MP3: “Tonight is the Nite” - www.paw-tracks.com/tickley.mp3
Video: “Sex Face” - www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehLCz5LyUE4

TICKLEY FEATHER, the self-titled debut by Philadelphia’s Annie Sachs, is a collection of late night path-finding sounds, gingerly home recorded using budget electronics. Selected from the past four years, these songs are washed in effects and demonstrate a barbaric yet meticulous instrumentation, along with a paradoxically, otherworldly and natural vocal style. The resulting sounds tell a secret that feels serendipitous. The album also features a special guest: her 4-year-old son Aiden It will see the light of day via the Animal Collective’s Paw Tracks label on April 29, 2008.

Annie Sachs grew up in rural Virginia but has been living in Philadelphia for 5 years now. She has been using her time learning to write and record her own music as part of her nights spent at home, adapting to being the single mother of a young child. Sachs is a four tracking hobbyist whose musical spirit dwells in the realm of her own natural inclinations. She is a firm believer in doing what feels right, and in her recordings she really uses her solo status to great advantage. It adds up a very personal sound which involves all sorts of sensations from serendipity to silliness, and even the sweet and eerie sound of her little boy’s voice as he tells her his ideas. Her recordings have been praised by critics from the start, with comparisons to work by artists such as Syd Barrett, Kate Bush, and Gilli Smith, and all the while being given credit for having a sound that is completely its own. Now she’s coming in from the outside to share her songs and it’s precious beyond value.

Tickley Feather - S/T track list:

1. “I’ve got magic inside my bones somewhere”
2. Ooooo
3. Buttshot
4. The Python
5. Fancy Walking
6. “There’s this magic spell right inside your bones”
7. Noisey Dingle
8. Nothing 2 B sad about
9. Le Daylight
10. 1978 fast/xylophone/leaking roof
11. Night Chant
12. Keyboards is Drunk
13. Sorry Party
14. Night Train
15. Rain Bucket
16. Tonight is the Nite
17. Lookout What’s Next
18. Convention
19. “The Bone hits it with a drumstick and then your skin has a switch”
20. “I’m Magic”/ Bathtime

Press materials at: www.paw-tracks.com/tickleypresspage.html

www.myspace.com/tickleyfeather

MP3 - PWRFL POWER - “It’s Okay” http://slendermeanssociety.com/mp3/Its%20Okay.mp3
MP3 - PWRFL POWER - “Alma Song” http://slendermeanssociety.com/mp3/Alma%20Song.mp3

In spite of its populist facade, popular music still largely manages to maintain a number of strangely puritanical conventions. One exceptionally glaring case in point is the assumed mutual exclusivity of humor and “serious” music–the assumption that all “important” music is solemn, earnest, and marked with abject sincerity. Particularly in the realm of the singer/songwriter, sap and heart-sleeved sincerity are tantamount to authenticity, and humor is viewed at best as a suspicious novelty. Which is just one reason why PWRFL Power’s Kazutaka Nomura doesn’t especially care for pop conventions.

Born to an architect and a calligrapher in Hokkaido, Japan in 1984, Kaz began studying Classical and Jazz guitar at the age of 13–moving to Seattle at 18 to study musical composition. Shortly after his arrival, the diminutive and charismatic Nomura co-founded (along with two other like-minded Japanese emigres) the city-conquering, genre-defying free-improv trio Na–who, before their residency-related demise in 2006, self-released over 40 recordings, and garnered ink in Wire, Spin, and The Stranger.

Following the dissolution of his band, Nomura–now armed with a fancy music degree–decided to refine his focus: constricting his work from genre-less abandon to more traditional song structures. The result is PWRFL Power: an unconventional marriage of melodically rich, Fahey-styled acoustic virtuosity and conversational, knowingly naive lyrical abandon. With the most basic of building blocks, Nomura forges a uniquely avant-informed brand of outsider folk music–one that relies as much on impish mischief as it does on considered craft and technique.

In the year or so since his live debut, PWRFL Power has collected considerable local and national acclaim for his magnetically charming live performances–with high-profile appearances at Wham City’s Whartscape festival, and a mainstage slot at Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party (an appearance which resulted in Kaz being cast as himself in one of those weird, animated Esurance television commercials….. no, seriously–look for it in early 2008).

With his self-titled full-length debut, PWRFL Power covers considerable aesthetic strides–from contemplative sparsity to bluesy dexterity to pure pop, and on through to a number scarcely definable alleyways in between–whilst spinning loving yarns about self-acceptance, internet dating, chopstick etiquette, loathsome cats, cocaine, obsessive-compulsive text messaging, and tomato throwing. And what’s most awe-inspiring is that, in spite of this innate humor, PWRFL Power manages to transcend the potentially cloying confines of its subject matter–seemingly by sheer will–with thoughtfully constructed, elegantly played, and catchy as fuck compositions. So yes, the songs are meant to be funny. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take them seriously.

here’s a short documentary piece that appeared on the Seattle’s CW channel -
www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1374413507

PWRFL POWER - S/T (Slender Means Society) track list:

01 It’s Okay
02 Heaven, Dog, and Rainbow
03 My Bird Is Dead
04 Let Me Teach You How To Hold Chopsticks
05 Tomato Song
06 Cat Song
07 Soft Boy
08 Let’s Play Drums
09 Alma Song
10 Two Keys
11 Banana Song

Street date: March 4, 2008

PWRFL POWER TOUR DATES

2/19- Baltimore, MD @ Talking Head
2/20- Philadelphia, PA @ Inciting HQ
2/21- New York, NY @ Cake Shop
2/22- Medford, MA @ Oxfam Cafe at Tufts University
2/23- Troy, NY @ Ground Zero Basement at RPI
2/24- Syracuse, NY @ Recess Cafe
2/26- Detroit, MI @ Scrummage University
2/27- Chicago, IL @ F**k Mountain
2/28- Madison, WI @ Nottingham Co-Op
2/29- Grinnell, IA @ Bob’s Underground at Grinnell College
3/01- St. Paul, MN @ Big V’s
3/03- Missoula, MT @ The Badlander
3/04- Spokane, WA @ The Empyrean
3/05- Portland, OR @ Rotture
3/06- Seattle, WA @ The Comet Tavern
3/07- Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
3/08- Roseburg, OR @ Riversdale Grange
3/09- Eureka, CA @ The Vista
3/11- Oakland, CA @ ABCo Artspace
3/13- Napa, CA @ The Slack Ranch
3/14- Santa Rosa, CA @ The Boogie Room
3/16- Long Beach, CA @ OPEN (Matinee Show)
3/16- Los Angeles, CA @ Pehrspace
3/17- Los Angeles, CA @ Relax Bar
3/18- San Diego, CA @ Che Cafe
3/19- Phoenix, AZ @ The Trunk Space
3/20- Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture Gallery
3/21- El Paso, TX @ The Brickhouse
3/24- Albuquerque, NM @ Stove
3/25- Glenwood Springs, CO @ Eagles Lodge
3/26- Denver, CO @ Rhinoceropolis
3/27- Lincoln, NE @ Box Awesome
3/29- Kalamazoo, MI @ New Kraftbrau Space

Press materials - http://slendermeanssociety.com/pwrflpresspower.html

http://www.myspace.com/pwrflpower

Ida, a New York City band known for their quiet, even pastoral, take on urban life, has moved to the woods. Now, it seems, the woods have moved into their music. Strange buzzing sounds, incandescent acoustic drones, dissonant tone clusters of unknown origin, the distant communications of birds, and unobstructed views of the night sky suffuse the gently strummed guitars, sparse piano notes, and poignant personal narratives of Daniel Littleton, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Karla Schickele. The band released Lovers Prayers on Polyvinyl on Jan. 29th, 2008. It is Ida’s seventh full length album overall and second for Polyvinyl.

Ida found an acoustically sublime haven in Levon Helm’s home studio, a perfectly aged, completely wooden (even the nails!) structure located in the Catskill Mountains near Woodstock, NY. Ida came to affectionately refer to it as “The Barn”. After recording a song with Ida, Helm personally invited them to play at the Midnight Ramble, a near mythical concert series he hosts at his home. The “Ramble’s” informal atmosphere seems shockingly incongruous with the high caliber of renowned musicians who wander in (often unadvertised and unannounced) and proceed to tear the roof off the place on any given Saturday night. Playing at the Rambles inspired Ida to go all the way into their new “super woods, super organic, slightly mystical” style by embracing a soulful looseness, and connecting with the simple, joyful experience of playing songs for a small crowd in a sympathetic, intimate, rural setting. On one night, Helm himself sat in for Ida’s drummer who was about to give birth to her first child.

Ida began working at The Barn with their new violinist Jean Cook (Mekons) and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Ruth Keating, after completing the Heart Like a River Tour in 2005. The relaxed “clubhouse environment” and the ambiance of the space lent itself to the loose, “audio verite” feel of the sessions. Most songs were tracked “live” with few overdubs and a specific attention to natural room sounds rather than a reliance on digital effects or processing. By abandoning studio “perfectionism” in favor of a more spontaneous and experimental approach, Ida, ironically, wound up with the clearest, most dynamic recordings they have ever made.

During this time Ida worked, both live and in the studio, with another one of their all time heroes, legendary “outsider” folk singer-songwriter Michael Hurley, with whom Ida is currently collaborating on a project. Hurley, also known as “Snock”, played and sang with Ida at a Ramble wearing a “spelunking” light on his hat, and can actually be heard laughing while playing fiddle on the record! After a chance meeting at the local pharmacy, Jane Scarpantoni (R.E.M., Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright) came by The Barn and played cello. Old friend and collaborator Tara Jane O’Neil (Rodan, Papa M) contributed guitar, drums and the cover art. Innovative NYC guitarist Matt Sutton (Jennifer O’Connor) played pedal steel. Justin Guip, Levon Helm’s engineer, recorded all of the sessions at The Barn. The album was produced and mixed by Warn Defever (His Name Is Alive) and Ida, with some additional recording at the band’s home studio, ON-ME SOUND. Defever, long time Ida co-conspirator and sound alchemist, conjured up some of the transparent splendor of Joe Boyd’s late sixties and early seventies production work, with just enough ambient atmospherics, fairy dust and dirt to pull it all together. The result is Lovers Prayers, Ida’s strongest album to date.

Ida’s interest in sparseness, minimalism, and sound worlds is in abundance on Lovers Prayers, but these concerns are never at odds with their pop instincts. Ida’s music has evolved into something generous and beautiful, a synthesis of folk, rock, blues, and world music that feels singularly their own. They have made a record that is uncompromising, complex, and emotionally resonant, with enough sonic detail and depth to reward repeated listening.

If throughout their career Ida has offered up earnest meditations on love, death, art, and the complexities of representation, they have always approached these lofty cosmic and personal realms via the transfiguring of “ordinary” life, a receptivity to anomalies of experience, and the pursuit of the extraordinary in the everyday. Now, with help from some old and new friends, they have managed to make their most powerful statement: A collection of songs that invoke the proximity of the invisible and the reality of love with an earned grace that comes from experience, persistence and an undiminished enthusiasm for making sounds together.

Ida - Lovers Prayers track list:

1.Lovers Prayers
2.The Weight Of The Straw
3.The Love Below
4.Willow Tree
5.Worried Mind Blues
6.Gravity
7.For Shame Of Doing Wrong
8.First Light
9.Kora
10.Surely Gone
11.The Killers 1964
12.See The Stars
13.First Take
14.Blue Clouds

www.idamusic.com

www.myspace.com/idamusic

Press materials at:

www.polyvinylrecords.com/press/

American Music Club announce Spring tour dates
MP3: “All The Lost Souls Welcome You To San Francisco” -
www.mergerecords.com/audio/amc/SanFrancisco.mp3

American Music Club returned to the music scene in 2004 after a ten-year hiatus with a stunning new album, Love Songs for Patriots. Love Songs… was acclaimed by critics and fans a like as a triumphant return to form. Paste Magazine declared it to be: “Their best since 1991’s Everclear, and a glittering statement of purpose from an institution reinvigorated”. Most fans found themselves wondering how they had survived without them for so long! But still, many fans and critics alike could not help but wonder if Love Songs was a brilliant last grasp at glory, or whether it was dawn of a whole new era for American Music Club. We are happy to announce that the latter was definitely the case.

On February 19, 2008, Merge will release American Music Club’s ninth album, The Golden Age; a gorgeous collection of songs recorded in Los Angeles with Dave Trumfio at Kingsize Studios. Longtime AMC mainstays Vudi and Mark Eitzel recruited Los Angeles musicians, Sean Hoffman (bass, vocals) and Steve Didelot (drum, vocals), rehearsing for a month before heading into the studio. The Golden Age is a collection of smoky songs with a generous helping of heartache and, as always, Eitzel’s powerful vocals, which always seem to cut to the quick with raw emotion; moving the listener to laugh, to cry, to shout, to whisper and to shake an ineffectual fist at a world on the edge of apocalypse.

American Music Club - The Golden Age track list:

1. All My Love
2. The Victory Choir
3. The Decibels and the Little Pills
4. The Sleeping Beauty
5. The Stars
6. All The Lost Souls Welcome You To San Francisco
7. Who You Are
8. The Windows On The World
9. One Step Ahead
10. The Dance
11. I Know That’s Not Really You
12. On My Way
13. The Grand Duchess Of San Francisco

AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB

Wed 4/2/08 Independent San Francisco CA
Thu 4/3/08 Harlows Sacramento CA
Fri 4/4/08 Doug Fir Lounge Portland OR
Sat 4/5/08 Triple Door Seattle WA
Sun 4/6/08 Richards on Richards Vancouver BC
Wed 4/9/08 Aquarium Fargo ND
Thu 4/10/08 Turf Club St Paul MN
Fri 4/11/08 High Noon Saloon Madison WI
Sat 4/12/08 Schubas Tavern Chicago IL
Sun 4/13/08 Pike Room Pontiac MI
Mon 4/14/08 Cafe Bourbon Street Columbus OH
Tue 4/15/08 The Andy Warhol Museum Pittsburgh PA
Wed 4/16/08 Mohawk Place Buffalo NY
Thu 4/17/08 Lee’s Palace Toronto ON
Fri 4/18/08 Divan Orange Montreal QC
Mon 4/21/08 SPACE Gallery Portland ME
Tue 4/22/08 Harper’s Ferry Allston MA
Wed 4/23/08 Iron Horse Muisic Hall Northampton MA
Thu 4/24/08 Cafe Nine New Haven CT
Fri 4/25/08 Johnny Brendas Philadelphia PA
Sat 4/26/08 Williamsburg Music Hall Brooklyn NY
Sun 4/27/08 Mercury Lounge New York NY
Tue 4/29/08 Iota Cafe Arlington VA
Wed 4/30/08 The Arts Center Carrboro NC
Thu 5/1/08 E.A.R.L. Atlanta GA
Fri 5/2/08 The End Nashville TN
Sat 5/3/08 Hi Tone Memphis TN
Sun 5/4/08 Randy Bacon Gallery Springfield MO
Mon 5/5/08 Record Bar Kansas City MO
Tue 5/6/08 Vaudeville Mews Des Moines IA
Wed 5/7/08 Waiting Room Omaha NE
Fri 5/9/08 Larimer Lounge Denver CO
Sat 5/10/08 Urban Lounge Salt Lake City UT
Mon 5/12/08 Rhythm Room Phoenix AZ
Tue 5/13/08 Plush Tucson AZ

www.american-music-club.com

www.myspace.com/americanmusicclub

Press materials - www.mergerecords.com/presskits/MRG309/