Sam Billen

Here are 4 Removers I’ve done over the past few months – the Postal Service cover hasn’t been released until now. It’s one of my personal favorites – love that song. Listen to the songs on the player below or download them all for free here.

Expect more REMOVERS soon!

www.reviewsic.com wrote up a great review on my album, Headphones and Cellphones. Check it out here: http://reviewsic.com/2010/02/21/sam-billen-headphones-cellphones/

A week or so ago, there was an awards ceremony in Topeka called the ‘Addys’ (kind of like the local ‘Academy Awards’ for advertising). Two out of the three ‘Best in Show’ awards were for projects that my brother and I did the music for. One was a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas commercial that we wrote a jingle for and the other was the documentary ‘Porubsky’s: Transcendent Deli’ that we wrote the soundtrack for. Here is a link to watch them yourselves: http://theaddyshow.com/category/best-of-show/ Or you can just watch them below:

BCBSKS Coordinated Campaign from Topeka Adclub on Vimeo.

In less important news, I’m thinking about doing a remover of Passion Pit’s song ‘To Kingdom Come’ on my xylophone and pianica. We’ll see how that turns out…….

I guess it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. I should probably start with some good news. My album, Headphones and Cellphones, got on a couple of local “Best of 2009″ lists. One was in the Lawrence Journal World and the other was in the Pitch Weekly.

Secondly, I have a couple of shows lined up in Lawrence and KC. They are on Saturday, the 27th of Feb. and March (yes, both months have the same dates on the same day of the week – destiny). Get more info about the shows tab to the right.

Lastly, I’ve been wrapping up some songs (remixes/covers) for the Removers album/EP we have been releasing little by little. The idea started as me covering songs that influenced my recent solo album, Headphones and Cellphones. The concept has since kind of expanded though, and now I’m remixing/covering a great list of songs that have influenced me in the past as well as new ones I’m coming across and falling in love with. Here’s a list of a few:

This Place is a Prison, the Postal Service (obvious influence on Headphones and Cellphones)
Borderline, Sufjan Stevens (another obvious influence on all of my music)
Rydeen, Yellow Magic Orchestra (Ryuichi Sakamoto’s band from the 70’s)
Spritle, Deastro (awesome music out of Detroit)
In Steps, Letting Up Despite Great Faults (new band from L.A. – smooth 80’s new wave feel)
Made Concrete, the Republic Tigers (friends of mine and an amazing band – truly an inspiration)
the Wimp, Capybara (labelmates of mine – up and coming – great talent and energy in this band)
Do Right, Paul Davis (a classic song that my parents loved and passed on to me)
A Dream Goes on Forever, Todd Rundgren (ditto with the song above)
Millions of Miles, the Billions (a song I wrote back in 2000 for my old band, the Billions – ‘influence’? or just a glimpse of Christmas past)

I’m sure we’ll add more to the list as time passes and more ideas come up. We’ll hopefully have some to give out soon – I’ll post them on here as soon as they’re available.

Thanks for reading all the way through. I promise I’ll post sooner next time so I won’t have a billion things to write about!

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