THE DECALOGUE: A Ballet by Justin Peck with Music by Sufjan Stevens
April 14th, 2017 , by Asthmatic Kitty
On May 12th, the New York Ballet will premiere choreographer Justin Peck’s The Decalogue, with music from Sufjan. Additional shows will follow on May 14, 18, and 20. Buy tickets here.
This is the third time Justin has incorporated Sufjan’s music. In 2012, Justin choreographed Year of the Rabbit to orchestrations based on Enjoy Your Rabbit. In 2014 Sufjan composed music for Justin’s Everywhere We Go.
See above or here for a video directed by Rebekka Björnsdóttir and Yoonha Park. Sufjan did motion graphics for the video.
Happy Birthday Lowell!
March 31st, 2017 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Today, March 31, is a very special day: the birthday of our own Lowell Brams, co-founder of Asthmatic Kitty Records and Sufjan’s step-dad. As a gift to Lowell (and the rest of the world) Sufjan has decided to release Carrie & Lowell Live, an audio and visual document of his November 9, 2015 performance at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center in South Carolina. Release date is set for April 28, 2017.
Today is also the two-year anniversary of Sufjan’s seventh album, Carrie & Lowell, an album based, in part, on Sufjan’s childhood summers spent in Eugene, Oregon, when Carrie and Lowell were married.
The live show was shot and produced by We Are Films and the Art Counsel, edited by Keith Bradshaw, and mixed by Casey Foubert. The video will be available on YouTube and Vimeo, and the audio will be available for purchase and/or streaming on all platforms (iTunes, Spotify, Tidal, and Bandcamp, etc.).
As you may recall, Sufjan released one song from this show back in February 2016. We are excited to share the rest of it with you!
Stay tuned for more information. Happy birthday, Lowell!
This is the setlist:
Redford (For Yia-Yia and Pappou)
Death With Dignity
Should Have Known Better
All of Me Wants All Of You
John My Beloved
The Only Thing
Fourth of July
No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross
Carrie & Lowell
Drawn to the Blood
Eugene
Vesuvius
Futile Devices
Blue Bucket of Gold
Blue Bucket Outro
encore:
Hotline Bling* (featuring Gallant)
*audio streaming and download only
Planetarium Available on June 9th
March 27th, 2017 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Planetarium will be out June 9th on 4AD. You can preorder the record here.
“Saturn” is the first single and video from the record. Watch it above, or stream or buy it here.
Originally a commission for Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, the piece has transitioned and evolved into a full length album co-composed by Bryce Dessner, James McAlister, Nico Muhly, and Sufjan. Flanked by a string quartet and a consort of seven trombones, the ensemble has assembled an expansive song cycle that explores the Sun, the Moon, the planets and other celestial bodies of our solar system (and beyond) through soundscape, song, science and myth.
Out now: Private Energy, from Helado Negro
December 9th, 2016 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Private Energy is out now.
Here’s what NPR had to say about the album:
The music on Private Energy is a singular vision that mixes esoteric observations on life with heavy keyboard pastiche, over grooves that range from soft rock to lilting cumbias. “Mi Mano” is a gloriously layered sound collage of computer-generated beats that seem to collide with a wall of synths under cryptic lyrics that could be about anything as if they are waiting for you to assign a narrative from your own life. The album is yet another collection of music with the power to draw you in from a distance, toward a view of the world created by a singular character. Would it sound the same if Roberto Lange was making music under his own name? For now, I’m happy to have him walking around with a mask on, pulling James Brown moves on the dance floor as Helado Negro.
You can buy it on tape in the AKR store right here.
Helado Negro is also touring in the fall:
Tour:
October 9, 2016 – III Points Festival – Miami, FL
October 11, 2016 – The Vera Project – Seattle, WA
October 12, 2016 – Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR
October 13, 2016 – Rickshaw Stop – San Francisco, CA
October 15, 2016 – Soda Bar – San Diego, CA
October 20, 2016 – Hideout – Chicago, IL
October 21, 2016 – The Frequency – Madison, WI
October 22, 2016 – Des Moines Social Club – Des Moines, IA
October 23, 2016 – The Record Bar – Kansas City, MO
October 24, 2016 – Urban Artifact – Cincinnati, OH
October 25, 2016 – The Hi-Fi – Indianapolis, IN
October 26, 2016 – Kentucky Museum of Arts and Crafts – Louisville, KY
October 27, 2016 – 21c Museum Hotel – Lexington, KY
October 28, 2016 – Majestic Cafe – Detroit, MI
October 29, 2016 – The Drake – Toronto, ON
October 30, 2016 – L’Escogriffe – Montreal, QC
October 31, 2016 – Light Club Lamp Shop – Burlington, VT
November 1, 2016 – Wonder Bar – Allston, MA (With Buscabulla)
November 2, 2016 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY (With Buscabulla)
November 3, 2016 – Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA (With Buscabulla)
November 4, 2016 – Ottobar – Baltimore, MD (With Buscabulla)
November 5, 2016 – Duke Coffeehouse – Durham, NC
November 6, 2016 – Masquerade (Purgatory Stage) – Atlanta, GA
November 7, 2016 – Strange Matter – Richmond, VA
Announcing Private Energy, the next album from Helado Negro
July 28th, 2016 , by Asthmatic Kitty
We’re proud to announce that we are releasing Helado Negro’s next album, Private Energy.
This week FADER premiered “Runaround,” the first single from the album. Here’s what Roberto, aka Helado Negro, told FADER about the song:
“The song was written in November 2014, around the time when we all found out that no police officers would be charged in the Michael Brown murder case. It is inspired by the words of a robot in a Isaac Asimov short story. The robot finds itself in conflict with its internal rules: 1. Obey orders, 2. Don’t hurt yourself. The robot eventually gets fixed by an engineer but for that brief moment, it’s stuck. This line from the story describes the feeling of trying to find meaning and understanding in our troubled world: ‘No love can cut our knife in two. I think the ‘knife’ is us; me, my own hardened self with love within. It’s made of the strongest, sharpest love combined with a soft love, maybe a selfish, rootless love which could never cut my knife in two.'”
Private Energy comes out October 7th on digital, and October 14th on limited edition cassette. You can preorder it in the AKR store right here.
Helado Negro is also touring in the fall:
Tour:
July 31, 2016 – State Theatre – Portland, ME (With Beirut)
August 1, 2016 – The Capitol Theatre – Port Chester, NY (With Beirut)
October 9, 2016 – III Points Festival – Miami, FL
October 11, 2016 – The Vera Project – Seattle, WA
October 12, 2016 – Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR
October 13, 2016 – Rickshaw Stop – San Francisco, CA
October 15, 2016 – Soda Bar – San Diego, CA
October 20, 2016 – Hideout – Chicago, IL
October 21, 2016 – The Frequency – Madison, WI
October 22, 2016 – Des Moines Social Club – Des Moines, IA
October 23, 2016 – The Record Bar – Kansas City, MO
October 24, 2016 – Urban Artifact – Cincinnati, OH
October 25, 2016 – The Hi-Fi – Indianapolis, IN
October 26, 2016 – Kentucky Museum of Arts and Crafts – Louisville, KY
October 27, 2016 – 21c Museum Hotel – Lexington, KY
October 28, 2016 – Majestic Cafe – Detroit, MI
October 29, 2016 – The Drake – Toronto, ON
October 30, 2016 – L’Escogriffe – Montreal, QC
October 31, 2016 – Light Club Lamp Shop – Burlington, VT
November 1, 2016 – Wonder Bar – Allston, MA (With Buscabulla)
November 2, 2016 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY (With Buscabulla)
November 3, 2016 – Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA (With Buscabulla)
November 4, 2016 – Ottobar – Baltimore, MD (With Buscabulla)
November 5, 2016 – Duke Coffeehouse – Durham, NC
November 6, 2016 – Masquerade (Purgatory Stage) – Atlanta, GA
November 7, 2016 – Strange Matter – Richmond, VA
Island Universe Story Out Now
May 6th, 2016 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Island Universe Story: Selected Works is out today. The record is a compilation of a few songs from the many cassette tapes from Helado Negro’s Island Universe Story series. We pressed this on tinsel vinyl, and we have some left if you’d like to pick one up. Ten silver, seventy-seven red, seventy-six blue, and seven clear. Your local record should have some as well.
What is the tinsel? What does it represent?
If the Island Universe Story cassettes were subconscious representations of other worlds in his and our shared imagination, this limited edition vinyl represents the leakiness between those worlds. Some of the records contain silver threads, the sheddings of those dreamy beasts that have joined him on stage in cities all over the world, animated by new friends in each venue where Helado Negro has performed.
Psychic Temple III Out Now
May 6th, 2016 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Since we released Twilight and Ghost Stories in 2007, Chris Schlarb has been part of the Asthmatic Kitty Records family. Even before that we partnered often with Chris’ Sounds are Active record label.
With the (re)formulation of Psychic Temple and the release of III, Chris has reached a new apex. If you’ve listened to any of Chris’ music before, and many of you have, you’ll recognize Chris’ trademark collaboration. The album is a who’s who of talented musicians: Spooner Oldham (Neil Young, Bob Dylan), David Hood (J.J. Cale, Aretha Franklin), Mike Watt (Minutemen, The Stooges), Avi Buffalo, Nedelle Torrisi (Sufjan Stevens), Elliot Bergman (Wild Belle, NOMO), Dave Easley (Brian Blade Fellowship) and many more. Coming together quickly and intuitively, the album was mixed over three days with Ronan Chris Murphy (King Crimson). Chris has a knack for corralling an army (a cult, if you will) towards the creation of new music.
III is some of Chris’ best work, if not the best. We hope you’ll give it a listen, and if you like it, you pick it up today at your local record store, and maybe even tell some friends and family. We’ve had the great pleasure of hearing for a while, and III has a found a regular home on our turntables and smart devices. We hope it does as well in yours.
We have a few of the limited gatefold edition available in our store here.
“Brother O,” New Music Video from Psychic Temple
April 27th, 2016 , by Asthmatic Kitty
How do you capture Southern California in four minutes? Psychic Temple’s “Brother O” and Jessica Nicole Collins’ music video treatment do just that. A superb video, set to a superb song. Verve, life, color, California.
III is out next week on digital, vinyl, and CD. Get it at your local record store on May 6, or preorder it here.
Here’s a running and plausibly incomplete shot list: woman, sunrise, beach, waves, shells, gulls, telephone poles, dock, jammin, moon, cliffs, mountain, elevation, clouds, window, cult leader playing guitar, sunrise, hanging out, rocks, field, sun through leaves, cult leader playing guitar, bodega, fireworks, feet splashing in pool, wind above houses, enjoy your rabbit, biplane, dogs playing, clouds chasing, sun moving, power lines, moped motorcycle, cult leader, mariachi band, prayer clothes, dandelion, wish made, grass, hands in wet sand, pool time, palm trees, nondescript hotel architecture, sailboat, sun over hills, dead tall grass, running across bridge, drum, wedding, party, snow, families, sledding, fog, beach, police, time to go, aquarium, bridge, palm trees, bottle rockets, cult leader, smoke blown, dance, party time, backpack runner, coolest shows ever, lightening dancing, fire in can, metal, pinball, cult leader playing guitar, mulholland overlook, night glo bowl, cult leader playing guitar, hula hoops, drummer, flamingo dancers, color, two timing two step, the dip, the smile, in love, in love with life, with music, with water, with wind, with trees, with kids, with friends, existential gaze over water, just hanging out, water crashing, pool, baptized with waves, coming up, reborn from water, sun off waves, back under, back up, fade to black.
Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois: Special 10th Anniversary Blue Marvel Edition, out now
April 1st, 2016 , by Asthmatic Kitty
The officially licensed, totally legit, 100%, Marvel-approved a-ok Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois: Special 10th Anniversary Blue Marvel Edition is available now. The release includes both discs in Antimatter Blue and Cape White colors. Every copy of Illinois: Special 10th Anniversary Blue Marvel Edition includes a red 12″ single of a demo version of “Chicago,” die-cut into the shape of the star on the Chicago city flag. Read details on the record here.
Sufjan is touring extensively this summer at festivals near you, starting with Coachella in just a few weeks.
Blue Marvel is currently heading up The Ultimates. Issue #05 is just out.
We’re currently out of stock at AKR HQ, but record stores everywhere should have the Illinois: Special 10th Anniversary Blue Marvel Edition.
You can also buy from these online retailers: Other Music / Amoeba Music / Zia Records / Barnes & Noble / CCVinyl / Oldies.com
Mitad De Tu Mundo: a new snowy video from Helado Negro
March 22nd, 2016 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Helado Negro has released a video saying goodbye to a hard winter, set to “Mitad De Tu Mundo.”
In about a month we’ll be releasing Island Universe Story: Selected Works, a tinsel vinyl limited release, with this song. We still have a few of each color left for preorder here. Your local record store should have a few of each color as well.