Patrick Cleandenim Time Out (London)

"Fur coat and rakish white panama hat worn without irony? Lavish, Spector-ish production? Multi-tracked vocals? Could Mr. Cleandenim be the saviour of jazz rock? Do not even think about listening to this swoonsome jazz-waltz – redolent of Scott Walker before he started incorporating sides of pork into the recording process – without a pack of Gitanes and half a bottle of ouzo to hand."

-David Jenkins, Time Out London
On Days Without Rain

December 6th playlist

The Pernice Brothers B.S Johnson
Peter, Bjorn and John Young Folks
Conner Go Back
Doleful Lions Hazlehurst
David Vandervelde Jacket
Songs Ohia Captain Badass
Paul Westerberg Love You in the Fall
Doleful Lions Magic Without Tears
Lou Reed Hangin' Round
Simon Joyner The Only Living Boy
Kevin Tihista 1500 Miles
King Creosote Not One Bit Ashamed
Crazy Horse Downtown
The Dears Whites Only Party
Magnolia Electric Co Talk To Me Devil Again
The Earlies No Love In Your Heart
Doleful Lions The Head of the Shared Anti Christ
Peter, Bjorn & John Roll the Credits

Andrew Morgan's albums of 2006

Best of 2006

01. Patrick Cleandenim - Baby Comes Home

favorite track: Cognac & Caviar

02. The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth

favorite track: Killing Lies

03. Ghosty - No Nothing

favorite track: Like a Bad Lie

04. John Vanderslice - Pixel Revolt

favorite track: Letter to New Haven

05. The Clientele - Strange Geometry

favorite track: E.M.P.T.Y.

06. The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off

favorite track: This Job is Killing Me

07. The Futureheads - News & Tributes

favorite track: Burnt

08. Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormentors

favorite track: The Youngest Was the Most Loved

09. Devendra Banhardt - Cripple Crow

favorite track: Now That I Know

10. Beirut - Gulang Orkestar

favorite track: Postcards from Italy

David Vandervelde

Jacket, the debut 7" on Secretly Canadian by David Vandervelde hasn't been off the broken horse turntable for the last couple of days.

"David Vandervelde's 60s/early 70s-influenced folk pop is equal parts song craft and production technique. At 22 years old, Dave is not only talented at playing guitars, keyboards, and many other instruments, but he is also an accomplished songwriter, engineer and producer. He has received mention in a Tape Op article (May/June 2004) featuring Jay Bennett and his Chicago studio Pieholden Suite Sound, where Dave has lived and worked for two years. During this time Dave and Jay collaborated on numerous recording projects including Jay’s own record “Bigger Than Blue,” Mark Eitzel, Jonathan Rice (Warner Bros.), Jon Ralston (Vagrant Records) and The Outlaw Family Band. David's two most recent production/recording efforts are the new Entrance "Prayer of Death" album and Jay Bennet's new album "The Magnificent Defeat" on Rykodisc. Dave currently resides in Chicago and will be touring in months to come. "

Undertow Music

You can download Jacket here

boomkat.com on Conner

The good folks at boomkat.com who are stocking Conner's Hello Graphic Missile have been singing its praises.

"Conner are a band from Lawrence, Kansas but seem to be getting their kicks listening to East Coast retro punk and classic British rawk music. Frontman James Duft even sings like a drowning limey so how did they end up with this obsession coming from Kansas of all places? Well let’s blame the internet, everyone else does – and when four guys from the mid-west can make music that practically forces you to get up and dance your socks off it barely even matters. Already garnering rave reviews worldwide ‘Hello Graphic Missile’ is the band’s debut album and has been aligned among records by everyone from the Killers (who Conner supported) to The Strokes (who Conner actually sound a lot like) which might give you an inkling as to what you’re going to be getting. It’s hardly original, but I don’t think the band would ever claim to be re-inventing the wheel, instead they’re more than happy slamming out ballsy tunes for party girls and boys, tunes that could very easily sell more than a mere handful of records. Get your best togs out and scrape that gum off your sneakers – we’re going to dance! "

boomkat.com

Download a brand new Conner tracks (Go Back) from their my space page here

Patrick Cleandenim Esopus 7

Patrick Cleandenim has a track featured on the accompanying CD to Arts periodical Esopus Magazine. The CD also features tracks by The Earlies. El Perro del Mar, The Rosebuds amongst others. Each artist was given a Ouija band to use as a songwriting tool to create a track specifically for the CD.

Conner reviews

Conner's Hello Graphic Missile is released on Broken Horse on November 13th. Here's the word on the street so far.


Kerrang 4/5 "A sound that oozes the same laconic, subtly exotic cool that made The Strokes such an instant hit over here. A great number of brilliant songs veering from sparse new wave strutters to edgier darker material that recalls Fugazi at their most calm and elegant. "

Artrocker "They've got lots of songs, sh*tloads of songs, good un's too. Play it loud and long"

Alternative Ulster " It's a gem of an album that rewards repeated listens. Make it one of your discoveries of the year."

Unpeeled "Funky and deliberate stuff, excellent percussion and timing".

Blah Blah "If you like The Killers, Arcade Fire and Hi-Fi you will love Kansas based garage rock band Conner".

Burton Mail "Kansas combo Conner draw from East Coast influences The Strokes and Television on this refereshingly simple and uncluttered UK debut that demands little from the listener but delivers much. Well worth a spin."

Peterbrough Evening Telegraph " Kansas band do a neat update of classic rock (Stones, Iggy, Smiths). With cool guitars and vocals, they can't go wrong."

Room 13.com 11/13 " This is a band to embrace in their infancy, to befriend whilst they are still playing small venues so that come the day that everyone and their dog knows the band you can smugly gloat about how you knew the Kansas four piece before they broke out of the mid west and left Dorothy far behind."

Get Ready to Rock.com " There's some great guitar work, some great songs and some great vocals, and while it may be garage rock, there's enough potential on display here, and enough variety of styles to suggest that Conner could well be the next Killers. "

Soundsxp.com "Window Shopping' lashes together Northern Soul riffs and hardcore guitar pyrotechnics in outstanding fashion - the Four Tops meets Husker Dü on T-Rex's Dansette! "

Subbacultcha.com " Employing a guitar driven garage-rock sound, influenced by the likes of Richard Hell and The Stooges, and in more recent times the Kings Of Leon, Conner have created a collection of songs that hurtles through the three quarters of an hour the fourteen tracks to play out (one is hidden). 'Floating On An Error', one of the band's slower and more patient tracks, is an obvious highlight as it builds and crescendos into a wall of sound that crashes down as the song abruptly ends. Throughout the record the band use this technique to great effect; there's a pleasant mixture of riffs and full blooded thrashy chords, almost as if the guitars provide the tempo ahead of the drums and lead the drummer rather than the other way around. And it works too. "

Stingray

Patrick Cleandenim has posted a brand new track on his my space page called Stingray. Can't imagine it will be there forever so check it out now.

September playlist

Patrick Cleandenim Days Without Rain
Andrew Morgan As Long As We're Together
Band of Horses The Great Salt Lake
Conner For The Fourth Time
Eric Matthews Courage
East River Pipe Druglife
Doleful Lions Breather Bulls
Britta Phillips and Dean Wareham I Threw It Away
Belle and Sebastian Sukie In The Graveyard
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone New Year's Kiss
Camera Obscura Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken
British Sea Power It Ended on an Oily Stage
The Spinto Band Oh, Mandy
Built To Spill Traces
Eric Matthews More Than I Can Give
Jens Lekman Black cab
Candidate Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeah's cover)
Doleful Lions Slip Inside This Gateway

Patrick Cleandenim

Broken Horse is thrilled to announce that we will be releasing the debut LP by Patrick Cleandenim, entitled "Baby Comes Home" in early 2007. You won't believe how good this album is, please check in for regular updates.

"Born and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, Patrick Cleandenim wields orchestral pop songs with traces of Phil Spector, Elvis Presley, David Bowie and Duke Ellington. His debut album "Baby Comes Home" was recorded under the Eudora moon at Black Lodge Recording Studios. The record is engineered and co-produced by Nick Day with a backing orchestra numbering twelve. Since age 18, Cleandenim has shared bills with indie-rock heavyweights The Shins, The Anniversary, Mates of State and The Decemberists. Cleandenim resides in New York City and attends The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He is 21 years old."

Three Months in Cook County

The new Andrew Morgan album "Three Months in Cook County" has been all been but completed, except a few final mixes & a bit of tweaking here and there. Broken Horse will be helping Andrew to shop the album around to some bigger players in the coming weeks. As great as his debut "Misadventures in Radiology" was, Three Months is a real step forward and hopefully should find Andrew the bigger audience he deserves. As it stands, it's a really succinct, beautiful, catchy pop record that holds it's own against Badly Drawn Boy and Elliott Smith's finest work. There's so many hooks and great arrangements in it, that it should drive people to distraction, seriously.

Green Man Festival

Off to the Green Man festival today. I think it's going to rain.....

Conner live session & interview

Hey Kids! Broken Horse will release Conner's Hello Graphic Missile on October 2nd 2006 in the UK. In the meantime why don't you check out a brand new live in the studio session and interview at daytrotter.com

Built To Spill Conventional Wisdom

Here's the video of Built To Spill's Conventional Wisdom from their latest album In Reverse, which like the previous BTS album and Doug Martsch's solo effort have been US only releases. I'm sure the suits at Warner Brothers know best.

Kevin Tihista Modern Standard

World Exclusive! The greatest singer songwriter in the world (let me know if you beg to differ) Kevin Tihista is set to begin recording his new album, "Modern Standard" in the next few weeks. Remember where you heard it first.

Conner Hello Graphic Missile

Broken Horse is proud to present the debut UK release from Conner. Release date is October 2nd 2006.

Hello Graphic Missile introduces Conner's unique brand of "Get in the Van" garage rock, taking in such diverse influences as Fugazi, 70's Stones, Richard Hell, The Smiths and Iggy Pop. A winning formula aided by a toughness & intensity to their sound that leaves many of their contemporaries looking bereft in comparison.

The band hail from the college town of Lawrence, Kansas which is also home to label mates Ghosty and the town that William S.Burroughs lived in for the last 15 years of his life. Current population is 80,098 (2000 census, thanks wikipedia.)

Conner were formed in 2001 by singer/guitarist James Duft & bass player Phil Bonahoom. After their original drummer & lead guitarist both skipped town to music college in Boston, the band’s line up was solidified by the arrival of drummer Bryce Boley and guitarist Tom Wagner in a poacher turned game keeper scenario, as Wagner had produced the band’s early demos.

Away from the scrutiny of a music scene such as New York or LA, living in the mid west allowed Conner to flourish as a live act, and to hold their own as the support act of choice when touring acts such as The Arcade Fire, Hot Hot Heat and even Hard Fi came to town. The culmination of this was when the band were invited to support The Killers on the mid west leg of their 2005 tour, playing up to 10,000 people a night and selling every CD & T- Shirt the band had brought with them.

Hello Graphic Missile is the band’s second full length release (following debut the White Cube which they self released in 2003). The album was recorded at guitarist Tom Wagner’s Underground Sound studios in Lawrence. A strictly analogue studio , Wagner’s tape machine is a 1200 pound monster that was used to record Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers album back in the day.

The band is currently planning some intensive US touring and hopes to land on European shores in the coming months (late 2006 or early 2007).

Listen to independent woman

current ipod playlist

The Pernice Brothers Somerville
Guided By Voices Girls of Wild Strawberries
The Webb Brothers The Flood
Windmill Plimsoul Gravity
Conner Start it Up
Built To Spill Traces
Camera Obscura Lloyd I'm Ready to be Heartbroken
The Isles Flying Under Cheap Kites
Jody Wildgoose Misty Morning Sunrise
Dr Dog The World May Never Know
Belle & Sebastian Sukie in the Graveyard
Kelley Stoltz Are You Electric?
Teenage Fanclub I Heard You Looking

Pernice Brothers Somerville

The Pernice Brothers have unveiled a new track Somerville on both their my space page and website. You can download it for free at their own site, you just need to hand over your email address in return. It's from their forthcoming album Live A Little which is due in the Autumn (or Fall if you're an American) and sounds like the best thing they've done in years.

Joe Pernice famously wrote the sleeve notes to John Cunningham's Happy Go Unlucky on Broken Horse.

"There is a train leaving Penn Station at 10:00 in the morning and I'm on it, I think. I am the guy slouched over in his seat, as defeated as a lower case question mark. This could be exactly the wrong time to start a business or family or a relationship with any kind of legs. Could be the right time. The world is coming apart like a disgustingly ornate wedding cake gone stale, and here I am, seated backwards and hung over on good booze, escaping to Massachusetts in first class.

An undeniable sense of real loss much greater than that associated with our failure to get the girl or house or job, if you can believe it is the conductor of this train. The train with its cars barreling into the crocodile enriched water like antelope made stupid by the clock's tick. What right do I have to hope there is a meal of grilled duck and fish soup waiting at the table of my host? Is it simply because I am hungry? Maybe. Like I said, I'm seated backwards, and from this angle, yes, John, everyone is getting young. People left standing on the platforms shrink in the distance like New York City. And you're absolutely goddamn right, even from the other side of the ocean, that the memories fade like rainfall after snow, whether we want them to or not. That's precisely how they go. When I was more afraid I would have looked you in the eyes and said, "You're full of shit." But things are in fact as delicate as you make them out to be, and I'd turn around and face forward if there were a seat. We are cursed with opportunity, so much so that we screw the pooch harder daily and without permission, and it's taking the place of love. Things could be so good, and life be what it should: A sentiment so simple, you'd think we'd get it."
Joe Pernice, NYC, Feb. 11, 2003

Buy Happy Go Unlucky direct from Broken Horse

Ghosty No Nothing

From Ghosty's My Space page

As we mentioned a couple months ago, our sophomore full-length release 'NO NOTHING' is more or less finished...

Wanted to let you know we've decided to beef it up a bit by adding a couple songs we weren't previously planning on putting on the record.

Because we're rethinking the tracklist, the record will come out later than the previously promised Fall 2006 release.

We were already thrilled about the sound of the record, but now it's going to be even NICER. Thanks for your patience.

GHOSTY

Andrew Morgan update

Seems like Andrew has changed his mind about the next album title. A Simple Plan has reverted to it's original title (see below).

"A Unified Theory of Everything is the follow-up to Misadventures in Radiology. Foundational sessions were held in an old Frank Lloyd Wright building in Chicago's No Man's Land neighborhood; Orchestral sessions in a studio apartment across the street from the University of Kansas football stadium. Rivaling Misadventures in cliffhanging ambition, the A.U.T.O.E sessions saw 21 songs and 5 instrumentals take shape across 10 months. Produced by Andrew and recorded in equal parts by engineers Shiraz Dada and David Wetzel, the album traverses an ever-shifting topography marked by helical staircases, blind alleys, and trap doors. Hopefully a release can be expected not too long after you've unpacked your jackets and scarves."

Read a review of Andrew's recent show at Schubas in Chicago.


Sunday morning listening













Bid on an original orange label issue LP on ebay
Lester Bangs on Astral Weeks.














Lullaby For The Working Class' Blanket Warm from 1996.