EPIC CONCOCTION

Bicycle Touring + Soccer For Social Change + Sharing Music = The Most Epic Concoction of my life. Tuesday, Sept 2nd at 8am I will begin riding my bicycle across the country from NYC to San Francisco. Follow along at BikeCruisade.com as we spread the word about Street Soccer USA connecting with people who already are a part of our organization and with people who have never heard about the power to change a life through soccer.

Soccer for social change and youth development is what I've dedicated my life to over the past three years in NYC and I'm blessed to get to take this journey sharing my passion with others along the way. I hope you will follow along with the IG photos and by listening to the same playlists we will be featuring each week.

First up is Bike Cruisade x Paper Garden Records 

More to come from: 

Old Flame Records

Dipped in Dollars

This Music Doesn't Suck

Small Plates Recs

Dirty Laundry TV

Choose My Music Records

The State Of Music

What do you get when a UK based blog publishes a blog series that took nearly a year to complete, becomes its own label to release The State Of Music featuring indie artists from 50 US States, donates the proceeds to a non-profit fighting for social change and ending homelessness through soccer? We are about to find out because last week my internet friend Dom Paczko announced that Choose My Music Records will donate all of the proceeds from The State Of Music to the non-profit I work for Street Soccer USA.

For the past year I have been in New York living the NY grind to pay rent with up to 4 jobs at one time but I have never been closer to finding true fulfillment in my life. Three nights a week I traveled from Brooklyn to Randall's Island to a homeless shelter where I coach a soccer team of homeless and formerly homeless men and women. Soccer is what brings us together. Community, Family, Self-Esteem, Mental/Physical Health and Love is what binds us. Now our program is expanding to East NY to take soccer to the youth in the community. Buying one or all 5 of these volumes will support SSUSA as we continue to grow the game and the power to change!

My other dream job is working for Paper Garden Records where I met Dom and Choose My Music Records. He is always showing our bands and PR projects some love. His taste in music and passion for helping others is right in line with mine so here we are. Connecting my passions in soccer and music to make a positive impact is a dream come true.

Now to the music! (well just a taste because there is too much good music to handle at once)

Flashbulb Fires

<a href="http://choosemymusicrecords.bandcamp.com/track/flashbulb-fires-colorado-dark-ghost-ive-got-arms" data-mce-href="http://choosemymusicrecords.bandcamp.com/track/flashbulb-fires-colorado-dark-ghost-ive-got-arms">Flashbulb Fires (Colorado) - Dark Ghost (I've Got Arms) by Choose My Music Records</a>

Cars & Trains

<a href="http://choosemymusicrecords.bandcamp.com/track/intimidated-by-silence" data-mce-href="http://choosemymusicrecords.bandcamp.com/track/intimidated-by-silence">Intimidated By Silence by Cars & Trains (Oregon)</a>

DEERPEOPLE

<a href="http://choosemymusicrecords.bandcamp.com/track/deerpeople-oklahoma-new-dance" data-mce-href="http://choosemymusicrecords.bandcamp.com/track/deerpeople-oklahoma-new-dance">DEERPEOPLE (Oklahoma) - New Dance by Choose My Music Records</a>

Ports Of Spain

<a href="http://choosemymusicrecords.bandcamp.com/track/ports-of-spain-connecticut-winters-teeth" data-mce-href="http://choosemymusicrecords.bandcamp.com/track/ports-of-spain-connecticut-winters-teeth">Ports Of Spain (Connecticut) - Winters Teeth by Choose My Music Records</a>

Dog & Panther

<a href="http://choosemymusicrecords.bandcamp.com/track/dog-panther-michigan-on-my-friends" data-mce-href="http://choosemymusicrecords.bandcamp.com/track/dog-panther-michigan-on-my-friends">Dog & Panther (Michigan) - On My Friends by Choose My Music Records</a>

The Duke Of Norfolk

<a href="http://choosemymusicrecords.bandcamp.com/track/the-duke-of-norfolk-arkansas-a-mortal-ballad" data-mce-href="http://choosemymusicrecords.bandcamp.com/track/the-duke-of-norfolk-arkansas-a-mortal-ballad">The Duke Of Norfolk (Arkansas) - A Mortal Ballad by Various Artists</a>

Canon Blue

Visuals

I haven't seen something so pleasing to the eyeballs since the Blood Orange show at 285 Kent several months ago. Luckily my friend Empress Of invited me to an art gallery opening show on Saturday at 7 Dunham. I was already excited to get to see her perform for the 3rd time (twice in one week) and she was amazing as usual. What really made the night special was hearing some great new music and meeting some cool people!

I took this dark photo above of Visuals - my new obsession. With only two tracks and very little information about this Brooklyn post-punk band online, I am just going to harass them until they give me more. According to their website "goodbye" & "levitation" is getting pressed on a 7", so email them to pre-order. They have another show coming up at Cameo in Williamsburg Sunday, November 25. I'll surely be there soaking up all the Joy Division vibes I can. Head to their bandcamp for a free download of "goodbye" or just stream it below.

ROYAL CANOE - FACEBOOK - TWITTER  

A few months ago I was mining for gold on one of my go-to music discover tools This Is My Jam (Exfm, I feel like I must mention both because of my undying love for the staff at each!) and I came across these "musical mad scientists" called Royal Canoe from Winnapeg. It was a track off their first EP Extended Play called Hold On To The Metal that initially won me over. Then I saw this video of Nightcrawlin' posted above and it reminded me so much of Yeasayer that I knew these guys would be my next obsession. 

On August 1st, I got to meet Matt Schellenberg (keyboard, vocals) thanks to Caitlin White aka Bleecker Street Beat texting me about meeting this super nice dude at the Cold Specks show at Glasslands. He told me about their next EP Purple & Gold and how the music was taking a bit of a hip hop direction. This worried me but on Sept. 11 all my worries were squashed when the EP showed up on their Bandcamp. The first track Show Me Your Eyes has all the elements of their first EP that I loved so much and then they hit you with the Summersweat beat that makes you want to slow things down on the dance floor. 

Keep an eye out for these guys at CMJ! I honestly don't know what to expect out of their live show and I like that very much. Somebody please go see them open up for Fierce Creatures in Fresno, CA Sept 21 and take a video for me! 

We Can't Enjoy Ourselves

Two months ago this Brooklyn band played a show with Snowden at Glasslands. I was so excited about the night, not because I had a clue who We Can't Enjoy Ourselves were, but because I have been a huge fan of Snowden since 2007 and highly anticipated the release of a new album. This show was promoted as an album release show on the poster so I went prepared to buy some vinyl. Showed up late. Missed the opener, We Can't Enjoy Ourselves, but still had time to meet my band crush Sarah Barthel (Phantogram) and told her I loved her just before Snowden took the stage, both of these things were enough to make my night pretty awesome. After the show I went up to the merch booth to find out that it was not the Snowden record release show but WCEO's record release show. A couple of minutes speaking with the lead singer, Giovanni Saldarriaga, about their debut record plus a few beers led me to blindly buy their 12 inch "Make A Mess Of Sacred Ground."

I experienced no buyers remorse but quickly became pretty upset that I missed their set. Luckily I was able to catch their next show at The Knitting Factory a couple of weeks ago. Perfect timing too because Exfm had recently asked me to help out finding an opener for their showcase, which happens to be tonight! I asked if they wanted to play. They said yes. And that is how it came to be that I love WCEO and you can too, just show up at Pianos tomorrow night around 8pm. If you enjoy The Smiths or The Mystery Jets or just having a good time dancing then you should totally come hang out. The Cold Fronts, Thieving Irons and my dear friends il Abanico will be playing as well. Join the Facebook event.

Scroll down or click the little deal in the bottom left corner to stream the song they closed their Knitting Factory set with, "Devil in The Old Folks Home", where they croon like birds with their heads cut off. Giovanni's words. Not mine. They got jokes on stage so come prepared to laugh and dance or just head nod and do the ole knee spasm move.

Cineplexx

For those of you who don't know me I moved to Brooklyn, NY about a year ago. I started as an intern at Paper Garden Records while getting settled in to a completely different speed of life than my hometown Little Rock, Arkansas. Since then I have started coaching a team of homeless soccer players at Street Soccer USA and I coach little kids starting from the very young age of 2 for one of my part time jobs. I also work at a restaurant two days a week. I say all of this to explain why I hardly get to share all of the good music I see and hear living in New York. Well now that I have added Paper Garden Records back to my work week Ill be able to repost to Epic Concoction all of the awesome new music we introduce via the Lovely Hearts Club. Last week we featured Cineplexx and I couldn't have asked for a better way to jump back in to the wonderful world of sharing new music. 

To sum things up, Sebastian Litmanovich has been traveling the world making music under the moniker Cinplexx for over a decade now and his next album "Perfume" will be released in Mexico sometime in October. Here are three teaser videos that he created to get you started and we have a full stream of the intro track "Cosas de la Vida Normal".  Give it a listen and let me know what you think. Hope you spin this at your next retro disco party!

If you want to know more about Paper Garden Records and our Lovely Hearts Club campaigns just shoot me an email colson (at) papergardenrecords (dot) com. 

Sean Nicholas Savage

I first fell in love with this music back in 2010 with the release of Original Feelings but had somehow lost this feeling in a sea of new music. Luckily, I was recently reminded of my love for Sean Nicholas Savages' sound and the very reason I am blissfully living in Brooklyn instead of Little Rock, AR with all of my friends and family.

Last Sunday, I got off work from one of my three jobs a little early and a Facebook event update reminded me that Sean Nicholas Savage would be playing a last minute show with Thick Paint (Graham Ulincy of Reptar) and Quiet Hooves. Being newish around here I had no idea what or where the Brooklyn Fire Proof bar/art gallery/venue was but now it's my new favorite spot. I've never had so much fun dancing around a small room full of strangers and it's all thanks to Sean Nicholas Savage.  So if you are like me and forgot about SNS or have just never heard of the guy, then watch the video (above) of him being backed by Quiet Hooves as they perform Chin Chin. Check out some pictures from the night on Facebook and spend the rest of the day listening to the six releases on Bandcamp.

Spanish Prisoners

Watch the brand new video for "Know No Violence"" off of Spanish Prisoners debut album Gold Fools. You don't need me to tell you how great the video is. Just watch it and I'm sure you will agree. Makes me want to throw this album on the headphones and roam around the city. In fact, I'm going to do that as soon as I hit publish on this post.

For those who don't know about this 4-piece-dream-pop goodness, well you are missing out! They released their debut album in October which just happens to be the same month I moved to New York and saw them at perform during CMJ for the very first time. Since then I have seen them live several times and it never gets old. I am going to see them again this Friday at The Knitting Factory with il Abanico and couldn't be more excited.

They recently released two alt versions of "Downtown Chicagoland" so check the guitar arp version below. Spanish Prisoners fans just made their Vantasy come true on Kickstarter this week so congrats on getting the van paid for and being able to drive to SXSW! Wish I was going to be there this year. It also kills me that I won't be able to attend their post-SXSW show at Stickyz in Little Rock, Arkansas March 18. For all my hometown homies reading this please get off the couch and watch them play with fellow Brooklynites Snowmine and Little Rock's very own Knox Hamilton. It is the first ever show curated by yours truly so consider it your birthday present to me since I won't be there to blow out the candles on my bday three days later. Takes lots of pictures for me and hashtag it with #StickyzMarch18 so I can follow along!

il Abanico

I had the pleasure of seeing il Abanico put on one of the most impressive live performances I have seen in New York City since moving here 5 months ago. That's a pretty bold statement but I'm sticking to it! Juliana Ronderos and Nicolas Losada are the two Colombian's responsible for pulling together this 5-piece that is overflowing with talent.

Jim Smith has been blessing us with great synth-drenched music for a while now as Teeel so he decided to start his own label Synthemesc. Can't say enough good things about the guy and I've already posted Teeel on here so let's move on to some friends of his making righteous tunes - Crozet.

The duo from Philly just released the album We'll Be Gone By Then via Jim's new label. Expect to hear heavy synth with bits of guitar and drums straight out of the 80's. If you lay down and listen to this whole album from start to finish it's like watching a movie inside your head. Get the whole thing here on iTunes and watch out for the last minute of "We Can See It", it owns. Below is a stream of the closing, title track on the album and don't miss out on their free EP "Alterations", including covers of Memoryhouse, Teen Daze and Yo La Tengo.

Conveyor

This post is long overdue since I first heard about Conveyor while interning at Paper Garden Records in October. We just posted this new song and video (click the photo to watch it on BreakThru Radio) of "Mukraker" to our Lovely Hearts Club blog. Since I wrote this LHC post there isn't much more to add other than they are awesome live! I saw them for the first time last night with Snowmine, Illuminator and Teletextile and it reminded me why I moved to New York and why I spend every dime on going to shows and vinyl. Here are some pics that don't even begin to capture the night's splendor. You don't want to miss out when Conveyor open for Bryan Scary January 28 at La Poisson Rouge. Get to their bandcamp and buy the "Sun Ray" EP on orange vinyl and keep an eye out for their release of "Mukraker" on a 7" split with Illuminator. Here is a download of the new song for free!

I have truly been blessed this past year with all of the amazing live music I have seen from Atlanta to Little Rock to Austin to Memphis to London to Dublin to my new home New York. There are too many shows to list and it's way to hard to try to say which were the very best so here are 11 of my favorite videos that I took over the year. I have several more here on my youtube channel if you like my shaky, one-handed footage. Thanks to all the bands who grind it out on tour for us fans. Can't wait to see you in 2012!

Little Tybee - Passion Seekers (ft. Adron)

Oberhofer - House

Millionyoung - On-On (SXSW)

Destroyer - Song For America

Ratatat - Seventeen Years (Encore)

1,2,3 - Scared, but not that Scared (ft. Tiff from Givers)

Pepper Rabbit - Dance Card

Daughter - Tomorrow (London)

Alexander - Truth (Dublin)

Nurses - Trying To Reach You

Watch Friend Roulette sit on a big ugly yellow couch and play "Sailing Song" as a pink flamingo watches over their shoulders. It's a song off their self titled EP, released back in April. I only just discovered this Brooklyn band while scrolling through my new favorite blog Antlered Pigeons but I'm already loving this chamber pop rockness boasting at times three drummers, male/female combo vocals, a violin, a bass clarinet, guitar, bass guitar and some synth action.

The group of friends were so happy that I was the 300th Facebook friend so they sent me their unreleased LP and free entry to one of their upcoming shows. It wouldn't be fair for me to keep all this goodness to myself so they are letting you download two new songs "On her own tonight" & "Hi, Hello"! Grab the set from my Soundcloud here. It's no surprise that members of such a large talented group are in several other bands including Illuminator, ARMS, Frances and Hospitality. Keep up with them online because you don't want to miss out when these new tracks hit the streets, especially "Lie". I wish I was going to be in Brooklyn for NYE because they are playing at Rubulad. I guess Ill just have to see them at the Paperbox Jan. 6th or at Pianos on the 20th or at Union Hall on the 26th or all three!

Little Racer

I came across this Brooklyn based trio thanks to Will Oliver sharing the good word over at We All Want Someone To Shout For. The band seems to be getting a lot of attention lately for their recent release "Split For The Coast/The Town" and it is well deserved because I can't get enough of their retro surf pop goodness. Above you can watch the video for "Little Racer" and download the track for free here. They have also made a neat little video for "Split For The Coast". Check it on vimeo and stream the song below. I can relate to this track and the second half of the release "The Town" since I also just moved to Brooklyn from a much different speed of life. Read more about the songs at Clean Slate Music. They recently played a handful of shows in London and one in NY that I missed so I have my fingers crossed that another NY show is in the near future.

Jape

Richie Egan and friends came all the way from Dublin to New York for CMJ to show us what the U.S. has been missing out on. A new friend of mine, also from Dublin, told me that these dudes were huge back home and that I needed to check it out. So I did, twice! Once at Fat Baby for an all Irish showcase and again at Pianos the week after CMJ. This video of "I Was A Man" is a little wobbly because I couldn't hold back from dancing along with Richie and the crowd. He kept coming down from the stage to dance with us or to bang on the cowbell or to just take a sip of one fan's drink. They ended the set with "The Oldest Mind" and I couldn't help but feel connected to everyone in the room as the song fades out with the words "celebrate - what it is - to be young". Give it a listen and then head to their label's, music/is/for/losers, bandcamp to pick up the new album Ocean of Frequency released September 30. 

<a href="http://musicisforlosers.bandcamp.com/track/the-oldest-mind" _mce_href="http://musicisforlosers.bandcamp.com/track/the-oldest-mind">The Oldest Mind by Jape</a>

I met Julio Gudiño, vocalist for The Plastics Revolution, back in March at SXSW. I never thought that handing him my about.me/Moo business card would actually result in anything but, back in August, Julio emailed me with his first single called "Diving For Sunken Treasure" from his side project I Can Chase Dragons! Ever since then I have been waiting on pins and needles for what else he has in store.

A couple weeks ago the second single "O'donoju" was put up on Soundcloud and today I just came across this awesome Freedom Sessions video of a third track called “Escoge tu animal". It was recorded by The Weird Fishes in Morelos, Mexico. It is worth watching just to see the beautiful backdrop. I love the track and it is a good way to dust off my Spanish speaking skills. Makes me miss Cuernavaca, Morelos where I studied abroad back in 2007. Julio is studying in Boston at the moment and working on the upcoming I Can Chase Dragons! album. Keep an eye out for him raising his head along the east coast in the near future.

The City and Horses - Dum Dee Dum (Video Premiere)

Thanks to Paper Garden Records I get to know and love awesome music like The City and Horses, who just released their album We Will Never Be Discovered. Today we, the fans, get to premiere the new music video for 'Dum Dee Dum', featuring Katie Costello. It was directed by Cetusss and Le Contremaître et sa Contremaîtresse and filmed between takes of the film La Zona. It is probably not the first time for a band to release a zombie dance thriller music video on Halloween but it's pretty original to let the fans be the ones to premiere it. About an hour ago, an email with the video and song download was sent to those of us that emailed [email protected] with instructions to share with all of our friends at 3:30, so watch and enjoy!