News Update: Saints of Valory who we profiled last April has signed to Atlantic Records. Saints Of Valory hail from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in, late 2009 & the band decided to launch out of Austin after experiencing SXSW 2010 & have since become one of Austin’s top acts, all in one year’s time. Their debut EP, “The Bright Lights,” was self released in December 2010 and the track “Providence” was well received at Triple A radio, climbing as high as 49th on the nationwide Mediabase chart.
Contact: info@saintsofvalory.com

Justin Biebers manager Scooter Braun went on a Twitter rant following Wednesday night’s Grammy Awards nominations announcement. Writing to his over 2 million followers, the 31-year-old Braun defended his No. 1 client Justin Bieber who received no Grammy nominations. “I just plain DISAGREE,” he tweeted. “The kid deserved it. Grammy board u blew it on this one.” Other artists that were snubbed include Psy, Coldplay and Nicki Minaj.

Buzz Track: Best Friend

Helloseptember, based out of Victoria, BC, is promoting their recently released EP that features the single Reverb Junkie. The band typically performs at Fairfield Hall as well as the Cambie. Check my favorite song from the EP titled ‘Best Friend’.
Contact: Helloseptemberr@gmail.com

Buzz Track: Breaker

Since the release of his debut album Onefifteen, singer-songwriter Chris Davis has been drawing comparisons to John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Adam Levine, and Keith Urban. Onefifteen was produced by Lynn Nichols and Grammy award winner, Tedd T who have helped mold such successful acts as Switchfoot, MuteMath, Mat Kearney, and The Band Perry. Had songs used by The Abercrombie & Fitch Co. in spring of 2012 and the album spent a week in the top 20 Most Downloaded Albums on Noisetrade, peaking at Number 4.
Contact: chrismarkdavis@me.com

The sequencing of tracks on an album may have long been subject to artists’ creative muses, but, according to A&R and streaming services decision-makers, the order in which songs appear on a set can have far-reaching effects on an acts’, and labels’, bottom lines, especially in an era of digital music consumption.

Throughout the rock era, an album’s track order has often been based on what has caught an artist’s fancy, shaped by such elements as feel and flow. “I never like to put two happy songs in a row or two of the same kind of sadness in a row,” Taylor Swift explained in the Oct. 27 Billboard cover story about how she decided the order of cuts on her recent Billboard 200 chart-topper “Red.” “It’s just about establishing [a sequence that] sounds like that’s the order of things. It’s a gut-feeling thing.”

In other cases, it’s even simpler; Billy Joel reportedly set the sequence for his 1993 Billboard 200 No. 1 “River of Dreams” based on the order in which he wrote each song (with “Famous Last Words” serving as a logical closer for the album). Read more here.