Click here to download the first single - free!

Yep Roc Records would like to extend an official huge, warm welcome to the newest members of our family, Chapel Hill, N.C.'s very own Cities. Signed the second half of last year, Cities have been toiling away, recording their debut self-titled release with local producer Brian Paulson (Beck, Rosebuds, Superchunk, etc.) and playing sold out shows locally. After many long hours and months of anticipation, Cities have completed their album. The debut will street April 18.

Keep an eye out for the band as they hit the road in the upcoming weeks ahead. If you're in Austin for SXSW, come check 'em out at one of their performances below:

Wednesday, March 15

Fader Magazine SXSW party
Levi's Trading Post
Cities are scheduled to play at 6:45 p.m.

Yep Roc Showcase
Nuno's Upstairs
422 E 6th
Cities are scheduled to play at 9:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 18

Yep Roc Party
Yard Dog Folk Art Gallery
1510 S. Congress Ave.
Cities are scheduled to play at 5:15 p.m.

Download the song! Visit their MySpace page!

Click here to download "A Theme," the first single from the album.

Also, please visit http://www.citiesmusic.com and http://www.yeproc.com/artist_info.php?artistId=10125 for updates and info.

More about Cities - read the press release

YEP ROC RECORDS TO RELEASE CITIES SELF-TITLED DEBUT ON 4/18/06

Indie rock was born in Chapel Hill, NC. But it don't live there no more.

According to the trend-geezers and hipster intelligentsia, indie rock resides in the streets of the U.K. You name it: The Arctic Monkeys, The Subways, Test Icicles, Bloc Party - basically, indie rock wears tight jeans and has a cockney accent.

But Chapel Hill's Cities - four bright-eyed college kids, keen on creating a decidedly American brand of melancholic, but hooky, indie rock - have a bone to pick with those hipster highbrows focusing their attention across the pond.

The band's self-titled Yep Roc debut, set to street April 18th, slices through Brit-influenced post-punk with mid-90's, layered guitar rock, and the organic, indie aesthetic that was born in Chapel Hill. Plus, you can bet the band looks good on the dance floor.

Committing Cities' sound to record was up to the consummate Brian Paulson (Beck, Superchunk, Wilco, Rosebuds), whose knack for straightforward production and ability to improvise in a cinch, allowed the band to transfer their morose rock - and their torrential live show - to CD.

The record itself is filled with sweeping, moody epics smashed down into three-minute rock songs, building organically, collapsing in on themselves, and then rebuilding again.

"A Theme" bleeds hope in its climactic major chord bridge, but the song is overcome by its bombastic and slightly imposing coda. It's this blueprint - an ever-present hope, a promise of a better tomorrow, stifled by the gritty and the harsh - that supports most of the record.

"OOC," all scar tissue and gauze, wanders for almost half its length before it happens upon a patch of light. True to form, though, the band quickly dashes any hopes of relief and returns the listener to the song's staunch, drilling chorus.

Playing sold-out shows with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, We Are Scientists, Thunderbirds Are Now!, Unwed Sailor, Engine Down (RIP), and I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Cities has wowed audiences with their deftly crafted songs and their near-feral live show - truly cathartic, the band sputters and jerks on stage like a broken cuckoo clock.

Over the past year, Cities have built a loyal fan base, passing out homemade demo CDR's, weekend club-jaunting between college classes at UNC and playing the hell out of CMJ only a year after they formed.

Hopefully you'll make it a point to catch one of the band's SXSW gigs - Yep Roc's indie showcase, Harp Magazine /KEXP/Yep Roc's Yard Dog day party or Fader magazine's party. But if you miss them there, rest assured, they'll be touring the U.S. - and, who knows, maybe Britain too - throughout 2006.