So we're going to be releasing a new EP fairly soon (think several weeks rather than several months) entitled Indie Rock Is Easy. This is because indie rock is, in fact, easy.

All of the groundwork for indie rock was laid by like six bands between 1985-1995. Everything else is just variations on a theme. That doesn't mean nobody's putting out amazing work, but there's not a damned bit of it that's particularly groundbreaking or exciting.

So we thought we'd throw our hat into the ring and put out an EP of straight-up indie rock. And it starts with a song called "At Least Sometimes", which you can download for free right here.

Musically, I think it's somewhere between Airborne Toxic Event, Neon Bible-era Arcade Fire, and the Jesus & Mary Chain. But you decide. We hope you enjoy it, and it whets your appetite for the EP, which will appear Real Soon Now.

We're going to be making a video for "Scatterlings + Refugees", and we want you to be in it!

If you've listened to the song (you have listened to the song, right?) you'll know that it's about nomads, people who travel the world in search of...well, whatever. What we want to do is to make a video of people all around the world lip-synching to the song, preferably in a place that's representative of where you live. (For example, if you live in NYC, film yourself on your roof with Manhattan as a backdrop. That sort of thing.)

We want to use the song to show off this big, beautiful blue ball we live on. But we need your help to do it.

Here's how this works: on February 1st, use your camcorder, webcam, smartphone or Flip to film yourself lip-synching to "Scatterlings + Refugees". (You don't have to buy the album -- you can play the song back from the album player on the media page.) You can do the whole song or just a part of it, your choice. The video doesn't have to be broadcast quality, but we'd like it to be at least 640 x 480. Then save/convert the video to MPEG/MP4 format -- you can do this very easily using QuickTime or a similar video tool.

When you're done, send us the video as an attachment to video (at) redstatesoundsystem (dot) com along with your name and homepage/Facebook page/MySpace page.If you haven't bought the album yet, mention that and we'll send you a free copy if we use your footage!

We'll then edit the video together from these clips and release it here and on YouTube, along with a list of contributors and links to their sites.

We think this is a really cool idea (if not an entirely original one) and we really hope you'll be willing to help out!

So think about where and what you'd like to do in your video...and let a thousand flowers bloom.

You can now sign up for our mailing list to receive news and information on upcoming events and releases.

More cool press pieces added today. Check 'em out!

There's a great article on RSS in this week's Las Vegas CityLife.

The act of taking things into one's own hands may be the present and future of so much music-making, and yet "DIY" still seems a limp term for what Red State Soundsystem principle Joshua Ellis has recently taken on. For his late-2009-released full-length, Ghosts in a Burning City, the musician/writer/designer (and former CityLife contributor) has tackled the tasks of composing, lyric-writing, playing, recording, producing, mixing, mastering, graphic designing, marketing, promoting, distributing and accounting in more or less that order. A cash-saving strategy? Absolutely, but even if the DIY-extreme approach weren't cutting his outsourcing costs, he still wouldn't have it any other way.

The album is now available on iTunes and Amazon MP3! We still prefer that you buy the album here directly -- since more of your money goes directly to us, and you get wifty liner notes and much higher quality MP3s -- but if you've got an iTunes or Amazon gift card to burn, we'd definitely love it if you picked it up there.

The album will be available within the next three weeks or so on iTunes, Amazon MP3, eMusic, Amie Street and MySpace Music as well as here on the site. If you're wanting to buy it, though, please buy it here, as I keep almost all of your money that way. (The artist share on the music stores is much smaller.) And to answer a FAQ: yes, there will be an album release party sometime after the album drops on the big stores. We're rehearsing for it now.

This is the new, improved version of Redstatesoundsystem.com. Expect more content in the coming weeks as we add new music, photos, press information and gigs!