Via the official AK TwitterNetFeedSpace: [Fri] Rafter in #SantaBarbara @ UC, Jookabox in #IowaCity @ Yacht Club. [Sat] Jookabox in #Columbia @ MOJOs. [Sun] Rafter in #Visalia @ Cellar Door.

See here for details.

[Click here for info on our day party Friday]

We know that not all of you live in Texas, but it is a big state so chances are some of you might. And maybe some of you will see us at SXSW 2009 in Austin, Texas. If that’s the case, click more to see our lineup at the Asthmatic Kitty – K Records – Tomlab SXSW 2009 All Star Revue: "Cool for Cats." 

And if you won’t be at SXSW, you can live vicariously through the magic of online streaming audio, courtesy of Rafter. He has generously put together a swell SXSW mixtape. Tracklist available by clicking more.

Listen here:

 (Download) (Cover)

COOL FOR CATS: The Asthmatic Kitty, K Records, Tomlab SXSW 2009 ALL STAR REVUE
at The Beauty Bar (Bar and Backyard)
617 E. 7th Street Austin Texas

Mixtape Tracklist
No Kids – Prisoner of Desire
Fol Chen – Cable TV
LAKE – Blue Ocean Blue
Jeremy Jay – Gallop
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – Old Panda Days
What’s Up – Seasonings Greetings
Grampall Jookabox – The One Thing
Parenthetical Girls – GUT Symmetries (Deerhoof Remix)
Rafter – No Fucking Around
Desolation Wilderness – No Tomorrow
DM Stith – Thanksgiving Moon
Tara Jane ONeil – Believe

Lest you think our artists live a rockstar lifestyle consisting of rockstaring and drinking Red Bull all day, you should know that Rafter not only runs his own studio and commercial scoring company, he also is a stay-at-home-dad. Very non-rockstar-ish. That is why it is a rare and special occasion when circumstances permit him and his band to tour, especially since Rafter always shows up with one of the best performances in the biz. But the stars have aligned in the right positions in their sky, the magnetic fields have correctly polarized, and Rafter will be setting forth on a Most Excellent Adventure from his home in San Diego all the way to Brooklyn, with stops on the way that include Phoenix, Austin, Denver, Salem, and Seattle. Seriously guys: Rafter’s show will have you rebooting your booty to keep up. Go. And don’t stop until he does. Dates are here.

PS. Enjoy improvisation? Next month, our token jazz band (as required by the Federal Jazz Requirement Statute of 1983, and by our own good taste) also embarks on a tour far from home to Brooklyn, the Midwest, and Beyond. More later, but for now…details here.

Last week we announced the winners of the Rafter video contest. Above is "Juicy" from PranxMultimedia. Click more for the other two runners-up.
From sundaestories

From Valencia Productions.

Back in August, we announced Volume 2 of the Rafter video contest, with promises of cash prizes to those who could create the best music videos to songs from Rafter’s new EP, Sweaty Magic . Employing a diverse range of judges, we have chosen winners. And if we could appear at their house with a supersize check, we would. Instead, we will just email them.

Those winners include Dax Norman, whose striking animation came in squarely at first place. You can watch his video just above the text or by clicking here. Second place goes to this very well-populated video by Ryan, although (it’s a shame we just see the audition and never see the actual video!). You can watch his video by clicking on more, or here. Finally, third place falls to mws888, whose wonderful stop-animation is both literal and mesmerizing. That video is here, or you can view it by clicking more.

second place by rynostevie

third place by mws888

Rafter’s Sweaty Magic EP has been piquing a lot of ears lately (read about it here).

Now you can involve your visual sense as well. Rafter is embarking on something of a super-concentrated-ultimate-tour. He’ll be passing through Miami (*), Orlando, Tallahassee (*), Atlanta (*), Durham (*), Greensboro (*), and topping off in NYC. And if you can’t get enough Rafter with one performance, he’ll also be deejaying in cities (which we conveniently denoted above with a star). See exact venues here.

Don’t live in those cities? Win $1000 instead by submitting a video to our YouTube contest. Details here. Hurray! Time is running out!

A couple of weeks ago, we released Sweaty Magic, an EP from Rafter that has kept us shaking our boots and booties since we first heard it. Now, we know EPs get a bad rap sometimes. But trust us, this gem is worth it.

Or don’t trust us. Trust other people. Pitchfork reviewed it yesterday: "Songs ooze with sleazy sensuality . . . its clattering beats and madcap synths ride a propulsive rhythm that fulfills his goal of shameless danceability."

Paul Zimmerman over at First Coast News writes that "Sweaty Magic is short and sweet and a fantastic sweat inducing dance beast from the electro netherworld."  The fact that this is a "mere" EP getting you down?  Cokemachineglow would beg to differ: "This may find itself more often reached for than anything so self-consciously legitimate as a ‘real’ album."

Finally, Some guy on iTunes perhaps said it best: "This is delicious cereal pop with sugar stars!" Buy the EP from us for $6 (+S&H) and listen to a few mp3s here, or from iTunes here.

Not so long ago, Rafter and his girlfriend Lizeth Santos embarked on an experiment wherein they created an art project a day. Lucky for us, this resulted in a plethora of interesting songs and photographs for our Sidebar (which shall return!).

Those are gone now, but luckily Rafter and Lizeth have transformed them from the chrysalis of that original experiment into a myriad of new expressions. One is Rafter’s sweet and perfect Sweaty Magic EP, and another is Lizeth Santos’ upcoming art show at Pehrspace in Los Angeles.

Pehrspace will be exhibiting Lizeth’s work from October 11th to November 5th. The opening on October 11th, from 9pm to 12pm, will feature a performance by Rafter at 10pm and is free. Click here to go Pehrspace’s website, or here to visit Lizeth’s website.

(Bonus: I Heart Lung performs at Pehrspace just a couple days after on Monday night!)

The premiere of season two of Yo Gabba Gabba starts today on NickJr, wherein we learn Grobby’s age, that Preston is a great dancer, birthdays are special days, how to decorate a special cake, and even beat a birthday beat! Who knows what future episodes will reveal?!

And if you watch carefully over the next season, you may even hear a familiar voice that is "growing" in popularity! This amazing show comes highly recommended by several Asthmatic Kitty kids. Watch it! Click here for NickJr’s schedule.

Photo by Lizeth Santos Rafter’s new EP, which is sweaty, magical, and ergo very appropriately titled Sweaty Magic, is available for order right now. It’s the perfect booty-shaking disc for college students returning to dorm halls, or 75 year old veteran dancers wanting to shake up the weekly shuffleboard-a-thon. You can read more about it […]