Moments 1–10 of 2011
Single-handedly destroying bandmate Kyle Forester in a Brooklyn Aviators half-time race while wearing boots and trying to hold up my hockey pants.
Moments 1–10 of 2011
Single-handedly destroying bandmate Kyle Forester in a Brooklyn Aviators half-time race while wearing boots and trying to hold up my hockey pants.
On November 3, The Ladybug Transistor will play London’s Scala as part of Fortuna Pop’s 15 Year Anniversary! Tickets are on sale now.
Gary spoke to Monty Manatee about visual art’s involvement in the Ladybug Transistor releases. You can read the interview here.
You can listen to Clutching Stems in its entirety in the Merge store!
The Ladybug Transistor’s new album Clutching Stems is now in stores, and the band will bring their new songs on the road this week!
Prefix Media reviewed the new album saying “Clutching Stems is the band’s finest record since The Albemarle Sound, and the kind of pop record that may break your heart, may even tear you apart, but it’s also generous and complex enough to put you back together in the end.”
Blurt‘s Lee Zimmerman says Clutching Stems is “as intoxicating as ever, it conveys a jubilant first impression that lingers long after.”
And The Line of Best Fit says, “that innate knack for crafting durable, radiant melodies is the real strength of Olson’s songwriting talents”
Stream the full album in the Merge Store now!
We are giving away one limited-edition cassette of Clutching Stems, courtesy of Glasgow’s . If you’d like to win this special collector’s item, email with your address and full name. We will pick a winner on September 7! Edit: we had an amazing response to this contest, and decided to give two copies away! Thanks for entering & stay tuned for more Merge contests!
The Ladybug Transistor on tour:
Sep 06 Los Angeles, CA The Satellite
Sep 07 Santa Barbara, CA Muddy Waters
Sep 08 San Francisco, CA Hemlock Tavern
Sep 09 Portland, OR Musicfest NW
Sep 10 Seattle, WA The Comet Tavern
Gary, Eric, Julia and Kyle are guest editing Magnet Magazine this week! Bookmark this page and keep up-to-date on their favorite things.
Kindness of Ravens has a great interview with the band, discussing cover image location, Saint Bernards, and recording Clutching Stems. Read it here.
Order Clutching Stems on CD or digital download from the Merge store, or visit your local record store now!
The Ladybug Transistor on tour:
Sept 06 Los Angeles, CA The Satellite
Sept 07 Santa Barbara, CA Muddy Waters
Sept 08 San Francisco, CA Hemlock Tavern
Sept 09 Portland, OR Musicfest NW
Sept 10 Seattle, WA The Comet Tavern
Gary from The Ladybug Transistor was recently on a solo tour of Spain and performed “Oh Cristina!” from Clutching Stems on a Spanish beach with help on guitar from Darren Hanlon.
The Ladybug Transistor are currently on tour and will celebrate the release of Clutching Stems in their hometown of Brooklyn at the Knitting Factory on July 6!
Order Clutching Stems now on CD or digital download in the Merge store.
The Ladybug Transistor on tour:
July 06 Brooklyn, NY – Knitting Factory
July 07 Pittsburgh, PA – Carnegie Museum of Art Sculpture Court
July 08 Kalamazoo, MI – The Strutt
July 09 Madison, WI – UW Madison Union Terrace
July 10 Chicago, IL – Schuba’s
July 11 North Manchester, IN – The Firehouse (FREE SHOW!)
July 12 Cincinnati, OH – Mayday (FREE SHOW!)
July 15 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar
July 16 Raleigh, NC – Kings Barcade
July 17 Charlottesville, VA – The Southern
Sept 06 Los Angeles, CA – Satellite
Sept 07 Santa Barbara, CA – Muddy Waters
Sept 08 San Francisco – the Hemlock Tavern
Sept 09 Portland, OR – Musicfest NW
Sept 10 Seattle, WA – The Comet Tavern
The Ladybug Transistor gave us a sneak preview of the title track off their forthcoming album Clutching Stems live from a hotel room in Chapel Hill, NC during our 20th anniversary celebrations in 2009.
Watch The Ladybug Transistor perform “Clutching Stems” live from the Holiday Inn in Chapel Hill
The Ladybug Transistor have announced the first tour dates in support of Clutching Stems beginning June 29 in New Haven, CT. Don’t miss them!
Download a free MP3 of “Clutching Stems” and pre-order the full album on CD now in the Merge store.
The Ladybug Transistor on tour:
June 29 New Haven, CT BAR (FREE SHOW!)
June 30 Cambridge, MA TT the Bear’s
July 6 Brooklyn, NY Knitting Factory
July 7 Pittsburgh, PA Carnegie Museum of Art Sculpture Court
July 8 Kalamazoo, MI The Strutt
July 9 Madison, WI U W Madison Union Terrace
July 10 Chicago, IL Schuba’s
July 11 North Manchester, IN The Firehouse (FREE SHOW!)
July 12 Cincinnati, OH Mayday (FREE SHOW!)
July 15 Baltimore, MD Ottobar
July 16 Raleigh, NC King’s Barcade
July 17 Charlottesville, VA The Southern
The Ladybug Transistor will release their new album Clutching Stems on June 7 and will hit the road beginning June 29 in New Haven, CT to bring you the new songs live! More tour dates will be added soon.
Clutching Stems is a lush collection of potent refrains and brought-to-one’s-knees ballads. Set to an invigorated soundtrack of wave-pop arrangements, the songs detail stories of humbling heartbreak, profound longing, undoing distress, nagging regret, and coming-of-age awakenings. Olson’s lyrics express an overarching search to find one’s voice in the face of moments that knock the wind and words right out of a person.
Download “Clutching Stems” from Clutching Stems now.
Clutching Stems is available for pre-order on CD now in the Merge store.
The Ladybug Transistor on tour:
June 29 New Haven, CT BAR (FREE SHOW!)
June 30 Cambridge, MA TT the Bear’s
July 6 Brooklyn, NY Knitting Factory
July 7 Pittsburgh, PA Carnegie Museum of Art Sculpture Court
July 8 Kalamazoo, MI The Strutt
July 9 Madison, WI U W Madison Union Terrace
July 10 Chicago, IL Schuba’s
July 11 North Manchester, IN The Firehouse (FREE SHOW!)
July 12 Cincinnati, OH Mayday (FREE SHOW!)
July 15 Baltimore, MD Ottobar
July 16 Raleigh, NC King’s Barcade
July 17 Charlottesville, VA The Southern
www.eatdavelove.com
Radio Dept. “Clinging to a Scheme”
Beach House “Teen Dream”
Viktor Sjöberg “Breakfast in America”
Superchunk show, Bowery Ballroom, Sept 2010, NYC
Shout Out Louds “Work”
Finally seeing Pavement live, “Way Out West” festival, Summer 2010
Wye Oak “I Hope You Die” (single)
Shimmering Stars “It’s Just As Well”
Mad Men Season 4
It’s easy to miss out on some of the digital-only releases we throw your way—the Internet is a pretty crowded place these days! Here’s a quick summary of what you may have missed:
The limited-edition Destroyer 12-inch “Archer on the Beach” is out-of-print in the Merge store, but you can now buy the songs via digital download!
Don’t miss out on Swim Remixes—Caribou’s answer to what happens when you put one of the year’s hottest dance records in the hands of some of the world’s best DJs! With reworks of some of Swim’s hottest cuts by Junior Boys, Fuck Buttons, Nite Jewel, DJ Koze, Walls, Gold Panda, Gavin Russom, and more, Swim Remixes contains over an hour-and-a-half of new, fresh takes on Caribou’s latest opus.
Let’s Wrestle bring us a tasty piece of next year’s sophomore record with the “Getting Rest”/“When I Was In Hospital” digital single. Be warned: these young Londoners are not to be missed.
Shout Out Louds’ Fall Hard EP expands upon Work’s catchy first single with non-album cuts “Fall Hard Pt. 2” and “Can’t Explain.”
Lou Barlow + the missingmen’s = Sentridoh III is Lou’s first recorded output with new backing band the missingmen. Described by the band as “an almost live representation of the Lou Barlow + the missingmen live show,” this mini-album breathes new, rocking life into Sebadoh and Sentridoh classics, Lou’s solo material, and even a haunting cover of the timeless Skip James song “I’m So Glad.”
Tracey Thorn followed up this year’s gorgeous Love and Its Opposite with a pair of digital EPs, Why Does the Wind? and Opposites, that offer up wildly creative remixes of some of the album’s most-loved songs. Why Does the Wind? pairs the album track of the same name with remixes by Morgan Geist, Michel Clies, and André Lodemann, along with a radio edit and dub version. As for the Opposites EP, Tracey herself probably says it best: “If the remixes for the last single ‘Why Does the Wind?’ were aimed at the dancefloor, these are perhaps aimed more at the head.” Visionquest (“Swimming”), Walls (“Kentish Town”), and Blue Daisy (“Late in the Afternoon”) provide penetrating new takes presented alongside the originals.
Let’s also revisit Lambchop’s magnetic Live at XX Merge performance; Portastatic’s Make It Sound In Tune EP; digital reissues of Richard Buckner’s landmark albums Impasse, The Hill, and Bloomed; and The Ladybug Transistor’s fantastic Here Comes the Rain covers EP.
Our Holiday Coupon applies to digital releases, too, so download away!
2009 Favorites:
Reissue:
The Monks “Black Monk Time/The Early Years 1964-65″
Short Film:
“No Mas Presents: Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No” by James Blagden
Singles:
Atlas Sound “Walkabout” (featuring Noah Lennox)
Camera Obscura “French Navy”
Animal Collective “My Girls”
Lionel Richie featuring Akon “Just Go”
Television:
“Mad Men” season three
Live shows:
Versus at the Knitting Factory, NYC
Alasdair MacLean’s solo set at Joe’s Pub, NYC
Linton from The Aislers Set and Henry’s Dress performing at the Slumberland Records Anniversary show, Bell House, NYC
And one for good luck:
The Merge Records 20th Anniversary celebration, Chapel Hill, NC
While we’re getting into the ’09 swing of things, here’s something to pass the time. We always enjoy cameos from our artists in the videos of others. Here’s a few we’ve found recently:
First off, via Optical Atlas, the amazing video for “Good Thing It’s a Ghost Town Around Here” from Still Flyin’, with a cameo from noted zombie pizza delivery man/Ladybug Transistor frontman Gary Olson:
Next up, a couple videos from Music Tape Nesey Gallons featuring appearances by lead Music Tape Julian Koster:
“Aurora Borealis”
“There Won’t Be Any Crows”




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