RIP: Monty Stark of Stark Reality

By Shane Mack on

From Stones Throw:

News comes today that Monty Stark of Stark Reality passed away in the early evening of Thanksgiving, November 26, 2009. Friend Dennis Sexton wrote, “Monty courageously battled Cancer on his own terms, seeking not to endure the pain of the usual therapy, but went his own way at Hospice of the Valley in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he lived out his last several weeks.”

Monty's group Stark Reality - with John Abercrombie, Phil Morrison, and Vinnie Johnson - released the 1970 album The Stark Reality Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop, a brilliant jazz/funk/psychedelic-rock fusion reinvention of 50's children music by songwriter Hoagy Carmichael.

Much could be said about the power of this rare record to inspire a diverse range of musicians, collectors, hip-hop producers and casual listeners over the years - but it might be summed up by Hoagy Carmichael's own reaction, from the album's original liner notes:

“This is children’s music!?…I say, ‘Stark mad,’” Carmichael wrote. “Monty’s voice?...somewhere between the filings on the edge of a pie pan, and the singing of a guru during one of his most exalted moments.”

- Monty Stark official website

The Appleseed Cast Sign with Graveface and Head Out on U.S. Tour; Hope You Liked Low Level Owl!

By Aaron Norman on 12-02-2009

At the tail end of 2001, The Appleseed Cast successively released two
albums and only two months apart. The mellow sounds of those albums,
Low Level Owl, Vols. I and II, their most critically acclaimed
releases to date, will be heard again starting in February of next
year, as The Appleseed Cast kick off a 26-date tour in Oklahoma. Combined, the two Low Level Owl albums are just shy of a two-hour
runtime, and The Appleseed Cast has announced they will be playing both albums,
in their entirety, back to back for their upcoming tour.

Also announced, a new live album will be available on the tour, being
the band's first release on Chicago-based Graveface Records. Labelmates Dreamend will be opening every show, and both bands will have full-length albums out in late 2010. And now for the
dates:
02.24.10 - Norman, OK - Opolis
02.25.10 - Ft. Worth, TX - Lola's
02.26.10 - Houston, TX - Rudyards
02.27.10 - Austin, TX - Mohawk
03.01.10 - Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room
03.02.10 - Tucson, AZ - Plush
03.03.10 - San Diego, CA - Casbah
03.04.10 - Pomona, CA - Glasshouse
03.05.10 - Los Angeles, CA - Echo Plex
03.06.10 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
03.08.10 - Portland, OR - Berbati's
03.09.10 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore
03.10.10 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
03.11.10 - Spokane, WA - Empyrean Café
03.12.10 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
03.13.10 - Denver, CO - Hi Dive
03.15.10 - Omaha, NE - Waiting Room
03.16.10 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock
03.17.10 - Dekalb, IL - House Café
03.18.10 - Madison, WI - High Noon
03.19.10 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
03.20.10 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway
03.21.10 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar

RIP: Bob Keane, Del-Fi Records founder

By Shane Mack on 12-02-2009

From the Associated Press (via Billboard):

Del-Fi Records founder Bob Keane, who discovered rocker Ritchie Valens, has died in Los Angeles at age 87.

Keane's son, Tom, tells the Los Angeles Times that his father died of renal failure Saturday at an assisted-living home in Hollywood.

Bob Keane founded the West Coast independent label Del-Fi in the 1950s.

In 1958, he discovered the 17-year-old Valens at a small concert and invited him to record in his home studio.

Their brief association led to Valens' hits "Come On, Let's Go," "Donna" and "La Bamba."

Valens was killed Feb. 3, 1959, in the Iowa plane crash that also took the lives of Buddy Holly and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.

- Bob Keane Wikipedia entry
- Del-Fi Records

Blur to Release Documentary in January, No Further Plans to Work Together

By Rachel B on 12-02-2009

Blur have been formally put on hold for a handful of years. And unlike certain other mid-decade phenomenons, they really haven't teased us with breakup after breakup after breakup. (I'm looking at you, Liam.) No indeed, after their demise, Blur members went on to promote new, cartoonish projects and generally kept their distance from each other. But as many of you may know, the boys of Blur decided they missed the old times and got a reunion tour going in the last year, playing shows all over England, while dutifully ignoring the United States. Whatever. I didn't want to see them anyway. (Yes I did.)

But although Blur has no plans to permanently reunite or record together again, they did put together a documentary that chronicles the band's beginnings and places special focus on the reunion tour. Titled No Distance Left to Run, the film is "a musing on Englishness and identity, and a portrait of friendship and resolution," according to Blur's label, Parlophone. From the looks of the trailer, I can mostly gather that many hugs, warm feelings, and ponies are afoot, as well as a stage dive here and a backstage peek there.

Arts Alliance Media plans to distribute No Distance next month in U.K. theaters, and we can expect the doc to make its worldwide rounds sometime after that.

Pavement Add More European Tour Dates! Hmm… If My Calculations Are Correct, This Means That They’ll Be Adding Some U.S. Dates Right… About… NOW?… I Mean… NOW!… OK… I Mean… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

By Nobodaddy on 12-01-2009

Attention, Great Britainers! Atención, Spaniards! Attenzione, Italians! Garde-à-vous, Frenchmen! Achtung, Germans! Pozor, Czech Republicans! Aandacht, Belgiumeers! Aird, hardass, oldschool Irishmen! Uh, and yeah, G’day, Australians!

In addition to the string of awesome festival dates and such that they’ve been slowly piecing together, Pavement has just announced that they’ll be coming to a theater near you (in a 2010 near you) to spread their decidedly American Gospel of slacking off; taking it real easy; keeping it “real loosey goosey;” vibing-out on jammy riffage; hiring a full-time aux. perc. player just because your real drummer can’t be relied on to keep time; singing about nothing in whatever key your voice feels like after smoking all of that pot; saying you’ll finish this or that song “some other time” but then just recording it anyway and putting it out; and, last but not least, becoming incredibly famous, respected, praised, acclaimed, and un-duplicate-able in the process.

Get ready to take some notes, Europe, Australia, U.K.! This is how you achieve in our country. Just ask Barack Obama. I’m pretty sure that he was in a psych-stoner-indie-slack-off rock band back in the day too. Yeah. Definitely pretty sure

03.01.10 - Auckland, New Zealand - Town Hall
03.04.10 - Sydney, Australia - Enmore Theatre
03.06.10 - Meredith, Australia - Supernatural Amphitheatre (Golden Plains Festival)
03.07.10 - Adelaide, Australia - Thebarton Theatre
03.08.10 - Perth, Australia - Metro City
03.10.10 - Brisbane, Australia - Tivoli
03.12.10 - Melbourne, Australia - Palace Theatre
05.04.10 - Dublin, Ireland - Tripod
05.05.10 - Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowland
05.07.10 - Paris, France - Le Zénith
05.08.10 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
05.10.10 - London, England - Brixton Academy
05.11.10 - London, England - Brixton Academy
05.12.10 - London, England - Brixton Academy
05.13.10 - London, England - Brixton Academy
05.15.10 - Minehead, England - All Tomorrow’s Parties
05.18.10 - Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
05.19.10 - Berlin, Germany - Astra
05.20.10 - Prague, Czech Republic - Palac Akropolis
05.21.10 - Vienna, Austria - Arena
05.22.10 - Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
05.24.10 - Rome, Italy - Atlantico Live
05.25.10 - Bologna, Italy - Estragon
05.27.10 - Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Festival
05.29.10 - Quincy, WA - Sasquatch! Festival
09.21.10 - New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage
09.22.10 - New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage
09.23.10 - New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage
09.24.10 - New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage

Welcome Back, Turn-of-the-Century Minneapolis: Lifter Puller Reissued

By Kid Midnight on 12-01-2009

Ah, 1999, what a year, right? Y2K was only a year away, Clinton was still in office, Korn and The Backstreet Boys fought for supremacy on TRL, Prince was partying like the year it was, the San Antonio Spurs won the NBA Championship, and, of course, Lifter Puller was still a band.

Don’t know who Lifter Puller was? Can’t understand how the Spurs won the Championship? Don’t worry, I’ll explain. The San Antonio Spurs won the Championship because the twin towers of David Robinson and Tim Duncan were an unstoppable scoring machine and their seamless meshing on the court, along with the welcome aid and skills of -- oh... you were just interested in Lifter Puller? Okay. Lifter Puller were a rock band from Minneapolis who counted as members Craig Finn and Tad Kubler who would both eventually move to Brooklyn and form The Hold Steady. During their existence, the band released three LPs, an EP, and played a bunch of shows.

Their whole catalog has been pretty tough to find the last couple years because most of it is out of print, and the people who have it don’t really want to get rid of it. But the times are changing, my friends: the band has announced that not only will its entire catalog be reissued digitally for the first time via The Orchard, but two of the albums will receive “Deluxe Reissue” treatment. There will also be a new odds ‘n’ sods collection of singles, non-album tracks, and live material, plus a book, titled Lifter Puller vs. The End Of, which will contains lyrics, photos, and an oral history of the band.

What does this “Deluxe Reissue” business mean? Well, sophomore LP Half Dead & Dynamite will feature live tracks from a 1998 performance at Minneapolis venue 7th Street Entry; The Entertainment and Arts, the band’s only EP, will also feature bonus tracks from the 7th Street Entry show. Fiestas & Fiascos, Lifter Puller’s third and final album (and debut with Frenchkiss Records) will feature live tracks from a reunion show in 2003. Meanwhile, the new rarities collection, titled Slips Backwards, will feature 17 tracks of singles, non-album material, and two live songs from a 2000 performance in Washington D.C. All of the albums are available for download today, December 1.

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