Anti Blog

Tom Waits will have his songs “Down There By The Train” (from Orphans) and “Lost In The Harbour” (from Alice) featured in the upcoming film “Miral” directed by Julian Schnabel (Before Night Falls). The film will debut September 2010 at the Venice Film Festival and chronicles Hind Husseini’s effort to establish an orphanage in Jerusalem after the 1948 partition of Palestine.

Mavis Staples and Jeff Tweedy talk about working together on Mavis’ upcoming album “You Are Not Alone” out September 14 on Anti-Records

Heathen Child, the new single from Grinderman, will be released through Anti- on September 7, 2010. The first track available from Grinderman’s new studio album Grinderman 2 (due September 14), Heathen Child will be available as a two-track download, accompanied by exclusive track Star Charmer.

A special Heathen Child Limited Edition double A-side 12″ Coloured Vinyl will offer the two single tracks, a poster, plus the bonus track Super Heathen Child — a collaboration between Grinderman and legendary guitarist Robert Fripp.

Limited Edition 12″ Coloured Vinyl w/ poster:

Side A: Heathen Child/ Star Charmer

Side AA: Super Heathen Child (w/ Robert Fripp)

Single Download:

1) Heathen Child

2) Star Charmer

Listen to Heathen Child by clicking here!

The first formal review of the Mavis Staples-Jeff Tweedy collaboration “You Are Not Alone” from the album of the same name due out September 14th.

“On paper, it is a head-scratcher of a partnership: a 70-year-old gospel legend recording material produced — and, in the case of this title track, written — by Jeff Tweedy, the driving force behind avant-pop band Wilco. In practice, however, the undeniably simpatico results are nothing less than transcendent. A more spiritual cousin to Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend,” this is so profoundly comforting and heartfelt, you could actually imagine it saving someone’s life. (From You Are Not Alone, out Sept. 14)” – Toronto Star

If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and listen for yourself  care of Pitchfork by clicking here.

Islands perform a melancholy rendition of their song “Lonely Love” at the studio of KDHX in Saint Louis, MO. this past July 9th.

Chapel Hill orchestral folk collective Lost In The Trees have their Anti-Records debut All Alone In An Empty House featured on NPR’s First Listen Series beginning today and running through the album’s release date of August 10. First Listen, part of NPR’s All Songs Considered programmed by Bob Boilen, is a much sought-after avenue for allowing listeners to preview selected upcoming albums in their entirety.Lost In The Trees is led by songwriter, musician and vocalist Ari Picker, and creates a startlingly original sound merging elements of classical music with the accessibility of American folk and rock.

Bob Boilen explains: “You’re about to listen to my surprise album of the year. I’d never heard of Lost in the Trees, didn’t know what I was in for, but in just one listen I knew I’d found a new friend. Lost in the Trees is the music of Ari Picker, a songwriter from Chapel Hill on a bit of a mission: Take a pinch of the brilliance found in classical music and mix it with his own. Lost in the Trees is orchestral folk where the “orchestral” part isn’t an afterthought. This is mighty potent stuff.”

The album All Alone In An Empty House was co-produced by Scott Solter (St. Vincent, Mountain Goats, Okkervil River) and creates a landscape in which both musical genres seamlessly co-exist to a thrilling and emotionally evocative result. The lyrical content details the moving and dramatic stories within generations of a family – fires consume, babies die young, a painter takes a walk in the woods, and empty rooms wait to be filled.

Listen to All Alone In An Empty House on First Listen by going here.

Lost In The Trees  have also recently announced a series of intimate live performances as well as some dates opening for acclaimed singer-songwriter Neko Case.

Tour Dates:

Saturday, August 7, 2010 Santa Monica, CA McCabes Guitar Shop @ 8:00 PM
Monday, August 9, 2010 Los Angeles, CA Spaceland @ 8:00 PM
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 Los Angeles, CA Amoeba Music @ 7:00 PM
Thursday, August 12, 2010 Los Angeles, CA Hotel Cafe @ 7:00 PM
Monday, August 16, 2010 Chicago, IL Millennium Park @ 6:00 PM
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 Nashville, TN James K. Polk Theater @ 7:00 PM ++
Thursday, August 19, 2010 Raleigh, NC North Carolina Museum Of Art @ 7:00 PM++
Friday, August 20, 2010 Charlotte, NC Knight Theater @ 7:00 PM ++
Saturday, August 21, 2010 Charlottesville, VA Jefferson Theater @ 8:00 PM++
Sunday, August 22, 2010 Washington, DC TBD++
Monday, August 23, 2010 New York, NY Mercury Lounge @ 8:00 PM
Thursday, August 26, 2010 Chapel Hill, NC Wallace Plaza @ 7:00 PM
++supporting Neko Case

A little philosophical tidbit care of your good friends at Anti.

Last week The Swell Season packed the historic Hollywood Bowl along with She & Him and the Bird & the Bee for what was, by all accounts a perfect summer evening. The Los Angeles Times raved about the night, offering the following observation:

“In another era, the Swell Season’s performance of “Falling Slowly” at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday night would have been accompanied by 17,000 Bic lighters glowing in the summer air. The ballad catapulted the Swell Season, the Irish/Czech duo comprised of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, into the American mainstream when they won the Academy Award for best original song in the indie film “Once.” It’s a song tailor-made for heavy petting, and on Sunday night it certainly pleased the crowd.”

To read the entire piece, just go here.

Things are going to be really different in the neighborhood now that 58-year-old Marc Abrams, a retired doctor aka the “Silver Lake Walking Guy,” “The Reader Walker,” “Dr. Jogger” and mostly as “The Walking Man,” was found dead in a hot tub this week. Abrams was like clockwork, speed walking through Silver Lake wearing only his shorts and leathery tanned skin while reading the paper. Abrams is featured in several murals around town including this one beside the restaurant Local on Sunset. He has also been the subject of more than a few print profiles.

“I do it to stay in shape,” he said in an interview. “There’s nothing deeper about it. I just walk for the exercise, for the sun, to see my friends, to catch up, to get my newspapers read.”

Walk on….

Dazed Digital has a great interview with Sage Francis discussing the artist’s label Strange Famous, YouTube, announcing his retirement after every gig and his collaboration with the composer Yann Tiersen, of which he says: “Did I know it would work? I never really thought it’d happen. I never listened to a Yann Tiersen song and thought ‘Fuck, I should sample this in one of my songs’. It was something totally separate and I didn’t want to…pollute it. I definitely never thought Yann would compose anything for me so it never crossed my mind. But when he sent through the music to me I knew I could do something with it.” To read this whole in depth interview, just go here.

And further more… There is a great video interview and some live SXSW footage of Sage care of the UK site Rockfeedback here.