THIS MONTHS HOT PICKS
	Song #1 LOST Menudo SHOP iTUNES The new, updated version of MENUDO is back, with a contemporary sound and look, and the same universal appeal. The five new members Carlos Olivero (18-years-old, Mexican/Puerto Rican, Chicago, IL); Chris Moy (15-years-old, Puerto Rican/Venezuelan/Chinese, Bronx / Dutchess County, NY); Emmanuel Vélez Pagán (17-years- old, Puerto Rican, Trujillo Alto, PR); José Bordonada Collazo (15-years-old, Puerto Rican, Manati, Puerto Rico) and Monti Montañez (18-years-old, Puerto Rican, Caguas, Puerto Rico / Now Laredo, TX) are young, polished, highly professional singing-and-dancing boy group. They will release a preview of new music on their More Than Words EP that was released on December 18 in Target stores around the country with their full length album to follow on September 9, 2008, both via Epic Records. People know and love this new MENUDO already. The new group came together on the MTV & MTV Tr3s reality series Making Menudo. Viewers watched the dramatic competition week after week, as fifteen young Latinos, chosen from nationwide search went through a demanding “boy-band boot camp” designed by legendary pop impresario Johnny Wright to train and choose the five best suited for the even harder job of working professionally as a performing team. The competition is over, and now the group begins. On Tuesday, November 20, 2007, the identities of the final members of the 2008 version of MENUDO were unveiled on the climactic episode of Making Menudo. Five dedicated, ultra-talented guys between the ages of 15 and 18 were chosen. Carlos, Jose, Monti, Emmanuel and Chris have undergone a rigorous process of musical, choreographic, and professional education that required them to excel individually and to work together as a cohesive unit. Each one can sing lead, and each one specializes in a particular style of music. But they all do all styles, and they harmonize together.			Song #2 NO MORE ROOM TO BREATHE There For Tomorrow SHOP iTUNES Orlando, Florida quartet There For Tomorrow promises to leave audiences with something powerful, poignant, and most importantly, permanent, one spin of the band’s Hopeless Records debut EP will provide ample proof. Recorded with multi-time Gold record producer James Paul Wisner (Paramore, Underoath, Dashboard Confessional), the self-titled EP captures There For Tomorrow’s driving, Technicolor-rich alternative/rock in full bloom. From the sweeping dynamics and emotionallyriveting choruses of “Pages” to the rich harmonies and powerhouse riffs of “No More Room To Breathe,” the EP also shows how far beyond their years this still-young group (average age: 18) are as songwriters. “Our sound has been evolving since day one,” says vocalist/guitarist/programming wiz Maika Maile, who co-founded TFT in 2003, “but with these new songs, I feel like we’ve grown as people as well as musicians. Lyrically and musically, these songs are straight-up, honest, and filled with everything we had to give.” While we wholeheartedly endorse blasting them out an open window, it’s not important how you discover There For Tomorrow. When you finally do make that connection, it’ll be a permanent one. “We want people to have fun when they listen to us, but it’s also important to have a deeper, hopeful foundation behind what we do,” says Maile. “It’s a big, scary world out there, but if we stay in this together, we’re all gonna be OK.”			Song #3 RICH GIRLS The Virgins SHOP iTUNES Recently named one of Alternative Press’s “100 Bands You Need to Know,” the band will herald “THE VIRGINS” with a series of North American live dates as part of the first ever “NYLON Magazine Music Tour.” Presented by Live Nation in association with the fashion and culture magazine, the tour sees the Virgins highlighting a multi-artist bill. The 36-date itinerary kicks off on May 8th at the House of Blues in Anaheim, then traverses the continent before returning to California for a June 21st tour finale at Los Angeles’ legendary Wiltern Theatre. In addition, the Virgins will perform at a number of upcoming festivals, including the debut All Points West, slated for August 10th at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. The Virgins have already received a flurry of ecstatic press accolades, with features in a wide range of publications, including Spin, Interview, The Village Voice, The New York Times Magazine, Nylon, Vice, and Anthem. The first single from the album, “Rich Girls,” debuted as MySpace’s “Single of the Week” May 5th at www.myspace.com/thevirginsnyc, with a companion video to premiere shortly. The Virgins exemplify the sound and style of downtown New York City in 2008. The band came together in 2006, the brainchild of songwriter/performer Donald Cumming. Having lived on NYC’s streets since the age of 16, Cumming’s teen years were chronicled by artist/photographer Ryan McGinley in his now-legendary debut solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The band recently caused commotion in Europe, where they were featured on the cover of France’s Jalouse Magazine. The Virgins also hit London for a number of packed-out shows – including an acclaimed set opening for their good friend Mark Ronson at the Hammersmith Apollo, which saw NME honoring them as the “Best Band We’ve Seen This Week.”
	Song #4 BROKEN MAN Danger Radio SHOP Consider yourself ahead of the curve if you can’t immediately put your finger on Danger Radio’s sound—after all, that’s sort of the point. The band’s Photo Finish Records debut album, Used And Abused, fuses more classic pop styles and eras than a free-form radio station, while the members’ backgrounds are so diverse, it’s amazing they ended up on the same continent, let alone in the same band. But be glad they did, because as the new tunes prove, anytime they hit studio or stage, Danger Radio stir up the sort ofchemistry you can’t manufacture or buy. Forget genre tags. Don’t obsess over individual influences. Like the wise man said, these dudes are one nation under a groove. While there’s no shortage of party-starters on Used And Abused—see the synth-fueled, impossibly funky “Slow Dance With A Stranger,” or the bombastic “So Far Gone,” which posits what a Stevie Wonder/Justin Timberlake big band might sound like—Danger Radio also prove their pad is a pretty interesting place to throw a bash. “Our music is generally more upbeat, but when you start to pull apart the lyrics on this record, it’s a kind of interesting mix between light and dark, cynical and happy,” says Wright. Indeed, whether it’s edgy (the shuffling, hard-driving ‘Things”), icy (the alternate universe ’80s synth-pop hit “Broken Man”) or laid-back (the soulful, salsa- and ’70s-funk-tinged “Kiss N’ Tell”), Used And Abused shows just how far Danger Radio’s range extends. And considering the sextet have a good year’s worth of touring, starting with a summer jaunt supporting Cute Is What We Aim For and Ace Enders, ahead of them, these songs should continue to ebb and flow with each new audience member that experiences them. “We definitely don’t have a niche audience, and we’re really proud of that” says Hartikainen, who’ll be the first to tell you that Danger Radio are as happy to hang with younger fans as they are to send those fans’ older siblings into spontaneous dancing fits.“When we play live, it’s all about having fun and getting pumped, regardless of whether it’s a ‘rock audience’ or a ‘pop audience’ or whatever. None of that stuff matters. What matters is that you’re connecting with people.”			Song #5 HOLLER TILL YOU PASS OUT 3OH!3 SHOP iTUNES Straight off the streets of Ballerado, 3OH!3 comes outta the gate with high-class rhymes, low-brow beats and more party than the Bolshevik revolution. You don’t get more gangsta than Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte – two natives of Boulder, Colorado, the nation’s capital of hippies, hempwear and Hummers. Ever since they first connected over a mutual man-crush on Buck 65 in a University of Colorado physics class, 3OH!3 has been packing clubs and liberating libidos with their trademark blend of dirty synths and even dirtier come-ons. Their live shows – spiked with spastic, synchronized dance moves – whip capacity crowds into a gang-sign-throwing, finger-licking frenzy. While keeping their tongues buried deep in their cheeks, Foreman and Motte drop sucker-punch vocals over hard-edged beats that are absolutely no joke. On their Photo Finish Records debut, these homeboys crumble their crackers into a saucy stew of hip-hop hardness, electro eroticism and 80s pop pabulum. Imagine JJ Fad getting down with Justice, or DMX getting all Depeche Mode on your ass, and you might have a clue of the kind of sonic blasphemy 3OH!3’s bringing. Lest you think the 3OH!3’s rough edges will be smoothed out by the slick sliders of a platinum producer, rest assured that the Boulder boys are keeping it realer than Roswell. “We want to capture some of that rawness from when we were recording in the shower.” So for a bumping throw down at the hoedown, let 3OH!3 get the party started.			Song #6 SWAY YOUR HEAD We Shot the Moon SHOP iTUNES It is not uncommon to find that the greatest heroes have been tried by fire, the best songs are written from a place of despair, and the finest stories are wrought from tribulation. For San Diego, CA, based We Shot The Moon, this is exactly the case. Although heartache and disappointment led to the band’s inception, it was a rebirth that left them poised on the brink of greatness. “You gotta pull yourself back together, give it one more shot. It’s now or never…Just tell me I’m strong enough for one more song.” These were the thoughts running through the mind of Jonathan Jones on that summer night. As frontman for the band, Waking Ashland, Jones had seen and done it all. Waking Ashland had toured the world, recorded multiple albums, and experienced critical success. At the height of their career, however, Waking Ashland disbanded due to musical differences and Jones was left to pick up the pieces. With his hopes of stardom now long gone, Jonathan returned home to San Diego and landed a regular job. But Jonathan quickly found that he was unfulfilled with this life. He had to write music, it was in his blood. So, in the quiet of his bedroom by the sea, Jonathan began to write. The music and melodies poured out of him with an amazing ease, and the songs that emerged were beautiful and brilliant, full of life, honest despair, and hope for the future. With a few songs in hand, Jon enlisted the help of friends Dan Koch and Joe Greenetz of Sherwood (Myspace Records), and they began to write and record; thus, We Shot The Moon was formed. Jones entered the studio with his Sherwood companions, and teamed up with producer Michael Rosas (Satisfaction, Sherwood). They recorded Fear and Love in two weeks, the end result being an amalgamation of the beach rock sounds that Jonathan grew up with (Weezer, Switchfoot) and the modern pop vibes of Sherwood and Hellogoodbye.