Check my new avatar - courtesy of the gifted @julianahatfield!
— John P. Strohm (@johnpstrohm) May 31, 2012
https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/profile_images/2266171185/image.jpg
Pledgers will have noted that Juliana recently posted a photo taken from a shoot in New York with Brad Walsh.
Three other photos from the shoot are now up on Brad's Flickr pages:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebradleythomas/7268150566
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebradleythomas/7268157838
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebradleythomas/7268166162
Thanks to Andrew for posting this info at This is the Sound
really liking alpinisms by school of seven bells that my friend turned me onto the other day
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) May 24, 2012
Alpinisms is the 2008 debut album from School Of Seven Bells.
The band are heavily played on the liveontomorrow.co.uk stereo and their two subsequent albums - 2010's Disconnect From Desire and this year's Ghostory come highly recommended.
Good to know Jules is now a fan.
Two upcoming shows on the same day - acoustic and full band, both at Q Division Studios in Somerville, MA on Wednesday, June 27 2012.
In her announcement at PledgeMusic, Juliana says while there is the possibility of further shows this year, these could be the only performances in support of the covers album. Her discomfort with playing live has been well documented for many years, and you'll recall there was only one full band show for the previous album.
Billed as 'private shows', tickets (priced at $50 each) go on sale to pledgers at PledgeMusic tomorrow (19 May 2012) at 10am EST.
If you can't make it, you may be able to hear it later:
@VoodooHipster @PledgeMusic will record shows but gotta have time to mix it to my liking for possible release later on
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) May 18, 2012
Who will you be covering and was it hard to narrow down the songs?
A funny thing is that a bunch of the songs are from about 10 years ago. I don’t know what it is about that period of time, but I keep going there. One example is the song “Fruit Fly” by Nada Surf, a band I like a lot. And I was lucky to have Matthew Caws (the singer from Nada Surf) sing on a few of the songs on the album. He did not sing on his song, “Fruit Fly,” though.
You can read a short Q&A with Juliana on PledgeMusic's blog.
Some Some Girls news:
Heidi Gluck is currently touring the US with Joel Henderson, both as opening act and playing in Joel's band.
thanks to Carlos for the info.
PledgeMusic update for non-pledgies:
In recent days Juliana has posted video of acoustic performances of Blur's Coffee + TV, her own On Your Mind, and a duet with Joe Keefe on Neil Young's Barstool Blues.
You may recall that Juliana recorded the Young song acoustically in 2011, releasing it to pledgers during her previous project.
It's Record Store Day, and this here video is about buying music in a record store. How about that?
Picturebox's rather lovely Juliana Hatfield song, now with added video.
It was filmed in the English city of Canterbury by the songwriter Rob Halcrow, a reader of this site. Excellent stuff. Bonus points for featuring Peanuts characters.
A reminder that you can download the song at bandcamp.
I've been working extensively on the new Juliana Hatfield covers album. It's going to be super cool! Hooray! Songs are top secret. :)
— Peter Adams (@SLightFLight) April 14, 2012
Well, not all the songs are that secret.
If you're a pledger you can now hear what Juliana describes as "a bit of a weird mix" of Liz Phair's Friend Of Mine, in a work in progress update in the covers album project.
Spoiler Alert!
Although Juliana's intention is to keep the songs chosen for the covers project a secret, this doesn't really fit with the PledgeMusic 'updates from the studio' idea. Inevitably, we have been hearing snippets along the way and now some songs as works in progress.
If you really don't want to know their identity, it looks like you'll have to skim the Pledge updates avoiding the songs and the user comments, which isn't really the idea is it! Oh, and don't come to this site either. Smiley winking face emoticon thing.
Having previously uploaded a video snippet of Pete Yorn's Closet, Juliana has now posted a demo.
@peteyorn closet!
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) April 22, 2012
@peteyorn will do
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) April 22, 2012
if i did ever do karaoke i think i would do the theme from the spy who loved me
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) April 12, 2012
Now if Juliana were ever to make a covers album...
UK based pop group Picturebox have this week released a new song titled Juliana Hatfield.
Picturebox:
This is about the thrill of hearing something great on the radio for the first time, trying to find out who it's by and get hold of it in the pre-Internet days. Also saying how great it is when someone you like keeps making great music after such a long time!
Gotta be loving the picture of the cassette.
You can listen to the song below and download (with optional contribution) at bandcamp.
<a href="http://picturebox.bandcamp.com/track/juliana-hatfield">Juliana Hatfield by Picturebox</a>
New pledges have been added to Juliana's Covers Album project at PledgeMusic since the launch earlier this month, including the return of the 20 questions by email thing which she did last year.
Today, she's brought back the offer of a personalised song, which you'll recall was a fundraiser of sorts she did in 2010 before the original PledgeMusic project.
Juliana:
I will write you a personal song! I’ll create an original song exclusively for you, to you, about you... [] ...Think of it as a commissioned sonic portrait. I will send you an mP3 and a CD of your song and will never release it to the public.
This offer is available now for up to 3 potential pledgers for, ahem, $1,000.
But you all know this anyway because you're all pledgers, right?
Thanks to Robert Shell of JBTV for letting us know that Juliana's solo acoustic TV performance is back online.
Dating back to early 1993 (post Hey Babe and pre Become What You Are), the videos can now be viewed again at JBTV Online, featuring a snippet of Start Choppin (Dinosaur Jr), plus full versions of He’d Be A Diamond(The Bevis Frond), My Sister, Ugly, It’s A Shame About Ray(The Lemonheads) and Supermodel.
While we're in a pledgy, kickstarty, fundy mood, there's this from filmmaker Jarrad Kennedy:
'If It's Catchy, It Means You Stole It' is a feature documentary on Sydney musician/independent record label boss Nic Dalton. Dalton has played in over 65 bands (and counting!), most notably Boston's The Lemonheads during the peak of the grunge movement in the early 1990's.
... Interviews with key figures in the Dalton/HAC story will be interwoven with animation, rare unseen footage and performances.
... Funds generated will be used to cover equipment hire, film transfer, legal clearances and mastering.
We aim to have the film completed by July 2012 to submit for the Boston Film Festival in September.
You can get involved in the project at Pozible.
Juliana is mentioned in the trailer's credits.
In the 90's she performed one of Dalton's songs - Love Went Away - under the pseudonym of Kelly Wilson.
hat tip to Carlos for the info
Here we go again.
Juliana's forthcoming album of other people's songs is another fan funded affair. After the success of last year's There's Always Another Girl album, Juliana is again using PledgeMusic to organise the project.
She is offering her paintings, guitars and other miscellany as well as the music.
Juliana:
Also, a percentage of the money we raise will be donated to IMPACT Boston, which teaches self-defense and self-empowerment to people who really need it (I took a weekend self-defense course there a few years ago and it was really great and I was able to see with my own eyes how much it helped the women who were enrolled.) IMPACT offers scholarships for those who can’t afford the workshops.
The project has launched today. Head over to PledgeMusic to join in.
getting ready to start recording my covers album
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) February 19, 2012
Juliana has today confirmed on Twitter that her new album will be of cover versions.
She first pondered the project in July 2011 after finishing There's Always Another Girl, when she solicited suggestions from PledgeMusic subscribers.
More as and when...
UPDATE - MARCH 2
As expected, it's another pledge thing.
i'm going to be launching the new covers project at/through pledge music really soon--info coming later
— Juliana Hatfield (@julianahatfield) March 2, 2012
Just kids twitpic.com/8kd4jy
— John P. Strohm (@johnpstrohm) February 15, 2012