by Bill Pearis (and Andrew Frisicano)

DOWNLOAD: Casper & the Cookies - Little King (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Casper & the Cookies - Pete Erchick Bicentennial Service Area (MP3)

Casper & the Cookies @ NYC Popfest (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Casper & the Cookies are now out on tour this July. The band's NYC-area stops include tonight (7/21) at Cake Shop and tomorrow (7/22) performance at Bruar Falls. Opening both dates will be tourmates Everything, Now. Also opening Bruar Falls will be Boy Genius and Knight School.

Athens, Georgia resident Jason NeSmith has been using variations of the Casper moniker for nearly 15 years, and the Cookies have been in existence since 1999. NeSmith was also a touring member of Of Montreal around the time of Satanic Panic in the Attic, and the Cookies share with that band a love of glittery makeup and off-kilter pop. Casper and the Cookies, however, look more to the power pop of Big Star and Cheap Trick for their inspiration. I thought they were great at this year's NYC Popfest. There's video from their performance at the bottom of this post.

Casper's newest record, Modern Silence, came out May 12th on CD through Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records. The vinyl edition was released on July 20th release via People In a Position To Know Records (who are also handing some of the new Wand releases). Details on the record are...

Casper and the Cookies - Modern Silence GATEFOLD 2xLP + 5" lathe cut!: They come in a beautiful, gatefold cover with a different design than the CD. There are only 500 copies made, and only 200 copies are on AUDIOPHILE RED vinyl, in honor of [singer] Jason [NeSmith's] obsession with the Japanese red-vinyl version of Sgt. Peppers and their reputation of being the best sounding version of that album. The first 50 preorders will receive a special clear 5" lathe cut with exclusive songs.

About the upcoming tour, the band writes, "We're planning on keeping you updated with Twitter, sooo if you're out in Tweetyland, and you wanna know what's happening (who knows, there might be a surprise performance or something!!), you can follow us at http://twitter.com/candthecookies."

All tour dates, NYC Popfest video, album art and tracklist, below...

Continue reading "Casper & the Cookies is here - new album & 2009 tour dates"