Great Lakes Swimmers will release New Wild Everywhere on April 3. Listen to the new single ‘Easy Come Easy Go’ below.

To pre-order the album and check out upcoming tour dates – visit their site.

Great Lake Swimmers – Easy Come Easy Go (radio edit) by nettwerkmusicgroup

Baltimore’s Lower Dens have just offered up a download of their new song. The facebook update also mentions a new forthcoming album. Jana Hunter and company will be playing the Pyramid Scheme on March 7.

From NPR: The music of Lower Dens is dark but spacious and hypnotic, with swaths of feedback and echoing guitars. At the heart is Jana Hunter, a Texas-born, Baltimore-based singer and songwriter whose delicate voice haunts every song.

Tickets.

For an extended preview – watch/listen to the NPR Tiny Desk Concert below:

Chris Bathgate will be joined by Samantha Crain and The Wildfire for what is sure to be a spectacular evening of music @ Founders Brewing on Saturday January 28th.

You can watch the rest of the Halfway House Sessions with Chris Bathgate and Samantha Crain over @ our ‘Sessions’ page.

For those of you on the East side of the Mitten – you can catch this line-up on Friday the 27th @ the Blind Pig.

See what happens when you’re out of the loop??? We apologize as most of you have probably come across this performance from The National on Canada’s Q – which included two new songs. We are in the midst of traveling abroad and aren’t too connected so we get excited about these sort of things – even if it’s a few weeks after the fact.

Listen/Download:
The National – I Need My Girl
The National – Rylan

Watch:

Bonus:

Sharon Van Etten will be performing @ the Ladies Literary Club on February 15 with special guest Shearwater. Purchase your tickets here.

Her forthcoming album Tramp will be released February 7.

Listen/Download:
Sharon Van Etten – Serpents

Watch:

Lots of exciting things have been happening on the home front these past couple of months whilst we’ve been gallivanting around New Zealand(thus the lack of daily posts). Perhaps the most exciting event on the local music scene in 2011 was the Valentiger Front Man Show – which took place in our home studio Stone House Recording.

The ever-so talented Michael Knorr has started to put together videos from the show – with the always impressive Peter Fox providing the audio.

Videos include Valentiger as the host/backing band, playing their own songs fronted by an elite list of Grand Rapids’ finest singer/songwriters.

“Frontman” performers include:

Ralston Bowles, Matt Forbush of Alexis, UltraMark of Stepdad, Lucas Wilson, Ben Scott-Brandt of Ribbons of Song, Nathan Kalish, Erin Lenau of Tokyo Morose, Jake Stilson and Michael Cunningham of GrrRoPolis!

Below is one of the first videos to appear:

Valentiger Frontman Show – “Man on Fire” from Michael Knorr on Vimeo.

A new video will be released each Monday until the show has been released in its entirety. So bookmark ValentigerMusic.com and check in every Monday to enjoy the goodness!!!

Here are some pics from the evening. What a blast!!!

While we haven’t been posting regularly – we have continued to crank out the sessions which include Matt Bauer & Dana Falconberry, Samantha Crain, Bella Ruse, In Tall Buildings and Chain of Lakes so scroll down our main page for a looksie or head on over to the ‘Sessions’ page!!!

Thank you all for your continued support!!!

As some you may know – this isn’t the first visit for Kyle Rasche’s musical project Chain of Lakes to Halfway House. The previous incarnation of Chain of Lakes provided us with some beautiful stripped down harmonies as part of our initial ‘Winchester Sessions’ way back when. This time around Kyle brings a full arsenal of some of Grand Rapids’ finest musicians to perform several tracks off the latest album from COL – Kind Of Quiet. The EP has been nominated for several WYCE Jammies.

The album is available via the Chain of Lakes BandCamp page. While you’re over there be sure to check out the self titled debut album as well. Great front porch material.

Listen/Download:
Chain Of Lakes – Counting – Halfway House Sessions
Chain Of Lakes – Kind Of Quiet – Halfway House Sessions
Chain Of Lakes – Ourselves – Halfway House Sessions

Watch: