News Archive: May 2009

Force Field Presents: Acoustic Sets in LA this Sunday from The Rural Alberta Advantage and Imaad Wasif

Friday, May 15th, 2009

We are thrilled to present this last minute afternoon of solo acoustic sets from Canada’s The Rural Alberta Advantage and LA’s very own Imaad Wasif and a surprise Special Guest.

Special guest DJs spinning tunes in between sets

Set Times TBA

Sun May 17
$7 / All Ages
3pm - 7pm

Bandit Art Gallery Backyard
1549 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles

Papercuts launch tour with Vetiver this weekend

Friday, May 1st, 2009


Papercuts


MP3: Papercuts - “Future Primitive (Ruby Suns Remix)”

Papercuts’ You Can Have What You Want is the newest phase in Jason Quever’s ongoing pop investigations. The relatively earthbound happy-sad pop of Mockingbird & Can’t Go Back is now launched into the vault of the skies. Here Quever delves further into epic, hazy pop using mostly vintage organs, pulsing bass & Kraut-via-Ringo-inspired drum rhythms. Intact from those earlier efforts are Quever’s sense of arrangement and drama, as well as his soaring vocals, draped in reverb gauze.

The words reveal an obsession with mortality and things cosmic, while sonically the voice acts as another instrument. This obsessively all analog effort (no computer processing here whatsoever!) cuts across several eras of dreamy sound: 80’s/90’s Creation & 4AD records, The Zombies, 60’s French pop, even CAN’s Future Days, & then there’s the inevitable connection to former tourmates Beach House & Grizzly Bear. Indeed, Beach House’s Alex Scally helped with some of the arrangements, but You Can Have What You Want is its own strain of addictive pop. For many, it will be the blissful / melancholy jam of the summer.


PAPERCUTS

05/02 Arlington, VA Iota #
05/03 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom #
05/04 Petersborough, NH Glass Museum #
05/05 Winooski, VT Monkey House #
05/06 Allston, MA Harper’s Ferry #
05/07 Brooklyn, NY The Bell House #
05/08 Philadelphia, PA Kung Fu Necktie *
05/09 Baltimore, MD Metro Gallery
05/10 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop #
05/11 Athens, OH Union Bar and Grill #
05/12 Chicago, IL Chopin Theatre #
05/13 Pontiac, MI The Pike Room at The Crofoot #
05/14 London, ON Call The Office #
05/15 Toronto, ON Horseshoe Tavern #
05/16 Buffalo, NY Big Orbit’s Soundlab #
05/17 Pittsfield, MA Copperworks #
05/18 Hamden, CT The Space / Needle Drop performance (Noon)

# = w/ Vetiver
* = w/ Jana Hunter

Papercuts
You Can Have What You Want
(Gnomonsong)
Street date: April 14, 2009

01 Once We Walked In The Sunlight
02 A Dictator’s Lament
03 The Machine Will Tell Us So
04 A Peculiar Hallelujah
05 Jet Plane
06 Dead Love
07 Future Primitive
08 You Can Have What You Want
09 The Void
10 The Wolf

PAPERCUTS LINKS:

MySpace - www.myspace.com/thepapercuts

Press Materials - www.gnomonsong.com/papercuts

Deer Tick announce Born on Flag Day tour, playing Austin City Limits

Friday, May 1st, 2009


Deer Tick

MP3: Deer Tick - “Easy”

Bio:

Deer Tick began in December of 2004 in the bedroom of Providence native, John McCauley. With a tape recorder and a nylon string guitar, he did what most anybody would do; he made tapes for his friends.

When McCauley, then 18 years old, got his hands on Hank Williams Sr.’s “Gold” collection and locked himself in his room listening to it on repeat until he finished his bottle of brandy, it all became fairly obvious to him– he was on his first tour just a few months later.

After years of being on the road, fully developing his distinct howl of a voice, anddo honing his guitar skills, McCauley had earned himself a following of devoted fans and supporters. Throughout all of this touring and selling his songs on CD-R, it became apparent that putting out a real album was the natural next step in McCauley’s musical life. McCauley recorded Deer Tick’s debut War Elephant at age 19, performing every instrument on the album. War Elephant was originally released in September of 2007 to much critical acclaim from The New York Times, Brooklyn Vegan, Spin, and many others. But McCauley’s vision from the start was for Deer Tick to be a real band, and a rotating cast of characters simply wouldn’t suffice anymore.

In April of 2007, just weeks before a national tour, McCauley turned to Dennis Ryan, a hard-hitting young drummer who had just decided to cut his college career about 3 years short. The two had played together before and their energy while performing was something unmatched for the both of them. It took no convincing Dennis at all that this was a good idea. He said “yes” before McCauley even finished asking him.

Dennis Ryan grew up in neighboring Pawtucket, RI. His dream had always been to become a famous, and perhaps more importantly, badass drummer. His epiphany occurred at the curious age of 3, while watching Ronnie Tutt play the drums with Elvis Presley in a rerun of the “Aloha From Hawaii” special.

After the national tour it was time for Deer Tick to find a bassist. McCauley had tried to convince Chris Ryan, a bass player in town, to join Deer Tick for quite some time. That August, Chris Ryan returned from a trip driving his VW Van from Providence to Costa Rica and back (though he only made it as far as Guatemala and back). Chris came speeding down Empire Street in downtown Providence, where McCauley was sitting at a table outside enjoying a beer. A swarm of people surrounded the van welcoming Chris and his traveling companions home. Before you knew it McCauley was asking the road weary traveler to join Deer Tick again. The band was completed in August 2008, when Andrew Tobiassen, a funky, young guitarist living in Providence, RI joined up with the band.

Born On Flag Day is Deer Tick’s highly anticipated second full-length album and follow-up to the band’s 2007 internationally acclaimed debut, War Elephant (reissued in 2008 by Partisan Records). This release follows two years of extensive touring in sold out clubs across the country and abroad.

Unlike War Elephant, this album features the three new members of Deer Tick that principal songwriter John J. McCauley III recruited to become the band’s current incarnation - Andy Tobiassen, Dennis Ryan and Chris Ryan. Born On Flag Day reflects a natural evolution from a singular vision of one songwriter to something much greater. The album is set for a June 23rd street date on Partisan Records.

DEER TICK

Sat-May-30 Baltimore, MD Talking Head
Mon-Jun-08 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero %
Tue-Jun-09 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg %
Wed-Jun-10 Boston, MA House of Blues %
Thu-Jun-11 Washington, DC 9:30 Club %
Fri-Jun-12 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle %
Sat-Jun-13 Memphis, TN Hi-Tone
Sun-Jun-14 St. Louis, MO The Pageant %
Mon-Jun-15 Lawrence, KS Granada %
Tue-Jun-16 Iowa City, IA The Mill
Wed-Jun-17 Omaha, NE Slowdown %
Thu-Jun-18 Lincoln, NE Box Awesome
Sat-Jun-20 Boise, ID Neurolux
Tue-Jun-23 Vancouver, BC Media Club
Wed-Jun-24 Bellingham, WA Wild Buffalo *
Thu-Jun-25 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern
Fri-Jun-26 Portland, OR Mission Theatre
Sat-Jun-27 Napa, CA Gundlach Bundschu Winery
Tue-Jun-30 Sacramento, CA Marilyn’s on K *
Wed-Jul-01 San Francisco, CA The Independent *
Thu-Jul-02 Santa Cruz, CA The Crepe Place *
Fri-Jul-03 Visalia, CA The Cellar Door *
Sat-Jul-04 Los Angeles, CA Spaceland *
Sun-Jul-05 Las Vegas, NV Beauty Bar *
Mon-Jul-06 Phoenix, AZ Modified Arts *
Wed-Jul-08 Lubbock, TX Bash Riprocks *
Thu-Jul-09 Austin, TX The Mohawk *
Fri-Jul-10 Denton, TX Hailey’s *
Sat-Jul-11 Little Rock, AR Sticky Fingerz *
Sun-Jul-12 Nashville, TN The Basement *
Mon-Jul-13 Lexington, KY Al’s Bar *
Tue-Jul-14 Indianapolis, IN Locals Only *
Wed-Jul-15 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle *
Thu-Jul-16 Cleveland, OH Beachland Tavern *
Fri-Jul-17 Toronto, ONT Horseshoe Tavern *
Sat-Jul-18 Ottawa, ON Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest
Sun-Jul-19 Ottawa, ON Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest
Mon-Jul-20 Montreal, QC Divan Orange *
Tue-Jul-21 Portland, ME Space Gallery *
Wed-Jul-22 Northampton, MA Iron Horse *
Thu-Jul-23 Wallingford, CT Wallingford American Legion *
Fri-Jul-24 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
Fri-Oct-02 Austin, TX Austin City Limits Festival
Sat-Oct-03 Austin, TX Austin City Limits Festival
Sun-Oct-04 Austin, TX Austin City Limits Festival
Sat-Oct-10 Joshua Tree, CA Joshua Tree Roots Music Festival
Sun-Oct-11 Joshua Tree, CA Joshua Tree Roots Music Festival

% = w/ Jenny Lewis
* = w/ Dawes

Deer Tick
Born on Flag Day
(Partisan)
Street date: June 23, 2009

1. Easy
2. Little White Lies
3. Smith Hill
4. Song About A Man
5. Houston, TX
6. Straight Into A Storm
7. Friday XIII
8. The Ghost
9. Hell On Earth
10. Stung

DEER TICK LINKS:

MySpace: www.myspace.com/deertick

Press Materials: partisanrecords.com/promo/deertick

Saddle Creek announces two new signings: The Rural Alberta Advantage & UUVVWWZ

Friday, May 1st, 2009


The Rural Alberta Advantage (top) UUVVWWZ (bottom)

MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage - “Don’t Haunt This Place”

MP3: UUVVWWZ - “Shark Suit”

About The Rural Alberta Advantage

The Rural Alberta Advantage was born out of singer/songwriter Nils Edenloff’s exodus from the province that inspired the band’s name and many of the songs from their enthralling debut album, Hometowns.

Edenloff grappled with homesickness after his move from Edmonton, Alberta to Toronto, Ontario in 2003. To cope with his loneliness and isolation in the ‘big city’, the shy songwriter penned a series of odes to his former home, celebrating the country’s wild rose, the purple skies and the “dethbridge in Lethbridge.”
On the urging of his fellow ex-pat musician friends, Edenloff took his songs to a struggling weekly Open Mic night in early 2005 to perform them for an audience. In a matter of weeks, he was handed the job (paid in beer and 2-for-1 pasta specials) of hosting the night alongside drummer Paul Banwatt. The two quickly formed a musical bond, with Edenloff’s plaintive folk songs backed by Banwatt’s raucous, razor-sharp percussion. As the Open Mic night faltered, the two found themselves playing hours’ worth of songs per night, and developed a solid “set list” for their weekly routine.

The twosome’s arrangement became permanent as a series of other local musicians joined and left the project (by now dubbed “The Rural Alberta Advantage”, courtesy of a provincial slogan co-opted by Edenloff’s brother). The pub that had been home to their Open Mic night closed down (their final night featured a classic barroom brawl involving overzealous motorcycle gang members/would-be karaoke stars), but the Rural Alberta Advantage continued to perform, now playing shows in and around Toronto. A demo was recorded in late 2005, featuring Edenloff, Banwatt, Amy Cole, Ken Farrell and Anissa Hart (Ohbijou). By the completion of the demo, the RAA settled into its current, three-piece formation, with Cole becoming a permanent member of the band.

In 2006, the Rural Alberta Advantage recorded a five-song, self-titled EP. Shortly thereafter, the group was invited to play a show with local indie rock superstars Henri Faberge and The Adorables at their weekly residency at Kensington Market hotspot The Embassy. As official an initiation into the indie-rock community in Toronto as there could be, The RAA played the show to great acclaim from the Adorables’ faithful. Thanks to their exciting live performances and gritty, honest songs, a loyal following for the RAA began to grow. The band continued to play in Toronto and throughout eastern Canada, steadily increasing their fanbase with a performance on MTV Canada and a slot at the Pop Montreal festival in 2007.

As well as playing live, the band spent much of 2007 in the studio, recording their debut full-length record, Hometowns. Originally scheduled to be the inaugural release of a new record label formed by a local producer, the band found themselves label-less when the producer decided to abandon his plan. The RAA began selling copies of Hometowns themselves at shows in early 2008, without an official release.

Hometowns began catching the ears of bloggers across the country on pure word-of-mouth. Herohill.com proclaimed the RAA “the best unsigned band in Canada”, and I Heart Music.net deemed Hometowns “a near-perfect album”. The band’s reputation for stellar live shows garnered them a sellout crowd at the 2008 North By Northeast festival, and the band played similarly successful showcases at the 2008 iterations of the Halifax Pop Explosion and Pop Montreal.

The band’s big break came in November 2008, when major digital music retailer eMusic.com selected the Rural Alberta Advantage, from a fan recommendation, as an eMusic Selects artist. This honour gave the band publicity and exposure to over 400,000 music fans and subscribers worldwide. Repeating, and surpassing, the successes of past Selects artists Crystal Stilts and High Places, the RAA sold thousands of copies of their record in mere weeks, an astounding feat for an unsigned act. Hometowns became the highest-selling Selects album in history and a critical darling overnight, appearing on dozens of “Best of 2008″ lists in newspapers, blogs, and radio podcasts across North America and Europe.

The inspiring DIY success story of the Rural Alberta Advantage has continued to gain momentum and attract fans and followers, with a breakthrough performance at eMusic’s showcase at the 2009 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, getting the seal of approval from Pitchfork (”This band could be huge”) and a nod as a “buzz band” from the Associated Press. More glowing press reviews and sold-out club dates in major cities throughout the United States have followed, and the trio of kids from Canada now find themselves signed to US indie giant Saddle Creek. Hometowns will be released properly for the first time on Saddle Creek in Summer 2009, and more tour dates throughout the USA and Canada are planned.

About UUVVWWZ

UUVVWWZ started as a band in 2007 in Lincoln, Nebraska. When we came up with the name we laughed. I wrote it on a ripped up brown paper bag that we had drawn some of our song structures on and pronounced while pointing, “Double ‘U’ double ‘V’ double ‘W’… ‘Z.’” Then we went back to working on our songs and being creative together with a good chance of pasta and cigarette breaks.

In that year we wrote 9 songs and decided to record them before Teal left town for school. We talked about following her in the summer and getting a place to eat and drink and make music, but she decided to stay in Lincoln and so it went: Recording, Pressing, and a Tour.

We left in our tour mate Darren’s mom’s minivan and headed east and then down the coast towards shows and beaches, keenly following an abstract dream.

People compared us to musicians and bands we had to look up (Dog Faced Hermans, Lydia Lunch, The Pop Group) and some that were familiar (Deerhoof, Captain Beefheart, Bow Wow Wow), they dubbed us Avant-Rock and Blues. One man unintentionally called us Power-Jazz after we interrupted his silent contemplation outside of a coffee shop, but that’s a different story… that starts like this:

After our tour of the East Coast we planned another just for Lincoln. On July 25, 2008 we played 5 shows in one day at the aforementioned coffee shop, a house, a street corner, a venue, and a Marquee overlooking “O” St. that runs straight through downtown Lincoln. We made tour shirts and drove a total of 15 blocks as we performed for a couple hundred people throughout the day.

Since then Teal, Tom, Dustin and I have been playing shows in Nebraska, deliberately writing and composing (songs and bios), and anticipating tours. Pursuing our creative dreams as a unit.

-Jim

THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE

05/22 Buffalo, NY Mohawk Place
06/21 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon
06/23 Winnipeg, MB Royal Albert Arms
06/25 Calgary, AB Sled Island Fest
06/26 Calgary, AB Sled Island Fest
07/09 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill
07/25 Guelph, ONT Hillside Festival
07/26 Guelph, ONT Hillside Festival
08/08 Wolfe Island, ONT Wolfe Island Musicfest
08/24 Chicago, IL Downtown Sound / Pritzker Pavillion / Millenium Park

UUVVWWZ

05/02 Lincoln, NE Box Awesome
05/08 Douglas, NE Itchycoo Park Indoor Stage
05/13 Lincoln, NE Box Awesome
05/14 Omaha, NE Slowdown
06/18 Lincoln, NE Box Awesome

The Rural Alberta Advantage
Hometowns
(Saddle Creek)
Street date: July 07, 2009
Pre-orders start on May 26, 2009

1. The Ballad of The RAA
2. Rush Apart
3. The Dethbridge in Lethbridge
4. Don’t Haunt this Place
5. The Deadroads
6. Drain the Blood
7. Luciana
8. Frank, AB
9. The Air
10. Sleep All Day
11. Four Night Rider
12. Edmonton
13. In the Summertime

UUVVWWZ
UUVVWWZ
(Saddle Creek)
Street date: July 07, 2009
Pre-orders start on May 26, 2009

1.Berry Can
2.Shark Suit
3.Jap Dad
4.Neo LaƱo
5.Castle
6.Green Starred Sleeve
7.Trapezeus
8.The Sun
9.Hum Jam

THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE LINKS:
MySpace - www.myspace.com/theraa

Band Page - www.theraa.com

UUVVWWZ:

MySpace: www.myspace.com/UUVVWWZ

Band Page: uuvvwwz.blogspot.com

Saddle Creek: saddle-creek.com

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