Pages tagged “mates of state”

Check out Paste's top 50 albums of 2008...

Sufjan Stevens' pastor Vito Aiuto just made an album with his wife Monique under the moniker The Welcome Wagon. It's sweet, brimming with faith and the kind of chemistry that at least seems like it could only come from a husband and wife. So we thought we'd look at the best collaborations between married couples over the years. We're only judging music made together (sorry, Tim and Faith) while married (sorry Jack and Meg). Here are Paste's Top 10 Musical Husband and Wife Duos:

This morning I chatted with Mates of State about adding instruments to their live shows and touring with kids--they bring their baby June and four-year-old Magnolia everywhere they go. They needed something to protect the baby's ears during shows and couldn't find mini-headphones at a music store, so they had to buy some for June at a firing range! A baby in headphones is one of life's cuter things.

First of all, a note to anyone who saw us nearly passed out on the VIP couches at our ACL kickoff party at Emo's last night: We were not drunk. We were not even drinking, minus the one beer each we imbibed around 9:30. Rather, we both were besot by sinus-crud related exhaustion. See, unlike here in Austin, fall arrived on schedule in Atlanta last week, and bestowed upon us one of the great gifts of this fair season: The nasty head cold. Unfortunately, this meant we spent the better part of last night's festivities sprawled out in various ladylike poses, chugging water and entertaining thoughts of propping our eyelids up with toothpicks, while bands played downstairs and people drank (for real) and enjoyed the party all around us, occasionally shooting us judgmental stares and having way, way more fun than us.

All of you making the grand promenade down to the musical explosion that is the Austin City Limits Festival, be sure to RSVP to join Paste at our official ACL 2008 Kick-Off Party this Thursday, Sept. 25 at Emo's.

If you want the most bang for your music-festival buck, look no further than The Real Big Deal Festival in Gainesville, Fla.

Above: Bang Camaro

Another Lollapalooza weekend has come and gone and music fans of all stripes left happy (unless, of course, they were fans of the Weakerthans, who had to cancel as a result of travel problems). Despite a record attendance of 225,000 fans, festivities and rock went on seamlessy under sun-filled skies each day. The festival's organizers outdid themselves this year with opening acts, starting the weekend out with a bang. Bang Camaro, that is. Other rising stars followed suit on days two and three with the Ting Tings belting out their infectious pop tunes (we overheard Love and Rockets' Daniel Ash mentioning that they were the only reason he was at Lollapalooza) while Austin's Octopus Project wowed us with a 500 balloon salutes and Yvonne Lambert's mesmerizing theremin skills.

Click above to watch "My Only Offer" from Mates of State's new album Re-Arrange Us, out now on Barsuk Records.

Related Links:
Review: Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
News: Mates of State announce tour dates, free MP3
Video of the Day: Mates of State - "Get Better"

A satisfying family affair

We all know That Couple: professionally accomplished, interpersonally fluid, slaloming between challenges as though doing nothing more demanding than strolling down senior hall from Trig to AP English (yawn). Then the kids came, and That Couple pulled off parenthood with aplomb as well, their rug monkeys demonstrating enviable manners and scarily perfect genetics. It’s enough to make most mere mortals throw up their hands in frustration.

Mates of State’s husband-and-wife team, keyboardist Kori Gardner and drummer Jason Hammel both sing, in close harmonies as reminiscent of the Elephant 6 Collective’s Wilson Bros. obsession as they are shaggier modern-day entities like Quasi. They are indie-rock’s That Couple, and Re-Arrange Us is their fifth attempt to perfect the sunny-day real estate they’ve claimed as their terra firma. It’s a record about life’s small domestic joys, sung with enough gusto and bug-eyed wonder to make you question how in the world you’ve overlooked such unappreciated gems as household color schemes (the rolling cadences of “Get Better”), patterns in the paint (“Now”), small talk in the bedroom hall (“My Only Offer”) and red colonial houses on snow-white streets (pretty much the rest of the album).

Mates of State may have begun a decade ago as something of a curiosity—plainsfolk from Lawrence, Kan., singing idiosyncratic love songs with Hammond organs where the guitars should’ve been—but they’ve evolved into something far greater: pure pop for adults who haven’t quite grasped that they’re adults yet. The duo’s song structures haven’t become any less appreciably quirky over the years—the rhythms still shift unpredictably, often throwing down from third to fifth gear within a single track (“You Are Free” starts out bossa nova, then swiftly graduates to bottom-heavy swing at the coda)—nevertheless, they’ve become easier on the ears.

Think of Re-Arrange Us as the antidote to Richard and Linda Thompson’s Shoot Out the Lights: an album about the undying perpetuity of love.

Mates of State have announced a barrage of summer tour dates and festival appearances in support of their upcoming album, Re-Arrange Us, due May 20 on Barsuk Records.

Re-Arrange Us will be husband-and-wife duo Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner’s fifth studio album. In anticipation of its release, an MP3 of the song “My Only Offer from the new album is available for free download here.

The duo's new album will be a departure from the band's traditional sound. Gardner's organ playing will take a back seat to organic piano, synth sounds and additional instumentation. Prominent lead vocals from both Mates will also be on display in addition to the couple's trademark harmonizing.

Wondering how this busy couple manages life on the road while raising two children under the age of 5? Check out Mates of States’ blog Band on the Diaper Run for Gardner and Hammel’s tales of preschool, vaccination woes and children’s show Yo Gabba Gabba.

Re-Arrange Us tracklist:
1. Get Better
2. Now
3. My Only Offer
4. The Re-Arranger
5. Jigsaw
6. Blue and Gold Print
7. Help Help
8. You Are Free
9. Great Dane
10. Lullaby Haze

Dates:

May
16 - New Haven, Conn. @ Toad’s Place
22 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Slim’s
24 - Bend, Ore. @ Les Schwab Amphitheater
25 - Seattle, Wash. @ Sasquatch Festival
28 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Henry Fonda Theater

June
6 - Lawrence, Kan. @ Wakarusa Music Festival
7 - Omaha, Neb. @ The Slowdown
8 - St. Louis, Mo. @ The Bluebird
10 - Oklahoma City, Okla. @ Bricktown Ballroom
11 - Dallas, Texas @ Granada Theatre
13 - Austin, Texas @ Emo’s Alternative Lounge
14 - Little Rock, Ark. @ Rev Room
15 - Memphis, Tenn. @ Hi-Tone
17 - Newport, Ky. @ Southgate House
18 - Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Mr. Small’s Theatre
21 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ Popped! Festival

July
25 - Pemberton, B.C. @ Pemberton Festival

August
1 - Chicago, Ill. @ Lollapalooza
8 - Liberty State Park, N.J. @ All Points West Festival

September
26 - Austin, Texas @ Austin City Limits Festival

Related links:
MatesOfState.com
Mates of State on Barsuk.com
Video of the Day: Mates of State - “Get Better”

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

Click above to watch "Get Better" from Mates of State's new album Re-Arrange Us, out May 20th on Barsuk Records.

Related Links:
News: Mates of State Re-Arrange with new album
Feature: Mates of State Keep It In The Family

Having a baby doesn’t mean you have to put your career on hold. In fact, if you are Mates of State, kids just add to the fun. The married organ and drum duo has had its hands full raising a newborn and a toddler, as well as completing a new record, Re-Arrange Us.

Set for release on May 20, the LP will mark the indie-pop group's fifth studio album. There are no tour dates scheduled in support of the release as of yet, but the California-based band is known for its eager beaver touring schedule, and will no doubt be announcing some shows in the near future. In the meantime, you can check out and episode the Mates recorded for NPR's This American Life, What I Learned From Television, which came out around this time last year.

Related links:
MatesOfState.com
Mates of State on MySpace
Paste: Mates of State Keep it in the Family

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

(Mates of State [L-R]: Kori Gardner, Jason Hammel. Photo by Terry Loewenthal)

It’s an old rock cliché that being in a band is like being in a relationship. But for married duo Mates of State, this cliché has been a way of life through four albums of organ-driven indie pop, full of girl-group harmonies and dueling vocals about love and all the issues that come with it. As the couple gets ready to hit the road behind its latest album, Bring It Back, we asked organist Kori Gardner and drummer Jason Hammel what they thought the five best or worst things were about making music with your spouse.

1. Egos Stay In Check: “It’s impossible to get too big of a head when you’re around your husband or wife,” says Gardner. “If Jason starts thinking he’s great, I’ll call him on it. I can tell him the truth in a way I might be afraid to with others.”

2. Every Moment Is Spent Together: “People ask how we spend so much time together without killing each other, but we’ve gotten used to it,” Gardner says. “It’s like we’re in the beginning of a relationship when you stay up talking until 5 a.m. and want to spend every moment together. For most people, jobs and real life intrude at some point and you forget those feelings. We don’t have to deal with that.”

3. You Have to Fight the Rock ’n’ Roll Myths: “Because we’re married and have a kid, people assume we’re a domestic, family act and that we’re not rock ‘n’ roll,” says Hammel. “But the two things are not incompatible. Kori actually got pregnant on the road—it was backstage while Death Cab was playing.”

4. Booking Practice is Easier: “We started Mates of State because people in our previous bands wouldn’t show up to practice,” Gardner explains. “Now, we don’t have to tell everyone when practice is—we just do it in our house on our own schedule.”

5. No Groupies Required: “When you’re married, you can have sex on the road anytime you want,” says Gardner. “You don’t have to wait for groupies.”