Matthew Caws:
We might do more, but Nada Surf is my priority. [Minor Alps] was a special treat because this is [Nada Surf's] first real break in 20 years.
In an interview with Rip It Up, Matthew confirms that he views his work with Juliana as a side project.
Although there may be more to come from Minor Alps, he says that work with Nada Surf will recommence in early 2014.
Fans of shitty ruined photography cool filters may wish to note that Juliana is now on Instagram.
A few weeks on from releasing her solo acoustic album we have more Juliana music to enjoy this week.
Minor Alps (Juliana's project with Nada Surf's Matthew Caws) release their album Get There today (Oct 28) in the UK via Ye Olde Records. The album is available on physical CD (Amazon UK affiliate link) and is also up on digital download sites.
The album is out tomorrow (Oct 29) in the US via Barsuk.
Labels for other regions vary, with release dates between now and mid-November.
Fire Records have this month reissued the first three Lemonheads albums - Hate Your Friends (1987), Creator (1988) and Lick (1989), "featuring copious bonus tracks and many never-before released rarities and live recordings."
Rampant Juliana completists may care to note that track 24 on the reissue of Creator is a Lemonheads branded version of the Blake Babies' From Here To Burma, featuring composers Strohm on drums and Hatfield on vocals. Rdio link.
A week ahead of the US release date, Rolling Stone is streaming the Minor Alps album Get There.
It would seem that this stream is not available outside the US.
UPDATE As Andrew mentions in the comments there is another stream at MuchMusic, which might be Canada only.
my new secret lo-fi acoustic solo album, "Wild Animals", is officially available now
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) September 12, 2013
The album is now appearing on the digital outlets including your iTunes.
Looks like you can still order the CD at julianahatfield.com too.
Barsuk Records have released the track list for Get There by Minor Alps (Juliana Hatfield & Matthew Caws). You can also now download the first track (Buried Plans) from their site.
Barsuk:
Along with sharing lead vocals and writing credit on all of Get There's eleven tracks, Matthew and Juliana played every instrument beside the drums, conjuring up an ever-shifting range of sounds and feelings. It's not just the timbre of the voices and the shared vision of their musical explorations, but the emotional tone of Caws and Hatfield's songs and lyrics that blends so seamlessly. Their attraction to themes of restless solitude and constant longing have always been a compelling part of their individual repertoires, and Minor Alps expresses an ageless existential yearning tempered by hard-fought wisdom, maturity, or maybe just acceptance of certain eternal truths.
The first song released from Matthew Caws of Nada Surf and Juliana Hatfield's new project Minor Alps. Their debut album "Get There" will be released October 29th, 2013 on Barsuk Records.
Much anticipation at liveontomorrow hq for this record.
If you've been paying attention to the odd tweet from various parties since the beginning of this year, you'll know that Juliana has been working with Nada Surf's Matthew Caws.
They're now ready to go public.
They're calling themselves Minor Alps and releasing Get There - an eleven track album of songs written together on October 29, 2013.
There are live dates in the US during November:
08 Neptune Theater - Seattle, WA
09 Hawthorne Theater - Portland, OR
11 The Independent - SF, CA
12 Echoplex - LA, CA
14 Soda Bar - San Diego, CA
16 Cedar Cultural Ctr - Minneapolis, MN
17 Schubas - Chicago, IL
19 Black Cat - Washington, DC
20 Bowery Ballroom - NY, NY
22 World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA
23 The Sinclair - Boston, MA
Fan pre-sale for the November tour dates starts Wednesday noon eastern time: http://t.co/WtdFVF2jOz General on sale is Friday, August 16th.
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) August 12, 2013
From the bio at Paradigm Agency:
In the year before they recorded these songs (mostly with Caws’ old friend Tom Beaujour at his studio in Hoboken, NJ) Hatfield and Caws wrote together in brief but intense bursts at his studio in Brooklyn, at her place in Cambridge, MA, and at Caws’ current home in Cambridge, England. Those sessions themselves inspired one of the songs, as Matthew explains: “We were hanging out and working on ideas for a few days in England and it was such a positive thing that I really missed it when it was over. We spent most of the time working together, but sometimes we’d go to separate rooms to write. ‘Wish You Were Upstairs’ is about energy by proxy—how collaborating with someone, or just being industrious at the same time, can be comforting and inspiring, particularly if they’re just fifteen feet away.”
“That’s exactly what it’s like,” Juliana interjects. “I wanted us to have a mind meld, a musical one, because I know there are these barriers between people and it takes a long time to get close to someone. We were just getting to know each other while we were trying to write songs together. When we first got together writing, I felt very vulnerable because I usually do it alone. It’s a delicate balance to go to that vulnerable place yet do it in front of another person. That was the challenge, but the more we did it, the more it felt natural.”
Choosing a name for their self-sufficient combo became one of those long mulled-over decisions that ultimately get resolved in an instant. Decades ago, Matthew’s family had purchased a cheap mountainside cottage in France, with no running water or electricity, where he spent several summers as a child. The mountain overlooking the region, the Mont Ventoux, while technically part of the Alps, isn’t referred to as such because there are no other mountains nearby. Matthew described it as a “minor alp” to his friend, photographer Autumn de Wilde, years ago, who immediately said “great band name, write that down.” So, as Matthew puts it, “in the tradition of Iron Butterfly or Led Zeppelin, band names that contain contradictions, we chose Minor Alps—humble mountains.”
On a more metaphorical level, Hatfield believes, the moniker suits them: “Maybe the whole world doesn’t know who we are, but the people who do really appreciate us” – making Minor Alps nothing less than a major event.
The official home for the project is minoralps.tumblr.com. Also on Facebook.
Ooh.
The tracklist for Juliana's new album, released today via PledgeMusic (subscribers only):
It is titled 'Wild Animals', acoustic and very much a solo effort, similar to the sound of the Peace & Love album.
It's available to download as mp3 and...drumroll...FLAC.
Juliana says to pledgers:
I am eternally grateful and so happy and lucky to be able to keep making my music for you. I sincerely hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed assembling it in my little back room with the bird songs coming in through the windows.
Currently this is a PledgeMusic exclusive but as per the last two projects we can expect a general release within a few weeks. UPDATE - the release date is September 10. Pre-orders are being taken at julianahatfield.com.
as posted yesterday on the Instagram by occasional Juliana photographer and remixer Brad Walsh.
Music video by Sonic Youth performing 100%. (C) 2004 Geffen Records
100%
Juliana's new fan funded project launched today.
A whole brand spanking new album is in the works.
Juliana:
This is my third Pledge Music project and I am optimistically jumping into it because I have been so encouraged by your energy and your generosity and your many ongoing kindnesses. I am excited to bring this new batch of songs to life. I am going to make a mostly (but not totally) acoustic album but I am not going to overthink or overproduce any performances. It will have the loose energy of, say, my album “Bed”, without all the distortion (but maybe with some) and with more prettiness.
The 'incentives' include an online acoustic performance on Aug 10, more original artwork, a signed guitar, an unworn high school varsity jacket (!) and a whole bunch of back catalogue on cd.
There's also some tour books, and unreleased demo / master tapes - but most if not all of these high ticket items are already gone having been snapped up in seconds by the eager kings and queens of browser refreshing.
Tantalisingly Juliana goes on to say:
Throughout this process, as I work on the new recordings, I will be sharing other music with you that you might not have ever heard before, music I have recently unearthed from my vast archives.
Marvellous.
tomorrow, 2 p.m., EST (eastern standard time[massachusetts time]) we will launch my new pledgemusic.com peoplefunded project
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) June 1, 2013
That's 7pm British Summer Time, 6pm UTC.
As spotted by Andrew on the This Is The Sound group, there is a new* song titled Miles Away available to listen at Juliana's PledgeMusic profile page.
Bring on tomorrow.
*it's a new old song
Low Times Podcast:
Maggie Serota sits down with entertainment lawyer John P. Strohm to chat about his roots in the Boston music scene of the late 80s, founding The Blake Babies with ex-girlfriend Freda Love and Juliana Hatfield and playing in The Lemonheads with Evan Dando. He also discusses the shift from trying to eke out a living as an indie musician to becoming an attorney specializing in working with artists.
It's a very good interview and well worth a listen for any Blake Babies / Juliana fan.
You can hear it via the episode page at Low Times.
John's interview is the last section of the episode and begins after the 1 hour 4 minute mark.
rock and roll! twitter.com/julianahatfiel…
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) March 10, 2013
For those who don't follow Juliana on Twitter, she posted the above tweet earlier this month, plus others from the studio in New Jersey, where she continues to work with Matthew Caws of Nada Surf.
No further news has emerged on this project which doesn't seem to be following the fan funded route so far.
The two have worked together before of course. They've guested on each other's albums and Nada Surf's Fruit Fly featured on Juliana's eponymous covers album last year.
been making big plans with matthew caws twitter.com/julianahatfiel…
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) January 31, 2013
blake babies "epilogue" --our very last record release/ep---is out now --available for the first time for your digital downloading pleasure
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) December 11, 2012
'Epilogue' - the last Blake Babies release from 2002, is now widely available for the first time from today via most digital outlets including iTunes and Spotify.
The EP was originally available in limited numbers on CD and sold principally at the final Blake Babies live shows in the US.
It features 3 covers (Fleetwood Mac's 'Walk A Thin Line', MC5's 'Shakin' Street' and The Ramones' 'I Wanna Be Sedated'), a remix of 'Nothing Ever Happens', and an original Hatfield / Strohm composition - 'My Motor'. It's not automatic. You've got to work that stick.
'Epilogue' was the first release on Juliana's Ye Olde Records label. A handful of remaining cds found at Ye Olde HQ were sold by Juliana at $200 each as part of her first PledgeMusic project in 2011.
It's a bit cheaper now.
i am no longer able to do the lemonheads shows..please accept my sincere apologies..i wish it could be..
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) October 2, 2012
i hate to have to say this but due to unforeseen circumstances i won't be able to join the lemonheads on bass this month as planned.sosorry
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) October 2, 2012
Previous related posts here have therefore been removed.
