#john ringhofer

What it Takes by Sufjan Stevens and Lowell Brams from the album Aporia

John Ringhofer by Tom DesLongchamp

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This was a Ringhofer Family summer project: kid stuff, living abroad, routines, Finnish holidays, domestic life, field recordings, foods, a lullaby.

portrait of John Ringhofer (Half-handed Cloud) ink/watercolor/gouache 3x4″

"Remedy" EP Week - Day 5: Half-handed Cloud's 5-song "What's The Remedy?" was released as a 7" 45rpm vinyl EP on Asthmatic Kitty Records 10 years ago this week (October 25th 2005), while I was on tour in Europe as a member of Sufjan Stevens' Illinoisemakers band (see picture). There were a few bits of contemporary press attention for the "Remedy" EP, including a Pitchfork article that's no longer available online (reprinted below), an article/interview with California weekly East Bay Express, and a favorable review in SPIN Magazine (that I can't find anywhere, unfortunately). The five "What's The Remedy?" EP songs were later re-released digitally on iTunes (etc), and then again as tracks #22-26 of Half-handed Cloud's epic non-LP singles collection "Cut Me Down & Count My Rings" (with deluxe fold-out poster!) in 2009. 1) Here's the original "What's The Remedy?" press release again: http://asthmatickitty.com/half-handed-cloud-to-release-new-7 2) Here's an October 25th 2005 Pitchfork.com news story no longer available online: = Sufjan Collaborates With Half-Handed Cloud on New EP = Kati Llewellyn reports: What do you get when you mix Sufjan Stevens, John Ringhofer, and Daniel Smith's basement? No, silly, not a DIY Sunday mass, but an EP! Unless E and P stand for Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, it looks like there are some new tunes comin' atcha. Well, sort of new. According to the Asthmatic Kitty website, this EP was put together "many years ago", so like our grandparents, the Beatles, and Sufjan's second-favorite Testament, these songs are old. Half-handed Cloud's John Ringhofer and Sufjan Stevens', uh, Sufjan Stevens, got together in Danielson Famile man Daniel Smith's basement way before all this 50 States business and recorded songs about "Friendship, Kinship, Sons and Fathers, and Broken Promises," says the AK site. Don't expect any cuss words. The five-songer, titled What's the Remedy EP and available only in 7" form, hits stores today. The tracks were written by Ringhofer, who also sang, played piano, organ and acoustic guitar. Good ol' Sufjey also sang, pianoed, organed, acoustic guitared, in addition to playing drums, banjo, flute, and tambourine, and producing the track(s). That's teamwork! The EP's cover art is a print by Ringhofer himself, a self-portrait featuring a bloody wound. Stigmata? We think notta. The cut is on his chin, but it's still pretty nasty. 3) Here's the article/interview "Sufjan Stevens' Sidekick" in Oakland, CA's Oct. 19th 2005 issue of "East Bay Express" http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/sufjan-stevens-sidekick/Content?oid=1079418 4) And here's the fifth & final song from the "Remedy" EP. "Here's A List." https://half-handedcloud.bandcamp.com/track/heres-a-list Thanks everyone! = john =

Half-Handed Cloud is releasing a new EP tomorrow. Yasss! In celebration, my favorite HHC song. <3

More Illinoisemaker throwback goodness, courtesy of Asthmatic Kitty and John Ringhofer of Half-Handed Cloud!