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ZOLA JESUS
+ Talk Normal
Tuesday, February 14th @ The Grey Eagle
$10 advance, $12 day-of
Tickets available NOW @ Harvest, Orbit DVD, Static Age, Grey Eagle & online HERE.

In the last three years Nika Roza Danilova has gone from being an outsider experimental teenage noise-maker to a full fledged internationally celebrated electronic pop musician. It was a huge feat to accomplish, and despite her age (young), her geography (mid-western, desolate), her accelerated scholastic requirements (high school and college were completed in three years each) and her diminutive physical size (4”11, 90 lbs) she has triumphed. She has emerged as a figurehead—a self-produced, self-designed, self-taught independent woman.

Zola Jesus is not a singer; she is a musician. Zola Jesus is not a band; it is a solo project. That is not to say the people who have helped her along the way were not deeply important. Her irreplaceable live band, who’s drummer Nick Johnson lends a hand on several tracks here, and her friend Brian Foote who co-produced this album in addition to the live string players (Sean McCann, Ryan York) who contribute here were all crucial in the process. Nika however, is a woman who can command a room, any room, without needing a band, a stage, or even a microphone. Her voice is unmistakable; it cuts right to the core.

Conatus is a huge leap forward in production, instrumentation and song structure. It says it all in the definition of the title: the will to keep on, to move forward. From thumping ballads to electronic glitch, no sound goes unexplored on her new record. It is an icy exploration in refined chaos and controlled madness, an effort to break through capability and access a sonic world that crumbles as it shines.


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SCREAMING FEMALES
+ Kreamy 'Lectric Santa
Friday, February 17th @ Harvest Records
8pm
FREE! As part of a full east coast in-store tour, in support of their new 7"...

Screaming Females' seven years as a band, four full-length albums and 700 globe-spanning live shows has made them difficult to miss. Through it all, the New Brunswick, New Jersey trio have continued to exude a frenetic energy which is built upon the zeitgeist of America's punk and indie underground yet has always remained forward-looking. Fittingly, for Screaming Females' 5th album 'Ugly', the band enlisted legendary recording engineer Steve Albini, famed for his unique ability to capture the ferociousness of a live performance while delivering gorgeous sonic clarity. The album's 14 tracks reaffirm the touchstones of the band; they can still shred and front-woman Marissa Paternoster can still unleash a powerful howl. But it doesn't end there. The album ushers in new explorations for the band, a truly remarkable feat considering their already prolific output. 'Ugly' has the perfect combination of raw energy and honed musicianship that produces the type of rock & roll which is still a force to be reckoned with.


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KURT VILE
Sunday, March 25th @ The Grey Eagle
$12 advance, $15 day-of
Tickets available SOON @ Harvest, Orbit DVD, Static Age, Grey Eagle & online HERE.

Kurt Vile has a way of tying time in knots. You can hear it on his new album Smoke Ring For My Halo from the get-go – the pinwheeling guitars and reaching atmospheres of ‘Baby’s Arms’ are as strange as they are familiar: a demonstration of how Kurt can put worn methods and sounds through himself and end up with something that isn’t emotionally or sonically obvious. Instead we’re left with a record that contains traces of the past but doesn’t waste precious time in the now being reverent.

Once compared to Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty, Psychic TV, and Animal Collective in the same review (for 2009’s Childish Prodigy), Kurt can bring to mind anything from Suicide to Leo Kottke to My Bloody Valentine, Bob Seger, Nick Drake, and Eastern ragas. Still, he pieces together these disparate elements so seamlessly and unpretentiously that such reference points are rendered pointless by the singularity of his sound. Kurt Vile might belong to a long lineage of classic American songwriters, but he’s the only one who’s alive and in his prime today.

This is the fourth time Kurt Vile has put an album’s worth of songs together and stuck a name on it, but in a sense Smoke Ring For My Halo is his first real album – every flinching guitar arpeggio and vocal wander was made to be here, made with this record in mind, to sit alongside another in situ and in sequence. It seems weird saying this given the amount of ground he’s covered already, but Smoke Ring For My Halo is the perfect way into the music Kurt Vile makes. It’s tender and evocative, elusive but companionable, tough in the gut and the arm but swollen in the chest and giddy in the head. It’s a record that is perfect for any given day during whatever season, to satisfy all moods in every possible scenario – be that first thing in the morning or last thing at night; today, tomorrow or five years from now.

In short, it’s real. Kurt Vile isn’t just the loneliest of ten siblings born to parents on the outskirts of Philadelphia, the former forklift truck driver who makes rock band guitar songs in the solitude of his bedroom. Smoke Ring For My Halo brings all of that together, marrying the introspection of the nocturnal stoner with the exploration of a troubadour frontiersman to arrive at a record you know is so much more than the sum of his and its constituent parts because often he sounds like he doesn’t know how he got there himself.


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SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
+ Exitmusic
Friday, April 6th @ The Grey Eagle
$10 advance, $12 day-of
Tickets available NOW @ Harvest, Orbit DVD, Static Age, Grey Eagle & online HERE.

School Of Seven Bells are back with their third release, Ghostory, out February 28 on Vagrant Records/Ghostly Inernational. The highly-anticipated album finds the band’s lineup has evolved along with the music; formerly a trio, the band is now a duo: guitarist/producer Benjamin Curtis and vocalist Alejandra Deheza.

Recorded in-between tours, Ghostory exemplifies a fervent progression of SVIIB’s growth as artists, preserving the common themes found on their last two releases but exposing them in different fashions. The familiar ethereal and enigmatic tones are omnipresent, surrounded by layers of influences from ’80s pop, shoegaze and ambient electronic sounds. However, Ghostory comes with a story in mind; the tale of a young girl named Lafaye and the ghosts that surround her life.

“Everyone has ghosts”, says Alejandra Deheza; “They’re every love you’ve ever had, every hurt, every betrayal, every heartbreak. They follow you, stay with you.” This detailed storytelling is evident from start to finish on the record, weaving a tale that moves between a fervent synthesized adventure and spacious lyrical euphoria. Tracks like “Love Play” and “Show Me Love” create a hauntingly indelible atmosphere that grab attention with the ambitious wordplay in the center of it all. Surrounding tracks like “Lafaye” and “Scavenger” entice the vibe of previous School of Seven Bells releases with their steadily dance-centric tempo and uplifting melodic progressions. Ghostory flows seamlessly and effortlessly, a result of the shared songwriting process.

“Ghostory is our most collaborative music to date,” describes Benjamin Curtis, “Alley (Alejandra) and I have always written our music together, but always independently and on our own time. We knew we wanted to do something that was more sensual and spontaneous than anything we had ever done before, and that meant writing together in a room, coming up with ideas quickly and immediately reacting to what the other person was doing.” Within Ghostory, the story of both Lafaye’s and the band’s journey will be told.

School Of Seven Bells formed in 2006 as a trio (including Claudia Deheza) and released their debut full-length, Alpinisms, on Ghostly International in 2008. The group’s appeal grew exponentially, with their signature sounds stemming from pieces of electronic subgenres and shoegaze bands before them. By 2010, the group released the critically acclaimed Disconnect From Desire on Ghostly International and Vagrant. Ghostory is truly their defining work, beautifully crafted and haunting, with the story of Lafaye permeating the psyche long after the music stops.


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RECORD STORE DAY 2012
Saturday, April 21st @ Harvest Records
8pm
The beast is back. More details forthcoming...

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BEAR IN HEAVEN
Saturday, April 28th @ The Grey Eagle
$10
Tickets available NOW @ Harvest, Orbit DVD, Static Age, Grey Eagle & online HERE.

After months of testing their limits and trusting their instincts, Bear in Heaven will emerge in April 2012 with I Love You, It’s Cool, an album so vivid and visionary that it meets and even exceeds the confidence and calm its title suggests. In 2010, Beast Rest Forth Mouth delighted listeners with the unexpected—futuristic rock music that didn’t sound alien or bound to ostracize. Taking these songs from coast to coast and continent to continent, they learned that having fun with this music was copacetic, that they could delight a crowd while defying musical binaries. I Love You, It’s Cool turns that realization into a peerless set of instant anthems. Indeed, some of these songs are ready for the floor. In one a perfect guitar figure spirals through colossal drums and slabs of synthesizers. Elsewhere bliss booms in icy keyboards reflecting off a relentless throb. It’s inescapable.

The intricacy and edge of Bear in Heaven’s music is sharper than ever before. The programming is both complex and compelling, whether in the refracted rainbows or woven noisy matrices. Certainly, in places it feels like a hit, with hooks that instantly catch and bridges that curl a finger—lyrically, stylistically, temptingly—toward the dance floor. Bear In Heaven’s mix of nostalgia and need is immediately relatable, too, bringing the band’s exploratory sounds a little closer back to home before they exit in momentary space-rock ascendance, a readymade rock-club banger that erupts into a bold new direction.

I Love You, It’s Cool is the first time Bear in Heaven has sounded so unapologetic and so evolved, so risky and so redeeming, so focused and so finessed. After years of restless exploration, this feels like a definitive arrival. I Love You, It’s Cool is music written in the present tense but ready to speak to the future. The work is its own rarefied reward.





HARVEST RECORDS PRODUCTIONS (aka, shows we have brought to this wonderful land)

500mg
A Place to Bury Strangers (2)
Acid Mothers Temple (4)
Adama Dembele & Ensemble Djebeso
Ahleuchatistas
Akron/Family (5)
Alasdair Roberts
All Smiles
All the Saints
Andre Ethier
Angi & Josh
Antarcticans
Arborea
Arbouretum
Architects Brother
Astral Blessing
Aswara (2)
AU
August
Avarus
Avocado Happy Hour
Bad Weather California
Band Of Horses
Barton Carroll
Beach House (2)
Benoit Pioulard
Bethlehem Steel
Bicycle Day
Bill Callahan (SMOG) (2)
Bill Nace
Birdshow
Black Angels (4)
Black Castle
Black Moth Super Rainbow
Black Mountain (2)
Black Twig Pickers (2)
Black Walls
Blake/e/e/e
Blood on the Wall
Blues Control
Bob Boob
Bobby
Body Of John the Baptist (2)
Bonnie Prince Billy (3)
Bottomless Pit
Brainworms
Brian Dewan
Brian Flik
Brian Mcgee & the Hollow Speed (2)
Brian Straw
Bright Black Morning Light (3)
Brooke Sietinsons
"Brothers Unconnected": Richard & Alan Bishop of Sun City Girls
Budos Band (2)
Caboladies
Caethua
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Carter Tanton
Cass McCombs (2)
Castanets
Cat Power
Catfish Haven
Cave Singers
Celestial Business (2)
Christopher Willits
Circulatory System
Court and Spark
Cristina Carter (Charalambides)
Cryptacize (2)
Damo Suzuki
Dan Deacon
Daniel (AIU) Higgs
Danielson
David Bazan
David Daniell (2)
David Lowery
David Vandervelde
Deerhoof (2)
Derek Clatterbuck
Desperate Pilot
Destroyer (2)
Dig Shovel Dig (3)
Dirty Projectors
DJ Joynerd
DJ. Mr Dibbs
DJ Rob Castillo
Do Make Say Think
Dodos (3)
Dolorean
Donny Hue and the Colors
Donovan Quinn
DoomRibbons (4)
Dosh
Dream Boat
Drive By Truckers
Drug Money
Dum Dum Girls
Dungen (2)
Dutchess & the Duke
Ear Pwr
Earth (2)
Ed Yazijian
Electric Damn
Elephant Micah
Elf Power
Elijah Wyman (2)
Eliza Rosbach (2)
El-P
Eluvium (2)
Elvis Perkins
Emery Reel
Emily Dignan
Emperor X (3)
Eric Bachmann
Espers
Experimental Dental School
Explosions in the Sky
Extraordinaries
Extra Golden
Faun Fables
Felice Brothers
Fire Zuave
Flies Around It
Floating Action
Flying
Fursaxa
Future Islands
Ghost
Glenn Jones
Gnomatica
Grails
Great Lakes
Great White Jenkins
Greg Cartwright
Greg Davis
Group Doueh
Growing
Guitar Music (2)
Gyan Riley
Hangar 18
Harlem Shakes
Hayes Carll
Heartwarmer
Hella
Here We Go Magic
Hildegard (2)
Hiss Golden Messenger
Hold Steady
Holy Holy Vine
Hope and Anchor
Hope for AGoldenSummer
Hush Arbors (5)
Ice Cream (2)
Illinois
In Gowan Ring
Indian Jewelry
Invisible Hand (2)
Islaja
J Dimenna
James Ossuary
Jack Rose (3)
James Jackson Toth (Wooden Wand)
Jana Hunter
Jason Ajemian
Jason Anderson (2)
Jason Kahn
Jason Molina
Jen & the Juice
Jennifer Gentle
Jessica Rylan (Can’t)
Joanna Newsom
John Vanderslice
Jon Mueller
Jonathan Kane
Josephine Foster (2)
Julianna Barwick
Keith Fullerton Whitman
Kill the Hippies
King Tut
Knives and Daggers
Kovacs & the Polar Bear
Kurt Vile
Kuupuu
Labiators
Lamb's Laughter
Langhorne Slim
Lau Nau
Lay All Over It
Leannan Sith
Led to Sea
Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez
Lia Ices
Liars
Lichens
Lights
Little Wings
Local Natives
Loney, Dear
Lorruh
Lou Barlow (2)
Lower Dens
M. Coast
Magik Markers (2)
Magnolia Electric Company (2)
Male Bonding
Mammutus
Man Man
Manbeard
Marbles
Maria Taylor
Mariee Sioux
Marissa Nadler
Mark Kozelek (of Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon) (3)
Marshmallow Ghosts
Mates of State
May Family Reunion
Mazes
Meara O'Reilly
Meg Baird (2)
Megafaun (4)
MGMT
Mi & L’au
Mia Doi Todd
Michael Hurley
Microphones/Mt Eerie (4)
Mind vs. Target (2)
Mirah
Mono (2)
Monotonix
Mountain Goats (4)
Mountain Man
Mouthus (2)
Mt. Egypt
Music Tapes
MV/EE (Matt Valentine & Erika Elder) (2)
Mystic Condor Jug Band
Nadja
Naked Gods (3)
Nana Grizol
Nanty Glo
Nathan Salsburg
Neptune (2)
Neshomeleh/Tricerabottoms (3)
Nethers
Nevada
Nick Castro
No Age
No Neck Blues Band
Nomo
Noschool
Nurses (2)
Oaxacan
Of Montreal (4)
Okkervil River
On The Take
Order of the Dying Orchid
Orthrelm
Over-Gain Optimal Death
Paper Chase
Parlour
Parts & Labor (2)
Paul Metzger
Pearls and Brass
Pelican
Pierce Edens
Phantom Family Halo
Pilgrim (3)
Pink Mountaintops
Pink Razors
Pocahaunted
Pterodactyl
Purling Hiss
Rayna Gellert
Red Wizard
Reigning Sound
Rene Hell
Robot Soup
Robots vs. Villages (3)
Rodriguez
Ruby Suns
Ryan Bingham
Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside
Sam Goldberg
Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers
San Serac
Sarah Lee Guthrie/Johnny Irion
Saviours
Sebadoh
Serengeti & Polyphonic
Shane Perlowin
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings
Sian Alice Group
Silje Nes
Silver Apples
Silver Jews (2)
Six Organs of Admittance (2)
Sin Ropas
Sir Richard Bishop (3)
Six Parts Seven
Skull Defekts
Sky Lake
Slow Suicide Stimulus
Soft Opening
Sports
Sprial Joy Band
Spiritual Family Reunion
Stars of the Lid
Steve Gunn (2)
Sugar & the Plums
Sunburned Hand of the Man (2)
Surf City
Suuns
Tara Jane Oneil
Ted Leo + Pharmacists
Teknikolor Banshie
Thanksgiving (aka Adrian Orange) (3)
Thao & Mirah
The Anomoanon
The Books
The Brunettes
The Can’t See
The Chops
The Coathangers
The Davenport Family
The Drums
The Evens
The Field
The Front Bottoms
The Legendary Singing Stars
The Life and Times
The Occasion
The Sword
The Tallest Man on Earth
The Walkmen
The Weeds
Thee Silver Mt Zion (2)
Tim Hecker
Tim Kaiser
Time & Temperature
Times New Viking
Tom Blood
Tomutonttu
Tony Wain and the Pain
Trapper Keepers
Tyler Ramsey
Uke of Phillips
Uke of Spaces Corners
Ultimate Vag
Ultra Dolphins
Union Line
US Christmas
Vague Angels
Vetiver
Vic Chesnutt
Video Hippos
Villages (4)
Vincent Wrenn
Virgin Eye Blood Brothers
Walkmen
War On Drugs (4)
Warlocks
Warm Erasers
Warren Gently (2)
Washed Out
Watson Twins
Wayne Robbins & the Hellsayers (2)
White Fence
White Lodge
Who’s Your Favorite Son, God?
Why? (3)
Wild Flag
Wilderness (2)
William Coonan (2)
William Tyler
Windy & Carl
Witchcraft
Woelv
Wooden Tit (2)
Wooden Wand & friends (2)
Woods
Yak Ballz
Yellow Swans (2)
Zomes (2)
Zulu Connection