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Well, in someways 2012 started off like 2011. In some ways not.

Straight to it after the holidays with a Ghost Wolves collaboration with the ever-vibed BP Fallon, A BP and the Bandits preprodown with Clem Burke and Nigel Harrison new records with Boosy Cray, Hello Lovers, Union Specific, Jonas Wilson and the Plastic Habits, and Denver Dalley over for some soundtracking. 

More before and after SX. See you there.

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BLURT REVIEWS GHOST WOLVES DEBUT

12/08/2011

Ghost Wolves

In Ya Neck

(self-released)

 www.theghostwolves.com

Oh holy shit. This guit-drum duo will make a man outta any of you little boys within earshot, and as for any of you l'il gals... whew. And sorry to the over-protective mamas and papas out there, but all those young maidens of yours can now consider themselves permanently despoiled.

 The Ghost Wolves hail from Austin and comprise lead howler/twanger Carley Wolf plus ace percussion-demolition specialist (and co-vocalist) Jonathan Konya. One can ruminate all day long on other such inclined outfits from Black Keys (with whom there is a clear kinship that should not be overlooked, given the Keys' current ascendancy... looking at YOU, marketers!) and White Stripes, to such seminal combos as Flat Duo Jets and The Cramps (yes, I know that was a quartet and not a two-piece, work with me here folks!), but in doing so one would also waste valuable time by not getting to the crux of the matter. Case in point: in the time it took to write that sentence, yours truly almost missed out on the raw, brutal Johnny Burnette riff that the pair snuck into the middle of their rockabilly deconstruction anthem "Broke Joke." Catch my drift? "Oh darlin', I understand / ‘Cos you can't get somethin' if you don't got a dollar in your hand," sings Konya, as Wolf chimes in at the end like a young PJ Harvey in heat, and in truth these folks sound like they've lived the punk blues they're channeling.

 Bottom line: this 6-song mini-album is primal, grungy, lo-fi, disruptive, exhilarating stuff. From the sleazy-but-sleek slide-guit throb of the Wolf-sung "Gonna Live" to the guy-gal back of forth of the sassy, sexy "Snake and Jake Shake" in all its snare-trashing, fretboard-stuttering glory, In Ya Neck is the medicine for what ails ya. Lord knows, there's a lot of stuff out there these days that's been making me feel kinda ill; I could use the pick-me-up. How about you?

Incidentally, the Wolves kick off a December tour next week that'll take ‘em from Texas across to the east coast, and after that, in late January and throughout February, they'll be hosting a regular Monday night residency at the storied Lakeside Lounge. Lord knows what kinda mischief Carley and Jon will be getting into while cruising ‘round the Big Apple, but we will be eagerly awaiting any and all progress reports....

DOWNLOAD: "Snake and Jake Shake," "Gonna Live" FRED MILLS

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BP Fallon's Dang Doodle Band Of The Week... The Ghost Wolves !!

http://www.bpfallon.com/2011/09/ghost-wolves-wang-dang-doodle

WHO THE FUCK IS BP FALLON?

He’s just released his first record, produced by Jack White. Jack’s idea. 7″ 45 and on iTunes. The spoken-word piece ‘Fame #9′ is backed by ‘BP Fallon Interview By Jack White’ and BP’s song ‘I Believe In Elvis Presley’ on which Mr White plays the sexiest bottleneck guitar. Third Man Records TMR 022 – Spoken Word Instructional Series 001.

He’s just formed his first band, played in Texas at SXSW a couple of times and at a ranch and the punters went bonkers. BPF vox and on guitar the exceedingly hot Aaron Lee Tasjan who’s played with The New York Dolls plus the classic Rock’n'Roll Hall Of Fame-inducted Blondie rhythm section of Nigel Harrison bass and Clem Burke drums. Strangely strange but oddly normal.

BP Fallon is to rock’n'roll what a stamp is to an envelope.

Renaissance man, submerged in music all his life. Irish. Discjockey on the radio since 17 years old. Photographer and writer. Rock’n'roll sage. Publicist and media guru to Led Zeppelin and T.Rex and Tone Loc. Played tom toms on Whole Lotta Love live, described by Marc Bolan as “Purple browed Beep” in the T.Rex hit Telegram Sam.

No spring chicken, this bald creature has traversed rainbows.

Mimed bass guitar with John Lennon on Top Of The Pops, worked at The Beatles’ Apple Records where one of his jobs was testing Paul McCartney’s grass.

Press Officer at the infant Island Records, representing Traffic, Joe Cocker, Free, King Crimson and Jimmy Cliff.

Among the backing vocalists on U2′s Pride (In The Name Of Love). Transformed Bob Geldof into pop star and Ian Dury into Blockhead. Managed Johnny Thunders and played harmonica on the Johnny Thunders album So Alone alongside Steve Jones and Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols and Chrissie Hynde, Phil Lynott and Steve Marriott.

Has photographed everyone from Jerry Lee Lewis to Public Enemy, Emmylou Harris to Iggy Pop.

Author of three best-selling books – words and photography – including U2 Faraway So Close, his adventures when he joined U2 on their legendary global Zoo TV tour as DJ, Guru And Viber, deejaying live to 1.8 million people. Wrote, presented and with Bill Kates produced Zoo Radio, broacast in US on 600 radio stations and in Europe by the BBC. Presented ABC TV’s In Concert, hosted and DJed ABC TV’s New Year Special featuring Keith Richards.

Lives in New York and Dublin. Broadcasts his weekly podcast radio show ‘BP Fallon’s Wang Dang Doodle’ on BreakThruRadio to seven million listeners. Also broadcasts regularly in Ireland on RTE and TodayFM, including for the past decade every New Year’s Eve on TodayFM with BP Fallon’s New Year’s Eve Wipeout.

With Alan McGee, runs and DJs at the travelling rock’n'roll party Death Disco, playing everywhere from New York to Tokyo to London, from Ireland’s Electric Picnic Festival to Denmark’s Roskilde Festival. Guest DJs at Death Disco parties have included Kate Moss, Courtney Love, Agyness Deyn, Ronnie Drew and Shane MacGowan. BP has also been DJing live dates on tours by The Kills and My Bloody Valentine, including the MBV-curated All Tomorrow’s Party’s ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ in England. He last popped up in London publicly during London Fashion Week, DJing Pam Hogg’s Fashion Show after-party which saw the likes of Nick Cave and Siouxsie shaking a tealfeather.

The two Jack White-directed videos for the Dead Weather single ‘I Cut Like A Buffalo’ – filmed at Third Man Records in Nashville – contain cameos by BP Fallon.

Described in Hammer Of The Gods as “a visionary imp”, described by Vogue magazine as “a gentle wispy sorcerer”, described by Bono as ” a rock’n'roll creature. The only white black man I know apart from Bob Dylan”.

King Boogaloo, The Duke Of Earl, BP Fallon. Let it rock.

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Our second benefit show. Hope to see you there!!

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Hi, it's been awhile.  I got together with some friends and formed a foundation called Disastronauts, to help people in the music community that have been affected by the wildfires in Central Texas.  A lot of folks lost everything.  We're having our inaugural benefit show and silent auction this Sunday, September 18th at Red 7 and Beauty Bar. A stellar line-up STAT!!

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IT'S OUT!!

http://herspaceholiday.com

http://www.self-titledmag.com/home/2011/08/16/free-association-stream-her-space-holidays-final-album-and-read-marc-bianchis-track-by-track-commentary/

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The High Strung presents Dragon Dicks!!

I had the pleasure of mixing The High Strung's soon to be classic lo-fi adventure LP, Dragon Dicks. We are happy to announce that it is getting a vinyl release on Detroit's New Fortune Records on July 24th.

Uncle Bob likes it...

"The High Strung’s new album, Dragon Dicks, is really good." - Robert Pollard

The High Strung - Bam Bam Bam by sundayhouse studio

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Her Space Holiday 1996-2011, Final Album Set for 8/16 Release First Single "Black Cat Balloons" Available For Preview

          via Terrorbird Media

Black Cat Balloons by her space holiday

For Marc Bianchi , 1996 will always represent the year he started recording under the moniker Her Space Holiday.  In the future, he will look back on 2011 as the year he quietly laid his project to rest, with the release of his final album Her Space Holiday on August 16th, 2011. The bubbling, elated first single, "Black Cat Balloons," is streaming now on the official Her Space Holiday site.

From the early droney days of Audio Astronomy and The Astronauts Are Sleeping Volumes 1-2 ,  to the acclaimed orchestral pop electronics of Manic Expressive, The Young Machines and The Past Presents the Future, to the stripped down organic clap along jangle of XOXO, Panda and the New Kid Revival, the aural, and thematic aesthetics were constantly evolving, but the heart of the songwriting remained the constant. Rather than choosing one specific musical direction to build from, Marc has created a record that encompasses all of the varied sonic themes that have spanned across his entire catalog--a true snapshot of the Her Space Holiday journey.

The cast of special guests includes drummer Eyad Kaileh (ex-Indian Summer), Nick Moulos (Attack Formation), Stevie Blacke, John Carlucci (Ugly Ghost), Matthew Shaw (City Light) on guitars & vocals, and 4 Bonjour’s Parties (Mush Records). Guest vocal appearances include Dave Wingo (Ola Podrida), Caroline Lufkin (Caroline/Mice Parade), Tania Bowers (Via Tania), Ann Yu (Love Like Fire/Silver Swans), Tracy Uba (Sugao), Ben Webster and Maricela Mayo (Butcher Bear and Charlie), Nick Andre (City Light), and Phoebe Ceresia (Cling). The record was co-produced by Stephen Ceresia at sundayhouse studio in Bastrop, TX.

Over the past fifteen years, Marc has created several critically acclaimed albums and has toured with such artists as Bright Eyes, The Go Team, The Faint, Pinback, Bob Mould, Daedelus, Yukihiro Takahashi, and the American Analog Set. Additionally, he's remixed artists such as R.E.M., Elastica, Kool Keith, Xiu Xiu, Boom Bip, and many others, and has been remixed by the likes of Matmos, Dntel, Stereolab, Super Furry Animals, just to name a few.  Most recently, Marc co-produced and played drums on Hanni El Khatib’s debut album Will the Guns Come Out. Although he's worked with some great indie labels over the years (Mush Records, Wichita Recordings, Tiger Style, Pop Frenzy, etc.),  Marc is letting this final album rest solely on his own shoulders, self-releasing and  self-funding the project on his own label No More Good Ideas.

If you listen to the entire Her Space Holiday catalog in chronological order, there's a distinct progression not only in songwriting, but in personal perspective as well. There have been moments of optimism, delusions of grandeur, greatness, failure, self-indulgence, bitterness, humor, finger-pointing, compassion, stupidity, wisdom, joy, and loss. But for better or worse, each moment was part of the experience. And with Her Space Holiday, Marc has distinctly wrapped up one life chapter, while simultaneously and optimistically venturing onto the next.

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Cowabunga Babes

photo by alexandra valenti

The Cowabunga Babes will release their debut LP on vinyl with Volar Records based in San Diego. A west coast tour starts in August; check your local listings for details!

Cowabunga Babes - Teenager by sundayhouse studio

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Ghost Wolves debut IN YA NECK!!

I had the pleasure of working with the duo of Carley Wolf and Jonathan Konya better known as Ghost Wolves on their forthcoming debut album IN YA NECK!

Themes and mantras that often came up during the making of the album that helped us shape the overall sound and feel of the record were...not precious, raw, dirty, echo, shitty, loose, fierce...etc.

Ghost Wolves - Gonna Live by sundayhouse studio

You can listen to the EP at http://theghostwolves.bandcamp.com and copies will be available soon at their shows, online and in local independent outlets.

"Rabid Garage Blues" - Andrew Dansby, Houston Chronicle

"

...this is not your typical blues-rock set. Songwriters and musicians Carley Wolf and Jonathan Konya give it a gritty edge and a rough ’60s garage rock sound that turns heads." - Laurie Gallardo, KUT's Austin Music Minute

"With nothing but a four-piece drum kit and a hollow-bodied guitar equipped with only one pickup, the Ghost Wolves’ onstage rig is anything but Texas-sized. Rather, it’s a study in defying the standard laws of minimalism, and the two-man (well, one man and a lady) Delta freakblues outfit stands as proof that you don’t need the biggest instruments to fill a room with a witch's brew that's haunting in its simplicity -- haunting, period" - Austin Music Weekly

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THE COPA KINGS... in the mix

I'm currently mixing THE COPA KINGS (I'm not shouting), a great, Sinatra sextet style swing band on our new API console.

Here's an unmastered track, Sway, from the forthcoming full-length.

THE COPA KINGS - Sway (unmastered-rough mix) by sundayhouse studio

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Nylon Magazine premiere: her space holiday!

Marc Bianchi has been creating mellow electronic synth-pop as Her Space Holiday for the past 15 years and has a lot for show for it.

But with multiple albums, tour dates with Bright Eyes, and remixes for R.E.M. and the American Analog System under his belt, Bianchi has decided to hang up his hat as Her Space Holiday, and he’s saying goodbye with a bang.

His final, self-titled album drops August 16th, but we got our hands on the “Ghost in the Garden,” a sadly sweet tune that still manages to be joyful and optimistic at the same time.

If one thing’s for sure, it’s anything but a funeral dirge.

Can’t get enough Bianchi?

Have no fear, this isn’t the last we’ll hear from him: he has just collaborated with Sufjan Stevens and Craig Montoro on the score for the film MAKE.

See the trailer here and download “Ghost in the Garden” here!

–JULIE KOSIN

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Chase Frank releases and tours Smile Trials

I recorded Chase Frank's pulsing and rocking Smile Trials concept album last year with Ikey Owens (The Mars Volta/Free Moral Agents/Long Beach Dub All-Stars) producing and playing keys. I brought in Wayne Duncan on drums and Steve Bernal to lay down some bass and cello on a few tracks. Chase reunited with long-time collaborator AJ Butler on vocals. Josh Achziger mixed it with Ikey back in Long Beach.

Chase will be releasing the album on August 9th and following with an extensive tour in support.

http://www.chasefrank.com

Chase Frank - Cartwheels by sundayhouse studio

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anything for progress

the new her space holiday song "anything for progress" is now streaming on the And Records Benefit Site: http://www.andrecords.jp/benefit/english.html

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Introducing Dublin's Lucky Bones

                                                                                photo by Amanda Elmore

I met Eamonn O'Connor by chance at the Kansas City Irish Music Festival.  After a late night of drinking and talking about our favorite Dylan, Springsteen and britpop songs, we decided to get together and demo some of his songs before he headed back to Dublin. That lead to us recording a full-length album in the spring with musician friends from Austin.  In the process, a close friendship was forged and a fine debut emerged entitiled Lucky Bones - Together We Are All Alone.

Former Sounds Magazine Editor Tim Palmer summed the album up in this review...

LUCKY BONES frontman Eamonn O’Connor has been knocking on acceptance’s door for some time now. Undertaking his own version of Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour in Europe and the States for the past few years, he lost some ground thanks to a fruitless period signed to Warner Brothers subsidiary London Records, but an acclaimed self-released 2008 EP bought him a fair bit of kudos in his native Ireland. As a result, it’s probably not too wide of the mark to describe his new album ‘Together We Are All Alone’ as highly anticipated. Grizzled troubadours reporting on the knocks they take on life’s increasingly precarious highways are ten a penny these days, yet O’Connor stakes a claim to something enduring here. Recorded in a small town called Bastrop outside of Austin, Texas with producer Stephen Ceresia, the songs are of the expected Roots-related persuasion, but O’Connor’s vivid story-telling skills and the shape-shifting moods and tempos ensure you never get too complacent as the record unfolds. At times, the album’s Texan incubation sounds all too tangible. A song of resignation and coming to terms, the plaintive title track has a shade or two of Texan troubadours Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, while the hard-living narrative ‘Stand So Tall’ (“baby’s life is like a car crash, a Mercedes hits a tenement wall”) is the kind of thing the younger, more impetuous Steve Earle might have pulled off. Elsewhere, O’Connor’s influences are clearly drawn from sources much closer to home. The spirited, rattling buskabilly of ‘Towards the Setting Sun’ and the warm, elegant ‘Magnificent Mistake’ are both cloaked in Celtic-tinged fiddles and mandolins, while the sparse, cracked intimacy of ‘Heavy Load’ and the startling domestic disharmony tale ‘Frank Sinatra’ provide wonderful showcases for O’Connor’s tremulous quaver of a voice. He’s not afraid to turn up the amps when the mood takes him either. Both ‘Stand So Tall’ and ‘Longshot’ make a good fist of driving, anthemic Blue Collar Rock’n’Roll, while ‘Summer Nights Eruption’ is built upon sneaky basslines, dissonant guitars and a robust groove. The fact it harbours a love, betrayal and retribution scenario reminiscent of the evergreen ‘Hey Joe’ only ramps its chill factor up several notches further. O’Connor’s long since proved his versatility but he keeps his best in reserve for the closing ‘Alice’: a dreamy, atmospheric treat reminiscent of the best bits of Daniel Lanois’ ‘Acadie’ album. ‘Together We Are All Alone’, then, brings us tales of desperation and brutal intimacy, but its’ musical palette is broad, convincing and quite frequently glorious. At its best it suggests Eamonn O’Connor’s continued persistence might just bust down that door to wider acceptance in the not too distant future.

Lucky Bones - Heavy Load by sundayhouse studio

Lucky Bones - Together We Are All Alone by sundayhouse studio