Wednesday, May 29, 2002 Dates for Denison's tour from the West Coast to the Midwest and back are mostly up. There are some dates that are still waiting confirmation and these will be added later. All you fine west coasters will have the privilege of seeing him play and he'll be going with the amazing Rosie Thomas (SubPop). Circle of Birds has been mixed. All of these months of promises and it's finally happened. Johnathon and Dave Bazan did it up yesterday. The magical ep will be mastered Friday and then sent off for manufacturing. I am going to Puerto Rico for my day job on Sunday. I'll be there for two weeks, so there will be a slight delay in mail order. But when I return, I'll have a few new btv titles ready for pre-order from the btv store. It will be good in the end, you'll see. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 05:15 PM CST Tuesday, May 28, 2002 This is a crazy transitional week for the label. Go see Ester Drang on tour through the Southwest and on the West Coast. Lots of new things are brewing. Jamie Hunt is working on the illustration/layout for the Circle of Birds cdep/10"; Denison Witmer and his brother are compiling songs from two national tours to create a sequence for a live cd release that will be available only on tour; Ethan and I are working on the artwork/layout for the Reels of White Softly Flow live LP; our friend Brady is printing photos for Denison's Philadelphia Songs album; Denison and I are going to master said album on Friday; I will be finishing the LP layout from Brady's photos and Ethan's scans later in the week; and our dear friend Andy Bruntel is working like crazy on Denison's River Bends cdep re-issue. All American Radio's Of Fragments cd is ready and raring to go. The artwork is being tweaked by Guido and the band is slowly coming out to rock it live. Lots of work happening on one-sided LPs. And it's all for you, our dear and beloved fans. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 11:20 PM CST Friday, May 24, 2002 I saw Yume Bitsu play at Brownies in NYC on Wednesday. They had a special performance where the story accompanying their Golden Vessyl of Sound record was read and various segments of the story were acted out. Various characters were dressed as Drystonians and Mothmen. After the show, Adam played me some of the music that they recorded with the Landing for their one-sided LP. More dates have been confirmed and more details listed for Ester Drang's tour that begins on 28 May. Be sure to go out and see them play, especially at Yume Bitsu's cd release show in Portland on 5 June. My good friend Ethan printed some special silk screened tour posters to help advertise the shows. Denison Witmer is in this month's CMJ Monthly. Be sure to check that out. His Philadelphia Songs has been constantly spinning, at least the first mixes have been. You will find some different sounds on this record, as a host of guest musicians, including The Six Part Seven, add their instruments into the mix. There are many ambient sounds that ebb beneath Denison's voice and guitar melodies. We are starting to work on the final design and layout with the intentions of having the LP version be made avaible at the beginning of July, before the cd version will be available. The re-issue of the River Bends cdep, previously released by our fine friend at Velvet Blue Music, will be available at the beginning of July, along with a special tour only live cd that will feature some unreleased songs, versions, and covers and perhaps some of the stage banter which adds to the endearing quality of Witmer's live performances. Jamie Hunt is working on the Circle of Birds artwork. He has been featured in Little Engines #2 and did the artwork for Aspera's Birds Fly cdep. Johnathon is still planning to have this mixed by the end of the month and the 10"/cdep should be available at Unwed Sailor/Ester Drang shows in early July. In the one-sided LP series, AM/FM has been writing songs for their release and working on the artwork and design. They will be recording their songs at Lenola's home studio. Aspera have two songs recorded and will be working on the remaining two songs later in June. Early Day Miners should also have their songs ready in June as well. I am gearing up for a busy autumn btv release season; I hope you are, too. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 02:00 PM CST Tuesday, May 21, 2002 Today, Denison finished the mixes for Philadelphia Songs with Edan Cohen. There will be some slight adjustments made over the next two weeks or so, but things are fairly complete. This is exciting news. I am meeting up a little later tonight to hear the end result and am happy to see how things have turned out. Tomorrow night, I was supposed to go to Baltimore to see Mogwai, until I learned that the Yume Bitsu show in Philadelphia wasn't happening tonight, so I will be in NYC to see Yume Bitsu rock tomorrow. There are some complicated developments being made for their one-sided LP, so it should be very exciting. The All American Radio site has been officially relaunched. Go check it out. A few titles have been added to the new releases section of the btv on-line store, be sure to check them out. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 06:23 PM CST Monday, May 20, 2002 Apparently last night's innocence mission show had been sold out for a while. I guess I was asleep at the wheel on that information. In any case, Don Peris opened the evening, playing a few songs from Ten Silver Slide Trombones and one new song. the innocence mission played quite a few songs from Small Planes and Birds of My Neighborhood, but also reached back to play some older favorites. The sound in the Tin Angel was amazing, even way in the back where we were and I got to catch up with some old friends that I hadn't seen in years. The btv team is on the rise out of the gutter again in the indie rock baseball league. My good pal and baseball genius, Matt Stone, has helped trade for and recruit some up and coming players that are starting to finally get some good stats. Wednesday, friends and I will be in Baltimore to see Mogwai and Miighty Flashlight play at the Ottobar. For some reason, Mogwai skipped over Philadelphia and the Brooklyn show was sold out before we could get tickets and our inside connection couldn't swing special privileges for the show. You are obligated to by the new single from Múm which will be available in the on-line store in a few minutes as a 3" cd or 7". The 2x10" of Múm's Finally we are No One will also be available. The cd version will be available in another week or so. It's one of the few truly amazing records that I've heard come out so far this year. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 10:32 AM CST Sunday, May 19, 2002 This is a truly last minute post, but the innocence mission will be playing at the Tin Angel tonight, 19 May, at 7pm. Denison and I will be at the show, maybe we'll see you there. By the way, final mixes for Denison's Philadelphia Songs are supposed to complete later today or tomorrow, right on time for our mastering date on 31 May. Last night, I went to see Star Wars Episode II with a bunch of friends. I have to give it two thumbs up based on my expectations. It was a lot of fun, furthered the plot in unexpected, interesting ways, had cool special effects, and had lots of action. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 04:05 PM CST Friday, May 17, 2002 Last night, I saw Bright Eyes, The Good Life, and Mayday in the sanctuary of a unitarian church. The acoustics were pretty incredible and it was an enjoyable show. There is a one-sided LP planned to come from The Good Life, if they can find the time to get everything together. Today is National Day in Norway, my friend Emil told me that. There is a special traditional costume that many Norwegians will wear on this day as they dance and march around in the festivities. I am going to see the Star Wars movie later tonight or tomorrow. It's one of those things that just has to be done, in spite of any critical backlash. My friend Jeff is getting married tomorrow and I'll be going to the wedding. His brother and I were roommates in college for a while, when the groundwork was being placed for btv to come into existence. Jeff is also good friends with everyone who was in Somerset, one of the early btv bands. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 09:56 AM CST Wednesday, May 15, 2002 The Trouble with Sweeney Plays Karen cdep from Basement Life Records is being played on CMJ radio. Make sure to listen for it on your local CMJ station. Reels of White Softly Flow have posted some changes to their website. A live LP release is coming very very soon. Denison Witmer will be releasing a special tour only live cd that will feature songs from his fall 2001 and spring 2002 tours and will feature cover artwork from his brother, Douglas. I think he plans to have these ready in July. Also, Denison is finishing up Philadelphia Songs with some short, final sessions this week. The album will be mastered on 31 May along with Circle of Birds, if everything goes according to plan. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 12:02 PM CST Tuesday, May 14, 2002 e-mail update: :::Show Updates::: All American Radio::: 25 May : Lancaster, PA. Zoetropolis with Sadaharu and Movies with Heroes. 30 May : Lancaster, PA. French Quarter Night Club. 10pm. Ester Drang::: 28 May : Denton, TX. Rubber Gloves. 29 May : Austin, TX. Emo's. 30 May : El Paso, TX. Crossroads Coffee House 31 May : Tempe, AZ. The Lucky Dragon. 7 June : Seattle, WA. The Crocodile Cafe 2 July : Tulsa, OK. Curly's. with Pedro the Lion and Roadside Monument. The Trouble with Sweeney::: Joey Sweeney Solo with Bill Riccini 14 May : Salt Lake City, UT : Suite 13. 15 May : Denver, CO. 15th Street Tavern. 16 May : Wichita, KS. Kirby's Beer Store. 17 May : Columbia, MO. Ragtime. 18 May : Chicago, IL. Schuba's (Early Show). 19 May : Madison, WI. Catacomb Coffeehouse. 20 May : Detroit, MI. Lager House. 21 May : North Manchester, IN. The Firehouse with Trackstar. 22 May : Lexington, KY. High on Rose. 23 May : Nashville, TN. Springwater. Denison Witmer::: 16 May : Brooklyn, NY. Lillies with John Vanderslice. psalters::: 15 May : Philadelphia. Friends Center Meeting House. Peacewalk to Baghdad Benefit. 24 May : Amman, Jordan. 27 May : Syrian Desert. with Evilaxis recording artists the maji. 6 June : Baghdad, Iraq. 27 June : Philadelphia, PA. Doc Watson's with Nine Digit #. 29 June : Wilmington, OH. Joe's Java. 2-5 July : Bushnell, IL. 7 July : Bloomington, IN. The Wooden Ear with Mt. Gigantic and Anaphylaxis. 8 July : Chicago, IL. 9 July : Minneapolis, MN. 10 July : Kansas City, MO. 12 July : Denver, CO. Colorado University radio show with the Denver Gentlemen, 12pm. 13 July : Denver, CO. Mercuy Cafe with Denver Gentlemen. 14 July : Colorado Spring, CO. 15 July : Kansas City, MO. 16 July : Louisville, KY. 17 July : Cumberland, MD. John Felton and his soul mobile and John Francis Maher. ::Label News::: It's been a while since the last update. There are lots of exciting things happening at the label, so here goes... Denison Witmer has been finishing the mixes of his third full-length, Philadelphia Songs, with local Philadelphian, Edan Cohen (who recorded the recent Songs: Ohia album). After his tour, Denison recruited The Six Parts Seven to play additional parts to the foundations that were already recorded. The album is set for a fall release on cd/LP and will coincide with a full tour. In June or so, Denison's first cdep, River Bends, will be re-released on Burnt Toast Vinyl with some new artwork and packaging. More details on the re-issue when everything is finished. Denison is working on plans for June/July touring and should be on the west coast for a few shows with Rosie Thomas. Burnt Toast Vinyl will be releasing Don Peris' Ten Silver Slide Trombones to stores in July through Redeye distribution. Look for this release at a store near you then. Don is the guitarist for the innocence mission and has been involved in the production of Denison Witmer's first two full-length releases. Ten Silver Slide Trombones is an amazing record, self-catagorized as post-Vatican II folk music. It features beautiful melodies in the realm of Neil Young and Nick Drake with Don's whispy, airy voice accompanying. btv is extremely excited to be a part of this incredible release. Unwed Sailor's Firecracker has been pressed as a cdep in a special digipak, as well as on a super thick red 7". Firecracker is now available in stores. Johnathon Ford is currently on tour with Damien Jurado, T. W. Walsh, and Pedro the Lion. He's also been writing new songs with Roadside Monument. Circle of Birds (Johnathon Ford with members of Ester Drang and Lasso) is still awaiting final mixing for its release on Burnt Toast Vinyl, but plans are being made, changed, and re-made. After the tour, plans are set for Johnathon and Casey Foubert (Seldom, Pedro the Lion) to mix the album. Soon, very soon, this release will see the light as a cdep and 10" and is expected to be available directly from the band in July and in stores in September or so. Ester Drang have been busy practicing up, getting some songs in order, and preparing for some recordings. Their 7" for Zeal Recordings is still looming in the near future and plans are being made to record a new full-length in the fall or so. The Drang will be taking the West by storm in early June, so look for them if you live in that part of the U.S. Goldenwest will be released in Europe by Gentlemen Records (Switzerland) during the summer. An LP version may accompany this release. The Trouble with Sweeney has released a cdep, The Trouble with Sweeney Plays Karen and others on Basement Life Records. It will be released to retail stores through Burnt Toast Vinyl and Redeye in the beginning of June. Joey has taken the solo act to the road with friend Bill Riccini coast-to-coast and they are going everywhere. Look for them to bring the rock to a town near you. Jetenderpaul's new 7", A Casualty Too Serious To Afford, finally made it across the Atlantic to the U.S. from Norway. These songs are some amazing indie pop treasures and the vinyl turned out great. This is a co-release with Norway's Hype City Records. All pre-orders have been shipped; be sure to buy yours now if you haven't already. Jetenderpaul will release a split cdep with Norway's Loch Ness Mouse later in 2002 and will also be working on a cdep for btv for release after the split. All American Radio has not been forgotten. After struggles to find and train various drummers, the band has hit paydirt. Their completed full-length will see the light of day in the fall of 2002. The band will be playing several shows in the area and several shows out of the PA area, as well, as they get back into the swing of things. The one-sided LP series is slowly lining up. The next releases will be from Yume Bitsu, Early Day Miners, Aspera, Kind of Like Spitting and AM/FM if everything goes according to plan. Additional confirmations include Ester Drang, Unwed Sailor, Lenola, Six Parts Seven, Brother Danielson, The Good Life, The Gloria Record, Adam Voith, Erlend of Kings of Convenience project, T.W. Walsh, the Sixth Great Lake, Brandtson, and Neil Halstead. More details on each release when they are more ready. Damien Jurado's Four Songs has been distributed by Secretly Canadian and is nearly sold out, so look for this in all of the coolest vinyl-selling record shops near you. Or order direct and get it before it's too late. Damien has these LPs on tour with him, as well. Other LPs in the series will also be distributed by Secretly Canadian. Reels of White Softly Flow has finished their debut release, the first live LP only release. Things have been sent off to the factory for pressing. The band isn't officially on the label, but many old and dear friends are in the band, so the news is noteworthy. Look for them to play some live shows in June. members of psalters will be traveling to the middle east to protest Iraqi sanctions as part of a peace walk through Iraq. The group will be bringing medical supplies into Iraq in violation of the sanctions. Stop by if you happen to be in the area. They'll be playing some shows in the area, as well as out in Colorado with the Denver Gentlemen. The btv website has an extensive list of stores that carry our titles. If you are unable to find our releases in your favorite store, let them know that they can order our cd releases from Redeye and the one-sided LP releases from Secretly Canadian. :::On-line store news::: There are several new titles in the btv on-line store as well as a few specially priced combination packages available with the new Damien Jurado and Pedro the Lion releases. For lovers of music, I encourage you to check out Early Day Miners : Let Us Garlands Bring (Secretly Canadian), Mirah : Advisory Committee (K Recs), Yume Bitsu : The Golden Vessyl of Sound (K Recs), Tristeza : s/t ep (Gravity), Soul Junk : 1957 LP, and more. The store carries a wide variety of music from labels and bands that we love and recommend. Takin' care of business, :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 04:34 PM CST Monday, May 13, 2002 I met with Matt and Justin from Aspera yesterday and heard two of the songs for their one-sided LP. The recording should be done in mid-June for a release in September sometime. AM/FM is also underway with their recording that should also be done in mid-June. Lenola has just committed to participating in the one-sided LP series. They've been writing many songs for their forthcoming full-length. This is really an exciting series for me and hopefully the bands involved. 16 May 2002 : Brooklyn, NY. Denison Witmer with John Vanderslice at Lillies. I'm listening to the re-issue of Danielson Famile's A Prayer for Every Hour which is due for release by Secretly Canadian in the next month. An additional cd contains the first public danielson performance and the video for Headz in da Cloudz. This was a revolutionary record in 1995 and is still groundbreaking today. I've also been listening to Early Day Miners : Let Us Garlands Bring LP (Western Vinyl/Secretly Canadian) which sounds incredible on 180g vinyl and Yume Bitsu : The Golden Vessyl of Sound 2xLP (K Recs) which has an entire live show on the 4th side. L, :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 01:32 PM CST Friday, May 10, 2002 Yesterday, Tom Bastian (decapolis) and I had lunch with our friends in Brandtson. Tom and I work at the same place, though Brandtson just happen to be on tour in the area. It's always good to shoot the breeze with them. Their one-sided LP will hit more likely in 2003. Tonight, my friend Colin and I trek to Carlisle, PA and relive a bit of bizarre rock history as we record and produce our friends in Dr. Egg. This fine lo-fi pop outfit became something of our cult favorites circa 1994/5 when cassettes still ruled supreme as the demo form. There should be a btv e-mail update sent out later in the day to explain our current rock status, but if you've been paying close attention to these entries, you're pretty much up to date. Except that you probably don't know that all american radio is back in action. After a hiatus due to a missing drummer, the band is back and ready to rock it hard. The new record will finally be released in the fall or so and there will be much touring. Denison continues to tweak his Philadelphia Songs. I've only heard bits and pieces, so I don't have any super secret information to impart to the masses. Have I mentioned that I occassionally do reviews for www.tidalwavemag.com? In last week's issue, I had a featured review for Destroyer's Streethawk: A Seduction. One of my recent favorites. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 10:19 AM CST Tuesday, May 7, 2002 Last night, I was at the TLA in Philadelphia to see Pedro the Lion, Damien Jurado/Gathered in Song, and T.W. Walsh rock it loud and hard. Great show, as expected, and was a little smoother than the NYC show. Why do people at the bar at the TLA always talk so much? Who pays $12 for a show ticket to talk through it all? I don't get it. It is a growing pet peeve of mine. This is why shows in NYC are consitently better than Philadelphia. Yeah yeah yeah, listen to me rant like a bitter old man. Anyhow, it was good to see everyone again and I got more time to chat with everyone and see some old friends. I'm going to visit Denison tonight in the studio to evaluate his progress on Philadelphia Songs. The re-design for River Bends will be done by the end of the month, our graphic hero Andy has sworn. So, the re-issue will be available from Denison and the btv site in late June and in stores sometime later over the summer. New Yume Bitsu LPs and Early Day Miner cd/LPs will be available in the on-line store sooner than soon. Buy them now (from me or elsewhere). You need these records to survive. It's true. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 02:47 PM CST Monday, May 6, 2002 I was in NYC last night to see Damien Jurado and Gathered in Song lash out with some hefty rock. T.W. Walsh began the show in a definitely over-the-top rock performance, as well, much different from the previous times I'd seen him play. The set was short and sweet. Pedro the Lion wrapped up the evening, playing many songs from Control, as well as a few classic hits. Seeing Damien rock so very hard was definitely the highlight of the night. The band played many songs from their recent I Break Chairs album and a couple from Ghost of David, with Damien beginning the set with a couple solo songs, including a very dark folk murder ballad. Johnathon (Unwed Sailor, Circle of Birds) was there to support each of the three bands and it was excellent to chat with him and everyone else in the bands. Tonight, the blistering rock comes to the TLA in Philadelphia. If you're home and not at the show, this is the true definition of loser. A friend sent me a bootleg copy of Múm's new album, Finally We are No-one. It is entirely amazing, beautiful melodies, lofty vocals, crisp beats and many synths. It's been playing over and over again. :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 11:02 AM CST Saturday, May 4, 2002 So much has happened since I last posted some news, so this will be a longer update. I've been away for almost two weeks. My grandmother died and I flew back home to Indiana. When I got back, I went to all of the festivities for my friends Scott and Jane's wedding. It was a beautifully informal outdoor event, very laid back and perfect weather. We all sent them off at a Sunday brunch and then I went to NC for a week for work. I did manage to see The Faint play at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC, which ended up being a treat. I have been slightly disappointed by their latest, Danse Macabre, after being impressed by the previous, Blank Wave Arcade. The band was amazing when they kept the crunchy synths and rocking beats, less interesting when they tried to play more straight rock songs. I got to visit the home of our distributors, Redye, who are in nearby Graham, NC. It's always nice to put faces to names. Represses of Ester Drang's Goldenwest and Denison Witmer's The '80s ep are nearly complete and will be in stores very shortly, for those who have noticed these missing. Also, Huntington's Rock 'n' Roll Habits for the New Wave has been re-pressed and sent out to stores. It has an updated color scheme, less pink, more black. I think it is an improvement. Updated versions of The Trouble with Sweeney's Dear Life will be ready in a week or so and will have a blue/grey color scheme, rather than the previous pink/green retro '80s preppy throwback look that, while ironically cool, wasn't necessarily the best choice in colorings schemes in these ought years. My friend managed to score some tickets to the sold out Belle & Sebastian show last night (she was my hero for that) so I landed at the airport at 7 and made it to the show by 8. I missed a little of The Aisler's Set, one of my favorite pop bands with releases on Slumberland and now Suicide Squeeze, but was impressed by the songs even from the nose bleed seats. Belle & Sebastian were quite good, a little sloppier than the records but more entertaining. Stuart came out on stage in boxing trunks as the band played the theme to Rocky. Philadelphia loved this and it went a little of the way to make up for B&S cancellation of their previous show in '98 or '99. I remember waiting in the hall for about 2 hours until they cancelled it. It left a bad, anti-B&S taste in my mouth for quite a while. In any case, seeing them improved my relationship with the band's songs. In the middle, they gave out a big box of t-shirts and some buttons to try and soothe the wounds. There's something to be said about classiness like that. After the show, a bunch of us went to see Spiderman in a trashy West Phila theatre that I had vowed to never go to again. It was okay, since there were a lot of us. The movie was enjoyable for a midnight movie, not as great as some of the reviews I'd read suggested, but better than a lot of current movies. Willem Dafoe is one of the best psychotic villains ever. So I guess that sums up a lot of what I've been up to. I will be visiting Denison and Edan Cohen (producer of the recent Songs:Ohia record) in the studio later today to hear some of the close-to-finished songs from Philadelphia Songs. Sunday and Monday, I will be catching Damien Jurado with Pedro the Lion and T.W. Walsh in NYC and Philadelphia. Johnathon Ford (Unwed Sailor, Circle of Birds) is playing in the Jurado and Pedro bands, so that's really exciting and T.W. Walsh will be doing a one-sided LP at some point in the one-sided series. The Six Parts Seven have also committed to a one-sided LP that will be recorded later in the summer and released in Winter 2003 or so. By the way, Burnt Toast Vinyl will be re-releasing Don Peris' Ten Silver Slide Trombones to stores on 2 July. Look for that at a store near you, especially members of the Coalition of Independent Music Stores. As always, this is available from the btv on-line store. The Trouble with Sweeney : Plays Karen and others cdep will be distributed to stores through Burnt Toast Vinyl and Basement Life Records in June, so look for that in stores, as well. It should be available on-line later this weekend or on Monday. Don't forget to see Joey on his massive coast-to-coast tour. Dates are listed in the touring section here and on The Trouble With Sweeney website. much love, :::scott::: Posted by Scott @ 02:40 PM CST [ Archives ]