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Attracting eyeballs and comments from fans and haters alike over the past few months for his offbeat humor, love of gory, violent imagery, attention-grabbing cover art, theatrical over-the-top stage shows, Jarren Benton’s been hard to ignore. Funk Volume’s (who’s developed quite the crew rivaling others now) resident ATLien has developed quite a rep, dropping three mixtapes including hilariously-titled Huffing Glue with Hasselhoff and Freebasing with Kevin Bacon. Without hearing a sound, it is guaranteed, just for having the balls to do that, you’d want to speak to this artist, period. Personally appreciating artists who don’t take themselves too seriously yet are willing to be controversial, rep their hometown and pay homage to hip-hop legends that came before, I suspect Jarren’s new album dropping today, My Grandma’s Basement will be in my headphones starting….now. Read more

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Welcome to another edition of Unsigned and Wound Up, volume 10 ladies and gents. The top three vote-getters will receive a professional review from a staff writer. The top vote-getter receives an interview feature.
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Very few can deny the 90’s yielded some of the best hip-hop trios and quartets ever. The East Coast definitely repped during the era but the West equally held it down (including Vancouver and the Pacific NW) with groups like Juno-winning, platinum-selling Swollen Members (including Prevail, Mad Child and Rob The Viking) immediately coming to mind. Weathering the storm of drug addiction, dark periods and legal issues remaining together, the group released their tenth album, Beautiful Death Machine in March. Collaborating over the years with respected heavy-hitters like Everlast, Talib Kweli, Tech N9ne, La Coka Nostra, Dilated Peoples and Saigon, they’ve cemented their places in indie hip-hop history.

I caught up with Prevail a few weeks ago to chat about the storied Swollen Members’ legacy, his solo lifestyle site venture, touring plans and crazy fan experiences potentially involving fangs. Peep the videos and check out our interview clips below! Connect with Prevail on Twitter and Facebook !

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Cold War Kids shared a special moment with a sold-out crowd at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio April 9.It’s not a band, which interacts much with the audience. But the crowd was prepared to be wowed by their heroes. And the fans were rewarded for their devotion. Cold War Kids rock hard. “Mexican Dogs,” the second song, was where the they started to cut loose.

Nathan Willett put on a good show whether he was singing vocals sans instrument, playing guitar, sitting at the piano or shaking the maracas. The new album, Dear Miss Lonelyhearts, was well represented in the set, which took a little more than an hour. Among the new songs, “Miracle Mile” was the biggest hit with the crowd. The band was entertaining throughout the night, moving about the stage effortlessly. Read more

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Founders Entertainment is thrilled to announce the lineup for the 2013 Governors Ball Music Festival. The 3rd annual edition of New York City’s marquee live music event is expanding to three days of Music, Art, and Entertainment. Held Friday June 7th through Sunday June 9th in Randall’s Island Park, the festival will feature over 60 world class performers, showcasing a wide spectrum of Dance, Indie Rock, Hip Hop, Americana, Electronica and Pop all weekend long. Only 1 day tickets are left available for purchase, the 3 day general admission have already sold out.

But now you can now enter to win a pair of general admission tickets to Governor’s Ball Fest! It’s a Facebook contest, don’t wait enter here now!

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Tilly’s is sending 5 winners to this summer’s Vans Warped Tour! Fill it out now, don’t wait–enter here now!

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As a kid on the 70’s/80’s cusp, classic rock played an integral part of my childhood. Artists like Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Free rattled from our car’s speakers crisscrossing the country on frequent road trips and their songs remain imprinted on my cerebellum permanently. Nerdily scoping the regular late night show music schedule in Los Angeles (like I am prone to do) to see who’d be coming soon, I stumbled upon Rival Sons playing Jimmy Kimmel and gravitated to their latest album Head Down along with their previous one, Pressure and Time with songs like pointed “Burn Down Los Angeles” and sorrowful “Jordan” that now stay on repeat automatically. They took me right back to my favorite period of time blending modern and classic folk, rock, blues and funk, making me want to dance immediately. Live clips of these Long Beach, CA natives (who’ve opened for AC/DC, Judas Priest and Alice Cooper) playing live sealed the deal that this band was f-in dope.

I chatted with Rival Sons’ frontman and lead singer Jay Buchanan right before he left for their latest European tour about “standing on the shoulders of giants”, the band’s secret name for him, working with noted producer Dave Cobb, his love of books and hidden wealth of knowledge that could possibly keep us alive on a stranded island and more. Check out the videos and interview clips below!

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Black Sabbath annouces June 11th release of album “13″ and first set of North American tour dates

13 MARCH 2013 (Toronto, ON) – BLACK SABBATH today announce June 11 as the release date for their upcoming album, 13, through Vertigo/Republic/Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company. As the countdown to release continues, the second Jack Osbourne-directed clip of the rock legends at work on their album can now be seen at blacksabbath.com.  13 was recorded primarily in Los Angeles and features the original BLACK SABBATH–OZZY OSBOURNE (vocals), TONY IOMMI (guitar) and GEEZER BUTLER (bass)–who were joined at the sessions by drummer Brad Wilk (Rage Against The Machine).  The album is produced by Rick Rubin (seven-time Grammy winner, two of those as Producer of the Year) and marks the Grammy-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees’ first studio album together since 1978’s Never Say Die!. They have sold over 70 million albums together.

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Once upon a time, Indie legend Aesop Rock joined El-P’s label Definitive Jux and proceeded to drop five of the greatest albums of the 00’s (which sound even better revisited now), even getting mainstream attention being called one of the top 100 Artists of the Decade by Rolling Stone. Since the beginning, he’s continued to keep us guessing. Just when we think we have this instrumental scorer, superior lyricist and visual artist pegged, he will announce a brilliant left field project that shows his versatility and blows preconceptions to pieces yet again. Case in point, his latest collaboration forms a new duo called The Uncluded with Kimya Dawson and will drop their first project on May 7th, Hokey Fright.

During a break on the road for his latest tour, he took the time to answer some of my weird questions below. Peep his answers and videos below and follow Aesop Rock on Twitter and Facebook for more info on his new project. Catch him live next at the Coachella Music Festival in April!

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Interviewing DJ Toure of the Bay Area Hieroglyphics crew a few weeks ago, I luckily connected with another member of the crew, the ringleader, legend and most colorful member, Del Tha Funkee (or The Funky) Homosapien during a tour stop through Southern California recently. One of the best freestylers in the game, which he proved, making the crowd go nuts during his packed show at the Constellation Room, his albums I Wish My Brother George Was Here and No Need for Alarm were two of the my favorite albums of the 90’s. As a member of futuristic Deltron 3030 and Gorillaz multi-platinum “Clint Eastwood” collaborator, his musical history has been varied and full of influential tracks. Watching his documentary , “The 11th Hour”, before the show, a portrait of a gaming, funny creative genius (peep the scene when he talks about porn) emerges.

Taking the stage that night with A-Plus from the Souls of Mischief, they rocked for 90 minutes before I got to catch up with Del after the show. Check the videos and interview clips below and follow Del on Twitter for more deets on his new album!

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After releasing the highly regarded “Random Access Memories”,
Daft Punk is officially back in the swing of things. In celebration of their With A Bullet would like to give out a few copies of the release…

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Music journalists like myself get hit with a steady helping of press releases every day. For the music fan without that kind of sensory overload, a lot of music news can pass by without being seen. Every Monday, I will compile a list of some of the most intriguing things to come across my virtual desk the week before.

F. Stokes

The Song:

F.Stokes is a Chicago born and bred rapper and spoken word poet now based out of New York City. He tells his story with punctuating imagery and glass-like clarity as he looks at the world through the lens of his family’s shared experiences. Growing up as one of six children to a single mother in the South Side of Chicago, he shared his home with people who lived on the edge of violent death, poverty, and ghosts of abuse and addiction. He found solace in writing early on in childhood and soon began to express himself creatively through verse and spoken word poetry as he grew into adolescene and early adulthood. In 2009 he began touring in Europe in preparation for the release of his first album, 2010′s Death of a Handsome Bride. He quickly grew as a prolific artist, releasing the Baked Goods Mixtape in 2011 and Love Always in 2012. Read more

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Welcome to another edition of Music Emissions podcast of the week, this is Nick Fry, aka CharlesMartel on the website. This week we examine, The Tower of Babel. Enjoy!

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Cosmic chameleon The Impossible Girl’s Kim Boekbinder returns this week with her latest album, The Sky Is Calling, dropping June 21. Exploring space and time travel themes this time around, visual artist, composer and musician The Impossible Girl takes intergalactic flight with EDM, pop and new-wave detours. Cracking the code by leveraging her vocal and loyal fanbase, she used Kickstarter to fund this album and provided exclusive content to paid subscribers, delving into the behind-the-scenes recording process on her Mission Control website . Besides her brilliant creativity, she’s also gotten mainstream media attention by shrewdly taking things a step further and using sites to pre-sell shows, avoiding the pitfalls several indie artists face when playing unknown markets. Read more

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Every Sunday, we poll you to find out your favorite album of a particular indie artist veteran. This week, Surfer Blood…

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Those weird rockers from Texas are back again with a new video. Enjoy!

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Looking for more action and adventure news in your life? Red Bull is offering Music Emissions readers a one year subscription, no strings.

Music, arts, travel, action and sports. What more could you ask for in a magazine?

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As I prepare for another hype weekend in LA, I’m STILL recuperating from last weekend. Pride for East and West Coast indie hip-hop was alive and well in So Cal and supporters came out in droves to the Back To Basics Fest at The Observatory last Saturday. When I saw this line-up, I couldn’t believe my eyes. All of these dope artists on the same bill for $32?!?! Obtaining access to this sold-out show, I arrived as Rhode Island repping Sage Francis (who I’ll be interviewing very soon) took the stage, performing like a spoken word artist/poet, impressing me with his unique flow. Read more

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Black Joe Lewis are excited to announce details surrounding their brand new full-length LP, Electric Slave, to be released on August 27 on Vagrant Records. Most of the album was produced by GRAMMY award winner Stuart Sikes (White Stripes, Cat Power, Modest Mouse) and recorded at Church House Studios in Austin, TX. Three of the new tracks (“Skulldiggin,” “Dar Es Salaam,” “My Blood Ain’t Runnin’ Right”) were recorded and produced by John Congleton (Explosions in the Sky, St. Vincent, Okkervil River) at Elmwood Studios in Dallas.

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The Danish duo of Coco O (full name Coco Maja Hastrup Karshøj) and musician/producer Robin Hannibal call themselves Quadron. Most often referred to as electronic/soul, the self-titled debut album Quadron was released in late July 2009.

After releasing their self-titled debut in 2010, in 2011, Quadron collaborated with American DJ and record producer Kaskade for the song “Waste Love” off his album Fire & Ice. Now Quadron is back with their latest release “Avalanche”.
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