I'm a total fanboy for Parenthetical Girls. I squee at paypal confirmations from Zac. It's a sad state I know but to discover their next album is being released in five parts is a collectors paradise for me (unless I'm one out like I was with the No Age series *sigh*). You can pre-order the first part from their new parentheticalgirls.com . Until then, here is the first video off the first 123 in the series titled "Evelyn McHale", a song that introduces the title character who is known for the most beautiful suicide . [...]
Parenthetical Girls are an Portland, Oregon by way of Everett, Washington four-piece experimental pop act. They are set to release their next full lenfth, Privilege , as a box set of five limited edition 12" EPs on their Slender Means Society label. Each part is limited to 500 physical copies. The first 12" in the series is titled On Death & Endearments , and is scheduled for release on February 23, 2010. The last part in the cycle is scheduled to be released in May of 2011 and will come with an LP box [...]
Today's 'News In Brief' is supported by the women of Cinncinatti, a lone Wolf and Chicken Teriyaki in all it's variations. Here's the new Efterklang video! Marina and the Diamonds have announced details of their May 2010 tour. With tickets going on general sale Friday Feb 5th at 9am, fans can order tickets two days early by signing up to the Diamonds Area [...]
I'm really digging this song right now. Above is 'Evelyn McHale' by Parenthetical Girls , the opening track on the first of five limited-edition 123 EPs to be released. Not to be sold in stores, the EPs together will make up Privilege , the bands' 4th studio album. Finishing up this release schedule in May of 2011, the last EP will come packaged in a LP box designed to house all four of the preceding relases. Look for them at Slender Means Society . You can head to Stereogum to download the song, [...]
Parenthetical Girls emerge with a new release next month, the ambitious Privilege, pt 1: On Death & Endearments . This 4 song suite leads with the single, "Evelyn McHale." Which, similarly to "A Song for Ellie Greenwich" from 2008's Entanglements , this song uses as inspiration the title character to launch into allegorical intimacy. Evelyn McHale's suicide was famously documented in Life Magazine with a striking photograph taken by photographer Robert Wiles in 1947, just after the 23-year-old woman lept off the Empire State Building's observation deck, and meeting her [...]
Portland's Parenthetical Girls are releasing five limited-edition EPs, which will eventually be packaged together as the follow-up to the superbly under-appreciated LP Entanglements. Lead Girl, Zack Pennington, has an emotive voice that's as dangerous as any musical instrument - bending syllables and phrases like aural origami. On the first song off their new collection, the band is going for a more traditional pop song, trading in their orchestral baroque leanings. "Evelyn McHale" uses the famous Empire State Building suicide as a jumping off point. [...]
Portland based Parenthetical Girls have announced a new 5-part series of 12" records to be released on Slender Means Society starting in late February. It's not quite the proper follow-up to 2008's underrated Entanglements but it continues the trend of indie bands moving to vinyl and digital for their releases. The first 12" to be released will be Privilege: Pt. 1 - On Death & Endearments , out on February 23rd. Here's the track listing for that one and the first taste of what's to [...]
Parenthetical Girls new full length ( Privilege ) as a box set of five extremely limited 12" EPs on their own Slender Means Society label. These EPs will be sold separately in sequence every quarter over the next 15 months, each as they are completed. They will not be distributed to stores. As the cycle concludes in May of 2011, the fifth and final 12" will come packaged in a beautiful, aesthetically cohesive LP box designed to house all four of the preceding releases, forming the complete Privilege album. Limited to 500 physical copies per EP, the [...]
It's no secret that Parenthetical Girls have a penchant for the dramatic. The band's music is an operatic performance of strings, bells, horns and singer Zac Pennington's fluttering melisma. Combined with their stage persona—let's just say Pennington has a drum stick and he knows how to use it—it adds up to one fine spectacle. That being said, Parenthetical Girls newest release might not be that big of a shocker. The Girls are set to release their new effort, Privilege , over the next 15 months as a series of five 12-inch EPs on digital and vinyl [...]
Parenthetical Girls - "Privilege: Pt. 1 - On Death & Endearments" 123 Out 2/23 on Slender Means First in a series of 5 limited-edition 12-inches, to be collected as a box set upon completion in 2011.
In 1947 Evelyn McHale took a swan dive off the observation deck of the Empire State building (spoiler alert: she died) and was immortalized in this Robert Wiles photograph . It's about time someone writes a song about her. Enter the Parenthetical Girls with "Evelyn McHale," the first song from their five-part (!) twelve-inch EP series on their Slender Means Society imprint. Not released in stores and limited to either digital download or a limited vinyl pressing, the records will be spaced out over 15 months, and when finished, they'll be [...]
Parenthetical Girls' jangling, swiveling anthem "Evelyn McHale," which they appropriately label "Bolan-ian," gets its name and starting point from the 23-year-old woman who jumped from the Empire State Building observation deck on May 1, 1947 and was photographed immediately after by Robert Wiles in beautifully serene repose atop a crushed car. It's the opening track on the first of five limited-edition 12" EPs that will eventually make up the Portland band's fourth album Privilege , which follows 2008's more orchestral Entanglements . The EPs will be sold separately in sequence (and as they were completed) over [...]
Thanksgiving is officially behind us and now it's full force til Christmas.The entire music industry shuts down after Dec 10th which means far less tours but more holiday parties stocked with Egg Nog! Some scene gossip: Local Natives have just signed to French Kiss Records [...]
Here's the second part of the long commentary piece posted to the main Fingertips site on Monday. Thanks for the comments so far, and the emails too. Perhaps this second part, for those who haven't read it yet, will clarify some things. Without further ado... * * * * * Consequence No. 2: Cultural disconnect Beyond plummeting album sales, another disorienting hallmark of the digital music age has been the fragmentation of popular music into a mind-boggling array of genres and sub-genres. Are there any songs or artists that "everyone" listens [...]
God knows how long BLK JKS has been on tour. The band played three shows at SXSW six months ago and have since been on the road with barely a week straight at home. Yet somehow, BLK JKS found time to record and release their excellent debut album, After Robots . The ceaseless touring shows in their set, for better and worse. Their performance at TT the Bear's was fantastic: if there is a band playing more synergistically, syncretically and synaesthetically, I haven't seen it. On the other hand, the show seemed beset by technical [...]
Yay! The Spinto Bands new EP "Slim & Slender" just dropped into our inbox! If you haven't ever really heard of them, please please don't Google them and forever link them to that fucking Nescafe advert which uses what's probably their biggest single to date, 'Oh Mandy'. They're better than that, much better. Slim & Slender is just that, a slinky 4 track digital or vinyl EP that's out on the 6 th of October, and serves as a precursor to the self-recorded LP to follow in 2010. Guitarist Jon Eaton says "We [...]
It was an evening of regressive rock in Brooklyn. That means lots of dudes drinking lots of beer talking about speaker cabinets and the women who put up with them. Brooklyn was one of the few east coast cities lucky enough to get a show from the Stone Axe/Sun Gods In Exile tour in preparation for the final Stoner Hands Of Doom festival in Maryland over Labor Day weekend. The show took place at the Charleston on Bedford Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. In case you don't know, this is ground zero for ridiculous [...]
The Long Winters , The Maldives (pictured above from last year's DB set ), David Bazan , Hey Marseilles , The Moondoggies and The Lonely Forest headline the 2nd annual and greatly expanded Doe Bay Music Festival, August 14-15 at Doe Bay, Orcas Island. Because the festival doesn't have a big advertising budget behind it, there are still tickets available . It's going to be a cozy (est. 500-800) gathering of campers & cabin dwellers taking in the stellar and expanded lineup [...]
I'm one of the many Americans who believes the moon shot was not staged. Call me crazy.... The moon shots, I should say (plural). There were a number of them. That I believe, too. Saw my dentist, and yes, my tooth is in bad shape. The filling was surrounded by decay which reached quite low in the tooth. He put in a temporary filling of a purely medicinal nature (save for the fact it plugs the hole he drilled), and if I'm not in a lot of pain over the next [...]
Festival season here in the Puget Sound is kicking into high gear (pedal to the metal, dudes), with all sorts of recent announcements being broadcast over the ether and internets (see: Capitol Hill Block Party , Doe Bay Fest , Decibel Festival , West Seattle Summerfest , Georgetown Musicfest aka Artopia , others I'm forgetting). The eminent Noise for the Needy commenced last night (6/10) with a rousing show from Slender Means, Fences, New Faces, and Red Sharks at Neumos. Actually, I have no idea [...]
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