01.15.08
Happy New Year birdies. We have a few shows coming up. Go check out the details.

10.11.07
The Lesser Birds of Paradise Get Waxed
Available in stores come November 6th, 2007, Contraphonic is letting folks be thankful a bit earlier this season, as the limited edition VINYL version of Space Between can be ordered online now, or picked up at one of our upcoming Chicago shows. Preserving the "small psych-folk gem" (All Music) into grooves and wax, the limited edition Space Between will come equipped with a free mp3 download of the record as well, and is being pressed in an extremely limited edition. Get your wax now.

07.05.07
We just posted some shows. Yes we are playing some shows. Go check out the details.

02.14.07
First, we must apologize for the extreme lack of news updates to this here website. Right now the best place for the latest info about the band is our MySpace page. In the next few months we'll hopefully have a new site up with more information about the band and more frequent news updates. (But don't hold your breath). We've also started up a YouTube page to showcase some of the videos some of our fans have made for us. Right now we've got 2 videos for "I Envy the Photons" and one for "Take the Leaves", plus some other stuff.

We've also just wrapped up an online-only EP of covers. You can download all 4 tracks for free here.

Finally, shows will be sparse the next few months with band members traveling and the recording/writing process starting up again. Mark will be playing a solo show at South Union Arts on April 27th. We'll update the shows page whenever we have something...and again, you can always visit the MySpace page for the latest.

10.29.06
On our way to CMJ
We'll be at CMJ! Thursday night at Fontanas. Contraphonic and Redder Records showcase. We play at 8:30. Come say hello to us.

Friday in Pittsburgh at Quiet Storm and back home on Saturday at Schubas with Micah P. Hinson and Hummingbiird. See you out there. Check the shows page for appropriate links.

09.20.06
Things are afoot at the Lesser Birdhouse. Things are happening.

Lesser Birds Video Project-Ask Not What Your Lesser Birds Can Do for You:
The Lesser Birds need your help and are calling on you, our creative and attractive fans, to make us look good.

We're looking for people to help us by making videos for all 12 songs on our new record Space Between (or our other songs for that matter, we're not being picky here).

This open call is for everyone. Perhaps you're an iMovie pro and will create a work of genius with dissolves, wipes, jump cuts, and slow motion. Or maybe not: Use your cell phone, use your digital camera, use your betamax and digitize it, have it make sense, have it be nonsense, make it narrative, make it animated, make a film of your girlfriend brushing her teeth or your grandmother smoking a cigarette. Make it a movie and get Martin Mull and Jamie Lee Curtis to play the romantic leads. Use exotic landscapes as a backdrop to visually tell the story of how two mods used office supplies from the future to overthrow some government somewhere. Make anything....With us, it's all art. (So long as it is art to you.)

The only paramaters are that it should:
1. Be in a digital format (reasonably sized) so we can post it on-line.
2. Be something we can post on line without getting arrested, hassled or sued.
3. Fit the length of the song or songs you have chosen.

If you are interested, let us know asap via email, or via myspace or friendster. Our rough timeline is to have things submitted by the end of October so it can coincide with the launch of our new website in November and our appearance at the CMJ Music Festival.

Hey, you're a warm-blooded American (or not). You're probably asking yourself, "What's in it for me?"

Our answers: Even more love and adoration from this fledgling folk band? Love and adoration from the people who love this fledgling folk band? Good karma from NoKarma? Maybe a house concert at your house? Maybe we'll make a video for you? Okay, so we don't really have a prize and this isn't really even a contest, but we know there is love out there, and we know you'll get yours. And in the grand scheme of things, isn't that the only prize? (But just in case: Try us and see what we'll give you.)

Video Killed the Radio Star (The Radio Star Is Dead. Long Live the Radio Star!):
Though your Birds would like to be video stars a la YouTube, our first love is still the truest of mediums: radio. Space Between has been shipped to a cool radio station near you. Call in and tell your local DJ that you'd like to hear a Lesser Birds' song as you apply your lipstick in the review mirror while simultaneously negotiating morning rush-hour traffic on your way to work. (For that particular scenario, we recommend "Paint Your Fingernails.")

New York's Not My Home:
But, we sure love visiting. We're playing the CMJ Music Festival this year in NYC at Fontana's on Thursday, November 2. Also performing: Crush Kill Destroy, La Pieta, the City on Film, Kalpana, and Bling Kong. We plan on bringing along Contraphonic's hardest working music mogul, Ben Schulman (Branches, Me and My Ship, Janka and Son, Diamonds). We'll get you more details as it gets closer...but damn, yes we are playing CMJ!!!

Milwaukee's Not My Home Either:
But, we sure love visiting. We're playing the Jackalope Lounj in Milwaukee this Saturday, September 23. Cool Milwaukee mom and cellist Janet Schiff will be helping us out as well as the aforementioned TV's Benji Schulman. Also appearing: Clementine and Juniper Tar.

Will Work for Food:
We will be playing at a benefit to raise money for the Dill Pickle Food Co-op, a Logan Square neighborhood grocery store being planned by a group of dedicated community members that will be owned, operated, and financed by its members. This show will take place at the Elastic Arts Foundation at 2830 N Milwaukee (above Friendship Restaurant) here in Chicago. And its ALL AGES.

It will be a $10-20 suggested donation. Alcoholic beverages provided (we'll love you if you donate closer to $20 if you plan on partaking), and you can bring your own. Also appearing will be the Josh Abrams (bass)/Jason Adasiewicz (vibes)/Nori Tanaka (drums) trio and Willis P Jenkins one-man band.

Slow Dancing, Swaying to the Music:
Got a sock hop on your calendar? Don't get caught unprepared. Arm yourself (and hopefully a partner) by reading Mark Janka's reflections on the the semiotics of the slow dance (complete with sentence fragments and comma splices) on PopMatters.

Less Rock, More Talk (and Even More Radio):
WBEZ's Tony Sarabia sat down with Your Lesser Birds at the Hideout and let us blabber into his tape recorder. Fortunately for you, he and his staff edited it down to an manageable 10 min interview. You can listen to it here.

Good Golly, Miss Molly:
Our congratulations to Molly, who won a free copy of Space Between from Gaper's Block. Molly, we know we haven't sent you the CD yet. What can we say? We write slow songs and have slow response times. It's on its way. We promise.

To the Greater Elgin Metropolitan Area:
Seriously, we still want to play with your bands and singer/songwriters in your garages and rec rooms (or all-ages club). Let's make it happen. You know who you are.

07.26.06
GET YOUR COPY OF SPACE BETWEEN
The Lesser Birds' new album, Space Between, hits stores on August 8th. You can buy a copy at finer record stores and at a number of on-line sites including our favorite No Karma which is now taking pre-orders.

If you can't wait until August 8th to hear new songs, stream the record on your home computer (or you work computer if you are a slacker, and we hope you are).

If you haven't upgraded your calculator to a home computer yet, and you still want a copy of Space Between before August 8th, come out and see the Lesser Birds on tour. They'll happily sell you an advanced copy of the cd (because, as you know, minivans do not fill themselves up with gas, and you don't have no kind of tour without a van of some sort and several tankfuls of gas). Also, the Birds are pleased to announce that Ben Schulman (Branches/Me and My Ship) will be accompanying the band for this tour. Check the shows page for all the dates.

WVFS COMPILATION
The Lesser Birds have contributed a live version of "A Magnet in You" to a complilation for WVFS 89.7. WVFS is a wonderful college radio station in Tallahassee, Florida. Exact release date is not yet determined but we'll let you know. We are so very pleased to be nuzzled up against some hitmakers, such as the Wedding Present, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Andrew Bird, Magnolia Electric Co., Bob Log III and many more.

06.26.06
AUGUST TOUR
East coast tour dates up now for the first week of August. Still looking to add one more show for Saturday 8/5 in Baltimore/Jersey/Brooklyn/CT so if anyone can help please let us know.