New York's Q104.3 has a Minor Alps interview and performance available to view or download.
A roundup of remaining links for the last few shows of the recent US Minor Alps tour:
Black Cat, Washington DC, November 19:
The Vinyl District (Review)
Bowery Ballroom, New York City, November 20:
Impose Magazine (Photos)
World Café Live, Philadelphia, November 22:
iradiophilly (Review)
The Swollen Fox (Review)
The Swollen Fox @ Flickr (Photos)
Phawker (Review)
The Sinclair, Cambridge, MA, November 23:
Johnny Anguish @ Flickr (Photos)
Fruit Fly (YouTube as above)
I Don't Know What To Do With My Hands (YouTube)
BDCWire (Photos)
Musicians @julianahatfield and @nadasurf discuss Minor Alps, Hulk and more: http://t.co/hriWwaop62 pic.twitter.com/YCrIaIkwIk
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) December 3, 2013Juliana, speaking in New York last month in the aforementioned interview:
What’s really strange for me is that I realized I have absolutely nothing planned for after tour. I guess I’m just going to rest for a little while and then start writing again. I’ve been painting and writing and that’s all I have planned.
The final(?) batch of review links for the Minor Alps album:
It could have so easily been indulgent and small but Get There is bursting with energy and ideas.
Gary K, The Digital Fix
Then there’s the formula factor. Minor Alps seem content to peddle pleasant but not particularly memorable pop-rock. Quiet verses lead into louder choruses with big drums and whitewashed guitars as Caws and Hatfield repeat a phrase that, depending on the song, becomes either more meaningful with each cycle (e.g. “Lonely low”) or collapses under the weight of repetition (e.g. “I don’t know what to do with my hands” and “If I wanted trouble I could find it”), 4.9/10
Joel Oliphint, Pitchfork
There are lots of intimate lyrical moments like two lovers exchanging thoughts and memories. We’re lucky they have let us in. We’re all very lucky that they went through so much for us. Start with the rock radio tune then work your way inside their heads and like us we’re already looking forward to the next set of tunes.
David Urbano, Review Stalker
For Minor Alps’ Get There has not one peak, as might one such enumeration, but instead several.
Josh Holliday, Dots and Dashes
Get There suffers from a similar state of limbo to that of a love-stricken teenager. For the most part it wants to be a charming collection of indie-pop songs that are easy to relate to, but still yearns to occasionally break out and start making noise. It feels that in an attempt to control those urges, Hatfield and Caws have made a record that, whilst it has its charm, lacks in any real excitement, 4/10
Robert Whitfield, The 405 Reviews
Watch @minoralps cover The Everly Brothers at the kitchen table!
https://t.co/MCvASg8WIm
— MINOR ALPS (@minoralps) November 26, 2013
If you missed them on This Is The Sound, here are links to various photos from the tour not previously posted here. Again, thanks principally to Carlos and Andrew for these.
Seattle, November 8:
My personal favourites were taken before the tour proper began at the Minor Alps acoustic session for KEXP. These photos are outstanding. Don't miss.
Los Angeles, November 12:
Soda Bar, San Diego, November 14:
Black Cat, Washington DC, November 19:
Bowery Ballroom, New York City, November 20:
Eleventy thousand smartphone owners have attended the Minor Alps tour this month. Some of them used these devices to watch large portions of the shows through a screen with their arms held up.
So many in fact that it's been hard to keep up.
A roundup is therefore required commencing with more from the Los Angeles shows. See earlier posts here for links for the first few gigs.
Thanks to everyone who has submitted or shared these links here or elsewhere on the internet. In particular thanks to liveontomorrow reader Carlos for submitting dozens of recent links that appear here, and also to Andrew who has been keeping us all up to date with news for many years chiefly via the This Is The Sound group. If you're a member there, these links have already been posted on that group too. It is really appreciated guys.
Thanks too to the uploaders, obvs.
With one exception, these are single camera YouTube efforts.
Echoplex, Los Angeles, November 12:
I Don't Know What To Do With My Hands
Soda Bar, San Diego, November 14:
If I Wanted Trouble (clip on NBC San Diego)
Schubas, Chicago, November 15
Rockwood Music Hall, New York City, November 21:
Main Street Music In Store show, Manayunk, November 22:
World Café Live, Philadelphia, November 22:
Last night's acoustic show for Radio.com at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC is also covered in a feature and photo gallery.
“We’re not reinventing either of our wheels, but it does go in a slightly different direction than places I’ve been in the past,” Hatfield said. “There’s not a drummer on every song but we did more with drumbeats than I usually do. I also played a lot of keyboards, which is something I haven’t normally done – that was really fun for me. I studied piano for many years, so I was like, hey, I remember the keyboards. But it was more because some songs cried out for instruments that weren’t stringed instruments – like this feeling or vibe where a mellotron was needed, or we could mess around with something else.”
Taken from a feature on Minor Alps at The Patriot Ledger.
There's a further piece behind a paywall at The Boston Globe.
“We’re doing a lot of singing in unison, it’s really cool, it’s fun,” says Hatfield, her voice picking up pitch and speed. There’s a genuine expression of excitement to her tone that seems to catch her off-guard. It isn’t surprising, though–even in the more dour moments, it sounds like Hatfield and Caws are having a blast.
“For me, that’s the best part,” she says. “It’s natural, it’s not having to try to very hard or to force it. We just blend really well and it’s really easy to harmonize, which is great because I rarely ever sing with other people.”
Full article at Dig Boston.
RT for the opportunity to win tkts to see @minoralps in NYC tonight
@RockwoodNYC. Doors: 7:30pm. Show: 8pm. 21+ only. pic.twitter.com/Pj7VLqKlYH
— MINOR ALPS (@minoralps) November 21, 2013I don't think this was previously announced.
You can hear a live session with Minor Alps at The Current.
Juliana and Matthew are interviewed and perform Maxon, If I Wanted Trouble and I Don't Know What To Do With My Hands.
More reviews. Hope you're keeping up.
Think Jim Reid and Hope Sandoval on The Jesus And Mary Chain’s ‘Sometimes Always’ – sugar-sweet voices destined to be together. As Minor Alps, Hatfield and Caws have made a gorgeous debut that sounds as if they’ve recorded it in each other’s pockets, their tones exquisitely matched, the songs intimate. 7/10
Matthew Horton, NME
For the most part, Get There tries to find center ground between the worlds of Bon Iver and Death Cab For Cutie. Every so often, as on “Mixed Feelings,” the pair let loose and indulge themselves in the fuzzy, energetic punk-pop of the early 2000’s.
Angel J Melendez, fuzzyheadphones
Ultimately, there is a bulging gap left via a distinct lack of, well, songs, and there are moments that are uncomfortably dull and so ordinary it just becomes tiresome. 5/10
Daniel Dylan Wray, Loud and Quiet
Although it has been available on iTunes and in limited numbers elsewhere since the US release date, Get There by Minor Alps is being officially released this week in the UK and other places in Europe via Juliana's Ye Olde Records.
The album is now showing on all of the main UK download sites (iTunes, 7 Digital and Amazon mp3). The issue of European streaming services (Spotify, Rdio etc) having the curiosity of tracks being limited to 30 seconds now seems to be resolved too.
It was awarded 'Album of the Week' in today's Sunday Times (UK). There's no link as it's behind a paywall but it's fair to assume that republishing the text will not destroy Murdoch's revenue from the issue. So, and with thanks to liveontomorrow reader John who sent the info, here's Mark Edwards' review:
Many years ago, Juliana Hatfield – maybe for a bet, maybe because she was bored, or may because she hated me on sight – opted to go through an entire interview answering only “yes”, then “no”, then “yes” again, then “no” again, and so on. Even questions that couldn’t possibly be answered with a yes/no answer were dispatched with a “yes” or – if it was no’s turn – “no”. I swore to use all my power to sabotage her career and bury her talent. There were only three problems. One, I don’t have any power. Two, she has done an effective job of sabotaging her own career, due to a lengthy battle with depression. Three, I suppose I could bury her talent a little bit by not bringing this wonderful album to your attention – but, really, who wins from that? So .... Hatfield has teamed up with Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws as Minor Alps, and they’ve made an album that thrills and delights, whether exploring the classic 1990s scuzzy alt-rock guitar sound (I Just Don’t Know What to Do with My Hands), reinventing it (If I Wanted Trouble) or ignoring it (Away Again). So go on, buy it, knock yourself out, make her all rich and successful. See if I care.
A rather bizarre review, which says more about the 'chief music critic' than the artist he's reviewing, and the line about depression in that context is just scummy. It's also bullshit. Anyway, yay for album of the week!
Some more reviews to mark the occasion:
Adventurous it’s not but there’s no denying the fizzy, thrash-about appeal of Mixed Feelings, the compellingly simple pull exerted by Waiting For You or the finger-picked charms of Maxon, which joins the dots between Crosby, Stills & Nash and Bon Iver., 3/5
In contrast to the cover of the album, which is rather bleak and foreboding, ‘Get There’ is a collection of eleven lushly produced songs from the duo.
Philip Soanes, Folk Radio UK
The voices blend magically, while the guitars of "I Don't Know What to Do with My Hands" and "Far from the Roses" employ a pleasing mix of Neil Young grunge and REM arpeggios. 4/5
Andy Gill, The Independent
It is very rare that we see a musician(s) fashion an album like Get There with such an echelon of calm reassurance. This record is not for the faint hearted, harshly depicted themes and cynical imagery of segregation, pining, and restiveness direct the flow. Not surprisingly, somewhat reinforcing this point, the record kicks with the utterance: “such a loner”. One can’t help but suspect that the band may have purposely decided to kick off proceedings with “Buried Plans”. 6.9/10
John Glynn, When The Gramophone Rings
More from the Echoplex show earlier this week.
There's a short review at LA Record, which includes photos by Leslie Kalohi that are also available (and best viewed) at Flickr.
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.
Blake Babies FTW.
12 songs from the LA show in a YouTube playlist courtesy of spiketop.
There's some photos at Pink is the New Blog and a Caws-heavy set by vertouiseau at Flickr, and from the previous night in San Francisco by Bryan Gordon.
Charlie reports that the list for last night's LA show was the much the same.