Our new record LET'S GO TO BABA'S is coming out October 6th, available on LP and digital download.  Make sure to ask your local record store to order a copy or two for you!

Here's some early press:

[Let’s Go to Baba’s] contrasts moody chamber-pop with a hedonistic edge. The record swims in distorted guitars and cascading spirals of psychedelic sound, while lyrics explore both everyday mundanity and the extraordinary.  Cello highlights an autumnal current drifting through meditative tunes, but despite the Good Book references and existential undertones, a communal sense of humor shines through…  Singer Alex Preston apes Lou Reed’s warbly drawl to fit his own indie intentions, but to accuse him of biting the notorious curmudgeon would be disingenuous. We can’t imagine Reed ever having this much fun. (Arief Sless-Kitain, Time Out Chicago)

We went to a party last night. Jake, Jon, Whitely, and me (Alex) got pretty rowdy There were a couple of highlights. Whitely performed as Osmo Whitely . He was awesome and had some really great Road Rash 2 footage he was showing. His G4 computer didn't work so he had to use his laptop. We ended up stomping on the G4 in the middle of the floor. Whitely was kicking it. Then I stood on it and did these awesome jumps off it. Jake didn't feel like kicking it. We also did this tribal screaming that may or may not have gotten under the skin of the party. I thought it sounded cool.
The party was sponsored by Tava, which is some 0 calorie Brazilian waters and leaves mixture. I hate 0 calorie drinks, except for water, which is just ok. Anyway, we found out if you mix Tava in the right proportions with St. Ide's Malt liquor you can't hardly taste the 0 calories. It was pretty cool.
There were hors doeuvres, but those ran out quick. We found a big box of Popeye's chicken, so we started eating it. Other people quickly got in on that action until it was completely over. I am sorry cause I didn't ask, and i would never want anyone but me to eat my own Popeyes, but I really appreciate that they had it and i ate it.
Lastly, when I went to the bathroom there was a voice changing pitchshifter on the toilet tank. While I was peeing I sang into it, "If it happened to me, If it happened to me..." and it sounded like an alien. When I flushed I realized the toilet was clogged. I put the pitchshifter and my weiner down and pulled the tank off the toilet. I grabbed the bouy and thought, "Wow it did happen to me!" I started yelling, "Whoever is next in line help me! The Toilet is about to overflow if I drop this buoy!" No one heard me. I cursed people for not leaving a plunger at arms reach. I reversed the curse when I found a plunger within arms reach in a towel closet. All was well. Be alert be safe!

We have been recording and the songs seem to be turning out awesome. I can't wait to share them. In the meantime here are the videos from three of our songs, and all the new T-shirts I have made.

Monogram

Prez' Folly

GI Dirtraces

New Shirts

I was busy, so I forgot. We just put up a new video of "Prez' Folly" from Look up the Sky! on Youtube. It is a culmination of all this video I took over a long period of time. Here it is we hope you enjoy the show.



I have also been busy working on a new line of T-shirts. Some of them are in the pictures section here, but you can purchase and browse through them here.

T-shirt shoppe

The deal with these things is that I hand draw them all, and so far there are no two alike. I am just really into the idea of having people having this band shirt that no one else has. A bunch of them glow-in-the dark.

Anyway, I think we are going to play a few shows in OCT and we are planning on touring around the New Year. Drop out of school and come see us.

Prez

Our hope was to destroy South By Southwest this year. I think we did a good job of destroying the house, tens of gallons of beer, and the audiences we met up with. We rolled with a big crew of our friends, it was a whirlwind. We saw a ton of bands I can't remember and a few I do. Here are a couple reviews of our live shows.

Mittens on Strings, again from Chicago, pleased the crowd not only by throwing balsa wood airplanes at them – each good for a hand-drawn T-shirt – but also with their off-base tunes. It's refreshing that they were able to tell a story about how dinosaurs will eventually fuel SUVs without getting all PC and green about it. Recently reviewed by Pitchfork, these folks are on their way up. Their recent shows have featured a bizarre video montage, edited live, which includes shadow puppets, neon colors and road footage of Chicago. SCREEN MAGAZINE


Mittens on Strings - Habana Calle 6 Patio - 950PM
I have heard a few tracks from Mittens on Strings and was really excited to see how they sounded live. The stage was outdoors and watching the band do a quick sound check made be believe the guy running sound wasn't the sharpest stick in the forest. Which is too bad because Mittens on Strings is one of the '"silly" bands that is intentionally a little off key, it is part of their thing. Unfortunately this didn't translate well over the venue's sound system. The vocals were too high and everything was just a little off balance. I even pulled out the earplugs a few times to make sure that they weren't the reason everything sounded so off. They were funny even if their toy airplane ended up on the roof of the tent. They had a projector that changed images as the band played and I thought that this was a little out of place, again could have been due to adjustments they had to make because of the venue. The crowd did seem to respond well to their hit song "The Most Complete Skeleton Ever Found", a song about dinosaurs.

Hybrid Magazine


So it went well, despite some sound difficulties. The only plane I threw that worked because it wasn't half-crushed immediately flew up onto the top of the tent that covered the venue, completely unreachable. Not effective at giving away shirts, but people laughed and enjoyed. These are pics of some of the shirts we gave away/sold. They are one of a kind, and I am hoping to make an addition to the website for the new ones. I am thinking that maybe I can take requests for what people want in addition to making these designs myself.












This one is a little more elaborate front/back design. I ended up giving it to our friend Girl Talk and he wore it in a Stuff magazine photo shoot.





We finally did get some rest at the end. The band that sleeps together forever rocks together.





We have some shows coming up in the Chicagoland area around mem day so stay tuned.

I have never blogged here before, but I thought this was funny.  People never remember the band name, and it sometimes is put as "Kittens on Strings", which is infinitely more sadistic.  There are a few articles on the net that say mittens on strings may choke your children, so I guess that it is pretty dark.  Anyway, all this leads up to this guy saying this on his blog Ad Hoc.  I guess he was looking through the SXSW list.

    So many new bands, new music, new styles... so many new band names.      Finding an original band name must be just as trying as trying not to sound     like Green Day or The Strokes.  On that note, I still think Feist sounds like     Joni Mitchell during her wannabe disco days.

    From anything with the word "wolf", a personal brain-glitcher... to names     with expletives like "yeah" and "fuck",  names my mom could never ever         understand.

    Best name to date: Mittens on Strings.

    I know nothing about them, but I like their style already.

With love from Brooklyn,

Alex