Chad VanGaalen to launch Soft Airplane on Sept. 9

• A true Renaissance man, VanGaalen plays all the instruments on his hauntingly beautiful albums, which he records primarily in his basement in Calgary, Alberta, where the nearby mountains serve as his "fortress of solitude."

• Although doing a record Todd Rundgren-style is enough of a challenge, VanGaalen also enjoys performing as a one-man band, handling drums, guitar, harmonica and vocals. (Skeptical? Lookie here.)
  

• Not only does he conceptualize and create the artwork for his own output (not just album covers, but absolutely insane animated music videos), but he also works with other bands on theirs, too, designing a sleeve for fellow Canucks Shout Out Out Out and putting his psychedelic spin on clips for Love as Laughter, Guster and Holy Fuck.
  

• This year alone, VanGaalen's already produced the debut of his Flemish Eye labelmates Women and put the finishing touches on Soft Airplane, and Exclaim.ca reveals that he's concurrently been working on an electronic project under the name Black Mold. Flemish Eye's Ian Russell also told Exclaim that he's hoping to release a collection of VanGaalen B-sides and possibly a DVD "in the coming months."
  

• And finally: Chad VanGaalen is a freakin' sporty giant, as shown in an appearance on David Letterman's "Stupid Human Tricks." Read his remembrance and see him become a living jungle gym over at Paper Thin Walls.
  

Soft Airplane tracklisting:

Willow Tree 

Bones of Man 

Cries of the Dead 

Inside the Molecules 

Bare Feet on Wet Griptape 

Phantom Anthills 

Poisonous Heads 

TMNT Mask 

Molten Light 

Old Man + The Sea 

City of Electric Light 

Rabid Bits of Time 

Frozen Energon

Watch VanGaalen go for the gold:

September

21 - New York, N.Y. @ Blender Theatre at Gramercy * 

October

2 - Ottawa, Ont. @ Zaphod Beeblebrox ^ 

3 - Montreal, Que. @ Ukranian Federation, Pop Montreal #^ 

4 - Toronto, Ont. @ The Mod Club ^ 

9 - Vancouver, B.C. @ Richard’s on Richards 

10 - Victoria, B.C. @ Sugar Nightclub 

11 - Portland, Ore. @ Doug Fir Lounge * 

12 - Seattle, Wash. @ Triple Door * 

17 - Edmonton, Alb. @ McDougall United Church 

25 - Calgary, Alb. @ The Uptown Theatre

* - w/Giant Sand 

^ - w/Women 

# - w/Julie Doiron