Revived
May 24th, 2013 , by Asthmatic Kitty
(Photo by Mike Massaro)
DM Stith has hardly been silent in the years since the release of his eerily intense Asthmatic Kitty debut, 2009’s Heavy Ghost. The Revival Hour, his project in collaboration with John-Mark Lapham of the Earlies (Secretly Canadian), put out its first full-length earlier this year, and is gaining momentum with a new remix EP, a new video, and soon, a European tour.
The dark, soulful sound of the first Revival Hour LP, Scorpio Little Devil—sometimes nostalgic and warm, sometimes noisy and futuristic, but always densely, lavishly arranged—has garnered especially rapturous acclaim in the UK press. The Independent praised the duo’s “exotic musical creations,” and the Guardian argued that contrary to the name of the band, “five seconds of this stuff,” hardly a full sixty minutes, were all the Revival Hour needed to revive its listeners.
Now, two tracks from Scorpio, “Hold Back” and “Run Away,” have been remixed by Lost in Edit and the Earlies, respectively, for a 7″ available from Bandcamp and totally free to download until May 26. The smoky Memphis sound of “Hold Back” has also become a suitably sultry new music video, directed by the Antiphon Music Group and streaming on YouTube and Vimeo.
Coming up this fall, European audiences will get a chance to hear The Revival Hour make their music in person, with dates already announced at Vieland’s Into the Great Wide Open Festival on Sept. 6 and 9 in the Netherlands, at Radar in Aarhus, Denmark on the Sept. 11, and at London’s Sebright Arms on Sept. 17.
You can buy Revival Hour music all in one place here.
[youtube width=”542″ height=”305″]http://youtu.be/w4kEBx_8vA4[/youtube]
Denison Witmer’s New Album Out Now
May 2nd, 2013 , by Asthmatic Kitty
A decade and a half into his musical career, singer-guitarist Denison Witmer has released a self-titled album, and for Witmer, Denison Witmer comes as an occasion to reflect on the unusual lessons of a life spent as a quiet, underground success.
“Looking over the arc of a career, there are moments when you got it right,” he says, “and moments where you didn’t. For me, music’s always about the process. It’s not always about the final product; it’s more about the journey. You work song by song and album by album in pursuit of something—I really try to trust that approach.”
Building the Honey Jar studio with producer and collaborator Devin Greenwood has made it possible for him to create a recording using the same patient, intuitive processes that have driven his songwriting—and his career. Witmer was able to bring in trusted performers like Greenwood, William Fitzsimmons, Dawn Landes, and Sufjan Stevens, and give them free rein to realize his music.
The result is an organic musical self-portrait, drawing inspiration and consolation from sources as different as Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet and the life of knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey, and weaving them into what is arguably Witmer’s most direct and personal album to date.
Denison Witmer is out today on Asthmatic Kitty Records.
Be sure to check out Denison on American Songwriter, where he’s Writer of the Week.
“One source of inspiration for this record was the story of the knuckleball pitcher R.A. Dickey . . . He said that some days you pitch it perfectly, other days you don’t. It’s so erratic that when the ball leaves your hand, you have to immediately accept that it might not be great or go where you want it to. You have to focus on the next pitch and let go of the mistakes behind you.” Denison Witmer, speaking to American Songwriter
New Video from Lily & Madeleine
May 2nd, 2013 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Along with the rest of the internet, we were immediately captivated by Lily & Madeleine the first time we saw “In The Middle” on YouTube (see that video here).
American Songwriter just released “Tired,” another video of Lily & Madeleine from the same acoustic session. It is just as striking and lovely. You can view it here, or below.
Other good news: we’re told that the 10″ vinyl of their forthcoming EP, The Weight of the Globe, is finished production and should be landing soon. We’re told it looks and sounds fantastic. You can reserve your copy of the 10″, which we’ll ship to you in June, here.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/sy-SzJow69I[/youtube]
‘Til I Die: New Single from Chris Schlarb
May 2nd, 2013 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Chris Schlarb’s new album, Psychic Temple II, arrives July 16th but you can hear the album’s first single now. “‘Til I Die” is Chris Schlarb et al’s take on one of the only Beach Boy songs written entirely by Brian Wilson (Wikipedia entry on the song here).
Chris enlisted the help of Nedelle Torrisi, Raymond Raposa of Castanets, and Sufjan Stevens for vocals, and Mars Volta keyboardist Ikey Owens, and Paul Masvidal.
SPIN has generously premiered the song. You can listen on SPIN.com here, below, or on Soundcloud here. If you’d like to take the song with you, you can download it here on Bandcamp.
[youtube width=”542″ height=”305″]http://youtu.be/u2JaCBnEzsM[/youtube]
All Skate: New Video from Fol Chen
April 13th, 2013 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Premiered by Impose Magazine here, and directed by Chris Wilcha, this new video of “I.O.U.” captures everything you love about roller skating and Fol Chen at the same time.
“I.O.U.” comes to us from Fol Chen’s new album, The False Alarms. Notably Canadian Exclaim wrote that “listening to The False Alarms is like hooking up an I.V. drip with maple syrup to your arm.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgXNCee77vE[/youtube]
Helado Negro Featured on Bandcamp.com Relaunch and Podcast
April 11th, 2013 , by Asthmatic Kitty
The inaugural podcast of a Bandcamp.com revamp features our very own Helado Negro.
We are big fans of Bandcamp, an online service that lets musicians release music directly to fans and one we use prolifically. The service revamped their front page this week, with a renewed focus on artists and creative content. Andrew Jervis, formerly of Ubiquity Records, is Bandcamp’s new “Chief Curator,” and he’ll be selecting content for their weekly podcast.
Helado Negro is in some good company in this first edition joining Hairy Hands, Baxamaxam, Wild Honey, Tramp Rec., and many other fantastic acts. We’re looking forward to the next installment of the podcast.
Oliver Barret tried his hand at illustrating Roberto Lange of Helado Negro, and we think he captured the spirit – and the hair – just right.
You can hear all of Helado Negro’s catalog for free (and buy his new record, Invisible Life, for $8) on Bandcamp right here.
Coming soon: Chris Schlarb’s Psychic Temple II
April 9th, 2013 , by Asthmatic Kitty
At the intersection of ethereal jazz and intricate folk, composer Chris Schlarb leads Psychic Temple in new directions. Anchored by the interplay of drummers Andrew Pompey and Tabor Allen, Psychic Temple II features an all-star roster united by a single, maniacal vision.
Psychic Temple II arrives July 16th from Asthmatic Kitty Records and fulfills the promise of Schlarb’s four-track, 40-minute maiden voyage by expanding its atmospherics into the realm of pop songcraft. With an ear toward smart, concise songs, II finds only one track stretching over four mintues in length.
A year in the making, the album was assembled with a wide-ranging team of collaborators: singer-songwriters Sufjan Stevens and Ray Raposa (Castanets), Mars Volta keyboardist Ikey Owens, progressive metal guitarist Paul Masvidal (Cynic, Death), bassist Devin Hoff (Xiu Xiu, Nels Cline Singers), vocalist Sarah Negahdari (Happy Hollows, Silversun Pickups), and more.
In celebration of the auteur as cult leader, Psychic Temple II presents surprising reinventions of work by iconoclasts Brian Wilson, Joe Jackson, and Frank Zappa. Unsurprisingly, Schlarb not only wrote and arranged the album’s material, but he produced and engineered it as well, “I admire people who are control freaks,” he says.
Frank Riley of High Road Booking Lily & Madeleine
April 8th, 2013 , by Asthmatic Kitty
We’re happy to welcome Frank Riley of High Road Booking to the team that’s bringing Lily & Madeleine to the world. Frank has booked for My Bloody Valentine, Wilco, Indigo Girls, Josh Rouse, OK Go, Music Go Music, Son Volt, and many others. Wilson Zheng at High Road will be helping out as well.
Frank and Wilson join publicist Asha Goodman, who works for Saks & Co in their Nashville office, and manager Paul Mahern and his White Arc Management company. Chris and Hannah Burque of Ghost Town are handling mechanical licensing.
Glad to have Frank, Wilson, Ghost Town, and Asha on board. Click here to watch Lily & Madeleine perform “Back to the River” live in Indianapolis.
[youtube width=”541″ height=”344″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C32YflNe3I8&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Announcing Lily & Madeleine: The Weight of the Globe
March 19th, 2013 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Written over the course of their summer vacation and recorded in three days, The Weight of the Globe is a musical snapshot by teenaged sisters Lily and Madeleine Jurkiewicz of a pivotal moment in their lives—turning their backs on the comforts of the past to step into an uncertain future.
The recording project that became the Weight EP started with producer Paul Mahern, who’d fallen in love with the duo’s YouTube videos, acoustic covers of a handful of favorite songs, and immediately got in touch to invite the sisters into the studio. Lily & Madeleine started writing their first original tunes over summer vacation, and Paul introduced them to their bassist and songwriting partner Kenny Childers. The response to their first original song was immediate: the YouTube video racked up a quarter of a million views, and the sisters sold out the first two shows they ever played.
Each song on The Weight of the Globe was written as a discrete, self-contained folk-pop statement, but thanks to the real-time circumstances of recording it, the EP holds together like a collection of interconnected short stories. Taken as a whole, the songs chart a journey from love to disillusionment to heartbreak.
We’ll be releasing The Weight of the Globe on CD, with bonus acoustic tracks, and on beautiful 10inch vinyl (with a download code to access the acoustic tracks) on June 11th. Preorder it here.
Watch a brand new video from the girls on Do317 here.
[bandcamp album=489281744 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=grande]
[youtube width=”542″ height=”302″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C32YflNe3I8&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]