Introducing Transmission Galactic And The Adventures Of...

As announced on ToriAmos.com earlier today, Tori has a new project — and it’s not an album! Rather, it is Transmission Galactic, a new record label aimed at supporting musicians and their work outside of the traditional major label industry.

Putting their money where their mouth is, Transmission Galactic simultaneously announced their first signing, the UK-based band The Adventures Of… and the release of their debut record, Top Hats and Scary Tales.

Produced by Mark Hawley, the album is already available digitally in the States and will be released elsewhere in the wide world soon. However, everyone, no matter where they are, can check them out via two free downloads in exchange for liking them on Facebook or viewing the video for the single “Complication” below.

If you like what you hear, keep an eye on their website for summer tour date in the United States.

Collectors and completists take note! Tori sits in on keys on one song from the new record, “Tears of a Paranoid Clown,” so if you gotta have everything, you might want to pick this up too.

Read on for the press release from Transmission Galactic announcing the label and album.

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This Is Not My Shirt In The Tori Store

Based on the questions we’ve been getting over the past several weeks, we’re sure more than a few people will be pleased to hear that merchandise from the Night of Hunters tour has been added to the Tori Store. If you missed out on the tour or just didn’t want to take the time to wait and pick up a t-shirt or tour program at the concerts, you can now take care of those needs via the web — though we only recommend naked shopping in privacy of your own home.

In addition to the tour t-shirts and tour program, there are also a few other items of note including the tour poster, a tote bag bearing the same logo as the Beth Luis print shirt, and a scarf.

One note though: in the announcement on ToriAmos.com, they state, “merchandise includes VERY limited edition items from the European leg of the tour that never made it to the US and vice versa!” So, if you have your heart set on any of these items, sooner than later may be the better time to snap them up.

Thanks to JoeyLove for letting us know!

More On The Light Princess Delay From The Guardian

The Guardian has reported on the postponement of The Light Princess musical, providing a few more details about the decision.

As we mentioned when the word first started to leak out about this, the project is not being cancelled, just pushed back — and The Guardian’s piece is consistent with that, quoting a National theatre spokewoman who indicated that development on the musical is continuing and that a new date for the production would be announced eventually.

When interviewed on BBC 6 Music’s Radcliffe & Maconie radio program earlier this week, Tori said she was hoping for a opening near the end of 2012, perhaps around Christmas, but obviously, that is yet to be determined.

Thanks to Mike Gray for the tip.

The Light Princess Still A Go

Take a deep breath… Despite what you (and we) have heard about The Light Princess musical having been pulled, pulled isn’t the same as cancelled.

For a variety of reasons, the decision was made to push the debut back from April 2012 to [likely] later in the year. But it is still 100% on. A new debut date should be announced in the coming months.

As always, we’ll continue following this and posting updates as we get them.

Lomography Inspiration Contest Winners Announced!

Lomography has announced the winners of the Tori Amos Inspiration Competition. Head on over to their website to check out the ten grand prize winners, chosen by Tori herself. whose photographs will be featured in the Night of Hunters tour book, as well as the ninety other runners-up!

Congratulations to all the winners — including jaybees who let us know about the announcement and happens to have one of the runner-up Philadelphia photographs!

No Fear From The PS22 Chorus!

The 2012 edition of the PS22 Chorus has barely approached escape velocity for this new school year but they’ve already tackled one of the songs from Night of Hunters: “Fearlessness!” It’s a difficult piece but they handle it quite admirably! Enjoy!

Mapping More Music!

Map The Music, a documentary film about music and the importance of live music to the people who love it, will be broadcast on The Documentary Channel on November 24th! Tori is one of several artists featured in the film, along with Imogen Heap, Cary Brothers, Kate Havnevik, Zoe Keating, Guy Sigsworth of Frou Frou, Rachael Yamagata, and Charlotte Martin.

While we’ve mentioned the film before, if you would like to read more about the film and its creator Samantha Hale who, as it so happens, is also a devoted Toriphile, we recommend that you head on over to Peter Zimmerman’s feature article in Glide which takes a deep and long look at the film and its subject matter.

Check out the “Welcome to Amsterdam” clip Samantha put together for a Tori-colorded taste of what Map The Music is like:

Not Too Lousy For A Calendar Girl

Yesterday, The Taos News reported on artist Tera Muskrat and her exhibition “New Mexico Calendar Girls,” a collection of paintings of women of New Mexico done in the style of the 1940s Mexican calendar art.

While, as we all know, Tori Amos is not from New Mexico, she did live in Taos while recording Under The Pink and Muskrat elected to include her portrait of Tori in the collection on the basis of that link.

The exhibition is on display at Caffe Tazza in Taos though the end of August and will also be shown at Mary Barnes’ studio in Talpa during the Fall Arts Tour. If you’re in the area, check it out! And do read the full article as the ideas and thoughts behind the project are quite interesting.

Thanks to Richard for the tip and to yessaid for the image!

Taylor Swift Covers Tori

Back on Thursday, TomCruel was the first to let us know that the word was Taylor Swift had played “a sorta fairytale” during her concert the night before at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. Before too long, a YouTube of the performance appeared and, since then, a few others have popped up as well.

Turns out she sang a portion of the song while accompanying herself on acoustic guitar during a part of the concert where she plays a few songs by musicians and bands from the area of that night’s stop on the tour. So, while on the short side, she does it justice and we wouldn’t mind hearing the whole thing!

Check it out below — she plays it right after Lisa Leob’s “Stay”.

Thanks to hemisphere for the video link!

Win a TORI Camera From Stereogum

If, like me, you are photographically-challenged and aren’t entering Lomography’s tour book contest, you can still win a TORI camera through a contest at Stereogum.

They’re giving away a TORI camera set as well as a copy of Night of Hunters (once, presumably, it’s released) to one lucky person who comments on that article, stating what their favorite Tori Amos song is.

You have to leave your comment by 5:30 PM Eastern on August 17th. The only catch is that you have to be a fan of Stereogum on Facebook and must leave the comment via Facebook Connect. They’ll pick a winner at random after the deadline.

Thanks to lushvalley for the tip!