Members of The Black Keys & The Raconteurs guest

Debut LP due in Nov. on In The Red, playing Gonerfest 7 tonight in Memphis

MP3 - “Keep Walkin‘” -

What began as a one-off split-45 by songwriters Greg Cartwright (The Oblivians, Compulsive Gamblers, Reigning Sound) and Coco Hames (The Ettes, Coco Motion) quickly evolved into The Parting Gifts, who will release their debut full-length album this fall on In The Red Records.

“I thought, I’d write a song, Greg would write a song, we’d record them together, and that would be that,” says Hames. “Luckily Greg’s prolific awesome switch was on, and we got this whole record instead.”

Offers Cartwright, “I was just so impressed with how easily things went that I was inspired to write more material for the project.”

And as if the talents of Cartwright and Hames weren’t enough, the album features intense performances from Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys, BlacRok), Patrick Keeler (The Greenhornes, The Raconteurs), Jem Cohen and Poni Silver (The Ettes) and Dave Amels (Reigning Sound, Daptone). The result is an impressive 14 original songs penned by Cartwright and Hames, as well as a haunting cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Walkin’ Through the Sleepy City”. Catch The Parting Gifts tonight at this year’s Gonerfest 7 in Memphis, TN just in time for their debut album to make its way into your record collection.

The Parting Gifts
Strychnine Dandelion
(In The Red)
Street date: Nov. 9, 2010

1 Keep Walkin’
2 Bound To Let Me Down
3 Strange Disposition
4 My Mind’s Made Up
5 Shine
6 Born To Be Blue
7 Staring
8 Don’t Stop
9 My Baby Tonight
10 (Walking Through The) Sleepy City
11 Don’t Hurt Me Now
12 Hanna
13 I Don’t Want To Be Like This
14 Strychnine Dandelion
15 This House Ain’t A Home

THE PARTING GIFTS LINKS:

Label - http://www.intheredrecords.com/

MP3 Northern Islands

Mike Sniper never meant to be one of Brooklyn’s ‘most mysterious musicians’. Things just ended up that way, as the singer/multi-instrumentalist released a steady stream of limited singles and EPs on such reputable indie labels as Sacred Bones, HoZac and Woodsist. Not to mention’s Sniper’s own Captured Tracks imprint-a carefully-curated roster that’s grown as quickly as Blank Dogs itself, thanks to such buzz-stirring releases as Dum Dum Girls’ debut EP and recent records by Beach Fossils, Wild Nothing and Minks.

“The anonymous thing happened in the very beginning because I didn’t even have a backing band to play shows with,” explains Sniper. “It led to some ridiculous rumors-that I wear a mask onstage, that I’m Stephen Malkmus…funny stuff.”

Another common misconception about Blank Dogs is that Sniper wanted his early recordings-starting with the speaker-crawling cold sweat cuts of 2007’s Diana the Herald EP-to sound like a lo-fi gathering of queasy vocals, bruised beats and Chinese water torture chords. The truth is much simpler than that: Blank Dogs’ murkier mixes were purely a matter of having limited means.

Things started to change around his On Two Sides (Troubleman, 2008) album, however, as rare slabs of Blank Dogs vinyl landed on the eBay circuit and influential blogs (The FADER blog, 20jazzfunkgreats) feverishly posted brand new MP3s. Between that cult following and the continued success of Captured Tracks, Sniper was finally able to buy better equipment and develop his sound into an expansive mix of clear (The Cure, Joy Division) and cryptic (The Go-Betweens, Neil Young) influences-a decidedly Blank Dogs direction that touches upon everything from the spare, sparkling synths of France’s cold-wave movement to the jangly guitars of classic indie rock.

All of this progress was made with one particular record in mind: this fall’s Land and Fixed LP, a tight 12-song effort that took about a year and 13 scrapped tracks (some of which ended up on the Phrases EP) to complete. The result isn’t just a clearer recording; it’s like going from stolen cable on a 15-inch set to a wall-swallowing HDTV. A headphone listen, in other words-literally mixed on the subway to enhance widescreen details like the heat-seeking hooks of “Blurred Tonight,” the elegantly-layered arrangements of “Out the Door,” and the moonlit synth melodies of “Elevens.”

As it turns out, the next phase of Blank Dogs is an instrumental Woodsist record in the vein of “Elevens.” Sniper says he’s “pretty psyched for it,” a dance 12-inch for Italians Do It Better and sessions with Blank Dogs’ live trio, which is rounded out by Craig Mileski and Pamela Garavano-Coolbaugh.

“We’re definitely more of a ‘band’ now,” insists Sniper, although one thing hasn’t changed: he still isn’t Stephen Malkmus.

BLANK DOGS

Sept 24 Tortilleria Mexicana Los Hermano Brooklyn, NY
Oct 04 The Albert Brighton, UNITED KINGDOM
Oct 06 The Deaf Institute Manchester, England, UNITED KINGDOM
Oct 07 Captain’s Rest Glasgow, Glasgow Ci, UNITED KINGDOM
Oct 08 A Nation of Shopkeepers Leeds, UNITED KINGDOM
Oct 09 Camp Basement London, England, UNITED KINGDOM
Oct 11 De Kreun Kortrijk, Vlaams Gew, BELGIUM
Oct 12 Club at Dbs Utrecht, Holland, NETHERLANDS
Oct 13 Café Atlantik Freiburg, GERMANY
Oct 14 Hafen 2 Frankfurt, GERMANY
Oct 15 Loppen København K, DENMARK
Oct 16 Garage Oslo, NORWAY
Oct 17 Debaser Slussen Stockholm, Stockholm, SWEDEN
Oct 18 Bang Bang Club Berlin, GERMANY
Oct 19 King Georg Köln, Cologne, GERMANY
Oct 20 Indra Hamburg, GERMANY
Oct 21 Cairo Würzburg, GERMANY
Oct 22 Grabenhalle St. Gallen, SWITZERLAND
Oct 24 Treesessanta Gambettola (FC), Gambettola, ITALY
Oct 25 Il Circolo Degli Artisti Coop Rome, Rome, ITALY
Oct 26 Covo Club Bologna, bologna, ITALY
Oct 27 Le Point Ephémère Paris, Paris, FRANCE
Oct 28 Le Floride Nantes, FRANCE
Oct 29 Le Saint Ex Bordeaux, FRANCE
Oct 31 The Luminaire London, United Kingdom

Blank Dogs
Land and Fixed
(Captured Tracks)
Street date: Oct. 12, 2010

1. Goes By
2. Colides
3. Longlights
4. Northern Islands
5. Insides
6. Blurred Tonight
7. Another Language
8. Elevens
9. Out The Door
10. All Around
11. Through The Wall
12. Treelines

BLANK DOGS LINKS:
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/blankdogtime

Label - http://www.capturedtracks.com

MP3: “Blue and Silver” -

Swarming guitar fuzz, bass waves, Jana Hunter’s voice, and insistent drum throbs are the core components of Baltimore’s Lower Dens. Hunter, sometimes known for intimate, ghost-heavy weird-fi, is now writing and playing with a group that might get filed as new wave, or drone pop, or post-punk. With due deference to her solo work, we’re very glad.

The swarming wave-throb, coupled with Hunter’s lyrics and redolent, charred voice, wrecks. The band’s upcoming record, Twin-Hand Movement, is eleven perfect songs long. From opener “Blue & Silver” (anxiety
mounts at a quick clip until the final climactic release) to “Plastic & Powder” (a churning, narcotic slow-burner) to “Hospice Gates” (penultimate album cut, proud weirdo anthem, possible creative zenith), not one is a space-taker. They’re rife with the survivalist paranoia you’d expect from residents of a post-urban port hole (and this particular songwriter), crafted methodically and beautifully, and carry you enthusiastically out into the rolling breaks of industrial filth-water.

Lower Dens formed in 2009, when Hunter set about finding a full-time band. They spent the rest of the year sweating in attics and basements, and only stepped out of the shadows to do a quick tour and record. Twin-Hand Movement was recorded by Chris Freeland (ex-Oxes drummer; proprietor of Beat Babies, Baltimore), mixed by Chris Coady (at his DNA, NYC), and mastered by Sarah Register (of the Lodge, NYC and the band Talk Normal.)

LOWER DENS

09/24 Cincinnati, OH - Midpoint Music Festival
10/19 Baltimore, MD - The Ottobar *
10/20 - 10/23 New York, NY - CMJ
10/26 Pittsburgh, PA - Brillobox $
10/27 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick $
10/28 Bloomington, IN - The Bishop $
10/29 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall $
10/30 Grinnell, IA - Grinnell College Gardner Lounger $
11/02 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe $
11/03 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge $
11/05 San Francisco, CA - The Independent $
11/07 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour $
11/09 San Diego, CA - Casbash $
11/10 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress $

$ = w/ Bear in Heaven
* = w/ Woven Bones

Lower Dens
Twin-Hand Movement
(Gnomonsong)
Street date: July 20, 2010

1. Blue & Silver
2. Tea Lights
3. A Dog’s Dick
4. Holy Water
5. I Get Nervous
6. Completely Golden
7. Plastic & Powder
8. Rosie
9. Truss Me
10. Hospice Gates
11. Two Cocks

LOWER DENS LINKS:
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/lowerdens

Press Materials - http://www.gnomonsong.com/lowerdens/

Also slated to take part in Lefse’s new Way Slow series
MP3: “Lovin’ On An Older Gal” -

Sonny and the Sunset’s vintage-style west coast pop songs tell sordid tales of death, drowning, outcasts, heavenly visions and otherworldly despair. Their newest LP, Tomorrow is Alright radiates with a classic yet indefinable sound, almost like a futuristic 50’s R&B.

California native Sonny Smith started his career playing in a blues piano bar nestled in the mountain towns of Colorado at the age of eighteen. He then embarked on a journey to Central America, where he lived on an organic farm in the Central American jungle, earning money while touring with a rag tag busking band and playing hotels and cabanas along the coast of the Caribbean. In 1996, he moved back home to San Francisco, where he continued to focus on writing music, short stories and plays. In the early 2000’s he toured in support of Neko Case and Jolie Holland and released a string of solo albums titled, This is My Story, This is My Song, Sordid Tales of Love and Woe, One Act Plays and Fruitvale. Tomorrow is Alright continues his exploration of outcasts, weirdos, freaks, death, love and atypical transformation.

In 2007, he formed Sonny and The Sunsets with help from friends Shayde Sartin & Tim Cohen (of the Fresh & Onlys), Tahlia Harbour (of Citay and The Dry Spells), Ryan Browne and Kelley Stoltz (Sub Pop Recordings) among others. Together the band created Tomorrow is Alright, recorded on a classic 1970’s 388 Tascam tape recorder in various uncommon places including out of Sonny’s camper. Tomorrow is Alright is full of straightforward-pop songs that recall the 1950’s era doo wop of The Falcons combined with the direct sincerity and positive spirit of Modern Lovers’ Jonathan Richman as well as the dark confessional humor of cartoonists like Robert Crumb and Ivan Brunetti.

Sonny Smith currently resides in the Sunset District of San Francisco where he stays busy writing music and providing occasional care to disabled war veterans and other people who have fallen through the cracks of society through a Bay Area based social work agency F & CMS. He works out of an office in the back of his friends’ surf shop. In addition to his work as a sometimes columnist or occasional playwright he also opened “100 Records” his first ever solo- art exhibition. The show ran for seven weeks at Gallery 16 in San Francisco; it featured 100 album-covers created by 90 different artists from around the world along with one hundred songs written and recorded by Sonny himself and a custom built jukebox to play those songs. The show then traveled to Austin and New York.

This week Sonny and The Sunsets will pack into Sonny’s camper and head out on another US Tour. Their debut LP, Tomorrow is Alright, is currently available on vinyl from Soft Abuse Records, and was released on CD and digitally via Fat Possum Records on Aug. 31.

About the Way Slow series

Way Slow is a new series curated by Lefse Records. While maintaining the basic structures of a formal record label, Lefse is embracing creativity in everything from artist sound to packaging. Each release will be a unique creation from start to finish. Many of the participating artists are going to be releasing material that is well outside of their normal sound, some will be collaborations, some will be from parts of the world most of us will never see. Alongside digital downloads, the label will be offering limited edition CDs, cassettes, and even vinyl in some cases. The physical products will be hand wrapped/sewn/carved individually for every release and presented as a heartwarming package of beautiful sound. Sonny and The Sunsets will release an installment in the Way Slow series sometime this Fall, details forthcoming.

SONNY AND THE SUNSETS

09/24 Chicago, IL Beat Kitchen !
09/25 Detroit, MI Lager House !
09/26 Toronto, ON Sneaky Dee’s !
09/28 Montreal, QC Bar St. Laurent !
09/29 Boston, MA TT The Bears !
09/30 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
10/01 Brooklyn, NY Union Pool !
10/03 Washington, DC DC9 !
10/26 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall #
10/28 Portland, OR Holocene #
10/29 Vancouver, BC Cobalt #
10/30 Seattle, WA Neumo’s #
10/31 Spokane, WA Stage 54 #&
11/2 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge #
11/3 Denver, CO Bluebird #
11/5 Dallas, TX Granada #$
11/6 Houston, TX Mango’s #
11/9 Phoenix, AZ Rhythm Room #
11/10 San Diego, CA Casbah #
11/11 Los Angeles, CA Echo ^
11/12 Los Angeles, CA Echoplex *

! = w/ Kelley Stoltz
# = w/ Best Coast
& = w/ No Joy
$ = w/ Deerhunter & Casino Versus Japan
^ = w/ Tennis
* = w/ The Pains of Being At Heart

Sonny and The Sunsets
Tomorrow is Alright
(Fat Possum / Soft Abuse)
Street Date: Aug. 31, 2010

1. Too Young To Burn
2. Death Cream
3. Strange Love
4. Planet of Women
5. The Houris
6. Stranded
7. Bad Vibes & Evil Thoughts
8. Chapters
9. Love Among Social Animals
10. Lovin’ on an Older Gal

SONNY AND THE SUNSETS LINKS:

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sonnythesunsets

Artist page: http://www.sonnysmith.com

Label page: http://fatpossum.com/