VARIOUS - 'CHIMERA MUSIC RELEASE NO. 0'

Formats

• CHIM00CD - CD

  N/A

Details

Brand new label, new to FORTE: They will be releasing the new YOKO ONO PLASTIC ONO BAND album at the end of september, this is a massive coup for Forte: 14 tracks / 52 minutes Japanese import CD, previewing a half dozen exciting new projects coming out in late 2009 / 2010 on an adventurous new (New York / Toyko based) label. Ten of 14 tracks are exclusive to this compilation. IF BY YES - Sublime sounds from Yuka Honda, the brain of Cibo Matto, and the extraordinary vocalist Petra Haden, with members of Cornelius. SEAN LENNON ?Preview of several terrific new songs, plus two instrumental selections from the soundtrack to a wild low-budget horror movie.. THE G.O.A.S.T.T. ? The Ghost Of A Sabre-Toothed Tiger pairs Lennon with young vocalist / songwriter Charlotte Kemp Muhl, on mysterious and surreal melodies. YOKO ONO PLASTIC ONO BAND - Mom returns to kick more ass! With NYC jazz musicians Daniel Carter, Shahzad Ismailly, Indigo Street & others. This is a severely limited relase, theres only 80 for the UK, indie store only.

Tracks

1) THE GOASTT The World Was Made For Men 3:06

2) YOKO ONO PLASTIC ONO BAND ASK THE ELEPHANT! 3:04

3) IF BY YES You Feel Right (Cornelius Remix) 4:32

4) THE GOASTT Rainbows in Gasoline 3:18

5) IF BY YES You're Something Else 4:24

6) Sean Lennon Hamlet's Theme 3:22

7) Kemp And Eden Small Talk 2:40

8) Sean Lennon Smoke & Mirrors 4:22

9) IF BY YES If By Yes 4:58

10) Kemp And Eden Papership 4:22

11) Sean Lennon Elsinore 2:30

12) Sean Lennon Come Here Chimera 1:42

13) YOKO ONO PLASTIC ONO BAND CALLING 8:18

14) Sean Lennon Freed 1:33

Press

The first in a long line of great new music, the next release is at the end of september, press is everywhere for that:

Audio & Video

VIVIAN GIRLS - 'EVERYTHING GOES WRONG'

Formats

• ITR179 - LP

  759718517910

• ITR179CD - CD

  759718517927

Details

Brooklyn's Vivian Girls are back with Everything Goes Wrong, released almost exactly a year after In The Red's reissue of their self-titled debut. The band have taken their time with this new album and recorded it in six days-rather than the three their debut took-though many of the songs were still recorded in single takes. Over the last year, the Vivian Girls have toured the US and Europe extensively, received a considerable amount of national and international press, sparked fierce debate as to whether they are a refreshing blast of unselfconscious punk rock energy or a crew of contemptible, incompetent posers and, perhaps most significant of all, become the subject of a question on the Jeopardy game show. Everything Goes Wrong is a darker, moodier album than its predecessor, with a couple tracks clocking in at almost twice the length of anything on their debut. That said, the influences remain the same; Ramones, '60s girl groups, surf, indie pop, etc., etc. This is immediately classic stuff. Watch for constant touring in late '09 and '10. One of the essential albums of 2009: this will be in many end of year lists.

Tracks

1. Walking Alone at Night
2. I Have No Fun
3. Can?t Get Over You
4. Desert
5. Tension
6. Survival
7. The End
8. When I?m Gone
9. Out for the Sun
10. I?m Not Asleep
11. Double Vision
12. You?re My Guy
13. Before I Start to Cry

Press

UK PR handled by Goldstar,

Audio & Video

DAMON & NAOMI - 'THE SUB POP YEARS'

Formats

• 20202010 - CD

  600197101124

Details

Compiling the best of Damon & Naomi's records over the course of four albums on the venerable Sub Pop label, The Sub Pop Years commemorates a grand chapter in the career of a band who never planned an existence in the first place. After More Sad Hits (just reissued last year on 20/20/20), the duo was ready to call it a day and concentrate on their book company. However, they were convinced to continue onward by Sub Pop poobah Jonathan Poneman, who saw great potential in their continued collaboration. It was not the first time (nor last) his hunch proved right. For the next ten years, Damon & Naomi developed from a simple recording project to a fully fleshed-out band, with a knack for articulating sounds and accumulating collaborators that continues today. Every early Damon & Naomi release was an event by virtue of its very existence, and Wondrous World of Damon & Naomi was no exception. It was not the final signature to an abridged letter, like More Sad Hits was, but rather marked new forays down future pathways. An eagerness to experiment with folk music formats from around the world, combined with the developing abilities of two true artists, plays out on this compilation, displaying the duo's growing sound. Each album is indeed a leap, the most notable being With Ghost, where a friendship with the Japanese psych band Ghost led to one of the great cross-cultural collaborations in the history of independent music. For a couple of musicians who prided themselves on a minimal delivery, their goals went up against the opportunity of having a large ensemble at their disposal. This, along with their growing comfort as band leaders, becomes clear upon a full listen to Sub Pop Years. What emerges is something real and human, with both foibles and innovations, resulting in a unique honesty both awe-striking and endearing to witness. Damon & Naomi continue recording and performing today, ever more focused on pushing themselves toward new challenges within humble settings. The specially priced Sub Pop Years captures an important part of that journey with a conciseness and breadth that will enrich both a longtime fan and the firsttime listener. As the CD is being released simultaneously with a DVD compiling live performances and videos, as well as a special reissue of all three Galaxie 500 albums (the first reissues ever of the vinyl), The Sub Pop Years is part of a larger look back before the band finishes up their new record, slated for release in 2010.

Tracks

1. Eulogy to Lenny Bruce
2. I?m Yours
3. Forgot to Get High
4. New York City
5. Eye of the Storm
6. Judah and the Maccabees
7. Tour of the World
8. Song to the Siren
9. The Navigator
10. The Mirror Phase
11. How Long
12. The New World
13. The Great Wall
14. In the Sun
15. Turn of the Century

Press

Indeed: Wire, Mojo, Uncut will all be working this: MOre tbc

Audio & Video

FRESH & ONLYS - 'GREY EYED GIRLS'

Formats

• WOODSIST032 - LP

  N/A

• WOODSIST032CD - CD

  616822085028

Details

ATP APPEARANCE CONFIRMED!!!!!second Fresh and Onlys album: When Tim Cohen told Shayde Sartin he was writing a song called "Be My Hooker," the Fresh & Onlys bassist looked at the singer/guitarist and said... "'There's no way we're gonna have a song with that title, dude,'" explains Sartin. "But sure enough, he laid a riff down and I was like, 'Jesus christ, I can't believe you pulled something meaningful out of such a stupid line.'" Welcome to the push/pull dynamic that's fueled the Fresh & Onlys' steady stream of releases over the past year, including last spring's self-titled LP (Castle Face) and this fall's Grey-Eyed Girls (Woodsist). And to think it all started the old-fashioned way-with Sartin and Cohen simply hanging out after work, playing their favorite punk (Buzzcocks, The Mekons) and classic rock (Country Joe and the Fish, cued up alongside slabs of psych from the group's homebase, San Francisco) records alongside a growing collection of empty beer cans. "I can't really explain what happened or why," says Sartin. "I guess we listened to records until we were on the same page, and from that point on, we never stopped recording." As simple as all of that sounds, the duo first bought a tape machine five years ago. When that failed to produce any concrete cuts, Cohen focused on his previous avant-pop band, Black Fiction, and Sartin split his time between session and live work for such bands as the Skygreen Leopards, Papercuts and Citay. Not to mention his close friend Kelley Stoltz, who ended up releasing the first Fresh & Onlys 7" (the limited Imaginary Friends EP) in early 2008. With so much music hitting shops in such a short time (Sartin says the band already has boxes of backlogged tapes), you might think the Fresh & Onlys camp have a problem with quality control. Quite the contrary; Sartin and Cohen are very careful about what they release. And while the duo writes and records the band's songs, the arrangements are usually fleshed out with guitarist Wymond Miles, drummer Kyle Gibson, and backup singer Heidi Alexander. "If we take a song into the studio or a live setting and it doesn't have wings," says Sartin, "Then we just ditch it and keep the charming demo version."

Tracks

N/A

Press

Uncut, MOJO, Pitchfork..will lead the charge!

Audio & Video

A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW - 'ASHES GRAMMAR'

Formats

• OJO004 - CD

  616892049968

Details

Opening with a ten second homage to Estonian composer Arvo Part, it's immediately apparent that A Sunny Day in Glasgow's new album, Ashes Grammar, is going to be a much more visceral outing than their 2007 album debut, Scribble Mural Comic Journal. It takes a few minutes for the record to even begin to reveal itself, as a swarm of 1950s acapella ("Secrets at the prom") gives way to resonant drones, room noise, and sub bass ("Slaughter killing carnage"). It's here that "Failure" unexpectedly kicks in with a tribal stomp and a fluttering guitar acting as a pair of wings, lifting the circular chants of the song's melody off the ground. It's all at once joyous, insecure, and blissed-out-and sounds nothing like we've heard from A Sunny Day in Glasgow before. Ashes Grammar is far more nuanced than Scribble, but there's still a cellular logic at play throughout. The brief, shimmering loop that is "Lights" turns out to be the very pulse behind the sun-kissed, ambient pop of "Passionate Introverts," a feel-good song perfectly suited to accompany daydreams or dancing by yourself in your bedroom. However, even at their most accessible there's always an indescribable otherworldliness flowing through the band's music, one that is fully revealed during "Blood White." Like famed composer/sound experimentalist Alvin Lucier's groundbreaking piece, "I Am Sitting in a Room," during this track you can practically hear the shape of the room resonating in the frequencies of voices and synths that had been amplified, recorded, replayed and recorded again and again, the undulating tones slowly drifting into a cosmic wash of bubbling electronics and guitar. Yes, in many ways this is a different group than the one we first heard back in 2007, but with Ben continuing his role as the principal songwriter, there's no doubt this Ashes Grammar could be from any other band than A Sunny Day in Glasgow. And once again, dream pop has been re-imagined.

Bandleader/songwriter Ben Daniels wanted to approach the making of Ashes Grammar differently than the critically acclaimed, bedroom-recorded Scribble Mural Comic Journal. Coming off of a successful 2008 European tour, the group found a dance studio in rural New Jersey who would let them take over the huge space on the weekends ? the perfect place for Ben and drummer/ engineer Josh Meakim to experiment with sounds and recording techniques. While the sessions got off to a good start, they would unexpectedly lead into a tumultuous few months for A Sunny Day in Glasgow ? literally transformative. Bassist Brice Hickey broke his leg in several places on the day he was to begin recording his parts. A blow to morale, this would also affect the involvement of ASDIG vocalist Robin Daniels ? Ben?s sister and Brice?s girlfriend ? who would now have to tend to her bedridden boyfriend making it impossible for her to spend any significant time in the studio. And with Ben's and Robin?s other sister, ASDIG vocalist Lauren, attending grad school in Colorado, the group would essentially be without the two singers so integral to A Sunny Day?s celestial melodies. Band newcomer Annie Fredrickson, a classically trained cellist and pianist, would find herself stepping into another role as singer, along with Josh who, luckily, has an incredible vocal range. In hindsight, those obstacles reshaped the band in ways they never could have imagined.

Tracks

1. Magna for Annie, Josh, & Robin
2. Secrets at the prom
3. Slaughter killing carnage (The meaning of words)
4. Failure
5. Curse words
6. Close chorus
7. Shy
8. Lights
9. Passionate introverts (Dinosaurs)
10. West Philly vocoder
11. Evil, with evil, against evil
12. The white witch
13. Nitetime rainbows
14. Canalfish
15. Loudly
16. Blood white
17. Ashes grammar
18. Ashes maths
19. Miss my friends
20. Starting at a disadvantage
21. Life's great
22. Headphone space

Press

UK PR handled by GOldstar, expect features on Pitchfork (track already debuted, last week), Drowned in Sound. Reviews in NME, DIS, Pichfork, Uncut..more tbc

Audio & Video