Buy: http://music.sufjan.com/album/the-bqe

Sufjan Stevens is proud to present The BQE, a cinematic suite inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Hula-Hoop. Commissioned by Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), The BQE was originally performed in the Howard Gilman Opera House in celebration of the 25th anniversary Next Wave Festival in October of 2007.

The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is an incidental 12.7 miles of urban roadway built over the course of several decades (1939-1964), spear-headed by the master architect Robert Moses to accommodate for the increase of commercial and commuter traffic in New York City‘s outer boroughs. The roadway was a painstaking piecemeal project, poorly planned, badly built, and relentlessly encumbered by the obvious obstacles of the era: red tape, neighborhood protests, World War II, and a congested borough whose sequestering layout proved ill-fitting for the automobile. The resulting expressway-a pockmarked, serpentine, congested BQE-has become one of Brooklyn‘s most notable icons of urban blight. And, for Sufjan Stevens, an object of unmitigated inspiration.

Sufjan Stevens, The BQE

Milk & Honey

The New Album | Beautiful Desolation | Out 31st March
Pre-order and download this track instantly: http://smarturl.it/BeautifulDesolation

CD: http://smarturl.it/Beautiful.CD
Vinyl: http://smarturl.it/Beautiful.Vinyl

*Lyrics*
With the last breath of our angels
We take final steps.
And I lay him down
On those killing fields
Where nameless kneel.

If I could. 
If I could
I'd fuck it up.
If I could.
If I could
I'd be enough.
If I could.

Did her last kiss cut you deep enough,
With so little lust.
Did your tears fall like
Your unborn child's.
With her perfect eyes.

If I could.
If I could 
I'd break your heart.
If I could.
If I could.

Good women lie down with losers everyday.
I'll take him to the killing fields lay him down nameless. Deserving.
I swear I saw my child in her eyes.
I swear I've seen his tears in boys eyes.
In boys eyes.

Available on iTunes

Kawai Celeste

Sufjan Stevens, "Movement III—Linear Tableau With Intersecting Surprise"

Sufjan Stevens, "Interlude I—Dream Sequence In Subi Circumnavigation"

Sufjan Stevens, "Movement II—Sleeping Invader"

Sufjan Stevens, "Movement I—In The Countenance Of Kings"

Sufjan Stevens, "Introductory Fanfare For The Hooper Heroes"

Sufjan Stevens, "Prelude On The Esplanade"

Greylag "Another" from the forthcoming self-titled album 'Greylag' out 10/14/14 on CD/LP/Digital from Dead Oceans.

Pre-order the new album via:
Dead Oceans / SCD: http://smarturl.it/greylag
iTunes:  http://smarturl.it/greylag_itunes
Amazon: http://smarturl.it/greylag_amazon
Indies: http://smarturl.it/greylag_indies

Greylag
Artist Page http://deadoceans.com/artist.php?name=greylag
Band Website www.greylagmusic.com/
Facebook www.facebook.com/greylagmusic
Twitter https://twitter.com/greylagmusic
Instagram http://instagram.com/greylagmusic

Greylag "Another" from the forthcoming self-titled album 'Greylag' out 10/14/14 on CD/LP/Digital from Dead Oceans.

Pre-order from DOC

Greylag - "Another"

GROUNDERS' new album will be available May 12.

“Where do you go? Waiting around, where do you go from here?” wonders the chorus of “Secret Friend,” the first single from GROUNDERS’ debut self-titled LP. 

With a dreamy, reverb-drenched intro, the song drifts alongside layers of wobbly arpeggiated synth lines and space-age guitar melodies. It’s the opening track, and it’s also a fitting intro to GROUNDERS. It shimmers and gleams, but there’s a scrappy, stripped-back undertone that chips away at any polish. For every catchy hook and lush arrangement throughout the album there’s a woozy counterpoint that keeps things slightly off-kilter. 

Where do you go from here? Into the weird and wonderful pop world of GROUNDERS.  

This spring, the Toronto-based band – Andrew Davis (vocals and guitar), Daniel Busheikin (keyboards), Mike Searle (Bass) and Evan Lewis (guitar) – will release their first full-length album, a collection of dense and intricate pop music under the gauzy veil of krautrock and psychedelia.   In the time between releasing the Wreck of a Smile EP in 2013 and laying demos for their debut album, GROUNDERS rediscovered their love for classic pop music, an appreciation that had waned over the years as they became obsessed with circumventing the conventional. They listened to pop staples like David Bowie and Devo, and revisited old favourites like Velvet Underground, Neu and the Zombies. When GROUNDERS finally came up for air, they had a newfound love for pop and a glut of ideas for a debut LP.  

Meanwhile, Meditation for Dummies and David Lynch’s self-help guide Catching the Big Fish, on transcendental meditation and the creative process, were passed around the van while touring through North America. As Davis’s interest in meditation increased, his lyrics began to reflect his search for serenity and inner peace. 

The album came to life in two distinct spaces: Davis’s bedroom in Toronto’s sleepy High Park neighbourhood; and a spacious two-car garage packed with vintage gear from various pawn shops and second-hand stores across the country. 

After recruiting DIANA’s Kieran Adams to handle drums, the band headed into the studio with longtime pal Marcel Ramagnano (Born Ruffians, Absolutely Free) to record. Months of tracking, tinkering and layering later, GROUNDERS enlisted the incomparable David Newfeld (Broken Social Scene, Holy Fuck) to give each song the bombastic, fried analog treatment he’s become known for.   

First single "Secret Friend" sounds like a bleached and sunbaked Zombies; “Vyvanse,” which yes, is named after the ADHD drug, contains a lilting guitar riff that’ll break your heart; “Pull It Over Me” careens into the dreamy ether courtesy of a wistful cyclical guitar that’s the epitome of a lazy summer’s day; “No Ringer” is a wobbly Silver Apples trance doused in a saxophone freak-out; "Fool's Banquet" sparkles like early Broadcast flooded by constant glistening waves of pleasure.  After cross-country tours, an acclaimed debut EP and a David Lynch-inspired spiritual journey, GROUNDERS have finally come of age.


GROUNDERS - Secret Friend

A romantic-period symphonic journey through a single sunrise that becomes myth. From the hush before dawn to the full crown of daylight, each track unfolds in internal movements, carrying a recurring Sun Motif that rises from shadow into radiance. Wordless choir appears as birdsong, bright air, and distant angelic warmth, lifting the orchestra toward a playful, energetic confidence—the feeling that today is “The Golden Day,” and it’s going to be wonderful.

Kettle and Footsteps

Tecopa Pupfish

Michael Nau
"Some Twist" CD/LP/DIG
Pre-Order: http://store.suicidesqueeze.net
Release Date: June 16, 2017
Label: Suicide Squeeze Records
www.facebook.com/michaelnaucottonjones
Artist Twitter: @naumichael
Artist Instagram: @mnau
www.facebook.com/suicidesqueezerecords
Label Twitter / Instagram: @suicidesqueeze
www.suicidesqueeze.net

Some Twist

How You're So For Real by Michael Nau

Music and lyrics by Stillwave
Produced and recorded @ Het Kantoor Muziek Produkties by JJJ Sielcken
Mastered by Darius van Helfteren
Artwork by Harold Van De Kamp

She Flies A Tracer

David Wingo is a busy man.  In the years since the release of his last record as Ola Podrida, he's written and recorded soundtracks for several movies including Take Shelter (winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2011), MUD (starring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon), and Prince Avalanche (starring Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch and co-composed with Explosions In The Sky), both of which are seeing wide release this coming spring/summer. When he had time in between films, Wingo assembled a live band featuring Colin Swietek on guitars, Matt Clark on bass, and David Hobizal on drums and began to bring his new songs in to the band.  A first for Ola Podrida, the new album Ghosts Go Blind was recorded to tape in a proper studio, mostly live, with the full band.  The resulting songs are energetic and accessible, while Wingo's abstract narratives are more personal and intimate than ever.   

Throughout the album bittersweet memories of youth are filtered through the nostalgic eyes of a man starting to accept his adult life for the first time.  The album opens with last guy at the party pleading for someone to stay with him, and keep the revelry going a little longer.  It's an almost cringeworthy desperation, and yet Wingo makes it feel relatable.  The final refrain "It's no fun, being alone at the end" takes on a bigger meaning, giving you the feeling his friends have grown up and moved on, leaving him to decide how he'll proceed with his life.  By the middle of the album, the character has evolved, now pleading with his partner again, but this time the goal is to stay home and shut out the world.  

Part of what makes this album so satisfying is how elegantly Wingo uses the mundane, common events of day-to-day life to conjure tales of desperation, resignation, and reflection.  The power of Wingo's storytelling is magnified by Swietek's shimmering riffs and Clark and Hobizal's alternately propulsive and restrained rhythms.  In the end, Ghosts Go Blind is about finding someone you resonate with and want to grow old with, appreciating the carefree days of youth, and steadying yourself for whatever comes next.

http://www.olapodrida.com/
https://www.facebook.com/OlaPodrida
https://twitter.com/olapodridaband
http://westernvinyl.com/artists/olapodrida.html

"Staying In" by Ola Podrida

Slade Radian

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, "Movement III—Linear Tableau With Intersecting Surprise"

asthmatickitty

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