There’s a flurry of activity in the Blitzen Trapper camp, as the band kicks off their expanded, expansive 2008 tour with Sub Pop labelmates Fleet Foxes this week. A full list of updated tour dates is included below, including shows with Grand Archives, Menomena, Dr. Dog, Man Man, Mahjongg and Matt Pond PA.

First up, on Tues. Feb. 19 (TODAY) Blitzen will release a new EP exclusively through iTunes, made up of live tracks, cover songs and one new exclusive track:

“Live/Acoustic EP” exclusively available on iTunes
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa
01. Wild Mountain Nation (Live on The Current)
02. Shady Grove [Traditional] (Live at Holocene)
03. Silver Moon (Live at Holocene)
04. The Last Thing on My Mind [Traditional]
05. Going Wrong

And just posted yesterday is the band’s second session for Daytrotter.com. Recorded last year during their tour with Two Gallants, the session features three previously unreleased tracks and one from Wild Mountain Nation. Blitzen Trapper and Fleet Foxes will also be doing a collaborative session with Daytrotter, to be recorded on this tour.

Daytrotter session track list:
www.daytrotter.com/article/1177/wild-is-just-the-start-a-utopian-riot

01.Big Adventure (previously unreleased)
02.Stolen Shoes and a Rifle (previously unreleased)
03.Preacher’s Sister’s Boy (previously unreleased)
04.Wolf And Warp of the Quiet Giant

And finally, there’s the tour-only CD EP that we told you about before, which now has a track list (featuring all previously unreleased studio recordings), and will only be available at the merch table on the band’s upcoming tour dates:

Blitzen Trapper 2008 Tour EP
01. Silver Moon
02. Going Down
03. Shoulder Full of You
04. Preacher’s Sister’s Boy
05. Black Rock
06. Big Black Bird

BLITZEN TRAPPER 2008 SPRING TOUR

2/22 Seattle, WA Univ. of Washington#
2/23 Portland, OR The Artistery
2/28 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill*
2/29 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour*+
3/01 San Diego, CA Casbah*+
3/02 Phoenix, AZ Modified*
3/04 Denton, TX Hailey’s*
3/05 Houston, TX Walter’s on Washington*
3/06 Hattiesburg, MS Thirsty Hippo*
3/07 Tallahassee, FL The Beta Bar*
3/08 Everglades National Park, FL Langerado Festival
3/09 Jacksonville, FL Jack Rabbits*@
3/11 Birmingham, AL BottleTree*%
3/12 Baton Rouge, LA Spanish Moon*$
3/13 - 3/15 Austin, TX SXSW
3/16 Norman, OK The Opolis*
3/17 Columbia, MO Mojos*&
3/18 Memphis, TN Hi Tone Cafe*
3/19 Nashville, TN Exit In*
3/20 Atlanta, GA Drunken Unicorn*
3/21 Columbia, SC New Brookland Tavern*
3/22 Asheville, NC Grey Eagle*
3/23 Chapel Hill, NC Local 506*
3/25 Washington, DC Black Cat Backstage*
3/26 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s*
3/27 Cambridge, MA Middle East*
3/29 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom*
3/30 Worcester, MA Clark University*
4/01 Montreal, PQ La Salla Rossa*
4/02 Toronto, ON El Mocambo*
4/03 Buffalo, NY Mohawk Place*
4/04 Cleveland, OH The Grog Shop*
4/05 Detroit, MI The Magic Stick*
4/06 Chicago, IL Schubas*
4/08 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon*
4/09 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry*
4/10 Grinnell, IA Grinnell College*
4/11 Omaha, NE The Slowdown*
4/12 Lawrence, KS Jackpot*
4/14 Denver, CO Hi-Dive*
4/15 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge*
4/17 Vancouver, BC Media Club*
4/18 Seattle, WA Neumo’s*
4/19 Portland, OR Holocene*
4/26 Salem, OR Wulapalooza

# = w/ Menomena
* = w/ Fleet Foxes
+ = w/ Grand Archives
& = w/ Mahjongg
% = w/ Dr. Dog
$ = w/ Man Man
@ = w/ Matt Pond PA

www.blitzentrapper.net
www.myspace.com/blitzentrapper

IMEEM: http://profile.imeem.com/video/

In anticipation of the release of Devotion, their second full-length for Carpark Records, Baltimore recording artists Beach House (Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally) are proud to unveil their video for “You Came to Me,” directed by Baltimore underground film legend Skizz Cyzyk.

“You Came to Me” picks up where dreamy, atmospheric tracks like “Master of None” on their 2006 debut Beach House left off, and Skizz’s video brings the song to lush visual life — honoring the elegant, exuberant, and mysterious aspects of Beach House’s music while bringing to the forefront in fresh and off-kilter ways the playful visuals suggested by the duo’s sound and stage presence.

Set in the near-empty sanctuary of a sleepy, well-weathered Baltimore church that could double as the backdrop for a David Lynch film, “You Came to Me” as seen by Skizz becomes a shimmering sermon strummed on toy instruments to a temperamental goldfish; a song for which time takes on magical qualities through visual layering, quick pans of stained glass, and soft dissolves — and to which even a man on crutches must shake (or at least gingerly sway) his tail feathers.

BEACH HOUSE are an integral part of the thriving Baltimore music scene, and one of the most acclaimed indie artists to emerge in the last few years. Since forming in 2005 and hooking up with Carpark (home to fellow Baltimoreans DAN DEACON, ECSTATIC SUNSHINE, LEXIE MOUNTAIN BOYS, and WZT HEARTS), the duo quickly garnered national acclaim. Their self-titled 2006 debut record was named one of the Top 20 Albums of 2006 by Pitchfork Media, and that album’s “Apple Orchard” was named one of the site’s Top 10 Tracks of 2006.

Victoria and Alex have both been playing music since their (separate) childhoods in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and France. They cite THE ZOMBIES, BRIAN WILSON, NEIL YOUNG, BIG STAR, and CHRIS BELL as shared favorites, but no one artist or record stands as chief inspiration for their sound. Rather, by not forcing their songs to come to fruition prematurely, an otherworldly space is created: organs, slide guitars, reverb, harmony, accidents, echoes and melodies intermingle into a swirl of sound that conjures dreams of childhood and hot summer nights.

Director SKIZZ CYZYK’s past reads like a timeline of Baltimore’s secret subcultural history of the ’80s, ’90s, and beyond. Since 1983, he has directed over 50 short films, music videos, and features — including Youtube sensation Manager’s Corner and the full-length doc Little Castles, featuring John Waters. He also founded, directed, and programmed one of the world’s premiere underground film festivals, Baltimore’s MicroCineFest.

Skizz was the frontman and chief provocateur of Bmore outsider-music heroes Blister Freak Circus (think THE RESIDENTS, NEGATIVLAND, and THE SHAGGS — and think forthcoming career retrospective on Public Guilt Records), and beat the drums for ’90s indie act Berserk (who released the first full-length on Go-Kart Records). Currently, he is the drummer for psych-warped pop artists The Jennifers (inspired by THE KINKS, THE PRETTY THINGS, and THE FEELIES). Additionally, many of Cyzyk’s photographs of Baltimore and DC’s music scenes in the early 80s appeared in the recent documentary American Hardcore.

“You Came to Me” appears on DEVOTION, Beach House’s second full-length album, which will be released February 26, 2008 on Carpark Records. They embark on a tour of the United States beginning February 28th.

Beach House:
www.beachhousemusic.net
www.myspace.com/beachhousemusic
www.carparkrecords.com

Skizz Cyzyk:
www.skizz.net
www.youtube.com/eskayizezy
www.myspace.com/eskayizezy

BEACH HOUSE SPRING TOUR

02/28 Baltimore, MD Gspot
02/29 Chapel Hill, NC Local 506
03/01 Atlanta, GA The Earl
03/02 Birmingham, AL BottleTree Cafe
03/03 Memphis, TN The Hi Tone Cafe
03/05 Baton Rouge, LA Spanish Moon
03/06 Houston, TX Walter’s on Washington
03/07 Austin, TX Emo’s
03/08 Denton, TX Hailey’s
03/10 Tucson, AZ Solar Culture
03/11 Phoenix, AZ Modified
03/12 San Diego, CA The Casbah
03/13 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
03/14 San Luis Obispo, CA Steynberg Gallery
03/15 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill
03/17 Portland, OR Holocene
03/18 Seattle, WA Chop Suey
03/19 Vancouver, BC Media Club
03/21 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
03/22 Denver, CO Hi-Dive
03/24 Omaha, NE The Slowdown
03/25 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry
03/26 Chicago, IL Schubas
03/27 Cleveland, OH The Grog Shop
03/28 Toronto, ON El Mocambo
03/29 Montreal, PQ Casa del Popolo
03/30 Winooski, VT The Monkey House
03/31 Cambridge, MA The Middle East
04/02 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
04/03 Philadelphia, PA The Barbery
04/04 Washington, DC Rock and Roll Hotel

Press materials - www.carparkrecords.com/devotionpresspage.html

VIDEO: The Botticellis - “Stay With My Brother” - www.youtube.com/watch?v=bybEiEodNqk
MP3: The Botticellis - “Up Against The Glass” - www.antennafarmrecords.com

The Botticellis have an obsession with pop music, melodic songwriting and the cinematic sounds of yesteryear, but they’re not lost in some oldies Neverland. On Old Home Movies, out 5/13 on the Bay area label Antenna Farm, the quintet gives us ten luminous snapshots of sun-bleached memories. The vision is uniquely Californian, and while their music basks in the warmth of the Sunshine State personified by The Beach Boys, it’s also steeped in the shadows and queasy uncertainty of Raymond Chandler.

Old Home Movies is polished, orchestral, and surprisingly subtle, with a remarkably full and mature sound for such a young band. The classic, larger than life production is full of delicate flourishes; The Botticellis’ stylized sound echoes the production aesthetic of some of the great 70s pop records from Big Star, Chris Bell, and George Harrison. The band produced the album with the help of Anton Patzner (Bright Eyes) who played violin on “Who Are You Now,” Matt Cunitz, whose museum of vintage keyboards colors the music and Jason Quever (Papercuts), who played drums on “Flashlight” and helped capture the band’s balmy sound on analogue tape.

“Botticelli means ‘little barrel,’ a surf term Zack and I started using as kids for our favorite California wave,” lead vocalist Alexi Glickman explains. “When you’re inside a wave like that, you really understand the 60’s surf sound. I guess the feel of Old Home Movies is a bit of an homage to Greenough Vision.” The Botticellis began when Zack Ehrlich and Alexi Glickman met playing Suzuki violin duets in a southern California kindergarten class. They started writing songs together in grammar school and continued playing in bands together in high school and college. While studying music at UC Santa Cruz, they met lo-fi auteur, Burton Li, who helped produce an early album for the duo. Li soon joined the band and under the influence of his analogue obsessions, the three moved further up the California coast to San Francisco. Not long after, lyricist Blythe Foster and bass player Ian Nansen were pulled into the fold.

The ensemble now lives communally in San Francisco’s foggy Outer Richmond district, where they’ve been working on Old Home Movies for the past four years, refining their muzzy, slightly drugged out, psychedelic sound. The Botticellis’ debut promises to bring burnished, finely crafted pop to the people, filling the heads of their audience with vibrant memories and California day dreams.

THE BOTTICELLIS

2/16 Oakland, CA Mama Buzz (early all-ages show)
3/07 San Francisco, CA The Independent
3/13 - 3/15 Austin, TX SXSW
4/18 San Francisco, CA Cafe Du Nord w/ The Papercuts

www.myspace.com/thebotticellis

www.thebotticellis.com

Press materials - www.antennafarmrecords.com/press/botticellis.htm

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