New! Sonic Liberation 8 – BOMBOGENIC
Introducing Bombogenic – Sonic Liberation 8 with The Classical Revolution Trio & Oliver Lake. 2016 [HT-35, 12″ LP, HT-36 CD, & Digital Download]
Whales & Cops – Great Bouncing Icebergs
Whales and Cops - Great Bouncing Icebergs
Whales & Cops
Great Bouncing Icebergs – EP
2008 Cd, Mp3 Download (#2)
Fan of Friends: From the Desk of…
- Alaskas
- Give Yourself a Coffee Break
- With Fear and Amazement
- Directions
- Drunkards
- Brake Light Eyes
- Everything
- Ticks
- [download#24#nohits] [download#24#image]
- Countertop Landscapes
Fan of Friends is a quartet that plays folk music with a great deal of respect for the old and new traditions of the genre. Featuring banjo, guitar, violin, and cello, Fan of Friends create dark, somber songs that fuse that the gritty urban landscape of the band’s Philadelphia home with Appalachian folk and string-quartet classical music. With three of its members alternating between lead vocal duties, the Fan of Friends’ songs a wide diversity while maintaining a sharp consistency.
The group ‘s primary vocalist is Joshua Marcus, whose has released two tremendous solo albums and was a member of the Philadelphia band Like Moving Insects. He is joined by sisters Harmony and Chelsea Thompson on strings and Josh Newman (of Adam Arcuragi’s band) on guitar and bass.
What distinguishes the quartet from Marcus’s solo work is Harmony’s gripping, chilling singing and the cryptic songs from Newman. The band excels both in its simplicity and their uncanny ability to weave their voices in and out in harmony. It’s modern folk music that has much in common with R.E.M. and Fleet Foxes.
Originally started as a quintet that featured Adam Granduciel, currently the frontman of Philadelphia’s War on Drugs, the band coalesced as a quartet. After almost three years of playing shows (mostly at alternative spaces in Philadelphia) and appearance at the Popped! Philadelphia festival, Fan of Friends’ first release was a 7″ vinyl single released by High Two in 2007.
Fron the Desk of… marks the second collaboration between High Two and Contraphonic. In April 2008, the two labels co-released Joshua Marcus’s second solo album, Reverse the Charges. The album features Marcus’s songs exclusively, but relies on support from the members of Fan of Friends, plus 30 additional musicians for incredible folk orchestrations. Promotional copies of Reverse the Charges are available upon request.
SELECTED PRESS:
“Reverse The Charges reminds us that though songs of love and loss have been with us since we lived in trees, those are topics that never lose their power; we all struggle with the same juju. Sounding like a jaded Neil Young, or an even more exhausted Will Oldham, Marcus creates deeply effective songs that are melodic but with a sense of weariness.” — Foxy Digitalis
” I’ve been a big fan of Joshua Marcus since I first heard his yearning, plaintive vocals, his resonating banjo and his updated Appalachian mountain music.” — Songs:Illinois
” West Philly is the land of potlucks, porch gatherings and living room concerts. I first fell under the raw and open-hearted spell of the band Fan of Friends at one of these shows two years ago. Marcus sings, but then, they all sing. I get a chill when Harmony’s voice reaches up cresting unevenly over the evocative refrain “Who do you think you are?” in the song “Larks Are Card Keys.” It’s a spell song, one of the most right there and real in young American folk. Marcus earnestly beckons listeners with his stripped-down banjo playing and warm, dark vocal strains. Look for FOF’s new 7-inch from High Two. Fan I am of these friends. — Philadelphia City Paper
Make A Rising – Infinite Ellipse
Make A Rising - Infinite Ellispe...
Make A Rising
Infinite Ellipse and Head with Open Fontanel
2008 CD, Mp3 Download
Public Record: Public Record
Public Record - s/t
- Intro
- Look How Dead the Reeds Get
- Fake Rain
- French Suburb
- A Beaten Path
- Throw it Towards Rome
- Mermaid’s Purse[download#4#image]
- Fall of the Fruit
- Ca Purange
- Heavy Ornament
- You are a Mara
- At the Blinds
- Comfortability
Gareth Duffield: guitar, keyboards
Brent Bohan: bass
Greg Pavlovcak: guitar
Hilary Baker: alto saxophone
Ted Johnson: drums, percussion
Matt Lyons: drums, percussion
Charles Duquesne: drums, percussion
Recorded by Jeff Zeigler at Uniform Recording, Philadelphia
Philadelphia septet Public Record blend together a vast array of musical genres ranging from early-disco to shoegaze; Afro-beat to Scottish postcard pop; and northern soul to Factory Records funk. The product of this co-mingling of musical ideas and sensibilities is a refreshingly creative take on dance music that manages to surprise and bewilder listeners with each changing verse and track. When it’s all said and done they could be described simply as a pop band or a dance band, but it will be their complexity that will allow listeners to enjoy multiple dimensions otherwise figured to be missing from many groups today. The 13 tracks of Public Record’s self-titled debut bring to fruition the band’s unique composite with great intricacy and cohesion.
Reviews
Philebrity.com
“Your new favorite band …anyone can get into them: drum circle nerds, indie kids, boomers,
old timers, whoever.”
Washington Post’s Express:
{Apr 15, 2008, Katherine Silkaitis}
“Public Record’s debut exemplifies Duffield and Bohan’s belief in both moderation and
experimentation…. the two have added five members to the group and created an identity for Public Record that transcends easy genre-tagging… even the biggest music nerd might be thrown for a loop with some of Duffield and Bohan’s references.“
Washington City Paper
{Apr 9, 2008, Maggie Serota}
“The result is subtle and well-orchestrated instrumental riffs that don’t fade into the background as comfortable dinner party music. Public Record advertises to those who use music as an entrancing conduit for getting lost inside their own heads as well as those who
are prone to shaking hips and shuffling feet.”
Reax
{May 2008, Jason Ferguson}
“Public Record is a messy, funky and wide-ranging party band.Weaving afrobeat, dub, indie rock, spazzy post-punk, chunks of driving soul and an atmospheric jazziness into their sound, the instrumental sextet is hellbent on defying any strictures of genre expectation. And they certainly succeed… Public Record is as much about sonic bravery as it is about sweaty fun.”
Girl About Town
{May 2008, Royce Epstein}
“This record is all about versatility, agility, complexity, and diversity. Even though the songs are dance-able, this isn’t a vacant pop record.”
Uwishunu
{Apr 2, 2008}
“After a long time in the making, Public Record has created a masterful debut album that instantly has established the band as one of the best instrumental bands in the U.S. and has set the table for even more innovation in the near future.”
Dream Magazine
{Summer 2008} This Philadephia sextet mix up a heady combination of soul pop, ska, jazz, funk, a dash of krautrock, icy cool, and lots of human warmth. Refreshingly all-instrumental with guitars, keyboards, bass, alto sax, and two excellent drummers these guys stir up a truly joyful noise that will have you dancing even if you’re sitting down, but it’s just as effective to be hypnotized by, as it is to groove to. This outfit is making universally appealing music that will delight even the most jaded hipsters as much as it does dancefloor divas.
Make A Rising: Infinite Ellipse and Head with Open Fontanel
Make A Rising - Infinite Ellipse...
- Sneffels Yokul
- All One or None
- Peaceful Paths
- Woodsong Part One
- Bradford’s Big Boatride [Beyond (The Dawn)]
- [download#3#nohits] [download#3#image]
- Your Karmic Obstacle
- Look, I’m Almost Dead
- How’s ‘Bout a Love Supreme
- Woodsong Part Two
All Songs by Make A Rising
Justin Moynihan: piano, keyboards, voice, saxaflute, accordion
John Heron: percussion
Brandon Beaver: guitar, voice
John Pettit: bass, trumpet
Jesse Moynihan: guitar, violin, voice
Andrew Ciccone: clarinet, bass clarinet
with:
Margie Wienk – cello
Evan Lipson – doublebass
Dan Scofield – saxophone
Mike Dur – trombone
Ashley Deekus – marimba
Salihah Moore – flute
Lisa Stuempfig – vocals
Kelly Kietzman – vocals
Mary Halvorson – vocals
Eliza Hardy – vocals
Sharif Abdulmalik – vocals
Brendan Cooney – vocals
Ben Leavitt – vocals
Recorded by Make A Rising with Bill Moriarty, Edan Cohen, Andrew Gilligan, and Tom Nichols.
Mixed by Colin Marston
Mastered by Alan Douches
Photos by Ryan Collerd
Philadelphia’s Make A Rising is back: bigger and better than ever. Expanded to a sextet for its second album, Infinite Ellipse and Head with Open Fontanel, Make A Rising has realized its potential.
After laudatory press for the 2005 debut Rip Through the Hawk Black Night, Make A Rising hunkered down and began working on an intricate, elaborate follow-up. Holographic in nature and transpersonal in effect, Make A Rising is a band that composes unlike any other. While most
experimental bands reside either completely inside or totally outside traditional pop song forms. Make A Rising writes its own rules. The result is excitingly original and marvelous amalgam of genres and influences, layered with spontaneity and energy. We wouldn’t say it, if
we didn’t mean it: Absolute masterpiece.
While the band’s debut earned Make A Rising plenty of fans and admirers across the country, Infinite Ellipse finds the band have refined and expanded its unique style. While Rip Through showed a inventive band full of ideas, Infinite Ellipse showcases a band that has coalesced its ideas and has painstakingly perfected its elaborate and necessarily complex recording process.
Make A Rising formed in 2003 out of the ashes a few other projects (the band was originally known as New Planet Make A Rising). Ambitious from the beginning, Make A Rising resolved early on to have an ever-evolving sound. Although there are certain reference points that people hear in the music, the band has never been limited itself into a specific genre. The concept of the band is that of MAR as a “composition” group.
The band writes music slightly out of its own comfort zone, so as the band has evolved, they have had to change the way they write.
Like its predecessor, Infinite Ellipse‘s tracks vary not only from each other, but have numerous various parts in each song. Very rarely is anything straightforward or obviously sequential.
Although all the members contribute to the songwriting process, brothers Justin and Jesse Moynihan are the main writers in the group.
Infinite Ellipse and Head With Open Fontanel features contributions by members of Normal Love, Fern Knight, and Shot × Shot.
The last three years has seen Make A Rising sharing the stage with artists such as Dr. Dog, Dirty Projectors, Lightning Bolt, Man Man, Uz Jsme Doma, Pattern is Movement, Gang Gang Dance, Neil Hamburger, as well as two South by Southwest appearances (2006 and 2008) and headlining the opening night of the Popped! Philadelphia festival.
Reviews
NPR’s All Songs Considered
{Apr 8, 2008, Bob Boilen}
“[I was] pleasantly knocked out. What a rollicking, theatrical ride.”
Philadelphia Weekly
{Mar 26, 2008, Doug Wallen}
“The West Philly troupe may employ homemade props and costumes, cycle through drastic mood swings in record time, and reach for the stars with their swooning, orchestral racket, but it’s all done with immense affection and an eerie attention to detail.
Skeptical? Pick up their new album Infinite Ellipse and Head With Open Fontanel, and slap on a pair of headphones. See what I mean? Insane though it is, the album gels better and more quickly than their previous effort—2005’s Pitchfork-lauded Rip Through the Hawk Black Night—and is as notable for its sense of control as for its careening energy. That said, if you thought Man Man were the most puckish live band in the town, you haven’t seen Make a Rising.
Philadelphia City Paper
{Mar 27, 2008, MJ Fine}
“Careful what you wish for. If you listen to Make a Rising’s second album, Infinite Ellipse and Head with Open Fontanel (High Two), hoping the avant gentlemen will obliterate your brain, you might not be prepared for how they achieve the desired effect. Rather than fill every space with noise, they overwhelm and then pull back, leaving you alone with the thoughts you were trying to escape in the first place.”
{Apr 2008, Assaf Vestin}
“…I feel I haven’t done justice to this wonderful album in my review. If at all I feel I’ve diminished their achievement with my mumblings. This is a fabulous album, one that is already on the top of my favourite albums for this year and is quickly becoming a personal favourite, regardless of year.
More than just four stars.”
Prefix
{Apr 24, 2008, Jim Allen}
8.5 out of 10
“Make a Rising makes challenging music, but the ample rewards easily outway any demands.”
Dream Magazine
{#9, Summer 2008}
Manic cartoon pop ala XTC in a funhouse hall of mirrors shape-shifting themselves into a psychedelic infinity of possible permutations, then slow disintegrating ice crystal snowflakes by piano and birdcall like high woozy Smile outtakes. Almost a Randy Newman melody married to a harmonized heroic prog-rock march that ultimately blooms into a holy lost Flaming Lips prayer. Elsewhere they bring to mind Akron/Family, Charles Ives, the Beach Boys, Mr. Bungle, King Crimson, Moondog, Spirit, and others. Quite sublime and certainly one of the best albums of 2008.