speed of dark

from Eulogies' myspace
Also out on Tuesday was Eulogies' new EP, Tempted To Do Nothing. We last saw the band in a small setting, at LA's The Echo. Check out this track from the new EP and one from last year's self-titled release. Eulogies has a few dates scheduled this Fall, with The Dears. You can hear more from Eulogies on their myspace.

eulogies: two can play from Tempted To Do Nothing (2008)
eulogies: one man from Eulogies (2007)

Tour Schedule: (with The Dears)
great scott, boston, 10/21
maxwell's, hoboken, 10/22
hiro ballroom, new york, 10/23

official website | myspace

Thanks Peter!

photo from MtB's myspace
Minus the Bear released a new EP, Acoustics Tuesday, featuring acoustic versions of some of their most popular songs. The EP is available digitally only; the hard copies will be sold on their Fall tour (with Annuals) only.

Check out the single from the EP here:

minus the bear: guns & ammo [buy at iTunes]
minus the bear: knights from Planet of Ice (2007)

Tour Schedule
Oct 9 -- Missoula, MT -- The Other Side
Oct 10 -- Casper, WY -- American Legion
Oct 11 -- Denver, CO -- Gothic Theatre
Oct 12 -- Omaha, NE -- Slowdown
Oct 13 -- Iowa City, IA -- The Picador
Oct 15 -- Minneapolis, MN -- Varsity Theatre
Oct 16 -- Milwaukee, WI -- Turner Hall
Oct 17 -- Chicago, IL -- Vic Theatre
Oct 18 -- Columbus, OH -- Newport Music Hall
Oct 19 -- Detroit, MI -- Majestic Theatre
Oct 20 -- Cleveland, OH -- Grog Shop
Oct 21 -- Boston, MA -- Wilbur Theatre
Oct 22 -- Washington, DC -- 930 Club
Oct 23 -- Philadelphia, PA -- Theatre of Living Arts
Oct 24 -- Providence, RI -- Lupo's at the Strand
Oct 25 -- New York, NY -- Webster Hall
Oct 26 -- Sayreville, NJ -- Starland Ballroom
Oct 28 -- Richmond, VA -- The National
Oct 29 -- Raleigh, NC -- Lincoln Theatre
Oct 30 -- Asheville, NC -- The Orange Peel
Oct 31 -- Knoxville, TN -- Bijou Theatre
Nov 1 -- Atlanta, GA -- Variety Playhouse
Nov 3 -- Ft. Lauderdale, FL -- Revolution
Nov 4 -- Orlando, FL -- House of Blues
Nov 5 -- Jacksonville, FL -- Free Bird Cafe
Nov 7 -- New Orleans, LA -- House of Blues
Nov 8 -- Houston, TX -- House of Blues
Nov 9 -- Austin, TX -- Fun Fun Fun Fest
Nov 10 -- Dallas, TX -- House of Blues
Nov 13 -- Tempe, AZ -- Marquee Theatre
Nov 14 -- San Diego, CA -- Soma
Nov 15 -- Pomona, CA -- Glass House
Nov 16 -- Los Angeles, CA -- Henry Fonda Theatre
Nov 18 -- Sacramento, CA -- Empire
Nov 19 -- San Francisco, CA -- Bimbo's 365 Club
Nov 22 -- Seattle, WA -- Showbox at the Market

official website | myspace

Not too long ago, I posted a letter from the core members of Canadian band The Dears, Murray Lightburn and Natalia Yanchak. Today I got the word that the band's latest album, Missiles, will be released on Dangerbird Records on October 21.

Upcoming tour dates:

Sep 30 Starlight Room, Waterloo
Oct 1 The Casbah, Hamilton
Oct 2 Masonic Temple - Pop Montreal
Oct 9 Music Gallery, Toronto
Oct 10 Music Gallery, Toronto
Oct 16 Porchester Hall, London
Oct 21 Great Scott, Boston*
Oct 22 Maxwells Hoboken, New Jersey*
Oct 23 CMJ @ Hiro Ballroom, New York*
Oct 24 Metro, Chicago^
Oct 25 The Majestic Theatre, Madison^
Oct 27 Bluebird Theatre, Denver^
Oct 28 Belly Up Aspen^
Oct 30 Key Club, West Hollywood^
Nov 1 Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach^
Nov 3 The Independent, San Francisco^
Nov 5 Berbati’s, Portland^
Nov 6 Neumo’s, Seattle^
Nov 21 Crossing Border Festival, The Hague

* w/ Eulogies
^ w/ Secret Machines

Check the tracklisting:
1 Disclaimer
2 Dream Job
3 Money Babies [stream here]
4 Berlin Heart
5 Lights Off
6 Crisis 1 & 2
7 Demons
8 Missiles
9 Meltdown in A Major [listen on myspace]
10 Saviour

the dears: raise the dead [b-side to Gang of Losers]
the dears: we can have it [from No Cities Left]
the dears: this is a broadcast [from End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story]

Hear a little bit of title track "Disclaimer" here:


official website | myspace | Label: Dangerbird Records

Sean Atkins (front) with The Lost Sea

In May 2007 I posted a mix of songs (The Sea and the Sand), one of which was "Warmer Weather" by a young man named Sean Atkins, performing as I Am the Lost Sea. I said in that post that this demo song showed promise.

In the 14 months between then and now, there has been more stormy weather than smooth sailing on the lost sea. Atkins wanted to put a band together and get signed to a label, but band members seemed to depart almost as quickly as he found them. A devastating personal loss plunged him into despair for months.

But that spark of promise and Atkins' perseverance are starting to pay off. There is a band now , simply The Lost Sea, and their first EP, Empty Swings on Atomic Family Records, has recently become available on iTunes. They have been playing dates in the Pittsburgh area and have several appearances scheduled this month.

Atkins writes all the songs and plays acoustic and sings. The band members are Andrew Cuneo on lead guitar (replacing Luke Bartolomeo who played on the EP but left due to health problems), Frank Schlatterer on drums (replacing interim drummer Chris Weaver), Andrew Belsick on bass, and Becki Gallagher singing harmonies as well as playing piano and organ.

All five songs on the EP, including the reworked "Warmer Weather," are the reflections of a sweet soul, with a resemblance to David Bazan with less angst and even less of his biting cynicism. The additional accompaniment and the blend of Becki's voice with Sean's have added a lot of depth to Atkins' gentle melodies. The title song and "Phone Calls" are especially nice. The group are planning to make another CD soon.

The Lost Sea: Empty Swings from Empty Swings EP (2008)

MySpace | Website | Label: Atomic Family Records
Buy: The Lost Sea's MySpace, iTunes

From The Dears' myspace:

Meltdown in A Major

This could have been a message saying that The Dears is over.

Instead:

Almost 10 years ago, The Dears made a ghetto little record called "End of A Hollywood Bedtime Story." We were a four piece back then until two dudes split right after we finished making it, leaving just me and Natalia. I called up a few people and within a month we were resurrected as a six piece. We were brand new, with a new record in hand that the others adopted as their own. We went on to make two more records, a couple of EPs and tour the world many times. Plenty of laughs. We had a couple of exits in that time but the last four years saw the same line up.

I'm not going to lie to you kids: The new Dears album has been completed since April. It is called MISSILES. We have been wandering around the music industry wilderness the whole time, trying to secure a release date for the Fall. It's getting pretty f***ed out there. We thought very seriously about doing it ourselves. But that just wasn't realistic at all. Not in the least. And our relationships with Bella Union and Arts & Crafts had run their course. So at the 11th hour, in walked Dangerbird. Our beloved MapleMusic Recordings is still there for us and will release the record in Canada while Dangerbird Records will release it everywhere else. Should be an interesting/entertaining journey.

We want to bring you this record whole and still warm. It's beautiful; that is the only way to describe it. A blues album, essentially. It's also long and kind of paced for love making, because that really makes everything better. 58 minutes, 16 seconds, 10 songs. One song is over 11 minutes, just like the old days. Come October, we encourage you to seek it out; it is worth every penny and all the dough just goes back into making more records, not buying solid gold houses. Thanks, in advance.

We had quite an experience making it and by the end, only Natalia and I were left. The band line up as you've known has come to a close and now it's just as it was when we began: Natalia and I, looking after every aspect ourselves. Trust us when we say it is for the best. The music, philosophy -- the art has been preserved with fervency. The Dears not are but is. In our mind it always has been that way, the sum of parts to create one vision. Or something like that. Personally, we feel fortunate to have a role in the birthing of every tune, in its arrival from the cosmos.

Anyway, there is a little nugget on our website, one of our faves, a soul-crushing classic: thedears.org.

We are moving to organize some live concerts for October with an almost completely new line up, as a seven piece. We've been rehearsing a couple times a week. It's a bit weird, to be honest, looking around at all the new faces. But it's incredibly exciting to hear the sounds come alive again, and for all the right reasons with all the right intentions. Be excited. It is a new beginning.

Eternal Love,
Murray + Natalia P/K/A THE DEARS

the dears: heartless romantic [buy]
the dears: end of a hollywood bedtime story [buy]

Natalia Yanchak's blog | official website | myspace

Fields

At our very first concert after we started this blog, Indie Mom and I were introduced to Fields, who opened for the Dears at the Troubadour back in October 2006. This post is also notable for our worst concert photo, taken with Indie Mom's cell phone because neither of us thought to bring a camera.

Fields had just released the last of several EPs, 7 From the Village, which was followed last year by a full-length CD, Everything Last Winter. They are now about to complete their second CD and have released the first single. Other delightful demo songs from this album are available for listening on their MySpace page.

Worst Love from unreleased 2008 CD
Sisters from 7 From the Village (2006)

MySpace | Label: Atlantic Records
Buy at Amazon.com and iTunes


Alaska In Winter


Brandon Bethancourt, AKA Alaska In Winter, was also featured in our first few months of blogging (Electronic Anthems From Alaska In Winter), and I was treated to seeing him play and meeting him in person last October (Alaska In Winter In Concert). He is one of the nicest guys you would ever meet.

After signing with Milan Records in January and completing a tour of Europe earlier this year, Bethancourt relocated to Berlin, while his first album, Dance Party in the Balkans, continues to gain recognition. One of the songs from that album, "Your Red Dress," was featured on an episode of Grey's Anatomy last season.

Bethancourt is working on his second album and has a schedule of show dates in Europe and the U.K. in September and October, and hopefully a U.S. tour will follow.

Your Red Dress from Dance Party In the Balkans (2007)
Sega Anthem Remix (unreleased demo)

MySpace | Website | Label: Milan Records
Buy at Regular Beat Store, HMV, Rough Trade, and Amazon-U.K.

I am always thrilled to hear when we've found an artist just starting out, and then they begin to move up the ladder of success. It makes me feel kind of smug and validated, like, hey! I know what I'm talking about here! Let's catch up with two of them:

Hearts of Palm UK

Their name in lights! From left: Billy Kaye, Erica Elektra, and Frankie Rose

Last September, I introduced the fresh, light sound of Hearts of Palm UK in this post. At the time the band consisted of the two "dames," Erica Elektra and her childhood friend Frankie Rose (AKA Ambi D--glockenspiel, keyboard, percussion), who had just won prize money for best "undiscovered" female music talent in America in a contest sponsored by GenArt & Biore Skin Care. They used that prize money to hire Dan Horne to co-produce with Erica the album they wanted to make. In February, I saw them open for the Helio Sequence at Spaceland. They knew at that time they would be adding at least one new member.

Fast forward to this week, and Hearts of Palm UK has grown to a three-piece with the addition of Billy Kaye on cello, autoharp, keyboard. Furthermore, the little band has just been signed by Hypnote Recording Concern, and their full-length album titled For Life is set for release October 15. It was mastered by Henrik Jonsson, who seems like a perfect fit for their electronica-with-heart style, since his other clients include Peter Bjorn and John, Robyn, The Knife, The Concretes, Camera Obscura, and Lykke Li.

The cherry on top of the sundae is that they are headlining for the first time tonight at the Echo. What a long way to go in just one year! This is the brand-new, dressed-up-and-ready-for-anything version of "People and Logistics," which first appeared on their self-released EP.

Hearts of Palm UK: People and Logistics from For Life

MySpace | Website | Label: Hypnote
See also: Soundboard (formerly L.A. Buzz Bands)


Herman Jolly

A late addition to last night's show at the Echo was Little Pieces, the new project by Seattle's Herman Jolly (center in the photo below), who I featured here back in June 2007 when he had just released his second solo album, Bunker Life. Jolly has also been a member of Hazelwood Motel, who are a fine band too.

Little Pieces released their first album, self-titled, in June, a fine, solid bunch of rockers with the playfulness of XTC and Guided By Voices and the edge of the Pixies. It includes "Candy Stairs," which Jolly also recorded on his 2007 solo album Bunker Life. I wish I could be at the Echo both nights because I would like to see these two bands, but sometimes I can't do everything I'd like to do.


Hey guys, I hope you left those jackets at home

Little Pieces: The Skier from Little Pieces (2008)
Herman Jolly: Candy Stairs from Bunker Life (2007)

MySpace | Website | Label: One Eleven Records
Buy at Amazon.com, iTunes