Media Contacts:
Cathy Halgas Nevins
eMusic
212-201-9201 or cnevins@emusic.com
Denise Yantin
eMusic
212-300-2885 or dyantin@emusic.com
Amy Welch
Charm School PR
718-852-6463 or amy@charmschoolpr.com
For Immediate Release
eMUSIC SELECTS TO RELEASE FIRST EVER MINGERING MIKE ALBUM
Super Gold Greatest Hits Available Exclusively On eMusic
Daestro also June eMusic Selects Artist
NEW YORK , June 17, 2008 -- eMusic, the world's largest
retailer of independent music - and the world's second-largest digital
music service after iTunes – announces today that soul superstar
Mingering Mike will release his debut full-length, Super Gold
Greatest Hits, as part of its eMusic Selects program on June 17.
The fascinating story of the discovery of Mingering Mike’s vast
collection of artwork and recordings has captivated music fans and
collectors alike, and has inspired in-depth features in The New York
Times, NPR and other national media. Now, for the first time, fans
can hear the compelling music that Mingering Mike created to accompany
his incredible artwork.
As a teenager in Washington, DC in the late '60s, Mingering Mike and a
few of his relatives recorded a capella songs on to reel-to-reel tapes,
using their voices, an afro comb and a telephone book to create their
own soul hits. For each batch of songs, Mike meticulously constructed
album covers out of cardboard and elaborately illustrated them to look
strikingly similar to the soul albums of the era, and reflecting the
social themes and political climate of the day.
"That work is instantly recognizable to any of us who have imagined
ourselves as singers with a great band but haven’t quite got all the
pieces in place yet," says David Byrne, one of Mike’s more famous fans.
"Mike instinctively knew that the cover art, the song titles and the
narrative that is revealed as one record historically follows another
are in some ways maybe not equal to, but at least parallel to, the
actual songs.”
“eMusic Selects is all about exposing worthy but little-known artists
to our passionate and musically curious eMusic customers,” said Yancey
Strickler, eMusic Senior Director of Editorial. “We’re proud to be the
first to bring Mingering Mike’s music to a bigger audience.”
The eleven tracks on Super Gold Greatest Hits are raucous and
bursting with joy, stomping combinations of rhythm and blues, field
hollers and gospel shouts. "Coffee Cake" is a delirious funk jam, Mike
and his cousin, The Big "D," chanting the name of the titular treat
over and over, creating a kind of jug-band thump. "Hey You" is a simple
soul ballad, Mike coyly asking "Hey you – how 'bout a date?" with an
unaffected sweetness that would make Marvin Gaye himself proud.
eMusic Selects is a highly-curated boutique online music space
launched in February on eMusic that showcases unsigned and underexposed
new artists. Detroit electronic act Daestro (Randolph Chabot Jr.) will
also be featured eMusic Selects artists beginning June 17.
Each month, eMusic's staff handpicks up to two deserving artists for
high-profile visibility to eMusic's 400,000 subscribers. The acts are
featured prominently on eMusic's homepage and receive in-depth
editorial coverage on the eMusic Selects page and on the site's blog,
17 Dots. Subscribers are able to access a free MP3
download from each act as well. The artists agree to provide their
often previously unreleased music exclusively to eMusic in the digital
format for 60 days.
About eMusic
eMusic (http://www.emusic.com) is
a specialty digital entertainment retailer that has been at the
forefront of offering MP3
downloads and customer-friendly prices since its inception in 1998.
The company is focused on serving customers aged 25 and older by
offering independent music and audio books in
a universally compatible format at a great value. It is the world’s
largest retailer of independent music and the world’s second-largest
digital music service after iTunes, with more than 3.5 million tracks
from 33,000 of the world’s leading independent labels and thousands of
titles from top audio book publishers. To super-serve its more than
400,000 customers, eMusic provides award-winning editorial content, a
vibrant online community and unrivaled music discovery tools. eMusic’s
subscription-based service offers free music
downloads or one free audio book at sign-up, giving consumers an
inexpensive, low-risk way to explore great new music and books they
wouldn’t find otherwise. Based in New York with an office in London,
eMusic is available in the U.S. and all 27 E.U. nations. eMusic.com
Inc. is wholly owned by Dimensional Associates, Inc., the private
equity arm of JDS Capital Management, Inc.
NOTE: eMusic is a registered trademark and eMusic.com is a trademark
of eMusic.com Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
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