NEW MUSIC POSTED!!!

“Becoming You” and “Mexico City”, the first two tracks from Canasta’s long-awaited, new album, The Fakeout, the Tease and the Breather, are streaming below right now!

Check back every Friday, as we continue to post each one of the album's eleven tracks, until the record is released on Saturday, May 8th. That night, we'll will play two shows at Schubas: an 18+ early show at 7 PM w/ NYC's Gregory and the Hawk and a 21+ late show at 10:30 PM w/ our good friends, Brighton MA. And best of all, a copy of the CD will be FREE with each and every $14 ticket!

Enjoy the music for now and we'll see you at the shows in May!

Mexico City by Canasta
Becoming You by Canasta

In the lifecycle of the Canasta website, we feel compelled to update you on our whereabouts and goings-on whenever a Simon’s show approacheth. And approacheth it does: Sunday, January 3rd at 9pm we return to our second home in Andersonville, Simon’s, which allows our friends to see us for free, us to play lots of songs we don’t usually get to play, and everyone to drink as much Glögg as we all can without forgetting the words to “No Diggity.” If you've heard of this new thing called Facebook, you can tell us if you are a dweeb or a cool kid by RSVPing here.

If you are internet-stalking us -- and who isn’t, really? -- you've had a good couple of months. First we threw together this “Slow Down Chicago” music video for a Chicago Public Library contest. You can even see us in our PJs. (This is what we all look like for 90% of our songwriting retreats, FYI.)

We’re also all tweeting now at http://twitter.com/canastamusic, which is probably the closest you’re going to get to knowing what we're doing every single day. I know: it’s disappointing that we don't just have six webcams constantly filming everything we do, but we have to keep some of the mystery alive in this relationship between band and fan-stalker.

And most recently, we were a guest on a new web series, Maybe Hip, which interviews local bands. You can watch our episode here. Examples of topics of conversation that come up when the six of us are interviewed: how the band formed, how to do the Dancing Man, and the proper appellation for a twister. The peeps over at Maybe Hip also host a blog on which we’ll be popping up soon.

We are very close to being able to share lots of exciting news about the new album, but we have to wait until some of it is official. Check back here or on Facebook in January for those updates. But if you're a talented internet-stalker, you'll just know already. How creepy is that?

Last weekend was our last with our dear friend, drummer, and curmudgeonly misanthrope Josh Lava. By the time you read this, he will be in a van the size of an elephant driving to Portland, OR. We squeezed every last bit of rock and perfect pitch out of him by playing back–to–back two hours shows. On Saturday night we took a band field trip to Benton Harbor, MI. Elizabeth has threatened to settle down there and become a real estate magnate, based solely on the friendliness of the locals –– which is so much friendliness, in fact, that they surrendered their finest microbrewery (The Livery) to us for the entire evening. Between a good–sounding, mid–sized venue, a brand new arts center (The Citadel), and the Keyclub Recording Company, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a satellite chapter of the Chicago music scene pop up there. It is also far enough from any hipster neighborhood in Chicago that it will be years and years and years before it becomes overrun with Akira clothing stores –– not to name names, Wicker Park.

We commandeered Simon’s in Andersonville on Sunday for Josh’s final show and played virtually every song he has learned during his tenure with the band. If that isn’t enough, we added a new song to our arsenal of non–traditional and heartfelt covers. To be honest, though, “No Diggity” has been one of Canasta’s go–to mic check tunes, so it was only a matter of time before the entire thing was unleashed on our unsuspecting audiences.

While we’re auditioning potential drummers, we’ll still have some shows for you, the next being on September 29th at the Clark Street Concert Series at Lincoln Park Market. And of course, work on the album continues this month with horns, vocals, and some guest artists. If you want a more detailed breakdown of all of that, you can check in on us on Facebook, now that we have a non–confusing/numerical address –– it’s www.facebook.com/canastamusic. Looks like some Italian fella got the jump on us for www.facebook.com/canasta, but since “canasta” was an Italian / Spanish word before we got our grubby little hands on it, we’re going to let that one slide.

Progress on the new album is gaining momentum faster than an Illinoisian state political scandal. The band laid down the drums, bass, and keyboards during a long weekend at Wall2Wall Recording earlier in May. There are pictures up on our MySpace and Facebook pages now to prove that we’re not just sitting in front of an old Tascam recorder with pots and pans and a used Casio keyboard. We did, however, record to a reel–to–reel, which is usually described as a warmer sound (like you are listening to us in a bubble bath). The tape then gets transferred to the fancy–pants computers that can apparently do everything but write out lyrics for us, and don’t rule that one out yet, either.

This month we’re working on overdubbing the other instruments with our friend Ted Cho, who engineered We Were Set Up and plays in the local stalwart Poi Dog Pondering. We’re also returning to WBEZ, where WWSU’s piano comes from, to do some damage to our epic piano numbers with their Steinway grand.

We’ve had time to squeeze in a few shows, including a YWCA benefit at the The Space in Evanston and an opening slot for Merge Records’ The Rosebuds at a brand new downtown venue, LaSalle Power Co., which is neither a company or a type of power. (Sorry.) Keep up with us here, on Facebook, or on MySpace as we fill our dance card for the summer. Our latest addition to the calendar is for our Madison peeps: we’ll be at the High Noon Saloon on June 30th opening for White Rabbits, which will rock your socks off if you aren’t wearing sandals by that point in the summer.

In less than three weeks, we’re headed to Wall2Wall Recording to start tracking the new album. It’s hard to believe, but not impossible, so start letting it sink in. Feels good, right? The band paid a visit to the studio last week to be test subjects for a sound engineering class at Columbia, so we’ve whetted our appetites for tricked out upright pianos, Leslie speakers, old–atimey organs, and a plethora of guitar amps. Elizabeth is bringing extra layers for an isolation booth that is apparently chilly and resembles a zoo habitat for urban professionals, if we could in fact keep urban professionals in the zoo.

By now you may have surmised that, since these songs are ready to record, they have pushed their way into our set rotation. If you made it out to our recent Empty Bottle or Schubas shows, you got a preview of what our post–aindustrial rehearsal space has inspired us to create. If you haven’t, you can still lay your ears on these songs this month. We’ll be playing at "Green Festival" on U of C’s campus on April 24th, and on April 26th we are playing an abundant two hours worth of music at Simon’s in Andersonville, which will also include some old favorites from the archives that the long–atime Canasta fans will recognize.

Speaking of old favorites, you can now hear them on your cell phone every time someone calls you and you’ve forgotten to set your phone to vibrate. Canasta’s free ringtones are available for download, absolutely free, at our Myxer.com page, and will make you a little less embarrassed when your phone rings loudly in public areas. Who doesn’t want to hear “Slow Down Chicago” coming out of your phone? You can also make your own custom ringtones at Myxer if you are unsatisifed with the selection of tunes we’ve put up there for you and your gadgets. But hopefully we’ve satisfied you. We try so hard.

Now that President Obama has started solving every problem in our country, Canasta has been able to turn our attention back to writing kick–ass new orchestral pop to play in 2009. If you would like to hear it, we will actually be playing them in public, with our various instruments and voices amplified to a volume at which you can hear them. How crazy is that? Apparently, lots of bands are doing these “shows” now. All you have to do is show up at the right place and time and you will be able to hear these new songs. This will happen, for instance, if you show up at Darkroom on February 11th at 9pm, or at Schubas on March 29th at 9pm.

“But Canasta,” you ask, “Where did all of these songs come from?” Back in January we moved to a secret bunker in the western suburbs of Chicago for four days. What happened there is secret, but the end results were (a) a broken shower and (b) new songs, so we think you can fill the rest in with your imaginations.

Other than our progress on new material, the only news of note is that we’ve moved into a new rehearsal space, which we’re sharing with our buddies Brighton, MA (and apparently, to some degree, the insanely heavy stoner rock band next door). So that’s putting an interesting – and shall we say, louder – spin on the new tunes. It’s also in a creepy, dimly–lit warehouse district on Chicago’s west side, so don’t be surprised if these songs turn out a little darker than the last batch. All I’m saying is I’m just saying.

When you last read this website, we were saying goodbye to our drummer, Colin, with nary a mention of who would fill his shoes. Well, the shoes were filled, the torch was passed, and not long after Colin’s last hurrah, we started rehearsals with the final addition to the new lineup, Josh Lava. You may recognize Josh and his surname from such bands as The Lava Brothers. Josh has divulged all of his secrets on his bio page –– go familiarize yourself with his likes and dislikes so there’s no awkward small talk at the next show.

Speaking of next shows, we’ll be at the new Bottom Lounge on Monday, October 6th, playing with The Autumn Defense (helmed by Wilco members John Stirratt and Patrick Sansone). Despite its name, the Bottom Lounge has one of the best rooftop patios in the city, has great sound, and is more the size of a North Shore mansion than a lounge. It will be just enough space for you and all of your friends and all of your friends’ friends.

We’ll also be playing at Matt’s and Elizabeth’s alma mater, Kalamazoo College, on Tuesday, September 23rd –– if you’re a student, faculty, or alumni, check out the details here. But our day trip to Michigan is only a small sample of the major highway miles we’ll be racking up in October. Canasta will be part of an all–Chicago showcase at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York, and since we’ll have all of the gear packed up anyways, we’ll be making some stops along the way. Check back here soon for more details about the tour.

In non–show–related news, we were thrilled to be asked by the Obama campaign to provide a few instrumental mixes from We Were Set Up for their YouTube operation. You can see two of the resultant videos, making use of an instrumental mix of “Firenze,” here and here. We were holding out for Obama to make a cameo appearance in an “Impostors” video, but we’re hoping he’ll be too busy for music videos come next January.

It’s an age–old dilemma: during the summer, how do you find time to go to shows when you have to go to weddings every weekend? If you went to a wedding at Old St. Pat’s church last weekend, you could’ve strolled over to their World’s Largest Block Party, where we played a gigantic, outdoor–sized set with Pat Monahan of Train... yes, that Train. But if it’s your own wedding, why not rent out Schubas and bring in your favorite bands? Tomorrow, July 26th, Canasta is playing a free show at said venue with our friends Brighton, MA to celebrate two of our favorite fans exchanging vows. The show also marks the end of the long and venerable tenure of Mr. Colin Sheaff as Canasta’s drummer. Colin has been with Canasta since Day 1 and will be remembered fondly by blowing your rock–loving ears off tomorrow.

If you’ve been looking for summer reading, there’s a lot of newly available Canasta–related literature. Music critic Ned Raggett just wrote a review of We Were Set Up for All Music, the legendary guide to all things pop and rock, and in today’s papers, you’ll find a story on Canasta by the Chicago Tribune’s Andy Downing and an interview with the band by the Chicago Sun–Times’ Jim Derogatis. And, if it’s just too hot to read anything, you might catch Matt and Elizabeth on an upcoming episode of Chicago’s Expose TV, hosted by Susan Russell (when she’s not busy riding this motorcycle). Bring your laptop or TV to the beach and bone up on your Canasta trivia.

Ever dreamt of seeing Matthew Broderick and Alan Alda walk in slow–motion to a Canasta song? Well, your dreams have become reality! IFC Films is just about to release their new movie, Diminished Capacity, and about halfway though the trailer, “Slow Down Chicago” comes crashing in! Most of the story takes place here in Chicago, so the song sounds more or less right at home. The picture also stars Virginia Madsen, Dylan Baker, Bobby Cannavale and Louis C.K. and opens in both Chicago and NYC on July 4th. Check it: