WHAT’S HAPPENING?!?
We know you’re wondering — but we’re so full up, we can hardly answer! New artists like Joanna Newsom, Faun Fables and White Magic are all blowin’ up! Like mercury, they seem to split and divide everytime we put our fingers down to grasp them again, splitting off into another part of the world, there to infect it with their mercurial natures. Every time we turn around, we’re shipping another case or two of Joanna into the wild blue yonder or hearing about another Faun Fables tour or getting word of another crazy happening deep in the heart of New York that White Magic are freely associating with. It’s crazy — but crazy-cool — you know?

Seriously, we’re busy! Though we only released one record in each of the last two months (White Magic “Through the Sun Door” in May and David Grubbs' A Guess at the Riddle in June), we’re finding ourselves busy with Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Joanna Newsom tourdates and sales, sales, sales! Plus, the summertime ahead is filling with LPs, CDs and yes, sketchbooks!

So, what’s happening, indeed — WHAT’S HAPPENING?!?

PEBBLES AND RIPPLES
First of all, Bonnie just got off tour. It was a riotous rush through the sunny southland with a seven-piece band, special guests Brightblack and a series of openers including the greatest new band in the city of New Brooklyn, White Magic. Selected backwaters from Texas to the Carolinas were played in the cool of the night over a month-long period. The result? A new saint in the south — Bonnie “Prince” Billy. They ate the whole thing in Hattiesburg — they saluted a new rebel in San Marcos — they hollered along in Mobile — they thought he was the next coming of Elvis in Oxford — basically, it was a southern good time, y’all. And when there wasn’t a roadhouse to play in, they took to the fields and rocked ‘em kinda slow and easy under the stars. 

Anyway, to commemorate this wonderful thing that was happening everywhere, a special CDEP was made, mingling the blood, sweat and cheers of Brightblack with the cries of love that could only come from Bonnie. Just for fun (in addition to profit), they dared each other to try and cover a few songs. Bonnie gave a few choices to Brightblack; Brightblack laid a couple on Bonnie. Next thing you know, they have this special tour-only EP. But in a simple twist of fate, a few more were made than were sold. And therefore, we’re going to be offering these for a potentially limited time on our Special Orders page. If you’re not there already (and a misty ghost of you is left behind to read this), go on over and order you up one!

THE RETURN OF THE THIRD TOWER
While you’re thinking about impulse buying yourself some music, why not put in your order for the next Howling Hex LP at the same time? The third installment of their limited-edition, vinyl-only audio diary is being prepared for release in the later shades of August. The first two are, of course, sold out, and the third one figures to be by the time the street date rolls around (August 24th), so make sure you preorder yourself one today.

JOANNA NEWSOM
Geez, what can we say? The world is lining up to see Joanna — or if not, then to praise her. The little girl with the harp made of gold is knocking ‘em dead from here to…well, not Timbuktu — our distribution sucks there — but you know, from here to the edges of Europe, and also the edges of the known world in the Pacific Rim (the islands off New Zealand are clamoring for her — she’s big among the sheephearding class). I suppose we have Amazon.com to thank for this — they’ve been selling them to online shoppers everywhere — but also, the good people at Arthur, the New York Times, SPIN, MOJO, Uncut, NME and everyone else who’s written about how amazing she and her debut, The Milk-Eyed Mender are. Thank you, semi-free press! While we’re passing kudos around, let’s thank ourselves for having ears for Joanna and getting involved. And of course, thank you, Joanna.

Joanna comes off tour on July 11th, so keep an eye on the site for leftover t-shirts. She’s been selling a ton of them, but we’re prepared to make another couple tons for the worldwide fan base who haven’t had the chance to purchase one after crying their eyes out at the foot of the stage of the local venue in the town that they live that they were lucky enough that she came to for one night only! The shirts are just that great.

ALSO ON TOUR
Also on tour this month, last month and next month is the hardest-working woman in showbiz, AZITA! Her April release, Life on the Fly, is one of the dark-horse classics of 2004. If you haven't heard her sound yet and you are a fan of catchy pop with sharp edges (but a sweet filling), give AZITA a spin. She'll be out there.

MAY AND JUNE IN REVIEW
In addition to the world being set on fire by the aforementioned Bonnie and Joanna tours, May and June were also noteworthy for new releases from White Magic and David Grubbs. White Magic have an unpredictably mystic sound; rooting in band playing, but spanning out into timeless time, spacious space. Having captured Brooklyn in their hypnotic gaze, they’re not getting out into the world, ensnaring more and more of us in their latticework of pure light. Truly, “Through the Sun Door” is right up there with The Milk-Eyed Mender for most impressive debut of the year.

David Grubbs has been kicking it for a long time now — starting in the mid-80s with his Menudo-style self-made hardcore-rock outfit Squirrel Bait (when they all turned 21, they all kicked themselves out of the band), continuing into post-prog- and pre-post-rock with Bastro, morphing into the eternal with Gastr del Sol as well as The Red Krayola and finally ending up back with the name god gave him all those years ago, happy and fulfilled, solo at last. Since 1998, David’s made a series of critically-acclaimed records of original material with his distinctive lyrics and vocals while at the same time, making a series of records on his own Blue Chopsticks label committed to more progressive expressions — often in the company of like-minded players such as Mats Gustafsson, Tony Conrad, and Nöel Akchoté. His new record A Guess at the Riddle is in the pop vein, and continues along the path of his last, Rickets & Scurvy, in terms of being the most well realized, entertaining and listenable records in a long, well-realized, entertaining and listenable discography — that has also cornered the market of challenging, visionary pop music (that avant-rocks). David’s touring America in July, so look out for his show — the first accompanied shows he’s really played in America since the halcyon days of Gastr del Sol.

That brings us to — hey-hey! The present. Let’s call it July, shall we?

PUTTING THE PAST IN PRESENT
July is a retro-month, so fire up the time machine to join us at various places over the last thirty or so years. Every record we have comes from the past, as we’re sure you know (we’re still waiting to put out a record from the future — but we haven’t lost hope!), but some come from a greater distance than others. The combined age of these records is like, 150 or something — wait and see what I’m saying.

The Red Krayola Singles comprehensively compiles singles and other sounds from a number of years dating back to 1968. Artwork has been collected, where it existed, and the collection comes annotated with notes from Berlin-based journalist Thomas Groetz. These sides reflect the early 70s, late 70s, early-mid-80s, early 90s, mid-90s and the remix-obsessed post-9/11 world we’re all growing quickly weary of (Sears Tower, look out!), in chronological order, yet still retaining the seeming lack of reason and subversive vision that made The Red Krayola such an intriguing proposal in their original day and age. It takes a special band to have corn-cob pipe material like “Old Tom Clark” rubbing up against new-wave artifacts like “Wives In Orbit” and “Micro-Chips and Fish” and then turn around and contribute to the indie-fed 90s with the tongue-in-cheek melodies of “Red Krayola on 45” and “Farewell to Arms.” The Red Krayola have forged ahead, ever-focused on the big picture: total success. On Singles, their most ambitious moments are collected.

Plus, the bonus material includes ripping live performances from the late 70s and an instrumental outtake from Mayo Thompson’s 1970 solo LP, Corky’s Debt to His Father. Amazing stuff!

The focus of The Red Krayola record is on the late 70s/early 80s axis and in that, it shares time and space with the Half Japanese release Loud and Horrible. This record is a reissue of Half Japanese’s second LP (after the triple-album Half Gentlemen, Not Beasts) and an EP that followed shortly thereafter. Both Loud and “Horrible” captured the brothers Fair in the act of augmenting their untuned rock and roll with extra guitars, extra drums, extra saxophones…building up to a DIY wall of sound that has lost none of it’s bite in the 20 years since. Using their compositions to express conventional emotions of rock and roll (anxiety, anger, oppression, lust, love, ecstacy), Half Japanese sound anything but conventional in songs like “Baby Wants Music,” “High School Tonight,” and “No Danger.” In fact, they sound kind of frightening. The thing is, this music was made in the name of fun and the freedom to have it, so after a bit, you see it their way, and by the time the “Horrible” EP rolls around, with it’s emphasis on horror stories and scary movies, the effect is humorous. This was the aim of original punk — free expression, protest, laughter. As the walls shake and fall around them, or perhaps because they don’t, Half Japanese rock and rule — and Loud and Horrible catches them at a noisy apex.

Four bonus tracks taken from the b-side of a single and a flexi-disc complete the picture. Loud and Horrible is a true artifact from the good old days of punk rock.

Back in 1997, LA filmmakers Bruce and Norman Yonemoto called on Mayo Thompson and his Red Krayola to provide music for a film they’d independently financed called — Japan In Paris In L.A. This film intended to provide insight into the life and death (by suicide) of a man called “the Japanese Van Gogh” — Saeki Yuzo. The methods of the film adapted some of the visual strategies of his time and place (Japan and Paris in the 20s). Everyone involved agreed that The Red Krayola were the perfect choice for this endeavor. Material was recorded and the pieces were placed in the moments that inspired them, atmospherically strengthening the work. The movie has been premiered in several places since then, but remains an undistributed film. This and additional intrigues prevented the release of the music until now — but now, here it is. Featuring instrumentals written and performed by David Grubbs, Jim O’Rourke, Stephen Prina, Tom Watson and Mayo Thompson (plus a vocal piece by Grubbs and Mary Lass Stewart), Japan In Paris In L.A. is an unconventional Red Krayola album — quite a prospect for a band as consistently unconventional as they’ve been! Or does that make it predictable? Anyway, it sounds sweet ear candy to us — and plans are underway to get the movie screened in a more meaningful way in the near future — we’ll let you know!

Capping off a quartet of retrospective releases is the Blue Chopsticks title Adult Guitar, by Nöel Akchoté. Over the past decade, he’s become known as a leading player in the field of free improvisation, performing solo, making records and collaborating with players like Derek Bailey, Jacques Thollot, Evan Parker, Stephen Bernstein and Luc Ferrari, among many others. Adult Guitar collects unreleased pieces from two decades of development, sequencing them in a fashion that reveals roots and branches of the Akchoté style. It’s fascinating to hear Nöel’s take on classic pieces by Dizzy Gillespie, Ornette Coleman and Cole Porter — especially when mixed up with home recordings, improvisations, live tapes and more. Good listening!

And all from out of the past…but what about the future again?

IN THE WORLD THAT’S COMING
August brings us a bouquet of an entirely different odor. Oh, sure — there’s rock — The Fucking Am wouldn’t have it any other way — and there’s reissues — but Faun Fables reissues, of a more recent vintage in a different style (goth-folk?!). Then there’s the third and final vinyl Howling Hex limited edition record. An enhanced Bonnie “Prince” Billy CD single! And then there’s also Bill Callahan’s sketchbook series! So as you can see, this isn’t your father’s August. Not to mention your mother’s.

The Fucking Am we’ve talked about a bit, haven’t we? The unholy union of The Fucking Champs and Trans Am? This full-length record is a monster, playing like the fullest extension of The Fucking Champs trajectory of IV-V, with the best of Trans Am icing the cake. It comes in an exquisite gold-foil package, with the name of the opus embossed on the otherwise unadorned cover: GOLD. God-damn is it going to rock.

Faun Fables released their third album on Drag City earlier this year. And Family Album thrilled a lot of people with it’s deep, dark folk sound. This thrilled us, since it meant that there’d be a nice, captive audience for the first two, self-released Faun Fables albums — Early Song and Mother Twilight. As a matter of fact, Mother Twilight was the record we first fell in love with, so it makes it extra cool to help it reach the furthest corners of the earth. And Early Song never really made it past the CD-R stage, so calling it a reissue isn’t really fair. But whatever. While we work on this over the next month or so, Dawn the Faun will be playing more dates in the US and then flying over to Europe to reconnect with old friends and fans as well as a special part of her muse that’s always back there in the old country.

Now available on this very website, The Howling Hex limited-edition vinyl-only release The Return of the Third Tower is slated for a brief appearance in the record stores of the world come August. But as this title is limited to 500 pieces, you gotta move quick. Order it up now — and get the audio diary your ears never dreamed of!

Though an epic three months old, Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s Greatest Palace Music is still rolling on, as new as the dawn. Videos are in circulation (see below or just look at our front page) and now, one of them can be possessed by you. The “Agnes Queen of Sorrow” CD single contains the video of the same name, as well as two non-LP tracks, including a previously unreleased in any form delight called “Pussyfooting.” It’s going to be sweet!

Bill “(Smog)” Callahan is known for his cinematic evocations while wearing his (Smog) hat and (Smog) guitar — not to mention his (Smog) game face. This doesn’t make him a filmmaker — but as an artist with different sides, he’s decided to release some of his private papers for the entertainment of everyone all around the world. The papers are papers he’s carved alluring shapes into — and they’re now being released in a series of sketchbooks called Women, Death-Head’s Drawings, and Ballerina Sketchpad. Get ready to gasp — this is art, with all the challenges and insights it provides. And make room on the coffee table.

GHOST IS COMING!
Don’t forget — Ghost is coming back to America, to play a week or two of shows in celebration of Hypnotic Underworld, their recent entry into the psychedelic folk music hall of fame. It was Ghost who got 2004 off to such a roaring start, and soon we’re going to have the power to thank them in person. Their September-October tour will also mark the reissue of Masaki Batoh’s Collected Works CD, which will also be issued in a limited edition LP version! At the same time, look for the Sweet and Honey album to be reissued — for the first time on CD. Also on the Ghost beat, you’ll be seeing a DVD collection of live performances from ancient times — as well some improvisations from the stoned age as well.

SEE HEAR
Hey, if you’re hear, then you’ve obviously already seen the videos parked on our website, right? Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s “Agnes, Queen of Sorrow” and Joanna Newsom’s “Sprout and the Bean” have been getting airplay on video programs here and abroad — but if you can’t catch them there, you can here. And now, we’re adding Bonnie’s “Horses” video — with maybe one more to go. Greatest Palace Music demands the exposure! If you haven’t seen these yet, don’t wait until your birthday. That would be special, but today’s a good day too.

RTX
Transmaniacon is coming! September 21st is the date that Jennifer and Co. break back into your life. Look out, they’re gonna rock ya!

LAST WORDS
The RTX news really oughta be the last word — but here’s a few more! Things to look forward to this fall — books from Neil Hagerty (Public Works) and Bill Callahan (Letters to Emma Bowlcut).

Lots to look forward to — now if we can just survive this summer…

June & July 2004
Rian Murphy
Drag City Inc.