Unknown Mortal Orchestra announces new EP

UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES ACOUSTIC EP

SHARES TRACK

US TOUR LAUNCHING SOON

On the heels of a year that has seen the release of their new LP II, non-stop touring and an appearance on late-night TV, Unknown Mortal Orchestra is back today to announce Blue Record. This will be released digitally as an Expanded Version of II on blue vinyl. Some copies of the vinyl will be available ahead of release on the upcoming US tour. Speaking on the EP, Ruban said:

"I only started playing the acoustic guitar last year. I'd always preferred the idea that the guitar converts a sound into voltage and then becomes really loud. I thought the acoustic guitar was a little bit too twee for me or something. But after being offered some opportunities to play various acoustic sessions to promote the new record, in situations where it wasn't possible to record the whole band, I decided to treat it like a challenge to try and play acoustic and not have it be lame. After all I was really into Arthur Lee's ability with an acoustic and started wondering if I could make it sound convincing. Anyway, after being somewhat forced to develop some skill on the acoustic through these various radio sessions and things like that I decided to record some songs acoustically and release them since people seemed to be liking the way I was doing it. Everything was recorded straight to tape in my basement with a one mic set up."

"After recording three songs from II I started thinking about doing some other songs that I like. I thought that I'd do an old song I'd always liked even when I was a kid and a new song that I've been listening to a lot recently. The old song is 'Puttin It Down' by Beck. It's on the album Stereopathic Soulmanure and I always loved the lyrics. So funny and so sad. To me this song is super real. The new song is 'Swing Lo Magellan' from the album of the same name by Dirty Projectors. I like how this band who kind of specialize in melting brains leaned on pure melody on that album. The more I listened to it the more I realized how strong this melody was. I found myself listening to it a lot. It reminds me of Velvet Underground or Transformer era Lou Reed for some reason. When I saw them play last they opened with this song and I hadn't heard that album yet and was like 'wait what's that one?'"

Blue Record will be released on October 29th by Jagjaguwar. See below for all EP details (aside from the cover art, which features Janet Farrar, above), the cover of Dirty Projectors' 'Swing Lo Magellan' and all of the band's upcoming tour dates.

STREAM: "Swing Lo Magellan" - http://youtu.be/MI5sCbEWROw

 

UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA

BLUE RECORD

(JAGJAGUWAR)

Oct 29, 2013

 

1. Swim & Sleep (Like A Shark) (Acoustic Version)

2. Faded In The Morning (Acoustic Version)

3. So Good at Being in Trouble (Acoustic Version)

4. Swing Lo Magellan

5. Puttin' It Down

 

   

TOUR DATES

  

Sep-25 Sacramento, CA - Harlowe's 

Sep-26 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore

Sep-27 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour

Sep-28 San Diego, CA - Casbah

Sep-29 Phoenix, AZ - The Crescent Ballroom

Oct-2 Austin, TX - The Mohawk

Oct-3 Little Rock, AR - Stickyz RocknRoll Chicken Shack

Oct-4 Nashville, TN - Exit In

Oct-5 Atlanta, GA - Terminal West

Oct-6 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle

Oct-8 Washington, DC - Rock & Roll Hotel

Oct-9 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church

Oct-11 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg

Oct-14 Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall 

Oct-15 Montreal, Canada - Cabaret Mile End 

Oct-16 Toronto, Canada - Lee's Palace 

Oct-17 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick Lounge 

Oct-18 Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups 

Oct-19 Pittsburgh, PA - Altar

Oct-21 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall 

Oct-22 Madison, WI - The Frequency 

Nov-7 London, England - Electric Ballroom

Nov-8 Manchester, England - Academy 2

Nov-10 Poitiers, France - Le Confort Moderne 

Nov-11 Paris, France - Point Ephemere 

Nov-12 Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli Oudegracht 

Nov-13 Brussels, Belgium - AB Club 

Nov-15 Prague, Czech Republic - Chapeau Rouge 

Nov-16 Vienna, Austria - B72 

Nov-18 Budapest, Hungary - A38 Ship 

Nov-20 Zurich, Switzerland - Rote Fabrik 

Nov-21 Dudingen, Switzerland - Bad Bonn 

Nov-22 Carpi, Italy - Mattatoio 

Nov-23 Rome, Italy - Blackout 

Nov-25 Montpellier, France - Rockstore 

Nov-26 Barcelona, Spain - La 2 

Nov-27 Madrid, Spain - El Sol

Jan-15 Shanghai, China - Yuyintang

Jan-16 Beijing, China - Mao Livehouse

Jan-18 Seoul, South Korea - Rolling Hall

Jan-19 Busan, South Korea - Vinyl Underground

Jan-21 Hong Kong - Grappas Cellar

Jan-22 Bangkok, Thailand - Sonic

Jan-23 Taipei - The Wall