Optimism permeates throughout Days to Recall, Justin Hines U.S. debut album to be released August 2^nd on Decca. The Canadian singer/songwriter’s collection of heartfelt songs about life and love showcase his considerable talents, and his will to overcome insurmountable obstacles.  The CD coincides with a PBS special of Hines in concert -- taped at Toronto’s Royal Cinema with special guests Ron Sexsmith, Natalie MacMaster, Donnell Leahy, Sierra Noble and The Canadian Tenors -- slated to air multiple times across the U.S. during Public Television’s August pledge drive.

Justin Hines has thrived all his life against odds that would daunt someone with a less indomitable spirit.  Hines has Larsen Syndrome, a joint dislocation condition that confines him to a wheelchair.   He admits his condition has provided challenges, but primarily sees the good it has brought him and the inspiration he can provide others.  “There have been so many blessings. It’s afforded me so many other opportunities. It’s a bit of an attention grabber,” he says. “But then my job is to keep people interested, and keep their attention with my music.”

Highlights on Days To Recall include the first single, the instantly catchy “Tell Me I’m Wrong,” a duet with fellow Canadian/actress Jill Hennessy on the plaintive, “Why Not Love Me” and the uplifting “Say What You Will.”  The latter track took on a life of its own after a South African video featuring the Most Rev. Dr. Desmond Tutu was used as part of a campaign to build 20 schools in 11 days.  Hines performed in South Africa this spring and saw the schools that will educate more than 22,000 students.

To hear “Tell Me I’m Wrong,” click here.

Music was integral throughout Justin’s young life.  He doesn’t remember it, but his mom tells him he wrote his first song when he was seven. In his late teens, he decided to teach himself how to play piano as a way to better express himself.  “I’d done a lot of writing with other people. The most frustrating thing was I could hear the song in my head, but I was relying on other people to write chords since I didn’t play anything,” he says.

Even though Justin grew up singing in church, the realization of pursuing his musical dreams happened at the most unlikely of places— at a Toronto Raptors’ basketball game in his hometown 15 years ago.  A then 14-year-old Justin won a vocal competition to sing the National Anthem at the game — both the Canadian and American -- and his world opened up before him. “In that moment, it all seemed possible,” he recalls. Thrown in the deep end, Hines has performed professionally ever since and realized he could not only survive, but succeed.

To watch the Justin Hines EPK click here.

Masters of modernist pop Architecture in Helsinki release their new album Moment Bends today on V2/Cooperative Music USA/Downtown Records.  To celebrate the occasion the band is sharing a remix of their single “Contact High” by Brooklyn duo Javelin.  Click HERE to stream/download this lush, shimmering take on the song.  Click HERE to watch the video for the original version of “Contact High,” which Paste Magazine calls “summer’s first mixtape must” and Prefix Mag calls “absurdly catchy.”  Don’t miss the band as they kick off their US tour next month!

In large parts, Moment Bends is in dialogue with the dance floor, without being a slave to any particular rhythm.  Like the best pop albums it bubbles with an immediacy while revealing new layers after repeated listens.  It also showcases the band’s most concise and sophisticated songwriting yet.  Recorded over a two year period in the their studio space, Buckingham Palace, songwriter Cameron Bird says: “Moment Bends was all about being at one with our ideas, obsessed with popular music and falling in love with our hometown.  We wanted to build a record to get lost in.  A record that always feels exactly what you are feeling”.

Click HERE to Stream/Download Javelin’s Remix of “Contact High”

Click HERE for the Video of Architecture in Helsinki’s Original Version

--

Architecture in Helsinki US Tour Dates:

06/01:  Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theater
06/02:  San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
06/03:  San Francisco, CA @ Slims
06/04:  Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
06/05:  Vancouver, BC @ Venur
06/06:  Seattle, WA @ Neumo's
06/09:  Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
06/10:  Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
06/11:  Toronto, ON @ Mod Club
06/12:  Montreal, QC @ Le Tulipe
06/13:  Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
06/15:  Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
06/16:  New York, NY @ Webster Hall
06/17:  Washington, DC @ Black Cat
06/18:  Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live

Scattered Trees’ highly anticipated new album Sympathy (Roll Call/EMI) hits stores across the country today. In honor of the album’s release, AOL Spinner is currently streaming the album in its entirety — click HERE to listen. The band has also made their anthemic track “Four Days Straight” available for free download. Click HERE to download the track. Scattered Trees has also created four videos for “Four Days Straight” with the help of film students at four different schools in NYC, and is currently running a contest on Consequence of Sound to select the band’s next official video. Click HERE to view the videos and vote on the contest. And to celebrate the Sympathy’s release, Scattered Trees has announced a very special album release show on 4/30 at Schubas in Chicago. See the band’s full tour dates below.

Already, the album has been hailed by Nylon, RCRD LBL, Consequence of Sound and others as an album that’s not to be missed. And it’s easy to see why. The album is a focused, deeply personal collection of songs that finds Scattered Trees experimenting with lush multi-part harmonies, constructing dynamic builds, and exploring the intricacies of love and loss. Driving rock epics like “Four Days Straight” rub shoulders with melancholic elegies like “Where You Came From.” The album’s title track starts with a stripped-down plaintive mandolin, ultimately fading into a slow-burning orchestral groove. Melting into “Five Minutes,” Scattered Trees continues the build until the track bursts forth. The band rounds out the record with the mournful acoustic closer “On Your Side,” a fitting tribute for a deeply heartfelt and therapeutic album.

--

Scattered Trees Upcoming Tour Dates:

04/09: KANSAS CITY, MO @ Middle of the Map Festival (The Union - 10:00pm)
04/30: CHICAGO, IL @ Schubas (Sympathy Album Release Show sponsored by Consequence of Sound)
05/13: DES MOINES, IA @ Vaudeville Mews
05/20: GRAND RAPIDS, MI @ Pyramid Scheme
07/31: CHICAGO, IL @ Taste of Lincoln Avenue

Put on your favorite tie-dye and join us Thursday, April 7th at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco for a Black Tie-Dye Ball with Dark Star Orchestra. From 6:00 - 8:00 enjoy a Sound Check Party, followed by drinks, finger foods and mingling with the artists.  Click here for ticket details, including how to join the pre-show party even if you already have your concert tickets.

Enjoy great music while also supporting the Rex Foundation by being part of these upcoming Rex Musical Caravan East Coast events:

* Saturday, April 2, Half Step, playing Grateful Dead music at the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall in Riverhead, NY, will contribute $2.00 per ticket to the Rex Foundation. Click here for details.

* Saturday, April 9, Reflections Band, now in its third year on the Rex Musical Caravan, is joined by Lo Faber and Aaron Maxwell of God Street Wine at Mexi Cali Live in Teaneck, NJ, as described here in more detail.

As you check out the Rex website for news and information about our work, know that it is your support and involvement that makes everything possible.  If you can't join us for an upcoming event, check out the different ways you can support Rex and help us keep covering just a little more ground.  Thank you!

The 15th Annual Suwannee Springfest is pleased to announce special on-site collaborations, including the Colorado Superjam featuring Emmitt-Nershi, Michael Kang, The Motet and others, as well as Travelin’ McCourys with The Lee Boys. Additional artists just confirmed to the lineup include Verlon Thompson, Ralph Roddenberry Band, Sol Driven Train, Side Effects, Habanero Honeys, The Mantras, Andrew and Noah, Roy Book Binder, Tennessee Firearms, The Honeycutters, New Familiars, Adelle Cotton and more, who will all perform at the festival March 24-27, 2011 at Live Oak, Florida’s Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park.

Early Bird Tickets are on sale now for only a few more days. On Tuesday, February 1 general admission prices will be raised from $125 to $150. Discounted Student Tickets have just been added for only $110 for the weekend, including camping.

Tickets on sale now.

Voted “Florida’s Best Live Music Venue” in 2009 by readers of Florida Monthly Magazine, the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park resides next to the historic Suwannee River and boasts over 800 acres of perfect campsites with Spanish moss covered oak and pine trees providing shade and mood. Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park is also a full service campground offering cabin rentals, RV hookups, and a wide range of amenities including a restaurant, general store, showers and bathrooms.

The critically acclaimed Suwannee Springfest will once again feature the best and brightest Americana and grassroots artists performing new and traditional folk, rock & roll, bluegrass and newgrass, alt-country and more. Confirmed talent for the 2011 fest includes: The Avett Brothers, David Grisman Sextet, Jesse McReynolds, Donna The Buffalo, Emmitt-Nershi Band, Travelin' McCourys with The Lee Boys, Jim Lauderdale, Mosier Brothers, Emmitt-Nershi and the Colorado Super Jam, Cornmeal, Travelin' McCourys with The Lee Boys, Acoustic Syndicate, Danny Barnes, Verlon Thompson, Scythian, Trampled By Turtles, Greensky Bluegrass, Steep Canyon Rangers, Joe Craven, Michael Kang, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, Surprise Me Mr. Davis, The Motet, Dread Clampitt, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Rowan Cunningham Band, Tornado Rider, Ralph Roddenbery, Sol Driven Train, Side Affects, Nathan Moore, Galen Kipar Project, Sloppy Joe, Tammerlin, Quartermoon, Habanero Honeys, Big Cosmo’s Suwannee Sound Syndicate, Larkin Poe, Futurebirds, The Mantras, Rick Loller Band, 2-Foot Level, Andrew and Noah, New 76ers, Saltwater Grass, Mickey Abraham’s Traveling Acoustic Ensemble, Amy Hendrickson & the Prime Directive, Tennessee Firearms, Grandpa's Cough Medicine, The Honeycutters, Me and the Devil, New Familiars, Adelle Cotton, The Whetherman and more.

2011 Suwannee Springfest Ticket Info: Early bird tickets are on sale now until January 31 for $125. From February 1–March 15 tickets will be priced at $150. From March 16-March 23 tickets will be $165. Students can purchase discounted tickets in advance for $110 and for $150 at the gate (current, non-expired ID required).

From March 23 on, including at the festival gates, all regular weekend tickets will be $180. Saturday/Sunday two-day passes (with camping) will be $145 and available only at the gate. Single day tickets will be priced as follows: Thursday: $50, Friday: $65, Saturday: $75, Sunday: $50 (single day tickets do not include camping). All weekend tickets include music, camping Thursday-Sunday nights, and all fees and taxes. For more information on Suwannee Springfest, including up-to-date lineup and ticket details, click here.

Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park is also home to other Big IV Productions, including the Blackwater Music Festival (new in 2010), Magfest and the Bear Creek Music & Arts Festival (which recently celebrated its fourth). Hosted each November, the 2010 Bear Creek Music & Arts Festival was such a huge success and attracts such a loyal group of attendees, that dates and select artists have already been announced for next year. Scheduled for November 11-13, 2011, the preliminary lineup includes Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood, The Funky Meters, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, John Scofield & Piety Street, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, Lettuce, George Porter, Jr., Jon Cleary, and the Pimps of Joytime. For more information on the Bear Creek Music & Arts Festival, click here.

The annual Purple Hatter’s Ball, celebrating the life of Rachel Morningstar Hoffman, will also once again take place at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park. The 2011 event is set for May 13 & 14. More details will be announced soon. For more information on the Purple Hatter’s Ball, click here.