323 DEAN STREET, #2 BROOKLYN, NY 11217 p 718.643.9052 www.blakezidell .com

For Immediate Release January 22, 2014 ROCK SINGER-SONGWRITER ASAF AVIDAN ANNOUNCES FIRST NORTH AMERICAN TOUR, FEB 19 – MARCH 8, HAVING GARNERED CRITICAL ACCLAIM IN EUROPE

NPR’s Bob Boilen calls Avidan, "One of the Most Surprising, Unforgettable Voices You'll Likely Hear This Year" The Boston Globe calls Avidan “One of Music’s Rising Stars of 2014” While Asaf Avidan has drawn comparisons to both Jeff Buckley and Nina Simone, he possesses a voice that is utterly singular. NPR’s Bob Boilen, in a recent episode of All Songs Considered, calls Avidan “one of the most surprising, unforgettable voices you’ll likely hear this year.” The Boston Globe has named him one of “music’s rising stars of 2014,” calling him “soulful and ethereal.” North American audiences will experience his unique artistry when he tours here for the first time as a solo artist, February 19 – March 8, 2014. Please see below for an itinerary of shows.

To watch Asaf Avidan perform is to experience a sensory disconnect. Standing on stage is a skinny, mohawked man, but what one hears is the craggy, whiskey-soaked voice of a woman. “The human voice has a whole spectrum we just don’t use because we have these weird taboos and manners, and these ideas about masculinity,” he explains. Avidan first emerged as the leading force of the acclaimed folk rock outfit Asaf Avidan & The Mojos, whose recordings achieved platinum sales status in Europe and topped critics’ year-end Best Of lists in countries around the world. Their song “One Day / Reckoning Song” hit number one in 14 countries as a remix by a Berlin DJ. DJ Wankelmut took the delicate acoustic lament and dressed it up for the dance floor with synthetic beats and voice distortion. The video has 150 million views on YouTube, and the track was featured on the soundtrack of the critically acclaimed HBO documentary The Crash Reel.

Since he embarked on his solo career with the 2012 release Different Pulses, Avidan’s star has risen further. He has filled prestigious 5000-seat venues such as Olympia and Zenith, and played to crowds of 250,000 in European festivals. Different Pulses has already sold over 200,000 copies in Europe, where the remix single “Reckoning Day” has sold over 1.5 million. The album is available in North America via iTunes.

The new album finds Avidan focusing his passion and poetry into a tight suite of songs linked by robust melodies and intriguing psychological ambivalence. Avidan pushes his remarkable voice to its limits. Avidan’s solo debut follows three albums that he released with The Mojos between 2008 and 2010. The band announced they were taking an indefinite break in July 2011, following a tour that saw them sharing the stage with Robert Plant and Lou Reed among others. Avidan will perform material from Different Pulses and highlights from his body of work to date during the upcoming North American tour. Stream Different Pulses: http://www.asafavidanmusic.com/Different_Pulses/Different_Pulses.html Different Pulses on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/album/different-pulses/id779552899 Watch the official video for the single, “Different Pulses”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnhJ4Ceor_M!

323 DEAN STREET, #2 BROOKLYN, NY 11217 p 718.643.9052 www.blakezidell .com

Watch the video for “Reckoning Song (One Day)”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A16VcQdTL80

Asaf Avidan 2014 Tour Dates

February 19 Washington, DC Sixth & I Historic Synagogue

Tickets: http://tinyurl.com/opf3b9t February 21 New York, NY Irving Plaza

Tickets: http://tinyurl.com/nddq2kj February 22 Somerville, MA Somerville Theatre

Tickets: http://tinyurl.com/nz2u3tb February 24 Montreal, QUE Club Soda

Tickets: http://tinyurl.com/nlxtjow February 25 Toronto, ONT The Mod Club

Tickets: http://tinyurl.com/mem6a28 February 27 Chicago, IL Old Town School of Folk Music

Tickets: http://tinyurl.com/lkrx9pe March 1-2 Miami, FL Carnaval on the Mile Tickets: Free March 4 Seattle, WA Neptune Theater

Tickets: http://tinyurl.com/mt4dksw March 5 Vancouver, BC Electric Owl

Tickets: http://tinyurl.com/n95sgzh March 7 San Francisco, CA Bimbo’s 365 Club

Tickets: http://tinyurl.com/mydnebw March 8 Los Angeles, CA Luckman Fine Arts Complex

Tickets: http://tinyurl.com/lzl5h8q

June 19-22 Dover, DE Firefly Music Festival Tickets: http://tinyurl.com/ocsqzez

Press Contact: Blake Zidell or Ron Gaskill at Blake Zidell & Associates, 718.643.9052, blake@blakezidell.com or ron@blakezidell.com.

!January!21,!2014!

!

!!

New Mix: Real Estate, Actress, Wax Fang, More

On any given day, All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen bombards co-host Robin Hilton with a running list of new ideas for the show. Most of them never see the light of day. But on this week's program Bob explains his latest idea, one that everyone will want to see happen. It's called "The Sole Of A Band" and involves matching photos of the shoes worn by bands with their music. You can hear more about how it works at the top of this week's edition of All Songs Considered. As if that weren't enough, we've also got a great new mix of discoveries for you, including the euphoric Columbus, Ohio band Saintseneca; the joyful, yet otherworldly music of Thumpers; the unforgettable voice of Israeli singer-songwriter Asaf Avidan, and the mesmerizing sounds of producer and electronic musician Darren Cunningham, otherwise known as Actress. Plus sunny new pop from Real Estate, and the epic, conceptual rock of Wax Fang.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2014/01/21/264537559/new-mix-real-estate-actress-wax-fang-more

January 9, 2014

Music’s rising stars for 2014 By James Reed and Sarah Rodman Predicting the next big thing in pop music is tricky business. It’s a fickle genre by nature and design. What sounds fresh today (hello, Lana Del Rey) can be out of touch a month later. Likewise, plenty of sensations can emerge seemingly out of the blue (two words: “Gangnam Style”). Instead, we’ve rounded up 10 artists who might not have a hit or even come to town but whose music is worth your time and attention this year. ASAF AVIDAN It’s amusing to watch someone’s reaction to hearing Avidan for the first time. Take a song like “Different Pulses,” the title track of his 2012 album. Eyebrows arch, and a moment of familiarity flickers across the face. “This sort of sounds like Amy Winehouse.” Or, “Wow, who is this woman?” That woman happens to be a soulful and ethereal Israeli man who has already made quite an impression in his homeland and Europe. An otherworldly quality marks his brand of pop, landing somewhere along the lines of Jeff Buckley and Janis Joplin. After fronting a folk-rock band called Asaf Avidan & the Mojos, Avidan went solo a few years ago and begins his maiden US tour next month. His latest album hasn’t been released here yet, but you can hear bits and pieces of it on YouTube. (Avidan performs at Somerville Theatre on Feb. 22, as part of World Music’s programming.) [JR]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2014/01/09/globe-music-critics-name-acts-watch/lZKygSInhqoy0sdd5wwpQL/story.html

January 31, 2014

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www.thr.com | THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER | 5958 | THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER | 01.31.14

CANADA

Avril Lavigne Photographed by DAVID NEEDLEMAN on Jan. 15 in Beverly Hills

Technology has made it easier for Toronto-born Lavigne, 29, to reach her fans, but there’s nothing like having boots on the ground. “I still like to be old-school and go city to city,” she says. For her self-titled fifth album, released in November by Epic, Lavigne combined both, promoting it in person and streaming a concert across the globe. She starts an Asian tour Jan. 31 in Japan, which embraced the singer early on; during her first trip there after the release of 2004’s Under My Skin, the label pulled her aside to tell her not to be concerned if people were holding up their phones. “We didn’t have cameras on our phones yet; they did first,” she marvels. Lavigne loves to play for both the orderly Japanese fans and more boisterous Chinese crowds but admits all the flying is grueling. “It’s way more difficult and a lot more stress on the body” than a trek by bus, she says. But the audiences — and the retail therapy — make it worthwhile. Says Lavigne, who has sold 35 million albums worldwide, “I’ll wake up to go shopping in Japan, because it’s the best ever.” — MELINDA NEWMAN

When I was younger,

I remember thinking, ‘I want to perform for the world.’ And then it was happening. Trippy.”

LAVIGNE

ICELAND

Of Monsters and Men From left Brynjar Leifsson,

Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdottir, Ragnar Thorhallsson,

Arnar Rosenkranz Hilmarsson and Kristjan Pall Kristjansson

Photographed by MAGNUS ANDERSEN on Jan. 15 in Reykjavik, Iceland

For Icelandic pop outfit Of Monsters and Men, which formed just prior to winning Reykjavik’s annual music battle Musiktilraunir in 2010, success has been almost instanta-neous. “I guess there’s something about our sound that is just working right now,” says lead vocalist Hilmarsdottir, 24. Two major contributors: the folk music resurgence and the Internet, which sent a 2010 live session from a living room to the viral stratosphere. That video of radio hit “Little Talks” amassed 7.5 million views and helped propel Of Monsters and Men to international acclaim, including a deal with Republic. It was a long way from their first American

NEW ZEALAND

LordeWere it not for indie bands Bon Iver and Grizzly Bear, we might not have Lorde (nee Ella Yelich-O’Connor), the 17-year-old phenom whose harmony-mashing “Royals” topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts for nine weeks in 2013 and garnered a half-million plays on U.S. radio. Her hometown of Auckland “often gets skipped” on a tour, which made her first two shows — at age 15 — extra special. “So phenomenal and moving,” says Lorde, who name-checks Kanye West, David Bowie and Talking Heads’ David Byrne as influences. “It has been quite weird; I never saw myself as a Top 40 princess,” she says of insta-fame, which includes Grammy noms for record, song and pop solo of the year (for “Royals”) and best pop vocal album (for Pure Heroine). She doesn’t look the part, opting for a no-fuss mane onstage and outfits more in line with Stevie Nicks than Selena Gomez. Indeed, where Miley Cyrus twerks, Lorde twitches in moves she describes as having “no control over.” Are Lorde and Ella the same person? “I think they are,” she muses. “But I can say and do more with Lorde’s confidence.” Case in point: “I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I would be pretty psyched to win a Grammy,” she says. — S.H.

EING “BIG IN Japan” was once a punch line for fame-grub-bing also-rans. No more. Today, music scenes

outside the U.S. are mined like vinyl crates for the next hit. New Zealand’s Lorde is a prime exam-ple of a perfectly executed import. Her song “Royals” cut through the EDM clutter, topping the charts and racking up four Grammy noms. A year ago, the lead-up to music’s biggest night had a similar picture with an outsider smash from Down Under: Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know.” No matter what melodic magic is in the water on the other side of the Earth, social music discovery and the speed with which fans can hear the latest buzzy track has opened the floodgates for foreign acts; borders have gone from being redrawn to simply erased by the $16.5 billion global jukebox. To wit: The current Top 10 includes a Cuban rapper (Pitbull), a Swedish DJ (Avicii), a British boy band (One Direction) and that inescap-able Kiwi talent. Oh, Lorde-y.

B

show: at an Austin bike shop during South by Southwest. Although they had yet to release an album, “people were singing along,” recalls Hilmarsdottir. Their 2012 debut, My Head Is an Animal, has since gone platinum, thanks in part to 18 months of intense touring. The band further cemented its mainstream appeal with a spot on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack. Hilmarsdottir and her groupmates, though, already are forging ahead. “I think [the follow-up album] is going to be different,” she says. “So much has happened in the last few years, and we’re in a totally different place.” — PHILIANA NG LA

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Pop Goes the WorldFrom dinero to dollars, money needs no translation as technology, blamed for taking away

music sales, has given back by aiding the exploding globalization of international artists (Exhibit A: this year’s Grammy lineup), including these nine acts whose success resonates in every language Edited by SHIRLEY HALPERIN

“When Cher tweeted me, I was like, this is mental,” says Lorde, first up in THR’s third annual music portfolio.

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www.thr.com | THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER | 6160 | THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER | 01.31.14

UNITED KINGDOM

Ellie Goulding Photographed by CHARLIE GRAY on Jan. 13 in London

From Buckingham Palace, where she sang at the request of William and Kate, to the White House (ditto, the Obamas) to Coachella, there isn’t a place in the world Goulding won’t perform — except maybe Russia. When Cher protested the Sochi Winter Olympics after Russian president Vladimir Putin condemned LGBT citizens, Goulding, 27, decided she too won’t play for him. “It’s probably a ‘no’ for Russia,” she says. Instead, her European tour will stop in Germany, Scandinavia and the U.K. before a North American run in March — her third in as many years. It’s no wonder: U.S. fans helped Goulding’s 2011 hit Lights sell more than 4 million copies, and her latest album, Halcyon, has spawned another transatlantic smash, “Burn.” To some, those enchanting vocals seem otherworldly. “The reaction I get most when people come see me is, ‘Damn, I thought you had shitloads of effects on your voice,’ ” she says. “People think it’s been Auto-Tuned and manipulated, and it actually hasn’t.” But while the accolades keep coming — Goulding is up for three Brit Awards ahead of that Feb. 19 ceremony — there has been no love from the Grammys. What gives? Says Goulding, “Anytime I don’t get nominated for something I was hoping I might, I take that as a sign that I’ve still got a way to go.” — PATRICK FLANARY

ISRAEL

Asaf Avidan Photographed by MICHAL CHELBIN on Dec. 18 at Ismi Salma in Tel Aviv

Like Adele, Avidan, 33, launched a career on the back of heartache — a soul-crushing breakup that led to 2012’s critically acclaimed album Different Pulses. “As I was piecing my shattered life together, these songs were like therapy,” he says. To that end, sweet revenge is having a No. 1 hit in 14 countries. Avidan’s “One Day/Reckoning Song” began buzzing in 2011 after German DJ Wankelmut gave it an EDM remix, then it exploded into a continental smash, counting more than 150 million YouTube views. The hook bemoaning love lost (“I don’t laugh and I don’t cry/I don’t think about you all the time”) features a haunting vocal, which many mistake for that of a female soul singer. Not that Avidan, who spent his teen years in Jamaica (his parents were diplomats), minds comparisons to Janis Joplin or Nina Simone. “It’s a huge compliment,” he says. “I don’t get bothered if they think it’s a black woman, as long as the song moves them.” World domination was not part of the grand plan, but now that Avidan has played for crowds as large as 250,000 and as small as an A-list Hollywood party — like Jan. 11’s Help Haiti Home gala, hosted by Sean Penn (the actor requested him as the musical guest) — it feels, well, natural. “I didn’t even think I’d play outside of Israel,” he says. But a hit song “changed everything,” says Avidan, who credits his success to two showbiz staples: hard work and luck. — S.H.

It was crazy pressure. It

was nuts. … But as soon as you think of everyone as just people you’re performing to, then everything’s fine.” On singing for William and Kate

SOUTH KOREA

G-Dragon Photographed by HONG JANG HYUN on Jan. 8 at YongJangGwan Studio in Seoul

Imagine Justin Timberlake’s boy bander-turned-credible musician pedigree and Kanye West’s genre-bending artistic daredevilry, and you’ll get an idea of G-Dragon’s standing in K-pop — though his reach is expanding rapidly beyond Asia. Juggling equally successful careers as a solo artist and frontman of the group Big Bang, whose 2012 world tour drew 800,000 fans to sold-out shows on four continents, the rapper, songwriter and producer says, “Before I was physically there in different countries to meet my fans in person, I didn’t really realize how famous I was.” The 25-year-old, ne Kwon Ji Yong, also has attracted peer admirers, working with Diplo, Baauer, Boys Noize, Sky Ferreira and Missy Elliott on his 2013 solo album Coup d’Etat, a bold mashup of hip-hop, EDM, punk rock and Korean folk that charted on the Billboard 200. Still, G-Dragon, who has recorded a yet-unreleased song with Justin Bieber, says there is only one artist on his wish list: “Pharrell [Williams]! Ever since I got into writing hip-hop music, he’s been my only living idol.” (For his part, the newly minted Oscar nominee has tweeted that GD is an “amazing talent.”) — REBECCA SUN G-

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