JOOKABOX IS NO MORE. LONG LIVE JOOKABOX.
February 8th, 2011 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Jookabox has decided to throw in the towel, and The Eyes of the Fly is their last cryptic transmission. Now, this recording is the final chapter in the history of a band that is as bizarre, anxious, and confusing as the music it makes. A band whose imagery largely consists of ghosts, zombies, decay, and the afterlife, now writes its own epitaph, carves its own headstone, and sings its swan song. May the funky frenetic compositions of Jookabox rest in chaos as beautiful as that which they created…The living dead walk the earth on April 26th. In the meantime listen to a haunting sample singing forth from limbo.
JIB KIDDER AND B LAN 3 JOIN THE LIBRARY CATALOG SERIES
February 8th, 2011 , by Asthmatic Kitty
The latest installments of the Library Catalog Music Series are being unpacked from the manufacturer's shipping crates. They will be meticulously inspected and then distributed far and wide to the citizens of the world, for all of their listening needs. Volumes 11 and 12 can now be added to your shelf to complement your growing collection. We are pleased to introduce the talents of Jib Kidder and B Lan 3.
For his entry in the series Music for Hypnotized Minds, Jib Kidder (aka Sean Schuster-Craig) limited his sound pallette to the existing AK catalog, using only turntable manipulations, respatializing effects (echo, reverb, EQ) and splicing to create new mood-based shorts. As in the artist's past works, Music for Hypnotized Minds draws on the dream-logic ideas of hybridization, dislocation & temporal simultaneity. The results are the perfect record for meditation in motion like reflective, solitary walking or summer highway cruising with loved ones.
Volume 12 in the series, Music for Hunting and Mapping, comes from B Lan 3, a solo project by musician and visual artist Michael Diekmann. A resident of New York City, Diekmann also records and performs with the minimalist cold-wave formation Ike Yard, and the pioneering experimental hip-hop group Death Comet Crew. He has also composed or contributed to soundtracks for video and multimedia installations for multimedia artists including Gretchen Bender, Robert Longo and Marcello Mazzella; and also contributed music with Death Comet Crew to the audio book version of Neuromancer by William Gibson.
We invite you to sample these new audio delights:
“cruising 1,” Jib Kidder (Download)
“Peekskill,” B Lan 3 (Download)
HAPPY YEAR OF THE RABBIT
February 3rd, 2011 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Today, February 3rd, 2011, is the first day of the Year of the Rabbit. People born this year will be articulate, talented, and ambitious. They will be most compatible with those born in the years of of the Sheep, Pig, and Dog.
To commermate the Year of the Rabbit, we are offering Sufjan Stevens' Enjoy Your Rabbit for $5 in MP3 form for a limited time. You can buy it here. We hope you enjoy it.
SURPRISE! RAFTER UNLEASHES A QUIET STORM OF AN ALBUM
January 28th, 2011 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Rafter sprang Quiet Storm on us this week and we loved what we heard. He wanted it out and about, right now, pronto STAT. So we said, OK BOSS! And here it is! Take Rafter's yoga-like swagger, his pop sensibilities, then throw those out the ducktaped window of your 1987 Honda Civic Hatchback. Throwthe nearest unlabeled CO2 cassette in the car's $44 SoundATech stereo (and complimentary speakers!), turn the broken knob as high as it goes, and you will get Quiet Storm. Thuuunder!
Rafter, on Quiet Storm, which originated while touring for Animal Feelings: "we listened to a lot of black metal demo tapes in the car… it was really inspiring, extreme, blown out, ridiculous but heartfelt… i made this album, fed by those inspirations and a wave of existential freakout, human mind explosion. in my fantasy, it's like darkthrone meets the kinks meets lee perry…"
MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND WITH NEW MUSIC IN NYC, OTHER PLACES TOO
January 21st, 2011 , by Asthmatic Kitty
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.
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 Asthmatic Kitty
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.
LIZ JANES ON TOUR THIS WEEK
January 11th, 2011 , by Asthmatic Kitty
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 Asthmatic Kitty
