Old Canes released their Saddle Creek debut, Feral Harmonic CD/LP/Digital, on October 20. The set marks the second full length from Appleseed Cast frontman Chris Crisci. The CD and LP features deluxe, limited edition packaging assembled right here in Omaha. Check out a video of the madness here (http://saddle-creek.com/lists/lt.php?id=LB4GUQsLVV1VH1sAHwJQUAMH) and then head over to the online store to pick up a copy, where you can also get two free tracks from the record.

Touring for Feral Harmonic is underway. The band just wrapped the first leg of the tour this weekend, and the next begins on November 12. Dates announced thus far are below, with more to come soon. Check out a show when it hits your town!

Old Canes - Feral Harmonic CD/LP/Digital - October 20, 2009
Drum tracks laid to tape on a snowy winter day. Perhaps surprising, given the album’s warm exuberance, but that’s how the foundation was built and how it would continue for Old Canes’ second album Feral Harmonic: always with drum tracks recorded, coincidentally, on the first days of snow in the winter. The rest of the instrumentation would be added over many months by a host of contributors. And with production regularly interrupted by one thing or another – touring, work, other projects, life in general – it took Chris Crisci three and a half years to complete the album.

Feral Harmonic is bold and loud, presenting folk and traditional music melded with new ideas, crafted with new intensity, and with the rulebook of contemporary recording thrown out the window. “Production value, fidelity, a low noise floor, whatever, are all beside the point.” says Crisci. “The only things I care about are the idea and the energy... so many styles of music lose out when the focus is on slick production, and not on expressing what matters most in a song.”

The energy and ideas on Feral Harmonic are palpable starting with song one, “Little Bird Courage”, as the album launches with joyous, barreling drums, furiously strummed guitars, and glistening toy piano that erupts into a chorus of trumpets. Cautiously plucked banjo forewarns the ominous lessons of “Trust”, while cascading guitars, trumpets, and pounding drums build to a boisterous roar, contrasting the lyrical lover’s lament in “Stuck”. The album closes with wistful “Southern Radio”, which features only Crisci’s weathered voice and an acoustic guitar.

Feral Harmonic - CD/LP/Digital
ORDER / MP3s http://saddle-creek.com/lists/lt.php?id=LB4GUQsLVV1UH1sAHwJQUAMH

Old Canes - Fall 2009
Thu-Nov-12, Omaha, NE, Slowdown
Fri-Nov-13, Denver, CO, Hi-Dive
Sun-Nov-15, Salt Lake City, UT, Kilby Court
Mon-Nov-16, Boise, ID, Terrapin Station
Wed-Nov-18, Seattle, WA, Sunset Tavern
Thu-Nov-19, Eugene, OR, Bond's Garage
Fri-Nov-20, San Francisco, CA, House of Shields
Sat-Nov-21, Upland, CA, The Wire
Sun-Nov-22, Los Angeles, CA, Viper Room
Mon-Nov-23, San Diego, CA, Che Cafe
Tue-Nov-24, Phoenix, AZ, Modified Arts
Sat-Nov-28, Austin, TX, Mohawk

Orenda Fink released her sophomore solo record, Ask the Night CD/LP/Digial, on October 6. The ten song set follows 2005's Invisible Ones and has been getting some great reviews from the likes of All Music, Culture Bully, Pop Matters, and Stereo Subversion. Check out two free tracks from the record in the online store, and then pick up a CD or LP copy, both of which include a download code for videos from a few Ask the Night songs!

Orenda Fink - Ask the Night CD/LP/Digital - October 6, 2009
Orenda Fink has sculpted a diverse and heralded career since Azure Ray released their last album in 2003. From her solo debut Invisible Ones and through her bands Art in Manila and O+S, she has remained a consistently inventive and creative force. She returns with Ask the Night, her second solo album and second project of 2009.

Ask the Night is very much a reflection of the Southern cultural and familial roots that helped shape her aesthetic. Inspired by traditional American folk music and Southern Gothic literature, the album mixes personal experiences and stories told in character, as translated through Fink's unique perspective and intertwined by her distinctive, heartrending vocals. The songs vary in tone and style, and often defy simple categorization as they move between old-time waltz, country, folk and haunting bluegrass; instrumentation includes acoustic and slide guitar, mandolin, banjo, accordion, violin, upright bass, pump organ and saw.

The album was recorded live to 8-track in Fink's Omaha basement and in an Athens, GA living room and features a wide variety of players and singers, including producers Steve Bartolomei (Mal Madrigal) and Andy LeMaster (Now It's Overhead; production on Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Azure Ray); Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse); and Adrianne Verhoeven (Dri, The Anniversary, Art in Manila).

Ask the Night - CD/LP/Digital
ORDER / MP3s http://saddle-creek.com/lists/lt.php?id=LB4GUQsLVVxRH1sAHwJQUAMH

Land of Talk begins a North American tour today in San Diego with a free in-store at Lou's Records in Encinitas. To complement to tour, the band has released an EP with 4 new songs and 3 videos, entitled Fun And Laughter CD/Digital.

Fun and Laughter follows 2008's Some Are Lakes. The CD is exclusive to CIMS indie retailers, the band and Saddle Creek's online stores, and venues on the upcoming tour, and features screen printed art designed by the band in a special limited edition package. Head over to the online store where you can order the EP and download a free track, "May You Never."

Fun and Laughter - CD/Digital
ORDER / MP3s http://saddle-creek.com/lists/lt.php?id=LB4GUQsLVV1cH1sAHwJQUAMH

Land of Talk - Fall 2009
Mon-Oct-26, Encinitas, CA, Lou's Records (free in-store at 5pm)
Tue-Oct-27, San Diego, CA, Casbah
Thu-Oct-29, Los Angeles, CA, Spaceland
Fri-Oct-30, Visalia, CA, Cellar Door
Mon-Nov-02, San Francisco, CA, Cafe Du Nord
Wed-Nov-04, Portland, OR, Doug Fir Lounge
Thu-Nov-05, Seattle, WA, High Dive
Fri-Nov-06, Bellingham, WA, Nightlight
Sat-Nov-07, Vancouver, BC, Biltmore Cabaret
Thu-Nov-12, Montreal, QC, Segal Centre
Wed-Nov-18, Cambridge, MA, Middle East
Fri-Nov-19, Burlington, VT, Club Metronome
Sat-Nov-20, Northampton, MA, Iron Horse
Sun-Nov-21, New York, NY, Mercury Lounge
Thu-Dec-03, Washington, DC, Rock And Roll Hotel
Fri-Dec-04, Philadelphia, PA, Kung Fu Necktie
Sat-Dec-05, Chapel Hill, NC, Local 506
Tue-Dec-08, Atlanta, GA, The Earl
Wed-Dec-09, Nashville, TN, Exit/In
Fri-Dec-11, Indianapolis, IN, Radio Radio
Sat-Dec-12, Chicago, IL, Empty Bottle
10/27-11/6 with Eulogies

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's Summer of Fear is now available in CD/Digital formats, with the 2LP version hitting stores on November 24. Pre-orders for the LP are now shipping from the Saddle Creek online store and include an instant download of the entire record!

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Summer of Fear
CD/DigitalOctober 20, 2009 - LP - November 24, 2009
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's story from a couple summers ago, its pages turned in no particular order: Bitterness. Regret. Betrayal. Bouts of self-loathing. Burning buildings and falling bodies. Breakups and new beginnings. Numerology. And endless nights at the same Brooklyn bar—lots of last calls that drop you in the arms of another, in the death grip of decisions that are wrong in retrospect yet oh-so-right... right?

Summer of Fear is the culmination of years spent in eight-track studios, cypher-fueled jam sessions, and dicey club dates that often ended in fist fights and broken glass. Not to mention a revolving door of collaborators that helped Robinson work out the kinks in his skewed pop hooks and melancholic melodies, including the Grizzly Bear members (drummer Christopher Bear, multi-instrumentalist/producer Chris Taylor) who worked on Robinson's self-titled solo disc several winters ago—the winter before the fear set in.

As acclaimed as Robinson's debut was when it finally received a proper pressing in 2008, the effort was meant to be a glorified demo. Summer of Fear is what happened six months later, as life alternated between darkness and light, and spare bedroom songs blossomed into speaker-popping arrangements of sweeping strings, honking horns, and chords that cut so deeply they're bound to leave a mark. TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone—a close friend since the pair met en route to a Grizzly Bear show in 2005—helped bottle Robinson's bruised hymns last winter, ramping up the tension in such standout tracks as "Death by Dust," "Summer of Fear pt. 2," "The Sound," and the 11-and-a-half haunting minutes of "More Than a Mess".

Summer of Fear - CD/2LP/Digital
ORDER / MP3s http://saddle-creek.com/lists/lt.php?id=LB4GUQsLVV1QH1sAHwJQUAMH

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Fall 2009
Mon-Oct-26, Chapel Hill, NC, Players of Chapel Hill
Tue-Oct-27, Athens, GA, New Earth Music Hall
Wed-Oct-28, Baton Rouge, LA, Spanish Moon
Thu-Oct-29, Austin, TX, Emo's
Sun-Nov-01, Tucson, AZ, Solar Culture
Mon-Nov-02, Phoenix, AZ, Modified Arts
Wed-Nov-04, Los Angeles, CA, Spaceland
Fri-Nov-06, San Francisco, CA, Hotel Utah
Sun-Nov-08, Portland, OR, Mississippi Studios
Mon-Nov-09, Seattle, WA, High Dive
Tue-Nov-10, Vancouver, BC, Media Club
Fri-Nov-13, Minneapolis, MN, Turf Club
Sat-Nov-14, Madison, WI, University of Wisconsin
Sun-Nov-15, Chicago, IL, Reggie's
Mon-Nov-16, Detroit, MI, The Cafe
Tue-Nov-17, Toronto, ON, The Drake
Wed-Nov-18, Montreal, QC, Il Motore
Thu-Nov-19, Brooklyn, NY, The Bell House
Fri-Nov-20, New York, NY, Mercury Lounge
10/26-11/2 with Warpaint
11/4-13, 15-20 with These United States

Call this the Phantoms of Folk. Call this two lone wolves running together for one dark blissout of a night. Two of the finest indie-folk songwriters of the last decade come together under the Texas sky to quietly lay to tape 14 crushing, haunting tunes, leaving space enough in each to match their surroundings.

Consider the collective catalogs of these two prolific purveyors of the new American songcraft: Magnolia Electric Co., Centro-matic, Songs: Ohia, South San Gabriel. Now, let's just be honest. A little bit of artistic ego and one-upsmanship can serve a greater purpose. In this collaboration between Jason Molina and Will Johnson, each seem to hold the other's talents to fire and elevate both performance and creativity. In the friendly sharing of ideas, Molina and Johnson become two poet's poets in a workshop, aimed to craft a singular, searing elegy.

Each artists' familiar aesthetics lay intact, but find a new, intriguing middle ground on Molina and Johnson. Molina's documentarian, record-the-room ethos finds a home in Johnson's subtle atmospherics and production tweaks; and Molina's powerful tenor croon finds a fitting dance partner in Johnson's equally moving soft-gravel vox. While the individual performances from each are stunning in their own right, the musical mind meld that was captured is absolutely the occasion it should be.

Will Johnson describes this alignment of two red stars: "For ten days we wrote, co-wrote, workshopped, complimented, scrutinized, drank, invited friends to come play music, smoked, made lots of notes and drawings, drank a little more and shot the BB gun off the back porch when we just needed some time and space. In the throes of all this, our record was made in the late February sun."

The album is also abound with contributions from other fine musicians, such as Magnolia Electric Co.'s Michael Kapinus and Texas songwriter Sarah Jaffe, whose plaintive vocals "All Gone, All Gone," accompanied by the sound of a crying saw, will stir in your gut for days. Other accomplished contributors include Howard Draper, Bryan VanDivier and Scott Danbom.

Molina and Johnson will be available on Secretly Canadian November 3 in the US, and November 2 in the UK. And check out the duo's European tour planned for late November and December. There will also be a North American tour coming in early 2010.

NEW MP3: Molina and Johnson "Twenty Cycles To The Ground"
http://t.ymlp91.com/msjqalaemyaxauhsqazaummb/click.php



TOUR DATES:
11/26 Deventer (NL), Burgerweeshuis
11/27 Ottersum (NL), Roepaen
11/28 Brussels (B), Botanique: 15 years Tout Partout
11/29 Utrecht (NL), Le Gues Who? Festival@Tivoli
11/30 Eindhoven (NL), MC Frits Philips
12/01 Winchester (UK), Railway Inn
12/02 London (UK), Garage
12/03 Manchester (UK), Deaf Institute
12/10 Barcelona (Spain), Primavera Club@Sala Be Cool
12/11 Barcelona (Spain), Primavera Club@Auditorio Montjuich
12/12 Madrid (Spain), Primavera Club@Teatro Alcazar
12/13 Lloseta-Mallorca (Spain), Teatro Lloseta
12/14 Puerto Real (Spain), Venue TBA

LINKS:
Artist Page
http://t.ymlp91.com/msbuagaemyaoauhsqalaummb/click.php

Citay have not strayed far from home in 2009, playing only about a dozen shows in their home state of California. Just because they have been off the road does not mean the band has not been hard at work. They have been writing and recording new material, as well as compiling tracks for their new release, titled simply, Remixes. Available November 3rd (November 2nd in the UK), this release contains reworkings from their 2007 album Little Kingdom.

From the ambient textures of White Rainbows' "Eye on Dollar" remix to Cornershop's Anthony Saffery adding sitar and percussion to "First Fantasy," these are anything but typical remix rave-ups. These Are Powers' Brenmar (aka Bill Salas) gives "Moonburn" a playful, skittering treatment, while Black Mountains' Steve McBean adds his effected vocals to "Former Child" – the end result sounding more like Metallica than like Aphex Twin. While some remixes use the Citay originals as a foundation for embellishments, others simply take the audio as found sounds and source material. Either way, the reinterpretations of Citay's music on Remixes is surprising and eye-opening. Released on vinyl LP and via digital download, Remixes is the Citay album we never thought we would hear. We are pleased to share below an mp3 of White Rainbow’s remix of “Eye on the Dollar,” which is a subtle and lush reworking of the original.

Citay also recently did a Luxury Wafers session, where they performed an epic rendition of “Nice Cuffs.” The video is a nice holdover of the band live and in action, until they tour extensively in 2010 in support of a new LP. Check out the entire Luxury Wafers session HERE.
http://t.ymlp91.com/muemavaejeaoauuquaiaummb/click.php


You can pre-order Citay's Remixes LP HERE.
http://t.ymlp91.com/muejafaejeaxauuquaiaummb/click.php


MEDIA:
Mp3: Citay "Eye On The Dollar (White Rainbow Remix)"
http://t.ymlp91.com/muebazaejeapauuquaxaummb/click.php

Video: Citay "Eye On The Dollar"(original version)
http://t.ymlp91.com/muehaoaejeanauuquaaaummb/click.php

LINKS:
Artist Page
http://t.ymlp91.com/mueyanaejeadauuquadaummb/click.php

Quiet. Crescendo. Shimmering guitar. Crunch and thunder. Decrescendo. Sounds like a simple formula for a post-rock band, but you'd be surprised at how many get it wrong. Caspian, a Massachusetts post-rock crew, knows that "epic" doesnt have to mean an album of five 16+ minute songs, and the crew have the melodies to prove it. - Brooklyn Vegan

Caspian's third attempt at sonic hegemony is Tertia - ten tracks that swirl, that twist and curl out of and into themselves, embracing the paradox of evoking the wildly specific by exploring the elusively abstract. There is a narrative, but it is spasmodic, fleeting moments, amidst songs like "La Cerva" and "Malacoda" where the instruments come together to an inextricable point, yet they seem to be uniting to deliver this: Things are about to fall apart. And then they do.

With teeth gritted tighter than previous work, "The Raven" showcases the leaden fury that weighs on the cracking atlas-spine of the album. There is something controlled about the plummet, though. It is as if the fall is really a volatile casting down of the familiar until, in "Vienna," its pieces can be quietly examined amidst the passing violence. Out of the scattered shards comes the closing "Sycamore." Beginning with the most delicate drippings of melody since their debut's "Last Rites," guitar lines weave around each other, bleeding and fading into a mosaic of polyrhythms that, for all their tribal wiliness, ceases with a single snap, soldering the instruments into something fused, smooth, new.

Tertia is, at it's blood pumping core, an aural descent through darkness towards a sun-soaked radiance. There is a sweeping sense of storytelling happening here, and fans of the band will have no difficulty assigning their own highly personal meaning to the narrative that unfolds. And yet, Tertia is also simply sixty minutes of new music written by five guys, inspired by the relentless cycle of performing on the road and experiencing a world much larger than the small oceanside town they call home. An honest reaction to life experience is being attempted, and it's taking form in a gloaming full of guitar flurries, bass throbs and pulsating, steady percussion.

Since forming in 2004 as a four-piece with no aspirations other than to create music they could collectively appreciate, the band have added a third guitarist, whose weighty presence makes its recording debut here. After playing their first show in their hometown of Beverly, Mass. five years ago, the band have been in a seemingly constant state of motion, bringing their sound well beyond borders they initially imagined, with a plan to add even more this fall.

The rain of fists that was their debut EP, You Are The Conductor, bled into the distinctive-but-circular tone poems of their first full-length, The Four Trees. Now, Tertia. One word meaning 'three' - the sum is merely an echo of its parts, the parts always aching--or, at least trying--to be one.

* Caspian is currently supporting their new album w/ a string of European tourdates, US tour coming soon!

Stream "Tertia" Here http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102707858136&s=1126&e=0013glb1Vio9qa8u0fDpSbe7bRNJ1oB_z-6wNEvskGf_-L1tXuK3UrWQQLjUmF8jAqsvmMTTWNa1q4X2uQubSVmBRBw86x-7Gb3Hk6Wc_yuckan8yK_0r_xNkEQGkgxrOUH


Tertia Tracklist:
01. Mie
02. La Cerva
03. Ghost of the Garden City
04. Malacoda
05. Epochs in DMaj
06. Of Foam and Wave
07. Concrescence
08. The Raven
09. Vienna
10. Sycamore

Caspian Live!

European Tour
Sep 16 2009 CLUB ASTORIA Södertälje, Sweden
Sep 18 2009 STUDENTERHUS Aarhus, Denmark
Sep 19 2009 VEGA Copenhagen, Denmark
Sep 20 2009 INCUBATE FESTIVAL Tilburg, Netherlands
Sep 21 2009 DRUCKLUFTHAUS Oberhausen, Germany
Sep 22 2009 VORTEX Siegen, Germany
Sep 23 2009 DE KLINKER Aarschot, Belgium
Sep 24 2009 MTC Köln, Germany
Sep 25 2009 MUZIEKGIERJJ Maastricht, Netherlands
Sep 26 2009 VERA Groningen, Netherlands
Sep 28 2009 BARFLY London, UK
Sep 29 2009 BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB Leeds, UK
Sep 30 2009 CLUB REVOLUTION Peterborough, UK
Oct 1 2009 MEZE LOUNGE Newport, UK
Oct 3 2009 MJC Colmar, France
Oct 10 2009 PIPPO STAGE Bolzano, Italy
Oct 12 2009 HAFENKNEIPE Zurich, Switzerland
Oct 13 2009 CHELSEA Vienna, Austria
Oct 14 2009 CHAPEAU ROUGE Prague, Czech Republic
Oct 15 2009 GRAF HUGO Feldkirch, Austria
Oct 16 2009 WERKSTATT Chur, Switzerland
Oct 17 2009 BEATPOL Dresden, Germany
Oct 18 2009 FORUM STADPARK Graz, Austria
Oct 19 2009 GLOCKENBACHWERKSTATT Munich, Germany
Oct 20 2009 JUGENDDHAUS WEST Stuttgart, Germany
Oct 21 2009 ELFER Frankfurt, Germany
Oct 22 2009 NEXUS Braunschweig, Germany
Oct 23 2009 AMP Munster, Germany
Oct 25 2009 AN CLUB Athens, Greece

For more information, visit:
www.myspace.com/caspiantheband
www.mylenesheath.com

In 2006 Cave In took a break from the music world after releasing Perfect Pitch Black. But it looks as though a three and a half year hiatus was enough to rekindle the desire to make music. - The Tripwire

The Boston bad-asses return to form on Planets of Old and come through with a reminder about why they were the talk of the underground for most of their existence. The band drops some of the highbrow ends and prog-rock overtones that fattened up its previous albums and gets back to the metal nitty-gritty. There's more than just powerhouse beat-downs, though (Cave-In is Cave-In after all), and the four cuts on this EP are some of the best of the heavy you'll hear this summer. - Aversion.com

The four-track EP continues along the path of the band's omni-directional last album Perfect Pitch Black (reviewed here). It swirls together bottom-feeding metal jams, jetpack rock 'n roll and raging hardcore. Each track is a short visit to a planet they've already inhabited. - Cerebral Metalhead

This is it! This is your chance man!... Whether you reside in the Virginia-Highlands area, Little Five Points, Orange County or the greater Los Angeles area... Finally, you can, and entirely in good faith, say that you've seen these fabled outfits perform... Leading the conversation in a direction that won't expose you as someone who wasn't into the bands when they were actively touring becomes a thing of the past!... and then, maybe you can tell us how it feels to look your peers straight in the eye? I mean straight in the eye... that necker at the coffee shop... Because that's what these tour dates are all about man! turning the tables... friggin' turnin em'... But, one thing hasn't changed, money can't buy this kind of empowerment... Literally...

This priceless piece of mind is FREE for individuals who RSVP and make it to the venue before the thing fills up. Think about it for a moment, no distance traveled is too great for a hundred thousand hours of feeling like you are better than someone else, right? So don't miss this one!... and remember, Hydra Head Loves You very... very... very... very much!

If the previous bit of text threw you for a loop, don't get down. For simplicities sake I've highlighted the things you should walk away from this press release knowing:

- Yes, Cave In is back together and playing live shows!
- Yes, Hydra Head recently released a limited Cave In 12" titled, "Planets of Old!"
- Yes, the 12" is the first new material that Cave In has recorded in over four years!
- Yes, "Planets of Old," due to popular demand, will be made available as a CD-EP in early 2010!!!

Stream "Planets of Old" here! http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102701048506&s=1126&e=001ZX4BSHVTegVp02NKrfrlAHfEk5aTioTbjQk3YKiP2k4Mat3csmh_SOT4DNmxLVmnvktxINDkgmwcwR1IdnQXqiMYI73hqEVdlfQgnBnCY9uz9Lx5XjR_9g==

Planets of Old-Tracklisting:
1. Cayman Tongue
2. Retina Sees Rewind
3. The Redtrail
4. Air Escapes

“Everyone in this room is very privileged,” announced Allston, Massachusetts-based sludge-metal act Phantom Glue's bassist Nick Wolf a mere hour and a half before mighty hardcore mavens-turned-prog metallers Cave In played their first show in four years. Wolf was hardly the only one feeling that way. When Cave In first announced that they'd be reuniting for a small club show at Allston, Massachusett's Great Scott, a tiny-ass, PBR-fueled venue a mere block from this writer's apartment, I knew it wasn't just a “privilege,” it was fucking fate. - Revolver

Cave In Live!

w/ Coalesce (Free w/ RSVP!)
October 7th The Masquerade Atlanta, GA
October 8th The Knitting Factory Los Angeles, CA

* Download the singles "Cayman Tongue" and "Retina Sees Rewind" from iTunes!

For more information, visit:
www.myspace.com/cavein
www.hydrahead.com

Orenda Fink will release Ask the Night CD/LP/Digial, on October 6. The ten song set follows 2005's Invisible Ones and marks Orenda's second official solo record. In between the two, Orenda has spent time touring and recording with Art in Manila, O+S and Azure Ray.

The first track available from the record, "High Ground," was featured as KCRW's top tune of the day on September 2. Check out the free download of the track in the online store, where pre-orders for Ask the Night are now taken and all orders will ship on September 22, two weeks before the official release date. The CD and LP versions of the record include a download code for videos from a few Ask the Night songs.

Orenda Fink - Ask the Night CD/LP/Digital - October 6, 2009

Orenda Fink has sculpted a diverse and heralded career since Azure Ray released their last album in 2003. From her solo debut Invisible Ones and through her bands Art in Manila and O+S, she has remained a consistently inventive and creative force. She returns with Ask the Night, her second solo album and second project of 2009.

Ask the Night is very much a reflection of the Southern cultural and familial roots that helped shape her aesthetic. Inspired by traditional American folk music and Southern Gothic literature, the album mixes personal experiences and stories told in character, as translated through Fink's unique perspective and intertwined by her distinctive, heartrending vocals. The songs vary in tone and style, and often defy simple categorization as they move between old-time waltz, country, folk and haunting bluegrass; instrumentation includes acoustic and slide guitar, mandolin, banjo, accordion, violin, upright bass, pump organ and saw.

The album was recorded live to 8-track in Fink's Omaha basement and in an Athens, GA living room and features a wide variety of players and singers, including producers Steve Bartolomei (Mal Madrigal) and Andy LeMaster (Now It's Overhead; production on Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Azure Ray); Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse); and Adrianne Verhoeven (Dri, The Anniversary, Art in Manila).

Ask the Night - CD/LP/Digital
ORDER / MP3s http://saddle-creek.com/lists/lt.php?id=LB4AUwoJW1ZSH1sPHwJQUAMH

Dark Meat US tour w/ An Albatross * Fun Fun Fun Fest appearance and more...

Imagine 15–20 people onstage all done up like hippie Indians, with horns, shakers and at least a few people who looked like they had nothing to do up there—spewed out a thick, danceable mass of sound! - Time Out NY

At the center of this maelstrom is McHugh himself, the ringleader and chief songwriter. Not only does he demonstrate résumé-quality personnel management skills, but his lyrics-- whether conjuring a dead friend, detailing an arduous spiritual journey, or just flipping the bird to anyone in earshot-- walk the line between angry and hopeful, fearful and fantastical. - Pitchfork

When first tasting Dark Meat, it’s important to have big ears as open to new sounds as possible. You need the sheer aural real estate, because otherwise it’s tough to fully absorb the impending longhaired hurricane. Rest assured, nothing sounds quite like them. As you descend into their lair of chaos and freakishness, prepare for unbridled, dirty sonic bliss. Dig beneath the grime and distortion, and you will strike it rich—free-jazz, acid-rock diamonds blanketed in punk rock coal. - Pop Matters

Athens Georgia’s multifarious psychedelic roadwarriors DARK MEAT have geared up for another get-go of pillage-and-freakout in the name of their newest offering, TRUCE OPIUM. A long period of lineup changes, label complications and heavy touring across North America and Europe has focused the band into a diamond-hard and transformative experience: they’ve trimmed their lineup to a highly-effective and barely-anemic 9-piece, and, in the process, have organically developed an intense and diverse instrumental chemistry. Truly, TRUCE OPIUM retains all the insane eccentricity, rawness and sonic bombast of their infamous live show, and evinces a sharpened essence and unified vision burnished by the last three years spent spraying themselves across the cosmos in their cramped tour-van.

In terms of heightened vision and sonic-execution, TRUCE OPIUM is a huge step forward for the band -- as it augments their celebrated Albert Ayler, Stooges and Neil Young obsessions with more a abstract, cosmic tack: pronounced Eastern influences abide via the use of acoustic drone instruments like tanpura, bulbul tarang and sitar, prayer-like group chants and the study and reverent application of polyharmonic Sygyt and Kargira Tuvan throat-singing. Last year, bandmembers workshopped, rehearsed and performed at The University of Georgia with a carnatic classical troupe from South India. This amazing and humbling opportunity, along with their involvement in several local improv, free-jazz and noise ensembles have broadened the band’s sonic and structural scope.

Deep Krautrock and Japanoise bearings also surface; their perpetual tour-van immersion in the sounds of NEU!, Amon Duul II, Les Rallizes Denudes, LSD and Boredoms push their willfully improvisational passages into weirder, wilder territory. And the vaunted Free Jazz and New Orleans Marching Band influences persist through The Vomit Lasers, Dark Meat’s longstanding horn-section. However, where the band once enthusiastically essayed pieces by The Ayler Brothers, Pharaoh Sanders and Sonny Sharrock, the ensemble has now organically assimilated the music’s feral energies and rarified colors into its aesthetics of arrangement, dynamic and performance. Make no mistake, though, TRUCE OPIUM, at its twisted heart, is a redblooded psych-rock record, as a lived-in and durable love of Velvet Underground, Yardbirds, MC5, Fairport Convention and Crazy Horse continually and joyously warps main songwriter Jim McHugh’s approach to composition and execution. And the passage of material into the raw hands of his seasoned collaborators dually insures that the resultant High Magic will be spirited, raw and unlike anything else you’ve every heard.

* Dark Meat share members with Of Montreal, Olivia Tremor Control, Circulatory System, Elf Power, Gnarls Barkley, Instruments, Lil Wayne's Touring Band (for real!) and Nymph.

Truce Opium Tracklist

The Faint Smell of Moss http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102687256817&s=1126&e=0019dKaWW6T8YNdhoV-QNBnQNes1wzDhuCD9oB_6AB-XCaQvWb5nAqfll5R_I8Fo6L9Yv1KjrN68_wHlypv7hpDth6_S7T-PBnY0GCajOscajFmOxVTxf8N8BIXlKlC47cGoDC4wPu5h3UqRhst0xAEqS1SxDPg_CiVY3TcMoK-9viuYJzM3OLkhApnameWMVMQ5X7CNkAJ2hOSVz2tdwuylw==
Future Galaxies
Flaps
No One Was Here
When The Shelter Came
Last of the Frontiersmen
Yonderin'
Song of the New Year

Dark Meat Live!
Th Oct 22 Charlottesville VA Tea Bazaar
Sa Oct 24 Brooklyn NY Union Pool w/ An Albatross
Sa Oct 24 Brooklyn NY Glasslands
Su Oct 25 New York City NY Cake Shop w/ An Albatross
Mo Oct 26 Philadelphia PA Danger Danger w/ An Albatross
Tu Oct 27 Washington DC Black Cat Backstage w/ An Albatross
We Oct 28 Baltimore MD Talking Head w/ An Albatross
Th Oct 29 Charlotte NC Snug Harbor w/ An Albatross
Fr Oct 30 Athens GA 40 Watt w/ An Albatross
Sa Oct 31 Atlanta GA Star Bar w/ An Albatross
Sun Nov 1 Ybor City FL Crobar
Mo Nov 2 Orlando FL Will's Pub w/ An Albatross
Fr Nov 6 Houston TX Free Press Block Party w/ An Albatross
Sa Nov 7 Monterey MX Monterey Festival
Su Nov 8 Austin TX Fun Fun Fun Fest

For more information, visit:
Dark Meat on Facebook http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102687256817&s=1126&e=0019dKaWW6T8YPpFQuCtil2FhbodnFzx2jlDr_Zn0XlYCcXUeynuowUFADubQav55ECPiHP1Gt67v24r0_9tDUDyn0s2KBUZOiyA0ks7DGjudYdSOFhFKazRaoXN6b2zivhtTQrxSBYAZoNlArCggj4oIScaBfI29-fnRBQQFUTdWpYuS96OnX-Ww==
www.emergencyumbrella.com/darkmeat.html