Revived

May 24th, 2013 , by

(Photo by Mike Massaro)

DM Stith has hardly been silent in the years since the release of his eerily intense Asthmatic Kitty debut, 2009’s Heavy Ghost. The Revival Hour, his project in collaboration with John-Mark Lapham of the Earlies (Secretly Canadian), put out its first full-length earlier this year, and is gaining momentum with a new remix EP, a new video, and soon, a European tour.

The dark, soulful sound of the first Revival Hour LP, Scorpio Little Devil—sometimes nostalgic and warm, sometimes noisy and futuristic, but always densely, lavishly arranged—has garnered especially rapturous acclaim in the UK press. The Independent praised the duo’s “exotic musical creations,” and the Guardian argued that contrary to the name of the band, “five seconds of this stuff,” hardly a full sixty minutes, were all the Revival Hour needed to revive its listeners.

Now, two tracks from Scorpio, “Hold Back” and “Run Away,” have been remixed by Lost in Edit and the Earlies, respectively, for a 7″ available from Bandcamp and totally free to download until May 26. The smoky Memphis sound of “Hold Back” has also become a suitably sultry new music video, directed by the Antiphon Music Group and streaming on YouTube and Vimeo.

Coming up this fall, European audiences will get a chance to hear The Revival Hour make their music in person, with dates already announced at Vieland’s Into the Great Wide Open Festival on Sept. 6 and 9 in the Netherlands, at Radar in Aarhus, Denmark on the Sept. 11, and at London’s Sebright Arms on Sept. 17.

You can buy Revival Hour music all in one place here.

[youtube width=”542″ height=”305″]http://youtu.be/w4kEBx_8vA4[/youtube]

A Cold November; new video from Shannon Stephens

November 5th, 2012 , by

[vimeo width=”542″ height=”305″]http://vimeo.com/47125330[/vimeo]

Welcome to November. In Seattle, home of Shannon Stephens, this is a tough month; the vestiges of summer are gone entirely, the sun has disappeared behind clouds, and the rain falls sharp and  cold. Shannon’s “Cold November” is a perfect respite. Video producer Fish & Crown captured it on film. DM Stith is on piano and Andrew Rudd on extra piano and bells.

You can download a similar version over on Noisetrade below.

DM STITH KETCHUP

October 8th, 2011 , by

“I am the loneliest climber of them all, “ croons David Stith (aka DM Stith) on the first track of his new project’s new track, although the band’s concept might indicate otherwise. Revival Hour is a collaborative project from Stith and The Earlies’ John Mark Lapham, mixed by Richard Swift and including contributions from Shara Worden of our own My Brightest Diamond, and members of The Earlies, and Shearwater. So much for lonely! You can listen and support the very nice recordings below, or here. (Note sasquatch-y Revival Hour press shot above! Rwar!)

DM Stith is also opening for My Brightest Diamond’s release party at Littlefield in Brooklyn, NY on Friday October 18th. You should go! Details here.

In other news from the Stith front, Daytrotter posted a lovely session (as they are inclined to do), which includes an amazing rendition of “Pigs.” Daytrotter wordcraft Sean Moeller writes that DM Stith “seems like a believer and a dreamer and there might not be anything much better than being a combination of those two things.” Listen and read here.

And lest you think David has been making music 16 hours a day, you should check out yMusic’s new Kickstart-ed album Beautiful Mechanical. Not only does it sound wonderful (and include a composition from Shara Worden), but it sports cover art designed by David. Listen and see here.

If you need more Stith news – and of course you do – check out his shiny new Tumblr (which is like a blog but without an “e,” an increasingly unnecessary vowel) right ovr hr: ihaveitallfiguredout.tumblr.com.

DM STITH TO OPEN SUFJAN TOUR AND BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME

October 10th, 2010 , by


Photo by  Ben Tousley

Good news for all of us! Sufjan has decided to bring labelmate DM Stith as an opening act for his US Tour, all the more reason to get to the show on time now so as not to miss the haunting beauty of Stith's music. There are still some tickets left in a handful of cities. See available dates here.
 
This week Reimagine Music released a beautifully curated collection of covers re-imagining Dylan's classic album Bringing It All Back Home. The collection of covers includes appearances by our own DM Stith as well as Castanets plus a whole host of talented musicians including Mirah, Peter Moren, The Morning Benders, J. Tillman, good friend Denison Witmer and more. DM Stith takes on epic "Gates of Eden," while "Maggie's Farm" is dubbed out by Castanets frontman Raymond Byron with Rafter at the production helm. You can read more about the release here.
 
Also, we now have more copies of DM Stith's tour EP back in stock. These hand-numbered and signed vinyl EPs will go fast! More info here.

DM STITH TOURS NORTH AMERICA, PREORDER HEAVY GHOST APPENDICES

May 14th, 2010 , by

This summer DM Stith will head out on a massive North American tour. Joined by visionary musical colleagues Inlets and Silje Nes, the three bands will bring their ethereal hymns and dirty socks with them as they make stops in roughly 18 U.S. states and 4 Canadian provinces.The tour is the first proper tour in support of not only last year'scritically-lauded Heavy Ghost but will also celebrate the release of Stith’s collection of covers and remixes, Heavy Ghost Appendices. Stith will also be releasing a limited edition tour 12” featuring exclusive material by each touring artist, including a Sparklehorse cover by Stith. See tour dates here.
 
Heavy Ghost Appendices, which comes out May 25 on Asthmatic Kitty, revisits this secret world and adds to its cartography a series ofhidden coves, unexplored forests, and new landscapes. Heavy Ghost was also mystifying and intertwined to David when he wrote it; the Appendices are a means to sort the thing out in his mind. They physically collect the digital trilogy of EPs released over the course of the summer and fall of 2009 into a beautifully packaged limitededition double-disc set. The EPs were an exercise in exploring the boundaries of the music contained on Heavy Ghost, revisiting songs, reinterpreting, and displaying some inspiration and influences through covers of other artists. The remixes helped provide new context and deconstruction of his songs in a way that unearthed the songs’ roles and relationships to one another. Purchase one here before they runout!

WATCH DM STITH LIVE IN ROTTERDAM

April 21st, 2010 , by

You can also watch here. DM Stith's Heavy Ghost Appendices appears on May 25th.

DM STITH: @SXSW, HEAVY GHOST APPENDICES OUT IN MAY

March 13th, 2010 , by

Heavy Ghost, the debut album from DM Stith, cast an almost supernatural effect on reviewers and fans when it was released in March of 2009. Both groups acclaimed it as a stunning debut unlike anything else they had heard. NPR called the LP “complex… [containing] inventive songs,” while Entertainment Weekly proclaimed it “one of the strongest debut albums I’ve heard.” Stith’s peers received it well too: Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear twittered about it calling it a “lovely album,” and Bat for Lashes picked Heavy Ghost for her New York Times Playlist, saying “It traverses all these magical landscapes… almost like Alice through the looking glass. Like you’re being sucked into a secret world.”

Heavy Ghost Appendices, which comes out May 25 on Asthmatic Kitty, revisits this secret world and adds to its cartography a series of hidden coves, unexplored forests, and new landscapes. They physically collect the digital trilogy of EPs released over the course of the summer and fall of 2009 into a beautifully packaged limited edition double-disc set. The EPs were an exercise in exploring the boundaries of the music contained on Heavy Ghost, revisiting songs, reinterpreting, and displaying some inspiration and influences through covers of other artists. The remixes helped provide new context and deconstruction of his songs in a way that unearthed the songs’ roles and relationships to one another. Click here for more info on the release.

If you're in Austin next week, you should know that Stith will appear twice at SXSW this year. Summer tour dates on the way. Please click more for SXSW details.

SXSW APPEARANCES
Wednesday, 3/17 at 1:00 A.M.
St. David?s Bethell Hall (301 E. 8th St)
All Ages

Thursday, 3/18 at 3:30 P.M.
Spider House (2908 Fruth St. at Guadalupe) 
BrooklynVegan & AnSo Present Day Party! w/ Odawas, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, 
Thee Oh Sees and more

DM STITH: LIVE ON CHRISTMAS DAY

December 18th, 2009 , by

Photo by Ben Tousley
DM Stith, whom you will recall obtained the 17th slot on Metacritics rather objective Best of 2009 list, is dedicated. He will debut an album that challenges you. He will release EPs that undermines and subverts his own music. He will play…on Christmas day. For you.
On the 25th, Stith will be playing at The Stone in a series of concerts curated by singer and composer David Garland, known also for his work with WNYC-FM. This fantastic series includes performances by Danielson on the 22nd, Rob Moose on the 18th (who has played violin for My Brightest Diamond and Sufjan Stevens), and the Garbus sisters (one of whom heads up tUnE-YaRdS). If you’re in NYC, you should make it to one if not several of these shows. We’d expect some kind of festive music though, if we were you.
Details are on The Stone’s calendar page here.

DM STITH, WITH A BRAID OF VOICES

December 8th, 2009 , by

Photo by Ben Tousley
This is it. The end of the year, and the decade. And, we might humbly add, the triumvirate of DM Stith EPs. Braid of Voices, the third (first: BMB, second: Thanksgiving Moon) in a series of EPs that showcases the full breadth of Stith’s debut full-length, Heavy Ghost. 
For Stith’s part, he distills “Braid of Voices” to its essentials, which often involves brass more often than not. Clark, Ensemble, and Bibio remix a few Stith favorites, Stith covers “Easy to Be Around” by Diane Cluck, and labelmate I Heart Lung teams up with Stith for a free-jazz retake of “Wig.
Heavy Ghost made it to the 19th slot on Metacritic’s entirely objective Best of 2009 list (tied with other class acts like The Clientele and The xx). This seven-track EP wraps up a trilogy that has taken nearly a year to explore Heavy Ghost. You can too by buying it on iTunes only for just under $6 by clicking here.

NEW EP FROM DM STITH, T-SHIRT WITH MP3

November 17th, 2009 , by

DM Stith released his debut full length, Heavy Ghost, at the beginning of the year. Since then he’s been busy – not the least of which is putting together nearly an album’s worth of new material for a series of EPs. 
Eventually, there’ll be three. For now, two; the newest (appropriately in time, unless you’re Canadian) is Thanksgiving Moon. The EP includes the song that won our hearts, but also a rendition of “Pigs” by Bloomington, Indiana’s Jefferson Street Marching Band. On the EP, Stith also covers David Bryne, while Rafter, Dayna Kurtz, and Michna remix Stith. You can buy it exclusively on iTunes for just under $7 by clicking here.

And if wearing Stith-related material is more your thing, we have you covered (so to speak). DM Stith (who moonlights as a graphic designer) put together a rather nice smoke-colored American Apparel shirt based on the Heavy Ghost album cover. Did we say Stith has been making EPs? He’s so prolific, this t-shirt includes an exclusive digital down of Collarbells, a three-track-in-one 20 minute EP. You can buy it here.

“Pigs (feat. Jefferson St. Band)” (Download)

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