Black Numbers to release Higher Giant 7-inch

Black Numbers has announced that they will be releasing the next 7″ from Higher Giant. Al’s Moustache is due out on August 11, 2009 and will follow up The First Five, released earlier this year by Runner Up Records. Two new songs from the release are available for streaming – “See You Later, Chopstick” can be heard at the Black Numbers website while “Union Square” is available for streaming at the band’s myspace page.

The new band features Ernie Parada (Token Entry, Grey Area, Black Train Jack) on vocals and guitar, David Wagenschutz (Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, Paint It Black, Good Riddance) on drums, guitarist Jason Lehrhoff (Warzone, Grey Area) and Alex Volonino (The Arsons) on bass.

The record can be pre-ordered here, and facial hair enthusiasts
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Fake Problems cancel remaining headlining shows due to death in the family

Fake Problems are canceling the rest of their headlining tour due to a death in the family of one of their members. The band was scheduled to head over to the west coast with Ninja Gun but has decided to cut the tour short after their date in Chicago tonight.

The band was touring in support of It’s Great to Be Alive. You can see some footage from the Philadelphia stop of their tour here: Fake Problems: “Heart BPM” (Live in Philadelphia).

Everyone here at Punknews’ sympathies go out to the band and their families.
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In the Red / Anchor Down / Bastards of Young / Drunken Boat split

Suburban Home Records is streaming the new four way split 7″ between In the Red, Anchor Down, Bastards of Young, and Drunken Boat. The first four songs in the set will be on the 7″ while the last four will be available via a download coupon included with the release.

Tonight In the Red, Anchor Down and Bastards of Young are kicking off a tour together.
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Atlantic/Pacific (ex-Texas is the Reason) post new material

Atlantic/Pacific, the new project from Garrett Klahn of Texas is the Reason and Solea, have posted several new demos as they continue a European tour which will wrap up in late July.

The band is described as “borrowing from the shoegaze of the 90’s and at times drifting in and out of folk landscapes of all decades.

Check out the demos here.
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Fall of Troy finish album, cancel European tour

The Fall of Troy have posted an update:

I hope you have been enjoying your summer. We’ve put the final touches on what will be our 3rd full length for EVR this week. We’re very excited about the record and can’t wait to share it all with you, which will be sometime this fall. We do have a little bit of bad news though it looks as though we will no longer be able to take part in the Eastpak tour this fall. It pains us to have to disappoint all our European fans, but we promise we will get back there as soon as possible.

The Eastpak Antidote tour will continue on with headliners Alexisonfire and Anti-Flag.

The new record will be their first since 2007’s Manipulator. In the interim, they released the EP, Phantom on the Horizon in 2008.
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Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor gives advice to unsigned artists

Nine Inch Nails frontman and digital distribution pioneer Trent Reznor recently gave some of his thoughts on how unsigned bands should proceed in the digital era. The post was sparked by his positive comments on the Beastie Boys recent run of digital reissues, which led to to the frequent comment that “established artists” can easily give away or digitally distribute music while unknown artists do not have the name brand of a Radiohead or Nine Inch Nails to do so.

Trent responded saying:

Forget thinking you are going to make any real money from record sales. Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY. As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the only true marketing that matters. What you NEED to do is this – give your music away as high-quality DRM-free MP3s. Collect people’s email info in exchange (which means having the infrastructure to do so) and start building your database of potential customers. Then, offer a variety of premium packages for sale and make them limited editions / scarce goods.

Have a realistic idea of what you can expect to make from these and budget your recording appropriately. The point is this: music IS free whether you want to believe that or not. Every piece of music you can think of is available free right now a click away. This is a fact – it sucks as the musician BUT THAT’S THE WAY IT IS (for now).

Reznor gave away two albums in the past two years, Ghosts I-IV and The Slip. Despite this, the latter album brought in at least $1.5 million in revenue directly before being picked up for a physical release on CD.

Read the rest of the post here.
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The Bronx to release mariachi record in September

The Bronx have announced that they will be releasing their mariachi record, Mariachi el Bronx, on September 1, 2009 via Swami Records. Technically, the band will be releasing the record as “Mariachi el Bronx” and so the record is, in fact, self-titled.

The band also released the more traditional Bronx record, The Bronx in 2008.
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The Matches on indefinite hiatus

Oakland, CA-based pop/punk outfit The Matches have announced an indefinite hiatus. The band, which previously collaborated with songwriters like Tim Armstrong (Rancid), Nick Hexum, Mark Hoppus (Blink-182) and John Feldmann (Goldfinger), made the announcement:

We’ve spent 2009 soul searching, as a group and separately, starting new projects and having lives outside of our little white tour van. We’ve been lucky to have been 4 artists (well, 5, really) involved in a nearly decade-spanning group project, and have been even luckier to have you as an audience. However, our time to start new projects has come, and right now, The Matches has become something we prefer to look back upon proudly.

The band is planning two final show in California. The first, August 22 in Los Angeles, CA at The Troubadour and the second on August 23 in San Francisco, CA at The Fillmore.
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