Backseat Sandbar

Bro. Stephen (a/k/a Scott Kirkpatrick), Louisville’s Brooks Ritter and Bloomington, Indiana’s husband&wife, are joining forces for a show at Quills (Baxter Ave.) on December 11, 2009. If you are looking for a relaxing start to your Friday night with a warm cup of coffee and some amazing sounds, this is the place to be. We’ll be there.

About Bro. Stephen:

Bro. Stephen is a project of Scott Kirkpatrick who is also the force behind indie-rock band Chemic. Originally conceived as a songwriting exercise, Bro. Stephen has come to mean much more. Pulling from a childhood of being a preacher’s son, a deep collection of poor decisions, and a constant struggle with Narcolepsy, the songs of Bro. Stephen are a casual dart game: the sound of ennui.

Despite it’s relatively recent inception, Bro. Stephen headed out on the road in 2009 on a national tour playing songs off of his upcoming debut record and armed with hand-made copies of The Front Room EP which was a collection of demos Kirkpatrick had recorded on a cassette tape machine. Along the way Bro. Stephen has supported acts like The Fiery Furnaces, Sun Kil Moon, Anni Rossi, DM Stith, The Daredevil Christopher Wright, and Vandaveer, and almost finished the recording of its debut album Baptist Girls, a record that was largely recorded on an old farm in Northern Indiana (available sometime in 2010 on some record label maybe).

Bro. Stephen will also be releasing an EP in conjunction with The Laminar Excursion Monthly in 2010 (which we already told you about here).

Bro. Stephen- “Patrons of the Arts” (Front Room EP version)
[audio= http://brotherstephentourblog.wordpress.com/files/2009/10/03-patrons-of-the-arts.mp3]

About Brooks Ritter:

The artistry of Brooks Ritter is a seamless garment. An indivisible blend of voice, musicianship and songwriting that is capable of communicating the wide range of human emotion and illuminating our hopeful, fallen, love-sick, grasping condition. His lyrics are insightful and honest, his music displays the rare kind of versatility that makes you think and makes you move, and his voice is an instrument capable of subtle nuance and supple power that glides effortlessly through the realms of rock, folk and soul.

About husband&wife:

Listen to their Daytrotter Session HERE.  No more intro needed.

husband&wife- “Haven’t Got a Friend”
[audio= http://slowcoustic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/havent-got-a-friend1.mp3]

husband&wife – Comp Jam from Crossroads Of America Records on Vimeo.

You heard it here first!

In a joint effort, Crossroads of America Records and Flannelgraph Records (both from Bloomington) are releasing a series of records on 3″ CDs that will be released monthly (2 releases per month) as a year long subscription service called the Laminar Excursion Monthly.  Sales will open up on Monday, November 2nd and they are EXTREMELY limited to only 100 copies.  Each 3″ CD will be approximately 20 minutes of new, unreleased music from each artist.  Lots of the bands involved frequently play here in Louisville, so it will be a real treat for the first 100 people who decide to purchase it.  Some of the incredible bands involved will be Damien Jurado, Richard Swift, Cotton Jones, Desolation Wilderness, J. Tillman, Saxon Shore, Bexar Bexar, and a host of others that will be announced in the coming days!  With a roster like this and as cheap as it is (only $45!?), I cannot imagine this being around for more than a few hours before it sells out.  Make sure to put this on your calendar and get ready to enjoy one of the coolest things to have come down the pipe in a long time.

With the labels both being in Bloomington, there are a ton of regional bands involved with the subscription service as well such as Everything Now!, husband&wife, Vollmar, Rodeo Ruby Love, Bro. Stephen, Metavari, Osteoferocious, Homecomings, Frank Schweikhardt, Alexander The Great, Chad Serhal, and more!

LEM = Most Perfect Christmas Present Ever.

From the horses mouth:

The intimacy of its sparsity and the intentionality of its medium promise to make this an even more fulfilling investment than a jelly-of-the-month club.

Subscribers will receive two new 3″ cds at the beginning of every month of 2010.  A unique box will be sent with the initial shipment.  Even if the rest of your world falls apart, you can still count on having two new compact discs arriving to your mailbox each month for the entire year.

Laminar Excursion Monthly will be limited to 100 subscribers.

The yearly subscription fee is $45.00 until January 1st.  If any subscriptions are still available at that point, the fee raises to $50.00.

Subscriptions will be available at www.xrarecords.com beginning Monday, November 2nd.

As a few of you know, I have a few musical projects that take up a lot of my time, and one of them is the indie-folk band Bro. Stephen which just finished up a month-long tour and which will keep me out of Louisville for quite some time.  Now, you will have to excuse the shameful self-promotion because this really isn’t about me.  This is about all of the bands that I’ve met along the way, who you should check out and support in hopes that we can lure a few of these acts to play in Louisville in the near future.

Even folks who aren’t steeped in the culture of mellow indie-rock typically have an awareness of hushed troubadour Sufjan Stevens.  What some people don’t realize is that he started and helps run a label called Asthmatic Kitty Records.  On this record label is David Stith, aka DM Stith, who has released a number of EPs and a recent full length called Heavy Ghost.  I caught Stith in Bloomington (where he now resides) at a show at Greek’s Pizza.  I had heard some of his tunes beforehand, but wasn’t very familiar with his catalog so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from his perfomance.  He set up and was accompanied by 3 brass players as well as the talented Dave Segedy (The Native Young, Prayer Breakfast) on the drums, and Mike Dixon (Rapider Than Horsepower, Prayer Breakfast) on guitar/bass.

I knew that Stith’s material was strong, but I was amazed at his harp-like guitar mastery and the ethereal quality to his songs that lend each one a sense of being haunted.  Obviously, his record Heavy Ghost was quite aptly named.  His songs pull from his background (he comes from a very musical family) and a common theme is a consistently veiled take on faith and other weighted matters of the heart.  The songs have depth and the instrumentation is layered, but not overpowering.  I highly recommend checking him out.  According to Asthmatic Kitty’s website, Stith will be at The Dame in November with Osso (the musicians on Sufjan’s latest effort Run Rabbit Run) and The BQE which is a documentary done and scored by Stevens himself.  Should be a great show that will be packed.

DM Stith Tour Dates (via his MySpace):

As a few of you know, I have a few musical projects that take up a lot of my time, and one of them is the indie-folk band Bro. Stephen which just finished up a month-long tour and which will keep me out of Louisville for quite some time.  Now, you will have to excuse the shameful self-promotion because this really isn’t about me.  This is about all of the bands that I’ve met and will meet along the way and who you should check out and support in hopes that we can lure a few of these acts to play in Louisville in the near future.

Just last weekend I caught up with one of the most exciting bands in the country: Cincinnati’s The Seedy Seeds.  TSS closed up the opening night of the Midpoint Music Festival in Cincinnati, OH at Cincinnati’s famed Contemporary Arts Center.  I have had the pleasure to catch this band quite a few times in the past 6 months since they’ve played Skull Alley a few times (to a lucky few folks) and even played the Buzzgrinder Birthday Bash at The Rud with J Roddy Walston and The Business (which was one of the most fun shows in Louisville I’ve ever been too).  That’s not to mention the times I’ve caught them in their native Cincinnati where they are indie-pop royalty with the support of their city like Louisville hasn’t seen since The Merediths (remember them?).  Their set at MPMF had over 200 people crammed into a hot, sweaty room totally blissing out on every note and beat that came from the stage. (more…)

Scott Kirkpatrick will bring his touring self to Skull Alley on 9/17 to play as Bro. Stephen. You may know Scott from seeing Chemic around town, or from reading his writings right here on Backseat Sandbar. Make certain to go see his set and say hello to him.

Also playing their fine music that evening will be Jamie Barnes, Frank Schweikardt, and Laura Balke. The show starts at 7:00 p.m. and it’ll cost you a whole Lincoln piece of paper money to enter and enjoy the show. Believe me, it’s worth every piece of money that has Lincoln on it.

If you still don’t believe it, then make your way over to Sunergos Coffee on Preston to see the well-designed show poster for yourself. Also, enjoy a delicious caramel latte while you are there, I know I sure enjoyed one.

Vandaveer will be playing at the 930 Listening Room on Thursday, September 10, 2009.  Two of my favorite local acts, Squeeze-bot and Brother Stephen will open.  Doors at 7:00pm and there is a $5 cover (best deal in town).  It is an all ages show.

WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS TO THE SHOW. COMMENT BELOW AND LET US KNOW THE INSTRUMENT YOU WISH YOU LEARNED TO PLAY  (BACK STORIES ARE GREAT TOO).   I’LL GIVE THE WINNER AN EMAIL WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

Vandaveer- However Many Takes it Takes [audio=http://www.vandaveer.net/media/Vandaveer_-_However_Many_Takes_It_Takes.mp3]

More details below the break…

(more…)

As a few of you know, I have a few musical projects that take up a lot of my time, and one of them is the indie-folk band Bro. Stephen which is on tour right now and will be through October which will keep me out of Louisville for quite some time.  Now, you will have to excuse the shameful self-promotion because this really isn’t about me.  This is about all of the bands that I’ve met and will meet along the way and who you should check out and support in hopes that we can lure a few of these acts to play in Louisville in the near future.

First one up is a band that is actually playing in Louisville TONIGHT at Skull Alley.  That band is one of the great K Records‘ new shoegazey verb-pop band Desolation Wilderness.

I played with these dudes last night in Bloomington, IN at a pizza joint called Greek’s Pizza which was a strange, but cool place to see/play a show.  Think a narrower and longer Skull Alley with tables and chairs set up all over the place so there were a lot of folks sitting and eating, but a huge crowd packed in the front of the restaurant by the door were taking in one of the more talked about bands I’ve come across recently.

(more…)

Scott Kirkpatrick of Louisville’s Chemic and Bro. Stephen joined us for the fifth episode of our “A Six Pack with…” series.  Chemic just played with Casiotone for the Painfully Alone last night and will be playing at the Forecastle Festival and the Midpoint Music Festival.  Scott is a truly great singer/songwriter and we’re psyched he sat down with us.

Six Pack: Smithwicks (last second audible)

PAST EPISODES

EPISODE I- Mat and Joe of Karate Body Records

EPISODE II- Jeff Smith of Crash Avenue Publicity

EPISODE III- Myron Koch of the Peak Summit Festival

EPISODE IV- Ryan and Jeremy of Jangle and Roar Records

Minnesota’s Anni Rossi is coming to town tomorrow. I’ve been meaning to rant and rave about this girl, but I’ve gotten behind and haven’t found the time to do it…but this girl deserves to be ranted and raved over. Think about a more accessible Joanna Newsom with similar vocal range and irregular pitch idiosyncrasies as well as her proclivity towards strings.  Like Newsom, she is not for everyone, but it is her live performances that fans have come to love.  You can get a great review of the album HERE.

Scott Kirkpatrick, frontman of Chemic, will be performing under the new guise Bro. Stephen

.

Anni Rossi – Wheelpusher [audio=http://www.buzzgrinder.com/media/annirossi_wheelpusher.mp3]