Shedding, Catherine Irwin shows

CATHERINE IRWIN (member of FREAKWATER)
ELEPHANT MICAH (from Bloomington, Indiana)
THE HOLLOWS (from Bloomington, Indiana)

Friday, January 22nd
at the SWAN DIVE
921 Swan Street
9 PM, $5, 21-and-over

CATHERINE IRWIN has called Louisville, Kentucky home, or at least her home base, all her life. She began performing by playing guitar in punk bands “and not caring a bit about country music,” she says. Still, the seed for her band Freakwater was inside her: “Most of the country music I heard on radio, I hated. But I loved the Carter Family, the way they would approach songs about death and dying or being saved and rejoicing the same way. That kind of music seems to age better. I can’t see myself playing punk anymore, but this kind of music I can see playing the rest of my life” (Chicago Tribune). Her songs are just packed with sapience, despondency, and wry wit, though you don’t have to look past “Louisville Lip” or “Dirty Little Snowman” to see she’s one of America’s greatest living songwriters. Even so, she remains humble, even self-deprecating: “If I had a master plan, it’d be trying to get people used to the idea of frumpy middle-aged losers singing music” (Boston Phoenix). She will be joined at this show by (we think) fantastic Louisville guitarist Michael O’Bannon, formerly of Blinders, Antman, and current member of 1069.

Kentuckiana’s ELEPHANT MICAH has been practicing the fine art of flying under the radar for almost a decade now. In the middle 2000s, along string of home-fi folk rock albums (released by BlueSanct Records and Time-Lag Records) earned the band praise from avant-music mag The Wire and overseas gigs with Jason Molina’s Magnolia Electric Company. In 2010, ELEPHANT MICAH returns with a major CD/LP release on Time-Lag Records and its first American tour in five years. ELEPHANT MICAH is the name of a music collective led by musician Joe O’Connell. In addition, he has released work on his own LRRC (Luddite Rural Recording Cooperative), which has also released work from collaborators Justin Vollmar and Jason Henn.

THE HOLLOWS feature neo-country songstress Kate Long backed by an accomplished cast of fellow Bloomington music mainstays (see also: Fatted Calf String Band, Magnolia Electric Company, Panoply Academy, etc). Be sure to catch them on this rare Louisville outing!

Check out the Facebook invite here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=246305277152.

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SHEDDING (from Louisville)
MOUNTAINS (from NYC, on Thrill Jockey)
TAPE (from Sweden, on Immune Recordings)
R. KEENAN LAWLER (from Louisville)

Wednesday, February 3rd
at SKULL ALLEY
1017 E. Broadway
7 PM, ALL AGES, $6

SHEDDING has been a solo project for Connor Bell since 2001, though in 2009 Tim Furnish (Parlour, Crain, Papa M, The For Carnation) and Joey Yates (The Loved, Parlour, Sapat) joined as the rhythm section in SHEDDING’s new lineup. Solo, SHEDDING has already released a few albums, and the new band lineup plans to release a 7″ or 2 over the winter and spring of 2009-2010.

MOUNTAINS is Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp, friends since their middle school days. The duo were brought together by mutual artistic and musical interests, and both ended up at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It was during this time that they began exchanging musical ideas and compositions which led to them founding the Apestaartje label in 1999. As their collaborations and individual projects blossomed, they decided to create Mountains as a vehicle for live performance. The group has 4 albums: their first self-titled release and second album “Sewn” were both on Apestaartje; the third and fourth, “Choral” and “Etching,” on Thrill Jockey. Mountains is often compared to artists such as Brian Eno and Fennesz, citing their extended melodies and their unique broad guitar work. Mountains seamlessly blend pastoral electronic sounds with field recordings and a plethora of acoustic instruments.

Swedish trio TAPE was set up in 2000 by brothers Andreas and Johan Berthling with Tomas Hallonsten. Taking cues both from pop, experimentalism and minimalism, their sound has become recognized internationally and is clearly something of its own. Their first album “Opera” was released on the Häpna imprint (which Johan is a co-owner of) in 2002. With an array of electronic and acoustic instruments at hand they recorded at a small stone barn on the island of Öland, east of Sweden. 2003 saw the release of “Milieu,” recorded at the very same barn. In 2005 they went to Cologne to have Marcus Schmickler produce and record their third album “Rideau.” Over the past few years, their touring has taken them to places like Japan, Taiwan, USA and most parts of Europe.

R. KEENAN LAWLER is a musician and sound artist based in Louisville Kentucky. For over 25 years his musical journey has taken him from early experiments with reverb tanks, noise and tape decks to all manner of avant-garde, “new” music, psychedelia, electro-acoustic, drone, ethnic and sampler-based work. LAWLER is best known for developing a highly personal and exploratory language for the metal bodied resonator guitar which Baltimore’s John Berdnt called “Cosmic, monolithic and deeply American.” Indeed his work is informed by carnatic classical, Charles Ives, Albert Ayler, blues, minimalism and non-western trance musics. Primarily a solo performer, he is also known for collaborative work. The “Keyhole II” album he recorded with Pelt and metal worker Eric Clark is one of Pelt’s most beautiful and memorable recordings, and his guitar playing is also heard on releases by Paul K., Jack Wright, My Morning Jacket and most visibily on Matmos’ “The Civil War.” He has collaborated or performed with a wide range of forward-thinking musicians and mavericks including Rhys Chatham, John Butcher, Eliott Sharp, Charalambides, Ignaz Schick/Perlonex, Kaffe Matthews, Burning Star Core, Jason Kahn, Ut Gret, Thaniel Ion Lee, Ed Wilcox, Ramesh Srinivasan, Kevin Drumm, Arco Flute Foundation, Helena Espvall, Ian Nagoski, Connor Bell, Andy Willis, Alan Licht, Taksuya Nakatani, Tom Carter, Bhob Rainey, Aaron Rosenblum, Joe Dutkiewicz, Evergreen, Eric Carbonara and Joseph Suchy.

Check out the Facebook invite here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=248875773696.

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