Diamond Rings Announces North American Tour Supporting Twin Shadow

Canadian electropop artist Diamond Rings (AKA John O) is readying a new North American tour this upcoming September in support of his album, Special Affections, which was just re-released June 21st via Astralwerks Records. Diamond Rings has the incredible honor of opening for "electronically endearing" Twin Shadow as part of his "Clean Cuts" North American Tour, which kicks off September 4th with performances at Making Time in Philadelphia, PA.  As if news of the tour wasn't enough, Diamond Rings was selected for the 2011 Polaris Prize long list, Canada's highest honor for an emerging artist.  That's a pretty big effing deal!

With last year's opening gig with Swedish electropop queen Robyn, not to mention thrilling live performances at SXSW and CMJ 2010 was a pretty big year for the Toronto-born Diamond Rings, and from the looks of things 2011 isn't slowing down in the slightest.  When Special Affections was originally released last October on Secret City Records, Diamond Rings caught the attention of MAJOR publications including Pitchfork, New York Times and NME to name a few.  Now that he has the full support of Astralwerks, there's no telling where he's going to go from here.  Can't go anywhere but up, I suppose.  Check out tour dates with Twin Shadow below.  John O had this to say about his privileged role as an opener:

"I'm really excited to be sharing the stage with someone as talented and unique as Twin Shadow," said John O' of Diamond Rings, "Between his clean coif and my own we'll finally see if two heads are better than one. Hopefully he lets me borrow some of his jackets!"

Check out a full list of tour dates below and make sure you go show your support for Diamond Rings!  I've also included the video for "Wait & See" for your enjoyment so check that out below.  Download Special Affections on U.S. iTunes HERE.

Tour Dates:

09/04 - Making Time Warehouse Project - Philadelphia, PA*
09/06 - Maxwell's - Hoboken, NJ
09/07 - Rock and Roll Hotel - Washington, DC*
09/08 - Ottobar - Baltimore, MD*
09/10 - The Earl - Atlanta, GA*
09/12 - The Bottletree - Birmingham, AL
09/13 - Spanish Moon - Baton Rouge, LA*
09/15 - Fitzgeralds - Houston, TX*
09/18 - Lowbrow Palace - El Paso, TX*
09/20 - Casbah - San Diego, CA*
09/21 - Troubadour - Los Angeles, CA*
09/24 - Henry Miller Memorial Library - Big Sur, CA*
09/25 - Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA
09/26 - Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR*
09/27 - Crocodile Café - Seattle, WA*
10/01 - 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis, MN*
10/03 - The Mod Club - Toronto, ON
10/06 - Paradise - Boston, MA*
10/07 - Webster Hall - New York, NY*

Check out Diamond Rings on the web:

Official Site//MySpace//Facebook//Twitter//YouTube

Canadian Electro-Pop Artist Diamonds Rings Signs with Astralwerks Records, Re-Releases Debut Album in June

The Toronto-born electro-pop artist known as Diamond Rings is the latest artist to join Bat For Lashes, Empire of the Sun, Kylie Minogue, Phoenix and more over on Astralwerks Records, the New York-based label "devoted to developing genre-defying new artists with a unique musical vision." On June 21st, Astralwerks is set to re-release Diamond Rings' debut album, Special Affections in the States.

Last year was a big one for the 25 year old Diamond Rings (AKA John O), who performed at SXSW, CMJ and toured the country with Swedish electro-pop pixie Robyn. Since releasing his album last October on Secret City Records (distributed by EMI) Diamond Rings has earned heaps of critical praise from major publications, including Pitchfork and the New York Times here in America and NME over in the UK. In his native Canada, Diamond Rings landed the cover of national monthly Exclaim! and scored an impressive #2 spot in the sixth annual hottest bands in Canada poll, right behind Arcade Fire. With such a solid critical foundation to build off of, Astralwerks is ready to take Diamond Rings' career to the next level. According to Glenn Mendlinger, Senior Vice President & General Manager of Astralwerks:

“Diamond Rings is truly original which isn’t an easy feat. John has an incredible and unique vision for Diamond Rings but first and foremost he is an outstanding songwriter. We are very excited to be working with Diamond Rings to help nurture his career by offering him our vast network of expertise and resources."

Diamond Rings first came to be in the summer of 2009 when Toronto-based artist/musician John O released a homemade video for debut single, "All Yr Songs." The video earned Diamond Rings international acclaim, both for the song itself as well as for his androgynous/nerd/hipster/chic style sensibilities featured prominently throughout the video. The single, which was released as a limited edition 7", went on to receive "Best New Music" honors at Pitchfork and proceeded to sell out in just weeks. Follow up single, "Wait & See" was also released as a limited edition 7" and featured a buzz-generating video which got good exposure at SXSW and led to opening act spots with a diverse array of artists including La Roux, and Owen Pallet. Diamond Rings released two additional singles before his album dropped, the most recent being "Something Else" which featured a dancey cover of Milla Jovovich's "Gentlemen Who Fell" as a B-Side. Co-produced by Diamond Rings and James Bunton, Secret City Records released Special Affections on October 25th. Exclaim! went on to call the album the #11 Pop & Rock Album of 2010.

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