Releases
The Ponys - Deathbed +4 EP Instores May 25th
Maybe you just thought The Ponys were returning to the club circuit to rehash old glories and to use up some old drink tickets. If so, you were WRONG WRONG WRONG.
Coming May 25 is the first new Ponys’ release since 2007’s ‘Turn The Lights Out’, the achingly awesome ‘Deathbed + 4′ EP’.
Featuring 5 brand new tracks on a US import 12” vinyl, the band will be on the road playing select dates around the US to remind us that they still know how to kick kick ass, before they unleash their brand new longplayer later in the year.
- The Ponys are Jered Gummere (singer/guitar), Melissa Elias (bass), Nathan Jerde (drums)) and Brian Case on guitar.
Check out a sneak preview in the form of “Check The Door” at www.matadorrecords.com
For tour information please visit www.theponys.com
For further information, go to www.beggarsgroup.ca
“Perfect, poppy summer music for these unseasonably warm spring days! Oh wait, no it’s not. It’s as dark and gloomy as ever in Ponyville. And you wouldn’t want it any other way, right?” – Glorious Noise on Check The Door
“Deathbed + 4 EP features a little ditty called “Check The Door,” which blends those Matador/In The Red worlds into four minutes of dark, rock ‘n’ roll bliss. And to that I say, give me some more.” – Thedaysoflore
In 2007, the Ponys released their promising and well-received but often overlooked Matador debut, Turn The Lights Out. The alternative press was excited about it, and the band even managed to catch the attention of the mainstream music rags. Basically, the Ponys seemed to be, as they say, on their way. But
something just didn’t catch on. The band failed to release any new material in the ensuing three years, and they seemed destined to fade into obscurity. Apparently, they aren’t ready to do that. With the release of Deathbed +4, the Pony’s fourth long-player and second for Matador, we find the band members continuing to rethink what you can do with that pesky “garage rock” label. They are out to do
what they do best, making haunting, dirge-like rock music that manages to push the limits of traditional song structure but still sound familiar.
Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks - Instores May 25, 2010
Karen Elson’s The Ghost Who Walks marks the debut solo release from the British singer/songwriter.
Available on US import CD through XL Recordings and Third Man Records, the 11 original compositions on The Ghost Who Walks were all written following Karen’s relocation from New York City to Nashville. While making her home – and raising two children – in the city of country music, Karen took to writing songs for her group, The Citizens Band, and found she had plenty of other melodies in her head.
Karen spins intriguingly unsettling tales of lost love, dashed hope, romantic betrayal and various crimes of passion witnessed only by the full moon. In a coolly inviting voice, strumming an acoustic guitar, she summons up a dark yet seductive atmosphere, an after-midnight world that’s irresistibly alluring.
Writing almost exclusively in the sanctuary of a closet in her bedroom, Karen’s songwriting blossomed. A fledgling songwriter might naturally be nervous to play their work for a spouse, but for Karen the trepidation was exacerbated by her husband’s own talent. It took many months of cajoling for Karen to play Jack White
her songs but his reaction was immediate: let’s get into the studio.
The arrangements for her small band – featuring the virtuosic Jackson Smith on guitar, Elson’s longtime collaborator Rachelle Garniez on accordion and vocals, and album producer Jack White on drums — evoke the lonesome side of country (“Cruel Summer”) or the tormented side of the blues (“The Truth Is In
the Dirt”), with eerie organ touches, keening electric guitars, and, on “In Trouble With the Lord,” some mean rock swagger.
Major press features in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and Vogue are set to coincide with release and will be followed by numerous other stories across all media in the weeks following.
A video for the accoustic version of The Ghost who Walks is available now across the web.
Recently playing a number of small shows around the US, including Austin for SXSW, a full tour is slated to begin in the Summer, followed by another round of dates in the Fall.
Previously collaborating with Robert Plant and Cat Power, Karen has been part of New York City-based art and music collective The Citizens Band for the past 5 years and appeared in the White Stripes video for Blue Orchid.
For more information, please visit www.karenelson.com, www.thirdmanrecords.com, and www.beggarsgroup.ca. To preview music and video, visit www.myspace.com/karenelsonmusic
“(Karen’s) voice goes from retro-breathy chanteuse to rootsy-belter in a few notes.” – New York Times
“She sounds like a Nashville veteran.” – London Daily Star
Until now, the British-born Elson has been better known as a top model, the face of ad campaigns for, among others, Armani, Prada, Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent’s Poison. With her pale white skin and shocking red hair, she seems an almost otherworldly presence on any given glossy page. While she assiduously worked as the face of various brands, she conducted an altogether different life behind the
scenes as a singer and songwriter, honing what has proven to be her considerable skills. In part, she learned by doing: for the last five years, she’s been a member, alongside Garniez, in the Weimar-style cabaret of New York City-based art and music collective The Citizens Band. Two of her more theatrical tracks, “100 Years From Now” and “Mouths To Feed,” inspired in part by author Tim Egan’s dust bowl saga, The Worst Hard Time, were originally penned for her troupe, which combines bawdy entertainment with barbed political commentary.
The Ghost Who Walks may not be drawn literally from Elson’s life, but it does represent an aspect of her psyche she’s been brave enough to explore: “I’m very much interested in the dark side of things. In my life, truthfully, I’ve had a lot of bizarre and dark experiences that have definitely colored the way I think about a
lot of personal things. The music I have always listened to as well has had a sorrowful, mournful, if not murderous, quality to it.” She pauses to laugh. “I’m not saying I would ever want to kill anybody, but sometimes love can drag you to the very depths of yourself and – my God – make you so desperate and forlorn. I really respond to songs that write about that. Hank Williams, for crying out loud, speaking of being forlorn and forsaken — there’s a song I just heard of his, an early demo, that really resonated with me.
Those songs move me in a way that happy go lucky songs don’t.”
Kurt Vile - Square Shells EP Instores May 25th
Philadelphia singer-songwriter KURT VILE returns with a stepping-stone 7-song EP between Matador’s reissue of his privately circulated “Childish Prodigy” album last fall and his upcoming new album recorded with John Agnello.
“Square Shells” depicts some aspects of Kurt’s music not immediately accessible on his last album, from dreamgazey jams to plaintive, folky melodies. Recorded in a brighter, less homemade sound, Kurt’s extraordinarily evocative songwriting explores themes of friendship, loss and desolation.
As the title suggests, ‘Square Shells’ is also something of a collection of curios. Opening track “Ocean City” instantly grasps you with its charming, sunny melody – completely undercut by its loner lyrical vibe. If past Kurt Vile records channeled private-pressing downerfolk via early Pavement and Cass McCombs, this song layers Leo Kottke on Van Dyke Parks.
Subsequent tracks move past the acoustic sound into beautiful layers of guitar and vocals. A perfect holdover for Kurt fans to bridge them to the upcoming proper full length in fall 2010.
Kurt has been touring extensively since the Oct. ‘09 release of Childish Prodigy, including stints with Fucked Up, Panda Bear, Dinosaur Jr., Black Keys, and Sonic Youth.
US import 12” vinyl of Square Shells features complimentary MP3 download coupon.
For more information, please visit www.myspace.com/kurtvileofphilly, www.matadorrecords.com and www.beggarsgrup.ca
Holy Fuck - Latin Instores May 11th
Toronto’s Holy Fuck return with Latin on May 11, their follow-up to the JUNO and Polaris nominated Beggars Group debut, LP.
Sequestering themselves in a converted barn-cum-recording studio in Northern Ontario, the album was produced by member Graham Walsh and mixed by Dave Newfeld (Broken Social Scene), D. Sardy (Johnny Cash, NIN), Eli Janney (GvsB, Wilco,), Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, Primal Scream) and Holy Fuck themselves.
Latin is available on limited edition CD with die-cut insert, UK import LP and digital download. The lead track Latin America is currently available for download at holyfuckmusic.com.
Where Holy Fuck in the past were a rotating cast of musicians, Latin showcases for the first time their permanent touring line up. Drummer Matt Schulz and bass player Matt McQuaid provide a complex rhythm foundation that at times feels like an invisible hand leading you through a dark hedge maze.
Proving themselves to be a tireless touring machine in support of LP, things will no different this time around with UK dates already confirmed for release week, to be followed by numerous treks around Canada and the US over the course of 2010. In addition to a numerous festival appearences, and perhaps the odd surprise here and there…
The group recently played the 10th Anniversary of Wavelength in Toronto premiering songs from the forthcoming album, with Exclaim calling them “Arguably Toronto’s best live band…they brimmed with spontaneity. Visceral and exhilarating.”
If opposites really do attract, it makes perfect sense that Holy Fuck would choose a barn in rural Ontario to record a series of dynamic electro-noise pop tracks that compose their latest full-length release, titled Latin. Where Holy Fuck in the past were a rotating cast of musicians, Latin showcases for the first time their consistent touring line up. Drummer Matt Schulz and bass player Matt McQuaid provide a complex rhythm foundation that at times feels like an invisible hand leading you through a dark hedge maze.
Perhaps an excessive feat for most, but this provides the ideal underpinning as Brian Borcherdt and Graham Walsh merge a twin effects/feedback tangle that is equal parts entrancing and inspiring.
There is an added dimension of song craft on Latin, it brings noise and melody together with an uncanny sense of optimism – but at the same time Holy Fuck have not lost the chaotic and euphoric energy that they are known for.
Latin was engineered by Graham Walsh and mixed by Dave Newfeld (Broken Social Scene), D. Sardy (Johnny Cash, NIN), Eli Janney (GvsB, Wilco,), Paul Epworth (Bloc Party, Primal Scream) and Holy Fuck themselves. With high praise from peers, critics, big name endorsements and ascension on festival bills,
Holy Fuck have the divine right to be profane. And with respected music luminaries Thom Yorke and Lou Reed passing on kind words about studio recordings and live performances, it’s no wonder Holy Fuck’s Latin is one the most highly anticipated releases this Spring.
The National - High Violet Instores May 11th
High Violet is the brand new full length album from The National. Following their critically acclaimed
Alligator and Boxer releases, not to mention the A Skin, A Night CD/DVD set, the new collection affirms their place in the highest echelons of modern music.
The album is a nervy, melodic, explosive and beautiful set of songs that finds the band at the height of their collaborative powers. The music is wide-ranging in its moods, by turns intimate and rough, expansive and spare, full of stark angles and atmosphere. Matt Berninger’s singing—wild, half-broken, sly—evokes a feeling of being haunted by love, by paranoia, and by something just out of reach.
In stores May 11th, High Violet is available in 3 unique US import configurations: CD, 180 Gram gatefold limited edition numbered coloured double vinyl (with complimentary MP3 download), and a deluxe CD pressing that features an O-Card with foil printing, belly band, and a poster designed by the band. The deluxe
confirguration is limited to the first 2000 copies.
High Violet’s eleven tracks were recorded at the band’s own studio in Brooklyn, with further recording and mixing done once again at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut with Peter Katis (Interpol).
The band were recently the musical guests of Jimmy Fallon, where they debuted ‘Terrible Love’. The National have also confirmed TV performances on David Letterman and Craig Ferguson.
The band will be on the road touring heavily in support of High Violet. Beginning in Los Angeles in late-May, they will be in Toronto for two shows at Massey Hall June 8th and 9th, and Osheaga in Montreal July 31st to be followed by another round of dates in the fall and winter which will include further Canadian cities.
The debut single release from High Violet will be Bloodbuzz Ohio, which has been recently added to the B-List at 6 Music in Britain and is available from www.americanmary.com as a complimentary download.
In 2009, again in another detour for the band, the band’s Aaron and Bryce Dessner joined forces with the AIDS charity Red Hot to produce Dark Was The Night (DAD-2835), a sprawling 32-track 2-CD, 3LP compilation focused on the best of independent rock music at the beginning of the 21st century, which has to date raised thousands for the charity.
The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio Instores May 4th
Available just ahead of their new longplayer The National are issuing Bloodbuzz Ohio, the debut single release from their forthcoming, High Violet.
Available in limited numbers as a US import 7” vinyl, Bloodbuzz Ohio is b/w the non-album song ‘Sin-Eaters,’ which was recorded at the band’s Brooklyn base and mixed in New York by Patrick Dillet and is exclusive to this release.
The National head to Europe for a brief series of gigs, including an intimate show at the Electric Ballroom in London on May 5 and a support date with Pavement two days later in Paris, before returning home for a 17-date North American tour.
Confirmed Canadian dates include a two night stand June 8th / 9th at Massey Hall (Toronto) and July 31st in Montreal as part of the Osheaga Festival. A Vancouver date is also coming this summer.
Visit http://www.highviolet.com to download an MP3 of Bloodbuzz Ohio.
“The guitars come sleek and fast, picking up pace throughout the track, all the while the rhythm packs in a slight stutter, threatening to fall off the rails. The whole song taps a sense of running — from the past, from commitments or perhaps from something even darker. “I’m on a blood … buzz” are the last vocals before
the the song builds to a guitar pile-up and abruptly dissolves.” – LA Times
“The strings and pianos don’t really add much in the way of melody. Instead, they just pile on the tension, making the big, transcendent, long-delayed release of a chorus punch that much harder.” – Pitchfork
“Inventive drumming adds propulsion to pensive vocals and aching piano chords, and the track builds from simple and unassuming into epic grandeur by the time the coda comes around, with horns and strings sharing time with serrated edge guitars.” – Prefix Mag
“Backed by Bryan Devendorf’s steady drumbeat and a pair of swelling synths, Berninger’s trademark baritone tells a haunting tale of money, sultry romance and how “Ohio don’t remember me . . . the floors are falling out from everybody I know.” Let’s hope Berninger’s not too attached to local pastures, because
all signs point to another big year for The National.” – Billboard
Balkan Beat Box - Blue Eyed Black Boy Instores April 27th
Nat Geo Music is proud to present Balkan Beat Box’s label debut, Blue Eyed Black Boy. Their third album, and first of all new material since 2007.
Balkan Beat Box was founded by Ori Kaplan and Tamir Muskat, who have both been part of the burgeoning Eastern European underground music scene in New York City for over a decade. Kaplan as part of Gogol Bordello and Tamir Muskat as a member of both Firewater and Big Lazy.
Kaplan and Muskat got together in the hopes of creating a pan-Mediterranean sound for a new era. Equal parts Balkan-Mediterranean tradition, punk intensity, electronic cool, jazz discipline and hip-hop swagger – they take it to the next level on Blue Eyed Black Boy.
Recorded in Belgrade and Tel Aviv, Blue Eyed Black Boy takes BBB to their roots, scouring the Balkans and beyond for unique collaborations and new inspirations for their globalized urban mashups.
BBB will be touring the world over in 2010, including a Canadian stop in Vancouver March 18 at Venue. More dates on these shores are coming later in the fall. The band will also be performing at this years SXSW festival.
Album reviews are confirmed to appear in Rolling Stone, Paste, Relix, Pomatters, and more. Plus coverage in The New York Times, NPR’s Wrold Cafe, USA Today and others.
Visit www.natgeo.net to watch their video for, ‘War Again’.
For the latest information and tour dates, please visit www.balkanbeatbox.com
“4 Stars! A global peacekeeping mission you can dance to.” – SPIN
Gotan Project - Tango 3.0 Instores April 20th
XL Recordings is very pleased to present the first new studio album from Gotan Project in 4 years, Tango 3.0, the magnificent follow-up to 2006’s, Lunático.
Tango 3.0 fluidly steps back on the dance floor where Lunático left off. Group members Philippe Cohen Solal, Christoph Müller, and Eduardo Makaroff have constructed yet another beautiful melange of traditional Argentinian tango, dub, jazz and electronics. The album’s 11 tracks are at once seductive and propulsive.
Tango 3.0 is available on US import CD and special double vinyl, which features 4 exclusive tracks that are not included on the CD configuration.
The new album features a host of exciting guests and collaborators. Dr. John lends the smooth sound of the Hammond B3 to ‘Tango Square’ and the work of Argentinian author Jules Cortázar is reincarnated through a reading from his novel Rayuela on the track of the same name. Victor Hugo Morales, legendary football commentator, lends his voice to first single ‘La Gloria’ (paying homage to his famous goal proclamation that soundtracked Maradona’s infamous 2nd goal against England)…GOOOOOAL becomes GOOOOOTAN!
The band will begin a tour in support of the album with an extensive run of European dates Apr.-June, before beginning a North America-wide swing in Sept. and Oct., including stops in Montréal and Toronto.
A major press and lifestyle marketing campaign will run in advance of release that will include Electronic, world, lifestyle, fashion, and general music magazines, Spanish language publications, late night television and more. Major press features are set to run in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Fader, XLR8R, Details and all over the province of Quebec where Gotan Project have an incredible sales history.
Also confirmed are NPR and Morning Becomes Eclectic.
To hear an excerpt of the debut single, ‘La Gloria’, visit www.myspace.com/gotanproject
A clip for La Gloria will premiere at the end of March followed by a full servicing to all television and online video outlets across North America.
For more information, please visit www.gotanproject.com and www.beggarsgroup.ca
“Tango 3.0 has refined all the founding elements of what makes the Gotan Project the wondrous thing that it is.” – Gilles Peterson – BBC Radio1
Jonsi - Go in stores April 6th
XL Recordings is pleased to present Go, the debut solo release from Sigur Rós frontman, Jónsi.
The choice to make an album of solo recordings came together as a solution to a backlog of songs Jónsi had written that didn’t seem to fit within the Sigur Rós context.
Go is a different beast entirely. Ecstatic, dramatic and alive, it features Jónsi’s signature vocals throughout, with the majority of the songs sung in English.
A video for lead track, Go Do, has been completed and is streaming now at www.jonsi.com. The clip is directed by Arni & Kinski, who have helmed no less than six Sigur Rós videos, including Glósóli and Viðrar vel til loftárása and was filmed on location in Iceland between Christmas and New Year.
Jónsi will be touring in support of the album, kicking off a North American jaunt in Vancouver with two shows at The Vogue Theatre April 6th and 7th, followed by April 30th / May 1st in Toronto (The Sound Academy), and May 2nd Montréal (Metropolis). There will be another round of dates in the Fall.
The Go tour will feature a brand new band and a stage set designed by 59 Productions. Both these elements promise to be drop-dead amazing. The idea of the stage collaboration with 59 Productions is to bring together the worlds of theatre and music in a new and hopefully unique way, in order to create something other than the hoary old cliches that pass for innovation in rock’n‘roll. Visit vimeo.com/9480602 too see more.
An avalanche of press will include the covers of Relix, Paste, Tokion and Relevant.
Go is available on US import CD and 180 Gram vinyl with complimentary MP3 download coupon.
Jónsi played three acoustic songs on WNYC radio recently, and it’s a good chance to hear how three of the songs from Go must have sounded before Nico Muhly got his hands on them and, in Jónsi’s words, made them “explode”. Listen here www.wnyc.org
For more information, please visit www.beggarsgroup.ca
Harlem - Hippies in stores April 6th
- Hippies is the second longplayer from Austin’s newest Matador signings, Harlem. As demonstrated by numerous self-booked tours including stints at SXSW and CMJ, Harlem have a reputation of making club gigs seem like living room shows (and living room shows feel like club shows).
- Their first album for Matador, Hippies, harnesses the band’s energy in its 16 blasts of pure pop energy with a new dimension of songwriting that is as tightly masterful as it is true to a joyfully frantic primitivism.
Recorded at the Distillery in Costa Mesa, CA with the assistance of Mike McHugh, Hippies is a more refined and cleaner record than it’s predecessor (the self released Free Drugs) with a classically iconoclastic sound that in eras-past was achieved by The Gories, The Standells, Dead Moon, The Kinks and The Pixies.
The songwriting and vocal duties on Hippies are evenly shared by Coomers (nee Michael Coomer) and Curtis O’Mara — who switch between guitar/vox and drums on stage (and off) alongside newly-added bassist Jose Boyer. Harlem is set to tour vigorously across the continent and play the shit out of SXSW.
The band are featured on Matador Records recent compilation, Casual Victim Pile (OLE-859), which pays homage to the new breed of Austin upstarts who make that cities music scene so vibrant.
The album is available on US import CD and LP with complimentary MP3 download.
A video for “Friendly Ghost” will be unveiled soon, visit www.myspace.com/harlemduh for the latest
Visit www.matadorrecords.com to download “Friendly Ghost”.
For the latest information, including tour dates, please visit www.beggarsgroup.ca
“Austin-by-way-of-Tucson garage rock trio Harlem follow up their 2009 debut, Free Drugs, with Hippies, their first release on Matador Records. Building on the lo-fi 50’s garage revival sound established on their previous record, Hippies is a tighter, more calculated affair with catchier riffs and singsong choruses.” – PreFix Mag
Serena-Maneesh - S-M 2: Abyss in B Minor in stores March 23rd
S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor is the second album from Serena-Maneesh, the follow-up to their self-titled debut from 2006 which received much praise, establishing the Norwegian band as an act that could merge the lilting, ethereal melodies with crushingly loud, shimmering distortion.
Recording for the new album started in 2008 when they went underground to record in a cave on the outskirts of Oslo; “Studio environments often get on my nerves,” band leader Emile Nikolaisen explains, “and I love the underworld, you can silently head down there and do as you please, leave the world behind. So we found this huge cave with stone walls, it looked like a refugee hideout from World War II, with a huge, undiscovered treasure of sound.”
Once recorded, the band worked with Nick Terry ( Klaxons and Primal Scream), and Can associate René Tinner, who set about mixing the results – spending an incredible eight days on each song.
It was mastered at Air Studios by Ray Staff, who’s numerous credits include Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti; but this is no distended double-album, the end result is a concise eight tracks spread over just 38 minutes and 45 seconds.
Pre-release shows & festivals include My Bloody Valentine-curated ATP, 2 recent New York shows, Eurosonic & SXSW.
North American headlining tour in March/April, including multiple SXSW appearances. Confirmed Canadian dates include March 27 Vancover, April 2 Toronto, April 3 Montréal.
Video & single for “I Just Want To See Your Face” coming in February.
For more information, please visit www.4ad.com/serena-maneesh, www.myspace.com/serena-maneesh, www.serena-maneesh.com
“Serena-Maneesh really does sound a bit like a new rock manifesto, something Marx would have written had he gone into psychedelic instead of politics. The emotions are fiery, the logic is muddy and each musical statement made by the five-piece group…is grandiose.” – Under the Radar
Pavement - Quarantine The Past: Greatest Hits In stores March 9th
At long last it is upon us. One of the most important and influential alternative bands of the 1990s, Pavement, have reunited.
To commemorate this very happy occasion, Matador Records presents Quarantine The Past, a 23 track best of collection compiled by the band and fully remastered on US import specially priced CD and double LP, with complimentary MP3 download coupon.
The tracks span the entirety of Pavement’s career from 1989 to 1999, from the scratchy and mysterious sounds of their early vinyl-only releases to the rich, multilayered warmth of their final recordings. Although the compilation does not include any unreleased material, it definitely digs deeper than the hits.
Songs range from the Top 10 Modern Rock hit “Cut Your Hair” to nearly all the goup’s singles, some underrated album tracks, 3 choice pre-Matador cuts, and one obscure compilation track singing the praises of REM (?!).
Quarantine The Past lands in stores as Pavement embark on their first live performances since the fall of 1999. Dates begin in New Zealand on March 1 and continue through Australia and Europe over the spring and summer, with 4 shows in New York’s Central Park next September.
They will make a lone Canadian appearance in Toronto on June 19, playing with Broken Social Scene on Toronto Island.
Pavement are Mark Ibold, Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich, Scott Kannberg, and Steve West.
Pavement’s catalogue for Matador has come to define in the eyes of many, the blueprint for independent rock over the past generation. Albums like Slanted & Enchanted and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain are still consistent sellers and routinely appear on all-time Best of lists.
For more information, please visit www.matadorrecords.com and www.beggarsgroup.ca
Ted Leo And The Pharmacists - The Brutalist Bricks In stores March 9th
New Jersey’s Ted Leo And The Pharmacists are back after a two year break with their fourth album and Matador debut, The Brutalist Bricks.
It was recorded in Brooklyn’s Seaside Lounge, and is the band’s first full-length since 2007’s Living with the Living.
This extraordinarily assured, wideranging album explores new ground for Ted, showcasing his singer-songwriter side while remaining emotionally and energetically true to his punk roots.
From the thrilling opener and video track “The Mighty Sparrow” to the apocalyptic “Last Days,” startling
influences reveal themselves.
Hardcore punk vibes are there, as is acoustically driven power-pop – but from Elvis Costello to Billy Bragg,
there’s a softer, at times more introspective side at work, with one entirely acoustic number. In one song, the ghost of Josh Homme seems to hover momentarily.
From start to finish, Ted’s inventive, sparkling songwriting and his tightly wound, explosively chopworthy band keep the momentum ferocious and fascinating.
The band will be appearing on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on streetdate March 9, followed by North American wide touring March-May, plus summer festivals, and then a second round of dates Sept-Oct.
Ted will be releasing an Exclusive Record Store Day 7” April 7th.
Download album track “Even Heros Have To Die” from www.matadorrecords.com
For more information, please visit www.beggarsgroup.ca
Titus Andronicus - The Monitor In Stores March 9th
The pride of New Jersey, Titus Andronicus, return with their sophomore XL Release release, The Monitor on March 9, the follow up to last year’s, The Airing Of Grievances.
The Monitor was recorded this past August (2009) by producer and engineer Kevin McMahon at his studio – Marcata Recording – in New Paltz, NY.
The usual suspects from the world of Titus Andronicus were all in attendance, as well as members of Ponytail, Wye Oak, Vivian Girls, and the Hold Steady. McMahon also mixed the album.
It was mastered by Greg Calbi – whom the band chose because he is the only person alive who can claim involvement in both The Chemistry of Common Life by Fucked Up and Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell by Meat Loaf!
The Monitor is available on US import CD and double vinyl with complimentary MP3 download coupon.
The band will be playing a US instore tour ending at SXSW in Austin followed by a 100 date North American swing that will be stopping in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montréal later this summer.
For all the latest, please visit www.titusandronicus.net
To preview new music, visit www.myspace.com/titusandronicus
“Patrick Stickles howls with anguish way beyond his 22 years, often cramming lyrics into tight spaces just to make sure he gets the last word in…the drama’s more Boss than Bright Eyes, fuelled by blue collar frustration and, most notably, beer.” – PITCHFORK
“A passionately bleak yet irresistibly rousing album”. – TIME OUT NEW YORK
“It remains instrumentally raucous, emotionally battered, and unaplogetically fun.” – FILTER
The Morning Benders - Big Echo In Stores March 9th
Rough Trade / Beggars Group are pleased to announce the signing of San Fransico’s The Morning Benders. Now based in NYC, the band will be releasing their new offering, Big Echo, on March 9th.
Big Echo, produced and engineered by Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear) is available on US import CD and Vinyl, with complimentary MP3 download coupon.
The band will be touring heavily in support of the album, with confirmed Canadian headlining shows April 3rd Vancouver (Media Club), April 14th Toronto (The Drake Hotel), and April 15th Montréal (La Sala Rossa).
The group has previously toured in support of Grizzly Bear (fall 2009), The Kooks and Death Cab for Cutie (summer 2008), Ra Ra Riot (fall 2008), and also with Yo La Tengo, MGMT, Grand Archives, Yeasayer, Two Gallants, The Rosebuds, Au Revoir Simone, and We Are Scientists.
The debut album”Talking Through Tin Cans” was the iTunes Independent album of the year 2008.
The Morning Benders are Chris Chu (vocals, guitars, organ, rhodes, pianos), Joe Ferrell (guitars, rhodes, pianos, organ), Julian Harmon (drums, percussion) & Tim Or (bass).
For a free download of the album track Promises, visit www.myspace.com/themorningbenders
For more information, please visit www.beggarsgroup.ca
“Take a trawl through the annals of ear-sticking melodies and you’ll follow cupid’s arrow, soaring in a straight line from the Brill Building to the Beatles…Follow that arrow a bit further, and you’ll find your heart racing to the love-is-all indie pop of Berkeley’s Morning Benders”. – SF BAY GUARDIAN
“Rarely has a debut album sounded so fresh and endearing”. – LA Times
“Jaunty, melodic tunes ideal for summer days and rainy afternoons”. – SPIN
“A lot of the writing on the forthcoming, impressively consistent and endlessly catchy Big Echo is set in that ineffable state of yearning and pensiveness that comes with coming of age, tightly packaged in clever if simply constructed pop”. – Stereogum
