Dave Smallen has released yet another single for your listening pleasure. This time around, Smallen brings us “With The Sky All Blue.” The song is a colorful approach to human emotion. The ups and downs are apparently too much for some people to handle, because it was originally written for a Crayola commercial but was quickly rejected for being “too dark.” It’s not like Smallen was promoting tiny cuts on your upper thigh or anything.

You be the judge:

You can download the official version of the song on Dave Smallen’s website for the minimum donation of one dollar. Also, if you’re looking for some pictures to hang on your wall, Smallen has added two personally crafted hand-pressed woodcut prints to his online store.

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For more information on Dave Smallen, visit myspace.com/davesmallen.

If you’ve been following the Dave Smallen updates, you may have been wondering when another track was going to be released. This time around, Smallen has released, “I Think It’s Getting Better.”

On the way back to Oakland, Smallen had some inspiration. Sometimes, Mother Nature brings out the best in us, or at least in Smallen:

“Shook up after rain and hail forced me to pull to the shoulder as lightening clung to the highway all around, I released a new song. I put it out from a hotel room in Nebraska. It’s called ‘I Think It’s Getting Better.’

I recorded this thing five times, with three different producers and bands, in two different cities, in order to get it just where I wanted.”

You know how Smallen wasn’t going to release an album? Well, if you have shirked on your downloading responsibilities over the past few months, he’s officially gone to the iTunes store and compiled all these singles into one EP for you. You can grab, Waiting For The Pills, for $3.99 on iTunes.

Cheap is just as good as free. Substitute a few dollar menu items for good tunes today…and listen to this:

Dave Smallen will also be playing a few shows in the Bay Area within the next few months:

06.17.09 San Francisco, CA @ The Rickshaw Stop
07.10.09 San Jose, CA @ Nickel City

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For more information on Dave Smallen, visit myspace.com/davesmallen.

Just as Dave Smallen has promised, he’s been releasing his new tracks on a one-by-one basis. It’s good when people carry out what they say they will.

This time around, he brought us a mellow track where we can hear a different side to Smallen that we’re not as used to. “If I Can See You Tonight,” is a less gritty track than what we’ve heard from Smallen in the past. Here is what Smallen has to say about this new release:

It takes some dark times to shine a light on what is truly important. It takes some sadness to be grateful for what makes you happy, and it takes some pain to send you back home, into the arms of family and friends, into a book or a song, to gain some perspective on where you invest your time and energy.

You can grab this new track on Smallen’s download page. If you want to catch him live, he just posted dates for two shows in June and July:

6.10.09 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
7.10.09 San Jose, CA @ Nickel City

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For more information on Dave Smallen, visit myspace.com/davesmallen.

For the entire month of April you can download this track for free. After that, though, you’re subjected to donations, which is a kosher gesture, if you ask me. He’s totally cool with sharing the music. I mean, if he weren’t, he wouldn’t offer it for nothing. But, at Smallen’s request, throw something his way. A simple shout-out will do. I know you know how to post a MySpace bulletin…my homepage says so.

Head over to the download page and add “Waiting for the Pills” to your library.

For more information on Dave Smallen, visit his official website.

No need to stop reading in order to alert the authorities. I actually think that what Smallen is up to is a pretty cool decision. Instead of hitting us with all his new work at once, he has decided to just break up that release with multiple releases of digital singles.

It seems to be coming from a genuine spot. After his deal with Capitol records falling through, he could have easily left everyone in anticipation, moved to the Netherlands, and assumed a new identity to avoid the fans bombarding his e-mail accounts with death threats and disappointment. But he didn’t. He loves music like we love music and thinks that if he’s given the opportunity to share what he’s doing on his own accord, then it’s just as good as an album. After all, it’s all about the music. Right? Right.

I wrote about “America” a little while ago. Being an avid road tripping individual, I can’t deny that it was constantly playing in the background to everything I was doing. This time around, he’s back with another great track, “Every Time I Leave (I Leave For Good)”.

On the download page of his new single, Smallen writes:

In July 2007, after more than a year on the road, through clubs and theaters across the United States, I returned home to Oakland. The final tour was a bust. I found myself playing to one person at a bar beside a prison in Bakersfield, and my deal with Capitol Records had gone to shit as the company withered and merged and laid off. I was trying to get my record back and settle up the terms in which I’d be let go.

So, head to the download page and grab your copy. He’s doing this all on his own. He doesn’t have a marketing budget, a publicist, the help from a record label, or even an intern. The minimum download fee is .99 cents. Give a little more, though. I mean, I’ve given a bum more than .99 cents—and I was sober.

It’s hard to write about something that you respect. Mainly, because you’re afraid that you won’t really do it justice, but this has been a long time coming and I think I’m able to sit and at least share what’s been on my mind (and my default MySpace song for months).

Some of you may or may not know the band Street To Nowhere (available on iTunes). Dave Smallen, a member of that group, has decided to go solo. His first single to his solo album (that I’m anxiously waiting for to be released) is titled “America”.

In a blog, he stated that the song is a personal one and not meant to be a political song, but in the light of the recent election he released it in August in hopes that people would get whatever they needed out of it.

It sounds like the classic road-trip song. Trust me. Audioholic Media know road trips very well and this song describes the road in eloquence that I couldn’t conjure up if I were medicated. It’s one of those songs that you can play on repeat and not really get tired of.

While you’re waiting for the album to fully release, you can entertain yourself with a free download of his single, “America”. If that’s not enough, check out what he’s up to in his blog.

Well I was walking through a casino in Las Vegas
I saw a plastic Statue of Liberty
Posed like Marilyn Monroe
Completely absent of that silent iron dignity
Oh, goddamn it, America.
–Dave Smallen, “America”

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Download the track “America” for free at http://www.davesmallen.com/america.
Visit Dave Smallen’s MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/davesmallen.