Tuesday October 7, 2008 @ The Empty Bottle

Daniel Francis Doyle
Yellow Fever
Mittens on Strings
and Darren Keen (of The Show is the Rainbow)

If you came to any of our house shows on Washtenaw, you may remember DFD or Yellow Fever. Both are friends of ours from Austin - long story short, this show is a killer. Come and help us test out some new soungs!

http://www.myspace.com/danielfrancisdoyle
http://www.myspace.com/yellerfever
http://www.myspace.com/mittensonstrings
http://www.myspace.com/darrenkeenmusic

We hope to post more videos soon, as well as Let’s Go to Baba’s in some sort of Internet format. Stay tuned, chiefs.

In the meantime, you can preview songs from “Let’s Go to Baba’s” now on our myspace page:

www.myspace.com/mittensonstrings

and peep Mr. Preston’s video for “Flaming Pig” below from Youtube or download a high quality file on the Media page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjI4_hsgz3A

www.myspace.com/mittensonstrings

to accompany this, our own a.prestonia made a video for the song “Flaming Pig”. peep it below from Youtube or download a high quality file here. Downloads of videos from our last album can be found in the media section.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjI4_hsgz3A

we are playing Friday, Septmerber 5th at the Hideout. also performing are Bellafea (from Chapel Hill, North Carolina) and Hotel Brotherhood (from Texas). it’s $8, baby!

stay tuned for more shows and more videos this september…..

This month, we’re putting the finishing touches on the record (we promise!), working on videos, and restocking the t-shirt supply… slim pickin’s these days.

Come out to our house (1512 N Washtenaw) on Saturday the 26th for a most excellent show:

Pyrite (http://www.myspace.com/pyrite312)
Yellow Fever (from Austin!) (http://www.myspace.com/yellerfever
)
U.S. Girls (http://www.myspace.com/usgirlsss)
Mittens on Strings

We have a show this week with our friends Eyesearsnose in celebration of the release of their record - not quite as epic a birthing period, but close. The record was recorded and mixed by our own Mr. Two Eyes. Come join in the festivities:

Thu June 5 - Chicago, IL @ The Beat Kitchen, with Eyesearsnose (record release) and Golden Birthday (9PM, 17+)

Fri June 27 - Hamtramck (Detroit), MI @ The Belmont, with Calvinball

Sat June 28 - Clevleand, OH @ Open Air in Market Square (2PM, All Ages)

Sat June 28 - Cleveland, OH @ Pat’s in the Flats, with the Dreadful Yawns, Uno Lady, and Central Plains (9PM)

Fri July 4 - Chicago, IL @ Newthingnow (All Day BBQ!), with Pillars and Tongues, Osmo Whitely, The I Ching Quartet, and more (2PM, All Ages)

Album-wise, we’re almost done mixing this monster. For reals!!

We’ve been hard at work on this new record - we begin mixing the first week of May! Come on out to some of these shows to hear some new songs:

Fri Apr 25 - Chicago, IL @ The Metro (FREE SHOW!), with Big Buildings & Adam FitzÂ

Thu May 1 - Chicago, IL @ Ronny’s, with Deastro & Nouns

Sat May 3 - Northfield, MN @ The Cave at Carleton College, with Will Garrison

Thu June 5 - Chicago, IL @ The Beat Kitchen, with Eyesearsnose (record release)

See you there!

We are close to finishing the new album. A few more ooh’s and aaah’s and we have it in the can. We are going to South by Southwest to shop for a label to put the thing out. It kicks ass so far, no joke. We are also playing shows with Hearts of Darknesses in Chicago, Wichita, and Austin. Here are all of those dates.

Fri 3/07 - Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle, with Birthmark
1035 N. Western, 10 PM, $8, 21+
Sat 3/08 - Chicago, IL @ Hideout SXSW sendoff *, with Make Believe, Icy Demons, Tight Phantomz, and many more
1354 W. Wabansia, 12 PM - 12 AM (we’re at 2:00)
Sun 3/09 - TBA
Mon 3/10 - Wichita, KS @ John Barleycorn’s, with Spirit of the Stairs
Tue 3/11 - TBA
Wed 3/12 - Austin, TX @ The Parlor *, with The Mae Shi, Daniel Francis Doyle, and others
2:30 @ 100 B East North Loop
Thurs 3/13 - Austin, TX @ St. Willard’s Place, with Canopy and more!
4 PM @ 1711 graham st.
Fri 3/14 - Austin, TX @ The Hideout (SXSW SHOWCASE), with FM3, The Show is the Rainbow, and others
10 PM @ 617 Congress Ave.
Sat 3/15 - Austin, TX @ SXSW - TBA
* sans HOD

As before you can check out the new track Big Brother.

128 Kbps: http://www.mittensonstrings.net/downloads/brother_demo-lo.mp3

320 Kbps: http://www.mittensonstrings.net/downloads/brother_demo-hi.mp3

We posted about the new shirts last time, but there are more since then! Mersh

We just wrapped up a week’s worth of recording for the next record - twelve songs in all. All of the foundations are now there, and we’ll be doing vocals and assorted overdubs over the next few weeks. As a taste of what’s in store, help yourself to a demo mix of a new song called “Big Brother”:

128 Kbps: http://www.mittensonstrings.net/downloads/brother_demo-lo.mp3

320 Kbps: http://www.mittensonstrings.net/downloads/brother_demo-hi.mp3

We’re firming up the last shows for our tour with Hearts of Darknesses and our South by Southwest dates. Feel free to get in touch if you can be of any help: jonathan[at]gmail[dot]com

And we’ve been cleaning house as well: new handmade shirts are available in the Mersh section, and three videos from Look Up the Sky!! are free to download in the Media section!

See you in March, chiefs.

Check out this new remix that our dear friend and mung-mate Osmo Whitely made for “Last Shot”. It is available here, and in the Music section, in 128 and 320 KBPS mp3s.

Osmo Whitely’s Last Shot [LO] [HI]

No shows this month - we’ll be in the basement prepping our songs before hitting the studio next month. We’ll have a string of shows in March down to Austin with Hearts of Darknesses (Frank Musarra of Trey Told ‘Em noteriety), so stay tuned. Ok, dudes?

Thursday Dec 6th is right around the corner, and we’ll be playing with White Magic and Unlucky Atlas at Chicago’s own Empty Bottle! Bear witness to more brand new songs! and wish Alex a “bon voyage” as he continues his travels!

Our videographer and mung-mate Whitely has made these remix machines as his contribution to the Rumours of a Union project. Download and enjoy in Mac or Windows format.

GI Remix Machine [Win] [Mac]

We’ll be heading into the studio at the end of January to work out the rest of our next record. It won’t be called U.S. Christmas.

See ya!