Land of Talk speaks about Saddle Creek

I spoke to Lizzie Powell from Land of Talk last week and she had some good stories to tell, one of them about Saddle Creek Records.

See, Powell lost her voice in the middle of touring and had to cancel several dates. One of those shows was in Omaha, where she headed anyway to see the folks at Saddle Creek.

I'll let her tell the rest:

"When I did lose my voice, it was before the Omaha show. They invited me to the office and I was so worried that they were going to be so upset and we were going to have a big meeting about I don't know what.

"They brought out a giant cake with the artwork of 'Some Are Lakes,' but it said 'Some Are Cakes,' and they brought me a get well card.

"They're pretty rad as individualls. And their roster is incredible. They're beautiful as people, and they have wicked senses of humor, which is great to me."

You can catch Land of Talk on Thursday at Slowdown with Suuns and Conduits. Tickets are $10 at www.etix.com.

And don't forget to register to win two tickets to Thursday's show! I'll be drawing for them tomorrow.

Contest: Win a pair of Land of Talk tickets

On Friday, I had a great conversation with Lizzie Powell, the leader of Canadian indie rock group Land of Talk. The band happens to be playing Slowdown on Thursday and just released "Cloak and Cipher" on Saddle Creek.

The fine folks at Saddle Creek provided me with two tickets for the show, which you can win by entering yet another Rock Candy Contest.

Head here and enter your information. We'll draw a winner Wednesday afternoon for the tickets. Also look for my interview with Lizzie on Thursday in the paper's GO magazine as well as on Omaha.com

Land of Talk plays Thursday at 9 p.m. at Slowdown with Suuns and Conduits. Tickets (if you don't win the contest pair) are $10 at the venue or etix.com.

Land of talk downloads and videos after the jump.

Saddle Creek Update: Tim Kasher, Land of Talk, Adam Haworth Stephens (of Two Gallants) and Azure Ray

Fall will be good to Saddle Creek Records. The label has a slew of releases coming from familiar names to the label.

Most recent news is of Tim Kasher's solo album, "The Game of Monogamy," which will be released Oct. 5 on Saddle Creek.

The Cursive and The Good Life frontman has performed around Omaha near the holidays under the name Edelweis, but it was songs from this project.

"I wrote another record and I'm going to record it in January that I was going to call it 'Tim Kasher,' but I can never feel quite content with how dull my name sounds. I'm calling it Edelweis instead," he said then. "I really like that song a lot from 'The Sound of Music.' In a kind of a jagged way, that makes sense to me."

I guess he changed his mind.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to that album. Kasher's friends Patrick Newbery (of Cursive, Lacona and Head of Femur), Erin Tate (of Minus The Bear) and Matt Maginn (of Cursive) make appearances on the record.


From the press release:

This moody orchestral pop evokes a 1950s-esque, conservative atmosphere, setting the stage for a dilemma that remains thoroughly modern.  The protagonist's arc in The Game of Monogamy spans the wide range of distinctly human emotions tangled up around relationships in a starched shirt society.  Call it the score for our collective sexual plight: expression routinely becomes repression in the name of romance.

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Next on the list is Land of Talk, who released an EP and some videos last year. The band's second album, "Cloak and Cipher," will be out Aug. 24 on the Creek.

The press release calls it a "sophisticated, textured musical composition." After listening to one track ("Swift Coin"), I'd say it's layered. The vocals sound great and if the album is full of as much indie pop-rock as we get on this track, I'll be happy.

A fall tour will bring the band to Slowdown on Sept. 23.

Listen to and/or download the song "Swift Coin" below:



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What else? Adam Haworth Stephens, that's what else.

The lead singer and songwriter of duo Two Gallants will release his solo debut "We Live On Cliffs" on Sept. 28

It's good alternative, acoustic folk numbers and the album was created by an all-star cast. The record was produced by Grammy-winner Joe Chiccarelli (The White Stripes, The Strokes, My Morning Jacket, The Shins, U2, Radiohead, The Cult and many, many more) and features Patrick Halahan and Bo Koster (both of My Morning Jacket), Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck and NIN), Joey Waronker (Beck, Ima Robot, R.EM.), Cody Votolato (The Blood Brothers, Jaguar Love) and others.

Stephens is opening up for Blitzen Trapper for a Aug. 11 show at the Bourbon Theatre in Lincoln. Might have to make the trip West for that one.

Listen to and/or download the song "The Cities That You've Burned" below:



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Last, but certainly not least, is Azure Ray. The ladies are releasing "Drawing Down The Moon" on Sept. 14.

I wrote about the new album and the band's "reunion" back in June.

Anyay, the big news with Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink's duo is a two-month, cross-country tour that will bring them all over the place. The band will stop at Slowdown on Nov. 3.

Weekend Roundup; Land of Talk's new record

Looks like this weekend is one that could be spent at the Waiting Room... Lots of shows there. Check 'em out:

• The show at the top of my list this weekend is Criteria's performance with Ladyfinger on Saturday. Two bands that we haven't heard from in awhile (Criteria especially) will perform Saturday at the Waiting Room for 8 bucks. Should be a good time.

• Our Fox has a show tonight at Barley Street, which would be a cool place to see that group. I like how at that bar and at O'Leaver's you are totally on top of the band. Great venue. Anyway, it's $5 as usual.

• Tonight at the Waiting Room, Jes Winter debuts some tunes from her new EP. I'd see that, but Landing On The Moon would also be a draw for me. $7 at the door.

• Also tonight is the Goo Goo Dolls at Stir. I actually know a lot of folks gearing up for that one (yes, I'm serious). Tim Wildsmith is performing an after-show show inside Stir bar.

• Nerd rapper MC Chris takes the stage at the Waiting Room on Monday. 13 bones, 15 day of show.

• Also on Monday is the 60 Days to Maha showcase with Betsy Wells, Dim Light, Flight Metaphor and Noah's Ark Was A Spaceship. If you don't go to the show, you can't complain when you don't like the local bands performing at the Maha fest in July. Voting at Monday's will choose who of those four groups gets to play the fest's local stage.

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Land of Talk will be releasing its sophomore effort, "Cloak and Cipher," through Saddle Creek Records on Aug. 24. The Montreal trio are releasing the 10-track effort as a followup to "Some Are Lakes," which got pretty good reviews.

I figured something was in the works because Saddle Creek has been talking about Land of Talk videos and an EP, "Fun and Laughter," that were released last year. I liked the debut and the EP, so I'm looking forward to this outing.

The band is on tour with Besnard Lakes this month, of course coming nowhere near Omaha.

Check out the tracklisting for "Cloak and Cipher":

1. Cloak and Cipher
2. Goaltime Exposure
3. Quarry Hymns
4. Swift Coi
5. Color Me Badd
6. The Hate I Won’t Commit
7. Hamburg
8. Blangee Blee
9. Playita
10. Better and Closer

Listen to "May You Never" from the "Fun and Laughter" EP: