Wednesday, January 16, 2008

NEWSLETTER: Asthmatic Kitty Newsletter 01/16/08


ASTHMATIC KITTY RECORDS MAIL LIST JANUARY EDITION

1- Rafter and his Sex Death Cassette
2- Twilight & Ghost Stories: A Rare Treat
3- Castanets Tour and release 7"
4- Open Call!! Film and Art - Microcinema and 930 Art Center
5- Coming Soon (DVD and Cryptacize CD/LP/MEGATOUR)
6- Adios MySpace
7- Tour Dates

0------INTRODUCTION-----------------------------------------
Thank you so much for subscribing to our electronic mailing newsletter. We know that your time is precious, so we want to respect that in 2008 by making this newsletter something of value to you, something for more than just news.

That's why, starting with this very issue, we will do our best to give you a special discount or mp3 or _something_ that is exclusive to this mailing list.

This month, it's a very special Rafter bundle. See below for details, and please keep reading this newsletter each month for more exclusive stuff. Your friends can sign up here:
http://asthmatickitty.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1


1------RAFTER SEX DEATH CASSETTE, BUNDLED!----------------------
Rafter's newest album is now available for preorder for $10 (+S&H). But for $5 more, you can get Rafter's two previous albums, 10 Songs and Music for Total Chickens, along with Sex Death Cassette! This is exclusive to this email list, and available only for the next two weeks!

Inspired by influences as diverse as Guided By Voices, R Stevie Moore, Fela Kuti, Lightning Bolt, Fushitsusha, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, and Cody Chestnutt, SEX DEATH CASSETTE is an album full of hope, determination and chaos. It'll leave you with sweat dripping down your face onto your swelled lip; fresh, liquid salt, the quintessential flavor of late night post-disco parties and booty slinging good times. After dancing to this album, you're heavy with it, like too much cough syrup on a stomach full of hi-quality sushi.

To preorder the $15 3-CD Rafter bundle, use the below link:

www.ccnow.com/cgi-local/cart.cgi?asmakit_AKR037BUNDLE_http://www.asthmatickitty.com/shop.php

Also be sure to check out Rafter's ongoing song-a-week project. You can see an overview of them all here:
http://asthmatickitty.com/sidebararchives.php?artistID=7


2------TWILIGHT & GHOST STORIES: A RARE TREAT-------------------------
When we first decided to release Twilight & Ghost Stories we thought it was going to be one of those releases that spoke to a very particular and limited audience because of its nontraditional structure and composition. We were wrong! The response has been wonderful and expansive. This beautifully packaged release includes contributions by almost half of the Asthmatic Kitty roster, including Sufjan Stevens, Ray Raposa (Castanets), John Ringhofer (Half-handed Cloud), Liz Janes and Michael Kaufmann (Future Rapper).

And as a special treat we offer you an mp3 of a live performance of this piece from the Next To Last Festival in Athens, GA:
http://asthmatickitty.com/mp3/chris_schlarb_-_twilight_-_athens_excerpt.mp3

You can read more about the context of this recording here:
www.chrisschlarb.com/2007/12/the-rain-came/


3------CASTANETS RELEASE 7 INCH, TOUR WEST COAST-------------------------
Castanets have released a brand new 7" that includes a remix of "Strong Animal" from their recent In the Vines full-player, as well as "Golden", an outtake from that same album. The remix was part of a series of remixes given out via the interweb to help promote In The Vines. This one was too deliciously geared for dance floors so we felt that not putting it to wax was a crime to the night. West Coaster and Hero to All, Rafter, manned boards and faders and clickers for it. Bass up, mids wherever. Artwork is by Castanets good friend Tara Jane ONeil. Here's to big airplanes and weekend agoraphobics.

Castanets are also touring the west coat for the next few weeks. See below for tour dates.

Buy the 7" here:
www.ccnow.com/cgi-local/cart.cgi?asmakit_AKR034_http://www.asthmatickitty.com/shop.php


4------OPEN CALL FOR ART, VIDEO-------------------------------------------------------
We get a lot of emails from talented people offering their services as artists or video directors. Unfortunately there's just not enough Asthmatic Kitty music to go around, but we do have two excellent opportunities to get noticed.

We're working with Microcinema to curate a traveling film festival. Winning filmmakers will receive everything from a Panasonic AG-HSC1U 1/4" 3-CCD High Definition Video Camera (if you know what that means, you know how awesome it is), to a specially selected Asthmatic Kitty discography. Microcinema is a great way to show off because they are taking these films into some very public and interesting places - like base camp at Mt. Everest. See below for submission details.

And for the more illustrative, we are hosting our next Unusual Animals party at The 930 Art Center in Louisville, Kentucky. They too are looking for submissions, specifically representations of unusual animals found in nature or imagination. These are due by March 15, so please: get to it!

Microcinema call for submissions:
www.independentexposure.com/festivals/independent_exposure/2008_call.html

930 Art Center call for submissions:
www.the930.org/2008/01/09/unusual-animals/


5------COMING SOON--------------------------------------------------------
This is going to be quite a year for Asthmatic Kitty so we hope you stick along for the ride. Showing up first on the radar is Cryptacize's new CD/LP and tour (see below for some dates).

Also, you may have heard about our DVD, the Encyclopedia Asthmatica Volume 1. We are extremely proud of this collection and have been working hard over the last year to pull it all together. We will be sending you an email as soon as the DVD is available for preorder in February.

And stay tuned to this space for more info to come over the year!


6------GOOD RIDDANCE MYSPACE-----------------------------------------------------
A brief eulogy...okay, that was enough. We tried, we really tried. But the constant bombardment of spam spam spam, and the difficulty to manage the profile and communicate to you, our friends and fans, has lead us to move our social networking presence to Last.FM and Virb. Also, you can interact with us via Flickr and YouTube.

Last.FM:
www.last.fm/label/Asthmatic+Kitty/

Virb:
http://virb.com/asthmatickitty

Flickr:
http://flickr.com/photos/asthmatickitty/

YouTube:
www.youtube.com/group/asthmatickitty


7------TOUR DATES-------------------------------------------------------

Castanets
2008-01-16 Wednesday: Portland, OR - Someday Lounge (w/ Nudity)
2008-01-18 Friday: Eugene, OR - Sam Bond's Garage
2008-01-21 Monday: San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord (w/ Sholi, El Olio Wolof)
2008-01-22 Tuesday: Davis, CA - Fort Douglass
2008-01-23 Wednesday: Sacramento, CA - The N Street House
2008-01-24 Thursday: Fresno, CA - Club Fred (w/ Sholi, El Olio Wolof)
2008-01-25 Friday: San Luis Obispo, CA - Steynberg Gallery
2008-01-28 Monday: Phoenix, AZ - The Trunk Space
2008-01-30 Wednesday: San Diego, CA - The Casbah
2008-01-31 Thursday: Long Beach, CA - Koo's Art Center
2008-02-01 Friday: Los Angeles, CA - The Echo (w/ Bodies of Water)

Cryptacize
2008-01-15 Tuesday: Los Angeles, CA - Tangier (w/ Why?)
2008-01-23 Wednesday: San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall (w/ The Blow and Mirah)

Half-handed Cloud
2008-01-17 Thursday: Oakland, CA - Mama Buzz Cafe w/Christy, Aaron Roche
2008-01-25 Friday: Hamilton - New Zealand - Parachute Festival (www.parachutemusic.co.nz)
2008-01-26 Saturday: Hamilton - New Zealand - Parachute Festival (www.parachutemusic.co.nz)
2008-01-27 Sunday: Hamilton - New Zealand - Parachute Festival (www.parachutemusic.co.nz)

My Brightest Diamond
2008-01-21 Monday: Osaka - Japan - CLUB QUATTRO (w/Sufjan Stevens)
2008-01-22 Tuesday: Tokyo - Japan - CLUB QUATTRO (w/Sufjan Stevens)

Sufjan Stevens
2008-01-16 Wednesday: Melbourne - Australia - Forum Theater ((Tickets go on sale through Ticketek, 132849, on Nov 16th))
2008-01-17 Thursday: Melbourne - Australia - Forum Theater
2008-01-21 Monday: Osaka - Japan - Club Quattro (w/My Brightest Diamond)
2008-01-22 Tuesday: Tokyo - Japan - CLUB QUATTRO (w/My Brightest Diamond)

Be seeing you!

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