Mount Eerie, Tobacco and Tussle to open select dates

MP3: “The Hollows”

It’s been a busy and interesting year for WHY?, since the release of their acclaimed album Alopecia in March, the band has been touring the world almost non-stop, with a U.S. tour in the Spring and a lengthy European tour that immediately followed. Only one slight hiccup - while in Europe, two of the band members (brothers Yoni and Josiah Wolf) got the mumps, and on top of that, Yoni broke his hand. The band has soldiered on despite these minor setbacks and has scheduled another full North American tour for the fall, with pals Mount Eerie, Tussle and Tobacco (of Black Moth Super Rainbow) opening along the way.

WHY?

August 29th - San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall%
September 4th- Los Angeles, CA Echoplex
September 5th- Tempe, AZ The Clubhouse
September 6th- Tucson, AZ Solar Culture
September 8th- Austin, TX Mohawk*
September 9th- Dallas, TX Granada Theater*
September 11th- Pensacola, FL Sluggo’s*
September 12th- Gainseville, FL Common Grounds*
September 13th- Miami, FL White Room*
September 14th- Orlando, FL The Social*
September 16th- Asheville, NC Grey Eagle*
September 17th- Philadelphia, PA First Unitarian Church*
September 18th- New York, NY Bowery Ballroom*
September 19th- Boston, MA Museum of Fine Arts
September 20th- Portland, ME Space Gallery
September 21st- Providence, RI Club Hell
September 22nd- Montreal, QC La Sala Rossa
September 25th- Cincinnati, OH Midpoint Music Festival
Septeber 26th- Chicago, IL Bottom Lounge#
September 27th- Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock#
September 29th- Denver, CO Hi- Dive
September 30th- Salt Lake City UT Kilby Court
October 2nd- Vancouver, BC Richard’s On Richard
October 3rd- Seattle, WA Vera Project
October 4th- Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom

% = w/ Tussle
* = w/ Mount Eerie
# = w/ Tobacco

WHY? LINKS:

Myspace: www.myspace.com/whyanticon

Press Materials: www.anticon.com/pr/why.htm

MP3: “L’estat (According to the Widows)”

Ariel Pink was already an accomplished illustrator when he first gained recognition for what had always been his true passion, music. He had been writing and recording songs since age ten and by seventeen had accumulated hundreds of his own cassette recordings. It was during this time, while working in virtual isolation, that Ariel Pink began to develop a cult following in his hometown of Los Angeles and around the world. In 2004, at the behest of New York’s Animal Collective, Pink received his big break and was projected into a much broader arena.

Since then, Pink has been working to assemble a band of musicians to do the near impossible: to recreate the rich sonic universe of his records in a live setting. Finally, he has succeeded in this task; Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti is comprised of accomplished music scene veterans including keyboardist Kenny Gilmore (Lilys), bassist Tim Koh (White Magic, Lavender Diamond, Miho Hatori/Cibo Matto, All Night Radio, My Barbarian), drummer Jimi Hey (Beachwood Sparks, All Night Radio, Devendra Banhart, Mark Olson/The Jayhawks, Chris Robinson, Indian Jewelry, The Rapture, Strictly Ballroom), and guitarist Cole M. Greif-Neill (Ethnik Klensr, Young & Natural, The Samps).

In Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, he skins his music of the virtual-past-primitive envelope of tape fuzz and monophonic haze by leading his band through clean and tight renditions that reveal his formidable song-writing ability.

In addition to rare copies of The Doldrums on vinyl, and the usual assortment of handmade treasures, the band will be travelling with limited edition tour-only vinyl released in partnership with Vinyl International.

ARIEL PINK’S HAUNTED GRAFFITI

“THANKS MAMA I’M DEAD TOUR 2008″

7/19 San Francisco, CA Cell Space
7/21 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
7/22 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge
7/24 Omaha, NE Slowdown
7/25 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry
7/26 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle
7/27 Toronto, ONT TBA
7/28 Montreal, QC Zoobizarre
7/29 Boston, MA TT The Bears
7/30 New York, NY Knitting Factory
7/31 New Haven, CT People’s Center
8/1 Philadelphia, PA M Room
8/2 Baltimore, MD Sonar
8/4 Atlanta, GA Eyedrum
8/5 Tallahassee, FL Beta Bar
8/6 Baton Rouge, LA Spanish Moon
8/7 Houston, TX Walter’s on Washington
8/8 Denton, TX Hailey’s
8/9 Austin, TX Mohawk
8/11 Tucson, AZ Plush
8/12 Los Angeles, CA Echo
8/13 Costa Mesa, CA TBA

ARIEL PINK LINKS:

Myspace: www.myspace.com/arielpink

After just releasing 10-CD box set, incredibly prolific Bear gives away two new albums for FREE to celebrate
Download the Lost Album and Remixes, Vol. 1 for FREE here

MP3: Podington Bear - “Proof”

MP3 Podington Bear - “Misfit Toys”

MP3: YACHT - “I Believe In You (Podington Bear Remix)”

MP3: Bobby Birdman - “Perfect for Light (Podington Bear Remix)”

For immediate release:
July 2 2008, Portland, OR

Anonymous musician Podington Bear made his musical den on the internet in the beginning of 2007, announcing he intended to write, record and release three songs a week, via podcast and blog. 156 songs total. During this campaign Podington Bear was spotlighted several times on National Public Radio and Wired.com, profiled on numerous blogs, selected as a “Best New Podcast of 2007″ by iTunes Music Store editors, and more recently over a dozen of his tracks could be heard sprinkled across the second season of This American Life on Showtime. On June 24th, a little later than first planned, he released song #156, entitled “Graduation”. Also on that day, Portland label HUSH Records issued a 10 CD box set collecting these songs, as well as the tenth CD as a standalone, entitled simply The End.

It didn’t take long for word to come back that Podington Bear’s cover was blown, at least temporarily, to writers and fans who imported the CD into the ubiquitous iTunes application. The user-driven database Gracenote CDDB listed “Poddington Bear Aka Chad Crouch” in the composer field, flashing briefly for those who might take note. While correct on one count, it failed to be precisely right. Chad Crouch is Podington Bear. But the correct spelling of Podington requires only one D, not coincidentally like the popular portable music device.

Crouch was recently interviewed by internet culture vlog Rocketboom, which began licensing a steady stream of Podington Bear tracks a couple months ago for use in their daily videos. The interview aired on July 2nd.

www.rocketboom.com/vlog

This is not Crouch’s first nom de plume as a musician. He began in 1997 under his given name, releasing the record Portland Or. which would plant a seed as the debut release for the now decade-old HUSH label. Later, Crouch formed a band and issued four albums of eclectic indie pop under the name Blanket Music. Finally, foreshadowing Podington Bear, Crouch released an electronic pop album under the name Toothfairy. Front and center in all antecedents is Crouch’s vocal performances, now gone missing.

While moonlighting as an internet musical curiosity, Crouch also ran HUSH Records, a small but prolific label with a roster of mostly regional talent, and a release history of over 80 albums. HUSH will celebrate it’s 10th birthday in Portland at the Alladin Theater, July 12th with a show featuring roster artists Laura Gibson, Loch Lomond and Nick Jaina.

As a signal that Crouch intends to keep making music under the name Podington Bear, and perhaps that he intends to keep experimenting with models of distribution, he is making two albums available for free download via the hushrecords.com site. The Lost Album collects the last 11 original songs posted in the run up to number 156, whereas Remixes Vol. 1 collects the remixes peppered throughout the Podcast feed, including remixes of Radiohead, YACHT, Dntel, Bobby Birdman, M. Ward and more.

Podington Bear - The Lost Album

1. Sparkletone
2. Janky Cluster
3. Nature Kid
4. Robin’s Egg Blue
5. Simple To Operate
6. Drama Queen
7. Misfit Toys
8. Hook Line & Slinker
9. Proof
10. Invisible Is Not Invincible
11. Graduation

Podington Bear - Remixes Vol. I

1. I Believe In You (YACHT)
2. Father Of Failure (Horse Feathers)
3. Au Naturale (Radiohead)
4. Shake Shugaree (Laura Gibson)
5. Val K (Graves)
6. Radio Campaign (M Ward)
7. No Where (Graves)
8. Dumb Luck (Dntel)
9. Sweet Deception (Laura Gibson)
10. Perfect For Light (Bobby Birdman)

Also recently released:
Podington Bear Box Set

Podington Bear - The End

PODINGTON BEAR LINKS:

Myspace: www.myspace.com/podingtonbear

Podington Bear blog: www.podingtonbear.com

Press Materials: pondingtonbear.com/the_end.html

MP3: “Mostly A Friend”

Wham City’s Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez will release his debut solo album Why Is Bear Billowing? on Aug. 19, after playing a few solo shows he’ll head out on the road with kindred spirit Jana Hunter for a trek across the U.S. - his first full tour.

When we first met Baltimore resident and Cuban-born Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez a couple years ago he was playing stripped down electro-pop (60s French chanteuse style) in the exceptional yet short-lived band Cache Cache. Lesser’s wide-ranging musical projects also include playing guitar in the drone-tinged country-folk group The Tall Grass as well as an electronic side project called The Ruby Stallion Ensemble.

It should therefore come as no surprise that Lesser’s first solo record, Why Is Bear Billowing? is just Lesser and his acoustic guitar crafting some of the prettiest folk tunes you’ll hear this year or any. A testament to the beauty of simplifying your life, Lesser delivers his songs with a sense of whimsical earnestness, and has garnered comparisons to Nick Drake, John Fahey, and Donovan. Lesser is also an accomplished visual artist whose work can be seen at www.thinplastic.com

LESSER GONZALEZ ALVAREZ

July 02 Brooklyn, NY Death By Audio
July 12 New York, NY Knitting Factory
July 17-20 Baltimore, MD Whartscape Fest
Aug 14 Washington, DC Black Cat*
Aug 15 Philadelphia, PA M Room*
Aug 16 New York, NY Knitting Factory Tap Bar*
Aug 17 Providence, RI AS 220*
Aug 19 Cambridge, MA T.T. the Bears*
Aug 20 Montreal, QC Le Divan Orange*
Aug 22 Buffalo, NY Soundlab*
Aug 24 Pontiac, MI The Pike Room*
Aug 27 Chicago, IL Schubas*
Aug 29 Denver, CO Hi- Dive*
Aug 30 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court*
Aug 31 Boise, ID Neurolux*
Sept 02 Portland, OR Holocene*
Sept 05 San Francisco, CA The Hemlock Tavern*
Sept 12 Austin, TX Emo’s*
Sept 13 Denton, TX Rubber Gloves*
Sept 17 Houston, TX DiverseWorks*
Sept 19 Birmingham, AL Bottle Tree*
Sept 21 Atlanta, GA Eyedrum*
Sept 22, Mount Pleasant, SC Village Tavern*

* = w/ Jana Hunter

Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez - Why Is Bear Billowing?

1. A Magic
2. All With Golden Locks
3. Pinecone Eyes
4. A Twist In The Sky
5. Narwhal Horn
6. Little Island
7. Love For Longer
8. The Letter B
9. Build A Tiny Hill
10. The Owl and The Pussycat
11. Mostly A Friend

LESSER GONZALEZ ALVAREZ LINKS:

Myspace: www.myspace.com/lessergonzalezalvarez

Press Materials: www.carparkrecords.com/lesserpresspage.html