"MATADOR," THE NEW FULL-LENGTH ALBUM FROM ARMS AND SLEEPERS

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW!


Arms and Sleepers are a duo of comprised of Max Lewis (Boston, MA) and Mirza Ramic (Portland, ME). Formed in 2006, they have produced multiple albums, EPs and hand-made releases, most notably the Bliss Was It In That Dawn To Be Alive EP (Fake Chapter, 2006) and the well-received Black Paris 86 (Expect Candy, 2008). Following an intense touring schedule in 2008 and 2009 that included appearances in the UK, Europe, and North America and saw the band opening for the likes of Asobi Seksu, The Books, Her Space Holiday, Cass McCombs, Lymbyc Systym, This Will Destroy You and Caspian, Max and Mirza took a break to focus on a new proper full-length in the summer of 2009. The result is Matador, featuring contributions from numerous musicians, including Tom Brosseau (Fat Cat Records), Shelley Short (Hush Records), Ben Shepard and Catherine Worsham (of Uzi & Ari), Philip Jamieson (of Caspian), Mona Elliott (of Travels), Adam Arrigo (of The Main Drag), and Matt Lajoie (of Cursillistas).

Matador is an album studded with varying themes and textures. The synergy between a haunting sonic mix and delicate, ethereal lyrics yield an ambitious, precise whole. Maintaining consistent intensity and energy, the music and artwork both reflect the moodiness behind the concept of the album, which can be summarized as a reaction to the surroundings and circumstances Max and Mirza found themselves in throughout the past two years. Matador also finds the duo expanding on their sound, reaching for a new and fresh direction. Vocals are more prominent throughout the album than with previous releases, and the band ventures into new soundscapes, incorporating an expansive array of instruments. The result is a cinematic and hypnagogic mix of rusts, antique grays and olive greens which evoke an eerie nostalgia - memories of places you’ve never been and things you’ve never seen.

Matador will be released in North America by Fake Chapter, Europe & the UK by Expect Candy, and Japan & rest of Asia by Friend of Mine.

Tracklisting (CD editions):

01. Orly
02. Matador
03. The Architekt (STREAMING ON MYSPACE NOW!)
04. Twentynine Palms
05. Helvetica
06. The International
07. Simone
08. Kino
09. Words Are For Sleeping
10. The Paramour
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11. L-Orizzont (EU/UK CD version bonus track)
11. we're all Paris now [pt. 2] (Japan CD version bonus track)

Tracklisting (vinyl edition):

SIDE A
1. Orly
2. Matador
3. The Architekt (STREAMING ON MYSPACE NOW!)
4. Twentynine Palms
5. Simone

SIDE B
1. Helvetica
2. The International
3. Kino
4. Words Are For Sleeping
5. The Paramour

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW!

North American customers:
CD Digipak, 10 tracks
First 100 pre-orders come with a hand-made & numbered lyrics sheet
Ships mid-October, official release date Nov. 17, 2009
PRE-ORDER HERE

European customers:
CD Digipak, 11 tracks
Includes the bonus track "L-Orizzont"
Ships late November, official release date Nov. 27, 2009
PRE-ORDER HERE

Japanese customers:
CD Jewel Case, 11 tracks
Includes the bonus track "we're all Paris now (pt. 2)
Ships early November, official release date Nov. 11, 2009
PRE-ORDER HERE

Vinyl lovers:
12" LP, includes free download coupon
- Limited edition of 500; first 100 units are pressed on gold vinyl
- All pre-orders will be filled with colored vinyl while supplies last! If you would like standard black vinyl instead of the colored version, please indicate this in the comments section of the paypal checkout.
- All pre-orders will be entered into a raffle to win 1 of 5 test presses, chosen randomly before pre-orders end on Nov. 17. The winning test press will be signed by A&S and will include a very special ONE-TIME ONLY hand-made packaging design!
PRE-ORDER HERE


WATCH THE MATADOR VIDEO TEASER HERE!

Hello!

It's been a while since our last update. We hope everyone's had a good, healthy and restful summer. Below is a bunch of news concerning our upcoming releases and touring schedule. We have a busy few months ahead of us, so please stay updated through our myspace page HERE. Ok, here we go...


NEW FULL-LENGTH ALBUM

After months of hard work, we have finally completed our second full-length album and the follow-up to Black Paris 86. It is titled Matador, and contains 10 new tracks. Here is the tracklisting:

01. Orly
02. Matador
03. The Architekt
04. Twentynine Palms
05. Helvetica
06. The International
07. Simone
08. Kino
09. Words Are For Sleeping
10. The Paramour

Matador will be released worldwide via the following record labels: Fake Chapter (USA/CAN), Expect Candy (EU/UK), and Friend of Mine (JAPAN). The European and Japanese CD versions will each contain a bonus track, while the North American version will come with a hand-made & numbered lyric sheet for the first 100 pre-orders. Matador will officially be released in November, but pre-orders will be up shortly through the respective labels and our myspace page. The vinyl version of the album will be available in November as well, in a limited edition of 500 and the first 100 units in colored vinyl. More information about all this coming your way very soon!

We were fortunate enough to have been able to work with some truly talented artists on this album. It was our goal from the beginning to collaborate with as many people as possible, but more specifically people that we really respect musically and thought could greatly contribute to our humble little ideas. The result has far exceeded our expectations, and we can't thank enough the following artists for their amazing contributions: Tom Brosseau (Fat Cat Records), Shelley Short (Hush Records), Ben Shepard and Catherine Worsham of Uzi & Ari (Own Records), Philip Jamieson of Caspian (The Mylene Sheath), Mona Elliott of Travels, Adam Arrigo of The Main Drag, and Matt Lajoie of Cursillistas.

To get a little taste of Matador, you can do the following right now:

1. Listen to "The Architekt" on our myspace page
2. Watch the short video teaser featuring a part of "Kino" on Vimeo (directed by the very talented David Altobelli).

Enjoy!

To celebrate the release of Matador, we'll be holding a very special CD release show in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We'll be performing alongside our friends in Junius and Metavari, and will also be joined by Boston's Thunderhole. Advance tickets are highly recommended (see link below). Here are the details:

Wednesday, Oct. 7
Middle East Upstairs (472 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Sq.)
8pm doors, 18+
$9 adv / $10 day of
Venue website
Advance tickets
Last.fm event page
Facebook event page


We hope that some of you can join us!


OTHER RELEASES COMING THIS FALL


In addition to Matador, we'll be putting out a split release with our good friends in The American Dollar. It is titled From The Inland Sea, and will contain 3 new tracks by each band. Ericrock (who released the Black Paris 86 double vinyl) will be putting out a vinyl version of the album, which will contain a very special bonus track as well, featuring a collaboration between the two bands. From The Inland Sea will be released in December, and pre-orders will be up in late November.

We have plenty more planned releases coming your way, but we won't bug you with those just yet! We are staying busy though, so expect much much more from us!


UPCOMING TOURS

We'll be on the road for much of the next 6 months. The first leg of our North American tour begins this Thursday night in Brooklyn, and we'll be previewing a bunch of the new material live. We'll be announcing more US shows a bit later, including a full west coast run in November and a short tour with The American Dollar in the first half of December. We'll be back in Europe in January, and are planning our first trip to Japan in February! We are making every effort to play anywhere we can, and hope that you can make it to one of these shows.

Fall 2009 North American Tour---1st leg (almost finished):

Friday, Sep. 25 - Hendersonville, NC @ Black Bear Coffee
Saturday, Sep. 26 - Forest, VA @ The Good Cherry
Tuesday, Sep. 29 - NYC, NY @ Cake Shop
Thursday, Oct. 1 - Camden/Rockland, ME @ Camden International Film Festival

2nd leg:

Wednesday, Oct. 7 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs (CD Release Show)
Thursday, Oct. 8 - Winooski, VT @ Monkey House
Friday, Oct. 9 - Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
Saturday, Oct. 10 - Toronto, ON @ Rancho Relaxo
Monday, Oct. 11 - Hamilton, ON @ Casbah Lounge
Tuesday, Oct. 12 - Fort Wayne, IN @ Cinema Center
Wednesday, Oct. 13 - Muncie, IN @ Village Green Records
Thursday, Oct. 14 - East Lansing, MI @ SCENE Metrospace
Friday, Oct. 15 - Jamestown, NY @ Mojo's

3rd leg:

Oct. 27 - Nov. 21
Dates will be posted on our myspace page soon!

Winter 2009-10 European + UK Tour:

Dec. 27 - Jan. 14
w/ Ben Shepard of Uzi & Ari
Dates will be posted on our myspace page soon!


MERCHANDISE + iTUNES

We had some issues with the PayPal links not working on myspace, so we've moved our merch store over to our website where everything is working fine! CDs, t-shirts, postcard sets, and other merchandise are available HERE.
As always, your contributions help us greatly in continuing to make music and to tour, so if you haven't had a chance to buy The Motorist EP or a t-shirt, please check these items out! Also, don't forget that Cinematique is available on iTunes---get it HERE. Additionally, our self-titled EP from 2007, which has been sold out for a while now, is now available digitally through CD Baby HERE.


FINALLY...

We now have a Twitter account! Follow us HERE.

Also check out our artist page on the following websites:

Last.fm
Facebook
YouTube
iLike

And of course the best way to stay up to date is through our myspace page.

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Thank you for reading this far. We greatly appreciate your continued support, and hope you will enjoy all the new music we have in store for you---until then, please be well!

xo
a&s