Go to official page:  http://bit.ly/uVMqu0 

Hear: “It’s Not the Heat (It’s the Humidity)” via Soundcloud: http://snd.sc/trTamv

World Behind Curtains is, in many ways, a befitting title for the exquisite second album by Israeli guitarist/composer Yair Yona.  Tel Aviv is a bustling modern metropolis, but for a musician whose medium is compositional steel-string guitar steeped in a hearty influence from underground/experimental rock and jazz, that locale can feel as isolated and shrouded from the rest of the world as can be. For all of his inherent geographical challenges, Yona has managed to circumnavigate these obstacles by virtue of sheer energy, dedication to his craft, and a spouting fountainhead of creative talent - opening those curtains incrementally wider in the process. His debut, Remember, initially released by the Tel Aviv-based label Anova and reissued by Strange Attractors in 2010, was embraced early on by the grassroots underground solo guitar cognoscenti, and championed by steel string guitar and compositional hero Glenn Jones. Word rippled steadily outward, attracting the attention of Pitchfork’s The Out Door column which tagged it as one of 2010’s best, and Yona nabbed an official invite to perform and speak on a panel at the heralded Hopscotch Festival in September 2011. World Behind Curtains peels back any artificially obscuring veils to reveal an artist blossoming into a profoundly dynamic and expressive composer, with his finest and most ambitious set of tunes to date.

Anchored by chiming steel string guitar, World Behind Curtains marks the ascendance of Yair Yona from solo steel string acolyte into master arranger, pulling the post-Takoma school of playing along with him into beautifully festooned cathedrals of sound. His exuberant attack on the acoustic guitar can be aggressive and ripe with punk rock muscle, only to return with graceful and yearning fingerstyle caresses.  Each of the eight compositions on World Behind Curtains sparkle with multi-instrumental color, alternating between full string arrangements, piano, horns, chimes and splashes of electric guitars.  Yona’s 12-string undulates rhythmically in opener “Expatriates” as it careens into caverns of feedback, only to spill into the gently moving currents of “It’s Not the Heat (It’s the Humidity)”.  A nod to one of Yair’s greatest inspirations, “This One’s For You, Glenn” harkens to Glenn Jones’ cinematic take on the solo steel string tradition, with a forward-propulsion that combusts into a furious pace tempered by the choral yearnings of horns, only to flame out with electric guitar and an abrupt gypsy-like about face. Through the densely layered prism of Yona’s musical perspective, Leo Kottke is melded with Godspeed You! Black Emperor; James Blackshaw collides with Eastern European gypsy music; Robbie Basho finds solace in the enveloping arms of 70’s AOR-style piano arrangements.

World Behind Curtains marks a turning point in Yair Yona’sdevelopment as an artist.  Make no mistake, this is not a steel string guitar album; this is an instrumental record, ambitious and singular in scope.  May it serenade many late-night forays into richly colored realms of self-reflection – with the drapes spread emphatically wide.

• Yair Yona has been championed by The Out Door (Pitchfork), Dusted, Raven Sings the Blues, Music Emissions, Terrascope Online, Delta-Slider, Work and Worry, Foxy Digitalis etc.
• Official invite to 2011 Hopscotch Festival; performed live on WFMU with Glenn Jones.
• Appears on the digital version of We Are All One, In the Sun alongside Meg Baird, Glenn Jones, Arborea, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Fern Knight, Helena Espvall etc
• RIYL: James Blackshaw, Glenn Jones, Robbie Basho, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Bert Jansch

Hi friends of Strange Attractors,

Sean Smith’s 4th and newest album ‘Huge Fluid Freedom’ is out now!  Lovely cardstock gatefold CD, gatefold LP with download card (1st 100 copies pressed on clear vinyl - mailorder only), and of course the totally uncollectable, yet highly convenient MP3 format.

Sean himself sent out the following missive to his vast colonies of fans.  Rejoice + and enjoy the most ambitious work by Smith yet. 

* 

Hello friends, fans, and colleagues,

After seemingly endless anticipation, my album “Huge Fluid Freedom” is out today. 

Here’s some handy links from which to procure the album immediately:

iTunes

Amazon

Strange Attractors Audio House

You can listen to the album on Soundcloud

And read all about it on my new website where you can also gain enlightenment about shows and otherwise too.

Nice reviews here

and here

The album marks a major departure for my work.  Although it does include one solo acoustic piece, it is predominantly an exploration of deeper collaboration and the electric guitar.  It was recorded and mixed by luminary Tim Green at Louder Studio and features performances by Meryl Press, Josh Pollock and Marc Dantona (whom I used to be in Citay with) and of course, long time collaborator Spencer Owen. 

You can now follow my show updates and other brief mentions on Twitter

For those of you who are always sick of getting my emails, please reply with your request for removal.  This message is a special case in which I just grabbed addresses from anyone I have ever exchanged words with in order to get this word out!  Thanks so very much.

—

Sean

www.sean-smith.org

Sean Smith’s 4th album Huge Fluid Freedom now available for preorder! CD comes in a cardstock gatefold sleeve, LP is housed in a gatefold sleeve with download. FIRST 100 MAILORDER COPIES ARE PRESSED ON CLEAR VINYL! All preorders will ship July 26, 1 month prior to it hitting stores. Head to the order page to place your preorder.

Instrumental musician, experimental composer, and widely acclaimed producer of the Berkeley Guitar and Beyond Berkely Guitar compilations Sean Smith conjures fire and sweat, dew and ash through his medium - the guitar. Huge Fluid Freedom is his 4th solo album and a marked departure from strictly solo guitar ventures into stell string-informed rock overtures backed by a full band. The album represents a much wider scope of collaboration than Smith’s previous works, resulting in a moving sonic experience ranging from straight up solo acoustic exploration to breathtaking cinematic rock soundscapes. Epic firewalking.

SUMMER CALIFORNIA TOUR

Glenn Jones and Sharron Kraus are heading out on tour together!  Glenn is supporting his recent full length ‘Barbecue Bob in Fishtown’, his latest ltd split 12” w/ The Black Twig Pickers w/Charlie Parr on the mega-incredible label Thrill Jockey, and is gearing up for his new album on Thrill Jockey this fall.  Sharron is coming over from Wales to support her latest ‘The Woody Nightshade”.

6/3/11 - Bethleham, PA - Secret Art Space

6/4/11 - State College, PA - Schlow Centre Regional Library

6/5/11 - Winooski, VT - Monkey House

6/6/11 - Montreal, QC Canada - Casa del Popolo

6/7/11 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Pool

6/8/11 - Providence, RI - TBA

6/9/11 - New Haven, CT - Popeye’s Garage

6/10/11 - Jamaica Plain, MA - Aviary

The Things That We Used to Do is the definitive visual document of the music of the late Jack Rose and Glenn Jones, capturing the two titans of the modern acoustic steel string movement at the top of their game.  Shot live in a loft in Brooklyn, NY expressly for this project, with full sets by each player, two duets, and a half hour + interview/conversation with Byron Coley.  Here’s a clip of Rose and Jones performing the Rose composition “Miss May’s Place”, from Dr. Ragtime & His Pals, as a duet.

Audio: “Brave Walls”, by Yair Yona, from Remember (out 8.24.10 on Strange Attractors).

Israel isn’t exactly known as a hotbed for acoustic steel-string guitar music, but guitarist/instrumentalist and all-around sonic ambassador Yair Yona seems determined to change all of that. From his headquarters in Tel Aviv, Yona is composing some of the most genre-bending music for solo steel-string heard since Sandy Bull opened up all the possibilities around the idiom in the 60’s. Remember, Yona’s astonishing debut solo album, is a celebration of the Takoma Records school coarsely filtered through a multi-hued prism of sound, resulting in an intelligent collection of compositions delivered in a fully-formed and strikingly singular voice. Remember will be released August 24, 2010, issued on CD housed in a lovely post-consumer recycled cardstock wallet gatefold, as a Ltd Edition 300 LP pressing with download card and hand-numbered silkscreend jackets, and MP3. Strange Attractors Resurrection Series, Vol. 7.