ASTHMATIC KITTY ARTISTS APPEAR ON SACRED HARP COMPILATION
September 3rd, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Friends of the label Erica and Matt Hinton have produced a documentary about the tradition and history of Sacred Harp singing. Pitchfork.tv is currently screening the film, Awake My Soul, as part of their One Week Only series. Along with the film, the Hintons are releasing a two disc compilation. Recorded in Atlanta, the first disc includes live recordings sung by traditional Sacred Harp singers, while the second disc features 19 never-before-heard popular adaptations of Sacred Harp music. Participants include John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Elvis Perkins, Doc Watson, Danielson, and two of our own artists, DM Stith and Liz Janes. Visit the MySpace page to preview a few of the songs. Awake My Soul will be out in stores October 14th. Click more to see the complete track listing of cover versions.
1 "Blooming Youth" – Rayna Gellert (Uncle Earl) & John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin)
2 "Weeping Pilgrim" – Elvis Perkins in Dearland
3 "David’s Lamentation" – The Good Players
4 "Africa" – The Innocence Mission
5 "The Christian’s Hope" – Jim Lauderdale with Jeni & Billy
6 "Help Me To Sing" – Mac Powell (Third Day)
7 "Columbus" – John Wesley Harding
8 "The Traveler" – Cordelia’s Dad
9 "Abbeville" – Liz Janes
10 "China" – All Things Bright & Beautiful
11 "Essay" – Tenement Halls
12 "Windham" – Richard Buckner
13 "Sermon on the Mount" – Danielson
14 "And Am I Born to Die?" – Doc Watson & Gaither Carlton
15 "Kedron" – Sam Amidon
16 "Consecration" – Woven Hand
17 "The Grieved Soul" – Rick Moody and Nina Katchadourian
18 "Vernon / Wrestling Jacob" – Tim Eriksen (Cold Mountain Soundtrack)
19 "Christian’s Farewell" – DM Stith
20 "Bound For Canaan" – Murry Hammond (Old 97’s)
RAFTER VIDEO CONTEST VOLUME 2
August 28th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
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 […]
Read the Rest...CRYPTACIZE EXPLORES FLATLAND
August 28th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
The reliably and refreshingly content-heavy music website Daytrotter has posted a revealing look into Cryptacize’s reading habits. In the latest of Daytrotter’s Bookery series, Chris Cohen of Cryptacize reads through the foreward to Edwin Abbott’s 1884 Flatland, replete with Cohen-esque commentary. Listen here (and you can check My Brightest Diamond’s addition to Daytrotter’s ever-expanding Bookery library here).
I HEART LUNG COUGHS UP FREE ALBUM
August 27th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
We’ve given away a few digital albums before, namely Works in Progress and Music for Videogames. But this week we are going free album crazy. A few days ago, we released Grampall Jookabox’s Rill Bruh EP (available on our own site here and through Virb.com here) and now we are giving you an eight song album of I Heart Lung remixes, which are available here. The remix album includes remixes by Greg Davis (Akron/Family), Jel, Omid, Strategy (Kranky label), and appearances by Awol One, Serengeti, Bizzart and other fine and talented hiphop MCs.
We are also taking preorders now for I Heart Lung’s phenomenal ambient jazz drone masterpiece, Interoceans which will ship on or around September 1. Want to see them live? You’re in luck if you’re in the Santa Fe area in September 19th and attending the High Mayhem Festival.
HEAR GRAMPALL JOOKABOX ON VIRB, OR IN REAL LIFE
August 20th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Grampall Jookabox recently joined us here at Asthmatic Kitty, and his second album, Ropechain, is due in early November.
But if you’re anxious to get a sampling of what we think is one of the most unique combinations of styles we’ve heard in a long time, you can check out a web-only, totally free EP exclusively at Virb.com. Rill Bruh is the halfway point between Jookabox’s debut album Scientific Cricket and Ropechain and is a nice, free way to check out some of the experiments in Rill Bruh that make Ropechain so distinct and progressive. Click here to listen and download for free.
If you like what you hear, you’ll want to catch his engaging act live as well. Grampall also embarks on tour next week with PWRFL Power starting in his hometown of Indianapolis, then circling around the Midwest and Northeast and back home again. Click here for details.
CRYPTACIZE DEFENDS STEELY DAN WITH INTERVIEW, 7 INCH
August 12th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Our Unusual Animals vinyl series of 7inch vinyls is now four deep. The latest installation, which came out a few weeks ago and sports a Jared Chapman drawn manatee on its cover, features our own Cryptacize on the A-side reframing a Steely Dan hit, sans super-studio million dollars. (Sometimes an autoharp is all you need.) And on the B-side of the record, Why? expertly manages to anthemize Bob Dylan’s "As I Went Out One Morning." Click here to read more about the 7inch, or here to buy it for $6.
Cryptacize recently sat down with HexEd Journal and found themselves defending Steely Dan, as much as anyone can: "The beauty of Steely Dan is that you can ‘get it’ or ‘not get it’ on so many different levels." Read the interview here.
PS. Cryptacize is playing in Atlanta, Athens (at Popfest), Nashville, and Charlotte over the next couple of weeks. Click here for details.
ANNOUNCING THE NOISEMAKERS!
August 11th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Every once in a while we get an email from someone wanting to help us promote our artists or just help out. We’re always humbled and thankful when we get this kind of email, but never really quite sure how to answer.
Well, we think we figured it out.
As of today we are announcing The Noisemakers. We envision this volunteer but selective group of people as those who are not just fans of our label, but also friends.
The Noisemakers will have several levels of involvement for its members, from casually putting up posters at businesses already frequented, to managing label and artist profiles across the web. Some of you may be doing this already. This will just make the deal legit.
For the next few weeks we are opening up the application process for this deputized, inner circle of Asthmatic Kitty fans. You can apply by clicking here.
DIAMOND ON TOP OF THE WORLD WITH NEW EP, TOUR
August 9th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Not long ago (June, actually), My Brightest Diamond released A Thousand Shark’s Teeth, a full-length album that charmed as much as challenged us.
The band could have sat on their proverbial, diamond-laden laurels. But they are most certainly not. Instead, led by their intrepid frontwoman Shara Worden, Diamond has returned to the studio to record three new songs for the From the Top of the World single; a love letter to 1930s French music in the form of a an EP. iTunes will have this exclusively, starting on September 23. Click here to read more about the release.
This digital-only release will be not so digital when My Brightest Diamond takes to the air in September from Brooklyn and only hours later lands in Europe. She’ll be no doubt playing these songs, as well as selections from Sharks Teeth, when she passes through the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, and France. Click here to see more details.
SUFJAN ON AUSTIN CITY LIMITS SATURDAY
August 7th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
This Saturday night, August 9th, Austin City Limits is encoring Sufjan Stevens’ live performance alongside the extensive and talented Band of Butterflies. Calexico (who has a new album due this September 9th!) follows. Check your local listings for times.
WE LIKE HYMN CALIFORNIA BY ADAM GNADE
August 4th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
At Asthmatic Kitty we believe that music and literature go hand in hand. Our good friend Adam Gnade (a frequent contributor to ye old side bar) thinks so too! That’s why we wanted to let you know about his book, Hymn California. Adam’s first book, which is being released via Rhode Island’s Dutchmoney Books, is a novel that has just as much to do with music as it does prose. “The only way I could pull off doing both was to integrate them as much as possible; immerse the songs in the books and the books in the songs.”
Hymn California is not for the weak of heart. It is an intense ride through death, drugs, depression and the sweaty underbelly of this beast America. Yet despite this darkness, there are glimmers of hope and beauty. It’s pages voyage through childhood’s innocence and safety to the freedom of living on the most ragged edges of our culture. It’s simultaneously full of truths and fairy tales, strange cities, suppressing suburbs, and all of the spaces and places between, with the songs to carry you.
Adam’s music will continue as well. Gnade is currently working on his full-length record, Trailerpark, which will be released with Try Harder Records in Late 2008. His past works include the Collaborative EP with Youthmovies, “Honey Slides,” and the limited edition 60-page novella Seasons Loving Nothing. Adam’s next tour will be in the UK and Europe in November with Youthmovies.
You can buy Hymn California here for $16.