June 10, 2009

April 25, 2009

March 27, 2009

The Lovemakers finish recording -- set to release "Let's Be Friends"

The Federalists Hit Cover of SF Chronicle Datebook -- "New Bay Area band to watch"

All Three "Blueprints of Jazz" Chart in Top 50 for Jazz Radio

The Lovemakers are set to release their sophomore full-length album Let's Be Friends via iTunes on September 8th with national retail hitting September 15th through Fontana distribution. The Bay Area favorites, fronted by Lisa Light and Scott Blonde, further venture into the world of rock where epic, driving guitars trade melodies with buzzing synths. Produced by San Francisco’s Talking House Productions, nods to the pop-dance philosophy of Blondie and INXS and contemporaries such as Metric and The Raveonettes can be heard throughout. Vocal duties are shared on each track reflecting the real life banter between these dueling personalities.

A video was recently shot for the first single "Love Is Dead" - a look back at the troubled times when the formerly coupled Blonde and Light were transitioning from lovers to friends while remaining bandmates. The title track best explains the current relationship between the two - that of friends who remain extremely close even if they annoy each other sometimes. The anthemic "See What I Wanna See" is sure to be a standout track as Light - channeling Joan Jett in her "I Love Rock 'n Roll" glory - makes her priorities known. Being broke and having fun is a hell of a lot more fulfilling than being miserable and driving around in a fancy car.

Let's Be Friends comes after years of traversing the unstable terrain of the music industry. Last time we heard from The Lovemakers, they released a 5-song, 5-video EP - Misery Loves Company (2007) - with the now defunct label Fuzz. This was after they mutually parted ways with Interscope imprint Cherrytree who released the debut album - Times of Romance (2005) - with critical praise yet little label support. So what is a band to do that has no label deal? Write new material. Continue playing in front of packed venues. Adapt once again.

It paid off. Following a Bay Area show, The Lovemakers were approached by iTunes executives who encouraged them to forge ahead in DIY fashion taking advantage of the new direction of the industry. Though they remain unsigned to a label, Light and Blonde knew this unique opportunity would allow them to have complete creative control and keep the artistic freedom they vowed never to give up again. Add in the distribution deal with Fontana, and they were back in action.

With an outrageous live show that has established a cult-like following, The Lovemakers have begun to confirm tour dates including a performance at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco on July 3rd and a residency at Silverlake Lounge in Los Angeles every Tuesday in August. Stay tuned for details on a national tour as they head to the east coast for a handful of dates in New York City this September.

If the San Francisco Chronicle can read tea leaves, we'll be pretty happy about that --

"The Federalists, a young Bay Area band, are in the middle of recording their third album at Talking House Records, and it could be the one that pushes the musicians and the label into the mainstream." So says this Sunday's Datebook Cover Story about indie/trad mavericks The Federalists.

"We have been intently tracking the progress of what promises to be its breakthrough work," writes the Chron's Aidin Vaziri, in a riveting piece for this week's Pink Section about our own The Federalists and their singer/songwriter Luke Franks -- their successes and their foibles, their struggles and desires and what makes Luke write those damned catchy, "timeless" songs.

"The Federalists just might be Talking House's best bet for leftfield success," says Vaziri. "The band has the kind of warm, familiar sound that helped propel into the mainstream Bay Area acts such as the Counting Crows and Train. The album is steeped in classic-rock influences, its timeless appeal deepened by the intertwining melodies and richly textured folk-rock arrangements."

The article continues: "Despite his boyish appearance, Franks is one of those guys who seems wise beyond his years. He says many of the album's lyrics were inspired by a box of newspapers dating back to the '20s that he found at a thrift store. It probably also has a lot to do with his early musical education.

"When I was a kid, I wasn't allowed to listen to secular music," Franks says. His father is a preacher. His grandfather is a preacher. He started playing music with the church band when he was in junior high in Illinois. Christianity was a big part of life, he says, but he would also sneak over to the neighbor's house "where we would devour records by the Steve Miller Band, Elton John and the Beatles." Now, he says, "I just write music."

The Federalists are an indie rock band from the East Bay side of the San Francisco bay. They formed in 2005 and self-released two albums lauded by the hippest indie press, earned airplay on SF's leading alt-rock radio Live 105, and built a rabid fan base playing shows everywhere from Blake's On Telegraph and the Great American Music Hall, to SXSW and Live 105's BFD 2008 at the Shoreline.

Luke Franks of The Federalists plays a free solo show at 5 p.m. Tuesday (April 28) at The Depot, San Francisco State University, 1650 Holloway Ave.

Read the SF Chronicle about the Federalists.

Photo by Mike Kepka / The Chronicle

Talking House Records' Blueprints of Jazz series is moving up the charts -- the first three albums in the series simultaneously hit the Top 50 of JazzWeek’s Jazz Album Chart for radio airplay.

Blueprints of Jazz is an epic series uncovering some of the greatest architects behind the evolution of jazz over the past 50 years. The series has been widely applauded by leading jazz press including Downbeat and Jazz Times.

That the first three releases -- Mike Clark, Billy Harper, and Donald Bailey -- have all hit radio's Top 50 at once is a great sign that both casual fans and jazz aficionados are eager to learn the deeper story of jazz's inventors and its development, and are embracing the work of these great jazz innovators.

Artists featured in the Blueprints of Jazz series have all made major contributions to the sound of jazz through their work with jazz legends from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s.

Donald Bailey, breaking into the Top 50 at #44 on the chart, was the main drummer for B3 organ master Jimmy Smith from 1956-64, appearing on numerous Blue Note albums and defining the soulful spirit of the organ-guitar-drums trio.

Mike Clark, moving up in the Top 10 from #8 to #7 this week, practically invented a new drum style that brought the funk into jazz and kept the jazz in the funk, when he created the grooves on Herbie Hancock's groundbreaking work in the 70’s.

At #33 is tenor saxophonist Billy Harper, who while being influenced by Coltrane’s sound and the New York jazz vibe, developed a big, majestic sax sound that shaped jazz in the late 1960s as he worked with greats like Gil Evans, Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, Thad Jones and Max Roach.

Order all three CDs from the Talking House Store.