What's the Remedy

VINYL FORMAT. Many years ago, Sufjan Stevens and Half-Handed Cloud's John Ringhofer got together in Dan Smiths (Danielson) parents' basement--not to play table tennis--but to record five of John's songs, which were about some funny things: medicine and tablets and letters and graves. At first glance, Sufjan thought, oh no! John's really gotten into this rock star lifestyle, LSD, drug use, psychedelic prose poems, motion sickness, hospitalization, etc. Should he be worried? Well, it turns out, he was all wrong. John Ringhofer doesn't even take Aspirin! The kid drinks a gallon of water a day. He does 55 sit-ups. He parts his hair to the side. The songs, it turns out, were about much greater, eternal things. You know, things like Friendship, Kinship, Sons and Fathers, and Broken Promises, and Reconciliation, etc. John does all the great things he does so well--and he wrote and played most of the instruments while Sufjan pressed the record button. Sufjan also plays some drums, some piano, some recorders, some banjo, some guitar. The songs add up to the shortest musical epic in recorded history. An entire mini-series that fits on a 7-inch! This is also the first 7-inch released by Asthmatic Kitty, featuring glorious prints by John Ringhofer, a self-portrait with a bloody gash on his chin. Oh gross, we like it! We like it!