Mistletone

Greetings people – here’s the latest from the wonderful world of Mistletone.

First up – we’re crazily excited to have just released the debut album, Alegranza from quite possibly the raddest dude in Barcelona, El Guincho! El Guincho is the alter ego of 24 year old Pablo Díaz-Reixa who we reckon in Alegranza has created one of the best debuts ever!

Alegranza is a mix of afro-beat percussion, calypso harmonies, psych tropicália, world music samplers, doo wop, trance repetition, underwater pop, steel drums and island feeling plus club oriented song structures, uptempo beats and exotica production. It was released in the last days of December 2007, went out of print in Spain in less than a month and topped the lists of the most important spanish music magazines.

El Guincho’s popularity is rising to heady heights all around the world with a cult status thanks to constant blog posts and word of mouth. El Guincho will tour Australia in 2008, dates to be announced.

Melbourne folks – Alegranza is the feature album on RRR all this week, so tune in to w-i-n!

You can buy El Guincho now as well as all of your other Mistletone favourites online at our mail order Mistle Mart super store for the new special price of $20 which includes postage to anywhere in the world!

Beaches

Mistletone is over the moon to present the first in what will become a seasonal happening – Autumn Tones at The Tote on ANZAC Day, Friday April 25th. This inaugural “Tones” event will feature a bunch of our favourite Melbourne bands who will help create a cosmic autumnal evening of epic proportions.

The lineup for Autumn Tones will feature Witch Hats, Kes Band, Beaches, brutal free-jazz/grind-noise quartet Embers, The Ancients and The Sun Blindness + DJs Switchblade Sisters and Shags.

Doors 5:30pm til late. Come early for delicious vegan BBQ as well as standard Tote meat BBQ. Tickets $15 available next week from our website.

The extraordinary new album from Kes is simply called Kes Band and it’s going to be released on April 1 on three formats – CD, LP and Cassette!

Recorded by James Cecil of Architecture in Helsinki fame in his Super Melody World studio, Kes Band is a stupendous leap forward from “The Grey Goose Wing”, with the same adventurous spirit but with a more concise and accessible pop sensibility.

Whilst each member of Kes Band is a multi-talented instrumentalist, the basic lineup of the band is: Kes – vocals, guitar; Julian Patterson – drums; Laura Jean – bass, vocals, recorder; Biddy Connor – viola, vocals; Lehmann Smith – guitar, vocals, mandolin.

Kes Band will be launched in Sydney on Thursday May 1 at The Hopetoun.

Melbourne folks will get their turn on Friday May 9 at Ding Dong with Love Of Diagrams + other special guests to be announced.

A few weeks ago we released Sympathy for the New World, the genius new album from Melbourne home recording pop pundit Mr Ross McLennan.

Written and recorded entirely in his home studio in the quietude of an inner-north Melbourne suburb, Sympathy for the New World is an accomplished production. A dozen finely crafted songs open up labyrinthine worlds of meaning, association and possibilities with every listen. McLennan’s quizzical and playful lyrical and melodic smarts place him firmly in the league of other such idiosyncratic musical brains as Todd Rundgren, Kurt Wagner (Lambchop), or Stephen Malkmus – another artist who has arguably done more weighty and intriguing work after breaking up his band and retreating to his home studio.

The sophisticated production values and rich orchestration add dark soul textures and grandiose alt-rock flourishes to McLennan’s sometimes witty, sometimes melancholic songs. Amongst the special guest appearances, Rebecca Barnard contributes ghostly vocals on the majestic closer, Welcome To World’s Fair, and a rousing choir of illustrious dozens from the Melbourne music community can be heard on the symphonic Sceptre Glove.

Sneakily spectacular, introspectively epic and inevitably classic, Sympathy For The New World is a must-hear.

Ross & his band will be launching the album in Melbourne at The Toff on Saturday March 29 w/ Ned Collette Band and Cameron Ross + Mistletone DJs.

Sydney will get their turn on Friday June 6 at The Hopetoun w/ Nic Dalton & His Gloomchasers.

A few weeks ago we had the great pleasure to tour the incomparable Dan Deacon. Thanks to all of you good people who came to the shows and helped Dan, his brother Pat and us have the best couple of weeks ever! As the people who saw the shows will testify – Dan Deacon is one amazingly entertaining force. If you missed out fear not, as Dan will be back in the country by years end!

Critics and fans alike are slowly but surely falling head over heels in love for Devotion, the new album from Baltimore dream boats Beach House. With Devotion Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand, who make up Beach House, have written eleven delicate pop tunes about love, feeling, and, of course, devotion. We’re working really hard to get Beach House down here for a tour mid year. Fingers Crossed.

The Evening Descends from Oklahoma super freaks Evangelicals has propelled the band into some kinda psyched-out stratosphere. “The Evening Descends is bursting with balcony-pitched histrionics, molten Brian May leads, and standing-ovation-worthy crashes. But what really makes this album special is the ways in which the Evangelicals pull off big-stage spectacle on what still sounds like a public-access cable-show budget,” quoth Pitchfork Media in their 8.3 out of 10 review. “Brilliantly ambitious… an album whose dark conceptual poetics are immersed in sonic ventures into psychedelia, glam, soul and prog-rock,” sez Beat. We ain’t gonna argue!

To listen and/or download tracks from all the aforementioned artists, please click on each artist’s name on the left hand menu or visit us at Myspaz

And don’t forget… all Mistletone titles are now a mere $20 including postage on mail order… a deal which lends itself beautifully to multiple ordering… hint hint!

cheers & stay cool,

ash & sophie