A short time ago, Darla Farmer joined forces with Magic Hat Brewing Company and Vancar.tv to put on a full-blown theatrical music show. Initially only viewable to the drunken crowd in attendance, Vancar.tv released the live HD footage of the show in all its glory.

Now the band is releasing the recording of the Magic Hat Brewing Company show, appropriately titled “Live @ Mercy Lounge.”

Premiered and featured on AOL’s Spinner.com, the album is a 13 track trip through the madness that is Darla Farmer, hitting you with big band horn melodies, melancholy violin bridges, fuzz driven guitar breakdowns and throaty screams. With a sound as unique as Darla Farmer’s, it makes the composure of their live set all the more impressive.

Darla Farmer is comparable in some ways to genre trailblazers Cursive and Blood Brothers, but what Darla Farmer shares most with these bands is its own sense of direction and seemingly boundless creativity. Many bands have creative visions, but few execute them live as well as Darla Farmer, and this is clear in “Live at the Mercy Lounge.” Made up of horns, a violin, a piano/organ, bass, guitar, drums and a wildly wielded tambourine, Darla Farmer exhibit some of the many potentials of their eclectic ensemble.

“…[Rewiring The Electric Forest] is an ambitious debut release from the seven-piece, Nashville-based ensemble Darla Farmer.” – NPR All Songs Considered

“Hear the Nashville seven-piece’s unique ‘carnival rock’ in all its live glory” – Spinner.com

AOL Spinner’s premier feature of Darla Farmer’s live album (click on their album cover)

Darla Farmer’s “Live at the Mercy Lounge” album FREE on Paper Garden Records

Darla Farmer’s live Magic Hat show on Vancar.tv

BIO

Darla Farmer arose from the kind of disenchantment one can only experience when living in the musical mold known as Nashville. This septet is a rousing douse of musical Discordia, who makes it their goal to sonically please, displease, and please again.

Inspired by Tom Waits, The Blood Brothers, Man Man and other musical outfits alike, their arrangements include guitar, bass, drums and vocals, topped with a blasting horn section, piano and violin. Using this instrumentation to their advantage, Darla Farmer is simultaneously tumultuous and triumphant; chaotic and organized. Darla Farmer’s first full-length album, “Rewiring the Electric Forest,” (2008 Paper Garden Records) creates a musical mattress made of rock and roll springs, pop comfort, and seedy industrial firmness accentuated by a pillow of psychedelic cerebral focus. Their music leads the listener to a bedding of insightful melody, but not without the necessary turmoil to keep you up at night.

Whether the topic is apocalyptic or the distortion of history, the desperation of being stuck within the cogs of mechanical routine, or the plaguing sensations of dreams, Darla Farmer manages to marry word to sound in a beautifully grotesque matrimony that is both curiously endearing and frighteningly absurd.

Buy Music:

Darla Farmer on amazon.com

Upcoming 2009 Tour Dates:

(Dates and information subject to change.)

9/11 – Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom (Rabbit Release Party)
10/1 – Montreal, QB @ Syndrome (Paper Garden Records music & art party)
11/14 – New York, NY @ 3rd Ward (Paper Garden Records presents: Multiverse Playground)

More tour dates to be announced soon!

Darla Farmer Myspace
Darla Farmer Facebook

Tilly and The Wall are a busy bunch these days. Their third album that’s been two years-in-waiting is finally released June 17th, 2008.

In even more exciting news, Tilly and The Wall recently performed in a music video acquired by Sesame Street to use in their upcoming 39th season set to air in the fall of 2008. The band recorded their own version of the “ABC Song,” and the result is nothing short of magical. The new album, produced by the acclaimed Mike Mogis, has no title. It could be called O because its cover is just that: an oval-shaped frame for the artwork that will go inside of it.

O will have limited edition runs of handmade prints available by different artists that will act as the record’s cover, giving the band’s fans a unique piece of art for both their album and their walls.

This week you’ll be able to stream the full album at Spinner and you can also stream the album and check out some of the various album art submitted by artists in the O E-CARD.

SPIN.com recently made Tilly and The Wall their “Artist of The Day”, sharing some exclusive insight into the sounds of the new album straight from male singer Derek Presnall:

“Textures abound under the Mogis helm. Jamie Pressnall’s tap fills thunder over conventional drums, and oodles of guitar effects support electronic tinkerings and vocal overdubs. Case in point: “Pot Kettle Black.” “[We were] naturally going in a way to try and make it more one kind of sound,” Derek Pressnall, also of Flowers Forever, told SPIN.com. “We were consciously thinking about how we want to have drums, taps, and electronics all happening at once, without you thinking there’s drums, taps, and electronic beats all going on at once.” Trickery indeed, but sonic deception never sounded so good.” – SPIN.com

Tilly and The Wall have also unveiled their new feisty single “Pot Kettle Black” and premiered the music video to it on Stereogum.com. The video was directed by Omaha native Alan Tanner. Prior to this, Alan also directed Tilly and The Wall’s video of “Rainbows In The Dark,” and The Good Life’s “Heartbroke.”

Here’s what he had to say about the concept behind it: “The idea for the video was to reference some of our favorite music videos from the 80’s and early 90’s. The band is shown playing at a few different events around Omaha, NE and Council Bluffs, IA. The video was a lot of fun to make and everyone who allowed us to film at these locations was so nice and very accommodating.” Nick White, keyboardist of Tilly and The Wall, elaborates on the concept, “We were thinking Beastie Boys’ ‘Sabotage’ meets Go-Go’s ‘Vacation.’”

Watch Pot Kettle Black video:

Download “Pot Kettle Black” MP3

Tilly and The Wall will hit the road in support of the album beginning in July 2008. This time around, the band will performing as a seven-piece to fill the sound at the venues and in your hearts. Check out the full tour dates below. Auckland, New Zealand’s The Ruby Suns will be joining them at the end of July and into early August.

O is the sort of album that will remind you why you fell for Tilly and The Wall in the first place. Pick up a copy direct from Team Love.

Download “Cacophony” MP3

What the blogs are saying about O:

“…the sights and sounds on ‘Pot Kettle Black’ are a bit more streetwise. Like, literally: the troupe pounds the pavement (again, literally) in Omaha, NE and Council Bluffs, IA, playing on street corners, walking through the ‘burbs, and paying homage to old videos. The song comes from the band’s forthcoming O album (no relation, Damien Rice), and is a good sample of they’re promising a sound meshing all sorts of percussion — taps, drums, electronic beats.” – Stereogum

“‘Pot Kettle Black’ is just tailor made for Mean Girls. It’s punchy, catchy and points out that girl talk usually comes full circle. However, since that movie has already come and gone, they’ll have to wait until some teenage comedy gets enough of a brain to appeal to pretty much everyone. Maybe don’t hold your breath on that one, Tilly. Until then you can enjoy the cheerleader on acid chorus and picture your friends talking behind your back.” – You Ain’t No Picasso

“‘Pot Kettle Black’ sounds like Jamie Pressnall traded her tap shoes for some heavy boots and Tilly is looking to start a knife fight.” – Brontosaur.us

“Three albums in now, if you still think Tilly and The Wall is just ‘that band with the cute tap dancer’ (though I agree that she’s adorable) well…then you don’t know Tilly…” – Tsuru Radio

O Tracklisting:

1. Tall Tall Grass
2. Pot Kettle Black
3. Cacophony
4. I Found You
5. Alligator Skin
6. Chandelier Lake
7. Dust Me Off
8. Falling Without Knowing
9. Bloodflower
10. Poor Man’s Ice Cream
11. Too Excited

Tilly and The Wall 2008 Tour Dates:

Dates could be added or changed! Go to Tilly and The Wall’s Official Website for the latest tour dates and information.

* w/ The Ruby Suns

07/02 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Club Sound
07/04 – Vancouver, BC @ Richards on Richards
07/05 – Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s
07/06 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
07/08 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
07/10 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
07/11 – San Diego, CA @ Epi Center
07/12 – Phoenix, AZ @ Modified
07/13 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
07/16 – Dallas, TX @ Granada
07/17 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s
07/18 – Houston, TX @ Engine Room
07/19 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
07/22 – Orlando, FL @ The Social*
07/23 – Jacksonville, FL @ Jackrabbits*
07/24 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse*
07/25 – Carrboro, NC @ Cats Cradle*
07/26 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat*
07/27 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church*
07/29 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg*
07/30 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom*
07/31 – Boston, MA @ Paradise*
08/01 – Buffalo, NY @ The Mohawk Place*
08/02 – Toronto, ONT @ Mod Club*
08/03 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Hartwood Acres*
08/05 – Detroit, MI @ The Magic Stick*
08/06 – Chicago, IL @ Abbey*
08/07 – Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium*

Myspace
Tilly and The Wall