8:21 am
External Hard Drive Mondays: Are You Embarrassed Easily?
Before we begin: SHOW NEWS
• WEDNESDAY JULY 28th: Holocene, Portland
• SUNDAY AUGUST 1ST: PDX POP NOW! Portland
and now, without further ado.
I have terrible luck with external hard drives. There are a great number of influencing factors w/r/t this, but the primary truth of the matter is, I am mostly just terrible at backing things up. I’ve lost so much.
In an effort to be somewhat more responsible with this ephemera, I’m setting about backing up these documents in this forum. There are, of course, more crass motivations for this endeavor—but I suppose that could be said for virtually everything that we do. You’re welcome to take a gander. I’ll keep it up until it’s all gone.
Today’s Feature:

Are You Embarrassed Easily?
Commissioned for the third installment of the Portland Funbook—an activity book featuring Portland artists, with proceeds benefitting Amnesty International—”Are You Embarrassed Easily?” was featured on the accompanying 7″, comprised of 12 one-minute songs (other contributors included our friends in Au, & The Thermals). It was more or less written and recorded in a day—all in Eddy’s weird high rise apartment a few summers ago—which I gather probably shows. As far as I know, this is the first time it’s been made available digitally. Eddy had a real thing for MIDI orchestra stabs at the time, which I think served this pretty well.
cordially,
(((GRRRLS)))


8:21 am
External Hard Drive Mondays: Are You Embarrassed Easily?
Before we begin: SHOW NEWS
• WEDNESDAY JULY 28th: Holocene, Portland
• SUNDAY AUGUST 1ST: PDX POP NOW! Portland
and now, without further ado.
I have terrible luck with external hard drives. There are a great number of influencing factors w/r/t this, but the primary truth of the matter is, I am mostly just terrible at backing things up. I’ve lost so much.
In an effort to be somewhat more responsible with this ephemera, I’m setting about backing up these documents in this forum. There are, of course, more crass motivations for this endeavor—but I suppose that could be said for virtually everything that we do. You’re welcome to take a gander. I’ll keep it up until it’s all gone.
Today’s Feature:

Are You Embarrassed Easily?
Commissioned for the third installment of the Portland Funbook—an activity book featuring Portland artists, with proceeds benefitting Amnesty International—”Are You Embarrassed Easily?” was featured on the accompanying 7″, comprised of 12 one-minute songs (other contributors included our friends in Au, & The Thermals). It was more or less written and recorded in a day—all in Eddy’s weird high rise apartment a few summers ago—which I gather probably shows. As far as I know, this is the first time it’s been made available digitally. Eddy had a real thing for MIDI orchestra stabs at the time, which I think served this pretty well.
cordially,
(((GRRRLS)))
8:00 am
External Hard Drive Mondays: G.U.T. Variations.
Before we begin: SHOW NEWS
• WEDNESDAY JULY 28th: Holocene, Portland
• SUNDAY AUGUST 1ST: PDX POP NOW! Portland
and now, without further ado.
I have terrible luck with external hard drives. There are a great number of influencing factors w/r/t this, but the primary truth of the matter is, I am mostly just terrible at backing things up. I’ve lost so much.
In an effort to be somewhat more responsible with this ephemera, I’m setting about backing up these documents in this forum. There are, of course, more crass motivations for this endeavor—but I suppose that could be said for virtually everything that we do. You’re welcome to take a gander. I’ll keep it up until it’s all gone.
Today’s Feature:

Two variations on a generally unpopular pop song.
GUT Symmetries (Cloud-Chamber Version)
The title is borrowed from Jeanette Winterson’s novel, itself a nod to the “Grand Unified Theory” that casually ties into some of the ideas that had originally inspired the Entanglements LP. The song itself was inspired in part by the block recording style of Brian Wilson’s original Smile sessions. When originally recording this song—a song who’s merits are still a subject of some contention amongst its participants, frankly—we began our session in the studio of percussionist extraordinaire Paul Kikuchi, in an effort to make the rhythmic glue of this otherwise fairly cut-and-paste song. When we finished the first day, we were excited to hear the strange, Partch-pop skeleton of the song, and decided it would be fun to work out a version that amplified those fragments. We held onto the idea, and Jherek later pieced together the relatively harrowing “Cloud-Chamber” version of the song for the A-side of our contribution to Aagoo’s David Horvitz Picture Disc Series.
Deerhoof’s cover of GUT Symmetries, featuring original vox by Zac Pennington
An additional version of this song was tracked by our dear deer friends in Deerhoof, for the ill-fated Philogyny project—a collection of covers and remixes of Entanglements songs by some of our friends that never fully got off of the ground. Deerhoof’s version exists somewhere between these two classifications—cover/remix—their completely original instrumentation blending with the album take of Zac’s vocals. We have never been more proud.
cordially,
(((GRRRLS)))
8:00 am
External Hard Drive Monday: Keyholes & Curtains (Extended Version)
Before we begin: SHOW NEWS
• FRIDAY JULY 16th: Eagle Tavern, San Francisco
• WEDNESDAY JULY 28th: Holocene, Portland
and now, without further ado.
I have terrible luck with external hard drives. There are a great number of influencing factors w/r/t this, but the primary truth of the matter is, I am mostly just terrible at backing things up. I’ve lost so much.
In an effort to be somewhat more responsible with this ephemera, I’m setting about backing up these documents in this forum. There are, of course, more crass motivations for this endeavor—but I suppose that could be said for virtually everything that we do. You’re welcome to take a gander. I’ll keep it up until it’s all gone.
Today’s Feature:

Recorded: Nov, 2005. Seattle, WA.
“Keyholes and Curtains (Extended Version)”—More juvenilia from the vaults. This track is somewhat deceptively titled, as in actuality, this is the song in the form that it was originally intended. Deemed too boring to sustain the extra verse featured here, the track was trimmed to the abridged version that appears on Safe As Houses. This version was available on the Addendum EP, featured within the Acuarela Discos edition of Safe As Houses (this label has given us nothing but grief, and as such, I feel perfectly justified in offering its contents for free). I can’t believe how old we all are now.
cordially,
(((GRRRLS)))
July 5, 20108:34 pm
External Hard Drive Monday: David & The Wolf
I have terrible luck with external hard drives. There are a great number of influencing factors w/r/t this, but the primary truth of the matter is, I am mostly just terrible at backing things up. I’ve lost so much.
In an effort to be somewhat more responsible with this ephemera, I’m setting about backing up these documents in this forum. There are, of course, more crass motivations for this endeavor—but I suppose that could be said for virtually everything that we do. You’re welcome to take a gander. I’ll keep it up until it’s all gone.
Today’s Feature:

Recorded: August(?), 2007. Portland, Or.
“David and the Wolf”—a rather slight instrumental prepared for the compact disc that accompanied David Horvitz’s Xiu Xiu: The Polaroid Project, The Book—a product that I’ve yet to see a copy of (DAV-ID!!!). All elements of this instrumental are composed of modified sounds sourced from the Entanglements LP and A Parenthetical Girls Family Christmas.
cordially,
(((GRRRLS)))
June 28, 201010:17 am
New Feature: External HD Mondays.
Though in one man’s opinion cleaner and more tasteful, the absence of comments on this latest version of the Parenthetical Girls website has made it difficult for us to gain much sense of whether or not anyone is actually reading these infrequent missives. In the interest of experiment, I’ve decided to try something that will hopefully clarify: this new thing is called, for lack of a more digestible name, External Hard Drive Mondays.
I have terrible luck with external hard drives. There are a great number of influencing factors w/r/t this, but the primary truth of the matter is, I am mostly just terrible at backing things up. I’ve lost so much.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been getting a bit nostalgic over at the Parenthetical Girls Facebook Page, posting some ancient files that I’ve stumbled across in my terribly organized digital filing system. In an effort to be somewhat more responsible with this ephemera, I’m setting about backing up these documents in this forum. There are, of course, more crass motivations for this endeavor—but I suppose that could be said for virtually everything that we do. You’re welcome to take a gander. I’ll keep it up until it’s all gone.
To begin with, there’s this:
Recorded: November 18th, 2008. Cardiff, Wales.
“Love Connection,” featuring guest vocalist Gareth Campesinos! of Los Campesinos!
A bit rough around the edges, this was part of a bootleg someone graciously sent to me some time ago. It was one of I believe two times this occurred on our first UK tour, wherein Gareth operated as our surprising adept tour manager. Enjoy.
cordially,
(((GRRRLS)))
June 2, 201011:05 am
What Do You Say?
Another morsel from the fine folks at INTO THE WOODS, a live EP of the audio portion of Explode Into Colors’ Into The Woods sessions. The track below is a cover of The Ramones’ perennial favorite “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend,” featuring Zac on Vox and Shitty Keyboard.
Do yourself a favor and download the rest over HERE.
May 30, 201011:48 am
On To The Next One.
Tour is over (If you want it).
The chickens have all come home to roost, and are, I think, all worse for the wear. But in remarkably good spirits, considering. The ill-titled (sorry guys) Dance Dysmorphic Tour of 2010 has come to a close, and was a resounding success in all respects, with excepting financial. The new line-up is very exciting, I think. Let’s hope we can keep this together.
But first: the ridiculously ambitious “Dorothy K” project that we took part in at the Donaufestival in Austria—wow. Plans are being hatched for a proper recording of this work, but in the meantime, here’s a lengthy video overview of some of the highlights, as shot by the esteemed Steven Miller:
Also—What Happens When You Let Leeches Have Their Way With You:
As for the tour, here’s the highlight reel:
• Epic show at the Donaufestival, complete with totally absurd procession/introduction and Coldplay theatrics. (It felt a lot cooler than it probably looked.)
• Searching for Beethoven’s Grave in Vienna, in the composer’s section of an epic Viennese graveyard. Some other heavy-hitters include:
SCHOENBERG
“MOZART”
• The obscene beauty of Venice, Italy:
• Zac’s epic emotional Roman breakdown, wherein he hugged every member of the audience individually in a vain attempt to make himself feel better.
• “Euro Jherek” = Unprecedented Party Monster
• Freddy’s Dionysian Birthday Party at King Georg
• Freddy’s birthday self-discharge from the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, in the aftermath of the King Georg debacle.
• Bernie’s house, and the now-lost visual documents of our visit to the Salford Lad’s Club in Manchester.
• The Duke of Dublinshire.
• Larkin, and her keepers at Upset the Rhythm
• 12 pm-9 am video shoot outside of Berlin with the incomparable critters at A Nice Idea Every Day
God, what a long month. Now what?
Zac & Jherek are presently in Seattle putting the finishing touches on Privilege pt. 2: The Past, Imperfect, as well as a new 7″, which is scheduled to be the ZED (for “Zac,” one might assume)—read: FINAL—installment of Tomlab’s long-running alphabet series. Also, we’re coming to NYC in June for this year’s Northside Festival, and playing in Olympia, WA on the Fourth of July with Deerhoof and Au.
I GOT A MILLION WAYS TO GET IT. CHOOSE ONE.
May 3, 20101:37 pm
The Dorothy K.
A small selection of photographs from the illustrious Steven Miller of our KindaLikeABigDeal collaboration with Implied Violence at the Donaufestival in Krems, Austria:

















DATES FOR PARENTHETICAL GIRLS + FORMER GHOSTS DANCE DYSMORPHIC TOUR 2010, EUROPEAN/UK
MAY 5: CLANDESTINO, Faenza, IT
MAY 6: TEATRO FONDAMENTA NUOVE, Venice, IT
MAY 7: ZUNI, Ferrara, IT
MAY 8: INTERZONA, Verona, IT
MAY 9: PALAZZIO DEI ROLLI (MU-MU FESTIVAL), Genoa, IT
MAY 10: MELOS, Pistoia, IT
MAY 11: INIT, Rome, IT
MAY 13: K4, Nurnberg, DE
MAY 14: WEST GERMANY, Berlin, DE (w/ Extra Life!)
MAY 15: KING GEORG, Cologne, DE
MAY 16: FREEBUTT, Brighton, UK
MAY 17: 10 FEET TALL, Cardiff, Wales
MAY 18: TROF HQ, Manchester
MAY 19: COMMON PLACE, Leeds, UK
MAY 20: TWISTED PEPPER, Dublin, IE
MAY 21: Venue TBA, Glasgow
MAY 22: LUMINAIRE, London, UK
April 24, 20109:38 am
Having finally arrived in Austria after that unfortunate volcano you’ve been hearing so much about, I write now via iPhone with a brief, simple update on our impending European adventures with Former Ghosts. Thank you for your patience.
DATES FOR PARENTHETICAL GIRLS + FORMER GHOSTS DANCE DYSMORPHIC TOUR 2010, EUROPEAN/UK
APRIL 28-MAY 1: IMPLIED VIOLENCE & PARENTHETICAL GIRLS PRESENT “THE DOROTHY K”; DONAUFESTIVAL, Krems, AT
APRIL 30: PARENTHETICAL GIRLS + FORMER GHOSTS play DONAU FESTIVAL, Krems, AT (w/Rufus Wainwright, Soft Pink Truth, etc)
MAY 5: CLANDESTINO, Faenza, IT
MAY 6: TEATRO FONDAMENTA NUOVE, Venice, IT
MAY 8: INTERZONA, Verona, IT
MAY 9: PALAZZIO DEI ROLLI (MU-MU FESTIVAL), Genoa, IT
MAY 10: MELOS, Pistoia, IT
MAY 11: INIT, Rome, IT
MAY 13: K4, Nurnberg, DE
MAY 14: WEST GERMANY, Berlin, DE (w/ Extra Life!)
MAY 15: KING GEORG, Cologne, DE
MAY 16: FREEBUTT, Brighton, UK
MAY 17: 10 FEET TALL, Cardiff, Wales
MAY 18: TROF HQ, Manchester
MAY 19: COMMON PLACE, Leeds, UK
MAY 20: TWISTED PEPPER, Dublin, IE
MAY 21: Venue TBA, Glasgow
MAY 22: LUMINAIRE, London, UK
April 6, 20103:30 pm
Harried Heads.
Our gracious friends at Into The Woods were kind enough to ask us to participate in their on-going web series Feels Like Home, and we were happy to oblige. The above video—shot in Zac’s cottage—is the premiere of a brand new song, entitled “The Common Touch,” which will be featured on the forthcoming EP Privilege, pt. II: The Past, Imperfect. Thanks Into The Woods!
(Incidentally: Doesn’t Freddy look good as a Parenthetical Girl?)


(photos courtesy of Bobby McHugh)
The “secret” Seattle show at Cairo went of without too many hitches, in spite of our unfortunately blown-out keyboard amp. Punk. Thank you to everyone who joined us—it was truly a pleasure. Now let’s just hope we can remember how to play the songs when we open for Rufus Wainwright in a month. Speaking of which:
PRELIMINARY DATES FOR PARENTHETICAL GIRLS + FORMER GHOSTS DANCE DYSMORPHIC TOUR 2010, EUROPEAN/UK
APRIL 28-MAY 1: IMPLIED VIOLENCE & PARENTHETICAL GIRLS PRESENT “THE DOROTHY K”; DONAUFESTIVAL, Krems, AT
APRIL 30: PARENTHETICAL GIRLS + FORMER GHOSTS play DONAU FESTIVAL, Krems, AT (w/Rufus Wainwright, Soft Pink Truth, etc)
MAY 6: TEATRO FONDAMENTA NUOVE, Venice, IT
MAY 8: INTERZONA, Verona, IT
MAY 9: PALAZZIO DEI ROLLI (MU-MU FESTIVAL), Genoa, IT
MAY 11: INIT, Rome, IT
MAY 13: K4, Nurnberg, DE
MAY 14: WEST GERMANY, Berlin, DE (w/ Extra Life!)
MAY 15: KING GEORG, Cologne, DE
MAY 16: FREEBUTT, Brighton, UK
MAY 17: 10 FEET TALL, Cardiff, Wales
MAY 19: COMMON PLACE, Leeds, UK
MAY 20: TWISTED PEPPER, Dublin, IE
MAY 22: LUMINAIRE, London, UK
Details should be filling in shortly. We will have so much new merch, I don’t even know where to begin. Maybe you’ll want some of it.
Talk soon,
Parenthetical Girls
March 27, 201012:24 pm
The New GRRRL.

Time is stretched remarkably thin. Whilst knee-deep in the preparatory stages for the Austrian premiere of The Dorothy K, Parenthetical Girls have also begun intensive rehearsals with our latest live incarnation–and this brings us to some exciting news. We are pleased to announce that we will be heading to Europe and the UK beginning at the end of April for a brief tour. This tour will find us country hoping between Austria, Italy, Germany, the UK, and Ireland–and doing so in the company of our dear friend Freddy Ruppert’s Former Ghosts. Further excitement that we are pleased to share: Mr. Ruppert has defeated his murderous intestinal blockage to be officially added to the (((GRRRLS))) fold for the tour. Also joining Rachael and Zac on this trip is esteemed Parenthetical Girls collaborator Jherek Bischoff, making his welcomed return to the Girls live band following a six year hiatus. We think it sounds pretty good. We’re not sure if you’ll agree with us.
At any rate, please welcome your 2010 Parenthetical Girls starting line-up:

FREDDY RU.

BABY J BITCHOSS.
Dates to follow very shortly. Sorry to tease.
best,
Zac






Safe As Houses
2006, Slender Means Society, Oedipus Recs, Acuarela Discos

Side A:
Love Connection, pt. II
I Was the Dancer
Oh Daughter/Disaster
One Father, Another
The Weight She Fell Under
Side B:
Survived By Her Mother
Keyholes & Curtains
Forward To Forget
The Four Platitudes
(a Bridge Song)
Stolen Children
LP/CD/Digital. Safe As Houses Addendum EP.
The Scottish Play Wherein the Group Parenthetical Girls Pay Well-Intentioned (If Occasionally Misguided) Tribute To the Works of Ivor Cutler
2009, Tomlab
Side A:
Sit Down
Whale Badge
A Doughnut In My Hand
A Nuance
Side B:
Over You Go
I'm Going In A Field
The Best Thing
Everybody Got
10" Vinyl (released in an edition of 500 copies) and digital only
The Christmas Creep 7"
2009, Slender Means Society
Side A:
Thank God It's Not Christmas (Sparks Cover)
Side B:
Flowers For Albion
Made as gifts for our friends and families, this Christmas 7" is made available to the public in a limited edition of 150 retail copies—complete with sleeves hand letterpressed by Zac, and digital download
Privilege, pt. 1: On Death & Endearments 12"
2010, Slender Means Society
Side A:
Evelyn McHale
Someone Else's Muse
Side B:
Found Drama I
On Death & Endearments
The first in a five-part series of EPs that will eventually form the fourth Parenthetical Girls album, On Death & Endearments is a four-song, mail order only vinyl EP, in a limited edition of 500 physical copies. Each hand-numbered in the blood of Parenthetical Girl Zac Pennington.

New

On Death and Endearments
2010

The Christmas Creep
2009
Albums

Entanglements
2008

Safe As Houses
2006

(((GRRRLS)))
2004
Singles

A Song For Ellie Greenwich
2008

David Horvitz Picture Disc
2008
ETC.

"Judy Teen" T-Shirt

"Judy Teen" Tote Bag
Entanglements
2008, Tomlab / Slender Means Society
LP/CD/Digital


The third album (arguably) by Parenthetical Girls. The one with the orchestra.
"One of 2008's great misunderstood albums." –The Onion
"Sexy to a point where I can't bear it." –Said The Gramophone
Side A:
Four Words
Avenue Of Trees
Unmentionables
GUT Symmetries
A Song For Ellie Greenwich
Young Eucharists
Side B:
Entanglements
Abandoning
The Former
Windmills Of Your Mind
This Regrettable End

Safe As Houses
2006, Slender Means Society, Oedipus Recs, Acuarela Discos
LP (Sold Out)/CD/Digital

Either Parenthetical Girls' first or second album, depending upon how you delineate such matters.
"...a creepily pretty presentation of female reproductive power as a kind of monstrosity." –Pitchfork Media
"An insane marvel of an album." –Incendiary Magazine
Side A:
Love Connection, pt. II
I Was the Dancer
Oh Daughter/Disaster
One Father, Another
The Weight She Fell Under
Side B:
Survived By Her Mother
Keyholes & Curtains
Forward To Forget
The Four Platitudes
(a Bridge Song)
Stolen Children

(((GRRRLS)))
2004, Slender Means Society
LP/CD/Digital
The first proper Parenthetical Girls release (album? EP?). The one with "Love Connection" on it.
"Suggests Sonic Youth after ingesting top-shelf ecstasy, or post-punk luminaries Young Marble Giants at their giddiest." –The Stranger
Side O:
(Mixed by Jherek Bischoff)
Side X:
(Mixed by Jamie Stewart)
Tracklist:
Tuba For Soprano
Here's to Forgetting
Alright
Of Collateral Damage
(and other loose ends)
Inspirational Short Pants
C-86 Is Killing My Life
Love Connection
Bonus: Inspirational Short Pants (Avec Paroles)


David Horvitz Picture Disc
2008, Aagoo Records

Beautiful, limited edition picture disc with photo by David Horvitz. Features two exclusive recordings.
Side A:
GUT Symmetries (Cloud-Chamber Version)
Side B:
Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans) (Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark cover)
7" Single (released in an edition of 500 copies)

The Christmas Creep 7"
2009, Slender Means Society
Side A:
Thank God It's Not Christmas (Sparks Cover)
Side B:
Flowers For Albion
Made as gifts for our friends and families, this Christmas 7" is made available to the public in a limited edition of 150 retail copies—complete with sleeves hand letterpressed by Zac, and digital download

Privilege, pt. 1: On Death & Endearments 12"
2010, Slender Means Society
Side A:
Evelyn McHale
Someone Else's Muse
Side B:
Found Drama I
On Death & Endearments
The first part of the Privilege cycle, hand-numbered (in Zac's blood) edition of 500, with free digital download.


As you were.
Greenwich"
(2008)
dir. by
Judah Switzer
Live at Hause der
Music, Vienna
(2008)
dir. by They Shoot
Music, Don't They?
(2010)
dir. by
Judah Switzer

Daniel Gill at Forcefield PR (North America)
(323) 344 1604

Trey Many at Billions Corp. (North America)
(312) 997 9999 x8245
Andreas Oberschelp at Puschen Booking (EU, etc.)
+49 (0)30 7022 5001

Zac Pennington

Tom Steinle at Tomlab
+49 (0)221 2761845
Zac Pennington at Slender Means Society
Unless otherwise noted, all photography featured on this website is © Sarah Meadows, www.sarah-meadows.com





















