(New York, NY) December 4, 2009 – TFE /Hard Boiled Records recording artists ‘The Foreign Exchange’ were nominated by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in the category for Best Urban/Alternative Performance at the 2009 GRAMMY® Awards nomination ceremony. The 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA.
Nomination details follow:
Category 27
* "Daykeeper" by The Foreign Exchange (TFE/Hard Boiled Records) - Nominated for Best Urban / Alternative Performance
Singer/songwriter Phonte Coleman comments, "While being nominated for a Grammy is an honor and a blessing, I'm more proud of the journey than I am of the arrival. The story of Foreign Exchange is proof that you can succeed on your own terms while making music that you believe in. I am grateful and humbled by this moment."
The Foreign Exchange is an artistic collective helmed by singer/songwriter Phonte Coleman and producer Nicolay. The Foreign Exchange came together via the online hip-hop community Okayplayer.com in 2002. After trading files through Instant Messenger for over a year, Nicolay (living in his native Holland at the time) and Phonte (a Raleigh, NC resident) completed their debut album before they ever met each other in person. Their debut album ‘Connected’ (released in 2004) was an underground smash with over 30,000 Nielson SoundScans to date.
The follow up album "Leave It All Behind" (released Oct 2008) found The Foreign Exchange much closer in geography (Nicolay has since become a resident of Wilmington, NC), but located much further from their hip-hop origins. The duos second full-length is a dark, multilayered affair that features Phonte showcasing his abilities as an exceptional lead and harmony vocalist with Nicolay extending his musical palette to include sprinklings of jazz, downtempo, and house. Fans around the world have embraced this album’s new direction which has been buoyed by a heartfelt campaign grounded in the new technological realities of today’s times. With a heavy focus on new media and online outlets the band and label have taken a unique approach to steadily building awareness for this project through traditional and non-traditional means. Awareness for this album continues to grow and has been propelled substantially by word of mouth from the group’s overwhelmingly passionate fans.
Producer Nicolay adds, “In close cooperation with our physical distribution partner, Hard Boiled Records, we have developed a grass-roots model for releasing our music directly to our fans, without frills. That has made all the difference when it comes to the release of our sophomore album, Leave It All Behind, the success of which has already surpassed our wildest expectations. This Grammy nomination is the crown on an incredible year.”
This successful partnership has resulted in Nielson SoundScan numbers recently surpassing 20,000 units which is a significant milestone for The Foreign Exchange/Hard Boiled Records.
Charles Book, President of Hard Boiled Records adds, “I’m filled with pride and gratitude and am thankful to have been involved with The Foreign Exchange since day one. The talent, growth and evolution that this group has shown over the years is nothing short of astounding and these artists never cease to amaze me with their passion, talent and dedication to their craft. Hard Boiled is thrilled to see them recognized in this manner and look forward to releasing more stellar music from this unstoppable artistic force.”
The recording industry's most prestigious award, the GRAMMY®, is presented annually by The Recording Academy. A GRAMMY® is awarded by The Recording Academy's voting membership to honor excellence in the recording arts and sciences. It is truly a peer honor, awarded by and to artists and technical professionals for artistic or technical achievement, not sales or chart positions. The annual GRAMMY® Awards presentation brings together thousands of creative and technical professionals in the recording industry from all over the world.
Shibuya is the new project from the creative minds of NICOLAY and PHONTE COLEMAN, better known as THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE, whose sophomore album, the independent R&B/Soul smash Leave It All Behind (TFE/Hard Boiled; Oct. 2008), continues to gain momentum as the duo and their extended family of singers and musicians currently tour the United States and Canada with their critically acclaimed live show. The countless performances together have added a new level of sophistication to the musical output of Nicolay and Phonte, resulting in what they themselves consider to be one of their most ambitious projects yet.
The idea for Shibuya, which is the second installment in Nicolay's City Lights series of albums, was first conceived after his first visit to Tokyo, Japan. Once back home, he wrote and recorded with a new-found sense of freedom, laying the groundwork for the albums Time:Line and Leave It All Behind as well a third album, a deeply personal homage to the Tokyo district of Shibuya that illustrates both the grandeur of Japan's age-old heritage ("Meiji Shrine, "Rain In Ueno Park", "The Inner Garden") as well as the hectic city life of one of the world's busiest metropolitan areas ("Crossing", "Satellite", "Bullet Train") through two suites of richly multi-layered instrumental pieces.
Where City Lights Volume 1 was primarily instrumental, on Shibuya, the instrumental pieces are book-ended by several vocal songs written by Phonte, who keeps showing remarkable growth as a songwriter and vocal arranger, for up and coming fellow North Carolina vocalist CARLITTA DURAND, who previously collaborated with Phonte on LITTLE BROTHER's Getback album (ABB 2007) and many other projects. Also appearing is "FE" liveband-mate ZO!, who adds his virtuoso keyboard solos to two songs.
Tracklisting:
* 1. Lose Your Way (feat. Carlitta Durand)
* 2. Shibuya Station
* 3. Crossing
* 4. Rain In Ueno Park
* 5. Satellite
* 6. Saturday Night (feat. Carlitta Durand)
* 7. A Ride Under The Neon Moon
* 8. Omotesando
* 9. Meiji Shrine
* 10. Shadow Dancing
* 11. The Inner Garden
* 12. Bullet Train
* 13. Wake Up In Another Life (feat. Carlitta Durand)
* 14. Departure
* 15. Shibuya Epilogue (feat. Carlitta Durand)
(Brooklyn, NY) – Four years after the release of their critically acclaimed debut “Connected,” The Foreign Exchange in conjunction with Hard Boiled Records proudly announce their triumphant return with the sophomore set, “Leave It All Behind.”
Consisting of singer/songwriter Phonte and producer Nicolay, The Foreign Exchange came together via the online hip-hop community Okayplayer.com in 2002. After collaborating online via instant messenger for over a year, Nicolay (living in his native Holland) and Phonte (a Raleigh, NC resident) completed their debut album before actually having met each other face to face. The album, “Connected,” was released in 2004 to stellar reviews, and was praised by legendary DJ’s such as Jazzy Jeff, King Britt, and DJ Spinna for its inventive mix of hip-hop, R&B, and electronica.
“Leave It All Behind” finds The Foreign Exchange much closer in geography (Nicolay has since become a resident of Wilmington, NC), but located much further from their hip-hop origins. The duos’ second full-length is a dark, multilayered affair that features Phonte showcasing his abilities as an exceptional lead and harmony vocalist, while Nicolay extends his musical palette to include sprinklings of jazz, downtempo, and house. The lush, Darien Brockington-assisted “Take Off the Blues” picks up where “Connected’s” sleeper hit “Come Around” left off, while the complex polyrhythm and dreamy synthesizers of “Sweeter Than You” are described by Phonte as “swing jazz for the next century.” Marc Mac (of legendary UK production team 4hero), also contributes a string arrangement to the duo’s glorious cover of Stevie Wonder’s oft-forgotten 1991 gem, “If She Breaks Your Heart.”
"We are very excited to partner with Hard Boiled for the release of our second album," says Nicolay of The Foreign Exchange. "As independent artists, Phonte and I feel strongly about maintaining control over our brand, music and image. The team at Hard Boiled has the experience, flexibility and dedication to meet all of our needs and we know that we can depend on them to get our album in the hands of our fans exactly the way that we’ve envisioned it."
In addition to appearances from immensely talented longtime FE affiliates Darien Brockington and Yahzarah, the album also features guest shots from producer/keyboardist Zo! and rapidly rising star Muhsinah.
“Leave It All Behind”
Tracklisting:
01. Daykeeper
02. Take Off The Blues
03. All Or Nothing/Coming Home To You
04. I Wanna Know
05. House Of Cards
06. Sweeter Than You
07. Valediction
08. If She Breaks Your Heart
09. If This Is Love
10. Something To Behold
11. Leave It All Behind
CD ALBUM: Double disc limited edition includes the bonus full instrumental disc exclusive to the physical release!
Nicolay, the production wizard behind the phenomenal trans-Atlantic collaboration: The Foreign Exchange, has done it again with 70 minutes of all new exclusive tracks and remixes produced and blended by the Dutch Master himself. More than just a mixtape, The Dutch Masters Vol. 1 represents a merging of established and new talent in a way not seen since Rawkus presented you with Soundbombing. Featured guests include Phonte & Little Brother, The Foreign Exchange, Supastition, the west coast super crew Living Legends as well as up and comers Gridlock Fam, Science Fiction, Thyrday and many more sonic suprises
HARD BOILED RECORDS - Big things on deck for 2010, stay tuned...
Hard Boiled Records is a Brooklyn, NY based independent label founded in 2002. Starting as a vinyl anomaly, the label quickly took off and now boasts a solid discography of vinyl singles, CDs and digital releases. The label's roster includes The Foreign Exchange, legendary hip hop producers Da Beatminerz, and up and coming NYC rap duo Gridlock Fam.
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