Sunday, June 19, 2022
Saturday, June 18, 2022
"There is nothing but hits on this upcoming record!"
[Repost from Blood Makes Noise; June 16, 2022]
BAND: KITIMOTO
BloodMakesNoise Rating: 10/10
Genre: Jangle Indie Rock, Garage Rock
What the band says they sound like: Built to Spill, Parquet Courts. and The Velvet Underground
What we think they sound like: You know when someone says "This is right up your alley", well this is right up my alley. It's bits of Pavement, Built To Spill but with a great 60's feel to some of it. The vocal delivery really helps this stand up over a lot of other stuff in this genre. It's part Stephen Malkmus, part Lou Reed and that's a great thing. At times this record reminds me a little of Vampire Weekend too. There is nothing but hits on this upcoming record!
Songs to add to your playlist: Bats!, Mexico, Time Saved, Seventy, Semaphore
Friday, June 17, 2022
OUT NOW: Desario "Things We Left Behind" [Digital Single]
The first single -- "Things We Left Behind" -- from Sacramento, California dreamy jangle pop rockers' -- Desario's -- fourth studio album -- Signal and Noise [out July 15th]-- is available now on all music platforms. For fans of Arctic Monkeys, Catherine Wheel, Citified, Doves, Echo & The Bunnymen, Interpol, Jesus & Mary Chain, Lauds, Lush, New Order, The Ocean Blue, Ride, Tracy Shedd, The Smiths, Summer Set.
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
The latest from KITIMOTO sounds like all of your favorite classic indie rock artists!
[Repost from If It's Too Loud...; by Ken Sears, June 14, 2022]
When a press release compares an artists to legendary indie rock icons like Pavement, Built to Spill, Spoon, Sebadoh, etc., I'm going to be very skeptical. I've pretty much already decided I don't like any artist with such lofty comparisons. But then I hear a band like Kitimoto and all of those comparisons are dead on. The Phoenix band's latest single, "Time Saved," sounds like vintage 90's indie rock. You're going to swear you've heard this before. It could have been on some much beloved compilation or soundtrack, or maybe you heard it on your college radio station but never figured out who it was. "Time Saved" sounds so much like my college years that it's making me nostalgic despite being over twenty years too late for that.
You can listen to "Time Saved" below. Vintage Smell is due out June 24 on Fort Lowell Records. The album can be pre-ordered through Bandcamp. For more on Kitimoto, check out the band on Facebook and Instagram.
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
only the good shit
[Repost from Aquarium Drunkard; Instagram Account, June 13, 2022]
Archie Bell and Drells once quipped, "we don't only sing, but we dance just as good as we walk.” A similar sentiment could be said of AD editor, and Transmissions host, Jason P. Woodbury per his forthcoming debut LP, "Something Happening/Always Happening", out this fall via Fort Lowell Records.
It’s a collection of songs you might hear on the radio after a cosmic camping trip, familiar but far off. Songs for stepping out of the spaceship to crack a cold one on a blurry summer day, taking a moment to enjoy the smell of freshly cut grass.
Monday, June 13, 2022
HeyDay Guitars presents:
Mark Burgess of The Chameleons UK + Lauds (Wilmington NC) at Monstercade in Winston-Salem NC on Tuesday, July 12th live in concert. Both artists will deliver an acoustic performance. This is an event not to miss! 🖤
Monday, May 30, 2022
Saturday, May 28, 2022
La Cerca West Coast Tour Dates
- Saturday, June 4 at Hotel Congress in Tucson, Arizona
- Sunday, June 5 at Permanent Records Roadhouse in Los Angeles, California
- Thursday, June 9 at Lucky Dime in Everett, Washington
- Friday, June 10 at Kenton Club in Portland, Oregon
- Saturday, June 11 at Cryptatropa in Olympia, Washington
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Song Premiere: "Strange Shapes" by Desario
[Repost from The Big Takeover Magazine; May 17, 2022]
Sacramento, California’s Desario premieres “Strange Shapes” with The Big Takeover, including a remix by Peter Holmström of The Dandy Warhols.
Big Takeover is excited to host the premiere of “Strange Shapes”, the new single from Sacramento-based Desario, who return with their fourth album Signal and Noise on July 15, their first LP since III on Test Pattern Records in 2017. Signal and Noise finds the four-piece jumping to Fort Lowell Records, an independent label out of Wilmington, NC, and churning out another tight set of indie rock tunes that mines a darker-tinged shoegaze rooted in British post-punk and new wave.
Signal and Noise starts off like a lighthouse sending out a solitary beam of light, piercing the night sky and stretching deep toward a dark horizon. That ray in “Lonely Lights” seems to move slowly at the most distant point in its rotation, guitars whirring to life, and appears to pick up speed as it rounds the bend and approaches with the rhythm section kicking in. But the record hits its stride on lead single “Strange Shapes.” The marriage of a dream poppy, jangled guitar with a melodic bass line and that tick-a-tick 16-beat centered on the cymbals is great on its own. And then the fuzzy guitars join the fray on the chorus.
But Desario have other tricks up their sleeves on this one as well. They slow things down on “Things We Left Behind,” a brooding song that echoes something like MBV’s “Sometimes” but with an airy, ethereal vocal line placed more up front in the mix. “Wired Wrong” pushes things in a poppier if not peppier direction. It’s a simple enough pop song where the bass part grabs you before giving way to the repeated mantra-like “everything went wrong when you went away” chorus.
Look, if you eagerly line up under the banner that reads shoegaze for your music, then you hope they are playing Signal and Noise when you get there. The five year wait for new Desario is over and it is an album that should tide listeners over. There are enough layers to like about this one.
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
Concert Photography by Andrew Berg - Hotel Congress, May 21, 2022, Tucson AZ
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| Tracy Shedd |
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| Tracy Shedd |
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| Tracy Shedd |
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| Tracy Shedd |
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| Soda Sun |
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| Soda Sun |
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| Soda Sun |
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| Soda Sun |
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| Gabriel Naïm Amor |
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| Gabriel Naïm Amor |
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| La Cerca |
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| La Cerca |
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| La Cerca |
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| La Cerca |
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| KITIMOTO |
Sunday, May 22, 2022
Song Premiere: "Bats!" by KITIMOTO
[Repost from The Big Takeover Magazine; May 8, 2022]
Phoenix, Arizona’s KITIMOTO premieres their charging punk single “Bats!” with The Big Takeover, imploring listeners to “pray to the sand.”
Though Vintage Smell is the debut album by the Phoenix based indie rock quartet KITIMOTO, the record is the result of decades of slow growth and metamorphosis. It’s akin to the kind of steady evolution band leader Jon Douglas (A Technicolor Yawn) charts in his work as a biologist: KITIMOTO may technically be a new group, but in reality it’s the latest in a long series of projects its members have tinkered with since first meeting in the Arizona DIY art-punk scene more than 15 years ago.
Backed by bassist Zane Gillum, drummer Cavan Noone, and guitarist Jason P. Woodbury, KITIMOTO finds Douglas reaching deep into his songbook, gathering up compositions he’s woodshedded since the early 2000s in the Chicago rock scene, and pairing them with newly written works. The resulting record is one that collapses time, drawing on ‘60s counterculture, classic ‘70s singer/songwriter work, ’80s alterna-pop, ‘90s indie rock, and a wealth of naturalistic and vividly comic imagery drawn from various moments in Douglas’ own autobiography.
Recorded live to two-inch tape in late 2020 and early 2021 at Oracle Recording at Rancho Linda Vista by producer Austin Z. Owen (Los Puchos, Slow Moses), Vintage Smell was mastered by Brian J. Sulpizio, known for his work with Ryley Walker and Health & Beauty—of which Douglas was once a member. Located in the remote desert town of Oracle, the studio sits at the heart of a ranch established in 1910, which eventually became home to an intentional community founded in 1968 by artist Charles Littler. In its original dude ranch incarnation, it hosted stars like George Sanders, Gary Cooper, and Rita Hayworth, and was the place Andy Warhol chose to shoot his X-rated western, Lonesome Cowboys, which baffled the locals.
On songs like “Mexico” and “How Do You Keep,” dueling guitars lock into heated conversation Television-style, veering into “indie jam” territory, while “Time Saved” finds the foursome chugging on Blue Album-style crunch rock. Elsewhere, Douglas indulges his soft side with the country soul ballad “Get Out Alive” and the vivid psychedelic pop of “Semaphore,” which leans into samba rhythms and Mellotron swirls.
Though hardly a “desert rock” album in the traditional sense, the remote space of Rancho Linda Vista proved the perfect place to capture these songs, which range from the charging punk of “Bats!”, which implores the listener to “pray to the sand,” to the future facing “Seventy,” its fuzzy guitars nodding to the band’s combined love for Pavement and oversized riffs.
Throughout it all, Douglas facilitates between low key cool and singing these songs like his life depends on them, folding his oblique wordplay into hooky melodies over intricate rhythms and easy grooves alike. It’s a testament to the gradual pace of evolution. Douglas and KITIMOTO may have only spent a few weekends in the desert recording, but these songs carry the weight of years spent shaping and refining.
Saturday, May 21, 2022
'Luz de Vida' concert benefitting survivors of homicide victims Saturday, May 21
For Lowell Records, iHeartRadio, Zia Records hosting event
TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Fort Lowell Records is throwing on a concert, celebrating the official album release of Luz de Vida II.
"Losing someone you love is devastating and unimaginable. Having the team from HSI by your side to help process, grieve, navigate and supporting victims and survivors lets us know that we never have to walk alone," Monique Vallery, a homicide survivor, expressed.
Vallery credits the nonprofit for helping her heal.
"HSI gave my family a voice for our loved one when we didn’t have the strength to speak and they have continued to give us hope that in time we will be able to start to heal," she shared.
This concert features the following artists:
- La Cerca
- Soda Sun
- Tracy Shedd
- Young Mothers
- Kitimoto and JPW
- Gabriel Naïm Amor
The concert is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Hotel Congress Plaza. Tickets are $10 in advance, and $12 the day of.
"We were fortunate when my brother and two co-workers were murdered in 1999. Their employer generously paid for all three funerals," Kathy Weir, a homicide survivor, told KGUN 9.
She says fundraisers like this concert are crucial to families dealing with homicide trauma.
"Not everyone is the recipient of this level of compassion and generosity," Weir said. "These fundraisers are essential to assist the families to deal with circumstances that are often beyond their means."
iHeartRadio and Zia Records are also working together to make this concert happen.
A Light in Dark Times
[Repost from Tucson Sentinel; Julie Jennings Patterson, May 21, 2022]
More than a decade has passed since what's been dubbed the "Tucson Shooting" — the Jan. 8, 2011, mass shooting targeting U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in which 6 people were killed and Giffords and dozen of her constituents were injured. In the time since, such incidents have sadly not become more rare and the survivors of violence and homicide grow in number daily, here and across the country. And while music alone is not a lasting solutions to systemic problems, it's pretty damned good at helping us process feelings of rage and loss and helplessness and despair and overwhelm and the sorts of things survivors feel in at least some small way every average minute of every average day of the rest of their lives. If music can raise some money in the process, so much the better. That was the idea behind the first Luz de Vida compilation, organized in the wake of the Giffords tragedy and it's what fuels Luz de Vida II, a follow up compilation released by Fort Lowell Records late last year and formally celebrating its vinyl release this Saturday at a live show on the Hotel Congress Plaza. The event features a number of Fort Lowell Records recording artists including La Cerca, Naim AMor, Soda Sun, Tracy Shedd, Kitimoto, Young Mothers and JPW and benefits local nonprofit Homicide Survivors, Inc.
Luz de Vida II Album Release Party
[Repost from Tucson Lifestyle Magazine; by Scott Barker, May 2022]
Live music will fill the air at the Hotel Congress Plaza at a fundraiser for Homicide Survivors, Inc. Performing at this release party for Fort Lowell Records’ latest — Luz de Vida II — will be Tracy Shedd, Soda Sun, Gabriel Naim Amor, La Cerca, Kitimoto, Young Mothers, and JPW.
The tracks on Luz de Vida II are: Calexico — “Wash (La Luz Brillante)”; Tracy Shedd — “Chasing Time”; Clap Your Hands Say Yeah — “Thousand Oaks (Luz de Vida)”; Juarez — “Ghosts in the Room”; L’Orange — “A Rich Life & Longing”; Dr. Dog — “Loneliness”; Gabriel Naïm Amor — “La Nuit Pour Nous Deux”; Acorn Bcorn — “Scraps”; XIXA — “Crystal Road (Luz de Vida)”; The Resonars — “It’s the Same”; Hannah Yeun — “All That Matters is the Wind”; Soda Sun — “Grape Juice”; and Amos Lee — “El Camino (Solo Acoustic)”. Though the styles of the music vary wildly, ranging from folk to punk, the album is cohesive, like something put out by Hôtel Costes in the 1990s, though with 1960s influences and all filtered through a desert landscape. It’s exciting to hear so many bands — including high-profile acts — with Arizona connections being given a showcase that’s benefiting an important organization.
Homicide Survivors was created back in 1982 by Gail Leland after her 14-yearold son Richard was murdered and she recognized the need for an organization that would provide critical support to the parents of murdered children. Originally launched as Parents of Murdered Children, the non-profit organization developed the group Homicide Survivors to advocate for legislative changes for crime victims rights, compensation and assistance. 7 pm. For more information,
Visit hotelcongress.com/family/ club-congress or Fortlowell.blogspot.com
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| Tracy Shedd; photo by Scott Madgett |
Friday, May 20, 2022
OUT NOW: Desario "Strange Shapes" [Digital Single]
The first single -- "Strange Shapes" -- from Sacramento, California dreamy jangle pop rockers' -- Desario's -- fourth studio album -- Signal and Noise [out July 15th]-- is available now on all music platforms, and includes a remix by The Dandy Warhols' own Peter Holmström.
Thursday, May 19, 2022
Bop Shop: Songs from Kendrick Lamar, B.I., My Chemical Romance, and more
[Repost from MTV News; by Patrick Hosken, May 13, 2022]
Jason P. Woodbury recently called his album Something Happening/Always Happening a collection of "meditation pop/spiritual twang." For someone who just became a father, these words felt like they vibrated at the right frequency for me. So I dug in to find that "Wealth of the Canyon," a standout track, plays like a desert broadcast from the past where remnants of space-age pop mingle with an undeniably easy (and breezy) feeling you might've found out Topanga in 1972. Its message is clear and whispers to you in the voice of everyone and no one: "Hey, everything's gonna be alright." What a relief. —Patrick Hosken
Sunday, May 15, 2022
Fort Lowell Records at Cruel World Festival
Four Fort Lowell Records artists were represented yesterday (May 14) cat the Cruel World Music Festival in Pasadena CA: [L-R] Mike Yoas of Desario [Sacramento CA], Kevin Unwin of fairweatherfriend [Tucson AZ], J Holt Evans III of Lauds [Wilmington NC], and Tracy Shedd [Wilmington NC]. 💛🧡❤️💖
Friday, May 13, 2022
OUT NOW: KITIMOTO "Bats!" [Digital Single]
The third single from your new favorite indie rock band — KITIMOTO — is out today; from their debut album — Vintage Smell — due out June 24th on 12inch vinyl. “Bats!” is available on all digital platforms, and as a very special surprise on this Friday the 13th, KITIMOTO has included a *Bonus Track* — “Aphex Djinn” — with the digital single! Check it out today, and CLICK HERE to preorder their LP before it’s sold out! 🙀 For fans of Built to Spill, Parquet Courts, The Pixies, and Spoon.
Monday, May 9, 2022
Listen: JPW – “Wealth of the Canyon”
[Repost from Petal Motel; by Lara Bennett, May 3, 2022]
Cover Photo by Dorothea Lange, November 1940 Taken in a cotton field near Coolidge, Arizona; via US National Archives and Records Administration
Petal Motel is beyond thrilled to announce and premiere the first single “Wealth of the Canyon” from JPW’s debut solo album, Something Happening / Always Happening, out September 9th on Fort Lowell Records.
JPW is of course the moniker for none other than Jason P. Woodbury. It’s no surprise that the tastemaker’s first full-length is a gorgeous blend of favorite sounds, yet something completely unique and brand new. Inspired by the rural expanses of Jason’s native Pinal County, Arizona, soul searching, and the influence of his expansive record collection, Something Happening / Always Happening showcases how the Transmissions podcast host’s voice seamlessly transforms into something extremely pleasant to listen to. “Wealth of the Canyon” highlights Jason’s Mayfield-like falsetto, the organ and percussion working together to weave a hypnotic, laid-back groove, and an echoing guitar line accented with subtle sounds of the desert, like an eagle screech. This song could not get much cooler, but I promise that there is so much to look forward to with the full album release.
Pre-sale will be live on June 9th so follow Fort Lowell on Bandcamp
The album was produced by Michale Krassner of Boxhead Ensemble
Some words from Ben Chasny:
It’s got a killer vibe like that Donnie and Joe record but with a cool Jesus and Mary Chain melodic sense, but waaay more laid back, desert-style so it sounds totally unique.
And a few more from Ben Seretan:
Every jangly guitar chord ever broadcast over AM radio is still out there vibrating, one wave among many in the ever-expanding cosmos. They hear Roy Orbison’s three-octaves loud and clear at the other end of the galaxy, the Vox Continental minor/major organ stabs from ’96 Tears’ teeter around the edge of some celestial Kirby Crackle, The Ronettes’ broken hearted melodies bounce off purple deserts on the dark side of Venus. The songs are out there, you simply have to tune your instruments to them.
Jason Woodbury is a galactic citizen, dialing in from the Sonoran Desert on planet Earth. Something Happening / Always Happening is the debut from his project JPW. It’s a collection of songs you might hear on the radio after a cosmic camping trip, familiar but far off. Songs for stepping out of the spaceship to crack a goddamn cold one on a blurry summer day, taking a moment to enjoy the smell of freshly cut grass.
Woodbury’s voice may be familiar to those interested in the more theologic strains of American songwriting. For the last decade, he’s penned liner notes and criticism, and contributed to Aquarium Drunkard, hosting the weekly Transmissions podcast and Range and Basin on Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard on dublab, a radiophonic showcase for his love of comic books, science fiction, and mysticism. All of that is legible on the surface of Something Happening / Always Happening, but here listeners are gifted with another side of Jason’s voice: his singing, which is just as unhurried and serene as you’d expect.
Mostly self-recorded by Woodbury with longtime musical collaborators Zach Toperek and Zane Gillum, the album was produced by Michael Krassner of Boxhead Ensemble, a long running instrumental combo which has aligned members of Dirty Three, Califone, Will Oldham, Gastr del Sol, Jim O’Rourke, and many more. A natural outgrowth of their work together on Range and Basin and shared love of Arizona’s diverse topography, Krassner wandered deep into the sounds, adding guitar and piano to the ghostly tones, percolating Rhythm Ace drum machine beats, and sand dune surf guitars. The result is mood music in a sense—listen casually and you might even miss the unexplained aerial phenomena before your eyes. But by the time the final / title track, built on a sample of Link Cromwell‘s (Lenny Kaye) “Crazy Like a Fox,” reaches its atomizing 9th minute, Woodbury’s thesis is clear: not only are we all made of star stuff, that stuff is alive and vibrating. Adjust your frequencies and hear it sing.”
Friday, May 6, 2022
OUT NOW: JPW "Wealth of the Canyon" [Digital Single]
JPW is the moniker for Jason P. Woodbury, host of Aquarium Drunkard's weekly Transmissions podcast and Range and Basin on Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard with dublab. Today, JPW's first single -- "Wealth of the Canyon" -- from their debut album -- Something Happening / Always Happening -- is out as a digital single on all platforms.
"“Wealth of the Canyon” highlights Jason’s Mayfield-like falsetto, the organ and percussion working together to weave a hypnotic, laid-back groove. This song could not get much cooler." ~ Petal Motel
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