AOL Spinner premiered yesterday Robert Schwartzman's new video for "Funny Money", a song from his debut solo album "Double Capricorn", released last October.

"Funny Money" is a song about the financial crisis, written from the point of someone who's lost money in the stock market.   This is what Robert had to say to AOL Spinner about the song: "I had some investments that were struggling and I wanted to use the experience for something positive, to create something new. For me, writing music is an escape, it's my therapy and I'm usually inspired by unhappy events, i.e. a breakup, loss, longing, stock market crisis, etc."

of Verona is a very interesting progressive pop rock band coming from the North of America (Los Angeles/Toronto/New York),  fronted by the extremely talented vocalist Mandi Perkins.

The group, who took its monicker from Shakespeare's earliest known play, "Two Gentlemen of Veron", is going to release its debut album, titled "The White Apple", on July 10.

Watch the nice lyric video for "Paint The Pictures", the first single off the upcoming record, clicking on the image on the left. For more music (and free mp3s) from this great band, head on to their facebook page now.

Rend is a five piece, female fronted pop rock band based in Edmonton (Canada). Their biography picture them as "a dash of Rhianna, a scoop of Coldplay, a layer of Paramore topped off with The Cranberries", while the guys in the group mention, among their influences, Metric, Florence + the Machine, Joss Stone, Led Zeppelin and Our Lady Peace.

Rend released their debut album "No Lines" last February 25th and are currently receiving Canadian wide airplay on their debut single "Hide".   Watch the video for the single, directed by Joses Martin, clicking on the frame on the left.

Jack O'Neil and Cary Pierce, the "Jack O" and "Pierce" who make up the seminal acoustic Texan duo Jackopierce, will release a brand new record titled "Everywhere All The Time" on August 28th.

Meanwhile, they're offering an exclusive free sampler through Noisetrade representing a timeline of the Jackopierce career: we can find tracks from albums like "Finest Hour" and "Promise Of Summer" and even 3 numbers from the upcoming new release.

So don't hesitate and grab the Noisetrade sampler now clicking on the image on the left.

Until June is an alternative rock/powerpop band from Hollywood, California which debuted with a self-titled album in 2007 that scored the hit "Sleepless" (number one in Greece!).

The band then released the catchiest ep of 2009, "Sound Of Defeat", that featured the incredibly moving "The Man Who Lost His Soul".

The Californians are going to release the eagerly awaited (at least by me) new full-length album through Madison Line Records next August, 14th.

Listen to the supernice first single off the album, "What Went Wrong?" following this link and buy it on iTunes now.

I have a spot on this band from Greensboro, NC. I like their moniker -picture you a madseason in a House Of Fools- and I like the artists they're influenced by: Tom Petty, The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Iron Maiden, Travis, E.L.O., Keane , Muse...

But most of all I like their sound, that takes their influences and mix them with an alternative, modern approach. House Of Fools' new album, "Versus The Beast" was released independently at the very beginning of the year.

The band has just release a video for the new single "Oblivion". Watch it now by clicking on the frame on the left.

Chris Daughtry announced at a concert a few nights ago that he has teamed up with DC Entertainment's "We Can Be Heroes" campaign, an initiative to stop hunger in the horn of Africa.

As part of the effort, Daughtry recorded an acoustic version of their song "Rescue Me" and performed it for the first time at their concert in Los Angeles in front of a backdrop featuring some of DC Comics' most popular superheroes.

To watch a clip from the performance, follow this link. To learn more about the "We Can Be Heroes" campaign, click on the image on the left.

"Youth Without Youth" is the lead single from Canadian indie/wave rock band Metric's new album, "Synthetica". The song has been very successful, debuting at #1 on the Canadian alternative rock chart.   "Youth Without Youth" tackles the subject of a fraying social state through the eyes of a deprived youth. Watch the video for the single clicking on the image.

"Synthetica" is the fifth studio album by Metric: it was released last Tuesday and, according to frontwoman Emily Haines, is "about forcing yourself to confront what you see in the mirror when you finally stand still long enough to catch a reflection. Synthetica is about being able to identify the original in a long line of reproductions. It's about what is real vs what is artificial".