Sleeping At Last is starting their spring tour today, performing a dozen plus one shows in April. Two of these shows will be with a string quartet, in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania and Jacksonville, Florida, the first time Sleeping At Last have performed with a guest string quartet outside of Illinois. Most of the tour will be along the East Coast before they wind their way back to the closing show in their home town, Wheaton, Illinois.

Sleeping At Last has begun writing songs for their new album, so expect them to break out new material over the next three weeks. Darkroom will be opening their

first show of the tour, which will be in Winona Lake, Indiana at 8:00pm. If you can't make it out to one of their shows, Sleeping At Last will be posting tour photos on Flickr.

"It will be absolutely wonderful to be back out traveling again, playing our music. It’s so fun to perform with live strings and we can’t wait to perform with different quartets throughout the country this year! Plus, we’re very much looking forward to introducing you to a few new songs of ours this tour."

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbVfG6cNp68\[/youtube]
Apr 3 - New Horizon - Winona Lake, Indiana
Apr 4 - Grove City College (Crawford Auditorium) - Grove City, Pennsylvania
Apr 5 - Valley Forge Christian College (w/ STRING QUARTET) - Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
Apr 6 - The Canal Room - New York City, New York
Apr 8 - V21 Productions - Raleigh, North Carolina
Apr 9 - Covenant College - Lookout Mountain, Georgia
Apr 10 - The Watershed - Lexington, South Carolina
Apr 11 - The Channel - Greenville, South Carolina
Apr 12 - Murray Hill Theatre (w/ STRING QUARTET) - Jacksonville, Florida
Apr 14 - Exit/In - Nashville, Tennessee
Apr 16 - Fine Line Music Cafe - Minneapolis, Minnesota
Apr 17 - Gustavus Adolphus - Saint Peter, Minnesota
Apr 19 - College Church - Wheaton, Illinois
May 24 - The Waiting Room Lounge (w/ STRING QUARTET) - Omaha, Nebraska

Several days ago I had a conversation with a friend over whether or not split EPs are effective in promoting both artists. I argued that I tend to listen to one artist and ignore the other. My friend responded with, "but split EPs are a great way to share costs between two artists."

This morning while checking my mail I found a package for the new Annuals and Sunfold split EP called Wet Zoo. While I normally am distracted by two bands on one album, I found myself intrigued by Wet Zoo, in part because I appreciated Annuals' debut, Be He Me.

What really grabbed me about this split EP was that Annuals and Sunfold are the same band, plus and minus an artist; Nick Radford of Annuals is replaced by Donzel Redford in Sunfold. Another distinction between the two bands is that Kenny Florence of Annuals writes the songs for Sunfold and Adam Baker writes for Annuals, a brilliant way to avoid a Simon and Garfunkel melt down.

Annuals take the first three tracks, and they are quite honestly some of the most beautiful songs I've heard so far this year. Wet Zoo is rich with a string section and wisely uses reversed reverberation in attractive ways. The remaining two tracks are by Sunfold, are a bit more stripped down rock songs, but just as sensibly engineered. So I'm forced to eat my words after listening to Wet Zoo: split EPs can be effective.

Annuals and Sunfold - Wet Zoo tracklisting:
01 Sore (Annuals)
02 Around Your Neck (Annuals)
03 Just Stay In (Annuals)
04 Between the Worlds (Sunfold)
05 Watering Pail (Sunfold)

ISTANBUL - Good news! New Efterklang video is now avalibale to see on Youtube. It is for the new single Caravan and delicious. For the millionth time I declare Sigur Rós - Glósóli being one of my favorite videos and I have to say Caravan being a very much look alike to that one.

Green green grass, warrior moulded kids, chilly ambiance and all that. There is an additional sunshine visible in Caravan though. I think it is possible to give some socio-political meaning to the images but I don't know if I would have gone much deeper in that case.

Fantastic tune, great video fitting with the majesty of the glorious melody, directed by Anders Morgenthaler.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuYAOGS_55g[/youtube]
Caravan is out by 31st March through Leaf - Rumraket.

Efterklang - Caravan tracklisting:
01 Caravan
02 The Romance on Mammoth Hill
03 Caravan (Max de Wardener Remix)
04 Mirador (Vincent Oliver Remix)

And if you still have not checked the latest Efterklang album Parades yet, no worries. You can still get it, see what you have missed all this time and adore.

I'm a sucker for Icelandic post-rock, and Morr Music is scratching this itch by bringing us bands like Seabear, Múm, and Benni Hemm Hemm. Borko is their latest offering, with the release of Celebrating Life.

Borko, whose actual name is Björn Kristjánsson, began writing Celebrating Life six years ago. During this lapse of time, Borko wrote music for theatre, film and modern dance, and taught in a primary school.

Largely instrumental, Borko layers simple guitar tracks with electronic experimentation, horns, bells, samples and strings. The eight tracks on Celebrating Life are full of color, dynamic and explosive. The electronic tones are intriguing, reminding me at times of old sci-fi sounds effects.

Borko spoke about the elements of life he is celebrating in his album:

"I'm very influenced by loads of great musicians in the music scene here in Iceland. I'm inspired by the kids in the school where I work. I'm inspired by good people, I'm inspired by bad people. I'm inspired by crazy after-parties. I'm inspired by good food. I'm inspired by alcohol. I'm inspired by mirror balls. I'm inspired by noises."

Zach Condon of Beirut first toyed with electronica elements before he found his love for Balkan music. His interest in the synth realm has found him contributing to a Alaska In Winter's debut Dance Party In The Balkans. Released in the US on March 25, this album features Condon and violinist Heather Trost of A Hawk And A Hacksaw.

Brandon Bethancourt stayed in "an isolated cabin on the south coast of Alaska," while he wrote the songs for Alaska In Winter. Later Brandon teamed up with Condon and Trost to add their Eastern European feel to this unique project. Condon appears on five tracks, contributing vocals, ukulele and trumpet. Originally released in Europe as an eleven song album, the US version brings a bonus track and two remixes, which are streaming on Myspace.

"Brandon [Bethencourt] takes much of his influence from all his early years of growing up in the (American) South West, immersed in the musical low-rider culture of Santa Fe, New Mexico, as well as a slight Arabian influence on the part of his parents and their Byzantine church music." (Milan Records)

On April 7 Alaska In Winter and Regularbeat Recording Co. will release a limited-print split 7" vinyl. Brandon's Close Your Eyes - We Are Blind will be on side a and Marianne Dissard's Trop Exprés is on side b, which was "co-written and performed with Calexico's Joey Burns."

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPIvgxkcWds[/youtube]

April 6 - Head of Steam, Newcastle 

April 8 - Brudenell Social, Leeds

April 9 - View 2 Gallery, Liverpool 

April 10 - 93 Feet East, London

April 15 - Le Botanique, Brussels

April 22 - Astra Stube, Hamburg

April 24 - Duncker Club, Berlin

June 5 - Organ, Reykjavik

Chuck Criss set out to record a rock album without using an electric guitar. He sat down in an Ann Arbor studio with his brother, Darren Criss, and a group of friends, layering banjo, acoustic guitar, piano, bass, and drums. After the ep was recorded Healdamp was formed and Criss and his new band began performing in New York City.

"My songs are about growing up. I’m young, but one thing I’ve learned is that life will never cease to surprise you, good or bad. When it does, I try to write about it," blogged Criss.

Chuck Criss explained to Puddlegum, "Headlamp is the band I've started since I moved to Brooklyn from San Francisco two months ago. It's important to note that the musicians on the recorded EP are different (aside from myself) from the members of Headlamp." Criss and Headlamp have teamed up with Puddlegum to feature the Headlamp EP via imeem.

Same Old Situation is piano driven with the banjo picking the chords in the left ear. The end of the song has a smooth transition into We Wish We Were Kids, as the banjo taking the center and piano more at a distance. Criss puts more emphasis on the acoustic in The City, as the bass line drives the song along. At times Chuck's vocals are shaky, but sounds as though he tracked vocals and guitar at the same time, giving it the feel of a live performance.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRCRJl8_Gnc[/youtube]

Sixteen years ago I remember reading about a new band called Sixpence None The Richer. Leigh Bingham was only sixteen at the time, which grabbed my attention since I was also sixteen. I bought their debut, Fatherless and the Widow, and every album that followed. Matt Slocum wrote their songs, crafting them with beautiful instrumentation.

Before and after their Grammy nomination, Sixpence found themselves caught in contracts with labels that no longer existed. Prior to their self-titled album that brought them to the national spotlight, Sixpence fought for three years to be released from a contract to REX, though the label no longer existed. Four years later they found themselves in a similar situation as their singles played on the radio. This forced the band to wait several years before they were contractually free to put out a new album. The wait took its toll on the band and they decided to part ways in 2004.

Over the past four years since their split, Leigh (Bingham) Nash had a son, Henry, and released a solo album, Blue on Blue, on her label named One Son Records. Last year she teamed up with Delerium and recorded a side project called Fauxliage. One week after the Fauxliage disc came out Leigh announced that her marriage of eleven years had ended.

In November Leigh met up with Matt Slocum and the two of them decided to reform Sixpence None the Richer. A few hours later Leigh found out the sad news that her father passed away. "Literally a few hours before I was told my father had died, I met up with Matt (Sixpence band mate) for coffee. He got married back in May and had been in Italy for 6 months. I was looking forward to seeing him and hearing about their travels! While he was away we had both been thinking about the band and what we had all those years and what we took for granted."

Matt Slocum and Leigh Nash are in the studio now during the month of March and have a few shows lined up in April. An EP will be coming out this summer; "Sixpence is back in the studio putting together some brand new stuff for the new year!" Demos of three new songs from the EP have been posted on Myspace: My Dear Machine, Give It Back, Sooner Than Later.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGHAsCFrByg[/youtube]

Odawas have finished their next album, Blue Depths. Aiming for a release late this year through Jagjaguwar, Blue Depths is the first Odawas album to only involve Michael Tapscott and Isaac Edwards. The new album will take Odawas into a more ambient direction.

Michael Tapscott shared with Puddlegum about Blue Depths and the influences leading up to the new album:

We tried releasing and promoting Raven and the White Night in a different way than is usually done and the result was very positive, so hopefully we can keep some ingenuity in the process again.

As far as it being different from the last record, I don't want to be one of those artists who says that it is a big change in direction and then the album comes out and it sounds pretty similar to the last. I feel like it is a different sound, it is the first time Isaac [Edwards] and I worked alone, and it was a lot of fun to make. I played a lot of keyboards which is a bit of a first...

We were influenced a lot by The Blue Nile, Eno's After The Heat album and Stars of the Lid, trying to find the connections between ambient and pop. In a way, I think the Blue Depths is the first step in this direction, and hopefully each album is merely a stepping stone and learning experience for the masterwork to be finished the day before I die, a long time into the future.

Death Cab for Cutie has released the first track from their new album, Narrow Stairs. I Will Possess Your Heart clocks in at eight minutes, thirty-six seconds, one of their longest songs to date.

Overall, I Will Possess Your Heart has a jam quality to it by well seasoned musicians that have spent years performing together. The song opens with a picked bass line for nearly a minute before tight sounding drums accompany the groove, staying mainly in the center. Layer by layer the band comes in, next with piano and experimental guitar sounds, and an occasional xylophone that completes the piano's melody.

Ben Gibbard begins to sing at 4:34:

How I wish you could see the potential
The potential of you and me
It's like a book elegantly bound, but
In a language that you can't read just yet

You've gotta spend some time, love
You've gotta spend some time with me
And I know that you'll find love
I will possess your heart

There are days when outside your window
I see my reflection as I slowly pass
And I long for this mirrored perspective
When we'll be lovers, lovers at last

You've gotta spend some time, love
You've gotta spend some time with me
And I know that you'll find love
I will possess your heart

You reject my advances
And desperate pleas
I won't let you let me down so easily
So easily

You've gotta spend some time, love
You've gotta spend some time with me
And I know that you'll find love
I will possess your heart

The debate over access versus ownership of music is about to heat up. According to Financial Times, Apple is considering a subscription model where iPhone users would pay $8 per month for a limited number of downloads, or "up to $100 for unlimited access to music for the lifetime of the device." If the negotiations work out, you would be able to pay $100 for your iPod or iPhone and have unlimited downloads as long as you're using that device.

"Subscriptions would work only for its iPhone devices, where it has a monthly billing relationship with customers through the mobile phone operators offering the device, while the 'comes with music' model would work with iPhones and with iPods."

This comes on the heels of a "comes with music" deal that Nokia made with Universal Music. It appears that Apple is feeling the pinch to offer a similar service for their iPhone users.

In order to have access to unlimited music, will the DRM (Digital Rights Management) be the answer to maintaining some control as music flies through the doors? Will music listeners accept limits to what they can do with their music in exchange for unlimited access? These are questions that the access versus ownership debate will stir.

It seems that if the access model takes hold, it won't be in the Mp3 format. At a time when the music industry was being pushed to ditch the failed DRM, the access model will give DRM a new purpose. The reason being that Mp3 files can't "expire" like DRM can; if a member cancels their subscription, the service provider would need a way to "expire" the files. Apple has their own DRM format, and Ruckus, who currently offers unlimited access to music, uses Window's PlaysForSure DRM.

Gerd Leonhard first co-authored a book about the concept of access versus ownership of music in The Future of Music (website). He predicted in 2003 that in the future people will pay a monthly fee for access to unlimited music, much like they would pay for water. He furthers this discussion in his book Music 2.0 (website).