New Year, new website

 Okay, now it's 2026! In an attempt to rationalize our, um, web presence across a bunch of platforms, I decided to take it back to when we started, with a Web 1.0 website that will be free and easy to maintain without a bunch of social media features etc. So behold!

https://truelovealways.oldcities.org/

Very into the smallweb concept; I recommend checking out https://web1.0hosting.net/ for more info! I like that this template is based on Windows 95, which was basically what things looked like when we first started the Beatles.

So I'll probably stop pretending to update this and you can go there to find out the latest information! Coming this year we have more shows, another Japan tour, new recording happening, so it will be worth occasionally checking it out. In the meantime, cancel your Spotify account and join us in the future, which looks, as it always does, a lot like the past!

Happy Year of the Wood Snake

Ummm, hello! So, the last four years huh? 

A few weeks ago we had the annual David Berman January 4th birthday tribute show at Bowery Ballroom; always great to see old friends and play those songs. As Gate says it's a sad reason but a good feeling to celebrate David and his works.

Now it's the Year of the Wood Snake, which I understand to be about moving forward in a thoughtful and efficient way towards the future you want, from a place of calm stability. While calm stability might be a tall order these days, at least focusing on practical matters towards playing more music feels achievable, and something that is at least a net positive in the world.

Anyway, given the desirability of decentralizing social media as a way to communicate about music things, and given that there are music things coming up to communicate about, I thought I'd revive this, and add an email list function so you don't have to remember to religiously check www.johnlindaman.com each morning with your coffee. Sound good? 

We've got some stuff coming up: TLA show in Brooklyn on 3/1 with me and Matt and Clara Salyer on bass, and then I'm glomming on to a tour of Japan in May with Gary Olson, organized by great friend Kenji Sekioka; for that I'll be playing TLA and bossa nova stuff on nylon string and Clara will back me up on organ. So that's about 1000% more activity than last year and the goal is to keep the ball moving! Let's stay in touch about it!

ENSORCELLED, more stuff

So I'm not that great at updating this page, we can all agree on that. But there are a few things to point out since the last time I posted here!

Hampus and I, as Center For Whatever, have a new cassettte called ENSORCELLED (here is the bandcamp: https://centerforwhatever.bandcamp.com/album/ensorcelled), and our pal Rob Sheffield did a very generous blurb about it for his employer, a scrappy little zine called Rolling Stone. I'll reprint an excerpt here for those of you who can't get behind the paywall:

[...] Lindaman hits a new zenith with Center for Whatever, his collaboration with electro whiz Hampus Öhman-Frölund. Center for Whatever debuted with the superb Boogie Spiderland, featuring gems like “Receiving Transmission From Beyond Van Halen Belt.” Ensorcelled is an amazing peak of shamanic guitar brilliance, “dark improvisational magic” infused with 1970s metal: Frippertronics meets Cultösaurus Erectus. Best song title: “How Soon Is This It?” As always, the cassette is the way to go. R.S."

In fact, I see that our debut release Boogie Spiderland *also* came out since the last time I updated this, so how about just picking up both of those? As Rob says, get the cassettes. Sorry! As he mentions, I also released a solo joint called Majoring in the Minors, which has no cassette edition, but that shouldn't stop you from buying it and copying it onto the cassette of your choice.

More soon--more CFW, more shows, more people being inside a room listening to music this fall.

Together: amazing new comp on Oxtail Recordings to benefit SURJ Charlottesville

Proud to be a part of this amazing compilation. Mike Nigro over at Oxtail Recordings has made Together, a 2-cassette comp to benefit Showing Up for Racial Justice Charlottesville, as a response to all the racist garbage that has decided to roost in my old town. 

You can pick one up here, and enjoy 28 tracks that will be a rosetta stone of weird music for future generations, as well as donate to a really good organization. My track, Peripheral Heart Activity, is one of my favorites in my recent series of improvisations using randomly generated note names, and I'm honored to be among these other greats.

Let The Power Fall Again: New Album, New Year, New You

Looks like I've been remiss in updating this thing, but it's a whole new year! Okay it was a month ago, part of the problem here. But since last we spoke, I put out a cassette on the amazing Oxtail Recordings with the astounding Luciernaga, did a bunch of shows with those guys and my main man Hampus Öhman-Frölund, and saw a bunch of other people play some amazing shows. 

Now I've got a new one for you: Let The Power Fall Again, which is my cover of the album "Let The Power Fall" by Robert Fripp. It's the first cassette in my new Next Guest series, and my first self-released cassette in like 25 years, so why don't you go pick up a copy? The cassette part is a limited edition of 25 , with unique hand-made paper packaging for each one. (You can also just buy the digital version if you are one of those people who doesn't even have a cassette player anymore, but I personally find it more enjoyable to have a physical object connected with a release, so I would probably buy it even if I didn't have a cassette player.)

The original album is one of my all-time favorites, and in recent years I've really felt a push to engage with it in a more direct way; hopefully it speaks to you the way it speaks to me.

Up next in the Next Guest series: a cassette split with Nightgown, coming in early March.

Show tomorrow, new album in a few days!

Hi everyone, just a quick note to say happy new year, happy lunar new year, happy Valentine's Day, and that I'm playing tomorrow with my main man Hampus Öhman-Frölund at ABC No Rio at 7pm. Que romantico! Also the new TLA record is out on February 19th--you can pre-order it here: http://teenbeat.net/items/559.html

(And I suggest that you do pre-order, because it will certainly sell out in seconds.) We're working on getting some spring TLA shows together--more soon!

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.

Last show of the year: Muchmore's 12/14

So this is it. My last show of 2014. I know you were kind of imagining what it might be like, probably glitzy, definitely exclusive. I mean, when you listen to this kind of music you are already in an elite group of people with the most refined taste, but this was probably going to be like the 1% of that 1%. 

Well, let me tell you that your vision is about to come true...TO THE EXTREME.

Muchmore's will host another meeting of the Cacophony Collective this Sunday December 14th, starting at 9 sharp (I think that's me) and continuing with a bunch of heavy hitters in the world of music the likes of which you won't believe. It's free, it's a Sunday night when you probably aren't doing anything but praying for death anyway; don't miss this chance to enter the realm of pure white light, and also I will buy you a drink if you make it out.

http://muchmoresnyc.com/event/cacophony-collective-sunday-december-14th-9pm-free-at-muchmores/

New page full of live performances. Be amazed.

So, when you are constructing your alibi and claiming to have been at one of my shows since 2008, you can now make use of my handy list of shows, to which there is a link over on the right of this page. Barring an unforeseen last-minute show in December that might actually happen, I did 7 shows in 2014, the majority of which were actually not in New York City, and none of which involved me singing popular music. Goal for 2015--12 shows, half not in New York City (maybe some of them will involve singing popular music again as well--we'll see).

At Black Gold 11/8 with The Hands Free

Hallowe'en is over, and you can feel the chill of your own mortality. Stave off the existential dread of another holiday season by coming to hear some amazing music by The Hands Free, and a set by yours truly, down at the fine establishment known as Black Gold Records. It's free, it's at 8:00, it will allow you, briefly, to actually *feel* something again.
https://www.facebook.com/events/359367497570044/

News flash! Playing Kyle's Korner at Otto's Shrunken Head on Monday October 13th at 10 p.m.

News flash! Playing at Kyle's Kreepy Korner this Monday, October 13th with Moses and Not Moses (featuring the estimable Hampus Ohman-Frolund as "Not Moses"). It's not Halloween, but October the 13th is like the second- or third-scariest night of the year, right?

New Digi-Cassette Maxi Single: Concatenator (plus shows and milestones)

I know you're thinking, "man, that John Lindaman has it made. He's probably kicking back with all that sweet Teen-Beat money, forgot all about the common man over on his bandcamp site." Well nothing could be further from the truth. While I *am* drying my tears on the pillow full of cash that comes from signing with Teen-Beat Records (and this time, as a solo artist, I get to keep the *whole* pillow), I haven't forgotten my roots, so there's a new mini album called Concatenator for you over on my bandcamp site (or, if you prefer, a Digi-Cassette Maxi-Single).

In other news, I'll be playing a show here in Brooklyn on November 8th at Black Gold, with my pals Eleonore Oppenheim and James Moore in their new ensemble The Hands Free. Attendance is strongly suggested. There's a few more in the works, too; I'll update you all as they come together brilliantly.

Also, I started this specific solo guitar project 4 years ago, in October 2010; 38 Bandcamp releases later, and two full-length albums on Teen-Beat, I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it. Thanks for listening. (I mean, I guess I assume you have been listening if you are reading this far.)

Playing Friday June 13th at Cake Shop NYC for New York Tsurphu Goshir Dharma Center

When friends of yours are doing something real that is of actual value in the world, and they ask  you to help them by just playing some music, which (let's face it) you would probably just be doing anyway, it's pretty much ideal. When the show also turns out to have an amazing, wide-ranging line-up full of your friends, a reunited legendary band you never got to see, and a musical hero of yours, then welcome to my world. 

Come down, hear some great music, and support the work of the New York Tsurphu Goshir Dharma Center, which, in addition to offering regular meditation instruction and being one of the few (only?) centers for this lineage in the Western Hemisphere, also created the Samantabhadra Initiative, which brings opportunities for contemplative counseling and spiritual development to at-risk youth, incarcerated people, LGBTQ people and the ill or dying. Pretty heavy stuff. I'm just going to make bleeping and droning noises for like 20-25 minutes.

Make sure you get there right at 8, because you don't want to miss any of this.

The line-up is:
1st band: VOMIT FIST
http://www.vomitfist.com/

2nd: TRUMMORS
http://trummors.tumblr.com/

3rd: JOHN LINDAMAN
johnlindaman.blogspot.com
http://johnlindaman.bandcamp.com/

4th: FLOWER
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/flower-mn0001246882

5th: PLUS/MINUS +/- 
http://www.plusmin.us/

More info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/599610163479260/

Crowding the Octagon film series

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the awesome series of films made by the incomparable Millard Sumner of Social Distance for tunes on this album. Teenbeat has links to them here as they become available.
In other news, the first part of the tour was fantastic; the Boston, Hudson, Hadley and Charlottesville shows were top-notch, and the C'ville even wrote a very nice piece about me. (Even though it's mostly about True Love Always, it's one of the more thoughtful and concise summaries of that part of what I do.) Now I gotta book more shows for round 2--DC and Philadelphia, holler at me!

Crowding The Octagon Tour (so far)

On March 18th, my new album Crowding The Octagon will come out on Teen-Beat Records, so I'm doing a tour to celebrate. I don't have to do them all at once, though, so it's gonna be spread out over the next few months.  Here's the first four shows:

2014-03-07 | Washington Street Art, Somerville MA, with Grizzler, Cotton Candy, What Is An Author?: https://www.facebook.com/events/525279434256692/


2014-03-20 | The Spotty Dog, Hudson NY, with Mike Tamburo and Alexander Turnquist: https://www.facebook.com/events/451261875003339/

2014-03-21 | Flying Object, Hadley MA, for Sight and Sound II: https://www.facebook.com/events/287654458048296

2014-03-28 | Official record release party! In Charlottesville VA at the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, with Grand Banks and Cole/Monnes Duo

If you think I should come play with you where you are, and it's accessible by bus from NYC, let me know!

Happy new year/rest of previous year/more music

Welcome to 2014. While we're at it, how was the rest of your 2013? After the fantastic success of Black Death DNA (#4 top mailorder item for Teen-Beat in 2013, topping the tote bag), I spent most of the rest of the year recording, working on TLA stuff which I swear is gonna come out some day, resting on my laurels, accepting accolades, getting ultra-ripped abs, and being the most influential, yet still unknown, artist of my generation.

For 2014, the signs are auspicious for more activity, so to start things off here's a digital cassingle bootleg of my set from Zebulon from the end of 2012. This was the record release party for Heather McIntosh's award-winning soundtrack to Compliance; it was me, the amazing Jeremiah Cymerman, and of course The Instruments. For me, the most gratifying thing about this recording is that you can hear the audience talking when I start, but at the end of the set you can hear that nobody is talking. Success! Coming soon: more avant-garde guitar jams, a new record on Teen-Beat, some actual shows, all to be announced here soon.

Black Death DNA out now on Teen-Beat

I'm excited to tell you that my new album Black Death DNA is out now on Teen-Beat Records . As you know, I've been associated with Teen-Beat since like 1985, but never released a solo album on Teen-Beat...UNTIL NOW. You can get it as a download for $7.92, but why not treat yourself right and get a CD-R with a beautiful poster designed by Mark Robinson for $9.99 instead? There's also a great video Mark made for the song "Love Theme from New Zero Seasons" here. I'm always extremely honored to continue to work with Teen-Beat, so I highly recommend you make all my dreams come true and get on this right away.
In other news, I'm hard at work on the follow up, so there'll be more prepared guitar summer jams for you soon.