Ed Hale Makes Magnet Magazine a Mixtape

Ed Hale takes a solemn note upon the release of his band’s latest All Your Heroes Become Villains

It’s tricky for a musician who started as young as Ed Hale to be seen as anything other than the 17-year-old “Eddie Darling.” But impressively, Hale has made a name for himself with his various outings over the years, the most recent being Ed Hale And The Transcendence, which just released All Your Heroes Become Villains (Dying Van Gogh). With this band, Hale has pioneered the idea of “planetary music”: a combination of modern-rock aesthetics and world-music sounds. In his own solo career, his output is still deeply personal, but it focuses more on the acoustic instead of his sonorous and genre-spanning songs with the Transcendence. Also an activist, writer and businessman, Hale is a man with many talents, all of which influence his inspired sound. Hale made this awesome mix tape below for MAGNET.

“Solaris” (download):
Audio Player00:0000:00

Lou Reed “Street Hassle”
I placed this first because out of all the songs that have ever been recorded in modern pop/rock history, it still stands as one of the most unique and innovative of all time. I still listen to it and just don’t get how Lou managed to pull it off. Three separate parts all tied together, but not like a concept album or anything. To me as an artist, innovating is still really important. And that’s why I dig Lou so much. He’s always reaching for something new. Video

Laurie Anderson “O Superman”
First time I heard this song I was in college. I couldn’t understand what I was hearing. Running both her electric violin and voice through numerous harmonizers to create a sound that we had never heard before. But, that’s not enough. She wasn’t just innovating. This song also happens to be beautiful. We have to give her props for how far she’s pushed the envelope for us all. Video

Phoenix United
I know I’m cheating a little here because this is an album rather than just a song, but United is one of those records that’s like a “treasured little secret” among people who know it. They recorded this album back in 1999, long before the ’80s New Wave Revival got kicking here in the States. Because of that, Phoenix remained an unknown band for years because they were so far ahead of the curve. But for people who love super-catchy West Coast breezy pop, buy this albumVideo

The Strokes “Someday”
The Strokes released their now-classic Is This It album in 2001. I started turning on to the Strokes like everybody else, and they just grabbed me. Now I can’t imagine a world without them. This whole first album is filled with awesome songs. The distorted vocals, the melodic guitar lines, the bouncy pop rhythms, the fuck-it-all attitude. They’re just very appealing, and this song is one of my favorites on the album. Video

T.Rex “Spaceball Ricochet”
There are 100 songs that I could list that Marc Bolan wrote that are great. He nailed one of the sexiest male rock singer voices of all time, and nowhere did he do it better than on his two biggest selling albums, The Sliderand Electric Warrior. I discovered Bolan when I was a kid, but all of his work had a huge influence on me. He had already passed away, but then later on I learned that he was also a huge influence on David Bowie and Bono and a lot of other people, so it all makes sense in the big picture. Video

Fleet Foxes “Helplessness Blues”
This may seem the “politically correct” choice of the moment, because everyone in the world is currently talking about Fleet Foxes right now, but there’s a reason for that. Like every other song on this list, “Helplessness Blues” is one of those songs that from the very first moment that you hear it, you find yourself asking, “Who the hell is this?!” More than anything, that’s what we’re all aiming at as artists. They recorded this album less than a mile from my house in Washington state, and they deserve as much “ink” as they can get. Video

David Bowie “Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise)”
These three songs are all tied together on Bowie’s Diamond Dogs album. Bowie is a huge influence on me as an artist, and Diamond Dogs was Bowie’s best Ziggy album as far as I’m concerned. It was also his darkest. Anyone who likes anything from Bowie should buy this album. Diamond Dogswas full-on concept, from the artwork to the way all the songs were tied together lyrically and musically. Without that album, I don’t think we’d be doing this mix tape. There’d be no All Your Heroes Become VillainsVideo

Caetano Veloso And Gilberto Gil “Desde De Que Samba E Samba”
This is a very hip, laid-back bossa-nova song by Caetano and Gilberto. The reason I chose this one for you is because of the profound effect this song and this album had on me as a musician. I was living in Brazil for the summer, studying the language of Portuguese and learning how to play bossa-nova guitar. Brazilian people live through their music, and the samba is their life. It pulses through their veins. It’s not just “a dance” or a style of music. It’s a whole culture. If you dig the song, try to find someone to translate the lyrics for you. They are very moving and intelligent. Caetano is a God. Video

Bruce Springsteen “Backstreets”
I still remember sitting on the floor of my bedroom with this album in my hand, Born To Run, and listening to this particular song over and over again. I chose this song for you all because of its seething passion. The way he hits those high notes in the chorus. This song is so damn real and sincere and passionate and emotional. Bruce was just letting it all hang out emotionally in this tune; he killed it. In the process, he became “The Boss,” and I think it’s a well deserved title. Video

Bob Dylan “It’s Alright Ma I’m Only Bleeding”
How the hell do you choose just one Dylan song for a mix tape? Well, obviously, you’re gonna want to buy the whole Blood On The Tracks album. But where’s that one nugget of brilliance? It’s this one, man. Grab the lyrics, put the needle down and listen to it. The falling chords beneath the melody are deceptively simple and yet eerie as all hell. Foreboding. And then there are the lyrics. This idea that “he not busy being born is busy dying”—that’s Bob. He said that. That’s why he’s Bob Dylan. Video

Posted in Magnet Magazine

Singer-Songwriter Ed Hale Selling His Seattle Home

Singer-Songwriter Ed Hale Selling His Seattle Home

Ed Hale Live IPO Photos by Mandy DembachReprinted from Digital Journal August 25th, 2014
Billboard Top 40 Artist’s Home Offered Exclusively by The Villalobos Group at RE/MAX Eastside Brokers.
Woodinville, WA (PRWEB) August 26, 2014
Singer/songwriter Ed Hale may be best known for his Billboard Top 40 hits “Scene in San Francisco” and “New Orleans Dreams”, but he’s called Seattle, WA home, at least partially, for more than five years. The singer and his wife have been living bicoastally, splitting their time between their house in Woodinville, WA just outside of Seattle and their Upper West Side apartment in New York City. But they have decided to relocate to living full-time In Manhattan starting in the fall. So they are selling their Seattle based home. The 5 bedroom, 4 bath house is on the market for $1.1 million.
Hale says he has enjoyed “the peace and quiet of the country gentleman lifestyle” afforded by the couple’s large spacious home in the English Hill neighborhood of Woodinville, but with his new album, “Another Day in the Apocalypse”, coming out later this year (Dying Van Gogh Records with BMG distribution), he’s felt the pull of the more metropolitan buzz of New York, and believes it will be better suited to the media frenzy and day to day activities that accompany a new album release. Though the singer says he “absolutely loves the Seattle area… some of the nicest people in the country live there. And the nature… it’s just gorgeous. We will certainly miss it.” It’s ironic the singer and his Transcendence bandmates recorded the majority of his new album at his home recording studio in this Seattle home. The home features a fully functioning and sound-proofed professional recording studio as well as a movie theater multi-media viewing room with a ten foot viewing screen.
Situated just on the edge of a country lane lined with equestrian ranches, the house affords much-sought-after privacy a mere thirty minutes from the city of Seattle, along with plenty of green space and wildlife species. The property is a registered wildlife sanctuary with the National Wildlife Preservation Society. The couple purchased the 5,700-square-foot home in 2010. The 5-bed, 4-bath abode was built in 1996 and maintains a classic elegance with a bohemian artist’s charm that one would expect from Transcendence singer Ed Hale.
The three story house is the perfect large family home with a spacious chef’s kitchen, …. a basement floor retreat — where Hale kept his recording studio and a large spacious rec/game room that includes a pool table, ping pong and a large screen TV. This bottom floor also has a two story cedar wood deck outside featuring a hot tub and plenty of yard space. There is also a tranquil frolicking stream on the property — the same one that can be seen in Hale’s 2010 music video for the song “Hello My Dove”. If visitors examine the lush foliage of the home’s backyard carefully, they just might be able to find the singer’s and his wife’s initials carved into a tree or two.
For more information or to schedule a private showing please contact Jonathan Villalobos of The Villalobos Group at RE/MAX Eastside Brokers, Inc. Direct: 425-450-1654
For full article or to see more high-resolution photographs of the home, see the original article here.

Mixing Has Officially Begun On New Ed Hale Albums

Mixing Has Officially Begun On New Ed Hale Albums

Mixing Has Officially Begun On New Ed Hale Albums

Mixing has officially begun on the long-awaited new solo albums by Ed Hale and band. Originally meant to be a quick follow-up to capitalize on the success of Hale’s Ballad On Third Avenue album, the singer entered the recording studio in New York along with Transcendence bassist Roger Houdaille and drummer Bill Sommer in the summer of 2012 and proceeded to record 34 songs, making it obvious that no “quick follow-up” was going to be had. Eventually, the songs were whittled down to a trim 25 for two separate albums, which Hale and company admit was no easy task. Over the last year and a half Hale and various Transcendence band members have been working on a near daily basis to finish up the two albums, which culminated in one long two-week final session in March with Houdaille managing the controls. The songs were then sent to long-time Transcendence mix-engineer and producer Zach Ziskin, who also mixed Ballad On Third Avenue, to begin mixing and mastering. So far, two songs have been completed, “Another Day in the Apocalypse” and “Honestly”. “We’re basically mixing in order of which songs have the best chance at being good singles at this point,” Hale stated. “Otherwise this would just be too overwhelming, 25 songs…” No word yet on which song will be chosen as the first single, nor which album will be released first. But we’re getting closer. Stay tuned for more.

Ed Hale and the Transcendence Receives a Grammy Nod

Ed Hale and the Transcendence Receives a Grammy Nod

Ed Hale and the Transcendence Receives a Grammy Nod

It’s that time of year again. Grammy Award ballots are arriving. The last Ed Hale and the Transcendence album, last year’s The Great Mistake, made the nomination list — a first for the group — in the Best Alternative Rock Album category. Unfortunately the album did not make the final five. But it’s still a great achievement. And a memorable one. There’s always next year. The band is currently in the recording studio, where they’ve been for almost two years, working on two new Ed Hale solo albums. Tentative titles being tossed around have been Welcome to the Rest of the World and Another Day in the Apocalypse. No official release date has been set yet for either album, but at least one if not both should be released in 2014. Stay tuned for more.

FREE SONG OF THE DAY: “MONDAY” – FROM THE NEW ALBUM THE GREAT MISTAKE

Just hit PLAY:

“Monday” is track #3 on the brand new Ed Hale and the Transcendence album THE GREAT MISTAKE, their followup to last year’s ALL YOUR HEROES BECOME VILLAINS. While both albums were created in the same studio during the same time frame, instead of the dark, heavy and bombastic rock opera style of the ALL YOUR HEROES album, the band went in the completely opposite direction for THE GREAT MISTAKE album. A style they casually refer to as Garage Pop or Celebration Rock, none of the 12 songs are longer than three minutes, all of them upbeat, fast paced and uproariously raucous rock’n’roll, sounding like a mash-up of seventies Glam Rock and modern Indie Rock.
Another stand out aspect of this latest album is that all the band members were encouraged to bring songs in for the band to record. They tracked the album over a three day period, learning the songs right there on the spot in the studio, usually late at night into the early morning — after the producer of the ALL YOUR HEROES album had gone home — using the studio’s interns as engineers. They’d then run the songs a few times, recording each run through until a decent take was to be had — which is what lends such a live feel and sense of immediacy to the all the songs on the album. In between tracking the songs live, they took turns adding simple overdubs like their lead and background vocals, extra guitar lines and simple percussion like hand claps, shakers and cowbell to each song. “That was the most spontaneous album I’ve ever recorded,” Transcendence drummer Bill Sommer said about the project. “I hope we do more like that.”
About “Monday”, Ed Hale has said “My whole thing about this album was that I wanted to experiment by bringing in all the songs that I would normally never try to introduce to the band because I thought they would think they were too simple or pop sounding. We started off as such a complex unit, making such complicated music… I never would have dreamed the guys would be interested in songs as simple as “Baby Bop” or “Monday”. They were like throw away songs I thought. Now this is one of my favorite albums we’ve ever made. I’m so freaking glad we recorded it and released it.”
Available now on iTunes, Amazon.com, Spotify, Pandora and wherever you get your music fix!

NEW ED HALE & THE TRANSCENDENCE ALBUM THE GREAT MISTAKE RELEASED THIS WEEK

After two stellar performances at this year’s CMJ Music Marathon in New York City,
Ed Hale and The Transcendence have released their latest album, THE GREAT MISTAKE.
Now on iTunesAmazon.com and anywhere music is sold!

THE GREAT MISTAKE

THE BRAND NEW ALBUM FROM ED HALE & THE TRANSCENDENCE HAS JUST BEEN RELEASED!

The Great Mistake available now on Amazon and iTunesLess than six months after his two Billboard Top30 hits “Scene in
San Francisco” and “New Orleans Dreams”, Ed Halereunites The 
Transcendence and returns with a full-band album that takes a
sharp turn from this year’s earlier acoustic pop-ballads by releasing
the group’s much-anticipated new album THE GREAT MISTAKE!
The album is an indie-rock/garage-pop lover’s feast, debuting at #16
on the CMJ Most Added Chart this week and collecting spins on
hundreds of college radio stations all over the country. It features 12
songs in total including the singles “I Remember You“, “Baby Bop“,
Monday” and “Hot Down“.
The Great Mistake available now on Amazon and iTunesThe Great Mistake available now on iTunes
Click on any song to listen on iTunes! To preview a song, mouse over the title and click Play.
Open iTunes to buy and download “The Great Mistake”.
The Great Mistake available now on Amazon.com

DOWNLOAD MP3S OF THE ENTIRE ALBUM OR PURCHASE THE PHYSICAL CD ON AMAZON.COM

ED HALE AND BAND GIVE FANS AN INSIDE LOOK IN RECORDING STUDIO LIVE VIA VIDEO STREAM STARTING JULY 30

The World Music Ambassador Turned Modern Rocker Turned Accidental Adult Contemporary Super Star, Whose Hit Single “Scene in San Francisco” Hit The Billboard Top 30 Charts recently, Is Set to Release a New Rock Album Entitled ‘The Great Mistake,’ His Latest Project With Ed Hale and The Transcendence, September 18

LOS ANGELES, CA –WABC NEWS — 07/27/12 — Modern rocker turned accidental Adult Contemporary star Ed Hale (www.edhale.com) is back in the studio working on his latest solo album — and he’s letting fans in on the action.
Beginning July 30, the singer, joined by drummer Bill Sommer and bassist Roger Houdaille — both members of his longtime band, indie rock stalwarts The Transcendence — will offer an intimate glimpse of the sessions, video streaming live from NYC as they record the final tracks for the release, scheduled to drop this fall.

The three musicians will keep the cameras rolling throughout the process, allowing fans to “hang out” and experience the music as it comes to life. During breaks in recording, they intend to sit down and answer questions fans send via Twitter (@ ed_hale) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/edhalemusic).
The as yet untitled collection is the follow up to Hale’s solo album Ballad On Third Avenue, which has spawned two Top 40 hits for the singer, the dreamy acoustic protest ballad “New Orleans Dreams” and the romantic “Scene In San Francisco.”
The project is being produced by Houdaille, frontman for the band Ex Norwegian and longtime member of The Transcendence, and features contributions by all the usual members of The Transcendence and honorary members of the band.
The Transcendence’s long awaited new album The Great Mistake is scheduled for release September 18.
Hale and his band will soon embark on a ten-city tour that will feature songs from both Hale’s solo albums and all the Transcendence albums. The shows will feature the entire crew of Transcendence alumni reunited and playing on stage together for the first time since 2008.
The tour kicks off with a homecoming show at the Gibson Showroom in Miami before heading to other Gibson Showrooms in nine major U.S. cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Austin, Seattle, Las Vegas and Nashville.

ED HALE KEEPS THE MOMENTUM GOING WITH ‘I WALK ALONE’ AS A TEN CITY TOUR IS ANNOUNCED

One New Single, TWO New Albums and a New Tour Announced for Ed Hale
     Modern rocker turned Adult Contemporary star Ed Hale has been feeling the love of thousands of new fans since he set the “Scene in San Francisco”—his most recent hit single which reached the Top 15 on the FMQB AC40 Chart and Billboard’s Top 30. They’ll no doubt be joining him in spirit as he takes a solitary stroll on “I Walk Alone,” the new single from his solo album Ballad on Third Avenue.
The brand new digitally remixed and re-mastered radio version of the moody, melodic pop-rock anthem — which differs significantly from the track that appears on the album–will be released to iTunes on the same day (July 9) it hits radio nationwide. “New Orleans Dreams,” the first single from Ballad on Third Avenue, also hit the Adult Contemporary Top 40 climbing to #10.
Those who have followed Hales’ extraordinary career over the past decade know that he is not just about those soaring ballads. His band, long time indie-rock stalwarts Ed Hale and the Transcendence, are releasing yet another new album less than nine months after last year’s rock epic All Your Heroes Become Villains.
      Songs from the oft rumored about and much anticipated bubblegum pop/indie garage rocker The Great Mistake have been making rounds on the internet for years, but it will finally see an official release by mid-summer. “This isn’t exactly a ‘made for commercial’ kind of thing,” Hale says, “it’s loose and raw. But it’s one of our all time favorites as a band and we figure if you can’t make the kind of music that gets you off, then why make music at all?”
Hale and his band will soon embark on a ten-city tour that will feature songs from both Hale’s solo albums and all the Transcendence albums. The shows will feature the entire crew of Transcendence alumni reunited and playing on stage together for the first time since 2008.
The tour kicks off with a homecoming show at the Gibson Showroom in Miami before heading to other Gibson Showrooms in nine major U.S. cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Austin, Seattle, Las Vegas and Nashville.
Ever the prolific musical over-achiever, Hale is also currently working on a new solo album due out in early fall. The project is being produced by Ex Norwegian frontman (and Transcendence bassist) Roger Houdaille and features contributions by all the usual members of Transcendence and honorary members of the band.
Hale is recording the as yet untitled collection at The Shire and Bear Creek Studios in Seattle, where many notable artists have worked over the years, including Fleet FoxesTrain, SoundgardenNirvana and The Foo Fighters. The singer is so far mum on the overall vibe of the album but is thus far telling fans it will be “more electric and upbeat glam-pop than the last one”—consistent with the Brit Pop influence of his recordings with the Transcendence.
Bear Creek Studios engineer Jake McCaffray recently commented, “Ed Hale’s bareboned and hyper creativity is thrilling. It’s an honor being a part of putting it to record.”

 

TRANSCENDENCE GUITARIST FERNANDO PERDOMO TALKS ABOUT RECORDING ALL YOUR HEROES BECOME VILLAINS

The fifth album by Ed Hale and the TranscendenceLongtime Ed Hale and The Transcendence guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Fernando Perdomo talks about the recording process of the band’s latest album, All Your Heroes Become Villains, available at music stores everywhere, amazon.com or the iTunes music store.
“The All Your Heroes Become Villains album was recorded in a very interesting time of my life… a thrilling two week love affair I had with a talented singer had just ended and I was down in the dumps. I had an awful haircut ordered by a Latin artist I was touring with and I was totally ready to make an amazing record with Transcendence.  (We ended up making two but that’s another story!)’ [Editor’s note: Perdomo is referring to the band’s often leaked and lauded but as of yet unreleased The Great Mistake album.]
“Upon arriving to the studio, I knew instantly this was gonna be an interesting project. Ed now lived in New York City but he had flown down to stay indefinitely to finish the album with the band. He was so amped up. Everyone was. He had this artist, Gina Rowland, who he had met online, there working on her art for the album cover in the studio with us while the songs were being recorded. She sat quietly and listened to get influenced and inspired by the music. We fell in love instantly…

“Recording my guitars was hard on the record because Ed had strict rules for what he wanted … No Santana, No Blues, No Allman Brothers, No Clapton, No Springsteen… He had all these annoying signs hanging up on the walls. He was constantly making signs with big magic markers and hanging them all over the studio walls. “There’s no such thing as over produced” and “There’s no such thing as not enough production”. Contradictions everywhere. All the time. The process was confusing. He was searching for something…. He was being very fluid. Also, the songs had some heavy metal influences and electronica elements to it that did not make sense to me at the time… but again he was searching for something else, something we hadn’t done before.
“Halfway through the making of the record I went off to LA to join the band PRICE. That’s when Zach Ziskin took over…  He had already tracked guitar on the album. He’s like the fifth Beatle of Transcendence. My LA and PRICE days ended with my mom getting diagnosed with Cancer. I came back and added my guitars to the album. We panned Zach’s guitar part towards the left, mine towards the right, and Ed’s rhythm guitars dead center. The crazier I played the more it fit the album! That’s Transcendence.
“Years later… I almost cried listening to the finished record in my car… The album is a masterpiece… and a real testament to Ed Hale’s writing and vision and the whole band’s genius… and EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE. And so is life… you never know what will make sense in the end…”

ALL YOUR HEROES BECOME VILLAINS DEBUTS AT #16 ON THE CMJ MOST ADDED CHART

For long-time colleagues, coworkers,  family, fans and friends — YOU DID IT! The long awaited new studio album from Ed Hale and The Transcendence, All Your Heroes Become Villains, officially hits retail and online music stores at midnight on November 15th. In the meantime, it hit College Radio stations all across America last week, three-hundred and fifty of them to be exact, and debuted at #16 on the CMJ(College Music Journal) Most Added Chart! This is the highest debut on the College Radio Chart in the band’s nine year history.
Each and every member of the band is ecstatic that this album is finally being released after so long and so much work; even better that it was received so well in its first week out to college, satellite and non-comm radio stations. All Your Heroes… is the band’s fifth studio album and was a long time in the making as many of you know. Ed Hale and crew first started tracking the foundational songs for the album at Criteria/The Hit Factory in 2004! After a long hard bumpy ride with all the changes in the music industry, a professional and official release of this album seemed nearly impossible; which was a major bummer for the band, because we honestly believe that All Your Heroes Become Villains is the best album we’ve ever made. But with a whole lotta persistence, years of work in the studio, more phone calls, video conferences, lunches, meetings and pavement pounding than we’d care to remember, it’s now official.
Transcendence first and foremost is a “band.” Featuring Ed Hale on vocals and guitar, Fernando Perdomo on guitar and bass and vocals, Ricardo Mazzi on drums, Allan Gabay on piano and keyboards, and the inimitable Roger Houdaille on Bass guitar and vocals. But we also had a ton of help from other local and national guest musicians while creating this album, which is the darkest, heaviest, moodiest, “thickest” for lack of a better word and most ambitious album of our career together. Singer/songwriter/producer/engineer Zach Ziskin added some additional lead guitar work. Karen Feldner as always lent her beautiful vocals. Dee Dee Wilde added additional background vocals. As did Matthew Sabatella. Leor Manellis added extra drumming. And Emiliano Torres added trumpet. (We still cannot remember the name of the guy who played the trombone — if you know, please drop us a line). DJ Kamran Green flew in from California to add trance-hop loops and beats.
The album was produced and mixed by Ed Hale and Fred Freeman at Dungeon Recording Studios. Rudi Meewuen and Joe Syring acted as second engineers. Gina Rowland took care of the artwork and band photography – along with Starbucks every morning. Susie Aminian and Flavia Molinari took care of the CD packaging. The album is reaching national media in America by Janelle Rogers and her team at Green Light Go PR and European Media by James Parish and Jay Taylor at Prescription PR in the UK. Ariel Publicity and Cyber PR are handling online promotions. Reverend Moose and Ryan Prieto at The Syndicate are handling College Radio Promotions. And Commercial radio at Adult Contemporary is being handled by South Beach Marketingand Promotion’s Amanda Alexandrakis. Big thank yous also to the DJ Holly Haze for her ears re the first single “Blind Eye.” And also to Johnny Chiba at CMJ for all his support. We couldn’t have created this album, nor the buzz around it without any one of these talented individuals. Thank you to all of you!