“A triumphant, heavily riffed, primarily instrumental epic, whiplashing through six minutes of smiling prog jams, and as many tempos as passages, before settling into one last minute of uplifting chants.” — Stereogum

“Life-affirming prog guitar anthems.” – Seattle Stranger

Fang Island describes its sound as “everyone high-fiving everyone.” And, the Brooklyn quintet’s anthemic and soaring songs make it quite possibly one of few bands befitting such description. Check out MP3s for two new tracks, “Daisy” and “Life Coach.”

Its finger-tapping guitar lines, chanted vocals, triumphant harmonies and overall perky songs hearken to the sort of “Total Music” of the Fucking Champs, Jay Reatard, Ponytail, Kraftwerk, Marnie Stern, Thin Lizzy, et al. But, perhaps more so, its songs are like the music in your head at that moment when everything feels just right: that first kiss, that high score on the video game, buying your first small nation in cash… you know, good stuff.

Nothing embodies the band’s sense of optimism and enthusiasm better than this clip of Fang Island performing live for a classroom of kindergartners.

Fang Island began, oddly enough, as an art school project while the band members were attending the prodigious Rhode Island School of Design (also the foundation for Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Les Savvy Fav, Lightning Bolt, Six Finger Satellite and some band called the Talking Heads.) According to guitarist Jason Bartell, the goal was to “make music for people who like music.” That is, music without irony that harnesses its uplifting qualities. Just like a classic rock song or classical symphony can stir us emotionally, Fang Island exists to unlock that spirit.

Fang Island is guitarist Jason Bartell, bassist Philip Curcuru, guitarist Chris Georges, guitarist Nicholas Andrew Sadler, and drummer Marc St. Sauveur. They all share collective group vocal harmonies and the occasional hand claps. While Sadler is also known for his role in the debauched rock band Daughters, it is only his fretboard skill that translates between the two groups.

Fang Island begins appropriately with the sound of erupting fireworks on “Dreams of Dreams” leading into a cascading chorus of ringing guitar notes before the group vocal harmonies chime in with the mantra, “they all are within my reach, they are free.” The second song, “Careful Crossers” launches in beneath the vocals with a chorus of gleaming guitar harmonies smeared over the marching, syncopated rhythm section. Elsewhere, tracks like “Sideswiper” hearken to the metal-laced positivity of Andrew WK. “Daisy” sounds like a unique collaboration between the Fucking Champs and Jay Reatard. Throughout the album, it’s like listening to the cool version of classic rock — the type of anthemic pop — without the cheesiness — that you wished Journey and Boston could’ve made.

Fang Island’s debut album, Fang Island will be released February 23rd, 2010 via Sargent House.

Artist: Fang Island

Album: Fang Island

Label: Sargent House

Release Date: February 23, 2010

01. Dreams of Dreams

02. Careful Crossers

03. Daisy

04. Life Coach

05. Sideswiper

06. The Illinois

07. Treeton

08. Davey Crockett

09. Welcome Wagon

10. Dorian

Former M.O.D./S.O.D. frontman Billy Milano joined MUNICIPAL WASTE on stage at Red 7 in Austin, Texas on November 12, 2009 to perform a version of the S.O.D. classic “United Forces”.

“S.O.D. is such an important band for the crossover movement, pioneers in fact. We’ve played united forces on and off for over two years while on tour and made the decision a few months ago to retire it. When we heard we had a chance to play it with Billy singing, we knew we had to do one more time and retire it the right way.”

Guitarist Ryan Waste was just as stoked to perform with Billy Milano:

“I was shooting the shit with my buddy Felix Griffin when this big dude comes up to us and sticks out his hand. He looked familiar but I couldn’t place it. Ryan, he said, it’s Milano. I heard Billy lived in Austin and managed a bar down the street but I was still surprised to see him. The Waste had covered United Forces by S.O.D. in the past and it seemed too perfect to play it that night with Billy Milano on vox. After tracking him down back at his bar, Felix and I convinced him to come sing the song. It went over great with the New Yorker’s brand of stand up comedy banter being the icing on the cake.”

Make sure to catch MUNICIPAL WASTE on the “WASTE THE WORLD TOUR” when they hit a town near you.

SUPPORT FROM 11/18 TO 12/02

THE OFF WITH THEIR HEADS, PHOBIA, CAULDRON

11/20 Anaheim, CA @ Chian Reaction
11/21 San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
11/23 Portland, OR @ Satyricon
11/24 Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
11/25 Bellingham, WA @ Wild Buffalo House of Music
11/27 Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room
11/28 Calgary, AB @ The Warehouse
11/29 Winnipeg, MB @ Pyramid Cabaret
12/1 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
12/2 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean

SUPPORT FROM 12/04 TO 12/11

BRUTAL TRUTH, PHOBIA, CAULDRON

12/4 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
12/5 Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop
12/6 Toronto, ON @ Opera House
12/7 Montreal, QC @ Foufounes
12/8 Worcester, MA @ Palladium (Upstairs)
12/9 New York, NY @ Gramercy Theater

12/10 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church

12/11 Richmond, VA @ Alley Katz

The European tour dates are as follows:

1/19 Berlin, Germany – Magnet Club*
1/20 Stuttgart, Germany – Juha West*
1/21 Munich, Germany – Feierwerk*
1/22 Bologna, Italy – Sottotetto Club*
1/23 Treviso, Italy – New Age Club*
1/25 Hamburg, Germany – Hafenklang*
1/27 Stockholm, Sweden – Debaser
1/28 Oslo, Norway – Betong
1/29 Bergen, Norway – Garage
1/30 Birmingham, UK – Academy
2/01 Glasgow, UK – King Tuts
2/2. Leeds, UK – The Cockpit
2/4. London, UK – The Scala
2/5. Bolwerk, Netherlands – Sneek*
2/6. Amsterdam, Netherlands – Melkweg*

*Denotes shows with REPROACH

A hot minivan barreling down the highway, filled to the brim with siblings, sleeping bags, and travel checkers sets—this is the setting for a decades-old American tradition upheld by millions: arguing over the radio dial until consensus is happily found at that hallowed institution, the oldies station. Thus begins the story of Ortolan, four young women from Southern New Jersey with music-loving, art-teacher parents, devoted to each other in laughter, bickering, love, and play. Sisters Stephanie (16), Brianna (18), Lara (20), and sister-in-law Jill (23) also happen to create music that is singularly winsome, disarming, and sincere, possessing the same kind of universal appeal of 1950s and ’60s rock and roll, with its earnest abandon and joy in simple and uncluttered gestures. Ortolan’s sound is at once familiar and new, a sort of musical déjà vu—where listeners remember that which they are hearing for the first time.

The group came together in a remarkably unassuming manner, almost unintentionally, with Stephanie Cottingham (at the time just thirteen years old) signing up with a friend to play at a church coffeehouse. Having only picked up guitar a few months prior, she was surprised by the audience’s enthusiasm for her fledgling attempts at songwriting. Encouraged to give greater heed to the writing impulse, Stephanie spun more melodies and drafted more lyrics, and one year later, she signed up to play the coffeehouse again, this time joined by sisters Lara and Brianna on drums and bass respectively. Ken Fabianovicz of Sounds Familyre was in the audience that night and was so struck by the maturity of song-craft present in this humble outfit that he recommended that the band go into the studio. A few months and several penny-jars later, the group found themselves recording a four-song demo at the New Jersey Recreation Room, home to one of indie music’s most creative producers, Daniel Smith. Smith immediately recognized something special in Stephanie’s beguiling voice and songwriting, and in the remarkable support these sisters showed for each other, cheering one another on as only siblings can. Throughout the next several months, Stephanie and the others continued to write, Jill was added on keys and vocals, the band crafted and refined arrangements—and within a year Ortolan was signed to Sounds Familyre Records and back at the Recreation Room recording their first full-length album, Time On A String (to be released in March 9, 2010). The original four-song demo was mixed and mastered as well, and has become the perfect introduction to the group, simply titled Ortolan EP (released July 14, 2009).

Much like the beautiful, thumb-sized songbird from which the band derives its name, the music of Ortolan possesses the kind of startling beauty that reintroduces wonder to the weary. With playful lyrical themes ranging from sandcastles to buckets of light to fanciful creatures following you home, it’s music with sass and spunk, born from fierce imaginations and young hearts just as enamored with the classic sounds of The Ronnettes, The Shirelles, The Beatles and Motown, as with modern songwriters Regina Spektor, Feist, and Joanna Newsom.

Perhaps what is most striking about Ortolan’s music is its satisfying inevitability: the melodies, the chord progressions, the instrumentation, the production all boil down to the right note followed by the right note followed by the right note. All this inevitability and sense of rightness—and yet quirkiness, spontaneity, and joy scamper rambunctiously through every measure. The sound makes you feel that perhaps there are things in the world that exist as they are meant to, and that is no small feat.

Produced by Daniel C. Smith

Focus tracks: “Sticky Situation” “Just Like Me”

Ortolan will be performing at SXSW and will be touring the US with Danielson in March 2010.

“For a band that’s three-quarters below legal drinking age (ages 16, 18, 20 and 23), the group of sisters and one sister-in-law known as Ortolan make some entrancing and wonderful pop music mature well beyond their youthful years.” – Treblezine

“And they are glorious, beautiful. Sounding a bit like She & Him might were they produced by Sufjan Stevens – to create a sort of She & She & She & She, they are four alt-pop Brontës who beam right into your stereo like a comforting aural torch you never need to buy batteries for.” – Drowned In Sound

Ortolan Time On A Wire Track Listing

01. Anything

02. Be So Bold

03. Changes

04. Gaze

05. Insist For More

06. Just Like Me

07. Ludwig

08. Mirror Image

09. Opposites

10. Sleep, Sleep, Sleep

11. Sticky Situation

ALICE IN CHAINS have announced dates for a North American tour set to kick off at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver on February 2nd. Tickets go on sale December 4th and 5th – fans can get more info at
www.aliceinchains.com. The band is touring in support of its critically acclaimed new album BLACK GIVES WAY TO BLUE (Virgin/EMI), which entered Billboard’s Top 200 Albums Chart at No. 5, with first-week sales exceeding 126,000 copies.

The band’s electrifying set list will spotlight classic hits and new favorites, including new single “Your Decision,” which impacts radio on December 7th. The band recently shot a video for the song with director Stephen Schuster, who they previously worked with on the video for “A Looking In View.”

Los Angeles-based AIC fans can catch the band performing at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas show at the Gibson Amphitheatre on December 12. Tickets will go on sale Saturday, November 21 and proceeds will benefit two local charities, Para Los Ninos and the Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center. On November 24th, the band will also perform three songs acoustically for a special Yahoo! Maximum Performance, which can be seen on Yahoo! Music. In other news, Alice In Chains recently released a Black Gives Way To Blue iPhone app, which features full songs from the album, music videos, news, photos, social networking and much more. The app separates itself from the pack with an impressive level of interactivity; its custom-built functionality allows fans to interact with each of the album’s 11 tracks via a touch, drag and hold feature that reveals hidden visual gems. A demo of the app (which was designed and developed by Mobile Roadie, Streetwise Concepts & Culture

The band (guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell, guitarist/vocalist William DuVall, drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Inez) is currently touring Europe and recently performed on the UK television show “Later … With Jools Holland.” The international dates followed a sold-out U.S. buzz tour and performances on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” and back-to-back nights on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” All three shows saw AIC perform chart-topping lead single “Check My Brain,” which hit No. 1 on the Modern, Active and Rock formats and was hailed by Spin magazine as “one of the catchiest songs of Alice In Chains’ history.”

Don’t miss your chance to catch Alice In Chains live. Tour dates are as follows:

Date City Venue

Nov. 20 Antwerp, Belgium Trix Zaal

Nov. 21 Weisbaden, Germany Schlachthof

Nov. 23 Dortmund, Germany FZW

Nov. 24 Prague, Czech Rep. Lucerna

Nov. 25 Warsaw, Poland Stodola

Nov. 27 Budapest, Hungary Petofi Csarnok

Nov. 29 Vienna, Austria Gasometer

Nov. 30 Munich, Germany Thearterfabrick

Dec. 2 Milan, Italy Alcatraz

Dec. 3 Fribourg, Switzerland Fri-Son

Dec. 4 Paris, France Bataclan

Dec. 6 Nottingham, UK Rock City

Dec. 7 London, UK Brixton Academy

Dec. 11 Las Vegas, NV The Joint (KXTE radio show)

Dec. 12 Los Angeles, CA Gibson Amphitheatre (KROQ Acoustic Xmas)

Feb. 2 Vancouver, BC Orpheum Theatre

Feb. 4 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre

Feb. 6 Salem, OR Salem Armory

Feb. 11 Oakland, CA Fox Theatre

Feb. 17 Phoenix, AZ Dodge Theatre

Feb. 19 Denver, CO Fillmore

Feb. 21 Kansas City, MO Midland

Feb. 22 St. Louis, MO Pageant

Feb. 23 Louisville, KY Louisville Palace

Feb. 25 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle

Feb. 27 Myrtle Beach, SC House of Blues

Mar 1 Nashville, TN Municipal Auditorium

Mar 2 Charlotte, NC Fillmore

Mar 3 Washington, DC DAR Constitution Hall

Mar 5 Richmond, VA The National

Mar 6 Mashantucket, CT Foxwoods

Mar 8 New York, NY Terminal 5

Mar 12 Atlantic, City, NJ Borgata

Mar 13 Philadelphia, PA Tower Theatre

Mar 14 Boston, MA Orpheum

Mar 16 Montreal, QC Metropolis

Mar 17 Toronto, ONT Sound Academy

Mar 19 Detroit, MI Fillmore State Theatre

Mar 20 Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom

Mar 21 St. Paul, MN Roy Wilkens Auditorium

“Like a computer geek with a romantic streak, Ohio’s Aloha straddle the line between trad songcraft and proggy virtuosity.” – Entertainment Weekly

“It’s prog without pretense, pop with a brain; every perfectly recorded note is necessary in order to propel itself into the next, leaving it impossible to focus on any particular instrument or voice without being immediately and happily drawn to another.” – Under The Radar

“The band sounds more confident than ever, and every arrangement is stripped to the bones.” – Pitchfork

“Aloha achieve neo-pop perfection, with aching vocals, shimmering arrangements, and improbably beautiful love songs.” – Alternative Press

Aloha follows the acclaimed LP Some Echoes (2006) and acoustic EP Light Works (2007) with a powerful record that shows the band unbound by past influences and boldly stepping out of the shadows. Written initially through a private band blog, Home Acres is a project three years in the making.

Home Acres pushes the tempos and dials up the guitars, with the band’s slow-burn intensity sometimes overflowing into huge moments. But even as the energy surges, Aloha casts an otherworldy glow, serving up ambience and attack with equal measure.

Album opener “Building a Fire” pairs gritty, persistent bass and drums with celestial, elusive melodies. An explosion of drums and a Peter Hook-high bass riff leads “Moonless March” into a minor-key catharsis. As the album hits its head-nodding, toe-tapping stride, you begin to realize that there’s darkness lurking under Tony Cavallario’s luminous melodies. In “White Wind,” ethereal harmonies stoke the flames as an era burns to the ground. Everywhere things seem to be slipping away, fading from view, going in and out of focus. Fuzzed-out marimbas, reverb-soaked organs and floating strings decorate wistful, chiming guitar chords while Cale Parks pounds away, powering the proceedings from behind the kit.

Lyrically, Home Acres (named for a quaint old suburb of Rochester, NY) tries to sort through the wreckage of the Great Lakes region and a way of life. Left abandoned “waiting for a getaway car that never came” in the record’s arena-rock-by-way-of-Silver Apples closer “Ruins,” we’re left to think that maybe we ought to have dreamt bigger and fought the urge to disengage. A suggestion that Aloha has taken to heart for its biggest, brightest record to date.

T.J. Lipple – Production, marimba, vibraphone, keyboards, backing vocals (Washington D.C.)

Tony Cavallario – vocals, guitar, keyboards (Boston)

Cale Parks – drums, percussion (Brooklyn)

Matthew Gengler – Bass (Cleveland)

Recorded by T.J. Lipple and Nick Anderson. Additional recording by Tony and T.J. in Rochester, NY, Arlington, VA, Jamaica Plain, MA and Wellfleet, MA. Mixed by T.J.

Home Acres Track Listing:

01. Building a Fire

02. Moonless March

03. Microviolence

04. Searchlight

05. Everything Goes My Way

06. White Wind

07. Cold Storage

08. Blackout

09. Waterwheel

10. I’m in Trouble

11. Ruins

UK artist/composer Charlie Alex March is pleased to announce the release of his debut album, Home/Hidden, with Lo Recordings. Home/Hidden, set for release in the US on February 16, is a wonderfully melodic and satisfying affair, gloriously English in a non-sniffy manner, like tea and crumpets or a stroll on an autumn day.

Remarkably focused and mature, it’s eclectic mixture of real strings, treated piano and all manner of electronic keyboards create a surprisingly coherent and comfortable musical vision. Home/Hidden continues Charlie’s association with Sean O’Hagan and Dominic Murcott of the High Llamas (string arrangements and vibraphone respectively) and also features the talents of Andy Ramsay of Stereolab on drums, Jo Apps on vocals and Gabriel from Metronomy playing bass guitar.

After two acclaimed EPs, one of which led David Bowie to comment, “it’s a beautiful glockenspiel and string-led instrumental that gently comes and goes in under three minutes. Delightful,” Charlie is now ready to unfurl his musical banner and let the world know that it’s okay to love melody, it’s okay to relax, to fall in love, to feel good about yourself.

Like a soft collision between Aphex Twin at his most melodic, Nick Drake at his string-soaked finest, or some hybrid of Steve Reich and Syd Barrett scoring a Tim Burton movie, the music of Charlie March has a lingering, delicate beauty that will be around for a long time.

It can be a grim world full of terror and horror but although sometimes hidden, there is always a place deep within that you can call home and where the golden light of love shines on.

Right on.

“Like Aphex Twin having lunch with Vaughn Williams or Delia Deryshire out for a trot with Michael Nyman.” – Vice

Charlie Alex March Home/Hidden Track Listing:

01/ Plan 9
02/ Francisca’s Theme
03/ Mao
04/ Cortot No 7
05/ Melodie
06/ Snow Feet
07/ Clouds Over You Again
08/ Telephone Song
09/ Cortot No 6
10/ Kyoko’s Broken Piano
11/ The Lost Levels
12/ Son of a Joe

IAMSOUND set to release “Clay Stones” single on January 26, 2010

“[We Are The World] work the dance beat, taking pop to strange outer space.”– Paper Magazine

“Art-damaged electronica.” – LA Weekly

“We Are the World celebrates the visual as much as the sonic—incorporating into their performance as much dance and design as music with fantastically spooky effects. We Are the World raised the bar.” – LA Record

“I feel that referring to them as a band is a slight and calling them artists fails to credit their powerful pop. If they combined the Whitney Biennial and Lollapalooza this would be the house band.” – Dennis Hopper

Los Angeles-based favorite We Are The World is set to release their debut album Clay Stones (Manimal Vinyl) on February 23, 2010.

Praised by Paper Magazine and LA Weekly among others, We Are The World have become one of the most unique and dynamic groups to come out of Los Angeles in recent years.

Formed in the summer of 2008 by film composer Robbie Williamson and choreographer Ryan Heffington, the duo’s aim was to create devastating electronic pop music. Joining forces with designer Megan Gold and former CIA agent turned burlesque dancer Nina McNeely, they combined Gold’s provocative lyrics and Williamson’s heavy minimal tracks with Heffington and McNeely’s visceral dancing, and their first live shows were at the infamous roving Echo Park party Fingered.

We Are The World’s pounding bass and thrilling live show soon won them a passionate hometown following who reveled in the group’s choreographed concert performances. We Are The World have played with The Gossip, Fuck Buttons, Linda Perhacs, and Tricky. High Places highlighted We Are The World in their Pitchfork year-end Guest List for their “amazing visual and performative live show.” A recent European tour found We Are The World playing to packed crowds in London, Copenhagen, and Berlin. YouTube comments like, “What an awesome dance force – fucked me up for days thinking about them live” are frequent. Watch We Are The World perform “Fight Song” off Clay Stones here:

We Are The World’s debut single “Clay Stones” will be released on IAMSOUND on January 26, 2010, backed by remixes by Drums of Death, Turbotito, and Van Rivers & the Subliminal Kid (Fever Ray). The video for “Clay Stones” was co-directed by We Are The World and Alma Har’el (Beirut, Jack Peñate) and shot in a fire-ravaged section of forest near Lake Arrowhead.

Tour dates, including SXSW, will be announced soon.

myspace.com/wearetheworldthecult

Clay Stones Track List:

1. Foot Follows Foot

2. Clay Stones

3. Fight Song

4. Lie Like The Forest

5. Afire

6. Not In Death

7. Clover & Dirt

8. Goya Monster

9. Sweet Things Are So Hard

10. Lord Have Ass

Rockers Three Days Grace ask fans to use their hit single “Break” to create pump up videos or highlight reels for High School football teams. The contest encourages fans to use still images, video and graphics and create a video to the bands’ song “Break.” To compete, submit videos that highlight the football season or pumps people up before a game by including best moments, behind the scenes footage and memorable plays. The band will review all entries and select the winners. The winning team will receive autographed copies of 3DG’s album Life Starts Now for everyone on the team as well as a special autographed football. Five runners up will receive autographed copies of Life Starts Now and T-Shirts. Enter at this site: http://www.threedaysgrace.com/thegamestartsnow

Three Days Grace

Jive Records band Three Days Grace released their third album Life Starts Now on September 22nd. The album marked the bands’ highest debut on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart at #3, selling over 78,000 first week and over 185,000 to date. The first single “Break” is currently #87 on the Hot 100 Chart (on chart for over 9 weeks) and #2 at Active Rock Radio, #7 at Alternative Rock Radio (on both charts for over 11 weeks). Recorded in Vancouver, Canada, Life Starts Now reunites the band with producer by Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, Daughtry). The bands first two albums Three Days Grace and One-X have both been certified Platinum and Three Days Grace has sold over 6 million albums worldwide. Three Days Grace is currently touring in support of the album in Canada and will return to the US in 2010 (tour dates below).

Three Days Grace Tour Dates (Canada)

11/17 – Vancouver – Pacific Coliseum

11/19 – Kelowna –Prospera Place

11/20 – Kamloops – Interior Savings Centre

11/22 – Prince George – CN Centre

11/23 – Dawson Creek – Encana Events Centre

11/26 – Edmonton – Rexall Place

11/27 – Lethbridge – Enmax Centre

11/28 – Medicine Hat – Medicine Hat Arena

11/30 – Calgary – Pengrowth Saddledome

12/2 – Saskatoon – Credit Union Centre

12/3 – Regina – Brandt Centre

12/5 – Winnipeg – MTS Centre

12/8 – Sault St Marie – Essar Centre

12/10 – Sudbury – Sudbury Arena

12/15 – London – John Labatt Centre

12/17 – Toronto – Air Canada Centre

12/20 – Ottawa – Scotiabank Place

12/21 – Montreal – Cepsum

Exhibition Features 8 International Artists Exploring The Remaining Fragments of Avant-Garde Thinking and Visual Experimentation
Opens November 21 Through December 12

Opening Nov. 21, Scion’s Installation L.A. Gallery presents “Euphoria Left The Room,” a group exhibition curated by Judith Schwarzbart –curator of the Copenhagen Quadrennial: U-TURN, that seeks to question what fragments of avant-garde thinking and visual experimentation are still at work incontemporary art practice.

Scion’s 4,500 square foot Installation Gallery in Culver City will host this exhibition,which addresses the fate of creative and visionary imagination, which through the 20th century was set free though a sense of experimentation demonstrated in Sci-Fi literature and film. Since modernism in an aesthetic sense has faded, “Euphoria Left The Room” explores whether those utopian ideas are really dead or whether a visionary spirit can still be found in contemporary art.

Ann Lislegaard is a Norwegian-born but Copenhagen-based artist, whose work has been exhibited internationally – from London and Seattle, to Tokyo and Los Angeles and many other global locations.

Ferdinand Ahm Krag, a Copenhagen-based artist has been featured in many European shows. Euphoria Left The Room marks his US debut.

Jacob Dahl Jürgensen was born in Denmark but lives and works in London, having received his MA in Fine Art there. He works in sculpture, collage and installation, often referencing the history of modernist art and design, esoterica and popular culture.

Lisa Schmidt-Colinet is an architect based in Vienna. Since 2001 she has been collaborating with Alex Schmoeger on architecture projects, research and exhibitions.Since 2007 she has been a teacher at the Institute for Art and Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.

Alex Schmoeger works as practicing architect in Vienna. He has implemented several cultural and housing buildings in Austria and is working on a social housing project in Vienna.

Florian Zeyfang, of Berlin, is an artist, video-maker and Professor for Moving Image at the Academy of Fine Arts in Umeå, Sweden. His work has been exhibited internationally and his videos have appeared in film festivals worldwide.

Maria Loboda was born in Poland and now lives and works in Berlin. Her work brings into play several elements that conjure up and oppose rarely associated fields, such as art and Occult sciences. She is renowned for the practice of setting up knowledge systems and their formalization, assigning them magic incantations or spiritual forces.

Tommy Støckel is a Dane who splits his time between Copenhagen and Berlin and has exhibited internationally. Geometry, scale and perspective are essential to his work,which also reflects his interest in modernism and science fiction novels from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Judith Schwarzbart with Charlotte Bagger Brandt and Solvej Helweg Ovesen won a 2006 competition initiated by the Danish Arts Council for the establishment of a festival for contemporary art in Denmark. Together they curated the 2008 U-TURN Quadrennial for Contemporary Art – which is the first international festival for contemporary art to beheld in Denmark.

More information on this and previous exhibitions is available at www.scion.com/space.

The opening reception takes place on Nov. 21, 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. at the Scion Installation L.A. Space, 3521 Helms Ave. (at National), Culver City, CA 90232.The reception is free with complimentary valet parking and an open bar. Many artists will be present and available for comment. The exhibit will run until Dec 12, 2009.

Dedicated to fostering independent artistic expression, Scion Installation L.A. is a space that allows artists to explore their creative visions. The Scion Installation L.A. Space hosts art shows and art-related events for cutting-edge contemporary artists from across the globe. 100% of all sales go directly to the artists. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM and by appointment – 310.815.8840.

About Scion
Scion, from Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc., was developed with a new generation of youthful buyers in mind. Scion’s mission is to provide distinctive products,the opportunity to personalize, and an innovative, consumer-driven process at the retail level. The Scion brand features three ground-breaking models with a wide array of standard features: the xD urban subcompact five-door, the iconic xB urban utility vehicle,and the tC sports coupe. The brand often applies new practices in all aspects of its business and pushes the creativity envelope with non-traditional advertising and marketing to engage young consumers. Scion also supports originality through its programs in the artistic community.

Bay Area thrash legends TESTAMENT are taking the stage once again in support of their award-winning 2008 release “The Formation of Damnation”. TESTAMENT will be touring as special guest with fellow Thrash Legends Megadeth and Slayer. The tour will feature the classic lineup of vocalist Chuck Billy, guitarists Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick, bassist Greg Christian, and drummer Paul Bostaph and marks the 20th anniversary of these major players taking the stage together on the same stage as Megadeth and Slayer.

For over 20 years, TESTAMENT has remained committed to the thrash metal sound that brought them to prominence in the late 1980s. The band has never compromised its unmatched intensity or musicianship and has only continued to up the ante with each release.

“The Formation of Damnation” was named one of MySpace’s Top Albums for 2008 and found itself at the top of many year-end lists including #9 Rock Album of the Year on iTunes for 2008, #4 Album of 2008 in Revolver Magazine, #10 on Metal Edge Top 50 of 2008, #1 on Metal Maniacs Top 20 of 2008, and the #2 Brave Pick in Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles. The album also dominated metal radio, coming in at #1 on Sirius-XM’s metal channel, #1 on CMJ’s LoudRock charts, and was the most played album on metal radio according to FMQB.

The highly successful and award-winning album “The Formation of Damnation” will be reissued just in time for this amazing tour with Slayer and Megadeth with a bonus CD that contains live renditions of the classics; The New Order, Practice What You Preach and Souls Of Black. The tracks will also feature enhanced video clips recorded in Alcatraz for their MTV special 52 bands feature as well as the music video for “More Than Meets The Eye”. This Special album re-release with bonus material will be in stores on February 23rd . Testament will have the tour reissue available on all of the dates of the upcoming Carnage Tour prior to it hitting stores.

As a special exclusive to the dedicated TESTAMENT Legions, there were be an exclusive VIP package available for purchase. The TESTAMENT VIP Pack will include the following:
- One general admission ticket with early entry
- Exclusive Meet & Greet with the members of Testament
- Personal photograph with the band
- Autograph session (includes 8X10 photo)
- Exclusive Testament Affliction Shirt
- Collectible Tour Poster (limited, numbered)
- Exclusive Testament Music Skin
- Official VIP Meet and Greet Laminate
- Official set of Testament Guitar Picks

The password for the TESTAMENT ticket pre-sale is “Damnation”. VIP Packs and tickets will be available at Ticketmaster.com (unless noted otherwise) More details will follow regarding Meet and Greet and VIP ticket packs .

Stay tuned for more details on TESTAMENT’s upcoming US tour!
JANUARY
01/18 WaMu Theatre, Seattle, WA
01/19 Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR
01/21 Cow Palace, San Francisco, CA
01/22 Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA
01/23 Dodge Theatre, Phoenix, AZ
01/25 Magness Arena, Denver, CO
01/26 Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, NM
01/27 El Paso Coliseum, El Paso, TX
01/29 Verizon Wireless, Houston, TX
01/31 Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, TN
FEBRUARY
02/1 Gwinnett Arena, Duluth, GA
02/2 Broadbent Arena, Louisville, KY
02/4 Roy Wilkins Auditorium, Minneapolis, MN
02/5 UIC Pavilion, Chicago, IL
02/6 Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI
02/9 Chevrolet Theatre, Wallingford, CT
02/11 Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ
02/12 Glen Falls Civic Center Albany, NY
02/13 Susquehanna Center, Camden, NJ
02/14 Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA
02/16 Pavillon de La Jeunesse, Quebec City, QC
02/18 John Labatt Centre, London, ON
02/19 Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
02/20 Bell Centre, Montreal, QC
02/22 Moncton Coliseum, Moncton, NB
02/23 Metro Centre, Halifax, NS