2015: finish strong!

"Finish strong!" was what my tae kwon do teacher told me right before I tore all the tendons in my shoulder. But that's what I'm gonna do now! 

Three shows in December, in three cities, in three different musical contexts!
2015-12-5 | JL solo guitar at Grand Banks cassette release party, Hensley's in the Ix Art Park, Charlottesville VA

2015-12-7 | JL and Hampus instrumental duo at Troost in Greenpoint, NYC

2015-12-28 | True Love Always (duo version with JL and MD) at Teen-Beat Holiday Extravaganza with Jonny Cohen's Love Machine and Cotton Candy, at the Galaxy Hut in Arlington VA.

(Also note that this will be a kind of pre-release show for the new TLA EP "Return of the Wild Style Fashionists", coming out on February 19; come down and grab a copy before it hits the streets.)

Fall into Winter Sale

Okay, so there's not actually a sale or anything, other than that I have a new solo guitar album up on the Bandcamp. It's called Black Gold , and it was recorded when I played exactly one year ago today at Black Gold Records with The Hands Free. Jascha Narveson, who is a genius in his own right, was a complete gentleman and recorded my set, so I'm just gonna pay it forward here. Which is to say I will allow you to pay a small amount of money to own it.

Also coming up--an amazing show December 5th in Charlottesville Virginia. It's the cassette release for Grand Banks' new opus on Oxtail Recordings, and there's gonna be some real heavy hitters, so I highly advise quitting your job and going to Charlottesville for this one. 

More shows in the works as well, both TLA and solo guitar-style. See you in the pit!

Non-Denominational Christmas in July(/August)

Basically it's already 2019, Skynet, etc. But there are still a bunch of things going on before all the Cascadian Subduction Zone stuff happens! 

True Love Always just played a show, at our extreme major friend Jeff Gramm's significant birthday party, and recorded the instrumental tracks for 5 new songs! First time in the studio since we recorded Clouds in 2002. Whoa. We rehearsed at Marlborough Farms for a few hours, then checked in to the Seaside Lounge in Brooklyn, where the excellent Mitch Rackin helped us turn lead into gold. Then we played the show, then we partied, then everyone went home. I'll go back in soon, finish the vocals, mix it, and sit back and watch the river of greenbacks flow in. More soon.

I'm also very excited to be doing some shows with my man Hampus Öhman-Frölund and some of his stellar crew of improvisers. Like me, he has played a lot of pop music, but also comes from a very weird place. We are playing:

8-09-2015 | Hampus and John duo (LindÖhman-Frölundaman?) at Pine Box Rock Shop 9p
8-18-2015 | Hampus, Mats Dimming, Joanna Mattrey and JL at JACK

(I had another mid-August show lined up that fell through, so hopefully I'll be able to update this with something excellent shortly.) Needless to say, this is all part of my ongoing attempt to get you to purchase Executive Fade, my new album/coaster or coaster/album on Teen-Beat. It will make your life better, and it will make my life better. Keep on sweatin'!

New year, new album, new coaster, new shows soon

Happy new year! Welcome to 2015! So full of promise and excitement; I can't wait to start...wait, it's already May, and all this horrible stuff is going on in the world?

The good news is, that means it's time for me to come out of hibernation and release this new coaster on Teen-Beat! The name of the coaster is Executive Fade, and when you order one, you also get a free download of my brand new album of the same name. 

I know some of you, like me, are ambivalent about what streaming music is doing to the state of music in general; if that's the case, you can also just buy the coaster and never use the download code. Or download the coaster instead--I don't know, follow your heart. All I know is that for $7.77 plus shipping you can own in your very own home these fantastic coasters designed by the inimitable Mark Robinson, and also get my record. THAT"S CHEAPER THAN BUYING A RECORD.

What is the record like? Well, first things first it's the realest. As with past affairs, it's entirely improvised, with a few overdubs along the way when there was something I wanted to do but lacked the extra arms for. If anyone would like to interview me for their blog or whatever, I will divulge the seamy backstory behind each of the songs pretty much without any prompting whatsoever.

This also means I'm getting back on the stick and booking more shows for the rest of the year, so watch this space for more details.