MUSIC DIRECTOR AT WRXP NEW YORK RESIGNS -- Bryan Schock, MD and on-air personality at Triple A WRXP New York, leaves the building to relocate back to southern California for personal reasons. Schock programmed Alternative 91X San Diego for many years prior to the move to NY. Does he know something we don't about Emmis' plans for the New York signal? The ratings have been horrible since they've signed on ...Stay tuned! We wish the best of luck to Mr. Schock - he's one of the good ones.

WHAT'S UP AT BUZZNET? After laying off more than 10% of its workforce before the holidays, some more have left the building this past week. Jeezus.

INTERSCOPE LAYS OFF 75 STAFFERS TODAY -- That's the unconfirmed report we're getting - very quietly, 75 folks in various departments were handed pink slips. Not good.

KORDA MARSHALL RELAUNCHES INFECTIOUS RECORDS -- (ripped straight from Music Week) -- Marshall, who founded Infectious in 1994, has teamed up with his one-time business partner, Mushroom Records founder Michael Gudinski and music, theatre and sports entrepreneur Michael Watt, who have both taken a significant shareholding in the new company.

The first signing to Infectious Records are Australian band The Temper Trap, who are signed in Australia to Gudinski’s Liberation Music.

Marshall, who left Warner Music in October 2008, says “I’m incredibly excited about going back to running an independent label. These are really interesting times for the music industry, which continues to evolve and although there are still big challenges to overcome I believe there are fantastic opportunities for labels who are willing to embrace new ideas and new ways of working with artists.”

In addition to the label Marshall plans to launch music publishing and artist management arms.

Marshall has also hired former Infectious Records executives Pat Carr of Remote Control and Mirelle Davis of Wind Up Bird as consultants to oversee General Management and International Marketing respectively for the new company. He has also engaged Robert Horsfall and Mike Skeet’s teams at Sound Advice to handle the company’s legal and financial affairs.

UPCOMING L.A. SHOWS OF NOTE

Jan 26 -- Bangkok 5 - Roxy
Jan 28 -- Astra Heights - Viper Room
Jan 29 -- Holly Conlan - Hotel Cafe
Feb 2 -- Aushua - Silverlake Lounge
Feb 4 -- Johnny Lloyd Rollins (early 7PM) - Hotel Cafe
Feb 4 -- Little Boots (late) - Spaceland
Feb 10 -- Mark Lanegan - Troubadour
Feb 11 -- Castaneda - Club Moscow (Boardners)
Feb 12 -- Jonneine Zapata - Silverlake Lounge
Feb 18 -- Castaneda - Club Moscow (Boardners)
Feb 21 -- Meiko (w/ Joshua Radin) - Henry Fonda

\m/ \m/

Mar 16 -- Skid Row - House Of Blues
Mar 17 -- Skid Row - Key Club

REBECCA JORDAN (unsigned, unpublished) -- If Corinne Bailey Rae had a smarter, cuter, hippy-dippy L.A.-based cousin, it'd be Rebecca Jordan. She's self-funded and self-released her debut EP, The Trouble With Fiction, and the video of her take on Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" is currently being featured on mtvU's "The Freshmen" program. Check her MySpace page to hear other songs from the EP - we like "This Town" and "Hey Kid."

Side note: Rebecca (who also sometimes spells her name Rebekah), wrote Kelly Clarkson's song "Beautiful Disaster."

Peep the "Dreams" video here:

LOS ANGELES ALTERNATIVE RADIO SUPPORTING BABY BANDS - L.A.-based TALENTfilter band Iglu & Hartly, who we first reported on in early 2008 (and have since signed with Mercury in the UK and Universal Republic in the U.S.), have their first single, "In This City" officially added into regular rotation on L.A. Alt-outlet KROQ. As there is no 'official' add date set, this is a huge score - and will more than likely make the Uni Republic folks rush the single to the rest of the Alternative radio panel. Woo hoo!

Indie 103-1 Los Angeles has been heavily supporting Brooklyn-based Amazing Baby as of late. Their song "Head Dress" is in a solid all-daypart rotation. While the band's MySpace page states that they're signed to "psilocybe", we know that the announcement of a major label signing is coming shortly.

TALENTFILTER UNSIGNED ARTIST UPDATE - Some of the artists we've written about on the blog are steadily building some traction on their own without the help of a record label - here's a bit of an update:


HOLLY CONLAN (unsigned, unpublished) had her song "OK" featured on this week's episode of "90210" - another one of her tracks, "You Are Goodbye" on this week's episode. A regular performer at L.A.'s Hotel Cafe, her holiday track was included on the venue's Hotel Cafe Presents: Winter Songs compilation (Epic) - she'll perform at the Hotel Cafe on January 28. KCRW Los Angeles loves her, iTunes loves her ('single of the week' this summer) - you should too.

GAVIN CASTLETON (unpublished), signed to uber-indie Five One Records, recently recorded (and videotaped) a remake of the Prince classic "Nothing Compares 2 U" which is f**king mind-blowing - this YouTube link was forwarded to us by a manager:

N@th1ng C@mpare$2U (cover) live


It won't be released, but it'll certainly help create awareness of Gavin as an artist. His album titled Home will be released by Five One in mid-February, and the first single, "Coffeelocks", will be serviced to Alternative Specialty radio this week. Hear "Coffeelocks" here.

Eighteen year-old Hermosa Beach singer/songwriter KATIE COSTELLO (unsigned, unpublished) has moved to the east coast - several labels including Jive and Atlantic have shown serious interest. Katie has dates on both coasts posted on her MySpace page.





JOHNNY LLOYD ROLLINS (unsigned, unpublished) has picked up a significant amount of label interest since we wrote about him after last year's incredible performance at Sundance - he'll be in Los Angeles meeting with labels and publishers in February, and has a show confirmed at the Hotel Cafe on February 4. Expect multiple majors in attendance.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! While you're recovering over the weekend, take a sec to mark these dates on your calendar - we'll have some unsigned artist updates, industry nooz and new acts to tip you to during the week:

Jan 5 -- Low Stars (and Sarah Bareilles but shhh) - Hotel Cafe
Jan 9 -- Chloe Leighton - Hotel Cafe
Jan 15 -- Meiko - Hotel Cafe
Jan 28 -- Astra Heights - Viper Room
Feb 4 -- Johnny Lloyd Rollins - Hotel Cafe

Seems the bookers at every other venue in Los Angeles aside from the Hotel Cafe forgot about bands for January! Yikes.

A&R COMINGS AND GOINGS... Sadly, this is less about comings and more about goings. Several A&R staffers were let go this week as part of a major restructuring at Epic Records US -- Andy Gershon, Jeff Wooding, along with young guns Daniel Werner and Seth Cassel have exited... Keith Naftaly is also rumored to be leaving before year's end. At MySpace Records, A&R exec Jon Pikus has exited... Rumorers are rumoring that there will be a shakeup in the Atlantic Records A&R department soon as well, as new A&R chief Pete Ganbarg could soon trim the fat from a rather large A&R team. Also, what's up at Downtown? On a happier note, Brad Aarons just joined Warner Chappell as VP A&R.

(*More news - Jeff Aldrich has been let go from Warner Bros. Rumor has it he'll head to NY to take a position with Jive. Are there more layoffs ahead at WB? We hear there will be more before the end of the year*)

CHLOE LEIGHTON (unsigned) -- 22 year-old singer/songwriter/pianist Chloe Leighton has become the #1 Unsigned Jazz Artist on MySpace. Originally from Sydney, Australia, Chloe has spent time living in Paris and now calls Los Angeles her home. It's still very early days for Ms. Leighton, but she's got a number of really well-put-together songs ...Norah Jones-meets-Sara Bareilles. Standout tracks featured on her MySpace page include "Chocolate Cake" and "If You Only Knew".

Chloe will spend the rest of the year updating her MySpace page, getting new photos done, and will continue to write and record. She's got a publishing deal with HoriPro, but she's available for worldwide signing and licensing.

DIANA POPS (unsigned, unpublished) -- This 23 year-old singer/songwriter/pianist hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her MySpace page lists her as sounding like "Tori Amos and Norah Jones' art-pop love-child", but we also hear a stiking similarity to one of her big influences, fellow Canadian Sarah McLachlan.

Diana recently completed an album with Juno Award-winning, Grammy-nominated producer Adrian Bradford and mixer Bryan Cook. Her MySpace page features a few of the tracks from the offering (faves include "Light My Cigarette" and "Las Vegas To New York") - we have to say this is one of the most promising new artists we've come across in quite some time.

ANOTHER TALENTFILTER ARTIST SIGNS A LABEL/PUBLISHING DEAL! Our super-snoops inside the Nettwerk Records offices tell us that Terry McBride has signed Australian TALENTfilter act The Hampdens to a recording and publishing deal! We first wrote about The Hampdens EIGHTEEN MONTHS AGO! Kudos to Terry and to the band for getting a deal done - it's about time someone helps create awareness of their material outside of Oz!

Terry, where can we send an invoice for our finder's fee? ;)

TALENTfilter 'SIGNED ARTIST' UPDATE

There are many other 'tipsheet’-type blogs out there claiming to have helped a million bands get signed – well – you can get a million bands record deals, but if none of them break, who cares, right? Here’s an update on some of the artists who have been signed or published since being tipped to you by Team TALENTfilter:

FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, featured in February 2007 and now signed to The Firm’s record label, have ‘Scanned 239,111 copies of their debut album The Way Of The Fist, and have had several chart-topping singles at Active Rock radio in the U.S...

JESSIE BAYLIN, featured in March 2007, has since signed with Verve Forecast (and Sony/ATV Publishing) and has ‘Scanned 11,470 copies of her debut Fireflight LP. Baylin will tour in support of Mark Broussard in January 2009.

ANDREW PAUL WOODWORTH, also featured in March 2007, has signed a European licensing deal with Rodeostar Records in Germany and has toured mainland Europe several times in 2008 in support of his debut Eddy Ate Dynamite LP (available in EU). Woodworth remains unpublished and is available for licensing outside of Europe.

KATE WALSH, featured in March 2007, has since topped the iTunes UK Albums chart without the help of a label, signed with Mercury in the UK and Verve in the U.S., and has scanned about 10,000 copies of her album Tim’s House in the States. Walsh is currently working on a new album.

INGRID MICHAELSON, first featured in May 2007, is our most-successful TALENTfilter artist, sales-wise, to date. You’re probably very familiar with her accomplishments – but you should also know that she’s ‘Scanned 246,362 copies of her Girls & Boys LP and 32,295 copies of her latest Be Ok album. Ingrid still owns her masters, and is still unpublished.

A FINE FRENZY, who was signed but unpublished when we’d first written about her, has since signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell. She’s ‘Scanned 228,637 copies of her debut One Cell In The Sea LP, and has had NUMEROUS song placements in film/TV and commercials. Her first single, “Almost Lover”, peaked at number 25 on Billboard’s Hot A/C chart in the U.S. Overseas, "Almost Lover," reached number eight in Germany, number ten on the Swiss Charts and number five in Austria. A Fine Frenzy (Alison Sudol) is currently working on a new album (and writing a children’s book!)

BRENDAN JAMES, first featured in June 2007, has signed with Decca Records and has ‘Scanned 11,305 copies of his debut The Day Is Brave LP.

THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT, featured in January 2008 after KROQ Los Angeles added their song into regular rotation, has since signed with Shout! Factory in the U.S. and has 'Scanned 23,169 copies of their self-titled album. The radio story in the U.S. continues to grow, and the label derby has begun overseas for non-U.S licensing rights.

MEIKO, the very first artist we’d blogged about in February 2007, has signed to MySpace/DGC, and has ‘Scanned 25,283 of her self-titled debut. The album, self-released almost a year prior to signing, had sold over 25,000 copies without the help of a label. The Meiko LP is the top-selling album on Amazon.com this week, and she’s debuted at #26 on the R&R Triple A radio chart this week as well. She’s had 11 songs placed in U.S. TV shows, and she is still unpublished.

KATIE COSTELLO (unsigned, unpublished) -- Before reading any further, please go to Katie's website to listen to her songs - specifically "Kaleidoscope Machine". We'll wait.

................you back?

................You impressed?

Guess what - she's 17, maybe 18. Yeah. We felt the same way too. Katie has found some recent love from KCRW Los Angeles tastemaker Nic Harcourt - not only has he and the station's Chris Douridas played her music on the air, but Harcourt has also placed "Kaleidoscope Machine" in the "90210" TV show he music supervises. Katie lives in Hermosa Beach, CA, and her sound is in the vein of Zooey Deschanel. We think she's awesome. And we'll be at her show December 7 at Saint Rocke.

**BREAKING NEWS** Following Thursday night's prominent placement in "Grey's Anatomy", wicked sale pricing and ridiculous coverage on MySpace, TALENTfilter artist Meiko has the #1 best-selling album on Amazon.com. Boo ya.

CASTANEDA (unsigned) -- Castaneda is a five-piece L.A.-based band who recently completed their second EP titled This Is What We're Gonna Do. The good folks at Songs Publishing have been helping them to garner various film/TV and videogame synch licenses, and music from the EP is receiving airplay on KROQ Los Angeles' "Local's Only" show and Indie 103-1's "Check, One, Two" program. What separates Castaneda from the deluge of 'indie' Silverlake acts is that they write melodic songs with hooks, and the singer can actually sing! Now, both of their EP's could use some tweaking in the mixes, but the songs are certainly there - if you're a fan of The Killers, you'll like these guys. Castaneda performs at The Mountain Bar in downtown L.A. this Saturday at 11:30. We'll be there, as will a handful of smart label execs.

TALENTFILTER ARTIST STACY CLARK SIGNS WITH INDIE SHANGRI-LA! We're excited to tell you that Orange County-based singer-songwriter Stacy Clark, who we first tipped you to in January 2008, has signed with Shangri-La Music (The Duke Spirit, The Pretenders). She's also picked up a booking agent (APA) and has had several songs placed in TV shows including MTV's "The Hills" and The CW's "Girlfriends". Hooray Stacy! Congrats to you!!

UPCOMING L.A. SHOWS TO BE AWARE OF:

Nov 20 -- Molly Marlette - Hotel Cafe
Nov 22 -- Castaneda - Mountain Bar (Downtown)
Nov 22 -- The Shore - Molly Malone's
Nov 24 -- Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - The Echo
Dec 1 -- Everything Is Energy - The Roxy
Dec 2 -- Holly Conlan - Hotel Cafe
Dec 5 -- Brian Wright & The Waco Tragedies - Hotel Cafe
Dec 15 -- Brendan James - The Roxy

GOOD NEWS!

OK - Good news - after taking about a month off (and slacking a bit in the few months prior), we'll be back this week with a fresh crop of unsigned unpublished talent. We'll also give you a report card on some of the acts we'd discovered prior to their signing - we can help a million bands get signed, but if none of them break - who cares, right? We'll tell you how they're all doing this week.

UPCOMING L.A. SHOWS OF NOTE

Oct 9 -- Lex Land, Gavin Castleton -- Hotel Cafe
Oct 9 -- Dynamite Walls -- Viper Room
Oct 10 -- Meiko -- Hotel Cafe
Oct 10 -- Graveyard -- Spaceland
Oct 10 -- Restiform Bodies -- The Echo
Oct 13 -- Kenan Bell -- Spaceland
Oct 15 -- The Atma -- Silverlake Lounge
Oct 15 -- Obi Best -- El Cid
Oct 16 -- Bumblebeez -- The Echo
Oct 23 -- Tina Dico -- Hotel Cafe
Oct 23 -- Slaughter (!!!) -- Key Club
Oct 29 -- Spinnerette -- Spaceland
Oct 31 -- Helmet (!!!) -- Viper Room
Nov 3 -- Mother Mother -- Silverlake Lounge
Nov 5 -- Jim Bianco -- Hotel Cafe
Nov 8 -- Letters To Cleo (!!!) -- The Roxy

ANOTHER TALENTFILTER ARTIST SIGNS LABEL DEAL! Congratulations to TALENTfilter act Elizabeth & The Catapult -- the band has announced that after two months of negotiating, they've signed with Verve Forecast. We first wrote about Elizabeth & The Catapult EIGHTEEN MONTHS AGO. Woo hoo!

The group will head to Chicago in a few weeks to begin recording their major label debut with Brian Deck (Counting Crows, Iron And Wine).

NEW SIGNINGS, ETC. -- Female-fronted Florida five-piece Hey Monday signs to Columbia Records (there is literally ZERO difference between Hey Monday and Paramore) ...Joshua Radin, who left Columbia (and took his new album with him), signs with newly-launched Q Prime Management label Mom & Pop Music Co. (no relation to Mom & Pop Records or Mom Pop Records) ...Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights signs to Atlantic Records ...Boston rockers Therefore I Am signs with Equal Vision ...Death metal outfit The Crimson Armada, who have over 1.2 million MySpace plays, sign with Metal Blade...

NEW LOS ANGELES SHOWS OF NOTE:

Aug 24 -- Obi Best (formerly Colorforms) -- Silverlake Lounge
Aug 26 -- Buddy, Michelle Featherstone -- Hotel Cafe
Aug 29 -- Joe Purdy, Meiko -- The Roxy
Aug 30 -- Holly Conlan -- Hotel Cafe
Sept 3 -- Mother Truckers -- The Roxy
Sept 4 -- Emily Wells -- Hotel Cafe
Sept 5 -- Once -- Spaceland
Sept 8 -- The Henry Clay People -- The Echo
Sept 13 -- Just Off Turner -- Viper Room

MY MORTALITY (unsigned) -- New York's My Mortality is a four-piece formed by former Type O Negative / Life Of Agony drummer Sal Abruscato. Since April 2008, the band has been garnering regular airplay on tastemaker Active Rocker WSOU South Orange, the SIRIUS Satellite Radio "Octane" channel, and specialty spins on New York Classic Rocker WAXQ. A four-song EP is available on iTunes and the group recently posted two new recordings on their MySpace page. New York label geeks should know they've got two upcoming shows in your area (August 23 at the Backstage Rock Bar in Groton, CT and August 30 at Dingbatz in Clifton, NJ).

This is down-the-middle hard rock that's RADIO READY for the "red states." A no-brainer, people. TKO is booking them. Get on it.

(side note: why do hard rock bands ALL take the same played-out press photos? Damn!)

WEQX ALBANY'S "LARKFEST 2008" SPOTLIGHTS LOCAL TALENT -- Alternative WEQX Albany will present "LarkFEST 2008" on Lark Street in Alabany, NY on September 20th... Signed acts including The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello), Eric Hutchinson, Oppenheimer and Val Emmich will be joined by local acts The Sense Offenders, Maggie Mayday, and two of our upstate-area faves Saving Atlantis and Aficionado...

Saving Atlantis is a six-piece electronica-tinged pop act (Think Something Corporate-meets-Cut Copy)...

Aficionado is less mainstream, more progressive -- they're a ten-piece outfit including a flautist, two trumpets, and a visual director.

Good stuff worth looking into!

NEON HITCH (unsigned, unpublished) -- Yes, it's her real name. Yes, she was born into a family of gypsy circus performers. Yes, she sounds like the pre-Timbaland Nelly Furtado. And yes, she's Amy Winehouse's flat-mate. Seriously, we couldn't make this shit up if we tried. Neon is working with the production/management team Pilot Creative out of Brooklyn. It's fun stuff, and if you haven't heard of her before -- you're welcome!

KITS-FM (LIVE 105) SAN FRANCISCO SPINS LOCAL MUSIC THIS WEEKEND -- Tastemaker Alt-outlet Live 105 is running a "HomeGrown Weekend" on the air, featuring music from some of the best Bay Area bands that've emerged over the past few years. Props to Aaron Axelsen and the crew on the Live 105 programming staff - they've got their finger on the pulse of that market and it's nice to see them support these bands with airplay ...Acts receiving rotation include The Audrye Sessions, The Trophy Fire, Action Design, The Matches, Morning Benders, The Bruises, Hundred Days, Mister Loveless, Rogue Wave, Lovelikefire, Picture Atlantic, Immigrant, The Doobie Kids, and long-time TALENTfilter faves, Unjust. Peep their MySpace page -- the Unjust song that Live 105 is spinning is called "It's Not Enough." Alt-Rock radio SMASHAROO. Unjust is signed to a little indie called Koolarrow (run by ex-Faith No More bassist Billy Gould), but they could TOTALLY use a strong team behind them to market and promote.

UPCOMING LOS ANGELES-AREA SHOWS OF NOTE:

Aug 7 -- Resident Hero - Viper Room
Aug 7 -- Hockey - Spaceland
Aug 7 -- The Jane Doe's - Hotel Cafe
Aug 8 -- Karin Tatoyan - Spaceland
Aug 8 -- Platinum Pied Pipers - Echo
Aug 10 -- Ragsy (acoustic) - Hotel Cafe
Aug 22 -- Aushua - The Roxy
Aug 22 -- Building A Better Spaceship - Viper Room
Aug 29 -- Joe Purdy, Meiko -- The Roxy
Sept. 3 -- Mother Truckers -- The Roxy

FIVE TALENTFILTER ARTISTS TO PERFORM AT R&R TRIPLE A SUMMIT
Radio & Records, the preeminent ...erm...radio and record industry trade magazine in the U.S., will hold its annual Triple A Radio Summit in Boulder, CO from August 6-9.

This year, five of the twenty-some-odd showcasing artists were first tipped to you, before they were signed, on the TALENTfilter blog.

Jessie Baylin, Erin McCarley, Meiko, Ingrid Michaelson, and Brendan James will all perform for Triple A radio programmers from across the country.

For more information about the conference, click HERE.