Half Handed Cloud: 7″ and tour with Lake
From the Asthmatic Kitty press release:
It’s been a while since Half-handed Cloud released a full-length album. But in this age of alternative distribution methods and so-called “new media,” HHC is bravely eschewing the Ringtone n’ MP3 for the old Vinyl n’ Live.
The live bit: Half-handed Cloud will be touring with Olympia-based Lake, beginning the tour from HHC’s homebase in California, to Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia, and then back up to New York. They’re traveling this time around with the Olympia-based musical entourage, Lake, whose musical expansion should contrast well with HHC’s DIY minimalism. See below for tourdates.
The vinyl bit: HHC also just finished up the third in the Unusual Animals vinyl series, taking up one flip of the 7″ wax with piano, silvertone guitar, pump organ, trombone, plus snare-drum and floor-tom in a concise two-and-half minute track titled, Sewing Wind to Fabric. His friends Bert Hiscock and Nedelle Torrisi (Cryptacize) assisted with this song on cello and violin. On the other side of the record are grooves that, when played against a specially designed needle, emanate the addictive and confusing Lite FM pop of Ariel Pink, with Before Today. We are unveiling this little gem in －CH=CH2 form (aka vinyl), complete with cover by illustrator Jared Chapman, here on our website on or around May 20.
After years of recording in relative seclusion in the hills of Los Angeles, Ariel Pink (the first non-Animal Collective member on the Paw Tracks roster) made his official Paw Tracks debut with The Doldrums. Recording at home with a guitar, bass, keyboard, and 8-track (the drum sounds are all unbelievably created with his mouth), Ariel Pink blends Lite FM and warped lo-fi pop into something beautiful and confusing, yet highly addictive. Ariel Pink’s excess of ideas, alongside his determination to make music from a trance-like state of privacy, places him among characters like R Stevie Moore, Daniel Johnston, or a young Kate Bush.
Full of spirited humor, Half-handed Cloud dissolves any obstacles standing in the way of his innocent bulldozing, jam-packing a sixties sensibility, the touch of a lullaby, and murmurs of divine redemption into micro-narrative and Casio sound effects. Just as fingers begin to snap in time, the artist wraps it up and crackles to conclusion. A trombonist since the age of ten, Ringhofer picked up the guitar as a teenager while recovering from toe surgery. Watching the artist equip himself with the sounds of a 1960’s era Sears particleboard guitar, air organ, chattering dolls, stomping on the kitchen floor, and various sixties-pop influences, one may begin to perceive an invisible pattern in the songster’s art deco rug.
Side A:
Half-handed Cloud “Sewing Wind to Fabric” 2:20
Side B:
Ariel Pink – “Before Today” 2:08
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTaIu2C1LOY[/youtube]
04-16 – San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop w/ Lake
04-17 – Oakland, CA – Mama Buzz Cafe (EARLY) w/ Lake
04-18 – Davis, CA – Rustic Backyard (723 A. Street) w/ LAKE and TBA
04-19 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kayo Gallery w/LAKE and The Mollies
04-20 – Denver, CO – Rhinoceropolis w/ Lake
04-21 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown w/ Lake
04-22 – Ames, IA – The Practice Space w/ Lake
04-23 – Rock Island, IL – Huckleberry’s Pizza Parlor w/ Lake
04-24 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Square Theatre w/ Think/Dance Collective, Lake
04-25 – Grand Rapids, MI – Calvin College@Fish House w/ Lake
04-26 – Bloomington, IN – Art Hospital w/ Vollmar, Lake
04-27 – Nashville, TN – Portland Brew (South) w/ Lake, Aaron Roche
04-27 – Lexington, KY – Loudon House (209 Castlewood Dr.) w/Lake (Noon – 3pm)
04-28 – Chattanooga, TN – Barking Legs Theater w/ Charles Allison, Lake
04-29 – Maryville, TN – Tomato Head w/ Lake
04-30 – Atlanta, GA – Drunken Unicorn w/ Lake
05-01 – Athens, GA – Flicker Theatre & Bar w/ Casper & the Cookies, Lake
05-02 – Chapel Hill, NC – Nightlight w/LAKE
05-03 – Richmond, VA – The Camel w/Erin Tobey! and LAKE
05-05 – Purchase, NY – Purchae College@Co-op w/ Lake
05-05 – Philadelphia, PA – Circle of Hope (East) w/ Lake
05-06 – New York City, NY – Cake-shop w/ R. Stevie Moore, Lake