Amaro Dolce

Rollin', Rollin'

2008-06-16T19:43:00.004-04:00

So, we're back in action! Both Amaro Dolce and King Tut have been letting things sit on the back burner for a bit, but we're kickin' it up a notch...BAM! Oh, the Emeril line never seems to get old.

Anyway, we've been trying to bump up King Tut's online presence by getting them exposure on a ton of different social networking sites tailored to music. One of which, The Sixty One, has been treating them quite well! They're currently number 2 on the hot list and have been climbing the charts immensely. Way to go, KT!

So do your part, check out the site, and listen to their music. While you're at it, you should check them out on last fm, iLike, and virb--all of which they're now a part of.

On another note, I hope everyone had a nice Friday-The-Thirteenth weekend. Josh came to visit Mariko and me in Boston, and we spent the weekend watching some amazingly awful movies--a few of which were some low-budget horror films (Hey, we had to bring in the 13th somehow!). We also got tickets to go see THE MARS VOLTA in September! I'm super psyched to see them, since I've been trying to for the past 5 years now.

Speaking of shows, if anyone's going or has gone to see some good ones lately, comment on our blog and let us know about 'em! We'd love to hear all you have to say.

Sweet summer sing-songs

2008-05-07T21:53:00.005-04:00

Oh, geeze!
Final exams and projects has had me separated from interweb adventures, but I'm finally back! Done with spring semester 2008! I'm completely Borklee'd out.

King Tut is playing with Liars on the 10th at The Rocket Club in Asheville!
Go out and see them live-- it's well worth the 10 bucks or so for the ticket.
If you can't make it out the night of the 10th, come out the 16th for their show with The Poles!

Summer will soon be in full bloom with shows popping up left and right, and I'm so very excited!

I dunno how much you all like vandalizing otherwise everyday scenes with art, but here's a cute way to take that idea into your everyday internet grind!
Paint That Shit Gold. Just put in your favorite URLs in the "gold bar" and be the baddest vandal this side of the web.
Paint that shit gold. What a name <3
Props to Ben, interwebs PI.

It happened. I finally gave in

2008-04-23T00:50:00.008-04:00

...and am officially a bike commuter! (Don't expect to see a chrome bag on me, ever. Saaamm.. Raaaph...)
What better day to have had my first home-to-school commute than on Earth Day.

I hope you all did something eco-friendly. Even Josh probably recycled something by accident!!

A website I tend to go to a lot is TreeHugger.com. I know, it sounds like a little much, but it really is an awesome feed for everything green. You can even pick and choose what you read by category. They've got some amazing recipes as well as products showcased, so click around-- I'm positive you'll find something to your liking.

Remember that post oh-so long ago on a game called Crayon Physics Deluxe? Well, for all of you without tablet PCs is Magic Pen.
Wasting electricity playing computer games? Hey, I gotta balance my bike riding out somehow...
Thanks to Ben M. for the tip!

birthday bash rhymes with... hash?

2008-04-15T23:39:00.004-04:00

Mr. Arar and I have birthdays only 3 days apart, so we had a combined night of birthday fun! We had so much fun that we made ourselves stupid.
Thanks to everyone that sent us birthday love! It was much appreciated.

I went to see Autechre last night and it was a nice break from the everyday grind of school >work >homework >practice >sleep.
I wish they didn't play so much trancey stuff. Rob (?), I think his name is... Rob, I could've done with less of that. I had never seen them live up until then, so it was really neat to see 'em do their thaaang.
Their myspace is pretty awesome, by the way.
If you have a chance, check out their album "Untilted." It's one of my favorites.

Tapes 'n Tapes will be tearing it up with White Denim this Thursday at the Paradise
and Cursive will showcase some brand new songs Monday night in Providence, RI at Club Hell

Other than the shows, crickets have been chirp chirping away on the home front, but no one's complaining. The weather's pretty nice and it looks like it's only gonna get better. Things are looking up for the AD kids!!

Heyyyyy! Costume made of ballooons!!

Please, No Bloodhound Gang Jokes!

2008-04-11T17:17:00.007-04:00

For the past month-and-a-half and some change, I have been paying attention to Isabella Rossellini's "Green Porno". It has nothing to do with environmental conservation or Greenpeace members doing the nasty nasty in Jellystone Park. In fact, its kind of entirely SFW unless your "boss" is a furry and will get offended/aroused. In which case, God Bless 'Merica.

P.S.: I'm Josh! Whats your name?

Vote Vote Vote by April 8th!

2008-04-02T00:07:00.003-04:00

As Mark and Drew so adorably lay it out in the facebook event they've sent around:
HELP King Tut WIN $1000/ INFINITE FAME!

Being the earth-friendly boys that they are, King Tut has entered a contest for a spot at an Earth Day show at the Orange Peel.

Taken from the event page:

step by step instructions on how to vote (in case you have trouble on their site):
1. go to http://www.earthdayasheville.com (or click here)
2. scroll down the page to the section "register to vote"
3. enter your email in the box to register your email address (they won't send you junk mail I SWEARS IT)
4. check your email
5. click on the link provided in the email you just recieved
6. should be self-explanatory from here--just go to the "cast your vote" section on the homepage, fill us in, and you're set!

Also, if you have a wee bit more spare time, check out these other Asheville bands and vote for them!
EAR PWR: (IN THE LIVE ELECTRONIC SECTION)
Electropop--if you like Peaches, LCD Soundsystem, or (especially) Chromeo, you will like this band
EAR PWR myspace (suggested song: Raise Da Roof)
Menage: (IN THE ACOUSTIC/FOLK/WHATEVER SECTION)
Alt-country rock--if you like Ryan Adams, Yo La Tengo, or real awesome Oldies, you will like this band
Menage myspace (suggested song: Shrinking Gun)

It only takes a minute of your internet surfing! the added plus of it being for TWO (if not more!) good causes!

I was grinning ear to ear by the very end of it!

2008-03-22T23:53:00.000-04:00

My trip to New York was fantastic! It was just what I needed to get away from suffocating ol' Boston.
I spent all day, every day in a different museum-MoMa and the Guggenheim- from the time it opened to the time it closed, just immersing myself in the art there. It was so inspiring and refreshing to be transmitted something other than music for a bit. Sometimes, being at Berklee, all the music you take in can be a bit much. I hope to post a few photos when I have the time! The ones I took are mostly of artwork, so those of you that are art nerds (har har) will appreciate it, I'm sure. I came back with a notebook full of ideas and thoughts and am really looking forward to implementing them.
Of course I did some other things while I was there; ate wonderful food, went to wonderful cafes, boutiques, and even to a clairvoyant! More on all this as time goes on and I have time to unfold the fun times!

...and to stay on the topic of art, here's a video of an amazing painting by an elephant!

I can't believe the technical skill! in.cre.di.ble

cut the wheats, add the beats

2008-03-07T01:14:00.010-05:00

SO. I thought I'd share with family and friends, it seems that I'll be on a gluten-free diet for a while!
No worries, it isn't because of anything too serious health-wise; it's actually been quite good for me. Before the doctors put me on it, I would get SO lethargic after eating; you know how food-comas feel? Well make it a hundred times worse, with discomfort and the occasional throat retching. It has all disappeared! it's magic!
Gluten-free living these past weeks has definitely been challenging my cooking skills-- time to up my domestic game!
Prepare yourselves for the occasional "omg, look what i made!" food post. It's just too bad I'm no longer residing in Ohio, where the top exported product is soybeans.. closely followed by corn-- I could most definitely use a lot of both!

Last week, I was lucky enough to have run into a free ticket to see Chick Corea and Béla Fleck (thanks a ton, Ann!) at Symphony Hall, and I gotta say it was brilliant stuff. If you ever have the chance to see 'em live, do it. Don't think twice and do it. Béla, who is quite possibly THE most talented banjo player, reminds me of our precious Drew Veres of King Tut (yes, YOU, Drew!). Something about his demeanor, I guess.
The two have been on tour together for sooo long now, and it really shows in their interaction and the connection they have. The performance itself was spot-on and completely seamless, divulging into all these wonderful textures (yes, I "feel" music in textures. It's weird) while folding in humor and charm-- they are such a cute duo. Is it okay for me to say that? ...that they're cute together?

Raph has finished his midterms this week, and I will have by this time next week, so you'll most definitely hear from us a little more often!
Until then, keep it crunchy!

How big is the world?

2008-02-29T11:05:00.007-05:00

Heresay about King Tut is spreading over blogs and forums! It's really neat to see that people, on the internets, are talking about how neat they are!

If you haven't gotten a chance to yet, go pick up a copy of Alternative Press Magazine for a review of King Tut's Chopping Wood and Carrying Water! They're right up there with Little Brazil and Zykos in the Sounds Scanned section. Grab a piece of history before it's too late-- the issue goes off shelves on the 3rd of March-- you've got 3 days, kids!

In other news, I'll be going on some kind of trip this Spring Break. A very random trip, most likely consisting of picking trains at random and seeing where they take my adventure-seeking ass. I'm hoping there will be some video, at least photos, to put up. I'm also hoping for crazy spontaneity! We'll see what happens.

Does anyone remember Goldenboy? I've had a song of theirs stuck in my head all day. I was into them back when I was 14 or so, and NO ONE remembers them! I thought they were big news, but everything seemed so much bigger then, I guess. I've been trying to find some media that's working, though it might just be my computer crapping out on me, but I refuse to post to things 'less I know they damn work!
...so you're gonna have to do some sleuthing yourselves!

Alternative Press Magazine!!

2008-02-22T13:31:00.006-05:00

The past couple weeks haven't been peachy-keen for me, I must say... but this makes up for all the gloom and doom:

King Tut's Chopping Wood and Carrying Water has been reviewed in the latest issue of Alternative Press Magazine!

It's all so exciting and wonderful!
Go pick up a copy and check it out.

Alt Press, we send our love <3

the beard, the sparrow

2008-02-15T14:53:00.006-05:00

Hello, hello!
I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day!
I myself was completely exhausted by the end of the day... but for ALL the wrong reasons!!
Class, working, and performing back to back was not too fun. Remind me never to do a 7am-11pm (no break!) work day ever again!

This video did cheer me up, though!
It's a great little insight into King Tut's processes. I also absolutely adore Mark's beard peeking into the frame to say hello when the rest of his head isn't in the shot.
"The Sparrow"

Hit up King Tut's myspace for even more videos. Watching them live is surprisingly different from what you expect!

it's like in the X-Men movie... the second one?

2008-02-04T13:28:00.000-05:00

I've gotten so many great responses to our splash page, and I'm glad to hear everyone likes it! Raph and I are continuing to work on the actual website, and I'm getting so excited-- the web art, all the drawing and scheming, is more difficult than I thought. Our DIY outlook is starting to really pay off in experience-accruing, along with all the other fun stuff!

If you missed King Tut's live session on WSBF, check it out here.
If you're a podcast fiend like myself, it's available riiight here!
It's the January 30th show, and I must say.. the talk is just as interesting as the live music!

and since it's kind of become my "thing"... here's a video!

It's kind of old, but nevertheless AWESOME.
I would've loved to experience that.

go yell it from the mountaintops!

2008-01-23T20:59:00.000-05:00

Things at AD are moving along quite nicely!!

Our splash page is up and is cute as can be. It's so fulfilling to see your ideas and time come to fruition.
Props to Robb who has brought my watercolour to life-- it's so cute it hurts.

go and check it out!
watch those eggums shake!

Amaro Dolce <3

aaand a video to watch just because:

Her name is Lisa Bufano, a double amputee dancer.
Her stiltwork is so beautiful.

2008, tentacle rape

2008-01-08T14:01:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, loves!

Andrew and I took a trip out to Asheville to spend some time with King Tut & friends recently. Good times were had, with lots of driving before and after. Those roads down there are crazy hilly AND swervy; the girl who's used to flat ground, straight roads, and being able to see for miles ahead was completely out of her element (I don't drive in Boston, ever.. so that place doesn't count).

Anywho, King Tut's album has officially been released!!
Go listen to them here and get a copy of the album!

Many thanks to all the wonderful people that've bought themselves a copy or two. I can't believe how many have already been sold!

King Tut's Chopping Water & Carrying Wood Now Available for Pre-Sale

2007-12-31T12:44:00.001-05:00

Hey Everyone!

So, the rumors are true--the album is now available for pre-sale! If you dig King Tut and want to help them out, you should get a copy. As a special pre-sale promotion, we're offering free shipping--but make note that this is a limited-time offer.

A lot of time, energy, and of course love have been put in making this album, so make yourselves a New Year's Resolution and say you'll start exposing yourself to amazing, budding artists and the labels that are working oh-so-hard to get them some exposure ;-)

Click this Banner to Pre-Order the Album!

As always, keep checking the Amaro Dolce Blog for more updates and other awesomeness.

Much Love,

Raphael

Analogue Blog review

2007-11-29T23:29:00.000-05:00

Okay everyone. Now we're waiting to hear back about King Tut's standing in the BBC's Next Big Thing 2007 contest and whether they made it to the Top 5, but in the meantime, check out the profile on the Irish music media outlet, Analogue Magazine.

In addition to this news, we should also have King Tut's debut album, Chopping Wood & Carrying Water, for sale online within the next week. Check back with us to pick it up!

- A.G. Irvin

Such great news!

2007-11-27T11:14:00.000-05:00

We are SO proud and SO psyched!!
King Tut has made it into the Final 20 for BBC's The Next Big Thing!

Quite the accomplishment, given that there are only 2 American bands in the top 20 (King Tut being one of them!).
Check them out on BBC's website.
Congrats to Mark and Drew!

sometimes I press my ear onto the floorboards and listennnn

2007-11-16T16:58:00.000-05:00

So I was reading Gizmodo earlier today (yeah, go ahead and laugh) and came across their post on Kloonigames' Crayon Physics Deluxe. I didn't think anything could make me want to buy a tablet PC, but Kloonigames seems to have done it.
good god, the cuteness!

Enough nerding out!

I've immersed myself in Jacques Brel again, ever since I heard Nina Simone's cover of Ne Me Quitte Pas in passing. Lovely, lovely music! Check him out-- this performance in particular is quite special <3

Sorry for the lack of updates on my part-- I don't have le internets at home and I'm definitely feeling the post-midterm narcosis as I'm sure you all are feeling too.

an addendum

2007-10-29T20:38:00.000-04:00

Also, Battles rules, so check out this new video. It is crazy-go-awesome.

pluggin' away

2007-10-29T00:46:00.001-04:00

Okay folks. The King Tut debut album, and our debut release, Chopping Wood & Carrying Water, will be back from pressing in the next few weeks. Also, my roommate Nick from the band, Joe Kloc & The Secret Destroyers (http://www.myspace.com/joeklocandthesecretdestroyers), told me of this fantastic New Jersey band called Screaming Females, who you can check out at http://www.myspace.com/screamingfemales and let them rock your face off.

Also, my friend Denise has started a webcomic featuring good friends of mine; accessible at http://towniescomic.blogspot.com

It's just getting started, but I thought I'd give it an early plug just so some people can check it out.

Have a good night, folks.

Whoever thought that this was a grand idea is my hero.

2007-10-13T13:08:00.000-04:00

It's getting chilly, and you know what THAT means!!
The holidays are nearing!

Want to make Mariko a happy little lady?
Get her the motherfucking BACK-UP!

Oh no, boy and girls it's real. It's really real.
...and a necessity for homes everywhere!

I like how they add "many customers are buying one for each side of the bed" -- a his and hers!
How romantic <3 <3 <3

Many thanks to Miss Ann Marie Pedersen for the lovely link.

I lovelovelove The Good Life

2007-10-06T16:23:00.000-04:00

Oh man, no new posts!

This week has been wonderful, despite some setbacks here and there.
...so we'll talk about the good stuff! :D

The Good Life came through Boston Tuesday night and Raph and I were on that shit like.. herpes on Paris Hilton (ew, gross). They played a great set, a mix of their old stuff and songs off the new album, Help Wanted Nights (listen to it! it's MAGIC!) I must say, it was the most convincing performance by Mr. Tim Kasher to date. Fourth of July opened with some rad tunes. Patrick (the bassist) has the most amazing bass guitar of all time. It ain't no axe, it's a fucking WAR HAMMER. Completely custom and completely organic; it's beautiful! "Made of dirt," as he fondly put it. Luke Temple followed Fourth of July - I didn't like them as much to be completely honest, but that's not to say they weren't awesome! (Raph likes 'em mooore, haha) It's great music and their band is real tight, but I think I'm in favor of Fourth of July because I like those guys better on a personal level.
Thanks to all of them for the best show I've been to in Boston since I moved here!

Go see Fourth of July on the 17th at Hennessey’s; they're cool kids.

Two Gallants played Friday night, awesome as always!
I was right next to Tyson's drum kit, getting punched in the face and chest with rhythmic majesty. He saw me wincing during sound check and gave me earplugs -- such a gentleman! haha
Even with the protection of earplugs, my ears are ringing and probably will be doing so for the next few days.
Songs for Moms and Blitzen Trapper opened, and my rockout-partner in crime Sam special guested it up on THE GOURD (yaay!) and shook it to the next level.

It was great to meet such outstanding people and see them play live. Boston's been getting me down and it was a nice change to be around some warm-hearted, drunken midwest (or out of town, otherwise!) kids.

teacups, seacups, rawking out!

2007-08-05T21:21:00.000-04:00

We've started a blog! Check back regularly for good tunes, pretty things, rockin' bands, random geeketry, and all the silliness you can fit in a big red pail.

While you're here, give a listen to King Tut - indescribable music to titillate your ears and brain!
-Mariko