Pages tagged “bishop allen”

We here at Paste have lied awake more than a few cold nights this past year pacing back and forth through the hall waiting for something new to come from Band of the Week alum Bishop Allen. Sure, it's only been a little over a year, but we find ourselves lost without the group's soothing melodies, clever lyricism and indie-film sensibility in our daily lives. And we like the slap-in-the-face of oversaturation (the band released one EP in each month of 2006). We were so inspired we decided to come out with one magazine for every month of the year. (That is, except December and January, because they're simply too cute together. Who could keep those crazy kids apart?)

Not only are two former Paste Bands of the Week, Bishop Allen and Evangelicals, about to embark on pretty intense, month-long, multi-continent tours, but they’re actually going to meet up at one point and play two shows together. Just another match made in Heaven by your friends at PasteMagazine.com. If we had any more foresight, we’d have sponsored the tours ourselves.

You've probably heard Bishop Allen's sanguine tunes without even knowing it. "Click Click Click Click" rode tube airwaves in a Sony digital camera commercial (does "Take another picture with your click click click click camera" ring a subliminal marketing bell?) over the holidays. Now the quartet's MySpace blog reports the band members has been working on new songs that they hope to release by the end of the year.

While we're keeping our "Best of 2008" pens poised, the band has also announced its members will appear alongside Michael Cera in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. The comedy is based off of a teen novel about a boy in a queercore band who asks a college-bound chick to be his girlfriend for five minutes to avoid his ex. The film, being edited now, will also be released by the end of the year.

And if that isn't enough on the Bishop Allen plate, the band might very well tour Europe again in April (see new U.S. spring dates below). And the band will reissue its debut album Charm School with new artwork. As VH1 so fondly puts it, we smell someone having the best year ever.

Stay tuned:

May
15 - Cambridge, Mass. @ Middle East (downstairs)
16 - Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
17 - Bennington, Vt. @ Bennington Sunfest

Related links:
Bishop Allen on MySpace
Paste: Band of the Week: Bishop Allen
Paste: Bishop Allen releases “Click Click Click Click” video, tours

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.

Having been involved with movies like Mutual Appreciation and Funny Ha Ha, the members of Bishop Allen are no strangers to the tricks of the film trade. Now, they are putting their skills on display with the release of their music video for “Click Click Click Click.”

Composed of individual photo shots of the band performing, the pictures are blended together through stop animation, giving the video a happy-go-lucky charm that matches the group’s indie-pop sound. You can view it on YouTube or on QuickTime.

As previously reported, Bishop Allen has been on a U.S. with John Vanderslice. The musical combo is going to keep on trucking all the way through Europe.

Dates:

December
4 - Muenster, Germany @ Gleis 22
6 - Fribourg, Switzerland @ Noveau Monde
7 - Lausanne, Switzerland @ Le Romandie
8 - Barcelona, Spain @ Primevera Winterevent
9 - Modena, Italy @ Mattaoio
10 - Triest, Italy @ Tetris Club
11 - Zagreb, Croatia @ SC
12 - Vienna, Austria @ Rhiz
13 - Munchen, Germany @ Rote Sonne
14 - Dusseldorf, Germany @ Pretty Vacant
15 - Freiberg, Germany @ Swamp
16 - Berlin, Germany @ Magnet

Related links:
BishopAllen.com
Paste: Band of the Week: Bishop Allen
Paste: Bishop Allen :The Broken String

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

Much like Nike's slogan come to life, Bishop Allen pushes forward unabated

There's a “DIY ethic” folks love clamoring on about endlessly when discussing independent music, and though the term has been bastardized beyond belief since its first utterance, there’s still some truth to the philosophy in certain situations. Case in point, Bishop Allen. In 2006, the Brooklyn indie-pop band released 12 EPs (one for each month), and over the course of those 48 songs, a narration developed detailing what was a fairly exciting year for the group. All of this was done without a label, following a charming self-released full-length debut, while self-booking tours and attracting the attention of The Wall Street Journal and National Public Radio amongst many others.

Perhaps this record is the payoff, then. Signing to Secretly Canadian/Jagjaguwar sister label, Dead Oceans, Bishop Allen has delivered an album worthy of its integrity-laden new home. These Brooklynites realize it’s the details that count: The barely-audible banjo plucks in “The News From Your Bed,” the xylophone seduction in the background of "The Chinatown Bus," and all the other myriad instrumental minutiae sprinkled throughout The Broken String indicate a band afflicted with some sort of meticulous “everything in its place” syndrome.

Fleshed out in a seriously optimistic fashion, and with this fastidiousness on its side, The Broken String carries itself with Kinksian brilliance. Whereas Ray Davies and Co. once offhandedly, lightheartedly asked, “Why not come dancing? It’s only natural,” Bishop Allen operates within a similar pop-rock vein, proclaiming with sincerity, “If you feel like dancing, dance with me.”

With the support of an established record-label family, and with accomplished indie rockers and underground filmmakers collaborating so often these days (three members of Bishop Allen have found acting work in small-budget movies), Bishop Allen seems primed for the Big Year. But it’s not as if these earnest songwriters need a massive breakout to continue making rewarding music. They’ve been doing it on their own just fine.

Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Fun Fact: Guitarist/vocalist Justin Rice is an adventurous eater. The most bizarre thing he’s devoured is stewed silk worms, which he reports was “pretty gross.”
Why It's Worth Watching: Combing through the band’s EP-a-month project gave way to its latest release—the poppy, grin-inducing The Broken String.
For Fans Of: Ben Kweller, Guster, The Spinto Band

Crossing over into another medium sometimes entails tiptoeing through a trail of decomposing careers that each met their untimely end. But Justin Rice and Christian Rudder, both Harvard grads and root cast members of Bishop Allen, have appeared—with acclaim, no less—in films like Mutual Appreciation and Funny Ha Ha. Now on the cusp of its sophomore release The Broken String, Bishop Allen is putting life behind cameras on pause to tour.