TapWater, the Portland-based band that blends Americana and World Beat into a sound it calls World Twang, is announcing the official release of the full-length CD Too Dark to Blink, in Northwest Portland on Friday, June 10 2011, to celebrate this, its seventh release in seven years - and its most ambitious and complete effort yet. Produced by seven-time Grammy winner Steve Berlin, a member of Los Lobos for more than 30 years, Too Dark to Blink - a year in the making - was recorded by the sextet - Rudy Slizewski, Steve Moore, Tim Jones, Wes Elliott, Simon Lucas and Ravi Laird - at Portland’s Cloud City Studios (formally Super Digital) with engineer Justin Phelps at the board. Vocals were produced by The Motet’s Jans Ingber, with guest performances by Lee Oskar, a founding member of War and owner of Lee Oskar Harmonicas, and percussionist Spike Nealy, a member of James Brown’s Famous Flames for two decades. Berlin and Ingber also make musical appearances on the new recording. TapWater prides itself on its unique original music, and the strength of the songwriting was validated earlier this year when Slizewski shared the 2011 award for Best Original Score with internationally renowned kayaker and filmmaker Rush Sturges at the 11th annual X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival in Park City, Utah for the film “Dream Result.” (TapWater song “Worst Behavior,” one of the tracks on Too Dark to Blink is featured in Sturges’ latest film, “Frontier.”) The music’s incredible, and the infe