NZ alternative singer/pianist, LEILA ADU is in the company of the some of the world’s most exciting artists, old and new, on the URB ALT Sampler-Dos…

It’s a bit of a coup that URB ALT have pulled it off but the Album Length FREE Download ‘URB ALT Sampler-Dos’ is hot off the press today: “The licensing of the songs took 3 months to settle due to the inclusion of several large indie label artists.” — URB ALT Blog

FREE Album-Only DOWNLOAD

- Indie darlings Grizzly Bear (Warp Records)
- Rock soul superstar Me’Shell Ndegeocello
- The legendary Gil Scott-Heron from his standout new album on XL Recordings
- Frizz Records Songster Art Terry
- Ikey Owens of MARS VOLTA live track from his band Free Moral Agent
- Avant Rawk Orchestra Muthawit ft. Boston Fielder
- Intense rockers from South Africa BLK JKS
- AND MORE….California King, Divisible, Downtown Records, Ezekiel Jiminez, Fat Transfer, Mercer Street Records, No Bra, Paris Suit Yourself, Secretly Canadian, Swallowing the Seas, The Dolldaze, Toro y Moi, Uninterrupted, URB ALT, Warp Records, XL Recordings

“the sampler is an internet link to introduce the world to many of the banging artists that participate in the URB ALT community and elsewhere.” — SUB CENTRIC Blog

OTHER NEWS

— DARK JOAN T-Shirts with original Illustration from outrageous cartoonist J. Homersham Now AVAILABLE from the Frizz Shop

— NEW IMPROV ALBUM out March 2010 - Live at Shoreditch Church – Hannah Marshall, Gianni Mimmo, Leila Adu & Nicola Guazzaloca on Amirani Records

— Live To Air — LEILA ADU & THE DON’Ts on the Hello Goodbye Show LONDON’s RESONANCE 104.4FM, 3 April 2010, midday UK time, global streaming: www.resonancefm.com

— LEILA ADU & THE DON’Ts @ THE VORTEX, 3 April 2010 – London trio with internationally reknowned improv/punk officionados, the infamous John Edwards – bass & Steve Noble – drums (Rip Rig & Panic)

In the midst of shows around the world to support her latest album ‘Dark Joan’ hot off the press late 2009 on Frizz records recorded by Steve Albini (Joanna Newsome, PJ Harvey) LEILA ADU plays in London one-night-only at the Vortex in Dalston. Her new album is coming out in 2010 on Italian National Radio lablel Tracce (other releases Robert Wyatt, Anthony Braxton, Matthew Shipp) with percussionist Daniele De Santis from Italy, who will be joining LEILA ADU at the Vortex. With support from stompin’ swamp blues one-man-dance-band Tom Rodwell. Also, a rare chance to see a piano solo from top London improviser and Toop, Zorn & the Slits sidekick, Steve Beresford

— CONFIRMED NZ Concerts in NZ Music Month incl. the San Francisco Bathhouse with David Long, Jeff Henderson & Crown Julz & 24 Carats, 2 May 2010

— Feature VIDEO – Cover of Jimi’s Manic Depression, URB ALT Jimi Hendrix Tribute Concert @ Galapagos Artspace, Brooklyn, New York, Dec 2009

1 — LEILA ADU was voted one of the TEN SISTAS WHO ROCKED THE DECADE on the Bold As Love site, along with Santigold and Shingai Shoniwa (The Noisettes)

2 — Under Your Skin’s Alexander McClean Interviews LEILA ADU for All About Jazz Online

3 — Dark Joan, the music video for LEILA ADU’s latest album by the same title was filmed in Rome by director by Stephen Bain (NZ) starring Leila Adu and a cast of a cardboard girl army is out February 2010.

4 — The brand new album Ode to the Unknown Factory Worker by LEILA ADU with Italian percussionist, Daniele de Santis, is being released by the Italian National Radio’s renegade radio show “battitti” under the TRACCE/RAI TRADE label in April 2010.

2010 DATES & FESTIVALS in the UK, Europe, USA & NZ Confirmed gig and festival dates in Rome, Bologna, New York, Los Angeles, Christchurch including:
5 — the Vortex with LEILA ADU & THE DON’Ts (John Edwards – bass, Steve Noble / drums – including a solo piano guest appearance from Steve Beresford and a rockin’ blues set from Tom Rowell
6 — The Christchurch Jazz & Blues Festival with Nick Gaffney (Cairo Knife Fight) at the Bedford, Christchurch, NZ

7 — DARK JOAN album, recorded by Steve Albini, released NOV09
“Leila Adu’s music is cryptic, edgy, oscillating between serious commentary and flippant experimentation.” — Sheffield Telegraph

8 — TRUTH AND THE ABSTRACT BLUES album with MIKE COOPER & FABRIZIO SPERA released JUN09
“On Bessie Smith’s “Long Old Road” Leila also sings splendidly like an old ghost with haunting slide acoustic guitar and eerie cymbal work.” — Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery, New York

9 — Radio stations featuring live concerts and singles in the last months include RAI 3 (Italian National Radio), Radio Roma Città Populare, Resonance FM (UK), NZ National Radio, Party 934 (USA)

10 — Live Performance of ‘Wolfmen’ by LEILA ADU, Dark Joan UK Release Party, The Glad, London, November 2009

LEILA ADU & THE DON’Ts @ the Vortex – Time Out Critic’s Choice
LEILA ADU & THE DON’Ts @ the Vortex – All About Jazz Online
LIVE VIDEO CLIP Leila Adu @ URB ALT: Jimi Hendrix Tribute – Manic Depression

LEILA ADU & THE DON’Ts + ELAN TAMARA

Tuesday 22 | 8.30pm | £10 | Book Online

Tonight’s gig has been curated by drummer extraordinaire Seb Rochford. The artists he has chosen are two formidable singers making waves on the London scene.

Vortex Dalston, 11 Gillett St, London, N16 8JH

Transport Dalston Kingsland rail,Buses 149, 242, 38, 30
Telephone 020 7254 4097

Vortex Dalston website

Friday, November 27th, 10:30pm: Galapagos Artspace Brooklyn, NY

“URB ALT features artists that are exemplars of boundary crossing, synthesis and
 unification.” – The Village Voice

NEW YORK, NY (November 19, 2009) – The URB ALT showcase of cutting edge multi-cultural music/film/visual/literary artists explores the musical discography of legendary rocker, Jimi Hendrix on his birthday Friday, November 27th. The night of alternative music presented at Galapagos Artspace in Dumbo features the avant-garde classical/blues vocal and piano stylings of New Zealand chanteuse Leila Adu and the polyglot big band musical incantations of the MuthaWit Orchestra. Both artists will be performing their original material as well as compositions from Jimi Hendrix’s songbook. Digital video projections will be generated by the award-winning Bighead Scientists team.

URB ALT founder Boston Fielder, says “Hendrix’s influence as a guitarist/sound sculptor is beyond reproach. It’s comical, however, hearing artists- especially rock musicians-downplay his songwriting influence. Claiming Hendrix hasn’t influenced you is like claiming you don’t breathe air.”

Both the MuthaWit Orchestra and Leila Adu are renowned for their idiosyncratic way of melding song-form with improvisation. Based in Rome, Italy, Adu is currently riding a wave of acclaim for her recent Steve Albini produced UK release “Dark Joan.” Ironically for the evening, her piano approach harkens back to a time when rock was not so myopically associated with the guitar. She states “I discovered Hendrix through my Mum’s music collection as an early teen – she was amazed to walk in on me blasting her Hendrix records decades after they were recorded. However, when I listen and watch footage of Jimi now – I am struck by two things – love and voodoo.”

URB ALT: Jimi Hendrix Tribute

Friday, November 27, 2009 – 10:30pm

LOCATION & DIRECTIONS

Galapagos – 16 Main St at the corner of Water Street in DUMBO, BK

F train to York Street, A train to High Street or 2/3 train to Clark Street

PRE-SALE TICKETS

Tickets can be bought online here: Click for Tix

ABOUT URB ALT

URB ALT is Underground Railroad Broadcasting Alternatives, a music/film/visual arts/literary series and media company founded in 1998 to serve the creator and audience seeking unfiltered artistic expression. URB ALT has presented transcendent visuals and revolutionary art by creators such as Funkadelic, Kyp Malone of TV On The Radio, Melvin Gibbs, Arthur Jafa, Cody ChesnuTT, Res Farai Chideya and Dragons of Zynth to enthusiastic audiences throughout the United States, Europe and Canada. URB ALT’s mission to cross-pollinate commercial and avant garde artistic experiences aims to focus artist and audience alike on how creatively expansive and socially resonant pop culture can be.

URB ALT is sponsored by Daisy Rock Guitars, The Sweatshop Rehearsal and Recording Studios, BossTon Communications, BigHead Scientists and Fusicology.

For more info and promo art: www.urbalt.ning.com, www.myspace.com/urbalt, www.myspace.com/muthawit or www.leilaadu.com Also see: Galapagos Events Page

PRESS CONTACTS

4961 Polemics • Marketing • NYC • Atlanta

K’China at 404.313.5341 urbalternative@gmail.com

DARK JOAN PRESS

“Within seven tracks, Leila Adu takes you on an aural journey that most progressive rock albums could only attempt to do. I see this album as a future classic.” Review by John M. Ellison IV
Read more…

“Her resplendent soprano delivery of the line “A love that never dies” during this passage of “Wolfmen” ties her to the wonderful vocal legacies of Josephine Baker, Arooh Lemeen, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald and Roy Orbison.” Review by Boston Fielder
Read more…

Sheffield Telegraph Interview by Rachel Clegg
“Dark Joan is a tale about an urban Joan of Arc. I was living in Brixton at the time when I wrote this song. The inspiration of this song was the popular image of Joan d’Arc superimposed on contemporary urban London”
Read more…

Leila Adu on Frizz Records ~ UK press by Surface2Air

Click here to watch YOUTUBE VIDEO Performance of Naive for the ’DARK JOAN’ ALBUM UK Release Party @ The Gladstone, London

New full-length, solo album for Italian based label Tracce/Rai Trade, whose recent releases inclucde Robert Wyatt, Anthony Braxton, Matthew Shipp, William Parker, to be released in 2010.

‘Cherry Pie’ released on The Orchestra Pit’s first compilation CD.

SEP09 Isole Che Parlano Review, L’Unione Sarda Newspaper in Italiano, Sardinia, Italy

JUN09 Live Show Review, URB ALT 2009 Festival launch blog, Brooklyn

MAY09 Live Gig with Sleepy Sun @ Sinister Noise Club, Rome, Italy — Live Gig Review with Videos

JUN09 Komakino Zine — Cherry Pie CD Review, Italy

APR09 NZ Musician Magazine — Ex Pat Files, interviewed by Richard Thorne