SUFJAN TO PERFORM ON JIMMY FALLON [TOP SECRET CODE]

November 15th, 2010 , by


 

As you can see above in a very expensive and time-consuming simulation generated by our Official Asthmatic Kitty Department of Photoshopical Reality Generation, Jimmy Fallon has been thinking about Sufjan Stevens. Or maybe he hasn't and his people just booked Sufjan to perform, in which case we'll be canning the entire department for an inaccurate representation. Either way, Jimmy Fallon will be watching Sufjan Stevens perform on his show on November 19th. 
 
You can watch along with Jimmy if you tune into NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon that Friday night at 12:35am (technically Saturday morning we guess). Or, if you're in the vicinity of 30 Rockefeller Plaza NYC that night, you could sit on the show's super special exclusive "Band Bench." We think that means you get good seats somewhere near Sufjan's band. Go here, and use the code "SUF" (generated by our Official Asthmatic Kitty Department of Poor Code Generation) for your chance to warm your buns on the said band bench.
 
UPDATE: Our own DM Stith will also be performing in Sufjan's band!

PSYCHIC TEMPLE, A NEW ALBUM FROM CHRIS SCHLARB [FREE MP3]

November 2nd, 2010 , by

In 2007 we released Twilight & Ghost Stories, a 40-minute modern composition by Long Beach based Chris Schlarb. By tying together dozens of pieces of music from dozens of musicians, Schlarb not only used Twlight as a sort of personal catharsis but as also a way to show that we are all connected. You can stream Twilight for free or buy it in MP3 form here for $5.
 
Now, three years after releasing Twilight, we are so proud to announce Chris Schlarb's second record. Enter Psychic Temple, an album that draws from the methodology of Twilight & Ghost Stories to coordinate a 29-member ensemble into a fully realized and mature synthesis of live ambient, jazz, and folk. The album drops in three weeks. Read more about the release here.
 
We are releasing Psychic Temple in conjuction with sister label Sounds Are Active, who will be using Kickstarter to fund a limited edition gatefold vinyl pressing. There are only 30 days to raise $3,555. You can be a part of this project here. Rewards include a Psychic Temple poster designed by Jason Munn, hand written sheet music, and the acoustic guitar featured on the album cover.
 
In the meantime, please enjoy this excerpt from the first track.

“I Can Live Forever If I Slowly Die (Excerpt)” (Download)

JULIANNA BARWICK COLLABORATES WITH IKUE MORI

October 28th, 2010 , by

This Friday, October 29th, Julianna Barwick will be collaborating with legendary drummer and composer Ikue Mori at White Columns gallery as part of their year end exhibition. RVNG Intl. invited Barwick and Mori to collaborate in the gallery's Project Room as part of RVNG's FRKWYS series (which has included the likes of Excepter and Psychic Ills). Over the course of the event, Mori and Barwick will perform four times, each piece pressed to 12 inch vinyl in real time at the gallery. An interactive projection by Erik Mika will illuminate this exercise in simulated engagement.

JOOKABOX CREEP THEIR WAY TO YOU

October 27th, 2010 , by

On tour soon with Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, haunting towns and urban centers west of the Mississippi. See tour dates here.

WILLIAM RYAN FRITCH AND COMIC WOW OUT TODAY IN LIBCAT SERIES

October 26th, 2010 , by

You might have heard of a certain shoe company opening a certain studio for indie bands. Very nice of them.

We went a step further. We here at Asthmatic Kitty contracted out established, recognized musicians like William Ryan Fritch and Comic Wow to record music that will fit perfectly into whatever life situation you are in. We designed this with your life stream in mind.

So-called stock music isn't just for corporations and television stations anymore. You are your own brand, and justifiably you need a life soundtrack to personally identify and reinforce your self/brand. No need to clutter one’s life with subpar content/music! Hence the Library Catalog Music Series.
 
Today we are releasing two new volumes in the series: composer William Ryan Fritch's Music for Honey and Bile and sonic illustrators Comic Wow's Music for Mysteries of Mind Space and Time. The CDs are $10, LPs are $14 with S&H, and MP3 is just $8.
 
You can stream them below, and/or buy on their release pages. Click here for William Ryan Fritch's release, and here for Comic Wow's.

SHARA AND SARAH TEAM UP FOR PENELOPE

October 25th, 2010 , by

Tomorrow, October 26th marks the release of Penelope. The album is a 60-minute song cycle composed by Sarah Kirkland Snider for Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond and the orchestral group, Signal, based on texts by playwright Ellen McLaughlin, derived from the music theater piece of the same name she and Snider wrote together in 2007-2008.

Penelope has appeared in various guises over the past two years: it originated as a music for a theater piece and then debuted as a song cycle with Signal last May. When Shara came aboard the project, Sarah revised and expanded the songs yet again, tailoring them to Shara's unique talents and arranging them for Sarah's dream cast of characters: a 25-person orchestra of strings, harp, percussion, drums, electric guitar and bass, and electronics (with sound design by Michael Hammond). The cycle grew from 40 to 60 minutes. It is yet another example of how brightly our diamond can shine!

Listen to one of the album's tracks here.

Order the incredible rich and captivating album here.

FREE EP FROM HELADO NEGRO

October 19th, 2010 , by

Dear Friends. With all of last week's excitement we wanted to circle back and get in your ears the best way we know how – with music! And to that end we wanted to share with you Pasajero, Helado Negro's (a/k/a Roberto Carlos Lange) new EP, which is available for FREE download here! The album expands upon Helado Negro's musical palette and creates (in our opinion) a blissful affair of Latin textures coupled with Mr. Lange's patented delivery. We think it's pretty awesome and we hope you do too! In other news, Roberto will be performing a benefit show this Friday in support of Miami's Lotus House Women's Shelter. All proceeds will go directly to women and children in need so if you are hanging in southern Florida, swing by and show some love! Why? Because that's what it's all about.

DM STITH TO OPEN SUFJAN TOUR AND BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME

October 10th, 2010 , by


Photo by  Ben Tousley

Good news for all of us! Sufjan has decided to bring labelmate DM Stith as an opening act for his US Tour, all the more reason to get to the show on time now so as not to miss the haunting beauty of Stith's music. There are still some tickets left in a handful of cities. See available dates here.
 
This week Reimagine Music released a beautifully curated collection of covers re-imagining Dylan's classic album Bringing It All Back Home. The collection of covers includes appearances by our own DM Stith as well as Castanets plus a whole host of talented musicians including Mirah, Peter Moren, The Morning Benders, J. Tillman, good friend Denison Witmer and more. DM Stith takes on epic "Gates of Eden," while "Maggie's Farm" is dubbed out by Castanets frontman Raymond Byron with Rafter at the production helm. You can read more about the release here.
 
Also, we now have more copies of DM Stith's tour EP back in stock. These hand-numbered and signed vinyl EPs will go fast! More info here.

NEW HALF-HANDED CLOUD ALBUM UP FOR PRE-ORDER

September 20th, 2010 , by


Photo by Denny Renshaw

Next week on the 28th we get to release Half-handed Cloud's brand new As Stowaways in Cabinets of Surf, We Live-out in Our Members a Kind of Rebirth. Frontman John Ringhofer works as a custodian in a church in Berkeley, California and that is precisely where he recorded the album.  We can't say enough great things about this album, so instead we'll just say we think it's his best work yet, and that it's available for preorder now a couple of ways: CD ($10), LP ($14), Bandcamp MP3 ($8).

HHC is also going on a tour of the west coast. Dates here

Or just open your ears:

TOO MUCH FROM SUFJAN STEVENS [FREE MP3]

September 9th, 2010 , by

The internet is an amazing place, yes? We are able to transmit music quickly and efficiently in ways previously unheard of.

Here, for example, is "Too Much," the second track from Sufjan Stevens' The Age of Adz. 

If you preorder the album now, you can get the entire album similarly transmitted in digital form two weeks early. Do that right here.

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