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NEW EUROPEAN TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED

Asobi Seksu — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:25:59 -0000

FEBRUARY 2009

Sun 8 Southampton Talking Heads
Mon 9 London Islington Academy
Tue 10 Manchester Roadhouse
Wed 11 Dublin Crawdaddy
Fri 13 Belfast Speakeasy
Sat 14 Glasgow ABC2
Sun 15 Newcastle Cluny
Mon 16 Leeds Faversham
Wed 18 Birmingham Barfly
Thu 19 London ICA
Fri 20 Amsterdam Paradiso
Sun 22 Brussels Rotonde
Tue 24 Muenster Gleis 22
Wed 25 Berlin Magnet

Pre-order New Asobi Seksu Album 'Hush' Now - Released 16th Feb 2008 (Europe Only)

Asobi Seksu — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:06:09 -0000

Pre-order new album 'Hush' from the One Little Indian store: http://www.onelittleshop.com/product_info.php?products_id=820

New Single 'Me & Mary' Available Now From Itunes

Asobi Seksu — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:41:53 -0000

Asobi Seksu release their brand new single 'Me & Mary' today - order it now from Itunes now: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=293815594&s=143444

or alternatively visit the One Little Indian store and purchase limited edition 7" of the single: http://www.onelittleshop.com/product_info.php?products_id=815

UK Date Cancellation/Change Of Venue

Asobi Seksu — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:39:41 -0000

Asobi Seksu's gig at the Old Fire Station in Bournemouth on the 20th Nov has been cancelled. The band will now be playing a headline show at the Moles Club, Bath instead.

New album 'Hush' due out on Feb 16, 2009 on One Little Indian – CD/DL

Asobi Seksu — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:17:55 -0000

Track listing as follows:

1/ Layers
2/ Familiar Light
3/ Sing Tomorrow’s Praise
4/ Gliss
5/ Transparence
6/ Risky and Pretty
7/ In the Sky
8/ Meh No Mae
9/ Glacially
10/ I Can’t See
11/ Me & Mary
12/ Blind Little Rain

Contrary to the narcotic nature of James Hanna (guitars/vocals) and Yuki Chikudate's (lead vocals/keyboards) music, the duo avoid chemicals during the songwriting process. One exception to this rule: a mind-expanding mushroom experience in Martha's Vineyard earlier this year.

"It was gorgeous—breezy with nothing but pink skies," recalls Yuki. Throughout the day a stirring melody meandered its way in and out of James’ head, until he was finally able to store it away for good. This dew-draped motif weaves its way through ‘Blind Little Rain’ until a minute of silence kicks in, effectively drawing Hush—the group's third LP—to a close amid clusters of ambient Eno effects.

If that's the end of the current chapter in Asobi Seksu's story, we might as well start at the beginning and fill in all the gaps. While the band's creative core explored music at an early age (Yuki was playing child prodigy recitals at 8; Hanna bounced between sludgy hardcore and Mogwai-schooled post-rock in his teens), their potential 'career' wasn't put into perspective until a stint at the Manhattan School of Music. And by put into perspective, we mean finding out what they didn't want to do.

"It was good to have something musical to do all day, since most of my bands were like, 'Yeah, maybe we'll practice on Saturday or something,'" explains Hanna, a classically trained guitarist. "Playing someone else's music all the time seemed robotic after a while, though."

"It was a miracle I graduated at all," adds Yuki. "I love playing the piano, but three hours of it—breaking it down, measure by measure, note by note—makes my mind go numb."

Soon after graduation, Hanna started tackling starry-eyed pop tunes for the first time, with Yuki falling into the frontwoman position. The problem was trying to be an actual band, as in a fully functioning quartet that tours and records together. Asobi Seksu 1.0 lasted between 2004's self-titled learn-as-we-go-along debut and the spring of 2005. Hanna and Yuki gave it a go with another bassist and drummer for their critically-acclaimed breakthrough, 2006's Citrus LP, but it didn't take long to realize that lineup was doomed as well.

Which leads us to the frustration that fueled the making of Hush. As Hanna admits, Asobi Seksu "was starting to get somewhere" post-Citrus, but they couldn't ride a cresting wave of hype after a debilitating cycle of touring and personnel changes.

"Hush was written while we felt destroyed," explains Hanna, quite simply. Which is funny, because the entire record has a phoenix rising vibe to it—a clear sense of shimmering chords and spiral staircase melodies that are occasionally blurred by bits of guitar violence and sputtering drums (see the firework finale climax of ‘Me and Mary’ and the liftoff portions of ‘Sing Tomorrow’s Praise’ and ‘Glacially’).

"We knew we didn't want to do 7,000 reverb guitars this time," says Hanna, "So we stripped the sound down and built it back up from there."

Another thing Asobi Seksu's avoided is sheer shoegaze-pop revivalism. While they'll admit to an affinity for that realm of into-the-ether music, Hanna and Yuki are too obsessed with the possibilities of sound to explore one well-trodden path.

"Every shoegaze song is the same rhythmically," says Hanna, explaining that he'd be terribly bored if he followed that template.

"Their parts don't propel into other parts," adds Yuki. "Us, we meander a little more, so it's not just one big wall of noise."

Wall of noise? Opening track ‘Layers’, for one, is downright gorgeous, suggesting an afternoon spent in a gently-shaken snow globe. That's what happens when you learn how to use space and dynamics to your advantage, skirting what some might refer to as "Kevin Shields syndrome."

"I've realized that while something might sound awesome in my head," explains Hanna, "Adding 50 layers to it might make it sound like shit because you lose a lot of the details. Some parts have only one guitar this time."

He pauses and adds with a smile, "We agonized over that guitar, though."

UK Tour kicks off on Fri 14th Nov at the Leeds Cockpit supporting Ladytron

Asobi Seksu UK Street Team

Asobi Seksu — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:57:22 -0000

URGENT! STREET TEAM NEEDED

Asobi Seksu are back on tour in the UK!

If you want to be involved at the gigs, doing a bit of flyering and collecting mailing lists that would be great (you get in free if you do!).

If any of your friends are interested aswell put them in touch

Send an Email ASAP to onelittlestreetteam@gmail.com and let me know

Tour Dates
Nov 14 Leeds, UK @ The Cockpit w/ Ladytron
Nov 15 Coventry, UK @ Kasbah w/ Ladytron
Nov 17 Nottingham, UK @ Bodega *headline show
Nov 18 Oxford, UK @ Academy w/ Ladytron
Nov 19 Bristol, UK @ Academy w/ Ladytron
Nov 20 Bournemouth, UK @ The Old Fire Station w/ Ladytron
Nov 21 London, UK @ Shepherds Bush Empire w/ Ladytron
Nov 23 Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2 w/ Ladytron
Nov 24 Manchester, UK @ Academy 2 w/ Ladytron
Nov 25 Sheffield, UK @ Academy w/ Ladytron
Nov 26 Glasgow, UK @ ABC w/ Ladytron
Nov 28 Aberdeen, UK @ Moshulu w/ Ladytron
Nov 29 Belfast, UK @ Stiff Kitten w/ Ladytron
Nov 30 Dublin, IE @ Tripod w/ Ladytron
Dec 01 London, UK @ Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen *headline show

cheers

Rich
Digital Team
One Little Indian

YOU CAN BUY "STRAWBERRIES"!!!

Asobi Seksu — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:57:44 -0000

"Strawberries" comes in three commercial formats, featuring the original version of the title track plus remixes by CSS, The Whip and Ulrich Schnauss!

You can buy it here!

ASOBI SEKSU REMIX COMPETITION

Asobi Seksu — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 23:37:56 -0000

We have chosen a winner for the Asobi Seksu Remix Contest!!!

The winner is Benoit Munoz!!

Here is the winning remix! Give it a listen and show your love by commenting!

More European Dates added!

Asobi Seksu — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:30:18 -0000

We are very excited to announce that we just added more dates in Europe with The Editors!

European and Japanese Dates!!!

Asobi Seksu — Wed, 23 May 2007 22:27:53 -0000

Some of the dates in UK are with Dean & Britta from Luna/Galaxy500!
More shows TBA...word.

Happy Holidays!!

Asobi Seksu — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:35:44 -0000

We are finally home after a very long tour. Thanks to Mates of State for having us along. We heart Mates of State! Stay tuned for a great video clip from our tour together. If you don't have plans for New Years Eve yet, come to their show at the Knitting Factory in NYC. We will definitely be there! Also, pick up the current issue of Esopus magazine for an unreleased song about Ouija Boards.