Year End Top Albums & Videos

Better late than never:

1. Radiohead: In Rainbows
2. Efterklang: Parades
3. The National: Boxer
4. Blonde Redhead: 23
5. Battles: Mirrored
6. Bat For Lashes: Fur and Gold
7. Clint Mansell: The Fountain Soundtrack
8. MIA: Kala
9. Murcof: Cosmos
10. Son Lux: At War With Walls and Mazes

and in no particular order:

PAUL MCCARTNEY: DANCE TONIGHT






EFTERKLANG: MIRADOR






BLONDE REDHEAD: 23






BAT FOR LASHES: WHATS A GIRL TO DO






BATTLES: ATLAS






EMILIE SIMON: DESERT






SOCALLED: YOU ARE NEVER ALONE






GRIZZLY BEAR: KNIFE






MIA: BIRD FLU:






MÚM: RHUBARBIDOO

New Halcyon EP Available As Free Download

in the spirit of the season, we've decided to give away the new canon blue ep 'halcyon' for free as a gift to everyone! This EP features four brand new canon blue songs, drawing inspiration for the winter season that is now descending upon us (at least in tennessee). & fear not the quality of free music, for just as much love and attention (if not more so) was given to these new little bundles of joy. so please download as many times as you want, pass it on to friends, or even enemies, as life is too short..........sometimes








the download comes with amazing artwork done once again by resident genius ben tousley of wilkerton fame and was mastered by the wonderful mads brauer of efterklang. A full credit list, handwritten by Ben, is also available with the download.

the christmas season is upon us once again, so why not fill your heart with more stuff and pretend that everything's going to be better next year!! this new festal concoction was curated by the wonderful people at arctic circle and released by the always dashing loaf recordings

the cd can be purchased at the loaf records site.




and if that wasn't enough, a special canon blue christmas present shall be arriving next week!! but in the meantime some press:

boomkat
uncut magazine (see below)







and if that wasn't enough, a special canon blue christmas present shall be arriving next week!!

Pre-Order Arctic Circle Comp

A new Canon Blue song, entitled 'Halcyon' will be included on the latest Arctic Circle compilation, 'that fuzzy feeling'.

to hear Halcyon as well as the rest of the amazing artists please go here. There is also a free Download available to whet yer whistle.



pre order's avaible by clicking on the polar bear:




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And now a word from our sponsor:


Out first CD is here and you can pre-order your copy now. The perfect crimbo present!

What's happened to Christmas? There used to be a time when it was celebrated in true style and everyone from James Brown, Bing Crosby (!) and Phil Spector released cracking albums full of funky festive tunes. Now what do you get but compilations full of turkeys that should've have popped their clogs years ago with titles like 'The Best Christmas Album In The World Ever'.

Well now Arctic Circle has teamed up LOAF records to present "That Fuzzy Feeling" a collection of mostly original Christmas songs and carols. Fifteen tracks from a variety of artists and labels each with a new take on the traditional Christmas hymn. The result is just what you need to rekindle those warm 'fuzzy feelings' that Christmas used to be all about. The release will be available for sale in two formats. The first, a lush limited edition (100 copies) handmade box from much in demand designers Pika Pika (responsible for the eye-catching artwork for all Arctic Circle Events). The other, a snowy-white digipak which will be available in a limited run of 500 copies.

Tracklisting:
1. Fuzzy Lights – Snowstorm in a Snow Globe
2. Canon Blue (Rumraket) – Halcyon
3. Dollboy (Arable) – Look Darling, It's Starting to Snow
4. Vincent Oliver (LOAF) and Isan (Morr Music) –
Brave the Cold
5. Peter Broderick (Type) – Family, Giving
6. Ellis Island Sound (Peacefrog) –
Christmas in Hawthorne
7. imaginationandmymother – mouth half open
8. Hausckka (Fat-Cat) and Andy Nice – Pulverschnee
9. Rothko (Lo/Bip-Hop) and The Sleeping Years –
While December Turns
10. Sean O'Hagan (High Llamas) – Cammy Tack
11. Gavouna (LOAF) – Flutter
12. David Julyan – 67 South
13. Si-cut.db (Bip-Hop) – Winter Cabin (Edit)
14. Klima (Peacefrog) – Sing to Me (Rainy Christmas)
15. North Sea Radio Orchestra (Oof) –
O Come O Come Emanuel

Clash Magazine Feature and Mag Comp

the wonderful people over at Clash Magazine have done an interview to go along with the UK release of 'Colonies'. The song 'Pilguin Pop' is also included on the compilation cd going out with each issue. On newsstands now!

Tour Roundup & Nashville Show Pics

so the house and garden tour is complete. many thanks to everyone who helped with putting shows together and who came out for the 'rock'. we played a lot of great cities, but i have to say that montreal is now one of my favorites...even if they did give me a ticket within 10 min. of being there. its like being in france. crazy.

so now, back home working on new material and putting together the next run of dates. a new song to be included on the upcoming arctic circle winter compilation will be out soon.....more news to follow...


i leave you with some pictures from where it all began in nashvegas (photos by Rachel Briggs):

Colonies Out In The UK

the european onslaught continues with the UK release of Colonies on Oct. 8th. use that left over money from 'in rainbows' and get you a copy.....







.....if you feel like it.

Colonies Out On CD

Finally, the debut Canon Blue record, Colonies, is now available in physical form! stop by the dotshop.se & order your copy today!

UK to follow soon in two weeks and it is already out digitally worldwide!


reviews and official tour announcement to follow shortly......

Colonies out at Rumraket Store & itunes

COLONIES now available worldwide at the official RUMRAKET store (high quality and DRM free) & itunes!!!






yeah!

Dirty Projectors and Deep Dish Pizzas

just a quick note to announce another canon blue show, this time in the windy city. it will be at the club ronny's with the band berry who are not to be missed....

and not that they need my help, but if you haven't checked out the new dirty projectors album 'rise above' you need to do so immediately. it was produced by resident genius chris taylor, who was also responsible for his band grizzly bear's 'yellow house' (as well as mixing our very own colonies). this is the kind of record that will destroy your head and rebuild it anew before you even know whats happening. this is one of 'those' records. on tour now....

Bird Flu

a new show has been added for ann arbor michigan...this will be the latest addition to the 'house and garden' tour and will be with the wonderful people of the band perhapsy .

in keeping with the cold winter theme of michigan in oct., new canon blue music will be featured on the upcoming arctic circle compilation. the album will feature all original music centered around the theme of winter/christmas. there are some great bands involved, including peter broderick soon to be on tour with efterklang.

in other news total:spec will be running feature on colonies and everything that went into to it. should be available in the beginning of oct.

finally, the european release date for colonies is now only 10 days away (sept. 24)....better get there early cause i'm sure the lines will be around the block...like really long lines.....so you might want to get there early.....cause a lot of people are going to........long lines......


i'm sicking of talking about myself........new M.I.A. anyone?

Clash Magazine Review

Colonies has just been reviewed by the fantastic Clash Magazine in the UK. Here's a brief excerpt:

Canon Blue
Colonies
(Rumraket)

...Mixed by Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor and mastered by the ever industrious Chicks On Speed collaborator Cristian Vogel, James composed the large majority of this record on his grandmother's upright piano. It makes for an intriguing introduction that both encompasses James' warm bedroom electronics with a swelling, leftfield vocal that meanders in alt-country territory. The sound boasted is fresh, and suitably defies its sole artist origins. Canon Blue is a unique discovery and 'Colonies' is his brooding, breathtaking colossus.

Birmson

the first canon blue shows went off without a hitch....well almost....whenever the power was working it was great. special thanks to everyone who came out and picked up a copy of the record.

now its on to the prepartions for the 'house and garden' tour, as we're reluctantly calling it these days...so far dates are in the works for lousiville, indianapolis, chicago, ann arbor, toronto, montreal, nyc, & philly....so stay tuned in the coming days for the official announcement.

in other news, just got an email about this from the walker camp. not for the faint of heart...

House Tour

so about that house tour....it looks like the first canon blue path leads to the north. so if anyone has a suitable house/basement, or knows someone who does, and would like to put together a little show please email!

we're looking for dates in these cities late sept. through early october:

Bowling Green, Louisville KY
Detroit, MI
Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, Dayton, Cincinnati OH
Erie, PA
Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse NY

all cities are options as long as they are not too far away from these.


and on a side note. this is one of the most original reviews of canon blue i've come across:

"Canon Blue sounds like the party's been going on in the kitchen with folks playing spin-the-bottle between shots of tequila and maybe milk, and all silently wishing they could run in the fields/forest/Iceland...."

read the rest of the article and check out the fantastic blog, "eardrums shall fail" here:

Spacelab

the wonderful people over at spacelab.tv have just added canon blue's 'pilguin pop' into the radio rotation for august. please go vote for it to get it up the charts!!







if you feel like it...

MPCing

been staring at this for the past week:



the studio is in utter chaos as we try to reconstruct the album for the live show...progress is being made though! 'rum diary' is up and running and 'pale horse' is not far behind (that was a horribly unintentional pun)....

and since we're rehearsing we kind of figured maybe we should play a show or two as well....a house show tour is currently in the works to take us in to the fall. so if you have a living room/basement/kitchen/bathroom and would like to have canon blue serenade you personally, please be in contact....

and finally, a collection of canon blue remixes is currently being put together. its too early to say who yet, but i can guarantee you will not be let down! hopefully once all is said and done we will be able to collect them all in one place so that you may enjoy them in one sitting....

stay tuned for more news...

love and respect

Orange Alert Interview

'what to wear during an orange alert' has a nice write up and short interview posted today on all things canon blue. it can be found here.

Canon Blue Signs With Rumraket

Finally after many long sleepless nights spent wandering aimlessly across the lonely back-country, Canon Blue has found a home in Denmark. Rumraket is a label started and run by the wonderful band Efterklang, home to such amazing artists as Grizzly Bear, Amiina, Slaraffenland, Taxi Taxi! and of course the afor-mentioned Efterklang.

The album has been re-mixed by Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors) and mastered by Cristian Vogel. If you haven't seen Grizzly Bear live or at least bought their record 'yellow house' you are destined to have a moment of regret. and if you never experienced the magnificent madness of Cristian Vogel, you have yet to live. (remyxomatosis just might change your life).

and if that wasn't enough, new artwork has been crafted by the insanely talented Ben Tousley. please go and witness a master at work...

The album is slated for a European release of Sept. 24th. All Americans will have to wait unfortunately.....probably will do us good though....we've had it easy for way too long.....

more updates on tour dates, remixes and a video to follow.....

Rilke Rock

.....

whoever was beaten by this Angel
(who often simply declined the fight)
went away proud and strengthened
and great from that harsh hand,
that kneaded him as if to change his shape.
winning does not tempt that man.
this is how he grows: by being defeated, decisively,
by constantly greater beings.

......

Gravity's Rainbow

"All these things arise from one difficulty: control."





control seems to be a recurring theme in 'colonies'. lack of it, being on the recieving end of it, desparately trying to use it...its the unfolding and evolving world that keeps slipping in and out of different perspectives. different motives. everyone trying to grab at it like a slippery snake trying not to be on the recieving end of its bite.....not always succeeding. but the best way to deal with a snake bite is to suck out the poison and thats what 'colonies' is, or at least attempts to do. a mental vacumn over the irritated and bulging skin of a bitten and failing heart........and at the end of a long night after we no longer have the strength to get up, we slip exhausted into the comforting arms of the water now filling up the bathtub world around us........

i've been enjoying really long walks as of late. my sort of personal stand against those greedy bloated opec'ers i suppose. but its nice being able to enjoy personal benefits, such as fitness of health, more income (previously spent on gas), and smaller carbon footprints. too bad nashville is one of the most poorly laid out cities in the country...

what? music? hmmm........oh yes.....music. thats what i do. thats what canon blue is for. not all this psycho babble. where are the new tunes? where is that split 7" with 'wolf wolf' you promised us? does anyone else have difficulty reading music magazines anymore? i used to be devoted to my monthly editions of Q magazine and SPIN and now i can't even be bothered to open the cover. too many bands, canon blue included. its a shame i'm not good at anything else (some would even argue that point)....the musical apocalypse is upon us....

grizzly bears, vogels and danish space rockets. what does it all mean?

a FILM: the mirror------andrei tarkovsky
a BOOK: after the quake------haruki murakami
a RECORDING: the getty address------the dirty projectors

Microphony

all of the current orders for 'colonies' have been fulfilled and should be arriving at various doorsteps around the world in the coming days. a special heartfelt thanks for the lack of lawsuits and paypal fines as the canon blue factory took an unbearably long time to recover from the christmas holidays.

speaking of, the canon blue house/factory is currently in the middle of being converted into a workable studio/rehearsal space. there's a beautiful victorian room downstairs with an old upright piano that is now draped in cables and wires connected to samplers and computers on the other side of the room. scientific experiments and lab tests are being conducted as new versions of all the songs are being worked out for the live show. expect dates late spring/early summer....

the canon blue playlist is now on itunes. feel free to gorge your little capitalistic hearts out on all the music thats currently reverberating in the hallways and rooms of the canon blue house. the link can be found here:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewIMix?id=215952994

as always, if you would like to recieve a special edition handmade copy of the album 'colonies' please email your information and one will be sent to you via the slowest means possible.....

shhhh.....i think i hear it coming..........

Prelude

the winter has been dark, cold, and damp, but thankfully due to global warming it is a lot shorter this time around. and as winter is beginning to wane, 2007 is looking to be a good year for canon blue. a very good year indeed. though lips are still sewn shut, soon there will be an exciting announcement, the likes of which has never been heard before in the land of canon blue......

but in the meantime, the printing press is finally up and running again and new pressings of colonies are being painstakenly put together as we speak. rest assured that your orders have not been lost or forgotten. however, if anyone else would still like to receive colonies for free, please write soon as the sun is beginning to set and i don't know how much longer i'll be able to make more copies...

and so i leave you this short note with the full knowledge that i shall return shortly to reveal all. but in the meantime a brief sojourn with the man that started it all........mr. scott walker:

SW30 - UK Theatrical Trailer

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