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Big Hassle Media LA
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Los Angeles, CA 90016
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Ken Weinstein
Big Hassle Media
weinstein@bighassle.com
212-619-1360
Sean Hallarman
Big Hassle Media
sean@bighassle.com
212-619-1360
Maps & Atlases
Beware & Be Grateful
Shiraz Dada – bass * Dave Davison – guitar/vocals
Erin Elders – guitar * Chris Hainey – drums.
In a musical landscape pitted with pop stars and pigeonholes, Maps & Atlases defy easy categorization, choosing to walk their own incomparable path. Beware and Be Grateful builds upon the Chicago-based band’s acclaimed Barsuk Records debut, Perch Patchwork, melding their trademark experimentalism with a more direct – though no less beguiling – songcraft. The new album abounds with invention, spanning hymnal harmonies, percolating rhythms, even, in the case of centerpiece track “Silver Self,” a full-on guitar solo. Songs like “Remote and Dark Years” and “Winter” are gloriously liquid and lyrical, channeling M&A’s maximalist creativity into a truly inviting brand of boundary-busting, asymmetrical pop.
“We wanted there to be more ins,” says guitarist/vocalist Dave Davison. “We wanted it to be really engaging. We wanted it to be fun, in addition to being different.”
Guitarist Erin Elders adds, “we’ve always been interested in writing songs that people can walk away from with some sort of emotional connection, while still trying to explore our own musical obsessions and the weird ideas we want to pursue.”
Since their formation in 2004, Maps & Atlases – that is, Davison, Elders, bassist Shiraz Dada, and drummer Chris Hainey – have captured the indie imagination with polyrhythmic beats, elaborate melodies, and post-rock ingenuity. Arriving on the heels of two highly rated EPs, 2010’s Perch Patchwork proved both a popular and artistic breakthrough, earning the devotion of an increasingly fervent fanbase as well as reams of critical applause. “Maps & Atlases make technical virtuosity fun,” declared Filter, while American Songwriter praised the album as a “beautifully oddball symphony…equal parts lo-fi and hi-tech.”
M&A spent much of 2010 and ’11 on the road, honing their kinetic time signatures and inventive energy both as headliners and alongside such artists as RX Bandits, CircaSurvive, Cults, and Portugal. The Man. Demos were recorded between tours with Perch Patchwork producer Jason Cupp (Good Old War, Nurses), paving the way for sessions at Omaha’s ARC Studios – the band’s first time working in a conventional recording facility, having previously recorded largely in home studios and other “places where you have unlimited time, without having to pay for it,” according to Davison.
In preparation, Maps & Atlases united to explore arrangement ideas and tweak material at Davison’s parents’ house in suburban Lake County, Indiana. Much of their work on arrangements was conducted on a number of what Davison describes as “weird little battery-powered keyboards” that he and Cupp had purchased at a Chicago farmer’s market. The addition of keyboards into Maps & Atlases’ creative arsenal served as a seismic aesthetic shift for a band that had always shied away from even the simplest guitar pedals.
“When we first started as a band, we were a lot more adamant about the music being this very organic thing,” Elders says. “But slowly we’ve grown to want to experiment with texture, and keyboards were a great way to do that. They also helped guide the songs, they kept things fresh. It’s good to step out of your comfort zone and try new things.”
Though most of the keyboards’ “strange sounds” were replaced by guitars on the final recording, they unlocked a new musical mindset in Maps & Atlases, opening the band to alternatives to their customarily naturalistic approach. At ARC, they toyed with fresh textural elements, recording the sound of light bulbs being smashed or of a microphone placed in a box and then rolled down a flight of stairs.
“We threw down as many ideas as we possibly could,” Elders says, “as fast as we could.”
The band broke the recording sessions into weeklong chunks, taking time away to evaluate their work periodically. Elders describes the band’s nurturing approach towards the material as “a long layering/unlayering process. By doing it in installments, we were able to let the songs unfold.”
The recordings included pieces that been fermenting throughout M&A’s lifetime, with songs like “Old Ash” and the extraordinary “Remote And Dark Years” now utterly transformed by the band’s forward momentum and Davison’s increasingly potent songwriting skills. Whereas prior songs featured a somewhat fragmented, refracted lyricism, Davison has begun tackling the big existential questions in more forthright fashion.
“It’s just thinking about meaning,” he says, “a sort of back-and-forth between ideas and emotion versus just existing in the world.”
That core metaphysical to-and-fro is manifested by the album’s widescreen spatial dynamics, what Elders describes as “an open-endedness.” Free to let their ideas run wild, Maps & Atlases truly let fly: Beware and Be Grateful is a breathtaking panopticon of incantatory choral vocals, seesawing grooves, and of course, their inimitable six string complexity, all of which are pushed farther that the band had ever anticipated.
“There are things on this album that I never thought it would be possible for us to do when we first started,” Davison says, adding wryly, “For one thing, my 20-year-old self would not have been super-pumped-up about me playing a guitar solo on anything.”
With its blend of avant garde audacity and pop craftsmanship, Beware and Be Grateful stands firmly in the great art rock tradition, a model synthesis of novelty and tradition, of listen ability and invention. Maps & Atlases have crafted a collection of resplendently human music, its intricate dynamics wholly matched by ornate wells of deep emotion.
“We’re all quietly excited,” Elders says. “For us, this is the record we’ve always wanted to make and have been striving to make. We’re very proud of it.”
MAPS & ATLASES ANNOUNCE SPRING HEADLINING TOUR IN SUPPORT OF NEW LP BEWARE & BE GRATEFUL
Barsuk Records is excited to announce that Maps & Atlases will embark on a headlining tour this spring, in support of their upcoming full-length Beware and Be Grateful, out April 17th. The tour kicks off in their hometown, with a May 11th show at the Metro in Chicago, and wraps up on June 19th at Amsterdam Hall in St. Paul. Before this tour, they will head to South By Southwest in Austin, with a brief tour surrounding those dates, followed by a European tour.
Recently, the band released “Winter,” the first single off Beware and Be Grateful. Rolling Stone premiered the track, saying “['Winter'] finds the band merging tuneful songcraft with tight, dense rhythms.” The band also released a teaser trailer for the album, featuring the track “Remote And Dark Years,” available at www.mapsandatlases.org.
The album – which follows the Chicago-based band’s acclaimed 2010 debut, Perch Patchwork – was recorded last year in a series of week-long sessions at Omaha’s ARC Studios with producer Jason Cupp (Nurses, Good Old War) once again behind the board.
Since their formation in 2004, Maps & Atlases have captured the indie imagination with their extraordinarily artful amalgamation of polyrhythmic beats, elaborate melodies, and post-rock ingenuity. The band toured hard from the get-go, honing their kinetic time signatures and inventive energy through countless live shows as both headliner and alongside such artists as Broken Bells, Frightened Rabbit, Circa Survive, Cults, and RX Bandits.
Maps & Atlases On Tour:
3/8 Bloomington, IN – The Bishop
3/9 Nashville, TN – The Mercy
3/10 New Orleans, LA – Foburg Festival
3/14 – 3/17 Austin, TX – SXSW 2012
3/18 Dallas, TX – Bro Fest
3/19 Hot Springs, AR – Valley of the Vapors Festival
3/22 Memphis, TN – Fareveller Festival
3/31 Bethelem, PA – NOWADAYS Festival
5/11 Chicago, IL – Metro
5/12 St Louis, MO – Firebird
5/14 Columbus, OH – The Basement
5/15 Akron, OH – Musica
5/16 Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern
5/17 Ithaca, NY – The Haunt
5/18 Boston, MA – Middle East
5/19 Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands
5/21 New York, NY – The Studio at Webster Hall
5/22 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
5/23 Washington, DC – Rock and Roll Hotel
5/24 Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506
5/25 Atlanta, GA – The Earl
5/26 Tampa, FL – Crowbar
5/27 Orlando, FL – The Plaza
5/29 Birmingham, AL – Bottletree
5/31 Dallas, TX – Sons of Herman Hall
6/1 Austin, TX – The Parish
6/2 Houston, TX – Free Press SummerFest
6/4 El Paso, TX – Lowbro Palace
6/5 Phoenix, AZ – TBA
6/6 San Diego, CA – Casbah
6/7 Santa Ana, CA – Constellation Room
6/8 Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
6/9 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
6/11 Portland, OR – Bunk Bar
6/12 Vancouver, BC – Media Club
6/13 Seattle, WA – Crocodile Cafe
6/15 Boise, ID – Neurolux
6/16 Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
6/17 Denver, CO – Hi Dive
6/18 Omaha, NE – Waiting Room
6/19 St Paul, MN – Amsterdam Hall
MAPS & ATLASES ANNOUNCE HEADLINE SUMMER TOUR AND UNVEIL ALBUM ART
RELEASE LIMITED-EDITION THREE-TRACK SINGLE
DEBUT RECORD, PERCH PATCHWORK, OUT JUNE 29TH
Barsuk Records is excited to announce that Maps & Atlases will be headlining a national summer tour. The Chicago-based quartet will kick off the tour in their hometown on June 26th and bring it to a close mid-August in Newport, KY. After putting out two EPs on indie label Sargent House, Maps & Atlases will release their debut full-length record, Perch Patchwork, June 29, 2010 on Barsuk Records. Filter says, “[Perch Patchwork] showcases the band’s songwriting chops with the intricate technical aspects of prog-art rock while keeping an accessible pop undertone.” “Solid Ground,” the first single from the new album, has already been receiving accoldaes in the press. NME named “Solid Ground” as one of the “10 Tracks You Have To Hear This Week,” while going on to say, “This Chicago four-piece weld the intricate quirks of Animal Collective with a backdrop of clomping wooden guiros and woozy synths, while mastering the vocal melancholy of TV On The Radio so majestically that singer [Dave Davison] sounds like a Tunde Adebimpe in the making.” The band has also released a limited edition, three-track single that is only available at the shows on this tour. The tracklisting is as follows: 1. Solid Ground 2. Living Decorations (Demo) 3. Israeli Caves (String and Vocal Mix) Maps & Atlases are currently engaged in a pre-album release tour supporting Frightened Rabbit. The Philadelphia Inquirer said of the band’s live show, “Maps & Atlases made virtuosity sound accessible. With swift and complex patterns of interlocked finger-tapped guitars and asymmetrical rhythms, the Chicago quartet displayed a startling level of technique and proficiency… definitely a new band to watch.” Tour dates with Frightened Rabbit 5/6 – Southgate House (Newport, KY) 5/7 – The Old Rock House (St Louis, MI) 5/8 – Metro (Chicago, IL) 5/9 – Pabst Theatre (Milwaukee, WI) 5/10 – Varsity Theatre (Minneapolis, MN) 5/12 – Bluebird Theatre (Denver, CO) 5/13 – Urban Lounge (Salt Lake City, UT) 5/15 – Bitmore Cabaret (Vancouver, BC) 5/16 – Neumos (Seattle, WA) 5/17 – Berbati’s Pan (Portland, OR) 5/19 – The Fillmore (San Francisco, CA) 5/20 – Downtown Brew (San Luis Obispo) 5/22 – Casbah (San Diego, CA) 5/23 – Henry Fonda Theater (Los Angeles, CA) Tour dates with Fang Island, Cults, & The Globes 6/24 – The Strutt (Kalamazoo, MI) 6/26 – Subterranean (Chicago, IL) ^ 6/27 – Green Festival (Chicago, IL) 7/6 – Firebird (St. Louis, MO) & 7/7 – Slowdown Jr (Omaha, NE)& 7/9 – The Marquee (Denver, CO) & 7/10 – The Black Sheep (Colorado Springs, CO) & 7/11 – Kilby Court (Salt Lake City, UT) & 7/13 – Doug Fir Lounge (Portland, OR) & 7/14 – Media Club (Vancouver, BC) & 7/15 – Vera Project (Seattle, WA) & 7/17 – Bottom of the Hill (San Francisco, CA) *& 7/19 – Howie & Son’s Pizza (Visalia, CA) *& 7/20 – Muddy Waters (Santa Barbara, CA)*& 7/21 – Casbah (San Diego, CA)*& 7/22 – Bootleg Theatre (Los Angeles, CA) *& 7/23 – Club Congress (Tucson, AZ) *& 7/25 – The Loft (Dallas, TX) *& 7/26 – Emo Jr’s (Austin, TX) *& 7/27 – Mango’s (Houston, TX) *& 8/05 – Blind Pig (Ann Arbor, MI) * 8/06 – Grog Shop (Cleveland, OH) * 8/07 – Horseshoe Tavern (Toronto, ON) * 8/08 – Casa Del Popolo (Montreal, QC) * 8/10 – Space (Portland, ME)* 8/11 – Middle East upstairs (Boston, MA)* 8/12 – Mercury Lounge (New York, NY)* 8/13 – Knitting Factory (Brooklyn, NY)* 8/14 – Kung Fu Necktie(Philadelphia, PA)* 8/15 – Black Cat Backstage (Washington, DC)* 8/17 – Brillobox (Pittsburg, PA)* 8/18 – Southgate House (Newport, KY) * ^ w/ Fang Island * w/ Cults & w/ The Globes
MAPS & ATLASES ANNOUNCE DEBUT RECORD RELEASE ON BARSUK
Barsuk Records is excited to announce that Chicago’s progressive songsmiths Maps & Atlases are set to release their debut album on June 29, 2010. Entitled Perch Patchwork, the record was produced by Jason Cupp (The Elected, Nurses, Cast Spells). The band’s unique style melds the technicality of progressive music and the idiosyncrasies of art rock into a fascinating and oddly accessible sound all their own. Known for their virtuosic musical ability, Maps & Atlases write pop songs with a magnificent aptitude for texture and a distinctive blend of both the intricate and organic. “It was great to be able to step outside of our live setting and imagine the songs in a different way,” said guitarist Erin Elders about the recording process for Perch Patchwork. “Jason Cupp brought another dimension to the songs that was really exciting to hear. We were able to deconstruct them part by part and then rebuild each verse or chorus with a different sonic idea.” Continues singer/guitarist David Davison, “We went into the record with the understanding that the creation of the album would be separate from its existence as a live piece of music, which was really liberating.” For an early preview of Perch Patchwork, download the song “Solid Ground” from the album here: http://barsukmusic.blaireau.net/Maps&Atlases_SolidGround.mp3 The members of Maps & Atlases met in Chicago while attending art school, and have released two EPs through indie label Sargent House. While Tree, Swallows, Houses showcased the band’s more technical side, the subsequent You And Me And The Mountain presented more earthly and digestible songs that earned comparisons to TV On The Radio, Deerhoof, CAN, and even Prince. The full tracklisting for Perch Patchwork is: Will The Charm Living Decorations Solid Ground Is Israeli Caves Banished Be Cavalier Carrying The Wet Wood Pigeon If This Is Was Perch Patchwork Tour dates for a pre-album release tour have been confirmed. They are below: 4/10 – Huckleberry’s Pizza Parlor (Rock Island, IL)^ 4/11 – The Basement (Columbus, OH)* 4/12 – The Rex (Pittsburgh, PA)& 4/13 – The Space (Hamden, CT) * 4/14 – Great Scott (Boston, MA)* 4/15 – Maxwells (Hoboken, NJ)* 4/17 – SUNY Purchase (Purchase, NY) 4/18 – Clementines (Harrisonburg, VA)* 4/19 – Musica (Akron, OH)* 4/24 – Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA) 4/25 – Cats Cradle (Carrborro, NC)# 4/27 – Black Cat (Washington, DC)# 4/28 – Webster Hall (New York, NY)# 4/29 – Paradise (Boston, MA)# 4/30 – First Unitarian Church (Philadelphia, PA)# 5/1 – Pearl Street (Northampton, MA)# 5/3 – Petit Campus (Montreal, QC)# 5/4 – Opera House (Toronto, ONT)# 5/5 – Grog Shop (Cleveland, OH)# 5/6 – Southgate House (Newport, KY)# 5/7 – The Old Rock House (St Louis, MI) # 5/8 – Metro (Chicago, IL)# 5/9 – Pabst Theatre (Milwaukee, WI)# 5/10 – Varsity Theatre (Minneapolis, MN)# 5/12 – Bluebird Theatre (Denver, CO)# 5/13 – Urban Lounge (Salt Lake City, UT)# 5/15 – Bitmore Cabaret (Vancouver, BC)# 5/16 – Neumos (Seattle, WA)# 5/17 – Berbati’s Pan (Portland, OR)# 5/19 – The Fillmore (San Francisco, CA)# 5/20 – Downtown Brew (San Luis Obispo)# 5/22 – Casbah (San Diego, CA)# 5/23 – Henry Fonda Theater (Los Angeles, CA)# ^ w/Dark Dark Dark & w/Vieux Farka Toure * w/Drink Up Buttercup # w/Frightened Rabbit
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Beware And Be Grateful - Album Art
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L to R: Shiraz Dada, Dave Davison, Erin Elders, and Chris Hainey
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L to R: Shiraz Dada, Dave Davison, Erin Elders, and Chris Hainey