UPDATE! SUFJAN STEVENS AND MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND TOUR
July 14th, 2006 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Advance ticket sales for the Sufjan Stevens and My Brightest Diamond tour are going fast! Some concerts advance tickets have sold out and some new dates have been added.
To buy tickets go here : http://sufjan.ducatking.com/
You will need to use the password – tabby (all lowercase) to buy tickets.
Advance tickets are now sold-out for : New York, Vancouver, San francisco, Los Angeles, and Indianapolis.
Limited advance tickets are still available for : Atlanta, Nashville, Chapel hill, Seattle and Milwaukee.
Advance tickets to go on sale for : Portland, Chicago and Philadelphia at 1PM Thursday, July 13th
For the first time in over a year, Sufjan Stevens is going on tour, bringing with him a talented group of musicians and friends including a small string ensemble and brass section. They will perform a repertoire of familiar songs from Seven Swans, Michigan and Illinois in a new symphonic context. The tour will bring Sufjan and his ensemble to some of the country’s finest theaters, including Nashville’s esteemed Ryman and Los Angeles’ historic Wiltern.
Supporting the tour will be My Brightest Diamond, a moniker for the talented singer-songwriter Shara Worden. Shara has toured extensively in Sufjan’s band, appears on his recordings, and is often his right-hand woman. Shara is also a close friend, creative peer and Brooklyn neighbor to Sufjan.
The pomp and pageantry of the previous Illinoismakers tour will be augmented by a nuance, mastery and sophistication of talented new players. But don’t expect to see any cheerleading uniforms or routines. Suit coats, neckties and corsages might be more appropriate; but we aren’t about to issue a dress code.
Sufjan would also like to take this opportunity on tour to debut a few new pieces.
AVALANCHE FOR THE HEAT
July 13th, 2006 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Are you "On the Hatch?" Have you "Met Your Match?" Then maybe you should try THE AVALANCHE, Sufjan’s symphonic answer to those summer time blues. The days are only getting shorter. Why waste it on beach balls and tan lines and sand in your swimming shorts? What is The Avalanche anyway? The refreshing winter air, the snowy bliss, the downhill skiers and Coors Light TV commercials? No! It’s all the musical debris, the outtakes and extras, the soundscapes and folk songs, the electronic experiments, the notey woodwinds, the brassy choruses, the pomp and pageantry, scrupulously sifted from everyone’s favorite "that’s-so-last-year" album ILLINOIS.
Listen to the album [here].Do you like the song "Chicago" enough to hear it deconstructed three times over the course of a single album? Oh, that’s not your idea of a good time? What about a disco-jazz ode (in 7/8) to the Supercomputer hosted at the University of Illinois, Champaigne-Urbana? Ok, not your cup of tea? What about smarty pants Saul Bellow or the man who discovered Pluto or Ann Landers and her estranged sister Dear Abby? We strongly urge drivers to hum a line from the title track whenever they catch sight of an actual Chevy Avalanche truck. If you don’t know what it looks like, catch a glimpse [here]. Wow! What an elegant eyesore! Designed by a six-year-old boy! It’s a toy truck the size of a small house! The Avalanche comes in many shapes and sizes, in many color schemes, with or without plastic bumpers. We strongly urge you to buy a copy [here]. In other news, Sufjan Stevens has announced a tour, not in support of the Avalanche, but in support of [LIFE ITSELF].
INTRODUCING MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND
June 17th, 2006 , by Asthmatic Kitty
My Brightest Diamond is magical. My Brightest Diamond is Shara Worden, who possesses a voice so rich and visceral, you almost feel as if she is singing the secrets of your heart. She creates a world of shiny baubles, exploding stars, wild horses, fledgling birds, tragedy, and love. Each song is a symphony and a revelation, overflowing with angular guitars, stirring keyboards, sweeping gothic strings and Shara’s own dazzling voice- a compelling mix that transcends genres and pierces the heart.
We are pleased to welcome her to our family. Her debut release, [Bring Me The Workhorse] will be released on August 22nd.
SHANNON STEPHENS NOW AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH MAIL-ORDER
April 7th, 2006 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Asthmatic Kitty is proud announce the reappearance of a long-lost album by our good friend singer/songwriter Shannon Stephens. Produced by Shannon and her former Marzuki band-mates Sufjan Stevens and Matt Haseltine in 2000. This is not an official Asthmatic Kitty release. Copies of this self-released album are available through mail order while supplies last.
CASTANETS COLLABORATE WITH CREATE(!)
April 3rd, 2006 , by Asthmatic Kitty
During exploratory sessions for First Light\’s Freeze, Castanet Raymond Raposa collaborated with 50-member free form jazz/noise/folk ensemble Create (!). The result is Create (!)’s startling release. A collection of slow-burn improvisations, A Prospect of Freedom is a full length sextet collaboration between Raposa, Lynn Johnston (Red Krayola, Eugene Chadbourne) and Kris Tiner (Wadada Leo Smith) in addition to the core trio of longstanding Create (!) members: Justice Constantine, Orlando Greenhill and Chris Schlarb.
HALF-HANDED CLOUD AND LIZ JANES w/ CREATE(!) TOUR
March 27th, 2006 , by Asthmatic Kitty
We are pleased to announce that Half-handed Cloud and Liz Janes (with free-jazz collective Create(!)) will begin a mid-west tour this week. They will be playing 10 dates including shows with Parker Paul, Scout Niblett, Singleman Affair, Everything Now!, and This Story. See tour dates for more specifics.
Liz will be touring in support of her recent EP, Liz Janes &
Create(!), which beautifully reinterpreted public domain songs,
delicately but radically recontextualizing these traditionals into
realms of contemplation and experimentation.
Half-handed Cloud will be touring in support of his brand new full-length, Halos & Lassos. With Omnichord in hand, Half-handed Cloud will be bringing his electro-pop psalms to the midwest and beyond as he continues on after touring with Liz Janes to cover a good portion of the United States.
NEW HALF-HANDED CLOUD ALBUM
March 7th, 2006 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Armed with the psalms of David, an acoustic guitar, and the electronic Omnichord, Half-handed Cloud assails nineteen new pop songs outside Eden’s gates on Halos & Lassos. With hints of fitness music and video game soundtracks, Halos & Lassos tromps through 19 songs like a mostly-sunny afternoon in Berkeley, California-home of bandleader John Ringhofer. With the modal purity of Moondog, symphonic elements of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” and the ancient art of punning, the album boasts pop melodies arranged around the ambidextrous Omnichord-a vintage 80’s kidney-shaped electronic auto-harp/drum machine/synthesizer.
BELLTOWER
March 3rd, 2006 , by Asthmatic Kitty
Sweet Fruit is five song whisper from a prolific member of the extended Asthmatic Kitty family. Bridgit DeCook has toured and recorded with Sufjan Stevens, Liz Janes and Castanets, adding her voice and guitar to each of their songs with an effortless warmth. In the Spring of 2005, Bridgit and producer Chris Schlarb went into the studio to record four original songs and one drastically reworked cover of the Pet Shop Boys' “Two Divided By Zero.”
NEW T-SHIRTS
February 22nd, 2006 , by Asthmatic Kitty
We have new t-shirts for both Half-handed Cloud and Castanets available in our shop. Shirts are manufactured by American Apparel and available in both Men’s and Women’s sizes.
NOW AVAILABLE! MEWS TOO
February 15th, 2006 , by Asthmatic Kitty
This new compilation from Asthmatic Kitty Records acts as a social mix-tape tracing the particular relationships that make up the extended Asthmatic Kitty family and friends. The compilation gathers musicians, friends, colleagues, and collaborators from the label's seven-year history, presenting an odd, exciting, and idiosyncratic family tree in which kinship and musicianship are thankfully confused.
Joining the choir are mainstays of the Asthmatic Kitty roster, as well as old band-mates, veterans of TO SPIRIT BACK THE MEWS (2001) new friends, and a few artists who've made their mark outside of this label.