CLAIRECORDS NEWSLETTER MARCH/APRIL 2008 Welcome to the 38th edition of the Clairecords newsletter, brought to you by a big plate of migas and a nice cold Shiner Bock. BURP! We’d love to thank Pitchfork for the generous coverage of our bomb-ass SXSW showcase (which you can read here: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/49285-sxsw-thursday-matthew-solarski ). Attendees also included Steve Lamacq (BBC Radio 6) and the Russian Futurists, and we’d like to commend them for their impeccable taste. Need a bit more mayhem in your pop? Of course you do. For those of you in the southeast quadrant of the Yoo Ess, Tonevendor will be sponsoring the PopMayhem Festival in beautiful Gainesville, FL from May 7-10. Acts scheduled to appear include Holopaw, Ifwhen, Brittle Stars, boyracer!, Citra Super, The elks, Nervous Systems, The Bright Lights and many other melody makers well worth your time. Tickets range from $6 (individual show) to $32 (3-day pass) and can be purchased through http://www.popmayhem.com . On to the happs: IFWHEN Merc, Mary and Kentaro have plotted a May tour to center around their appearance at the PopMayhem festival, and you’ll seriously regret it if they play your locale and you miss it. Ifwhen’s video for “Hear Less” is available for your viewing pleasure at their Myspace outpost. Go download it now! http://www.ifwhen.com http://www.myspace.com/ifwhen PARK AVENUE MUSIC BY HEARTS + HORSES Fans of Broadcast, Mum and Bjork are all over Wes ‘n’Juju’s latest project so much that we have to wonder whether that sort of thing is legal. Released April 8, park avenue music by hearts+horses fuses downtempo piano chords and electronic glitches into a sensuous mix of chamber pop and synthy distortion. (And yes, that is Ballboy’s Gordon McIntyre you hear on “palaces + prisons.”) We’d like to extend our thanks to WITR-FM (Rochester NY, go Tigers!), WUOG-FM (Athens, GA) and KAOS-FM (Olympia, WA) for being right-thinking enough to add this fabtastic release to rotation. http://www.heartshorses.com/ PIA FRAUS Reunited, and it feels so good! Yes, everyone’s favorite Estonians have once again reentered the Clairecords fold, and we couldn’t be happier to have them back. The group’s next project, After Summer, will arrive May 13 and was helmed by producer Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub, Trash Can Sinatras, The Pastels). Feel free to preview selected tracks on the band’s Myspace, which can be accessed here: http://www.myspace.com/piafraus . And look out below for Japanese and European tourdates! http://www.piafraus.com/ SECRET SHINE With ’All of the Stars’ having just made its long-awaited arrival, Secret Shine headed over to BBC Radio Bristol to record an acoustic session for Radio Bristol Uncovered which aired 12 April. Details here: http://www.uncoveredmusic.co.uk/ and here: http://www.myspace.com/bristoluncovered . A mini-tour of Germany is afoot for June and more U.S. appearances are in the planning stages, so stay tuned for pertinent details. Meanwhile, out in Radioland, ‘All of the Stars’ has charted at #15 at KBOO-FM (Portland, OR) and received considerable airplay on East Village Radio (NYC), KDVS-FM (Davis, CA), CJAM-FM (Windsor, ON), and WMBR-FM (Cambridge, MA). http://www.secretshine.co.uk http://www.myspace.com/secretshine TEARS RUN RINGS Hot off the heels of their rip-roarin’ rampage through the Midwest, Tears Run Rings are burning up the airwaves like nobody’s business! Extra-special thanks to East Village Radio (NYC, NY), WITR-FM (Rochester NY, go Tigers!), KDVS-FM (Davis, CA), CJAM-FM (Windsor, ON), WUSB-FM (Stony Brook, NY), 3WK (St. Louis, MO) and KALX-FM (Berkeley, CA) for adding Always, Sometimes, Seldom, Never to their playlists! If you’ve yet to hear your favorite tunes on your local broadcast outlet, by all means call in and request it! http://www.tearsrunrings.com http://www.myspace.com/tearsrunrings THE BROTHER KITE The Pride of Providence have once again retreated to the studio to begin work on their next full-length and plan to film the happenings as well! If you plan to drop in on the band during the recording process be warned that you, too, will be required to submit to no less than ten minutes behind the camera. Stay tuned to the band’s Myspace blog and thebrotherkite.com for the latest developments! http://www.thebrotherkite.com http://www.myspace.com/thebrotherkite * * * WHAT ALL THE IMPORTANT PEOPLE ARE SAYING * * * SECRET SHINE “With the glut of ramshackle, idiosyncrasy-flaunting indie acts popping up all over the damn place, I must admit I find this sort of polished, expansive headspace music refreshing.” - Matthew Solarski, Pitchfork TEARS RUN RINGS “This debut LP, which took a few years to make via infrequent meetings of members before relying on snail mail and email, has an ironic natural flow. As far as post-early '90s dream pop goes, Always is among this year's best.” -Kenyon Hopkin, Advance Copy * * * CLAIRECORDS COMIN’ AT YOU LIVE! * * * AIR FORMATION 06/14/08 Brighton, UK- The Engine Rooms 06/19/08 London, UK- Industry AIRIEL 04/28/08 Norwich, UK- Norwich Arts Centre** 04/29/08 Oxford, UK- The Cellar** 04/30/08 London, UK- The Social** 05/01/08 Galway, IE- De Burgos** 05/02/08 Dublin, IE- Button Factory** 05/03/08 Belfast, IE- Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival** 05/06/08 Champaign, IL- TBA* 05/07/08 Chicago, IL- Schubas* 05/08/08 Iowa City, IA- Picador* 05/29/08 Chicago, IL- The Darkroom*** * w/ Film School ** w/ Ulrich Schnauss *** w/ Walking Bicycles, Dragged by Horses IFWHEN 05/05/08 Washington DC- Galaxy Hut 05/06/08 Norfolk, VA- The New Belmont 05/08/08 Gainesville, FL- PopMayhem Festival 05/09/08 Athens GA- Flicker Bar 05/10/08 Greensboro, NC- Solaris w/ Glissade 05/11/08 Chapel Hill NC- The Cave w/ Glissade MAHOGANY 05/01/08 NYC, NY- Mercury Lounge w/ Film School PAIK 06/20/08 Louisville, KY- Mellwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival) w/ Damon & Naomi, Bardo Pond, Antietam, Windy & Carl, the Bevis Frond, + more PARK AVENUE MUSIC BY HEARTS + HORSES 07/12/08 Sacramento, CA- Bows and Arrows PIA FRAUS 05/15/08 Tallinn, ES- Von Krahl 05/16/08 Tartu, ES- Genialistide Klubi 09/14/08 Osaka, JP- Sunsui 09/15/08 Tokyo, JP- Nest 09/16/08 Tokyo, JP- Nest SECRET SHINE 05/16/08 Bristol, UK- Louisiana w/ Sennen, The Fauns 06/10/08 Kiel, DE- Club Schaubude 06/11/08 Berlin, DE- Bang Bang Club 06/13/08 Hamburg, DE- Gruner Jager 06/14/08 Leipzig, DE- Café Panam