Asthmatic Kitty is pleased to offer the masses Grampall Jookabox’s Rill Bruh EP which is now available on the Asthmatic Kitty website for free download. Rill Bruh, released in collaboration with Joyful Noise Recordings is the most convenient and cost-effective way to become familiar with the sound of ghetto-folkster, Grampall Jookabox. This free digital EP contains several remixes and out-takes from two or so years of musical development leading up to Grampall Jookabox’s second album Ropechain. In addition, Rill Bruh also contains one compelling selection from the said album, titled a “The Girl Ain’t Preggers”. Possibly more than any other track on Grampall Jookabox’s Ropechain, “The Girl Ain’t Preggers” has the absolute sincerity and unselfconscious authenticity of an old time blues song, yet somehow regurgitated in a way that sounds more akin to the club music of the future. The elusive tribal, trashcan-banging musical accompaniment to the song’s story smacks of raw, primeval tang. Old time handclapping, hip-smackingly drive the percussion over which the strings and vocals flow and flower in unpredictably pleasing harmonies.
TRACKLIST
GRAMPALL JOOKABOX Rill Bruh EP
01. The Girl Ain’t Preggers
02. Ponta (Deppchef Remix)
03. Peace Attack
04. Air Penance
05. That Steamboat Gothic Stomp
06. Tic Tac Sumac (Future Rapper/ Liz Janes Remix)
07. Bad Wis My ‘Sploder
08. That Steamboat Gothic Stomp (Ero Remix)
GRAMPALL JOOKABOX
Saturday 2008-09-06 Indianapolis, IN - Spin w/ Mudkids, Twilight
Sentinals, and Christian Taylor of AOTM))
Monday 2008-09-08 Chicago, IL - Hideout w/ PWRFL Power
Tuesday 2008-09-09 Dekalb, IL - House Cafe w/ PWRFL Power
Wednesday 2008-09-10 Iowa City, IA - Public Space One w/ PWRFL Power
Thursday 2008-09-11 Grinnell, IA - Gardner Lounge w/ PWRFL Power
Saturday 2008-09-13 Morisson, CO - Monolith Festival w/ PWRFL Power and More!
Sunday 2008-09-14 Morisson, CO - Monolith Festival w/ PWRFL Power and MORE!
Monday 2008-09-15 Stillwater, OK - The Vault w/ PWRFL Power
Tuesday 2008-09-16 Kansas City, MO - Record Bar w/ PWRFL Power
Wednesday 2008-09-17 Columbia, MO - Mojo’s w/ PWRFL Power
Thursday 2008-09-18 St. Louis, MO - Billiken w/ PWRFL Power
Friday 2008-09-19 Madison, WI - Forward Music Festival w/ PWRFL Power
Saturday 2008-09-20 Urbana, IL - Pygmalion w/ PWRFL Power
Sunday 2008-09-21 Louisville, KY - Skul Alley w/ PWRFL Power
Monday 2008-09-22 Bloomington, IN - Cinemat w/ PWRFL Power
Tuesday 2008-09-23 Pittsburgh, PA - Brillobox w/ PWRFL Power
Wednesday 2008-09-24 Washington, D.C. - The Hosiery w/ PWRFL Power
Thursday 2008-09-25 Philadelphia, PA - The Green Line w/ PWRFL Power
Friday 2008-09-26 Brooklyn, NY - Death By Audio w/ PWRFL Power
Saturday 2008-09-27 New York, NY - Cake Shop w/ PWRFL Power
Sunday 2008-09-28 Boston, MA - PA’s Lounge w/ PWRFL Power
Thursday 2008-10-02 Montreal - Canada - Pop Montreal
Grampall Jookabox Ropechain
(Asthmatic Kitty / Joyful Noise)
Street Date: Nov. 4, 2008
1. Black Girls
2. Let’s Go Mad Together
3. Ghost
4. Old Earth, Wash My Beat
5. The Girl Ain’t Preggers
6. You Will Love My Boom
7. I Will Save Young Michael
8. The One Thing
9. We Know We Might Be Fucked
10. Strike Me Down
11. I’m Absolutely Freaked Out
Partisan Records is ecstatic to announce the signing of Deer Tick. Partisan will re-issue Deer Tick’s debut War Elephant on November 25, 2008. The re-issue will be released on both double limited edition vinyl and CD with new album artwork. Partisan Records will also be releasing a full-length album of early original Deer Tick songs at a later date.
Songwriting prodigy John McCauley III wrote and recorded War Elephant at the age of 20, and plays every single instrument on the album. Originally a very limited release, the album received immense praise from top national critics like The New York Times and NPR, but quickly went out of print. The War Elephant re-issue will also represent the first ever vinyl release from Deer Tick.
Also, be sure to check out the band’s Daytrotter session from earlier this year here.
Deer Tick will join The Felice Brothers on tour this October. For guest list or more information, please contact Force Field PR
Praise for Deer Tick:
“Deer Tick’s War Elephant ended up being one of my favorite addictions of 2007″ - Brooklyn Vegan
“The lone singer with a guitar will always be an icon of American folk music, but modern American folk is a diverse and rich genre that branches into rock, country and blues. Deer Tick understands this…” - NPR
“I got lucky and stumbled onto Deer Tick” - Jon Pareles, The New York Times
“There is plenty about Deer Tick’s debut album, War Elephant, to suggest that frontman John McCauley has seen more than his 21 birthdays.” - Pitchfork
DEER TICK
08/22 Las Vegas, NV Dreaming of Lions House
09/05 Providence, RI The Hot Club
10/09 Princeton, NJ Princeton University*
10/10 Pittsburgh, PA Club Café (early)*
10/15 Oxford, MS Proud Larry’s*
10/16 Birmingham, AL Workplay*
10/20 Lubbock, TX Bash Riprocks
10/22 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour*
10/23 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall*
10/24 Portland, OR Mission Theatre*
10/25 Seattle, WA Chop Suey*
10/26 Boise, ID Visual Arts Collective
10/27 Salt Lake City, UT The Paladium*
10/28 Boulder, CO Fox Theatre & Café*
11/02 New York, NY Spiegeltent*
* = w/ The Felice Brothers
Deer Tick War Elephant
(Partisan)
Street date: Nov. 25, 2008
01. Ashamed
02. Art Isn’t Real (City of Sin)
03. Standing At The Threshold
04. Dirty Dishes
05. Long Time
06. Nevada
07. Baltimore Blues No. 1
08. These Old Shoes
09. Not So Dense
10. Spend The Night
11. Diamond Rings 2007
12. Sink Or Swim
13. Christ Jesus
14. What Kind of Fool Am I?
After quietly releasing a number of highly-praised, mostly hand-traded cult releases over several years, Stars Like Fleas re-emerged recently with new clothing, sonic plastic surgery, and a desire to shed its underground trappings and engage audiences in the flesh. Almost instantly creating a stir and an overnight name for themselves in the overcrowded and sentiment-suspicious Brooklyn music scene, the Fleas began selling out exponentially larger shows in secret spaces as well as established venues. The group now has a brand new label home in the US, the esteemed Hometapes label which released the band’s third album, The Ken Burns Effect on June 3, 2008.
Stars Like Fleas may truly represent a new branch on America’s phylogenetic musical tree, distinguishing themselves through an unlikely alchemy where anxiety and confrontation accompany something candid, joyous and unashamedly romantic. In already-mythic, transformational performances (praised in The Wire, Time Out, the Village Voice, etc, and countless blogs), Stars Like Fleas create music of its own haunted species; as accessible and humane as it is unsettling and extreme.
The Ken Burns Effect, a document of the band’s growth over the past year, is an iconoclastic but more immediate, organic and lush album than its predecessors Sun Lights Down On The Fence, and Took The Ass For A Drive. When Fleas-fan, the composer Nico Muhly (arranger to Björk, Grizzly Bear, and Antony & The Jonsons) helped pass along early recordings drafts from The Ken Burns Effect to Björk producer/collaborator Valgeir Sigurðsson, the band were invited to Iceland to complete the record with him.
FUN FACT: Stars Like Fleas features (ex) members/contributors of TV on the Radio, Scarlett Johansson’s band, The Fiery Furnaces, Beirut, Tall Firs, Celebration, Mercury Rev, The Silent League and additional contributions by Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle, Sean Lennon, Fantomas)
STARS LIKE FLEAS
08.22.08 The Stone New York, NY
09.10.08 The Bug Jar Rochester, NY
09.11.08 The Casbah Lounge Hamilton, ONT
09.12.08 The Music Gallery Toronto, ONT
09.13.08 The Ford Plant Brantford, ONT
09.14.08 Lab.Synthese Montreal, QC
09.15.08 No Radio Records Ithaca, NY
09.16.08 Brillobox Pittsburgh, PA *
09.17.08 Grog Shop Cleveland, OH *
09.18.08 The Empty Bottle Chicago, IL #
09.20.08 Forward Music Festival Madison, WI
09.21.08 The DAAC Grand Rapids, MI
09.22.08 Oberlin College Oberlin, OH
10.04.08 Market Hotel, Brooklyn, NY $
10.17.08 Iceland Airwaves Festival Reyjkavik, Iceland
11.09.08 Le Poisson Rouge New York, NY
* = w/ High Places
# = w/ Adventure
$ = w/ Dark Meat
Watch some Stars Like Fleas videos:
What the press has said about The Ken Burns Effect:
“A dreamy experimental-pop band that pushes against band-ness — [the] new record has an eerie power — an original and mysterious record” - Ben Ratliff, The New York Times
“”[Notable Release - 8/10] dreamy and calamitous — loaded with soft vocals, harsh noise, and an utterly unpredictable drift from gorgeously plaintive country-folk balladry to explosive outbursts of distortion and bludgeoning drums — deeply confounding — a journey worth taking” - Under The Radar
“[with] tracks that drift from beautiful symphonies to discordant pandemonium on a whim, the album stands as a work of mad genius” - NPR (Second Stage)
“TOP TEN: both accessible as your average indie rock band and puzzling as the most abstract soundscapes — In the hands of some artists, a combination like this would spell disaster. Here, a perfect balance has been struck between conceptual electronics and emotionally weighted songwriting” - XLR8R
“Your first listen to The Ken Burns Effect — is kind of like your first kiss. It’s hard to describe in a few words. You feel a little confused, a little elated, a little unsatisfied — The disorientation makes you giddy — The addictive, come-hither quality doesn’t fade away — you have heard other “experimental bands,” [but] this is a new kind of energy.” - Nylon Magazine
“one of the year’s most ambitious and daring records — Sometimes, I think The Ken Burns Effect deserves a 10.0. Sometimes, it feels like a 2.0. You might hate it. You might love it. But you need to hear it” - Pitchfork
“When I first heard ‘I Was Only Dancing’ it moved me to tears — this really is a special piece of music. Song of the year so far” - MP3Hugger.com
“[a] stunningly beautiful ride, experimental passages blending seamlessly into welcoming billows of pure melody — The Ken Burns Effect makes me dream.” - Dusted Magazine
“Here’s your new favorite band: their album is under an hour and it swallows universes whole” -Cokemachineglow
“[full of] lushly-orchestrated pop epics — “I Was Only Dancing,” is a precise audio replication of a cloudburst falling on parched earth, sandwiched between slices of warm sunlight. Bathe/bask in it and you’ll see why it’s already one of my favorites of the year” -3hive
“nothing short of astonishing — Moments of hushed meditative intensity erupt into howling storms of futility — Mahlerian in scope and sound” -SOUNDSECT
“Stars Like Fleas is the best band in New York — one of those rarest of albums that completely defies any comparison — They take more risks than is probably advisable, and sometimes their shows flirt with disaster, but more often than not they create something utterly captivating and closer to a religious experience than I’m even comfortable with.” -Yer Sweet Chimneys
“When it comes to experimental music — Stars Like Fleas cement their spot at the top — a truly unique experience. The Ken Burns Effect grows on a listener like moss, and once it has its roots in you, you won’ t be able to shake it free” -Soundcheck Magazine
“Is Stars Like Fleas a folk-pop band with experimental elements, or the reverse? If The Ken Burns Effect aims to make that question unanswerable, it’s a resounding success”-Time Out New York
“Stars Like Fleas is the Broken Social Scene of Brooklyn — the arrangements are thick and rewarding, even in their weirdest states — a great album”-Impose Magazine
“[live review] one of my favorite upcoming groups — by the end all eyes and ears were wide open”-Café Eclectica
“The Ken Burns Effect — will not only defy characterization, but will probably be the big break for one of New York’s most sublime and continuously undiscovered bands” -Paper Magazine
“This Brooklyn collective of free-radical networkers — display an uncanny ability to splat together Flaming Lips pop, free-jazz blat, bluegrass, laptop noise, Talk Talk’s moody Laughing Stock moves, harp runs, and shape-note singing. And that’s just in five minutes.”-Village Voice
“As if being one of the most fascinating live bands in New York wasn’t enough, Stars Like Fleas’ The Ken Burns Effect takes the group’s aesthetic-weird, wondrous, naïve, bewildering-and wrangled it into a full-length that finally does overdue justice to their immense promise — one of those rare records that you want to hear on headphones to uncover each nook and cranny of its myriad contours. It’s a record that you want to live in.” -Todd Burns (Editor - Stylus Magazine, Village Voice, eMusic)
“a sprawling mix of folk, Americana, free improv — the band can transform a dingy room into something as gorgeous and sweeping as the Great Plains” -New York Press
“Stars Like Fleas — soar purely on the power of emotion and angush — an artfully woven spiderweb of sound” -Treblezine
“The Ken Burns Effect continues SLF’s astral trajectory — spare and intimate, but brimming with cacophony — excellent — Recommended!” -Other Music
“moves in awe-inspiring slow motion — like the kind of music you dream; disjointed and choppy on the surface, but at the core all interconnected and beautiful — it’s exhausting.” -Baeble Music Blog
“a graceful album that has an assured stride and a strong sense of direction — an eye-opening experience”-The Line of Best Fit
While artist-driven mixtapes have been a decisive factor in the ascendancy of Hip Hop stars like Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne in recent years, as well as a variety of artists working in the electronic dance world, to date no artists from other genres have embraced this format in a substantial way.
With School of Villainy, The Dead Science usher in a new paradigm for the mixtape game, creating a space in which the most exultant popular music and the furthest reaches of avant garde conceptual art are able
to coexist in thrilling symphony. School of Villainy embraces and re-tools the structural traditions of modern rap mixtapes; we find songs from The Dead Science’s upcoming full-length album Villainaire re-made with new verses written and recorded by guest vocalists, as well as The Dead Science creating original work over instrumentals ranging from Ennio Morricone to Playaz Circle.
The songs and content of School of Villainy are supplemental to those of the forthcoming Villainaire, offering further-outlying context for the record’s themes and preoccupations. The mixtape is also a more unbounded expression of the group, their cultural interests and makeup; it provides a platform for collaborations with a wide swath of their friends and contemporaries, ranging from indie rock luminaries like Carla Bozulich and Shudder to Think’s Craig Wedren to experimental theater company Implied Violence, as well as further exposition of the group’s deeply-felt kinship to the Wu-Tang Clan, Marvel Comics, and other cultural ephemera. Ultimately designed to glorify the more focused and refined Villainaire, the School of Villainy mixtape finds The Dead Science working at the very vanguard of modern popular art and culture, in both form and content.
School of Villainy (The Digga Crates Real Deal) Mixtape:
INTRO
MODERN VAMPIRES
VILLVILLE
DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
GREY DIAMONDS
MAKE MINE MARVEL (CRAIG DUB PLATE) FEAT. CRAIG WEDREN
THRONE OF BLOOD RMX FEAT. ZAC PENNINGTON & KATRINA FORD
INTERLUDE
GARDEN WALL
MAKE MINE MARVEL RMX FEAT. CARLA BOZULICH
HEAVEN ON THEIR MINDS (EXCERPT)
CLEMENCY (FREDDY RUPPERT HOUSE MIX)
ADRIAN DESCANT
IMPLIED VIOLENCE RADIO PLAY-”A GHOST ON THE BOAT”
MAKE MINE MARVEL (REMIX)
THE APOLLONIAN
OUTRO
also available for free download:
School of Villainy (The Originals) Mixtape:
RZA #1
INTRO
DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
THRONE OF BLOOD RMX FEAT. ZAC PENNINGTON & KATRINA FORD
VILLVILLE
RZA #2
GARDEN WALL
MAKE MINE MARVEL(CRAIG DUB PLATE) FEAT. CRAIG WEDREN
HEAVEN ON THEIR MINDS (EXCERPT)
RZA #3
MAKE MINE MARVEL RMX FEAT. CARLA BOZULICH
INTERLUDE
GREY DIAMONDS
RZA #4
CLEMENCY (FREDDY RUPPERT HOUSE MIX)
IMPLIED VIOLENCE RADIO PLAY-”A GHOST ON THE BOAT”
RZA #5
MODERN VAMPIRES
ADRIAN DESCANT
MAKE MINE MARVEL (REMIX)
THE APOLLONIAN
RZA #6
OUTRO
RZA #7
School of Villainy is available for free download at www.thedeadscience.com as of Tuesday, August 19th
Villainaire will be released Aug. 25th in Europe and Sept. 2nd in the
rest of the world via Constellation Records
The Dead Science proudly present the “Villainaire Festival of Culture”
Sept. 1-7 Seattle, WA Monday, 9/1
“Villainaires Mansion” An Ill Joints Dance Party & Music Video Shoot Hosted by The Dead Science at Waid’s [1212 E. Jefferson] 9pm-Late Tuesday, 9/2
Join The Dead Science For A Very Special In-Store Performance at Wall of Sound [315 E. Pine] at 7pm to celebrate the release of their new record, Villainaire Wednesday, 9/3
Ashleigh Rauen & Tom Chapel’s “Final Crisis” at Vermillion Gallery [1508 11th Ave], Artists’ Reception 8pm-closing Thursday, 9/4
Sam Mickens & The Slide Rule present “One In A Villion” a multimedia lecture on morality, memory, and more, 8pm at Gallery 1412 [1412 18th Ave.] Friday, 9/5
The Dead Science & The Villainaires Academy present “Leviathan Blood” a program of new works and filmic remembrances, 11pm at Northwest Film Forum [1515 12th Ave.], $8.50 general, $6 seniors, $5 NWFF members. Saturday, 9/6
We warmly direct you to Nas, Method Man, Redman and many more appearing at “Rock the Bells” at The Gorge Ampitheater Sunday, 9/7 Neumos & The Dead Science Present The Villainaire Record Release Show at Neumo’s[925 E. Pike St.] w/The Dead Science, Past Lives & Schiziod Siblings, 8pm, All Ages/Bar W/ID, $7 Adv.
THE DEAD SCIENCE
07 Sep Seattle, WA Neumos
19 Sep Boise, ID US Neurolox
20 Sep Salt Lake City, UT US Kilby Court
21 Sep Denver, CO US Hi Dive
22 Sep Kansas City, MO US Record Bar
23 Sep Ames, IA US Maintenance Shop
24 Sep Minneapolis, MN US Triple Rock Social Club
25 Sep Chicago, IL US Empty Bottle
26 Sep Toronto, ON CA El Mocambo
27 Sep Ottawa, ON CA St Brigids Centre For The Arts
28 Sep Montréal, QC CA Il Motore
01 Oct New York, NY US Knitting Factory
02 Oct Philadelphia, PA US Danger Danger Gallery
03 Oct Washington, DC US Sonic Circuits/Velvet Lounge
06 Oct Tampa, FL US New World Brewery
07 Oct Orlando, FL US Wills Pub
08 Oct Atlanta, GA US The Earl
10 Oct Denton, TX US Hailey’s
11 Oct Austin, TX US Emo’s Longe
13 Oct Phoenix, AZ US Modified
14 Oct Los Angeles, CA US The Smell
15 Oct San Francisco, CA US Rickshaw Stop
The Dead Science - Villainaire (Constellation)
Street Date: Sept. 2, 2008
1.Throne of Blood (The Jump Off)
2.The Dancing Destroyer
3.Make Mine Marvel
4.Monster Island Czars
5.Lamentable
6.Death Duel Productions
7.Wife You
8.Holliston
9.Black Lane
10.Sword Cane
11.Clemency
Grampall Jookabox
Deer Tick
The Dead Science - Villainaire (Constellation)