KaiserCartel ‘March Forth’
By Nathan | July 29, 2008
http://www.ihopeyourearsbleed.com/2008/07/29/kaisercartel-march-fort

So over the past couple of months, lots of different bands have been sending me their stuff hoping that I mention them on the site, which is really exciting. But as you can imagine, the majority of it isn’t even worth mentioning. Fortunately, I have been taking the time to listen to all of them, because I hate the thought of missing out on the delightful debut album from a new pop duo known as KaiserCartel. The album is filled with catchy melodies and gorgeous harmonies. Their vocals are so seamlessly intertwined that I automatically assumed that they must be related. Although they aren’t the next Jacksons, they still have a pretty great story. Courtney Kaiser, the elementary school music teacher and Benjamin Cartel, the early childhood art teacher, had met several times at different gigs while supporting their own musical talents, but never got the chance to hang out or play together. That is until finally on March 4th (how witty of them), they finally got to hang out. That fateful night not only was the beginning of a new romance, but it also led to one of the best pop albums of the year. Fans of Mates of State will have no problem getting into this album right from the start. Musically they are a little different. Where as Mates of State rely a lot more on a catchy percussion beat, KaiserCartel relies a little more on what they can create with a guitar. But vocally and melodically they are very similar. Now they aren’t just some knock off that almost sounds like a band I like. They are making great music in and of themselves. March Forth is a strong album from start to finish. Not a dull moment. Take a listen to one of my personal favorites and let me know what you think.

We are on the road. Everything is going really well. A lot of driving, but that's par for the course. I am really happy we bought the Prius. It's easier on the wallet on top of being better for the environment. We just left Kansas City. We played with our friends The Belles and Heidi Gluck from The Only Children and Some Girls. We did two nights together, one in Lawrence and one in Kansas City. Now we are on our way to the twin cities. We have a lot of shows there as well as some TV and radio spots. It is always nice to be in MN. I will be bit a bit slower at updating this site, so please check out kaisercartel.com for all tour date info and news updates. I hope we will get it all linked up at some point.

Check out our "Oh NO" video on VH1.com
Hope to see you in your town;)

One more great thing....

our song "Okay" is on Paste Magazine's compilation this month which you get when you purchase the magazine. It is issue 42 and on track 13. This is totally awesome. We had no idea about it until someone on myspace told us. We are really happy about this promotion. Please go out and get it:) Happy Tuesday!

So much to blog about! First off, our cd release show is set for Manhattan at Joe's Pub on June 10th at 7pm. You will want to buy tickets in advance and reserve a table for yourselves as well. We will have many special guests and are so excited to play the whole record for you!

Our new EP is up on itunes. That is the only place you can get it unless you buy it through us at shows and we have limited copies. So get it while you can. It is titled "Okay" and other things we feel..Also, our video for Okay is on the EP. If you buy the entire EP on itunes you get the video to have on your computer as well. You can see the video on the Grizlet site for free (our wonderful video makers) www.grizlet.com as well as our myspace page, youtube, and on the bluhammock site.

We were played on KEXP a couple of times this week. We are so excited by that and the fact that they now have a station in NYC. No more online for NYC....we can actually tune in on our radio dials.

This weekend, we invited our friends over for drinks and craft making to prepare for the "Season Song" video also to be shot and directed by Grizlet. We made a tree, bumble bees, flowers, and birds. It's going to be awesome. The next day we shot the video for "Blue Sky" as well. So, we have been busy bees......

We enclosed some pictures from the party and as you can see, Ivan was totally pooped after the whole thing:)

Hope to see you at Joe's Pub!

Hello everyone! We are very excited to announce that you can now buy songs off the Double Standard record on itunes! Very very exciting.

Also, we have entered a contest and would love for you to take the time to vote for us. Please go to www.starbucksmusicmakerscompetition.com/, then click on the city Burlington, VT and see KaiserCartel-Dog Stars to your right. Then you can highlight our song and click the check mark to vote. Oddly, you can actually vote more than once which is a bit strange since someone could just sit there for hours and click over and over again.....I leave that up to you. We appreciate your support!
In Gratitude,
KaiserCartel

Hello all! We are still on the road. We have 9 shows left! We have been having a great time on the road. The people that have been hosting us have been incedible and have gone out of their way to feed us and make us comfortabel in their homes! We have so much gratitude for their hospitality and friendship! We would like to thank everyone for all that they have done. The cds have been selling like hotcakes, and people are so happy to have the Live From Breakthru Radio cd! We only made 300 copies and have access to only 250! So, if we are headed your way please make sure to grab one as you await our new release in March 2008. We have also made more t-shirts and tote bags! Yippee. Check out the diary page for pictures of our redwing china and other pictures that we post. We are also updating all of the strange and not so strange on that section. Think of us as we are driving in our Toyota Prius!

We are way past the Redwoods now. We have since played San Francisco, Los Angeles, Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, Minneapolis, and Red Wing....I am sitting at Indie Coffee where our show is in Madison, Wi relaxing. We have been having a great time so far.

The Makeout Room (San Francisco, CA)
San Francisco was fanatastic. My friend Charles Gonzales played with us at The Makeout Room. What a beautiful venue...they even have a red velevt curtain that is behind you while you play. I highly recommend this venue if you are looking for a place to play in SF. We love that part of the country. The people were really receptive and I saw some old classmates from Interlochen Arts Academy who I haven't seen in over 10 years! All of the staff at the club were so nice to us and really liked our music. We look forward to playing there again and hopefully a few other places while we were in town.

The Hotel Cafe (Los Angeles, CA)
This is a great listening room. It reminds me of the Living Room in NYC because if anyone so much as makes a peep, the staff is quick to shhhhh them. We played to a packed room (15 of which we knew) and they all gave us great cheers after every song. It was so nice to see our friends and family out in LA LA land. We don't get to see them much. My friend Vanessa took us around to flea markets and out to good organic restaurants. I really enjoy the area of silverlake, but I am still very happy that I made my choice to move to NYC instead of LA 6 years ago. It's a different world out there.

Shugas (Colorado Springs, CO)
We love Shuga's! The owner is an ex:New Yorker, so it feels very NYC when you walk in. All the tables are made by our friend Lindsey and paper cranes hang down from the ceiling. Shuga's gave us the most wonderful dinner while we were there. We had a curry chicken salad, spinach salad, and humus with fresh goat cheese...YUM! We played with Lisa Shoenstein. Her duo was awesome and she even made us KaiserCartel commemorative glasses to remember our show! We played an interesting set as we realized once setting up that Ben had left his kick drum pedal in LA at the Hotel Cafe...Bummer! It was fun to reinvent the songs with new drums parts. I added in cymbals during The Flood to make up for the lack of kick drum sound. We sold a lot of cds and people were excited to see the brand new Breakthru Radio EP.

After the show, Lindsay, decided to give us one of her paintings right off the wall of the venue! Unbelievable! We are going to stop by Indiana in the next couple of days to drop it off for fear of the hot car ruining the oil! See the picture.....

Kinfolk (Manitou Springs, CO)
What a great little town! Everyone is soooo friendly. I did yoga in the park in the mountains with our friend and host Xanthe. Xanthe's family owns a Holistic medicine center in town so I endulged in a massage and Xanthe's mom gave me a complimentary introduction to crainial bone movement...she said that I had a blow to the left side of my head in birth. It was completely bizzare as I kept on hearing humming going on and she wasn't doing it...weird!

We played with Xanthe and Jonathan who have an amazing band! Xanthe's voice has incredible power. Plus, Jonathan was ripping the solos. The crowd was incredibly enthusiastic when we took to the stage. We had our favorite new cider (Ace Pear which is where we played while in wine country in Cali) during the set. When we finished the set, the audience wanted more, so we played one more song for them. Everyone bought cds and swag. We both look forward to coming back.

Varsity Theater (Minneapolis, MN)
We always love the Varisty! Eric is a great sound man and as usual they treated us in the restaurant that they own down the block. During dinner we listened to some great jazz players! We played the show with our friend Michael Arnold from Revover Modele. When he plays, he plays all the cello parts that Nina Lee (Brentano Quartet) plays. It sounds different, but it's really nice. Behind us, we showed the moving The Boy in the Plastic Bubble which everyone said looked really cool. All the other artists were fantastic and we look forward to coming back in December.

St. James Hotel (Red Wing, MN)
So, some fans that saw us play the Varsity Theater the last two times we were in MN, got in touch with our booking agent Craig after seeing that we were playing in MN on the 13th to inquire if we could play a 60 minute KaiserCartel set at their daughter Jess' wedding. We were totally into the idea but unsure of what it would be like. Craig told them it would be tight as we had the day off to go to my brother's best friend Griffin's wedding in Northfield. We were able to make it work by leaving the wedding in Northfield just after dinner. Red Wing is only 40 miles from Northfield. It was soooo much fun. The hotel was incredible. It is really old and is right on the Mississippi River. Everyone at the wedding loved the music and were constantly dancing. It started with a circle of women and young girls holding hands in a circle swinging their arms. As our set got faster, they really started to get down and did the classic everyone in a circle while someone showed their dancing capability solo in the middle. On top of having a great time, everyone bought cds. Jim (father of the bride who asked us to play) was so pleased to have us there and really enjoyed the show.

The hotel room was beautiful. In the morning, we walked down to the river and watched the train load and unload passengers. When we got back to the hotel, we noticed a pipe organ that was over 100 years old. The manager offered to let me play it and gave me the key. I played "Lying Cats" in the lobby. What a sound! Then we went to the YMCA next door, and worked out since all we have been doing is jumping rope every other stop in order to stay healthy. After that, I went to the local antique store and bought some amazing dishes made in Red Wing, MN in 1960. I had seen this particular pattern before but never a complete set. They have lutes on them. Very cool...I will put a picture on when I get them in NYC.

That is all for now....You can check on Benjamin's blog on www.myspace.com/kaisercartel