Asthmatic Kitty Records

18/07/2024

Last year "Time," by Angelo De Augustine was featured in Zack Braff’s film 'A Good Person' starring Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman.

11/07/2024

New bundle alert! You can now pick up both 'Illinois' + 'The Avalanche' on black or colored vinyl as a tidy little package. Oh boy!

Initially conceived by Sufjan Stevens as part of a double album version of Illinois, Sufjan and Asthmatic Kitty instead released Avalanche as a follow-up companion with outtakes and extras from Illinois, on July 11, 2006

https://Asthmatickitty.lnk.to/ILAV

10/07/2024

There are only 2 weeks left for you to pick up one of our Angelo De Augustine 'Toil & Trouble'CD/ LP + T-shirt bundles .

https://store.asthmatickitty.com/search?q=angelo+toil+and+trouble

09/07/2024

To celebrate 10 years since the release of 'Flying Scroll Flight Control', AKR artist Half-handed Cloud has released an album of demos from the original release.

"I'm releasing these demos to mark the 10-year Anniversary of Half-h's 2014 LP Flying Scroll Flight Control LP [Asthmatic Kitty Records]

To celebrate 10 years since the release of 'Flying Scroll Flight Control', AKR artist .handedcloud has released an album of demos from the original release.

"Half-handed Cloud - Belgian Demoland [Flying Scroll Flight Control Demos] Link in bio or here:

https://halfhandedcloud.bandcamp.com/album/belgian-demoland

I'm releasing these demos to mark the 10-year Anniversary of Half-h's 2014 LP Flying Scroll Flight Control LP [Asthmatic Kitty Records - ].

Here's some 35mm film pictures from that time, including:

• My wife and me in California, summer 2011, before our move to Brussels' Woluwé-Saint-Pierre neighborhood for her temporary 6-month post-doc at a nearby museum, and the backpacker guitar used prominently on Belgian Demoland songs

• Our UK friends David & Ping Henningham (who gifted us with a set of tuned desk bells) in front of the Tintin mural at Brussels Stockel Metro Station (fall 2011)

• Our friend McCloud Zicmuse, member of Belgian band Hoquets (a band that's no stranger to self-invented instruments), who played bassoon for the recording of one 2011 Half-h Christmas song + one Half-h 2011 Brussels show

• Half-handed Cloud in London, UK during a Jan. 2012 Henningham Family Press printmaking processional performance (with full band!) in which three of the Belgian Demoland/Flying Scroll songs were debuted

• Bonus: our 3-year-old this morning, with Belgian Demoland coloring sheet

If you already know the Flying Scroll Flight Control LP, and you're curious to hear lo-fi sparsely-arranged demos with some early versions of songs from that album (captured with a handheld cassette tape recorder) then maybe this is a release for you! It's also free to listen or read about on the Bandcamp page.

But... if you buy Belgian Demoland, you get MP3s, + ephemera related to our time in Belgium, and some Flying Scroll items (lyric sheet, etc) that you can print and slide into your Flying Scroll LP jacket if you have one. Also, there's a Belgian Demoland coloring page, a picture of our apartment back then, a scan of the old original Belgian Demoland song sequence which incorporated many of the songs from Half-h's two Foiled EPs [2015], and later ended up on Half-h's 2019 non-LP singles collection, Gathered Out Of Thin Air.

Thank you, and a happy Midsummer's Eve from Finland!"

05/07/2024

AKR artist Denison Witmer released a new album under his side project Uncle Denny last month! 📣

"My side project album, “Uncle Denny - January 2020,” is out on all streaming services today.

Back in January 2020, I stood in front of a microphone in my basement studio every night with a single objective: write and record something new every day. No previous ideas were allowed — it had to be brand new every day. I free-associated and followed whatever idea came out. Once I had something I liked, I wrote a complete song and gave myself three takes to record it. I didn’t listen to anything I recorded until the last week of the month.

The result is 20 songs: a mix of very short song-thoughts, a few long-form autobiographical free-association songs (some improv too), songs about the day’s world events, and several songs that are more similar in form to what you might hear on one of my albums. They are imperfect. So am I.

I hope you enjoy the songs. Retrospectively, they are sometimes flippant, sometimes overly self-involved, sometimes drawn out, and sometimes short and to the point. At minimum, it’s a good journal snapshot of where my mind was in the month leading up to the Covid 19 pandemic.

The songs were all written & recorded late at night in headphones, and I find listening in headphones serves them best for some reason. Let me know which ones you like best.

“It’s Okay To Live A Quiet Life” was redone and released by in 2022. Two others songs from this project were also re-recorded in the studio over the last few years. One will be on my next album and another will be a stand alone single release. Any guesses which songs got studio treatment?

Chair 📷: "

02/07/2024

The AKR Scratching Post is a mix of what the AKR team has been listening to lately — old and new tunes alike. Admittedly the theme is non-existent, but what can we say? We contain multitudes. Updated monthly on Spotify.

Listen here. https://asthmatickitty.lnk.to/scratchingpost

01/07/2024

A very happy birthday to Sufjan Stevens!

📸 Denny Renshaw

30/06/2024

A whole year of 'Toil & Trouble'! An instant classic from Angelo De Augustine ❤️

To celebrate the one year anniversary, we've added Toil & Trouble T-Shirt + CD / Vinyl bundles to the AKR store for the next month!

https://store.asthmatickitty.com/search?q=angelo+toil+and+trouble

25/06/2024

We're lucky to have such a great group of artists at AKR! What's been your favorite release over the years?

24/06/2024

Thank you to everyone who has been sending in content of their 'Seven Swans' 20th anniversary editions 🦢

23/06/2024

We have two brand new lyric videos for Sufjan Stevens "To Be Alone With You" and "The Dress Looks Nice on You" by Rena Johnson. The videos feature artwork drawn by Marzuki Stevens & animated by Stephen Halker with calligraphy by Laura Normandin.

Watch them both here - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcCRbLljsLUf7507ZJIfyROFVFwmLANeI

22/06/2024

Digging through the archives, fun to read some of these old reviews of Seven Swans! When did you first hear the album?

21/06/2024

"Seven Swans" by Sufjan Stevens turns 20! Deluxe edition is available now 🦢
The expanded digital edition of the album includes two b-sides (never before released digitally) - “I Went Dancing With My Sister” and “Waste of What Your Kids Won't Have.”

Listen here! https://asthmatickitty.lnk.to/sevenswansdelu

14/06/2024

“Seven Swans,” 20th anniversary edition is out a week from today! Here are some archival images of Sufjan Stevens with Megan Slaboda, Stephen Halker and Katrina Kiedis, taken by Denny Renshaw from 2004.

13/06/2024

AKR001. Our first release and Sufjan Stevens first album "A Sun Came" was released 25 years ago today!

11/06/2024

Thanks to the 2024 Libera Awards for selecting "Javelin" by Sufjan Stevens as Best Folk Record. Congrats to all the nominees and winners!

05/06/2024

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Seven Swans’, AKR is releasing a special anniversary edition t-shirt, designed by visual artist and longtime collaborator Stephen Halker, printed on 6.0oz cotton tees using water-based inks.

31/05/2024

Angelo De Augustine is playing his first show in 5 years at LA’s Barnsdall Gallery Theatre on August 22nd for one night only.

29/05/2024

A lovely piece of ‘Seven Swans’ inspired art by daphtheunicorn

“Well, I accidentally missed its birthday yesterday so I’m posting today, but happy 20th birthday to Sufjan Stevens‘ album Seven Swans! 🎉🎉🎉
To celebrate, I made this etching print from a CD for my intro to printmaking class. Although I did have to reverse my scan of the print because I had accidentally carved the words forward, which meant that they printed backwards- never carve your words forwards you guys ✊😔”

24/05/2024

The AKR Edition of Sufjan Stevens 'Seven Swans' 20th Anniversary LP features a Zoetrope disc. The stop animation-style illustration designed by Drew Tetz gives the illusion that the image is moving when the record is spinning.

You can check out more of Drew's work here.
https://www.instagram.com/drewtetz/

23/05/2024

"Seven Swans," 20th anniversary edition. 6/21/24 - available for pre-order now!
https://asthmatickitty.lnk.to/sevenswansdeluxe

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of this now-beloved piece of Sufjan Stevens' catalog, AKR is releasing a digital expanded edition of the album as well as three new limited-edition vinyl variants on June 21st, with pre-order starting today.

AKR Edition
Pressed on a zoetrope picture disc designed by Stephen Halker and Drew Tetz, featuring swans in flight. Housed in a printed inner sleeve and matte jacket with embossing and a spot gloss finish.

Indie Record Store Edition
Pressed on silver vinyl and housed in a matte jacket with embossing and a spot gloss finish.

Dinked Archive Edition
Pressed on split-color vinyl and housed in a matte jacket with embossing and a spot gloss finish, the LP package will also include seven pieces of origami paper.

Each edition comes with a two-track flexi disc, featuring two bonus tracks, “I Went Dancing With My Sister” and “Waste of What Your Kids Won't Have.”

Also available to pre-order is the Seven Swans 20th Anniversary edition t-shirt, designed by visual artist and longtime collaborator Stephen Halker printed on 6.0oz cotton tees using water-based inks.

21/05/2024

I'd swim across Lake Michigan
I'd sell my shoes 🦢

10/05/2024

A sweet story of how Denison Witmer came to play Aaron Dressner's fabled rubber bridge acoustic used on Taylor Swift's album 'Folklore'.

"I don’t know about you, but Taylor Swift release week is always a big deal in our house. I thought I’d share something fun and Tay Tay related from my year.

Being a musician and carpenter has landed me in a spot where I do a lot of carpentry for other musicians. I had the pleasure of doing some carpentry work for aarondessner this year. Near the project’s end, he and his family were kind enough to put my family and I up in Long Pond Studio for a couple days (insert loud cheers and jumping from my kids when I told them this was happening 🤍)

My kids demanded a little Folklore recreation (OF COURSE). “Daddy, play your favorite song from Folklore in the same spot and on the same guitar as the Long Pond Studio Sessions!!!” I chose “invisible string” because I adore it!"

08/05/2024

We love to see your images and videos!! Here is The Ascension, Sufjan Stevens' eighth studio album LP in all its glory. Which is your favourite track?

https://store.asthmatickitty.com/products/sufjan-stevens-the-ascension

03/05/2024

London 🇬🇧 AKR will be down at this year's Independent Label Market at Coal Drops Yard on May 11th. We will be selling test pressings, sold-out limited edition records (and other rarities), deep discount dingers & damages, t-shirts and tote bags, and plenty of package deals! We look forward to seeing you there!!

27/03/2024

We are so happy to see Sufjan's “Javelin” nominated for “Best Folk Record” by the A2IM Libera Awards. Congratulations to all the 2024 Libera Awards nominees!

31/12/2023

Have a happy and healthy New Year from all of us at AKR!

Play this video 1 minute and 29 seconds before the ball drops and you can ring in the New Year with Sufjan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4o23ySFCkw

Video by Emma Johnston Hylton on YouTube

This was one of the Christmas Sing-a-Longs from the show at the Haw River Ballroom.November 25, 2012.

25/12/2023

Merry Christmas and happy Day 12 of our AKR Holiday Countdown!

Enjoy Sufjan Stevens' version of “Holly Jolly Christmas” to ring in the holiday!

📹 by Joe Baughman