Balloon & Needle Announce Normal, the New Album from Choi Joonyong, Kevin Drumm, and Hong Chulki

Korean record label Balloon & Needle have just announced the release of a new collaborative album from Choi Joonyong, Kevin Drumm, and Hong Chulki. The album is entitled Normal and was recorded in May of last year when Drumm visited Seoul. The album will be 48 minutes long spread across five tracks. You can purchase the album directly from the label soon. ErstDist will also  have copies available in a couple weeks.

In other news, a new collaborative album from Hong Chulki and Bryan Eubanks is coming soon and will be released on Celadon. The record is entitled Proper Motions. Hong Chulki posted a picture from the photo session for the album's cover art earlier this year, which you can see here. More information on that album to come.

Kevin Drumm and Jason Lescalleet Announce U.S. Tour Dates

Busman's Holiday, the new album from Kevin Drumm and Jason Lescalleet, is currently available for purchase via Erstwhile. The six-track, 52-minute album follows The Abyss, their critically acclaimed double album from last year. In support of their new album, the two will be touring the midwest and east coast throughout the next few weeks, including a stop at AMPLIFY Festival this weekend. Jason Lescalleet also has a slew of solo dates, the first of which starts tomorrow in Easthampton. Earlier this week, Lescalleet released the newest volume of his This Is What I Do series. You can find the tour dates below.
 

Oct 30th - Easthampton, MA at Flywheel *
Oct 31st - New York, NY at Fridman Gallery (AMPLIFY Festival) ^
Nov 1st - New York, NY at Fridman Gallery (AMPLIFY Festival)
Nov 2nd - Richmond, VA at Auxiliary
Nov 3rd - Chapel Hill, NC at Nightlight &
Nov 4th - Richmond, VA at The Mammal Gallery
Nov 5th - Nashville, TN at Portland Brew #
Nov 6th - Lexington, KY at LexArts ArtsPlace
Nov 7th - Oberlin, OH at The Oberlin 'Sco
Nov 8th - TBA
Nov 9th - Minneapolis, MN at Secret Service @
Nov 10th - Iowa City, IA at The Mill
Nov 11th - Gambier, OH at The Horn Gallery
Nov 12th - Chicago, IL at Constellation !
Nov 13th - Columbus, OH at Double Happiness *
Nov 14th - Cleveland, OH at Now That's Class *^
Nov 15th - Buffalo, NY at Dreamland *
Nov 16th - Ithaca, NY at Sacred Root *
Nov 17th - Kingston, NY at BSP *%

* Jason Lescalleet solo
^ Jason Lescalleet & Olivia Block
& with Wolf Eyes, Housefire, and Patrick Gallagher
# with Harvest Team
@ with Grave Texture, Justin Meyers, Collin Gorman Weiland, and Family Planning
! with Brent Gutzeit
*^ Jason Lescalleet solo with Forest Management, Watchword, Witchbeam, and Bbob Drake
*% Jason Lescalleet solo with Arranged Marriage

Takahiro Kawaguchi/Utah Kawasaki's Amorphous Spores & Kevin Drumm/Jason Lescalleet's Busman's Holiday Out Now

To solidify itself even further as the best record label of the year, Erstwhile Records has just released two new albums. The first comes from Takahiro Kawaguchi and Utah Kawasaki and is entitled Amorphous Spores. This marks the second time Kawaguchi has appeared on Erstwhile. His first appearance was n 2011 when he collaborated with Taku Unami on Teatro Assente. This is, however, Kawasaki's first time on the label. Kawasaki released the charming U as in Utah last year with Ju Sei.

The second new album comes from Kevin Drumm and Jason Lescalleet and is entitled Busman's Holiday. This is a follow up to The Abyss, the ambitious double album they released last year on Erstwhile. The album has 6 tracks and is about 52 minutes long. The album covers for both Amorphous Spores and Busman's Holiday are above.

You can pre-order both albums now by contacting label owner Jon Abbey at erstrecs@aol.com. Pre-ordering Amorphous Spores comes with an immediate digital download (note: it's .wav files). Busman's Holiday, however, needs to reach 100 pre-orders before digital copies will be given out. Tracklists for both albums are below.

Amorphous Spores tracklist:

1. 12:32
2. 10:59
3. 4:17
4. 10:01
5. 5:20

Busman's Holiday tracklist:

1. The Hunt
2. Powerless
3. The Wait
4. The Push
5. Belligerence
6. Honest Toil