Kayo Dot / Maudlin of the Well

Hi folks, just a quick one!

I'm happy to announce the special limited release of this collection of choice cuts from my March 2017 concert at Roulette, featuring the wonderful work of K.M. Abrams, Kelly Moran*, and String Noise (Pauline Kim Harris and Conrad Harris), plus a bonus outtake from the 2015 "Madonnawhore" sessions.

https://kayodot.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-roulette-march-2017

Please pick this up for a mere five bucks (or more! Your choice!) to help fund a proper studio recording of these live tracks and a few additional ones, to be completed this winter in New York. This collection will only be available until the end of 2017. Thanks for the support, and hope you enjoy!

All the best,
Toby Driver
* from The Nee Yorker:
Kelly Moran: “Hallucinations”

Moran, a composer and pianist, employs stylistic devices borrowed from Satie, Cowell, and Cage with the hands-on assurance of a classically trained performer; after growing up infatuated with electric jazz, minimalism, and metal, she cut her teeth in art-rock bands. “Bloodroot,” the album she released in March on the Brooklyn label Telegraph Harp, features appealing works for prepared piano and synthesizer; here, she concentrates on the former, introducing gently narcotic reveries accompanied by video projections of her own design.

Oct. 16 at 8.
Roulette

509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn

From Toby:
Hi everyone,
I would just like to share some news of the past several months with you all, in regard to my various ongoing music projects.

1) PIGGY BLACK CROSS

I've started a new band with singer Bridget Bellavia. The music is electronic, dark industrial-influenced IDM. We just released our first EP a few days ago on Bandcamp, and would love if you go have a listen. We're starting a US West Coast tour **tomorrow** (August 22!!) in Los Angeles, going up to Seattle, and back down again, joined by the amazing THIEF (members of Botanist). If you like what you hear, please consider purchasing a download via the Bandcamp page to help us along the road.

https://kayodot.bandcamp.com/album/always-just-out-of-r-e-a-c-h-robotic-eclosion-after-coming-hylozoic

Tour dates // PIGGY BLACK CROSS with THIEF:
Aug 22 - Los Angeles @ Resident (also with Deth Crux)
Aug 23 - Goleta @ Half Pipe House
Aug 24 - Modesto @ Still Smoking
Aug 25 - Portland @ Bit House Saloon (also with Jason W. Walton (Agalloch, Khorada))
Aug 26 - Seattle @ Highline (also with Jason W. Walton and Convictions)
Aug 27 - Olympia @ Cryptatropa (also with Harsh R and Seed Bed)
Aug 29 - Arcata @ The Miniplex
Aug 30 - Sacramento @ Old Ironsides (also with Killer Couture)
Aug 31 - Oakland @ Jack London Elbo Room (also with Botanist)

2) SOLO WORKS
I've also completed a new solo album of ballads, entitled "They Are The Shield," which will be released by Blood Music on September 21. This will be followed by tour dates in the US, Mexico, and Europe. You can have a listen to a preview track here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5LkZiboJy0

This album features some fantastic violin work by Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris, drums by Brian Chase, piano by Kelly Moran, and guest vocals by Bridget Bellavia.

TOBY DRIVER solo US/Mexico tour dates:

SEP 22 Newark, DE @ Newark Bike Project
SEP 23 Philadelphia, PA @ Ortlieb's
SEP 24 Raleigh, NC @ Neptune's
SEP 25 Atlanta, GA @ The Bakery Atlanta
SEP 26 Little Rock, AR @ Vino's Pizza-Pub-Brewery
SEP 27 Florence, AL @ 116 E Mobile St
SEP 28 New Orleans, LA @ Poor Boys Bar
SEP 29 Houston, TX @ Vinal Edge Records
OCT 4-5 Mexico City, Mexico @ venue TBA
Oct 5-6 Monterrey Mexico @ venue TBA
Oct 9 Austin, Texas @ The Lost Well TBC
OCT 10 Denton TX @ The Mustard Zone
OCT 12 Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge
OCT 14 Lakewood, OH @ The Foundry Concert Club
OCT 15 Ann Arbor, MI @ The Blind Pig
OCT 16 Toronto, ON @ TBA
OCT 17 Hamilton, ON @ TBA
OCT 18 Ottawa, ON, Canada @ Mavericks
OCT 20 Providence, RI @ Machine’s with Alec K. Redfearn TBC
OCT 21 Allston, MA @ O'Brien's Pub
OCT 22 New Haven, CT @ cafe nine

3) KAYO DOT
I'm very happy to let you all know that Kayo Dot has signed to Prophecy Productions, a longstanding label from Germany who've just launched an American branch. We're proud to be in their first round of signings. We're just finishing up our new album now, details of which will be announced soon. We'll also be premiering some of the new material at Prophecy Fest in New York, November 2-3, alongside Alcest, Xasthur, and others!

----

If you haven't received your copy of the Choirs of the Eye vinyl yet, please know that I'm aware of the delay and am working on it. I got held up a bit this summer after mid-July mostly by the enormous cost of overseas shipping; it has slowed me down quite a bit and I'm only able to get a couple copies out the door per week. I'm trying to stay on top of it as best I can and I haven't forgotten about your shipment. I really appreciate your patience with this and apologize for the length of time. You can help move this along by picking up a download of the new Piggy Black Cross album - that money will go straight to us. https://kayodot.bandcamp.com/album/always-just-out-of-r-e-a-c-h-robotic-eclosion-after-coming-hylozoic

As always, you can follow on my socials and get the most current news and ongoing updates on added shows and premiered tracks.
Thanks for reading and listening, and hope to see you out on the road soon!

Toby
http://instagram.com/tobydriver
http://facebook.com/tobydriverofficial
http://facebook.com/kayodotofficial
http://facebook.com/piggyblackcross

They Are the Shield is actually great! This song is the best thing he's done in some time imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0YpoYE1VHc

Which makes me cautiously optimistic for the next Kayo Dot but we'll have to see

Some rare concerts coming up soon:

May 29, 2019: PIGGY BLACK CROSS at Arcadia!, an event at The VNYL Vintage New York Lifestyle, New York NY. 8pm.

Also very happy to announce that our album, Always Just Out of R.E.A.C.H., will be seeing a cassette release later this year through Tartarus Tapes.

June 6, 2019: TOBY DRIVER plays solo guitar at Best Video Film & Cultural Center, Hamden CT. I'll be trying out some new material, which will be recorded and released later this summer. Also playing will be my longtime friend, composer, singer, and accordionist Adam Matlock.

ASVA plays their only concert of 2019 at Litha Cascadia Festival, June 21-23 in Washington State. This promises to be a beautiful and unique experience all around. Asva will be premiering some new material and in this incarnation will feature not only Stuart Dahlquist and myself, but also Nick Hudson, Ron Varod, and Adam Dahlquist. So utterly stoked for this!

August 8-16, 2019: TOBY DRIVER and JEREMIAH CYMERMAN Northeast US and Canada tour. We have a few dates set up for this but are still trying to sort out the rest, and will then announce next month. Please let me know if you can help arrange something inside this window.
---Toby Driver td at kayodot.net

Toby Driver <td at kayodot.net>
Fri, Sep 6, 1:39 AM
to me

Hi, some words I'd like to share.

Having completed this album a year ago, along with a label change, a lineup change, and even a change in my city of residence, the past 12 months leading up to this release have been absolutely grueling in so many ways. I want you to know that a lot of these painful changes in my life have come as a direct result of me throwing every last bit of myself into this record. I fully exhausted my spirit with this one. To make this record happen, I had to relinquish many things that were important to me, things material and immaterial that I'd thought of as crucial. I needed to grow into another stage of existence, and that was terrifying and pummeling. Why do this? I have never known beyond compulsion.

I've been existing in a limbo state for the past year, feeling my future being pulled fearfully closer as a duality. Almost like Donnie Darko– you feel something coming and everything around you collapses at a faster rate as you approach. The bridge crumbles behind you as you run. I've felt that the past year was the longest year, and have felt that yesterday may have been my last good day. Blasphemy didn't seize power from me; I granted it fully to Her. She leads me, as the new timeline begins today at this moment.

I'm so proud of my collaborators Jason Byron, Ron Varod, Phillip Price, Leonardo Didkovsky, Randall Dunn, Jenya Chernoff, Matthew Serra, Casey Mathewson, and our team at Prophecy Productions for making this thing come to life and allowing me to push them into perhaps unfamiliar territory. I couldn't be more happy with the way the music and the packaging turned out, and if you have a chance to get the full experience with the lyrics, images, novel, and remix album, I highly encourage you to do so because that's all a major part of the release.

I want people to question why they're hearing what they are, why a decision was made, how things are constructed beyond the perfunctory. Creating music is always a perfect opportunity to express yourself, to be Extra AF when you might not be able to do so in your day-to-day life. I most greatly admire musicians who go to extremities in their work, whatever those may be. Musicians who will do the thing that the other people won't do. I try to do my best to live up to the example set by those I admire.

I'm thrilled, anxious, and proud to finally present this album to the world: Kayo Dot's BLASPHEMY.

https://spoti.fi/2m2MTTv

“A Masterpiece.” –Radical Research
9/10 –Metal Injection
9.5/10 –Ave Noctum
9.3/10 –Metal Trenches
8/10 –Metal Italia
R! Choice Pick –Rocking.gr
Pick of the Week –MeatMeadMetal
“Uncompromising in its vision and its execution.” –HeavyBlog
“Blasphemy is Kayo Dot at their most comfortable. It is effortless and hangs delicately in the sky, but carries the weight of Kayo Dot’s creativity with it.” –Invisible Oranges

Toby says giving up on current web host's mailing list practices, asks that we follow on bandcamp---gotta lotta stuff there: https://kayodot.bandcamp.com/

New one is p sick, and I've not said that in a very, very, very long time

Yeah this is very very good. The last one I liked was Coffins on Io, but this is probably the best since Hubardo.

been listening to coffins a bunch lately and its definitely my fav

broke: best since Hubardo

woke: best since Dowsing

nah, Hubardo is better than Dowsing, but only just.

The Knight Errant adds to their impressive litany of incredible opening tracks

Dear friends,

You may have heard me talk on the socials about my trio with Mario Diaz de Leon and Jeremiah Cymerman, Bloodmist, a lot in the past year and a half. It's all because of this album, Arc, which we recorded in Novermber 2020 and is just about to be released. We came up with a new sound for this one through some serious chemistry and situational vibrations, and I walked away from the session feeling like this band was a huge missing piece of the puzzle of my musical life. Making this record set my mind in a new direction and I haven't yet realized the affect it's going to have on all the other music I make– but it'll be huge.
The album comes out June 3, but we're releasing a intense and exciting premiere track today: "Battle Mountain." Check it out over at my Bandcamp page.
https://kayodot.bandcamp.com/album/arc
What's more, ICYMI we had good success trying out the Bandcamp vinyl pressing service a year ago with Bloodmist's previous album, Phos. Those LPs just came in a couple weeks ago, and we couldn't be happier with them. Because it went so well, we're making an attempt to get the new one, Arc pressed on vinyl through the same method. This one's a longer album so it'll be a 2xLP. Because Bloodmist's music is totally self-released and self-funded, the only way for us to get vinyl pressed is to go the pre-order/crowdfund way. If you're interesting in seeing this come to light, please don't hesitate to pledge to the campaign! There are some very special exclusive bonuses for supporters, too, and the campaign ends in just 30 days. The link for that is the same as the above.

I also wanted to let you know that Bloodmist will be playing at the very prestigious festival, FIMAV, in Quebec this month. We all couldn't be more excited about that. It's a festival I personally have wanted to be a part of since as long as I can remember, and for Bloodmist's first out-of-town appearance, this is an amazing standard to set. We feel extremely fortunate for the opportunity and for everyone's well-wishes.

Thanks very much for everything, and stay tuned for some more good news and announcements coming in the next few weeks.

Yours, Toby Driver

KAYO DOT announces full-album, original lineup "Choirs of the Eye" performance at Complexity Fest, Netherlands!
Hello,

I couldn't be more excited to share with you all that after a 3-year pandemic-related live hiatus, Kayo Dot will be returning with a performance at the next edition of Complexity Fest in the Netherlands, Feb 25, 2023! In celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the band and our debut album, Choirs of the Eye, we have reassembled the original Choirs... lineup of maudlin of the Well ex-pats: Greg Massi, Terran Olson, Sam Gutterman, and myself, plus additional members Matt Serra (Wet Math!!!), violin and trumpet powerhouse Timba Harris (Secret Chiefs 3, Alora Crucible, Grails, etc), and woodwind multi-guy Jeff Tobias (Sunwatchers), to perform the album in-full! We have never before toured European shores with this music or lineup, despite some smatterings of reorchestrated Choirs... songs on a tour or two around 2010, so this is really exciting for us. Tt's been a long time coming. And furthermore, it's been a few years of Kayo Dot playing with a minimized lineup so I'm super stoked that we're now getting back to big!

Tickets are now onsale for Complexity Fest at this address:

One month away, Kayo Dot's “Choirs of the Eye” 20th Anniversary Tour begins

Toby Driver | Kayo Dot
Wed, Jan 25, 8:07 AM (2 days ago)

Hello, I'm writing this to you from the back of a tour van in the midst of a long, full-day drive from Grenoble to Brussels on a grey and snowy day. I've joined my friend Charlie Looker, playing bass for his crushing project Extra Life on this trip, which has lasted the full month of January and traversed almost the entire UK and France. The music and hangs have been deep, the hospitality has been loving, and the heating has been almost entirely nonexistent. After the past few years of staying off the road due to the wills of external forces, I'm so fortunate to have the opportunity to join Charlie on this run. I enjoy touring and find it to be an essential facet of my vocation on this Earth, even in the role of a backing musician, and the relative absence of it in my life in the past few years has hurt. But here I am again in the right place, blessed to travel and blessed to be with my head above the surface, engaged in the arts with immediacy.

Only three weeks after returning home from this trip with Charlie, I'll set out again, this time in the bandleader's role with my own long-running, chief project Kayo Dot. This year is the project's 20th Anniversary, and to honor the milestone, I've gathered the original lineup of the fellows who formed the band out of maudlin of the Well to perform our 2003 debut album, Choirs of the Eye in full. The first leg of the tour hits a few places UK and Europe (see below) because this music was never really presented over there. By the time Kayo Dot started touring Europe, Choirs of the Eye was a few albums in the past and the band no longer had an instrumentation that could support the music's proper orchestration. Some of the ex-maudlin guys that are coming along for this trip left the band before ever having the chance to go on a European tour, so this is exciting in many ways. To even further exploit that vibe, we're preparing a few additional songs from the Kayo Dot repertoire that have never once been played in Europe. How about that!

It's very meaningful for me, far beyond the words I can say, to have the opportunity to bring this music back on the road for you. For Choirs of the Eye, but also for Kayo Dot as a project in general. If I had it my way, Kayo Dot would tour all around the world for 150 shows a year. But, I think since 2016 Kayo Dot has only played about 60 times. In 7+ years. That's horrible. I really want to remedy that situation with a ton of music and a ton of live concerts, and this Choirs of the Eye tour is the first step towards that. So, I really hope to see you at one of these upcoming concerts to encourage me along this path. Make sure you buy pre-sale tickets as soon as possible because it allows us to know how to better plan for the trip in terms of merch production and other resource investment. The dates and the ticket links are below.

But first, one more very exciting thing. We're being joined on this tour by our longtime lyricist and former maudlin of the Well vocalist, Jason Byron, who has never been on the road before and was only seen once in public at the MOTW reunion performance at the Stone NYC in 2015. He's bringing copies of his two novels, Blasphemy and Amalia, to sell at the merch table. Kayo Dot fans will recognize those titles as being closely related to Byron's words and stories in our music– and the novels go a lot further to expand upon the universe. He is limiting this first printing to only 50 copies of each. Preceding each concert, we're holding a special pre-show event in which Byron will read a little from his books and then have a Q&A session with the audience and other members from MOTW. The pre-show events are limited-entry, and you can find out more about how to get access at the ticket links below.

24 Feb, London UK at Signature Brew Blackhorse Road
https://dice.fm/event/ayg5q-kayo-dot-uk-exclusive-24th-feb-signature-brew-blackhorse-road-london-tickets?lng=en
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25 Feb, Haarlem NL at Complexity Fest:
https://www.ticketmaster.nl/artist/complexity-fest-tickets/994553
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26 Feb, Berlin DE at Urban Spree
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/usu-pres-kayo-dot-urban-spree-tickets-493975733717
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28 Feb, Warsaw PL at Hydrozagadka:
https://goout.net/pl/bilety/kayo-dot/acpq/
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01 Mar, Krakow PL at Klub RE:
Fb event: https://www.facebook.com/events/712136530028492/
Ticket link: https://goingapp.pl/wydarzenie/kayo-dot-us/marzec-2023
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02 Mar, Prague CZ at Underdogs:
Tickets: https://www.goforboom.com/events/kayo-dot-choirs-of-the-eye-20th-anniversary-tour/order

RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/666880521665504
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03 Mar, Belgrade SB at Elektropionir
(no tcket link available yet)
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04 Mar, Graz AT at Wakuum:
They sell memberships and it's a free show for members, or pay-what-you-wish.
www.wakmusic.at
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05 Mar, Mantova IT at The Academy:
https://k2music.bigcartel.com/product/kayo-dot-the-academy-mantova-biglietti

One final thing. Last week, I launched a fundraiser to help cushion some of the risk involved in undertaking such an ambitious tour. In the past week, we reached our goal thanks to our generous fans and friends, for which I'm profoundly grateful. If you would like to contribute, the fundraiser is still open, and everything raised will go towards making the tour an easier and less anxious experience. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your belief in what I do.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/kayo-dots-20th-anniversary-tour-fundraiser?qid=da48484f64450af2476a656eb81f0930

Many thanks for reading, and hope to see you out there! Any questions or desire to unsubscribe please let me know.

Toby td at kayodot dot net