Weezer

Within Raditude's 10 songs lie boundless possibilities and ceaseless excitement, proof that Weezer remains a band that defies easy summations and can never be taken for granted, a band who has grown as they've opened their horizons.

Raditude's swift appearance on the heels of 2008's The Red Album is hardly the only surprise Weezer has in store on its seventh record. Raditude upends any expectations audiences may have of Weezer, amplifying their trademarks to a dizzying degree - the pop hooks dig deeper, the rock hits so hard it bruises - but the group subverts these signatures with a sly hand while pushing boldly into new territory.

Perhaps the collaborative nature of Raditude - arguably its calling card - is in the collective spirit of the band's experience on their last tour. "It feels like an extension of all the fun we were having last year with the Hootenannies," explains Rivers Cuomo. The wild, wooly settings borne of the Hootenannies couldn't help but push the band in new directions, turning Rivers into a demonstrative performer. Part of Raditude's charm comes from its thrilling unpredictability. "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" kicks it all off with its clanking acoustic guitars and Motown beat, setting the tone for an album that's filled with thrilling surprises, infectious melodies, marrying Weezer's hookiest pop with their heaviest rock. As Cuomo says, "It sounds like a roomful of people having a great time" but more than that, Raditude is Weezer's wildest, weirdest, best record yet, easily supporting Cuomo's assertion that "Raditude feels like the greatest realization of my musical goals."

Blink-182

At the 51st Grammy Awards ceremony on February 8, 2009, all three members of the band appeared onstage for the first time since December 2004. Barker announced the band's reformation, stating that "we used to play music together, and we decided we're going to play music together again," with Hoppus adding, "Blink-182 is back!" A message appearing on the band's website the same day confirmed the reformation and added that the band was in the studio writing and recording a new album and preparing for a world tour. A July 23, 2009 show in Las Vegas, Nevada marked their first live performance together in 4 years.

A discography that includes Chesire Cat (1994), Dude Ranch (1997), Enema of the State (1999), Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001) and Blink-182 (2003), Blink-182 has won a number of awards. But they've had the most success at the Teen Choice Awards, winning three: Choice Rock Group (2000) and Best Rock Group (2001) for the band, and Choice Love Song (2004) for the song "I Miss You". "All the Small Things", a single from the band's Enema of the State album, received three nominations from the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000: Video of the Year, Best Pop Video, and Best Group Video, which it won. Overall, Blink-182 has received seven awards from ten nominations.

Girl Talk

With Rolling Stone, SPIN, Blender, Pitchfork and even Beck including Night Ripper in their best albums of 2006 lists, Girl Talk has gone on to be booked by major festivals (Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Virgin, All Points West, Pitchfork, DEMF, etc.).

A year after the critically acclaimed Night Ripper release, Gillis quit his job as a biomedical engineer and now focuses on music full time. With his newly acquired lifestyle he can now work on music during the week and fly out to play shows on the weekend. With only a laptop in hand, the Girl Talk live show is more portable than a traditional band and has afforded Gillis the opportunity to travel the world with minimal overhead. A visceral culture of audience involvement has also become key to the live Girl Talk experience. Performances oftentimes feature the stage being mobbed with a sweaty mass of dancers who surround Gillis as he triggers samples and create mixes, new and old, out of loops from his hard drive. His fourth album, Feed the Animals, continues Gillis' sonic evolution towards his party-infested live show. While his first album, Secret Diary (2002), was full of purposeful glitches and noise, his subsequent albums, Unstoppable (2004) and Night Ripper (2006), moved closer and closer towards dance-able mixes of varying genres, often including dozens of audio sources in a stream of juxtaposed hooks. With the fourth Girl Talk album on the Illegal Art label, Gillis steps even closer towards a creation that is centered on pop musicality rather than attention-deficit sample splicing. For more information contact Jessica Linker at Pitch Perfect PR. jessica@pitchperfectpr.com www.pitchperfectpr.com.

The National

Some Words About Boxer by Alec Hanley Bemis

When last we heard from The National, they'd released and toured behind their Beggars Banquet debut, Alligator, an album whose reception closely mirrored the kind of sounds they made on record--it started out quiet, and ended up very, very loud. Alligator became one of the most widely discussed and critically acclaimed independent albums of 2005--"album of the year" to one Los Angeles Times critic. It also earned top marks in a poll of America's bloggeratti and rapturous reviews throughout the U.S. and Europe. (Uncut, selecting it as an album of the month, called the record "their first masterpiece.") More importantly, The National became an object of growing obsession among a thriving community of fans--strands of their lyrics decorated MySpace; during shows, audience members sang along in unison, echoing through concert halls; news of celebrity admirers like Bruce Springsteen shot across the interwebs. The National became famous in an alternate universe--one where the gossip rags talk about the people you actually care about.

The National's latest release, Boxer, is better.

Taking Back Sunday

Adam Lazzara Lead Vocals
Matt Fazzi Guitar, Vocals
Eddie Reyes Guitar
Mark O'Connell Drums
Matt Rubano Bass, Vocals

Taking Back Sunday is not turning their collective back on what is already a storied past, not when their resume boasts three gold albums, two of which hit the top five (including a #2 debut for 2006's Louder Now), extensive touring with the likes of Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, and Jimmy Eat World, as well as co-headlining the Warped package and appearing at the historic Live Earth, all in-between their own headlining gigs for 10,000 plus fans regularly, and appearing on every one of the late-night chat fests; Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and Conan O'Brien.

The mature themes that Taking Back Sunday are admittedly addressing could turn out to be one of the most important things about New Again -- that it shows the band in 2009. "Getting all the way to this point with a brilliant new band member and a great new friend and a record that we all are bursting for people to hear it really feels like we've accomplished something pretty great," Rubano says about the new album. "It represents a year of difficulty and struggle, and at the same time, unbridled exploratory creativity. It's been a really special and important year for us and this record certainly represents that."

Franz Ferdinand

are Robert Hardy, Nick McCarthy, Paul Thomson , and Alex Kapranos.

After signing with Domino in 2004, the band released their first record, the self-titled, Franz Ferdinand. After a long year of touring, the band released their second record You Could Have It So Much Better (2006). After a grueling tour schedule, the band took a much needed break. They kicked off 2009 with the release of their third album - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand.

To find out more info, visit: www.franzferdinand.co.uk

The Birthday Massacre

The band was formed in 1999 and independently produced and recorded their first two albums, Nothing and Nowhere and Violet. Through both of these high-demand releases, as well as their highly acclaimed and beautifully atmospheric website, the band obtained a large and loyal fan base throughout the world.

Due to their independent success, in 2005 they were approached by European record label Repo Records (followed shortly by Metropolis Records in North America) and the band began its steady climb to reaching a much wider audience with the 2007 release of the acclaimed and wildly popular Walking With Strangers.

In the last few years, the band has been performing internationally, traveling extensively across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Australia, the U.K. and Europe. They have become renowned for their high-energy live performances, drawing large, mixed crowds through their appeal to fans of a surprisingly wide range of genres. Equally comfortable playing intimate venues as they are on a festival stage, the band's highly-praised performances will continue into the next year as they continue touring.

They are currently working on their next release scheduled for April of 2010.

Public Enemy

are Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff, Terminator X, Dj Lord, The S1Ws

PE formed in Long Island, New York, in 1982 around a WBAU radio show as Spectrum City. After one less-than-successful single, they regrouped and signed to the still developing Def Jam record label after Rick Rubin heard Chuck D free-styling on a demo. Their debut, 'Yo! Bum Rush The Show', was released in 1987 to mild critical acclaim, although the Hip-Hop climate changed dramatically due to sampling during the time of its release. As a response, they went on to release the revolutionary 'It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back' in 1988, which performed better in the charts than their previous release, and included the hit single 'Don't Believe the Hype'.

Slightly less militant than their previous releases Public Enemy's, 'Fear Of A Black Planet' was officially recognized as being the most successful and influential of the Public Enemy recordings when, in 2004, it became one of 50 recordings, chosen that year by the Library of Congress, to be added to the National Recording Registry. Sales-wise it was the most successful of any of their albums to date. It included the powerful and controversial singles '911 is a Joke' and 'Fight the Power', which is considered by many to be the group's premier self-describing anthem. The song is considered to be amongst the most popular and influential in Hip Hop history and was the theme song for Spike Lee's landmark film 'Do The Right Thing'.

PE revolutionized the rap world with their political, social and cultural consciousness. They are recognized as the first Hip Hop group to make extended world tours, leading to huge popularity and influence within the Hip Hop communities of Europe and Asia. They also the first group to release MP3 albums, a format virtually unknown at the time.