Boston-based dream-folk artist Marissa Nadler has announced the release of her Covers Volume II available on November 8 as handmade CDs at her Etsy shop. As a special Halloween treat Marissa has shared three tracks through her Twitter feed for mp3 download: covers of Clinic’s “Distortions,” Bruce Springsteen’s “The River,” and Bob Dylan’s deep cut “Farewell Angelina. Covers Volume II follows her critically acclaimed s/t full-length out now on her own Box of Cedar Records.
After releasing several albums with Kemado (and having one of her songs inspire the name for vinyl start-up Mexican Summer), Nadler ventured out independently for her critically acclaimed self-titled album
Covers Volume II Tracklisting:
01 Winter Lady
02 Learning To Fly
03 Birds
04 Farewell Angelina
05 You Don’t Miss Your Water
06 The River
07 Motel Blues
08 Distortions
09 Sara
10 The Book of Love
11 Avalanche
12 All My Trails
13 Close Your Eyes I’ll Be Here In The Morning
Original Artists:
01 Winter Lady- Leonard Cohen
02 Learning to Fly- Tom Petty
03 Birds- Neil Young (after the goldfish)
04 Farewell Angelina – Bob Dylan (bootleg series vol. II)
05 You Don’t Miss Your Water – William Bell
06 The River- Bruce Springsteen (off of the River)
07 Motel Blues – Loudon Wainwright III
08 Distortions- Clinic
09 Sara – Bob Dylan (off of Desire)
10 The Book Of Love- The Magnetic Fields (69 Love Songs)
11 Avalanche – Leonard Cohen (off of Songs of Love and Hate)
12 All My Trials (spiritual, traditional)
13 Close Your Eyes I’ll Be Here In The Morning (Townes Van Zandt)
On Ulalume (out now on Out Of This Spark), Tasseomancy expanded its scope to move beyond earlier acoustic arrangements, combining the rhythmic soundscapes of Popol Vuh and Comus with the dream-like state of Julee Cruise. The outcome is both terse and expansive, haunting and resonant in the manner of early soul music, with a smoke ribbon shape and full peal all its own. The band couldn’t be more excited about their upcoming debut performances in the US when they open for Austra in November. On tour, Sari and Romy Lightman’s live performance as a trio will be rounded out with the help of the highly talented, multi-instrumentalist Maya Postepski (of TRUST and Austra).
In addition to banging out this snazzy video for “Black Milk,” the band also put together a Halloween mix that, let’s be real, it perfect for any time of year. Check it:
Track List
Diamanda Galás : I Wake Up and I See the Face of the Devil
Claudio Simonetti : Phenomena
Yoko Ono : Walking On Thin Ice
Aphrodite’s Child : End Of The World
Nirvana : Where Did You Sleep Last Night
Leonard Cohen : The Future
Broadcast : Black Cat
Julee Cruise : Into The Night
Klaus Nomi : Ding Dong The Wicked Witch Is Dead
Of course, all of this is even more impressive when you consider they are in the throes of some serious tour preparations, too. Check them out when they come to a local haunt near you.
Tasseomancy Tour Dates
11.14.11 – Portland, OR @ Holocene
11.16.11 – Vancouver, BC @ Electric Owl
11.17.11 – Kamloops, BC @ Cactus Jack’s
11.18.11 – Edmonton, AB @ Brixx
11.19.11 – Calgary, AB @ Hi Fi
11.20.11 – Lethbridge, AB @ Tongue & Groove
11.22.11 – Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo’s
11.23.11 – Regina, SK @ Exchange
11.24.11 – Winnepeg, MB @ WECC
11.25.11 – Fargo, ND @ Aquarium
11.26.11 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
11.28.11 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
11.29.11 – Detroit, MI @ Crofoot
12.01.11 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix
12.02.11 – Montreal, QC @ Caberet Mile End
12.03.11 – Ottawa, ON @ Ritual
12.04.11 – Waterloo, ON @ Starlight
Swedish duo, Korallreven aka Marcus Joons and Daniel Tjäder (of The Radio Dept.), have debuted a brand new single,”Sa Sa Samoa” featuring the atmospheric guest vocals of Brooklyn-based experimentalist Julianna Barwick. The single is taken from their forthcoming debut full-length, An Album By Korallreven, which will be released November 15th on Acéphale (November 14th UK) and November 16th in Scandinavia through Hybris.
In “Sa Sa Samoa,” their third single from the album, Korallreven dive even deeper into dream-pop territory in partnership with Barwick. The Samoan choral tradition is a major influence on the album and here Korallreven incorporate Barwick’s trademark vocal loops into a deeply meditative soundscape that eventually builds to an ecstatic eruption.
Korallreven’s first single “Honey Mine” was released earlier this year to great acclaim, alongside their summer-released A Dream Within A Dream mixtape that featured an extremely well-received remix of Britney Spears’ “Till The World Ends.” They followed with second single “As Young As Yesterday,” featuring Victoria Bergsman (Taken By Trees, The Concretes) and remixes by Panda Bear and Girl Unit.
Vancouver-based Yukon Blonde have debuted a brand new video for their single “Water” from their recently released Fire//Water EP on Dine Alone Records (Tokyo Police Club, Neon Indian). Directed by Amazing Factory Productions, the video for “Water” was shot on the plains of their native Vancouver, and features the band out of luck, time, and their most vital resource. The quartet continues to support the EP on an extensive North American fall tour including more than 60 dates where fans can purchase a vinyl copy in either fire orange or water blue.
Performing their way down to the States this weekend, Yukon Blonde will appear in NYC for a special one-off Halloween set before returning to Canada for early November dates. The band will be transforming their beards into waxed and groomed mustaches in support this year’s Movember campaign. Catch their new Movember look and rumored Village People attire as they celebrated the holiday and raise general awareness for men’s wellness and prostate health.
Produced by Colin Stewart (Black Mountain, Ladyhawk) the four song follow up to the quartet’s Polaris and WCMA award nominated debut LP was written partially while on the road, and partially while off the road at a cottage in the Comox Valley (BC). The band recorded a total of 15 songs over the course of the summer, and the remaining 11 tracks will be featured on their sophomore LP in early 2012.
Yukon Blonde’s career has so far been marked by their on-the-road ethic. Last Fall they embarked on a 30+ date tour supporting Good Old War, as well as several headlining runs down each coast. This summer the young B.C. band played at Milwaukee Summerfest with Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros and the last year and a half has seen them rack up nonstop tour mileage both in North America, and Europe, including festivals such as SXSW, CMJ and Popkomm Festival in Berlin along the way. Make sure to check them out this fall as they wind through the entire country.
Yukon Blonde Fire//Water Tour Dates
31 Oct – Brooklyn, NY @ Rock Shop
01 Nov – Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
02 Nov – Ottawa, ON @ Ritual
03 Nov – Sudbury, ON @ Townehouse Tavern
04 Nov – Sault Ste. Marie, ON @ Lop Lops
05 Nov – Thunder Bay, ON @ Crocks
07 Nov – Edmonton, AB @ Starlite
10 Nov – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore
11 Nov – Victoria, BC @ Sugar
15 Nov – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl*
16 Nov – Nashvile, TN @ 3rd & Lindly*
17 Nov – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway*
18 Nov – Louisville, KY @ Zanza Bar*
19 Nov – Columbus, OH @ Rumba Café*
20 Nov – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern*
22 Nov – Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Café*
23 Nov – East Lansing, MI @ Mac’s Bar*
25 Nov – Chicago, IL @ Ultra Lounge*
26 Nov – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club*
28 Nov – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Ave Entry*
30 Nov – Rockisland, IL @ Huckleberry Pizza*
01 Dec – Ames, IA @ The Maintenance Shop*
02 Dec – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown Jr*
03 Dec – Kansas City, MO @ Riot Room*
04 Dec – Oklahoma city, OK @ The Conservatory*
06 Dec – Little Rock, AR @ Juanita’s Cantina*
07 Dec – Dallas, TX @ Double Wide*
08 Dec – Houston, TX @ Fitz Downstairs*
09 Dec – Austin, TX @ Emo’s Inside*
11 Dec – Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge*
13 Dec – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court*
14 Dec – Boise, ID @ Neurolox*
16 Dec – Spokane, WA @ A Club*
17 Dec – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile*
18 Dec – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir*
21 Dec – San Francisco, CA @ Brick & Mortar Music Hall*
22 Dec – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar*
23 Dec – Los Angeles @ The Echo
29 Dec – New South Wales, Australia- Peats Ridge Festival Glenworth Valley
* All US shows after Nov 15 co-headline w/ The Fling
Before embarking on their current European Tour, Architecture in Helsinki snuck off to Australia’s Gold Coast with their good friends and fellow Melburnians Krozm, who had mentioned to them earlier in the year that they’d met a Pyrotechnician who had offered them use of his Animatronic Dolphins.
As the band recount, “This sounded too good to be true, so we pinky swore that we’d make our dolphin dream a reality. We later found out that said dolphins were used in the ’90s version of Flipper, featuring Jessica Alba, which only made the prospect of this clip more exciting.”
They add that “In a nutshell, W.O.W acts the soundtrack to a film about one man’s quest to find answers and, in turn, his place in the natural universe. Somewhere along the line we convinced Cameron to make his acting debut, which included him swimming fully clothed in freezing water for a whole day.”
Check it out:
Next week, Architecture in Helsinki embark on their final U.S. Tour for the Aria-nominated (for Best Pop Release) “Moment Bends,” so be sure not to miss the last opportunity to see them for quite a while.
Architecture in Helsinki Tour Dates
02 Nov 2011 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
03 Nov 2011 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
04 Nov 2011 – Cruz, CA @ Rio Theatre
05 Nov 2011 – Mexico City, MX @ El Plaza Condesa
06 Nov 2011 – Austin, TX @ Fun Fun Fun Fest
07 Nov 2011 – Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s
09 Nov 2011 – Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder
10 Nov 2011 – Tampa, FL @ Crowbar
11 Nov 2011 – Miami, FL @ Grand Central
12 Nov 2011 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
14 Nov 2011 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
15 Nov 2011 – Washington DC @ 9:30 Club
16 Nov 2011 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
17 Nov 2011 – Boston, MA @ Royale
18 Nov 2011 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
19 Nov 2011 – Alfred, NY @ Alfred University
20 Nov 2011 – Oberlin, OH @ Oberlin College
21 Nov 2011 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
22 Nov 2011 – St. Paul, MN @ Macalester College
26 Nov 2011 – Canberra, AU @ Foreshore Festival
03 Dec 2011 – Sydney, AU @ Homebake / The Domain
29 Dec 2011 – Gisborne, NZ @ Rhythm & Vines Festival
22 Jan 2012 – Gold Coast, AU @ Big Day Out / Gold Coast Parklands
26 Jan 2012 – Sydney, AU @ Big Day Out / Sydney Showground
29 Jan 2012 – Melbourne, AU @ Big Day Out / Flemington Racecourse
03 Feb 2012 – Adelaide, AU @ Big Day Out / Adelaide Showground
05 Feb 2012 – Perth, AU @ Big Day Out / Claremont Showground
Norwegian-based group Casiokids have debuted a brand new video for their single “Det haster!” (It’s urgent!), featuring cameos from ALF, Furby, and many other childhood favorites. The single is taken from Aabenbaringen over aaskammen (“The Revelation over the mountain”), the full-length follow up to the band’s critically acclaimed US singles collection Topp stemning på lokal bar (“Great vibe at local bar”). Out now with Polyvinyl the album features a collaboration with labelmates of Montreal and is available on CD/MP3/LP (plus a special Limited Edition of 500 copies 180 on Gram Blue Vinyl).
After playing sold out shows across the U.S. with labelmates Starfucker this past spring, Casiokids returned to the states last week for a short tour including a set of lauded performances at this year’s CMJ Music Marathon. Performing five times throughout the week, NPR hailed the band “the clear winner for sheer fun” and BrooklynVegan highlighted their infectiously upbeat set. Incorporating a blend of shadow puppets, video projections and animal costumes into their live show, AOL Spinner noted, “it’s no wonder concert-goers can’t stop raving about this high energy Norwegian export.”
CMJ premiered the beautifully choreographed and creatively filmed video for the lead single off of Robin Bacior’s debut LP. The video for “Ohio” features the direction of Alex Fischer and Ellis Bahl and focuses the camera on the ballet dancing of Meredith Blouin as choreographed by Kristina Donello and is not to be missed! Next Tuesday, Robin Bacior will be celebrating the release of her debut LP, Rest Our Wings, at the Rock Shop in Brooklyn on November 1st. Her first EP, Aimed For Night, and the follow up 7″, Man Before Me, won praise around New York and beyond for her near lullaby-like compositions, lingering melodies and subtle harmonies abound. She recently completed a much praised West Coast tour, her first with a full band since relocating to Brooklyn from California, and a slew of CMJ appearances.
After the releasing her acclaimed new album, Horses and High Heels (Naïve Records) earlier this year, the iconic Marianne Faithfull has announced three nights at New York’s City Winery: December 18th, 19th, and 20th.
Marianne has been an entrancing and creative musical presence for the past 47 years. Beginning with her debut single, “As Tears Go By” (1964, the first song ever written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards), Marianne has created an enduring legacy with her distinct, emotive, and truly haunting voice. She has also established herself as a powerful songwriter with a gift for crafting visceral melodies and deeply resonant lyrics. Her artistic fearlessness has led her to sing with legends like David Bowie and Metallica, and collaborate with a younger generation of musicians she influenced such as Beck, Morrissey, Billy Corgan and Blur.
Horses and High Heels consists of four originals and eight covers ranging from Carole King’s “Going Back” to Greg Dulli & Mark Lanegan’s “The Stations.” Four of the tracks feature virtuosic guitarist John Porter (Eric Clapton, The Smiths) while Lou Reed and Dr. John/MC5′s Wayne Kramer each make cameos on multiple songs.
Horses and High Heels was recorded in New Orleans and features a core of masterful local musicians. It was produced by Hal Willner (Laurie Anderson, Allen Ginsberg), who also helmed Marianne’s critically-acclaimed 2009 collection of covers and duets: Easy Come, Easy Go. The songs touch on everything from soul, blues, folk, country, jazz-pop perkiness, and beguiling guitar-rock. Much like the rest of her career, the only consistent theme or style of the album is Marianne herself. Check our her new song, “Why Did We Have To Part?” here.
After playing four totally enormous CMJ shows this past week to wildly enthusiastic crowds, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs hits the road this week for the rest of his North American tour. To coincide, TEED has shared a short introductory film which was produced by Channel 4 in the UK, and directed by David Terranova for Falko Haus. Previous Channel 4 4Play films have featured Adele, The Drums, Grinderman, Metronomy & many more.
The film follows TEED (nee Orlando Higginbottom) while touring the European festival circuit this past summer. The film features candid footage of him at work in his home studio, chatting about his musical background and production techniques, and also features some excellent footage from his live show as well.
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs swings between overt musicality and scarily on-point dance floor intuition, tearing up gigs around the globe with his live show of bizarre instruments, glitter cannons and of course… dancing dinosaurs. He’s also been quite busy as of late, having recently traveled to the Congo with Damon Albarn to be one of the producers for his DRC Music project, which sees a release via Warp on October 4th.
Sure to be another highlight in TEED’s rapidly expanding catalogue, “Trouble” finds him completely immersed in the role of vocalist, singing throughout, providing the story with a genuine heartfelt quality. Of course this is paired with his trademark sub-bass, electro bounciness and washed-out synths that combine to create a stunning piece of modern dancefloor pop.
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Tour Dates
10/26 – Vancouver, BC – Venue
10/28 – San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
10/29 – Los Angeles, CA – HARD Haunted Mansion
11/2 – Chicago, IL – Beauty Bar
11/3 – Miami, FL – Bardot
11/4 – Toronto, ON – The Mod Club
11/5 – Montreal, QC – SAT
Los Angeles-based band Archer Black has released the first video from its upcoming album Forgiveness Is A Weapon (January 3rd, 2012 — Post Planetary Records). The clip for “Onward & Down” was directed by Scott Cronan, a longtime friend and fan of Archer Black leader Dustin Morgan’s other band, The Autumns.
“Scott helped me refine the vision to come up with something cinematic,” says Morgan. “Everything you see was done in camera without post production effects. For the water shots, Scott even swam out into the ocean with a waterproof camera at 5AM.”
“Onward & Down” stars actor Luke Barnett and Archer Black violinist Jen Thomas. “Luke was an absolute professional,” says Morgan about Barnett’s role as a soldier in what Morgan characterizes as a “death dream.” “We had a bag stuffed with bricks to make it look authentic and he must have dragged it up and down the beach a hundred times.” Of his band mate, Morgan confides “Jen is gorgeous. She’s married to one of my closest friends though and I’m not sure what he’s going to say when he sees that romantic sunset scene.”
“Onward & Down”‘s lyrics, like most of Forgiveness Is A Weapon, uses some facet of war as a metaphor for a human relationship. Morgan explains, “The song was inspired by the fact that, prior to Vietnam, very few soldiers would discharge their weapons in combat. This is one of those facts that just stuck with me, screaming, ‘this is a profound statement about what it means to be human.’”
“Onward & Down” is the first single from Archer Black’s debut album, Forgiveness Is A Weapon, scheduled for release on Post Planetary Records on January 3rd, 2012.
October 31st, 2011 
Boston-based dream-folk artist Marissa Nadler has announced the release of her Covers Volume II available on November 8 as handmade CDs at her Etsy shop. As a special Halloween treat Marissa has shared three tracks through her Twitter feed for mp3 download: covers of Clinic’s “Distortions,” Bruce Springsteen’s “The River,” and Bob Dylan’s deep cut “Farewell Angelina. Covers Volume II follows her critically acclaimed s/t full-length out now on her own Box of Cedar Records.
