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Brandon will attempt to update it once in a while

Ok, finally... one of the few reviews worth reading- Pitchfork gave the new album "Holiday" a 7.8 and some good words.

There's still a few incorrect facts and I have no idea where they're coming from or why they keep turning up on every single review, but Heather Trost is NOT on the album in any way at all, neither is Hilary Bethancourt. The only other guests on this album are Kyra LaMariana and Naila Dixon ( and a few pre- recorded parts by Zach Condon that were remixed/ reworked by myself while in Berlin), but apart from that, Brain Howe nailed it.
Enjoy.

Read the new review of "Holiday" in Spin magazine .

Also, some pr stuff at Read the new review of "Holiday" in Tell All Your Friends....

and then some jukebox action .
with AIW right below REM and some M83.


cheers,
b.

For those who may want any additional info on Alaska in Winter, wikipedia is always one option, but I'm sure that the video below will more than answer any questions anybody would ever have... forever.

Hello all-I suppose an update is due about now, so with out further a do:
ALASKA IN WINTER JUST GOT BACK FROM A WONDERFUL VOYAGE TO ICELAND, but before I delve into that, quite a few other things have happened recently as well-

1. Alaska in Winter has completed it's first European tour with the "video orchestra" this past April in the two thousandth and eighth year of our lord.

2. Alaska in Winter has since relocated from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Berlin, Germany in spite of being totally uneducated in the Deutsch language and is currently working on album number 2 while simultaneously searching for the never ending minimal haus musik dance party of Berlin.

3. After almost a year after the initial release of "Dance party in the Balkans", Alaska in Winter has still been chalking up reviews by the likes of Q Magazine and The Irish Times in the UK, as well as URB magazine back in the states and as well as other such magazines with lots of words about musik... and .... such.

4. Alaska in Winter was featured on a TV show called Grays Anatomy a couple weeks ago. Brandon does not watch TV and has no idea what this show is about, though he suspects it may be about doctors or something, but regardless, you can watch a clip on youtube that features Alaska in Winter's song,"Your Red Dress" (at about the 5:30 mark).

5. The Alaska In Winter / Marianne Dissard split-7" vinyl, limited to 500 copies, is now available as well as pretty Alaska in Winter t-shirts from Regular Beat

6. Alaska in Winter and it's magical helper elves are currently in the process of booking tours for the fall and winter which will include European dates as well as... yes... North American dates for all those that have been waiting (I can only stay in Europe for so long without a visa you know...)

7. And finally... Alaska in Winter has returned from playing a show in Reykjavik, Iceland to a wonderful audience who sang along to every song even though more than half of them didn't have lyrics...

at Organ...



brandon's vocoder wasn't working so he just ran around a lot.



these were all over Reykjavik



Brandon playing Guns and Roses' November Rain at the Green House Studios, Rykjavik.



Brandon played a DJ set at Kaffibarinn- a cool place in Reykjavik indeed.



waterfall and Alaska in Winter T-Shirt



the bay where brandon contemplates how hard Axel Rose rocks on "November Rain"



Mio of the Green House Studios who is a great person to know along with Claire.



...again, brandon was constantly thinking about Guns & Roses and how hard November Rain rocks!



live at Organ...



...more @ Organ- Reykjavik



this is how Brandon felt after a week of never really seeing the sun set.




see you soon...
brandon

Hey all, Alaska in Winter got a full album review in Pitchfork yesterday, hooray.
Read the review here.


Also, Alaska in Winter is now available on itunes and I was told that it had reached the top ten in the Netherlands last week or sometime ago... and for who knows how long it stayed that way, but still...hooray.

cheers,
b.

Hey all, I went on tour with Beirut... here are some pictures

Live at Piano's (New York)

Live at Piano's (New York)

... my "band"

Live at Piano's (New York).... full review of that show by Kyle Reinford Here


making my way from Canada to Cali...


Our tour bus in Chicago....

That little person on stage is brandon... it was a freaking big place

live at Herbst Theater (San Francisco)
this was the venue...

live at Herbst Theater (San Francisco)

Hmmmm this venue is scary, good thing I have my deer jacket

Back stage with my deer jacket playing piano

Zach and Kristi lounging it on the tour bus listening to hause musik

it's vocoder time in Hollywood

Beirut came out to play along on my opening track- I'm really just trying to steal Zach's band

live at Avalon (Hollywood)

live at Avalon (Hollywood)

live at Avalon (Hollywood)

This was my fancy red dressing room

live at Avalon (Hollywood)

live at Avalon (Hollywood)

live at Avalon (Hollywood)

live at Avalon (Hollywood)... and the full review of this show by Altgramma Here ... thanks Linda!


If any body else has pics from Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, or anywhere else, please send them my way.

Well, there have been more reviews happening... read the review by

the Angry Grape

review by Boomkat,

a review by the Plastic Ashtray...

a review by Rhythm and Booze

and a review by Joxley on Mog.com

thanks to everybody who wrote about how rad piano and vocoder are together!

We got a lovely review in a French magazine called Les Inrockuptibles, thanks to Ondine. read the review here.

------------------------------------------------------
This is a translation by Mattijs for those of you who don't read French.

Brandon Bethancourt, 22 years of age, leaves his native New Mexico for Alaska. Tucked away in a small cabin with his computer and a Dostoïevski novel - which inspired for the solumn Don't Read Dostoyevsky - this son of an orthodox priest spent a term isolated from the rest of the world. A radical choice which enabeled him to record a series of sublime pieces, audio witnesses to the pristine landscape in which he stayed.

After returning to Albuquerque, Brandon sought assistance with his friend Zach Condon from Beirut and of Heather Trost from A Hawk And A Hacksaw. Together they enriched his tunes, dressed them with strings and brass. Rocked gently by the drunkeness of the Northern vastness, Dance Party in the Balkans takes classical lyrism over the icy grounds of electronics. Detached of all earthly reality, the 13 wonders of the album equal the state of mercy reached by Sigur Ros, Mum and The Album Leaf.

Bemusing, etherical and cleansed the shining melodies of this young man in love caress the clouds by the fingertips. One would realy would like to go and stay in Alaska. In winter preferably.

-Ondine Benetier

Hey, we got a song/review on Pitchfork which was nice to find, thanks to Clay.