Endless Nest

Two Rad Free Chicago shows For Pillars and Tongues This Week + Foxy Digitalis Review!

Chicago’s Pillars and Tongues (Empty Cellar), whose most recent album just received a great review on Foxy Digitalis, will be playing two rad FREE shows this week in their home town.

On Sunday evening (2/19) Millennium Park will be transformed into a digital canvas of light and geometrical form, Luminous Field, by artistic ensemble Luftwerk. Pillars and Tongues will perform an inspired extended set in a heated tent adjacent to the giant bean at 7pm (doors at 6:30).

Then on Tuesday night (2/21) the Brooklyn Vegan presents Pillars and Tongues opening for Pitchfork proclaimed rising star Willis Earl Beal

Dates:
02-19 Luminous Fields/Millennium Park – Chicago, IL
02-21 Cole’s Bar – Chicago, IL w/ Willis Earl Beal (Brooklyn Vegan Chicago Presents)

Pillars and Tongues release live sessions

In the last month Pillars and Tongues have released two intimitate live sessions featuring unreleased songs:

Their third Daytrotter session was released on January 9th:
Click here and listen to the latest Daytrotter sessions by Pillars and Tongues.

…and last week Epitonic unveiled their live Saki session:
Click here and listen to Pillars and Tongues live at Saki Store Chicago (presented by Epitonic)

Magic Trick (Tim Cohen Solo) on tour with Papercuts

Tim Cohen will be touring the western states solo this week and next in support of the most recent Magic Trick album The Glad Birth of Love. All dates are with Papercuts!

12/2 – The Satellite, Los Angeles, CA
12/3 – The Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA
12/8 – The Sunset Tavern, Seattle, WA
12/9 – Cabaret at The Waldorf Hotel, Vancouver, BC
12/10 – Bunk Bar, Portland, OR

YVYNYL premieres the music video for Pillars and Tongues’ “Thank You, Oaky”

yvynyl premiered the official music video for Pillars and Tongues’ (Tumblr | Bandcamp) “Thank You, Oaky”, today. The mysterious video is directed and produced by the talented folks at 19th State Productions. The song is dark and driving, unsettling and addictive, spartan and mystical… and the video is beautiful. “Thank You, Oaky” comes from Pillars and Tongues’ most recent album on Empty Cellar Records, The Pass and Crossings.

The Sandwitches Release TWO new music videos + On Tour in Europe/UK

Gorilla Vs. Bear debuted two rad music videos for The Sandwitches this week. Above you have a stunning video for “In The Garden”, off of their most recent LP Mrs. Jones Cookies,directed by Ryan Browne and shot at San Francisco’s legendary Esta Noche. Below you “Benny’s Memory Palace,” taken from their new Hardly Art 7″ single, The Pearl. Created/directed by the talented Sophia McInerney. Both videos are most excellent:

The Sandwitches UK/European Tour Dates:

11.15.11 – London, UK – Heaven ^
11.16.11 – Gent, BE – DOK
11.17.11 – Utrecht, NL – DB’s
11.18.11 – Hamburg, DE – Molotow Bar *
11.19.11 – Koeln, DE – King Georg
11.20.11 – Berlin, DE – Monarch *
11.21.11 – Erfurt, DE – Museumskeller *
11.22.11 – Dresden, DE – Ostpol *
11.23.11 – Vienna, AT – Arena *
11.24.11 – Celje, SI – Kino Metropol *
11.25.11 – Graz, AT – Forum Stadtpark *
11.26.11 – Carpi, IT – Mattatoio *
11.27.11 – Rome, IT – Touch the Wood @ Micca Club
11.28.11 – Bologna, IT – Spazio Elastico *
11.29.11 – Milan, IT – Rocket *
11.30.11 – Lausanne, CH – Brasserie du Chateau
12.01.11 – Geneva, CH – Bibarium
12.02.11 – Paris, FR – La Mecanique Ondulatoire
12.03.11 – Amsterdam, NL – OCCII #
12.07.11 – San Francisco, CA – SF MOMA

^ – w/ Washed Out and John Maus
* – w/ Carletta Sue Kay
# – w/ Peaking Lights

Joseph Childress Tonight!

Pillars and Tongues Release Free Online Single

Pillars and Tongues present a mesmerizing free download single released in coincidence with their late summer / early autumn 2011 tour.

Download it from their site HERE

Side A: Oaky (doting, in late summer)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Side B: Live Song

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Oaky (doting, in late summer)” is an alternate version of a song that appears on the album The Pass and Crossings, and also, in a few significant ways, an entirely new song.

‘The Pass and Crossings’ is available from Empty Cellar HERE

Check out this THC-induced promo video:

Oaky (doting, in late summer) Promo from Ben Babbitt on Vimeo.

Pillars and Tongues on tour with Dark Dark Dark and A Hawk and a Hacksaw

THIS TOUR COMES ON THE HEELS OF THE RELEASE OF THE PASS AND CROSSINGS AVAILABLE AT THESE CONCERTS AND OUT NOW ON LP / CD / DOWNLOAD / CASSETTE VIA EMPTY CELLAR RECORDS HERE

“Slowburning spectral violins, reedy harmoniums and endlessly decaying distant percussion collude to create a John Calean atmosphere as austere and featureless as that found within the more spectral moments of Nico’s icy THE MARBLE INDEX. Phew. Better still, these opaque sheets of slow-moving sound facilitate the pure voice of singer Mark Trecka, which soars high above, yawning out such song titles as ‘A Dance in the Billowing Absence’ and ‘The Making Graceful’, like some newly dead ghost hovering above his own funeral.”
– Julian Cope, Address Drudion, Sept. 2011CE

Tour Dates:
—
+ with DARK DARK DARK
∞ with A HAWK AND A HACKSAW
Ω with NONA MARIE AND THE CHOIR and LONESOME LEASH
—

09/18 St. Louis – Off Broadway (3509 Lemp Ave) +∞

09/19 Bloomington, IN – The Bishop (123 S. Walnut St.) +∞

09/20 Cleveland, OH – The Grog Shop (2785 Euclid Heights Blvd) +

09/21 Columbus, OH – Wexner Center for the Arts (1871 N. High St.) +∞

09/22 Toronto, Ontario – Rivoli (334 Queen St. W) +∞

09/24 Northampton, MA – Iron Horse (20 Center St.) +∞

09/25 South Burlington, VT – Higher Ground (1214 Williston Rd.) +∞

09/26 Portland, ME – SPACE Gallery (538 Congress St.) +∞

09/27 Hamden, CT – The Space (295 Treadwell St, Bldg H) +

09/28 Brooklyn, NY – Bell House (149 7th St.) +∞

09/29 Manhattan, NY – Drom (85 Avenue F) +∞

09/30 Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe (3025 Walnut St.) +

10/01 Pawtucket, RI – The Met (1005 Main St.) +

10/02 Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall (158 Brighton Ave.) +∞

10/03 Baltimore, MD – The Golden West Cafe (1105 W. 36th Street) +

10/04 Washington, D.C. – The Red Palace (1212 H. St. NE) +∞

10/05 Durham, NC – The Pinhook (117 W. Main St.) +∞

10/06 Knoxville, TN – The Pilot Light (106 Jackson Blvd.) +∞

10/07 Atlanta, GA – The Earl (488 Flat Shoals Ave. SE) +∞

10/08 Birmingham, AL – Bottletree Cafe (3719 3rd Ave.) +∞

10/09 New Orleans, LA – Allways Lounge (2240 Saint Claude Ave.) +∞

10/10 Houston, TX – Warehouse Live (813 St. Emmanuel St.) +∞

10/11 Denton, TX – Dan’s Silverleaf (103 Industrial St.) +∞

10/12 Austin, TX – The Mohawk (912 Red River St.) +∞

10/14 Albuquerque, NM – John Lewis Theatre (1025 Broadway Boulevard Southeast) +∞

10/15 Denver, CO – Walnut Room (3131 Walnut St.) +

10/16 Omaha, NE – Slowdown Jr. +

10/17 Minneapolis, MN – Bryant Lake Bowl (810 W. Lake St.) Ω

10/18 Iowa City, IA – PS1

Magic Trick – Glad Birth of Love Release Party (Wed 8/24)

This Wednesday we’ll be partying at the Rickshaw stop in celebration of the new LP, The Glad Birth of Love by Tim Cohen and his band, Magic Trick. Tim will have the last Limited Ed. copies of the Magic Trick album available at the show! It will, however, be a bittersweet night, as it is the final show for Bay Area stalwarts, Magic Bullets. Local lo-fi’s PreTeen will be releasing a 7″ that night as well.

((folkYEAH!)) and Empty Cellar Present:

TIM COHEN’S MAGIC TRICK (Album release party!)
Magic Bullets (Last show ever),
PreTeen (7″ release show)
Tambo Rays
plus DJ Britt Govea of ((folkYEAH!))

8:00 PM, Wednesday 8/24
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell Street, San Francisco

Purchase tickets HERE

Pillars and Tongues getting busy this weekend in Chicago

Today (Saturday)… maybe even right now, Pillars and Tongues wil be playing at Reckless Records with This Is Cinema and Houtakker. They are there to celebrate the release of a new cassette compilation titled Chicago (Two Syllable Records) featuring some of our favorite Chicago musicians including the two above, Angel Olsen, and many more. If you don’t live in Chicago, then you can get the tape HERE. If you do live in Chicago, then you should head over to Reckless, catch their sets, and consider picking up a copy of Pillars and Tongues’ latest album The Pass and Crossings.

Tomorrow (Sunday)… Pillars and Tongues will be playing with High Places and Dusty Bibles at The Empty Bottle get Tickets HERE

Happy Birthday Tim Cohen!

It is not everyday that new release day falls on your birthday, and you also happen to be releasing an album. It is, however, more likely to happen if you are the ever-prolific Tim Cohen. Today, on Tuesday July 19th 2011, Tim Cohen is releasing 100 limited edition copies of his new album The Glad Birth of Love on Empty Cellar Records. Get your limited edition copy HERE

Listen to one of the four EPIC tracks, “Daylight Moon”, here:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Magic Trick is:
Tim Cohen – A little bit of everything
Noelle Cahill – Angel Voices and more!
Alicia Vanden Heuvel – Angel Voices and more!
James Kim – Drums and more!

More on the record:

Empty Cellar records is proud to announce the latest full-length album by Tim Cohen (Fresh and Onlys), The Glad Birth of Love. This is Tim Cohen’s fourth album following his 2009 debut, The Two Sides of Tim Cohen (Empty Cellar), and two full-lengths (Laugh Tracks / Tim Cohen’s Magic Trick) and one EP (Bad Blood) on New York’s Captured Tracks label. Featuring guest appearances by John Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees), Grace Cooper, (The Sandwitches), Diego Gonzalez (The Dry Spells, Citay), and several other San Francisco musicians, The Glad Birth of Love is the first Tim Cohen album to not directly bear his name, but the name of his band, Magic Trick. Recorded in a tower at Tim Cohen’s home this album marks a departure from his signature radio-ready song craft. The Glad Birth of Love is a 45 minute album composed of four epic long-form compositions saturated with Tim’s uncanny pop sensibilities and vivid lyrical imagery. Transitioning seamlessly from sparse acoustic blues, to dense bass & oud ragas, to layered of lush vocal harmonies this album is a culmination of Tim’s work to date. 100 limited edition copies will be released on Tim Cohen’s birthday on Tuesday July 19th with a limited edition art print by Kevin Earl Taylor. Mastered by Paul Oldham and featuring artwork by Kevin Earl Taylor.

Track Listing:
1. Cherished One (13:23)
2. Daylight Moon (7:26)
3. Clyde (10:46)
4. High Heat (11:30)

Pre-order HERE

Summer Bummer: Pillars and Tongues… Delayed

Due to a major blunder at the plant all Pillars and Tongues orders will be going out a month late. We received the LPs a few weeks ago and they look beautiful… unfortunately, the music sounds like it was performed by a different band… because it was performed by a different band… because the plant used the wrong plates to stamp the records… OOPS!

Due to this mistake at the plant, The Pass and Crossings will not be available in stores until the end of July. You can still pre-order it HERE.

On Pillars and Tongues, The Pass and Crossings + New Single

The Empty Cellar / Endless Nest crew can talk your ear off about why we believe Pillars and Tongues make powerful beautiful music, but we will spare you our inarticulate yammering. Instead we offer you the first round of praise from the world of music criticism for their forthcoming album, The Pass and Crossings, and unveil the second single “Thank You Oaky” for your listening experience:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

One of the hardest aspects of describing Pillars and Tongues is describing Pillars and Tongues… and one of our favorite past times is reading the descriptions. While some publications like The New Yorker strived to capture the bands essence with broad brushstrokes “an indefinable, primal jazz outfit with a strong ear for improvisation” others decided to brave the challenge of really pinning the band. Some of our favorite comparisons this time around were rather lofty including Dead Can Dance, Alice Coltrane, Popol Vuh… and of course, Alice in Chains.

…on the album The Pass and Crossings

“There’s something exhilarating about the way they court the darkness in their own music, as if it is something which swims around them and envelops them, and is something they encourage and indulge. …an absolutely gorgeous album.”
– Song By Toad

“Without a reliance on electronic drones and over saturated vocals Chicago’s Pillars and Tongues seem to have a much more organic sound to it. While their overall sound is dark in nature I find it to be rather seductive as if you’ve stumbled upon a few friends in the basement of a 400 year old cathedral.”
– Head Under Water

“This Chicago three-piece clearly possesses a total disregard for structure, big choruses and standard arrangement. Which is probably why they are so original, bewitching and contently working to their own, unique guidelines – however doomed they might be. It feels like the record is a collective thought process, unburdened by the outside forces. Yet it is their apparent freedom of expression which has created this challenging, but ultimately rewarding experience.”
– Bowlegs

“Over 6 tracks, The Pass And Crossings formulates, constructs and exhibits some of the most unique (yet not unfamiliar) music being recorded today. In the most simplistic terms, you can file this album under genres like folk, drone and even blues; what’s unique about it is that the music doesn’t sound played, but rather it sounds induced. Rather than compacting the human experience into the smallest convenience, with The Pass And Crossings, Pillars And Tongues expand moments of it, indulge in and honour it.”
– [sic] Magazine

“Soaring strings and the near chanting vocals allow the listener to float seemlessly through this album. However it is not filler or noise, but the music sucks you into the enchanted world of Pillars and Tongues.”
– Deli Magazine

…on the lead single “The Making Graceful”

“This song [The Making Graceful] is totally rad. It’s tribal – maybe a bit Persian. It makes you wanna tap your toes. I love it. You could totally get high to this song. In fact, it’s probably preferable.”
– Kyle Dean Reinford, KDR Gives You 5

“Singer Mark Trecka entrances with his deep chanting vocals on new single “The Making Graceful” from Pillars & Tongues upcoming third album The Pass and Crossings. “The Making Graceful” channels Dead Can Dance’s hypnotic, almost sermon-like pop song structure. It draws you in and doesn’t let go until the end.”
– Loud Loop

“A six minute composition [The Making Graceful] of meditative percussive thumps overlain with fluctuating strings, it is actually aided by its length. Each pass builds the hypnotic mystique, coaxing the listener down its cathartic emotional gauntlet.”
– Nothing Sounds Better

“A perplexing array of instruments filter through the cracks in the walls, joining arms and become a solitary wave of almost wistful, flowing noise. ‘The Making Graceful’ sounds pagan-like; how music would have been made when we had castles for skyscrapers and rituals for the internet. Its six minutes rush by in no time at all because you’re given so much to ponder. Each second provides a new rush of instrumentation or a textural adjustment. A truly fascinating work.”
– Music Fans Mic

“[The Making Graceful] An Eastern-influenced (visions of Ravi and Zeppelin dance in our heads) texture-and-tone heavy track. Violins and accordions blend perfectly to create a transcendental feel, while an array of syncopated percussion maintain a solid substratum of beats throughout. … both masterful and graceful.”
– Chicagoist

“Pillars and Tongues are magic. A proper review is to come, but in the meantime you can listen to that song [The Making Graceful], and I can consider just how exactly I will be able to put into words something that is already distilled darn-near perfectly in its own language.”
– Satellite for Entropy

…on the band

“What makes Chicago’s Pillars and Tongues so enchanting is the disarming alchemy with which the ensemble stirs up its otherworldly song. Straddling the vocal out-of-body keening of Daniel Higgs and the levitating musical atomic peace of Alice Coltrane at her most drone-leaning, P&T swirls old-timey folk around the third-eye cosmic to yield something that feels of its moment.”
– Baltimore City Paper

“The Chicago trio Pillars and Tongues makes very serious music. The group’s droning pieces—too monumental to be called songs—feel heavy, ancient, and spiritual, like they’re intended for something besides just entertainment. The best comparison might be Popol Vuh, the German band best known for providing the haunting minimalist soundtracks to Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, and Cobra Verde. It’s too heady to be pop, too viscerally ritualistic to fit into the academic confines of modern composition, too ponderous to be jazz—but whatever it is, it’s powerful.”
– Metropulse, Knoxville

…and for the french speakers:

“Bon sang. Il n’est pas encore sorti le nouvel album de Pillars and Tongues que déjà, on sent comme un engouement, comme les prémices d’un succès annoncé. Il faut dire que ces chicagoans ont de quoi intriguer. Imaginez un peu : ils sont trois et, à les entendre jouer, on a l’impression qu’ils sont un orchestre. Du violon par-ci, du tambour par-là, une contrebasse, un orgue, des cloches. Un véritable orchestre, je vous dis.”
– My Car Is Full of Plums

The Sandwitches Tour the Pacific Northwest with Sonny & The Sunsets (Midwest / Northeast in July)

Polaroid by Chris Cantalini Gorilla Vs. Bear

The Sandwitches are on the road with Sonny & The Sunsets in support of Mrs. Jones’ Cookies (Empty Cellar). They are making their way up the pacific coast towards Calgary, Canada for the big Sled Island music festival where they will be playing a bunch of shows. If you live on the other coast and are jonesin’ for The Sandwitches live… then fret not, as they will be headed your way via the midwest (also with Sonny and his gang) in July. If you catch them during these summertime tours, you just might be treated to some Earth Girl Helen Brown crossover action!

June Dates:

06-22 Portland, OR – The Record Room
with: Calvin Johnson

06-22 Portland, OR – Cherry Sprout Grocery
with: Sonny and the Sunsets, Calvin Johnson, Earth Girl Helen Brown

06-24 Calgary, Canada – Bamboo
with: Sonny and the Sunsets, Chains of Love, Louise Burns

06-25 Calgary, Canada – The Ship & Anchor
with: Sonny and the Sunsets, Jim Ward, The Lusitania, Heart Failure Research,

06-25 Calgary, Canada – Marquee Room
with: Sonny and the Sunsets, Jim Ward, Shuyler Jansen

06-27 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – The Waldorf Cabaret
with: Sonny and the Sunsets, Shannon and the Clams, Hunx and his Punx

06-28 Seattle, WA – Funhouse
with: Sonny and the Sunsets

July Dates:

07-01 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
with: Sonny and the Sunsets, Calvin Johnson, Wounded Lion

07-22 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
with: Sonny and the Sunsets

07-23 Pontiac, MI – The Pike Room
with: Sonny and the Sunsets

07-24 Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Sneaky Dee’s
with: Sonny and the Sunsets

07-26 Montreal, Quebec, Canada – Divan Orange
with: Sonny and the Sunsets

07-27 Philadelphia, PA – North Star Bar
with: Sonny and the Sunsets

07-28 Washington DC – DC9
with: Sonny and the Sunsets

07-29 New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
with: Sonny and the Sunsets

07-30 Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands
with: Sonny and the Sunsets

City Limits Records Treats us to another San Francisco Compilation

Geography breeds and cultivates its own particular sound. In our case, a slew of local bands transmit San Francisco’s foggy charm into catchy, dazed melodies. Inspired in part by the Secret Seven Records compilation, In A Cloud: New Sounds From San Francisco (recently profiled on pitchfork), the bloggers behind Ears of the Beholder and See the Leaves have compiled 14 Bay Area tracks as their first installment in their City Limits Presents project, which aims to showcase and invigorate music from varying regional scenes. Featured on this release are songs by Empty Cellar family artists The Sandwitches, Tim Cohen, and Joseph Childress, along with a bunch of other buzzworthy artists. You can preorder the 12″ (on orange vinyl, no less) or download the tunes instantly from their bandcamp . The release party for the comp will be June 17th at Milk Bar. Support our scene!!

Listen to “Sirens and Bells” by the Sandwitches:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Track listing:

1. Young Prisms – Weekends & Treehouses (Acoustic)
2. Tim Cohen – Wake Up In Another Dream
3. Exray’s – Paper Bag ft. Heidi Alexander
4. Magic Bullets – No Longer There
5. Fiveng – Meant To Be
6. The Sandwitches – Sirens & Bells
7. Joseph Childress – Last Days
8. Sunbeam RD. – Prismatic Surface
9. Melted Toys – Lost Connection (Demo)
10. Phantom Kicks – Cut From A Different Clay
11. Maus Haus – You Made My Radar
12. The Soft Moon – Bones
13. Skeletal System – Cue To Remind
14. Kites Sail High – Trip