Summer Festival Samplers

Its that time again, when the Summer Festival Samplers arrive. Two here for you:

Athens Popfest

Details at www.athenspopfestival.com and Athens Banner-Herald

Downloads:

Athens PopFest 2010: Part 1

Athens PopFest 2010: Part 2

Nebraska Pop Festival

Details at www.myspace.com/nebraskapopfestival

Download:

Free Mixtape

IR Orlando #27: Orange You Glad

This episode will give you a taste of the Orange You Glad music festival, which will be hitting Orlando from May 14 – 17. The festival will feature lots of local bands, along with some terrific not-so-local bands. There are five venues: Will’s Pub, Stardust, Redlight Redlight, Peacock Room, and Uncle Lou’s (and several in-store performances at Park Avenue CDs).

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Mixtape: Shoreline Sirens [Side B]

So you are done with Side A, no? If not, you’ve stumbled across the second side of our mixtape set tipping a hat toward the Siren Music Festival presented annually at Coney Island, NY by the Village Voice.

The image here was provided by NY photographer Josh Kuckens and is of the successful Toronto band on the Arts & Crafts label, Broken Social Scene. For a full size version of this image and for more pictures of the event, please go here.

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SHORELINE SIRENS MIXTAPE [SIDE B]
11) Broken Social Scene – Swimmers
12) The Dodos – The Ball
13) Ra Ra Riot – Each Year
14) Parts & Labor – Fractured Skies
15) These are Powers – Chipping Ice
16) Film School – Like You Know
17) Annuals – Nice Day
18) The Helio Sequence – Can’t Say No
19) Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Cold Son
20) Lo-Fi Encore: Times New Viking – Drop-Out

Mixtape: Shoreline Sirens [Side A]

On July 19, 2008 an incredible selection of musical talent assembled under the shadow of the famed eighty-one year old Cyclone rollercoaster at the storied community of Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York.

This mixtape is a salute to the Siren Music Festival put on by the Village Voice, a free all day/all ages music celebration that got its start in 2001 as a way to help revitalize this historic community and celebrate the Voice’s coverage of local & national music.

We’ve graciously had one of the photographers at the event, Josh Kuckens, offer up a few images to be posted here, this specific image being “Film School”, an artist from both San Francisco & Los Angeles.

Make sure to check out the rest of his photos, including a full sized version of this one, here. Also you can check out side B of this mixtape over in our festival comp. section.

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SHORELINE SIRENS MIXTAPE [SIDE A]
1) Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Baltimore
2) The Dodos – Fools
3) Islands – Rough Gem
4) Beach House – Master of None
5) Film School – Activate
6) Jaguar Love – Bats Over the Pacific Ocean
7) Parts & Labor – Endless Air Show
8 ) Dragons of Zynth – Who Rize Above
9) The Helio Sequence – Keep Your Eyes Ahead
10) Broken Social Scene – Fire Eye’d Boy
11) Ra Ra Riot – Dying is Fine

Mixtape: Insomnia is Warped ‘08 [Bonus Tracks]

Since I had such a great time researching specific tracks of groups performing at Warped, I thought we’d throw an extra tape together highlighting another eighteen artists performing at the festival this year.

Enjoy the overkill, and most importantly, crank it up!!

(Original Image by KanepsPhoto)

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INSOMNIA IS WARPED ‘08 MIXTAPE [BONUS CUP]
35) The Pinker Tones – Love Tape (Mash Up)
36) Every Avenue – Days of the Old
37) Mayday Parade – Jamie All Over
38) The Secret Handshake – Too Young
39) Greeley Estates – Through Waiting
40) Street Dogs – Two Angry Kids
41) The Vandals – Pizza Tran
42) Chaser – Sickness
43) Protest the Hero – Heretics & Killers
44) mc chris – nrrrd grrrl
45) Story of the Year – Wake Up
46) Entice – All I Ever Needed
47) Cinematic Sunrise – The Wordless
48) Chiodos – Baby, You Wouldn’t Last a Minute on the Creek
49) Farewell – Stay Pretty
50) Brave Citizens – The Same Way
51) The Gaslight Anthem – 1930
52) Reel Big Fish – Party Down

Mixtape: Insomnia is Warped ‘08 [Side B]

Please enjoy the second part of our Insomnia is Warped Mixtape ‘08 series, released a day after the Warped Tour opener. Apparently the festival debuted in oppressive triple digit temperatures in Pomona, CA – but the heat couldn’t do much to keep the swarming ravenous crowds at bay.

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INSOMNIA IS WARPED ‘08 MIXTAPE [SIDE B]
18) Pennywise – Living for Today
19) All That Remains – This Calling
20) Blase Debris – Jersey Devil
21) Sick City Daggers – Zombies
22) Revolution Mother – Come On
23) Gym Class Heroes – Taxi Driver
24) Set Your Goals – Echoes (acoustic)
25) The Randies – Boys in Stereo
26) The Maine – The Way We Talk
27) A Day to Remember – A Second Glance
28) The A.K.A.s – Every Great Western
29) The Color Fred – If I Surrender
30) Dodger – Dog Soldiers
31) Mo Bigsley – Randalls Candle
32) The Lordz – Outlaw (feat. Tim Armstrong)
33) The Aggrolites – Free Time
34) Phathom – Culling Song

Mixtape: Insomnia is Warped ‘08 [Side A]

The 2008 Warped Tour engine fires up today in Pomona, California (US) and the musicians invited will spend the majority of the summer nomadically performing across the country, storming toward the East Coast and then making their way back to Carson, CA for a grand finale in mid-August.

I’ve done my best to filter out the most breathy angst, gutteral Middle Earth screaming drowning out skillful instrumentation, excessive voice modulation, and tearful weeping hearts.

What’s left are around fifty of the stronger tracks from a more well balanced range of music that I could locate, spread across three mixtapes – the first of which you can listen to here. You’ll find that some artists in this compilation are playing the entire tour, while a few have been chosen to play select dates.

Please enjoy and check out the rest of this series in our festival mixtape section, right on the heels of this hourlong driverless ride. Muahaha!

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INSOMNIA IS WARPED MIXTAPE ‘08 [SIDE A]
1) Four Year Strong – Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die
2) Horrorpops – Where They Wander
3) The Academy Is… – Checkmarks
4) Saint Alvia – Don’t Wanna Wait Forever
5) A Cursive Memory – Everything
6) The Human Abstract – Crossing the Rubicon
7) Edreys – No Joke
8 ) The Dollyrots – Kick Me to the Curb
9) Patent Pending – Cheer Up Emo Kid
10) GBH – Sickboy
11) Evergreen Terrace – New Friend Request
12) Love Equals Death – Pray for Me
13) Your Highness Electric – Handing Out Hairlips
14) Alamance – Waiting on You
15) Letters Burning – Kings and Queens
16) Anarbor – Beat of the Drum
17) Bouncing Souls – Lean on Sheena

IR Orlando #24: Florida Music Festival

After a fairly long absence, IR Orlando is back! This episode will give you a taste of some great bands who will be playing in the upcoming Florida Music Festival next weekend (May 15, 16, and 17). Please check the festival website for dates, times, and location information for the many music showcases, and get out and support your local scene!

FLORIDA MUSIC FESTIVAL

1. Dish | Cold Is | BUY (debut EP)

2. The Queues | And I Never Knew Her

3. Trés Bien | Easy to Love Me | STORE

4. Pop Suicide | I’m So Indie

5. Ambertone | My Disaster

6. Empyrean | Gods & Idols

7. Clock Hands Strangle | The Soul of the Universe | BUY (new album)

8. The Oaks | Masood | BUY

9. Lonely Heroes | Perfect Day

10. Mike Dunn & the Kings of New England | The Queen | MySpace | BUY | iTunes

11. Derek Stroker | Lose Control | MySpace | iTunes

12. Fairweather Friend | See This Through | BUY

13. Strangers | Hey Hey Spacemen

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SXSW ‘08 Preview: The SoCal Sessions

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As a precursor to the South by SouthWest Music Festival in Austin, I though it would be nice to highlight sixteen Southern California artists out of the few hundred that will likely be in the area at the time performing inside and outside of the official showcases.

The South Austin Jug Band kick things off on a welcoming note, following from which we find ourselves at 6th St. in Austin, where a wandering mic picks up the ambient sounds spilling into the street. The SoCal regional tracks follow suit in an hour-long ‘mixtape’ format.
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IR: SoCal – Local Bodog Battle Preview

Welcome to a special edition of Insomnia SoCal. Today’s piece brings us a small sampling of performers auditioning at the Bodog Battle of the Bands coming here to the Southland over the next two weeks, with first round stops in LA and Orange Counties as well as San Diego.

Insomnia SoCal will be at Bodog’s show at The Joint on Oct 30th, Nov 1st, and 4th, so drop in and watch some of the battles with me as well as with a few friends of the show. Apparenly the bands are vying for a $1 million dollar recording contract and lots of face time on Bodog’s reality show on Fuse TV.

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ARTISTS
1) Paper Thin Walls – Light Bright
2) Letters Burning – California Song
3) Out of State – Carry the Flag
4) Run Doris Run – Bonjour Bonjour
5) Building a Better Spaceship – Velvet

LINKS
Bodog Official Site
Bodog MySpace
Battle Lineups / Ticket Info

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