Klimt-Inspired Scents Raise Money For RAINN

Popular perfumer Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab has unveiled a series of limited-edition perfumes inspired by Gustav Klimt paintings — and the proceeds will benefit the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network. The collection, which is available through October 13, includes perfumes named for Klimt’s paintings Donna Con Ventaglio, Hygeia, Pallas Athene, and (my personal favorite) Tree of Life. For complete details and scent descriptions, click the link above.

For those not already familiar with BPAL, the company also has a permanent collection of scents inspired by Neil Gaiman’s fiction, including characters from American Gods and Anansi Boys. Proceeds from sales of those perfumes benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Jade, thanks for the tip!

More NOH Details

[Update: We’ve been told that the performer credits posted on Amazon.co.uk are based on preliminary information and are not final. As we alluded to below, the wheels are still in motion and information found on retail sites at this point isn’t set in stone.]

Amazon.co.uk has added some additional information about Night of Hunters to one of their listings for the record. In addition to a track list that matches what was previously posted on Play.com (but has since been removed), Amazon is showing what appears to be the musicians for each track on the album — and what enticing performer credits they are! For instance, Tash’s name appears with a few tracks, including “SnowBlind,” “Cactus Practice,” “Job’s Coffin,” and “The Chase.”

Peruse the list and you’ll see four names repeated a lot: Pawel Zalejski, Bartosz Zachlod, Piotr Szumiel, and Piotr Skweres. Together, they’re the quartet known as Apollon Musagète, a Polish ensemble whom we posted about last weekend and have recorded recently with Tori in Cornwall.

There’s also Andreas Ottensamer, principal clarinetist for the Berliner Philharmoniker; oboeist Nigel Shore ; bassoonist Peter Whelan ; and flautist Laura Lucas (whose website is currently on the fritz).

Of course, we hasten to remind everyone that nothing’s final until it hits the stores and the airwaves this Fall. Given the late June studio session with Apollon Musagète, it seems that Night of Hunters is still a work being forged, so plenty can change.

And on a related note, the release date for the record on Amazon.com’s listing for the deluxe edition of the record has been changed to September 20th. However, all the UK retailers still maintain a September 26th release date, so there seems to be some wet concrete on that point as well.

Cheers to Luke, Tony, Mark-Alexis and Zach for all the information!

Had Some Eastern Lads, Well, Not Exactly Had ...

If you haven’t heard heard of the Apollon Musagète Quartett, you will. According to the Polish quartet’s Web site, the group spent June 20-23 in Cornwall, recording with Tori — likely for Night of Hunters. Founded in 2006, the quartet (which includes Pawel Zalejski and Bartosz Zachlod on violin, Piotr Szumiel on viola, and Piotr Skweres on cello) scored a number of wins at the ARD Music Competition in Munich, and by 2008 became international stars. They now have three albums under their belts.

If you listen to their music, you can imagine why Tori latched onto these lads: they’re hip, highly talented, and deeply into mythology. Their name comes from the composition by Igor Stravinsky, in which Apollo, the god of music, dances with the muses, leading them to Mount Parnassus.

According to the Oehms classics Web site, “We want to fulfill the Apollonian,” say the four Polish musicians in a conversation with the chamber music journal Ensemble (1/2010). Their goal: “To bring all the arts together. We want to think multidimensionally and shape all aspects of the music: its sound as well as its theatrical possibilities.”

If that doesn’t sound like it’s up Tori’s alley, we don’t know what does. The quartet is playing a number of concerts in Europe over the next year that fans across the pond may want to check out; details are on their site. Many thanks to Luke for this tip.

New Details On Tori's Part In The Bullitts

A while back, we mentioned that Tori was contributing to a project from producer Jeymes Samuel called The Bullitts. The album, They Die By Dawn And Other Short Stories, features Tori along with Lucy Liu, Roisin Murphy, Passion Pit, and Mos Def.

Loudandquiet.com has a new interview with Samuel where he describes the process of making the album, which tells the story of Amelia Sparks, a lonely, angry woman who goes on a revenge mission and winds up on death row.

Here’s what the article has to say about Tori’s part in the project:

The only artist not immediately spellbound by the producer’s charms was Tori Amos – one of Samuel’s all-time favourites – and a notoriously private, introverted character.

“Tori Amos was hard,” says Samuel, nodding slowly. “At first she was like, ‘No, I’m not doing any collaborations.’” Instead of retreating defeated, he wrote her a letter. He told her about how, when he was a young boy running around with the other “runts” on his housing estate, he was the only one of his friends into her music. “They’d look at me as a weirdo for being into Tori Amos,” he says, shrugging. “I explained that to Tori and asked her to let me be that bridge between her world and the Harrow Road. She totally understood it. Obviously it was music contingent as well but she understood where I was coming from.”

Apparently, Samuel is planning some live performances of the material, and is doing his best to make sure Tori is involved there, too:

“For the live aspect I’m bringing out every gun in the arsenal,” he says, “even if I have to handcuff them myself. Tori Amos, Mos Def, Jay Electronica, Lucy Liu, Idris Alba – I’m bringing out everyone, but I’m going to take it further.”

For more details, click on over to Loudandquiet.com. Thanks to joe for the link!

Tori To Judge Lomography Contest

Lomography.com is holding a contest, and the winner will receive a limited edition TORI Diana F+ camera. Contestants will send in 5 photos inspired by one of 10 cities Tori will play during her Night of Hunters tour: New York, London, Philadelphia, Berlin, Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, Moscow, Chicago or Amsterdam.

Tori herself will judge the contest, picking 10 winning images to be included in the NOH tour program. Winners will also receive a signed copy of the program, a Night of Hunters CD, an official tour shirt and their images will be featured on www.toriamos.com the day that her tour stops into the winning city. 90 runners-up will receive a limited edition TORI Diana F+ Cameras and copy of NOH. That’s a lot of winners!

mayfly, do you think you’ll enter the contest?

Night Of Hunters Tracklist?

Play.com turned up some details on Night of Hunters, including what may very well be the tracklist for the album:

1. Shattering Sea
2. Snowblind
3. Battle Of Trees
4. Fearlessness
5. Cactus Practice
6. Star Whisperer
7. Job’s Coffin
8. Nautical Twilight
9. Your Ghost
10. Edge Of The Moon
11. The Chase
12. Night Of Hunters
13. Seven Sisters
14. Carry

Whether this is legit or not remains to be seen. Still, many thanks to PaganPoet and Armen for the heads up!

North American Tour Dates Announced!

ToriAmos.com has announced the itinerary for the North American leg of the Night of Hunters tour! While the venues are still not specified, the cities and dates, stretching from November 29th in Atlanta to December 22nd in Dallas, are now known. The tour forays into Canada (Toronto and Vancouver) and, as of now, includes two stops in New York City and Los Angeles.

The full slate of dates are below.

Tuesday, November 29 – Atlanta, GA
Thursday, December 1 – Philadelphia, PA
Friday, December 2 – New York, NY
Saturday, December 3 – New York, NY
Monday, December 5 – Washington, DC
Tuesday, December 6 – Boston, MA
Thursday, December 8 – Toronto, ON
Saturday, December 10 – Chicago, IL
Tuesday, December 13 – Vancouver, BC
Wednesday, December 14 – Seattle, WA
Friday, December 16 – Oakland, CA
Saturday, December 17 – Los Angeles, CA
Sunday, December 18 – Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday, December 21 – Austin, TX
Thursday, December 22 – Dallas, TX

Broadway Sings Tori Redux

Don’t forget! Broadway Sings Tori: A Benefit For RAINN takes place next Monday, June 27th, at New World Stages’ Stage 2 in New York City (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues).

Will Chase (Billy Elliot), Stephanie Gibson (The Addams Family), and Michael Buchanan have joined the cast which already featured Tony nominees Christine Andreas (Oklahoma, La Cage Aux Folles) and Stephanie D’Abruzzo (Avenue Q) as well as Natalie Joy Johnson (Legally Blonde, Bare), Celina Carvajal (Toxic Avenger), Steven Cutts (Hairspray, Camp), Katie Thompson (Bloodties, Giant), and Molly Pope (Our Hit Parade).

Tickets, priced from $35 to $125, are still available though Telecharge but if you purchase them through broadwayoffers.com using the code BRAMOS6, you can pick them up for the discounted price of $30.

We’d love to hear about the evening from anyone who is able to attend!

Two New European Dates Added

Two new dates have been added to the European leg of the Night of Hunters Tour: October 15th at Muziekgebouw in Eindhoven, Holland and a second night at Copenhagen’s Royal Theatre on October 22nd.

Per ToriAmos.com, tickets for Eindhoven are slated to go on-sale at 10:00 AM CEST on Saturday, June 25th while the those looking to buy tickets for the second Copenhagen show will have to wait until 10:00 AM CEST on Monday, June 27th. Copenhagen tickets will be sold through BILLETnet. Eindhoven tickets don’t have a purchase link on Muziekgebouw’s website yet but it looks like they sell their own tickets online as well as will be available through Ticketmaster.nl.

Official Night Of Hunters Album Cover Unveiled

ToriAmos.com has finally revealed the official album cover for Night Of Hunters. Gorgeous!

Thanks to Mario, Gone Andromeda, and Charlie T. for letting us know.