Bill Laswell’s supergroup METHOD OF DEFIANCE



Bill Laswell’s super group METHOD OF DEFIANCE spawns highly ambitious new project entitled INAMORATA.This compositional masterpiece intertwines and weaves the best electronica artists with the most sublime virtuoso musicians on the planet. It’s a riveting and refreshing concept album that’s the brainchild and creation of Mr. Bill Laswell who is best known for his avant garde work and repertoire that pushes the envelope. He’s also the master behind Axiom Records.

INAMORATA blends some of the most magnificent sounds of the new era with the Miles Davis era of electronic fusion. The project combines drum n bass/electronica with virtuoso musicians. Artists such as Herbie Hancock, John Zorn and the Masada Strings, to Buckethead, Pharaoh Sanders, Paradox, Bernie Worrell, Karsh Kale, Toshinori Kondo, Submerged, Outrage, and others.
12 beat smiths were commissioned from the top tiers of drum n bass to create 12 phenomenal tracks.

Never before has a project of this magnitude and vision come together in quite this shape, sound and color.

It’s adventurous in production, Dynamic in vision and overall a cutting edge TOUR DE FORCE…

This is the 2nd album from Method of Defiance. Produced and Arranged by Bill Laswell. It’s released on the highly reputable Ohm Resistance which is considered one of the best drum n bass record companies in the industry.




Herb Alpert’s “Rise” and The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hyp notize”

LOS ANGELES , CA – Shout! Factory, in partnership with music legend Herb Alpert, expands the label’s historic Herb Alpert Signature Series reissue program with the fully restored and remastered release of Alpert’s disco-infused 1979 masterpiece, RISE.


Alpert’s artistic comeback started with the release of “Rise,” a down-tempo dance single departing from Alpert’s signature Tijuana Brass sound. It climbed to number one on the Billboard charts and became the biggest hit of his career. Met with such success, Alpert and his recording team created an entire album around the new, laidback disco sounds of the single and RISE – the album – was born, topping the charts and revitalizing Alpert’s already decades-long career.

Every album in the Herb Alpert Signature Series has been meticulously remastered under Alpert’s personal supervision, and the expanded CD booklets include new liner notes with reflections from Alpert himself. The 11 previous releases in the series include Whipped Cream & Other Delights, The Lonely Bull, Going Places, rarities collection Lost Treasures and many more. RISE joins the Herb Alpert Signature Series on CD May 29, 2007 with two previously unreleased tracks, for the suggested list price of $13.98.

Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, co-founders of A&M Records, will be honored with the President’s Merit Award by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences for their contributions to popular music. The ceremony will take place at a post-Grammy® reception on February 11, 2006 at the Los Angeles Convention Center .

ABOUT HERB ALPERT
Herb Alpert’s celebrated career in music began over four decades ago, with early—and extraordinary–successes including his 1958 co-write, with Lou Adler and Sam Cooke, of the evergreen hit “Wonderful World.” Today, 75 million+ in record sales down the road, Alpert’s versatile talent is legendary. His myriad credits encompass triumphs as a superstar trumpeter and bandleader, label founder, producer, composer, arranger and vocalist…the latter, most notably for his 1968 #1 single with the now-classic track “This Guy’s In Love With You,” which was also the first #1 hit for the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Among Alpert’s many music awards garnered over the years are seven GRAMMYs®, including Record of the Year/Best Instrumental Performance (Non-Jazz) for the ’65 Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass smash “A Taste Of Honey,” as well as Best Pop Instrumental Performance wins for the 1966 TJB hit “What Now My Love” and Herb’s 1979 solo masterpiece “Rise.” Alpert has also been honored with the prized GRAMMY Trustees Award for Lifetime Achievement, which he and longtime music business partner Jerry Moss received jointly in 1997.

In 1962, Alpert and Moss co-founded A&M Records, long the world’s leading—and largest—independently owned record label. The company was revered internationally for its artist-driven agenda, and acts that over several decades included The Police, Sting, Janet Jackson, Joe Jackson, The Brothers Johnson, Joe Cocker, Bryan Adams, Soundgarden, Supertramp,, Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66, Cat Stevens, The Carpenters, Sheryl Crow, Barry White and Quincy Jones.

In many ways, though, in addition to being one of its founding fathers, Alpert was A&M’s signature artist. Immediately after forming the label, he introduced the Tijuana Brass phenomenon, which propelled him, and the A&M name, to global fame. By putting the trumpet out front, Alpert revolutionized the instrument as a pop radio staple with a trademark sound fusing Latin influences, Jazz instincts, and unerring pop sensibilities.

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The Return of Strictly Rhythm Records!!

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After a five year hiatus the label that defined house music throughout the 1990s announces its return to the dance music community with a track forecast to have huge crossover success – Todd Terry All Stars feat Tara McDonald ‘Get Down’, a cool vocal house track co written with house music heavy weights Kenny Dope, DJ Sneak and Terry Hunter. It features the talents of Tara McDonald, the voice of Armand Van Helden’s ‘My My My’ and Axwell’s ‘Feel the Vibe’. Already championed by BBC Radio 1’s Pete Tong, with two successive week’s plays and further initial support by Radio 1Xtra’s Aaron Ross. Already an underground club hit due to frequent spins from international Dj’s including Dimitri from Paris and Roger Sanchez, this record is sure to grow from the grass roots upward. That is not all. Since Strictly first announced its re-launch in Feb 07 and to date has already notched up over 30,000 downloads of its back catalogue. Now the label switches attention towards brand new productions and signings. “It’s not about us doing what Strictly have done, it’s about us taking it to the next level,” says Simon Dunmore, Strictly A & R.

Strictly’s new roster now includes exciting new signings and forthcoming releases from Masters at Work, Quentin Harris, Osunlade Tiefschwarz, Mood II Swing and Grand High Priest. A dedicated website has been built and is ready to go live. www.strictly.com will provide a direct facility to download all Strictly product and will provide all the latest news, information on all new releases and exclusive interviews from classic artists like Roger Sanchez, Erick Morillo & Barbara Tucker. Other features include regular podcasts, videos and a newly designed merchandise range.

About Strictly:
Strictly Rhythm the New York label first opened its doors in 1989 and quickly gained a following among club DJs thanks to a series of high quality underground tracks by the likes of Roger Sanchez, Todd Terry and Kenny Dope. In 1994 Strictly notched up its first crossover hit with Real 2 Real’s ‘I Like To Move It’, a feat it was to repeat throughout the rest of the decade with Wink’s ‘Higher State of Consciousness’, Ultra Nate’s ‘Free’ and Wamdue Project’s ‘King of My Castle’. In between the hits the label provided a steady output of club tracks by a huge array of respected artists from Barbara Tucker and Masters At Work to Erick Morillo, Josh Wink, Armand Van Helden, Danny Tenaglia, David Morales and DJ Pierre. Almost every house producer of repute who was active in the 1990s is represented in the catalogue. ‘I am often quoted saying that Defected aspires to be as revered as Strictly Rhythm was back in the day’ says Dunmore. ‘The label was the starting point for anybody who is anybody in today’s scene, be it as a producer, a dj or a collector; Strictly Rhythm has left on them an indelible mark’.

www.strictly.com
www.myspace.com/strictlyrhythmrecords




Check Out David Banner’s New Cartoon “That Crook’d Sipp” on Cartoon Network

New York, NY May 11, 2007 David Banner is set to debut his thought provoking cartoon That Crook’d Sipp this Saturday Night (Sunday morning – May 13th) @ 12:15 AM on the Cartoon Network.

That Crook’d Sipp, loosely based on Banner’s life, is about a white family in Mississippi named The Beauregards who are living in Mississippi trapped in the 1800s but actually living in 2007. Virgil, a young progressive black man in Mississippi and the main character, played by Banner, tells the story of the Beauregards through his eyes. Virgil owns the hottest restaurants in the little town called Sweet Tea, Mississippi and has the most controversial group in the South called the Sweet Tea Monsters, who will really release an album as added bonus to the series.

Banner decided to use his home state as the setting of That Crook’d Sipp because “I actually think Mississippi is one of the best states as far as race relations is concerned, because Mississippi is more honest about how they feel about each other. If white folks like you, they really like you and will die for you. If they don’t like you, well that’s a different story.” That Crook’d Sipp deals societal issues of the day and allows me as a rapper to use another avenue to get the word out on issues that they may not have a chance to do through sound recordings,” states Banner.

Banner is currently in the studio working on a new album, The Greatest Story Ever Told due out late 2007. He recently had his debut as an actor in the feature film Black Snake Moan alongside Samuel Jackson and Christina Ricci and has been working on a few more movie roles over the past year.