A Light Sleeper, out of Chicago, have a new EP, Concision. This is a follow up to Brevity, released earlier this year. Check out a track below. A Light Sleeper will also be playing a show at Saki in Chicago on October 21, 2012.
 
The group has been around since 2005 when they began as a duo--using live looping and improve. A couple of years later they added a saxophone, then later still a cellist and a violinist. The music is hard to nail down. They have ambient, classical, jazz and low-fi influences surely but hanging a genre on them isn't easy (nor productive). Their live show is worth a look. When someone writes "classical and jazz" that may make some people's eyes glaze over. Resist! A Light Sleeper are not defined by the bits and pieces of the genres they incorporate in their music.

Perhaps "orchestral" is a better word to use than "classical."

The Road Most Traveled, compiled by Chuck Ragan, is bands telling the stories of their lives on the road. Bands telling their stories include Samian, Social Distortion, Flogging Molly, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Dropkick Murphys, many other musicians as well as bus drivers, tour managers and crew (these last three probably have the best stories...just guessing).

The stories are from all around the world and every chapter has a unique perspective and voice with stories ranging from the humerous and to near death experiences.

The book is available now at all the usual retailers and also at chuckraganmusic.com. You can get it as a book or ebook.

Deleted Scenes have a new video for their track, A Bunch Of People Who Love You Like Crazy. The single is off the band's second record, Young People's Church of the Air.  We have written about the release and the band before.

They are currently working writing their new record. It will be recorded with noted producer, Brian McTear (The War On Drugs, Kurt Vile, Sharon Van Etten, etc).

Barcode is a new musical created by NYC band, Gladshot, in collaboration with James Rado, creator of Hair and Johanna McKeon, the associate director of American Idiot, The Green Day musical. The play is coming to NYC on Septermber 30 at Bowery Electric in NYC.  Tickets are available now. You can also check out the track Corporate Safe + Secure below.

The show is a mix of rock n roll show and theatrical event with the band playing and taking on parts in the play.

Barcode sounds like a commentary on corporate culture. In the future a huge corporation monitors all comuncation, imprinting barcodes on people and generally being bossy. But it is also a love story.

Minneapolis hip hoppers Big Cats! (of The Tribe & Big Cats!) is getting read to release an instrumental solo record. "Big Cats!" is one half of the duo. The record was made possible via a grant from American Composers Forum and the McKnight Foundation and is a homage to his mother, who passed away from ovarian cancer.  The record is entitled For My Mother and comes out October 2, 2012. Seventy-five percent of proceeds of the record will be donated to the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance.

Check out the video for the track, One, below. You can get the record on CD or vinyl and there will be a release party in Minneapolis at The Cedar, October 11, 2012. You can pre-order the record and buy tickets to the show HERE.

Robert Rich's latest record, Nest, is a homage to dripping water and adaptable frogs. While in Australia recently he hearrd dripping sounds late in the evening on a deck--and the chirping of frogs. The next day he saw tha the dripping water came from foamy packets--tree frog nexts. The frogs didn't need a puddle. They had created their own airborne ponds to house their young.

Rich also says Nest represents unfinished business. It is a record that might have come from his childhood--he refers to it as calm and comforting, a nurturing recording that is never motionless.

The record was partially recorded while on tour in Australia and has references to early Rich work like Sunyata and the wonderful, Trances/Drones.

You can buy the new record HERE. Soon you will also be able to download the music HERE (The downloads may not be up right now...check back).

Denmark’s Alcoholic Faith Mission has a new video for Throw Us To The Wolves off their latest release, Ask Me This. This is the fifth video off the record.  The group toured the USA earlier in the year and will shortly head out on the road in Europe.

This new video, directed Mads Find, shows the work of Tin Can Company. The company are part of PB43, a “creative village” in Denmark that has over 100 creative types all living and working together.

Jason Collett's latest record, Reckon, and a retrospective, Essential Cuts, comes out today. The new record is produced by Howie Beck and features some notable guests--Basia Bulat, Kevin Drew and Afie Jurvanen. Essential Cuts also has its own guest spots--with lots of other artists from the Arts & Crafts stable appearing. You can check the record out at AOL Spinner this week.

You can also check out a live video of the Reckon track, Song Of The Silver Haired Hippie, below.

His music is a blend of the personal and the political. A tour is also happening. Check out dates below.

Tour
10/2: Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall (cd release show)
10/4: Hamilton ON @ The Casbah
10/6: Wakefield, QC @ Blacksheep Inn
10/7: Montreal, QC @ Lion d'Or
10/8: Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse
10/9: Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live (upstairs)
10/10: New York, NY @ Joe's Pub
 

Dispatch’s tour begins today (September 21) in Seattle and winds up just shy of a month from now. The group is touring to support Circles Around The Sun, the band’s first album in over ten years. It is out now on Dispatch’s Bomber Records.

The band is also appearing on two late night television shows--The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on September 26 at 12:35 a.m. and on VH1’s Big Morning Buzz on October 5 at 10 a.m EST/PT.  

You can also check out the band’s tour documentary from 2002 on their Youtube channel.

Dispatch, as you may know, have always been supporters of worthy causes. On this tour they are working to help Amplifying Education, an organization working to improve education in the USA. There will be events on this tour on September 29th in Denver, October 3rd in Chicago, October 5th in Metro NYC, and October 6th in Boston. Want to get involved? Head tot amplifyingeducation.org.

Tour
September
21st                  Seattle, WA                               Moore Theatre
22nd                 Portland, OR                            Roseland Theatre
26th                  Los Angeles, CA                       House of Blues
29th                  Broomfield, CO                       1st Bank Centre

October
1st                    Minneapolis, MN                       Orpheum Theatre
2nd                   Chicago, IL                                  Riviera Theatre
3rd                    Chicago, IL                                  Riviera Theatre
5th                    New York, NY                             Radio City Music Hall SOLD OUT
6th                    Boston, MA                                Agganis Arena
8th                    Toronto, ONT                            Sound Academy
9th                    Philadelphia, PA                       Tower Theatre
11th                  Washington, DC                       Constitution Hall SOLD OUT
12th                  Atlanta, GA                               Fox Theatre

Crime & The City Solution have a new compilation coming out and their first tour in 20 years as well. The new record, An Introduction To…Crime & The City Solution, A History Of Crime, Berlin 1987-1991. The record comes out September 25, 2012. A recording of new material is set for release next year.

And despite the cumbersome title it is well worth a listen. You can download a free track from the group, I Have The Gun, HERE. Tour dates are below.

The “An Introduction To…” part of this is a new series of compilations being released on Mute. The bands choose the tracks. If you do not recall this band and are a Wim Wenders fan you may recall some of their music was in the film Until The End of the World. This is also a band that has transmogrified a bit over the years and these tracks, as the title suggest are from the period between 87 and 91 when the band was based in Berlin (their origins are in Australia).

Do get out to see them live if you are able. It should be an interesting blast from the past….and for many it will be entirely new.