icing on the cake: It was written by Bleu and David Mead ! * The other artist is not hard to guess by means of my last posts...

On August 15th 2012 there was a Mike Viola web show at stageit.com (Notes from Underground #3). The result of this show was the song Future Horror Hockey Games . It's a song about a tip fight of two guys - Alex & Andy - at this web show (and yes, one of them is me...). The song is available here: Lyrics - Future Horror Hockey Games Andy is a super fan from Germany Alex just finished college with a bachelors degree This song is the story of how they lost themselves It starts on August 15th 2012 They were bidding in an online forum for the song I am singing now The bidding started innocent but ended in thousands and Thousand of tokens neither could afford But it's so hard not to rush in Once you open that door There was  a secret weapon that Alex had in mind Launched at the last second at a very specific time All the fans around him would cower at his feet Except for one called Leschnik he was impossible to beat Andy used his super powers at the end of the fight C...

The Blue Thumb album on vinyl The long lost Blue Thumb album of The Candy Butchers will be released by Mike Viola this Christmas. It'll likely include the album on vinyl, a CDR and also bonus tracks. Stay tuned! Some words of its development and the sad end of the project: After the recording was finished the album was mixed and re-mixed several times and a potential single pulled and mixed by Bob Clearmountain. Lots of money was spent. Sadly, Blue Thumb went belly up (“it wasn’t our fault!”) and the Candy Butchers debut album was never released. Our manager shopped the finished record around but we had amassed such a debt from all the re-mixing (a decision made by the powers that had been) nobody wanted to sign us cause they’d be taking on all this debt. It was crazy. I was sitting on this record that was basically my life’s work up to that point. Knowing in the back of my mind it would never be released.  See also mikeviola.com and his Faceboo...