Hello everyone to another special edition of the Laptop Sessions music video blog!  I’m happy to officially announce that my new album, “Those Around Us” is now available on iTunes and on CD!  If you’d like the album on CD, you can purchase it on my website at http://jimfusco.com/albums/those-around-us.html.  If you’d prefer to download the album on iTunes, you can get that by clicking here!

“Those Around Us” features twelve new original songs.  I hope you’ll go and check out my website for the full write-up on the new album.  I honestly believe it’s my best effort to date and I’m proud to bring this new album to you.

As you see from the album cover above (which looks AMAZING, by the way), I was able to secure Ben Quesnel (at http://bqartstudio.com) to paint the cover for me.  As you may know, Ben painted the “Halfway There” cover.  I couldn’t be happier with the results of both album covers!

On January 13th, 2012, I had a big CD Release Party with my closest friends, family, and co-workers.  Words cannot describe how honored and humbled I was by the great turnout.  The crowd loved the seven new songs I played acoustically for them and everyone had a great time.  I even got to play a special encore cover song of “Two of Us” by the Beatles with my fellow Traveling Acai Berries member, Steve.

I recorded the entire show in multi-track audio and mixed and mastered it for all to hear.  You can listen to the entire CD Release Party concert for free on my website!  That’s right, just go to http://jimfusco.com/albums/those-around-us.html and click on the music player in the middle of the screen.  I’m really happy I had the opportunity to record it with my multi-track recorder because I was able to mix and tweak it after the fact.  I tried to record the show on video, as well.  But, something went wrong with the tape and I was only able to salvage the last song I played, “Good Enough”.  But, I made the most of that short video and put it on YouTube to show (even for just a few minutes) what a good time we all had at the CD Release Party.  I’m presenting that video for you here on the Laptop Sessions music blog, too.

I sincerely hope you’ll go and at least listen to “Those Around Us” on my website and on iTunes.  I know you’ll love the album, especially if you’re a fan of the cover songs I play here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs blog.  I think you’ll notice the influence of the bands I love and the music that inspires me.  As always, I’d love to hear what you think!  Write a comment here on the blog, tweet me @jimfuscomusic, or visit my Facebook page at http://facebook.com/jimfuscomusic!

Related posts:

1. “Don’t Give Up” (Jim Fusco Original Acoustic Rock Song) – The Laptop Sessions
2. “Follow You Home” original song by Jim Fusco from “Those Around Us”
3. “Tuning In” (Original Song by Jim Fusco) – The Laptop Sessions

This is a milestone for the Laptop Sessions site, as Jim set this goal when starting the acoustic cover song music video series over three years ago. Jim wanted to put an end to bad YouTube covers forever- a million views down and he’s well on his way!

Here’s hoping the million arrives ten times faster!

Related posts:

1. Jim Fusco Reaches 900,000 YouTube Video Views!
2. Video Blog: How Songwriter Jim Fusco Records A Song – Part 4 of a four-part documentary; the “Go Back To Him” Music Video
3. Video Blog: How Songwriter Jim Fusco Develops New Music in the Studio

Tune-in every other Thursday, as Jim Fusco brings you another cover song or original music video on YouTube and here at LaptopSessions.com.  He’s already got over 200 videos, so he’s probably already played one of your favorite songs!

No related posts.

Run Dates:  September 9th – December 30th

Coming Attractions:

This season includes nine episodes and a wide range of talent — by far, the best series of Guest Sessions ever released heretofore on the Laptop Sessions blog.  Performers range from individuals in their bedrooms to full bands performing.  The artists being covered run the gamut as well: from Elvis Costello to Wiz Khalifa, and Sam Cooke to Phish.  For the first time ever in Laptop Sessions history, we will feature an acoustic cover song music video performed in a different language.

PLUS:  We’re still waiting for the perfect video for our December 30th season finale, so keep those acoustic cover song music video submissions coming.  This is your opportunity to be featured on the LS blog!  (Click on the “Guest Sessions” box in the upper right hand corner of the Laptop Sessions homepage for details.)

All this and more will be coming to you every other Friday for the rest of the year, so check back and check back often:

You won’t want to miss even one episode of the Fall 2011 season of the Guest Sessions cover song music video series!

Related posts:

1. “Everyday I Write the Book” (Elvis Costello cover) – The Guest Sessions [Ep 5, Fall 2011]
2. “Roll Up” (Wiz Khalifa acoustic cover) – The Guest Sessions [Ep 6, Fall 2011]
3. “Bathtub Gin” (Phish cover) – The Guest Sessions [Ep 8, Fall 2011]

Jim hopes you’ll join him in making the countdown to a million go quickly, so please visit Jim’s YouTube site by clicking HERE!

Related posts:

1. Jim Fusco Reaches ONE MILLION YouTube Video Views!!
2. Video Blog: How Songwriter Jim Fusco Records A Song – Part 4 of a four-part documentary; the “Go Back To Him” Music Video
3. Video Blog: How Songwriter Jim Fusco Develops New Music in the Studio

By Chris Moore:

Back in January, I had planned to take the month of February off to work on my upcoming album, the not-so-timely-titled 2010 Project.  I had the foresight to vaguely suggest that my hiatus might extend into March, but apparently not enough foresight to see all the way into mid-May.

Regardless, I’m back and re-energized for my several Laptop Sessions-related endeavors in 2011.  Before I kick it all off with my first review of the year tomorrow, I figured I would give a real quick run-down of what you can expect.

THE WEEKEND REVIEW will be in a new monthly format starting tomorrow, one which condenses the best of both worlds between the full reviews I wrote in 2010 and the Yes, No, or Maybe So? format.  I’ll be supplementing my new monthly reports with full reviews — rest assured I can’t resist going on at length about a single album! — but that won’t be until after I catch up on my January through May 2011 reports.

THE GUEST SESSIONS have accrued quite a back log of submissions over the past six months or more since the last Guest Sesh was posted, so I’ve begun sorting through those, and you can look forward to a new Guest Session video every week that a Laptop Sessions regular has not posted.  This will mean we’ll need new Guest Session submissions very soon, so click over to that page (via the link above) and submit today!

THE 2010 PROJECT, last but not least, is reaching 90% completion.  To light a fire under myself to get it out soon (like six months ago soon), I’ll be regularly posting Original Wednesday sessions in the order of my final track listing.  I began this months and months ago, but I only got to like track three, so look for that to be picked up again very soon.

And, with that, I thank you all for reading, and I hope you’ll look forward to more quality content on the site in the coming months of 2011!

Related posts:

1. The Guest Sessions: Fall 2011 Season kicks off
2. Interpol’s “Interpol” (2010) – YES, NO, MAYBE SO?
3. Goo Goo Dolls’ “Something For the Rest of Us” (2010) – YES, NO, MAYBE SO?