To steal and mangle a line from Gilbert and Sullivan originally about policemen: a TMT news writer’s lot is not a happy one. Constantly constructing stories that are disturbingly light on actual quotes or relevant info can take its toll on the untalented. So it came as a shocking and life-affirming surprise when word came in that WHY? had good news on two fronts to report. No Cup-a-Soup, half-finished Sudoku, and Reba rerun tonight! This news might even postpone this scratcher’s bi-monthly suicide attempt (read: unanswered call for attention) and just may be enough to get me out of my parents’ basement for the first time in a decade! Why? Well, two reasons, that’s why? A new album and a tour are imminent!
By all accounts, WHY? will reveal a cosmic folk cowboy influence in their work when their fourth full-length album and follow-up to the very-well-received Alopecia (TMT Review) is released on September 22. The record will be called Eskimo Snow (a version of the title track can be found on our benefit compilation), will come out on anticon., and features 10 tracks recorded by the trio (Yoni Wolf, Josiah Wolf, Doug McDiarmid) around the same time as Alopecia, with help from Andrew Broder and Mark Erickson (both from Fog), and Mark Nevers (Lambchop, Silver Jews, Bonnie Prince Billy, Calexico) and Eli Crews (Alopecia’s engineer) on tha knobs.
Are you Inuit or are you out?
1. These Hands
2. January Twenty Something
3. Against Me
4. Even the Good Wood Gone
5. Into the Shadows of My Embrace
6. One Rose
7. On Rose Walk, Insomniac
8. Berkeley By Hearseback
9. This Blackest Purse
10. Eskimo Snow
Word about the new album has been out for awhile, but tourdates are so spanking new they should be in cellophane. WHY? will embark on a lengthy tour with an eye-popping group of talented acts starting in the Wolfs’ birthplace of Cincinnati on September 24. So many great acts that they had to use the tilde (~), Qwerty’s loneliest symbol, in the legend that we have so lovingly cut and pasted below
09.24.09 - Cincinnati, OH - Northside Tavern *
09.26.09 - New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge, Wordless Music Series +
10.01.09 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East #%
10.02.09 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church #%
10.03.09 - Pittsburgh, PA - Assembly Room, William Pitt Union (free show) #%
10.04.09 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Blind Pig #%
10.05.09 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge #%
10.06.09 - Madison, WI - UW Madison Terrace #%
10.07.09 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock #%
10.09.09 - Denver, CO - Bluebird #%
10.10.09 - Salt Lake City, UT - In The Venue #%
10.13.09 - Annacortes, WA - Department of Safety &$
10.14.09 - Seattle, WA - The Vera Project &$
10.15.09 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom &$
10.17.09 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall *%$
10.20.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex *%
10.23.09 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified Arts *%
10.24.09 - Tucson, AZ - Club Congress *%
10.26.09 - Denton, TX - Hailey's *%
10.28.09 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree *%
10.29.09 - Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle *%
10.30.09 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle *%
10.31.09 - Atlanta, GA - Lenny's %^@
11.02.09 - Orlando, FL - The Social %!
11.03.09 - Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds %!
11.04.09 - Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder %!
11.06.09 - Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon %(
11.07.09 - Houston, TX - Walter's On Washington %~
11.08.09 - Austin, TX - Fun Fun Fun Fest
11.10.09 - Lawrence, KS - Jackpot Music Hall %~
11.11.09 - St. Louis, MO - Firebird %~
11.13.09 - Bloomington, IN - Rhino's Youth Center ~
* Serengeti and Polyphonic
# Dark Dark Dark
% AU
& No Kids
$ Mount Eerie
^ Jemina Pearl
@ Islands
! James Husband
~ The Moore Brothers
+ Owen Weaver with Flexible Music
