Orange Alert's Music Minute

1. Who is Clutchy Hopkins? (This is from his myspace page)
"When Clutchy was just 20 years old he traveled to the Far East and was under the tutelage of Rinzai Zen monks in Japan for many years investigating silence and the rhythms of silence in music. Later, he studied Raja Yoga in India to master and articulate the movements of the body and its relation to sound. In his autobiography Clutchy relates his fascination with drums and their effect on consciousness so he decided to travel to Lagos, Nigeria to study with a master percussionist by the name Oba-lu-Funke. During his stay there he became a political revolutionary and gun-runner, and staged rebel missions to fight the oppressive government and its policies of Apartheid. During his intensive studies and travels, Clutchy was constantly recording music." Some say it is Dj Shadow, some Madlib, other Cut Chemist, but who ever Clutchy is he is creating quite the mystery and some excellent beats. Check it out: Air ft MF Doom (mp3)

2. Fields - If you are looking through the names on the Lollapalooza roster, there may be a few you haven't heard before. If Fields was one of them, here is your introduction to this British band on the verge of a releasing their debut full-length album "Everything Last Winter" (It was released in the U.K. on 4/2/07). You can preview the album here. Just don't get them confused with The Field or Field Music (or Leftfield for the matter). Download: If You Fail We All Fail (mp3)

3. Dan Govier (aka Lights.on) is currently preparing to release the follow-up album to last year's brilliant release "Tape". There is more to come on that topic, but in the meantime download the latest release from Dan's other project with Zach Johnston, We Will Build. Back in March they released an EP entitled "Liphe Sounds", and each song is built from various found sounds collected in January 2007 in Baraboo, WI.

4. Glue wraps up there month long "3 The Hard Way Tour" this week in Kentucky, and somehow they managed to visit 29 cities in 33 days. In case you haven't heard the music of Glue they are now offering a free mega mix on their myspace page.

5. The Decemberists recently stated that they will not be playing at Lollapalooza, and I was pretty upset. However, on Thursday (4/19) they annouced that they will be in Chicago on July 18th for a free concert in Millennium Park with the Grant Park Orchestra. Incedible!