Although I first mentioned that Kill Rock Stars would be releasing an Explode Into Colors 7″ this summer (and later pointed out their new self-released tape), please allow me to spell out *exactly* what sort of good stuff we can expect from the Explode Into Colors camp in the immediate future. There are THREE 7-inches in the works; one on KRS (”Eyes, Hands, Mouth” + 1), one on M’Lady’s Records (”Coffin” b/w “Sharpen the Knife”), and one on Just For The Hell Of It. All will feature artwork by a different Portland artist, but they’ll share a consistent theme. Later, all of the 7-inches’ tracks will be collected into an EP (CD/vinyl), and that will be followed by EIC’s first full-length, which’ll come out on (you guessed it) Kill Rock Stars.
It’s that time again– time for Catbird Records to fill out your earbuds with something new and wonderful. Our newest release, I’m proud to say, comes from England’s George Washington Brown, who some of you may remember from this brilliant video/song. Or perhaps you remember him from his former life, as “Johnny X” from ’90s punkers Kenickie? Of course, his music these days has less to do with the UK punk tradition, and much more to do with the UK indiepop tradition (he does live in Sunderland alongside Field Music, after all). In short– Catbird has been graced with a wonderful EP of golden honeyed English indiepop from GWB, and we’ve got them available now– just $5 for the CD (with the kick-ass sleeve by Patron Design Studio), or a mere $3 for a 320kbps MP3 download.
An unstoppable force of music in the Philadelphia scene, Mike Kennedy has at some point played with virtually any Philly band you can think of, but he’s also been releasing music with his project Audible for almost 10 years now. It’s some lovely, melodic pop, and they’ve just release a brand new album today. Sporting a beautiful watercolored cover, and hosted by the great new site-for-bands Bandcamp, you can download the whole thing for just $8. There are even 2 free tracks available. Here’s one of ‘em; give it a listen:
Have you grasped yet that I’m really anxious for Sharon Van Etten’s upcoming record Because I Was In Love (out 5/26 on Language of Stone? Today, the official video for “For You” was unveiled; check it out.
There’s a new issue of the always-amazing Yeti out next week– and this one looks to be going over and above the already-high Yeti standards. Besides the 200-page perfect-bound book (with cover by Mingering Mike), this one’s companion CD features exclusive material from:
Grouper
Dum Dum Girls
Wooden Shijps
Dutchess and the Duke
Nodzzz
Crystal Stilts
Fresh + Onlys
Explode Into Colors
Woods
Christmas Island
PLUS TONS MORE
They’re saying it’s the best CD they’ve ever done…
‘Cause, well, here’s another great music project to join in on: Kind of Bloop: An 8-Bit Tribute to Miles Davis. It features chiptune artists Ast0r, Disaterpeace, Sergeeo, Shnabubula, and Virt, doing their own interpretations of Davis’ work. Andy is going above and beyond with this project, by following all of the arcane, antiquated, institionalized music royalty rules– so it’s going to take about $2000 to get the project going. Go get involved; this is a really awesome idea.
Yes, this month marks Catbirdseat.Org’s 7th anniversary. I would do you a recap or crack some jokes about it, but I already did that 2 years ago. Instead, I’m just going to ask a favor: please click the link below to add a Delicious bookmark for me (please– it’ll take you literally about one second), and/or throw me a link from your blog / Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr / Livejournal / Geocities Page.
I’m in the process of arranging for a super-awesome limited-edition 180-gram pressing of one of my favorite albums, Unbunny’s Black Strawberries, and you can help! I’m running the release through the brilliant new website Kickstarter, and it works thusly: I’ve set a target goal, and for the next 60 days will accept “pledges” (ostensibly “pre-orders”). If we reach our target in time, the project will be go, and everyone will get their records. If we don’t manage to hit the target goal, no one is charged anything, and we cancel the project– no harm, no foul.
For the unfamiliar, I could describe to you how Unbunny’s music has been compared to: Harvest-era Neil Young, Elliott Smith, Neutral Milk Hotel, Sparklehorse and Jasons Lytle and Molina, but I’ll do you one better and just let you listen for yourself. Below is the album’s wonderful opening track.