Singer-Songwriter Rocky Votolato is set to release his follow up to 2007’s The Brag and Cuss. The new album, True Devotion, will be released on February 23rd on Barsuk Records.
The album will Votolato’s triumphant return from a self-imposed reclusive period and a step forward for the musician from his emotional struggles of depression and anxiety that took a toll on his ability to tour and write.
Votolato has also recently announced a partnership with One Day Wage. ODW is a Seattle based organization founded by Eugene and Minhee Cho, who donated their entire income from 2009 to fight global poverty. 10% of the royalties from the sale of True Devotion will be donated to One Day Wages.
More information about the organization can be found here
The pre-order for the album includes a contest to win a private house show by Votolato for the winner and 20 of their closest friends. sweet :D those who pre-order the album will also recieve a bonus 7″ single.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I write to you today with a heavy heart.
For the past seven months, I have run The Photon God by myself. Everything that has been posted on this website save for yesterday’s contributions was done entirely by me. If you couldn’t already tell, I really enjoy doing this. There are very few things that are as emotionally fulfilling as talking about music short of actually listening to it. Luckily, I have been able to do both of those things here. I have utilized my knack for hyperbole and written about over 200 artists since this blog began back in May.
For those of you who don’t know, which may be most of you, my first passion in life was not blogging about music but, in fact, filmmaking. Last August, I applied to New York University. I intend to, if accepted, pursue my degree in Film at the Tisch School of the Arts.
Now, in order to complete my application, I am required to submit a creative project. Due to my intensive schedule with school, work, and the blog, I have not been able to work on my project. Seeing as how school is important and work keeps me fed, I am forced to take a leave of absence from blogging so I can concentrate on my project uninterrupted in whatever free time I have available to me.
Now, while I’m gone, Trae will continue posting as often as he can. I will return in March arms swinging.
That’s Fol Chen. They’re a band. They put out a record last year on Asthmatic Kitty that got a lot of praise. It was called Part One: John Shade, Your Fortune’s Made.
This year however, they’re touring with Liars. Dates below.
04/10 Los Angeles, CA El Rey
04/14 Washington, DC Rock ‘n Roll Hotel
04/15 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
04/16 Philadelphia, PA First Unitarian Church
04/17 Boston, MA Paradise Lounge
04/18 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
04/27 San Francisco, CA Slim’s
04/29 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
04/30 Vancouver, BC VenueCanada
05/01 Seattle, WA Neumo’s
I just listened to this cover of Pink Floyd’s “In The Flesh” and just, wow. The band recorded it for a ‘reboot’ Mojo Magazine was doing of the entire The Wall album some time ago. In The Flesh (Pink Floyd cover)
Many bands come and go and are heralded for their efforts. They are placed on the pedestal of pedestals; among the greatest of the greats just beneath the veil of obscurity. These bands live 20 minutes away from you, these bands eat at the same restaurants you eat at; they buy the same toilet paper. These bands are the ones you hear about at one show, watch play at the next show, and wave goodbye to at the show just after that. These short periods of time put a relatively large amount of value on these bands and their work. Their brief existence becomes the stuff of legend and almost immediately, local tape-trading networks, underground radio stations, and even online forums cause a stir and only enhance the reputations of these groups. It’s incredibly overwhelming.
(In no particular order: Pam Berry, Brian Nelson, Archie Moore and Mike Schulman)
Black Tambourine is one of those bands. They started in 1989 as members of two bands called Whorl and Velocity Girl joined forces to start what would end up being one of the most influential twee-pop bands of the early 90s. They were only around for two years, played maybe nine shows, and released very few recordings. However, despite all of that, they remain as one of the standards of dreamy, noisy pop music. (Bands like Vivian Girls and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart cite them as a strong influence)
March 30th, the band’s home label, Slumberland Records, will be releasing an even more complete collection of recordings than 1999’s Complete Recordings release.
The anthology will feature six previously-unreleased tracks; four of which, and this is HUGE, were recently recorded by the band.
Not that I’m a completest or anything, but I’ve definitely got my eye on this release.
Good Old War and their good friend Circa Survive will be heading out together in March for a few weeks including a stop in Austin, TX for a few SXSW shows. Joining them will be Maryland’s own The Christmas Lights. More information on the SXSW shows will be made available soon.
Needless to say, I’m pretty stoked…and I loath the word “stoked”.
Circa Survive are currently mixing their follow-up to 2007’s On Letting Go with Rich Costey which will be their first on Atlantic Records. They will also be adding a few new songs from the upcoming album to their repertoire on this tour.
Circa Survive, Good Old War, The Christmas Lights
3/11/10- Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
3/12/10- Nashville, TN @ Exit/ In
3/13/10- Birmingham, AL @ WorkPlay Theatre
3/14/10- Little Rock, AR @ The Village
3/16/10- San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
3/18/10- Austin, TX @ SXSW
3/19/10- Austin, TX @ SXSW
3/20/10- Austin, TX @ SXSW
3/22/10- St. Louis,MO @ The Firebird
3/23/10- Indianapolis, IN @ The Emerson Theater
3/24/10- Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop
but that aside, I’d like to taking this opportunity to say hello.
The name is Trae, other wise known as sincaras
I will be helping and contributing content to this fine, fine blog.
If Andres is Danny Glover, then I guess that makes me Mel Gibson…
which is fine with me because 80’s Gibson was the shit.
or if he is Joe Pesci, that makes me Ray Liotta.
I like that better…
We’ll stick with that one.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in the coming months, changes will be happening here at The Photon God. Changes that look like this guy:
Yes, friends. The Photon God now has a staff of two. It will not just be me posting anymore. Trae from Sin Caras will now be writing for the blog!
So let’s all give him a warm welcome. His first post should be up soon.
Local Natives is a name that many a blogger has come to know in the past few months. Their debut album, Gorilla Manor is one of the most highly-anticipated records of 2010 and rightfully so.
The album will be released on February 11th through Rough Trade.
Hear one track off of the album, “Sun Hands”, below. Local Natives – Sun Hands
Of the many things that I neglect to mention on this blog, the one that always manages to bite me in the ass is remixes.
I wasn’t always the biggest fan of remixes. They seemed like bastardizations of really great songs created by a fellow fan and/or appreciator of the band who actually wrote the song. One person with Pro Tools/Garageband/whatever tears apart one of your favorite songs and pieces it back together with a little bit of their ‘flavor’ added in. It was sickening. If I wanted your opinion, I’d ask for it.
However, one or two remixes didn’t completely repulse me and, in fact, grew on me quite strongly. I’ve since become more open to the idea. Not everyone who remixes a song is a talentless douchebag. A good remix is a window into the ‘remix-er’s perception of the original track which is a work of art in it’s own.
This remix of Phoenix’s “1901″ by Memory Tapes doesn’t fall too much to my favor. I’m sure I just don’t have an ear for remixes, but I’ve posted it here for your listening pleasure just the same. Fuck downloading it all the way over at NPR.Phoenix – 1901 (Memory Tapes Mix)
Here are a couple of remixes that I rather fancy quite a bit; probably to the point of asking them out.
Bloc Party – “Luno (Bloc Party vs. Death From Above 1979)” Remix-er: Death From Above 1979I know, I know, I know! It’s not quite a remix as much as it is a cover. However, it was released on Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm Remixed album so shut it.
Funeral Diner – “Shifting” Remix-er: something called Black Van. Possibly these guys. This remix is on an EP that screamo band Funeral Diner released through one of their tours through Japan a while back. For the most part, this band has been relatively quiet and has moved on into projects like Sterling Says and …Who Calls So Loud.
One more thing, this is a pair of remixes you should definitely check out:
Washed Out and Small Black each remixed one of the other’s tracks and put them out on a 7″ through Love Pump United Records.
Listen to Washed Out’s remix of Small Black’s “Despicable Dogs” below.
(From L-R: Erik Johnson & Sanae Yamada)
Moon Duo is a psychedelic rock duo from San Francisco. They can only be described as a sonic outburst.
Very soon, the band will be releasing their first LP on Woodsist February 16th. The album is called Escape. Moon Duo – Stumbling 22nd St
This blog is meant to inform the public about great music. If you download something from this blog and like it, please be sure to purchase the record. These artists do deserve some coin for their efforts. If you don't buy the record, go to a show and buy some merch. A shirt, a pin, a meal even. Give back to the artists that ever-so-willingly give to you. :)
Send all questions, comments, and stories to ilpasetto@gmail.com
Tickets for Cursive are now also being sold at Ambrosia and Flip Slide The bonus for buying the tickets here is that they won’t charge you any service fees! So with that being said.. CURSIVE+Dignan Nov 29th @ El Rey Get your Pre-sale tickets at any ez-tixx location or at Ambrosia and Flip Side!
