This song is such a sleeper of a hit. It’s been on constant rotation since I first heard it. Elements of Spiritualized and Julee Cruise abound, awash a frothy shoegaze sea.
Lower Dens – I get nervous
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Lower Dens (Jana Hunter’s new band) are set to embark on their North American Summer Tour with Future Islands. Dates below.
4.30 Baltimore, MD – Floristree
5.1 Brooklyn, NY – Death by Audio
5.2 Philadelphia, PA – Danger Danger
5.3 Shepherdstown, WV – Blue Moon Saloon
5.4 Raleigh, NC – Berkeley Cafe
5.5 Charlotte, NC -The Milestone
5.6 Greenville, NC – The Phoenix
5.7 Charleston, SC – Outer Space
5.8 Atlanta, GA – Criminal Records (5PM/ALL AGES)
5.8 Atlanta, GA – 529
5.9 Athens, GA – Nasty World
5.10 Knoxville, TN – Pilot Light
5.11 Nashville, TN – Little Hamilton
5.12 Oxford, MS – Powerhouse
5.13 Ocean Springs, MS – Rusty Robots
5.14 New Orleans, LA – The Saint
5.15 Houston, TX – Mangos
5.16 Austin, TX – Club Deville
5.17 Lubbock, TX – Riprock
5.18 Las Cruces, NM – Equinox
5.19 Phoenix, AZ – Rogue Bar
5.20 San Diego, CA – Tin Can Alehouse
5.21 Los Angeles, CA – Sync Space
5.22 Los Angeles, CA – The Smell
5.24 San Francisco, CA – El Rio
5.25 Eureka, CA – Lil Red Lion
5.26 Portland, OR – Rotture
5.27 Ellensburg, WA – Raw Space
5.28 Olympia, WA – Northern
5.29 Seattle, WA – Sunset Tavern (6PM)
6.1 Denver, CO – Rhinoceropolis
6.2 Kansas City, MO – The Pistol
6.3 Bloomington, IN – The Bishop
6.5 Chicago, IL – The Hideout
6.6 Detroit, MI – Majestic Cafe
6.7 Toronto, ON – The The The
6.8 Montreal, QC – TBA
6.9 Burlington, VT – Monkey House
6.10 Dover, NH – Brickhouse
6.11 Boston, MA – Brookline Cable Access
6.12 Brooklyn, NY – Silent Barn
6.13 Baltimore, MD – Penthouse
Jana Hunter and her band (as yet unnamed) are leaving Baltimore after many months of constant, sickening grind and search tactics to try and wield before a live audience the album they’ve wrought. It’s a huge departure from the work Hunter released solo, as Hunter was able to embrace, through her group, her less obvious influences: Faust, Wire, GBV, and whatever, these things don’t even mean that much in terms of forming a sound image. It’s all just to say that this a mean band, not an intimate cave, so expect a lot of noise and beats in addition to Hunter’s signature sonic topography: the hiss, the haunt, and the weird are all still there. She’s backed by Will Adams on guitar, Geoff Graham on bass and vocals, and Abe Sanders on drums. This tour finds the band performing in preparation for recording the album, as yet untitled, which will likely be released sometime in early 2010, and touring with close Baltimore friends Crazy Dreams Band, who will sometime soon release their second record on Portland’s Holy Mountain.
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=tyler=
Jana Hunter will be releasing a split 7″ record on August 4th with her brother John’s band, Inoculist. The single features artwork by Jana and is pressed onto black and white marbled vinyl in an edition of 350.
Also, Jana will be going on tour with her band “Jam Hunter?” in preparation for a new full-length recording. Dates after the jump.
Photo © Kristin Beck
Jason Mewbourn from The Baltimore Taper blog captured an excellent, high-fidelity live performance by Jana Hunter and her band playing live at the Metro Gallery in Baltimore, MD on June 2. The set is available in its entirety for download and stream over at his site and, trust me, this is an amazing show. Check it out.
Setlist:
1. Dog Water
2. Batman
3. Blue and Silver
4. Rosie
5. Truss Me
6. I Get Nervous
7. Hospice Gates
8. Deer Knives
9. Johnssong
10. Submit
11. Completely Golden
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=tyler=
via Arthur
Desh is a hindi suffix that denotes a sense of home or country. This special chapter of The Story literally themes as a benefit for the magazine, which in the current depression has been forced to go out of print and take it online. This is unacceptable to myself and many other Arthur readers, as Arthur is the only great American publication to currently be seeing print. The days of Rolling Stone are over, the high-era of rad zines has passed; Arthur stands alone as a sole halcyon of rugged American individualism and the timeless values associated with nature, consciousness, and evolution into higher human potential. Their struggle today is as much a part of The Story as the metaphysical concepts we’ve been discussing up to this point with the series, and we hope that this show will directly turn around real funds to get the mag back on earth.
About the bands…
For many years, Lauren Dukoff has photographed close friend and musician Devendra Banhart and an extended, loose-knit international family of artists who share inspiration variously from folk, Tropicalia, and each other, as well as a range of other musical influences.
Family collects 100 of Dukoff’s striking portraits and candid images of Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Entrance, Bat for Lashes, Feathers, Espers, Vetiver, Bert Jansch, Vashti Bunyan, and many others individually and together, in performance and more private spaces.
Complementing the photographs are a foreword by Devendra Banhart, text and artwork by the musicians, biographies, and a digital download of music by artists featured in the book.
Artists in the book:
Matteah Baim
Vashti Bunyan
Bat For Lashes
Kevin Barker
Devendra Banhart
Cibelle
Entrance
Feathers
Eliza Douglas
Ariana Delawari
Espers
Ruthann Friedman
Benjamin Oak Goodman
Hecuba
Noah Georgeson
Jana Hunter
Michael Hurley
Bert Jansch
Little Joy
Megapuss
Joanna Newsom
Pete Newsom
Linda Perhacs
Priestbird
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
Luckey Remington
Rio en Medio
Spleen
Becky Stark
Adam Tullie
Vetiver
Warpaint
Jonathan Wilson
Chronicle Books will release Family in July 2009. Amazon has it for sale at 34% off. However, if you pre-order from Chronicle Books they will send it out May 20th. Enter “Noise Pop” at checkout, you can get 15% off your order and free shipping.
If you are in the bay area, be sure to check out Lauren’s gallery show, Noise Pop Presents Lauren Dukoff- Family, at the Eleanor Harwood Gallery in San Francisco. It opens February 20th at 7 PM.
-kevin-
Summer’s over but it doesn’t seem like it in Los Angeles. It’s all the same, always, anyways. It’s a place where time stands still, rapidly encroaching on infinity. A smoggy Neverland. A sedated scene. We grow older, but the insouciant attitude afforded by persistent sunshine is comfort food to keep going. Chicken-fried life with curly fries and biscuits. Yum.
Through the lens of my current address, Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez is a self-aware stillborn childhood itching to grow — and grow it will. A Cuban native haunting the burgeoning Baltimore music scene alongside luminaries Jana Hunter and Dan Deacon, Gonzalez has been a presence in the Wham City Art Collective as both musician and visual artist. According to CarPark Records, his goal is to “write songs that combine his appreciation of magical realism with his respect for honest simplicity.” Here, the words “magical” and “honest” carry connotations of implausibility; they’re seemingly synonymous and thoroughly hopeful modifiers bound to be overtaken by the persistence of “realism” and “simplicity”: two nouns that beg ornamentation.
We’re a generation longing for magical realism, for a life populated with critters we love and feelings we fondly, though foggily, remember. But as the summer turns to fall, changeless, these songs project autumn on the wall for me to enjoy, at least for 34 minutes.
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=tyler=
Since her amazing Carrion EP last year, we’ve been eagerly awaiting to hear more from the enchanting Jana Hunter. She’s embarking on a pretty darn expansive tour of the United States and Canada, so if you haven’t seen her live yet don’t miss this chance. And don’t steal her guitars.
=tyler=
