The Red Sneaker Diaries →{treehouse talk.} @hernameisEL

#152 ↔ Mister, What Have You To Say?

After hearing the music this band produces it was hard for me to understand why they are still college students when it’s clear they should be somewhere opening on the European leg of a Radiohead tour. They are just too big to be unknown. Period. The music is soulful and fulfilling, thoughtful and organic, planned and improvised. Alex Smith, Bryan Carey, Kyle Dobbs,  and Grant Wallace, (the latter two band mates are also members of BABY BABY) have discovered the method to tame the madness, gave it harmony and became Treehouse Talk, the musical movement.

The inaugural 5 track EP Nightmare Balloon was released in November of 2009, written and arranged by Treehouse Talk and produced by Nick Spezia of Ocean Way Studios (Nasheville, TN). As far as I am concerned Nightmare Balloon could have been realeased as a debut album. Tracks like “Bloom” and “O Child” offer an unforeseen depth while “White Flag Out The Window (smile)” rounds out the album with an upbeat joy about letting go of the drama and perhaps even the past.

Happenstance or divine design? I am not sure why I came across Treehouse Talk, all I know is one day I logged in to the glorious book of faces and saw on my homepage that my new friend Grant Wallace posted something to a fan page that goes by the name of Treehouse Talk. Needless to say I clicked. Four clicks and a bottle of Parrot Bay later I was stretched out on the floor of my apartment listening to Treehouse Talk’s myspace page and pondering the meaning of the universe. (Sidenote: The drunken stupor never actually happened… to me…)

“[Treehouse Talk is] Mind blowing, skin bumping goodness.”

-Grant Wallace, Treehouse Talk

Below the jump is your (re)introduction (interview, pics, media, EP download) to the melodies of Treehouse Talk, an unknown gem.

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Nightmare Balloon EP

DOWNLOAD EP HERE

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Look out for the next entry into the RED SNEAKER DIARIES…

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Bono and Jay-Z Team Up For “Stranded”

Jay-Z & Bono team up for a new track called “Stranded” produced by Swizz Beats. The song will be premiered tonight on the multi-network, MTV fueled telethon benefiting Haiti Earthquake Victims called “Hope For Haiti.”

Bono wrote the hook for “Stranded” — his new Haiti benefit single with Jay-Z and Rihanna, which is subtitled either “Haiti Mon Amour” or “Haiti Mi Amore” — while on the phone with producer Swizz Beatz. “The idea of the song is ‘We’re not gonna leave you stranded’ and that’s what the chorus is,” Swizz Beatz tells Rolling Stone. “So me and Bono started going back and forth with ideas, and he was like, ‘You know this word stranded keeps standing out to me’ and I asked him to sing it, and he put me on hold ’cause he’s recording the ideas on a Dictaphone — so he did it there and then on the phone.”

Read the rest of Rolling Stone article after the jump.

Baby Baby “The Sandwich And I Thought We Were Friends”

I am super late on this but BABY BABY is on the bill for the O Brother Record Release show @ the Drunken Unicorn Tonight. Get your tickets here.

If the band looks familiar it’s because I reviewed them in my column (BABY BABY→The Red Sneaker Diaries) not long ago. Look out for more to come!

Also, not long ago BABY BABY premiered their new video for “The Sandwich & I Thought We Were Friends.” Check it out below.

MTV’s ‘Hope For Haiti’ Performances Will Be Available On iTunes

MTV - One of the highlights of “Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief,” airing Friday at 8 p.m. ET/PT, will undoubtedly be when Jay-Z and Rihanna join U2′s Bono and The Edge onstage in London for a group performance. The star-studded collaboration is just one of many sure to make the George Clooney-led effort a must-see event and bring much-needed aid to Haiti.

Fans salivating for the music won’t have to wait long. Beginning Friday, iTunes customers will be able to exclusively pre-order the “Hope for Haiti Now” full-performance album ($7.99) and the full two-hour video telecast ($1.99). Pre-orders will be delivered in the days following the telethon. Individual audio performances will also be available for purchase and download for 99 cents each in the days following the telethon. Apple, the record labels and the artists will donate their share of the proceeds to Haiti relief funds managed by “Hope for Haiti Now” charities, including the Red Cross and Wyclef’s Yele Haiti foundation. Performances will also be available for purchase in the days following the event through Amazon’s MP3 service and Rhapsody, through distribution provided by INgrooves.

Neon Trees “Animal” [official video]

Neon Trees is a self-proclaimed “pop band from Provo, Utah.” “Animal” is the first single from their debut album Habits which drops March 23rd of this year.