News

Courtney teaching song writing masters class at Idyllwild Arts Academy!

2011-02-09T12:21:00.000-08:00

I am super excited to be teaching a song writing workshop as well as giving a performance at the Idyllwild Arts Academy in Idyllwild, CA. Since I myself attended a performing arts high school (Interlochen Arts Academy), I know first hand how amazing the opportunity is to have amazing teachers at your fingertips.

I learned so much from Interlochen. At Interlochen, the focus is on western classical music and jazz. At the time, these genres were widely accepted and most schools frowned upon learning to sing other kinds of music. A vocal major at Interlochen learns all the foundational healthy singing techniques and through peers and teachers, one hones in on their craft. There is a composition element but it is much more formal than the writing that I do now as a professional performer. The only piece that was missing was an opportunity to explore other genres of music and gain knowledge from performers and writers alike outside the classical and jazz realm.

I learned so much about reading music and performing already composed pieces. But, the one thing I missed in that early education was learning how to let go as a performer and forget what is written. I didn't gain the knowledge of writing my own music and having a creative outlet for my life experiences. I also didn't learn how to write with other musicians. I learned these aspects of music from playing in rock n roll bands. I learned to collaborate with musicians who taught themselves. I gained their musical language used in this musical setting. So much understanding and freedom came from riffing on a few chords with the band mates while I explored vocally. We could jam for hours. I spent a long time thinking about the message in the music and the message in the words as well as their relationship to each other. Later, I started working with both classically and non-classically trained musicians in different settings. How diverse they were. It was hard for them to speak to each other. I felt so lucky to have an understanding of how to communicate between them as well as how to integrate the two worlds together.

In college I had a desire of having a broad musical understanding and experience. I chose to find expert teachers in the music of cultures outside the US. I focused on the Hindustani style of Indian Classical music and southern African folk but was blessed to have college professors available in the Ethnomusicology department to teach me about various Asian music as well. I found it to be incredibly important to open my vocal repertoire to the music of the world. Singing music from other cultures has its own set of desirable attributes. Paying attention to sound, tone, feeling, and how it felt physically added a whole new perspective to my musical palette. Its a strange sensation for a western classical singer to learn how to throat sing with Xhosa women in South Africa. The women that were teaching me didn't speak English. I learned completely through imitation. I remember distinctly the first couple of times that I started singing and trying to make the sound they were making. They giggled at me but in the most loving and supportive way.

Although the focus of the master class at Idyllwild will be pop music driven, I hope that some of the things I have learned in my experiences will open the eyes of these students in a way that they weren't open before. I will be instilling in them the feeling of being open in writing, in singing, and in performing so that they may continue on their journey with the world wide open. I think the fact that a performing arts school is now able to value other genres of music outside the classical and jazz world, we can begin to feel the shift of music education in our country.

Courtney playing solo shows in support of Alex Dezen

2010-11-11T19:19:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to announce a mini tour with Alex Dezen of The Damnwells. This will be the first solo tour I have done since 2004. It's kind of crazy and scary but totally exciting at the same time. I had thought about it before but not seriously until Alex convinced me it would be good for me. Thank you Alex. Alex's wife Angela will be singing with him and knowing how we are when we get together, we are sure to put together some three part harmonies. Look out Carter family! I know it will be fun.

After the solo shows, Ben and I meet in Minnesota for four shows. We are so excited to be back in the heartland. We will also play Chicago, Milwukee, Des Moines, and Indianapolis. We will end the year with a special show at the the Bell House in Brooklyn opening for Dar Williams the day after Christmas.

As a side note, we will have some very special holiday merch that is only available at the midwest shows. So, you can only see what it is if you come. (It is not underwear! LOL)

Xo
Courtney

I Hope Your Ears Bleed blog...

2008-07-29T08:08:00.001-07:00

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.

KaiserCartel on summer tour 2008

2008-07-09T18:08:00.000-07:00

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;)

"Okay" featured on Paste Magazine's compilation

2008-04-15T05:53:00.000-07:00

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!

CD release show, new EP on itunes, radio play, and craft making.

2008-04-14T05:56:00.000-07:00

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!

KaiserCartel on itunes and please vote!

2007-08-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

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

Still on the road!

2007-07-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

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!

Catching Up! written by Courtney

2007-07-15T15:34:00.000-07:00

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

Writing from the Redwoods!

2007-07-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

We are on our last day in Sonoma County. There are giant redwood trees surrounding us. It is amazing! We were so glad to get here after the long drive. It's hard driving through Nevada and Utah. Everything is so flat. The people are so nice here and the weather is perfect.

We played an impromptu gig at Ace Cider last night (great cider by the way, the pear and the berry are my favorite!). It was a lot of fun and the response was fantastic. We will be sure to come back and play there as well as some other places in the surrounding area. We are going to the Pacific ocean again this morning before we make our short trip to San Francisco. Looking forward to the beach. There were only about 10 people there yesterday (that's in a 2 mile stretch)!

Stay tuned for more after SF......

KaiserCartel in SPIN magazine!!

2007-06-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

So, we are very excited about the free press in the July 2007 issue of SPIN magazine with Amy Winehouse on the cover. They did an article about Minneapolis and chose a photo of us playing at Varsity Theater to include in their article. A big thanks to Tony Nelson for taking the photo and for submitting it to the magazine! Check it out on page 118!!!!

2007-06-20T07:31:00.001-07:00

Our European tour is coming to an end:( We have really enjoyed being here. We have one more show tonight at Sine E in Dublin. Please check out our Diary page to read about the past shows......Daniel sends a kiss from Ireland =^.^=

Heading for Europe!

2007-06-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

We are leaving for a short tour of Ireland and England. We are really excited since we have never played there before. It will be a bit of a whirlwind, but fun at the same time. If you have any places to suggest that we go in London, Manchester, or Dublin let us know. Also, if you have friends or family in any of those places please invite them on our behalf to come. We will be doing a bit of diary bloggin while we are there so please come back and check in!

My first trip to Italy

2007-03-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

So people have been asking about my Sicily trip...

My friend Yuka Honda and new friend Petra Haden started working on a new project together and were asked to perform in Catania, Sicily. I have worked with Yuka a few times and really love all the music she writes, so I was super excited to be asked to perform with them at this gig. The band was an incredible line up of musicians; Yuka, Petra, Sean Lennon, Cameron Greider, Trevor Dunn, Kenny Wolleson, and Josh Roseman. We prepared six songs for the show and improvised the other six songs. Singing with Petra was like finding my soul mate in the singing world. We played off of each other in the most incredible ways. It was amazing to me how great the improvised songs were considering that we had never played together in this particular line up. Not only was the music a lot of fun, but Yuka is a great musical director. She has wonderful ideas and a great execution of those ideas. I felt very appreciated and at that same time, thankful for Yuka inviting me to take part in this experience.

It has been my dream to go to Italy for many years. I have just not had the chance to do it yet. Catania is an amazing part of the country. The people were really nice and food was like nothing I had ever tasted. I never like cannoli before, then I had one in Sicily and I have been dreaming about them ever since. Just looking out the window of my hotel room at all the beautiful, old architecture really put into perspective how young the United States is. I will be eternally grateful to Yuka for asking me to be a part of that incredible stage of musicians and for giving me my first Italian experience. I hope we all play together again in the near future.

We ate a lot! Did you?

2006-11-26T17:55:00.000-08:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone! We are thankful to all the lovely people who have supported us all year long with coming to shows, buying records and tote bags, and sending us lots of awesome little notes! We have been busy bees with recording and writing and recording and writing....We are working hard to have a new record for the next summer tour. We have not played a lot due to the recording, but we will be playing a show on December 5th at The Living Room with celloist, Nina Lee from the Brentano Quartet. She adds so much. We love when she is able to join us. If you're in the NYC area, please come and join us for this very special evening!

Shows and new recording

2006-09-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

KaiserCartel is back into the swing of things and are playing shows, so check the tour page so you can come and see us play soon! We are getting ready to record our next record in Chapel Hill, NC the first weekend of October. We are really excited about it. Also, we have a winner for the coloring contest, but we can't seem to find the contact information. If you are the guy from Minneapolis who had a girl color us into a tiger and a punk rocker, please email us asap! We need to find you! We are excited to release the special colored in version of "Double Standard" with the two string arranged songs. Whew, that was confusing! Well, none the less, we are excited and happy so keep checking in. And send us an email would you? Just to say hello. We love that!
Courtney and Ben

Back Home again, in Indiana

2006-08-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

Ben and I are spending our last day in Indiana. In short, I got back from southeast asia a couple of weeks ago, stayed home for three days, and then did a 10 day silent meditation. It was completely the hardest yet most amazing thing I have ever done. I am not a meditator (or wasn't anyway) or a big yoga fan. You must be thinking, I'm crazy, but it was awesome. If you want to read up on it go to www.dhamma.org It rules! Then I came home and Ben and I drove to Indiana for a free vacation at my parents, played the Midwest Music Summit, and attended a wedding. What a great music festival! Josh Baker did a great job and I am so proud to have been able to write music with and be from the best music scene in the US! We played a show at the Upper Room and everyone was completely attentive and really enjoyed the music. We really appreciated the support of our friends and fans! We leave for NY tomorrow. We are playing in the Boston area on Friday as you can see from our calendar. Please tell your friends that live in the area to come, or come yourself. After that, we will be hanging out in NY, writing and practicing. It will be nice to be back in the city after a long time away....

Courtney Leaves for Taiwan....Benjamin is sad

2006-07-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

Courtney is leaving for Taiwan and Malaysia tonight. Benjamin is sad and so is Courtney. They have not been away from each other in two years and two months and two weeks! Please be thinking of Courtney and her safe travel to southeast Asia and back from southeast Asia to the United States. Courtney is going to two music conferences and will hopefully be learning various indigenous singing styles. Benjamin will be finishing up the tour diary and will keep you up to date on KaiserCartel shows coming up in upstate New York, and Massachusettes. He will also be painting and working on the new record cover. Courtney will blog on the news section about her trip when she is able to.

KaiserCartel wants to thank everyone for this last tour. Patrice, thank you for getting us attention in the papers, journalists-thank you so much for writing such great things! It helps us to keep going. Audiences in all cities-thank you for your undivided attention and support. Booking agents-Thank you for having us! The Suhars-We are moving into the second bedroom....sing the alligator song for us! Karrie- You rule! And all the other people that housed us and fed us, Sara Bell, Nathan, Andy, Betsy, Grandma Kaiser, The Rust Kings, Cass McFarland, Pat and Gary Kaiser, Lee and Andrea (we're moving into your basement after we move out of the Suhar's) and Laura and Jim from Playback Magazine).

See you all again in the near future! Go and See "An Inconvenient Truth"

Only a few days of tour left!

2006-06-29T16:21:00.000-07:00

We are beginning the wrap up portion of our tour. It is sad but true. We have been having a great time, although I have recieved two speeding tickets in three days so I think it is a sign in general that I need to slow down. I am a fast person all together, but since I have not gotten a ticket in at least 10 years I am looking at this lesson in a larger picture. I am also not pleased with the fact that I also will be paying financially for these tickets...oh well, what can you do? Only pay more attention to the rules and play by them when there is no way not to. Check out the tour diary. We are being really good about keeping up with that which has a lot to do with the fact that we can manage our own website....We will keep posting!

2006-06-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

We are almost done with our first week of touring. Check out our diary and read about our tour stories and our thrift store finds. We have had a great time so far. We thank all the people who have fed us and housed us so far. Also, check out the tour page to see where we are playing next. We are off to Chicago!!!

On Tour!

2006-05-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

KaiserCartel is currently driving around in the three door Saturn. The car
is jam packed with The Crayons, instruments, and the junk they have been
picking up on the road. If you have friends in any of these areas, would you
kindly tell them about us and ask them to show their support? We had such a
great time last summer.....

Meeting Ron Strickler from Men at Work in Livingston, MT (and believe me that
entire two days is a tour story in itself), the Willie Nelson look a like,
maximum overdrive trying to kidnap bill, snoopy losing his eye...bill losing a
nostril, being offered free tickets to the black bear petting zoo...there are
more...

Also, be sure to check out the Diary page. As we are driving along, Benjamin
is going to give you stories from the road and Courtney is going to give a
review of all the thrift stores they go to and what was bought there (hopefully
there will be pictures too!)

Send out positive energy that Sadie (the three door silver Saturn) will keep
the love going in the engine all summer long.