TENDRILS SCREENINGS AND LIVE CASTANETS
May 10th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Raposa is magical. He can be in two places at once. Be sure to catch him on tour in Europe. This time he will bring his sounds as far east as Croatia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Castanets will be performing as a two piece with Meg Noe accompanying Raposa on violin and voice.
And screenings of the DVD Tendrils will be happening around release date, including a One Week Only feature screening now, May 9th to May 16th on Pitchfork.tv if you can’t make it out in person. Click here to watch.
May 16th – Chapel Hill, NC – Nightlight w/ Barghest
May 17th – Indianapolis, IN – Big Car – w/ Actuel and Grampall Jookabox
May 20th – Austin, TX – End of an Ear
CANCELED – May 20th – San Francisco, CA – ATA – w/ Lazarus – CANCELED
May 28th – Bloomington, IN – Cinemat – w/ Resting Rooster (Sponsored by Landlocked Records)
May 29th – Athens, GA – Flicker – w/ Hope For Agoldensummer and The White Oaks
WELCOME WAGON PLAYS KNITTING FACTORY
May 8th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
You can catch a live show by pastor/wife duo The Welcome Wagon, who will be playing the Tap Bar in the Knitting Factory, NY, tonight, Thursday, May 8th. They’ll be opening a show for Ohbijou and Stars Like Fleas at 8pm. Doors open 7pm at the Knitting Factory and it’s just $7 advance, $8 at the door. The Welcome Wagon’s Vito and Monique will be joined by brothers Jay and Alex Foote on upright bass and electric guitar. It’s a family affair.
MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND RELEASES SINGLE, TOURS, PREORDER
May 7th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
My Brightest Diamond’s second album, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth, is just a little over a month away from release. To whet appetite, the band is releasing its first single and announcing tour dates. We are also activating preorders for Shark’s Teeth, which you can make from SCDistribution here. Preorders will receive access to download an exclusive bonus EP to hold you over until release. Click more, below, for details and tracklist on this EP, or here to see MBD’s tourdates, which include a few European dates, LA, NYC, and Boston.
Already, the first single from the album, "Inside a Boy," has received an outpouring of internet love from bloggers and forum posters. The digital release of the single includes this track, as well as the beatbox-driven fantasy tapestry rock "I Had A Pearl." Also included is a cover/remix version of album track Black and Costaud by friend Tim Fite (Anti-) and a remix of Inside A Boy by Son Lux (Anticon).
You can buy Inside a Boy from iTunes here for $1.99, or at your favorite digital music store.
This downloadable bonus EP is a fully realized collection of alternate versions of the album tracks plus one album outtake. Orchestrated and complex, yet spacious and direct, these versions are a rewarding listen for the opportunity to hear how the songs have mutated into their final form. It also provides a sneak peek into what is bound to become one of the standout releases of 2008.
Tracklist of 1KST Bonus EP
1. Apples (alternate version)
2. Bass Player (alternate version)
3. To Pluto’s Moon (alternate version)
4. If I Were Queen (alternate version)
5. The Diamond (alternate version)
6. Music Box (outtake)
I HEART LUNG HIT GROUND, RUN
May 2nd, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
We just signed seven new artists, but they aren’t wasting any time. I Heart Lung is the first out of the tour gate with a week long mini-tour of the western coastal board, with stops in L.A., Long Beach, San Francisco, Eureka, Tacoma, and Portland. Electro-acoustic duo ellul will be their traveling companions (see below for mp3). This will be perfect time to catch the first of this new Asthmatic Kitty crop. Click here for tour details.
ellul, "world’s most dangerous woman" (cover of a song by The Curtains) (Download)
CASTANETS CROSS OCEAN IN BOAT
May 1st, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Castanets, specifically Raymond Raposa and Meg Noe, are now in Europe, despite having had to cross the ocean. They’ll be there until the end of May traveling from Germany and the Netherlands through the UK, France, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and then back to Germany and the Netherlands. You can see details here. If you’re in one of the cities where Castanets will be, and need help convincing your friends, email us at wordofmouth at asthmatickitty dot com and we’ll see what we can do to help.
ASTHMATIC KITTY RECORDS EXPANDS ROSTER BY SEVEN
April 30th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Illustration by Laura Park We have not added any new artists in a while, but we are making up for lost time by announcing not just one addition, but seven new artists, including six diverse musical acts and a visual artist. Ermasse Zopoula, DM Stith, Welcome Wagon, I Heart Lung, Shannon Stephens, Osso, and illustrator […]
Read the Rest...CRYPTACIZE TOUR THE NORTHWEST
April 28th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
There are four evenings between Thursday and Monday, and for all four Cryptacize will be playing somewhere near you if you live on the upper West Coast. Thursday: Portland, Friday: Seattle, Saturday: Vancouver, and Sunday: Eugene. They’re playing with a new band or set of bands each night, so if you were inclined to follow them from show to show you’d get a good quickfire representation of the state of west coast pop-rock. See details of the tour here.
We can use your help spreading the word about these shows as well as getting the word out about their June tour in which they will be covering most of the United States. Here are two very practical ways in which you can help us. Click here for a PDF of a handy 8.5×11 black and white you can print out and take to all your local community bulletin board hotspots.
You can also email us at wordofmouth at asthmatickitty dot com and let us know you would like to help and how you can help and we will arm you with some promotional goodies. Thanks!
AN UNUSUAL THIRD VOLUME
April 27th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
HURRY, WATCH HALF-HANDED BROADCAST LIVE (HURRAY!)
April 23rd, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Half-handed Cloud is playing, live and right now at Huckleberry’s Pizza Parlor in Rock Island, Illinois, and through the wonders of modern Internet Technology, Daytrotter is kind enough to post the live video! Click here to watch (and if you’re reading this later, you can browse Daytrotter’s extensive vault and read a terrific piece on Castanets here).
FROM VINES TO TENDRILS
April 19th, 2008 , by Asthmatic Kitty
In the lifespan of almost every album, there comes a time when artist and label must plan out a music video. But when that time came for Castanets’ most recent release, In The Vines, the conversation went very differently. Raposa’s belief that the recorded version of the song should never be the definitive take meant that to create a standard fare music video was counter-intuitive to spirit of the album. Instead, Tendrils was born.
Directed by longtime friend of the band Mia Ferm, Tendrils is an exploration of the the complicated community and culture that sinew and contextualize Castanets. Sans pretension but with an expert eye, Ferm captures artists from bands like Osso, Dirty Projectors, Phosphorescent, Marla Hansen, and Vanishing Voice covering songs from In The Vines. It is one quarter documentary, one quarter home video, and half of something else altogether.
Click more to see the trailer, edited by Zack Bent, or here to preorder it for $14 (+SH).
Castanets: Tendrils [Trailer] from Asthmatic Kitty on Vimeo.