Bob Boilen, the creator and host of NPR’s All Songs Considered, selected the Dry Spells’ “Too Soon For Flowers” yesterday as his pick for “Album of the Year”. Congratulations to the Dry Spells!
Listen to a stream of the show “Discussion: The Year In Music, 2009” HERE
Purchase the LP + Download at the Endless Nest store HERE
…and check out what other people have been saying recently:
“Lush, eerie, dreamy and haunting, gorgeous vocal harmonies, minimal percussion, equal parts seventies British folk and seventies Laurel Canyon pop, woven into a witchy gothic brew that is totally enchanting. Strings soar, unfurling melancholy melodies, and guitars jangle, but it’s the female vocals that seal the deal, a la Sandy Denny, Jacqui McShee of Pentangle, Bobbie Watson from Comus, Stevie Nicks, you get the idea, bewitching and ethereal, raw and powerful and emotional, and the harmonies, so captivating and otherworldly, wow. The Dry Spells manage to sound so timeless, this record definitely sounds contemporary, but if the lush production was dialed back just a little, this could easily have been some lost seventies psych folk reissue. Absolutely stunning. ” – Aquarius Records
“They balance folk and the kind smoldering 70’s rock balladry that moved Stevie Nicks’ shawl to action, bent strings in Pentangle and Fairport and has more recently been embraced by fellow Frisco-dwellers The Sandwitches. […] The band manages to wring soaring emotion and sadness out with a triumphant and wide-flung delivery rather than adopt the tendency of latter day folk-rock to wrestle with and finally succumb to overwhelming melancholy. A definite rare surprise in a bewilderingly narrowing field of entrancing folk.” – Raven Sings The Blues
Pillars and Tongues will be releasing a full length LP, Lay of Pilgrim Park, and The Cairo Gang will be releasing a 7″ e.p., Holy Clover, this winter on Empy Cellar Records (Holy Clover is released in collaboration with Tin Angel Records). It will be the first – long overdue – vinyl release by either of these artists. Paul Oldham recently finished mastering both records, which will be at the pressing plant next week, and available sometime in January. Until then, you can watch the lo-fi gem above by The American Opry of The Cairo Gang performing “Holy Clover” in New Mexico.
Both bands hail, at least in part, from Chicago and have played with each other across the country. Their music is some of the most thoughtful material we have heard in a long time… so, we are genuinely stoked! Coincidentally, they are both featured on Joan of Arc’s forthcoming release Don’t Mind Control.
The Dry Spells LPs arrived at the Empty Cellar HQ this evening! They are available for sale at our store, and will be distributed by Revolver (official release date November 24th). We will ship all of the pre-sale orders tomorrow. Anybody know how to get rid of a pallet? Perhaps a beach bonfire…
This is just in time for their performance on West Coast Live. Tune in at 10 AM Saturday, November 14th to your local affiliate while chomping your Wheaties for some lovely live tunes by the Dry Spells.
The Two Sides Of Tim Cohen is back in press! Empty Cellar & Secret Seven Records have pressed another 250 LPs. You can pick up a copy for yourself at our store. It is distributed by Revolver.
There is a great print feature by Jennifer Maerz about Tim Cohen and The Two Sides… in the San Francisco Weekly today. Check it out
I have recently come to realize that bloggers might be one of independent music’s greatest allies. Not that we didn’t kind of already know; but really, I am not sure that we could have gotten the word out about “The Two Sides of Tim Cohen” if it wasn’t for all the help we received from music writers online. As we were preparing to release of the Joseph Childress / White White Quilt – Split (Water Tower) 7″, we came across several great blogs that feature 45’s & 7″ records exclusively.
We are fortunate enough to be currently featured on Jason Dean’s 7 Inches blog, for the Water Tower Split. You can read Jason’s review of that record here. He also invited us to do an interview for his podcast. You can access that podcast at this post. We are honored. Hopefully I did not make a fool of myself in the interview.
Speaking of Joseph Childress… He will be playing tomorrow (Sun 9/20) at Yoshi’s Songwriter’s Sunday with two others, Roberto Miguel & Mason Lindahl. Check it out if you can.
8:00pm-Midnight
1330 Fillmore at Eddy
San Francisco
$5
…and speaking of 7 Inches, the Sandwitches finished recording their acoustic 7″ e.p. for Empty Cellar Record at the Garden Chamber this week. It will be titled Duck, Duck, Goose. They will be mixing the record with engineer/producer Wymond Miles when he gets back from tour with the Fresh & Onlys. Can’t wait to hear it!
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The Two Sides Of Tim Cohen is back in press! Empty Cellar & 
Speaking of 