Buy and listen here:

Bandcamp: http://thisisthekit.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-new-york
Amazon: http://geni.us/liveinnyamzn
iTunes: http://georiot.co/liveinnyitunes
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/2wARiKcwk8gDbh2ekih2bg
Brassland Store: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/artist-thisisthekit

Live in New York

Two Wooden Spoons

This is the Kit: "Two Wooden Spoons" (Live)

In this episode, Other Record Labels chats with Alec Hanley Bemis the co-founder (along with Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National) about starting and growing their record label over the past 20 years!

Introduction to Brassland: orcd.co/introducingbrassland

More about Other Record Labels: https://www.otherrecordlabels.com/

Brassland - (The National, Bartees Strange, Doveman)

The recordings I am sharing today are very short excerpts from Earthsong, a piece about how our planet moves, music that never stops changing…and computer programming.

I started programming in the Max / MSP environment about 5 years ago. During the pandemic, however, I felt I needed to try my hand at real programming in the face of an uncertain future for the performing arts. Soon after getting a feel for the basics of Javascript however, my interests turned back to the potential to create sound worlds through the use of algorithms, and away from any marketable skill sets.

Particularly, I'm drawn to the idea of using the Internet as an "environment" for a sonic installation, a common denominator where anyone with access to the Internet can share the environment. I began to think of music experiences that can only exist on the Internet, that can be dynamic based on various inputs. The six 1-hour samples used to make this piece are just re-creations of a moment in time. The music never really begins or ends — it's infinite and eternal. What you get when you load the page is a calculation of what the piece should sound like at that time and place. Closing the page doesn't mean the piece is over, it just means you're finished observing it for now.

Earthsong is a loop that takes one rotation of the earth's orbit around the sun to complete. The seven tones of varying length start together on midnight, Jan 1st, and don't line up again until exactly one year later. The pitches of these tones are in unison during sunrise and sunset, and drift farther apart until solar and lunar noon, when they begin their descent back to unison. Similarly, a set of seven short tones follow a shorter cycle that takes a full lunar cycle to complete, reaching their maximum density at lunar noon and disappear completely by solar noon. In this way, the formal structure of Earthsong is determined by the natural cadences of our planet.

It's quite impossible for the piece to exist in its true form on a conventional streaming or digital format - a standard audio file containing a year-long loop would be approximately 5.73 terabytes, far exceeding the 2-gig max for the .wav format, let alone the less-than-one-hour limit for Bandcamp uploads. This also doesn't even account for the fact that there are an infinitely different number of sunrise and sunset times on our planet, and an infinite number of times when someone can begin listening to the piece during its course. In this way, the piece is deliberately, and perhaps frustratingly, un-stream-able. It abides on its own corner of the Internet, reflecting the stubborn traverse of our tiny rock circled by an even tinier rock through infinite space.

The version of Earthsong that will play in a normal web browser is still being constructed. I hope to have its "premiere" on some astronomically significant date in the near future relative to our human lifespans.

Until autumn,
Greg Chudzik
of Briars of North America

Earthsong

Earthsong 6

Earthsong 5

Earthsong 4

Earthsong 3

Earthsong 2

Earthsong 1

Hear more at orcd.co/bukeandgaseandrahrahgabor

QUESTION: How would the artists involved describe this record to someone who isn’t familiar with their work?

ARONE DYER (her): This EP with Rahrah Gabor is an experimental collaboration between 3 individual creators, like a Tinder thruple date that goes well enough to consider having dinner and asking about each other’s middle names.

RAHRAH GABOR (her): It gets playful, a little dark, sexy, and anthemic at times.

ARON SANCHEZ (him): We wanted to do something with Lala, so this is it.

RAHRAH GABOR (her): Basically, I’m advising people on how to step up their taste!

Follow Rahrah Gabor on Instagram - Twitter - Soundcloud

If one scours the chasms between the reverence for ‘90s revivalist hip-hop and the silvery futurists of the genre, there they may find a bridge: Rahrah Gabor (she/her). That's the moniker of former school teacher, Mariella "Lala" Jimenez. She has cherry-topped New York and New Jersey nightlight on the strength of her critical presence, pointed lyricism and unique sense of style and self-possession. Earning early support at the likes of AFROPUNK with slots at Slay TV's inaugural SlayFest and the DICE Festival in Berlin, Rahrah Gabor, who is self-described as “hip hop's Omar Little. Only prettier,” will admit that she first dove into hip-hop to prove a point: that cisgender people do not have a monopoly on the genre. Rahrah Gabor would like to become the kind of challenge and increasingly challenged industry will not be able to ignore. Some will say it’s because she’s a Black trans woman. Others will say it’s because she’s better at this than you.  

First single, "Taste Up" was pulled from Buke and Gase's ever-expanding archive of unreleased tracks and given to Rahrah Gabor to work over.

Buke and Gase + Rahrah Gabor

Buke and Gase / Rahrah Gabor: "Taste Up" (EP drops Feb 11, 2022)

Buy and Listen here:

Bandcamp: http://thegloamingbrassland.bandcamp.com/album/the-gloaming
Amazon: http://geni.us/gloamingamzndigi
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/1CeEkBmYJG9ghiHRls9poQ
iTunes: http://georiot.co/gloamingitunes
Brassland Store: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/artist-thegloaming

The Gloaming's debut album, entitled simply The Gloaming, was produced by Thomas Bartlett and mixed by Patrick Dillett (David Byrne & St. Vincent). It was finished in the summer of 2013 during the build up to a series of sold out concerts at prestigious venues in London, Amsterdam, Paris & New York.

In early 2011, the five musicians first met to explore their collaboration at Grouse Lodge Studios in Ireland's County Westmeath, an hour northwest of Dublin. In August 2011 -- newly christened The Gloaming -- they went on their first Irish tour, including a sold out debut show at The National Concert Hall, Dublin. The sellout hints at the excitement surrounding their formation, as does the fact that Ireland's prime minister Edna Kenny was in attendance that night.

Most of The Gloaming's work is based on traditional Irish forms, the basic grammar of which is known as a "reel." "Reels" are performed in simple rhythmic meters (2/2 or 4/4) and repeated in simple configurations. They are the syntax of Irish music just as a "riddim" is to dub reggae and the "break" is to contemporary hip-hop.

Happily, what The Gloaming do with the syntax of Irish music is anything but simple nostalgia. Into these traditional structures, they introduce deep wells of personality and experience. Lyrics are drawn from the history of Irish literature, old and new. The music is played with the authority of virtuosos. The result is unclouded by sheen or hokey sentimentality. Instead, it's haunting and emotionally charged. It sounds ancient without being a mere reproduction.

The Gloaming: "Allistrum's March"

The Gloaming's debut album, entitled simply The Gloaming, was produced by Thomas Bartlett and mixed by Patrick Dillett (David Byrne & St. Vincent). It was finished in the summer of 2013 during the build up to a series of sold out concerts at prestigious venues in London, Amsterdam, Paris & New York.

In early 2011, the five musicians first met to explore their collaboration at Grouse Lodge Studios in Ireland's County Westmeath, an hour northwest of Dublin. In August 2011 -- newly christened The Gloaming -- they went on their first Irish tour, including a sold out debut show at The National Concert Hall, Dublin. The sellout hints at the excitement surrounding their formation, as does the fact that Ireland's prime minister Edna Kenny was in attendance that night.

Most of The Gloaming's work is based on traditional Irish forms, the basic grammar of which is known as a "reel." "Reels" are performed in simple rhythmic meters (2/2 or 4/4) and repeated in simple configurations. They are the syntax of Irish music just as a "riddim" is to dub reggae and the "break" is to contemporary hip-hop.

Happily, what The Gloaming do with the syntax of Irish music is anything but simple nostalgia. Into these traditional structures, they introduce deep wells of personality and experience. Lyrics are drawn from the history of Irish literature, old and new. The music is played with the authority of virtuosos. The result is unclouded by sheen or hokey sentimentality. Instead, it's haunting and emotionally charged. It sounds ancient without being a mere reproduction.

The Gloaming: "The Sailor's Bonnet"

LANZ + Kris Allen = Ballard

Ballard is the name of their new collaborative LP. It might be the origin story of a new band?

Today everyone can hear lead track “Panenka” which refers to a soccer technique. (That’s football to anyone not in North America.) During a penalty kick, the shooter floats the ball into the centre of the goal, deceiving any goalkeeper who has committed to a dive into the left or right corner of the net. The technique was introduced by Czech football player Antonín Panenka a 1976 European Football tournament. (A video, to come, heavily features the man himself.)  

“Panenka” is also a concise, earworm of a track based around a tangle of horn samples and repeating drum patterns. It’s one of two thematically linked tracks on the duo's debut album Ballard.

(The other is called “Rabona.” It also refers to a specific football shooting techniques. We will encourage you to fall down a YouTube hole using these titles as search terms for a theatrical, humorous and creative view into the beautiful game.)

Ballard

"Panenka"

LANZ / Kris Allen: "Panenka" from the album Ballard (release date: Sept 12, 2023)

"3 BPM (Three Beats Per Minute) is a musical framework for being together," says Christopher Rountree, the piece's composer and artistic director of Wild Up. "It comes out of my interest in the social dynamics of music making. It’s a piece drawn out of that energy, meant to bring a room full of people together around abstract gestures, harmonies, phrases, arcs, events, melodies, textures, games, and musical language."

3 BPM is Christopher Rountree's debut album as a composer. Rountree is a 3-time GRAMMY-nominated composer, conductor, and band leader best known as the founder and artistic director of the Los Angeles new music collective Wild Up. 3 BPM finds a lineup of musicians — including the “brilliant” (LA Times) piano duo HOCKET, the widely acclaimed violist Nadia Sirota, and various members of Wild Up — embarking on a novel musical architecture of Rountree’s conception.

The resulting music unfolds patiently, with the musicians of HOCKET — Sarah Gibson and Thomas Kotcheff — leading a conversational and lush performance that recalls Hiroshi Yoshimura’s inviting ambient sculptures, the glacial resonance of Sigur Rós, or the simmering and expansive meditations of Benny Maupin’s The Jewel In The Lotus. In a way, Rountree’s innovative musical architecture is a fresh development in the lineage of Julius Eastman’s open-ended scores (explored thoroughly in Wild Up’s ongoing tribute) or Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies that emphasizes social interplay and human feeling — a breath of fresh air in the age of artificial intelligence.

As Rountree explains:

“At its core, 3 BPM is a conversational game, for any number of musicians, led by two leaders. These leaders — on our record a piano duo called HOCKET, comprised of two remarkable composer / performers Sarah Gibson and Thomas Kotcheff — are in dialogue with each other musically: trading bars, ending each others’ sentences, trying to play the same melodies exactly together but with slightly divergent rhythms, all of which they are co-writing rhythmically and moreover emotionally within the framework the score is giving them.

The melodies and harmonies from this leading conversation function to “unlock” or “trigger” numerous events for a larger group of musicians — on the record strings and winds from Wild Up are joined by the viola soloist Nadia Sirota — who use the architecture in the score to create shadows and environments around the leaders’ melodies, blurring, supporting, and challenging their choices.

All of this interlocking social work exists within a larger game of cyclical periodicity: each bar of music spanning the unusual distance of one entire line of the score, and each line marked with a duration of exactly 20 seconds. At the end of each twenty second increment of the piece we hear an expansive pulse: one gentle envelope of hiss and breath from a modular synth. This sound, a pulse at three beats per minute, serves as a conductor, a judge, a reminder, and a foundation to teach the musicians how their perception of time differs from reality.

As a performer when I’ve encountered notations like this one — where individual agency and dialogue are the compositional through lines, and where the notes on the page are as much graphical, and spatial, as they are logistical — I always feel at first afraid of the freedom and then liberated to make the music mine.

My hope with 3 BPM is that each new group of musicians that take the piece on will feel their own singular agency in making it as much, more even, theirs than mine. It’s a musical framework for being together.”

Composer: Christopher Rountree
Ensemble: Wild Up - HOCKET
Piano: Sarah Gibson of Thomas Kotcheff of HOCKET
Viola: Nadia Sirota
Producer/engineer: Lewis Pesacov
Mastering: Taylor Deupree
Cover art & package design: Rob Carmichael at SEEN Studio

3 BPM

3 BPM: Almanac

Christpher Rountree: "3 BPM: Almanac" performed by Wild Up / HOCKET / Nadia Sirota

3 BPM: Pulpit

Christpher Rountree: "3 BPM: Puplpit" performed by Wild Up / HOCKET / Nadia Sirota

This is the title track of This Is The Kit's album BASHED OUT produced by The National's Aaron Dessner.

This Is The Kit is the much beloved musical project of Kate Stables, born in England and based in Paris, though the heart of their musical community remains in Bristol, UK. Bashed Out is her band’s third album, the result of an extended period collaboration with the record’s producer Aaron Dessner (Sharon Van Etten, Local Natives). Dessner--the co-founder of the Brassland label--is best known for his work in The National and, indeed, the backing band he gathered for Bashed Out combines the talents of This Is The Kit’s touring members (Rozi Plain, Jesse Vernon, Jamie Whitby-Coles), alongside a number of session players drawn from the Brooklyn music scene: Bryce Dessner, Thomas Bartlett (Doveman, The Gloaming), Matt Barrick (The Walkmen) and Ben Lanz (Beirut, The National) all made key instrumental contributions.

As notable as the band, however, is front woman Kate Stables, whose voice hearkens back to the classic singer-songwriter era--her distinctive, cutting vocals up front in the mix. It’s a self-confidence gained since her previous album, 2011’s Wriggle Out the Restless, which made her band a minor institution in the United Kingdom, especially on the radio which has embraced the group. This Is The Kit has received across the board support from BBC 6 DJs Lauren Laverne, Radcliffe & Maconie, Marc Riley, Cerys Matthews, and Mary Anne Hobbs--receiving further play from BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens, Jen & Ally, and Phil Taggart. "Wonderful wonderful stuff," said DJ and Elbow frontman Guy Garvey, before arguing their last album should have made the Mercury Prize shortlist.

On Bashed Out, the band continue their musical evolution into a synesthetic, shape-shifting entity—rooted in folk but encompassing elements of psychedelia, alternative rock, and electronic textures and sensibilities. The Line of Best Fit has called Kate's and TITK and "essential fixture of British folk music for the past 10 years…one of a handful of truly innovate songwriters working with the British folk template today."

Bashed Out

This Is The Kit: "Bashed Out" single

"Silver John" is the first proper single from This Is The Kit's new album BASHED OUT--produced by The National's Aaron Dessner and released in April 2015. The band are already omnipresent on the BBC 6 airwaves and on August 6th were featured on the debut season of the BBC iPlayer documentary series Guy Garvey's Music Box. They being hotly tipped as a possible Mercury Prize nominees for Bashed Out. 

Directed by This Is The Kit
Filmed & edited by Jesse D. Vernon

Kate says of the track: “’Silver John’ talks about how we see things. The end of the work that we’re bringing about ourselves. Putting the blame on other forces. Being let down by people. The things we grab at in times of panic. It’s just mulling over the way of the human.” 

On Bashed Out, the band continue their musical evolution into a synesthetic, shape-shifting entity—rooted in folk but encompassing elements of psychedelia, alternative rock, and electronic textures and sensibilities. The Line of Best Fit has called Kate's and TITK and "essential fixture of British folk music for the past 10 years…one of a handful of truly innovate songwriters working with the British folk template today."

Buy This Is the Kit's new album Bashed Out:
- Bandcamp: https://thisisthekit.bandcamp.com/album/bashed-out
- iTunes: http://radi.al/BashedOutiTunes
- Amazon: http://radi.al/BashedOutAmazon
- Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/track/38cRRZuUiwoJ4J19a2UT2U


This Is The Kit: "Silver John"

Download this track for free at > http://noisetrade.com/thisisthekit/this-is-the-kit-bashed-out

Or order the record at...
- Bandcamp: https://thisisthekit.bandcamp.com/album/bashed-out
- iTunes: http://radi.al/BashedOutiTunes
- Amazon: http://radi.al/BashedOutAmazon
- Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/track/38cRRZuUiwoJ4J19a2UT2U

A track from This Is The Kit's forthcoming album BASHED OUT--produced by The National's Aaron Dessner and due for release April 6 (UK/Europe) and April 7 (North America). 

This Is The Kit: "Misunderstanding"

“Trials, Troubles, Tribulations” is an American bluegrass gospel song written by Estil C. Ball. Here it is performed by Sounds of the South, a project featuring Justin Vernon (Bon Iver, Volcano Choir), Sharon Van Etten, Megafaun, Matthew E. White, and Fight the Big Bull. The project, organized by Megafaun, initially appeared at Duke Performances in North Carolina and MusicNOW in Cincinnati, Ohio, and subsequently traveled to Australia's Vivid LIVE at the Sydney Opera House.

This is the first song from the compilation MusicNOW: 10 Years set for digital release on March 10th, 2015, just prior to the 10th edition of this eclectic music festival of the same name founded in 2006 by Bryce Dessner of The National. MusicNOW Festival set out with a mission to present the best in contemporary music, offer artists an opportunity to take risks, commission new work and attempt innovative collaborations.

The 16 track live album highlights festival-only surprises like Fleet Foxes leader Robin Pecknold playing the traditional song “Silver Dagger” for the first time, the debut performance of Grizzly Bear’s “While You Wait for the Others”, the premiere of Sufjan Stevens’ “The Owl & The Tanager”, as well as collaborations featuring Owen Pallett, Justin Vernon, Sharon van Etten, Tinariwen and Dirty Projectors.

Pre-orders for digital and physical formats will begin on Tuesday February 17th at http://bit.ly/musicnow10

“Many of my most significant memories as a musician have taken place in Cincinnati during the MusicNOW Festival over the last 10 years, “ says founder Bryce Dessner. “When we started, we were driven to create an intimate music festival that was as much a creative refuge for the artists as it is for the audience to partake in intimate and rare performances. We have celebrated works in progress and new commissions, new collaborations and detailed music of all kinds regardless of genre or popularity. “ 

Dessner is widely known as the guitarist for The National. Those a little more in the know are aware of Bryce’s work in performance projects (such as The Long Count) and classical composition (including his work with Brassland label artists Clogs). MusicNOW was founded as a way for Bryce to explore all facets of his artistic interests and has served as a collaborative laboratory that provides a friendly and supportive audience for internationally renowned artists. Through the years, Dessner has guided MusicNOW to become the premiere event for blurring the imagined lines that divide musical genres. 

This year’s MusicNOW festival will take place on March 11-15. For the full schedule and more details visit http://www.musicnowfestival.org


Sounds of the South: "Trials, Troubles, Tribulations"

Amazon > http://geni.us/stringswoodamzn
iTunes > http://geni.us/stringswooditunes
Bandcamp > http://brycedessner.bandcamp.com
Spotify > https://open.spotify.com/track/7i1r0bfEMprCXlP2bGpbm6

Music for Wood and Strings is the official follow-up to Bryce Dessner's 2013 solo debut Ahyem. But don't call this a solo record. Rather it is the meeting of three great musical entities that sound even better together. 

ONE: Bryce Dessner wrote the piece. Best known as a guitarist and songwriter in The National, he is increasingly renown for his work as a composer and collaborator with artists ranging from Steve Reich to Sufjan Stevens, and as a curator on all-star projects exploring the links between the worlds of composed, folk and indie rock music (i.e. the Barbican's Mountains & Waves festival, Red Hot's Dark Was The Night, Brassland's recently released compilation MusicNOW: 10 Years). 

TWO: So Percussion performed it. A Brooklyn-based percussion quartet, the group has a decade plus track record as serial collaborators with artists across the indie, electronic and classical music spectrum (i.e. Matmos, Dan Deacon, Pulitzer Prize winning composer David Lang). The New Yorker has praised them for their "exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam."

THREE: Aron Sanchez of the duo Buke and Gase built the Chordstick, the original instruments upon which the music was made. These instruments -- designed in collaboration with Bryce -- are a cross between a hammer dulcimer and an electric guitar, lending the album its uniquely electrified and various soundscape: pointillist then hazy, distorted then crisp, shifting at will between a hum and a roar and always hypnotic, melodic and engrossing. 

Weighing in at 35 minutes in length, "Music for Wood and Strings" is the most ambitious piece of music Dessner has released to date. The CD and download have a run time of 70 minutes, presenting the the composition both as a full length concert piece, and in 9 "sections" which are sub-divided into Spotify friendly "tracks" ideal for sharing on a playlist or embedding in your Facetube's blogtweetstream. 

The appeal of all three parts of this equation should not be understated. Dessner is the clear winner in terms of name recognition because of his work with today's most popular independent musicians. However, Sō Percussion--taking after ensembles like Kronos Quartet--have redefined what it is to be a contemporary music ensemble, equally comfortable in the worlds of indie and art music. And it should also make it onto the radar of Buke and Gase fans, an iconic band whose place in underground pop imagines an intersection between Cocteau Twins, Shellac and Reggie Watt. All three artists have found a way to build on the DNA of iconic post-modernist John Cage: pushing experimental culture into the wider world.

Bryce Dessner: "Music For Wood And Strings: Section 8" (performed by So Percussion)

This the an alternate take on This Is The Kit's "Magic Spell" recorded in Paris. 

It's also available on YouTube as a video (https://youtu.be/-ZaLLomkr2o) directed, created &  hand-drawn by Sam Wisternoff.

Buy This Is the Kit's new album Bashed Out:
- Bandcamp: https://thisisthekit.bandcamp.com/album/bashed-out
- iTunes: http://radi.al/BashedOutiTunes
- Amazon: http://radi.al/BashedOutAmazon
- Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/track/38cRRZuUiwoJ4J19a2UT2U

Kate Stables on 'Magic Spell:
"Magic Spell" is wee step in a more foot-tapping direction to what some people have come to expect from This Is The Kit. It’s the result of tours all crammed in the car and listening to re-releases of old African groove compilations and Hugh Tracey field recordings. That and a summer or two playing to festival crowds who were well-up for a bit of a dance.

One year at Shambala Festival in Northamptonshire the generator cut out right in the middle of "Magic Spell" and the whole audience started chanting the chorus and spontaneously formed a conga line. They proceeded to chant and conga their way around until they finally got the generator up and running again about 7 minutes later.

Musically, this song is particularly influenced by “Twer Nyame" by Ebo Taylor, a song with a magic spell of a trumpet hook that made it's altered way into the chorus of the song. “Twer Nyame" was an important soundtrack to the journey I sing about in “Magic Spell,” hence its use in the song.

What was that journey about? It’s the story of an unexpected adventure of self-discovery and growth between friends. But also about spells and incantations and other inexplicable things that make you feel a certain way, or perhaps even make things happen in reality. A melody. A rhythm. A nonsensical sentence spoken by a child. Words and notes and beats carry different magics and intentions.


Thoughts on the video from director Sam Wisternoff:

I wanted the video to have a distinctly organic, handmade quality which I associate with This Is The Kit’s music so I decided to draw everything by hand,  adding up, in the end to 1940 drawings.  An initial idea was to incorporate the kind of doodles you might draw absentmindedly while on the phone and for these to come alive and morph into characters while the texture of each sheet of paper is magnified, creating a cloud-like atmosphere.  

With colouring pencils, I traced over footage shot with the band, using the computer monitor as a light box, changing colour for each drawing to reflect the bouncy, technicolour feel of the track.  For the parts of the song which increase in density and energy, with the synth and distorted guitars, the colours are reversed which makes the paper texture become more energentic and stormy reflecting the dynamics of the song.

This Is The Kit "Magic Spell  (Paris Sessions)

The first track release from The Gloaming's second album, to be released February 26, 2016. It is self-titled though you may also call it "2"

"The Gloaming have become an international phenomenon, thanks to their virtuoso blend of Irish traditional influences and experimentation" - The Guardian's guide to Unmissable Culture of 2016


The Gloaming: "The Pilgrim's Song"

"High Beams" is one of the earliest known demos by The National. It was recorded circa 2000 & available on an early version of Brassland's website. It was out of circulation for half a decade before we shared it again in 2011 to celebrate Brassland's 10th anniversary.

Brassland is and artist-operated label started in 2001 by Alec Hanley Bemis and twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner. We began with a pair of debuts by Clogs & The National, but our goal was to develop a community of creative folk, and the family has grown to include work by Nico Muhly, Buke & Gass, and Doveman among others.

The National - "High Beams"

Buy and listen here:

Amazon: http://geni.us/mothertongueamzndigi
iTunes: http://georiot.co/mothertongue
Bandcamp: http://nicomuhlybrassland.bandcamp.com/album/mothertongue
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/2xfqXvsUHwI9y1bbSeUQ3s
Brassland Store: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/artist-nicomuhly

"Skip Town" is a song that, until now, was only available on the iTunes edition of Nico's Mothertongue. If you're into buying music you can still <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/mothertongue/id333108647" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">purchase the whole, very excellent album</a>. On Friday, November 4, 2011 you can download it for free at <a href="http://brassland.org/giveaway" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Brassland.org/giveaway</a> or <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Brassland?sk=app_305896636093265" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a> as part of our Song-a-Day Giveaway.&#13;
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In fact, to celebrate Brassland's 10th anniversary, we're giving away a song-a-day all November. We'll also post a few of the tracks to Soundcloud, <a href="http://brassland.tumblr.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tumblr</a> & other spots on the web.&#13;
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Brassland is and artist-operated label started in 2001 by Alec Hanley Bemis and twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner. We began with a pair of debuts by Clogs & The National, but our goal was to develop a community of creative folk, and the family has grown to include work by Nico Muhly, Buke & Gass, and Doveman among others.&#13;
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Nico Muhly - "Skip Town"

The Perennials EP was released on Oct 28, 2016. "Miss Marionette" was the second pre-release single.

The band are led by the young married couple Pete & Amanda Wells. Now based in Brooklyn, they met at a bible school in the Italian countryside and were married by the time they were 20 years old. Both are children of the 90s—growing up at time when Bob Dylan & Paul Simon & Johnny Cash were canonical, part of ancient history—yet Amanda & Pete have a sensibility shot through with those artists' eerily classic sense of tradition. This duo may still be working through the confusions of being twentysomething, but we all benefit from hearing them do so via their own amazingly well-crafted songs. 

Brooklyn Vegan premiered The Perennials debut single “Breadcrumbs” in May of this year. Popular indie playlist site Indie Shuffle complimented them for having a “versatile, emotional, and overall just a terrifically full sound”— and The Deli Magazine called them “intense" and reminiscent of The National.

The Perennials: "Miss Marionette"

This Is The Kit have released a two song holiday single to celebrate the end of their career-making tour cycle behind their Aaron Dessner-produced LP 'Bashed Out'

"Christmas Time Is Here" is a classic from the Peanuts' animated holiday special A Charlie Brown Christmas. The b-side is "La Peregrinacion" (which translates as "Pilgrimage") — an English translation of the Argentine composer Ariel Ramírez's holiday classic.

This Is The Kit: "Christmas Time Is Here"

Buy and listen:

Amazon: http://geni.us/wriggleamzndigi
iTunes: http://georiot.co/wrigglerestlessitunes
Bandcamp: http://thisisthekit.bandcamp.com/album/wriggle-out-the-restless
Spotify: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/vendors?q=This+Is+The+Kit
Brassland Store: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/artist-thisisthekit

Hey folks! If you like this track the first thing you should do is <a href="http://www.facebook.com/thisisthekit" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"Like" this artist on Facebook, k</a>?&#13;
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"Spinney" is a song by This is the Kit (aka Kate Stables and whatever musicians join her).&#13;
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Brassland is and artist-operated label started in 2001 by Alec Hanley Bemis and twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner. We began with a pair of debuts by Clogs & The National, but our goal was to develop a community of creative folk, and the family has grown to include work by Nico Muhly, Buke & Gass, and Doveman among others.&#13;


This is the Kit - "Spinney"

Baby Dayliner writes: "Sarah behaves extremely rashly. She doesn’t consider consequences. In her impulsiveness her dreams are never met. She wants to hit home-runs but all she does is miss. She lives in the past, unable to feel the present. Through vice she perpetuates denial, and hence staves off recovery and actualizing her ambitions. She doesn’t like or trust herself, and sees herself in the narrator, and so does not trust him either."

You Push I'll Go

The Triumph of Sarah's Past

Baby Dayliner: "The Triumph of Sarah's Past"

Buy and listen here:

Amazon: http://geni.us/functionfallsamzn
iTunes: http://georiot.co/functionfallsitunes
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/3yd74Nrm6ARmjlaNHXijEg
Bandcamp: http://bukeandgase.bandcamp.com/album/function-falls-ep
Brassland Store: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/artist-bukeandgase

This is the first song from the Function Falls EP, a four song digital-only release the band have prepared for their fall 2012 tour of the USA with Deerhoof.

Buke & Gase: "Misshaping Introduction"

Buy and listen here:

Amazon: http://geni.us/functionfallsamzn
iTunes: http://georiot.co/functionfallsitunes
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/3yd74Nrm6ARmjlaNHXijEg
Bandcamp: http://bukeandgase.bandcamp.com/album/function-falls-ep
Brassland Store: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/artist-bukeandgase

This is a song by New Order, originally recorded for a special program on Radiolab. Buke & Gase like that show as much as the show likes them.

Buke & Gase: "Blue Monday" (New Order cover)

Buy and listen:

Amazon: http://geni.us/peoplegetreadyamzndigi
iTunes: http://georiot.co/pgritunes
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/0dWGq3h039b2Pe31wu6PAh
Bandcamp: http://pplgtrdybrassland.bandcamp.com/album/people-get-ready
Brassland Store: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/artist-peoplegetready

Here is what the band's founder Steven Reker has to say about this track: "'Windy Cindy' was inspired by Cindy Sherman's pictures, her Untitled Film Stills. I spent a long time looking at those pictures, and then I got so into them, I mean really in to them. I found myself wanting to see things from the perspective of the characters she had made. So the song is basically me having this desire to take over her spot in the picture - forever. It's a dialogue. I try to do it, it's fine for a bit, but I end up getting super tired because I can't hold the pose as long as she can. And then I imagine I'd rather be an inanimate object. Like I'd rather just be her dress or the glass that she's holding, the match that she's striking, the book she is getting off the shelf, and stuff like that. All these objects are endowed perfectly by her, the way she handles them. It's very romantic to me, not in a lovey-dovey way at all but in the way the work feels...livable. It's a livable world she made."

People Get Ready - "Windy Cindy"

Buy and listen:

Amazon: http://georiot.co/sundownsongamzn
iTunes: http://georiot.co/sundownsongitunes
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/2X8SbsWzJsrz3sVFrgIpr3
Bandcamp: http://clogs.bandcamp.com/album/the-sundown-song-ep
Brassland Store: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/artist-clogs

Clogs - "The Sundown Song"

Buy and listen here:

Bandcamp: http://bukeandgase.bandcamp.com/album/general-dome
Amazon: http://geni.us/gendomeamzn
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/0gQYzYQvHEnnqYVgJhNcKw
iTunes: http://georiot.co/generaldomeitunes
Brassland Store: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/artist-bukeandgase

Buke and Gase - "Hiccup"

Buy and listen:

Amazon: http://geni.us/nationalamzn
iTunes: http://georiot.co/nationalitunes
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/4mr0nXLuoWv0AleieUrRkR
Bandcamp: http://thenationalbrassland.bandcamp.com/album/the-national
Brassland Store: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/artist-thenational

From the album "The National" (HWY-001)
Learn more about "The National": http://www.brassland.org/album.php?catno=001

The National are a Brooklyn-based five-piece hailing from Ohio. The group contains two pairs of brothers -- Bryce Dessner (guitars), Aaron Dessner (bass, guitars), Scott Devendorf (bass, guitars), and Bryan Devendorf (drums) -- and features Matt Berninger on vocals. The National's music has drawn comparisons to Interpol, the Smiths, Tindersticks, and Tom Waits -- the latter due to Berninger's shattered, beautiful earthquake of a voice, which recalls the holy trinity of Cave, Cash and Cohen. However, though concerned with the forensics of heartbreak specifically and the human condition generally, the band are no mere copycats.

The National - "Son"

Buy and listen:

Amazon: http://geni.us/sadsongsamzn
iTunes: http://georiot.co/sadsongsitunes
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/5MXOch8nt9sOQ5mvUtCWB6
Bandcamp: http://thenationalbrassland.bandcamp.com/album/sad-songs-for-dirty-lovers
Brassland Store: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/artist-thenational

From the album ""Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers" (HWY-003)
For more check out http://www.brassland.org

Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers

90-Mile Water Wall

The National - "90 Mile Waterwall"

Buy "About Today":
- Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/12G4rtxl2ZFl1BVsKUomB9
- Bandcamp: http://thenationalbrassland.bandcamp.com/album/cherry-tree-ep
- iTunes: http://georiot.co/cherrytreeitunes
- Amazon: http://geni.us/cherrytreeamzn
- vinyl or CD: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/artist-thenational

Learn more the full album: http://www.brassland.org/album.php?catno=008

Share "About Today" on YouTube >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipx8qWt2fVA&feature=share&list=UUn6umLRaq5KWpohf4QBEcfg

The National are a Brooklyn-based five-piece hailing from Ohio. The group contains two pairs of brothers -- Bryce Dessner (guitars), Aaron Dessner (bass, guitars), Scott Devendorf (bass, guitars), and Bryan Devendorf (drums) -- and features Matt Berninger on vocals. The National's music has drawn comparisons to Interpol, the Smiths, Tindersticks, and Tom Waits -- the latter due to Berninger's shattered, beautiful earthquake of a voice, which recalls the holy trinity of Cave, Cash and Cohen. However, though concerned with the forensics of heartbreak specifically and the human condition generally, the band are no mere copycats.

Cherry Tree

About Today

The National: "About Today"

Buy and listen here:

Amazon: http://geni.us/mothertongueamzndigi
iTunes: http://georiot.co/mothertongue
Bandcamp: http://nicomuhlybrassland.bandcamp.com/album/mothertongue
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/2xfqXvsUHwI9y1bbSeUQ3s
Brassland Store: http://brassland.myshopify.com/collections/artist-nicomuhly

From the album "Mothertongue" (HWY-013)
Learn more about "Mothertongue": http://brassland.org/album.php?catno=013

Nico Muhly has written orchestral pieces for the Boston Pops, the Chicago Symphony MusicNOW, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Julliard Orchestra, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Orchestra, and the American Ballet Theatre (for choreographer Benjamin Millepied). His works have been premiered on the BBC and at New York's St. Thomas Church, Carnegie Hall, the Whitney Museum and the New York Public Library. Finally, Muhly has worked extensively with Philip Glass as editor, keyboardist, and conductor for numerous film and stage projects, and contributed to projects by a striking constellation of pop figures, among them Rufus Wainwright, Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons), Bj?rk, Teitur, Will Oldham, and The National. These many personal connections highlight one of the more important aspects of Muhly's musical life - in a word, community.


Nico Muhly - "The Only Tune  III. The Only Tune"

From the album "The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton" (HWY-021)
Learn more about "The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton": http://www.brassland.org/album.php?catno=021

To watch the official video for "Last Song" visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zodW1YIDjew&amp;amp;feature=fvw

Clogs are a mostly instrumental project led by Bryce Dessner and Australia's Padma Newsome, both men familiar from their membership in the acclaimed rock band, The National. But don't call Clogs a side project. Their existence predates The National, and Clogs have released five widely acclaimed albums -- a highly melodic debut THOM'S NIGHT OUT (2001), then the experimental polyphonies of LULLABY FOR SUE (2003), the minimalist explorations of STICK MUSIC (2004), the post-classical beauty of LANTERN (2006) and finally THE CREATURES IN THE GARDEN OF LADY WALTON (2010), a progressive song-cycle featuring performances by Sufjan Stevens, Matt Berninger of The National &amp; Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond.

Clogs - "Last Song" (Featuring Matt Berninger from The National)

Brassland is finally reissuing This is the Kit's beloved WRIGGLE OUT THE RESTLESS in a definitive edition including the "Treehouse" single. Outside of America, the iTunes version also has a deluxe edition which contains five live tracks recorded live in New York at the Mercury Lounge. It's a mix of album tracks, old favorites ("Two Wooden Spoons" "Misunderstanding"), and one song from their forthcoming album. That's the song you're listening to now, "Bashed Out."

(At the moment, it is exclusively available on Bandcamp in the US of A. So much for Memorial Day.)

Buzz on the group has been building in the UK since WRIGGLE was first released in 2010, despite the fact that their album has spent most of that time languishing almost completely unavailable and out-of-print -- and thanks, in no small part, to their intimate and riveting live shows which have taken them all over the UK and France with stopovers in Germany, Australia and the US. Currently being championed by The National's Aaron Dessner, opening shows for Iron & Wine, and about to embark on a Communion sponsored tour of Ireland, Brassland is reissuing the title for the world to hear. Aaron continues working on sessions for a new record by the band, following up his sterling recent track record working with Sharon Van Etten, Local Natives, and on the Best New Music'd "Trouble Will Find Me" by his own band.

This is the Kit have already received extensive BBC play from the likes of Gideon Coe, Cerys Matthews, Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq, Chris Hawkins, Don Letts, Rob Da Bank, Huw Stephens and Marc Riley, who has also done two sessions with the group. And they have become darlings of The Guardian, receiving a gig pick of the week, and much recent press surrounding their appearance at RTE's Other Voices television show (in collaboration with the Barbican and the BBC). 

The band is the much beloved musical project of Kate Stables, born in England and based in Paris, though the heart of their musical community remains in Bristol, UK. Kate sings, plays guitar, banjo, trumpet and percussion, while a cast of carefully hand-plucked friends deliver guitar strums, banjo plucks, hushed horns and electronic textures that sit beneath Stables' easy, earnest lilt. Her long time collaborator and regular live companion Jesse Vernon produced the album and contributes guitars, percussion, violin and percussion. While on tour, This is the Kit is a shape shifting entity ranging from a female duo with friend Rozi Plain to a psychedelia tinged five electric five-piece. 

"The aim is to have fun playing with people whose work I really like," says Kate in her simple and direct fashion. "The more you exchange and share with people the better things get and the more you learn."

This is the Kit: "Bashed Out" (Live in New York)

Brassland is an artist-operated label started in 2001 by The National's Aaron and Bryce Dessner (http://brycedessner.com) and writer Alec Hanley Bemis (soundcloud.com/a-h-b). We encourage collaboration and creation among an evolving assortment of creative folks.

We are NOT actively seeking demos. But if you'd like to message us try http://brassland.org/contact.php

Brassland

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