“Pretty Melody” is the second single from I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart and one of the strongest songs from the record. Enjoy the video below:

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For more information on Butch Walker, visit butchwalker.com.

»Album Reviews For Release Date: 02.23.10
by Joshua Krage

Don’t know if you’ve been watching the winter Olympics, but Canada’s got a lot more going on than just hockey and combined Super-G. In addition to a stellar Great White Northern rapper, there’s a list of genres among this week’s releases which is as diverse as any Olympic roster. Get your curling game on, and enjoy:

Alkaline Trio, This Addiction – sounds like this ace veteran punk band is rocking it out acoustic for this LP. More surprising is that, with their songwriting chops, their songs actually hold their own without loud drums and distorted power chords. Impressive.

Andrew W.K.
Blind Man’s Colour – EP
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Sarah Buxton
David Byrne / Fatboy Slim
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Clem Snide

Deadstring Brothers, São Paulo – it’s like hearing the Rolling Stones during their country phase. These guys have that street-level grit melded deep down into the guitar, and frontman Kurt Marschke’s gravelly yowl is a dead ringer for Jagger, old or new. That’s interesting enough, but the songwriting here is strong as some of the Stones’ best work and will satisfy your classic rock jones better than any other old bones.

Dragonforce – early works/reissues
Efterklang
Eluvium
Fan Death
Flogging Molly – live
Michael Franti – live
High on Fire
Holy Miranda
Irish Tenors

Jaga Jazzist, One-Armed Bandit – good to know somebody’s still making good IDM. This particular LP of intelligent dance music might be higher on the “intelligence” side than the “dance” side with all its hairpin tempo shifts and ambient dynamics but it’s an exhilarating run all the same.

k-os, Yes! – probably Canada’s best rapper (yes, they have some, and some good ones), this underground word magician and Broken Social Scene contemporary out of Ontario put this LP out last year up north, and it’s finally getting domestic (i.e. affordable) release this week. His rhymes are on time, his rappin’ is happenin’, and his backing tracks are bustin’ caps, and if that were all he did, this album would be bulletproof; unfortunately he wants to sing, too, so there are some patchy spots. Singing voice lands somewhere between Mos Def and Kanye sans AutoTune, which might be good or bad depending on how you feel about those artists’ attempts at holding a tune instead of a rhyme.

Lonely Lady

Madlib, Miles Away: The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz and Percussion Ensemble – for you hip-hop fans with a jazz appreciation, this is another stellar entry into the classic-celebrating jazz catalog of this bionically versatile MC/producer/instrumentalist who is responsible (partly) for nearly half of what most underground hip-hop fans enjoy today. Not sure if Madlib himself plays all instruments on this go-round (as he has in the past) but it’s ten tracks, each paying tribute to different past masters in the genre (Woody Shaw, Roy Ayers, Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, etc.) with original compositions utilizing their different sounds and styles.

Master P
Daniel Merriweather
Mutiny Within
Carrie Newcomer

Joanna Newsom, Have One On Me – couldn’t find anywhere to preview tracks from this elven-voiced, harp-plucking mythical chanteuse’s new album. Can’t even find a proper internet presence anywhere for her, actually, but you can preview some new songs here from a show last month at the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

Newworldson
Morgan Page
Past Lives
The Plimsouls
Quasi
The Rocket Summer

Shearwater, Golden Archipelago – another stunning and refined album from Johnathan Meiburg’s expertly restrained outfit of tasteful indie songsmiths. Masterful use of space and tone make each track a fully-realized sonic painting, shifting from shining sunsets to breakneck chases to chilly nightscapes with ease and precision, with Meiburg’s versatile lilt delivering the literate subject matter with crystalline beauty and underlying urgency. These are folks who know their craft, serving up a colorful rapture of an LP here.

Shout Out Louds
Rob Swift
Ali Farka Toure

Various Artists, Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox – benefit album for New Zealand punk visionary and recent stroke victim Chris Knox, pulling in a double-disc’s worth of big-name indie artists from across the globe (at a glance: Yo La Tengo, Jeff Mangum, Stephen Merritt, A.C. Neuman, Will Oldham, the list goes on), offering originals and covering tracks from Knox’s lengthy catalog in order to help this hardcore hooligan get back on his feet and on the stage.

Rocky Votolato

Butch Walker & the Black Widows, I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart – from hair metal to power-pop alternative to hit producer and singer/songwriter, Butch Walker has never lost his wit and his grit. Album number five of his solo career finds the veteran rocker melding his dirrrty guitars and catchy hooks with surprisingly strong melodies and a sort of ’50s/’60s classic pop sound, complete with string arrangements and fuzzy guitar solos that would fit right into a Brill Building recording. It’s a sheer pleasure to hear a shoo-bee-doo-wop style song with the candy-coated lyrics replaced by hair-metal fans and drug-damaged soccer moms, and that’s the kind of style this marvelous man brings to all his compositions — even the quiet, sensitive ones. Hipster cred is intact as ever, and he’s still making the best music of his long, storied career.

White Hills
Wolf People
Xasthur
Xiu Xiu
Zeus

This is still just the dawn of a magnificent music year, I can feel it. Upcoming weeks hold immense promise, and the best is yet to come, as always. See you then, see you there.

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To view past reviews, visit our archives.

I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart
Release Date: Digital February 9th, Physical Febuary 23rd via One Haven Music

01. Trash Day
02. Pretty Melody
03. Don’t You Think Someone Should Take You Home
04. Stripped Down Version
05. Canadian Ten
06. Temporary Title
07. She Likes Hair Bands
08. House of Cards
09. They Don’t Know What We Know
10. Days/Months/Years
11. Be Good Until Then

A highly-regarded (and heavily-demanded) music producer, Walker seems to have perfected the art of setting the tone of an album and sticking to it. As a producer and an artist, Walker’s fingerprints are all over each of his records, each song a solid representation of his capabilities in playing both roles. His newest release is well-constructed while the songs often tell stories of hardship in life and in love in a way that is never short on integrity or self-reflection. I Liked It Better distinguishes the symmetry between production value and artistic integrity, never allowing one to dominate the other.

Though the songs he produces for other musicians tend to be more radio-primed than those featured on his solo albums, Walker seems to save his best work for himself. (Sorry, Avril). I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart opens with “Trash Day,” the most suitable track of the album to set the mood for the 11 songs which follow it, and moves seamlessly into “Pretty Melody,” which delivers exactly what the song title implies. Even in its slowest moments, Butch Walker’s fifth solo LP manages to only gain momentum and never loses rectitude. While each song asserts its own identity, I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart celebrates the forgotten art of absorbing an album from beginning to end.

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Purchase I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart on iTunes or get yourself an old fashioned, physical copy of the album on CD or vinyl.

Butch Walker took to his MySpace blog to announce that he will spend March and April as the opening act for the band Train. Your thoughts about Train aside, this gives Butch a chance to actually end up in a city near you, and that is good news!

More tour dates and specific ticket information are still to come, but here’s the tentative list of dates so far:

3.04.10 Ft Lauderdale, @ FL Revolution
3.08.10 Jacksonville, FL @ Florida Theatre
3.09.10 Greenville, SC @ Peace Center Concert Hall
3.10.10 Durham, NC @ Carolina Theatre of Durham
3.14.10 Northampton, MA @ Calvin Theatre & Performing Arts Center
3.16.10 Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Theatre
3.17.10 Glenside, PA @ Keswick Theatre
3.18.10 Lancaster, PA @ American Music Theatre
3.19.10 Westbury, NY @ Theatre at Westbury
3.20.10 Concord, NH @ Capitol Center
3.21.10 Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance
3.27.10 Atlantic City, NJ @ Caesars Atlantic City – Circus Maximus

In the meantime, Butch Walker’s next album, I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart will be out on February 23rd and he has a few pre-order packages available for you early bird enthusiasts. Some of the pre-order options are recession-friendly while others involve you spending $25,000 and a weekend at the BW compound. (Probably worth more than $25k.)

To hear the tracks “She Likes Hair Bands” and “Trash Day” from the upcoming album, visit myspace.com/butchwalker. To purchase those same tracks, visit the iTunes store.

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For more information on Butch Walker, visit butchwalker.com.

Butch Walker‘s interpretation of Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” is the new “Imma let you finish…” of the Taylor Swift realm. (Homegirl can’t catch a break — someone’s always showing her up at her own game.) During one of this month’s sold out Hotel Cafe shows, Butch brought Jake Sinclair onstage to help cover the pop song and — not unlike her nemesis in that song — he kinda blew Taylor out of the water with it.

But listen to the song! It’s not about competition, it’s about wearing t-shirts and liking what suits you best! So you can get your (better-suited, more stripped down and t-shirty) Butch Walker version of “You Belong With Me” on iTunes now — or just go hang out on his MySpace page (where the song is also featured), sing the lyrics to the song and wait for him to notice you. In your t-shirt.

Here’s a video of Butch Walker recording the song in his studio:

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Get the Butch Walker version of Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” on iTunes.
For more information on Butch Walker, visit butchwalker.com

Butch Walker graced a full house with his presence last night when he played the popular album Letters (in its entirety) in Los Angeles at the well-known Hotel Cafe. If you’re not in the loop about what’s going on, the latest Butch Walker shows feature him playing a selected album in its entirety for that particular show. One album per show. From beginning to end.

There are three more shows lined up in the following weeks for Hotel Cafe where Butch will play The Rise and Fall of… and Sycamore Meadows. The California crowd even gets a show dedicated to the fans, where Butch allowed the set list to be chosen by them via his Twitter account. You never know, a Taylor Swift song might make it into the mix.

Butch has also been in the studio working on his new album, I Liked it Better When You Had No Heart with The Black Widows, which is set to release later on next year. If you didn’t get a chance to make it to the show last night, here is some live footage we found on YouTube:

We’re listing the remaining shows — even though they’re sold out — in order to either teach you how to jump on tickets faster for next time, or to get you riled up enough so you go looking for scalpers:

Los Angeles, CA @ Hotel Cafe (SOLD OUT)

11.04.09 Letters
11.11.09 The Rise and Fall of…
11.18.09 Sycamore Meadows
11.25.09 Fan Selected Set

New York, NY @ Joe’s Pub (SOLD OUT)

12.04.09 Letters
12.05.09 The Rise And Fall of…
12.06.09 Sycamore Meadows

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For more information on Butch Walker, visit butchwalker.com

I’m sure you’ve heard that Butch Walker and Weezer are sort of an item lately. That doesn’t mean they’re holding hands and sharing ice cream cones, it means that they’re working together.

Raditude is the title of Weezer’s upcoming album which is set to release on October 27th. The new album is being produced by Butch Walker and Jacknife Lee, and if the new single “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” is a small taste of what we should expect from the new album, then there will be some Weezer fans who will be excited for a new approach to the music they love, while others might be seen kicking around some dirt (but hopefully not for too long). Let’s face it, it’s not the Weezer we’re used to, but in the same respect, it’s not bad Weezer.

There are plenty of Butch (the artist/producer, not a manly woman) elements within Weezer’s new single where anyone who is familiar with Butch’s music can tell that he’s dipped his finger into the song. If you are that one person who has yet to hear the new track, you can stream it on Weezer’s MySpace page.

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For more information on Weezer, visit weezer.com.

Butch Walker is no stranger to us at Audioholic Media. Musically speaking, he’s been through parts of our lives which we never want to revisit. The gross days where a ledge seems like the most comfortable place to perch upon. When he’s not busy rolling around on the floor belting out break-up songs, he’s busy recording videos for those break-up songs.

“Here Comes The…” is Butch’s second single release off of his latest album, Sycamore Meadows. Pink collaborates on this track by harmonizing alongside Butch. Harmony isn’t the word you would normally associate with personalities like Pink’s and Butch’s, but as unstable as they seem to come off as individuals, they pull off one more stable break-up song (but this time they do it together):

I haven’t seen Lars And The Real Girl, but I have a feeling that this video isn’t far off from it. Breaking up is hard to do, we get that. The dude in this video takes matters into his own hands and makes his ideal woman out of a mannequin. I’m not knocking any sort of therapeutic remedy, I’m just saying that I’m glad he didn’t have sex with that thing (on camera).

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For more information on Butch Walker, visit maybeitsjustme.biz.

The four-track EP can be downloaded on iTunes for $1.99. You can’t even get a large coffee for $1.99. So says my five-dollar bill.

Two of the tracks are different versions of “Here Comes The…”, the collaboration he did with Pink, that you may or may have not seen on Ellen. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth your buck, because it is. The demo version will make you swoon like a tweenage girl at a Jonas Brothers show (or make you wish that you snatched it off of his MySpace page when it was available in his home player).

Tracks like “I Just Want You to Want This Again” and “Teenage Lust” makes this a mellow EP that reminds me of that feeling you get when you are sitting campfire-style at one of Butch’s Super Secret Shows. I know what that feels like. If you don’t, I suggest downloading this EP immediately—everyone wants to know what that feels like.

Also, you should head over to his MySpace and check out the East Coast lineup. West Coast, hold your horses—his latest news bulletin says that he’s getting ready for you, too. But East Coasters, go ahead and grab your tickets soon because one or two venues are already sold out.

Click here to get Here Comes the…EP on iTunes.

That said, Butch Walker made his his national TV debut on the Ellen Degeneres Show yesterday. He performed “Here Comes The…” with Pink. If you weren’t able to catch the show, don’t worry. That’s why we have YouTube.

You can catch Butch Walker on tour next month:

03.05.09 Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
03.06.09 Detroit, MI @ Magic Bag
03.07.09 Grand Rapids, MI @ Mixtape Cafe
03.09.09 Minneapolis. MN @ Varsity Theater
03.10.09 Chicago, IL @ House Of Blues
03.11.09 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
03.13.09 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
03.14.09 New York, NY @ Webster Hall
03.15.09 Philadelphia @ The TLA
03.16.09 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
03.18.09 Providence, RI @ Club Hell
03.19.08 Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwells
03.20.09 Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony
03.21.09 Washington DC @ 9:30 Club
03.23.09 Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theater
03.24.09 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
03.25.09 Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
03.27.09 Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
03.28.09 Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club
03.29.09 Orlando, FL @ The Social

For more information on the tour and where to buy tickets, visit Butch Walker’s blog.