Tuesday news

If you didn't know already, our old friends in Manchester Orchestra have made another record and today, April 21st 2009 you can find it in record stores across the globe. As you might be able to tell from the image above it's called, Mean Everything to Nothing, and it features Anathallo's very own superstar singer Erica Froman (pictured below at her recent photoshoot for the cover of Time Magazine).



They are currently on tour coast to coast, catch them while you can. Dates here.



I should also point out that the aforementioned Manchester Orchestra tour also includes one of the first chances for many of you to see Andrew's new band Fun. They'll have a record coming out in the future with a single (from the image above) finding its way into your ears early next month. And just in case this slipped past your radar, Andrew released a collection of songs that started with his Columbus musical last December. Check it out.

Mammoth Caves National Park

Highlights from today's adventures:


This is what it looked like when Bobby Beams turned off the lights.


Matt climbing out of the cave back towards the light.


Erica and Seth take a view from the top of Makeout Sunset Point.


Ten second timed group shot.

Bummer

Due to circumstances beyond our control our upcoming shows in Bowling Green Kentucky and at Taylor University have been canceled. We were looking forward to returning to both of these places and apologize if you were planning on making it out. The good news? The other shows are still on and promise to be a really wonderful time. Here are a couple of fliers for these shows!

Anathallo on NPR 848

Hi!  It has been a while.  We've been busy doing all sorts of whatnot.  Bret and I did a lengthy interview with the noble Althea from NPR's 848 a little while back.  It's airing this Wednesday from 9 to 10 AM - check it if you want - 91.5 FM.  It will be interesting to see what made the cut.  If you miss the show, it will be posted online here

Just wanted to drop a little note before our show this Friday with friends Sybris and Cains and Abels at the Bottom Lounge.  Hope to see you there.

At the beach

Sorry we've been so absent from yhmmgo, our van decided to spring break this year at South Padre Island (as seen from above). We had a hell of a time tracking it down but were able to rescue it from crazy college coeds before things got out of hand.

Three years ago today...

While the record wasn't officially released until June 6th 2006, we sold our first copies of Floating World at the Temple Club in Lansing Michigan three years ago today. The show was really something special, we were joined by Page France and Those Transatlantics, both of whom I really love. It was also one of the first times I felt like Anathallo had this enormous support from our community pushing us forward into new territory, there was such an amazing mass of friends there, I felt so lucky to be part of the band. Poster below from the four release shows we had designed by the amazingly talented Eric Mortensen.

Image of the day

From Rune Generiussen's "Singles" series.

Black History Month - Harold Washington

In case you forgot (I did), February is black history month and to help celebrate I wanted to share with you a little information about this guy Harold Washington. The first time I came across Mr. Washington was below ground, while walking out of a CTA stop. As I walked, I came across a mural of Chicago's past mayors. There were the obvious lot of old white dudes, the old Mayor Daley, a woman (!), and this African American guy. I said to myself, "What? When did Chicago have an African American mayor?" I later realized his name was Harold Washington, which this building is named after.



I didn't really put it all together until I heard this incredible story on This American Life a while back during the run up to the 2008 elections. Fortunately for us they archive all of their episodes for FREE. Go listen to it when you have an hour, it will be one of the best hours you've spent in a long time (and if you have two hours, listen to any other episode you find, this show has the potential to change your life). Seeing Obama win came as somewhat of a surprise to me, but in many ways it makes sense after the past eight years. Washington on the other hand was a fireball, he was single (have you ever heard of a single politician?), was up against the mayoral incumbent as well as former mayor Richard J. Daley's son (and later to become mayor himself), and ran for office in a extremely racially divided 1984 Chicago. I cannot do him justice here, so go listen to the story here you'll believe in life so much more.

Thank You for Sound

Hi.  I can't say enough how grateful that I am to all of you who have sent us sounds.  I know this requires many kinds of trust.  To name one, the trust that we won't publicly humiliate/embarrass you.  If any of these sounds should end up in anything, we'll definitely let you know and ask before presenting them to the public. 

A number of emails have mentioned wanting to know what this project is about before sending submissions.  Unfortunately - I won't say just yet.  It would put too much pressure on the outcome (which already feels a little heavy to me for a number of reasons).  Besides - secrets and suspense are wonderful!  

Most of the submissions have been in the form of songs.  This is great!  It is also challenging, because it requires an extreme familiarity with your music in order to hear it as sounds vs. the whole composition.  

Now I'm in the search of raw sounds and sound fields.  This doesn't exclude the use of instruments... just maybe play a few of your favorite notes.  Again - don't worry about traditional ideas about sound quality.  In the best sense, everything has a perfect sound quality right?  It is being what it is.  Just feel free to mess around.

John  Cage:

There is poetry as soon as we realize that we possess nothing.

There is no such thing as an empty space or empty time.  There is always something to see, something to hear. In fact, try as we may to make silence, we cannot.

PLZ SEND US YOUR SOUNDS.

I can't give all of the details (or any really) just yet, since online gossip spins faster than a Kansas twister, but I have a request to make in your trust:  PLZ SEND US YOUR SOUNDS.

We want anything that you record or find that is audible and can be sent via the internet.  Noises from the spaces that you occupy during the everyday, field recordings, the sound of rice rushing out of a bag into a porcelain bowl (I love that sound!), the most annoying sound, beautiful sound, you singing, you playing an instrument, someone else singing, someone else playing an instrument, you and someone else singing together, you and someone else playing instruments, natural, digital, 2 seconds, 4 minutes... something that you have sitting around from your childhood, your first band, edit them however you like, or don't edit them at all... whatever you think.  Crummy recordings are not only welcome, they are encouraged! Singing/Playing out of tune and time are also highly encouraged.

Also - please feel free to send this on to anyone that might be interested.  If you want to participate but don't know much about sending things online, or transferring sounds from your phone/mind/recording device, please write to me at the email address below and maybe I can help.

SEND ALL SOUNDS TO:

SOUNDSOFOURLIVES [at] GMAIL.COM