Pitchfork: Anomoanon To Release Two Albums, EP in 2004

Anomoanon To Release Two Albums, EP in 2004
All work and no play makes deadhead Ned shred

Ned Oldham's Anomoanon will release a brand new album entitled Derby Ram this May 4th. A handful of accompanying tour dates have been announced along the southern East Coast as well.

Coming off a strong showing last time around with 2002's Asleep Many Years in the Wood (Temporary Residence), it seems that brother Ned's got a pretty wicked case of the rockin' pneumonia. Said musical steam certainly and thankfully compliments fraternal Palace stablemate Will Oldham's recent minimalistic studio endeavors and forthcoming nu-country record (gloss isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I digress).

Freshly signed ("hear-unheard" and by "cold-call") to Spanish indie Houston Party Records-- Euro-pushers of most of the Sub Pop and Merge catalogs-- for distribution of said new album and a freshly commissioned summer EP, the Anomoanon will release Derby Ram independently, stateside, on their own imprint, Box Tree Records. Distribution help from the nice folks at Secretly Canadian will surely put the record on familiar shelves. An initial limited pressing of 1,000 will reportedly take the pulse of the buying public.

"We weren't sure we were making a record," Oldham told Pitchfork last week via e-mail. "Aram [Stith], Jack Carneal, our drummer, and I met at my house last April and did the basic tracks, with Aram and I switching off on bass. We haven't seen much cash from any of our records. And when we did the math, based on the fairly consistent sales of our records, we thought putting it out ourselves would be a good experiment. We plan to record [another] record for Temporary Residence this May for a November release." A second run is a near-given judging by the premaster I snuck upon: even more vocal harmonies than last time around, and guitar lines that move tastefully and capably from Jerry Garcia to Slash and back.

"There's some pretty heavy rock," Oldham explains, "and the tracking trio let some of the songs devolve nicely into fresh jam. There's also acoustic stuff, a good amount of DADGAD tuning. It doesn't really sound like any of the other records to me; it's more hot and overdriven, production-wise." Tracklist:

01 Little Birdy
02 A Man Of Words
03 As I Walked By Myself
04 Cambric Shirt
05 Maryhad A Pretty Bird/Bluebird Jam
06 Ding Dong Bell
07 For Every Evil
08 Derby Ram
09 Lady Wind
10 One For Anger
11 I Would If I Could
12 The Girl In The Lane

Oldham, Carneal, Stith, Dave Human, and Willy MacLean will compose the beefed-up touring Anomoanon on the following spring dates:

04-13 New York, NY - Tonic (w/ Arboretum, Cockfighter)
04-15 Baltimore, MD - Creative Alliance
04-16 Wilmington, NC - Soapbox
04-17 Mount Pleasant, SC - The Village Tavern (w/ Matter)
04-18 Winston-Salem, NC - PS 211