MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND WITH NEW MUSIC IN NYC, OTHER PLACES TOO

January 21st, 2011 , by


My Brightest Diamond (aka Shara Worden) is touring, albeit briefly but in some really terrific venues. She’ll open the tour in the Allen Room in New York City at the  Time Warner Building on Columbus Circle on January 27th as part of the Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. Chamber ensemble yMusic will be playing alongside, which basically means this is a not-to-miss show. Buy tickets for it here. She’ll then be playing in trio or solo form in Ithaca, Rochester, Cleveland, Holland (MI), Chicago, Madison, and Minneapolis. Details here. 

If you do go, you may hear lots of brand new material. You can sample some of it in the video above courtesy of Studio 360, or in Kurt Anderson’s interview with her. Click here to listen.

Even if you can’t get to one of the shows, you will probably hear her somewhere. For example, she’s on Owen Pallet’s recent, free EP (downloadable here). She recorded “I’m on Fire,” a duet with Stateless’ Chris James for their new album, Matilda. Colin Stetson’s forthcoming album features her on ?Lord I Just Can?t Keep From Crying Sometimes? and ?Fear of the Unknown and the Blazing Sun.” Finally, Murat Eyuboglu’s forthcoming multimedia release, Letters to Distant Cities, features poetry recitation and a song by Shara. So. Shara, everywhere. That’s a good, great thing.

FOL CHEN: THEY TOUR

January 15th, 2011 , by

We think we know Fol Chen. We receive communique from them. We may have seen them live before, taken an impromptu fuzzy photograph with our cellphones. We've heard Samuel Bing in an interview. Maybe we've listened to a new song. We may even have caught them on tour in their mid/west tour as they pass through cities like Minneapolis, Salt Lake, Vancouver, Portland, and others. We think we know Fol Chen.

But we do not.

LIZ JANES ON TOUR THIS WEEK

January 11th, 2011 , by

Tonight, Tuesday January 11th, Liz Janes is playing in Seattle with Bridges and our own Shannon Stephens at The Shafer Baillie Mansion. Tomorrow she’s in Portland, then Olympia on Thursday. Then on Saturday she’ll be back at Liz Janes HQ in Indianapolis with an in-store at LUNA at 4pm. Details here.

Liz’s latest album, Say Goodbye, has been floating around since December and it seems to have stuck. Olympia’s Weekly Volcano says that it’s “pretty close to flawless.” You can find out for yourself by listening below, and if you like, you can buy the CD for $10 (+S&H) here, or the MP3s for $8 here.

JULIANNA BARWICK TOURS [FREE MP3]

January 7th, 2011 , by

 
Julianna Barwick’s headlining tour with the Ghost of the Saber Tooth Tiger featuring Sean Lennon started a couple days ago. For the second half of the tour, Barwick will open for Sharon Von Etten. See those dates here. They may well be near you.
 
Barwick's new album, The Magic Place, comes out in late February. She will likely play songs from that album on this tour but we offer no guarantees save one: the show you attend will be well worth your time. In fact, you may find it quite amazing. 


“The Magic Place” (Download)

SOUNDTRACK FOR NIGHTSKY OUT TODAY

January 6th, 2011 , by

Years in the making, the PC video game NightSky is out today and is expertly scored by none other than Chris Schlarb. The game is excellent of course, but Schlarb's soundtrack stands on its own as sublime, careful, and thoughtful.

It's $5; stream and buy below or by clicking here.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM AK

December 23rd, 2010 , by

Well folks, this is it. We are officially knee-deep in the holiday season. So, from everyone here at Asthmatic Kitty Records Headquarters, we wish you well and hope you spend the next bit of time happily and with loved ones. 

Because it's Christmas, there is, of course, plenty of music to go around. NY Mag has two songs from Sufjan Stevens and the Dessner Brothers (of The National). Those songs are here. Also, Sufjan, along with our own Helado Negro and Half-handed Cloud, contributed to this year's volume A Familyre Christmas. You can stream and download for free here. Sufjan's own Christmas collection is here. You can stream it for free or download it for $12.
 
If the Ghost of Christmas Past were here, he'd remind us of the Great Sufjan Song Xmas Xchange from a couple years back. You'll recall that Sufjan picked Alec Duffy's phenomenal "Every Day is Christmas" as the winner. You can hear it here. We also created a mighty fine AKradio playlist of the runners-up, culled from over 600 original Christmas song submissions. Kick that into Christmas cheer gear by clicking  here. And finally, there's a sled-full of AK/Sufjan Christmas goodness including a tinseltastic flash game by Tom DesLongChamp, right…over…..HERE. There kids, that should keep you busy for a while.
 
Once again, Happy Christmas and thanks to all of you out there for making our Christmas bright. 

PREFUSE 73/JAYTRAM/EPSTEIN OUT NOW

December 13th, 2010 , by

Last week we mentioned that today, Tuesday the 14th, we'd be activating an amazing new remix album from Prefuse 73, Jaytram (of Yeasayer). Well, we just did.

Prefuse 73​/​Jaytram​/​Epstein is Prefuse 73 and Jaytram taking the extensive backcatalog of Epstein and mutating it into a very different animal. An animal, we should say, we like to listen to. You probably will as well. 

Stream it, then pay what you want  here.

PEOPLE; ALL OF THEM, DELIGHTED FOR SUFJAN VINYL, CD [FREE MP3]

December 10th, 2010 , by

Do you break for tangible? Do you have a landline phone? Do you like writing letters – ones  that do not require an "@" symbol or fit on paper, not 140 character limits? (We answered yes to all of the above.) Then you will be mightily interested to know that Sufjan Stevens' All Delighted People EP is now officially in the real world, on Compact Disc and LP. Buy the CD here $8+S&H and the LP – we're talking gatefold here people – for $20+S&H here. And of course you can travel on a real bike or car or bus or sidewalk to your local neighborhood record store. They have real shelves with which to stock real goods. 

Speaking of Sufjan. An up and coming producer going by InfinitRock and coming out of Red Hook, NY – working from Base Trip Records – remixed "All For Myself" from The Age of Adz. The remix is a sleek and stylish piece of work. We hope you enjoy it. If you do, you can download InfinitiRock's most recent album for free here.

“All For Myself” (Remixed by InfinitiRock) (Download)

PREFUSE 73 & JAYTRAM OF YEASAYER REINTERPRET EPSTEIN

December 7th, 2010 , by

Earlier this year we released When Man is Full He Falls Asleep from Epstein, who is also known 'round these parts as Helado Negro or Roberto Lange. After getting the album out in the open, Roberto asked friends Prefuse 73 and Jaytram, drummer for Yeasayer, to mine the extensive Epstein backcatalog and craft it into something altogether new. Duly appointed, the two carefully took the usual notions of accuracy and sanctity usually associated with remixes and ate them promptly for brunch. The result is the aptly named Prefuse 73/Jaytram/Epstein, an album replete with layers, thick beats, and sonic exploration. Expect it when we open the doors to asthmatickitty.com on the morning of December 13th.

“you know they out” (Download)
“Seite campanas de la Serenidad” (Download)

JULIANNA WELCOMES YOU TO THE MAGIC PLACE

December 2nd, 2010 , by

We are very pleased to announce Julianna Barwick's Asthmatic Kitty Records debut, The Magic Place. This nine-piece full-length album of magic and solace, bursting joy and healing tones is set to release on February 22, 2011.

Read more about the album here.

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