MP3: Le Loup - “Shenandoah”

Unless you happen to belong to one of those rare, perfect, Norman Rockwell families, spending the holidays with your loved ones can have its ups and downs, its highs and lows - this Christmas album which benefits Amnesty International serves as a soundtrack to such an experience, documenting and representing the entire spectrum of emotions and feelings you might face during the most wonderful time of the year.

Wanting to avoid an overly cheery tone, and instead provide a more realistic, somewhat somber feel, I’ll Stay ‘Til After Christmas compiler Daniel Gill chose artists for this album who would paint an audio portrait not of present day Christmas celebrations, but rather hazy memories of childhood Christmas experiences and the often bittersweet emotions that accompany them.

Appropriately enough, Au Revoir Simone opens the album with a perfect cover of the Vince Guaraldi classic “Christmastime is Here” and Le Loup follows with a dark and haunting take on the traditional “Shenandoah.” Jimmy Tamborello’s pre-Postal Service group Figurine offers up “The Holidays Behind Us,” a break-up song about a couple that calls it quits just as the holiday season is beginning. Other stand out tracks are My Brightest Diamond’s “Nature Boy,” No Kids take on “Another Winter in a Summer Town” which is taken from the musical Grey Gardens, Blitzen Trapper’s “Christmas is Coming Soon” and Au’s bizarre take on “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.” The album also includes tracks from Arthur & Yu, Parenthetical Girls, Radar Bros., Man of Arms (the new solo project of Kevin Robinson of Viva Voce and Blue Giant), The Papercuts, Bosque Brown and Turk Dietrich of Belong.

A FAMILY AFFAIR

I’ll Stay ‘Til After Christmas is a homespun affair if there ever was one - the idea for the album came from a recent tradition that Gill and his wife Reda Rountree have had for the past several years where they would make a compilation CD of Christmas music to give out as a gift to friends and family - and, since the two are friends with plenty of musicians, they decided to compile an original Christmas album to share with the masses. The album cover was also designed by Rountree and the photo on the cover was taken by Gill’s younger brother, Andrew.

Various Artists
I’ll Stay ‘Til After Christmas
(AWR)
Street date: Dec. 02, 2008

1. Au Revoir Simone - Christmastime is Here
2. Le Loup - Shenandoah
3. Figurine - The Holidays Behind Us
4. Sally Shapiro - Anorak Christmas (Piano Mix)
5. Arthur & Yu - My White Elephant
6. My Brightest Diamond - Nature Boy
7. Parenthetical Girls - Festive Friends (Forever)
8. No Kids - Another Winter In a Summer Town
9. Radar Bros. - Baby Jesus
10. Blitzen Trapper - Christmas Is Coming Soon
11. Man of Arms - It’s Christmastime and Everything’s Wrong
12. Au - I’ll Be Home For Christmas
13. The Papercuts - Go Tell It On The Mountain
14. Bosque Brown - Silent Night
15. Turk Dietrich of Belong - Blue Christmas

STREAM: Loney Dear - “Airport Surroundings”

The Polyvinyl Record Co. recently announced the signing of Sweden’s Loney Dear, who will release its new album, Dear John, on the label on Jan. 27, 2009. The band will be making two trips to the U.S. - first a brief trip in Dec. for a pair of New York shows, and then a full tour in Feb, where the shows will alternate between headlining gigs and shows in support of the always amazing Andrew Bird.

Hailing from the small city of Jonkoping, Sweden, Loney Dear’s primary member Emil Svanängen first began making homemade recordings of delicate, folkish indie pop in the early 2000s. As Loney, Dear (the band has since deleted the comma from its name), Svanängen self-released three homemade CD-Rs through his website: River Fontana Redux, Citadel Band, and Sologne. As buzz developed through MP3 blogs and other new media manifestations, Sub Pop offered Svanängen a contract in 2006. The first proper Loney Dear album, Loney, Noir, was released in early 2007. The band will be touring the US again in early 2009, and has a pair of New York shows in December where it will be showcasing songs from Dear John for the first time.

Svanängen describes Dear John as a “marvelous album in dark shades with a lava-like glow from underneath.”

Praise for Loney Dear:

“Despair has never sounded so sweet.”–SPIN

“Svanangen’s captivating ruminations sound as if he’s trying to capture the purest essence of joy, albeit with a melancholy underbelly. It’s that bittersweet warmth that makes Loney, Dear’s hushed, pastoral folk songs seep into the heart.”–NPR

“He wraps the ups and downs of a whirlwind romance into tiny packages. You’re left hungry, fully certain that 34 minutes– let alone five– will never be enough of this very, very good thing.”–Pitchfork

“Through soft layers of acoustic instrumentation and vocal harmonies, Svanangen creates a sustained and lasting representation of the classic emotions of regret, peace, and loneliness.” –PopMatters

“Svanängen’s bright falsetto holds his miniature musical tapestries together.” –Austin Chronicle

LONEY DEAR

12/10 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
12/12 Brooklyn, NY The Bell House
01/29 Northampton, MA Iron Horse
01/30 Boston, MA The Orpheum*
02/03 Washington, DC The 930 Club*
02/04 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse*
02/06 Orlando, FL The Plaza*
02/07 New Orleans, LA House of Blues*
02/09 Baton Rouge, LA Spanish Moon
02/10 Houston, TX Rudyard’s British Pub
02/11 Denton, TX Hailey’s
02/12 Austin, TX The Paramount Theater*
02/13 Albuquerque, NM The El Rey*
02/14 Tucson, AZ The Rialto*
02/17 Visalia, CA Howie and Son’s Pizza
02/18 Los Angeles, CA The Orpheum*
02/19 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore*
02/20 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore*
02/21 Portland, OR Roseland*
02/23 Seattle, WA The Moore*
02/24 Boise, ID The Knitting Factory*
02/25 Murray, UT The Murray*
02/26 Denver, CO The Ogden*
02/27 Omaha, NE Slowdown*
03/01 Chicago, IL Schubas

* = w/ Andrew Bird

Loney Dear
Dear John
(Polyvinyl)
Street date: Jan. 27, 2009

1. Airport Surroundings
2. Everything Turns to You
3. I Was Only Going Out
4. Harsh Words
5. Under a Silent Sea
6. I Got Lost
7. Summers
8. Distant
9. Harm
10. Violent
11. Dear John

LONEY DEAR LINKS:

MySpace: www.myspace.com/loneydear

Press Materials: www.polyvinylrecords.com/press/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Anticon’s Third Annual 10 Year Anniversary
NYC 12/18 @ The Knitting Factory

A one-night only event of timeless proportions featuring:
Themselves (doseone, Jel), Yoni Wolf of WHY?, Sole, Alias, Buck 65, Odd Nosdam,
pedestrian + special guests!

—

Much can happen in a decade. Political upheaval, collapse of the free world, a decade of debt, eco-socio warfare, wack emcees bite and blow-up, and the planet might finally understand Anticon. What a run it’s been!

The Knitting Factory, a space heralded for pioneering the avant-garde in all its evolutions, faces its fate. Closing doors to make way for overpriced Tribeca condos and Jamba Juice by the gallon. To celebrate in reverence to both - what better a group of artists to represent that ethos than that original brass of Anticon? A worldly collection of artists, unafraid of their constant critical evaluation, remained steadfast and wry in the face of convention and contemporaries.

For one night on one stage, the constituents assemble, performing a stack of mini-sets merged into what can only be approached as a medley - where fans can only expect the unexpected.

For the first time in over 4 years, we find the this inceptive incarnation re-form with the newly refreshed Themselves duo of doseone and Jel (known more recently for their cryptically trailblazing 6-piece Subtle), Yoni Wolf by his lonesome for the first time in a long one, label-originators Sole & pedestrian, now-Maine re-transplant Alias with the beats and the raps, Canadian-connection Buck 65 returns to the fold, 1/3 cLOUDEAD soloist, Odd Nosdam hits the buttons (aside Jel) live, plus who knows who else. In a monumental encounter that may very well never happen again.

The time is up. The bill is due. Anticon is here.
10 years later.

LINKS:

Anticon: www.anticon.com

Buy Tickets at TicketWeb: www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=569094&pl=knitting4

Knitting Factory: www.knittingfactory.com

Press Materials: www.anticon.com/pr

STREAM: Beach House - “Used To Be”

Beach House recently released a limited edition single featuring the new song “Used To Be.” Now the band is pleased to share with you the music video for the song, shot during a recent West Coast tour in the desert outside LA with director Matt Amato. Recorded over the summer of 2008 after many exhaustive months of touring, “Used To Be” contemplates the spiritual and physical effects of life on the everchanging road, love and getting older . The b-side is a four-track demo version of “Apple Orchard” (from the Beach House S/T album) recorded three years to the month before the new song. It’s one of the first things Alex and Victoria recorded together as Beach House. With this tiny single, one can hear a small history of the band, where they came from, and where they’re going.

BEACH HOUSE

Dec. 06 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts*
Dec. 09 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg #
Dec. 10 Providence, RI Club Hell #
Dec. 11 Northampton, MA Iron Horse Music Hall #
Dec. 12 Boston, MA Museum of Fine Arts #
Jan. 19 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern*
Jan. 20 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda*
Jan. 21 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore*
Jan. 23 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom*
Jan. 24 Seattle, WA Neumos*

* = w/ The Walkmen
# = w/ Tickley Feather

Beach House
Used To Be
(Carpark)
Street date: Oct. 21, 2008

1. Used To Be
2. Apple Orchard (Virgin 4 Track Recording)

BEACH HOUSE LINKS:

MySpace: www.myspace.com/beachhousemusic

Single Press Materials: www.carparkrecords.com/usedtobepresspage.html

Devotion Press Materials: www.carparkrecords.com/devotionpresspage.html

Band Page: www.beachhousemusic.net