Runnin Thru My Dreams

Order/listen to "A Beginner's Mind" here: 
https://sufjanangelo.ffm.to/a-beginners-mind

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - Back To Oz

From the album Policy, out March 10, 2015 on Merge Records.
http://www.mergerecords.com/policy

Policy

Order from Merge

Will Butler "Anna"

Betty

A Link Wray tune, this track is from my forthcoming album release "Introducing" which features Tucker Martine's production (as well as drums!), Eli Moore's beautiful guitar, Steve Moore on the piano and organ, and some backing vocals by Jim James of My Morning Jacket and Laura Veirs. 

"Introducing" releasing May 13th 2016 on Bella Union(UK/EU) and Raven Marching Band Records(US) has elements of country and soul and features tunes written in the 70s - Tom T. Hall, Waylon Jennings, Don Gibson, Barry Gibb, Townes Van Zandt, Tom Rush are some of the songwriters covered.

Thanks to The Line of Best Fit for sending out album/single announcements this February 18th 2016 post -  http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/new-music/discovery/karl-blau

Introducing Karl Blau

Fallin' Rain

Vinyl: http://smarturl.it/MariaUsbeckVinyl
Spotify: http://smarturl.it/MoaiYYoSpotify
Apple: http://smarturl.it/AmparoApple
___

Maria Usbeck's solo debut, Amparo, is a collection of songs written and recorded across the span of three years in Ecuador, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Barcelona, Lisbon, Easter Island, Costa Rica, Florida, L.A. and her home in Brooklyn. Though the songs were composed electronically, Amparo called for an acoustic treatment, so Usbeck spent a winter in the studio recording the arrangements live with producer Caroline Polachek and mixer & engineer Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson. Fleshed out in full sonic color on the marimba, xylophone, quena flute, piano, and harp, the album stretched into something hi-fi and expressive, meditative but not meandering.

Amparo stems from Usbeck's desire to compose in Spanish, her native language. Growing up in Quito, Usbeck was immersed in salsa, merengue, bachata, and Andean music, but was more attracted to German and American culture than to her own, and moved to America by herself at 17. After five years of fronting new wave outfit Selebrities and writing songs in English, Usbeck experienced a delayed-onset homesickness and knew it was time to "let the mother tongue speak." The impulse manifested itself directly: Amparo takes its title from Usbeck's middle name and her mother's name, and translates roughly as "to guide, protect, and embrace." Usbeck wields her Spanish lyrics cleverly while folding in snippets of several other far-flung tongues: Rapa Nui from Easter Island, Quichua from Ecuador, Bribri from Costa Rica, and Catalan. Because these lyrics were composed while visiting the countries from which they originate, their usage is more impressionistic than literal, like a mockingbird imitating fragments of other bird calls. Similarly, Usbeck reinterprets the Ecuadorian music that she grew up with as a newcomer, returning home with fresh ears, and as such the sounds are very much her own.

The backbone of Amparo is percussion, vibrating throughout with timbales, tumbas, a talking drum, bongos, shakers, and an Indian flat drum, with the gaps filled in by her field recordings of birds, beaches, and jungles. The songs were written and recorded chronologically, with the exception of the closing track, a cover of Colourbox’s “Tarantula” reimagined in Usbeck’s Spanish translation. Amparo is a reflection of the textures of Usbeck's childhood. It is also a distinctly grown-up pop record – a travel diary, music made by a visiting outsider to tap into a shared core of human expression. Emotively, Usbeck is her most powerful on piano ballads "Uno De Tus Ojos" and "Jungla Inquieta," but is a magnetic narrator throughout, moving between whispers, chants, and lullabies. Amparo pulses with many stories in many voices, but they flow together seamlessly like water, leaving behind a wordless hum.

Amparo is released May 27 via Cascine in North America, Labrador in Euope and Rallye in Japan.
___

Cascine on FB: http://bit.ly/1QTpyHQ 

Maria Usbeck - Moai Y Yo

Grace Joyner, "Maybe Sometimes in C" 
out Friday 5/20 on Hearts & Plugs, H&P021

Pre-order on CD and Cassette here:
http://bit.ly/1S69fpS

Grace Joyner - Dreams

Buy "Mowing" - https://michaelnaufth.bandcamp.com/album/mowing

Michael Nau - Love Survive

Unknown Mortal Orchestra's sophomore album, II. Out February 5, 2013 on Jagjaguwar. 

iTunes: http://glnk.it/1ur
Amazon: http://glnk.it/1sk
SCD: http://www.scdistribution.com/umo

So Good at Being in Trouble

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - "So Good at Being in Trouble" (Official Audio)

Steady Sun - 'Actress'

watch the music video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJnIq15wysY

I'm To Blame

Asthmatic Kitty Records is an independent record label that was co-founded by Lowell Brams and his stepson, singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens, in 1999. Since its founding, AKR has released albums by a variety of artists, including Lily & Madeleine, My Brightest Diamond and Helado Negro, and is currently home to Sufjan Stevens, Angelo De Augustine, Denison Witmer and The Welcome Wagon. 

Asthmatic Kitty was named after Sara, an orange and white tabby who wandered out of the woods pregnant and starving near Holland, Michigan in 1994. For fourteen years she brought joy as a beloved friend to Lowell, enjoying a happy life despite her initial hardships. Her asthma improved after moving west to New Mexico and Wyoming, where she lived out her days as an asthmatic kitty in name only.

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - Back To Oz

asthmatickitty