Since the release of the 2008 instant holiday classic The Singing Saw at Christmastime, Julian Koster and his singing saws have toured the country spreading holiday cheer to the over 450 homes to which they had been invited. We now have this year’s list of cities and proposed dates which begin tomorrow so get your invitations in now!

Several houses a night will be visited in each city. Houses welcoming outside guests in each area will be listed via email auto-reply two nights prior to the Music Tapes arrival. Write musictapescaroling2011@gmail.com to receive open house list or to make a last minute caroling invitation. Routes are only projected and may change so check often!

The Singing Saw at Christmastime is available now on CD, LP and digital download in the Merge Holiday store.

2011 Holiday Caroling tour:
NOV 30   Virginia
DEC 1     Raleigh/Chapel Hill, NC area
DEC 2     Charlotte, NC area
DEC 3     Athens, GA
DEC 4    Raleigh/Chapel Hill, NC area
DEC 5    NE Virginia/Washington DC area
DEC 6    Washington, DC
DEC 7    Eastern PA/Philadelphia, PA
Dec 8     Philadelphia/NYC
Dec 9     NYC
Dec 10   Upstate NY/Massachusetts
Dec 11   Rhode Island/Massachusetts/New England
Dec 12  Upstate NY/New England

Today, The Music Tapes’ new digital EP Purim’s Shadows is available in the Merge store and from all your favorite digital outlets. Also, exclusively in the Merge store, the Purim’s Shadows EP comes with a special limited-edition Music Tapes kazoo, a bonus track, and a special surprise from Julian Koster himself.

Julian shared some thoughts about Purim’s Shadows and The Music Tapes with us:

Purim’s Shadows is a very small entrance into a vast landscape that is both auditory and imaginary and from which will come two full-length albums that I’m very excited about. The first will be Mary’s Voice, which we are finishing up now and will comprise the first half of Imaginary Symphony No. 3.

The Music Tapes, to me, is a sort of living dream that illustrates the continual process of how dreams become real. For example, when the 7-Foot-Tall Metronome sprang from my imagination, it was to be The Music Tapes’ primary rhythm instrument, and although it existed only as a drawing in a notebook, imagining it delighted and inspired me. My friends (Scott Spillane, Terry Rowlette, Robbie Cucchiaro, Laura Carter, Eric Harris, and others) saw the drawing and, in a flurry of excited activity, made it real. And thus the real world became different: it had a 7-foot-tall metronome in it.

Many of the basic tenants of The Music Tapes’ world are found on Purim’s Shadows, including the 7-Foot-Tall Metronome which provides the primary rhythm for “A Lightning’s Cheeks.” Also featured are the Orchestral Banjo and the Singing Saws. The Orchestral Banjo is played with a violin bow, producing a sound that I love very much; it’s like having at your command ghostly orchestras from crackly old records. And Saws, of course, sound to me like angels. This recording marks the first time a Singing Saw solo was encouraged (played) by someone other than me on a Music Tapes record: the solo at the end of “Night and Day” is the work of Ian Ludders, a great encourager of Saws, and I am honored to have had him play with us. Robbie Cucchiaro, The Music Tapes’ co-founding member, supplied horns and his signature euphonium. And finally, the most important contributors to this recording, and central to The Music Tapes’ sound, are the Webster Chicago wire recorder, RCA DX44 ribbon mic, and The Music Tapes’ array of antique and modern recording machinery and field recorders.

Without state-of-the-art machinery, The Music Tapes’ recordings would be next to impossible. But, of course, the past is where the future comes from. What often makes something new is not a loyal adherence to the trends and technologies of the moment but rather a loving interaction with the rich inheritance that makes our moment in time the most unique of all. All that has come before us has been left for us to find, dusty and often without any context to distract from its pure magic. It is my happiness to endeavor to make brand-new sorts of things in which all that I love most about the world will have a home, just as my friends meaningfully and lovingly set out to make a 7-foot-tall metronome exist, giving their love and friendship a large, loud wooden form that can march forward in time.

This November and December, The Music Tapes will be bringing a comforting, enchanting, and very special evening of Music Tapes’ dreamlike songs, stories and games for sleepover parties to ordinary homes across the land (US and Canada).  The Music Tapes are now accepting invitations, and plan to visit over 200 homes! As with the Music Tapes’ caroling and lullaby travels of years past, they will stop at several houses a night in each city visiting also far off out of the way places most tours never get to go.

The Lullaby evenings with include songs from the Music Tapes forthcoming 2011 record, as well as from Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes, The 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad, and The Singing Saw at Christmastime, along with new Music Tapes games and stories. The entertainment, though sometimes more exciting than lulling, are all in honor of the comforting moments directly preceding and following sleep when we find ourselves happily unsure of whether we are awake or are dreaming.

For more information and to find out where the tour is stopping in your town, write lullabyedeliveries@gmail.com to receive an automatic reply and as always visit The Music Tapes’ online home at orbitinghumancircus.com. Dates may shift around a little bit, so be sure to check the website and email often.

Also, the St.Nikolai Game will be played in select cities at a location to be revealed via the email autoreply. All who wish to play must bring a candle 10 or 12 inches tall!

Lullabye tour path:

November 4th: Nashville, TN
November 5th: Mountain Home, AR
November 6th: Memphis, TN
November 7th: Baton Rouge, LA
November 8th: Houston, TX
November 10th: Austin, TX
November 11th: Austin, TX (St. Nikolai Game)
November 12th: Dallas & Denton, TX
November 13th: West Texas
November 14th: Albuquerque & Santa Fe, NM
November 15th: Flagstaff, AZ
November 16th: Phoenix, AZ
November 18th: Los Angeles, CA
November 19th: Los Angeles, CA (St. Nikolai Game)
November 20th: Wrightwood, CA (and area)
November 21st: San Francisco, CA
November 22nd: San Francisco, CA
November 23rd: Davis, CA
November 24th: Chico, CA and Eugene, OR
November 25th: Portland, OR
November 26th: Portland, OR (St. Nikolai Game)
November 27th: Olympia, WA
November 28th: Seattle, WA
November 29th: Idaho / Montana
November 30th: Utah / Wyoming
December 1st: Denver, CO
December 2nd: Columbus, NB
December 3rd: Omaha, NB
December 4th: Minneapolis, MN
December 5th: Maquoketa, IA
December 6th: Chicago, IL
December 7th: Chicago, IL (St. Nikolai Game)
December 8th: Cleveland, OH
December 9th: Buffalo, NY (area)
December 10th: Rochester, NY
December 11th: Ithaca, NY
December 12th: Syracuse, NY
December 13th: Northampton & Amherst, MA
December 14th: Williamstown, MA
December 15th: Tivoli, NY
December 16th: Poughkeepsie, NY
December 17th: Marlborough, NY
December 18th: Philadelphia, PA
December 19th: NYC
December 20th: NYC
December 21st: Worcester, MA
December 29th: Winterport, ME
December 30th: Brattleboro & Saxtons River, VT
December 31st: Henniker, NH
January 1st: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
January 2nd: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
January 3rd: Detroit, MI & environs
January 4th: Bloomington / Indianapolis, IN
January 5th: Pittsburgh, PA
January 6th: Baltimore, MD
January 7th: Washington, DC
January 8th: Richmond, VA
January 9th: Raleigh, NC
January 10th: Asheville, NC
January 11th: Atlanta, GA
January 13th: Athens, GA
January 14th: Athens, GA
January 15th: Athens, GA