Popular OurStage quintet Shorelines End is celebrating their new EP Cold Summer Night with an all ages CD release show this Saturday in Plano, Texas. Cold Summer Night offers five new tracks from the Dallas, Texas-based band—each song showcasing the polished yet rocking sound that’s helping the band gain a solid stream of media attention.
Over the past few years, the band’s profile has steadily risen thanks to a front page feature on PureVolume, an invitation to play a label showcase as part of the Amplify Music Conference and, of course, an AOL Music feature from OurStage. Shorelines End may garner even more interest as they switch things up with their EP release strategy. Unlike Michael Zapruder, the band is releasing their disc before the digital album is available for download in mid-June, and this could very well be the key to get fans to forgo downloading since the CD is the only purchase option.
Make no mistake, Shorelines End totally own their sound, spanning genres from Pop to Alternative to Modern Rock. It’s the perfect mix to kick off a summer party, or to get you pumped up for one of Shorelines End’s
upcoming shows.
If you’ve been following the OurStage blog recently, you already know that digital music hasn’t taken over completely and that lots of people still buy compact discs. Where they buy their CDs is a whole different story. The options are seemingly endless: massive chain stores in the mall, small indie shops tucked into street corners, online retailers, department stores…
My Morning Jacket wants to make sure their fans keep frequenting the little guys, the independent record stores. On April 18th they’ll be taking part in Record Store Day and releasing their new EP exclusively to independent retail stores. The idea is to support independently owned and operated businesses around the country by giving them something special to offer.
The EP is Celebración De La Ciudad Natal, Spanish for “Celebration of the Native City.” The title is perfect for an EP that brings it all back home to the band’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. All seven songs were recorded live in Louisville last year; some at the popular Waterfront Park and some in-store at local record shop ear X-tacy.
“The record store is the livery stable where I can tie up, feed and groom my ears.”
~Tom Waits, taken from Record Store Day on Twitter
My Morning Jacket had this to say on Record Store Day:
“We are fortunate in our travels to get to see many wonderful things, but one of the most distressing things is the increasing “normalization” of the world and how all these places are starting to look the same – everywhere you look more and more towns are starting to be filled with the same gigantic corporations, and while some of these huge companies undoubtedly provide valuable services, it is so important that we realize that it is our local businesses and people (and natural landscapes, but that’s a different letter) that are what make different towns worth coming to… things you can only get in one place, made and sold by people who believe in what they are doing… people who are trying to keep good weirdness alive in this crazy dome.”
It is no secret that digital means of music marketing and distribution are taking over the record industry. Many people don’t even own CD players anymore, just an MP3 player and perhaps a few online subscriptions to sites offering downloads. Most artists, however, still let their fans enjoy the best of both worlds by releasing their music both digitally and on CD. Release dates are usually staggered with the digital album made available first, the way Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have done.
March 24th marks the official in-store release of Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope, the latest release from indie rock artist Michael Zapruder. This official “ribbon-cutting” will put the disc in the stereos and ears of a whole new group of listeners who haven’t already bought the album online. This method has done Zapruder well, keeping the press interested and giving the fans something to look forward to. A quick Google search brings back album reviews as recent as a few days ago, as well as many results for his popular video Ads for Feelings. Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope has been available online since October of 2008, but this second release makes it fresh and exciting all over again.
Continue reading ‘Fantastic Plastic: Michael Zapruder’s latest to be released on CD this week’
