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Shark Remixes & Holy F’s Mia Remix
Last fall, Asthmatic Kitty released My Brightest Diamond‘s Shark Remixes Volume 1 (by Alfred Brown). It is a great remix EP… yet, the initial press release said something about a Vol 2 in Nov and Vol 3 in Dec. Well, our Thanksgiving gift has now arrived…
Shark Remixes, Volume 2 is done by Son Lux. It’s only $1.99 on iTunes for four songs… you can try out two of the tracks for free over at Asthmatic Kitty’s website (right click links below, “Save As”):
- Inside a Boy (remixed by Son Lux)
- To Pluto’s Moon (remixed by Son Lux)
- the other 2 songs are on iTunes
Our Christmas gift (i.e.- Volume 3)… well, maybe March? Whenever it comes out, I’m sure it’ll be great…
EDIT / UPDATE (1/28/09): a 4th volume was just announced, and the four EPs are slated for a hardcopy release in the spring/summer.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
And, in true blog fashion, as I’m writing one up I stumble on some other good news…
Canadian live electronic / post rock band of awesomeness, Holy Fuck, have done a remix of Mia‘s “Paper Planes.” You can get a copy of the track over on Nialler9’s blog.
REVIEW: My Brightest Diamond @ W.O.W. Hall (Eugene, OR – – 11/21/08)
FYI… my PHOTOS of the SHOW are at the BOTTOM
Yay… I’ve been waiting for this show for a few months. I last saw Shara Worden (aka My Brightest Diamond) in April 2007 at the MusicNOW Fest in Cincinnati. It was at that show where she debuted many songs that ended up on A Thousand Shark’s Teeth. I was going to drive up to Portland on Thursday for the show, then they announced a Eugene show (yay!). It was sparsely attended, though not as sparse as a Glen Phillips’ WOW Hall show earlier this year. I don’t know… WOW Hall shows seem so hit or miss. Maybe the Blues Traveler show at McDonald Theatre on Friday hurt MBD’s crowd? Anyway, the artists were in good spirits and put on a great show nonetheless.
Openers, Clare and the Reasons, went on around 9pm and played 40 minutes of very cinematic-tinged, indie-pop fare. The band was made up of singer/guitarist Clare Muldaur Manchon, multi-instrumentalist Olivier Manchon, and string-players Hiroko Taguchi & Maria Jeffers – – all four dressed in all red costumes. (The MBD & Clare touring collaboration was also an efficient one, as Olivier, Hiroko & Maria were MBD’s backing band as well.) After their set, buying their studio CD The Movie for $10 seemed like a steal. I look forward to hearing it, as it’s littered with guest artists / studio collaborators such as Van Dyke Parks (!!!!!) and Sufjan Stevens.
Clare & the Reasons’ Setlist:
- Pluto – a fave of the set, nice pizzicatto strings
- Better Without You
- Pluton / Rodi – a fave of the set, nice saw work, 1st song done in the dark with flashing lights
- Nowhere
- Can Your Car Do That? (I Don’t Think So)
- Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears cover)
- Cook for You
Next up was My Brightest Diamond, who has gotten a lot of dedication here on this blog – – for which I do not apologize. In fact, she’s been the most prolific (or at least most little web goodies) of the Asthmatic Kitty artists lately. I mean, come on, Sufjan! You’re overdue. :) Anyway, back to MBD…
MBD’s performance was excellent, as usual. As mentioned above, Olivier Manchon, Hiroko Taguchi, and Maria Jeffers were her backing band as well – – this time dressed in black & white costumes. They played around an hour, which included a magic show, a shadow & puppet show, twirling & whistling hoses, and much storytelling.
MBD’s Setlist:
- Golden Star – a fave of mine
- If I Were Queen
- Apples – a fave of mine
- To Pluto’s Moon
- Olivier’s Magic Show
- Disappear – a fave of mine
- Dragonfly – a fave of mine
- From the Top of the World – started Shara’s At the Back of the North Wind storytime
- Black & Costaud – a fave, started with Olivier’s storytime
- The Ice & The Storm
- Inside a Boy – a fave of mine
- Je n’en connais pas la fin / Hymne à l’amour – with an excellent shadow and puppet show
- Encore: The Gentlest Gentleman – with Shara on mandolin
Check MBD‘s music out on iTunes, Amazon, or your local record shop…
My Brightest Diamond’s CDs:
(plus she’s got a ton of remixes and b-side whatnot on iTunes)
The Appropriate Linkage:
- http://www.myspace.com/mybrightestdiamond
- http://www.mybrightestdiamond.com/
- http://www.asthmatickitty.com/
- http://www.myspace.com/claremuldaur
- http://www.wowhall.org/
- Seattle’s Triple Door show (11/19/08) is Archived at Synclive.com
- MBD on Uncensored Interviews
The Next Tour Stops:
Nov 22 2008 – Swedish American Hall, San Francisco, CA
Nov 24 2008 – Rio Theatre, Santa Cruz, CA
Nov 25 2008 – Casbah, San Diego, CA
Nov 26 2008 – Hotel Café, Los Angeles, CA
Nov 29 2008 – Solar Culture, Tucson, AZ
Nov 30 2008 – The Cooperage, Albuquerque, NM
Dec 3 2008 – Granada Theater, Dallas, TX
Dec 4 2008 – Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack, Little Rock, AR
Dec 5 2008 – The Bottletree, Birmingham, AL
Dec 6 2008 – Square Room, Knoxville, TN
Dec 7 2008 – The Earl, Altanta, GA
Dec 9 2008 – Orange Peel, Asheville, NC
Dec 10 2008 – Gravity Lounge, Charlottesville, VA
Dec 11 2008 – Rock n Roll Hotel, Washington, DC
Dec 12 2008 – First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA
Dec 13 2008 – (Le) Poisson Rouge, New York, NY
OK, that’s all for now from me…
~Dan – np: Mostly Other People Do the Killing – This is Our Moosic
CLARE & the REASONS -and- MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND CONCERT PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2008 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution
From the Top of the World
A Reminder
My Brightest Diamond‘s From the Top of the World -EP- is out today on iTunes. It’s the single for the title track plus 3 French songs. Here’s my original post about this release with all of the INFO…
$2.97 if you only want the new songs. But if you don’t have A Thousand Shark’s Teeth, you might as well get that one, too. You know you want to…
~Dan – np: My Brightest Diamond – From the Top of the World
More Brightest Diamond
I saw this on the Asthmatic Kitty website…
I don’t know if it’s a new CD, new vinyl, new iTunes, or new multi-platform release… regardless, it’s Shara / My Brightest Diamond -and- MORE SONGS. :)
The info…
While Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond retains a French vocabulary more comparable to that of an African Grey Parrot than to Victor Hugo, oh how she does love to sing French songs from the 1930s. Borrowed melodies from Worden’s favorite French sparrow, the inimitable Edith Piaf, “Adieu mon Coeur,” and “Hymne A L’Amour” have become standard concert repertoire for My Brightest Diamond in recent years.
After having fled Germany to escape the Nazi’s in 1933, composer Kurt Weill penned the music for “Youkali:Tango Habenera”. Years later, Roger Fernay added lyrics describing a vagabond trip to an island of bliss called Youkali, whereupon landing a fairy would act as one’s personal tour guide. Youkali is a land of happiness and fulfilled desire, a place where all the stars shine brighter. But the dreamy mists dissipate in the second verse of Fernay’s piece, as life progresses only tediously while poor human souls seek to escape to the mysterious utopia in vain.
With the help of co-producer / ear candy man Zac Rae, a longstanding Diamond collaborator, these recordings take new flight with his host of reversed pianos, paint can snares, and warbling theramins.
1. From the Top of the World
2. Youkali: Tango Habanera
3. Hymne Á L’Amour
4. Adieu Mon Coeur
My Brightest Diamond’s From the Top of the World is out Sept 23rd, y’all.
~Dan – np: Orange Tulip Conspiracy – Orange Tulip Conspiracy
a thousand shark’s teeth
update (4/26/2008)
My Brightest Diamond has posted the first sample of the album to come on her MySpace page HERE: http://www.myspace.com/mybrightestdiamond
It’s called “Inside a Boy,” and it quite rocks more than I was expecting (seeing as I heard rumors of this record being more operatically bent). Yay!
~Dan
original post (2/28/2008)
a thousand shark’s teeth… a thousand shark’s teef… a tousand shark’s teet… zähne tausend haifischs… d’les dents mille requins… dientes de mil tiburones…
In an increasingly troubling manner (me being just short of reviewing something before it’s out), here’s another hypothesis (in the alternative form): Shara Worden/My Brightest Diamond‘s upcoming album, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth (Asthmatic Kitty Records), will be a fantastic record.
Shara Worden’s vocals are utterly sublime. It’s quite compelling to witness her singing in a live setting… she brings operatic vocal training to the indie rock scene.
We’ll be able to test the null hypothesis, H0: A Thousand Shark’s Teeth = not fantastic, against the alternative hypothesis starting Tuesday, June 17th (seventeeth?). I imagine we’ll be able to reject the null hypothesis with statistically significant results (p-value < .001).
Yeah, too many accounting research papers for me this week…

MBD: http://www.mybrightestdiamond.com/
MBD on MySp: http://www.myspace.com/mybrightestdiamond