Don Giovanni News

Roadside Graves have carved out a small and strange piece of musical territory over the course of their nearly twenty years together. Their sound emerges as much from their longstanding friendships and personality quirks as it does from their eclectic musical influences.

Out May 22 on Don Giovanni Records, That's Why We're Running Away was engineered and mixed in Brooklyn, NY by Robert Lombardo and mastered at Strange Weather by Daniel Schlett.

On this new record, the group has created a cycle of songs about acceptance – the struggle to accept defeat and loss, and whether to give up peacefully. It's about finding comfort in seeing the reality of a situation and reckoning honestly with your own part in it. If the question is acceptance, one answer then is to run away – not alone, but together. This a record about living in the tiny space between "I want to leave" and "I want to believe."

Pre-Order Now

Out May 29th (digital) and June 12th (physical) on Don Giovanni Records, Untenable is the sophomore full-length by Washington, D.C.’s Bad Moves.

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR "PARTY WITH THE KIDS WHO WANT TO PARTY WITH YOU"

It’s a record fired in the anxiety and exhaustion of our historical moment: 12 very personal and political songs about surviving in a perpetual state of crisis.

Recorded late last year at Philadelphia's Headroom Studios with Joe Reinhart (Hop Along), Untenable nudges Bad Moves’ sound to suit a slightly darker outlook. The drums charge along with intensity and bite. The guitars favor lockstep call-and-response riffs. A bit of noise, dissonance, and snarl has crept into the periphery. Those spikier sounds frame lyrics about the numerous places that instability erodes our lives — tipped wages, service industry jobs, our self image as groomed for public consumption via social media.

The title, Untenable, is a nod to the overwhelming feeling of unsustainability that permeates life right now, whether at work, at home, or on the planet. There’s a melodic sweetness there, too, though. And a fair bit of hope. Uncertain times are also an opportunity for change.

Bad Moves is Emma Cleveland, David Combs, Katie Park and Daoud Tyler-Ameen. Formed in 2015, the band has performed throughout the U.S. and U.K., held its own alongside Jeff Rosenstock and The Hold Steady, and even been animated into an episode of Cartoon Network's Craig of the Creek. Once we can all stand in a room together again, they intend to tour.

PRE-ORDER UNTENABLE

PRE-SAVE UNTENABLE ON STREAMING

On Monday, Don Giovanni Records will host Going The Distance, an all day online festival that will be streamed live via our Instagram account.

Broadcasting from the comfort of their homes, 20 artists from across our roster will perform music, comedy, and who knows what else for YOU, who -- we hope -- will be listening from the comfort of your own home. The whole gang is going to be there: Downtown Boys, Noun, Worriers, Bad Moves, DJ Haram, Mikey Erg, Teenage Halloween, Lee Bains, Jeffrey Lewis, Hprizm, Fat Tony, Dusk,and many, many more.

Going the Distance will kick off at 1pm EST and run until at least 11:00 pm. All ages! Free to the public! Find the complete lineup below.

SET TIMES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE SO KEEP CHECKING BACK UP TO THE DAY OF FOR CHANGES

Tune in

Turn on!

Stay home!

VISIT @DONGIOVANNIRECORDS ON INSTAGRAM

SET TIMES:

1:00 pm EST – Nato Coles

1:30 pm EST - Dusk

2:00 pm EST – Izzy True

2:30 pm EST – La Neve

3:00 pm EST – Painted Zeros

3:30 pm EST – Paisley Fields

4:00 pm EST – Teenage Halloween

4:30 pm EST – Fat Tony

5:00 pm EST – Lee Bains III

5:30 pm EST – Jeffrey Lewis

6:00 pm EST – Evan Greer

6:30 pm EST – Amy Klein

7:00 pm EST – Downtown Boys

7:30 pm EST - Noun

8:00 pm EST – Bad Moves

8:30 pm EST – She/Her/Hers

9:00 pm EST - Mikey Erg

9:30 pm EST - DJ Haram of 700 Bliss

10:00 PM EST – Erica Freas

10:30 PM EST - Worriers

11:00 PM EST- Sammus

WATCH "SO YOUNG SO"

PRE-ORDER "THE CYCLE"

Out May, 15th on Don Giovanni Records, The Cycle is the fifth album by Mourning [A] BLKstar. It’s the Cleveland-based collective’s masterwork -- a double LP spanning 20 songs and three singers, touching on neo-soul, hip-hop, and the cosmic expanse in between/beyond. It is their song cycle, written in a time that just may need a song or two in support of and in love and power to the living.

The Cycle was created in a 900 sq. ft. storefront on Lorain Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, where Mourning [A] BLKstar practiced for three years. The band met weekly in that space on late Wednesday nights that often stretched into the early morning. Together, Mourning [A] BLKstar watched the flicker of the street lamps against damp sidewalks, listened to the sounds a city makes in every season and watched a cast of characters from the windows -- many of whom stopped to listen or dance along with the music.

The band wrote The Cycle together in that storefront; RA Washington brought in 12 song sketches and the rest of the group wrote their parts on the spot. It was an epic first practice -- a moment of spontaneous creative energy that lies at the heart of the record. The songs came together so fast that Mourning [A] BLKstar performed many of them for the first time just two days later at a showcase for The Panza Foundation, a local arts advocacy nonprofit dedicated to the support of Northeastern Ohio Musicians.

M[A]B is a multi-generational, gender and genre non-conforming amalgam of Black Culture dedicated to servicing the stories and songs of the apocalyptic diaspora.

"Reckoning simmers with frustration at the cycle of racism that has persisted in America through all of the eras its music references"
- Bandcamp on Reckoning

"One of 2019's sweetest and most soaring transmissions from black America"
- The Wire on Reckoning


MOURNING [A] BLKSTAR ON TOUR

4/4 - Cleveland, OH @ Mahall's w/ Ata Kak
4/24 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom *
4/25 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme *
4/26 - Detroit, MI @ Deluxx Fluxx *
4/27 - Cincinnati, OH @ Radio Artifact *
4/30 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas *
5/1 - Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club (2 shows) *
5/5 - Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall #
5/6 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg #
5/7 - Boston, MA @ The Sinclair #
5/8 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live #
5/15 - Cleveland, OH (LP Release Show)
5/16 - Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall #
7/18 - Yellow Springs, OH @ Springfest 2020

* w/ Oshun
# w/ US Girls

mourningablkstar.com

This spring, Don Giovanni Records will report to SXSW for another year of zeitgeist-nudging, algorithm-exploding, metric-crushing music discovery.

Organized in collusion with our pals from Arrowhawk Records, this year's showcase will feature performances by Sammus, Mal Blum, Paisley Fields, Shana Falana, Painted Zeros, and Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires.

The event will be held on Thursday, March 19th at Beerland. Doors at 7pm.

DON GIOVANNI & ARROWHAWK RECORDS @ SXSW 2020

Thursday, March 19th
Beerland
711 Red River St. Austin, TX
7:00 pm Doors

Lee Bains III + The Gloryfires
Sammus
Mal Blum
Paisley Fields
Shana Falana
Painted Zeros

Find the Don Giovanni/Arrowhawk SXSW Showcase on Facebook

To request music and/or information: aarondongiovanni@gmail.com

Art by Faye Orlove