DENISON WITMER, CASTANETS ON DAYTROTTER
April 6th, 2012 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Illustrations by Johnnie Cluney
We've been listening to Daytrotter for a while, and have loved every moment. Their recording sessions are some of the best in the biz. The sound quality and engineering is incredible. The writing and illustration always capture the essence of an artist.
All that to say: Daytrotter gets it.
So when one of our own artists pops up with a session, we rush like lemmings (do lemmings rush?) to the site to hear and download and read. When two our artists go up in one week? Things get a little crazy.
Of Denison Witmer, Sean Moeller writes, " The one thing that must keep him going is getting to play the songs that he writes every night – these songs that are so filled with deeply personal anecdotes and sentiments. They are the intimate thoughts that he can't bottle up."
And speaking about Ray Raposa of Castanets, Sean wrote that he "never ceases to mystify when he writes. He never seems to give it all up and for that, he's a master of the form."
If you're not already a subscriber – hey why aren't you? – you can try Daytrotter for free and snag these sessions. Castantets is here, and the Denison session is here.
Stroll Along Hondarribia’s Past
April 5th, 2012 , by
Have you ever heard of Hondarribia? If you have not, you should be paying more attention because this resort surely deserves it. Hondarribia is one of those special places in the world where history and modern excitement join each other along the seashore. You may miss the excitement of casinos, but you should not worry […]
Read the Rest...A WELCOME REMEDY FROM THE WELCOME WAGON
March 23rd, 2012 , by Asthmatic Kitty
It is March, in the two-thousand-and-twelfth Year of Our Lord. The economy is still in the tank, our gas tanks are emptier, jobs scarcer still than gas, and don’t even ask about health care. White House hopefuls are bickering and backbiting like there is no year after this.
We are sick and tired of it all. Heck, we’re just sick and tired, period.
We need some good medicine. Something a lot like Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices from The Welcome Wagon.
Not the 17th century Puritan classic by Thomas Brooks that you’re thinking of – though that book’s a fine place to start – but the new album of the same name by The Welcome Wagon, the musical duo of Vito and Monique Aiuto, a Presbyterian pastor and his wife.
The 13 tracks on Precious Remedies, which we’ll have the honor of releasing come June 12th, provide a much-needed healing balm, very much like the one Brooks describes in the preface to his old devotional: “A special salve for every spiritual sore, a special remedy against every spiritual malady…Food to nourish you, a staff to support you, a guide to lead you, a fire to warm you, and springs of life to cheer and refresh you.”
We’ll have a way for you to join The Welcome Wagon in a few weeks. For now you can get a head start by signing up for their mailing list on their website, watching the first single and debut video on Relevant Magazine here, or listening and downloading the song below. More info on the release is here.
SUFJAN TO PLAY EINDHOVEN, AMSTERDAM, & LONDON WITH BRYCE DESSNER AND NICO MUHLY
March 22nd, 2012 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Sufjan Stevens is collaborating with good friends/old haunts Bryce Dessner and Nico Muhly to create a song-cycle loosely based on the planets. The trio will be performing their work in just a few select venues, accompanied by a trombone choir, string quartet, and drums/percussion/drum machine (played by the indefatigable James McAlister). Selections from the song-cycle will be “live workshopped” at Music Now festival in Cincinnati on March 30. Official performances are scheduled in Eindhoven, Amsterdam, London, and Sydney. More details here. Performances in Europe will be preceded by short string quartet works by each collaborator, including two selections from Sufjan’s Run Rabbit Run project.
No other performances for this project have been scheduled and all dates are sold out except Amsterdam, April 8th. Last chance to see cosmic history happen here.
NO NEED TO WAIT FOR DENISON?S NEW ALBUM, OUT TODAY
March 6th, 2012 , by Asthmatic Kitty
We welcomed Denison Witmer to the AK Family just a couple of months ago. We’ve been listening to his latest record, The Ones Who Wait, for a while now, and we’re honored that we get to release to the wide world – which means you!
This record is really something special. You can read the whole story here, but suffice to say that The Ones Who Wait represents the culmination of several significant life experiences, ones that we all go through at some point. And this is what Denison has always done best: he writes and sings songs that are markedly intimate, yet appeal to all of us. They are human events, captured on tape for all of us to share.
You can buy the album on Bandcamp here or on iTunes here, or order the CD from our shop here.
Denison is touring with William Fitz Simmons – tourdates here – but he’s also touring via Skype (yes, Skype!). You can win a Skype tourdate on My Old Kentucky Blog right here.
NEW EP FROM HELADO NEGRO
February 28th, 2012 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Photo by Angel Ceballos
Roberto Lange of Helado Negro loves to explore. And it is his intrinsic sense of discovery that transforms the traditional structures of pop music into a celestial playground. Because his energy and enthusiasm is hard to restrain within the recommended release schedule, we have decided to forgo with conventional wisdom and follow Helado Negro through the extensive galactic archipelago, losing ourselves amongst the many islands that orbit the brain of Lange and his many collaborators.
Today we are excited to be releasing Island Universe Story One, the first in what he promises as an infinite series of chapters in this musical journey. The result of experimentation with a Scully 280 ¼” tape machine and the Teenage Engineering OP-1, the first island is a collection of tape loops and edits. It is a deep breakfast buffet of star paste and quabbernautic brunchings. Listen and take part by purchasing below, or read more here.
The music is visually represented by the micro-maximalist art of Kristi Sword and succinct design of Mexico City’s NRML.
And don’t miss Helado Negro at the Bowery this Friday night, when he plays with Matthew Dear and Blondes. Buy tickets here.
PEPE DELUXÉ UPDATE, AMAZING REVIEW
February 17th, 2012 , by Asthmatic Kitty
We have a rule around here about posting news items about reviews – it’s a bit gratuitous don’t you think? Too meta for meta? – but rules are made to be broken. And if there’s an example of rules being broken, that example is Pepe Deluxé’s genre-tesseracting fourth album Queen of the Wave. So let’s break some rules, shall we?
Vancouver music writer Alan Ranta, who writes for PopMatters, just penned what is less review, more director’s fan’s commentary of Pepe’s new album. Pepe Deluxé shrouds itself in mystery, but Alan cuts through the fantasy and finds a reality that is just as amazing and weird.
How does one take six years to make an album? How does one make a record that sounds like samples, but doesn’t contain a single one? How does one coordinate an army of multi-national musicians? And what is up with Zailm and his 500,000 volt Tesla Coil anyway?
Consider Alan’s review your guide to the universe of Queen of the Wave – and oh what a universe it is. Sit down, grab a coffee (or Dr. Pepper), and proceed with your reading right…here.
Speaking of firsts, Pepe Deluxé is officially now the first AK band to have released an iPad app! You can download (for free!) here.
And as for the album, you can be listening to it in just a few minutes after you buy it from iTunes here.
MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND ON KCRW MORNING BECOMES ECLECTIC!
February 15th, 2012 , by Asthmatic Kitty
NEW ALBUM COMING FROM SHANNON STEPHENS, FREE MP3 ON POPMATTERS
February 14th, 2012 , by Asthmatic Kitty
You know Shannon Stephens. Or maybe you think you did. This album, this third one, is a little different.
Say hello to Pull It Together.
This record represents a real leap in confidence and songcraft for Shannon. Greater maturity has brought a both a looser, louder style and a more sharply focused worldview. Call this new sound pragmatic pop: optimism balanced with the sharp-edged reality of life in 2012, as much butter as it is knife. Cold Seattle winds and recessionary times have tempered and transformed the soft singer-songwriter folk of her previous two albums. With Pull It Together, Shannon pulls more the lexicon of blues rock than anything else. Think Neil Young, born a woman in 1975.
The first single from Pull It Together is "What Love Looks Like."
Sings Shannon, "I'd like to take you home and turn off the telephone, 'cause that's what love looks like, love looks like / I'd like to pay the bills and set out your vitamin pills— this is what love looks like, love looks like.” Oh wow, it’s Valentine’s Day. How appropriate.
Thanks to PopMatters for hosting the track today! Have a listen/download the track on their site here or listen below:
MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND ON PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION
February 11th, 2012 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond is appearing on A Prairie Home Companion (With Garrison Keillor) Saturday February 11th. The show will be live from the beautiful Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota. No doubt news from Lake Wobegan will also be available on the show.
EDIT: Listen to the segment here.