Asthmatic Kitty Library Music News

Feiern Sie die Weihnachtszeit mit der beliebten Weihnachtssammlung von Sufjan Stevens, ,Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6-10", die jetzt zum ersten Mal seit ihrer ursprünglichen Veröffentlichung 2012 wieder auf Vinyl im Handel erhältlich ist. Dieses umfangreiche Set enthält fast drei Stunden festliche Musik, darunter 18 Eigenkompositionen und kreative Interpretationen von Weihnachtsklassikern. Die 6-LP-Kollektion (vier Einzel-LPs und eine Doppel-LP) im Schuber zeigt Stevens' einzigartige Herangehensweise an Weihnachtsmusik, die Folk, Indie-Rock und experimentelle Klänge miteinander verbindet. Von intimen Weihnachtsliedern bis hin zu ausgedehnten Orchesterarrangements zeigt ,Silver & Gold" Stevens' künstlerische Vielseitigkeit und seinen kollaborativen Geist, was es zu einer unverzichtbaren Ergänzung jeder Weihnachtsmusiksammlung macht.

"Javelin" verbindet musikalischen Schwung mit emotionaler Weite. Manchmal hat man das Gefühl, dass das Album von einem großen Team produziert wurde - aber das ist es ganz und gar nicht: Fast jeder Sound hier ist das Ergebnis von Stevens zu Hause, der selbst etwas geschaffen hat, das sich manchmal wie ein Zeugnis der Studio-Opulenz der 70er Jahre in Los Angeles anfühlt. Die Beiträge stammen von einem engen Freundeskreis - Adrienne Maree Brown, Hannah Cohen, Pauline Delassus, Megan Lui und Nedelle Torrisi -, die bei vielen Songs Harmonien beisteuern, sowie von Bryce Dessner, der bei "Shit Talk" akustische und elektrische Gitarre spielt. Der zärtliche und mystische Abschluss des Albums, "There's A World", wurde von Neil Young geschrieben. Während "The Ascension", das von der New York Times als "ein Schrei der Verzweiflung und ein Gebet um Erlösung" gelobt wurde, eine kunstvolle, aber dringliche Elektronik verwendet, um sich dem Moment zu nähern, beginnt "Javelin" wie ein Selbstporträt, detailliert und doch schlicht. Dies ist Stevens' intimstes Werk, das an "Seven Swans" oder "Carrie & Lowell" erinnert und den Hörer in die Nähe seiner inneren Abrechnung ruft. "Javelin" wird von einem 48-seitigen Booklet mit Kunst und Essays begleitet, die alle von Stevens geschaffen wurden, darunter eine Reihe von akribischen Collagen, zerschnittenen Katalogfantasien, Puff-Paint-Wortwolken und sich wiederholenden Farbfeldern. Die 10 kurzen Essays - abwechselnd lustig, tragisch, ergreifend, stumpfsinnig und spezifisch - bieten kleine Einblicke in Lieben und Verluste, die ihn und diese Lieder geprägt haben.

"Javelin" verbindet musikalischen Schwung mit emotionaler Weite. Manchmal hat man das Gefühl, dass das Album von einem großen Team produziert wurde - aber das ist es ganz und gar nicht: Fast jeder Sound hier ist das Ergebnis von Stevens zu Hause, der selbst etwas geschaffen hat, das sich manchmal wie ein Zeugnis der Studio-Opulenz der 70er Jahre in Los Angeles anfühlt. Die Beiträge stammen von einem engen Freundeskreis - Adrienne Maree Brown, Hannah Cohen, Pauline Delassus, Megan Lui und Nedelle Torrisi -, die bei vielen Songs Harmonien beisteuern, sowie von Bryce Dessner, der bei "Shit Talk" akustische und elektrische Gitarre spielt. Der zärtliche und mystische Abschluss des Albums, "There's A World", wurde von Neil Young geschrieben. Während "The Ascension", das von der New York Times als "ein Schrei der Verzweiflung und ein Gebet um Erlösung" gelobt wurde, eine kunstvolle, aber dringliche Elektronik verwendet, um sich dem Moment zu nähern, beginnt "Javelin" wie ein Selbstporträt, detailliert und doch schlicht. Dies ist Stevens' intimstes Werk, das an "Seven Swans" oder "Carrie & Lowell" erinnert und den Hörer in die Nähe seiner inneren Abrechnung ruft. "Javelin" wird von einem 48-seitigen Booklet mit Kunst und Essays begleitet, die alle von Stevens geschaffen wurden, darunter eine Reihe von akribischen Collagen, zerschnittenen Katalogfantasien, Puff-Paint-Wortwolken und sich wiederholenden Farbfeldern. Die 10 kurzen Essays - abwechselnd lustig, tragisch, ergreifend, stumpfsinnig und spezifisch - bieten kleine Einblicke in Lieben und Verluste, die ihn und diese Lieder geprägt haben.

Gold farbenes Vinyl! De Augustines erstes Soloalbum seit seinem dritten Album, dem von Thomas Bartlett produzierten Tomb (2019), und dem Nachfolger von A Beginner's Mind (2021), einer von der Kritik gefeierten Kollaboration mit Sufjan Stevens, ist eine Rückkehr des südkalifornischen Künstlers zu dem in sich geschlossenen Ansatz seines Debüts Spirals of Silence (2015) und Swim Inside the Moon (2017). De Augustine verbrachte fast drei Jahre damit, allein zu arbeiten und die unendlichen Weiten seiner Vorstellungskraft zu erforschen, um ein allumfassendes Werk zu schaffen, das nach seiner eigenen quixotischen Logik existiert und eine psychische Landschaft bewohnt, die so sublim und mystisch ist wie ein Fiebertraum oder ein Märchen. Er schrieb, arrangierte, nahm auf, produzierte und mischte Toil and Trouble allein und formte den kunstvollen, detaillierten Sound des Albums, indem er auf 27 verschiedenen Instrumenten spielte (darunter so seltsame Dinge wie ein Xylophon aus Glas). Inmitten dieses höchst experimentellen Prozesses durchlebte er eine ephemere, aber alptraumhafte Zeit mit jenseitigen Empfindungen und übernatürlichen Visionen - eine Erfahrung, die die Entstehung des Albums kurzzeitig unterbrochen hat, aber letztendlich dazu beitrug, die immense emotionale Tiefe von Toil and Trouble zu bereichern. "Dieses Album entstand aus dem Nachdenken über den Wahnsinn der Welt und wie überwältigend das sein kann", sagt De Augustine. "Ich habe eine Art Gegenwelt als Leitfaden benutzt, um zu verstehen, was hier eigentlich vor sich geht - ich musste mich selbst aus der Realität herausnehmen, um zu versuchen, die Realität zu verstehen." Das Ergebnis ist das bisher visionärste Werk eines einzigartigen Songwriters, das abwechselnd betörend, niederschmetternd und unaussprechlich schön ist und seine tiefe Fähigkeit offenbart, Schmerz in außergewöhnliche Schönheit zu verwandeln.

Reflections is a recording of Sufjan Stevens' sixth collaboration with acclaimed ballet and dance choreographer Justin Peck. Originally composed for World Premiere and performances (May 17-26, 2019) by Houston Ballet, the piano duet was recorded at Oktaven Studios by Ryan Streber and performed by pianists Timo Andres and Conor Hanick. Reflections is imbued with Stevens' memorable and emotionally resonant melodies and arrangements and continues to establish Stevens as a contemporary composer.

The (seventh) new Half-handed Cloud album, ‘Flutterama’, is
a record of 18 jubilant indie-pop songs by John Ringhofer
that investigate spiritual incompetence with lively
arrangements and radiant melodies that skilfully dissolve into
deterioration using herky-jerky tape manipulation, analogue
wow-and-flutter, and an animated orchestra of homerecorded sound effects.
 Ringhofer’s work on ‘Flutterama’ was inspired by Frances
Mary Hunter Gordon’s adolescent liturgies (recorded at
Abbey Road during The Beatles era), turbid sights and
sounds in Guy Maddin films, audaciously bold forms in Sister
Corita Kent’s devotional printmaking, the exquisite brittleness
of Elizabeth Cotten’s voice, Alberto Burri’s stitched wound
burlap assemblages, Alvar Aalto church design, Andrea
Büttner’s poverty-informed artwork, Lou Barlow/Dinosaur Jr’s
lo-fi ‘Poledo’ sound collage (which namechecks Jesus), Julie
Canlis book ‘A Theology of the Ordinary’, Wallace Berman’s
visual collage, and The Raincoats’ magnificently shaky DIY
aesthetic.
 The album’s tape-fiddled tunes - recorded on the very same
16-track recorder last serviced by a sound technician who
also worked with The Beach Boys in their home studio -
employ surprisingly little synthesizer (“it felt like cheating,”
says Ringhofer) - he preferred to craft most of the album’s
effects the long way, frequently going behind the back of rock
instrumentation by hand-feeding ½” magnetic reel recordings
of chord organs, deflating balloons, some guitars, piano
(occasionally tracked with a baby on his lap), brass,
tablecloth swipes, and a quickly-cranked half-speed music
box. He was assisted by long-time Half-handed Cloud
contributor Brandon Buckner on drums, and single song
backing vocals from Anacortes, WA songsmith John Van
Deusen.
 LP pressed on Opaque Brown vinyl

‘American Foursquare’, Denison Witmer’s 10th - and best - album finally receives its long-awaited physical release.

Written after relocating his family to his hometown of Lancaster, PA, it’s a response to these major life changes - a meditation on empathy, on love and on the meaning of home.


“An album of extraordinary beauty and emotional force… His Songs are like exquisite miniatures” -The Sunday Times

“American Foursquare’ is a breath-taking, humble outpouring of reflection capturing growth, change, longing, and contentment: In other words, it’s the soundtrack to a life lived.” - Atwood Magazine
Tracklisting

It’s been said that writing about music is like dancing about
architecture but what about singing about movies? Sufjan
Stevens and Angelo De Augustine have paired up for a
collaborative project that does just that. ‘A Beginner’s Mind’ is
their debut album and contains 14 songs (loosely) based on
(mostly) popular films.  The source material is highbrow, lowbrow and everything in
between. The music is folksy, sweet, sincere and harmonically
effervescent - Simon & Garfunkel with New Age flourishes. This
album runs the gamut and has fun with it, even while its
songwriters remain fully rooted in the melancholy folk idioms
they are known for.  Daniel Anum Jasper, a pioneer of Ghanian movie poster
painting, was commissioned to paint a series of new works for
‘A Beginner’s Mind’. His paintings are a graphic simulacrum for
the same sense of wonder, wordplay and intrigue that shape ‘A
Beginner’s Mind’. By transforming old films into vital new songs,
Stevens and De Augustine ask us to consider ourselves from a
previously unconsidered vantage point - a new way of seeing
and hearing - an exercise that’s as necessary and relevant now
as it’s ever been.  “In the dizzying chime of his careful fingerpicking and highpitched howls, De Augustine captures love’s bright blaze.” - Pitchfork
 “What we find here, on what is arguably the pinnacle of his
output to date, is De Augustine achieving the beautiful balance
between introspection and grandeur; straddling the place where
pain and hope intersect.” - Line of Best Fit

The Ascension, the eighth solo studio album from singer, songwriter and composer Sufjan Stevens - and the long awaited follow-up to Carrie & Lowell - is set for release September 25 on Asthmatic Kitty Records.

LTD. CLEAR VINYL-

The Ascension, the eighth solo studio album from singer, songwriter and composer Sufjan Stevens - and the long awaited follow-up to Carrie & Lowell - is set for release September 25 on Asthmatic Kitty Records.

"Aporia" is a New Age album from Sufjan Stevens and his step-father and record label co-owner, Lowell Brams. In the spirit of the New Age composers who sanded off the edges of their synths' sawtooth waves, "Aporia" approximates a rich soundtrack from an imagined sci-fi epic brimming with moody, hooky, gauzy synthesizer soundscapes. The album may suggest the progeny of a John Carpenter, Wendy Carlos, and Mike Oldfield marriage, but it stands apart from these touchstones and generates a meditative universe all its own. This is no mere curio in the Sufjan Stevens catalog - but a fully realized collaborative musical piece. Stevens and Brams recorded "Aporia" over the course of the last several years during Brams' visits to Stevens' home in New York with the help of several frequent Asthmatic Kitty collaborators, including Thomas Bartlett (Doveman), D.M. Stith, Nick Berry (Dots Will Echo), John Ringhofer (Half-handed Cloud) drummer and longtime collaborator James McAlister, keyboardist and trombonist Steve Moore (Sunn O)))), guitarist Yuuki Matthews (The Shins) and vocalist Cat Martino.

Oscar- and Grammy-nominated composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens will release his acclaimed score for Justin Peck’s ballet TheDecalogue October 18 via his own label, AKR. Performed by the pianist Timo Andres, the recording is the first time the score, premiered during the NewYork City Ballet’s 2017 season, is available to the public.



The Decalogue is the third collaboration between NYCB Resident Choreographer Peck and Stevens, following 2012’s Year of theRabbit and 2014’s Everywhere We Go. The piece was widely praised upon its premiere; The New York Times lauded the “beauty and charm” of Peck’s choreography as well as Stevens’ “romantically modernist études.”



Brooklyn-based composer-pianist Timo Andres is a Nonesuch Records artist, who has written major works for the Boston Symphony, Carnegie Hall, the Barbican, the Takács Quartet, the Concertgebouw, and elsewhere. He performs regularly with Gabriel Kahane, and has frequently appeared with Philip Glass, Becca Stevens, Nadia Sirota, the Kronos Quartet, John Adams, Ted Hearne, and others. As a pianist, Timo has performed at Lincoln Center, for the NewYork Philharmonic, the LA Phil, at Wigmore Hall, for San Francisco Performances, and at (le) Poisson Rouge. Upcoming highlights include a curated program for the Cincinnati Symphony (featuring Dance Heginbotham and a performance of Andres’s cello concerto, Upstate Obscura), and a solo piano recital for Carnegie Hall. Previous work with Sufjan Stevens includes the orchestration of “Principia” for Justin Peck and the New York City Ballet.

'tomb', The Third Full Length Album From Thousand
Oak, Ca's Angelo De Augustine, Addresses Lost
Love, The Cost Of Honesty And The Ramifications Of
Regret. It's A Deeply Inward Album But, Like The
Best Albums About Heartbreak, 'tomb' Transforms
Pain Into Beauty. 'this Album Is At Its Core A Prayer
For Hope And Clarity, And A Prayer For Love,' Says
De Augustine.
The Record Is A Significant Shift From His Earlier
Home Recordings, Such As Previous Album 'swim
Inside The Moon'. It Was Recorded At Nyc's
Reservoir Studios With His Friend And Renowned
Musician Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman), Whose
Credits Include Work On Albums For Sufjan Stevens,
Glen Hansard And Rhye.
'tomb' Is A Musical Breakthrough For De Augustine,
With Bartlett's Artful Production Spotlighting His
Increasingly Impressive Songwriting.
The Simple Strength Of Songs Like 'time', 'you
Needed Love, I Needed You' And 'kaitlin' Will
Remind Listeners That De Augustine Is Among The
Best Of The Rising Crop Of Young, Emotionally
Compelling Singer Songwriters.

For over a decade and almost every Christmas, Sufjan
Stevens recorded a Christmas album that he gifted to
friends and family. The recording process took place
every December, for one week, usually at home,
provoking collaborations with friends, roommates and
musical peers. In 2006, Stevens' label, Asthmatic Kitty
Records, released 'Songs For Christmas', a CD boxset
compiling the first five of these albums, Volumes I-V.
And in 2012, the label released 'Silver & Gold', a CD
and vinyl boxset compiling of Volumes VI-X. However,
the first five volumes have never been released to
vinyl.
This holiday season, Asthmatic Kitty Records are
finally releasing 'Songs for Christmas' (Volumes I-V) as
a 5xLP vinyl boxset. The boxset includes fan favourites
like 'Sister Winter', 'That Was The Worst Christmas
Ever', 'Only At Christmas Time' and 'Put The Lights On
The Tree'.
'Hardly a straight-ahead Christmas album, then...
Whatever, it's Sufjan Stevens. He's a modern wonder,
and now he's just made Christmas better as well!' -
BBC
'The season's most thrilling holiday release.' -
Entertainment Weekly
'There are moments of quirky holiday splendour -
moments akin to some of the best material on
'Greetings From Michigan And Illinois' - that make
plowing through the entire five-EP set a pleasure.' -
Allmusic

Released in 2006 as a follow-up to Sufjan Stevens' 2005 Illinois, Asthmatic Kitty Records is finally releasing Avalanche on vinyl on August 31st, 2018. Initially conceived as part of a double album version of Illinois, Avalanche instead became a 'companion' (a polite word for 'b-sides') to Illinois. Since its release, fans have had mixed reactions. '3 versions of Chicago!! Enough already,' wrote 'biografiend' on Sputnik. But 'cravenmonket,' who gave the album 4.5 stars on rateyourmusic, suggests that we all 'stop thinking of The Avalanche as more Illinois. It actually owes more to Michigan.' Cravenmonket may be right. Take 'The Mistress Witch' or 'Saul Bellow,' both of which could have lived on the 2003 Michigan as much as on Illinois. One can hear Sufjan's 2004 Enjoy Your Rabbit in 'The Undivided Self.' And the band jam on 'Springfield' looks forward to 2010's All Delighted People. Then there's 'Pittsfield,' which, at least lyrically, foreshadows the more personal themes of 2015's Carrie & Lowell.
All that to say, a vinyl release of Avalanche is long overdue. With gratitude, we happily present Avalanche as a 2xLP a mere twelve years after its release, complete with all 21 songs from the original release, including the three versions of 'Chicago'

It’s been said that writing about music is like dancing about
architecture but what about singing about movies? Sufjan
Stevens and Angelo De Augustine have paired up for a
collaborative project that does just that. ‘A Beginner’s Mind’ is
their debut album and contains 14 songs (loosely) based on
(mostly) popular films.  The source material is highbrow, lowbrow and everything in
between. The music is folksy, sweet, sincere and harmonically
effervescent - Simon & Garfunkel with New Age flourishes. This
album runs the gamut and has fun with it, even while its
songwriters remain fully rooted in the melancholy folk idioms
they are known for.  Daniel Anum Jasper, a pioneer of Ghanian movie poster
painting, was commissioned to paint a series of new works for
‘A Beginner’s Mind’. His paintings are a graphic simulacrum for
the same sense of wonder, wordplay and intrigue that shape ‘A
Beginner’s Mind’. By transforming old films into vital new songs,
Stevens and De Augustine ask us to consider ourselves from a
previously unconsidered vantage point - a new way of seeing
and hearing - an exercise that’s as necessary and relevant now
as it’s ever been.  “In the dizzying chime of his careful fingerpicking and highpitched howls, De Augustine captures love’s bright blaze.” - Pitchfork
 “What we find here, on what is arguably the pinnacle of his
output to date, is De Augustine achieving the beautiful balance
between introspection and grandeur; straddling the place where
pain and hope intersect.” - Line of Best Fit