4AD Winter 1994 news

From Ed Klein.

4AD-Winter 1994

Indiana based recording artist Lisa Germano has left Capitol Records and signed with 4AD, worldwide. Initially, 4AD's Ivo Watts-Russell approached Capitol about licensing Germano's 'Happiness' Lp for the rest of the world. However, after further discussions, all parties agreed that 4AD may be a more suitable home for Lisa's artistic vision, and subsequently, Germano parted amicably with Capitol Records.

Ep of 'Happiness' material re-mixed by John Fryer and Ivo at Blackwing Studios in England, released in the UK only and available here as an import. "The Inconsiderate Bitch" is a 4AD Temporary Release, running in a limited edition of 8000 to 10,000.

extra tracks, different artwork and running order, and the exclusion of 'These Boots Are Made For Walking".

Dead Can Dance has released, 'Into The Labyrinth', their first album of new material in three years. The LP was recorded at Brendan Perry's home at Quivvy Church, in the village of Belturbet, Ireland. The music of Dead Can Dance can also be found in the soundtrack to the film "Baraka", a 70 mm. journey through "geographical and cultural extremes".

States. The sold out tour then commenced with two private performances at the Mayfair Theater in Santa Monica, CA., filmed with the intent of releasing a long form video and possible live album.

directed the filming as well as interviewing Perry and Gerrard. Those segments will then be interspersed with live clips to complete a sixty minute long form video; initially serviced to cable and public broadcasting stations, then available for probable commercial release through 4AD/Warner Bros. in late '94.

their last tour of the States. Dead Can Dance, a duo of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, perform their complex arrangements live with the assistance by five additional musicians, and the results are often as visually impressive as they are musically. Despite having a catalog of five complete albums to draw from, two-thirds of the material in Dead Can Dance's live set has never been recorded. Subsequently, selections that have long eluded their loyal following will now be available.

"standing room only" performances, many of them selling out in a matter of hours. Due to extremely limited seating at The Mayfair Theater, those two shows were not open to the public. Instead, 200 personal invitations were sent by 4AD to supporters of the band or given away through local LA radio stations KROQ and KCRW.

Kristin Hersh just finished recording her first solo acoustic record with the help of producer Lenny Kaye. Titled 'Hips & Makers', the LP will be available February '94 on Sire/WB in the US and 4AD in the rest the world. This first single is "Your Ghost", featuring additional vocals by Michael Stipe. Throwing Muses are currently in New Orleans recording their next release.

4AD will be issuing an LP by the Irish band The Glee Club on February 1. To this point, they've released a seven song Ep in the UK on the Setanta label, and the 4AD release will combine now versions of these tracks with more recent material recorded with Hugh Jones. The Glee Club made their US debut at the CMJ Convention in NYC.

The three individual This Mortal Coil CD's, 'It'll End In Tears', 'Filigree & Shadow, and 'Blood' were released in November, available through the Alternative Distribution Alliance. These titles were available on an import basis until this past spring when the limited edition box set, "1983-91", was released domestically through Warner Bros. However, the box contained a fourth CD featuring the original versions covered by This Mortal Coil, and CD #4 will not be released separately.

be similar to This Mortal Coil in the respect that it sustains his collaboration with John Fryer and will consist of cover versions and original material, however, there will be a larger emphasis on the latter, and the project will involve a smaller collective of people.

Unrest recently released their latest long player 'Perfect Teeth'. Recorded at Pachoderm Studios in Minneapolis under the watchful eye of Simon LeBon, the band recorded 20 songs in a mere 5 days, 11 of which are on the record, the rest finding their way onto B-sides, flexis etc. The 'Perfect Teeth' album is also available in a Teen Beat box set printed by Independent Projects, containing 6 multi-colored 7" singles, including a few tracks not on the 4AD CD/LP. The 'Cath Carroll' 4 song single is available here in the States as an import.

that this release is eponymously titled, it's not to be confused with their previous self-titled effort, released in May.

follow-up LP allowed Mark Kozelek to write a number of songs, too many to fit onto one record. When picking material that was apropo for the 'Rollercoaster' album, the band realized they had recorded two very different albums, and divided their songs contextually. As a result, two thirds of those songs comprise the previous disc, and the remaining third are on the new record, hence the continuum of the title.

penned by Kozelek: an interpretation of Simon & Garfunkel's "I am a Rock", as well as "The National Anthem", originally recorded for a student film. The remaining titles are "Blindfold", '"Evil", "Uncle Joe", "Helicopter", "Bubble", as well as a full band reprise of "New Jersey".

Frehley song "Shock Me", and it will be released as a 4AD single in the UK.

Pale Saints have recently recorded 14 new demos, and are currently refining the tracks for their next album, scheduled to be produced by Hugh Jones. Colleen from The Heartthrobs has filled in the vacancy left by departing bassist/vocalist Ian Masters, with Meriel now handling all of the vocal duties. Expect a new LP sometime this spring.

Michael Brook's 'Live at The Aquarium' LP is now available in the US. Originally recorded at the press launch for the 'Cobalt Blue' album in The Aquarium, London Zoo; it was taped by Michael with no intention of release. But once all parties heard the recording, general consensus was that The Aquarium show deserved a far wider audience than the original gathering of media and friends.

Hailing from Brighton, England, Insides released one full length release on the La-Di-Da label under the name Earwig before slimming down &From a three piece to a duo and rechristening themselves. Those unfamiliar with the band will find that Insides play a minimalistic electro-craft that's reminiscent of both the Young Marble Giants and Durutti Column. 'Euphoria' runs domestically through ADA.

The Wolfgang Press are currently recording in their own Jesters Studio with John Droston Madden. The next album features 14 songs, and will be mixed by Howard Gray, who also worked on their previous release, 'Queer'. The album is slated for spring of 1994.

Lush are currently In Rockfield studios with Mike Hedges producing. Prior to recording, Emma had been experimenting a bit with UK house/techno outfits The Drum Club and Spooky.

The Breeders new album, 'The Last Splash', is available on 4AD in the US through a licensing agreement with Elektra. It was recorded in San Francisco with Mark Freegard behind the board, who's a contemporary of Hugh Jones and Gil Norton, and was initially acquainted with the band mixing last year's 'Safari Ep'. The video for the first single, "Cannonball", was directed by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Spike Jones of Dirt Magazine, and was recently added to MTV's "Buzz Bin".

After three Lp's and numerous singles, 4AD and Ultra Vivid Scene have amicably parted ways. Kurt Ralske's been busy recording various NY bands at his Zabriskie Point studio, Including Lotion and Rasputina. Look for Ultra Vivid Scene tracks to appear in the next Cindy Crawford Workout Video.

Frank Black just completed his first solo world tour, with a live band very similar to the one that played on the record: Frank on vocals & guitar, Joey Santiago on guitar, Eric Drew Feldman of Pere Ubu on bass and Nick Vincent on drums. Frank's currently In a Los Angeles studio recording his follow up LP.

Heidi Berry recently completed her first US tour co-headlining with the Red House Painters. Fans wiII want to track down the CD singles to both "The Moon & The Sun" and "Distant Thunder" for some gorgeous non-LP tracks.

His Name Is Alive release the 'King of Sweet' Lp, a compilation of outtakes from their various 4AD releases, available through Perdition Plastic. Warren is currently recording Dirteaters demos in his basement, and a few His Name Is Alive tracks.

[Brought to you by 4AD, the PaperMax scanner and MaxMate software from Visioneer (my new employer), Calera's WordScan Plus OCR package, and a bit of tweaking by me in Microsoft Word.]

Back to the top