HiPSTERWAVE

We are happy to present forthcoming HEADLINE additions to the soon approaching and much anticipated Lightning in a Bottle Music and Arts Festival 2010, presented by The Do Lab, which will occur Memorial Day weekend (May 28-31) at the beautiful Oak Canyon Ranch in Irvine, CA.

On the heels of their upcoming release “Drink the Sea”, and after a stand-out Coachella performance, The Glitch Mob will be performing along with the indie sensation Nico Vega and our cherished brothers and sisters, the Lucent Dossier Experience.

We would like to offer our sincerest thanks to all of the amazing submissions on the “Mixtape to Make the Line-up” contest. Not surprisingly our three top finalists were all unbelievable female DJ’s… The submissions have all been great and it was quite a task picking the “Grand Producer” to perform at this years LIB, but alas we have chosen and her name is KRYSTEE!

Other musical additions include Heyoka, Sidecar Tommy, Kitty D, The Luminaries, Geno Cochino, The Makers, Ron Levy, Michael Hart, Manny Greensector, Terrakroma, Motion Potion and DJ Wolfie.

Performances added in addition to Lucent Dossier include, Vau de Vire Society, El Circo, Ricochet ~ Poetic Acrobats, Fire Groove, Stilt Circus, The Wandering Marionettes and Shakti Sunfire

For full lineup and additional information visit the LIB website and stay tuned for more exciting news in the coming weeks.

Lightning in a Bottle:

The history of LIB spans more than a decade, and friends, family, and co-horts of the Do LaB are thrilled and astounded that it’s been more than ten years of making miracles and catching Lightning in a Bottle! Together with all of our friends we will converge on a beautiful new location and transform it into a wonderland for the senses, once again capturing Lightning in a Bottle. Prepare to start the summer off right!!!

4 days and 3 nights of activities and entertainment including music, performances, inspiring art, yoga and meditation classes, sustainability workshops, clothing and craft vending, tasty organic foods, camping and much more!

The Do Lab:

Based in Downtown Los Angeles, The Do LaB is an ensemble cast of creatives ranging from artists, event producers, lighting designers, DJs, constructors, welders, costumers, musicians, and the performance troupe Lucent Dossier. Since 2000, The Do LaB has been dedicated to treating experience itself as the art form. Their exceptional annual events–including the Lighting in a Bottle Music Festival–and jaw-dropping, large-scale art environments, have been attracting a devoted following among the West Coast’s underground creative community, and around the world. While bringing the visions of their home-grown art collective to life, The Do LaB has evolved into a respected event creations company, winning over major brands, music festivals, and trade-shows, with their unparalleled creativity and innovation.

The Do LaB’s portfolio includes clients such as the Coachella Music Festival, Ford, Audi, Red Bull, Scion, the Virgin Music Festival, Speakercraft, Esquire Magazine, AIDS Project Los Angeles, Stop Aids Organization, and many more

The Confluence:

Is a post label thinking management/marketing firm that takes an artist-centric approach to addressing the shifting music landscape. They will be releasing EP’s for MartyParty, AdamandEvil and the Lightning in a Bottle 2010 festival’s “Lightning in Your Ear” artist sampler to benefit the charity Critical Beats whose goal is to allow the natives to share the sacred healing sounds of their lands with new audiences all over the globe.

Nico Vega – “So So Fresh:”

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Lightning in a Bottle! (official video):

Variety Lab returns with its magnificent new record Team Up!

Features collaborations with folk legend Donovan, David Bartholomé, Lisa Kekaula, Yael Naim, Lily Frost and cover art from famous French comic artists Dupuy & Berberian

Variety Lab
Team Up!
Release date: December 15, 2009
Peermusic / Digital Pressure
variety-lab.com
myspace.com/varietylab

How did this project come together?

“Soda Pop Confusion” (feat kidsaredead):

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This is a diverse and super funky mix of tropicalia, electro, acid jazz and bubblegum pop with a surprise at every turn. From the vocodered disco-rock of Let’s Boogie to the sun-drenched acoustica of Mireia there isn’t a moment here that doesn’t ooze laid-back Mediterranean cool.

- Clash Magazine

Spanning multiple genres and featuring collaborations from some of the most inspiring artists in the world, Variety Lab’s sophomore album Team Up! is set up to be the most wonderful musical surprise of 2009. From the original blueprints through to the execution it’s a grand slam. Collaborations with folk legend Donovan, David Bartholomé, Lisa Kekaula, Yael Naim and Lily Frost creates a broad musical spectrum while French comic artists Dupuy & Berberian bring Variety Lab’s vision to life.

Variety Lab is the alias of one Thierry Bellia. His first CD – 2003’s Providence – gained notoriety for its lead single “London In The Rain,” which was, at the time, included in every single lounge compilation. As in the past Bellia, alone, put Team Up! together, but he did not forget to emphasize his friends’ assistance in the process. Let’s just name his henchmen from the French band Orwell (Jérôme Didelot and Alexandre Longo, aka Cascadeur and winner of the 2008 Inrockuptibles CQFD prize). Making use of his friends, instruments, machines and other weird objects (for instance the Optigan, a toy devised back in the 70’s), Thierry has worked non-stop on this project.

As for the biggest collaboration, after months of swapping tapes across the channel with Bellia, folk legend Donovan himself flew across to Paris to offer his voice and his experience to the spacious and bouncy opening track, “Is This The Last Time.” “I was delighted to be asked to join Variety Lab on their project. I flew into Paris to record. I helped to re-work the song and had great fun with the band. It’s a cool track and I am pleased to present this first single with Variety Lab. It’s a funny lyric and I brought out the humor with one of my quirky accents that I use when I take on the character in a song. It’s a perfect new pop record to dance and meet a new friend or lover,” Donovan says.

On three other tracks, “We Should Be Dancing” (the video has now been viewed over 125,000 time on YouTube), “Mireia” and the very rocky “Not Enough,” it is David Bartholomé, the lead-singer with the excellent Belgian band Sharko, who grabs the mike. And then the fantastic and frantic Bellrays’ vocalist, Lisa Kekaula, with her husky and roaring voice who sings on “Let’s Boogie,” a groovy and vocodered track that oozes sheer rock and soul energy from Detroit. The youngster Vincent Mougel from Kidsaredead comes in next to blow some sugary foam on the sweet candy that is “Soda Pop Confusion,” while Thierry’s fellow Nancy-born Mona Soyoc naturally joins the project as a next-door neighbor, and adds some sensuality to the very eighties “Money,” a cover version of the track by late 70s-early 80s English band The Flying Lizards, who had themselves borrowed it from the soul crooner Barrett Strong. Next, Canadian songstress Lily Frost croons over the lush, crackly ballad “This Parade” before 2008 pop sensation Yael Naim closes the album with her version of “Love Is A Bird;” originally a Variety Lab demo that has gradually evolved, first in the expert hands of Cascadeur, then by David Bartholomé on a Sharko album. “Love Is A Bird”, a simple, and beautiful idea, that leads us strolling from one end of Team up! to the other, filled with a feeling that can be summed up as the more, the stronger, the prettier and the merrier.

Team up! is more than a mere album – Much more. It is like awaking from a soft dream.

Variety Lab
“Team Up!”

Tracklisting

01 – “Is This The Last Time?” (feat. Donovan)
02 – “Money (That’s what I Want)” (feat. Mona Soyoc)
03 – “Which way to go (Reprisa)”
04 – “We Should Be Dancing” (feat. David Bartholome)
05 – “Soda Pop Confusion” (feat. Kidsaredead)
06 – “This Parade” (feat. Lily Frost)
07 – “Hola Mireia”
08 – “Which Way To Go”
09 – “Mireia” (feat. David Bartholome)
10 – “Let’s Boogie” (feat. Lisa Kekaula)
11 – “Not Enough” (feat. David Bartholome)
12 – “Love Is A Bird” (feat. Yael Naim)

LA-based, Samuel Stewart, is the son of Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, and at the young age of 21 has already been working diligently developing his musical career.

Stewart produced his brother’s record, The Giving Tree by Django James and The Midnight Squires. Sam’s first EP, The Beginner is forthcoming, set for release in mid-October.

Here’s the first track and title track from the record:

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Check out more from Samuel Stewart, including tour dates, here:
myspace.com/samuelstewartmusic