It’s been a long time, perhaps too long for some, since Gym Class Heroes have released an album. After their exceptionally successful  2006 album As Cruel as School Children, front man Travis McCoy decided to go solo. A move that worked out OK for him. But he couldn’t stay from his beloved band, Gym Class Heroes is finally back together and have released the single “Stereo Hearts” which is probably going to be a summer anthem of 2011. The song features Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine singing the chorus as Travis McCoy spills his soul in the way only a music lover would understand.

Lines like “Further more I apologize for any skipping tracks, It’s just the last girl that played me left a couple cracks” laid over a thick bass drive home the point that this isn’t just another love song. It’s a music lovers love song. McCoy uses every possibly music reference you could think of and then some to make a thoughtfully laid out track that gushes with creativity. So much so that its lyrics will probably be found on the statuses of 80% of  Facebook teens this summer.

Even though Levine only sings the chorus and has a small solo, it works well on “Stereo Hearts” in a way that other artist should learn from. This isn’t t like some other hip-hop artist that just throw a popular (hot at the moment) artist on the track just for star power, which results often in a mish mosh of messy lyrics. “Stereo Hearts” will be one of the most polished “hip-pop” tracks you’ll see all summer, I guarantee it.

The video is still being worked on but check out one that Fueled By Ramen (Gym Class Heroes record label) put together.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Roots are on tour again. Don’t these dudes have wives and children to go back to??

They were just on the road this spring and summer, but they head back outd with Gym Class Heroes and Estelle in the Fall. The lineup is rather odd–I don’t really see a common fanbase between these three acts, even if there might be some crossover between The Roots and Gym Class fans. Ether way, it should be a hot show. The lone DC Area date is in Baltimore on October 4th.

Tour Dates

10-03 Baltimore, MD – Rams Head Live
10-04 Norfolk, VA – The Norva
10-05 Myrtle Beach, SC – House of Blues
10-06 Atlanta, GA – The Tabernacle
10-07 Lake Buena Vista, FL – House of Blues
10-08 Miami, FL – The Fillmore at Jackie Gleason
10-11 Dallas, TX – The Palladium Ballroom
10-12 Austin, TX – The Backyard
10-14 Phoenix, AZ – The Marquee
10-19 Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
10-21 Denver, CO – The Fillmore Auditorium
10-23 Milwaukee, WI – Eagles Ballroom
10-24 Chicago, IL – Congress Theatre
10-25 Detroit, MI – The Fillmore Detroit
10-26 Toronto, Ontario – Sound Academy
10-28 New York, NY – Roseland Ballroom
10-30 Worcester, MA – The Palladium Downstairs
10-31 Asbury Park, NJ – Asbury Park Convention Hall
11-01 Albany, NY – Washington Avenue Armory

The first single off of their new Patches from the Quilt EP (out now) and The Quilt LP which drops on September 9th and features Busta, Estelle, and the dude from Hall and Oates.

NYC People this is on! Kidz in the Hall is ready to drop their album The In Crowd at SOBs with a performance as well as music by Just Blaze as well as special guests. I can already namedrop one of the special guests that are gonna be at SOBs tonight…Travis from Gym Class Heroes. This looks LIVE!

Click here for advance tickets or visit sobs.com.

Much thx to the NYC fam for giving me a heads up on this although I won’t be able to make it.