City Arts Online recently posted an article naming Gems “Tall Mountain” video as one of their three favorites to come from Seattle bands!  We’re honored to be mentioned!

See the full article here:

http://cityartsonline.com/issues/seattle/2013/05/standing-out-sea-bizarre?buffer_share=aadea&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer%253A%252BDontBeALout%252Bon%252Btwitter

and here’s the video!

http://vimeo.com/62834288

Trent Moorman of Seattle’s arts and entertainment magazine The Stranger was kind enough to give Gems a very favorable review of our Tall Mountain record release show!  Mr. Moorman writes,

“The two drummers, Adrian Van Batenburg and Jacob Evans (the Bearded Wonder) aren’t just playing together, they’re meshing well played, well thought out, and well executed schemes.”

and

“[Daniel Rapport and Gary Palmer] dial up delayed frigidity, and lagoons of low end. All live, all ice.”

read the whole review here:

http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/20/gems-double-drums-double-synths-must-see

FRIDAY APRIL 19TH

GEMS “TALL MOUNTAIN” RECORD RELEASE SHOW

AT THE SUNSET TAVERN: SEATTLE, WA

W/ Vox Mod and Gold Wolf Galaxy

$8 21+ Doors at 9pm.

http://www.sunsettavern.com/calendar/event/gems-album-release-with-gold-wolf-galaxy-album-release-vox-mod

Gems will be all the way live on the radio this weekend, talking, playing some vinyl cuts from their new record Tall Mountain, and rocking some of our friends music as well. Firstly today Saturday, April 13th on the UW’s Rainy Dawg Radio starting at 5pm pacific time. You can listen in here: http://www.rainydawg.org/
Gems will also be on Hollow Earth radio Sunday, April 14th from 4-6pm pacific time with Levi Fuller. Gems will be doing a full interview, playing songs from Tall Mountain and doing some guest DJing. Listen in here: http://hollowearthradio.org/

Here’s our brand spanking new video for Tall Mountain track “Koi” featuring Seattle singer okanomode. The video was directed by friend of the band and super talented artist Blake Whitaker. Share far and wide!!!

We are proud to present our first official music video directed by Ryan Wylie for the title track from our new record “Tall Mountain.” Please enjoy, share, and spread the word of thee Gems far and wide to friends and family!
p.s. you may have also noticed we have a “store” tab on the website now…you can buy Gems T-Shirts here as well as pre-order vinyl and CD copies of “Tall Mountain.” All through the safe and secure connections of PayPal!

If you’re not a fan of Sonarchy Radio yet, you should be. Every Sunday night at midnight you can tune in to 90.3 KEXP to hear live-in-studio performances from the Northwest’s finest envelope pushing musicians. Gems is proud to be joining the Sonarchy legacy — tune in this Sunday, March 17 to hear us do a full hour long set!

First off Gems would like to offically announce the date and location of our Seattle record release show for “Tall Mountain” as APRIL 19TH AT THE SUNSET TAVERN in Ballard.  Also on the bill with us will be Vox Mod and Gold Wolf Galaxy…more info soon!  Our album’s release date on itunes, Amazon, and local record shops is April 2nd.

We’re playing this Friday March 8th at The Rendezvous with our good friends Horace Pickett and The Torn ACLs.  9pm

Also we will be holding a “Tall Mountain” listening party on March 22nd At the Vermillion Art Gallery and Wine Bar on capitol hill.  It’ll be a chance for our fans, friends, and supporters to get a sneak peak listen to the new record a couple weeks before it is officially released as well as hang with the band.

Finally we have a show booked in Tacoma for our Gems “Tall Mountain” Tacoma Record Release on April 6th (Friday) with our good friends from tac-town I Like Science.  Week of Wonders is also on the bill.  9:30pm

Thats it for now…detailed information on any of our upcoming shows can be found on the SHOWS section of our website.

I was lucky enough to be exposed to German electronic musician Harald Grosskopf’s 1980 record “Synthesist” several years ago…a work far ahead of it’s time and filled with some  of the most amazing, magical music!  I later discovered his other work with AshRa and Klaus Schulze and was simply blown away at the scope of his talents.  Harald truely is a hero of mine.   I looked at what Harald was doing back then and saw a connection between his art and what Gems is trying to do today…a searching and discovery of tone and mood through the organic use of electronic and non-electronic instruments.  To our band he is our kindred spirit in art!  Over the course of the past year or two I’ve been able to communicate with Harald via the internet and email and have sent him Gems music all along with the way…including our new record “Tall Mountain.”  The band is greatly honored one: that Harald even took the time to listen to our music and two: that he was kind enough to give us his personal feedback and expertise along the way…here’s what he had to say after listening to the rough mixes of “Tall Mountian”

-Dan/Gems