(Via Press Release)

LOS ANGELES, CA – September 14, 2010 – For their Red Album in 2008, Weezer invited YouTube stars to be in their video for “Pork and Beans.” The inclusion of such Web celebs as Tay Zonday (“Chocolate Rain”), the Numa Numa Guy, and the melodramatic Chris “Leave Britney Alone” Crocker struck a chord with the viewing public, as well as the media, and ultimately led to the Weezer clip winning a GRAMMY for “Best Shortform Music Video.” Two years later, the band has decided to turn the tables by making themselves available to leading YouTubers for inclusion on their channels. Today, on the release date of Weezer’s new album Hurley (Epitaph, Sept. 14), a de-facto Weezer-ization of YouTube is in effect, as all the participating videos are being featured, in rotation, on the site’s homepage all day.

Weezer, long known for their satirical and quirky world-view, originally chose to embrace the “outsider” talent found on YouTube for “Pork and Beans,” and now they have let it run rampant. To facilitate this free-form taping, they set aside two days in a Los Angeles studio with instructions that read, “We’re up for just about anything that can be filmed in the studio. The finished clip will be yours to release and distribute on Sept. 14, 2010. Acting, performance, interview, make-up, comedy — you let us know what you want to do and how much time you think it might take to film.” It was then up to the YouTubers-whose channels have millions of subscribers and aggregated well over a billion total video views-to write and produce the segments with the band.

The talent/channels that took Weezer up on their offer include:
AutoTune The News: http://www.youtube.com/schmoyoho
Cyr1216: http://www.youtube.com/cyr1216
DaveDays: http://www.youtube.com/davedays
Fred: http://www.youtube.com/fred
Hot For Words: http://www.youtube.com/hotforwords
MagicHugs: http://www.youtube.com/user/magichugs
Mystery Guitar Man: http://www.youtube.com/user/mysteryguitarman
Onision: http://www.youtube.com/onision
Ray William Johnson: http://www.youtube.com/user/RayWilliamJohnson
Real Annoying Orange: http://www.youtube.com/user/realannoyingorange
StSanders aka Kiss Shreds: http://www.youtube.com/StSanders
Tay Zonday: http://www.youtube.com/user/TayZonday
The Key of Awesome: http://www.youtube.com/barelypolitical
UsofAnderson: http://www.youtube.com/usofanderson
KeepTheHeat (Snuggie cameo) http://youtube.com/keeptheheat

In addition to the YouTube invasion and the “Pork and Beans” video, Weezer have a history of idiosyncratic and collaborative works. Their Red Album tour was even unveiled as a “Hootenanny,” where fans were invited to bring their own instruments to play along with the band. They have written songs for a myriad of other performers, as well as crowd-sourced Weezer material from the population at large (via IndabaMusic.com and YouTube). Recently, the band was in heavy rotation in South Africa and around the globe, when Rivers’ pet project, an anthem for the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team, was embraced by the team after its debut on the band’s “Radio Weezer.”

This winter (November/December), Weezer will launch a multi-city U.S. tour, dubbed by fans as the “Blinkerton Tour.” The band will play two shows in each market-on the first night Weezer will play the Blue Album in its entirety, and the second night they will play Pinkerton in its entirety.

The top online destination for music creation, Indaba Music, is proud to announce that Matisyahu fans and fellow musicians can visit www.indabamusic.com/remixmatisyahu to remix the singer’s track “One Day,” and have the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a new song with the artist. Matisyahu, whose music merges reggae beats, hip-hop and rock, wants fans to create a new version of the tune, which has been used extensively as the theme song for NBC’s “Countdown to Vancouver” Olympics campaign. “One Day” is the lead single from Matisyahu’s third album, Light, which was released by Epic Records in August, 2009.

The “One Day” Remix Contest will launch on Thursday, February 11th –one day before the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. There will be a four-week submission period and a two-week voting period. A public vote will determine the top 10 winners to receive a pair of Skull Candy Agent headphones and be featured on both www.matisyahuworld.com and www.myspace.com/matisyahu. The First Place Winner and two Runners-Up, selected personally by Matisyahu, will also see a link to their mix Tweeted to Matisyahu’s 1.2 million followers and will each receive a year’s Indaba Music Pro Membership and a signed vinyl copy of Light. The First Place Winner will also be awarded the opportunity to participate in a one-on-one collaboration with the singer through Indaba Music.

Matisyahu will play a pair of shows during the Winter Olympics — at The Whistler Village Square on February 14th, and LiveCity Vancouver on February 15th. Indaba Music will integrate news and content from the Winter Olympics throughout the contest period.

Since his very first album, Matisyahu has had a reputation as an artist who transcends boundaries – musical, religious and ethnic – and encourages a united world view through his music. The singer emerged in 2004 with his debut album Shake Off the Dust…Arise, followed by Live At Stubb’s, which reached #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers charts. His sophomore studio album, Youth, debuted at #4 on Billboard, reached #1 on the Reggae Albums charts, and featured the hit single “King Without a Crown.” Appearing on shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, Matisyahu is a true global artist and citizen of the world, selling nearly three million records and hundreds of thousands of concert tickets worldwide.

Indaba Music offers the leading suite of online tools that enable artists all over the world to create music together online. Members can connect with an international community of musicians to create online recording sessions, editing and mixing tracks recorded in different parts of the world using its digital audio workstation (DAW). Indaba’s collaboration opportunities have previously featured such diverse artists as Weezer, The Roots, Yo-Yo Ma, Mariah Carey, Crystal Method, John Legend, Alkaline Trio, Har Mar Superstar and more.

http://www.matisyahuworld.com
http://www.indabamusic.com/featured_programs

If you’re like me, there’s a couple people on your Christmas list that are almost impossible to find gifts for. You could get a tacky Christmas gift pack from Walmart, but where’s the fun in that? Instead why not give them the gift of music?

Beginning Monday December 14, the Amazon Music Store will begin a week of hot lightning deals, and they’ve done all the guess work for you. Visit the calendar for great prices on music, including a day of all Beatles deals: http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=2233633011

So head on over and get your family or friends some great tunes to get them through 2010!

(Photo: SXC.hu/LotusHead)

Looking for some funk in your life? Tired of the only options to keep your groove being pop-rock choices (like the Black Eyed Peas)? Then you need to do yourself a favor and check out this group – Fort Knox Five or pick up The New Gold Standard 2 available on November 17, 2009. If you can’t wait, you can check out their music on their Myspace page or download their DJ mix “All Good Things Come in 5′s” for free from SoundCloud.com.

About Fort Knox Five

FORT KNOX FIVE is a DC based funk and global recording four-part group and they’ve had a huge impact on the international funk and breaks scene over the past couple of years. With the release of five critically acclaimed singles on their own independent label, Fort Knox Recordings, the FK5 have been thrust into the spotlight and caught the attention of music lovers around the world.

Review:

I received an advanced copy of the album for review and knew nothing of Fort Knox Five before listening. What impresses me the most about the Fort Knox Five songs on this album is the complex layering of sounds, instruments and vocals. This truly is modern funk at it’s best. With some of the songs feeling extremely old school (like the Jazz-funk track “The Sax Pusher”) to the modern, Eastern-influenced single “Shift”. All of these songs are great for a club or to get you moving at home.

“The New Gold Standard 2″ is a compilation and a follow up to 2006′s “The New Gold Standard” and contains 15 new tracks including “Shift” featuring hip hop and international masterminds Afrika Bambaataa and Mustafa Akbar. It’s great to have a compilation album that isn’t just the same 14 songs you already have on your iPod and one new song, so if you’re looking for some new music, this is a great purchase.

If you’re interested in learning more about Fort Knox Five check them out on Twitter, Fort Knox Five, or Myspace. Also check out their upcoming shows in November in Hawaii, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Shop for a good cause! Tea Stain Clothing has just launched The Music Fashion Project. This philanthropic initiative pairs some of the rock scene’s biggest names with their favorite style of Tea Stain Clothing to raise money for music-related charities. Participating bands include well known bands like Papa Roach and The Donnas. The project also features some bands ‘on the verge’ like Framing Hanley, currently holding the #1 video spot on Fuse TV, and Lovehammers featuring Marty Casey from NBC’s Rock Star INXS. Some benefiting charities include VH1 Save The Music, Little Kids Rock and Rock ‘N Renew. To contribute to the project, fans simply purchase their favorite band’s selected charity style. Tea Stain Clothing takes care of the rest by donating a portion of the proceeds directly to that band’s specified charity.

The project is web based and every band’s feature is completely sharable. “This is the next generation of social media and web based marketing. We wanted to make a difference and make it easy to spread the word.” founder Devin Hajek says. “Even if someone isn’t able to spend money on a shirt, they can still support their favorite band/charity by simply clicking ‘share’. From there they have the option to email their friends or post it on their myspace, facebook and a host of other social networking outlets.”

For more information check out – http://www.teastainclothing.com/