The first single off of the upcoming album is called Hey You, about the band’s long time relationship with music. Supercatchycleversummerjam. Be sure to catch 311 at either/both the spring and summer tour.
- Echo
Often on this site, I will recommend songs for download or physically upload songs for readers to “right-click-and-save as.” Is this moral? Am I breaking ethical laws? Is this what the artist would want?
I’ll never be able to put words inside an artist’s mouth, but I will say this. For every song to which I point my readers in for downloading, I expect the reverse to happen. Take a penny, give a penny.
In my eyes, downloading music is like trying samples in a chocolate store. Some chocolates are crap, others are decent, some warrant me pulling out my credit card and buying silly amounts whilst rushing home to clear out my freezer to make room for inappropriate amounts of pimple-causers. Before, the chocolates were never free. Now, you get to steal a little taste and spit out the shit.
Getting back to giving that penny….. Let’s match our physical “take” with an equal or greater “give.” If you try that sample and can’t get enough of it, buy the album. Enjoy the album art. Buy a t-shirt at the merch booth or online. Go to the concert when the musician is in town. Assuming the musician is of age, buy that musician a drink. If the musician is not of age, buy said musician two drinks. If the musician is living out of a van and has no place to sleep, offer them a shower and couch.
** Do not combine the offering of your house plus buying the musician drinks. Either you come off as a strange creep, or your house will turn into a deathrockparty2009dancefunkpalace. **
Downloading allows the user to avoid mistakes. Why buy an album if you cannot accurately judge from a 0:15 clip of the single that MTV briefly airs. I remember Blockbuster music would allow the customer to bring the music to the front counter, where the employee would open the CD, pop it in a player and hand you headphones. This would allow the customer to get a sample and decide on the purchase. The bigger guys aren’t necessarily against this “sample” idea, they just want a hand in it. Why not download some tracks, and if you are blown away, refer to the previous paragraph and spend some cheddah.
Don’t abuse the power that technology has given us to download at our leisure. Already the record companies want blood.
- Echo
My new album “Home” is available now on iTunes. For months now Five One Inc., the tiny Japanese label that is helping me release the album has pushed really hard for media publicity, and though the album has received some really good publicity from a few select sources (thanks Purevolume, KCRW, Imeem, etc.), we’re finding that most press and radio folk say they like it, find it interesting, and have absolutely no idea what to do with an album like this. On the whole, that makes me happy because it confirms my suspicion that the album is somewhat original in its approach, but I find myself in the same position I’ve always been in regards to promotion: asking you to help me.
You have always understood my music long before the tastemakers in this industry (who still confuse me with Gavin DeGraw), and it’s only you who make it financially feasible for me to continue making music. So if you have a minute, and feel strongly about my music, please consider visiting http://www.myspace.com/gavincastletonmusic, the street team site for Home, and throwing up the little profile image on your page, or a banner if you can spare the space on your page/site. If you’d like to help even more magnanimously, you can add that profile as a friend and the tiny Japanese man at Five One will contact you about other areas we could really use your help with.
Please forgive my incessant plugging of the iTunes link in these next few days, I must do so in hopes that anyone who is interested in the album might log on right in time to catch it.
Thank you thank you thank you and thanks be unto you
Gavin Castleton
Last week, I had the pleasure to see Foxy Shazam perform at the hub of the Pensacola scene, an intimate venue/vegan eatery in Pensacola, Fl called Sluggo’s. Foxy Shazam is composed of vocalist Eric Sean Nally, Loren Daniel Turner on guitar, Schuyler Vaughn White on keyboard, Daisy on Bass and drummer Joseph Allen Halberstadt. Touring with the band is master trumpeteer and vocal harmonist Alex Nauth.
Foxy Shazam is a band that makes it apparent from the first time a sound is echoed through the PA, the audience is not at a typical rock show. They are participating in a theatrical, unique performance. Between most every song, the singer tells a story engineered to add a punch to the beginning of the preceding song. Somehow, Nally convinces the audience that these stories should be believed, as fictional and ridiculous as some are. A Foxy Shazam fan can expect to see instrument switches, neo-soul renditions of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire,” and the keyboardist Vaughn White using his keyboard as both a keyboard and a dancefloor. At this particular venue, the stage is no bigger than 20 ft. x 20 ft. I’ve seen six people share a small stage before, and even though the stage was no bigger than my fiancee’s closet space, the six musicians had no problem gracing every corner and exploring what the stage had to offer.
The band will become known for a surreal, entertaining live show. Coupled with the outstanding live performance is a truly original sound, somewhere between Mewithoutyou and James Brown, or Tera Melos and Tina Turner. That’s right, people….Tina Turner meets post-hardcore.
View Foxy Shazam’s video for “A Dangerous Man” HERE
View photos from the 2009 Pensacola, FL show HERE
- Echo
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Around The Bend
Recently I was visited by the friends I call family, and the family member that sets the standard for any and all friendships. They came to celebrate my fiancée becoming my fiancée, and we enjoyed a simple time drinking St. Germain and Champagne, sitting on the dock, going to a chilly beach and walking the mildly-cobblestone streets of a downtown that tries hard to be more like its better looking, over confident siblings.
Here are the songs inspired by some people that define loyalty, laughter and comfort:
Beloved readers de la armedready.com,
Our sincere apologies for no recent blog posts. I have found that in the recent months (which are turning out to be some sick tight years), constant hard work is a term simply defined as follows:
…the inability to be creative after working all day; the overability for a couch to suck away one’s barely remaining energy. If said individual is busy, laundry goes undone, Zaxby’s Chicken gains quick-dinner business and even Tivo’d television shoes go unnoticed, unwatched, over-recorded.
In talking with the other members of Armed&Ready, we work in these strange jorbs all day, only to return home exhausted and unshowered. Shaving only happens once every three days. Socks end up decorated on living room furnishings. On the toilet paper holder resides empty cardboard rolls that have been piled nicely onto each other. We are uploading/exchanging/downloading music less and constantly missing incredible shows at incredible venues.
IN THE INTERIM OF OUR LAZINESS, we sneak sweet supple music. The following are our recent jammy-jams:
1) Cake - Love You Madly
2) The Bird and The Bee - Again and Again
3) Teddybears - Yours to Keep (feat. Paola)
4) N.E.R.D. - Spaz
5) Ben Folds - You Don’t Know Me (feat. Regina Spektor)
6) Devendra Banhart - Carmensita
7) Inner - myphilosophy
The Mighty Boosh - The Legend of Old Gregg (1)(2)(3)
Sound out the title of today’s entry, and you will become a better person. Here is a quick post; more Mondo Primo posts to come. If you got that reference, you are two weeks ahead of me…..Slow down, Sanchez. For the time being, I can’t stop listening to the four songs below. Furthermore, ima go do some push-ups.
Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
The Fashion - Solo Impala
Good Old War - Stay By My Side
Q-Tip - Gettin Up
I know, my aloe-covered saucy readers…we’ve enjoyed digging our toes into the powder-fresh sand and wearing items of clothing that confused 66-year-olds can only describe as ’stringy,’ but alas, soon we’ll have the ‘Fall-season breathe in the slow moving air’ mixes. Let’s wrap it up with another solid month and a half-mix. Right? Who is with me? We must keep playing volleyball in shorts that are too short and drinking one-season-trendy-beers that staple beer companies try to flood the market with. Sneeriously? Lets beach it to some music!
1) Grand National - Boner
That’s right. Not a typo. Boner. Exactly what this song does for us when we need some music playing whilst driving to the beach.
2) Eagles of Death Metal - I Gotta Feeling (Just Nineteen)
A song about sex. A sex about rock. A rock on some sand. Let’s rock on some sand.
3) Family Force 5 - Dance or Die
FF5 decides to mix Daft Punk with Electro-Synth, fuzz-bass and keytar to come up with a happy, corny dance song that screams, “Hey, re-apply sun tan lotion to the tops of my dance feet.”
4) Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse - Valerie (The Zutons cover)
Outselling the original, Mark Ronson makes a happy clap-bah-bah-clap-clap song. Amy Winehouse, while cracked out, has got some pipes, and more importantly…style. The two make a funky cover really pop.
5) Regina Spektor - Fidelity
Piano crunk indie. If those three words next to each other didn’t make you laugh, or at least smile, stop reading this blog.
6) Say Anything - Baby Girl, I’m A Blur
Turn this on, and the short-shorts volleyball game cited above will get a little too competitive, yet still feel-good. Expect to see some good team work.
7) Moloko - The Time is Now
Get a little sexy to this one. Go refill your drink. Make sure you bring a fancy cooler, and do everything in slow motion.
Rosalia de Souza - Adriana
Do you own white linen and khaki combos? Wear ‘em.
9) Seals and Crofts - Summer Breeze
A phenomenal song, timeless, elegant. Even the older couple sitting close by to your overly populated, flesh toned beach brigade will say, “You know, Verne, maybe we shouldn’t pack up our stuff and walk back towards our timeshare. It’s okay here.”
10) Caviar - Tangerine Speedo
This one takes this 10-song mix to the next, next level. “Little latin lovers drinking gin and mellow yellows.” Done. The aforementioned Verne will pack her (her/his, I can never tell) belongings shortly thereafter.
*Super Bonus Power-Up Secret Track* Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Lisa Hogg - Hold Me Tight (Across The Universe Soundtrack, Beatles Cover)
- Echo
…will cause you to cover your children’s eyes as well as create multiple children. Courtesy of the JB-Handroll in Japan, Rip Slyme combines corny, feel-good and lewd videography with mildly urban lyrics and an even milder musical punch.
I personally think watching this video is the cheesiest moment of my year thus far, yet I have watched it 17 times a day since I was Skyped the link. Damn that Lamé!
-Echo
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