Roy Orbitron Start PledgeMusic Campaign to Fund Upcoming LP

Girls' Boyfriends

Lots of bands turn to crowd-funding to help them with the costs of making their records these days. I kind of view these things as pre-order campaigns; and, if it's for a record that I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy anyway, I have no problem placing my order up front.

That's definitely the case for me with the upcoming Girls' Boyfriends from Trenton's Roy Orbitron. I did a "pan" of Roy Orbitron's latest EP, Elston Allen Gunnn, a little while back; and most people got the joke. For those who didn't, I really enjoy they way Roy Orbitron and frontman / mastermind Conor Meara take some of the familiar sounds of rock and roll and twist or tweak them into something a little more interesting. The band have done that through four EPs already, and they seem primed for a full-length.

Roy Orbitron's campaign runs for the next two months or so, and funders can do things like pre-order digital downloads or CD copies of the album, submit 20 questions to Conor Meara, or get an acoustic house show or producer credit. Once the campaign reaches its goal amount, 75% of the proceeds above the target will fund City of Angels NJ, which offers a multitude of services to individuals and families dealing with the effects of addiction.

You can get all of the details and /or pre-order your copy of the record at Roy Orbitron's campaign page.

Nicole Atkins Launches PledgeMusic Campaign for Slow Phaser, New Record Label

Oh' Mercy Records

Nicole Atkins has recorded albums for a major label (Columbia) and an indie (Razor & Tie). She's had her songs worked over by none other than Rick Rubin. For her third LP, though, Atkins has decided to go it alone. Well, not totally alone. Atkins has launched a campaign at PledgeMusic to crowdfund both her upcoming album, Slow Phaser, and her own record label, called Oh' Mercy, to release it.

Last year, Atkins went to Sweden to work once again with Neptune City producer Tore Johannson. Together they completed, in Atkins's words, "a beautifully dark desert disco record." Atkins has now started the process of getting her record out to the world.

Pledgers to the campaign can receive premiums ranging from a digital download of the record, to items (totebags, skull masks, a ukulele) hand-painted by Atkins, to a private house show. In addition, pledgers get weekly updates on the status of the campaign.

You can head over to PledgeMusic to check out the campaign, along with a video that I'm sure is not at all representative of Nicole's experience with a major label.

Here's "Red Ropes" from the upcoming Slow Phaser.

Eternal Summers Launch PledgeMusic Pre-Order. Coming to Stone Pony on 4/13.

Fan Funded Final Phase

Roanoke, Virginia's Eternal Summers, whose Correct Behavior was one of my favorite records from last year, are giving fans the opportunity to pre-order the follow-up to that album via PledgeMusic. Fans can pledge at varying levels, ranging from $10 to be eligible for a download of the album when it's ready all the way up to $2000 for the privilege of cutting drummer Daniel Cundiff's hair. All pledges come with a digital download and access to other content produced during the album creation process. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Camp Sunshine.

If you'd like to catch them live before committing to a pledge, head over to the Stone Pony on Saturday. Eternal Summers will be visiting the Jersey Shore to open for The Presidents of the United States of America.

This is all pretty cool. I've been waiting for some new music from the band, and it always gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling to pay bands directly for their music. Maybe we can all get together and scrape up the $1000 to have Eternal Summers play a house concert for the first-ever CoolDad Music BBQ.