Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang + Tim Cohen’s Magic Trick = Excellent New Release Week

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.

Pick up a copy of Island Brothers and/or Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang’s debut full length The Wondershow Of The World at the Endless Nest / Empty Cellar Store.

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…


Drag City Announces the biggest little Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang release to date!


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.


Now available at the Endless Nest Store



Usually, we add less than one item a month to our store… but last week we went a little overboard, so we figured it deserved a post. You can click on the covers above or links below to learn more about these solid vinyl releases by Empty Cellar related artists.

Sonny Smith – 100 Records Volume Two: I Miss The Jams, 5 x 7″ Box (Turn Up! 005)
Tim Cohen – Laugh Tracks, LP (Captured Tracks 62)
The Sandwitches – Makes Me Sick, 7″ (Southpaw 12)
Fresh & Onlys – August In My Mind, 12″ e.p. (Captured Tracks 46)
Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang – Wonder Show Of The World, LP (Drag City 2012)
Pillars & Tongues – Protection, CD (Contraphonic 074)


Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang – “The Wonder Show of the World”

bonnie-prince-billy-play-guitar-play-608x374 (2)

Our boy Emmett Kelly (The Cairo Gang) has been contributing guitar and voice to Bonnie “Prince” Billy recordings for the better part of the last decade. This Valentine’s day, Drag City announced the first official collaboration between Bonnie “Prince” Billy and The Cairo Gang. The newest full length featuring Bonnie “Prince” Billy or The Cairo Gang, The Wonder Show of the World (out march 22th on Drag City) is co-written between Emmett and Will… we are talking about the bee’s knees, the cat’s pajamas, the snake’s elbow. This is going to be rad. You can pre-order it from Drag City… and check out this atmospheric (non-LP) cover of Conway Twitty’s “Play Guitar Play”:

Play, Guitar Play: [audio:http://www.endlessnest.com/mp3player/source/bonnie-billy-wonder-show.mp3]

Watch the commercial:

…and here are some dope vids of Emmett Kelly (The Cairo Gang) and Will Oldham performing Bonnie “Prince” Billy songs: