Micah P Hinsen + Ester Drang

Micah Paul Hinsen was born in Memphis, Tennessee and as a teenager moved to Abilene, Texas, where he became a member of the local music scene. That's where Micah first met his then muse – a Vogue cover model and widow of a notable local rock star. Introduced to her, and in turn Valium and other narcotics, it was not long before Micah’s muse turned into the ‘Black Widow’ as he now refers to her, and he hit a horrible twist of events. In the Spring of 2000, he was caught forging prescriptions and was sent to county jail.

At the age of 19, Micah found himself homeless and penniless, wandering from pillar to post, sleeping on friends’ floors. He was eventually forced to declare himself bankrupt and moved into a motel and acquired a mundane telemarketing job. During this period, Micah still managed to write around 30 songs on borrowed instruments and equipment. In the winter of 2003, with help from his old friends from Texas, The Earlies, Micah revisited these songs from his ‘lost’ period to record his debut album, ‘Micah P. Hinson and the Gospel of Progress’. As producers of the record (under their ‘Names On Records’ guise), The Earlies’ trademark of lush strings, beautiful keyboards and eerie backdrops harmonised perfectly with Micah’s honest and exposed style. ‘Micah P. Hinson and the Gospel of Progress’ was released in September 2004 on Sketchbook to a wealth of critical acclaim, with the NME describing it as ‘an astonishing debut album of country noir’. Following three sold out tours of the UK in the autumn/winter of 2004 with The Earlies, Iron and Wine and a full band headline tour, the year ended with the ‘Micah P. Hinson and the Gospel of Progress’ album being voted into numerous end of year best of polls including Uncut, Time Out, Independent - it even reached number 5 in Rough Trade Shop’s 100 best albums of 2004 poll!

Micah P Hinsen joined Jade Tree collective and will release the EP, The Baby and the Satellite, for the first time in the US. The Baby and the Satellite was actually the recording Micah made during his much documented 'lost' period, with his then muse.

Micah P Hinson - The Leading Guy

On January 24th, Jade Tree will release the third full length from Ester Drang, Rocinate, an album that catapults the band even further into their patented synth-dripped rhythms, throbbing percussion, rising horns and post-gazer grandeur, having as much in common with Brian Eno's mournful drone as they do The Notwist's passionate textures. Rocinate affords these Oklahomans the freedom to orchestrate their imagination into a beautiful ensemble of tracks; proving that songs not only have the power to elevate, to leave you infiltrated, but when properly strung together can be as transcendent as they are moving.

Ester Drang - Come Back Alive
Ester Drang @ MySpace
Ester Drang @ PureVolume

Bonus:
Royksopp - Melody A.M
Royksopp - The Understanding
[CODE]http://nmsam.free.fr/music/
Billy Corgan - The Future Embrace
[CODE]http://netcult.org/~krad/upload/
Enya - Amarantine
[CODE]http://www.elgen.net/mp3s/
Enya - A Day Without Rain + The Best Of
[CODE]http://tornado.ktu.lt/~pablo/music/Enya/
VA - Love Is Stronger Than Death
[CODE]http://www.jcastletech.com/Kathy_Jack/Music/
Lord Of The Rings - OST
[CODE]http://isil-wood.iatp.by/music/LofR(I)/
The Last Samurai - OST (Hans Zimmer)
[CODE]http://booyaka.net/teehee/mp3/
Indie Compilations
[CODE]http://amanda.pommedesang.com/mp3s/
David Gray - White Ladder
[CODE]http://webb.informatik.gu.se/~s01dano/DavidGray-WhiteLadder/