FOL CHEN
November 11th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Notice: Fol Chen has joined the Asthmatic Kitty roster. We are pleased. We will release the band’s debut album, Part 1: John Shade, Your Fortune’s Made, on February 3rd, 2009. We predict that you will dance.
In the meantime, the band will be taking part in a takeover of LACMA (Los Angeles County Musueum of Art) on November 15th, by Machine Project. The takeover includes ten hours of performances, workshops, and events which experiment with LACMA’s collection and expansive grounds. For their part, Fol Chen created a sound piece inspired by a textile pattern by the early twentieth century Austrian design collective Wiener Werkstatte. A limited run of 100 CDs containing the music will be for sale at the LACMA event, and each CD will include a watercolor replica of a selection of the original hand-blocked design.
Read the artist biography of Fol Chen here, their corresponding release page here, or view details about the takeover of LACMA here. Click more to see the fabric.
UNUSUAL ANIMALS DEHIBERNATE IN TACOMA
November 8th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
It’s been a while since the last Unusual Animals party. But dormancy does not equal extinction, and we expect the event series to reemerge, freshly rested, in Tacoma, Washington on November 15th at Helm Gallery Space.
The idea behind the Unusual Animals parties is pretty simple. We wanted to create a way to celebrate the local culture and commerce of various cities and towns. We have celebrated Austin, Brooklyn, Indianapolis, Portland, and Louisville. The Helm gallery space will host The Tacoma Edition. Art on display will include works from Zack Bent and Gala Bent, Nicholas Nyland, and Ellen Ito. The show will be open from 5pm to 10pm and will run until December 11.
On opening night, November 15th, Grampall Jookabox will play with Allan Boothe and Alexander and the Optimistics. Suggested donation $5. The show will start at 7pm and he will be on by 8pm.
Listen to a few tracks from the bands below, or load up AK Radio (see above).
Owl & Booth, "Merry" Afraid of Flying (Download)
Sean Alexander, "the rats" Broken Free (Download)
NEW MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND VIDEO, REMIX ALBUM, TOUR
November 2nd, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
In other meta MBD news, iTunes just started selling the first volume in a series of remixes of Shark’s Teeth. Alfred Brown takes to Shark’s Teeth in volume one, his quirk managing not only to playfully tweak the music like a toy, but also reveal the album’s sublime, expansive nature.
Read more about the album here, or you can go ahead buy it on iTunes for just $5.99 by clicking here.
MBD is on a very wide tour right now, stopping just about, well, everywhere. And you may not even have to pay to get in, if you manage to win the contest they’re running over at mybrightestdiamond.com! Read about it right here.
GRAMPALL AIRS ON THE TUBE OF YOU
October 30th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Day 3 of week of Grampall Jookabox, thanks to the impending release of Ropechain.
If it were 1988 instead of 2008, and Grampall Jookabox had been born 20 years earlier, you might have been able to catch Jookabox’s Moose Adamson on your cable access channel around 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning.
Times have changed though, and while you can now watch his eclectic antics anytime and anywhere, his YouTube channel is tucked away in the obscure corners of its wide search tentacles. Well, no longer. World, meet the YouTubed Moose Adamson. View his videos here.
You can pick up the new album here. On tour now! See dates here.
GRAMPALL IS NOW INTERACTIVATED
October 29th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
The new Ropechain from Grampall Jookabox is as interactive an album as one can get. As you listen, you will dance. You will think. You will feel.
But in this day and age, sometimes you need a video game to earn the adjective, "Interactive." So, with the help of Internet Game Genius Tom Deslongchamp, we made one. We call it "Preggers." It’s easy enough: hurdle over babies to get money, then feed them bottles of milk, all set to the folk-stomp-beat of Grampall’s "Girl Ain’t Preggers" (note: this is not the first time "Girl Ain’t Preggers" has starred in a video game, cf. AudioSurf). Play "Preggers" here.
ANNOUNCING HABITAT
October 28th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Asthmatic Kitty is pleased to announce Habitat, a two disc compilation covering the various manifestations of "electronic music" as a benefit for Habitat for Humanity. This collection has been a long time coming. Label directors Lowell Brams, Sufjan Stevens, and Michael Kaufmann are all fans of electronic music and have wanted to release a compilation of this nature for some time. Here, electronic music is represented in its many forms: electro-acoustic experimentation, hip-hop, glitch, field recordings, ambient, electro-pop, etc. The artwork includes photographs by architect and photographer Craig McCormick, with layout by DM Stith.
You can buy the CD here for $10 (+S&H).
A VIDEO OF GRAMPALL BEATING A DRUM
October 27th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Ropechain, the second album from Grampall Jookabox is out next week. We love this album so much, we wish we could just send it to everyone. Unfortunately, that is prohibitively expensive.
Instead, we’re presenting a week of mutli-media, multi-format Grampall Jookabox. It starts today with this video of "The Girl Ain’t Preggers," and a new, free, MP3 from the album: "The One Thing." View the video above (or here at Vimeo), and download the MP3 here.
Enjoy this week of All Grampall Jookabox, all the time. For now, you can preorder the CD here for $10 (+S&H), and/or the vinyl here for $12 (+S&H).
MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND LOOKS DOWN
October 25th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Rooftop concerts have a long and celebrated history in rock and roll, and so it’s no surprise that the recently launched (and very watchable) Pitchfork.tv brought the rooftop concert to the living room laptop with their Don’t Look Down series of video.
For the show’s newest installment, Don’t Look Down convinces My Brightest Diamond, in string quartet formation, to haul their instruments and equipment all the way up to a brickly rooftop in New York City. Once there, they play four perfect rooftop selections: "Golden Star," "Apples," "From the Top of the World" (from the recently released EP), and "Black & Costaud."
And boy, does My Brightest Diamond really ring it out. Even if you’re afraid of heights, we think you’ll enjoy hearing Shara Worden’s voice ring out across the skyline. Part one is here, and part two is right here. (You don’t see it on tape, but we bet MBD broke the rule and looked down. Shame!)
WE CHOOSE WINNERS
October 23rd, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Last year, we sent out a call for submissions for Independent Exposure, a yearly film festival presented by Microcinema (and presented in some strange places, including Mount Everest!).
We carefully guest-curated a DVD with the Best of 2008 submissions and are proud to announce the winners. It wasn’t easy; apparently there were more submissions this year than ever, and the quality was exceptionally high. But someone has to do it. And we did.
DAYTROTTER, TOUR CREAK OPEN THE CRYPTIC CRYPT OF CRYPTACIZE
October 20th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
"It’s an easy thing to remain calm, cool and collected throughout the listening of these songs," writes Sean Moeller, "but there comes a time when the reflections start to happen and you see what Cryptacize has just done to you and you’ve being given an opportunity to cast off into some serpentine waters."
Not only does Daytrotter write and illustrate about Cryptacize, but somehow they coerced four unreleased songs out of Cryptacize’s goody bag. One’s about a witch! Go, listen, read, look here!
We all know though that MP3s do not convey the entirety of good music. That’s why Cryptacize is beginning a "tour," something like an MP3, but live, as in, in real life. And they’re performing this magic of de-digitiziation with the very Masters of The De-digital: Danielson. See tourdates here.