Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang are at it again!
Empty Cellar is proud to announce the latest single by Bonnie “Prince” Billy and The Cairo Gang, “We Love Our Hole” b/w “I’ll be Alright”. This latest product of their fruitful collaboration finds Will Oldham and Emmett Kelly sitting barefoot on a sand dune, plucking the last rays of an Australian sunset from the sky. These two songs were recorded for “SPIRIT OF AKASHA”, a film/soundtrack celebrating 40 years of the classic 1971 Australian surf film “Morning of the Earth.”
“We Love Our Hole”, a warm and fuzzular take on the notorious Aussie localism, recalls the carefree back to earth acoustic jams on the original “Morning of the Earth” soundtrack. Twangy leads punctuate the bongo-driven tune (music by Kelly / lyrics by Oldham) exalting their hole… the kind of place you discover by following your bliss, “a cove where love is free”. Unbridled, the duo’s dueling voices find rare, compelling, moments of unison amidst rich harmonizing. The B-side, “I’ll be Alright”, is a stripped-down take of the Terry Hannagan song from the original soundtrack. Equally melancholy and reassuring, Hannagan’s meditation on the drag of modern life is dispensed thoughtfully by Oldham in his fearless, self-assured, voice. The recording as a whole finds Oldham and Kelly stepping confidently across the beach, fully trusting each other in these songs as only seasoned brothers can.
This 7” vinyl record comes packaged in a high-gloss photographic jacket featuring a golden still by “SPIRIT OF AKASHA” filmmaker Andrew Kidman. Limited to a single pressing of 1000 copies, this release is a perfect assurance that summer is coming through the clouds, and its music positively sparkles like a sun-lit sea. Bonus points: Each 7” comes with a special fart-cloud sticker drawn by the great Nathaniel Russell that you can place in the wind of your favorite Surfer pic! Get yours HERE!
“He’s a man who loves music with every fiber of his being, and that comes through on tracks like this.“ – Mark Schoneveld, YVYNYL
Empty Cellar Records is proud to present our latest release The Corner Man, by Chicago’s notorious The Cairo Gang (In stores 10/23). PREORDER the album HERE
The Corner Man is the much-anticipated new LP by The Cairo Gang and the first full-length of new material since the impossible to find ’06 record Twyxt Wyrd. In the time between, Emmett Kelly and The Gang has worked on various projects including 2010’s Holy Clover, EP (Empty Cellar), and collaborations with Bonnie “Prince” Billy for the critically acclaimed LP and 10″, The Wondershow of the World and Island Brothers, both on Drag City. This is their first full length for Empty Cellar, and we couldn’t be more psyched to see how it’s come together. The Corner Man is a marked departure from Wondershow in presenting a diverse program of songs that explores Kelly’s own singular voice and production styles. It contains lush, full arrangements that span from tentative and intimate ballads, to searing guitar and deep pocket drumming – always with the lead voice way out front and a wild bed of gorgeous harmony just behind it.
On this effort Emmett is joined by Chicago musicians Leroy Bach (Wilco, The Boogie Band), Ben Babbitt (Pillars and Tongues, This Is Cinema), Sam Wagster (The Father Costume), avant-garde pianist Ben Boye. Mixed with worldly recording wizard David Vandervelde and mastered by Paul Oldham, The Corner Man is presented on glorious vinyl in an elegant old-style paste-on sleeve and letter-pressed obi.
Track Listing: Side A: Everybody Knows / Now You are One of Us / Gland in Gland / Put on a Smile Side B: Gone is the Light / Freak / Ill Force / There is Something Here
Two Empty Cellar artists released amazing records this week. First, The Cairo Gang stokes us down a new 10″ e.p., Island Brothers, in equal collaboration with Bonnie “Prince” Billy on Drag City; and then, Tim Cohen releases both a full-length LP/CD, Tim Cohen’s Magic Trick, and a 2×7″ e.p., Bad Blood on New York’s Captured Tracks label… sick dawg…
Let’s start with the Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang vinyl:
“Bonny & Cairo and the gang sing for a good cause — for once? — with the profits from your purchase going to facilitate and educate Haitian access to clean filtered water in these times of disaster and disease. For more information, go to www.edgeoutreach.com. The music? Fan-gasms for fans of The Wonder Show of the World and Beware. Two songs and three photos for your ten inches.” – Drag City
If you saw Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang on their most recent walkabout, then you probably saw the band that cut these tracks. An all-star cast featuring Ben Boye on piano, Danny Kiely on bass, Van Campbell on drums, and the lovely Angel Olsen on harmony vocals.
Oh, and incase you have not stumbled upon the ecstatic review posted on Dusted’s “Still Single” blog for The Cairo Gang’s Holy Clover single, then you can read it here: “nothing less than transporting genius… devastatingly perfect… otherworldly”.
Moving on, we have two SOLID releases by the ever prolific Tim Cohen:
“Tim Cohen’s third solo release, Magic Trick, finds him still fighting off the demons of a restless musical mind. In the 12 songs collected here, Tim traverses a wide range of conflicting moods while somehow always reenforcing his songs with messages of hope and positivity. “Don’t Give Up”, “I am never going to die”, and “Flower” are perfect examples of the upbeat melancholy that has defined his solo work to this point. Joined by fellow Soul searchers James Kim (Kelley Stoltz band), Noelle Cahill, and Alicia Vanden Huevel (Aislers Set), along with other supportive friends, Cohen has taken long musical strides on this third LP, in terms of arrangement, recording, and overall risk-taking. Recorded at home on the reliable tascam 388 during breaks from a busy touring schedule with The Fresh & Onlys, “Magic Trick” captures almost every moment of solitude, longing, and wonderment that passed through Tim’s foggy mind throughout his transient 2010. “Magic Trick” is a record for all seasons, and should be listened to in the earliest morning.
To coincide with the release of “Magic Trick” we have a double 7″ with poster sleeve that plays at 33 1/3. Recorded during the same fruitful period the produced Magic Trick, all eight tracks are exclusive to this release and continue in the homegrown, earthy pop that we’ve all come to know and love from the Fresh & Onlys frontman. One record is black and one record is white on this 2×7″ EP.” – Captured Tracks
These are two amazing records by Tim… possibly the best yet! If you don’t believe us, then read the Pitchfork reviews. We’ll have these in at the endless nest store soon…
Yesterday, Drag City sent out their January Newsletter. That newsletter contained the following exciting announcement:
“Don’t walk away thinking February’s just about Six Organs of Admittance! Because that’s not the whole truth — it is, but it isn’t. Because there’s also the biggest little Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy single to date! What makes this so big? The songs are about the same length, and there’s only two, so…well, one thing to consider is that this single is a big 10″ record! And that those two 10” sides are wrapped in big full-color photosleeve. And that inside that sleeve is a full color insert with another amazing photograph. But what really makes this record a big one is that “Island Brothers” b/w “New Wonder” is a charity record, with the money that is made from the record earmarked for donation to the EDGE Outreach organization who are striving at present to bring water purification education to Haiti. They need it down there, where a year after the earthquake, they’re suffering from an outbreak of cholera for the first time in a century. The people of Haiti need a lot of aid, and they need a lot of clean water as well, as do we all. These two songs by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & The Cairo Gang are powerful musical testaments that will fit well on the turntables of fans, collectors and everyone else as well. And they’re for a good cause too. So get ready to help.”
These Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang releases are amazing. Written, recorded and released in the spirit of true collaboration and do-gooding, they are as much a Cairo Gang release as they are a Bonnie “Prince” Billy release. Pick up a copy of their debut LP, The Wonder Show of The World to see how the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts.
Will Oldham and Emmett Kelly (Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang) have been touring The Wonder Show of the World (Drag City) for many months now, and it has taken many forms. Here they are performing “Troublesome Houses”, Live at Store Vega Copenhagen 05.25.2010 with Nori Tanaka on drums:
…and here they are performing “The Sounds Are Always Begging” in Whelans, Dublin. 07.29.2010 with The Trembling Bells:
This weekend (Friday and Saturday) they will be playing shows on opposite sides of the San Francisco bay in their latest incarnation. Both shows will feature bassist Danny Kiely, drummer Van Campbell, keyboardist Ben Boye, and backing vocalist Angel Olsen.
(((folkYEAH!))) presents Tomorrow’s SOLD OUT event in Sausalito. The venue looks like this… hot dawg!
Cavallo Point, Wooden Chapel (Mission Blue), Sausalito, CA
If you weren’t able to procure a ticket for that performance, then you can still catch them (and about 100 of your musical heros) for FREE on Saturday at the 10th annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. They close out the Star Stage at 4:40 PM.
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