(MS) PAINT OUR ALBUMS

September 3rd, 2009 , by


MS Painted by Alex Bristow

Ok, sometimes we’re a bit slow to intriguing things on the Internet. In fact, we are just now discovering, with great joy, "Paint My Album." Last year a couple guys from Manchester, UK decided to redo classic album art with the prolific Microsoft Paint (aka MS Paint – wikipedia article here). As things like this on the internet are prone to do, the idea snowballed. There are now over 1300 submitted album covers. You can see them on the project’s webpage right here.

Unfortunately, we feel like AK is under-represented. And hopefully, that’s where you come in. We’d like to compile an index, even if just for our own benefit, of our entire catalog redone in MS Paint. Alex Bristow of Bristol knocked out Enjoy Your Rabbit, and Alex Grantham of Manchester took care of Illinois (note lack of spandex-donned Superhero). But we would love to see more!

If you’re up to the challenge, we’ll give you something in return. For each decentish attempt at recreating an AK album cover in MS Paint, we’ll thank you by giving you digital downloads of DM Stith’s BMB EP, and our as-of-yet unreleased brand new AK sampler.

Our favorite submissions will get a choice from digital downloads of Shannon Stephens’ The Breadwinner, Castanets Texas Rose, The Thaw, and The Beasts, and Royal City’s self-titled retrospect.

We’ll post all the redone album art on our Flickr account, and highlight our favorites in a news item here on asthmatickitty.com. For details, click on more.

Email the image, which must have been created exclusively in MS Paint, to [email protected]. Include the following:

Your Full Name
Your hometown, state, and country
The image at 350pixels x 350 as an attachment
Your website (if applicable).

Album art is available on each release page here on asthmatickitty.com.

We reserve the right to end this contest at any time.

NEW VIDEO, TOUR, BLOG FROM HELADO NEGRO

September 2nd, 2009 , by


Allmusic gave Awe Owe, the debut album from Helado Negro, four stars out of five, saying it "holds together wonderfully, offering an immediately engaging listening experience that only gets richer with each listen." am New York filed the album under "intriguing equatorial melange of fluttering computer loops, dusty field samples and live instrumentation."

But while Awe Owe has embedded itself into the sweaty subconsciousness of the summer of 2009, Roberto C. Lange, the man behind the vision of Helado Negro, is not content to let it all sit and swelter. Now that fall looms, it’s time to move to stay warm. He  is going on tour this Thursday, with a journey that starts in Pittsburgh, weaves through the South, and then ends in Balitmore. He’ll be touring with avant garde composer Jason Ajemian, making for a not-to-be-missed pairing. Details on the tour are here.

Follow Helado Negro on tour via his shiny new tumblr blog here. You can see a new video directed by Ojera above, or on YouTube right here.

HALF-HANDED CLOUD RELEASES NEW COLLECTION ON CD

August 31st, 2009 , by

We’ve all been hankering for some more Half-handed Cloud-ness, and boy are we in luck. Come this November 3rd, we here at Asthmatic Kitty will have the great pleasure of releasing Cut Me Down & Count My Rings.  It’s a collection of songs from previously-released EP’s, vinyl singles, CD-R’s, compilation appearances, original versions, download-only tracks, unreleased tunes, a cassingle, and a trio of Christmas songs from the past nine years.  Many of these songs are making their very first appearance on compact disc, and none of them are on Half-handed Cloud’s four full-length albums.

Collected by leadman John Ringhofer as a portable library of tunes on a single disc, Cut Me Down is a curation of forty-six songs (46!), previously only available in nearly as many places. Listened consecutively, the 46 songs track the career of one of our favorite performer/songwriters in the world.  Concepts and instruments fade in and out of Ringhofer’s repertoire as the album progresses.
The Cut Me Down CD includes packaging and a poster with paintings by Ringhofer himself, and a descriptive writeup on the background of each original release, perfect for those nights when the conversation turns to HHC trivia (which happens often around here). Read about the release here.

LIZ JANES, MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND, JOOKABOX AT PYGMALION IN SEPTEMBER

August 31st, 2009 , by

On September 16-19, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois will host the fifth annual Pygmalion Music Festival, and wow, what a lineup. Wavves, The Antlers, YACHT, BLK JKS, Denison Witmer, The Books, RJD2…the list is comprehensive, while yet remaining true to the festivals midwestern roots. And of course, some of our very own Liz Janes, My Brightest Diamond, and Jookabox will all grace the stages of the Pygmalion. For a complete schedule, list of bands, and tickets, head over here.

#WTDTW (WHAT TO DO THIS WEEKEND)

August 28th, 2009 , by

Via our Twitter account:

#WTDTW Fri: @HeladoNegro @ Littlefield in Brooklyn, Jookabox @ Zanzabar in Louisville :: Sat: Shannon Stephens @ Shadowland in Seattle.

Details here.

SUFJAN RECORDS BEN+VESPER EP, WELCOME WAGON PLAYS SHOW

August 26th, 2009 , by

Did ya’ll know that Sufjan’s very first show was at a small barn house show in West Orange, NJ, at the unexpected invitation of Ben and Vesper Stamper? Yes, about ten years ago, they called him at his office cubicle at Penguin Putnam (where Sufjan designed promotional materials for Tom Clancy novels) and they said: Hey, take the NJ transit bus to Newark! Bring your banjo! We’ll make you dinner. Well, it’s been many years since, and to pay back the favor, Sufjan recently offered to record Ben + Vesper’s latest pop anthem 5-song EP called "LuvInIdleness," a reference to the famed Love-In-Idleness flower from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The EP is a glorious, punchy collection of pop poetic riffs that make reference to marital passion, boat stealing, Olivia Newton John, and farfetched dreams of owning a farm.

To celebrate, Ben + Vesper are doing a series of shows every Friday for the next month at Brooklyn’s Sycamore bar and flower shop (in idyllic Ditmas Park). Each show will start off with various outstanding artists and friends opening with a set of music (including two big hits from the Sounds Familyre label: 1) the gothic folk prophet Dan Zimmerman, and 2) the gorgeous family pop girl band Ortolan). Also, Asthmatic Kitty’s Welcome Wagon will play the last night, on September 25. (We like to think of Ben + Vesper as the Welcome Wagon of Sounds Familyre Records! Maybe we can convince them all to have a husband/wife sing-off!). Click on more (or here) to see full schedule.

Limited edition home-made copies of the EP will be available at the shows. Details here.
8/28 w/Dan Zimmerman
9/4 w/Sebastien Schuller
9/11 w/Ortolan
9/18 w/Kurt Weisman
9/25 w/The Welcome Wagon

Sycamore
1118 Cortelyou Road
Brooklyn, New York 11231
347-240-5850
sycamorebrooklyn.com

HELADO NEGRO EMBARKS ON FIVE BOROUGHS TOUR ARMED WITH NEW VIDEO

August 22nd, 2009 , by

On Saturday the 22nd of August, Helado Negro (aka Roberto C. Lange) will leave his home in Brooklyn and take some kind of extended transportation device to Queens. There, he and his comrades will begin on a great micro-journey across the five boroughs of America’s City. If you live in NYC, you should definitely catch at least one of these in your homeborough. Details are here.

And if you were amazed by the striking, stark simplicity of Helado Negro’s last video (view here), then you’ll love this new video directed by Falcon Hawksome. View it above, or here.

JOOKABOX RELEASES THIRD ALBUM IN FIGHT AGAINST PHANTOMS [FREE MP3]

August 20th, 2009 , by

Photo by Lisa Fett

"Moose" (leadman for Jookabox) grew up on the east side of Indianapolis in the 90s, an area plagued by constant recession, pandemic homicide, and racial tension. This nervous energy has culminated into Jookabox’s second album: Dead Zone Boys. On November 3rd, we will release this love-story meets psychedelic zombie-musical to the masses.

We have listened to this work and have this say: we all need this album. It is nothing less than the definitive soundtrack to humanity’s last stand against decay and the dead. With a mic in one hand and shotgun in the other, Jookabox pushes through as troubador and protagonist to free the decayed city and its few outposed survivors from the fear of death. He is our protector, no need to lose hope.

Expect this one to quickly become a cult classic. Until November, enjoy "Phantom Don’t Go" for free, the bone-on-bone drumbeat opener to the album.

"Phantom Don’t Go" (Download)

SACRED SONGS ALLEVIATE GLOBAL STRESS LEVEL USING CASTANETS, LIZ JANES, AND THE WELCOME WAGON

August 19th, 2009 , by

Whether its global warming, the economic recession, or high-frequency algorithmic trading, one thing is for certain: the world is not in its most stable state. Should you feel troubled? Maybe. Inspired? Absolutely. Sacred Songs for Worrying Times is that hot cup of tea on a rainy day; turning pessimism into comfort.

Asthmatic Kitty artists offered up three selections for the compilation. Castanets cover Hank Williams’ “Alone and Foresaken,” Liz Janes does a cover of Sacred Harp’s “32b Distress,” and The Welcome Wagon provide “But For You Who Fear My Name” from their debut album released last December.

All 21 tracks follow Righteous’ manifesto of telling stories, tingling spines, affecting emotions, and most importantly being honest. The compilation also features contributions from The Handsome Family, Richard Hawley, Noah and the Whale, Woodpigion, and more.  You should buy Sacred Songs for Worrying Times here.

A BRIEF NOTE ABOUT THE SUFJAN STEVENS / CRYPTACIZE TOUR

August 18th, 2009 , by

This weekend we helped launch ticket sales for the upcoming Sufjan Stevens and Cryptacize tour. We think it went very well, but with the limited venue sizes, the tickets went very quickly. You should know that Sufjan and Cryptacize wanted smaller venues for a variety of very good reasons, but one of those reasons is because of a lower ticket cost – many of you commented on that via blog or Twitter.

We should briefly address ticket reselling. As music fans ourselves, we feel very strongly that scalping violates the democratic nature of the music we are trying to create and share. We tried our very best to make it as equitable and accessible for everyone, but there is no perfect solution to make sure fans get the tickets and scalpers do not. Short of cloning Sufjan and Cryptacize (Rafter – who moonlights as a geneticist – is working on this), we could not think of a better way to handle ticket sales.

Anyone who purchased multiple tickets (as in more than 2) – even with multiple credit cards – will not be granted entry. The venues have explicit instructions not to honor any of their purchased tickets, nor will the venues give refunds. That these are smaller venues means that they are able to filter multiple buyers  more carefully, or recognize someone that has left the venue and is trying to re-enter a second time.

Plain and simple: resold tickets will not be honored. We can’t prevent this 100%, but checking for ID and preventing re-entry will help. If you purchase a ticket from a scalper you will probably have to stand in line with them to the venue. That might be kind of awkward. This will be especially true if you paid them beforehand, and then are ultimately denied entry; thus, it’s best you just don’t buy from another ticketholder.

Finally, we are sorry to the fans who did not get tickets. We, Sufjan, and Cryptacize are so honored by  the enthusiasm about this tour, but clearly there are more fans than there are seats. We will make it up to you by continuing to put out music that we love and care for, and hope that you continue to support our artists as you have.

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