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Upcoming events

Fri Jan 27, 2012 at 8:00 PM
Apache Cafe, Atlanta GA
Nicolay with The Hot At Nights
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Sat Jan 28, 2012 at 7:00 PM
The Listening Room, Nashville TN
Nicolay with The Hot At Nights
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Sat Jan 28, 2012 at 10:00 PM
Liv , Washington DC
Zo!, Phonte, Deborah Bond & more
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Sun Jan 29, 2012 at 6:00 PM
The Rudyard Kipling, Louisville KY
Nicolay with The Hot At Nights
BUY TICKETS· WIN TICKETS!

Mon Jan 30, 2012 at 8:00 PM
Scarlet & Grey, Columbus OH
Nicolay with The Hot At Nights
BUY TICKETS· WIN TICKETS!

Tue Jan 31, 2012 at 8:00 PM
Shadow Lounge, Pittsburgh PA
Nicolay with The Hot At Nights
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Wed Feb 1, 2012 at 10:00 PM
World Cafe Live, Philadelphia PA
Nicolay with The Hot At Nights
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Thu Feb 2, 2012 at 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM
Bohemian Caverns, Washington DC
Nicolay with The Hot At Nights
BUY TICKETS (Set 1) · BUY TICKETS (Set 2)

Fri Feb 3, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Blue Note Jazz Club, New York NY
Nicolay with The Hot At Nights
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Sun Feb 5, 2012 at 8:00 PM
Club Passim, Boston MA
Nicolay with The Hot At Nights
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Mon Feb 6, 2012 at 7:00 PM
The 8x10, Baltimore MD
Nicolay with The Hot At Nights
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Thu Feb 9, 2012 at 8:00 PM
The Shrine, Chicago IL
Zo! & Sy Smith :: FREE
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Fri Feb 10, 2012 at 9:00 PM
Privé Deux, Detroit MI
Zo! & Sy Smith
BUY TICKETS

FREE MUSIC

Help yourself to some FREE music... it's on us!

+ The Hot At Nights - ACSlater (Nicolay Rework)
+ Nicolay with The Hot At Nights - Shibuya Session EP
+ Off The Shelf #8: Collective Efforts - "Until My Life's Gone (Nicolay Remix)"
+ DJ Flash presents The Best Of Phonte (Mixtape)
+ Phonte feat. Elzhi - Not Here Anymore (Prod. 9th Wonder)
+ Median - Bright Individual (Prod. Khrysis)
+ Median - The Sender (Prod. 9th Wonder)
+ Zo! - ...just visiting three
+ The Foreign Exchange - All The Kisses (feat. Paris & Amber Strother of KING)
+ Zo! & Phonte feat. Tigallo the Tay God - Return Of The Mack

+FE MUSIC RELEASES

Phonte Charity Starts At Home
Info | Listen | Buy

Median
The Sender

Info | Listen | Buy

The Foreign Exchange
Dear Friends: An Evening With The Foreign Exchange

Info | Listen | Buy

The Foreign Exchange
Authenticity

Info | Listen | Buy

Zo!
SunStorm

Info | Listen | Buy

Facebook Favorites

+FE MERCHANDISE

"Laughing At Your Plans" T-Shirt

"Make Me A Fool" T-Shirt

"Fight For Love" T-Shirt

"Authenticity" T-Shirt

The Hot At Nights - ACSlater (Nicolay Rework) | FREE download

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in: Upcoming Shows

Zo! & Sy Smith at Privé Deux, Detroit MI | Feb 10, 2012

by Aimee Flint on January 23, 2012 at 10:52 PM · Comments

Urban Organic presents ... Zo! & Sy Smith

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 9:00 PM

Privé Deux, 237 Jos Campau, Detroit MI 48207 | (313) 585-0630

View Map · Add to Google Calendar · Buy Tickets

Continue reading Zo! & Sy Smith at Privé Deux, Detroit MI | Feb 10, 2012

in: Upcoming Shows

Zo! & Sy Smith at The Shrine, Chicago IL | Feb 9, 2012

by Aimee Flint on January 23, 2012 at 9:54 PM · Comments

FREE with RSVP

Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 8:00 PM

The Shrine, 2109 South Wabash Ave, Chicago IL 60616 | (312) 753-5700

View Map · Add to Google Calendar · Buy Tickets

Continue reading Zo! & Sy Smith at The Shrine, Chicago IL | Feb 9, 2012

in: Upcoming Shows

Zo! + Phonte & more at Liv, Washington DC | Jan 28, 2012

by Aimee Flint on January 23, 2012 at 8:26 PM · Comments

Axel F. One Year Anniversary

With your resident DJs:
Jahsonic, Stylus and Adrian Loving

featuring the Sexual Chocolate Band & Show performing LIVE covers of Axel F era tunes:

Zo!
Deborah Bond
Phonte
Ne'a Posey
N'digo Rose

Ticket Info:
$10 Adv / $15 Door

Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 10:00 PM

Liv , 2001 11th St NW, Washington DC 20001 | (202) 299-0800

View Map · Add to Google Calendar · Buy Tickets

Continue reading Zo! + Phonte & more at Liv, Washington DC | Jan 28, 2012

in: Music

The Hot At Nights - ACSlater (Nicolay Rework)

by +FE on January 23, 2012 at 7:48 PM · Comments

Nicolay and The Hot At Nights are about to hit the road to perform the music from their recent Shibuya Session EP and more in cities across the US. To celebrate the kick-off of their tour, we are happy to present you with a free exclusive download of Nicolay's lengthy rework of The Hot At Nights' track "ACSlater". Thank you for listening, and we hope to see you out there at one of the shows! For a complete schedule, please visit our events section.

"THE HOT AT NIGHTS - ACSLATER (NICOLAY REWORK)" LISTEN | DOWNLOAD

Original version performed by The Hot At Nights and produced by Chris Boerner
Remix, additional instrumentation and programming by Nicolay (2011/12)

You can find the original version of "ACSlater" on the album "Nice Talk" by The Hot At Nights.

Continue reading The Hot At Nights - ACSlater (Nicolay Rework)

in: Interviews

Nicolay goes with a jazz groove

by +FE on January 22, 2012 at 7:28 AM · Comments

Source: The News & Observer · By Craig D. Lindsey

Nicolay Rook needed to do something.

He needed to do something to pass the time, to keep himself occupied, to prevent his musical skills from becoming atrophied. With Phonte Coleman, his singing/rapping partner in the Grammy-nominated, North Carolina-based, emo-soul duo known as The Foreign Exchange, working on a bevy of projects last year (including releasing his own solo debut "Charity Starts at Home"), Rook was looking for a project of his own. And thus, "The Shibuya Session EP" was born.

Released in November, the eight-track recording has the Dutch-born, Wilmington-based Rook hooking up with The Hot at Nights, an exploratory jazz trio from Raleigh, doing jazzy, occasionally avant-garde reworkings of several tunes from Rook's 2009 electro-soul album "City Lights Vol. 2: Shibuya."

Continue reading Nicolay goes with a jazz groove

in: Interviews

Grammy nominee Nicolay is now in 'Session'

by +FE on January 19, 2012 at 8:15 AM · Comments

Source: Star News Online · By John Staton

The last time the Dutch-born, Wilmington-based producer and musician Nicolay made a public appearance locally was about five years ago. It wasn't even a gig, per se, just a DJing session at the late, great night spot Bella Festa.

Things were a little different back then for Nicolay, who plays a gig on Tuesday at the Soapbox with exploratory jazz group The Hot @ Nights out of Raleigh.

His Grammy nomination, for Best Urban/Alternative track, from his group The Foreign Exchange's song "Daykeeper," had yet to occur. In fact, The Foreign Exchange, the duo Nicolay shares with Raleigh-based vocalist Phonte Coleman, was so obscure they were known to only the hippest of hip-hop heads.

Five years later, however, the Foreign Exchange has parlayed its Grammy nomination into a deeply devoted following that allowed the group to book its biggest-ever tour in 2011, not to mention allowing Nicolay to build up nearly 19,000 Twitter followers. (Phonte, a former vocalist with the hip-hop group Little Brother, has nearly 47,000.)

He's also taken quite the musical journey, from hip-hop to more of a soul/R&B/pop vibe with FE - even covering a James Taylor tune and doing a country version of a Foreign Exchange song on a live album - and expanding on his 2009 solo effort "City Lights Vol. 2: Shibuya" on a live album with the Hot @ Nights.

Continue reading Grammy nominee Nicolay is now in 'Session'

in: Video

Phonte - Dance In The Reign | Official Music Video

by +FE on January 5, 2012 at 12:12 PM · Comments

+FE Music proudly presents the official music video for Dance In The Reign, directed by Kenneth Price

Source: +FE Music · By Kenneth Price

Watch this video

in: Upcoming Shows

Nicolay with The Hot At Nights at The 8x10, Baltimore MD | Feb 6, 2012

by Aimee Flint on January 5, 2012 at 12:39 AM · Comments

Nicolay with The Hot At Nights

Nicolay teams up with exploratory jazz-trio The Hot At Nights to perform new interpretations and arrangements of his instrumental compositions from "City Lights Vol. 2: Shibuya" and more.

Nicolay: synthesizers/keyboards | Chris Boerner: 8-string guitar | Matt Douglas: sax/woodwinds | Nick Baglio: drums

Download the Shibuya Session EP for FREE here.

Monday, February 6, 2012 at 7:00 PM

The 8x10, 10 E Cross St., Baltimore MD 21230 | (410) 625-2000

View on Facebook · View Map · Add to Google Calendar · Buy Tickets

Continue reading Nicolay with The Hot At Nights at The 8x10, Baltimore MD | Feb 6, 2012

in: PUBLICITY

SoulBounce Honors 2011's Rapper Of The Year: Phonte

by +FE on December 30, 2011 at 10:10 AM · Comments

Source: SoulBounce · By Butta

The Foreign Exchange could be considered a permanent fixture here at SoulBounce. We're not only fans and champions of their music but over the years we've formed a familial bond with the entire crew. Loving them is easy and when anyone from the fam drops a project, we're there to support. So when it was time for his solo debut album, it was pretty much a given that we'd love it. But we didn't know how much we'd love it, and Charity Starts At Home truly defied our expectations. When it came to hip hop in 2011 and who most held our attention here and therefore was a shoe-in for Rapper of the Year honors, it was all about one person: Phonte.

Tay rang in the year doing something that sent tongues wagging when he squashed his beef with former Little Brother member 9th Wonder after four years of not speaking. That reconciliation would lead to both artists working together once again on each other's new projects, which would later be scheduled for release on the same date, and an ensuing concert tour. A fiction writer couldn't come up with a more poetic storyline than their reunion.

Continue reading SoulBounce Honors 2011's Rapper Of The Year: Phonte

in: Reviews

Charity Starts At Home is #14 on SPIN Magazine's '40 Best Rap Albums of 2011' list

by +FE on December 29, 2011 at 11:48 AM · Comments

Source: SPIN Magazine · By SPIN Staff

Tastemakers may have rediscovered this former leader of backpack-rap heroes Little Brother thanks to his neo-soul project Foreign Exchange and frequent shout-outs from unabashed fan Drake. But Phonte Coleman never stopped making hearty, soulful hip-hop that sticks to your ribs. Rejoining estranged LB producer 9th Wonder, he builds with Big K.R.I.T. and Pharoahe Monch, addressing strained relationships ("Who Loves You More") and sympathizing with unemployed folks ("The Good Fight"). As he puts it on "Everything is Falling Down": "Don't need a new style / Being dope is always in fashion." M.R.

in: Photos

More of The Foreign Exchange's Authenticity Tour in St. Louis

by +FE on December 28, 2011 at 8:39 AM · Comments

Some more photos of one of the most memorable Authenticity Tour stops, at 2720 Cherokee in St. Louis.

Source: Destiny Art · By Henry Chaney

View full photo gallery

in: Reviews

Urban Orleans reviews The Foreign Exchange's Authenticity Tour stop in New Orleans

by +FE on December 14, 2011 at 9:36 AM · Comments

Source: Urban Orleans · By Jocelyn Ninneman

Quite possibly one of the best (intimate) live shows to hit New Orleans this season involved a 7-piece soul-funk band, 2 gorgeous vocalists and 1 comedian, er rapper. Enter: The Foreign Exchange.

The show at One-Eyed Jack's last week seemed to be somewhat of an insider's affair, considering there really was no mass advertising for the show, yet every +FE fan in the Greater New Orleans area was certainly in the house. Even loyal Little Brother fans probably had no idea what they were in store for - the other side of MC/singer Phonte's alter-ego on full display as 1/2 of The Foreign Exchange.

After local hero DJ E.F. Cuttin warmed up the floor, the Grammy-nominated outfit, headed up by Dutch musician-producer, Nicolay, and lauded rapper Phonte of North Carolina (and 1/3 of Little Brother with Big Pooh & 9th Wonder), has included a rotating assembly of some of Soul, Funk and Hip Hop's best and brightest from YahZarah and Carlitta Durand to Darien Brockington and Motown's Zo, but this tour brought NoLa debut performances from not only Nicolay, Zo and the band... but the lovely and sensuous songstresses Sy Smith and Jeanne Jolly graced the velvet-curtained stage at one of New Orleans' legendary former brothel burlesque houses - the perfect setting for the sultry set delivered by The Foreign Exchange. In fact, the sexy packed house was demanding more even post-encore.

It's safe to say, the secret is out: The Foreign Exchange won the oh-so-difficult and ever-coveted approval of the New Orleans audience. And we'll be watching for them to come back for more...

Don't believe us? Check out the photos from The Foreign Exchange @ One-Eyed Jack's 11/21/11 x Sierra Hudson here.

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More of The Foreign Exchange's Authenticity Tour in St. Louis in: Photos
Urban Orleans reviews The Foreign Exchange's Authenticity Tour stop in New Orleans in: Reviews
The Foreign Exchange's Authenticity Tour in New Orleans in: Photos
Nicolay with The Hot At Nights at The Rudyard Kipling, Louisville KY | Jan 29, 2012 in: Shows
Official Phonte/Charity Starts At Home T-Shirts available now! in: News
Median's The Sender available on CD now! in: News
The Foreign Exchange's Authenticity Tour in Houston in: Photos
The Foreign Exchange's Authenticity Tour in Austin in: Photos
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The Foreign Exchange's Authenticity Tour in Nashville in: Photos