The newest installment of the DJ-Kicks dance mix series, by Berlin producer Sascha Ring (aka Apparat), features the first new music from Telefon Tel Aviv since the passing of cofounder Charlie Cooper in early 2009. The track, “Lengthening Shadows,” is also featured on Sayulita, an EP Apparat released in conjunction with the mix on !K7 Records.
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Since starting Specimen Products almost 25 years ago, luthier (and former guitarist for local acts Shrimp Boat and Falstaff) Ian Schneller has made a host of delicious-looking (and -sounding!) custom axes and amplifiers. Dude has pieced up Buddy Guy, Alan Sparhawk, Jeff Tweedy, and Andrew Bird, among others. In 2005 Schneller opened the Chicago School of Guitar Making, teaching his trade to interested students from across the musical-nerd landscape. Seminars last anywhere from two days to four weeks and fill up quickly. Slots are available for the Tube Amplifier Building class running December 3-5, and a host of classes—including a new acoustic guitar-building workshop—begin in January 2011. Details on pricing and enrollment at specimenproducts.com.
Thomas Comerford, of Thomas-Comerford-front-man-of-Kaspar-Hauser fame, is debuting songs from his forthcoming solo album this week. Comerford tells Gossip Wolf that it’s “pretty mellow,” and that he’s been working on it sporadically but expects to wrap it up sometime this winter. He’s posted two rough mixes on the Kaspar Hauser MySpace page, and is scheduled to mix with Jeremy Lemos and Chris Connelly before a planned December release. He plays Quenchers on November 20, backed by the quartet he’s been recording with, and then performs a solo set November 26 as part of a benefit Jon Langford has organized for Pakistan flood relief at the Viaduct.
