Stark Magazine’s New Find: Little Gold
We’re fairly surprised we haven’t caught wind of Little Gold until last week, but we’re glad we did. Little Gold comes from a solid background rooted in songwriting, and purveys a sufficiently fuzzy, yet clear-minded brand of rock, that initially brings to mind our Nashville friends Cheap Time (where’s that record guys?). Besides being a former member of Woods, Christian DeRoeck has crafted some fine tunes for a new 7″ on Heart Break Beat Records… Continue reading HERE.
Impose Magazine says…
nihiti will keep your headphones on. Slow-building beats burst into thin air: No balls-out, clammed-up climax to worry about here, just pure skies and a steady stride three-and-a-half minutes wide. Read all about it HERE.
Factory 25′s Chicago punk doc on Pitchfork.tv
Pitchfork.tv is streaming (in entirety), You Weren’t There: The History of Chicago Punk 1977-1984. Get your music history on by checking it out HERE. Don’t procrastinate – it’ll only be hosted for ONE WEEK ONLY! Head over to Factory 25′s website for more about You Weren’t There and their other stellar film and vinyl releases.
Soars is We Listen For You’s latest Required Listen
Lehigh Valley, PA’s Soars has been getting some super nice mentions about their debut s/t album, out October 5 on La Société Expéditionnaire but We Listen For You has taken the praise to an entirely new level. Click HERE to read the entire Required Listen post that starts off with this lovely sentiment… “Music can often play on memory, personal experience, dreams, and emotion. Great music can make the listener feel something they never knew existed, filling a void that was never acknowledged. This is my experience with the dreamy outfit SOARS.”
Watch Altamont Now on IFC.com – ONE WEEK ONLY!
IFC.com is proud to be hosting the online film premiere of Joshua von Brown’s underground cult mockumentary Altamont Now. For one week starting today, the film will be shown in entirety on the IFC website. WATCH IT HERE. Altamont Now will be released on DVD tomorrow, Tuesday July 27th, by the film + music label, Factory 25.
‘Us vs. Them’ is MP3 of the Day on Spinner.com
Spinner.com chose Common Prayer’s ‘Us vs. Them’ as their free MP3 of the Day. Grab it while it’s hot!
Author James Kaelan is Poets & Writers Magazine’s July cover story!
James Kaelan’s debut novel, We’re Getting On is officially out via Flatmancrooked Publishing today. The novel has been getting great reviews from folks like Pank Magazine, The Rumpus, The Millions and is the June/July cover story in Poets & Writers Magazine. The book that grows into trees spawned the Zero Emission Book Tour that’s kicking off Friday, July 2nd in Los Angeles. An avid cyclist since his collage days on the UC Davis team, Kaelan wanted to tour the novel without creating any unnecessary carbon emissions, going as far as not using a phone, computer or a car. He will also not sleep indoors for any part of the tour, opting to bunk at family-owned farms each night, spotlighting farmers who are striving to grow food sustainably. Through 23 cities and for almost 50 days, the author will be joined by cinematographer Miles Kittredge, who will film footage exclusively on Flip Video cameras, which will be compiled into a full-length film premiering at film festivals and releasing on DVD in 2011. Read more about the tour in this interview with Flavorwire.
Thanks to our friends at Cannondale Bikes, Bellwether, Flip Video, BumbleBar and Chipotle for helping make the ZEB tour a reality! Also, at every reading locations, enter to win a brand new Cannondale Bicycle with all proceeds going to the Pablove Foundation.
Catch James Kaelan on the following dates:
Jul-2 Los Angeles, CA: [Skylight Books, 7pm]
Jul-3 Oxnard, CA: camping @ Join the Farm
Jul-4 Carpenteria, CA: camping @ Shepard Farms
Jul-5 Santa Barbara, CA: [loc/event - tba]
Jul-7 Santa Maria, CA: camping @ Blosser Urban Garden
Jul-8 San Luis Obispo, CA: [Barnes & Nobles]
Jul-13 Santa Cruz, CA: [loc/event - tba]
Jul-16 San Francisco, CA: [Green Apple Books]
Jul-18 Napa, CA: [loc/event - tba]
Jul-19 Davis, CA: [loc/event - tba]
Jul-20 Sacramento, CA: [Pangaea Cafe & Pub w/ after-party at the Flame Club]
Jul-21 Marysville, CA: camping @ Godfrey Family Farms
Jul-22 Chico, CA: [Lyon's Books]
Jul-23 Marysville, CA: camping @ Kitchel Family Organics
Aug-2 Tiller, OR: camping @ Perma Organic Farm
Aug-6 Lebanon, OR: camping @ The Mushroomery
Aug-7 Salem, OR: camping @ Minto Island Growers
Aug-8 Portland, OR: [Powell's Books, 4pm]
Aug-10 Colama, WA: camping @ R & C Ranch
Aug-12 Olympia, WA: [loc/event - tba]
Aug-13 Puyallup, WA: camping @ Mother Earth Farm
Aug-14 Seattle, WA: [Ravenna Third Place Books - tba]
Aug-17 Arlington, WA: camping @ Garden Treasures
Aug-18 Vancouver, BC: [loc/event - tba]
Surfing Documentary, Rio Breaks DVD release August 31
The Sundance Channel co-production nominated for Best Documentary at Hawaii International Film Festival
Click to watch the Rio Breaks trailer
“Gentle, touching and gorgeously lensed, Rio Breaks meshes a heartfelt hymn to surf-love with a harsh tale of slum survival. It’s a beautifully bittersweet vision of growing pains on the rough side of Rio, intimately unpeeling favela life’s poverty, violence and angst while still shining with the fragile hopes and joys of childhood.” — Jonathan Crocker, Little White Lies Magazine
Set against the volatile and dangerous world of the favelas, Rio Breaks tells the story of two surf-obsessed friends, 13-year-old Fabio and 12-year-old Naamã. The pair live in Rio de Janeiro’s Favela do Pavão, which is controlled by one of the city’s most dangerous drug gangs. However, their attention is focused on the waves of Arpoador Beach and on a coming surfing event that may help them become professionals and escape the world of gangs. Nominated for Best Documentary at the Hawaii International Film Festival and winner of the Special Jury Mention at the San Sebastian Surfilm Festibal, this Sundance Channel co-production by Director Justin Mitchell (Death Cab for Cutie: Drive Well, Sleep Carefully, Jenny Lewis: Welcome to Van Nuys, Ted Leo: Dirty Old Town & Songs for Cassavetes) and Writer Vince Medeiros (Surfing & Huck Magazine) is an inspired and hugely original documentary that takes the surf film genre into never-before-seen territory.
As a result of Rio Breaks‘ screening on Brazilian television, Naamã’s dream came true when he went surfing with multiple world surfing champion Kelly Slater in Hawaii.
Rio Breaks will be available on DVD and as a digital download from the Factory 25 website beginning August 31st (pre-order now available).
Lewis & Clarke do Daytrotter
It’s been three years since Lewis & Clarke’s Blasts of Holy Birth was released. Since then, there’s been many changes surrounding Lewis & Clarke; dynamic, process, drive. The band is currently writing and recording material for their new album with Nick Krill at the Garden Center in rural DE and are one of the many fantastic artists on the upcoming Manimal release, REPETITION/ A Tribute to DAVID BOWIE which also features Carla Bruni, Duran Duran, Vivian Girls, Chairlift, Zaza, Warpaint and many more. Listen to the smashing Daytrotter session HERE.
Common Prayer readies This Is A Mountain
Common Prayer is a Brooklyn, NY based group fronted by songwriter/principal heretic Jason Sebastian Russo seeing the release of their debut album, There Is A Mountain June 1st (digital)/July 19th (UK physical). The band has signed to Big Potato Records in the UK, a label founded in part by Neil Halstead, with plans for a late 2010 European jaunt.
In the album’s eleven elaborately cinematic outsider-pop tracks, violin innuendos and organ riffs tangle with scrap metal samples and found sounds. While thoughtful and often somber in theme, Russo’s songs are playfully bizarre, informed by extensive field research in the life of the heartbroken, reckless, romantic and mentally ill from a reflective and victorious post-everything perspective.
Download “Us vs. Them” off There Is A Mountain by clicking HERE.
