Welcome to Ba Da Bing! Records

Colossal Yes pairs up with artist Renée Green!
On February 19th, Colossal Yes will be playing at the opening night party for artist Renée Green. Also performing will be DJ Scott Soriano, Wounded Lion and live acid-trip projections by Liquid Light.
An event not to be missed!

Tickets and more information available here: http://www.ybca.org/tickets/production/view.aspx?id=9824

new Shearwater project on Kickstarter!
A massive, full color, 75-page "Dossier", meant to be a visual guide to the upcoming Golden Archipelago release, has just been launched on Kickstarter.com! There are a ton of bonus rewards for donating, in addition to getting the thing itself of course. Check the mind boggling trailer at the link below, and just try and not want one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xM351A08kU

Get Your Vinyl Straight From The Source
Great news vinyl fans! We've just started adding vinyl to our Ba Da Bing store, so you can cut out the middle man and get your records without having to experience the judgmental gaze of your local record store clerk! Albums up so far include: all the Beirut albums (excluding Lon Gisland for now), Dead C's Secret Earth and Future Artists, Comets on Fire, Bright, and the Spiny Anteaters. We'll be periodically adding more in the upcoming weeks, hope you are as excited as we are! And remember, all prices include shipping!

Devon Williams with a New Release!
Our friends from Slumberland Records just helped our favorite little puppy dog, Devon Williams, release his new songs, "Sufferer" and "Who Cares About Forever?" on a 7" !!

You can buy it here: http://www.slumberlandrecords.com/catalog/show/121

Go on, check it out! You know you want to!

Beirut Day in Brazil !!! August 30th
You are NOT going to believe this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On August 30th in several cities across Brazil, bands will be paying tribute to their favorite band, Beirut.

Seven bands learned and covered Beirut songs in seven different cities around the country. "My friend from France sent me a link to what's going on," Beirut's Zach Condon tells Spinner. "It's pretty intense. South America was the last place I ever thought of it becoming popular. It's weird that it caught on and I'm trying to figure out why. What spoke to them that I didn't realize would?"

Isn't it amazing when music brings people together?! ALL OVER THE GOSH DARN WORLD!!!!!!!!

They are calling this unbelievable event BEIRUTANDO

Here is a q & a about this new holiday :

Where did the idea come from?

Beirutando appeared in a conversation between two girls from the countryside of São Paulo, Iris and Tainá, concerning good musicians and composers around the world, when Beirut was quoted. Wondering about how many people would know about Beirut here in Brazil and how good would it be if there were bands with the same potential, they had this insight: “We could bring together people who like Beirut and start one band with different personality but that would reach the same musical level”. After spreading this idea through Orkut, a social online network, loads of people joined it and appreciated what became the Beirutando project, born in the late 2008.

What does it means by Beirutando?

Beirutando (the verbalization of Beirut in Portuguese) is an event that proposes in a common day people from all states that participate (currently São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais) would go out and play Beirut’s songs, rehearsed during the year. Not only does Beirutar (To Beirut) mean playing a cover for the all-worshiped band, but also having the will to incorporate a different music and mood into the cities’ dynamics based on Zach Condon’s songs.

Doesn’t this playing on the streets thing recall La Blogothèque’s initiative?

La Blogothèque inspired us in every way on going to streets to play. Moreover, it made stand out an interesting new approach with acoustic and adapted instruments.

Adapted instruments?

In the lack of an ukulele in Brazil, we made up this cavacolele, using one cavaquinho with nylon strings and tuned like one ukulele. It sounds like the original but has a pretty Brazilian accent. Also, there are instruments like the escaleta (melodica) and the cajón (Peruvian instrument) that are not played by Beirut but proved to sound nicely in different occasions.

In addition, this atmosphere of intertextuality between different cultures, the collision of distant realities and the feeling of the universal musical repertoire triggered the idea of adapting songs.

Adapting songs?

As a tribute to our own culture, and to the very cultural-synthesis nature of Beirut we started to play some songs in other sorts of rhythms that would revive Brazilian popular music and folklore. That would be a new context and sense for the project and would expand more and more the musical vortex opened by Beirut.

How has it being spread?

The actual meetings have begun in last February, since then many people came not only to play or appreciate but also to register. This material have being released on myspace (http://www.myspace.com/beirutando), youtube (http://www.youtube.com/Beirutando) and by blog (http://beirutando.wordpress.com). We also have an account on Twitter (www.twitter.com/Beirutando) where we write our latest news.

Here is a great youtube clip - Postcards from Italy... on a TRACTOR!!!!!!!!