Athlete are on Fiction Records now, new record out on 4th August.

Hi all,

As you may know a while back we parted company with EMI Records. We are now pleased to tell you that we have signed a new deal with Fiction Records, the home of Elbow, Snow Patrol, Ian Brown, The Maccabees, Kate Nash and White Lies as well many more. This feels like a great home for us and we're excited to be part of this label.
Lots of love goes out to the people that we have had the pleasure of working with at Parlophone/EMI over the years (you know who you are).
Our Fourth album which is called Black Swan will be released by Fiction on the 10th August.
Smashing, Sorted, right then what's next...
Steve

Athlete are currently on tour in the UK. Tracklisting for Black Swan is as follows:

1. Superhuman touch
2. The Getaway
3. Black Swan Song
4. Don't Hold Your Breath
5. Love Come Rescue
6. Light The Way
7. The Unknown
8. The Awkward Goodbye
9. Magical Mistakes
10. Rubik’s Cube

New Tour Dates : Athlete hit the road...in the UK.

Brits Athlete are heading out on an extensive tour of their native land in June and July, supposedly in support of their fourth record which they are supposedly working on. (I say "supposedly" because I read that on Wikipedia, of all places, and we all know how reliable that is.)

5 June - M Club - Hull
8 June - Waterfront - Norwich
9 June - The Picturedrome - Northampton
11 June - Guildhall - Gloucester
12 June - O2 Academy 2 - Birmingham
13 June - Rescue Rooms - Nottingham
16 June - Concorde 2 - Brighton
17 June - Southampton University - Southampton
19 June - Cardiff University - Cardiff
20 June - Imperial College London Summer Ball - London
23 June - O2 Academy 2 - Newcastle
24 June - Cabaret Voltaire - Edinburgh
25 June - Ironworks - Iverness
26 June - BA Club - Fort William
28 June - Fat Sams - Dundee
29 June - Lemon Tree - Aberdeen
30 June - Oran Mor - Glasgow
1 July - Academy 2 - Liverpool
3 July - Central Station - Wrexham
4 July - The Duchess - York
5 July - Ruby Lounge - Manchester
6 July - The Cockpit - Leeds
8 July - The Fleece - Bristol
9 July - Phoenix Rooms - Exeter
10 July - Wedgewood Rooms - Portsmouth
11 July - Guilfest 2009 - Guilford
13 July - The Junction - Cambridge
14 July - Academy 2 - Sheffield
15 July - Rockhouse - Derby
16 July - Academy 2 - Oxford
17 July - Somerset House - London

Tickets unsupposedly went on sale yesterday.

For those interested in maybe learning a little too much about me,

I've gone and started posting some old playlists from my junior year over at my LJ.

Since May '06, I've been making 20-track playlists for each season, and they all mean quite a bit to me. I'll eventually start posting them here, but because the first few are very stuck in the past, those will be posted over there instead.

So if you're interested in finding out maybe too much about me and/or hearing what summer 2006 sounded like, feel free to stroll on over here.

Tracklist, if you're interested:

1) "Barcelona" - Scamper
2) "Sometimes The Sun" - The Lashes
3) "My Name Is Trouble" - Nightmare of You
4) "Fidelity" – Regina Spektor
5) "Because It’s Not Love" - The Pipettes
6) "Half Light" - Athlete
7) "Out of Range" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
8) "Chasing Cars" - Snow Patrol
9) "Oh Lately It’s So Quiet" - OK Go
10) "Here It Goes Again" - OK Go
11) "Modern Swinger" - The Pink Spiders
12) "Mirror Kisses" - The Cribs
13) "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt" - We Are Scientists
14) "Crazy" - Gnarls Barkley
15) "Start Wearing Purple" - Gogol Bordello
16) "Happier" - Guster
17) "You Got Me" - VHS or Beta
18) "It’s Not The Fall That Hurts" - The Caesars
19) "Jetsetter" - Morningwood
20) "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have" - Panic! At The Disco

And updates soon, I promise promise promise.

I will bring you stories and bleary-eyed photos like a regular tourist.

Today was the first day I ventured into the city in a good two weeks, at least. It feels like so much more than that.

Normally, I just stick to the streets of SoHo, where I work, and, occasionally, the Lower East Side, when I'm catching a show at Piano's. Today, I ventured uptown, to Times Square. I rarely visit that part of town anymore. It's the first time I've been in Times Square nearly a year.

Turns out that Athlete's Tourist, with its piano-driven, soulfully-voiced, oftentimes-quiet brand of indie rock, makes a pretty perfect soundtrack for wandering the streets of midtown on a balmy, spring-like evening in January. (Except, maybe, "Half Light," which feels more like the long summer nights of August 2006.)

"If I Found Out" was I came out of the subway at W. 40th and Broadway.

Like I'm eleven again
I was the highest kid in the world
I reached a point with no end
Just looking out so I can take it all in
And all I needed was this one to get me back on my way
It wasn't long before I realised there was no time to waste
There was soul all around me
Everybody let go
It wasn't long before we realised
There was no time to waste

Crazily enough, I ran into a college friend of mine, right there, as I walked down the street. We only walked together for about a block, but it was good to see a familiar face in such a big place, like two worlds colliding out of nowhere. That's not the first time that's happened to me in New York.

"Street Map" came on as I wandered past the theatres of W. 44th St.

I would like someone to make a map
Mark my home and draw some lines that match
All of the reasons why
It can be like you said
One day it's gonna happen
I don't know when
I'll be on your street
But I know one day it's gonna happen
You're gonna be swept of your feet

I remembered something really important right then- that I really I really, truly love New York. I'd forgotten about that in my love for Paris, I think. New York certainly isn't a hometown, not in the way Paris feels, but I love it. I thought about the possibility of moving to the city over the summer, maybe the fall, for who knows how long, and why not? I suddenly wanted to call up my friend and say, "Hey, let's get an apartment. You, and me, and the city." We'd probably drive each other crazy. It might be totally worth it.

And when will I be on your street? On what day will I be stalking the footsteps to your door? In what city? And who are you, anyway?

And then I was standing there, in the bright lights of the Square, looking up, looking at the people around me, looking quite like a regular tourist myself, and how many times have I been here already? "Twenty Four Hours" came on.

People rushing left to right
There's pretty faces left to right
I'm just frozen staring into space
Faster than the speed of light
I'm holding on, I'm holding tight
Cause stars are gonna crash into this place...
We're closing in,
We've still got twenty four hours

And it hit me. This is the ending of an era, isn't it? I'm more or less glad to see 2007 go. It was a hard year in so many ways, even if it was an experience I don't necessarily regret having lived through. But if 2007, with its heartbreak and life-changes, is gone, that means 2008 has roared in, bringing with its beginning a string of ends. The last show, the last semester, the last of college, the last chance for whatever it is you want to happen before that, and then what? Then where? New York? Maybe. Life after May is just a big question mark.

And its caught wide screen so we don't miss a thing

We've still got twenty-four hours. We've still got now. Take in this moment. There will, invariably, be better ones; there will, invariably, be worse. But never never this moment, now, again.

Back on the subway, "I Love" quietly came on amidst the press of humanity on a train.

Summer's long gone out
Sun comes up like it's been about a year
But I don't mind if we drink again my friend, 'cause
There is so much left to say...
We'd be ok if we had
Answers to questions and rhymes and in reasons
Should leave it to me to be all the four seasons...
You see, I love everybody here

I think I love everybody here.


"If I Found Out"
"Street Map"
"Twenty Four Hours"
"I Love"
You can check out Athlete's 'Space here.

Stuck In My Head: Vicky's Gets The Groove On

Sorry for the lack of posting post-Christmas, or really the lack of non-holiday oriented posting all month long. Most bloggers are taking this month to post their "Best of/Worst of 2007" lists. I'm really not so much for that. I could tell you, say, that I listened to Someone to Drive You Home and Nevermind the Living Dead a lot in the spring and lots of old WAS stuff and some of this and some of that, but really, who am I to tell you what was the "best" and what was the "worst"? Go make up your own damn minds. I'm a lot better at making to-do lists that never get finished.

Also, I have this job. I think I've mentioned this job a few times before. I'm not even working full-time, but it sure feels like I'm working a LOT. Maybe this is because I haven't actually had a job since, oh...January 2006? I've forgotten what it feels like, I guess.

Anyway, there are some perks to said job, like free stuff, but that doesn't help you much, does it? They also, surprisingly, play some good tunes. Stuff from, say, the Shout Out Louds (am I on a Shout Out Louds bender or what?), VHS or Beta, Hot Chip, Athlete, what I'm pretty sure is The Bird and The Bee, and what I thought was Metric but actually turned out to be Ladytron.

Maybe it's a little weird to give you a bunch of songs that I hear all day at work, but every time the Camp America remix of "Hurricane" comes on, I can't help but declare, "I have this on my iPod!" and dance along.

Athlete - "Hurricane" (Camp America Remix)
The Bird and the Bee - "Polite Dance Song"
VHS or Beta - "Bring On The Comets"
Shout Out Louds - "Tonight I Have To Leave It"
Ladytron - "International Dateline"