Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Red Sparowes launch EU / UK headlining tour


Los Angeles epic, heavy quintet Red Sparowes launch an extensive European and UK headlining tour next week. The band is currently supporting its third full-length album, The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies The Answer which was released earlier this year via Sargent House in North America and Conspiracy Records in Europe. Head of Wantastiquet, the alter-ego of Paul Labrecque of Sunburned Hand of the Man supports on all dates. See complete tour dates and album details below.

Check out the first MP3 track off the album, "Giving Birth To Imagined Saviors" posted HERE. A video teaser for the album has also been posted HERE.

With two previous albums, a string of split releases, multiple U.S. and European tours, and a number of line-up changes under their belt, Red Sparowes have issued their most impressive creation to date, The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer.

Though Red Sparowes’ music thrives unbound by narrative, the band provides a roadmap to their muse. Their 2005 debut album, At The Soundless Dawn, cast the scientific inevitability of the Sixth Extinction into a grand funeral oration, revealing the message within the individual track titles. Their second full-length, Every Red Heart Shines Toward the Red Sun (2006) provided a synopsis of the Great Sparrow campaign of the Great Leap Forward, laying bare its conceptual role. The Aphorisms EP (2008 digital, 2009 12" vinyl) served a thematic precursor to the new album.

Red Sparowes' latest offering, The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer, began with the larger existential pondering of truth, faith, order, causality, and the innate demand for an understanding of the larger world around us. While Red Sparowes’ majesty is hardly in need of story, the provision of the larger metaphor yields a heightened depth and gravity to their work.

Red Sparowes tour:

09/27   Warsaw, PL @ Hydrozagadka
09/28   Gydnia, PL @ Uchio
09/29   Poznan, PL @ Pod Minoga
09/30   Berlin, DE @ Berghain
10/02   Malmo, SE @ Babel
10/04   Stockholm, SE @ Debaser Slussen
10/05   Oslo, NO @ John Dee
10/06   Goteborg, SE @ Pusterviksbaren
10/07   Hamburg, DE @ Hafenklang
10/08   Holland, NL @ W2 Den Bosch
10/09   Antwerp, BE @ Trix  #
10/10   London, UK @ Scala
10/11   Birmingham, UK @ Hare and Hounds
10/12   Dublin, IE @ Crawdaddy
10/13   Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
10/14   Glasgow, UK @ Stereo
10/16   Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie ^
10/17   Bordeaux, FR @ L’Heretic
10/18   Nantes, FR @ L’Olympic
10/20   Madrid, ES @ Ritmo Y Compas
10/21   Barcelona, ES @ La (2) de Apolo
10/22   Lyon, FR @ Grrrnd Zero
10/23   Bulle, CH @ Ebullition
10/24   Milano, IT @ Bloom Mezzago
10/25   Roma, IT @ Traffic Live
10/26   Bologna, IT @ Locomotiv
10/27   Ljubljana, SI @ Menza Pri Koritu %
10/28   Vienna, AT @ Szene
10/29   Munich, DE @ Felerwerk
10/30   Innsbruck, AT @ PMK
10/31   Karlsruhe, DE @ Jubez **
11/01   Prague, CZ @ Matrix Club **
11/03   Thessaloniki, GR @ Eightball Club
11/04   Athens, GR @ Gagarin

All shows with Head of Wantastiquet
% with No Age, Abe Vigoda
# with Imaad Wasif
^ with Monno
** with Knut


Artist: Red Sparowes
Album: The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer
Label: Sargent House
Release Date: April 6, 2010

01. Truths Arise
02. In Illusions of Order
03. A Hail of Bombs
04. Giving Birth to Imagined Saviors (MP3)
05. A Swarm
06. In Every Mind
07. A Mutiny
08. As Each End Looms and Subsides

Hi-res photos, cover art and bio:

On the Web:


Members of Red Sparowes are available for interviews. For more information, please contact Cathy Pellow at cathy@usthemgroup.com or Dave Clifford at dave@usthemgroup.com

Friday, September 17, 2010

Pitchfork premieres video for Zach Hill's "The Primitives Talk" from forthcoming solo album with impressive guests




Click image above to watch video






Massively talented and incessantly collaborative drummer Zach Hill (see a semi-comprehensive list of projects here) has released a new video and MP3 from his forthcoming second solo album, Face Tat. Pitchfork posted the video for "The Primitives Talk" today (also posted on YouTube). The mind-searing video was directed by visual artist Steph Davidson. Meanwhile, the song is also available as a FREE download via Amazon.com throughout September.

The 13-track album features an impressive list of contributors, including Devendra Banhart, No Age (Dean Spunt and Randy Randall), Guillermo Scott Herren (Prefuse 73), Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), Carson McWhirter (Hella), Nick Reinhart (Tera Melos, Bygones) and Robby Moncrieff (Raleigh Moncrieff). 


Face Tat will be available everywhere on October 19th, 2010 via Sargent House










Artist: Zach Hill

Album Title: Face Tat
Label: Sargent House 
Release date: October 19th, 2010
Track List:
01. Memo To the Man (MP3)
02. The Primitives Talk (MP3) (VIDEO) (YouTube)
03. Ex-Ravers
04. The Sacto Smile (VIDEO)
05. Green Bricks (VIDEO)
06. House of Hits
07. Jackers
08. Burner In the Video
09. Dizzy From the Twins
10. Gross Sales
11. Total Recall
12. Face Tat
13. Second Life

On the Web:


Zach HIll is available for interviews. For more information, please contact Dave Clifford at dave@usthemgroup.com

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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Bee vs. Moth release new album, announce tour dates

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 8th, 2010




“Hard ear candy for your soft inner child.” -- Audra Schroeder, Austin Chronicle

Austin, Texas' wild and brassy quintet Bee vs. Moth has released its latest album, Acronyms this week on CD and digital download. U.S. tour dates have also been released (see below), kicking off in late September. 

Bee vs. Moth exists somewhere between Tom Waits' rumpled New Orleans jazz and a maniacal Beirut gone instrumental: the melodies are strong and boisterous yet the music is subtle and clever. The band has one foot in the world of jazz and creative improvisation, and the other firmly planted on a distortion pedal. With surprising instrumentation, innovative songwriting, quirky melodies, and a healthy sense humor, Bee vs. Moth plays music that defies traditional categories. 

Check out MP3s for "Salisbury Steakhouse" (HERE) and "I Listen To Coffee All Day" (HERE). Watch the video for "Ugly Is the New Black" HERE

Bassist Philip Moody and drummer Sarah Norris started Bee vs. Moth with a pile of odd music they wrote together, and in 2004 began performing around Austin. The band has since grown into a five-piece ensemble with ambitious arrangements featured in film and television scores, original videos, and live shows in Austin and throughout the country. Bee vs. Moth’s second studio album, Acronyms, was released on September 6th, 2010. The record follows the band’s 2007 debut, Soundhorn, and 2009’s Turkey Sandwiches, an online release of recordings made live on tour.

Bee vs. Moth’s upcoming calendar is full of new projects. A fall Midwestern tour follows on the heels of the record release. Live action and animated music videos directed by Stephen Floyd and Jessica Dreesen will feature tracks from Acronyms. Two of the band’s songs are featured in the 2010 season of the PBS series Roadtrip Nation. In conjunction with Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, the band will write and perform an original score for the 1928 Buster Keaton classic, The Cameraman.

Bee vs. Moth’s musical family is a big one. Band members perform and collaborate with Austin projects Benko, The Invincible Czars, My Education, Flying Balalaika Brothers, New Music Co-op, Golden Hornet Project, and others. In 2011, Bee vs. Moth will re-imagine the symphonic masterpiece Pictures at an Exhibition and score this Mussorgsky / Ravel classic for a double band with The Invincible Czars.

Bee vs. Moth live:
09/10    Austin, TX @ Scoot Inn
09/23    Austin, TX @ Red 7
09/30    Tulsa, OK @ The Soundpony
10/01    Hot Springs, AR @ Maxine's 
10/02    Columbia, MO @ The Blue Fugue
10/03    Wichita, KS @ Kirby's Beer Store
10/04    Omaha, NE @ The Pizza Shoppe Collective
10/05    Milwaukee, WI @ Linneman's Riverswest Inn
10/06    Madison, WI @ The Frequency
10/07    Chicago, IL @ Reggie's Music Joint
10/08    St. Louis, MO @ Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center
10/09    Denton, TX @ Andy's Bar
10/16    Austin, TX @ U.S. Art Authority (local record release party for Acronyms)




Artist: Bee vs. Moth
Album: Acronyms
Label: Aggraveire Music
Release Date: September 6th, 2010

01. Salisbury Steakhouse (MP3)
02. Now More Than Ever
03. Tuesday in Tuskegee
04. Peter Benko
05. The Sky and the Dirt Earth
06. All Hail Freedonia
07. ICP on Parade
08. Mexican Noise Soda
09. Pennies from Hell
10. I Listen to Coffee All Day (MP3)
11. Gor's Apparatus
12. Ugly is the New Black (VIDEO)

On the Web:


Bee vs. Moth are available for interviews. For more information, please contact Dave Clifford at dave@usthemgroup.com

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Tera Melos unleash Patagonian Rats, Wired.com premieres exclusive video for "Frozen Zoo"







Click image above to watch video





Sacramento genre-benders Tera Melos release their highly-anticipated full-length Patagonian Rats today. In celebration of the album's release, Wired.com has posted the exclusive premiere of the mind-boggling new video from the album for the song "Frozen Zoo" (watch it HERE.) Additionally, fans can stream the entire album courtesy of AOL Spinner all week long, and download an MP3 of "Frozen Zoo" -- Spinner's MP3 Of The Day.

Tera Melos launch a full North American headlining tour later this week in support of Patagonian Rats, with dates in Japan to follow in October. The Japanese tour includes dates with Mike Watt and the Missing Men. Please see full dates listed below.

Both the videos for "Frozen Zoo" and the first clip previously released for the song "The Skin Surf" were directed by Behn Fannin (The Melvins, Nurses). Watch "The Skin Surf" HERE.

Have Tera Melos gone… pop? Well, no….but yes. Much like the trio's intricate and complex song structures, it's not quite that simple. Tera Melos' songs have traditionally been densely packed with so many wild shifts of time signature and chord structures that guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Nick Reinhart jokes they were sounds that, "only wizards could decipher." 


Patagonian Rats is packed with melodic hooks and jabs that on paper might seem to defy the band's experimental edge. There's even clear and distinct vocals throughout -- a first for the band, where vocals, if any, were previously awash with distortion and layered in the mix. But, particulars aside, Patagonian Rats is the type of album that sticks with you.

Occasionally, "pop" music has really meant daring music. Like the Beach Boys in the late 60s, The Clash in the 70s, Devo in the 80s, Flaming Lips in the 90s -- the greatest artists have dared to make music that is hooky while also being groundbreaking. Patagonian Rats evokes images of bizarre and fantastic alternate realities. Think about the first time you heard "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys; jarring collisions of a cappella harmonies, tremolo-washed bass and chirping theremin. The key is not to understand it, but to let the music transform everyday reality into something new. And, that is the essence of Patagonian Rats.

Tera Melos formed in 2004 as a quartet, releasing their first self-titled disc in 2005 (later re-released by Sargent House in 2008). The band became a trio in late 2006, releasing the Drugs to the Dear Youth EP early the following year. A split disc with By The End of Tonight (2007) on Temporary Residence and an EP of cover songs, Idioms, Vol 1 followed in 2009. In the meantime, Reinhart collaborated with prolific drummer Zach Hill under the band name bygones, releasing the by- album in 2009 and Spiritual Bankruptcy EP in 2010, both on Sargent House. Clardy has also recently spent downtime as the touring drummer with guitar goddess Marnie Stern.

Patagonian Rats is available everywhere via Sargent House on September 7th, 2010. 





Tera Melos on tour:
09/09   Sacramento, CA @ Sol Collective
09/10   Seattle, WA @ The Vera Project
09/11   Portland, OR @ The Artistery
09/12   Reno, NV @ HSS Rainshadow
09/14   Englewood, CO @ Moe’s
09/15   Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown
09/16   St. Louis, MO @ The Firebird
09/17   Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
09/18   Kalamazoo, MI @ The Strutt
09/20   Toronto, ON @ The Shop at Parts and Labour
09/21   Montreal, QC @ Bar St. Laurent II
09/22   Binghamton, NY @ Bazooka/Bazooka
09/23   Brooklyn, NY @ Death By Audio
09/24   Richmond, VA @ The Camel
09/25   Durham, NC @ Duke University
09/26   Columbus, SC @ The Whig
09/27   Atlanta, GA @ Wonderroot
09/28   Mobile, AL @ Alabama Music Box
09/29   New Orleans, LA @ The Big Top
09/30   Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s
10/01   Dallas, TX @ The Nightmare
10/02   San Antonio, TX @ The Korova
10/03   Austin, TX @ Mohawk
10/05   Phoenix, AZ @ Trunk Space
10/07   San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill

10/11   Okayama, JP @ Pepperland
10/12   Fukuoka, JP @ Graf
10/13   Kyoto, JP @ Metro
10/17   Rappongi, JP @ Superdeluxe *
10/18   Yamagata, JP @ Sandinista * 
10/19   Aomori, JP @ Sublime *
10/20   Morioka, JP @ Club Change *
10/21   Sendai, JP @ Park Square * 
10/22   Toyama, JP @ Club Mairo *





Artist: Tera Melos
Album: Patagonian Rats
Label: Sargent House
Release Date: September 7th, 2010





01. So Occult

02. Kelly
03. The Skin Surf (VIDEO)
04. Aped
05. Trident Tail
06. Frozen Zoo (MP3) (any file format) (VIDEO)
07. In Citrus Heights
08. Skywatch
09. Party With Gina
10. Another Surf
11. Westham United
12. A New Uniform/Patagonia


Hi-Res photos, cover art and bio:

On the Web:

Tera Melos are available for interviews. For more information, please contact Dave Clifford at dave@usthemgroup.com

# # #






Friday, September 3, 2010

Zach Hill releases second free MP3 from forthcoming solo album with impressive guests (including Devendra Banhart and members of No Age, Prefuse 73, Deerhoof, Tera Melos)








Massively talented and incessantly collaborative drummer Zach Hill (see a semi-comprehensive list of projects here) has released a new MP3 from his forthcoming second solo album, Face Tat. The track, "The Primitives Talk" will be available as a FREE download via Amazon.com throughout September.

The 13-track album features an impressive list of contributors, including Devendra Banhart, No Age (Dean Spunt and Randy Randall), Guillermo Scott Herren (Prefuse 73), Greg Saunier (Deerhoof), Carson McWhirter (Hella), Nick Reinhart (Tera Melos, Bygones) and Robby Moncrieff (Raleigh Moncrieff). 

Pitchfork has posted the latest video off the album, featuring a woman on a violent rampage set to the tune "The Sacto Smile". Watch it HERE. The song features co-writers Spunt and Randall of No Age as well as Tera Melos guitarist Nick Reinhart, who also plays with Hill in the duo, Bygones

The first MP3 from Face Tat, "Memo To the Man" is also still available HERE. The song features Greg Saunier of Deerhoof double-drumming with Hill, along with Reinhart on guitar. 

Zach Hill explains the origins of Face Tat in his own words:

"This record was titled prior to any of its music being made, based on an article I had read about people with facial tattoos potentially having a higher suicide rate than those without. I have friends with facial tattoos who are some of the most positive people I know, and have friends & family without facial tattoos that have taken their own lives within this past year. I found that idea very interesting and metaphorical on many levels -- whether true or not -- and began using my personal thoughts on this as a muse/concept that could be applied to many different contexts. Musically, socially, politically, the Internet, whatever else… generally the idea/concept of 'platforms'.

"These thoughts were just a starting point and motivation for me though. The music itself is of course the focal point. This started from myself and friends making the kind of abrasive/forward music in 'pop' form I'd want to hear, but hadn't. There's an emphasis on experimenting with 'destroying' sounds so that the source of  the melody, rhythms, vocals, etc., is not recognizable or traceable, and then building these things into abstract forms of pop music with conventional structures. Some of the most melodic aspects to this recording are coming from things like the sound of pissing/urinating on a stack of Rolling Stone magazines (I have a subscription), kicking in the screen of a computer, arguments on the street, etc.

"Lyrically, many of the songs started from me writing down a lot of out-of-context sentences I'd hear in passing or from personal exchanges that I found really visual, stimulating or to which I felt a connection. So, I wrote stories out of things I'd gathered -- in line at the store, in a dream, visiting family in jail, after a show, on a plane, talking with the homeless, etc. -- and formed them into songs and shaped them into subjects that I relate to. I like the idea of making these very real but obscure moments that are otherwise unknown or gone forever into their own weird little worlds. So, I'm very stoked about this record & I'm very excited for other people to hear it and as always I hope that people will gain something positive from it."






Face Tat will be available everywhere on October 19th, 2010 via Sargent House






Artist: Zach Hill
Album Title: Face Tat
Label: Sargent House 
Release date: October 19th, 2010

Track List:
01. Memo To the Man (MP3)
02. The Primitives Talk (MP3)
03. Ex-Ravers
04. The Sacto Smile (VIDEO)
05. Green Bricks (VIDEO)
06. House of Hits
07. Jackers
08. Burner In the Video
09. Dizzy From the Twins
10. Gross Sales
11. Total Recall
12. Face Tat
13. Second Life




On the Web:


Zach HIll is available for interviews. For more information, please contact Dave Clifford at dave@usthemgroup.com

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