August 2nd, 2010 / 0 Comments
On our recent Canadian tour, our “skins master” Chris “THE GLIMMER” Dadge filled the gaps between songs with a series of his own compositions. Gathered here at last – due to popular demand (ours, mostly) – we give you, dearest internet friend and follower, The Glimmer Interludes. All your favourites are here! ‘Yesterday’s News’! ‘My Grandma’s Eyes’! ‘Furniture From The Patio’! Without doubt the finest live album at less than 3 minutes in length ever compiled. (AND BONUS! The studio version of ‘Furniture From The Patio’, AKA The Summer Jam 2010).
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More: Friends, New Music, Tour
May 16th, 2010 / 0 Comments
The festival is over, and last night’s party lasted until some point this morning. While everyone slept, I took a bicycle along the coast, riding through small Swedish villages along the seaside. Swans the size of my bike swam in the water and the air cleared my lungs. I bought a sunflower and some baking. Back at the house in the early afternoon, everyone was waking slowly, and it was time to pack up bags and make the boat. Now there are very few of us left — tomorrow, we’ll all have returned to mainland Sweden, to Stockholm and Göteborg. Adieu, Visby.
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More: Dispatches, Friends, New Music, Places, Tour
May 14th, 2010 / 0 Comments
The annual Ljudvågor festival in Visby premieres new classical works by the students of the Tonsättar Skolan on the harbour. Not only is the city filled with the sound of music (Notes? Who needs them! Tuned instruments? Over-rated!), but each flat seems stuffed with musical instruments on every surface. It matters not if you can really play them, and each room of the house (we’re staying in one built in the 1300s, previously a monastery — when renovated, they discovered children’s corpses underneath) is typically bursting with different songs simultaneously. Here then, a sample listen to the sounds of Hampus Norén’s place.
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More: Dispatches, Festivals, Friends, New Music, Places, Tour
May 13th, 2010 / 0 Comments
When you tell a Swedish person you’re going to Gotland for a week, their eyes widen and they speak of the island that awaits you in hushed tones. A security guard at the train station even put me first in the queue when I told him where I was going — he was born here, and was adamant that it was still the “most beautiful part of Sweden”. I’m here in Gotland (in the capital of Visby) for a new music festival, in which my friend Hampus Norén is premiering new works. Last night we heard his beautiful first composition in a grand old church. This morning we walked along the town’s medieval walls, came back, and played the piano (this piece performed by the amazing Christine Everö). If the best way to start a tour is in an Icelandic hot spring, surely the most perfect way to end it is with escape to Gotland.
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More: Dispatches, Friends, New Music, Places, Tour
June 15th, 2009 / 1 Comment
Seriously, if you’d ever told me that we’d someday find ourselves on a list of names alongside Leonard Cohen vying for the same prize title, I’d have laughed in your face. Really close and spitty-like. With deep, throaty guffaws. But, alas, it’s happened, and Woodpigeon’s Treasury Library Canada c/w Houndstooth Europa was named this morning as one of the records on the Polaris Prize’s long list, alongside such personal favourites as Chad Van Gaalen’s Soft Airplane and WOMEN’s self-titled record. And oh. Leonard Cohen.
But where’s everyone else? It’s easy to feel complimented by this sort of thing, but once you realize who didn’t make the list, it’s kind of mind-boggling. Every blogger from here to Halifax has already written on who they think is missing, but here’s a couple of others we really think you should check out: The Blistering Sun, The Pale Moon, Hahahaha by Knots, In Flesh Tones by Azeda Booth, and where the heck is Julie Doiron? Still, despite the omissions, it’s great company to be in and we’re well pleased to be included. Thankyouthankyouthankyou, etc. It’s a real pleasure just to be nominated, and so forth.
But, there’s no time to rest on one’s laurels, so we’re right back at it. Want some new summer tour dates? Well here. Look. We got…
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More: Festivals, Friends, New Music, Tour
April 13th, 2009 / 1 Comment
Man, it feels like we’ve only just gotten back from our last tour (and considering that it’s only been a month, that’s pretty accurate), but it’s time to start announcing some more dates for this upcoming summer.
Anyway. On to business: WP’s first proper tour of Ireland, and our first date in Wales, as well as a spot on the annual Phrased & Confused tour, focused on lyric-writing and the collision between words and music. It’s a chance to hit some of the UK’s smaller centers, not to mention an interesting opportunity to premiere some new works. For the first time on a tour longer than 3 days in duration, our producer Arran Fisher will also be coming along, so we’re sure to have some interesting recordings to share with you all at some point in the summer.
But! Before we get ahead of ourselves, here’s the P&C dates:
09 May: South Hill Park - Bracknell, UK
10 May: Cross Kings - London, UK
11 May: Norwich Arts Centre - Norwich, UK
12 May: Arc - Stockton on Tees, UK
13 May: Assembly Rooms - Derby, UK
14 May: Exeter Phoenix - Exeter, UK
Secondly, WP will be appearing once again at this year’s Great Escape festival in Brighton (May 15-16). You’ll most likely find us down on…
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More: Festivals, Tour
December 8th, 2008 / 0 Comments
we’re excited to announce the following february 2009 tour dates, including a show at the brussels botanique (as pictured above) that we’re particularly hyped about:
07 February 2009 PERFORMANCE WORKS Vancouver, BC
15 February 2009 BOTANIQUE-ROTUNDE Brussels, Belgium
16 February 2009 PONT EPHEMERE Paris, France
17 February 2009 PARADISO Amsterdam, Nlands
18 February 2009 PRINZENBAR Hamburg, Germany
19 February 2009 SCHOKOLADEN Berlin, Germany
21 February 2009 WESTGARTH SC Middlesbrough, UK
22 February 2009 THE CAPTAIN’S REST Glasgow, Scotland
23 February 2009 THE END Newcastle, UK
24 February 2009 THE DEAF INSTITUTE Manchester, UK
25 February 2009 ICA London, UK
26 February 2009 THE AUDIO Brighton, UK
ALSO:
Coming this February 2009 via Boompa in N. America and The End of the Road in the UK and Europe, we’re happy to announce the release of TREASURY LIBRARY CANADA featuring HOUNDSTOOTH EUROPA. (The UK / Euro pressing will only include Houndstooth Europa with the first 500 copies).
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More: New Music, Tour
November 16th, 2008 / 0 Comments
The way things go, when someone like Andrew Bird calls and asks you to play with him solo in one of London’s loveliest churches, you don’t say no.
We’ll be adding a couple of other dates between 18 November and 26 November, but for the moment this is what we’re really excited about:
20 November 2008 – St. Giles Church on the Green, London, UK w/ Andrew Bird
See you there!
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October 13th, 2008 / 0 Comments
We came, we saw, we played, we slept (barely), and then we left. Thanks to everyone who made our UK Songbook release tour such a joy (in particular, thanks to everyone at casa de Calexico — you guys are amazing).
Here’s Peter at The End of the Road Festival at the Larmer Tree Gardens in Dorset, UK, lookin’ a bit like rock royalty somehow:
Mark misses this orange tie. He gave it to Martin from Calexico, thinking it’d be easy to find another one just like it. Alas, that wasn’t the case. You can almost see the longing in his eyes. The sadness.
And here’s Foon being the most photographic mandobird slinger in the history of the world ever:
Dang, that was fun.
Another thrill: Holding Songbook in our hands with its beautiful new artwork by Sing Statistics.
You can read some nice things about it at Subba-Cultcha, The Line of Best Fit, a cool profile from The Guardian, and BBC’s website. We can’t read Swedish, but our friends who can tell us there’s swell words here at Dagensskiva too.
Pick it up via Rough Trade!
As for that “other” record we’ve been hawking lately, well, you’ve read it here first: Treasury Library Canada is sold out, folks. All 1,000 hand-folded copies are gone, and we couldn’t…
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More: Press, Tour
August 30th, 2008 / 0 Comments
01. ON THE ROAD
Hey! Check out the following list of confirmed tour dates and come out and say ‘hi’ if we’re coming through your town!
AUGUST 2008
30 - THE GATEWAY w/ Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir - Calgary, Alberta
SEPTEMBER 2008
06 - THE LUMINAIRE w/ Orphans + Vandals & Spokes - London, UK
07 - THE COLCHESTER ARTS CENTRE w/ Guests - Colchester, UK
08 - THE CAPTAIN’S REST w/ Eagleowl & Kelley Stoltz - Glasgow, Scotland
10 - TRIPOD w/ Calexico - Dublin, Ireland
11 - QUEEN’S HALL w/ Calexico - Edinburgh, Scotland
12 - CARLING ACADEMY w/ Calexico - Oxford, UK
13 - LEADMILL w/ Calexico - Sheffield, UK
14 - END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL – Main Stage (5PM) - Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset
14 - END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL – Tipi Stage (Midnight) - Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset
16 - THE LAMP w/ Guests - Hull, UK
17 - THE JUNCTION w/ Guests - York, UK
18 - CUMBERLAND ARMS w/ Guests - Newcastle, UK
19 - THE BODEGA w/ Guests - Nottingham, UK
23 - ROUGH TRADE EAST – Afternoon Instore - London, UK
23 - HOXTON BAR w/ Guests - London, UK
25 - SCHOKOLADEN w/…
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More: Friends, Tour
