Lost in the Trees announce US, Canada and UK tour dates

Lost in the Trees will hit the road this Spring in support of their upcoming A Church That Fits Our Needs LP, travelling all over the United States and dipping into Canada and the UK. All dates with new Fleet Foxes side project, Poor Moon, except for UK dates, which include Jeff Mangum's All Tomorrow's Parties festival with The Magnetic Fields, Joanna Newsom and many more! Check the dates below for your nearest show:

03-09 Minehead, UK - All Tomorrow's Parties
03-12 London, UK - The Lexington
03-16 Austin, TX - Antone's (SXSW)
03-20 La Jolla, CA - The Loft @ UCSD
03-22 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
03-23 San Francisco, CA - Bottom Of The Hill
03-24 Arcata, CA - Arcata Playhouse
03-25 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
03-27 Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern
03-28 Boise, ID - Neurolux
03-29 Salt Lake City, UT - The State Room
03-30 Denver, CO - Hi Dive
03-31 Omaha, NE - The Slowdown
04-02 Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Centre
04-03 Chicago, IL - Schubas
04-04 Evanston, IL - Space
04-05 Columbus, OH - Wexner Center
04-06 Toronto, ON - Drake Hotel
04-07 Montreal, QC - Il Motore
04-09 Burlington, VT - Burlington City Arts Center
04-10 Portland, ME - Space
04-11 New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
04-13 Boston, MA - Boston Museum Of Fine Arts
04-14 Washington, DC - The Black Cat

MP3: Lost in the Trees - Red [from the A Church That Fits Our Needs LP]

Video: LIVE! from Trekky House II: Midtown Dickens

We continue our LIVE! From Trekky House video series today with a performance by Midtown Dickens. The band chose to play on the Blue Bird school bus at Trekky House, wanting to be outside but taking shelter from the rainy day. They play a stripped down version of "Only Brother", the first single from their upcoming Home. The album will be out April 3 on Trekky Records. Special thanks to guest cameraman D. L. Anderson.

MP3: Midtown Dickens - Only Brother [from the Home LP]

Trekky Records presents: Amalgam, a Mixtape Compilation

Introducing: Trekky Records. These are our friends, our sisters and brothers, our collaborators and advisers. This is our future as well as our past. These songs are an amalgamation of everything we've worked on for nearly 10 years, supporting each other as artists and picking up new friends along the way. Like the mixtapes you've received from friends and kindred spirits in the past, we hope Amalgam will introduce you to some new music that may come to shape your life, as it has shaped ours.

With contributions from Lost in the Trees, Midtown Dickens, Phil Cook & His Feat, Brice Randall Bickford, Butterflies, Vibrant Green and more, the mixtape features some our favorite songs from our past releases as well as brand new and unreleased gems. The compilation will be issued as a limited edition cassette tape, and also be available for digital download on March 6, 2012.

To celebrate the release of the tape, we'll be hosting a release show at Nightlight in Chapel Hill, NC, on March 2, 2012. Butterflies, Phil Cook & His Feat, Vibrant Green and a very special surprise guest band will perform, and it'll be your first chance to get your hands on Amalgam. Hope to see you there!

Phil Cook contributes new song to hymn compilation

Phil Cook contributes a song to the upcoming Hymns From The Gathering Church compilation, a collection of traditional hymns performed by various North Carolina musicians. Phil's track is a rendition of "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms", a popular hymn composed in 1887 by Elisha Hoffman and Anthony Showalter. You can listen to and buy the track here.

If that's not enough Phil Cook for you, you can still order Phil Cook and His Feat's critically acclaimed 2011 album, Hungry Mother Blues from the Trekky Records Online Store.

Midtown Dickens release first single from Home

Midtown Dickens' have released the first single from their upcoming Home LP, a gorgeous folk song called "Only Brother". The song explores reincarnation, god and place, inspired by the story of an animal psychic traveling back in time to heal a wolf's broken leg. Intertwining acoustic guitars, slide mandolin, and an unlikely clarinet solo fill out the composition, Midtown Dickens' most striking statement to date. Shuffle Magazine is debuting the track today.

Home will be released in Trekky's signature LP+CD+MP3 package on April 3, 2012.

Watch a teaser trailer of Midtown Dickens in the studio:

Lost in the Trees announce new album, NPR debuts first single

It gives us great honor to share with you the details of Lost In The Trees' newest statement, a devastating and beautiful album titled A Church That Fits Our Needs, to be released by ANTI- and Trekky Records on March 20, 2012. It is a work of vaulting ambition, a cathedral built on loss and transformation. Visit NPR's All Songs Considered to hear "Red", the stunning first single.

In the summer of 2009, Ari Picker lost his mother, an artist in her own right, when she took her own life. Picker set about transforming the events into a musical tribute, composing and writing with his mother’s picture above his desk: the same picture that will now grace the album’s cover.
“I wanted to give her a space, in the music, to be, and to become all the things she didn’t get a chance to be when she was alive,” Picker says.

As on 2010's All Alone In An Empty House, Picker has again surrounded himself with musicians who bring his vision to life with verve and sensitivity. A special contribution comes in the vocals of Emma Nadeau, whose soaring, wordless melodies counter Picker’s ecstatic vocals throughout. Recorded and produced by Picker in North Carolina, the album was mixed by the legendary Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck), bringing out the lush tones of the orchestrations in their full grandeur.



Tracklist:

01. Moment One
02. Neither Here Nor There
03. Red
04. Golden Eyelids
05. Icy River
06. Tall Ceilings
07. Moment Two
08. The Dead Bird Is Beautiful
09. Garden
10. Villain
11. An Artist's Song
12. Vines

For a glimpse into the process of making the album, check out this lovely video:

TRK Best of 2k11

As 2011 draws to a close, the Trekky crew looks back on what made 2011 such a great year! Here are some highlights!


Jesse Ainslie (Barghest, Virgin Forest, Phosphorescent)

Top Ten Albums of "2011":

Talk Talk - Laughing Stock (1991) - reissue 2011
Radiohead - King Of Limbs
Tyler, The Creator - Goblin
Curren$y - Pilot Talk (2010)
Bobby Charles - Bobby Charles (1972) - reissue 2011
Destroyer - Kaputt
Grinderman - Grinderman II (2010)
Deertick - Divine Providence
Tom Waits - Bad As Me
Ulver - Wars of The Roses (2011)

and two things I still just can't get over:
Charles Mingus - Mingus Plays Piano (1963)
and
Ulver - Lyckantropen Themes (2002)

In my opinion, these are, at least, contenders for the greatest instrumental records of all time - do yourselves the favor.

====================================

Martin Anderson (Trekky Records)

**sorry in advance that my list is so long...2011 has been a big one!**

TOP 30 ALBUMS OF 2011
1. Bon Iver- "Bon Iver, Bon Iver"
2. The War on Drugs- "Slave Ambient"
3. James Blake- "s/t"
4. Future Islands- "On the Water"
5. Akron/Family- "The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT"
6. High Places- "Original Colors"
7. Wye Oak- "Civilian"
8. The Dodos- "No Color"
9. Gillian Welch- "The Harrow & The Harvest
10. The Rosebuds- "Loud Planes Fly Low"
11. Wilco- "The Whole Love"
12. Mount Moriah- "s/t"
13. All Tiny Creatures- "Harbors"
14. James Blake- "Enough Thunder"
15. Grouper- "A/A : Alien Observer / Dream Loss"
16. Vetiver- "The Errant Charm"
17. Panda Bear- "Tomboy"
18. Beirut- "The Rip Tide"
19. Whatever Brains- "s/t"
20. Hammer No More The Fingers- "Black Shark"
21. Kurt Vile- "Smoke Ring for My Halo"
22. Des Ark- "Don't Rock The Boat, Sink the Fucker"
23. Gil-Scott Heron & Jamie xx- "We're New Here"
24. Colin Stetson- "New history Warfare, Vol 2: Judges"
25. Atlas Sound- "Parallax"
26. Collections of Colonies of Bees- "GIVING"
27. Tinariwen- "Tassili"
28. Drive-By Truckers- "Go-Go Boots"
29. Tom Waits- "Bad As Me"
30. Stephen Malkmus- "Mirror Traffic"

***I intentionally excluded the handful of AMAZING albums that I worked very closely on (Megafaun, Lost in the Trees, Phil Cook, Brice Randall Bickford, etc)***

Shows:
--TRKfest 2011 @ Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, NC (highlights: Butterflies, Bowerbirds, Lonnie Walker, Vibrant Green)
--Megafaun + Doug Paisley @ Schuba's in Chicago, IL
--Future Islands @ The Echoplex in Los Angeles, CA
--Phil Cook & His Feat album release @ Motorco in Durham, NC
--Bon Iver & The Rosebuds @ Downtown Amphitheater in Raleigh, NC
--High Places @ The Smell in Los Angeles, CA
--Westfalia @ Johnny's in Carrboro, NC
--Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, NC (highlights: Superchunk, Brice Randall Bickford, Lost in the Trees, Mount Moriah, Wooden Wand, The Dodos)
--Sharon Van Etten & Megafaun @ Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY
--All Tiny Creatures @ Hometapes SXSW Friend Island in Austin, TX
--The Mountain Goats & Megafaun @ The Ottobar in Baltimore, MD
--The War on Drugs @ The Satellite in Los Angeles, CA
--Gayngs @ Stubb's in Austin, TX
--Menomena & Megafaun @ The Republic in New Orleans, LA
--Avi Buffalo @ The Winona house in Los Angeles, CA

Other rad highlights of 2011:
Trekky House...2011-2012 Tar Heels...Pie Pushers...Day off at an indoor water park with the Megafaun gang...hiking in the Redwoods...TRKfest...BJ "Crow" Burton...new Westfalia songs entering my life...bloody marys and ceviche in Mexico with Katie...welcoming Ellis Bradley Cook into this world...Greg Davis' Grateful Dead mixes...Adam Wills: hangmaster...Hi Ho Silver Oh Silverlake Lounge residency night 4 with Grandma Sparrow and Wil Donegan...The final days of Brome...Joan Didion...MusicNOW festival in Cinci w Fauns, FBB, Sharon, Vern, Doug, JagJag fam, National fam, et al...cabbage salad at Carousel in Los Angeles...Lee Waters...Punjab Deli in NYC...Adam & Sara Heathcott...re-reading the Merge book...Doug "Drugs" Paisley & Jordan Long...Boiling Crab & Beverly Soon Tofu in Ktown LA...Thomas and Amanda's dining room table...tamale birthday party...finally getting thorough with Yo La Tengo's catalog...Carolina Brewery Anniversary Lager..Dave Godowsky's apartment...Listening to Patterson Hood and James Toth speak at a Hopscotch panel

Knowing how hard the new Midtown Dickens, Lost in the Trees, Bowerbirds, Sharon Van Etten, Bear in Heaven, Dana Buoy and Matt White records are going to rule next year!!!

====================================

Phil Cook (Phil Cook & His Feat, Megafaun)

Doug Paisley - Constant Companion (i don't care that it's 2010. still listened to it the most!)
William Tyler - Behold the Spirit
The Alabama Shakes - S/T EP
Gillian Welch - The Harrow and The Harvest
Dawes - Nothing Is Wrong
Drive By Truckers - Go Go Boots
Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Mount Moriah - S/T
The War On Drugs - Slave Ambient
The Dodos - No Color

====================================

Thomas Costello (Embarrassing Fruits)

Cass Mccombs "Wit's End"
Yuck "Yuck"
Colin Stetson "New History Of Warfare Vol.2"
Kurt Vile "Smoke Ring For My Halo"
Gillian Welch "The Harrow & The Harvest"
Trouble Books & Mark McGuire "Trouble Books & Mark McGuire"
Bill Orcutt "A New Way To Pay Old Debts"
Iceage "New Brigade"
The War On Drugs "Slave Ambient"
Whatever Brains "Whatever Brains"
Megafaun "Megafaun"
Glenn Jones "The Wanting"
Eddy Current Suppression Ring "So Many Things"

====================================

Wil Donegan (Auxiliary House)

Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Belong
Destroyer - Kaputt
Mickey Newbury - An American Trilogy (reissue)
Josh T. Pearson - The Last of the Country Gentlemen

====================================

Catherine Edgerton (Midtown Dickens)

Best Record: Mount Moriah by Mount Moriah

Best Short Film: Mr. Percy's Run by DL Anderson

Most Epic Sunset: Baucum Road (Monroe Manor) November, 2011

New Favorite Bands: The Gift Machine, Cal Folger Day, Sonny and the Sunsets, The Water Bears

Best Date: 11/11/11

Best Taco: Taqueria Cancun, the Mission, SF
****(There is an important lesson in this one: Things that don't need qualifiers are always done well; the guest check just said: Taco. Kinda like how the new Megafaun record just says: Megafaun)

Best Hair: Will Hackney by FAR

Best Place to Sleep Alone: Strawberry Rock, Petrolia CA

Best Show: Wild Flag and Yellow Fever, Local 506, March 11, 2011

====================================

Will Hackney (Trekky Records, Midtown Dickens)

Favorite 10 Albums of 2011

1 Gillian Welch - The Harrow and The Harvest
2. Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
3. Terius Nash - 1977
4. Beyonce - 4
5. Yardwork - Brotherer
6. Kate Bush - Director's Cut
7. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
8. Kanye West & Jay-Z - Watch The Throne
9. James Blake - s/t
10. Des Ark - Don't Rock The Boat, Sink The Fucker

Favorite Reissues

Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
Fred McDowell - The Alan Lomax Recordings

Can't believe I still haven't listened to it, what's wrong with me?

Bjork - Biophilia

====================================

Daniel Hart (The Physics of Meaning)

Best Albums:

Tamer Animals -- Other Lives
King of Limbs -- Radiohead
Underneath the Pine -- Toro Y Moi
English Riviera -- Metronomy
Loud Planes Fly Low -- The Rosebuds
James Blake -- James Blake
Metals -- Feist
w h o k i l l -- tUnE-yArDs
New History Warfare Vol. 2 - Judges -- Colin Stetson
bon iver, bon iver -- Bon Iver
No Time For Dreaming -- Charles Bradley
Burst Apart -- Antlers
Unknown Mortal Orchestra -- Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Best Videos:

Metronomy - She Wants, dir. Jul & Mat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntVV3dTo-qw

+ every other Metronomy video (look it up and feel cleverer)

Battles - My Machines, dir. Daniels
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkgQ88G8Hj8

Battles - Ice Cream, dir. Canada
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CXtJA34QGQ&feature=related

Best Shows:

Feist @ the Majestic, Dallas, November
Toro Y Moi @ some shitty club, Austin, SXSW
Man Man/Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers @ Sons of Hermann Hall, Dallas, April
Bon Iver @ Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, July
Other Lives @ Spanish Moon, Baton Rouge, June
Broken Social Scene @ House of Fucking Blues, Dallas, March

Best Movies:

Midnight in Paris
HP8

Best things that happened to me this year:

1. Rachel and I celebrated four years together in August

2. Charlyne Yi made this amazing video for one of my songs, with no help from me, because she is truly amazing:

http://vimeo.com/24804326

3. Playing in Other Lives supporting Bon Iver's West Coast run, September

Best People:

Gerard Smith (1975 - 2011). Rest in peace

====================================

Seamus Kenney (Trepak, Auxiliary House, Lost in the Trees)

My top ten consists mostly of artists/songs I was listening to via Pandora in the past year. I have noted the year of release so as to not confuse or confound the reader.

Band/Album/Single/Year

1 - Peter, Bjorn and John/Gimme Some/Dig a Little Deeper/2011
2 - Fleet Foxes/Helplessness Blues/The Shrine - An Argument/2011
3 - Blitzen Trapper/The Destroyer of The Void/The Man Who Would Speak True/2010
4 - Dirty Projectors/Bitte Orca/Stillness Is The Move/2009
5 - Grizzly Bear/Veckatimest/Two Weeks/2009
6 - Band of Horses/Cease To Begin/No One's Gonna Love You/2007
7 - The Bird and The Bee/Please Clap Your Hands/Polite Dance Song/2007
8 - Phoenix/It's Never Been Like That/Sometime in The Fall/2006
9 - Ben Kweller/Out Come The Wolves/ Hospital Bed/2004
10- The Wedding Present/Watusi/Yeah,Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah/1994
====================================

Josh Kimbrough (Butterflies, Westfalia)

Faves in order:

1. Kurt Vile - "Smoke Ring For My Halo"

2. Deleted Scenes - "Young People's Church of the Air"

3. Mark Hollis - "Mark Hollis" (reissue)

4. Casual Curious - "Lungs"

5. Let's Wrestle - "Nursing Home"

6. All Tiny Creatures - "Harbors"

7. Phil Cook & His Feat - "Hungry Mother Blues"

8. Tyler, the Creator - "Goblin"

9. Toro Y Moi - "Freaking Out"

10. Bon Iver - "Bon Iver"

So confused about:

1. Lou Reed & Metallica - "Lulu"

2. Limp Bizkit - "Gold Cobra"

====================================

Jon Mackey (Hi Ho Silver Oh, Auxiliary House)

1. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
2. David Bazan - Strange Negotiations
3. Megafaun - Megafaun
4. Mount Moriah - Mount Moriah
5. Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972
5. (tie) Tim Hecker - Dropped Pianos
6. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
7. Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestial Lineage
8. Low - C'mon
9. Toro Y Moi - Underneath the Pine
10. Washed Out - Within and Without

====================================

Joe Norkus (Embarrassing Fruits, Westfalia)

National:
The War on Drugs - Slave Ambient
Swearing At Motorists - Postcards From a Drinking Town
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
Richard Buckner - Our Blood
John Maus - We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Atlas Sound - Parallax
Toro Y Moi - Underneath The Pine
Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Local:
Wesley Wolfe - Cynics Need Love Too
Secret Message Machine - Trashface
Gross Ghost - Wicked Game
Mount Moriah - s/t

Other Stuff:
Jim Beam Rye Whiskey w/ Blenheim's and Lime (thanks John)
Sriracha + Anything
The Taco Truck next to Cat's Cradle
Breaking Bad
My "new" Squire Strat
Seeing Archers of Loaf, Guided By Voices (twice), and Dinosaur Jr. all in the same year!

====================================

Ari Picker (Lost in the Trees)

I'm always asked the same question this time of year: "What are you top 10 favorite albums of the year"....and every year it seems like there are less and less albums that really change me as a music lover. Perhaps it is just an age thing (not being young and wide eyed to the word), or perhaps I'm too self absorbed. Or am I looking for other types of inspiration? But...when a record does fight its way into my head, it gives me the same thrill that it did 10 years ago. So for this year, here are my top 10 (or so) albums that changed my life. There are so many wonderful albums, but these are the ones that really changed me as a music listener (at least the ones that I can remember at the moment).

1. Kid A/OK Computer - Radiohead
2. Atom Heart Mother/Meddle - Pink Floyd
3. Airplane Over the Sea/Live at Jittery Joe's - Neutral Milk Hotel
4. Orchestral Music - Beethoven's late string quartets, Berlioz Symphony Fantastique, Saint-Sean's tone poems, Chopin's Nocturnes, Shostakovich's symphonies, Stravinsky's ballets, Bach fugues, Mozart's 40th-41st symphony, Sibelius' Violin Concerto, and On and On and On....
5. Ziggy Stardus/Aladin Sane - David Bowie
6. Edward Scissor Hands - Danny Elfman
7. Smily Smile/Smile - The Beach Boys
8. The Royal Tenembaums - Various Artists
9. Anti-Christ Super Star - Marilyn Manson
10. Pinkerton/Blue Album - Weezer

Honorable Mentions: The Misfits - Static Age, Queen - Sheer Heart Attack, Blonde Redhead - Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons/Fake Can be Just as Good, Outkast - Aquimini/Stankonia, Joni Mitchell - Blue, The Beatles, Funeral/Neon Bible - Arcade Fire, The 'Burbs Sound Track - Jerry Goldsmith, and on and on...

====================================

Kym Register (Midtown Dickens)

Records:
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Wild Flag - Wild Flag
Javelin - Canyon Candy
The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
Megafaun - Megafaun
Pink Flag - King of Scene
Harvey Sue - Harvey Sue Gets Down
Destroyer - Kaputt
Phil Cook and his Feat - Hungry Mother Blues
Future Islands - On the Water
Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
Frank Fairfield - Out on the Open West
Gillian Welch - The Harrow and the Harvest
Kendl Winter - At the Same Time
Clyde Peterson (Your Heart Breaks), Theo Hilton (Nana Grizol / Defiance Ohio), Toby Foster, Ryan Woods (Defiance Ohio) - THEO CLYDE TOBY RYAN "SELF TITLED SPLIT"
Des Ark - Don't Rock the Boat, Sink the Fucker

Shows:
Diamond Center - Hopscotch
The Mountain Goats - The Fillmore, yeow!!
Des Ark / Bellafea / Pygmy Lush - The Nightlight
The War on Drugs / Carter Tanton - Kings
Javelin - Pinhook 3 year anniversary
Shonen Knife / Ghost of Rock - Pinhook
A Hawk and a Hacksaw / Dark Dark Dark / Pillars & Tongues - Pinhook
MEN ft. JD Sampson / Tayisha Bussay - Pinhook
Kairaba / Afica Unplugged - Pinhook
Gillian Welch - NC Museum of Art
Vibrant Green - TRKfest - Haw River Ballroom
Paper Hand Puppet Intervention - Forest Theatre
The Moaners / Mount Moriah - Cat's Cradle
Des Ark - Hopscotch
Hurray for the Riff Raff - the Pinhook w. Sam Doores and the Tumbleweeds
O'Death / Why are we Building Such a Big Ship /Lonnie Walker - Pinhook

Best new find of 2011, hopefully to acquire in 2012:
*Moog Taurus*

====================================

Hunter Simpson (Daytona, Participation Award)

here's my favorite song from this year:

====================================

Rusty Sutton (Lost in the Trees live sound engineer)

TOP RECORDS

1. Gillian Welch - The Harrow and the Harvest

2. Fucked Up - David Comes to Life

3. Generationals - Actor-Castor

4. Mount Moriah - s/t

5. Braids - Native Speaker

6. Brice Randall Bickford - s/t

7. Telekinesis - 12 Desperate Straight Lines

8. War on Drugs - Slave Ambient

9. Battles - Gloss Drop

10. Foo Fighters - Wasting Life

Honorable mentions: Yuck - s/t, Jessica Leah Mayfield - Tell Me, Decemberists - The King is Dead


TOP SHOWS/TOURS/FESTIVALS (In chronological order)

Jan. 13-23 - Lost in the Trees/Butterflies South East Tour
Feb. 11 - Pipe @ Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC
Mar. 18 - Versus and Lost in the Trees acoustic sets @ Homeslice Pizza, Austin, TX
Mar. 23 - OFF! @ Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC
Apr. 11 - Joe Pug and Strand of Oaks @ Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC
Apr. 12 - Wanda Jackson @ Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC
May 14-15 - Flaming Lips, Yo La Tengo, Mucca Pazza, Lost in the Trees, and Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, Nelsonville Music Festival, Nelsonville, OH
June 25 - David Bazan, Centro-Matic and Sarah Jaffe @ Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC
July 23-24 - Hillside Music Festival, Guelph, ON
August 19-20 - Archers of Loaf @ Cat's Cradle, Carrboro, NC
Sept. 6 - Active Child @ Local 506, Chapel Hill NC
Sept. 8-11 - Hopscotch Music Festival
Sept. 17 Neon Indian @ Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC
Sept. 18 The Low Anthem and William Elliott Whitmore @ Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC
Sept. 27 - Fucked Up and Wavves @ Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC
Oct. 31 - Zen Frisbee and Shit Horse @ Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC

====================================

Stephen Tunnell (Vibrant Green)

Shoes: Clarks
Looking forward to: YanDrew releasing somethin recorded
Kinda old but newly discovered music: PJ Harvey's "Uh-Huh Her", Aloe Blacc's "Good things".
Food: Rediscovered Crab Cakes!
New music: St. Vincent's Strange Mercy

Midtown Dickens announce new album, Home

Trekky Records is proud to announce the release of Midtown Dickens' third album, Home, the band's most stunning and accomplished work to date. Durham, North Carolina's Midtown Dickens have never sounded more bold or graceful than they do across these 11 gorgeous meditations on the themes of home (both literal and abstract), family (blood and chosen) and space (within us and about us). Home is the sound of journey and motion; the pulling apart and coming together we experience as we search for our place in the world.

Home is also Midtown Dickens' most collaborative release, expanding the core duo of songwriters/vocalists Kym Register and Catherine Edgerton to include multi-instrumentalists Will Hackney and Jonathan Henderson. Recorded between tours in a near-constant year of traveling (including jaunts with kindred-spirits The Mountain Goats, Megafaun, and Lost in the Trees) the album reveals a band moving effortlessly as one. This unity brings focus and warmth to Edgerton and Register's dark folk compositions.

Home was recorded by long-time collaborator Scott Solter (Spoon, St. Vincent, The Mountain Goats) at his studio in Monroe, North Carolina. The remote location afforded Midtown Dickens the time and space to delve into the most adventurous, experimental, and focused sessions of the band's career. At first listen, it is clear that Home marks a dramatic shift in Midtown Dickens' sonic world. While still anchored by acoustic, folk instrumentation (banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar, upright bass), the album also wields layers of overdriven bowed cymbals, musical saws drowning in reverb and walls-of-sound that push acoustic instruments to places they've never been before. Yet the band never allows the noise to obscure the soul of the song, and without out a doubt these are the most realized and lucid songs Register and Edgerton have ever written, modern standards. Home evokes the stunning colors of Carolina tobacco fields and Appalachian mountain ranges, re-imagined and re-contextualized in a way that is undeniably Midtown Dickens.

Trekky will release Home, in our signature LP+CD+MP3 format on February 28, 2012.

Tracklist:
1. Home All Ways
2. Elephant
3. No More Reason (To Pine)
4. Only Brother
5. Apple Tree
6. Resting
7. Crocodile Mile
8. Walk, Don't You Run
9. Volcanoes (Covered In Snow)
10. Cross My Heart
11. This Is My Home

Midtown Dickens | Home from Trekky Records on Vimeo.

When You Awake premieres Brice Randall Bickford music video + MP3

The good folks over at When You Awake are premiering the new Brice Randall Bickford music video, a visual interpretation of "On The Caesura Of Paying Attention", the second single from Bickford's dense and rewarding self-titled album. The video is directed by visual artist Leon Godwin, and places a particular focus on Bickford's greatest strength: his lyrics. Click here to see the video, as well as download a free MP3 of "On The Caesura Of Paying Attention".

Brice Randall Bickford's self-titled album is out now in our signature 3-part package, complete with LP, CD and MP3 download. Order here.

MP3: The Trekky Yuletide Orchestra - "In The Bleak Midwinter"

As the temperature drops and holiday spirits rise, you may find yourself in the mood for some seasonal music. Not to worry, The Trekky Yuletide Orchestra has you covered! Composed of members of Lost in the Trees, Midtown Dickens, Butterflies and Embarrassing Fruits, the collective orchestra has been bringing holiday cheer to the masses for 5 years. As our early gift to you, please enjoy this free MP3 of The Trekky Yuletide Orchestra's "In The Bleak Midwinter". Probably the most somber cut from the Orchestra's A New Old Fashioned Christmas, the classic hymn will get you in that nostalgic, wintery mood that comes each snowy season. A New Old Fashioned Christmas is on sale now for only $8 in the Trekky Records Online Store, as a part of our Winter Sale. Right click below to download "In The Bleak Midwinter" for free!

MP3: The Trekky Yuletide Orchestra - In The Bleak Midwinter [from the A New Old Fashioned Christmas LP]

Weekly deals in Trekky Records' Winter Sale!

Over in the Trekky Records Online Store, we'll be offering a very special deal every week for the next month. Check back often for huge price cuts, free limited edition items and package deals. To kick us off, we're offering The Trekky Yuletide Orchestra's A New Old Fashioned Christmas for just $8, 25% off the regular price. Recorded in one whirlwind week in 2006, the album is full of classic Christmas songs, hymns and modern holiday anthems from members of Lost In The Trees, Midtown Dickens, Butterflies, Embarrassing Fruits and Vibrant Green. Its the perfect soundtrack for your winter season, and now its super-affordable! Click here to order!

Trekky Records Collective joins together for TRK @ ArtsCenter

In September of 2009, members of the Trekky Records Collective joined together to perform various sets at Milltown in Carrboro, NC. A mix of rare solo performances, cross-band collaborations and spontaneous sing-a-longs, the evening went down in Trekky History as a night to remember. As the label moves into its 10th year, now with more family members than ever, the collective will once again join together to share songs, perform ill-advised covers and celebrate music in the Triangle.

Cat's Cradle presents

TRK @ The ArtsCenter
An Evening with the Trekky Records Collective

Featuring members of:
Butterflies
Embarrassing Fruits
Hammer No More The Fingers
Lost in the Trees
Megafaun
Midtown Dickens
Mount Moriah
Vibrant Green

Doors 7:30. Show 8:00
$6/$8

Get advance tickets and get $2 off!

Daniel Hart Tours the Southwest and California in December

Daniel Hart, mastermind behind The Physics of Meaning, spent his summer and fall on the road with The Rosebuds and Other Lives, supporting Bon Iver. In December, Daniel will be heading out on tour across the Southwest and California, performing songs from his latest album, "The Orientalist"! Don't miss this one folks! Full dates below.

Watch Daniel perform "O Sangheeta" at SXSW:


Order The Physics of Meaning's "Snake Charmer and Destiny at the Stroke of Midnight" here.

12-03 San Antonio, TX - The Limelight
12-04 Lubbock, TX - Skooner's
12-05 Las Cruces, NM - LB's Late Night Lunchbox
12-06 Phoenix, AZ - Trunk Space
12-08 San Diego, CA - The Soda Bar*^
12-09 Los Angeles, CA - Pehrspace^
12-10 Merced, CA - The Partisan
12-11 San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern
12-15 Amarillo, TX - The 806
12-16 Denton, TX - J&J's Pizza on the Square#
12-17 Dallas, TX - City Tavern#
12-18 Austin, TX - Hole in the Wall#

*with Jeffrey Lewis
^with Martin Starr and Common Rotation
#with Matthew and the Arrogant Sea

Butterflies perform underneath a giant military parachute

In May of 2011, Josh Kimbrough, Joe Norkus and Bobby Britt were set to move out of their house and on to greater things. But before they left, they wanted to have one last house show in their communal space. Somehow they agreed upon buying a giant military parachute, and having the bands play beneath. What resulted was a strange and special night, promoted online with the hashtag "#justchuteme".

Butterflies, Embarrassing Fruits and Rainbow Nerd all performed. Here's Butterflies performing "Tired Pose".

Butterflies will open for The Sea and Cake this Friday at Local 506 in Chapel Hill. You can get tickets here.

New songs from Midtown Dickens, Butterflies, Daniel Hart on compilation

Our friends over at Special Passenger Records have put together a very special compilation featuring new music from Midtown Dickens, Butterflies and Daniel Hart, among many others. Each band was asked to compose and record a new song relating to their hometowns for a compilation called Feels Like Coming Home. The comp is out now, and can be ordered, downloaded and listened to here. Now the team behind the comp is traveling the country, creating a documentary about those very hometowns featured in the songs. We're very happy to have so many of our artists involved in the project.