RICHARD IN YOUR MIND + PIKELET NATIONAL CO-HEADLINE TOUR

September/October 2010

They’ve both put out second albums this year, both won heady praise and adulation around the nation for their musical brilliance, and now Melbourne’s Pikelet and Sydney’s Richard In Your Mind join forces for a national co-headline tour of earthshaking incredible-ness.

The wildly eclectic, patently amazing and ridiculously entertaining Richard In Your Mind are still a little puffed up from all the plaudits heaped on My Volcano, which earned albums of the week around the nation and handsome Triple J rotation on its release in June. They smashed a national launch tour in July and are now slavering to get back on the road.

Meanwhile Melbourne’s dazzling, incomparable Pikelet have enjoyed a similarly meteoric trajectory with Stem, which was released to the sound of a million jaws dropping back in February. Flogged by community radio and Triple J alike, and showered in critical superlatives, Stem hit the spot and kept hitting it until a thrilling musical climax echoed across the land.

Separately they were unstoppable, but together Richard In Your Mind and Pikelet are INDESTRUCTIBLE.

RICHARD IN YOUR MIND/PIKELET CO-HEADLINE TOUR

Geelong

Friday Sep 17

The National Hotel

tickets $12+bf from www.mohshtix.com.au / 1300 438 849

or $15 on the door if still available

Melbourne

Saturday Sep 18

Curtin Bandroom

tickets $12+bf from www.moshtix.com.au / 1300 438 849

or $15 on the door if still available

Canberra

Friday Sep 24

ANU Bar

$15 on the door – door sales only

Sydney

Saturday Sep 25

The Gaelic Club

tickets $12+bf from www.moshtix.com.au / 1300 438 849

or $15 on the door if still available

Katoomba

Sunday Sep 26

Gearins Hotel

tickets $12+bf from www.moshtix.com.au / 1300 438 849

or $15 on the door if still available

Toowoomba

Thursday Sep 30

Spotted Cow

free entry

Gold Coast

Friday Oct 1

Coolangatta Hotel

tickets $12+bf from www.oztix.com.au and www.moshtix.com.au

or $15 on the door if still available

Brisbane

Saturday Oct 2

The Clubhouse

tickets $12+bf from www.moshtix.com.au / 1300 438 849

or $15 on the door if still available

AVAILABLE FROM JULY 3

Danny & the Parkins Sisters were a truly singular blend of irritating, grating, interesting and meaningful.” – Bruno DeSmartass, Flipper

Chapter Music is proud to resurrect from undeserved obscurity the scratchy beatnik art-punk stylings of early 80s San Francisco trio Danny & the Parkins Sisters. Surrounded by the classic SF punk sounds of the Dead Kennedys, Pink Section and Flipper, Danny & the Parkins Sisters opted instead to head in a very different direction.

Brash Arizona transplant Danny Vinik and chic, alluring sisters Debra and Beverly Parkins strummed on detuned guitars, banged on whatever was close at hand, and declaimed hilarious, incisive lyrics dissecting the scenes and tribes around them in visceral early 80s San Francisco. Their high-performance shows played out in legendary venues such as the Sound Of Music and Club Generic, with guests including Dead Kennedys drummer DH Peligro.

In 1982, the band released a 8 song mini album on the Modern Masters label, run by Richard Kelly of the cabaret collective Club Foot Orchestra. It included the all-time shoulda-beena classic, War Is On Your Doorstep, a pounding tribal punk chant that sums up all the paranoia and posturing of the post-punk era.

By 1983 the band were over, with Danny heading to South America and the Parkins sisters to New York, but their brief SF moment shone with a peculiar, musically naive but still knowing charm.

Fans of angular post-punk luminaries like the Bush Tetras, the Raincoats or Y Pants will love this CD, which comes filled with bonus demo, live and rehearsal recordings.

You can hear some of the tracks at the band’s new Myspace profile.

With their second album Fabulous Diamonds II out on Chapter Music on June 19, Fabulous Diamonds are setting off around the countryside to bring their lurching, reverb-heavy but still somehow sensually alluring sound to your capital city.

A few weeks short of its physical release, the record has already been enthusiastically received in the digital blogosphere. “Without question the most exhilirating, immediate thing these two have done so far,” trumpeted Gorilla Vs Bear, while The Fader opined “check them out now before the hopeful frenzy.”

Below is a list of each upcoming opportunity you have to check them out, although the frenzy has actually already begun. Recorded by Eddy Current Suppression Ring’s Mikey Young, Fabulous Diamonds II is one of the year’s most intriguing albums, and their live shows take transcendental grumpy hypno-pop to a whole new level!!

FABULOUS DIAMONDS – FABULOUS DIAMONDS II ALBUM LAUNCH TOUR

MELBOURNE

Saturday July 17

The Toff In Town (Level 2, 252 Swanston St, Melbourne)

with Geoffrey O’Connor and Bum Creek

tickets $12 on the door

SYDNEY

Friday July 23

Spectrum (34 Oxford St, Darlinghurst)

with Naked On the Vague and Southern Comfort

tickets $12 on the door

PERTH

Saturday July 31

The Bird (181 William St, Perth)

with Melted Desert Trio and Desperate House

tickets $12 presale from www.moshtix.com.au

$15 on the door

ADELAIDE

Saturday August 7

The Metro (46 Grote St, Adelaide)

with Bum Creek, Fair Maiden and Bad Habit

tickets $10 on the door

HOBART

Friday August 20

The Brisbane Hotel (3 Brisbane St, Hobart)

supports and ticket info to be announced

BRISBANE

Friday September 3

Burst City (69 Grey St, South Brisbane)

with Blank Realm, Slug Guts, the Deadnotes and Feathers

tickets $10 on the door

Chapter Music is excited to be releasing the second album by Melbourne duo Fabulous Diamonds, entitled Fabulous Diamonds II by Fabulous Diamonds, on June 19.

Drummer/vocalist Nisa Venerosa and keyboardist Jarrod Zlatic are a weird pair. They make overtly hypnotic music, full of lulling, sensual repetition, but there’s also an edge of irritation, an undercurrent of friction that cuts through the drone and propels the songs forward.

Fabulous Diamonds II by Fabulous Diamonds begins with Nisa yelling at Jarrod as he counts in the first track, but they still start together in perfect unison. It’s this combination of tension and intuitive understanding that makes Fabulous Diamonds so special.

They’ve been playing and arguing together for more than five years now, and their musical bond has grown deeper and more expansive since their 2008 debut Fabulous Diamonds. That album made it into revered UK mag The Wire’s top albums of the year, and got glowing reviews from the likes of Pitchfork and The Fader.

But this new record is still a remarkable development. Of its five untitled tracks, two extend well past the ten minute mark, sustaining a kind of grumpy intensity that never lags.

The album was recorded with budding producer Mikey Young of Eddy Current Suppression Ring, and was mastered by Qua’s Cornel Wilczek. Like their first album, it will be released on vinyl by venerable US label Siltbreeze, home to releases by the likes of Pink Reason, Times New Viking and Psychedelic Horseshit.

Fabulous Diamonds toured the US in 2008 with the latter two bands, playing 26 dates in one month. In 2009 they were invited to perform at Belgium’s Kraak Festival alongside Wavves, Kurt Vile and others. They also played in the UK, Holland, France, Switzerland Portugal and Sweden on their 2009 European tour.

In Australia, the band have played with Deerhunter, Yeasayer, the Horrors, Akron Family, Beach House and many more.

Fabulous Diamonds II by Fabulous Diamonds is out on Chapter Music on June 19. Watch this space!

You can also check out a track from the new FDs album on the Chapter Music myspace page now!

Stem Album of the Week at 3RRR, 2SER, 6RTR, EDGE FM, SYN FM
‘Weakest Link’ single playlisted at JJJ

“She’s an astronaut” The Age EG
“The palette of Pikelet is so wide and expressive, and it’s the thing that makes listening to the entirety of Stem such a joy” Dom Alessio, Mess & Noise
“Bewitching. Sumptuous, somersaulting summer music” 4/5 Herald Sun
**** (four stars) Sydney Morning Herald
“Pikelet took the audience on a journey through death and pain, to the simplicity of love and life” Fasterlouder
“Stem is a musical for modern wonderment” 4/5 The Sunday Age
“A wondrous Lewis Carroll-styled musical excursion” Time Off
“Prodigious pop talent” MAG
“toybox soundscapes” Who Weekly
“Beneath all the carefully placed bleeps, bird noises, ticks and shuffling drums are some very fine songs indeed” 4/5 Alternative Media Group

As brilliant reviews like these pile in for Evelyn ‘Pikelet’ Morris’ second album Stem, the Melbourne psych-pop wonder is shaping up to become one of the artists of the year.

After a busy summer spent as national support choice du jour for the cream of international touring bands including Dirty Projectors, Devendra Banhart, Patrick Watson, Frida Hyvonen and Kaki King, Pikelet now has a string of national launches for Stem lined up with her full four-piece band.

Pikelet Stem Tour

MELBOURNE ALBUM LAUNCH
Saturday-Sunday April 10-11
Northcote Social Club
Saturday wth The Twerps + Parking Lot Experiments + DJ Jens Lekman
Sunday with World’s End Press + Love Connection + DJ Jens Lekman
tickets via www.northcotesocialclub.com / 9486 1677

PERTH
Friday April 23
Amplifier Bar
with Pond + Guy Blackman + Wind Waker
tickets via www.moshtix.com.au / 1300 438 849

SYDNEY
Thursday April 29
Oxford Art Factory
with Songs + The Maple Trail
tickets via www.moshtix.com.au / 1300 438 849

ADELAIDE
Friday May 28
The Metro
with guests to be announced

CRAYON FIELDS US DATES

Sunday March 14 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo, Crayon Fields on stage at 7.10pm (Aussie BBQ showcase)

Monday March 15 Los Angeles, CA – Silverlake Lounge, Crayons on stage at 8pm

Wednesday March 17 Austin, TX – Gibson Studios, Crayon Fields on stage at 5.30pm (KEXP live broadcast)

Thursday March 18 Austin, TX – Ghost Room, Crayon Fields on stage at 12:45pm (Austin Town Hall Party with Lets Wrestle, Surf City, Dappled Cities, The Loom, Lovely Feathers)

Friday March 19, Austin, TX – Natrix Natrix house party with So Cow, Wet Dog, Brown Recluse, Literature, Carnivores and maybe more

Saturday March 20 Austin, TX – Maggie Maes, Crayon Fields on stage at 12.05pm (Popfrenzy Aussie BBQ showcase, with Best Coast, Sally Seltmann, Surf City and more)

Saturday March 20 Austin, TX – Mi Casa Cantina, Crayon Fields on stage at 9.00pm (Official SXSW showcase)

Tuesday March 23 Williamsburg, NY – Bruar Falls, from 8pm (with Richard Davies, Kath Bloom and Guy Blackman)

Wednesday March 24 Brooklyn, NY – Sycamore, from 9pm (acoustic show)

Thursday March 25 Brooklyn, NY – The Bell House, Crayon Fields on stage at 7.40pm (Aussie BBQ showcase)

Friday March 26 Manhattan, NY – Pianos, from 8pm (with Yawn + Apollo Rise)

Sunday March 28 Los Angeles, CA – Echo Curio, from 3pm (with Guy Blackman + the Finches)

It builds on the heady, swirling loops of her 2007 self-titled debut, sailing into the psychedelic pop stratosphere with the addition of a full backing band.

It only takes one listen to realise that Stem is an incredible expansion of vision. New Pikelet inductees Shags Chamberlain (synths), Tarquin Manek (bass, clarinet, backing vocals) and Matthew Cox (drums) bring a cosmic space-prog edge, infiltrating Evelyn’s wide-eyed style with mind-expanding results.

After her 2009 world tour that took her everywhere from LA to Latvia, and recent shows with the likes of Devendra Banhart, Kaki King, Frida Hyvonen and upcoming shows with Dirty Projectors, it seems the sky is the limit for Pikelet. But actually that’s not quite right – as Stem proves, not even outer space can contain her!

Stem is in stores now, and available on iTunes!