AMPED™ FEATURED ALBUM OF THE WEEK: THE RADIATORS/WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE

Celebrating their 40th Anniversary as a band, New Orleans’ The Radiators release WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE, their 20th album overall. Their first studio album in roughly a decade,  WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE is a welcome return for the band that also serves as a reminder of their much-missed talents. While the band no longer operates as a full-time outfit, all the original members reunite each year to play the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Instead of letting their 40th Anniversary pass them by, the band decided to head back into the studio and record a handful of new tracks mixed with a healthy dose of songs that have littered their live set for decades but have never made it to an album!

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AMPED™ FEATURED ALBUM OF THE WEEK: GUIDED BY VOICES/SPACE GUN

Remember back in the mid ‘80s when practically every R&B and Pop record released seemed to be performed or written by Prince? From his own albums and singles to songs by The Bangles, The Times, Cyndi Lauper, Vanity 6, The Three O’Clock, Sheena Easton and Sinead O’Connor, Prince was everywhere. It seemed as if he was the most prolific musician and songwriter in the world for at least the second half of the ‘80s… Well, folks, indie singer/songwriter Robert Pollard’s mega prolific output over the years makes Prince look like a lazy bastard!  But unlike Prince, the fruits of Pollard’s insane work ethic is not locked up in a dark vault somewhere, never to be heard by the public. In fact, just the opposite – Pollard has released hundreds of songs under his own name as well as under the names of the many side projects he’s been involved with including Circus Devils, Boston Spaceships, Ricked Wicky, Phantom Tollbooth, Teenage Guitar, and, most importantly, Guided By Voices.

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SLOAN: Spinning Our Wheels – An EXCLUSIVE Q&A

STEPHEN SPAZ SCHNEE: 12 is just about ready to be released. How are you feeling about how the album turned out and the reaction to it so far?
CHRIS MURPHY: I’m not sure what the reaction is beyond people commenting on my Instagram account and anyone who finds themselves there is probably going to say something positive. Of course, I want to think that people care but regardless I am just happy to be creating an enormous body of work, which if people don’t acknowledge in the present, still makes me happy. I like to say we are making music for rock journalists in the future.

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AMPED™ FEATURED ALBUM OF THE WEEK: CASEY ABRAMS/PUT A SPELL ON YOU

Casey Abrams was born in Austin, Texas and eventually made his way to Idyllwild, California. This multi-instrumentalist initially made a name for himself on the 10th season of American Idol – he finished in sixth place – and judging by his 2018 album PUT A SPELL ON YOU, he’s certainly learned a lot during his long and exciting journey. Unlike many other artists who are content to find a niche or genre they feel comfortable in, Abrams mixes and matches genres as he sees fit. This is not a former American Idol contestant that is going to fall in line and churn out a variation on today’s Top 40. Nope. Casey Adams is going to do whatever he damn well pleases!

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ALLIANCE ENTERTAINMENT: WE STAND WITH PARKLAND

As many of you are aware, Alliance Entertainment is located just minutes away from the City of Parkland, FL and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the scene of the horrific school shootings that occurred on February 14th, resulting in the loss of 17 innocent lives, most of them children. There are no words to describe the effect that this devastating and senseless act has had on our community, it is hard to fathom such a tragic loss of life and the long term emotional harm this has wrought on the survivors. For years, our corporate office was in Coral Springs, FL, literally a stone’s throw from Douglas.

Being as close to the community as we are, the employees and leadership at Alliance Entertainment feel it is our obligation to lend a hand to support the families and victims of this event. We are compelled as family, friends, and community business leaders to extend our hand to our neighbors and let them know they have the support of the community and world around them.

As part one of an overall effort and campaign toward this cause, we are running a two-week event for our Independent Retailers, from March 12th through March 23rd. A donation will be made for every unit shipped to independent retail. All proceeds will be donated directly to the Stoneman Douglas Victims Fund (www.gofundme.com/stonemandouglasvictimsfund) which supports the families who have lost loved ones or have been adversely affected by this tragedy. We have received an outpouring of support from the vendor community and hope you will stand with us on this initiative as well. Your support means the world to us.

We want to thank the following partners for their support with special thanks to The Orchard for assistance with the curation of the program.

 

 

MICHAEL W. SMITH PERFORMS ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA MARCH 13

Multi-Platinum, three-time Grammy-Award winning artist, best-selling author and acclaimed actor Michael W. Smith will perform live on ABC-TV’s Good Morning America Tuesday, March 13. The appearance was sparked by his two, back-to-back hit albums A MILLION LIGHTS and SURROUNDED out now from Rocketown Records and The Fuel Music.

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AMPED™ FEATURED ALBUM OF THE WEEK: ALTAN/THE GAP OF DREAMS

When a dream is born from love and passion, it will never fade away.  Altan, the traditional Irish outfit, is that dream come to life.  Formed three decades ago by Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh (vocals/fiddle) and her husband Frankie Kennedy (flute/tin whistle), their shared musical vision became reality on a few duo recordings before forming a full-fledged band – Altan. Even though Kennedy passed away in 1994, Mairéad and her bandmates have continued to keep the musical dream alive. In 2018, they release the beautiful and inspiring THE GAP OF DREAMS.

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