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| Us & Them singles are particularly lovely and shall be with us second week of December 2009 - you need this beauty to sustain you through the long dark winter, trust me! Email in the usual way to RESERVE. | ||
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| More copies of FdM Vol 6 - VIBRAVOID Krautrock Sensation EP will be available soon - email to reserve. | ||
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CONTACT Bracken Records info@ brackenrecords.com Copyright 2005-8 Bracken Records All Rights Reserved |
| READ IT |
"A beautiful, dreamy version of the song (Julia Dream), it drifts into your consciousness and makes itself comfy"
Brain Damage
www.brain-damage.co.uk
"Us & Them are the swedish boy/girl duo of Anders and Britt who create a warm, almost paganist style of traditional folk littered with psychedelic references and canterbury prog-folk tendencies. The second side contains two reworked Tudor Lodge tracks; 'Home to Stay' and 'Dialogue'. Slow burning and eerily atmospheric in approach this tracks are totally Wicker Man... If you know what i'm saying. With the source material translated with great care and enthusiasm these Tudor Lodge tracks feature beautifully arranged instrumentation and act as a fitting tribute to the acid folk pioneers. The A-side features the Roger Waters penned 'Julia Dream (Of All the Pretty Little Horses)' as well as a reworking of a traditional arrangement credited to the group. Again, both tracks toy with the acid folk formula and make for incredibly twee listening."
Norman Records
www.normanrecords.com
"a cover of Floyd’s ‘Julia Dream’ merged with the traditional ‘All The Pretty Horses’ that apparently inspired the melody of ‘Julia’…There are also versions of ‘Home to Stay’ (Tudor Lodge) and the haunting ‘Dialogue’ (Jackson C. Frank)…Us & Them make beautiful music, and it’s possibly the best FdM release yet (however, I still really like Stay, Mark Fry & Vibravoid!!!)! Gentle / dreamy female vocals, sparse musical backing…It’s almost perfection! Forget about everything for a while and lose yourself in this!Excellent fragile acoustic psych"
Nick Leese, Heyday
www.heyday-mo.com
If there were a section for valuable and original cover versions, then both Bracken Records and Us & Them ought to have a prominent place within it. The Vibravoid Krautrock EP that featured as part of this series last year is still a firm favourite in my CD player, and this release now has a place right alongside it.
It’s completely different, of course, from the swirling, vibrant assault of the Vibravoid EP. This one swirls, but in a very different way. Its plaintive vocals add a further element of wonder to Jackson C Frank’s ‘Dialogue’ and the merging of ‘Julia Dream’ and ‘All The Pretty Little Horses’ for the elongated opening track is conceptual genius married to perfect artistic dexterity.
My favourite, and the track I’m featuring in my January show on Dandelion Radio, is the version of Tudor Lodge’s ‘Home To Stay’, where those fragile vocals meet the spiky arrangement head on. This is the track I will feature if I ever get round to repeating the one-off cover versions special that featured on my old Idiot Jukebox radio show back in 1994 (I think).
Essentially, what this means is that the Bracken Records/Fruits De Mer have done it again. They’ve added, and keep adding, to the legacy of the cover version in music. And they’ve introduced me to an utterly wonderful musical project whose work I shall continue to explore with great curiosity.
Unwashed (http://www.last.fm/user/Unwashed/journal/2010/01/08/3bnudo_in_my_january_dandelion_radio_show%253A_us_%2526_them)
Dandelion Radio www.dandelionradio.com
"So begins the first review of 2010. And where better to start than with the latest release from those retro vinyl-pushers, Fruits de Mer Records? This time they’ve called upon the services of Swedish anglophiles (musically, at least) Us & Them, and produced a 3-track EP worthy of Venus herself.
As is the form with these Fruits de Mer limited edition vinyl releases, Us & Them knock out interpretations of songs from the sleepy mists of the sixties and seventies. This time around there’s three of the blighters, giving the disc EP status (extra player, for those born after 1990). These are Pink Floyd’s ‘Julia Dream’, acid-folk combo Tudor Lodge’s ‘Coming Home’ (though the song actually stems from a later reunion of the band), and American folk legend Jackson C Frank’s haunting ‘Dialogue’.
The girl-boy duo of Britt (vocals) and Anders (instruments) deliver three achingly beautiful acoustic psych renditions, maintaining the high standards set by previous Fruits de Mer singles, but it’s ‘Julia Dream (Of All the Pretty Little Horses)’ that really stands out.
The original Pink Floyd song is given an acoustic workout and seamlessly blended with the traditional lullaby ‘All the Pretty Little Horses’, the melody of which provided the basis for Roger Waters’ original composition. This unique seven-minute arrangement is a ghostly requiem, plucked from a swirling ether of abandoned souls that evokes memories of not only David Gilmour’s original vocal, but Mark Fry’s lingering brand of acid-folk and Jacqui McShee of Pentangle. Once heard, it’s hard to shift the wistful allure of ‘Julia Dream (Of All the Pretty Little Horses)’ from the mind – not that you’d want to.
Full marks, once again, to Keith and Andy on their unorthodox, yet successful labour of love, and for securing the services of the excellent Us & Them in this, volume eight of their cracking series."
Headfullofsnow
www.headfullofsnow.com
"crossover folk/psych from Us & Them (a superlative new duo from Sweden)"
Mike Bradshaw - Totally Radio
www.totallyradio.com/show_pages/shows.php?show=4
"Simple similarity, sombre sonic serenity, loose languid lucidity. An exquisite ethereal excursion into the realm of one's psyche. Perhaps peering outside against a frost etched window at a Canadian winterscape it becomes apparent that these three tracks, intermeshed and entwined, become the perfect backdrop on a night such as this. As I listen, the snow glistens and the Mill Race Mild Ale stimulates a parched throat with darkened amber and a new friendship begins.
Fruits de Mer, a gem of a record label, has set another jewel into it's psychedelic ring. A true record collectors' label, bands that cover songs that most of us may not of heard, but perhaps read about in our musty and dusty "collectable" bibles.
Us and Them, Anders and Britt. And a new EP : All The Pretty Little Horses/Julia Dream.
Guitar strings are plucked and moribund chords fall like molten feathers, betraying the haunted heaviness much as a snuffed candle's wafting smoke. Her voice...liquid silver drops, spilling against a backdrop of birch trees, standing stark, maddened amidst a whitefall curtain of snow, let pour down, drunken and windswept from a battleship grey heaving sky.
"All The Pretty Little Horses" shimmers, somersaults and splices into "Julia Dream", non identical twins, seamlessly caressing and cocooning, as much so as the ale spider lacing your grey matter custard. Sheer brilliance, and opulent in their delivery, effervesance illuminating an otherwise bleak path. Happy/sad, familiar in a "womb" sort of way.
"Dialogue": ..."I want to be alone", sung as a pin dropped to the floor, reverberating. Vocal and guitar transcend a frightened heightened urgency. Alone and scared, a paean to the dark recesses where one's mind is rapt in torturous ardour. Expecting more, the guitar ends in hiss, guillotined by silence.
"Home To Stay": Like a fine wine and Julian Bream, then her voice prods like the sun peeking and peering into the crack of a curtain, playfully awakening the senses one by one. A multitude of instrumentation, but just, recedes and then jibes again, complete and replete with a celeste(?).
Here (hear) everything old is new again. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and yes Virginia, in these fading times of vinyl, there is REAL music.
Us and Them......no contest, a true winner. Anders and Britt, take your deserved bow.
Stan Hilborn
Adventures In Plasticland, 98.5 airwave, Waterloo Ontario Canada/www.ckwr.com(internet)
www.myspace/adventuresinplacticland.com
US AND THEM – Fruits De Mer Volume Eight (Fruits De Mer) – Now this series is always worth checking out, this fine series of singles always throws together an ambitiously interesting set of well thought out treats. They don’t hit the absolute spot every time, they’re always worth checking out though. This eighth one might just be the best of the series so far. Us And Them are a Swedish boy/girl duo, she, Britt, sings and he, Anders, plays all the instruments. The instrumentation is simple, glowing acoustic guitar with some delicate warm keyboard textures underneath – minimal tunes that leave plenty of space for Britt’s beautifully intimate voice to breath and glow, Us And Them are always good, this single is extra special.
Now this is a Fruits De Mer single so there’s always a story and a slightly left-field song or two covered, always something extra to explore... they don’t just throw out singles, this is all cleverly planed and considered and this time a treat of a musical coach pulled by six white horses... Us And Them does automatically pull thoughts towards Pink Floyd and the lead track here is a meltingly beautifully version of the relatively early Floyd classic Julia Dream, only it isn’t quite that either because this almost seven minute version is a little bit more than just a cover.
Seems the original Floyd version’s melody was loosely based on a traditional folk lullaby called All The Pretty Horses, this is a gorgeously seamless and deliciously enchanting coming together of the two songs as one. The original traditional English lullaby and the quiet Floyd sound become one melting piece of must play again and again perfection called Julia Dream (All The Pretty Horses). Just right for curling up with, and yes hibernating until Spring with. You just have to hear it, the beauty can’t be described here on (electronic) paper, words are not enough. The Pink Floyd starting point is rather beautiful anyway, never really heard a bad version of Julia Dream, this version is right up there with Rebsie Fairholm’s, this is a special, a perfect mix of traditional folk and Floyd psychedelia... All so simple, all so clever, all so gorgeously rewarding...
And of course there’s more, this is Fruits De Mer, the other two songs here are equally as interesting and almost as good (come on you couldn’t expect these next two to be as good as that sunlight bright upon their pillow can you? Almost though, very close).
Tudor Lodge were one of those obscurely classic early 70’s British acid-folk bands. Us And Them cover a Tudor Lodge song here called Home To Stay, a simple folk song that instantly has us scurrying to the web in search of more (seems they’re still doing things). Meanwhile Dialogue is a Jackson C. Frank song - there’s quite a story to him, big influence on Nick Drake (and an equally tragic figure so it seems), reputedly the person who persuaded Sandy Denny to pack up nursing and take up music full time.
Dialogue comes from his much loved by those who know 1965 album. One of the darker tracks and one of the most beautiful, all we can say here is Us And Them have done Dialogue justice, and you know what, might just have been wrong about this not being quite as good as the lead track - definitely wrong, this is painfully beautiful. Easy to see how his songs influenced Nick Drake. And that Tudor Lodge song is beautiful as well, once again Us And Them have covered it in glowing style – all dreamy and intimate and just all so perfectly right. Pretty difficult to imagine Us And Them making anything that wasn’t gorgeously glowing, that wasn’t alive with almost perfect beauty.
This is a very special three track single, a play again and again and again piece of treasure that you really should check out. As always with the Fruits De Mer series, the single will be a very limited 7” pressing so don’t hang around. One of the best singles for a very long time... Almost too good, must be something wrong here, nothing is this perfect? Oh yes, boring artwork... there see, we are being objective.
The Organ Mag
www.organart.com
"Most people don't want challenging music, meditative music or even albums of music anymore. The public wants bubblegum, lots of it, just so long as it can be remixed to a house beat and played in a continuous mix whilst they swallow Sours shooters down the local grease pit, then they are happy. I'm sorry, that's just people, I see them everywhere like cattle chewing cud into mobile phones, all of them with about as much taste as a used lollipop stick. This unfortunately means that most people won’t like Us & Them, which is a shame as they make beautiful, haunting music, a bit like The Wicker Man soundtrack being sung by Capser the Friendly Ghosts mum. All of the songs on this EP are covers, ‘Home to Stay’ by Tudor Lodge and ‘Julia Dream’ by Pink Floyd have become, in the hands of Us & Them so fragile you stop breathing in case you break them. The third cover. ‘I Want To Be Alone(Dialogue)’ is covered in the same way, unfortunately losing the immediacy and emotion of Jackson C. Frank’s original, though still pleasant nonetheless. Highly recommended to anyone who doesn't watch X-Factor"
Unpeeled
www.unpeeled.net
"...a seriously groovy lounge take on "Baby You're A Rich Man" upcoming by Cranium Pie, backed with a rather strange/experimental version of "Mad Man Running Through The Fields". The style of music is as different over both sides of the single as The Beatles used to be, and just as interesting too! Fab!"
Heyday
www.heyday-mo.com
"I love pie. I had a small pie yesterday that cost me 4 pounds. Pricey but worth it. Sometimes in your life you've got to treat yourself and spend over the odds on pie. I once spent 5 quid on one in Brighton... After the feeling of being ripped off, I ate my pie and enjoyed it. I didn't think it was worth the 5 pounds.....AND YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE AWARD WINNING! I don't think I'd fancy a Cranium Pie though and that is coincidentally the name of the artist on the 7th Fruits De Mer 7" with their cover of 'Baby You're A Rich Man'. It's a hammond organ tastic cover with it sounding just like Booker T & The MG's and Procul Harum (the press release is spot on...). The flip is a cover of Dantalian's Chariots "Madman Running Through The Fields" which is insane 60's psychedelia and clearly the product of vast drug consumption. Am well jealous..."
Norman Records
www.normanrecords.com
"really like richman....mellow hammond instrumental bobs along nicely and the climatic ending with mellotrons sounds great when cranked up. madman....mad!- in a good way. a trip."
Wurzel (a guy passing by the Norman site)
"..the barking mad, phased out psychedelic rock of Cranium Pie, chucking out a blistering rendition of Dantalion's Chariots "Madman Running Through the Fields", complete with spectral vocodered chorus and backwards vocals"
Head Full of Snow
www.headfullofsnow.com
Uncut passes comment on Cranium Pie's single...
Ok, so it's a passing reference of 'Madman Running Through the Fields' in a review of 'A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Volume 2', as compiled by Amorphous Androgynous (aka Future Sound of London), but it's the first time any of our tracks have got a mention in Uncut, so we're making the most of it....
"...mind-expanding sounds..."
...that's it...three words, and two of them hyphenated, but it's a start. Who else has offered a view...
Fruits De Mer’s near-evangelical dedication to both the 7” single and the sound of vintage psychedelia has already yielded versions of ‘Care Of Cell 44’, ‘Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow’, ‘Mother Sky’, ‘Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake’ and other similarly titilating titles across their first six releases. Psych, acid-folk and Krautrock covers are the order of the day; delivered with varying degrees of fidelity and authenticity by fine and freaky flag-wavers and issued as a collectable singles club in proper arty sleeves. Nigh on perfect.
In keeping with this ethic, Cranium Pie render The Beatles’ oft-neglected ’67 B-side as an easy listening/prog hybrid instrumental (think Arzachel’s ‘Queen St Gang’ without the hangar-sized echo) and Dantalian’s Chariot’s much-revered ‘Madman Running Through The Fields’ as an electronic spoken-word piece which flips into reverse halfway through and never fully makes it back from the abyss.
Inspired and insane. Roll on volume eight.
Shindig!
www.shindig-magazine.com
"Like Arthur Brown singing with the Bonzo Dog Band"
Classic Rock mag
What if Syd's Floyd had covered Can? What if Amon Duul had been a London band? The closest you will ever get to the answers is this 4-track ep by Vibravoid. Covering 'Mother Sky' by Can is a frighteningly ambitious thing to do - but Vibravoid get away with it by turning it into a 60's psych single, clocking in around the 5 mins mark and complete with spooky organ sound.
If this sounds blasphemous or pointless to you, then move on; other though can delight in this cheeky little 7" EP. It is one of those records that should not work but somehow does. It helps that the band have a personality of their own that they bring to the songs. It also serves to highlight some on the original artists influences by taking the songs back closer to their source, kind of like playing a Rolling Stones track in the classic blues style. It is audacious, charming and a whole lot of fun.
Was Ist Das krautrock webzine
http://www.wasistdas.co.uk
"I've only heard two tracks so far, and I'm completely blown away. An absolutely 'out there' version of Can's "Mother Sky" plus Amon Duul's "Eye Shaking King". The other tracks to complete the EP are going to be "Ruckzuck" (Kraftwerk) and "Rauchkraut" (Mashantra). I'm sure they going to be a blast too!"
Nick Leese HeyDay Mailorder
www.heyday-mo.com
Vibravoid "krautrock sensation" EP (fruits de mer). More turntable tweaking essentially purchase perfect platters from those damn fine people over at fruits de mer. This time pressed up on 7 inches of 'baby blue' wax and again limited - to I think just 300 copies - if that is my memory serves me correct. By the way who are you again. On this occasion a four track EP no less which finds Berlin uber lords of all things way out and cosmically fuzzed Vibravoid setting their stun guns for a spot of grooving and grinding krautrock action. One for the space cadets among you me thinks though we firmly recommend the donning of helmets with mind warping protective visors because this really is the bollocks and features four covers that first surfaced on radars back in the days when the likes of Can, Amon Dull II, Mashantra and Kraftwerk were at the peak of their hypnosis inducing powers. Of course Vibravoid are no strangers to these pages given we last touched dock with them via a superb Fuzztones cover set from a few years back. As said this four part head drilling kraut crooked set features appraisals of the genres finest and opening with the rather dinky and upbeat pop tinkered Kraftwerk gem ruckzuck which originally appeared on their debut opus, here removed of its floral electro folk trimmings (which just between you and me veered into territories occupied by Desmond Dekker's Israelites), Vibravoid take it on a cosmic voyage and supplant the originals stop start chin stroking funky experimentation with a bracing hyper driven glide like chassis, not a million miles in terms of sound and delivery as Stirling Roswell we here are more than a tad transfixed by it flighty effervescence and its dimpled swirly accoutrements that unless we are very much mistaken appear to have been borrowed from the Human Leagues seconds. next up Amon Duul II's eye shaking king is propped up on the inspection bay - again the originals heavy bearing wig flipped is given a near faithful re-drill though on this occasion laden lushly with mind expanding lysergic snake winds and galactic traversing Aquarian communications processed through the ether - wonderfully warped stuff. The re-treatment afforded to Can's Mother sky provides the set with its best moment veering similar trajectories previously ventured by the Stones 2000 light years - it's a simply stunning slice of wasted and out there bliss fuelled transcendental groove metered upon an exotically repetitive layer of Arabesque mirages and skull pummelling beatnik grinds suffering 60s flashbacks - hell its enough to have you donning the shades growing your hair and decamping for a spot of astral planing while rounding up the set some decidedly eerie weirdness in the guise of an old mislaid nugget from Mashantra who admittedly much to our embarrassment we've never encountered prior to this, anyhow rauchkraut is its name - apparently recorded in 1968 and sounds not unlike the kind of trippy though clearly spooked studio tweaking oddness once committed to tape by White Noise who as you all should know was essentially the work of electronic sound pioneer David Vorhaus aided and abetted by Radiophonic Workshop graduates Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson. Nuff said - essential purchase - so off you pop now.
Losing Today Magazine
www.losingtoday.com
Dusseldorf's Vibravoid give us the Record of the Week choice this week, with four top notch krautrock cover versions that really hit the mark.
Piccadilly Records
www.piccadillyrecords.com
The new ep kills!
Psychotropic Zone
www.unimeri.com/PsychotropicZone
"a double-speed soundtrack for ancient Frankenstein films"
Unpeeled Magazine
www.unpeeled.net
"Without doubt the pick of the bunch among the four FDM releases recently shipped. Its only been in recent years that the name Mark Fry has been uttered in the select hushed circles of purists of lost and rare folk releases of a lost age, appearing in the Record Collectors top 20 of "strange folk" the Lewis Carroll inspired "Dreaming With Alice" was cruelly ignored at the time of its release, often passed over in favour of releases more commercial and pop orientated. The album released in 72 in Italy quietly slipped beneath the radar and into obscurity occasionally appearing on auction sites the most recent fetching several thousand pound. A CD re-issue by Italian imprint Akarma in the late 90s refuelled interest giving Sunbeam records an excuse - not that they needed one - to commit to putting out a lavish repress in both CD and vinyl formats. In the meantime Mr Fry having returned back to first love - art / painting - has been sufficiently coaxed back to music and has recorded a new body of work "Shooting the moon". again strictly limited (possibly to just 300 copies) and pressed up on 7 inches of purple wax this release features two cut culled from that ultra rare psych folk set - namely the title track and a live edit of "The Witch" recorded last year at Chicago's Empty Bottle. Disturbingly beautiful and tranquil, "Dreaming with Alice" is dappled with the same introspectively tinged mercurial magik as once graced the work of Nick Drake, delicately floral, flowing and fluent its dinked with a darkly haunting aura that serves to captivate and caress the would be listener, the richly colourful tonalities succulently dream weaving a beautified lazy eyed and cascading nature bound mantra much reminiscent of the earlier work of Brighton's Oddfellow's Casino. An absolute treasure in a word. Flip over for the aforementioned live take of "The Witch" - awash in the translucent glaze of mysterious Eastern psych mirages this fairy dust kissed mind melting gem comes bathed in lysergic riff shimmers and breeze driven flute flurries whose remit it seems is to have you blissfully transported to some distant spiritualist point tucked far away in the minds eye. Perfection."
Losing Today Magazine
www.losingtoday.com
"This re-recording loses none of the beauty of the original version, it's pure bliss actually...Well worth the wait. Kudos to FdM for managing to coax it out of him...But, what about the b-side? It's a live version of The Witch that is sitar-tastic! One hypnotic folk-raga that's sure to appeal to the Eastern loving music freaks!" - Heyday, London - www.heyday-mo.com/catalog/
"SOUNDS LIKE? This album sounds like it wants to be described as haunting and moving, with a melancholic longing that would squeeze blood from the stoniest of hearts, so that's what I'm saying.
IS IT ANY GOOD? If you like that sort of thing. Imagine a girl and a guitar. The girl is in a dark room. Outside the wind rattles at the loose roof tiles. The trees can be heard whispering wishes and creaking complaints. There may be an owl, or there may be a wolf, but apart from the distant sounds of nocturnal predators the girl is alone with her guitar and the candles are burning low. Imagine this girl is still a girl and not yet a woman full at the hips and cynical even of sunsets, she still believes in her dreams. Imagine her heart aches from never being broken. Imagine she sleeps hugging her pillow because she's outgrown her soft dolls and isn't quite old enough to share her bed. Imagine she still wants to be a princess. Now imagine the songs she sings to herself to keep the night at bay, and the loneliness from her heart. Imagine the stories she tells herself to keep her dreams alive. Imagine the sound of her voice. Imagine she feels guilty for her innocence, that her naivety is an excuse for not wanting to learn. You've just imagined this beautiful album from Haruko. If you like what you imagine then buy it. If you don't then you have probably watched too much television and eaten too many sugary snacks, which has killed your imagination and rotted away with your teeth." - Unpeeled - www.unpeeled.net
PICCADILLY RECORDS, MAnchester - Folk Record Of The Week.
"Haruko is the previously unknown (till now!) teenager Susanne Stanglow, this is her debut album - a stunning loner folk classic that demands repeat listens. For comparisons think Cat Power when she was doing her stripped down early recordings. I expect her to be signed to the likes of Domino, Rough Trade or Bella Union very soon on the basis of this!!
What's it all about? It's about being outdoors all year round, climbing, walking, running, stalking. It's about mountains and wooded lands, little birds and desert sands. It's about changing seasons, enchanted lands, dragons and monsters, and holding hands. It's about nightmares and dreams and cats and time, and children living in nursery-rhyme. It's about love and loss, and discovering things, fairytales and nature dancing, and it's how a waterfall would sound if it could sing. It's about safely waking on the perfect day for you, smiling at nothing to be done except what you choose to do. It's about what life should be about, and it's one of the most beautifully evocative albums we've ever heard. Loner folk never felt more intimate and warm than this!!" - Picadilly Records, Manchester www.piccadillyrecords.com
NORMAN RECORDS, LEEDS, UK - ALBUM OF THE WEEK and NUMBER ONE BEST SELLING ALBUM for two weeks and counting.
It's rare a singer songwriter album will blow your socks off. It does happen but they're far and few between. This Haruko LP/ CD (the CD is housed in a 12" vinyl sleeve!) on Bracken records is one of said sock blowing off records and I'm now sat barefoot wondering where the fuck my socks are. Haruko is a lady called Susanne Stanglow who currently lives in Germany and there she recorded this album at home over a 3 week period. Throughout the 10 tracks on 'Wild Geese' you'll be treated to some beautifully crafted simple songs which leave their hooks in crippling the ability for any other song to get into your head (until you hear some annoying shite on the radio.... and then you'll want to smash your radios face off). Susanne's voice is delicate and frail, and it's daubed over the guitar plucking with such simplicity you'll be weeping like a baby in no time. I'm not sure what to write about this album to be honest as I think the music just speaks for itself. Fans of early Cat Power will like this as it's not a million miles away from Chan Marshall's earlier more sparse recordings. It's thoroughly delightful and I can see this appearing on a lot of folks end of years lists. That is if they get a hold of one as there's only 300 vinyls pressed so I wouldn't dawdle if you're unsure!! - Phil, Norman Records www.normanrecords.co.uk
You know for some reason this record has been in my thoughts and kind of haunting me since I first heard it. Listening back to the clips makes me realize why... (and why I need to get a copy) ...We're in the midst of something exceptional here, something very special. This girls voice is so fragile and delicate it could reduce a grown man to tears...Every so often you hear a voice which touches you profoundly and for me that has not happened for many years.. until now. To my ears this is indeed one of the most magical and wonderfully enchanting modern folk records I've heard in ages. A work of deeply personal and intimate beauty that goes beyond words. Buy on sight and I don't say that lightly. - Ant, Norman Records, www.normanrecords.co.uk
"I thought the folk beauty of last year's Early Love Music from Werkraum would see no rivals for some time, but like a lone feather this album fell into my hands and onto my platter. And it blew me away.
I don't know much about Haruko: Her real name is Susanne Stanglow, she's from Germany, and this is her debut album. Accompanied by her own guitar, she recorded this album herself, at home. The only trickery is some doubletracking of her voice, and the occasional glockenspiel. Still, the album is shimmering with beauty. Haruko's voice and her songs are so fragile I fear they might break. Her love of nature and its creatures may be dreamy, but not without loss or melancholy. Life is magic, and life is sadness - the world may be broken and damaged, but it surely would be a poorer place without this album.
www.lunakafe.com
"What can we say. Since arriving in our gaff this hollowing honey has entranced not only this particular listener but his hi-fi as well. Haruko - a by all accounts common Japanese girl's name which roughly translated means "spring child" is the chosen nom de plume of a certain Susanne Stanglow who according to her my space page can these days be found in the wiles of Germany - exact location unknown though we'd like to think its somewhere remote possibly a crooked shed deep in the woodland in earshot of nature's chorus of beautified bird song and the gentle ripple of a nearby stream surrounded. For "wild geese" incidentally not to be confused with - ah hem - the film of the same name has all the ring marks of something whittled in the wild far removed from society's annoying distractions. Our copy comes replete with a dinky lyric pamphlet featuring artwork by Susanne and a most heart softening message of such humbled self depreciation commenting on her perceived flaws within the recording. Frankly girl I haven't a clue why your fretting for "wild geese" aside being exquisitely crafted in something approaching elegiac could well be one of the silent outsider contenders for folk album of the year. Ten mellowing murmurs feature within that operate with the same spectral intimacy of Lisa O Piu (none more so than on the rustic shanty like shimmer of "autumn, golden trees") and Lucy Wren, all the time "wild geese" lilts and lulls with an alluring shy eyed desire awash with the tug of faintly translucent love notes that softly glide - their bows (wo)man armed with just an acoustic guitar applying the tenderly stressed fretwork of the undulating tumbling and cascading pastoral rustics that pour forth themselves imbibed with a supernatural mystique. From the moment the crackle and hiss of the stylus connecting to the vinyl passes "welcome to Loveland" appears ushered upon a drifting mistral, softly beckoning and dappled with a free spirited aura its slight of hand purr reminiscent of the bare beauty of Damon and Naomi's collaboration with Ghost a few years ago. Immediately your transfixed by its apparition like fleeting demeanour. "spring in our lungs" gathers apace, beautifully timeless in texture and lushly hushed in a detail that recalls the more genteel Mayday follies of both Mellow Candle and Fairport Convention. Then there's the breathless rush of the Gaelic timbres of "man in the moon" by which point you're helplessly enchanted by Haruko's lullaby spectres, their weaving and wooing tapestry crafted and carved in an mysterious un-worldliness rarely heard wielding such touching and haunting romance as the debut brace of albums by Ms Bush. There's something faraway and lost in the moment about the sleepy headed "morning dreams" that suggests it needs to be heard to be believed - fans of Susan Christie will no doubt be all-a-swoon to it. Likewise with the ethereal and magical "the mountain adventure" which push come to shove - and believe you me it's such a difficult call to make - perhaps provides the set with its defining moment being all dreamily awash with mellowing tonalities and the trembling trimmings of woody watercolours. Simply perfect.
Key tracks:
The mountain adventure
Morning dreams
Spring in our lungs
Welcome to Loveland
- Losing Today, www.losingtoday.com
I have been busy lately, but then I heard something that stopped time and I needed to write a quick blog entry. Just breathtaking. Breathtakingly beautiful.
One Chord To Another, Finland http://onechord.wordpress.com/2009/05/20/haruko/
Just thought I would let our readers know of what promises to be an amazing forthcoming LP by German folk musician Haruko (Susanne Stanglow). It's called Wild Geese and it's being released by Bracken Records in the early summer as a limited 12". It's going to be Haruko's first release (I believe), and I only had to listen to a couple of myspace tracks and samples to realise that this is probably going to be the folk release of the year. - Shaded Moontide http://shadedmoontide.blogspot.com/
You really can't go wrong with a Nick Drake song can you? Well yes actually, these things are very precious, the bird has flown and you have to have something very very special to really live up to the magic of the original. Same with Nico, two beautifully tragic people, two exquisite music makers, two precious songs that require careful handling, loving care and attention to detail... Second part of this Fruits De Mer series of limited edition coloured vinyl seven inch singles where the label invites a singer, band or such to record two classic covers. Alison O'donnell has a such a rich dark full voice, she sings her choices of Nick Drake's Day Is Done and Nico's dark moody Frozen Warnings in such a beautifully transient way. So full of space and warmth, I must confess I was a little worried about listening to the Nick Drake cover - nothing to worry about here, these versions are wonderful. Really must go and explore what else she has, these versions are magical
Single of the Week
Organ http://www.organart.demon.co.uk/neworgan.htm
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 http://www.losingtoday.com/tales.php?id=214
or check out Mark's myspace/the sunday experience blog at http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=58054418
The a side is a cover of Nick Drake's 'Day Is Done' which is a dicey one to cover just cos it's so dear to a lot of folks hearts. I think she gets away with it though as she's got a lovely voice and the music has been played sympathetically. The flipside is a is wierd fuzzy psych folk thing which I oddly prefer. It's kind of dark sounding with a Venus In Furs thing going on in it. Well good!!
Norman Records
www.normanrecords.com
Alison O'Donnell has managed to re-structure 'Day Is Done' though by stripping the orchestration, adding drums and electric guitars, plus backing vocals. The result is a more powerful rendition of the original without losing any of the feel lyrically. It can't have been easy! A well thought out interpretation that does no harm at all to Nick Drake's, or for that matter, Alison O'Donnell's continuing legacy.
With 'Frozen Warnings', she takes Nico's stark message and drops the temperature further with an intense and hypnotic performance. Quite harrowing too. Nico would have loved this!
Nick Leese HeyDay Mail Order www.heyday-mo.com
Icy stuff!
Stuart Maconie BBC Radio 6 'Freakzone' http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/freakzone/index.shtm
The Fruits De Mer section of Bracken records asked several promising artists to interpret some of the classics outside mainstream pop, for their series. "Day is Done" (Nick Drake) and "Frozen Warnings" (Nico) are amongst such well known classics, which Alison remarkably interprets perfectly, with a deep feeling for the songs and with a convincing voice as well as with perfectly suiting arrangements. "Day is Done" is arranged with acoustic and amplified guitar with a bass drum-like bass, and with some electrified violin mixed into the background, and with some vocal overdubs near the end. It almost became like a new classic, and with a stronger voice of hers than ever. Also "Frozen Warnings" is well interpreted, and translates perfectly John Cale's arrangements into wave-oscillating guitar, and it is with a deeper hidden underlying folk rhythm on different acoustic instruments. This is absolutely successful as well. The beautiful front cover was designed by psychfolk artist Aritomo. (I will review his own single soon. A reissue of his first album you can expected soon as well).
Psychedelicfolk
http://www.psychedelicfolk.com/folk-rock.htmlanchor_91
Both versions add an extra darkness and starkness to the already tragic originals. if you think alison o'donnell's best work is behind her - think again
Rough Trade (www.roughtrade.com)
Alison O'Donnell was the lead single of folk legends Mellow Candle. And now she is reborn here on Fruits De Mer Volume Two, taking on two cover versions, Nick Drake's "Day Is Done" and Nico's "Frozen Warnings", backed by Head South By Weaving she's come up trumps with two wonderfully stark and haunting renditions
Piccadilly Records (www.piccadillyrecords.com)
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
'Frozen Warnings' a swirling, disturbing drone of shimmering guitars and atmosphere which sees O'Donnell lend a skilful unhinged tinge to her voice. I think Nico would have approved.
Tasty magazine
http://www.tastyfanzine.org.uk/singles80nov.htmAlison%20ODonnell%20with%20Head%20South%20By%20Weaving
...and we're currently No.8 in Mike Bradshaw'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
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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
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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)
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"...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. 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 60s flower pop scene, described in the press release as indie bossa nova shoe gaze, which frankly though we have tried we cannot better - that said what we will add as further testament is that this silkily delicate treat takes its reference markers from Camera Obscura, 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 Garfunkels 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 pops great firmament including Sergio Mendes, Martin Carthy, Bert Jansch, Nana Mouskouri, Queensryche and more recently by the Stone Roses on Elizabeth my dear. 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, 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 are 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 is 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 is 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. 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 would like to hear.
IS IT ANY GOOD? I think so, the melodies are moresome.
WHY? It would 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 have 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. Who Can Tell? which wraps up the set is a freeze framed moment of Simon and Garfunkels Scarborough Fair magnified beautifully - arresting doesnt even cover it. Frankly how can you resist? - Mark at Losing Today www.losingtoday.com
"Obviously, writing gibberish about records in your dressing gown isnt nearly as hardcore as defusing mines in Basra, but there is 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.
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 have 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 doesnt 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 is 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 is 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 is 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 are 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
