Ben Folds, Damian Kulash, Amanda Palmer, and Neil Gaiman Rethink How Music Is Made

Ben Folds, Damian Kulash of OK Go, Amanda Palmer and author Neil Gaiman will be performing a music production superstunt on April 25th at Berklee College of Music. From 4 pm to midnight, a mere eight hours, they will write and records eight songs, and release them 10 hours later at the Rethink Music conference in Boston. Their goal is to show how record companies are becoming less essential to music distribution.

This event will be broadcast live from the recording studio at rethink-music.com and the album will be released through Bandcamp.com. Proceeds from the first week of downloads will go to Berklee City Music, which provides free music education to underserved teens.

The next day, April 26th, Folds, Kulash, Palmer, and Gaiman will give a presentation on the recording project at 10:40 a.m. at Rethink Music, and perform a private concert for the lucky people registered for the conference. at the Berklee Performance Center accompanied by Basia Bulat and Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears.

Junk Culture Premiere New Video, “Summer Friends”

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Illegal Art released Junk Culture’s album Summer Friends in February, and now, here’s is the video for the song, “Summer Friends”! It’s funny, slightly retro, colorful, just like the song and a good showcase of the one-man band that is Deepak Mantena.

Watch the video below:

Braids Announce North American Tour With Toro Y Moi

Braids, whose album Native Speaker is out now on Kanine Records, are the latest sensation from Canada and they have just embarked on a tour across the continent with Toro Y Moi. Along their trek, they’ll be stopping by their hometown Montreal, New York City and will wrap up with concerts alongside Of Montreal. Check below for a date near you!

And if you want to explore their a bit first, the band just premiered a remix of their song “Lemonade” by  Landon Spears. Listen to “Lemonade (Lemonparty Bliss Out – Landon Spears Remix)” below:

Here are their upcoming tour dates:

04-05 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle (with Toro Y Moi)
04-06 – Bloomington, IN – The Bishop (with Toro Y Moi)
04-07 – Toronto, ON – Wrongbar (with Toro Y Moi)
04-08 – Montreal, QB – La Sala Rossa (with Toro Y Moi)
04-09 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall (with Toro Y Moi)
04-10 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall Of Williamsburg (with Toro Y Moi)
04-11 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom (with Toro Y Moi)
04-12 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church (with Toro Y Moi)
04-13 – Baltimore, MD – Talking Head (with Toro Y Moi)
04-14 – Washington, DC – Rock And Roll Hotel (with Toro Y Moi)
04-15 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506 (with Toro Y Moi)
05-02 – Montreal, QB – Metropolis (with Of Montreal)
05-03 – Toronto, ON – Phoenix Concert Theatre (with Of Montreal)

The Strokes’ Angles Debuted At #4 On Billboard Charts

The Strokes’ fourth album Angles took a while to come but the bright side for them now is that people rushed to buy it out of excitement! The album has debuted at #4 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart with 88,000 copies sold in its first week. Success also came in other countries; it debuted #3 in the UK, #4 in Canada, and #1 in Australia.

Along with that came praise from – among others – Rolling Stone magazine, who called Angles “the best album that [The Strokes] have made since 2001’s Is This It“, and a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden on Friday April 1st… The Strokes are back!

The Morning Benders Release EP In Support Of Japan Relief Efforts

If you didn’t know, Chris Chu brothers of The Morning Benders was born in Japan. And the band was going to play a concert in Japan this month. In light of the recent disaster over there, and in order to offer all the help they can give, The Morning Benders are releasing Japan Echo, an EP only available on the band’s website, whose proceeds, 100% of them, will be donated to the Japan Society’s Emergency Relief Fund. Get it HERE.

Full EP Tracklisting:
1. Cold War (Star Slinger Remix)
2. Better In Blue
3. Hand Me Downs (Wild Nothing Remix)
4. Excuses (RAC Remix)
5. Mason Jar (Twin Sister Remix)
6. Wet Cement (Aislyn Remix)
7. Little Riot
8. Promises (Star Slinger Remix)

Noah And The Whale Release New Album And New Live Video

Noah and the Whale just released their third album, Last Night On Earth, this week via Mercury Records. And you may have already seen their video for the song “L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N,” but you can now view a live performance of “Give It All Back,” which Charlie Fink, the band’s frontman, says is about “the infatuation you share with your friends for the bands and music you love. Music you feel so passionate about that you’re prepared to humiliate yourself in front of everyone you know.”

Watch the video below: