Rock News: Music's high and low notes

DIY CONVENTION LAUNCHES CLUB DIY

The DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in Film, Music and Books will host a monthly club series spotlighting the top works from its DIY Film Festival and DIY Music Festival at the famed Derby nightclub in Hollywood. Beginning Thursday, April 3, Club DIY will offer panels and performances on the first Thursday of each month at The Derby, the spawning ground for the new swing era and a Hollywood hotspot since the 1920s.

Each month the event also will feature panels focusing on hot entertainment issues of interest to the independent film, music and book communities, plus a networking cocktail party. On April 3, Club DIY will host a panel discussion on "How To Sell 10,000 CDs In The Next Year." The panel will be moderated by DIY Convention Chairman Bruce Haring and feature Derek Sivers, founder of leading online retailer CDBaby.com; independent radio promoter Bryan Farrish; and others. The discussion will focus on practical advice and actual strategies to reach a sales goal that will support a full-time music career and act as a springboard for greater success.

LOUDOG SECRETS REVEALED

Philadelphia-based LouDog is coming out with a five-song EP, "High Speed Secrets," as a preview to a full-length album due for release later this year on Home Brew Jams. LouDog's music features beat lyrics, noisy guitars, pop choruses and a heavy, distorted bassline.

"I'm a freaky faced poet, messin' with your heads," he vows. "I'll become your blister." LouDog is set to tour fronting one of Philly's hippest rhythm sections, drummer Zil and bassist Owen Biddle (Pepper's Ghost.) Recorded over the past year at Shoe Shine Mobile Studio in a basement in The Hamptons and at Indre Studios in Philadelphia, "High Speed Secrets" was produced by LouDog and Philadelphia-based rock producer Bogdan Hernik, and mastered by the legendary Bob Ludwig (Led Zeppelin), with LouDog playing all the instruments.

"Our goal was to keep the raw sounds, like string buzzes and other imperfection," said LouDog. "The album is produced to sound raw, even though a lot of time and effort go into the tracks. We were always going for a genuine rock sound, using true and real tones -- real drums, real guitars -- so in 10 or 20 years time, this won't sound dated."

As LouDog finishes his full-length album, he's simultaneously completing The DNA Project with some special friends he's invited to collaborate with him in the studio -- legendary guitarist G.E. Smith ("Saturday Night Live," Bob Dylan) and executive producer and musician Ann McNamee (Flying Other Brothers).

"The DNA Project is a 180-degree switch from my solo stuff," LouDog said. "But it's always cool to experiment with new sounds and styles."

KING AT 23

Twenty-three-year-old acoustic guitar sensation Kaki King has been touring non-stop as of late and has no intentions of slowing down as she builds to the release of her debut CD "Everybody Loves You," out on Velour Recordings April 22. Fresh off a West Coast tour as opener for David Lindley, the New York-based King is keeping busy.

After a support slot for Robert Randolph and the Family Band, she is planning a series of guerilla-style appearances at SXSW. In April and May, King is scheduled to play for 12 nights at the New Orleans JazzFest. She also will make appearances at Bonnaroo 2003 and the High Sierra Music Festival.

Thumping basslines, tapping melodies, and slapping percussion on her guitar, King is a riveting performer reminiscent of Michael Hedges, but with more of an underground feel to her placid landscapes, one foot in the acoustic world, the other in rock'n'roll. King describes the album as "a compilation of different musical thoughts I had while trying to mess up everyone's idea of how the guitar is played." From the pulsing rhythms of "Kewpie Station" to the ethereal beauty of "Night After Sidewalk" to the fury of "Joi," Kaki proves herself as expressive and diverse as any acoustic instrumentalist out there.

GARAGE A TROIS

"Emphasizer," the first full-length studio album from Garage A Trois, is set for an April 2003 release on Tone-Cool Records. A collaboration between jazz/funk superpowers Charlie Hunter (eight-string guitar), Galactic drummer Stanton Moore, percussionist Mike Dillon (Critters Buggin', Les Claypool) and saxophonist Skerik (Critters Buggin', Tuatara, Les Claypool, Elemental, Roger Waters), "Emphasizer" was co-produced with Mike Napolitano and Garage a Trois, and lays its foundation in improvisational jazz and funk. The band will be featured at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in April.

LORBER'S PHILLY SOUL

Keyboardist Jeff Lorber aimed to capture the multifaceted sounds of his hometown of Philadelphia on his new album, "Philly Style," his first for the Narada record label, which arrives in stores March 11. In the mid-to late 1970s, Lorber helped pioneer a contemporary sound that was all about the groove. Over the course of 15 albums, the Grammy-nominated artist has risen to prominence as a bandleader, solo artist, musician, producer, arranger and songwriter. He's played with, recorded and/or toured with the finest artists in popular music and is mentioned alongside the likes of Grover Washington Jr., Herbie Hancock and George Duke in terms of the influence he had in forging and shaping a musical genre.

Classically trained, Lorber's piano and keyboards voice is genre defying; his compositions have landed on the jazz, RandB/hip hop, pop and dance charts. Lorber produced "Philly Style" along with fellow Philadelphian Steve Dubin (Peter White, Richard Elliot). For his 16th album, Lorber composed or co-wrote nine songs and recorded a cover version of hip hop outfit The Goodie Mob's "Soul Food." A meticulous orchestrater, Lorber filled the tracks with the guitars of Tony Maiden (guitarist for Rufus), bass from Alex Al, beats from drummer and Philadelphian "Little John" Roberts and percussionist Lenny Castro, and a horn section lead by Jerry Hay. Sax aces Richard Elliot and Gary Meek make guest appearances.