Litany: Music News Covering Skinny Puppy, Download, ohGr and Related Projects

Max Hodges, of the aforementioned audio travelogue, took some fine photos of Key's Japanese debut. View them in all their glory here.

cEvin Key has landed in Japan for his October 25th DJ set. Check out the above sticker they've been posting around. Here are some words from cEvin:::

Over here in Japan land already. They have some stickers all over

The crew over here is making a documentary on the event for dvd. Will keep you posted on that.

The show at MARZ is in a part of Tokyo called Kabuki-cho in Shinjuku a notorious neighborhood of Yakuza, sex clubs, and more lights than 100 times squares, so it is kind of cool. Earlier this year I sent some tracks to Max (White Rabbit press) here in Tokyo and he has made a virtual tour of kabuki-cho that is extremely interesting. It gives all the details of the "behind the scenes" and what is really going on here, plus the history of the area. This is now available with some music by Download/Mark Spybey at Tokyorealtime.com. I recommend this tour if visiting Tokyo. I will be meeting up with Max again to do some more work on the second tour. Which will be Harajuku.

Visit Tokyorealtime.com to hear the audio tour featuring music from cEvin Key.

A lot of people have been emailing me about a conflict they've been hearing about for the Phoenix Marquee Theater show. Here is the official word:::

The Phoenix Marquee Theater date that was originally scheduled for November 17th is now taking place on Dec 22nd. It will be the last show of the tour. Anyone who bought tickets for the show at the Phoenix Marquee Theater should check with the venue and Confirm the date of the show and Confirm that the tickets they have are OK.

Edward Ka-Spel of the Legendary Pink Dots will be appearing on my radio show this coming Monday 10/20 airing between 6 and 8pm EST. I'll be talking to him about the new LPD album, Plutonium Blonde, and the upcoming Tear Garden album with cEvin Key. I'll also have a pair of tickets to give away for the NYC show. In case you miss it, I'll be re-airing it the following week in the same lot.

You can tune in online here or at 88.7 WRSU-FM in the central New Jersey area.

It's official. Everyone loves concert posters (see the flyer for cEvin Key's Japanese DJ gig a few updates below). Mark Spybey sent over some of the posters being used to promote the Beehatch tour of Europe which begins next week. If you're jealous that North America is getting the ohGr tour first, hit one of these shows and feel free to laugh at those of us on the other side of the ocean. Check these out, and the full dates below:::

22.10 Amsterdam, Holland, MS Stubnitz, NDSM Werf, www.stubnitz.com

23.10 Dresden, Germany, AZ Conni, Rudolf Leonhard Strasse 39, 01097 www.azconni.de

25.10 Phil and Mark appearing at Morphonic lab, Baroc Grosse Garten, Dresden (not a Beeehatch show) www.morphoniclab.de

26.10 Torun, Poland, Piwnica Pod Aniolem, Rynek Staromiejski 1, 87-100 www.podaniolem.art.pl

27.10 Bydgoszcz, Poland, Gdanska 10 street 85-006 www.mozg.art.pl

28.10 Lodz, Poland, Fabryka Sztuki, Tymienieckiego 3, 90-365 www.fabrykasztuki.org

29.10 Prague, Czech Republic, Cross Club, Plyn�rn� 1096/23, Praha 7 www.crossclub.cz

30.10 Bratislava, Slovakia, Subclub N�BRE�IE ARM. GEN. L. SVOBODU www.subclub.sk

31.10 Leipzig, Germany, Raum der Kulturen Engertstr. 23 (Ecke Karl-Heine Str.) -PlagwitzLeipzig-Plagwitz

01.11 Arhus, Denmark, Recession Festival, Theatre Katapult Rosengade 11 www.recession.dk Concert also features a performance by KONE

All doors @8pm (approx)

Beehatch's second release is coming on Lens Records.

Riverzend sent in this interview with Ogre and Mark Walk from Rolling Stone on the new album and Ogre's role in Repo. Read it here.

With so much news from the ohGr camp lately and the info from cEvin about Subcon's 2009 plans I posted yesterday, it's easy to forget that there's a lot of great music coming out from related artists as well. Beehatch's second release is on its way, Phil Western has released his second fantastic Kone album, Justin Bennett is featured on the new Bahntier, and the Legendary Pink Dots have just put out a magnificent record in Plutonium Blonde.

Not to be outdone, Collide have just released their first album in a number of years, Two Headed Monster. You might recall that both members of the band have contributed to Puppy related albums and cEvin Key was featured on their last full-length. Lead singer kArin is also slated to appear on the upcoming Tear Garden release. Collide's new album is an impressively diverse mixture, the sound invigorated by the inclusion of live guitar, bass, and drums (the latter supplied on a few tracks by none other than Tool's Danny Carey). Chaotic, featuring Dean Garcia of Curve, pounds intensely in the space between the dance floor and the pit while A Little Too Much throbs with a 90s-Bowie-esque groove. Spaces in Between is breakbeat gone epic. It could've fit in nicely on Greater Wrong of the Right. Head Spin stands out with some delightfully retro synths riding atop a bassline from that spot where Graham Central Station and ELO met at the corner of Welt. The electronic and live instrumentation on this album mesh with Karin's ethereal voice to form a sound that includes dashes of industrial, goth, glam, and shoegaze yet is altogether new. Two Headed Monster is available here on Noiseplus.

Amid all this ohGr news, it might be easy to forget that there's a whole lot more going on in our little corner of the music world. Here's an update from cEvin Key on the Subconscious side of things:::

I have been working on the new Skinny Puppy which has been my priority for the past year. It is on schedule for a January completion date. I also just wrapped up Scared volume one with Ken Marshall for Groove Addicts. It is an 80 minute disk that we hope to have available to the public soon. For now it is under special license for film, television, and games. The new Tear Garden, Have a Nice Trip, is almost completed mixing. This will be complete at the month's end and will be part of the Subcon 2009 VAULT 3 which will include another project I have been producing with the artist known as the Banana Sloth. The debut album will also be part of the set. I have been working on this off and on all year as well. Also included in the new set of recordings is a new Download and PlatEAU that we will begin in January. Subconscious will also be releasing the debut CD of OTO (japan) as part of the vault 3 set. His music is very much worth checking out, especially to the Download fans. We'll leave the other titles a secret for now...

SPV has posted two songs from the upcoming Devils in My Details album online for your listening pleasure. Go right here and listen to them over and and over and over. And remember to hit up Devilsinmydetails.com for all sorts of randomness and surprises.

Special thanks to Cold December Day for giving me the head's up on this info.

From the "if only I had some frequent flier miles" file, cEvin Key just sent over this nifty flyer for his upcoming DJ gig at Marz in Shinjuku Tokyo Japan with guest OTO. October 25th is fast approaching. Remember, it's a Halloween themed evening so I am making the special offer that anyone who shows up dressed as Litany.net will receive a free shout out on this page.

Last night's listening party went swimmingly. A splendid time was had by all. If you missed it, I pity you and find it difficult to comprehend how you can live with yourself. You sicken me. Anyway, we got to hear the album about 4 or 5 times and now November 4th just can't come fast enough. The record left me surprised and impressed. There are elements that hearken back to Puppy's early, rawest days and there are new sides we've never heard from Ogre before. It's the sound of people making a record together and enjoying the process of making it. You may or may not remember that I fell crazily in love with Welt upon its release in 2001. Devils in My Details is a completely different kind of album but I think I may have fallen in love all over again.

There were a few more impromptu Braps and general mischief, with the band graciously answering a peppering of fanboy questions and offering some insight into the album's creation. In the chat it also slipped (or was coaxed) out that they are planning at least two additional releases, Dfault, a collection of unreleased material from Ogre's earliest work with Mark Walk in the mid-90s, and Dsides, a companion to DIMD stemming from the same sessions.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find actress Isabella Rosselini. We share the same birthday and I'm hoping that reminding her of this fact will help convince her to sleep with me, or, failing that, front my new band, Lit Abby and the Ass Sequencers.

Remember that tonight at 5pm PST is the online listening party for the new ohGr album at Devilsinmydetails.com and ohgr.org. While you wait, check out the OnDemand section for an archived live jam they broadcast via the site a few nights back. Watch some history unfold there tonight.

And speaking of history, we also have some additional info about the support act for the ohGr tour, the William Morrison (Puppy's live film guy for many years) and Justin Bennett (Puppy's fantasmagastic live drummer) multimedia project, American Memory. Here's a little teaser from their press agent about what to expect:::

The American Memory Project's presentation spectacle, as performed by William and Justin and a cast of hundreds of the historical dead, will function sort of like the opening act. It is going to be ambitious. And William and Justin have been working on it for two years thus far, with plans to continue the project into the future. Which, considering that the back story is that artists of the future are utilizing the detritus of the past and then sending it back, well, it's sort of appropriate.

Here's an interesting article on the project from Boing Boing.

In addition to the live show there will be a DVD EP available on the tour.

And while we're talking about Justin (have I mentioned lately how brilliant he was on the Mythrus tour?), he performs on the new album from the Italian band Bahntier, Venal. He's made a special deal available just for Litany readers. Click here to order the album in US dollars at a far more affordable rate than you'd otherwise be able to get the import.

The band is giving us an opportunity to hear the brand new ohGr album for the first time way before it hits shops. They're holding an exclusive online listening party in the chat room at Devilsinmydetails.com this Saturday October 4th at 5pm PST.

Unfortunately I also regret to inform that the official release date has been pushed back to Nov. 4th due to issues beyond the control of god and/or man. To keep some perspective, let's not forget the first ohGr record was delayed for, oh, about six years. Good things come to those who wait, eh?