Mistletone

Greetings, salutations and welcome to the latest news from the wintry world of Mistletone.

First up, we are overjoyed to present the first ever Australian tour by Beach House, our favourite boy-girl duo from Baltimore. Tickets are already selling like hot cakes for Beach House’s intimate shows, so don’t dilly dally or you’ll miss out! Having recently seen the band play in Europe we can report that their live show is just about the greatest thing ever; intense, warm, enthralling and beautiful. For the Australian tour, Beach House will be the usual duo, Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, plus special guest percussionist Dave Bergander of Celebration, whom Alex describes as his favourite drummer in the world.

BEACH HOUSE TOUR DATES
Wed Aug 20: Hopetoun Hotel, Sydney with Bachelorette (NZ) + Rand and Holland.
Tickets $25 + BF on sale through Moshtix – phone: 1300 438 849 and all Moshtix outlets
Thu Aug 21: Hopetoun Hotel, Sydney with Bachelorette (NZ) + Songs.
Tickets $25 + BF on sale through Moshtix – phone: 1300 438 849 and all Moshtix outlets
Fri Aug 22: Winter Tones @ Roxanne, Melbourne.
Tickets $26 + BF on sale through Moshtix – phone: 1300 438 849 and all Moshtix outlets
Sat Aug 23: The Troubadour, Brisbane with Bachelorette (NZ) + The Rational Academy.
Tickets $25 + BF on sale through Oztix.
Sun Aug 24: Mojos, Perth with Astral Travel, The Tigers + Fabulous Diamonds.
Tickets $25 + BF on sale through Moshtix – phone: 1300 438 849 and all Moshtix outlets
Wed Aug 27: The Toff In Town, Melbourne with Fabulous Diamonds + ii + DJ Scraps.
Tickets $22 + BF on sale through Moshtix – phone: 1300 438 849 and all Moshtix outlets including Polyester (City).
Fri Aug 29: Bar Bodega, Wellington, New Zealand with Bachelorette + Nikky Brinkman. Tickets $30 + BF on sale from Real Groovy.
Sat Aug 30: The Kings Arms, Auckland, New Zealand with Bachelorette + Noriko. Tickets $30 + BF on sale from Real Groovy.

Love of Diagrams

3RRR Presents Winter Tones – our seasonal Mistletone party in Melbourne, bringing together bands that we love. Winter Tones is set to blow all the winter blues away. It’s happening on Friday August 22 at the lovely Roxanne Parlour, up on the third floor of 2 Coverlid Place in Chinatown, and will feature a baker’s dozen of wonderful bands: Beach House, Bachelorette, Love of Diagrams, Pikelet, Kes Band, Crayon Fields, Qua, Beaches, Panel of Judges, Actor/Model, Barrage, Talkshow Boy, Lost Animal + DJs. Tickets are just $26 + booking fee from Moshtix, doors open 7.30pm; mark your diary ‘cos this one will be fun fun fun!

The latest release for the Mistletone label is Dream Island Laughing Language by Lucky Dragons. Lucky Dragons is the brainchild of brilliant young Los Angeleno Luke Fischbeck, together with his partner in crime Sarah Rara and other likeminded collaborators. Described by the ever-astute Mark Gomes in Three Thousand as “unrecognisable, alien and joyful”, Lucky Dragons create artistic and organic electronic music to thrill your soul. Look out for the debut Australian tour by Lucky Dragons in October this year; their participatory and joy-inducing live shows will take your breath away.

Everyone, meet High Places: our favourite boy-girl duo from Brooklyn. Dubbed by Pitchfork as “Intimate enough to sleep in, rhythmic enough to dance to; lo-fi and simple, but strange enough to get lost in”, the music of High Places is a unique and beautiful thing. Mistletone is chuffed to be releasing the High Places debut album in September, which will come out in the rest of the world on the esteemed Thrill Jockey label; meantime, to whet your appetite for all things High Places, we have a collection of singles previously only available in cyberland, titled 03/07-09-07 and in stores during July. It’s the perfect taster of the sweet pop layers of High Places: bells and bird calls over a wash of ocean waves; mallets hitting mixing bowls over treated guitar and glockenspiel; Mary’s reflective vocals over Rob’s homemade beats.

Local heroines Beaches are about to hunker down with studio wiz Jack Farley to record their debut album for Mistletone. Featuring members of Love of Diagrams, Panel of Judges and Spider Vomit, Beaches (Antonia Sellbach, Alison Bolger, Ali McCann, Gill Tucker and Karla Way) are a super rocking jam band tour de force. Catch ’em around town if you can! Upcoming Beaches shows: Friday July 18 @ Old Bar with old mates Spider Vomit, Zond and Darren Sylvester; Sunday July 27 supporting Menstruation Sisters at the Toff; and a late late night set at Winter Tones on August 22.

Kes Band play a corker lineup in Melbourne this Saturday night, June 28 @ the Evelyn, Fitzroy with Baseball, Actor/Model and Love Is Science Fiction. Doors 8.30pm, this will be a top night out! Kes Band are also set to commence a month-long residency at the Edinburgh Castle (681 Sydney Rd Brunswick). Kes Band will play two sets every Thursday night in July in the Edinburgh Castle front bar; expect some new instrumental jams and new vocal material, as well as all the gems from the Kes back catalogue. As the recent four-star Sydney Morning Herald feature review stated: “Kes Band is the work of a deeply idiosyncratic songwriter who is nonetheless maturing rapidly. There are moments of daft pleasure succeeded by passages of moving instrumentation. The album has a framework but it’s one that requires repeated listens to define and comprehend. Once you do, its appeal becomes tangible.” Also don’t miss Kes Band at Winter Tones after midnight.

The praise keeps pouring in for Ross McLennan‘s post Snout masterpiece, Sympathy for the New World. “This is an album in the mould of Scott Walker but with its pop heart as valuable as its head”, said the Sydney Morning Herald, and The Age agreed: “Ross McLennan excels with this stream of musical consciousness, forging a new strain of languid psychedelia from off-kilter strings and spidery guitars, all spilling harmonic colours outside the lines”. Ross is currently dreaming up a truly symphonic presentation of Sympathy for the New World with some special shows to be announced soon. Meantime, catch Ross and his band when local flower punk icons The Sand Pebbles launch their new album Ceduna at Northcote Social Club on Saturday July 5.

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The new album by Dan Deacon, curiously titled Bromst, is coming in October… Dan describes it as “much darker,” “mature,” and “organic.” We can’t wait! Dan will be returning to Australia in the summertime so start limbering up now!

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For all you Ariel Pink fans out there, here is a new video for an old song: Gray Sunset from The Doldrums — check it out! According to Ariel’s website, he is hard at work on a new album; one can only fervently hope!

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We are busily working on some other very exciting Mistletone tours and releases, and you guys will be the first to know once they’re in the can, so watch this space.

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Don’t forget you can buy all your fave Mistletone CDs from our mail order shoppe for just $20 including postage anywhere in the world… and service with a smile.

cheers & good health to you,

ash & sophie