Sam Billen Online

A few things:

First and foremost, the Record Machine is offering my album plus 4 other great TRM releases from earlier this year for only $15. Honestly, all 4 of the other albums get my solid seal of approval – they are awesome. For $15, this is a great deal.. When it’s all said and done, I’ll probably get a good 37 cents from your purchase, so you know I’m telling you about this out of good-hearted honesty rather than greed!

Next, please remember to download the new Christmas album I put together with my friends – it’s free! And it’s called “The More the Merrier Christmas”. Here’s the music:

Also, if you didn’t get it last year, there’s another free Christmas album I did. Check out the discography link on this page and you’ll find the download and the story there.

Thanks for stopping by!

About a month ago, I had the idea of getting some friends to help me put together a free Christmas album for lovers of good music.. I literally hand-picked some of my favorite musicians from around Lawrence and around the world (Joshu in Tokyo!!) – and they were kind enough to contribute some songs to the project. The Record Machine posted the album on their site today as a free download – you can stream/listen to the whole thing below or follow the link to download it off of www.therecordmachine.net. I hope you like it! Merry Christmas! Tell your friends!!

Buzzgrinder.com did a little review of my new music and the $2 special:

http://www.buzzgrinder.com/2009/stream-sam-billens-new-record/

I’ve also been getting some mentions in the Pitch Weekly for the past few days – here’s some links:

(the first one is a mix of local music that Jason Harper put together – thanks Jason!)

http://blogs.pitch.com/wayward/2009/12/centurions_mix.php

(this is a little review of the Republic Tigers cover that I put together a few weeks ago – download the song here, too!)

http://blogs.pitch.com/wayward/2009/12/sam_billen_covers_the_republic_tigers.php

Also, we’ve decided to extend the $2 for a few extra days for all of you slow-pokes out there! If you haven’t downloaded the album yet, get on it! We’re extending the special until 12/11!!!!

Check out the post below to stream the album!

This is an awesome promotion that my label, the Record Machine, is doing for one week only! Check it out! Listen to the whole album for free then purchase it for just $2!!

Please tell your friends and ’share’ the player on your blogs, facebook, or whatever!

Check out this nice review of the new album: http://www.inkkc.com/article/local-album-review-sam-billen-0

As some of you may remember, my brother and I wrote and recorded a soundtrack for a documentary about a little deli in Topeka’s ‘little-Russia’. Well, they have completed the filming and editing and my brother and I (and families) are excited about going to the opening night showing tomorrow night in Topeka at the Hollywood Theatres. Apparently there’s limited seating so hopefully we’ll be able to get in and find seats.

There are actually 4 showings going on over the next couple of weeks – 2 in Topeka, 1 in Lawrence, and 1 in Manhattan, KS.. Keep your eyes peeled for local listings / the details about the showings.

If you want to listen to the soundtrack my brother and I did for it, you can hear all of the songs on our myspace: www.myspace.com/thebillenbrothers

In other news, I might try to swing over to KC tonight to visit with my old high school friend, Andy Smith, whose band the Paper Route is currently on tour with Paramore. His band is pretty awesome – check them out if you have a minute: www.myspace.com/paperroute

As I mentioned before, I’m working on a little EP called Removers – Remixes and Covers of songs that influenced my writing and production on Headphones and Cellphones. One of the songs is now up at www.therecordmachine.net for free download..

There was also a nice write-up about it in the Pitch Weekly – check it out here!

Keep checking back for updates and more fun stuff..

Check out a new review about Headphones and Cellphones on Pitch Weekly’s website here: http://www.pitch.com/2009-10-22/music/sam-billen/

And then check out this typography website that liked the artwork on the album: http://welovetypography.com/5/

I have 2 CD release parties lined up – one happening this Friday, October 23rd at Wonderfair Art Gallery in Lawrence, KS (located in the basement of the Casbah at 9th and Mass). It’ll be 6-9pm, FREE, all ages, and we’ll have some pretzels and drinks to sip on while we enjoy the new album together!

The next release party will be the following Friday, October 30 at SOHO Interiors in Topeka (located at Huntoon and Oakley). Also at this one, it’ll be 6-9pm, FREE, all ages, and we’ll have snacks and drinks to refresh ourselves!

Keep your eyes and ears peeled: I’ve been talking to Nathan at the Record Machine about putting out an EP of remixes and covers of songs that influenced my songwriting and production on Headphones and Cellphones. We’re thinking of calling it ‘Removers EP’. It’s still in production, but expect to see it soon – it’ll be coming out as free download(s) in the near future and I’m hoping it will include these songs as well as some others: A Dream Goes on Forever by Todd Rundgren, Made Concrete by the Republic Tigers, Do Right by Paul Davis, This Place is a Prison by the Postal Service..

I’ll keep you all updated!

Remixes.. I’d never done one before two weeks ago, but now you could probably say I’m addicted. In two weeks, I’ve done three:

The Wimp by Capybara
Gutter by Paper Route
And
Spritle by Deastro

Hopefully I’ll be releasing them online for you to hear soon.. I’ll be sure to let you know.

The new album will be out in a couple of weeks, too. I’m excited about that!!