DM STITH TO RELEASE NEW EP [FREE MP3]
April 28th, 2009 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Heavy Ghost, the full-length debut from newcomer DM Stith, astounded. "This is the music of your life," wrote Bryan Sanchez of Adequacy.net. "Post-modern tribal folk" genre-fied Urb. And Q Magazine called the work "extraordinary." We are usually modest, but we here at AK completely agree. The album has been on rotation here at the offices for some time.
So when Stith approached us with a trilogy of EP’s, we couldn’t help but say yes, yes, yes. His first is BMB, a robust seven song exploration in and around the sixth track from Heavy Ghost. In addition to a demo version of "BMB" and remixes by Roberto Carlos Lange and Son Lux, the EP includes two cover songs semi-related to "BMB." Stith covers Randy Newman’s "Suzanne" and the Ronettes "Be My Baby." We get to release the album on July 1, 2009.
In the meantime, enjoy a free mp3 from the album, or pick up Heavy Ghost here ($10/CD; $12/LP).
CRYPTACIZE: A COMMERCIAL FOR MYTHOMANIA
April 28th, 2009 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Buy the CD for $10, or the LP for $12 here.
LIZETH-RAFTER ENGAGEMENT PARTY-FEST-SHOW!
April 27th, 2009 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Get this: Rafter is engaged! And to photographer Lizeth Santos no less, the girl who did the cover art on Rafter’s last album, Sweaty Magic, and has repeatedly inspired Rafter to do such things as the art project a day!
To celebrate the engagement, Lizeth and Rafter are throwing an an engagement party/art show/music show/jamboree. Lizeth has made a whole series of heart-themed photos, and Rafter and friends, playing as "smile now, cry later," will play some covers of their favorite love jams.
And seeing as how you’re a friend, you should go to congratulate them in person! The lovejamfestparty is on Thursday April 30th, 9pm at the Whistlestop Bar in San Diego (21+).
Click more to see the full promo poster and a tease of Lizeth’s heart-themed photography.
MBD SETS FREE “THE HONEY BEE” TO BENEFIT INVISIBLE CHILDREN
April 25th, 2009 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Inspired by the honey bees housed on Detroit’s urban farms, Shara wrote a song, “The Honey Bee." It’s available for free download on The Biggest Label Ever right here (registration required).
Why all the hubbabaloo? On April 25th, the non-profit Invisible Children will be staging a global event in an effort to rescue the 3,000 child soldiers in Uganda. Many other artists in addition to MBD are donating music for the cause. Visit the main page of The Biggest Label Ever here.
SUFJAN STEVENS TALKS SM57s, C100s, AKG K 240 DFs, AND TOP ENDS
April 24th, 2009 , by Asthmatic Kitty
If you understood any of the words in that title, and you enjoy the music of Sufjan Stevens, then you will thoroughly enjoy Tape Op‘s interview with Sufjan. Our very own Rafter is interviewer, and he diligently mines out all the gnarly details of Sufjan’s recording process and finally solves the Great 32kHz Michigan Mystery. NYC recording studio The Buddy Project has it partially posted right here. For the complete interview, buy a shiny copy at your favorite newstand, or better yet – subscribe already!
For those wishing a less numerical Sujfan read, you may instead peruse his new post on the Sidebar, which tackles topics wholly unrelated to sound engineering. Read here.
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEKEND (WTDTW)
April 24th, 2009 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Via our Twitter account, some stuff to do this weekend. Fri- MBD in Holland, MI @ Dewitt Studio Theater, Cryptacize in SanFran @ Cafe du Nord; Sat- Jookabox in Bristol @ Start the Bus.
Details here.
FOL CHEN INVADE THE BRITISH, BEFORE THEY INVADE FOL CHEN
April 23rd, 2009 , by Asthmatic Kitty

THE MYTHOMANIA OF CRYPTACIZE IS NOW REAL
April 21st, 2009 , by Asthmatic Kitty

CHRIS COHEN OF CRYPTACIZE MIXES A MIX
April 19th, 2009 , by Asthmatic Kitty
TODAY IS RECORD STORE DAY!
April 18th, 2009 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Today (Saturday, April 18th) is Record Store Day! That means that your local, independent record store is probably doing some pretty interesting stuff today, including in-store shows and giveaways and party hats (ie. DM Stith is at Bloomington, Indiana’s infamous Landlocked Music tonight at 6pm). So why are you sitting there reading this? Go already! And tell them "thanks a lot for existing guys!"
Details here, (or here to find a participating store near you).