Thursday, February 08, 2007

A. Weather, Liz Isenberg: Movin' on up

A couple of emerging artists we've been lucky enough to interview - A. Weather and Liz Isenberg - have scored themselves opening slots with some major acts.

Portland band A. Weather had a nice write-up in Willamette Week music blog Local Cut last week, which talks up their song "Oh My Stars":

Regardless, the contrast between the guy/girl vocals on “Oh My Stars” (an expression I’ve always been quite fond of) is not only striking, but quite lovely. Gerber’s deep repetition of the words “Oh My Stars” under the gal’s slyly sweet “I won’t wake you up” has all the careful timing of David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) or our own Laura Gibson. And the placement of an alternately rising and crashing discordant sound (saw, steel guitar, violin?) adds an eerie effect to the track, a quality that somehow legitimizes the band throwing “whiskey” and “40s” into its influences as easily as “cats” and “cuddling on couches.” Yeah, it’s cute, but just not-cute enough to be really good.

They mention the Team Love 7" due out in March, and not entirely surprisingly given the label connection, A. Weather also has the opening slot at Bright Eyes' March 11th show at the Showbox in Seattle. Hopefully this is a springboard to bigger things, including some east coast dates...

MP3: A. Weather - Feather Test
MP3: A. Weather - Oh My Stars
Interview: A. Weather

Meanwhile, Liz Isenberg, whose amazing Seeport Seaport Seeport was our #5 album of 2006, has a bunch of dates coming up with Leisure Class labelmates Vio/Mire and Cassette Concrete, but before then, she's scored a slot opening a free show at NYU with Mirah and The Blow.

3.07.07 Liz Isenberg with Mirah and The Blow @ NYU

Leisure Class Records Tour-- (Liz Isenberg, Vio/Mire, Cassette Concrete)
3.15.07 Somerville, MA @ P.A.'s Lounge
3.16.07 Providence, RI @Summer Camp (w/ Chris Paddock, friends)
3.17.07 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY @ Bard College (w/Dandelion Fiction, Fruits of Our Loins)3.18.07 Brooklyn, NY @ Galapagos Art Space
3.19.07 Carlisle, PA @ Dickinson College (the Cubiculo)
3.20.07 Cleveland, OH @Tower 2012
3.21.07 Gambier, OH @Kenyon College
3.22.07 State College, PA @ Dragon Chasers Emporium (w/A Brown Leaf)
3.23.07 Lancaster, PA @TBA
3.24.07 TBA (Trenton?) NJ @ TBA (w/ friend from Brother and Brother Records)
Interview: Liz Isenberg

Vio/Mire has a record release show of their own coming up. Their music is a blend of slowly evolving, textured soundscapes and intimate vocals, not unlike Jim O'Rourke late-90s work or more recently, Karl Blau's record on K. If that sounds intriguing, they're very much worth checking out.

3.10.07 Vio/Mire Record Release Show @ The Purple House (Northampton, MA)


Lastly, Leisure Class is introducing a care package subscription service that beats a bunch of plain old 7"s any day. Here's the scoop, per Ben @ Leisure Class:

Leisure Class Records is introducing Care Packages. These are all hand-assembled boxes of things we hope you will love. They contain music by our artists and friends plus a combination of small drawings and paintings, ephemera picked up from thrift stores, tag sales, and antique shops, baked goods (tell us your allergies), mix tapes, handicrafts, videos, comic books, our mothers' best recipes, photographs, seashells...

Tell us some things you are most fond of and we will try to personalize each package. If you'd be interested in having your art included in a package, please let us know.We're selling these pretty much at cost ($15/per or $60/year bi-monthly subscription, and that includes US shipping*)--It's kind of like a singles club but with lots of extra little things, and the money we do make goes towards helping fund more experimental releases and projects. If you want a care package but can't afford a subscription, we can do a packagetrade. Please contact us with any questions, orders, or ideas.
*note: this price is for our first packages and may be adjusted after we figureout how much shipping actually ends up costing us.

You can subscribe or get more info by writing leisureclassrecords@gmail.com.

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