Hello friends, AM here. I am writing this to you to invite you to be a part of my very first vinyl pressing. Vinyl is an ever growing passion of mine, but because of the enormous costs involved in the process I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do this. BUT with your help, the proceeds from this pledge drive will go towards making my vinyl dreams a reality, and when we hit the Pledge target and go to press the vinyl (art layout, vinyl manufacturing, test print, etc), for my new album “Future Sons & Daughters” you will be the very first to have it. Go here to help make my dream a reality: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/211
This is a purely artistic and nostalgic endeavor for me…in other words this isn’t about making money. It’s about fulfilling a dream and giving you, a chance to be a part of it. This is also a very limited run (possibly 500 pieces or so).
I have created a menu of exclusive ways that you can get involved with this “vinyl pressing party”.
Your Pledge here will grant you access to my ‘Pledgers Only Updates’ page on which I will be posting anything from exclusive photos, videos taken while on tour, blogs, and whatever we can think of.
I appreciate all of your love and support and I will make a donation of a percentage of the profits pledged here to the worthy charitable organization of the Tipitina’s Foundation in New Orleans which helps preserve the music and culture of the beautiful and unique city of New Orleans and state of Louisiana.
Fingers crossed.
My very best to you,
AM
AM SPRING TOUR 2010April 11 Vancouver, B.C. Vogue Theatre*
April 12 Victoria, B.C. Alix Goolden Hall*
April 14 Seattle, Wash. Crocodile Café*
April 15 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre ##
April 17 San Francisco, CA Palace of Fine Arts*
April 21 Chicago, Ill. Park West*
April 23 Montreal, QC Olympia*
April 24 Montreal, QC Olympia*
April 25 New York, N.Y. Webster Hall*
May 20 Birmingham, AL Work Play Theater #
May 21 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse #
May 22 Asheville, NC Orange Peel #
May 24 TBA
May 25 Nashville, TN Belcourt Theater #
May 27 Louisville, KY TBA#
May 28 Milwaukee, WI, Turner Hall #
May 29 Minneapolis, MN The Dakota #
MORE European tour dates to be announced very soon.
Check it out above. Make sure you check the tour schedule and sign up for the mailing list so we can let you know when we are coming through town. If you have a better photo then this one of you wearing this shirt, we want to see it.
Singer-songwriter AM has an instantly familiar, comfortable quality to his sound. His blend of British invasion rock, soul, and psychedelic pop sounds like Hall & Oates might have in the mid-sixties. The set of tight, well-written pop songs is almost impossible to shake out of your ears once you hear it. The gorgeous blend of acoustic guitar, piano, and soft beat on “The Other Side” give the melodic gem a dusty, timeless quality that makes it feel like has always been one of your favorite songs. There are hints of early Brit-pop (“Fortunate Family Tree”), Beach Boys’ sun-soaked pop (“When The Dust Settles”), and soul (“Darker Days”).
The mellow chill of “Darker Days” is among the best produced on the effort, with a shaggy acoustic shuffle over funky guitar chirps and a gorgeous falsetto hook. The moody strings in the background are the cherry on top. While the songwriting is great throughout, sparkling instrumental “Jorge Ben” is wonderful jazzy funk fried up in a bucket of blues. Acoustic ballad “Leavenworth” and churning psychedelic rocker “Self Preservation” are also standouts in an album full of them. Perhaps the most interesting track is the Latin-flavored, flamenco-guitar loving “It’s Been So Long”, which feels like it has been trapped in a time capsule for forty years, in a good way.- Indie Music Watch, Chad Grischow
Cozy consolation from sweet-talking tunes, AM skips, dips and cozies up with revitalized nostalgia. Laid-back enlightenment straddling singer-songwriter folk, sunshine rock and blue-eyed soul circa early seventies, “Future,” fires up smoky, hip-swiveling riffs conjured from snappy brass, deep-fried bass, cantering congas and sly, knowing vocals stretching familiar formulas into tasty upbeat treats.- John Noyd
It’s truly no surprise that they were the darling band of the last Sundance Film Festival and packed their concert appearance. Not a surprise also that the well-known French band AIR asked them to join their tour for a few dates. The velvet percussion and angel-like riff of the guitars of AM will take your little soul on a wonderland like an adventure full of psychedelic images of a time where life could have been a bit less demented and slower than what we’re sinking into right now.
Their sound is sexy and soothing with a nice touch of funky beats and groovy guitar lines. AM delivers some awesome feel-good-music, music that you just want to get down to, and I mean that in the naughtiest of ways.
Fuse.TV is featuring AM’s new video “Self Preservation” directed by Blake West. MTV is airing as well. Repost the video to help spread the word www.youtube.com/amsounds
Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things.
A challenging, complex record, Future Sons & Daughters offers the sophisticated ear an exceptional experience, something like an amalgamation of Beck and the Beach Boys at their best.
AM (who’s the namesake of the band) worked on the disc with Charles Newman – the mix master of many Magnetic Fields albums – in his Silverlake cottage, where Elliott Smith actually used to live. A stunning songwriter and skilled vocalist, AM crafted a beautiful base for his band to build upon. Carol Kaye, a studio musician who played bass on Pet Sounds, gave lessons to AM’s bassist Mark Geffen prior to the Future Sons & Daughters session. The influence is striking – a spectacular result. Butch Norton (who has played with both the Eels and Lucinda Williams) reigns down drowsy drums and a dripping conga provided by Chris Lovejoy rounds out the rhythm section. Scintillating synth and keys work by Jesse Nason deepen the tracks, finishing them with a full, luscious sound – like a more crisp, contemporary incarnation of Phil Spector’s famous “Wall of Sound” effect.
The melting, modern alt-bossa nova, “It’s Been So Long,” feels like a reboot of Urge Overkill’s cover of “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon.” This track’s duet between AM and a delicate-sounding Andrea Correa hearkens the Bangles’ sultry Susanna Hoff’s rendition of “The Look of Love.” The bass line basks in the limelight, lending an even more lecherous feel to the sexy lo-fi sound. “Endings are Beginnings” is a beautiful song, very light and ’70s in its cadence, like 10cc or Bread.
Much has been made, critically, of AM’s success in television and movie song placement, from ABC’s Brothers and Sisters to HBO’s Big Love and MTV’s The Real World. However, it’s easy to offset any potential undercutting of his credibility with his performance at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and a spring tour with the French princes of electro-pop, Air. AM’s 2006 release, Troubled Times, was also named one of the best indie albums of the year by iTunes.
Brian Wilson is quoted as saying that the Beatles’ Rubber Soul inspired many of the qualities of Pet Sounds, while Paul McCartney is supposed to have said that Pet Sounds influenced Sgt. Pepper’s. These albums still inspire to this day – as seen in Future Sons & Daughters – but AM wears them with poise, while still preserving his own sound.
AM‘s distinctive melodic swagger is so impressive that it convinced French electro-pop duo Air to take the multi-instrumentalist out on their North American tour.Now AM is spreading his global sound around the country in support of his sophomore album ‘Future Sons & Daughters.’
The New Orleans native will be checking in with personal notes and photos all along his 12-date run with Air. In his first Road Report, AM talks about kicking off the tour in Miami and how it was the first time he and his band had ever performed in the Sunshine State.
We left Los Angeles for Miami on Friday morning March 12th, 2010. The first show was at The Fillmore right in the center of Miami Beach. This was my first time playing in Miami, or anywhere in Florida for that matter, and the show was great. Too bad I had to spend the day looking around for a guitar since mine was broken in travel. Hope to get something cool from eBay along this tour route.
Our goal of consuming some Cuban food was not reached, but that’s the touring life — only time for so many things. We’re off to Orlando and then to Atlanta in the next couple of days. It’s great to be back in the south.
AM performing “The Other Side” on his one and only ukeulele at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC.
Catch AM on tour with AIR in March and on tour with Charlotte Gainsbourg in April.
Tickets are on sale for AM at The Greek Theater with Caetano Veloso.
CAETANO VELOSO
“Caetano Veloso is one of the greatest songwriters of the century: a master melodist, a lyricist who merges surreal imagery with a sense of history and a sense of humor, a singer whose voice radiates tenderness and supple swing and a musician who connects to traditional music, pop and jazz from all over.”
—The New York Times
Caetano Veloso will open the award-winning Greek Theatre’s 2010 season on Thursday, April 15 with AM opening.
Caetano Veloso is among the most influential and beloved artists to emerge from Brazil. Known there since the 1960’s, Veloso has made more than thirty recordings to date and has developed a strong international following. Born in Santo Amaro, Bahia, in 1942, Caetano Veloso began his professional musical career in 1965 in Sao Paulo. In his first compositions he drew on the bossa novas of Joao Gilberto, but rapidly began to develop his own distinctive style. Absorbing musical and aesthetic ideas from sources as diverse as The Beatles, concrete poetry, the French Dadaists and the Brazilian modernist poets of the 1920s, Caetano, together with Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, his sister Maria Bethania, and a number of other poets and intellectuals, founded a movement called Tropicalismo. By experimenting with new sounds and words, adding electric guitars to their bands and utilizing the imagery of modern poetry, Caetano became a musical revolutionary.
Although Tropicalismo set the tone for Caetano’s career, his music has evolved greatly over the years. Incorporating elements of rock, reggae, fado, tango, samba canao, baiao and rap– with lyrics containing some of the best poetry in a musical tradition rich in verse– Caetano’s music is sometimes traditional, sometimes contemporary, often hybrid. At once an astute social commentator and balladeer of highly emotive love songs, Caetano is one of the most respected poets in the Portuguese language. Indeed he is one of only a handful of artists who has resolved how to be musically modern and still undeniably Brazilian.
New! Limited edition, hand screened American Apparel AM merch shirt available now. Get your shirt now and help support the band. All proceeds go towards keeping the band out on the road touring.
Show Review: Grimy Goods
