We’ve got some great stuff in today’s edition of Freeloader Friday. Whether you’re familiar with these artists or not, they’re definitely worth taking the time to discover — and we’ve got some for every ear: Country, Classic Rock, Soul, Indie, Psychedelic… that’s what I call a great variety.
Opening the batch are Country staples Lonestar, who are celebrating their 20th anniversary with their latest album, out next week. Catch the exclusive pre-release stream on Amazon, nestled on the top right corner of this page. Moving onto Rock legends with Black Star Riders — a newly-formed reincarnation of Irish Rock band Thin Lizzy — who are appropriately streaming their just-released album on Classic Rock Magazine.
Soul powerhouse Charles Bradley has a new song from his album Victim of Love on The Village Voice, and Pitchfork is streaming a previously unreleased track from Matthew Dear‘s last album Beams, of which a “Complete Edition” is coming out in a couple of weeks. You’ll also find tracks from British Rockers, Tripwires; Indie Rockers, The Mantles and Surf City; and Electronic producer/member of Daylight Curfew, Dfalt.
The Black Angels take it home with the premiere of the music video for “Don’t Play with Guns.” It’s not necessarily what you’d expect what from the Psychedelic bunch, or from the title of the track, but it’s very entertaining and well-produced, and definitely worth a watch.
Happy listening, folks. See you next week at the top of June!
Lonestar: full album stream via Amazon
Life As We Know It out June 4 on 4 Star Records
Black Star Riders: full album stream via Classic Rock Magazine
All Hell Breaks Loose out now on Nuclear Blast
Charles Bradley: “You Put The Flame On It” via The Village Voice
Victim of Love out now on Daptone Records
Matthew Dear: “She’s Just That Way” via Pitchfork
Beams (Complete Edition) out June 16 on Ghostly International
Tripwires: “Catherine, I Feel Sick” via YouTube
Spacehopper out June 18 on Frenchkiss Records
The Mantles: “Shadow Of Your Step” track premiere via Stereogum
Long Enough To Leave out June 18 on Slumberland Records
Surf City: “It’s A Common Life” via Pitchfork
We Knew It Was Not Going to Be Like This out August 19 on Fire Records
Dfalt: “The Beggars” track download via XLR8R
Helsinki Beat Tape: Part 1 out June 11 on Daylight Curfew
The Black Angels: “Don’t Play with Guns” music video premiere via VEVO
Indigo Meadow out now on Blue Horizon
We’ve been looking forward to this album for quite some time now, ever since we announced our partnership with Lonestar last summer, and it’s finally upon us! We’ve gotten to preview two awesome tracks: “The Countdown” and “Maybe Someday,” with a killer music video that’ll move even the most closeted softies, so we’re fully warmed up for what we know is a great 20th anniversary album for these Country legends.
How do we know it’s a great album? Aside from the obvious, we’ve previewed it in full on Amazon – and you can too. Just head over to this Lonestar page, and click Play on the album widget on the top right corner of the page. You can also watch the above-mentioned music video for “Maybe Someday” and browse the rest of the Lonestar catalogue.
With more than ten million albums sold throughout their career (so far!), ten #1 Country hits, hundreds of concerts and 20 years of music, Lonestar don’t need to prove they’re staples in every Country music fan’s repertoire. With Life As We Know It, the now reunited quartet – with original lead singer Richie McDonald back on vocals – is celebrating its history, and its fans.
As part of the giving back process, Lonestar has also launched a Pledge campaign, where in exchange for pledges of various amounts, fans get anything from a physical copy and download of the CD to a signed guitar from the band, as well as other autographed goodies and even a phone call from Lonestar to you.
Lonestar is on the road right now, living up to their touring rep. Catch them on one of the dates below, after the jump.
Life As We Know It hits stores next Tuesday, June 4 on the band’s own label, 4 Star Records.
From Lonestar to Müslüm Gürses and PJ & Duncan to The Black Angels, we’ve got quite a diverse set of music that popped up in charts throughout the month of April. Congrats to our clients!
WEEK ENDING April 28, 2013
Billboard Top 200
#82 — Queensryche: Frequency Unknown [Cleopatra Records]
Billboard Current Albums
#74 — Queensryche: Frequency Unknown [Cleopatra Records]
Billboard Heatseeker Albums
#15 — Har Mar Superstar: Bye Bye 17 [Cult Records]
#19 — Charles Bradley: Victim Of Love [Daptone Records]
#28 — The Appleseed Cast: Illumination Ritual [Graveface]
Billboard Independent Albums
#12 — Queensryche: Frequency Unknown [Cleopatra Records]
#43 — Whitesnake: Made In Japan [Cynjas]
iTunes Russia Top Albums
#1 — Basta: Basta 4 [Gazgolder]
#4 – Grigoriy Leps: The Best (Deluxe Version) [Nikitin]
#9 — Deep Purple: Now What?! (iTunes Exclusive) [Soyuz Music]
iTunes Turkey Top Albums
#7 — Various Artists: Karadeniz’e Kalan [Kalan Ses Goruntu]
#10 — Taksim Trio: Taksim Trio 2 [Dokuz Sekiz Müzik]
MusicRow Country Breakdown Chart
#27 — Lonestar: “Maybe Someday” [4 Star Records]
WEEK ENDING April 21, 2013
Billboard Top 200
#164 — Rodriguez: Cold Fact [Light In The Attic]
Billboard Current Albums
#194 — The Black Angels: Indigo Meadow [Blue Horizon]
Billboard Heatseeker Albums
#35 — Charles Bradley: Victim Of Love [Daptone Records]
#47 — Thee Oh Sees: Floating Coffin [Castle Face]
Billboard Independent Albums
#48 — The Black Angels: Indigo Meadow [Blue Horizon]
iTunes Russia Top Albums
#1 — Basta: Basta 4 [Gazgolder]
#2 – Grigoriy Leps: The Best (Deluxe Version) [Nikitin]
#3 — Deep Purple: Now What?! (iTunes Exclusive) [Soyuz Music]
iTunes Turkey Top Albums
#6 — Various Artists: Karadeniz’e Kalan [Kalan Ses Goruntu]
#7 — Müslüm Gürses: Veda / Ervah-ı Ezelde [Kadırga Prodüksiyon]
iTunes Brazil Top Albums
#6 — Jorge & Mateus: A Hora e Agoro (Ao Vivo) [Som Livre/Globo]
iTunes Greece Top Albums
#4 — Paola: Meta ta Mesanihta (Live) [Heaven Music]
MusicRow Country Breakdown Chart
#24 — Lonestar: “Maybe Someday” [4 Star Records]
Historically, a successful band will undergo several iterations of band members throughout its lifetime. The sounds change and mature, but sometimes that original flavor is missed. Fortunately for Country band Lonestar, Richie McDonald, the band’s revered original vocalist, decided to return to the band in 2011 after three years of being away. With McDonald back in the lineup, Lonestar plans to release Life As We Know It, its first full-length release in over three years, on June 4 via the band’s own 4 Star Records, in partnership with The Orchard.
The album’s second single, “Maybe Someday,” is a mournful breakup song written by Lonestar’s own McDonald and Dean Sams with help from songwriters Frank Myers and Billy Montana. It is currently being spun nationwide on Country radio, so turn that dial up, folks! For some visuals, catch the music video on CMT.com, and a video of the band speaking about the writing process for the song on YouTube. Recently shot in Nashville, the music video features Sunny Mabrey (Mad Men, Desperate Housewives, CSI: Miami), who also starred in the video for their hit song, “Amazed.”
Though Lonestar‘s future looks bright with the forthcoming release of Life As We Know It, success is not something that’s new to this multi-genre Country band. According to the RIAA, the band has sold over 10 million records since they began making music in 1995. Lonestar also boasts an impressive 18 Top 10 songs, including three Top 5 peaks, and nine No. 1s. With all of this previous success, these guys have no one with whom to compete besides themselves.
On the touring front, Lonestar debuted the reunited group at Stagecoach: California’s Country Music Festival just yesterday, sharing the stage with artists such as Zac Brown Band, Darius Rucker, Thompson Square, and many more. A nationwide tour is on its way now too… Check out the full tour schedule after the jump.
With this new album set to be released in a little over a month as well as the handful of tour dates on deck, Lonestar is on track to make a triumphant comeback.
Welcome back to Friday, folks! And what a week it has been. Our hearts go out to everyone in Boston, and may the second bomber be apprehended soon so Bostonians can go back to being awesome, as they’ve proven to be yet again in the face of these horrible events, and safe.
So, for all those on lockdown in Boston and all those around the world who want to be connected through music, I hereby present you with your Freeloader Friday.
To start off, we’ve got two incredible Pitchfork Advance features for Young Galaxy and The Appleseed Cast. Then, Ra Ra Riot, who just announced new tour dates alongside The Shins and The Postal Service, give us a new single via The New York Times Magazine, and Mark Mulcahy comes back to the scene after eight years on hiatus with “She Makes The World Turn Backwards.” To close out the music streams section, AM & Shawn Lee give us a remix of their first single “Two Times.”
On the music video front, we’ve got three amazing premieres from Lonestar, who just announced the release of their album Life As We Know It, Veronica Falls, and He’s My Brother She’s My Sister. If you want more visuals than what’s listed below, you can also check out Black Star Riders rocking our stairwell with “Bound For Glory.”
To close out, we have a few music specials and special events you might want to know about: Todd Rundgren, the incredible songwriter/producer/recording artist/conceptualist/interactive artist who just released his new album State earlier this month, is hosting a live Google Hangout this Sunday at 5pm EDT / 2pm PDT / 10pm UK. You can send in your questions and join the Hangout using this link, and get yourself excited by watching these epic vids from back in the day. Other specials you might want to check out are Rachel Zeffira on NPR Music, performing “Front Door” and “Silver City Days,” and PAWS singing the hell out of “Jellyfish” and “Sore Tummy” on The Newtown Sessions in Brooklyn.
Have a safe weekend, everyone!
Young Galaxy: Full album stream via Pitchfork Advance
Ultramarine out April 16 on Paper Bag Records
The Appleseed Cast: Full album stream via Pitchfork Advance
Illumination Ritual out April 23 on Graveface Records
Ra Ra Riot: “All I Fear” via The New York Times Magazine
Beta Love out now on Barsuk Records
Mark Mulcahy: “She Makes The World Turn Backwards” via Rolling Stone
Dear Mark J. Mulcahy, I Love You out June 18 on Fire Records
AM & Shawn Lee: “Two Times (Colorama Remix)” via Under The Radar
La Musique Numerique out May 7 on Park The Van
Lonestar: “Maybe Someday” music video premiere via CMT
Life As We Know It out June 4 on 4 Star Records
Veronica Falls: “Waiting for Something to Happen” music video premiere via Pitchfork
Waiting For Something To Happen out now on Slumberland
He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister: “The Same Old Ground” music video premiere via VEVO
Nobody Dances in this Town out now on Park The Van
