broken horse

Damon and Naomi - live UK/Italy

2011-12-05T22:08:00.003Z

Damon and Naomi are flying over to Italy this week via a brief stop in London. See them with the excellent Richard Youngs (final four shows only).

London, UK - December 11 - Viola Nights @ Whirled Cinema

Torino, IT - December 13 - Blah Blah
Padova, IT - December 14 - La Mela di Newton
Ravenna, IT - December 15 -Bronson w/ RICHARD YOUNGS
Firenze, IT - December 16 - Sala Vanni, w/ RICHARD YOUNGS
Cavriago, IT -December 17- Calamita, w/ RICHARD YOUNGS
Mogliano Veneto, IT - December 18 - Filanda Motta w/ RICHARD YOUNGS

kevin tihista - bats

2011-10-31T12:55:00.001Z

Kevin Tihista 'Bats' - taken from the forthcoming album 'On This Dark Street' coming in early 2012 on Broken Horse.

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The Lives of Charles Douglas: NOT YOUR KIND OF MUSIC

2011-10-18T13:48:00.001+01:00

The Lives of Charles Douglas: NOT YOUR KIND OF MUSIC: Broken Horse Records in Manchester, UK will soon be releasing a 60-song retrospective of my 90's home recordings, titled NOT YOUR KIND OF M...

The Lives of Charles Douglas: MY BEARD GROWS, MY CULT GROWS

2011-10-18T13:48:00.000+01:00

The Lives of Charles Douglas: MY BEARD GROWS, MY CULT GROWS: The other day I got a nice email from a guy named Fred Champion, who used to own the CD Alley record store in Wilmington, NC for over a dec...

stone cold crazy love

2011-09-09T21:32:00.002+01:00

Patrick Cleandenim's Stone Cold Crazy Love is the lead track on the cover mount CD accompanying the new issue of Word Magazine (George Harrison, Adele, Freddie Mercury on the cover) Also includes tracks by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Plaid, Jonathan Wilson and more.

patrick cleandenim - fish on the sand

2011-07-28T17:24:00.001+01:00

Taken from the forthcoming Vinyl LP 'Radio Heartbreak'.

damn and naomi - uk & us press for false beats and true hearts

2011-06-20T16:06:00.001+01:00

Allmusic
**** (four stars)
by Tim Sendra

After taking a few years away from the studio, Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang return with their seventh studio album, False Beats and True Hearts, and show absolutely no signs of age, wear and tear, or deterioration. Once again working with Ghost guitarist Michio Kurihara, the duo weaves together elements of folk, psych, dream pop, and indie rock into an enchanting sound that is both fresh and comforting. Very few artists are able to keep doing roughly the same thing for more than a few years without running out of inspiration, but Damon & Naomi seem like they could keep making albums like this forever without wearing out their welcome. Partly they manage this by varying their sound a bit from album to album. Here they add Yang's piano to many of the tracks, giving them an undercurrent of '70s singer/songwriter intimacy. The album is also a little less produced and arranged than the last record, with more direct songwriting and poppier melodies. That being said, it's still a D&N record, so you can expect Yang's trademarked dreamlike basslines; Kurihara's fluid and whip-like guitar; Krukowski's subtle yet powerfully flowing drumming; and songs that are autumnal and introspective, with the kind of emotional wallop only music made by people who are attuned to the true nature of life and love can have. Most of the emotion is transmitted through the instruments, but both Yang and Krukowski have fragile, untrained voices that can convey all kinds of feeling with just the smallest crack or whisper. On False Beats and True Hearts, the duo is in fine form as usual; Yang especially keeps growing more confident and expressive with each record. Her vocals on "Nettles and Ivy" are quite possibly the best work she's done to date. Many of the songs on the album rank with their best work -- the tender and nostalgic-feeling "Ophelia," the raging (for D&N) album-opener "Walking Backwards" that features Kurihara's most biting guitar work, and the heartbreakingly sad-sounding "And You Are There" all qualify. Taken as a whole, False Beats and True Hearts does, too. It feels like Damon & Naomi have always been around to soundtrack the inner lives of melancholy dreamers smart enough to seek them out, and with this album they continue to provide the same impressive and necessary level of solace and inspiration, deeply felt songs, and enchanted performances that they always have.

Pitchfork
6.9
by Matthew Murphy

Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang are still most often celebrated as the rhythm section of Galaxie 500, two decades after that beloved group's demise. Perhaps then it is important to note that False Beats and True Hearts is the fourth studio album the duo has recorded in collaboration with guitarist Michio Kurihara, of the psych-folk Japanese powerhouse Ghost. This means that Damon & Naomi have now officially created more music with Kurihara than they ever did with Dean Wareham in Galaxie 500, and over a considerably longer stretch of time. So it seems accurate to say that this, then, is their true music: hushed, vibrant folk-rock punctuated by discreet electric guitar and quiet horns, all of which bear only the most passing resemblance to vintage Galaxie 500.

In the time since Damon & Naomi's previous studio album, 2007's Within These Walls, the duo has kept itself characteristically busy. They've toured the world, released the video anthology 1001 Nights and the best-of compilation The Sub Pop Years, and overseen a lavish reissue of the Galaxie 500 catalog on their own 20/20/20 imprint. Given all that activity, it is somewhat surprising to hear how little has changed sonically on False Beats and True Hearts, and the album can give the impression that Damon & Naomi have used the recording process as a way to exhale and re-center themselves creatively.

It's interesting to observe the range of sounds that have now become a regular presence in the duo's work. There was a time when it would have seemed wholly out of character for a Damon & Naomi album to open with a trebly burst of psychedelic guitar, or for one of their songs to feature a languid saxophone solo. But over the course of their past several albums, these elements have become such a familiar component of their music that here at times the duo can sound a bit too comfortable. In addition to Kurihara, the album features guest spots by Ghost's leader Masaki Batoh, trumpet player Greg Kelley, and multi-instrumentalist Bhob Rainey, and there are points where Damon & Naomi's quiet vocals and thoughtful lyrics risk getting lost within their own lush accompaniment.

Damon & Naomi's recent archival activity has provided listeners with an excellent opportunity to investigate their entire musical timeline. The tempos have always been slow, and the volume still tends towards the hushed and intimate, but the overall texture of their music has undergone a gradual change. In Galaxie 500's music, Dean Wareham's voice and guitar, Naomi's melodic bass, and Damon's drums were each given a distinctive role to play, and each stood out in relative isolation in the group's spare production. On False Beats and True Hearts, however, the instruments are allowed to casually blur into one another, with acoustic guitars and piano and reeds uniting to create a single dense weave as Kurihara's hypnotic guitar soars in and out above everything. It's an inviting sound, yet one that often sacrifices sonic fireworks in favor of a general atmosphere of enveloping warmth.

Beneath the album's placid surfaces there is a subtle but persistent tug of melancholy. The Naomi-sung "How Do I Say Goodbye" is a direct song of loss and mourning, and nearly every track on the album references the silent passing of time and the invisible power of memory and nostalgia. "The past is who we are but not what we may become," Damon sings on "Ophelia", articulating the theme of acceptance that echoes throughout the album. In typical fashion, Damon & Naomi's lyrics on False Beats and True Hearts read very well on the page but don't necessarily lend themselves to immediately memorable choruses or hooks. As with their other work with Michio Kurihara, False Beats and True Hearts is a slow bloom, an album whose rewards can become fully apparent only through thoughtful immersion.

The Sunday Times (London)
May 1, 2011
**** (4 stars)
by Stewart Lee

A quarter of a century ago, Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang sold the world that pervasive slowcore guitar sound with Galaxie 500, then split to work as a duo with subtler methods. They have been peddling diaphanous acid folk-pop for two decades now, bowing their heads patiently as it billows in and out of fashion, and their ninth album is among their best. The quicksilver guitar of Michio Kurihara, from the Japanese psychedelic collective Ghost, drips magic dust over lightly jazzy drums, arrestingly inexact harmonies and cautious, languid melodies that uncoil like cats in the sun.

Mojo
*** (3 stars)
by Andy Fyfe

What's in a name? One fan's dream pop is another's shoegaze is another's psych folk... Damon & Naomi have, for 25 years, possibly been better known as two-thirds of long-defunct Galaxie 500, even though for the last 20 they've operated as a duo. However, at no time in those two decades have they sounded so like their old band, eschewing both string and horn arrangements and the dark introspection of 2007's Within These Walls on this breezier album. Of course, introspection is a relative term as Damon & Naomi continue to examine the less full part of life's half-emptied glass on the gossamer Embers, piano-led How Do I Say Goodbye and even the squalling opener Walking Backwards. Do you like reading poetry while folded into a big armchair in some sunny corner? You'll love False Beats and True Hearts.

Record Collector
May 2011
*** (3 stars)
by Jamie Atkins

It's been heartening to witness the groundswell of interest in Galaxie 500 over the last couple of years -- and, thanks to some canny compiling and reissuing, the subsequent efforts of two of their number, Damon & Naomi.

False Beats and True Hearts is the first album from the pair in four years and, whether it's a result of their recent resurgence or not, marks a move in a notably more upbeat direction than long-term fans may have come to expect. That's not to say that there's been a drastic shift in direction: the hazy nostalgia of And You Are There ("The past I thought was so distant/Flickers like an afterglow and you are there once again") and Walking Backwards suggest that revisiting their back catalogue has stirred up some fond memories which, in turn, as influenced the duo's most recent work.

As on recent efforts, the pair are aided considerably by the talents of Japanese psych-rock stalwart Michio Kurihara, adding layers of texture to these already sturdy efforts. This is a timely reminder of the pair's talents, and should ensnare anybody entraced by the renewed interest in their past.

Chicago Tribune
by Greg Kot
*** (3 stars)

The former rhythm section of slow-core masters Galaxie 500, Damon Krukowksi and Naomi Yang make music that takes its time, in no hurry to impress on "False Beats and True Hearts" (20/20/20). It glides rather than gallops - especially when Yang sings in a voice as light as a breeze rippling through lace curtains - which makes it perfect background for all sorts of civilized activities. But zoom in on the jewel-like songs and the group's rigorously controlled brilliance - wedding acid-folk's hazy glow to chamber-pop's lush detail - can be hypnotic.

With Michio Kurihara's guitar lines twisting around becalmed vocals like vines, the duo builds miniature gardens of sound - deceptively serene settings for songs about deception, memory, the knowledge that "the dawn won't come till the night settles down." That fragile perspective has proven remarkably resilient over 25 years and seven quietly impressive studio albums.

Subba-Cultcha
7/10
by Rob Sayce

Another disk of understated beauty from Damon and Naomi...

2011 marks the 25th year of Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang's musical partnership, a bond that survived the deformation of Galaxie 500, one of the most influential bands of the 80's, and his since produced a string of gorgeous, beguiling records and powerful live performances. Now returning with their first record in four years, the duo have lost little of the magic in the intervening years, and as ever, it's lovely to have them back.

'False Beats and True Hearts' doesn't' deviate all that much from the dreamy, folky majesty of their previous work. To describe something as 'easy listening' is usually to give it the kiss of death in the eyes of many, but to be honest it really does fit for Damon and Naomi: their warm, resonant, naturalistic sound is effortlessly soothing, a spirit of wistful reminiscence making their records, this one no exception, the ideal listening for a balmy summer evening. For example 'Nettles and Ivy' is a quietly moving slice of melancholy songcraft, lush dashes of piano and subtle acoustic guitar accompanying Naomi's hushed and fragile voice, while 'What She Brings' is a slow-motion, psych-inflected track with more hopeful overtones than one might expect from this duo.

Featuring one of the duo's serial collaborators, the Japanese guitarist Michio Kurihara (Boris, Ghost), opener 'Walking Backwards' is perhaps the most immediately striking song on the record, steeped in understated harmonies, while Kurihara's sharp but harmonious lead guitar broadens their sound; it's the closest that we get to something truly surprising on this album. That's not to say that it's anything but a good record 'False Beats' is strewn with desolate, sombre beauty and uplifting melody, particularly during 'And You Are There' and 'Embers' , where Naomi to exploits her piano skills to emotive effect. Indeed, final track 'Helsinki' deserves to be ranked among Damon and Naomi's most saddening (in a good way) tracks, a glacial lament that should set plenty of us blubbing - accompany it with images of puppies in baskets and wildflowers and you'll be an emotional wreck by the time that it's it's over. No- the issue is one that meets all bands who achieve some kind of meaningful consistency, namely having to try and strike the difficult balance between producing something innovative enough to keep people interested, and living up to their rich back-catalogue.

And while it's essentially more of the same (albeit with a more buoyant tone than we're used to), 'False Beats And True Hearts' is pretty much there. With the current revival in interest in Galaxie 500 showing little signs of waning, this is the perfect way for those who've just discovered the legendary dream-pop outfit to begin investigating all that's followed. Still got it.

DOA
by Adrian P.

Although some still may mourn the short life and abrupt passing of Galaxie 500 - with last year'ss back catalogue reissues no doubt exacerbating such feelings - it's arguable that the split was ultimately creatively beneficial to the threesome in their subsequent creative roles. Hence Dean Wareham was able to take his distinctive tones, gifted guitar-playing and adaptable songwriting from the divorce to form Luna and build a subsequent art-pop duo with Britta Phillips, whilst Damon Krukowksi and Naomi Yang retained the band's predilection for higher-register vocals, ethereal atmospherics and less traditional musicality for redeployment and expansion as a conjoined two-headed enterprise.

Certainly though, Damon & Naomi's post-Galaxie endeavours have been less openly assessed and recognised than Wareham's, even though a rich seven album run has already marked the married couple out as commendably uncorrupted and stoically independent. But such strong characteristics have also upheld daunting barriers. So it's not been easy to visit their world without feeling overwhelmed in knowing where to start, with the absence of certain albums that emphatically demand more attention than others. They've come close before though - with 1992's recently reissued duo debut More Sad Hits, 1998's elegantly intimate Playback Singers and 2005's elaborately orchestrated The Earth Is Blue - in nailing down the essence of what can make them so captivating. This latest and eighth LP can be added to that list of Damon & Naomi albums that almost act as defining standalone statements.

Walking Backwards - the opening track and preceding single - will undoubtedly help make False Beats And True Hearts seem like a place to point both the novice and the misplaced older fan. Being possibly the most unrepentant and hook-laden Galaxie 500-like torch anthem in their canon, the song fuses lush layered harmonies to psychedelic guitar soloing - from returning and well-used guest string-bender Michio Kurihara of Ghost - to rapturous and memorable effect. In its wake, the long-player takes on a more relaxed but still inviting approach, with the duo playing to their individual and combined strengths.

Following on from the greater openness and directness explored on 2007's Within These Walls, Naomi in particular puts greater presence into her still unmistakably gossamer tracks. Seemingly taking some cues from Sandy Denny and Pentangle's Jacqui McShee, it's hard not to detect a slowed-down British pastoral essence in the gauzy mix of her songs, notably on the gradually swelling And You Are There, the beatifically wintry Embers and the blissfully serene Shadow Boxing. Damon - never a forceful performer either - finds more space to stretch himself out into, with the jazz-fringed folk of the opulent Ophelia being especially ear-catching. Twined together inside the relatively dark husk of Helsinki and on the yearning strung-out What She Brings, the duo also draw positive comparisons with the vocal symbiosis of Low's Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker.

Collectively the nine songs that make up False Beats And True Hearts don't stray demonstratively from the path that Damon & Naomi have followed near-religiously since being coaxed into cutting More Sad Hits, but its subtly refreshed vocal shifts, balmy inviting arrangements, blur of rural-meets-urban asthetics and a clutch of mesmeric moments make it a record that could one day be considered as a true keeper in the couple's discography.

Dusted
By Bill Meyer

Let's get over Galaxie 500, people. Sure, it was good while it lasted, but that band's been gone for 20 years, and no one involved with the combo has anything bad to say about that fact. For better or worse, Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang have been honing a signature sound of their own ever since. Its essentials include their twinned voices in close harmony hovering over deliberate melodies expressed by Yang's you'll-know-it's-her-in-a-note bass guitar; Krukowski's sparse drumming and acoustic guitar strumming shade things in without getting in her way. When they're on, that sound is a lovely and fragile thing, but on the albums they recorded for Sub Pop in the 1990s, they coasted on it, making music that was basically inert.

False Beats and True Hearts may move slowly, but it moves with grace, and it never lapses into the sameness of yore. The varied arrangements help. They don't exactly shed their trademarked stately rhythmic style, but they incorporate Latin touches on "Ophelia" and "Embers." Ghost guitarist Michio Kurihara's hot licks are all over the record, kicking off "Walking Backwards" with a quivering fuzz lead, and adding e-bow tones over the stately keyboards on "Nettles And Ivy." His bandmate Masaki Batoh is on the record, too, but Batoh's contributions don't call similar attention to themselves. Saxophonist Bhob Rainey and trumpeter Greg Kelley steer clear of the unusual sounds they favor in their duo nmperign and make like a real horn section; aside from some misplaced Steve Lacy-style licks on "How Do I Say Goodbye," their parts are like updrafts that make the singing fly higher.

But more important is Yang and Krukowski's evident maturation as writers and performers. Their singing pushes past surface prettiness to connect with the songs' sentiments, expressing tenderness in "Ophelia" and persuasively negotiating a sequence of frustration, regret and hope on "Shadow Boxing." The way the latter song diagrams a couple's attempt to get past a fight feels like the work of grown-ups who have lived a bit, as opposed to the precocious, sensitive young 'uns who enshrined their hurt feelings a couple decades ago on More Sad Hits, or the even younger folk in Galaxie 500 who didn't set their sights much higher than scoring Twinkies at the corner store.

Is This Music? (Scotland)
By Ed Jupp

It is now nearly twenty five years since Damon and Naomi first emerged. Initially as two-thirds of the seminal Galaxie 500, and then after three albums, as an act in their own right (starting their career with the gorgeous More Sad Hits album), Damon and Naomi have been responsible for some of the most sublime music released in that period.

Whether you are a new fan, or have followed them since the day you first heard 'Tugboat', their recordings are still sublime, and - I'm going to say it - life-affirming. This is folkier than some of their previous albums - 'Shadow Boxing' has hints of both Richard & Linda Thompson and Fairport Convention - and none the worse for it, either.

Other highlights on the album include 'Nettles and Ivy' and the little short of astonishing 'And You Are There.' I've already played this twice today, I want to play this album at least twice again before sundown. It's that good.

Giant Robot
by Martin Wong

Damon and Naomi are known and loved for their original, sparse, and sad sound but their songwriting has never stopped evolving over 25 years of recording and touring. The seventh album's musical aesthetic borders on grand and ouches on cosmic, but is never less than lovely. The style was touched on in the previous album's amazing "Stars Never Fade" cut, with just slightly more melody than dissonance and less of an orchestral backdrop than that of avant chamber music. Beautiful and brainy. And while certain members of the Terrastock crowd will cringe as I mention classic rock touchstones like Pink Floyd or the Stones, Many songs on False Beats and True Hearts are supremely catchy, as well. It isn't hard to construct bridges between "Wish You Were Here" and "Wild Horses" with "Walking Backwards" and "Shadow Boxing."

The voices and instruments of the eponymous duo are always front, center, and clear in the mix, with lush backgrounds that are gorgeous yet challenging and never pandering, thanks to arrangements by ace sax player Bhob Rainey. Meanwhile, the mountain-leveling forces of Kurihara are balanced by the soulful strumming of fellow Ghost member and D&N friend Masaki Butoh. Wow. Whether you consider it modern minstrel fare, indie folk for the advanced, or Boston pops for the unpopular-it's conceptual music that doesn't require effort to enjoy or appreciate.

Boomkat

Since leaving famed dream pop legends Galaxie 500, Damon & Naomi have spent the last umpteen years perfecting their haunting, melancholy songs this side of The Tindersticks. On the last three albums the duo have been ably assisted by Ghost guitarist Michio Kurihara, and he again joins them along with Massachusetts trumpet legend Greg Kelley and his Nmperign bandmate Bhob Rainey. Together they put together yet another collection of meticulously crafted pop songs that just manage to get their hooks under your skin. The duo's label 20/20/20 famously issued the stunning 'International Sad Hits' compilation and 'False Beats' sounds typically indebted to that affecting collection of melancholia. While the sounds are effortlessly dreamy (no doubt fallout from the duo's time in Galaxie 500) Damon & Naomi's schtick is free of the tiresome whimsy we are lumbered with so often from the new-school shoegaze set. Instead these dreams become nostalgic dedications to loves, lives and feelings lost in the muddled strings of time. Impeccable, note perfect music from a resoundingly intriguing act.

The Onion A.V. Club
by Jason Heller

After Dean Wareham left the epochal dream-pop group Galaxie 500 in 1991 to form Luna, the remainder of the band-husband-and-wife rhythm section Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang-almost immediately released its beautiful debut, More Sad Hits. Since then, Damon & Naomi has rarely disappointed. But the duo has also rarely dazzled, preferring instead to keep its mystery to a whispery minimum. Damon & Naomi's new full-length, False Beats And True Hearts, maintains the pace; the mood stays wistful, and the pace is ever glacial. But the album shifts sideways a bit, specifically into the '70s folk-rock of Sandy Denny and Richard and Linda Thompson. Granted, Yang's voice always bore a trace of that almost-occult melancholy. But sporadic peals of Jimmy Page-like guitar, sumptuous acoustic strumming, and curlicues of analog synth heighten the otherworldliness, especially on dreamscape lullabies like "Walking Backwards" and "What She Brings." As usual, Krukowski pitches in his serviceable croon, most effectively on the aptly aqueous "Ophelia." False Beats is by no means a reinvention of Damon & Naomi's signature, sigh-worthy sound, but it does add a lilting arc to its unassuming grace.

Freq
by David Solomons

Peaches and cream, assault and battery, Damon and Naomi…some things are just made to go together…

With the unbelievable proliferation of 'Americana' over the past dozen or so years (just check out the bulging racks in Rough Trade), it's hard to remember a time before such market segmentation set in so ferociously, when acts such as Giant Sand, Galaxie 500 and The Palace Brothers wafted in their strange and unfamiliar sounds and atmospheres into Olde Albion. Whereas Howe Gelb's records managed to distil down the sounds of dusty, desert Arizona - all cactus filled landscapes and resonant guitar sounds - and Will Oldham took you slowly up the cool, green valleys of the Shenandoah, Galaxie 500 took their cue from slightly more urban ur-springs, using Lou Reed's 'three or four simple chords can build a masterpiece' template run through the textural filter of Spacemen 3. At a time when 'loud' and 'techno' were both becoming very much flavours du jour atop the mainstream musical menu, Galaxie 500's brief life-span of three albums and live tours, both with Kramer at the controls, introduced a whole new generation to the art of delicate, gossamer song writing and inchoate melancholy yearning. All too soon, however, the Galaxie died a terrible heat death as singer, guitarist and all-round moody front man Dean Wareham cast the band aside just after the completion of US tour in support of The Cocteau Twins, and legged it back to New York City.

Given Wareham's centrality to the band's sound, it could have been expected that such a severance would have been more or less fatal to the rump of what, as a three piece, was a fairly small-scale proposition in the first place. The band's drummer and bass player, the aforementioned Damon and Naomi, however, were made of sterner stuff. Releasing several pre-split tracks they had recorded together under the moniker Pierre Etoile (grab your nearest French-English dictionary and look that one up…) on Rough Trade in 1991, the doughty duo then kicked off an amazingly fecund partnership, navigating their way through a number of different incarnations, seven albums, several interesting collaborations and even literary publishing venture Exact Change, outlet for a number of fascinating works by all manner of kooky geniuses including Raymond Roussel, Guillaume Apollinaire and Chris Marker.

False Beats and True Hearts sees Krukowski and Yang (with their not inconsiderable output it's a wonder that they don't have a firm of solicitors as a side project) return to the studio for their eighth album. And what a thing of beauty it is too. Kicking off with "Walking Backwards," which begins with a burst of pure Revolver-era backwards Harrisonism before dissolving into a float-and-fuzz drift along, and "How Do I Say Goodbye," a beautiful and lachrymose farewell poem. The third track "Shadow Boxing" is the kind of heart-rending stunner that these people have trademarked over the years: Naomi's graceful vocals, the Lincoln-style background brass, Damon's wistful backing, it's got the lot. It's the kind of track that makes you wish your partner would finish your relationship just in order that you could feel sit in your room feeling profoundly sad and tearful and listening to it. Gorgeous.

However, it's far from being the only show stopper that the album has to serve up. "Ophelia" would have made Hamlet even more sorrowful that The Bard imagined him, "Nettles and Ivy" strays gently into territory that Brian Eno staked out in his more pastoral 1970s moments, and "What She Brings" smothers you in a huge envelope of fragile sound. The shuffling beat of "Embers" could easily recall the Tindersticks, yet with Naomi's ethereal call instead of Stuart Staples' rich baritone, and "And You Are There" is a melodic gem, something to play oneself on the piano, picking out the chords after several whiskeys in order to ease the pain of the aforementioned break-up (although your partner might reconsider if you ask nicely - just play them this album to say sorry).

The album, though, really goes out on a high point, closing with the majestic "Helsinki." With Damon taking lead vocal duties, this is Damon and Naomi at their very best, diaphanous incarnate, and making Low sound like Cradle of Filth.

Dean Wareham, with his post-Galaxie outfit Luna, may have gotten to support The Velvet Underground on their ill-fated 1993 reunion European Tour (Wembley Arena anyone?…sigh…) but for my money its Damon and Naomi that have really carried forward the spirit of Galaxie these past two decades, and made the most genuinely memorable music. That they have also been involved in such diverse extra-curricular activities, and that their music hasn't bored you senseless through saturation coverage as the soundtrack to a thousand corporate shitverts is also enormously to their artistic credit.

Will the formula ever wear thin? Well, it shows no signs of doing so, and, as long as their songs always make you want to sit at a window, sighing and gazing out at world with a faint ache in your heart, they should always have a place in that very same heart. Some things are just made to go together, like Damon and Naomi.

Other Music

At this point, it would be easy to wave off a new Damon & Naomi record -- been there, heard that. And truth be told, False Beats & True Hearts is nothing particularly new from the duo; it's another lovely, haunting album of psychedelic folk-pop, again in collaboration with guitarist Michio Kurihara of Ghost. But unlike most every other artist out there, these guys actually keep getting better, and some twenty years into their post-Galaxie 500 career, they have made what might be their most enjoyable album. It's looser than their recent stuff, with a trippy, hazy beauty, searing guitar leads, aching melodies, and a lot more; if this was an obscure private press LP from some lost hippie collective, it would be reissued to thunderous praise. It IS self-released, and I think they might be hippies... let yourself love this record!

PopMatters
7/10
By John L. Murphy

After Galaxie 500, guitarist Dean Wareham led Luna towards increasingly lower volume, channeling the Velvet Underground's tension into lounge-tinged and club-inflected indie-rock. Similarly, drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist Naomi Yang have taken, the past 20 years, a direction into pastoral, nostalgic, literate tunes. On this, their seventh record together, they carry the softer sound of Galaxie 500's heirs that has dominated their interpretations.

Joined as on their recordings the past decade by Ghost's guitarist Michio Kurihara, the trio construct a mature, dignified set of songs. Yang's composed vocals always prove welcome, and she conveys yearning by her delicacy. Her husband Krukowski is more straightforward than was his bandmate Wareham in preferring a less quirky vocal style, but his delivery calmly supports these songs confidently, if often unassumingly. The duo has opted over their career to seek a proper, upright stance that expresses their work ethic, intelligence, and commitment.

The new album False Beats and True Hearts, on their own 20/20/20 label, follows their re-releases of Galaxie 500's three studio albums (with concert tracks, sessions and rarities generously added), their own retrospective of their earlier Sub Pop solo efforts on CD, and live DVDs from both their bands. "Walking Backwards" may reflect this archival endeavor. As the liveliest song, with its aggressive guitar, it leads the listener to expect a more upbeat set than the previous CD, Within These Walls, which neared most of all towards urban chamber music, a jazz-tinged influence. I found that a pleasant but less engaging record; it tended towards inner moods rather than extroverted tunes.

Yet this music's meant for composure. A slight shift back to mid-period Damon and Naomi marks this year's album. No false beats, however. Yang's piano complements these songs, arranged as if on waves that ebb and flow. Krukowski's drumming was often overshadowed by Wareham's guitar in Galaxie 500, but his masterful, understated backing provides a solid foundation for "How Do I Say Goodbye", "Shadow Boxing", and the appropriately titled "Ophelia", mirroring a floating world.

"Nettles and Ivy" brings a pricklier sensation, if brief, as it resists its movement slightly, reminiscent of jazz not in its instrumentation so much as its suspension of progress for a beat or two. Kurihara's guitar sets itself in fluid strums and expressive passages over swaying melodies, punctuated by Yang's use of silence to emphasize her spare bass playing in "What She Brings". "Embers" expresses the band's contemplative preferences, but it benefits from the shreds of guitar crackling under the glow of piano and drums.

"And You Are There" allows Yang's bass to move about as she sings with assurance. The guitar and drums construct a deceptively spare track that represents the ambiance of these musicians, reminding one of poetry, shorelines and memory. "Helsinki" closes this short selection of songs with a touch of the psychedelic folk which deepened their initial solo work, and the guitar's regressive patterns underlie a handsome conclusion to a solid album. While I prefer their earlier songs which followed this pattern, nothing on this latest album can be faulted.

As with Wareham now with his own duo Dean and Britta, or with Luna's later period, his former rhythm section will not shake the walls as did Galaxie 500, at least in concert despite their softcore reputation. Damon and Naomi, true hearts by their devotion to their craft, appear, long after their former partner Wareham suddenly left their first band, to have chosen a wise route. (The liner notes left by the duo in the Rykodisc four-disd box set of their former band remain the saddest I have ever read.)

Songcraft nourishes their efforts, which sink in, compacted as earthier, evocative tunes. These are wind-attenuated tendrils to their more barbed roots. For college rock of the '80s, bands and fans reach the half-century mark. Audiences inherit a thoughtful, introspective set of sounds and lyrics. Damon and Naomi, assisted by Michio Kurihara (with three supporting musicians), have elegantly elaborated the possibilities afforded them after they were forced to survive as suddenly solo artists.

Yesterday, I heard Here Before, the Feelies' newest album, appearing after 20 years of a parallel exit (right around the same time) from the acclaim of American indie rock. Those raised on tenser, edgier sonics gravitate as they ease into a steadier, balanced, stance. Middle age rewards both bands. (Tellingly, drummer Stan Demeski played for Luna on its earlier, peppier records.) As with their fellow admirers of layered guitar rock on complex, if self-effacing, patterns, Damon and Naomi represent the evolution of those who grew up with punk and came of age with post-punk, while listening to the eclectic sounds of the late '60s. All of this, fermenting and distilled, rewards us on records such as these two this new spring.

Zink Magazine
by Emma Lifvergren

To celebrate their 25th year of performing together, Bostonian duo Damon and Naomi exercise their optimism on their latest album.

For anyone who's had the pleasure of visiting a place along the lines of the DreamAway Lodge on a summer night, tucked deep in the mountains of Becket, Massachusetts, they'd know the perfect setting for listening to Damon and Naomi-outdoors, at night and surrounded by trees. After four years, musical duo and former Galaxie 500 members Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang will release their seventh studio album False Beats and True Hearts via their own label, 20/20/20, on May 9. Capitalizing on a smooth sound, soft percussion and the elegant guitar playing of Michio Kurihara, Soft Beats and True Hearts is a dreamy, meandering record that's a far cry from their dark 2007 album Within These Walls. The opening track "Walking Backwards" opens the album with a wailing guitar before melting into the relaxed "How Do I Say Goodbye," crooned by Yang and the vintage sound of '70s horns. In fact, the album as a whole grooves to a retro '70s-cum-'90s vibe, bringing to mind Karen and Richard Carpenter on "Shadow Boxing" or Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon on "And You Are There." Soft Beats and True Hearts is an easy-listening album in the best sense, a recipe of leisurely tunes and unfussy melodies made for lying in the grass enjoying the breeze.

Leicester Bangs
by Kev A.

Do you want to know what timeless is? Yes, I know the concept doesn't actually exist, but in musical terms, at least, it means being able to revisit an album, time and time again, and still delight in what is has to offer. My list of timeless records would be fairly long, and it would contain Damon and Naomi's "More Sad Hits", "The Wondrous World Of…", "Playback Singers, and now their latest album, which is superb, utterly sublime and, as with the aforementioned, won't be lumbered with a best-before date.

With Damon and Naomi you always get a lingering sensation, moments when the music doesn't actually stop, but holds steady, when you're waiting for the apple to fall... It's always intimate, always attractive, and the boundaries are way out there on the horizon, and of no concern at all. It doesn't matter a single jot whether you reach them or not, because you'll be returning to "False Beats and True Hearts" repeatedly. They wrap their music up in such a delightful way, and with each return visit, new layers are exposed.

Ignore the first half of the title, there's nothing false about it. From start to finish - this is true music, from their hearts.

Crawdaddy
By Jeff Wilson

The notion that digital downloads played on laptops and iPods do even minimal justice to good recordings is quickly discredited by False Beats and True Hearts, the latest release by Damon & Naomi. Airy, spacious, and impressionistic, False Beats makes even a so-so stereo sound positively hi-fi (I know, 'cause that's all I got). Steal the download, and you're robbing yourself of the stunning sound that accompanies excellent songwriting and performances.

In Galaxie 500, Damon & Naomi were a rhythm section. Since then, their chores on drums and bass have taken a backseat to singing and songwriting, and the once-prominent electric guitar plays a more limited role-although a strong resemblance to Galaxie 500 remains. Droning, trance-like melodies still dominate, with acoustic instruments and vocal harmonies creating more of the texture. On a first listen, I mistook these slow, languid melodies for downer-rock, but sunny dream-pop is a more apt description, as Damon & Naomi seem less interested in going on about what a bummer the world is than floating along on the current of yet another beautiful melody.

Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang sing well separately and together. At times, Damon's vocals reminds me of Meddle-era Pink Floyd, especially at those moments when the overall sound recalls that early '70s phase of Floyd. Naomi has a lovely voice-sweet but not saccharine-and by the time you hear her first two cuts on the record ("How Do I Say Goodbye" and "Shadow Boxing") it's clear that songcraft is another of her strengths. However, it would be hard to beat the opening track of the album, Damon's "Walking Backwards", or his masterful "What She Brings."

The name suggests otherwise, but on this release the heart of the band isn't two musicians but three. Although he's used sparingly on "False Beats", electric guitarist Michia Kurihara (from Ghost) adds an essential ingredient. On several tracks he creates mesmerizing solos that add a dash of energy without breaking the spell. Tasteful, colorful, and imaginative, he blends in perfectly with a musical soundscape otherwise dominated by acoustic instruments.

For me, the music on False Beats evokes side one of Pink Floyd's Meddle, the haunting sound of George Harrison All Things Must Pass, some of the more melodic moments of the Incredible String Band, and a dreamy song by Ian Matthews called "For the Second Time." Perhaps none of those artists are influences (and probably there are some newer bands I should be thinking of as well), but the fact that those names spring to mind so quickly is a testament to the quality of this hypnotic and compelling work.

A Pessimist is Never Disappointed
by Glenn Griffith

You know, I should admit something here that may require me to turn in my honorary hipster card.

I actually like Damon and Naomi more than Galaxie 500, their originating band.

And, yes, I was aware of Galaxie 500 when they were a current recording act -- got a promo cassette (!) in the mail of On Fire (1989) when it was new at the good old U. Md. Record Co-Op. The band at that time was on Rough Trade Records' US wing.

Maybe it was Dean Wareham's voice, maybe it was the almost slavish devotion to the Velvet Underground, but whatever the reason I understood Galaxie 500 more than I liked them.

(It's worth noting here that the band's posthumous Peel Sessions CD remains the one Galaxie 500 album I own.)

1992's Damon and Naomi album, the Kramer-produced More Sad Hits, spoke to me -- to use an overused phrase -- in a way that Galaxie 500 never did.

Since 1992 -- for nearly 20 years now! -- Damon and Naomi have produced music that seems always on the verge of slipping away. And yet, their tunes never dip into the waters of frivolous or twee styles.

It says something about the limited vocabulary of the post C-86 indie landscape that I find it so hard to describe the music of this amazing duo.

To call it folk is a mistake. And to use the ill-defined dream pop label, I'd only be lumping Damon and Naomi in with acts who care more about effects and simple mood than songcraft.

I think we're going to have to invent a genre for Damon and Naomi.

How about intellectual soft rock?

There's nothing ironic about the use of previous forms of popular music here, just simple, direct, and affecting tunes that retain a hint of the unexplainable after multiple listens.

Just listen to album opener "Walking Backwards": opening with a wash of guitar squall (from Ghost's Michio Kurihara) that sounds like something from the Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) soundtrack, the cut unfurls and then relaxes as Damon Krukowski's voice takes over with Naomi Yang providing the backing vocals.

Recalling the peculiar mix of the Sixties and the modern that made the first Mazzy Star LP such a pleasure in 1990, the track makes no attempt to hide its "backwards" glance.

Naomi sings lead on the second album track, "How Can I Say Goodbye" -- no ? on the CD or lyrics sheet -- and the song is so beautiful that I had to sit down when I first heard it.

The vocals here are quite literally breathtaking without being showy. Recalling the best moments of Sandy Denny's solo years as she veered away from pure folk, the song is the highlight of this record for me.

On "Ophelia", Damon sings "Lord knows who we are but not what we may be" and a listener can hear both regret and exhilaration in his voice. The song soars like AM radio pop from the 1970s but with the silliness of those one-hit wonders replaced with wisdom.

It's worth noting how much the guitar of Michio Kurihara brings to the group now. Damon and Naomi have been working with the guitarist for more years than they were in Galaxie 500.

With the pull-and-twang-and-squall of that guitar, Damon and Naomi have a more robust sound that seems less rooted to any one obvious predecessor; one could could even imagine a performance where it was just the two vocalists with Kurihara's guitar behind them, rippling off Jeff Beck-ish lines.

Damon and Naomi are not the sort of artists who suddenly introduce a radical element into their work. No, the changes are more subtle than that.

And it's no insult to say that False Beats and True Hearts should appeal to many long-time fans of the band.

That said, there are new things at work here: Michio Kurihara seems more like a member of the group now, his guitar adding another voice to Damon's and Naomi's.

And the woodwinds on this record give the album a classic feel; what might have been ethereal on past records is now organic and direct, the emotions clearly expressed in the poetic lyrics.

Damon and Naomi deliver moments of beauty without being pretentious about it.

That counts for a lot in today's musical climate.

False Beats and True Hearts should warm the hearts of old fans of the band.

And for a listener who wants to give the band a chance, this is a bright, sunny way to start.

Artrocker
4 stars
by Lewis Hingston

After 25 years of crafting lush, atmospheric arrangements dripping with melody, Damon and Naomi have long since mastered their craft - a point well-illustrated by this new album.

It's hard to believe the duo remain a largely cult concern when they can create songs as well crafted as "Walking Backwards", the harmony-heavy opener here. Michio Kurihara's resonating guitar adds real depth over Damon's lead vocal and a backing of horns. Stridently upbeat yet languid at the same time, it's a major highlight on an album which has them at every corner.

Naomi Yang takes lead on "How Do I Say Goodbye", which despite its title is less melancholic that their track record might have you believe, while the gently brushed drums and laidback strumming of "Ophelia" expand to take in an array of rich and full instruments.

There is a carefully constructed mood of warmth and ease here; Naomi's piano playing begins to take quite a central role as the album progresses, and the record closes on the ornate and atmospheric "Helsinki", maintaining the gorgeous sonic textures which characterize this exceptional album.

Filter
79/100
By Jon Pruett

Modern progenitors of the sort of whispery psych-folk that makes collectors get the knee-quivers, Damon & Naomi are now proudly looking directly down the barrel of a 25-year career. False Beats and True Hearts is a slo-mo crawl through ghostly harmonies, assured and glacial pacing, and the smoking hot psych guitar of Ghost's Michio Kurihara. This combo turns "What She Brings" and "Helsinki" into crumbling epics of distorted literary dreams. In case this all verges on familiar for some, the track "Ophelia" spins out into a spectral, uptempo pop song with a soprano sax (!). But if anything signifies the band's strengths, as well as their growth since the days of Galaxie 500, it's "Shadow Boxing," wherein trumpets blaze, guitars burn, and Krukowski and Yang's vocals lift us all out of the mire-at least for a little bit.

Bowlegs
by Ben Hargreaves

With a distinguished lineage as part of Galaxie 500, Damon and Naomi set out to work as a duo and have enjoyed a fecund relationship. This album, their ninth, arrives on a sinuous, snake-like blast of lead guitar on opening track 'Walking Backwards', before dissolving into lovely chant-like pop. Damon Krukowski's hazy lead vocal is backed up by Naomi Young's spectral harmonies, gentle, simple percussion and some piercing electric guitar work (courtesy of Michio Kurihari from Japanese band Ghost).

Piano and acoustic guitar dominate as Young takes the lead on 'How Do I Say Goodbye', her childlike, dreamy vocal almost meditative and framed by jazzy drums and brass filling out the mix. The duo's ability to switch between lead and backing vocals is one of their strengths, lending variety and changing tone to fit the mood.

'False Beats and True Hearts' blends a diverse range of influences, from pop to folk, jazz and psychedelia. A reference point is the more mellow work of The Velvet Underground in the Nico period (think 'Sunday Morning'): Naomi Young's vocals even bear distinct similarities to the German singer.

This is an album, it has to be said, that is unlikely to set rock 'n' roll thrill-seekers pulses' racing (it is pretty much what you expect from the duo). But it could be the perfect aural cocoon for walking the city streets in what looks set to be a long hot summer.

Faronheit
75 degrees

In the long-standing tradition of "ampersand" groups, the last few decades have spawned everything from Simon & Garfunkel to Hall & Oates, Matt & Kim, and Iron & Wine. There are tons more, but in terms of jumping off the page at you, it's a fair set of examples. Often failing to earn a mention among these duos or full bands are Damon & Naomi, otherwise known as Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang. You can rarely get through a piece about them without hearing how they were the two members of the seminal late 80s/early 90s underground band Galaxie 500 whose name wasn't Dean Wareham. People loved Galaxie 500 despite their very short-lived history, and as Wareham has gone onto his own ampersand band Dean & Britta with his wife (I'll give you one guess as to what her first name is), Damon & Naomi kept working together and have put out six full-lengths of original material since 1992. So yeah, they've been making music for a very long time now and even had a lengthy stint on Sub Pop Records during its steady rise to the indie powerhouse it is today. They started their own label 20/20/20 several years back and have been putting their music (and re-releasing the Galaxie 500 catalogue) out on it ever since. After taking a few years away from writing and recording, Damon & Naomi are back with their seventh effort as a duo, titled "False Beats and True Hearts".

As with a number of their previous efforts, Damon & Naomi are once again joined by Ghost guitarist Michio Kunihara, who continues to bring a fascinating tweak to the duo's typically calm and quiet demeanor. Their songs more often float by in dark folk or psychedelic mood pieces than they do straight up rock, so when an electric guitar does buzz its way into the mix it stands out that much more. The album starts with a brief guitar solo from Kunihara before the main melody and vocals come in with a more standard acoustic guitar and drums in support. The electric guitar is by no means gone though, and it flitters in and out of the mix at various times, always a distraction but a relatively welcome one. It's not the sort of thing that Damon & Naomi would have done several years ago, but their slow evolution towards a broader spectrum of sounds has only enhanced their songs and contributed towards keeping things fresh while still maintaining a strong sense of identity. There are even some that assert the duo has largely stalled out and aren't doing enough to keep fans interested in their music. The thing is, there are so few groups that share the same genre DNA as Damon & Naomi, so in effect they don't need to completely revolutionize their sound every couple records in order to continue engaging old as well as new supporters. Just the simple move from the guitar buzz of "Walking Backwards" into the piano-dominant Naomi-fronted "How Do I Say Goodbye" is proof enough that they're more than willing to mix things up just a touch while mining similar emotional territory. The use of other instruments such as saxophones, trumpets, xylophones and a variety of other bits outside of a normal guitar, drums and piano is also something Damon & Naomi have been lightly working with their last couple records, and again they're used in an economical fashion to avoid too much exposition or overstuffed arrangements.

Damon & Naomi's other big assets outside of how their songs are instrumentally composed are their vocals and lyrics. Neither Damon nor Naomi have voices that emphasize strength and forcefulness, but perhaps they've been holding back the entire time to match their rather subdued melodies. No matter if one or both of them are singing on a track, their meekness and just above whisper quiet voices actually add emotion and heartbreak to these primarily sad songs. There's a great warmth added to "Ophelia" courtesy of Damon's vocals, which are additionally mixed in at an equal level with the lush acoustic guitars to help it work that much better. Naomi's best and most confident singing to date comes courtesy of "Nettles and Ivy", a gorgeous song about the earliest of morning hours where the sun is just beginning to peek over the horizon and everything is still glimmering fresh with dew. On the opposite side of the spectrum, "And You Are There" retains the nature imagery but applies it towards the sadness of a sunset, Naomi's voice bringing forth the heartache of the slow burnout that is much more about ending than it is beginning. The nature imagery is one of the main topics the duo explores on "False Beats and True Hearts", while life and love also get their fair share of musings as well, at times under the guise of well-crafted metaphors. With everything put together, much of the record sounds remarkably like something Beach House might put out, albeit with more instrumental flourishes and less outright organ.

If there's a complaint to be had about "False Beats and True Hearts" it's with Damon & Naomi's commitment to mood and atmosphere over anything that resembles pop music. If you're looking for something catchy with a solid hook to it, look elsewhere because there's little to none of that on this album. They've done some of that on previous records, but obviously felt like it wasn't a priority anymore. That will make it harder for those just discovering them to enjoy the record, and by that same token you might have issues with how immensely quiet the whole thing is. Still, if you're in a darker mood, or even a more ponderous mood, this is a good record to soundtrack that. It's not the best thing Damon & Naomi have done either, but it's a gentle reminder that they still know how to make compelling records despite rolling up on what will soon be their 20th anniversary of making music as a duo in the post-Galaxie 500 era. It's a shame they don't get nearly enough recognition for it.

Now (Toronto)
By Joanne Huffa

Since the turn of the century, Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang have found their groove, releasing well-received records every few years. Their eighth doesn't disappoint, nor does it make any departures from the gentle, emotional and dreamlike work they've made since their 1992 debut, More Sad Hits.

While Yang's bass, Krukowski's drums and their understated, resonant vocals will always be the bedrock of the D&N sound, this is the fourth release to feature Ghost's Michio Kurihara's sinuous electric guitar. His playing adds an extra layer of texture and provides welcome dissonance to otherwise peaceful arrangements that also include piano and horns.

The lyrics are dense with vivid imagery that could be autobiographical but may just attest to the duo's ability to create intimate moments for their listeners to enjoy.

SoundsXP

This is a surprisingly upbeat way of marking 25 years of Mr Krukowski and Ms Yang performing together. Their new record doesn't focus as much on the introspective, melancholic sound that we've grown slowly to love, like a relationship that starts in friendship and admiration and evolves into something deeper and more soulful. Instead it opens with the definitive statement of 'Walking Backwards', with Michio Kurihara's guitar firing off psychedelic flares, and a honeyed melody that installs it immediately in the memory.

Of course, there's plenty of poetry and contemplation too, with their trademark intimacy splashed across songs like 'Helsinki' but, with Kurihara's elegant guitar playing (excellent on the lovely and shimmering 'What She Brings'), the whole record sounds more open and joyful than you'd perhaps expect of Damon and Naomi. Their use of textures, like trumpet on 'Shadow Boxing' and Naomi's new fondness for piano on the dreamy acid-folk of 'Nettles and Ivy', places them at a distance from the "sad songs" stereotype that has perhaps grown up around them. The four year break since the last album has revitalised their sound and ensures that False Beats and True Hearts stands with their best solo material, and even compares favourably with the canon of Galaxie 500.

Q Magazine
*** (3 stars)
by Ian Harrison

For their first LP since 2007, Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang asked documentary maverick Chris Marker to make a video for the bitterweet And You Are There. He obliged, with a static image of a distracted-looking woman. Happily, False Beats and True Hearts isn't quite so inscrutable. Coming over not unlike an aneasthetised Belle & Sebastian with muted horns and lilting voices, sounds gently ebb and flow, with love song Ophelia brining sunlit jazz-pop and Shadow Boxing counselling the listener to seize the moment. And throughout, long-term collaborator Michio Kurihara's multi-angled guitar remains a thing of inventive wonder.

Whisperin and Hollerin
8/10

Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang are such a gentle and ghostly presence at the Alt. Rock feast that you'd probably wouldn't have noticed that a lengthy four years have elapsed since their previous album - the sombre 'Within These Walls' - slipped into the marketplace.

However, while it brought no 'new' music as such, those four years yielded important critical re-appraisal for Damon and Naomi. Firstly, their much-admired first solo album 'More Sad Hits' was re-issued, then the retrospective 'Sub Pop Years' collection appeared and finally all three of their studio albums with the seminal Galaxie 500 were granted the Domino Records re-issue treatment, bringing with them a fresh bunch of critical garlands from a new generation.

Thus, it's the perfect time for DAMON AND NAOMI to finally unveil their new studio album - 'False Beats & True Hearts' - and celebrate a staggering 25 years of working together into the process. Guitarist Michio Kurihara's elegant and startling guitar playing again features (he's worked with D&N since 2000's 'With Ghost') and overall this new album sounds like something of a renaissance.

Certainly there are a few pleasant surprises. Opening track 'Walking Backwards' sounds unusually sprightly and poppy by Damon and Naomi's ethereal standards, but - even allowing for Kurihara's jarring fuzz-box guitar - its' lush and beguiling full band sound captivates from the outset. Tracks like 'Ophelia' and 'What She Brings' also have a spring in their step and their desire to embrace a distinctly (if typically dreamy) Pop-addled sound is infectious.

Not that the plangent loveliness inherent in most of Damon & Naomi's music is absent, mind. Delicate, but determined ballads like 'How Do I Say Goodbye' and 'Shadow Boxing' reflect Naomi's new found love of the piano and also stitch graceful woodwind into their music's rich tapestry, while 'And There You Are' could almost be a more hymnal-sounding take of Galaxie 500's fragile beauty. More typically sparse set pieces like 'Helsinki' and the gossamer beauty of 'Nettles & Ivy' are the exceptions rather than the rule but they're no less lovely for all that.

Damon and Naomi have long since perfected the art of the understated masterpiece, but with 'False Beats & True Hearts' they have made subtle steps towards a richer, more Pop-oriented sound without sacrificing the intimacy at the core of their work.As both a jubilee celebration and a signpost to the future, this one happily passes muster.

Chicago Reader
by Noah Berlatsky

It's been four years since Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang put out an album as Damon & Naomi. But just from listening it's hard to tell that any time has passed between 2007's Within These Walls and the new False Beats & True Hearts (20-20-20). Krukowski and Yang, formerly of Galaxie 500, figured out what they like as a duo almost 20 years ago, and they haven't wavered from it since. This album is them doing what they've always done: slow, textured soundscapes that rest at the border between dream pop and shoegaze. The songs blur into one another, becoming one long, exquisite drone. The main way to tell the tracks apart is that sometimes Yang sings in her high wavery voice, sometimes Krukowski sings in his gentle half-speaking indie-boy voice, and sometimes they harmonize. And sometimes the pristine surface is broken by Ghost guitarist and longtime collaborator Michio Kurihara, whose virile classic-rock licks crack and bite against all that languid drifting with lovely incongruity. "All through the day / Waiting for love to arrive / Watching for signs it still exists / Hoping it could survive," Yang sings on "Embers," and this nostalgic sense of grasping after an ever-vanishing, flickering light nicely parallels the duo's aesthetic interests. In some ways, Damon & Naomi are more timely now than ever-they look good through a haze.

The Noise (Boston)
by Francis DiMenno

Damon & Naomi have been releasing compelling work ever since they split off from Galaxie 500 way-back-when, and connoisseurs can see where a good deal of G500's dazed ambiance came from in the first place. Kudos must also go to the exemplary, ethereal guitar work of Michio Kurihara, who has augmented the band's mysterioso sound to greater heights. "Walking Backwards" begins the disc with a Byrdsy bit of delirium ala "Going Back." Many remember McGuinn & Co. as seminal folk-rock and country-folk artists, but they also pioneered what critics are pleased to call acid-folk, and Damon & Naomi are improving on the tradition, particularly on "What She Brings." Much of this release consists in rather low-key love songs with dazed affect and delicately melodic instrumentation. The most outstanding track is the achingly poignant, melodically wrenching, and brilliantly evocative "Shadow Boxing," followed by the delicately introspective "Embers," and the spine-tingling "Helsinki." A must-have.

The Spill (Toronto)
by Nathan Wood

It's hard to believe that Damon & Naomi have been making beautiful records together for more than 25 years. They are of course best known as two-thirds of seminal '80s dream pop pioneers Galaxie 500, but unbeknownst to many they have continued to carve a delicate, yet impressive artistic career in the many years since.

Naomi's gorgeous mother-singing-a-lullaby-to-her-baby voice, coupled with Damon's missing-member-of-the-Go-Betweens vocal pastiche has given the group a one-two, he/she punch that many pop acts can only lust for. Not to mention that their majestic musicianship (Damon's splish-splash drumming style and elegant guitar work; Naomi's melody driven, innovative bass lines) has helped them generate an exceptional career which boasts a catalogue of great records.

And now, in their fourth decade of releasing music, they've put out False Beats and True Hearts, an album laced with the signature dream-folk style that has defined the couple and their art - and it is just as affecting as ever.

Whether you're falling into the fuzzy guitar solos in "Walking Backwards," being sprinkled with stardust in "What She Brings" or gently lead in the waltz of "Embers," this record is an expertly crafted piece of pop perfection.

It's sad but true that Damon & Naomi will probably never leave the shadow of their early career/band, but for fans that can appreciate the true talent of this group, this is yet another great addition to the D&N mantle.

NARC Magazine (North East England)
4.5/5
by Paul Clifford

The new release from cult indie stalwarts Damon and Naomi, formerly of Galaxie 500, is a celebratory reaction to their 25-year anniversary as performers. First track Walking Backwards is a sweetly-sung love song from Damon, with ethereal backing vocals from Naomi, which bursts into a hazy, shoegazey guitar solo. It's an upbeat number, especially for a band normally associated with a more laid-back melancholy, and that feeling keeps on throughout the album. Gently strummed guitars circles around a piano on Shadow Boxing, and the harmonies are nothing short of stunning on What She Brings. Every song is touched by the brilliant lead guitar playing of Japanese cohort Michio Kurihara, who adds a psych sound to proceedings. False Beats and True Hearts is their first new release in four years, but in the meantime there have been reissues of earlier Damon and Naomi records as well as the three Galaxie 500 albums and a documentary/live DVD. So if ever people were growing used to the magical sounds of the duo, it should be now. This is the type of music I love to listen to on a sunny day - languid, shimmering and with a sense of warmth, and it's coming out just at the right time to make it a contender for sound of the summer.

damon and naomi - sunday times review

2011-05-02T15:14:00.003+01:00

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"A quarter of a century ago, Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang sold the world that pervasive slowcore guitar sound with Galaxie 500, then split to work as a duo with subtler methods. They have been peddling diaphanous acid folk-pop for two decades now, bowing their heads patiently as it billows in and out of fashion, and their ninth album is among their best. The quicksilver guitar of Michio Kurihara, from the Japanese psychedelic collective Ghost, drips magic dust over lightly jazzy drums, arrestingly inexact harmonies and cautious, languid melodies that uncoil like cats in the sun."

Review by Stewart Lee

damon and naomi "and you are there"

2011-03-07T21:29:00.005Z

DAMON & NAOMI SHARE VIDEO BY CHRIS MARKER FOR ALBUM TRACK, “AND YOU ARE THERE”

NEW ALBUM, FALSE BEATS AND TRUE HEARTS, OUT MAY 8th on Broken Horse

In anticipation of their upcoming record False Beats and True Hearts, out May 8th on Broken Horse , Damon & Naomi are very excited to announce a new “video” by visual artist Chris Marker, best known for his groundbreaking film La jetée, the inspiration for Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys. Consisting of a single still image set to album track “And You Are There”, the project will be premiered and hosted by the venerable Wire Magazine. Naomi explains the connection between the artist and the art:

The song, “And You Are There,” is about the way time can compress when you are lost in a memory, something I have learned a lot about from Chris Marker’s work – his films (La Jetée, Sans Soleil), his writing (Immemory), his photographs. When the song was finished, I sent it to Chris with a note – since his work had provided inspiration for the song, I wondered, might he in turn have a visual response to it? He sent back this image, with the note:

“Dunno if it fits your pretty Proustian melancholy, but I thought it could... And thanks for linking me to music, the only real art for me as you know (cinema? you kiddin’...)

Watch Chris Marker’s video for Damon & Naomi’s “And You Are There"

here

Bringing the music to the masses, May/June coast-to-coast U.S. tours are being planned with Amor de Dias, the new project from Alasdair Maclean of the Clientele. Their debut album will be out on Merge the same day False Beats and True Hearts is released, and it features Damon & Naomi guesting on one track. The two bands have played together in England, but this will be Amor de Dias's US debut. Japanese psych-rock demigod Michio Kurihara (Boris, Ghost) will play electric guitar with Damon & Naomi on tour, as on the album.

UK dates are also in the works for D&N, together with Richard Youngs -- Damon plays drums on Richard Youngs's forthcoming album on Jagjaguwar, and there are plans for Richard and Damon to perform live at these shows as a duo. If so, it will be the first time Damon will tour behind a drum kit this millennium!

AND YOU ARE THERE

Like the sunlight falling through a fence

The image comes and goes

Memories flickering within me

Where they are I don’t know

An orange light, a flash of white

Feel the sun, hear that sound within me

The past is but a moving image

It reappears then disappears

And though I can’t understand its movements

It erases all those years

An orange light, a flash of white

Feel the sun, hear that sound within me

And you are there once again

What I carry deep inside me

These feelings come and go

The past I thought was so distant

Flickers like an afterglow

And you are there once again

— Naomi Yang, 2011

Damon & Naomi online:

www.damonandnaomi.com

www.20-20-20.com

www.myspace.com/damonandnaomi

www.facebook.com/pages/Damon-Naomi/105076796191185

damon and naomi - false beats and true hearts

2011-02-14T14:54:00.001Z

Damon & Naomi celebrate their 25th year as performers together this year, and nothing displays that celebratory spirit more than False Beats and True Hearts, their first album of new recordings in four years, set for release May 8 on Broken Horse. An album of lush possibility and depth, False Beats and True Hearts fuses the skill of music veterans with the fervor of artists continuing to create at the top of their craft.

The intervening years following their darkly introspective Within These Walls has not been spent dawdling. With the reissue of the first Damon & Naomi record, More Sad Hits, a retrospective of their mid-career highlights (The Sub Pop Years), the chock-full 1001 Nights DVD which compiles documentary moments and live performances, and, perhaps most notably, re-releases of all three seminal Galaxie 500 albums, there's been a lot of looking back. It's therefore appropriate that the first song off FB&TH is "Walking Backwards," an ode to the joy of nostalgia and warmth of reflection. The song is cross stitched by Michio Kurihara's elegant guitar playing - a thick and resonating psych sound that has been a part of Damon & Naomi's music since their collaboration with the Japanese band Ghost (With Ghost from 2000) - and a Death Of A Ladies' Man-style backing chorus of female vox and horns.

Given the band's reputation for contemplative melancholy, Fasle Beats and True Hearts is unexpectedly upbeat and strident. While lyrics portray true introspection with a poetic and thoughtful view towards life, the melodies are ambitious and far-reaching. Naomi's new passion for piano playing circles the album like a starry night, capturing the immediacy found in the finest Plastic Ono Band recordings.

Like their best material, it's the sincerity and necessity of their expression that is the most striking, and with False Beats and True Hearts, Damon & Naomi offer a vital document of what brings listeners to music in the first place - emotion, identification and beauty.

monorail - charles douglas

2010-12-29T09:34:00.001Z

"There's a record we've been enjoying a lot since we got a promo of it back in September. Charles Douglas, The Lives Of... on small Manchester imprint, Broken Horse is a real curio. It first appeared on the No.6 label in 1999 and after selling out its pressing disappeared. Douglas is a smart, deadpan New York City kind of guy who writes hilariously about this doomed record in the sleevenotes – Mo Tucker on drums and production, Kurt Ralske (UVS) and Dean Wareham couldn't save it or the group from their own junkie fate. But what they left behind is a nugget of a record; classic, melodic scuzz in the great style of the Modern Lovers, Strokes, Jim Carroll Band and inevitably, the Velvet Underground. In the end a winner."

slowly wasted

2010-12-14T22:09:00.003Z

Charles Douglas and Broken Horse were both surprised and thrilled to see his track "Slowly Wasted" included on the lasted DJ mix/podcast by Andrew Weatherall. Obviously, a man of great taste.

1. Sympathy for the Devil - Rasputin
2. Let’s Take a Trip - Godfrey
3. They’re Here - Boots Walker
4. Death Dance - The Meteors
5. All My Hate and My Hexes are for You - Crocodiles
6. Boys Outside (Weatherall Dub) - Steve Mason
7. Kaleidoscope - The Electric Red Drive
8. Emnete - Imperial Tiger Orchestra
9. The Love Me or Die - C. W. Stoneking
10. Lullaby - Followed by Static
11. Silver Surfer (Weatherall Remix) - Trentemøller
12. Coma Summer - Weekend
13. Slowly Wasted - Charles Douglas

You can listen/download to the mix here (hosted by clashmusic.com)

connor hanwick (the drums) vs patrick cleandenim

2010-12-13T22:59:00.001Z

patrick cleandenim - city lights (supporting the drums)

2010-11-15T17:59:00.000Z

old charles douglas interview - september 1999

2010-10-23T14:02:00.002+01:00

E-MAIL INTERVIEW (September, 1999)

Q:
I think "The Lives of Charles Douglas" is a very fine album. Summertime is a blast of an opener and what with you sounding so much like Lou Reed on that one, and Moe Tucker producing, people are going to mention the Velvet Underground. What did the VU mean to you? Do you have some favorite VU or Lou Reed songs?

CHARLES DOUGLAS:
The VU are my favorite all time band! I remember when I was fifteen or sixteen I got a copy of the "Velvet Underground and Nico" album and thought it was the best record ever. It's still my favorite VU album, though my favorite VU song is probably "White Light/White Heat" because it sounds so deranged. I also like "Run Run Run" and "Sunday Morning" a lot. I'm also a big fan of Lou's solo work (well, most of it). I really love that song "NYC Man" off "Set the Twilight Reeling" along with all of Transformer, of course. My big wish is that I could have seen the VU live in the late sixties. Wouldn't that have been awesome, with the light show and Warhol and everything? I must have listened to the VU records about ten thousand times and I never get tired of them.

Q:
I'm curious to understand how Moe Tucker signed on to produce your album. What was she like in the studio? Does she still work checkout in Atlanta, GA? Last I wrote about her, that's what people said.

CHARLES DOUGLAS:
I was always a big fan of Moe and her unique drumming (as well as her solo record "Life in Exile After Abdication" which is a really great record). I saw her address in a magazine in 1995 (I think it was The Bigtakeover) and wrote her a letter and sent her a copy of my first band's record (Vegetarian Meat's "Let's Pet" CD). To my surprise, she wrote back and we spent several years just sending letters and records back and forth. Eventually when it came time for me to make the Charles Douglas album, Moe agreed to produce it and play drums. I don't think Moe has to work a crappy job anymore. I know she's been doing some other production work as well as continuing to release solo records. She is one of the nicest people I've met in the music world--she is so friendly and down to earth. Working with her on the record was the most fun I've probably had in the last five years. I hope I get to work with her more in the future. Her drumming is so different from everything else out there--it really helped make the songs sound good.

Q:
What's quite interesting about the record (apart from the great songs, more about them later) is the "quite famous" people who work on it. How did Kurt Ralske, Bill Whitten, Claudia Silver get involved? Did you have to pay 'em a lot of money?!?

CHARLES DOUGLAS:
Well, Kurt got involved because we decided to record the album at his nifty NYC studio called Zabriskie Point. Claudia, who is actually married to Luna's Dean Wareham, ended up singing because Dean was hanging out in the studio with us for a while (I'm a big fan of Luna). Bill Whitten joined up as guitarist because he's done some records for No.6. Hey, have you heard Bill's Grand Mal record "Maledictions" on London Records? It's a cool rock and roll record (you'd really like it, I think).

Q:
Does Ralske really play flugel horn? Totally Wasted sounds fabulous with the horns!

CHARLES DOUGLAS:
Yes! Kurt is an awesome flugel horn player! His brother is actually in the New York Symphony or something, so I guess it's a musical family. Kurt is an extremely talented guy! Like Moe, he is also very friendly and fun to work with. He even let me stay at his place when I got kicked out of the Gramercy Park Hotel for causing "problems". His studio is really cool and he has a great collection of records, including an instructional 7" called "How To take Care of Your New Pet, Volume 6: The Hamster". I often call Kurt and leave crazy messages on his machine for no reason, or snippets of new songs. Kurt's band Ultra Vivid Scene is another of my favorites (esp. his record "Joy" on 4AD) so working with him was "groovy".

Q:
Tell me about the recording of the album. Did it take very long? Were there disasters, happy accidents, strange developments? Are there things you want to change if you had a chance?

CHARLES DOUGLAS:
Many strange things happened (strange things seem to happen everywhere I go) but no real disasters. We did the record in two 5-day sessions in the summer, with a couple weeks in between for us to go back home and hang out. I'm really happy with how the record came out. I was kind of nervous about playing with someone as awesome as Moe, but I think it ended up working out really well. You know, Moe also played some cool keyboard parts (the spacey keyboard thing on "Bad Man" is her). Oh, and I got kicked out of the Gramercy Park Hotel for acting crazy and taunting another band (a humorless British band on Arista Records, I don't want to even say their name) that was staying there. I also set the fire alarm in my room off (twice in one night). Then there was the bar, where every night me and guitarist Manish and No.6 label manager Bobby would sit drinking and drinking and drinking and yelling and acting crazy.

Q:
Your songs pack a dollop of wry humor. Would you ever describe yourself as a humorous kinda guy?

CHARLES DOUGLAS:
My sense of humor is very different from most people's. People probably just think I'm weird (which I am, but...) Manish and I found a horrible "Mexican Murder Magazine" thing and we showed people all these pictures of corpses in it and everyone got frightened.

Q:
Who is Ganapathee? She sounds like a Hindu goddess to me.

CHARLES DOUGLAS:
Yay! You're right! Ganapathee is a Hindu God, of good luck, among other things. Ganapathee is also known as Lord Ganesh. Ganapathee has the head of an elephant, but the body of a human (Ganapathee's head was cut off by an angry Lord Shiva, I think). I spent some time in an ashram in the Pocono Mountains trying to become sane (it didn't really work) and I learned about Ganesh there.

Q:
Which song was the hardest to write on the album?

CHARLES DOUGLAS:
The hardest to write was actually "Baby Come On." I couldn't think up lyrics to it. I remember writing down a bunch of words in my hotel room about an hour before we went to the studio to record it. I think some of it I just ended up babbling on the spur of the moment and it ended up on the record. The hardest song to sing was "earlybird school" because i kept getting the verses mixed up.

Q:
What did you study at Brown University?

CHARLES DOUGLAS:
I went to Brown to study pre-med with the eventual goal of going on to medical school. Guitarist Manish Kalvakota went to Boston University to study pre-med too. But then Vegetarian Meat started and that was the end of school and studying for both of us. I also took some film classes when I was at Brown. In fact, one of the last things I did there was direct a video for a Vegetarian Meat song (it's a horrible, crappy video but it's funny to see us running around, out of our minds)

Q:
I'm sorry I missed Vegetarian Meat totally. Who was the only person in Vegetarian Meat? How many records did VM make?

CHARLES DOUGLAS:
Vegetarian Meat was me and Manish Kalvakota. We made two seven inch singles for No.6 Records along with a full length CD for No.6 called "Let's Pet" (produced by Wharton Tiers). We also did some recordings with Kramer that were never released. We used a drum machine, so it sounded really low-fi and crazy. We went on a disasterous tour in 1995, as well as playing a bunch of shows in NYC between 1993 and 1996.

Q:
Your press bio mentions you had a nervous breakdown. If you'd rather not talk about this, I understand, but what really happened? Hope you're well now.

CHARLES DOUGLAS:
I'm doing okay. On the sanity-meter I am no longer in Syd Barrett/Skip Spence territory. Having mental problems is really hard. All the medications they try to give you don't really work and they just make you feel crazier. I did demo versions of some of the songs when I was on all these drugs (The Day You Went Away, which was originally a tribute to slain rapper Biggie Smalls) and they sound absolutely insane. I also wrote that song "Ganapathee" when I was in a pretty crazy state.

Q:
Are your touring at the moment?

CHARLES DOUGLAS:
No, although I have been playing acoustic shows around Chapel Hill. I played one a few months ago that was really fun where I wore a Burger King crown and made the crowd sing along to all the songs. Because the band is scattered right now (me in Chapel Hill, Moe in GA, others in NYC) we haven't really been playing much.

>I am really glad I heard your album cos I think it's been a long while >since I heard a bunch of unpretentious solid songs that rock and make me >smile! Thanks for the time, Charles. >--Chung

THANK YOU! I'm so glad you liked the record! Definitely keep in touch & I'll send you that Veg. Meat record soon! Take care, Charles

2010-10-21T13:01:00.001+01:00

Patrick Cleandenim can be seen supporting The Drums on some of their European shows. Dates are venues here

charles douglas - the lives of charles douglas - reviews

2010-10-20T18:37:00.005+01:00

The first (& great) reviews of the album are now in:

Folk Radio UK

"If there’s a more perfect essence of no-wave geek-rock cool than “The Lives Of Charles Douglas” by the Californian outpatient of the same name then I’ve yet to hear it. It’s like a mythical secret treasure in audio form that has been lost for over a decade & now is finally ready to reveal itself to anyone that should still be looking for it."

Leeds Guide

''Created in fraught circumstances – too much drink and drugs, and the odd threat with a gun – it’s a real record of its time, and a must for people who remember the last time plaid shirts were in fashion.''

charles douglas - track by track # 5 good luck

2010-10-18T17:37:00.001+01:00

GOOD LUCK:

“Good Luck” I think came out pretty well. I knew when I wrote the line “Big money, big prizes, fame comes in different sizes” that it would be my epitaph. I stole some lines from an old videogame called “Smash TV” in which an animated figure pops out before each level and says, “Good luck… you’ll need it! Big money! Big prizes!” To me, those always sounded like amazing lyrics instead of inane videogame banter. I was trying to write a song that sounded just like Prince, but of course this sounds nothing like Prince. I think some good luck is what everyone needs. When I was recording this, I kept looking over at Moe Tucker, because I was thinking, “Yeah, she’s really famous to people who care about good music, but to everyone else she’s just some random middle-aged woman who smokes a lot.” The nature of fame is so confounding. When I was 21 in New York City, I really craved and wanted fame—not so I could bask in it, but so I could throw it away like it was meaningless. The people I admire most are like Scott Walker or Lindsay Lohan, who have all this fame and talent, and then they throw it in the trash bin to prove they don’t need it. I do sometimes sit and daydream about Lindsay Lohan making an album produced by Scott Walker. She can’t sing at all, but I bet he could come up with some interesting arrangements for her. Michael Haneke should make a movie starring those two, with Scott Walker as her father. And the plot could involve heavy incest. Scott still looks good. Very youthful, I think. Although I feel that much of his looks came from his head of hair, which he no longer has. Perhaps Steve Albini could engineer Scott Walker & Lindsay Lohan’s album, and they could cover Serge Gainsbourg tunes. If I ran a major record label, this is the kind of endeavor that I’d pursue, instead of trying to sign new bands.

charles douglas - track by track # 4 slowly wasted

2010-10-13T07:39:00.001+01:00

SLOWLY WASTED:

“Slowly Wasted” is the only song on the record that I played almost all the instruments on. I recorded it early in the morning. Moe Tucker hadn’t turned up yet, but the song was ready to be recorded. So I think I used a drum loop and later Moe added some percussion. I wrote the song when I was 16. In fact, a very primitive version turns up on a 7” single I recorded in high school. It’s about being at a party and seeing a hot girl and then being too scared to talk to her, so then you just go and get drunk and get high. At some point between recording and mixing, Kurt Ralske added a lot of horns and keyboards to it, which made it sound nice and smooth. Siobhan Duffy from God is my Co-Pilot sang on it too. Siobhan was quite attractive and she was dating Gira from the Swans. I showed Siobhan a drawing I’d done of Grimace from McDonalds in the bathtub with her. To her credit, she thought it was so insane that it was funny. I know that my guitarist Manish Kalvakota thought she was attractive too, and so did Kurt Ralske. And so did Bobby McCain and Terry Tolkin from No.6 and Elektra Records, who funded the album. In hindsight, Siobhan reminds me of Greta Gerwig, the American actress. Again, if I ran a film studio, I’d cast Siobhan and Greta as feuding sisters who have to run a fast food restaurant together. They could fight over the franchise, and Siobhan would have a secret nervous breakdown and start spicing the meat with LSD. The movie could have lots of cat fights in it, perhaps. With a score by Glenn Branca and Justin Bieber.

chales douglas - moe tucker, before the tea party

2010-10-08T07:19:00.001+01:00

Charles Douglas talks about the legendary Moe Tucker in light of the Tea Party furore here

charles douglas - track by track # 3 under the command

2010-10-05T20:12:00.002+01:00

UNDER THE COMMAND:

“Under the Command” was about listening to Chan Marshall AKA Cat Power’s music on the radio, from a future perspective—like from the year 2010 or something. When I first saw Cat Power play, it was at a dive in Philadelphia and there weren’t many people there. The place didn’t even have a stage. So she just stood there and looked at the floor and strummed her guitar. I thought it was really good, but I was too shy to talk to her, and she didn’t really look like she wanted anyone to talk to her. It was 1995 probably, and at that time I still weighed 233 pounds due to the Burger King meals, so I think it would have been upsetting to her if I’d said anything. I should have given her a tape of my music, but that probably would have been even more upsetting! Then she started to get some measure of fame, so I wrote the song about her. I was trying to imagine what would happen if she became really famous like En Vogue. And how younger kids would look up to her, probably. But it would be really awkward, because she was clearly unsuited to fame and all messed-up. But mainstream kids would listen to her music as they drove around and they’d daydream about her. They would have glamour posters of her on their bedroom walls, etc. She would star in a movie with Vanilla Ice. But now I know that in 2010 this won’t be the case! I haven’t heard her music in years. She never became famous like En Vogue, which was a personal disappointment, but I guess she probably has quite a bit of money now. I heard she’s still crazy even though she’s supposed to be normal again. I did write another song about her called “Chan” in 2001, but I don’t remember why I did that. Beyonce really filled the void that I thought Chan Marshall might occupy.

charles douglas - track by track #2 earlybird school

2010-09-27T23:00:00.004+01:00

EARLYBIRD SCHOOL:
I wrote “Earlybird School” as a tribute to Burger King. I was going through a phase when I would eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at Burger King. I did that for about six months. There was no specific reason, other than there was a Burger King across the street from the apartment I was crashing in. Plus I was too lazy to cook, and I really liked how Burger King food tasted. And it was really cheap. I was about 19 at the time. I gained about 80 pounds from eating that way, and then lost it all the next year and got really skinny. Now I haven’t eaten at Burger King in a decade. But I was really obsessed with it at the time I wrote the song. Burger King and McDonalds, and the whole mythology of fast food, were fascinating and scary things to me. All those great cartoon characters, like Grimace from McDonalds, were meant to appeal to kids but they were also totally trippy and surreal. And if you’re smoking a lot of pot, then creatures like Grimace become really transfixing, and Burger King food starts to taste amazing. So I wrote “Earlybird School” just so I could mention Burger King in there. And the other lyrics were pretty accurate in terms of feeling like a loser, and wanting money, and knowing that I was doomed. I wrote and recorded the demo of the song in thirty minutes, and the studio version didn’t take much longer. We recorded most of the tracks on this record live, with minimal overdubs from my friend Bill Whitten on guitar.

charles douglas - track by track #1 summertime

2010-09-19T14:24:00.002+01:00

SUMMERTIME:

I wrote “Summertime” because I really like the Velvet Underground. And I really like happy songs, or songs that start out happy and then you realize they’re really depressing. I always admired The Misfits song “Skulls” because it’s so poppy and upbeat, but then of course Danzig is so scary and demonic, especially now that he’s an old man. I suppose Husker Du does that too. One minute you think, “This is a cheerful, up-tempo rock song!” and then the next second there are razor blades everywhere and you’re dialing for an ambulance because you realize the song is about how much Bob Mould and Grant Hart love each other, but they can’t make things work. I thought it might be nice to write a song like that. The chords are catchy, but the lyrics paint a bleak picture. Of course, I was feeling that way at the time. Things were, are, and always will be quite bleak. I was also listening to a lot of Television and Ramones, and all the other classic New York City rock bands, so they really influenced the sound of this record. And we were recording at a horrible decaying studio on West 30^th Street in New York City, so that helped too. I asked Maureen “Moe” Tucker to produce the album and play drums, because her drums sound like city traffic. I think she’s one of the best rock drummers in the world.

charles douglas - the lives of charles douglas CD

2010-08-30T19:06:00.002+01:00

You can now buy (with immediate dispatch) the fantastic The Lives of Charles Douglas CD direct from Broken Horse . The album includes all new artwork and a great 12 page booklet with excellent sleeve notes written by Charles Douglas himself.

We're very excited to be getting this great lost album back into the world.

charles douglas - great pop supplement 7" pre-order

2010-08-18T11:33:00.003+01:00

Hey everyone,

Trust this finds you all well…..

2 more GPS 45s to lure you in with… and while of course I would say this, both are total gems- the first from one of the most talked about new bands in Britain, while the other features 2 ridiculously perfect, catchy pop nuggets with Moe Tucker on drums no less!
Here’s the press bumph:

GPS57 Still Corners “Don’t Fall in Love” / “Wish” 7” #.d 7” ltd to 400

Following a debut self released CD EP in 2008, London’s Still Corners regroup to a recent fanfare of widespread acclaim for recent killer live shows and a body of mesmerizing new songs. Two of which feature on the band’s debut wax outing on The Great Pop Supplement. Described recently by The Guardian as one of the best new bands in Britain, suggesting they may about to become forebearers for a new golden age of indie. So no pressure there then.

Terms such as “dreamy noir-pop“, “lush, hazy”, “timeless, reverb drenched bliss” have all been bandied around of late, check out the video for double A sider “Wish” online which merely hints at the reason for so much salivating of late. An epic 45 which will disappear in the blink of an eye. 400 numbered copies.

GPS58 Charles Douglas “Summertime” / “Good Luck” #d 300 copy 45

Beginning to appear on many “great lost album” lists of late, is the incredible 1999 album “The Lives of Charles Douglas”. Produced by, and featuring percussion from the Velvets’ one and only Moe Tucker with Engineering and Guitar from UVS’ Kurt Ralske. Like many great albums before it (and something Moe herself is acutely aware of, of course) when released (on No.6 records in US) small pockets of listeners fell in love with it immediately but only years later has it’s true value began to shine.

The single here features 2 insanely catchy, New York pop gems- think a Moe produced collision of Lou, Velvets, Modern Lovers and Beat Happening. All this and it’s ridiculously well dressed too- half clear vinyl, half green vinyl, full colour picture labels and numbered out of 300. Sweet. Hike up the volume in anticipation for a UK release for the full length later in the year on Broken horse.

Please be quick on these, interest is real high on both and I’ve had distros & mailorder setups I’ve never heard of or dealt with before come in for (the stuff in general but especially) these new 7s.

Re: cost, I’m fighting a losing battle with spiralling charges on manufacturing costs vs. keeping it all affordable for you lot! I hope I’m not alienating any of you by upping the ante a wee bit here- at least on single copies, although where you order both, I’ll try and keep costs the same which I hope sounds fair? So for single copies of each it’s £5.25 +post, or for both here’s a breakdown:-

2 x 7” in UK w/ post = £11.50, 2 x 7” into Europe = £13.00, 2 x 7” for rest of the world £14. Usual thing of paypal best on this email address thanks…

Time to reel out my old chestnut here, that by buying direct from me, you ensure the longevity of the label so if I can raise prices slightly and still say that with a straight face then I’m grateful to ya! To remain competitive with other labels‘ 7s is the aim pretty much….

If anyone is after any back catalogue stuff, there’s so little left now that if ordering with either of the new singles, feel free to take these last 2 x 7s at £2 each, 10” at £3 and CD at £4:-

7”: yair yona, trimdon grange explosion. 10” “it happened on a day” v/a tunng/woodcraft folk etc, CD: tom carter (charalambides)/christian kiefer.

Ok, that’s pretty much it this time round. Thanks as ever, blindin’ stuff up next so natter again soon,

dom

The Lives of Charles Douglas: DISPATCH 001

2010-08-07T13:03:00.002+01:00

Follow the link below to take you to the new Charles Douglas blog.

The Lives of Charles Douglas: DISPATCH 001: "The last thing anyone needs is another blog. I hate blogs. Boring, pretentious, pitching products, etc. A total waste of time... So here..."

charles douglas - the lives of charles douglas (artwork preview)

2010-07-25T23:44:00.003+01:00

This is the cover for the re-issue of The Lives of Charles Douglas.

The brand new artwork for the album was designed by Christopher Nieri. You can check out his work here

charles douglas - summertime/good luck

2010-07-22T21:59:00.003+01:00

Look out for a stunning coloured vinyl 300 only 7" on the excellent Great Pop Supplement label in the next month or so. Here's a sneak preview of the artwork.....

the autumn defense - live review

2010-06-19T13:05:00.001+01:00

review here

charles douglas - i'm doomed

2010-06-12T13:39:00.001+01:00

Liam Hayes & Plush - Live in Chicago

2010-06-08T23:21:00.005+01:00

Look Up, Look Down

O Street

White Telescope

The Sunday night residency will continue on June 13th & 20th.

how many lives does charles douglas have?

2010-06-08T07:42:00.006+01:00

where did I go?

2010-05-04T23:16:00.002+01:00

liam hayes - record store day 2010

2010-04-18T18:11:00.002+01:00

Take A Chance
If I Could
Look Up, Look Down
Greyhound Bus Station
Rosita (new song)

Reckless Records, Saturday April 17th 2010
1532 N. Milwaukee, Chicago IL.

a.c newman interview at pitchfork

2010-04-15T17:07:00.003+01:00

Ahead of the upcoming New Pornographers LP Carl Newman speaks to Pitchfork about some of the records that shaped his life here

manchester district music archive

2010-04-07T09:23:00.005+01:00

Just uploaded this poster for The Autumn Defense/Plush show at Night & Day in Manchester (Sept 2008). Check out the excellent Manchester music archive here

down at the rock n' roll club

2010-03-22T21:31:00.006Z

Recording proper of the new Kevin Tihista album "On This Dark Street" will begin in earnest this week. All ten tracks have been written, demoed and a running order has been decided, hopefully it will be wrapped up in just a couple of weeks. These songs are amongst the best Kevin's ever written and they're going to leave the opposition standing, take our word for it. We can't wait to hear the finished record.

Tracklisting:

Teenage Werewolf
I Heard A Voice
Don't Let Him In
Jack K
Shame Train

Taking It To The Streets
N.Carolina
OBE
Gravedigger
Country Road

Kevin Tihista says

"Hey there, Alun! Weekend sucked!!! Had to dj both Friday and Saturday at liars club. There were a couple fights. I had to save a girl from getting beat up by her boyfriend. One of the bartenders got sucker punched and had a barstool thrown at him. Broke his hand. Crazy. My guitar player moves back to town tomorrow. I am taking the recorder to the loft/rehearsal spot he's living in, on Thursday. We borrowed some top notch mics for the drums. Got a cool girl drummer. Also lined up a string player. My keyboard player is hauling over his fender rhodes piano. My guitar player is also an ace trumpet player. Things are shaping up nicely. Gonna try and bang this out as fast as humanly possible!!

Everyone is psyched, and ready to rock. Can't flippin' wait!!!! "

photos by Kevin Tihista.

patrick cleandenim - new demos & class actress video

2010-03-07T14:52:00.001Z

listen here

Official video of Class Actress' "Journal of Ardency". Directed by Patrick Cleandenim.
Song appears on Class Actress' EP Journal of Ardency out now on Terrible Records.
www.myspace.com/elizabethharper

The Clientele, Field Music and Liam Hayes in Chicago

2010-03-01T11:00:00.000Z

andrew morgan update

2010-01-21T18:04:00.000Z

From Andrew's blog

"I love my NPR, so I was especially thrilled after being tipped off about this tonight: NPR

BBC Radio Scotland's Another County with Ricky Ross played As Long As We're Together on their Americana show last Friday night.

I expect to have the new album and a trio of EPs finished in June. Right now the album is looking like:

Grey Light of the Season

01. Granville
02. Blood Moon
03. No One
04. Roses from Todnauberg
05. View from Nowhere
06. Laurel
07. St. Petersberg
08. Winterlight
09. Summertime
10. Cadet
11. Statue on Summer St.
12. Nightfall, Magdalen St.
13. In from the Cold
14. Vapor and Steam

liam hayes and plush - mojo dec 2009

2010-01-05T19:27:00.000Z

motorik

2009-12-15T00:16:00.001Z

Music video (by Oto Gillen) for the original 2006 demo recording of the song Motorik. Written and produced by Oto Gillen and Patrick Cleandenim. The song was later performed by Patrick Cleandenim & Living Image (Oto Gillen, Eugene Wasserman and Stuart Perry) and was finally rerecorded by Cleandenim with Jay Israelson for the album "Orange Moonbeam Floorshow" (released 2009, Sphinx Groop/Broken Horse).

still looking for you

2009-12-14T17:10:00.003Z

Should have posted this a while back but Kevin Tihista is featured on a new Townes Van Zandt tribute album which you can read all about here.

destroy the heart

2009-12-14T17:03:00.002Z

Dan Bejar of Destroyer has tipped his hat to both A.C Newman's Get Guilty and Liam Hayes and Plush's Bright Penny over at the Pitchfork end of year Guest List round up.

alasdair maclean at pitchfork

2009-12-14T16:57:00.002Z

Alasdair Maclean of the ever great Clientele has named Liam Hayes and Plush's Kings Arms show as his musical experience of the year over at Pitchfork The above clip was filmed at the very same show.

suitcase orchestrra's #1 album of the year

2009-12-11T22:02:00.002Z

The good folks at Suitcase Orchestra have made Andrew Morgan's Please Kid Remember the #1 album of 2009 ahead of Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird, The Leisure Society, Sufjan Stevens et al....

the return of kevin tihista

2009-12-03T14:11:00.007Z

2010 will bring a new album from Kevin Tihista (title still tbc) and hopefully Volume 2 of his Home Demons series. It's been nearly 6 years since Wake Up Captain and 5 since Home Demons Vol 1 but Kevin has not been idle, these are just some of the songs he has written and recorded since which you can expect to turn up next year...

History of Lovers
N.Carolina
Happy People... Shut Your Mouths
Jack K
Don't Let Him In
Try The Veal
D.L.J.K
Country Road
O.B.E
Hallelujah
The Rocker
I Heard A Voice
Taking It To The Streets
Bats
Home Alone
To Know His Name
Until The Road
Beware The Man
Seqweesha Chingada Picante
Just Can't Get High Anymore
Teenage Werewolf
Challenger
The City
Drugs And Blondes
Gravedigger
Just Friends
Orcha Rock
Missiles
One Foot In The Door
Right Here Girl
She Said
On Our Way Now
Shame Train
Something Needed
Circa 84

patrick cleandenim - abstract animation

2009-12-01T08:14:00.001Z

another bright penny review

2009-11-30T19:46:00.002Z

"Earlier Plush albums felt more like ‘statements’, but Bright Penny comes full circle to “Found A Little Baby” – it’s music borne of necessity, but delivered with ease. Hayes is free here to state the core of his songs simply. The result might be Hayes’s least remarkable record, in one respect. I suspect however, in the long run, it will turn out to be his best yet. "

Dusted review Bright Penny here by Jon Dale.

bright penny - 8/10 americana UK

2009-11-12T20:32:00.002Z

A soft pillow of pop-soul from Chicago uber-band

Pop-soul is quite justifiably a swear word when there are so many protagonists who ply their shady wares under that broad moniker. However, what proudly elevates ‘Bright Penny!’ several leagues above is that the soul it draws from is of the mid 70s vintage Chicago variety. Positively dripping with seductive horns, keys, genuine soul rhythms and arrangements (which can be exceedingly Bacharach inspired on occasions) and a ton of good tunes performed with not a little feeling.

What’s more, it sports something of a jaw-dropping line up featuring as it does a ‘whose who’ of Chicago’s musical legend. Featuring as it does, not only Stirrat and Sansome of Wilco/Autum Defence, but Curtis Mayfield’s drummer from his ‘Superfly’ prime period (Morris Jennings), Jackie Wilson’s Bassist (Bernard Reed) and Tom Tom MMLXXIV, the long-standing horn arranger for Earth Wind and Fire and The Jacksons amongst others.

After the critical success of Plush’s debut album ‘Fed’, Liam Hayes takes centre stage as the band’s songwriter and vocalist. He doesn’t have a natural ‘soul’ voice. It’s a gentle croon that occasionally strays in falsetto and seems in part Scissor Sisters and a little hint of Bowie’s ‘plastic soul’ vocal cadences.

Whilst it seems best to let the lushly textured swaying grooves of the
entire album’s song cycle wash over and around you like a jasmine scented summer breeze in one blissful sitting, some moments do stand out. ‘If I Could’s laconic sway, twisting and turning melodies and mournful reflection are a joy. Elsewhere ‘Look Up, Look Down’ sounds like a McCartney song that Al Green could have turned into a seductive funk classic.

These are pop songs to close your eyes to, and feel

americana uk

patrick cleandenim - city lights

2009-11-12T08:13:00.001Z

taken from orange moonbeam floorshow

Andrew Morgan - As Long As We're Together (download) EP

2009-11-09T19:59:00.004Z

01. As Long As We're Together
02. Who Ever Knew
03. Always in Dreams
04. Minji Lee
05. A Matter of Months
06. As Mine
07. As Long As We're Together (Reprise)
08. Quite a Pair

Gideon Coe has already played the title track three times on his BBC 6 Music show

available now from itunes and andrew's website

some reviews:

suitcase orchestra
soundsxp.com
whisperinahollorin
losing today
the daily melt

so much music

2009-11-09T19:55:00.005Z

Liam Hayes and Plush recorded live at the King's Head, Crouch End, London on Friday October 16th.

Left: Mr Jimmy Rowland - Fender Rhodes electric piano and Moog bass keyboard
Right: Liam Hayes - Wurlitzer electric piano

Thanks to Harvey Williams for posting the clip.

liam hayes in esquire

2009-10-08T21:18:00.003+01:00

As one of the guest editors in this months Esquire, Nick Hornby suggested a profile of Liam Hayes.

patrick cleandenim to play cmj

2009-10-07T17:17:00.004+01:00

Patrick will be performing with his new live band at this year's CMJ in New York. They will play at South Street Seaport on October 23rd 8pm.

white telescope on you tube

2009-10-05T16:30:00.001+01:00

patrick cleandenim - orange moonbeam floorshow - uncut and artrocker reviews

2009-10-05T13:06:00.002+01:00

bright penny in the irish times

2009-10-02T19:42:00.001+01:00

"The more you listen to Bright Penny, the more you sigh. For his latest turn, Liam Hayes (a singer- songwriter who is the very definition of enigmatic) has produced an album of beautifully heartfelt pop and soul. The chances of the world at large copping on to this? Zilch, zero, nada. Despite his peerless talents and spectacular voice, sporadic releases mean that Hayes remains a cult attraction. Here, on an album recorded in Chicago with musicians who played with Curtis Mayfield, Brian Wilson, Jackie Wilson, The Jacksons, Wilco and others, Hayes weaves the sort of effortlessly rapturous and dramatic sounds only a true pop visionary could conjure up. Look Up, Look Down and We Made It see him swooping and swooning away to his heart’s content. He claims on So Much Music that music almost drove him crazy; if so, this is the kind of starry-eyed madness everyone should experience. "

JIM CARROLL - The Irish Times

boomkat on bright penny

2009-09-28T20:43:00.001+01:00

"Formerly known merely as Plush, Liam Hayes returns with his own name emblazoned across the sleeve of his new album, and as with Bright Penny's widely lauded predecessor, Fed, here's an album that's singularly out of step with its time. Far away from the modern predilection for all things lo-fi and what Psychedlic Horseshit wryly brand "shit-gaze", Bright Penny embraces lavish '70s easy listening-style arrangements, full of horns, multi-layered backing vocals, creamy basslines and an overall feeling of old-fashioned values resurrected without irony or cynicism. Although for some listeners the likes of 'So Much Music' might come a little too close to the bellbottom-wearing sub-Bacharach hit parade fillers of thirty years ago, there's plenty of evidence here to support the case that Hayes is something of a genius in the field of MOR (if such a thing is possible): the straight-faced, swinging pop magnificence of 'White Telescope' reveals a true studio craftsman at work."

boomkat

more bright penny press

2009-09-28T18:56:00.003+01:00

jim newberry's liam hayes shots

2009-09-26T07:59:00.003+01:00

Here's some promo shots Jim Newberry took of Liam Hayes for the Bright Penny campaign. You can check out Jim's blog at picturedujour.com

Liam Hayes & Plush - UK shows October 2009

2009-09-19T13:42:00.003+01:00

Tuesday 13th Hare & Hounds, Birmingham
Wednesday 14th Dulcimer, Manchester
Thursday 15th 229 (small room), London
Friday 16th The King's Head, Crouch End, London

Ticket details to follow....

bright penny - available now!

2009-09-10T18:57:00.004+01:00

You can now order Bright Penny on CD for immediate dispatch from broken horse

liam hayes and plush - white telescope video

2009-09-09T20:19:00.003+01:00

Here's your first chance to see the White Telescope video, filmed and directed by Roman Coppola in Chicago.

Andrew Morgan - Please Kid, Remember reviews

2009-09-03T06:51:00.003+01:00

If you were thinking about buying this album......

"Meet the new king of pop. Well, the new king of chamber pop, a Kansas City songsmith whose second album is a breathtakingly beautiful work of wonder. Please Kid, Remember is a meticulously arranged, lavishly layered collection of wistful reminiscences, waltz-time reveries and heartache ballads, featuring Morgan's hushed, intimate whisper. This album couldn't be more haunting and autumnal if it came with some leaves and a packet of freeze-dried memories of your ex-loves."
-The Guardian

"Started back in 2003, the fact that this glittering collection of songs has only now been brought to the surface indicates the depths of ill-health and ill-fortune its creator was plunged into in the intervening years. Morgan's debut, 'Misadventures in Radiology', was recorded courtesy of studio time donated by Elliott Smith and there is a respectful doffing of the cap to the master on 'Victory in Passing'. Elsewhere Morgan's swooning vocal perfectly compliments the dewey-eye romanticism of 'As Long As We're Together' and 'Five Paintings'. In fact, the only complaint is that this a glorious daydream of an album waltzes by all too fast. 9/10."
-Clash

"The fact that ‘Please Kid, Remember’ even exists is surely testament to the strength of the human spirit. That it is also so distinctly beautiful to listen to is a wonder all its own. Blankets of soft orchestrated strings shield every melodic nuance and melody, lending these paeans to love, nature and death a stately, sometimes haunting quality. The breadth of sonic scope here is colossal, yet always concise. On any one song you’re likely to be able to pick out numerous guitars, bells, drums, strings, pianos, harpsichords and harmoniums, all circling around Morgan’s undulating wave of vocals. The Press release mentions a likeness to ‘Disney soundtracks’, but only if that film soundtrack is Bambi as re-shot by a French existentialist art-house director, in the deep unrelenting snow. A huge talent, strongly recommended. 8 out of 10."
-Americana UK

"A triumph in baroque, emotive pop. Imaginative and subtle, the meticulously arranged music of “Please Kid, Remember” rarely puts a foot wrong. Far from a summer album, the songs exude a wistfulness that summons the mood and possibilities of late autumn. 8.0."
-Too Cool to Die

"If scientists were able to insert probes into trees and record the actual sound of leaves turning from green to gold in Autumn, then those recordings would form the basis for Andrew Morgan’s second album, ‘Please Kid, Remember’. Veering between impossibly pretty and achingly beautiful, Morgan has pieced together a masterful collection of songs and brief instrumentals. One of the most wonderfully ornate and beautiful records ever."
-Suitcase Orchestra

"With 17 tracks stretched taut over 34 minutes, it's a glorious jamboree of soul-hugging sounds - a brief but thrillingly romantic encounter. Prepare to be seduced all over again."
-Alternative Ulster

"The album exudes a sense of familiarity, of childhood birthdays, of dreams remembered ('Mine and Mine Alone'), and of watching snow fall from behind frosty windows ('As Long As We're Together'). Sleighbells shield the songs from the outside world, and withing the LP, a cast of characters wake and sleep, and fall in and out of love. To term it 'chamber pop' would be too technical a term. Rather, think of it as 'music from within a snow globe'. 8/10."
-Alternative Ulster

"Memorable lush and classy-sounding pop on outstanding second album from Kansas-based singer-songwriter, Andrew Morgan. With lots of memorable melodies and lush and classy arrangements, Morgan's soft-voiced vocals deliver the goods in under three quarters of an hour. Set against many pop albums from the past years, Andrew Morgan's second album probably is one of this year's finest moments."
-Pennyblack Music

"There is an incredibly warm texture to the album, with layers of instruments, be they harpsichords, violins, celestas, Rhodes, handclaps, voices and no end of other toys building behind the acoustic guitar that leads the slow, sleepy charge. Please Kid, Remember grabs you from the word go. Lovely."
-Bearded Magazine

"With echoes of classic chamber-pop like Odessey and Oracle, Morgan's sophomore effort is a minor miracle."
-SoundsXP

"Celebratory chamber pop, like Ed Harcourt singing a Broadway musical by Stephin Merritt. Morgan's voice carries an exemplary singer-songwriter fragility, but there's a lot more fruity diversions than is usual. Worth the wait. 8/10."
-Teletext

"The similarities to Elliott Smith are welcoming, the orchestral sections are haunting and the composition is beautiful. Welcome to the world of Andrew Morgan."
-Subba Cultcha

"A stunningly well-arranged example of the songwriter's art. The symphonic proportions of the album are well earned with great writing. Please Kid, Remember is almost overwhelming in its scope and accomplishment, and you can well understand how such an undertaking took five years to finish. Excellent."
-Boomkat

"A wonderful collection of gentle, intelligent, Americana-influenced pop. 4 stars."
-Leeds Guide

"Morgan’s panoramic arrangements and breathy vocals, which actually do bring to mind The Zombies' Colin Blunstone, are every bit the orchestral pop revelation. Brief instrumental passages, which themselves often beg for more attention as they introduce and play with leitmotifs, weave together Morgan’s airy, sublime, psychedelic, idiosyncratic songs. Andrew Morgan’s talent as an arranger and songwriter is clear, and if you’re after a record to soundtrack those weird, overcast Sundays that bridge the gap between Summer and Autumn, this is probably what you’re looking for."
-Music News

"Morgan's whispering vocals embody the curiosities of adolescence. And the often large, symphonic arrangements that accompany those vocals spire toward an epic scale, melding seamlessly with the economy of Morgan's lyrics. Through it all, Morgan produces a sound that brims with emotional complexity, at once melancholic and hopeful, tender and disenchanted."
-Pitch Weekly

"A pretty, meditative, rainy-afternoon record. Morgan's sound is characterized by lush string-and-piano arrangements and clean electric and acoustic guitars, topped off by Morgan's breathy, multitracked vocals. His compositional abilities are top-shelf, resulting in brilliantly conceived instrumental arrangements that turn his light indie-pop tunes into radiant, ballroom-filling waltzes. I could easily see Morgan following in the footsteps of Badly Drawn Boy or Randy Newman in scoring a film — particularly one by Wes Anderson."
-Pitch Weekly

"Andrew Morgan records are fantastical experiences that create their own little imaginative universes, a lot like Jean-Pierre Jeunet or Michel Gondry films. Elaborately arranged chamber music and whispery vocals collide with the sort of rainy-day pop music that The Zombies or Elliott Smith might conjure. One gets the sense that if Morgan were not occupied with perfecting his pop muse, he'd probably be scoring art-house cinema."
-Lawrence.com

bright penny pre-orders

2009-09-02T14:01:00.003+01:00

Amazon
Play.com
CD Wow

bright penny - 4 stars in mojo & uncut

2009-08-31T13:59:00.001+01:00

across the boarders

2009-08-25T20:16:00.003+01:00

Gathered in Song promoted The Autumn Defense/Plush show in Cardiff last September which was probably the best show of the tour. This should be great too.

ACROSS THE BORDERS: A two day celebration of americana and alt. folk in South Wales, 5th and 6th September 2009

Richmond Fontaine, Vetiver, Willard Grant Conspiracy and Magnolia Electric Co. are just some of the big names coming to South Wales next week for Across The Borders, a two day event celebrating the best in contemporary americana and alt. folk.

Held between the Muni Arts Centre in Pontypridd and the Grand Pavilion in Porthcawl, and supported by Capitol Region Tourism, the event looks like an absolute blinder. As well as those already mentioned the line-up also includes Aidan Moffat, formerly of John Peel-approved indie institution Arab Strap, indie folk luminary Adem, who recently provided the soundtrack for Armando Iannucci’s hit political satire In The Loop, Will Oldham collaborator Alasdair Roberts, tremendous singer songwriter Peter Bruntnell and Canada’s latest sensation Ohbijou, who share a record label with both Vetiver and last year’s big sensation Fleet Foxes.

The amount of superlatives throughout the music press for all of these acts is pretty incredible, with Richmond Fontaine recently receiving a full page 5 star review in Uncut, not to mention The Sun referring to their frontman Willy Vlautin as a songwriter equal to Springsteen or Tom Waits. Another of our key picks are Indiana's Magnolia Electric Co., who "recall Neil Young and Crazy Horse at the height of their 70's powers" (NME). The band make their first ever appearance in Wales.

Full profiles of all the acts involved can be found on the promoter's website www.gatheredinsong.com, along with ticket, transport and accommodation information. Tickets can be bought for individual shows, with a limited number of 2 for 1 tickets available in Porthcawl (quote ATB241 when phoning the Grand Pavilion's box office), or there is a very affordable weekend ticket which includes a free bus service between venues.

Listen out for a selection of tracks by featured artists being played on Bethan Elfyn's Radio 1 show from midnight Wednesday (into Thursday) and on Adam Walton's Radio Wales show this coming Sunday evening.

bright penny on myspace

2009-08-15T08:01:00.004+01:00

Two songs from Bright Penny - Look Up, Look Down and I Sing Silence

where is kevin tihista?

2009-08-02T17:35:00.003+01:00

This was the question someone asked at Drowned In Sound. Kevin forwarded us a reply which you can read here

bright penny - first report

2009-07-27T17:35:00.001+01:00

Uncut's Deputy Editor and longtime Liam Hayes supporter is the first to write about Bright Penny over at his Wild Mercury Sound blog

patrick cleandenim - delusions of adequacy

2009-07-27T17:31:00.004+01:00

Delusions of Adequacy have given Patrick Cleandenim's Orange Moonbeam Floorshow an excellent review here

simon raymonde/bella union - interview

2009-07-23T10:16:00.002+01:00

There's a really interesting interview with Simon Raymonde of Bella Union at the Cherry Red TV website which you can also watch a bit more easily here

alternative ulster and andrew morgan

2009-07-21T06:18:00.002+01:00

bright penny tracklisting

2009-07-16T13:11:00.005+01:00

Take A Chance
If I Could
White Telescope
I Sing Silence
Look Up, Look Down

We Made It
So Much Music
Getaway
The Goose Is Out
O Street

andrew morgan - new band of the day- the guardian

2009-07-15T18:03:00.002+01:00

Paul Lester of The Guardian is getting very excited about Andrew Morgan's Please Kid, Remember. This has got to be one of the best write ups in Broken Horse history, wow!

bright penny - promo copies

2009-07-13T11:26:00.002+01:00

Here's a picture of some of the Bright Penny promo CDs that have just landed on the Broken Horse desk. These will be going out to all the prominent movers and shakers of the UK music press this week.

Andrew Morgan - PKR 9/10 review - Clash magazine

2009-07-07T23:24:00.002+01:00

Geoff Travis interviewed by Jeffrey Lewis

2009-07-05T19:19:00.003+01:00

An interesting interview with Geoff Travis by Rough Trade artist Jeffrey Lewis can be found over at The Guardian's website

Patrick Cleandenim - Motorik

2009-07-05T15:44:00.001+01:00

Taken from the new album Orange Moonbeam Floorshow which is now on sale

Liam Hayes & Plush - Bright Penny

2009-07-05T13:22:00.003+01:00

Broken Horse has just taken delivery of the new & long awaited album by Liam Hayes & Plush - Bright Penny. More news about this incredible record soon but in the meantime, you can take a peek at the master discs sent all across the ocean by Peerless Mastering

Andrew Morgan - Too Cool To Die

2009-07-05T12:57:00.003+01:00

Robert Bennett from Too Cool To Die has given Andrew Morgan's Please Kid, Remember a rave review

orange moonbeam floorshow slipcase!

2009-07-05T12:51:00.001+01:00

Patrick Cleandenim Hotel Gansevoort 7" - now available via rough trade

2009-05-12T22:05:00.002+01:00

hotel gansevoort / stage fright

Release Date: 11/05/2009

'hotel gansevoort' and 'stage fright' by patrick cleandenim is a super limited edition of 300 copies. at the moment it's available from patrick at his shows and via few special shops. the single is on patrick's own sphinx label and each single is hand stamped. 'hotel gansevoort' is a delicious slice of 80's orchestral pop that sits somewhere between patrick wolf, japan and david bowie.

Buy from Rough Trade

A.C Newman on Letterman

2009-04-16T20:39:00.001+01:00

patrick cleandenim hotel gansevoort 7" available now

2009-04-03T19:02:00.008+01:00

Hotel Gansevoort/Stage Fright by Patrick Cleandenim is out now in a super limited edition of 300 copies. At the moment it's available from Patrick at his shows and from Other Music in New York. The single is on Patrick's own Sphinx label and each single is hand stamped. Broken Horse hopes to have copies for sale by the end of next week.

Now available online direct from Patrick Cleandenim here

AC Newman - press clippings

2009-03-09T20:08:00.009Z

click on each image to enlarge

The Independent (Friday)

Uncut

Plan B

The Independent (Saturday)

AC Newman - The Palace at 4AM

2009-02-15T17:00:00.006Z

ac newman on his solo career and the new pornographers

AC Newman - press so far....

2009-02-02T18:19:00.003Z

“Like all Newman records, it shows off his smarts and maintains a strong hook quotient…” –Rolling Stone

“The Canadian power-pop ace unleashes another battery of hooks with blasts of vocal harmonies (‘Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer’) and dabs of organ (‘Elemental’).” –Spin

“Get Guilty is a baroque-pop gem, on which he displays remarkable tonal control via crafty arrangement.” –Paste

“Nobody weaves melancholy into melody the way he does, and these new songs have a sprawling, beguiling calm.” –Elle

“[Newman summons] a collective grandeur from guitars, moaning cellos, and shimmering cymbals in songs like ‘Changeling,’ whose bitter musings sting like a fresh slap.” –Marie Claire

“Get Guilty is a stirring set of memorable power-pop…” –The Onion

“In his lyrics, arrangements, and delivery, there’s always much more going on than can be viewed at a distance… Newman’s singularity as a songwriter lies in more than histrionics. Like Wonder, Guilty has its share of up-tempo tracks, yet its real pleasures are idiosyncratic, revealing themselves the more attentively and often you listen.” -Pitchfork

“The defacto leader of the New Pornographers treats back-up refrains and big-beat percussion as conduits to Brill Building grandeur and breathless romanticism. [Get Guilty] attests to this continuing quest for tuneful bliss.” –The Absolute Sound

“Another collection of infectious pop songs.” –SOMA Magazine

“[In New Pornographers] Newman pens precisely arranged confections. Here, on his solo material, he lets the ink spill… The great pleasure is in hearing how all the elements cohere.”—Time Out Chicago

"Get Guilty is not just a lastingly great album. It is that rare kind of pop record that you live in and get to know, that reveals its depth the more you listen, without losing an ounce of its infectious energy." –PopMatters

"It has become increasingly easy to take a new album of his for granted, to mistake steady craftsmanship for complacency. To do that with his second solo album Get Guilty would be a huge mistake as it's loaded with songs that are the equal of his best work." –St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Get Guilty is the first great album of 2009 and solidifies Newman as one of the best pop practitioners today.” –The Bergen Record

“Newman’s gift as a songwriter has always been nuance – scalpel over ax. His melodies don’t kill, they infect… Get Guilty is Newman’s best release as a solo artist and even tops the most recent New Pornographers record, further building on a body of work that is one of the most impressive in the ever-expanding ‘indie’ rock catalogue.” –Aquarium Drunkard

“Get Guilty’s a record that should be in the ears of every pop lover…” –Aversion

“As in The Slow Wonder, Newman practices a spinning plate sort of complexity, juggling big rock sounds on fragile sticks of melody, heaping difficulty upon difficulty, without a single crash (or even a grimace).” –Dusted

“Concise, intelligent pop music…” –The Kansas City Star

“Get Guilty boasts more hooks than any dozen records, and none of them are cheap. It has the playfulness Newman showed with Zumpano in the 1990s, the literate quality of his Pornographers’ songs and a greater self-assurance than either” –Louisville Courier-Journal

“[Newman] retains his enviable gift for wedding elliptical narratives to memorable melodies…” –Washington Post Express

AC Newman - Live at the Virgin Megastore

2009-01-21T08:41:00.005Z

AC Newman pictured here with Nicole Atkins yesterday played an instore at the Virgin Megastore in NYC.

Lots of photos can be found over at Brooklyn Vegan

AC Newman - on Stereogum

2009-01-20T17:12:00.002Z

From Get Guilty: The Changeling (Get Guilty)

AC Newman Like A Hitman, Like A Dancer (Pitchfork TV)

2009-01-12T20:03:00.004Z

This is one of four tracks that will appear online in the next few weeks. This is the New York branch of the A.C Newman band. The tracks were recorded recently in a studio in Brooklyn.

AC Newman interview

2008-11-27T19:29:00.005Z

Carl Newman has spoken to Pitchfork about his upcoming album "Get Guilty" & other pressing matters here

Plush - #19 in Uncut's top re-issues of 2008

2008-11-26T13:52:00.003Z

Plush's Fed has made number 19 in Uncut's end of year best of list (re-issue section).

AC Newman Get Guilty

2008-11-17T21:17:00.008Z

Up next on Broken Horse will be the terrific 2nd solo album by AC (aka Carl) Newman in early 2009. The album will be released on Matador in the US on January 20th and shortly after on Broken Horse in the UK/Europe. It really is a very special album and is more than an equal to his excellent debut album Slow Wonder and his work with the world conquering The New Pornographers.

Carl played his first show with his new band last Saturday at The Bell House in Brooklyn. He was accompanied by rising star Nicole Atkins who sings back up vocals on several tracks on Get Guilty.

Looks like it was a great night.

More write ups here, here and with a ton of photos here

Plush at Metacritic

2008-11-09T22:22:00.007Z

At the time of writing, Metacritic has Fed at #3 in their list of the best reviewed albums of 2008, (ahead of Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver and Nick Cave...). Don't just take our word for it, check it out here.

(UPDATE: 20th Nov Fed is currently #2!)

Record collector have also given Fed a glowing four star review.

Patrick Cleandenim - Orange Moonbeam Floorshow

2008-11-07T19:47:00.002Z

Patrick's 2nd album Orange Moonbeam Floorshow will land in early 2009. In the meantime, Patrick is currently living, performing and DJ-ing in Berlin. You can catch him on the following dates.

Nov 12 Dr Pong (DJ Set), Berlin
Nov 15 Madame Claude, Berlin
Nov 20 Madness, Dresden
Nov 22 Offenes Jugendhaus, Riesa
Nov 26 Dr Pong (DJ Set), Berlin
Dec 6 Dr Pong (DJ Set), Berlin

silver ray - reunion video

2008-07-08T08:13:00.001+01:00

Filmed by Brett Poliness and Michelangelo Russo, edited by Michelangelo Russo. Reunion is taken from the latest Silver Ray album "Homes For Everyone".

Andrew Morgan on illegal downloading

2008-06-05T18:42:00.003+01:00

Andrew Morgan whose debut album Misadventures in Radiology was released on Broken Horse has just made his 2nd self titled album available for download via his website. He has also written some words on how he sees the issue of illegal downloading from his perspective as an artist who is constantly struggling to raise the funds to record his songs.

Whether you like Andrew's music or not it's a great piece that hits the nail on the head as far as Broken Horse is concerned. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you may be interested or to post the article on any relevent message boards you may frequent.

A Plea

Stealing music hurts musicians. When you appropriate music for
personal use without compensating its creator, you devalue the work,
the process which engenders it, and the role occupied by artists
within communities.

Goods are worth what consumers are willing to pay for them. If
consumers are willing to pay nothing for a particular good, then its
value is nothing. While there is still a market for the sale of music,
more and more people are electing, whether selectively or exclusively,
to bypass the market and obtain music illegally through torrents,
file-sharing, and the like. People don't steal music in this way
because they deserve to be able to. They do it simply because they
can. It's a sense of entitlement that considers its own morality
purely as an afterthought, if at all.

What Radiohead did in the fall of 2007 with the release of In Rainbows
was thrilling, but don't forget for one second that when they did it,
they were already middle-aged millionaires made rich by the very
industry model they now condemn with cavalier ease. They exist within
the system they deconstruct & destruct. They consider their songs to
be "public works," yet they continue to sell them. It's a complete
contradiction.

The reason that it is necessary for music to be sold rather than given
away is because the costs of making music are real and unavoidable.
Instrument purchase and maintenance, practice space, recording,
mixing, mastering, and manufacturing are but a few of the many costs
involved. The belief that digital technology has evolved to a point
where anyone can produce high quality recordings is a myth. While it
is true that anyone can make recordings inexpensively, the gear and
expertise necessary to yield exceptional results cost thousands and
thousands of dollars. The financial fate of the music industry will
affect everyone involved in the making of music -- artists, studios,
engineers, labels, publicists, graphic designers, manufacturing
houses, and more. Our relationships are mutually dependent. If, for
example, artists and labels can't afford to compensate engineers and
studios at a rate which ensures their continued existence, the entire
system becomes threatened.

It is a sad fact that those within the music industry are often the
most likely to excuse the theft of music. It is a symptom emerging
from perceptions of insider status. To be clear, it is not OK to steal
music just because you make music, sell music, or write about music.
The only acceptable means of obtaining an artist's music without
compensation is with explicit permission from the artist or legally
recognized copyright holder.

Please don't steal music. It's utterly humiliating to even have to ask
that it not be stolen in the first place. When you purchase music,
it's at a tiny fraction of the cost at which it was made. And it's
yours forever. The number of other goods that can be legally obtained
so far below cost within the market are very few. Go through iTunes
and delete any music you have not paid for. Gather up any CDRs that
contain any music you have not paid for and throw them away. When you
steal music, you break hearts.

Silver Ray - Homes For Everyone

2008-03-24T23:13:00.002Z

Next up on Broken Horse. The 4th and finest Silver Ray album to date, "Homes For Everyone". It somewhat of a departure for the band as it features 10 tracks as opposed to the usual 4 or 5 and also features writing contributions from all three members.

The album will be released on Broken Horse in the UK/Europe on June 30th.

You can hear four of the tracks from the album here