EAST SIDE FROM JOOKABOX VISUALIZED

October 28th, 2009 , by


Created by Sean McDonald and Matt C. Hale
(Special thanks to George Romero).

THANKS, JOOKABOX, FOR OUR FIRST GLOW-IN-THE-DARK SKULL TSHIRT EVER

October 27th, 2009 , by

What is more awesome than a t-shirt? A t-shirt with a skull. Yes. And what is more awesome than a t-shirt with a skull? A t-shirt with a skull…that glows in the dark.  You read that right: Asthmatic Kitty has its first and probably not last glow-in-the dark t-shirt! Designed by David Stith and blatantly ripped from the cover of Jookabox’s nearly-out album Dead Zone Boys.  Buy the shirt here for $14!

JOOKABOX WILL RELEASE A RECORD; WE PARTY

October 26th, 2009 , by

We think we have made it clear how excited we are about Dead Zone Boys, the love story meets psychedelic zombie-musical and third album from Jookabox. But just in case we haven’t, we’ll throw a release party! 

And, we’ll invite 11 Central Indiana artists to
create a piece of original art to correspond with each song on the album, including works by fellow Asthmatic Kitty musicians, DM Stith, and Liz Janes. The art show slash release party will go down on October 30th at Big Car Gallery in Indianapolis. Five bucks (that’s $5) will gain entrance. Normanoak and Grey Granite will perform, and
dj jessicka will spin through the course of the night. Jookabox will then embark on an extensive tour in support of
the group’s new full-length. See tour dates here, or click more to see the list of artists displaying work on the 30th.

1. Phantom Don’t Go — Jessica Sowls
2. Don’t Go Phantom — Jim Walker
3. You Cried Me — NERS
4. Gonna Need the Guns/Doom Hope — Liz Janes
5. East Side Bangs/East Side Fade — John Clark
6. Glyphin’ Out — Erin Drew
7. Evil Guh — DM Stith
8. XXXiawn Shell — Ryan Irvin
9. Zombie Tear Drops — Craig McCormick
10. LIGHT — Casey Roberts
11. F.I.T.F #1 — Tom Streit

SEE MORE OF SUFJAN STEVENS BQE AND RUN RABBIT RUN

October 25th, 2009 , by

Run Rabbit Run and The BQE are hardly solitary affairs, and an art show that opened Saturday at 92YTribeca in New York City will acknowledge as much. Run Rabbit Run, which is a take on Sufjan Stevens‘ 2001 Enjoy Your Rabbit by string quartet Osso, employed the artwork of Jessica Dessner. Dessner’s original pencil drawings that adorn the Run Rabbit Run album will be on display. So too will the urban landscape photographs of Denny Renshaw that Sufjan included in the BQE CD and LP inserts. And you may have seen the projection work of Deborah Johnson at one of Sufjan’s shows (or you can watch it on Vimeo here). Her star drawings will find a temporary home on the walls of 92YTribeca for the duration of the show. 
The show is free. You can get more details on 92YTribeca’s website right here.

THE BQE AND ITS MYRIAD FORM

October 20th, 2009 , by

Sufjan Stevens The BQE is out today. Suffice it to say, the number of product options is multiplicious. To catalog them all in one place, we made a nice handy summary right here. This page lists purchase options for digital video, including the only way to get the film in QuickTime HD and iPhone/iTunes playable. Read more about The BQE right here.

YOUR MS PAINTING ASTOUNDS US

October 17th, 2009 , by


About a month ago, we asked for volunteers to tackle a daunting task: recreate our album covers in Microsoft Paint. No small feat. Well, you all rose to the challenge beautifully. You can see the results of all that work right here.
But the cream of the crop has to be one of the last ones we got in by Karl Hutchison of Portland, Oregon. Karl fired up the ole MS Paint and decided to take one what is quite possibly the most complex album cover in our repertoire, the very nearly released BQE from Sufjan Stevens. You can see a larger version right here. And you should, because it is absolutely amazing. Karl, a BQE super-incredible-pixelriffic prize package is on its way to you. 
Thank you Karl and to everyone who entered. We’ll be closing the doors on this little promotion but if you want to squeeze in an album cover this weekend or somehow outdo Karl and tackle Land of a Thousand Rappers, we won’t say no.

TIGER SAW PUBLISH BOOK, APPEARANCES BY LIZ JANES AND CASTANETS

October 17th, 2009 , by

Long time friend of Asthmatic Kitty and lovely troubadour, Dylan Metrano, has released a book entitled All My Friends Are Right Here With Me: A Decade in the Indie Rock Underground. Dylan Metrano founded Tiger Saw in 1999, and has since played over 700 shows in twelve countries. He currently lives in Maine, continues to play in Tiger Saw, as well as the band Tiny Fires. The book is the story of the first decade of the indie-folk collective Tiger Saw. Based on tour diaries and dozens of interviews, it tells of a community of bands in this DIY, post-Nirvana era. It features first-person accounts of tours with Kimya Dawson, Jason Anderson, Viking Moses, and our own Liz Janes and Castanets. Part travelogue, part studio diary, and part oral history; All My Friends tells of an exciting time of collaboration, mutual inspiration, and perseverance in the ever-changing world of indie rock. It features detailed remembrances by members of Dirty Projectors, White Hinterland, Little Wings, Songs: Ohia, Tarentel, and many others. Each chapter also includes concert fliers, tour photos, as well as comics and illustrations by Pat Corrigan, Tom Eaton (illustrating a Liz Janes / Tiger Saw tour), and Alan Bull. The book also comes with an exclusive 13-track CD of Tiger Saw covers performed by some of their friend including Jason Anderson, White Hinterland, Picastro and more. Purchase the book here from Burst & Bloom.

CASH MUSIC RAFFLE TO FEATURE MGMT, DM STITH, MISSION OF BURMA

October 13th, 2009 , by

CASH Music is a nonprofit organization building open-source tools and services to benefit artists and music organizations. It’s their belief that the need for technology should never get in the way of promotion, distribution, or support of great music. These tools include utilities like download codes, list managers, music streamers, and interface elements, but also larger tools like asset and content management systems. Together they will form an open front-end and back-end platform that add up to a larger vision. And being open source, all tools will be freely available to the public as full releases roll out. We here at Asthmatic Kitty like the sound of that and are excited to support CASH Music in their fundraising efforts.

With the help of numerous artists, labels, managers and an assorted group of committed music people, they’ve put together some exciting packages that will inspire you to help CASH at a crucial time of their development. There will be an online raffle at cashmusic.org for great/rare items and opportunities from the likes of Kristin Hersh, Deerhoof, Mission of Burma, MGMT, Xiu Xiu, Thao with The Get Down Stay Down, and Portugal The Man to name a few. The list of items and offerings in this raffle range from vinyl test pressings to homemade cookies to an in-studio performance for 10 people. Throughout October new items will be added until winners are announced on November 1. Along with the raffle the CASH Music fundraiser will be featuring limited signed art prints by our own DM Stith, Rob Fisk (Common Eider King Eider, ex-Deerhoof), and Charlie Salas-Humara (Panther).

GREAT COMFORT RECORDS RELEASES SACRED HYMNS

October 5th, 2009 , by

Last month, ‘Come O Spirit!’ – Anthology of Hymns and Spiritual Songs Vol.1 by Bifrost Arts, was officially released. It is cause for great celebration, not only because it is wonderful and inspired music, but because ‘Come O Spirit!’ is Great Comfort Records’ inaugural release. The record features Asthmatic Kitty’s own Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond, Liz Janes, and The Welcome Wagon. It also features a whole host of other lovely musicians and friends of Asthmatic Kitty including Denison Witmer and Rosie Thomas. You can buy the record directly from Great Comfort Records here.

THE LIBRARY CATALOG EXPANDS ITS INCLUSION

October 3rd, 2009 , by

Shhh. The moment is about to pass. But, wait, …there is something missing, something important. A crucial element that exists in all moments like these…ahh, yes, music, that’s it. 

And this, friends, is the point in your life where you reach for the Asthmatic Kitty Library Catalog shelf in your music collection. Luckily, we are doubling its size as of December 8th. Lowell Brams, Director of Asthmatic Kitty, turns out Music for Insomnia with a little help from Sufjan Stevens and Bryce Dessner (of The National). Read more on this ode to sleeplessness here.
And you might also recognize a certain Roberto Carlos Lange. He lives in Brooklyn and has great hair – ok, ok we give in: it’s the frontman of Helado Negro. And his Music for Memory is a swirling disc of loops and drones perfect for those memory related quests for keys, or mid-afternoon epiphanies. Here.
Finally, there’s Seattle-based Yuuki Matthews with his Music for Savage Tropical Imagery. Don’t let the title dissuade you; jungles aren’t all lions and vines. Think more SUVs and lightposts. In 100 years. Music for Savage Tropical Imagery is the perfect soundtrack to commutes, either now or after the apocalypse. Read more here.
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