The Blow is making a new record, titled The Blow. They are debuting the new songs in May in five concerts around the Northeast. “Producing diamonds with our bare hands might have been faster,” says The Blow’s Khaela Maricich. The new album is made by Maricich in collaboration with installation and sound artist Melissa Dyne.
The Blow was made in a portable studio in a series of northeastern locations. To cover expenses during the production process, Maricich and Dyne rented out their Brooklyn apartment and set up shop in various cheap accommodations around the region. They worked in a hotel in Atlantic City, a 70’s treehouse style condo in the Poconos, an off-season lakeside cabin in New Hampshire, and a run-down Swiss-style ski chalet in Vermont. The last phase of production, hi-fi crystallization, is taking place in a recording studio in New York City’s East Viillage.
Tour Dates
05/10 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse
05/11 Portland, ME - Space
05/12 Winooski, VT - Monkey House
05/13 Providence, RI - AS220
05/16 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
Young Magic sets out on a co-headlining tour this summer, in support of their acclaimed debut album, Melt, out now on Carpark Records. The tour kicks off at the NXNE Festival in Toronto. They will be joined by Boston pysch-folk band Quilt on all of the US dates. Young Magic has shared the stage all across North America and Europe with renowned artists such as Youth Lagoon, Bear in Heaven, Doldrums, Grimes, Shabazz Palaces, and Caribou.
“As if incorporating the flavor from the illegal 1920s cabaret venue on the ground floor of their practice space, Young Magic’s music is at once sensuous and restless.” - Brooklyn Vegan
“The atmosphere is thick and hazy, dizzying.. and summon an elusive mood of longing within the sonic wonderment.” - NY Times
“With no discernible center of gravity, Young Magic still manages to establish connective tissue among the synth, hip-hop, and multiculturally-inspired sounds.” - Interview Mag
Tour Dates
06/14 - 06/15 Toronto, ON NXNE %
06/28 Brooklyn, NY Glasslands *
06/29 Washington DC Comet Ping Pong *
06/30 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s *
07/01 Boston, MA Great Scott *
07/03 Burlington, VT Monkey House *
07/04 Montreal, QC Divan Orange *
07/05 Toronto, ON Garrison *
07/06 London, ONT APK Live *
07/07 Cleveland, OH Happy Dog *
07/08 Chicago, IL Schubas *
07/09 Minneapolis, MN 400 Bar *
07/12 Seattle, WA Barboza *
07/13 Vancouver, BC Waldorf Cabaret *
07/14 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge *
07/17 San Francisco, CA The Rickshaw Stop *
07/19 Los Angeles, CA The Echo *
07/20 San Diego, CA Soda Bar *
07/21 Tempe, AZ Sail Inn *
07/23 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge *
07/25 St. Louis, MO The Firebird *
07/26 Bloomington, IN The Bishop *
07/27 Cincinnati, OH MOTR Pub *
07/28 Pittsburgh, PA The Brillobox *
07/29 New York, NY Mercury Lounge *
% = The Flaming Lips, Ghostface Killer, Purity Ring
* = w/ Quilt
Young Magic
Melt
(Carpark)
Street Date: Feb. 14, 2012
1. Sparkly
2. Slip Time
3. You With Air
4. Yalam
5. Jam Karet
6. Night In The Ocean
7. Watch For Our Lights
8. The Dancer
9. Cavalry
10. Sanctuary
11. Drawing Down The Moon
In the years since signing with Paw Tracks in 2009, Mississippi native Dent May has made music that balances saccharine pop sincerity and campy affectation. His debut LP, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele, put wry storytelling at its fore, but imbued each track with sweet strums of the titular instrument and earnest harmonies sure to arrest listeners’ sympathies. Eager to explore different styles, the two singles released since the album, “That Feeling” and “Fun,” have seen May plugging in and finding footing somewhere between 60s psychedelia and disco-era balladry in the vein of Ashford and Simpson, a vibe he expands on with his new record, Do Things.
Played entirely by himself and recorded in sessions split between his bedroom at the Cats Purring Dude Ranch and a small cabin by a cotton field outside Oxford, MS, Do Things finds the self-described “wedding reception band on acid” purveying the same heavy helpings of sentiment, but forgoing the jocular tone of his debut for a more contemplative-but still relentlessly optimistic-demeanor. Underneath the shiny veneer of synthesizer filigrees and harmonious coos, May zooms in on such timeless subjects as the nature of friendship, finding purpose in a world that seems devoid of it, and dealing with insistent feelings of malaise. “Funk” is certainly a word that’s written all over the album, and May’s Orange Juice-ian take on it lends songs like “Best Friend” and “Don’t Wait Too Long” a sprightly boogie and conjures images of soft-lit rooms and mirror balls. When not thumping and grooving, Do Things bops and sways along the psych-pop avenues of “Tell Her” and the ascending melodies of “Find It.” Full of stylistic changes but retaining May’s singular voice, Do Things is a great step forward for the pop devotee.
Bio
Dent May writes and records homemade pop music in Mississippi, where he was born in 1985. He began songwriting at age 12. The following year, he started a band called Flood, who covered Creed and 311 and sold homemade cassettes to classmates. In high school, heavily influenced by Elvis Costello and The Cars, Dent fronted a power-pop band called The Rockwells. Feeling like an outsider in Mississippi, he retreated to the Internet, where he spent his time soaking in pop music and culture from around the globe.
After dropping out of NYU film school, Dent founded Oxford, Mississippi’s self-proclaimed “infotainment cult” Cats Purring. Since then, his musical endeavors have included a debut LP of ukulele tunes on Paw Tracks, dance recordings under the Dent Sweat moniker, and a mysterious unfinished psych-country rock opera called Cowboy Maloney’s Electric City. He throws notorious DIY shows at his home, a former Boys & Girls club now deemed the Cats Purring Dude Ranch.
Recent singles on Forest Family and Paw Tracks have found Dent abandoning the ukulele in favor of cosmic synths, funky guitars, analog drum machines, loopy bass lines, and massive vocal harmonies. He played all the instruments on his new album Do Things, which was recorded at the Dude Ranch and in a friend’s rural cabin by a cotton field. Do Things will be released by Paw Tracks on June 12, 2012.
Tour Dates
05/15 Athens, GA – Farm 255
05/16 Durham, NC - Salamandra
05/17 Baltimore, MD – Golden West
05/18 Brooklyn, NY – 285 Kent *
06/15 Dallas, TX – The Bryan Street Tavern
06/16 Austin, TX – Scottish Rite Theater $$
06/17 San Antonio, TX – El Ten Eleven $$
06/18 Lubbock, TX – Pray For Rain $$
06/20 Tucon, AZ – Solar Culture $$
06/21 Pheonix, AZ – The Crescent Ballroom $$
06/22 San Diego, CA – Casbah $$
06/23 Los Angeles, CA – The Smell $$
06/24 Long Beach, CA – Alex’s Bar $$
06/27 San Jose, CA – Blank Club $$
06/28 Santa Cruz, CA – The Crepe Place $$
06/29 Oakland, CA – New Parish Music Hall $$
06/30 San Francisco, CA – Elbo Room $$!
07/02 Arcata, CA – The Jambalaya $$
07/03 Olympia, WA – Northern $$
07/05 Vancouver, BC – Waldorf Hotel $$
07/06 Seattle, WA – Chop Suey $$
07/07 Portland, OR – East End Block Party$$
07/08 Missoula MT – VFW Hall
07/10 Fargo, ND- The Aquarium
07/17 Montreal, QC – Casa Del Popolo
07/22 Washington DC- DC9
07/23 Greensboro, NC – Blind Tiger
07/24 Atlanta, GA - 529
07/25 Huntsville, MS – Vertical House
*w/ The Babies, Family Portrait, William Tyler, DJ Ducktails
$$ w/ Quintron and Miss Pussycat
$$! w/ Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Shannon and the Clams
Mystery Jets’ fourth album Radlands will be released on June 5th in North America. The album was recorded in Austin, Texas and Streatham, London and was co-produced by Mystery Jets and Dan Carey (Hot Chip, Franz Ferdinand, Emiliana Torrini).
Mystery Jets are Blaine Harrison, Will Rees, Kai Fish and Kapil Trivedi. On the making of the album Radlands, Blaine explains:
We’ve always wanted to make a record in America and after touring Serotonin the time felt perfect to go and do it. Our first three albums were entirely conceived and recorded in London so going out to Austin felt like the furthest place from everything we knew. We arrived with a handful of songs, but one in particular felt like it captured the spirit of why we had come there. It was called Radlands (a fusion of the 1970s Terrence Malick film Badlands and Redlands, Keith Richard’s Sussex estate), which is also what we named our studio; a big old wooden house on the banks of the Colorado river.
All we brought on the plane were the guitars on our backs, so we ended up borrowing all this amazing valve gear from an old guy called jack who ran a little studio up in the hills-which is why the songs sound the way they do. In the daytime we wrote lyrics on the porch and in the evenings a family of Deer would gather in the back yard to hear us play. Some nights we drove into town to drink and bring people back to play on the songs.
When we arrived home, it was hard to believe any of it even happened. It somehow all felt like a strange dream. But when Dan Carey heard it and invited us down to his studio we listened back to everything and it was all there, it was real. All we were missing were some gospel singers, which he found in the Streatham community ladies choir…
Twelve months on, and we are gearing up to take Radlands on the road. Its been a long time and we cannot wait to see you all again.
xBlaine
Comic:
The limited edition double vinyl format of Radlands (500 copies only) will include a 32+ page illustrated comic called Radlands - The Ballad of Emmerson Lonestar and features covers by Eisner Award-winning British comic artist Glenn Fabry, famous for his work on Preacher and The Authority. Richard Elms co-wrote the comic with Mystery Jets and this is his first published comic.
Tour Dates
06/12 Boston, MA - House Of Blues
06/14 North Bethesda, MD - Music Center At Strathmore
06/15 New York, NY - Beacon Theatre
06/16 Philadelphia, PA - Merriam Theater
06/18 Montreal, QC - Olympia de Montreal
06/19 Toronto, ON - The Sound Academy
06/21 Nashville, TN - Marathon Music Works
06/22 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
06/23 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre
06/25 Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre
06/26 Salt Lake City, UT - The Gallivan Center
06/29 Los Angeles, CA - The Orpheum Theatre
06/30 Oakland, CA - The Fox Theatre
Mystery Jets
Radlands
Street Date: June 5, 2012
Track List:
1. Radlands
2. You Had Me At Hello
3. Someone Purer
4. The Ballad of Emmerson Lonestar
5. Greatest Hits
6. The Hale Bop
7. The Nothing
8. Take Me Where The Roses Grow
9. Sister Everett
10. Lost In Austin
11. Luminescense
