| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
|
Hot Off The Press... | ||
 | ||
| New label - FRUITS DE MER - debut release by SCHIZO FUN ADDICT "Theme One/ Ogden's Nut Gone Flake" BUY IT NOW. | ||
 | ||
|
| ||
 | ||
|
| ||
|
CONTACT Bracken Records info@ brackenrecords.com Copyright 2005-8 Bracken Records All Rights Reserved |
| PRESS |
When Fruits de Mer asked Mellow Candle's Alison O'Donnell to record a couple of 'classics' from yesteryear, at first there was reticence which soon turned to gleeful acceptance when the tracks were selected.
Not just anyone could re-model a Nick Drake song and certainly anything by Nico could prove to be almost impossible. But, Alison O'Donnell's managed to do justice to both Nick Drake's 'Day Is Done' and Nico's 'Frozen Warnings'; a massive feat methinks. O'Donnell's naturally otherworldly delivery allows her to pick up Drakes haunting and sentimental 'Day Is Done' and make it her own; subtle guitar picking and sparsely punctuative bass and drums add a certain Drake-esque tension to the beautiful song as O'Donnell puts her soul deliciously on the line with a fantastic vocal rendering. If Drakes song wasn't haunting enough, the almost inimitable Nico's 'Frozen Warning' is positively dripping with icy darkness as O'Donnell fills the grim but somehow mellow depths of the piece with more superb vocalisation set against the drone of Cale-esque tones and timings.
Amazingly, O'Donnell's re-visited creations become personal and heart-felt, her delivery precise yet empathetically steely and cold to drag every last crumb of remorse and grief from deep inside as she becomes at one with the songs. The girl chose well; two classic downbeat songs, neither easy to cover, both concealing possible numerous pitfalls for any would-be plagiarist but both beautifully handled here by Alison O'Donnell with her insightful and compelling look into the murky depths of both Drake's and Nico's chemically adjusted minds.
To choose two such difficult songs was perhaps a gamble by Alison O'Donnell - well, the gamble paid off and O'Donnell can hold her head high in the knowledge that she did herself and Drake and Nico proud with her scintillating versions of their songs.
Peter J Brown aka toxic pete (www.toxicpete.co.uk)
**********
...O'Donnell trains her sights on the work of two of the 60's most revered fallen idols - Nick Drake and Nico - as part of Fruit de Mer's ongoing covers series. Pressed on limited quantities of coloured wax of the seven inch variety within which you'll find enclosed a signed insert, with sleeve artwork provided by Aritomo...while prized between the grooves a brace of remarkable re-appraisals, whose intention it seems is to have you all a swoon, lie quietly in wait. There's something criminally complete about each and every part of Nick Drake's work...in the hands of O'Donnell and Lockett (aka Head South by Weaving) a sense of measured mesmerising mystery is coaxed to the fore, the texture applied is one that is more spectral than the original, Drake's mellow pastoral touch is replaced by a caressing ghostly hue woven from the subtle dash of softly shimmering and hauntingly hushed psyche intonations. Flip the disc for the superior 'frozen warnings' - originally recorded at the tale end of the 60's it serves as one of the often overlooked jewels in the Nico canon, O'Donnell captures perfectly the fragile almost chilling monochrome appeal of the original and frames it within a darkly hollowing ethereal soft psyche folk mantra like bewitchment that's both statuesque in deliverance and enchantingly epic in appearance. Indescribably essential.
Mark at Losing Today/ The Sunday Experience www.losingtoday.com
or check out Mark's myspace/the sunday experience blog at http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=58054418
**********
THE AMERICANS
Usually quite content to hmmm bop their way to election booths and hang a chad for the bluntest chisel in the box and believe that they've been anal probed by aliens on the way home, but still they attack little oil rich countries and cuddle up to Simon Cowell (they really have got this the wrong way round, eh?) and they haven't even sent us a decent single, though the Bracken Records people, distressingly English, but based in Bad-Bass-Batter-Dunking, Midwest, Alien Botherers, have sent us some chilling Nick Drake covers...
ALISON O'DONNELL WITH HEAD SOUTH BY WEAVING: "Day Is Done" (Fruits de Mer)
SOUNDS LIKE? A scarier than the original cover of a Nick Drake song. This is all genuine, black, shimmering and positively medieval in its menace. Winter bleak, its imperfections just magnify its effects.
IS IT ANY GOOD? It's a floor-clearer and will probably be loved by over-pale girls and troublingly sensitive young men, but fuck them. Drake is generally pure class and this is a cover that adds lustre. The flip is a cover of Nico's "Frozen Warnings". Not a surprise, and the fractured oscillations wrapped by sneaky percussion makes it all something that a sinister Syd Barrett would be doing for his dominarix
Unpeeled www.unpeeled.net
"deliciously haunting"
Fran Ashcroft, Happybeat Studios www.jaided.com/happybeat
...and we're currently No.8 in Mike Blackshaw's Totally Radio morning show chart www.totallyradio.com
"..a stellar interpretation of The Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Rainy Day, Mushroom Pillow"
Shindig www.shindig-magazine.com
**********
Some labels eh - not content with serving up one assured gem seems the Fruits de Mer workshop have been burning the candle both ends so to speak because no sooner do we dispatch with much fondness one release then along comes another in quick succession. The phrase "London buses" springs to mind. Stay hail from Spain - to be more precise Barcelona in case you were desperate for the information. This lot number four in the ranks and to date have released a handful of home grown 60's styled singles that we'd like to assume have been eagerly snapped up by the sunglasses adorned in crowd. Again limited in quantity and pressed up on coloured wax replete with fetching inserts this decidedly tasty slab of groove features three covers of certified nuggets from the celebrated kaleidoscopic pens of Strawberry Alarm Clock, Rolling Stones and Graham Nash. Opening with Strawberry's 'rainy day mushroom pillow' Stay embark on a lazy eyed head trip. Deliciously festooned with swirling Hammonds this little cutie apply with sugar glazed brush strokes is endowed with a mallowy aura that's sumptuously laced with trip wiring hallucinogens and lavishly decorated in mind vaporising dream coats of arabesque mirages that sound for all the world like they've stepped straight into the cold bright light of a late 60's morning sun from an evenings festivities at the UFO club. Next up a spectral and overtly mellower take on the Stones star glazed '2,000 light years from home' which I'll admit has recently been found looming on our player courtesy of Beyond the Wizards Sleeves re-drill of it which had spending the best part of a day during the summer trying to weed out our Stones copy mainly due to the fact that we'd forgotten how bloody good the cut was, left to the Stay lads a loose drifting gem appears in view that strangely sounds not unlike a seriously chilled out Charlatans shimmying up to a 'Planecrash' era Inspiral Carpets. Best of the set is their recalibration of Graham Nash's immortal 'Chicago' - a stunningly drifting country tinged power driven cutie superbly dashed and haloed with some moments of sublimely smoked passages of freewheeling drive time AOR that had us recalling some of the finer moments from his old sparring partner Neil Young's back catalogue as though being recast by an in form early career Teenage Fanclub. Utterly recommended listening
Mark at Losing Today/ The Sunday Experience www.losingtoday.com or check out Mark's myspace/thesundayexperience blog at http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=58054418
**********
THE SPANISH
Usually quite content with shagging trainee counsellors from Kent and pushing donkeys off the top of church towers (haven't they got this the wrong way round?) they now come swaying from the cover of falling leaves with a neat and sweetly psychedelic band called Stay and we're like, well into their "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow" single, which spoils the surprise...
STAY: "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow" (Fruits de Mer)
SOUNDS LIKE? This band are Spanish! And...
they're good! Which kind of spoils the suspense
for those wading through this bit before
savouring the tart bite judgement of the 'IS IT ANY
GOOD BIT?'. Sorry about that. Adopt recovery
position and claim that Stay are a tip-top late
sixties stylee groove-fest, complete with funky
guitar chords, throbbing organs (they can't help it,
it's hot in Barcelona) and spot on, spacey, trip out,
wig out lyrics.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Er, yes. Man.
Unpeeled www.unpeeled.net
**********
'Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow', '2000 Light Years From Home' and 'Chicago'; three classic songs from the past given new life and re-born by Barcelona's four-piece psychedelic indie rocksters, Stay. Another crackin' example of Fruit de Mer's innovative and exotic taste for 'musical re-incarnation' .
This is billed as the third such release by Fruits de Mer in their attempt to bring the best songs of yesteryear bang up to date through some of today's artists. Hey, it works extremely well, Fruits de Mar have continued to show that their selection techniques are right on the button. Here, the mighty Stay bring the music of Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Rolling Stones and Graham Nash right back into the heart of 00's rock'n'roll music scene. I love the idea behind all of this and, so far, I've loved everything that Fruits de Mer have thrown at me. It's an inspired concept and shows that 'old' music doesn't just have to be discarded as 'old hat' and 'passed its sell by date'!
Stay rejuvenate the songs by adding new vibrancy and fresh guts to the inherent great writing. My particular favourite here is, without doubt, 'Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow'; Stay have magically managed to retain the whole psychedelic undercurrent of the song but made it very 'now' and it's actually turned out to be a commercially viable work even though its title gives the game away somewhat. Stay up the ante with '2000 Light Years From Home' - another fantastic re-modelling that again could be right 'now'. 'Chicago' retains much more of it's 70's vibe and is probably the least known song of the set here. Once again Stay give it plenty and re-invigorate the song beautifully. 'From small acorns, big oak trees grow' - Fruits de Mer and Stay take the young seeds and nurture them to become elder statesmen of the music world - brilliant!!
Fruits de Mer could be on to something extremely worthwhile here; old-timers that remember the originals will be amazed at how well the old 'ens scrub up and the more youthful might just find something as exciting as we did way back then! Great work by Fruits de Mer - brilliant work by Stay - impressive and inspired re-makes of three great songs. Keep 'em coming Fruits de Mer - it's working for me - surely I'm not on my own!!?
Peter J Brown aka toxic pete (www.toxicpete.co.uk)
**********
"...admirably continue the best Fruits de Mer tradition of bringing overlooked psychedelic gems to a fresh audience. In Spanish."
Fran Ashcroft, Happybeat Studios www.jaided.com/happybeat
"To coin Stanley Unwin's phrase "What a Mind Blast". This is precisely the point where psychedelia meets Prog Rock. An amazing production that's way up there with the original. I love it" - John Hellier Wapping Wharf magazine www.wappingwharf.com
"Showing a sense of adventure and a mark of respect, Schizo Fun Addict take on two cultish oldies and odditities and bring them alive and kickin' into the 00's" - Peter J Brown www.toxicpete.co.uk
"We must admit to loving this to pieces...the best band you've probably never heard of - Schizo Fun Addict - tangle themeselves up with two certified cherries from the past...much hallucinogenic acid tabs are dropped for the mind arranging psychonaut that is 'Theme 1' - deserving to be filed away alongside Owl Service's excellent 'cine'....flip the disc for the Small Faces' era-defining 'Ogden's Nut Gone Flake'...a supernatural Siren-esque pyche dipped gem...that to these ears sounds like some kind of studio face off between the Adult Net and Strawberry Switchblade - frankly kids how can you resist?" - Mark www.losingtoday.com
"The ultimate tribute...superb and very original...the best cover I've heard of a Small Faces track in years - awesome!! 10 out of 10." - Mick Taylor Small Faces Fan Club http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/SmallFaces/
"It's a cracker. Well chosen tunes, they work very well together and it's about time people were reminded how good that stuff was" - Fran Ashcroft Happybeat Studios http://www.jaided.com/happybeat/
SCHIZO FUN ADDICT PRESS
Piccadilly Records, Manchester "Record Of The Week" (No 1 Indie Best Seller)
..."Bracken Records come up trumps once again with this three tracker from Schizo Fun Addict.
Described in the sales notes as 'indie bossa nova shoegaze', 'Dream Of The Portugal Keeper' is a gorgeous slice of sun dappled pop, with boy/girl vocals, delicate bossa nova percussion, and a kind of 60s soundtrack vibe. Add to that some wonderfully melancholic trumpet and you have a real gem.
On the flip, there's a short slightly chaotic version of the folk classic 'Elizabeth My Dear' (you know, the one the Stone Roses covered) retitled 'EMD' and they round things off with a kind of early Stones meets Velvet Underground number 'Jenny Says'. www.piccadillyrecords.com
"We were going to include this last time out but seeing as we already had one Bracken release featured in the shape of the amazing Aritomo whose ‘we become the cloud….’ really needs to be checked out before any of you get any much older - then we thought hell it would seem like we were spoiling you. With a tantalising limited sunburst vinyl edition of their fourth album about to see the light of day shortly - entitled ‘the sun yard’ the follow up to 2005’s rather inspired ‘the atom spark hotel’, this softly serenading three gem nugget reveals a shift in perspective for the Schizo Fun Addict sound. Not so damaged and deranged as previously evidenced between the grooves of the more fractured ambitions of the aforementioned third full length, instead ‘dream of the Portugal keeper’ is a liltingly forlorn end of summers past echo to the late 60’s flower pop scene, described in the press release as ‘indie bossa nova shoe gaze’ which frankly though we’ve tried we can’t better - that said what we will add as further testament is that this silkily delicate treat takes its reference markers from Camera Obscura, L’Augmentation and Oddfellows Casino and weaves the ingredients into a deliciously fading beauty peppered with a bracing trumpet appearance by Roberto Muolo that casts a wintry hue upon the pastel laced setting of heart stopping serenades provided for by the lovelorn sweetly glazed boy / girl harmonies and tumbling cascades of pastoral prettiness that trickle with lazy eyed sereneness from this aching gem. The flip side features ‘traditional’ which many of you may well more readily recognise as the coda that featured throughout Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Scarborough Fair’ itself finding its origins dating back to medieval times, in recent times its been covered by a wealth of artists existing at polar ends of pop’s great firmament including Sergio Mendes, Martin Carthy, Bert Jansch, Nana Mouskouri, Queensryche and more recently by the Stone Roses on ‘Elizabeth my dear’. Left to their own devices the Schizos work the classic score into an unhinged and haunting twanging lysergic moocher providing along the way evidence indeed that they haven’t quite yet lost that knack for throwing you onto the back foot just when you thought things were getting a little comfy. ‘Jenny Says’ rounds up the pack - record observers of these ramblings may well recall that this lost gem initially appeared on Death of Fashion’s essential full length ‘hello movement’ (their ‘these days’ debut also happened to feature in these very pages at missive 69 - Ed!). Originally penned by the Schizo’s - so in effect this is a cover of another bands cover of their tune (getting terribly confusing this) - ‘Jenny Says’ is reclaimed from the clutches of Death of Fashion (whose own version we noted at the time as sounding not unlike Link and Duane shimmying up to JMC) to be superbly re-aligned and tweaked to sound not unlike the Modern Lovers with a bad case of the Velvets with the Flaming Stars stumping up the riff struts. Has to be heard. We eagerly wait with baited breath for that vinyl full length. For now though deputy single of the missive. - Mark at www.losingtoday.com
'Dream Of The Portugal Keeper' is a beautifully proportioned piece of, what the Schizos refer to as, "indie bossa nova shoegaze"! Like Velvet Underground re-born, Schizo Fun Addict put raw creativity and fascinating unpredictability back in modern rock music; by juxtaposing simplistic naivety with mature complexity, Schizo Fun Addict take street-wise, guttural pop-rock to new places.
Make of that description what you will but, however obtuse you might think those words are, this great single release is nothing short of beautiful rock subtlety that borders on nu-folk and manages more than a touch of popability. Seemingly a leap of faith for the Schizos but one that's turned out well for them; 'Dream Of The Portugal Keeper' is quite stunning! What 'Dream Of The Portugal Keeper' does is it shows the massive versatility and creative ability of this often slightly bizarre but strangely compelling outfit. Here they produce a sensitively performed work that drifts effortlessly along and cries quality. Its gentle blend of simplistic guitar and syncopated percussion is stunningly interspersed with gentle horns and synths. Vocally, the Schizos show their true abilities with some superb individual work and some well crafted and thoughtfully assembled harmonies. 'Dream Of The Portugal Keeper' is superb. Schizo Fun Addict should start to make new friends through 'Dream Of The Portugal Keeper' - quite right too!
'Dream Of The Portugal Keeper' comes with two cool 'B' sides in the form of 'Traditional' and Jenny Says'; both tracks are much more in the usual Schizo style - arty, angular, gritty and very individual! 'Dream Of The Portugal Keeper' is a crackin' single that deserves success to help bring well earned notoriety to the excellent, if sometimes dark, Schizo Fun Addict. - Peter J Brown aka toxic pete
www.toxicpete.co.uk
(Rhythm & Booze rating 10)
SOUNDS LIKE? Mexican brass getting soulful with some heavily drugged prog-rock jazzers, probably why the guitar is so understated and sooooooooo fucking superb, but one of the flippers, “Jenny Says”, is slo-mo mex-brit-pop menace as Lou Reed and The Kinks disintegrate before your ears.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yeah.
WHY? Americans get slagged off a lot, mostly deserved, but they’re not all brain-wreck cholesterol cases. - UNPEELED. www.unpeeled.co.uk
ARITOMO PRESS
Norman Records, Leeds - "Single Of The Week" - "The 'We Became The Cloud' 7" on Bracken Records is said record and it's a lovely thing for sure. Wispy ethereal sounding mystical folk to gentle you off. It's great... this is what I want on my cereals in the morning. It just would get your day off to a great start.... With records as great as this there is truly no more need for toast. Cool sleeve as well..... well Japanese." - www.normanrecords.com
"Beguiling, strange, enchanting and supernatural are perhaps descriptions that could easily be applied to this rather gem like two track from Japanese fuzzy folkster Aritomo. The accompanying press release admits to it being nigh on impossible to describe exactly what is going on and who are we to disagree though one thing we are in unison about is that this release - given the chance to unfurl and breath - may just se itself being a surprise late comer finding its way to sneaking into a few end of year lists. Principally for fans of Deerhoof, Damon and Naomi with Ghost and Animal Collective, to date the multi talented (he’s a painter and sculpture when not crafting willowy dream montages) Aritomo has somehow managed to sneak out two full lengths this year alone in the shape of ‘Saku Ena - Blooming the Ena’ and ‘Kowai komorebi - fearful sunshine filtering through foliages’ which if this single is anything to go by should in a perfect world result in a stampede of newly acquired fans beating a hasty path in an attempt to secure both as their very own. ’we become the cloud….’ is a lushly spectral (yes I know the two are polar opposites) foray into the fabled half lit realms that exist just out of the minds eyes focus and beyond the recognised states of reality, caressing corteges of slightly strummed guitars shimmer in fluffily discordant delight creating an eerie though sensually enticing sleepy eyed translucence that’s part trippy part dream like, throughout this genteel cascade the breezy lull of flotillas of flutes romantically play peek a boo to colour in the voids to cast a sublime and disorientating patchwork of delicate pastoral ambience. A bit like a ghostly surreal Nick Drake if truth be known. If ’we become cloud and….’ was fragile and frail then ‘the circular flower’ over on the flip is hauntingly magical, trestles of lonesome heads bowed and bruised pining string arrangements accompany this forlornly dislocated and fractured slice of intensely noire-ish folk which at times had me recalling the earlier outings of the Virgin Passages, Hush the Many and more specifically Her Name is Calla of whom regular observers to these pages will know full well we hold in high esteem. Though that said what makes this cut so special is its ability to turn everything topsy turvy when 1.40 in it re-routes itself momentarily into a fringe re-arranging psyche folk flashback of sorts which fans of Volcano the Bear and Set Fire to Flames may do well to check out. For now though the holder of the joint deputy single of the missive while we here go on a cyberspace expedition to nab those aforementioned full length pretties as our own." - www.losingtoday.com
"This entirely analogue recorded and mixed single will be unlike anything else you will listen to. In 'We Become the Cloud' Aritomo's vocals wash over the sections of guitar and flute, almost as though they are a ghost recording or for another track entirely. This theme is developed further in 'The Circular Flower' which stops and starts, has interludes, has phases where you think a new track has started and an unpleasant deep rumbling section that is like I would imagine the KLF's sonic weapon to sound like. All this with a distinctly oriental overtone. It's a rich sensual feast that cannot be ignored." - www.tastyfanzine.org
Aritomo set out to create new art in the form of "music that doesn't sound like anything else"; ok, that's got that sorted then coz 'We Become The Cloud And...' is indeed like nothing else I've encountered before.
'Japanese Folk' is how Aritomo reluctantly describes his music. Certainly, there's a lot of Japan floating around in there and the overall feel is suitably calming and reflective. Aritomo believes that most people don't really listen to music anymore, not like they used to. But, I have to disagree there and hope that he's wrong because Aritomo's music HAS to be heard and re-heard to get the true benefit from his unusual but absorbing take on 'folk'.
Aritomo won't win many prizes for his vocal work but I really don't think that's what this is all about - Aritomo makes music for the senses - he creates tapestries of sound, full of texture and aural colour. Ok, his work does tend be a little removed from the 'norm' and it's definitely not commercial in the true sense of the word. What his music does do is it creates visions, generates feelings, conjures up worlds outside our own. It's mind music - it's instrumentally poetic and I see Aritomo's voice as just another instrument to add an extra dynamic to the soundscape. It matters not what Aritomo sounds like and it probably matters even less what his words are saying - it's all just another brick in the wall and that wall is a modern day Bayeux tapestry that doesn't so much hang in your vision as sit somewhere inside your own mind and allows itself to be shaped and moulded by incoming 'sound'. Aritomo provides the stitches for the tapestry and then allows the listener to create his/her own Bayeux. I think the clue is in the title, 'We Become The Cloud And...'!!
'We Become The Cloud And...' and it's 'brother in arms', 'The Circular Flower', by Aritomo is music-art, a step removed from what you'll come across routinely. Aritomo is giving something to you, should you chose to take it, that you can 'run' with, make your own, add meaning and/or detail, take it to wherever you want. Aritomo gives you the fuel and leaves you to provide the wheels to get to wherever you want to go. Different - but that's the point!!! - Peter J Brown (aka toxic pete) www.toxicpete.co.uk
(Rhythm & Booze rating 7)
SOUNDS LIKE? Something played at the wrong speed and underwater, but very much like something you’d like to hear.
IS IT ANY GOOD? I think so, the melodies are moresome.
WHY? It’d annoy the living crap out of Yoko. - UNPEELED. www.unpeeled.co.uk
ILONA V PRESS...
Ilona V - Single - "Good Morning"
"SINGLE OF THE YEAR" - Stephan Karkowsky, Late Night Lounge, Radio Eins, Berlin
"AMAZING...something very beautiful on Bracken Records" - Huw Stephens, BBC Radio 1.
"it isn't just a single, it is my favorite song of the month" - Stephan Karkowsky, Radio Eins, Berlin www.latenightlounge.de
"Exquisite...the amazing voice of Ilona V" - Finlay Mackenzie, Isles FM, Scotland.
"What a lovely slice of folk to break the recent reviewing drought with. Ilona V has one of those airy voices that barely seems to make it out of the speakers yet dances perfectly along the sparse guitar lines accompanied by just the right amount of harmonica. Pretty reminscent of the sound of Monkey Swallows the Universe in their quieter moments - 'Good Morning' will most likely make your whole day." Tasty Fanzine UK, www.tastyfanzine.org.uk
"A hushed and blissful track that hints at Vashti Bunyan, Marissa Nadler, Nico or even Nick Drake. It's Ilona's voice, fragile yet somehow powerful, that creates the magic here, made all the more alluring by the stripped down and simple ambient guitar led backing. A deep and calming breath of fresh air, in a suffocating and stressed world, it's lovely stuff and another winner on Bracken records!" Piccadilly Records, Manchester www.piccadillyrecords.com
"Finally an official Ilona release. If you are a regular visitor of this website, you already know that I'm completely in love with her music. She is the greatest folk chanteusse at the moment and deserves a wider recognition. Thankfully Bracken Records saw the light and decided to release this beautiful seven inch single. If onechord gave culture awards, Bracken records would get one just for releasing this.
The a-side Good Morning already appeared on her self-released EP, but it certainly deserves an official release. Such a beautiful piece of music where the warmness of the music makes the sadness of the lyrics fade away. A perfect song. There's two new demos on the b-side that I've never heard before. These are Universe Arms and Who Can Tell. Needless to say that both are truly magnificent. Universe Arms is even up there on the same level as Ilona's best songs Neverever, Fall Song and Good Morning. I'm just totally in love with Ilona's music. I just find her soft vocals and the gentle instrumentation of the songs totally irresistable. How can something so small, evoke so much warmness. The closest comparison I can come up with is still Sibylle Baier, but one can assume that fans of people like Keren Ann and Rose Melberg might fall in love with Ilona as well. Actually for me it's impossible to think that someone wouldn't love music as amazing and warm as this. Therefore I suggest you pick up this single before it's too late. There are only 300 copies available and if there's any justice these will be worth a lot when the world falls in love with her. My romantic heart hopes it will be only a matter of time." - One Chord (Finland) www.onechord.net
"Touchingly introspective bitter sweet pop from the label that brought us choice cuts from the likes of Schizo Fun Addict, Spare Snare (and) and his voice became - Bracken deliver the goodies big time in the sophisticated shape of New York based musician Ilona V. Limited to just a miserly three hundred copies, this seven inch nugget comprises three tracks of such breathless beauty as to leave you all at once beguiled and bruised in equal measures. ‘Good Morning’ is deliciously sparsely treated, delicately spun rustically hued acoustics lovingly caressed by the sound of a warmingly complimentary a vocal as we’ve heard since Emma Pollock stepped up to the plate with her former charges the Delgados and lushly added the icing to ’pull the wires from the wall’. Think Half Light, think Anna Kashfi - then think again. ’Good morning’ aches in its own disparate fragility, sensitively charming yet teased with a sense of hurt and a pre-occupation not to be hurt. The melodies succulent, full bodied, wholesome and cut finitely with a clipped vintage texture that suggests time spent pouring over those recently unearthed treasures of yesteryear by Vashti Bunyan, Chris Harwood and Susan Christie. All this longingly scratched by a breezy harmonica (always a good addition in our book) that endows upon it a cutely idyllic and laid back gloss. Add to the mix the delicate dusting of twinkle some bells a la Velvets ’Sunday Morning’ and richly harmonised vocals that arc and flutter to both romance and entice and you have yourself something that speaks in a dialect more associated with Louden Wainright III though delivered from the soul of a bruised angel. Flip over for two additional demo cuts. ’Universe arms’ serves up softened slices of tenderly measured flurries of slow to unfurl tingling rustics that to these ears sound not so dissimilar to a spectral variant of Sarah McLachlan. ’Tell me why’ which wraps up the set is a freeze framed moment of Simon and Garfunkel’s ’Scarborough Fair’ magnified beautifully - arresting doesn’t even cover it. Frankly how can you resist?” Mark at Losing Today www.losingtoday.com
"Obviously, writing gibberish about records in your dressing gown isn’t nearly as hardcore as defusing mines in Basra, but there’s still pain, acute and real, in knowing that something as sweet, knuckle-bumping and sharp as “Good Morning” is unlikely to get any audience, let alone the one it deserves and demands. This is a scalpel-waving gentle genius of a song. Just listen, a minute will do." - UNPEELED. www.unpeeled.co.uk
"Folk music has been having a steady revival for a few years now with acts such as Tunng, King Creosote and James Yorkston leading the UK charge to bring back the subtle beauty of a well crafted song. Now Glasgow based Bracken Records once again provide a marvellous musical moment by introducing the UK to New Yorker Ilona V (Ilona Virostek) and the single ‘Good Morning’.
Recalling the gorgeous sounds of Nick Drake, Ilona V possess a voice so superb it has an overwhelming feeling of harmony on your inner soul the moment your ears are formally introduced. She plays a gentle guitar on all three tracks on this release, all of which display a fragile tenderness that compels the emotions. Ilona is the very essence of a private artist according to reports, recording her material in isolation to a tape machine in her apartment. This ethereal quality is something you can almost taste in every chord of ‘Good Morning’, grabbing your attention from the first moment you hear her voice the track holds your ears for over four minutes before you feel compelled to reach up and press the repeat button. In a musical world saturated with nothing but preening and posing this level of heartfelt authentic honesty brings tears to the eyes. The release is backed by two gorgeous demos, ‘Universe Arms’ and ‘Who Can Tell’ which thankfully will simply make you want to go and search for more from this very special songstress.
Currently living in New York she sadly has no live dates scheduled at the moment. ‘Good Morning’ is now to be included on a film soundtrack which will hopefully bring Ilona V to as wide an audience as possible. Very few singers have the ability to play with such authentic beauty as this recording thus making it something to be cherished beyond words." - Aled Jones, GLASSWERK MAGAZINE. www.glasswerk.co.uk
"It just don't get much more stripped down than this - listening to 'Good Morning' by Ilona V is like stepping into a secret garden where everything is serene and pure, a place devoid of clutter, a life-giving place to re-energise and rejuvenate, an oasis in a parched desert.
Ilona V's music reminds me of some of the more simplistic and pure works of Damien Rice; accompanied by nothing much other than succulent, punctuative acoustic guitar, a couple of bars of harmonica and cello and the occasional percussive interjection, Ilona lets her beautifully sensitive, gentle voice carry you to a better, more fulfilling place. 'Good Morning' and its two 'B' sides, 'Universe Arms' and ' Who Can Tell?' are like a breath of fresh air in an oppressive smog, a drink from a crystal clear stream when you're surrounded by stagnation and pollution.
Ilona V has turned urban, poetic music back on its head - she's returned to basics, to a time when lyrics mattered, to a time of evocative words, sympathetic accompaniment and sparse, empathetic arrangements.
Ilona's music may sound a little morose at times but somehow, and I think it's through her musical honesty and sense of downhome-ness, she still manages to be uplifting and refreshing. For me, when I listen to Ilona V, I hear the poetry of Joni Mitchell, the sensitivity of Carole King and a vocal delivery that hints at the more subtle side of Nico. Her chosen road to musical acceptance and recognition is not an easy one to navigate - Ilona V and her promotion team have work to do to gain her the exposure she'll need but, if she maintains this extremely high standard and can get out to the masses I can only see success on the horizon for Ilona V." - TOXIC PETE.
(www.toxicpete.co.uk)
(Rhythm & Booze rating 9)
TILLMANNS PRESS...
- “I’ve died and gone to heaven” MIKE BRADSHAW, Totally Radio
- "Indie rock, eighties style, returns to the UK thanks to Swedish based Tillmans who provide a vocal splendour that will tingle the spine to its core. Anders and Bjorn are based out of Gothenburg and they deliver a quintessential indie sound that makes one wonder why the hell doesn’t a British band sound this good? Their sound is as mean as a relative who only gives you socks at Christmas and is matched with a voice that will leave you breathless.
The recent trend of re-discovering the eighties has now become such a travesty that it’s hard to comprehend what will happen next. The success of bands such as The Killers has spawned countless cash-ins as everyone declared their love for synthesisers, but when Kelly Osbourne decided to jump in then you really have to start panicking. Thankfully Tillmans are here to save the day and deliver a sound that although re-calls a decade past, capturing the true essence of the period, it still has its own breath, allowing it to exist today. The sound re-calls Joy Division / New Order style guitar riffs and electronic splendour coupled with what is possibly the best vocals of 2007 so far. The voice driving the track is enough to make even the straightest of men quiver with excitement, god knows what it does to women, as the deep mournful drawl covers a landscape of sound that any indie urchin would love to traverse on a Saturday night. Opening track ‘Superfiction’ deals with the usual heartbreak all young lads must endure to become men. The track perfectly provides the soundtrack for boys to play for girls and then say at the end ‘that’s how my life is!!’. The electronic swirl carries the listener into the haze of a gorgeous pop filled heaven where the likes of Mcfly et al, are incarcerated Guantanamo style. B-side ‘Frame of Mind’ picks up where ‘Superfiction’ left off and is dripping with disaffection and that typical teenage surliness that we have all unleashed on parents and friends alike.
This is another superb release by Scottish based Bracken Records which brims with an authenticity and independent splendour that one has come to associate with that label. So much of what goes around today is on the whole empty, plastic music for the masses dressed up as essential and cool. Tillmans’ sound could find an audience no doubt as it awash with true unadulterated cool that makes you want to listen to it as you walk down the street all distant and dark. The simplicity of the sound coupled with a voice that is hard to find superlatives for, this is a superb release that makes one wet at the prospect of a full album." ALED JONES, GLASSWERK.
- “A very special piece of white vinyl.” Norman Records
- “Another essential release on Bracken Records.” Piccadilly Records
- “Ridiculously catchy, grittily groovy and replete with swathes upon swathes of austere starry eyed old school future-esque electronics that form shadow play antics upon a deceptively delicious indie funk underpin that'll make long time listeners of the late Mr Peel simply swoon.” Losing Today
THE BOY FROM SPACE PRESS...
Huw Stephens, BBC Radio 1 ...that's brilliant, that is...
The UK music scene has grown so repetitive and dull it’s almost frightening when somebody dares to be different. We are told that the things to watch this year are acts like Mika and The Twang, which is basically the new James Morrison and Arctic Monkeys of this year, how original. The music world sadly needs a return from the likes of Captain Beefheart, Sun Ra or George Clinton in some form or guise. God only knows what may become of Schizo Fun Addict or The Boy From Space, in terms of massive radio play et al, very little I assume. But this is the music that everybody needs to have pumped into their brains so they can at least say they listened to something different once in their dull grey lives - Aled Jones, GLASSWERK.
Tasty Fanzine said...
- a lounge lizard version of Psapp. Cringingly good.
UNPEELED said...
- A kind of Beta Band going dancey over a corporate motivation tape for salesmen. Surreal, danceable, slick, accessible, inventive and madder than a rat in a pancake. We’re going to like this lot, a lot.
SCHIZO FUN ADDICT PRESS...
- "I was so impressed with this record...been listening to it at night in my bed...Absolutely beautiful. One of my favourite unsigned tracks ever." CLINT BOON, XFM Manchester on Schizo
- “Occasionally one comes into contact with something so insanely original that words simply fail to grasp the brilliance of the endeavour. This is the music that everybody needs to have pumped into their brains so they can at least say they listened to something different once in their dull grey lives.” ALED JONES Glasswerk
- “Genius.” Tasty Fanzine
- “Drowsy, dusty, ace.” MAPS Magazine
- “Made to make the bits of you that jangle go into seismic overdrive. This has awesome branded on its hide in dayglo lettering. Classy.” Losing Today
- “Make Sonic Youth sound like the fucking Archies.” Unpeeled
- “Great stuff!” Piccadilly Records
- “Has a weirdness that makes it as charming as it is odd.” Norman Records
ILONA V - available now.
