[See post on tinyways.com to listen to audio]
Don’t Leave My Mind
Make Your Heart
If You Fall (from Hold On Love)

Premiered last week, Azure Ray’s new video “Don’t Leave My Mind” embodies everything we love about ethereal dream pop. It’s been nearly seven years since Azure Ray released their critically acclaimed album Hold On Love (2003) and the new record Drawing Down the Moon holds up to the highest expectations. “Don’t Leave My Mind” offers a sweet, warm and dreamlike taste of the new album and leaves us craving for more.

North American Tour dates:
Sun-Oct-10 Orlando, FL The Social
Mon-Oct-11 Tallahasse, FL Engine Room
Tue- Oct-12 Mobile, AL Alabama Music Box
Thu- Oct-14 Shreveport, LA The Collective
Fri-Oct-15 Houston, TX Walters
Sat-Oct-16 Dallas, TX The Loft
Sun-Oct-17 Austin, TX Mohawk
Wed-Oct-20 Tempe, AZ Rhythm Room
Thu-Oct-21 San Diego, CA The Loft
Fri-Oct-22 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour
Sat-Oct-23 Pomona, CA Glasshouse
Sun-Oct-24 San Francisco, CA The Independent
Tue-Oct-26 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios
Wed-Oct-27 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern
Fri-Oct-29 Boise, ID Neurolux
Sat-Oct-30 Salt Lake City, UT The State Room
Mon-Nov-01 Denver, CO High Dive
Wed-Nov-03 Omaha, NE Slowdown
Thu-Nov-04 Iowa City, IA The Mill
Fri-Nov-05 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center
Sat-Nov-06 Chicago, IL Schubas
Mon-Nov-08 Detroit, MI Magic Stick
Tue-Nov-09 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
Wed-Nov-10 Toronto, ONT Horseshoe Tavern
Fri-Nov-12 Boston, MA Harpers Ferry
Sat-Nov-13 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
Sun-Nov-14 Brooklyn, NY Knitting Factory
Tue-Nov-16 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s
Wed-Nov-17 Washington, DC Rock N Roll Hotel
Thu-Nov-18 Carrboro, NC Arts Center
Fri-Nov-19 Athens, GA 40 Watt
Sat- Nov-20 Birmingham, AL Bottletree

In her latest record Las Vênus Resort Palace Hotel (2010), Brazilian songstress Cibelle reveals her alter ego, a glamorous cabaret artiste Sonja Khalecallon. The concept album, mostly inspired by Cibelle’s collection of vintage Brazilian exotica records, is a rather experience from her previous melodic folktronica tunes. Las Vênus Resort Palace Hotel embodies everything from exotic, sleazy lounge and mellow Tropicália to intoxicating 60’s psychedelia. To illustrate her flavourful album, “Lighworks” is an infectious tropical track, while “The Gun and the Knife”, a personal favourite, could be taken straight from a Tarantino soundtrack.

MySpace profile

From feet to birds to jewish curses, Bob Dylan covered it all on his radio talkshow. At times he invited Tom Waits to send him tapes with his thoughts. The result is pretty psychedelic.

Live dates:
Apr 13 2010 Cafe de la Danse. PARIS
Apr 14 2010 Dingwalls LONDON, UK
Apr 15 2010 Aeronef Lille
Apr 16 2010 AB BRUXELLES
Apr 17 2010 Cargo CAEN
May 4 2010 Knust HAMBURG
May 5 2010 Festsaal Kreuzberg Berlin
May 6 2010 Paradiso Amsterdam
May 7 2010 Ampere Munich
May 8 2010 Ringlokschuppen/WDR birthday party MUHLHEIM (COLOGNE)
May 13 2010 Au Fond du Jardin du Michel BULLIGNY (NANCY)
May 14 2010 La 7eme Vague BRETIGNOLLES SUR MER (Vendee)
May 15 2010 Wiener Festwochen Vienna, Wien

Links:
MySpace Profile

Considering their season themed video for Modern Drift, it seems only natural that Efterklang embark on their seasonal migration now that spring starts to peek from under the blankets (or maybe not?). One can only hope that they will bring this so well-deserved touch of sun and grass to wherever their visit. This is a great excuse to see see how it all started. The tour dates, by the way, are at the bottom of this exceptionally long post.

Efterklang’s first album was Tripper, a brilliant exploration of organic textures and vocal instrumentation. Tripper, as its name suggests, was a repetitive orchestrated trip, diving deep into fractalic musical arrangements.

Under Giant Trees (only a mini album this time) was a direct continuation of this explorative epoch. The direction was vocals. I feel like have to say it with some caution, but my feeling is that religious music provided much of background. The backdrop for the growing fascination with vocals was still repetitive electronic music, building landscapes and exploring them. One more thing about Under Giant Trees, it was softer than Tripper, hinting towards the future in a sense.

Parades already has a full fledged plot. To me the first track already throws you on a explorer’s ships, recalling the age of the great explorers that crisscrossed our world with their expeditions. Efterklang left behind much of it click-ish background and switched to softer somewhat operatic sound. This is an exciting album, not only because it’s a change of direction, but mostly because this change is well grounded into their development until this point.

So what do we have? What can come next? One movement that I believe is evident in Efterklang’s music is towards the organic and natural. If Parade’s was the explorer’s voyage, maybe Magic Chairs will be their the explorer’s joyous arrival to the virginal land.

It’s also nice to see how their cover art developed through the years. I think you will find that the musical development is well mirrored in the visual art. From left to right, top to bottom – from Tripper to Magic Chairs.

Following Americo – North America:
Mar 2 2010 First Unitarian Church w/ Balmorhea Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mar 3 2010 Le Poisson Rouge w/ Balmorhea New York, New York
Mar 4 2010 TT The Bears w/ Balmorhea Cambridge, Massachusetts
Mar 5 2010 La Sala Rosa w/ Balmorhea Montreal, Quebec
Mar 6 2010 El Mocambo w/ Balmorhea Toronto, Ontario
Mar 7 2010 The Crofoot (Pike Room) w/ Balmorhea Pontiac, Michigan
Mar 8 2010 Lincoln Hall w/ Balmorhea Chicago, Illinois
Mar 11 2010 The Triple Door w/ Balmorhea Seattle, Washington
Mar 12 2010 The Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, British Columbia
Mar 13 2010 Doug Fir Lounge w/ Balmorhea Portland, Oregon
Mar 15 2010 Bottom Of The Hill w/ Balmorhea San Francisco, California
Mar 16 2010 Spaceland w/ Balmorhea Los Angeles, California
Mar 18 2010 TBA – SXSW Festival Austin, Texas
Mar 19 2010 tba – SXSW Festival Austin, Texas
Mar 20 2010 tba – SXSW Festival Austin, Texas

Back to the old world – Europe:
Apr 7 2010 Korjaamo w/ Heather Woods Broderick Helsinki
Apr 8 2010 Von Krahl Theatre w/ Heather Woods Broderick Tallinn
Apr 10 2010 Hornstull Strand w/ Heather Woods Broderick Stockholm
Apr 14 2010 Voxhall Aarhus
Apr 15 2010 Studenterhuset Aalborg
Apr 16 2010 Brewhouse Göteborg, Västra Götalands län
Apr 17 2010 Store Vega Copenhagen V
Apr 20 2010 Concorde 2 w/ Heather Woods Broderick Brighton
Apr 21 2010 Shepherds Bush Empire w/ Heather Woods Broderick London, London and South East
Apr 22 2010 Oxford Academy w/ Heather Woods Broderick Oxford
Apr 23 2010 Cabaret Voltaire w/ Heather Woods Broderick Edinburgh, Scotland
Apr 24 2010 Black Box w/ Slaraffenland Belfast
Apr 25 2010 Whelan’s w/ Slaraffenland Dublin
Apr 27 2010 Metropolis w/ Slaraffenland Bristol
Apr 28 2010 Nouveau Casino w/ Heather Woods Broderick Paris
Apr 29 2010 Grand Mix w/ Heather Woods Broderick Tourcoing – Lille
Apr 30 2010 VIP w/ Heather Woods Broderick Saint Nazaire – Nantes
May 1 2010 Centrifugeuse w/ Heather Woods Broderick Pau
May 2 2010 La [2] de Apolo w/ Heather Woods Broderick Barcelona
May 4 2010 INIT w/ Heather Woods Broderick Rome
May 5 2010 Covo Club – Rocker Festival w/ Heather Woods Broderick Bologna
May 6 2010 1. Stock w/ Heather Woods Broderick Basel (Münchenstein)
May 7 2010 TBA TBA
May 8 2010 Astra Kulturhaus – Friction Festival Berlin
May 9 2010 Rodeo Live Club w/ Frederik Teige Athens
May 11 2010 Gebäude 9 Cologne
May 12 2010 Knust Hamburg
May 13 2010 Rotown Rotterdam
May 14 2010 Doornroosje Nijmegen
May 15 2010 Cirque Royal – Les Nuits w/ CocoRosie Brussels
May 22 2010 Babel Malmö, Skåne län
May 28 2010 Immergut Festival Neustrelitz
Aug 6 2010 Off Festival Myslowice
Aug 14 2010 Haldern Pop Festival Rees-Haldern

Update:
Devendra is going to perform a bit, you might be in one of the lucky locations:
Feb 4 2010 Tokyo Unit Tokyo
Feb 5 2010 Tokyo Unit Tokyo
Mar 18 2010 Showbox @ The Market Seattle, Washington
Mar 19 2010 Commodore Ballroom Vancouver
Mar 21 2010 Crystal Ballroom Portland, Oregon
Mar 23 2010 Warfield San Francisco, California
Mar 24 2010 Wiltern Los Angeles, California

Links:
MySpace profile

And a small reminder of why we are looking forward for this album so much:

Links:
MySpace profile
Official website

Links:
MySpace profile
Official website

From Wikipedia:

Bo Diddley (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008) was an American rock and roll singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Often cited as a key figure in the transition from blues to rock and roll, he introduced more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard-edged guitar sound. He was also known for his characteristic rectangular guitar.

“Oy vey” (Yiddish: אױ װײ) (or just “oy”) is an exclamation of dismay or exasperation.

And a word of approbation:

Understanding matters little when the division marches on. In the basements of Tel Aviv, of all other place, these Eastern European conquistadors has commenced their advance. With a mixture of languages and cultures long pronounced dead, Oy Division creates, and re-creates, the Eastern European culture that seemed to have died years ago. My Yiddish and Russian are non existent and my German is a shame. I do posses an extensive knowledge of Hebrew and English, which here proved totally useless. It’s, of course, matters little in this “retro” festivity. Oy Division does traditional Klezmer music, but they do it the way it was done when it dictated the heart beats of million – frantic and insane.

Oy Division are releasing their debut album in May and will be touring Bangkok, Singapore, Hanoi, Krakow, Toronto, Tel Aviv and Romania until August (details on their MySpace).
Links:
MySpace profile