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BROKEN HORSE BLOG
March 8th 2010 March 1st 2010 September 10th 2009
August 13th 2009
July 8th 2009 June 29th 2009 June 16th 2009 May 12th 2009 March 23rd 2009 Feb 2nd 2009 November 17th 2008 August 11th 2008
August 10th 2008 Fed is available now for immediate dispatch for £10.00 (worldwide include shipping).
Ahead of it's release on August 25th, Plush's Fed has received a full page 5 star review in Uncut, a superb lead review in Plan B and 4 stars in both Mojo and Q. More to come soon we hope...
July 7th 2008 Silver Ray's Homes For Everyone is available now for immediate dispatch for £7.99 (worldwide include shipping).
February 22nd 2008
August 13th April 16th
March 14th 2007
Patrick Cleandenim has posted 3 new tracks featuring his new band over at his myspace page.
He's also directed a new video for Brooklyn's Class Actress. Check out the Broken Horse blog for the links for these.
Broken Horse is taking a bit of a break for the next few months to re-charge our batteries, pay some bills etc.
Any orders will be dispatched within 1-2 working days as usual though.
Hopefully, the next Kevin Tihista record will be along before too long. Please check the blog for further updates.
In the meantime, Liam Hayes (Plush) can be seen supporting The Clientele and Field Music in Chicago at Lincoln Hall on March 17th.
Liam Hayes and Plush - Bright Penny - available now for immediate dispatch! (official release date is September 28th)
CD with 16 page booklet and cardboard outer cover.
PLAYING LIVE OCTOBER 2009!
Tuesday 13th Hare & Hounds, Birmingham
Wednesday 14th Dulcimer, Manchester
Thursday 15th 229 (small room), London
Friday 16th The King's Head, Crouch End, London
Almost a year to the day of the belated UK release of Plush’s Fed, one of the best reviewed albums of 2008, Broken Horse is thrilled to announce the release of its long awaited follow up, Bright Penny.
Although Bright Penny appears relatively quickly after the UK release of Fed (an album that lay unreleased outside of Japan for six years), its roots go as far back as the initial release and subsequent non-release of Fed. Whilst dealing with the frustrations that accompanied this situation, and dealing with profound personal loss, Hayes managed to maintain his love of music and his craft of songwriting that had been at the centre of his life since he was a child. As recording began and the album’s track listing began to take shape by selecting songs both old and new from his expanding songbook, a narrative of hope, loss and the love of music began to emerge as the record’s theme.
”Music has defined me and it has always been there with me. I have had a lifelong relationship with it. It pretty much saved me when nothing else could. It has also, at points, pushed me close to the edge. That’s the kind of friend it is.”
The idea of music being one’s greatest ally is explored in “ So Much Music”. Other songs such as “Take A Chance”, present a theme of self transformation, while “Look Up, Look Down” offers a picture of the struggle to survive “another day in paradise”.
Bright Penny is an album; and beyond being a cohesive album, it is a collection of ten stand alone songs, songs which in the the radio era, could have easily been found playing across the dial.
Buoyed on by the success of the re-issue of Fed and the rapturous reception Hayes received at 2008 UK shows, Bright Penny was completed in mid 2009.
Cast list for Bright Penny
Bright Penny features contributions from such Chicagoans as, Morris Jennings (Chess Records stalwart and Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly” drummer), Bernard Reed (Jackie Wilson’s bass player and member of Chicago’s legendary Pieces Of Peace), Tom Tom MMLXXXIV (Horn and string arranger for Earth, Wind and Fire, The Jacksons and Phil Collins), The Autumn Defense (Wilco’s John Stirratt and Pat Sansone), Jim Hines and Bob Lizek: Drummer and bassist for the Brian Wilson Band, Howard Levy (Harmonica virtuoso) Tom Lunt of Chicago’s Numero Group and many others.
£8.99 (postage within UK) £9.99 elsewhere
The first vinyl release on Broken Horse is a 7" by AC Newman. The single is limited to just 300 copies worldwide and is multi hand stamped and individually numbered. The Heartbreak Rides is one of the key tracks from this year's Get Guity. The B-side is You Have Got To Be Kidding Me, a unreleased Carl Newman original. Order now for immediate dispatch.
"Bright Penny" the incredible new album by Liam Hayes and Plush has now been completed (including mastering) and will be released on Broken Horse in September 2009, more news soon!
Check out the
Blog for latest updates including a couple of great reviews of Andrew Morgan's Please Kid, Remember.
Released officially on August 23rd, Patrick Cleandenim's 2nd album "Orange Moonbeam Floorshow" is now available direct from Broken Horse for immediate dispatch. The CD is packaged in a superb outer card sleeve (left) with different artwork to the official cover image (right).
As a young teenager in Lawrence, Kansas, Patrick Cleandenim could be found scribbling song lyrics at the secluded bungalow of the late William S. Burroughs. While Burroughs had moved to Lawrence sixteen years before his death, Patrick Cleandenim was born there. By age 16, Patrick had parted ways with his dark-pop trio Clockwork in order to pursue his solo music. Shortly after self-releasing his up-tempo folk-pop EP "Three Love Songs," (as Patrick Clendenin) he was described as Lawrence's "golden boy" and a "pop-wunderkind." Before graduating from high school he had opened for The Decemberists, The Shins, The Anniversary and Mates of State.
At age 18 Cleandenim was accepted into New York's prestigious Cooper Union School of Art, and in 2003 he packed his bags and moved to the East Village, where he planned to pursue his studies and chase the ghosts of Burroughs, Warhol, Reed, Bowie, and the seemingly endless lineage of legendary New York artists and musicians. After two years of studying art at Cooper, he headed back to Lawrence, where, in the same studio that Burroughs and Kurt Cobain recorded their cult collaboration "The Priest They Called Him," Cleandenim cut ten tracks for his debut full-length "Baby Comes Home."
Just under two years since the release of "Baby Comes Home", a sweeping orchestral pop classic that received critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic via it's European release on Broken Horse (Plush, The Autumn Defense, A.C Newman) and Stateside on Ba Da Bing! (Beirut, Dead C), Cleandenim is set to release it's follow up "Orange Moonbeam Floorshow", an almost totaly complete departure from his debut.
Shortly after graduating from Cooper Union, Cleandenim began work on ten songs that would form the anticipated follow-up to his 2007 debut. Together with classmates Oto Gillen, Eugene Wasserman and brother Stuart Perry (collectively known as Living Image), he recorded preliminary versions of each track. By August 2008, he had initiated a collaboration with Producer/Arranger Jay Israelson. Originally, Israelson had signed-on to create back-tracks for Cleandenim's planned live "floorshow". Yet the sessions were so successful that the pair completed the production of an entire LP and came to the decision to release the collaboration as "Orange Moonbeam Floorshow".
"Orange Moonbeam" is a cinematic exploration into the language of early 1980s commercial pop and dance music. Stylistically Cleandenim attempts to invoke the mechanical electronic production-value utilized by Kraftwerk and Madonna (specifically her 1982 self titled debut). Although simultaneously, he manages to retain a keen sense of lush orchestration and dynamic arrangements, which are brought to life by Israelson. The combination of these two elements makes for a truly genre-defying creation.
Throughout his production Israelson scales the highest points of 80s, 90s, and contemporary pop and hip-hop production, laying the groundwork for Cleandenim's structure of lyrical and melodic cross-referencing. Cleandenim describes the album as "a voyeuristic glimpse upon an apocalyptic panorama, in which sinful youth traverse the streets of an ambiguous metropolitan cityscape." Assembling a bio-morphic collage of Gotham, Atlantis and Emerald City, Cleandenim paints a melancholic tableau of city life at the turn of the 21st century. With a vocal style influenced by Sinatra, Presley and Bowie, he tells a story of poetic horror, camp science-fiction and pop existentialism.
Having only recently turned 24, it would seem possible that Cleandenim has the potential to morph with the ease of the likes of Beck or Damon Albarn, changing skins and stretching the boundaries of genre and style. According to Cleandenim, "Orange Moonbeam" is influenced by the 2007 release, "Cheri B.B.," by French producer/recording artist Bertrand Burgalot. He calls the album an "haute-couture take on conventions of pop-production." Where album #3 will take him at this stage is anyone's guess.
After completing Orange Moonbeam Floorshow in late summer 2008, Patrick set-off for Berlin, where he spent three months developing his live performance at venues around the city. Patrick focuses on the show's aesthetic values rather than any live instrumentation. Performing shows regularly in both Manhatten and Brooklyn which include a light-show, choreographed dancers and additional sound-collages, the show ushes the performance out of the realm of conventional live-music, and into Cleandenim's vision of electronic-dance theatre. On "Orange Moonbeam Floorshow"'s UK/European release Patrick intends to bring the show to Europe as soon as possible.
£8.99 (including worldwide shipping excluding Japan)
LISTEN TO ORANGE MOONBEAM FLOORSHOW
Next up on Broken Horse is the long awaited 2nd album by Andrew Morgan - Please Kid, Remember.
Officially released on July 20th, the album is available now direct from Broken Horse for immediate dispatch.
Initial copies of the album will also contain a bonus 8 track CD EP called Victory in Passing.
The last time you may have heard from Andrew Morgan was way back in 2004. Broken Horse released his debut album "Misadventures in Radiology" which had been recorded in part with free studio time donated by Elliott Smith in his Los Angeles New Monkey studio.
Misadventures was recorded with a host of musicians including, most notably, former Built to Spill cellist John McMahon. In an effort to channel the spirit behind Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, hundreds of song takes were improvised, with the most inspired renditions being selected for development. Orchestral overdubs were then painstakingly added in Lawrence, Kansas over the course of several months at the University of Kansas' Murphy Hall and Campanile Tower. Recording halted when Morgan lost his hearing for six weeks after nearly being killed when a tornado struck the apartment he was staying in. Upon its eventual completion and subsequent release, Misadventures in Radiology picked up great reviews on both sides of the Atlantic and even made it into Uncut's albums of the year list.
Though Morgan was ready to begin recording Please Kid, Remember as long ago as 2003, the album was waylaid by unforeseen circumstances time and again. Illness, poverty, debt, heartbreak, and the truly bizarre all plagued the album from start to finish. The near death run-in with a Kansas tornado forced Morgan to begin writing the album in a state of severely impaired hearing. Later, a toxic allergic reaction resulted in three months of vocal chord paralysis and confronted the songwriter with a risky surgical procedure. In between, Morgan lost one friend & mentor to suicide, another to institutionalization, and saw his own nerves utterly disintegrate. An early torso of the album, a madness-themed collection recorded under the title A Unified Theory of Everything, was abandoned.
The intitial sessions for Please Kid, Remember were held in a warehourse designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago's gritty Humboldt Park neighborhood -- one of the architect's last corporate projects in the days before his more celebrated independent career. The task of equaling the sonic fidelity lent to Morgan's debut Misadventures in Radiology by Elliott Smith's world class New Monkey studio was extremely difficult. Disappointing early results, both in Chicago and Kansas, left no choice other than to scrap all but a few string quartet passages and start again. Another year went by as Morgan returned to Boston to finish school, and then in summer 2007, everything came together. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of old friend Jason Mallet, Mixtape Soundlab owner Jerett Fulton, and sound engineer Jim Vollentine (Spoon), Morgan was able to work in a proper studio environment and finally realize his vision for the album.
Please Kid, Remember picks up where dreaming debut Misadventures in Radiology leaves off. The second installment in the Kansas City-born songwriter's "Exile Trilogy," "Andrew Morgan" evokes cornerstone chamber pop albums like The Zombies' Odessey & Oracle and Badly Drawn Boy's The Hour of the Bewilderbeast, yet bears a scope of arrangement and diversity of instrumentation all its own. A sense of wonder unifies the album's 17 tracks, which find a kindred spirit as much in mid-20th century Disney animated features as in the magical realism of Magritte, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and The Clientele. Brought to life by a cast of 33 from October 1999 - May 2008 in 11 cities across 7 states and 2 countries, Please Kid, Remember is a collection that is at once familiar and thrillingly foreign-- a thread of pop classicism that, while schooled in tradition, celebrates imagination above all.
Compared to its predecessor, Please Kid, Remember is shorter, faster, and poppier. Waltzes still predominate, but are brisk & stately rather than swooning & syncopated. Tellingly, the album is 20 minutes shorter in running time despite possessing a tracklisting more lengthy and peppered with interstitial pieces. With the exception of one track, Misadventures in Radiology utilizes exclusively acoustic instruments: 12-string acoustic guitar, upright bass, grand piano, harpsichord, strings, sleighbells, French Horn, harp, timpani, glockenspiel, and Elliott Smith's beloved harmonium. Please Kid, Remember features many of these same instruments, but also introduces electric guitars and bass, mellotron, a girl's choir, and an assortment of tambourines, shakers, and handclaps.
At the time of writing, Andrew Morgan is currently living in Lawrence, Kansas, quite content to live the quiet life after having spent the past several years pinballing around the world. Work has already began on his next release - he is immersed in pre-production for new album Grey Light of the Season, and will hopefully return to the UK for shows this year.
Andrew Morgan - Please Kid, Remember 2 CD edition
DISC 1: Please Kid, Remember
01. Leaves
02. Please Kid, Remember
03. Snow
04. Turn Your Collar to the Cold
05. Victory in Passing
06. As Long As We're Together
07. Moscow
08. First Snow of the Year
09. Please Kid, Remember (II)
10. Five Paintings
11. Daybreak, Broad St.
12. A Gesture of Love
13. Mine and Mine Alone
14. For a Little While
15. Three Months in Cook County
16. Please Kid, Remember (III)
17. Leaves (II)
DISC 2: Victory in Passing
01. Victory in Passing
02. A Simple Plan
03. A Unified Theory
04. Biology
05. A Little Discipline
06. Somerset Place
07. We Almost Made It
08. First Light, Stoneback Drive
Available now for worldwide delivery (excluding Japan) for £8.99 (approx $15 US)
Ahead of the Broken Horse release of Patrick Cleandenim's Orange Moonbeam Floorshow album this summer, we have a very limited number of the Hotel Gansevoort/Stage Fright 7" on Patrick's Sphinx Groop label for sale.
These orange label 45's are limited to a one off pressing of 300 copies and are hand stamped in red ink by Patrick himself and were pressed in Nashville, TN.
The inserts were printed up in Lawrence, Kansas.
The copies available for UK distribution also carry the Broken Horse logo (again hand stamped).
The prices below include postage to your country of choice.
NOW AVAILABLE VIA ROUGH TRADE
"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 will tour the UK in May, supported on the London, Manchester and Glasgow shows by Broken Horse artist Andrew Morgan.
The Luminaire, Kilburn London - Tuesday 19th May
Retro Bar, Sackville St, Manchester - Wednesday 20th May
ABC2, Glasgow - Thursday 21st May
Dot To Dot Festival, Bristol - Saturday 23rd May
Dot To Dot Festival, Manchester - Sunday 24th May
Tickets available from usual outlets and wegottickets.com (London and Manchester).
You can now A.C Newman's Get Guilty CD. Orders will be shipped right away so you will be able to get your hands on the album ahead of it's official UK release but at the same time as folks in the USA & Canada. The album is packaged in a superb three panel digipak sleeve and includes the lyrics to all the songs.
The price is £8.99 (UK) and £9.99 (Europe) including delivery.
Praise for Get Guilty (so far)...
"Like all Newman records, it shows off his smarts and maintains a strong hook quotient..." Rolling Stone
"Newman is an unconstructed pop classicist fascinated by the warp and weft of pop creation" The Independent (album of the week)
"Get Guilty is another batch of complex, yet catchy orchestral art-pop tunes" Uncut
"Get Guilty bursts with dazzling tunes " Q ****
"Carl Newman's prolific output suggests he's got more melodies than he knows what to do with" The Independent (Saturday edition)
"7.5/10" Pitchfork
North American Tour Dates
* 2/20 Vancouver, BC The Biltmore*
* 2/21 Seattle, WA Neumos*
* 2/22 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge*
* 2/24 Sacramento, CA Harlow's*
* 2/25 San Diego, CA Casbah*
* 2/26 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour*
* 2/27 Santa Barbara, CA Club Mercy*
* 2/28 San Francisco, CA The Independent*
* 3/1 Eugene, OR John Henry's*
* 3/10 Ithaca, NY Castaways*
* 3/11 Toronto, ON Lee's Palace*
* 3/12 Montreal, QC Il Motore*
* 3/13 Providence, RI Club Hell*
* 3/14 Boston, MA Paradise*
* 3/15 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom*
* 3/17 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda's**
* 3/18 Washington, DC Black Cat **
* 3/19 Chapel Hill, NC Cat's Cradle**
* 3/20 Atlanta, GA The Earl**
* 3/21 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge**
* 3/22 St. Louis, MO Blueberry Hill**
* 3/24 Minneapolis, MN 400 Bar**
* 3/25 Chicago, IL Logan Square Auditorium**
* 3/26 Pontiac, MI The Pike Room at The Crofoot**
* 3/27 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop**
* 3/28 Pittsburgh, PA Andy Warhol Museum**
* with Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele
** with The Broken West
UK SHOWS IN MAY (TO BE CONFIRMED)
Coming up on Broken Horse in 2009
Liam Hayes & Plush - Bright Penny
Patrick Cleandenim - Orange Moonbeam Floorshow
Andrew Morgan - Please Kid, Remember
Coming soon! AC Newman's Get Guilty.
more info here
THE AUTUMN DEFENSE/PLUSH (Liam Hayes solo) UK TOUR
Tue 2nd Sep 2008 The Railway Winchester
Wed 3rd Sep 2008 Luminaire London
Thu 4th Sep 2008 Cabaret Voltaire Edinburgh
Fri 5th Sep 2008 The Cluny Newcastle
Sun 7th Sep 2008 Clwb Ifor Bach Cardiff
Mon 8th Sep 2008 Brudenell Social Club Leeds
Tue 9th Sep 2008 Night & Day Manchester
Tickets available from regular outlets.
Many thanks to Sarah @ Fanatastic Artists Booking for putting the tour together.
"Fed is beautifully excessive, ornamented with dazzling soul/pop arrangements. And the songs are glorious..." UNCUT *****
"Fed is a symphony of Burt Bacharach-inspired pop, blaxploitation-influenced soul and timeless balladeering, bound together by Liam Hayes' uncompromising vision." THE GUARDIAN *****
"Fed is something of a lost classic" MOJO ****
"It's a banquet of sonic gorgeousness" NME 8/10
"Fed can be finally heard as a testament to Hayes's widescreen obsessions" Q ****
"Perfect takes time" PLAN B
"Modern classic for fans of Wilson or Bacharach" RECORD COLLECTOR ****
LISTEN TO PLUSH
Plush's Fed to be released on Broken Horse on August 25th 2008
Six years after its Japan-only release on the After Hours label, Broken Horse is thrilled to announce the first European release of the much-talked- about but seldom-heard Fed, the second album by Liam Hayes' Plush.
Since Plush's debut 7", Three Quarters Blind Eyes / Found A Little Baby was released to universal praise in 1994 on Drag City, the tale of Plush has been one mostly concerned with the promise of new recordings, scrapped sessions, rumour and speculation concerning Hayes' quest to match the songs in his head with the recordings in his hand. What has been vastly over-looked is the music.
It was four years before Drag City released Plush's debut album, More You Becomes You. Few albums can be described as being truly unique, but More You Becomes You is, without doubt, one of those albums that can actually put in a serious bid for that description. While a full-blown orchestral pop album was indeed planned, Hayes instead delivered a uniquely minimal set of intimate piano & vocal ballads, which somehow managed to present a unique, first-take feel despite the incredible attention to detail Hayes applied to the performances and recordings that had actually taken place.
Following the release of More You Becomes You, Hayes immediately went back to work on his original vision of the sound that Plush's debut 45 promised. Once an initial guide draft was completed (this would later surface on Drag City imprint Sea Note as Underfed), Hayes submerged himself in a quest for perfection, spending several years on the selection of musicians and studios, arrangements, conducting orchestral players, overdubbing, listening, re-listening and piecing together takes to bring the ultimate version of Fed to the table.
Although upon completion Hayes found himself without a label in either the US or Europe, the artistic success of the album could not be denied. Throughout its 14 tracks, from the roaring opening track "Whose Blues" to "the epic "No Education" to the pop-masterpiece "Born Together" to the closing lullaby "The Woods," Fed remains spectacularly melodic and inventive throughout.
Upon its Japanese release, Uncut called the album "the dazzling symphonic album he always threatened to produce," whilst Rolling Stone called it a "soulful symphonic masterpiece" suggesting that its non-domestic release was further proof of the decline of American culture.
After six years, Fed may only barely qualify as a re-issue, but it just might be the re-issue of the year.
Fast-forward to the present. A news flash: Hayes has nearly completed the follow up to Fed, "Bright Penny" which will be released in early 2009. It promises to be his most accessible to date, an album that, according to Hayes, "reaches out to the listener, any listener," still challenging the pop status-quo, whilst bearing all the hallmarks of his unique songwriting and arranging talents.
We can't wait.
Silver Ray the acclaimed instrumental three piece from Melbourne, Australia release their fourth album "Homes For Everyone" on Broken Horse on July 14th.
"Homes For Everyone" is the band first album since late 2004's critically acclaimed "Humans" which coincided with their first visit to European shores to support Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds on their Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus tour.
Since then the band kept a low profile, playing the occasional Melbourne show whilst band leader and guitarist Cam Butler kept busy with a clutch of solo albums (Go Slow, See (Symphony No 1) and Healing Feelings).
Returning to the studio on October 2006, the band began work on their fourth & most varied album to date "Homes For Everyone".
For the first time, the album would feature writing contributions from all three members and the songs were deliberately kept shorter than on their first three albums. "Humans'" opening track "Winter is Behind us" had clocked in at nearly 15 minutes. Also the band turned it's back on it's usual recording live in the studio method. Moving in keyboard player Julitha Ryan's upright piano into the studio (yet another first), the band also allowed themselves the luxury of overdubs, whilst aiming to preserve their live sound as much as possible by recording the basic tracks live. In the end guitar loops, bells, tambourine, synth bass, gong, clarinet, cello and a string section (on Streets of Melbourne) amongst over tricks and touches were brought into play against the band's regular guitar, drums and keyboards foundations.
The resulting album Broken Horse believes is their strongest and most satisfying to date. Ten new tracks that manage to be both concise and cinematic, resulting in dramatic changes of mood throughout brought to you by a band at their height of their powers.
"And that mood can take you anywhere, as Silver Ray's music has real power and depth, with none of that sense of virtuosos showing off their chops that you can get with too many instrumental albums. Occasionally there are strange echoes: the guitar figure on the intro to "Piglet" recalls the Bee Gees "Massachusetts" and Cam Butler's lead playing on the title track has distinct echoes of David Gilmour circa "Wish You Were Here" (and, slightly more bizarrely, early Focus). In the main though their music is their own, and it has a sense of drama, a widescreen vista that puts them well up in the post-rock hierarchy." (Americana UK)
"They've broken their silence with their most cohesive music to date. Homes..is the first album to feature overdubs,adding bells, whistles, synths and gongs to the basic live recordings of drums, keyboard and guitar." (Q)
"Their loud-soft dynamics aren't as wrenching as Mogwai or Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I often equate them as a spaghetti-western stamp on Mogwai's more playful moments.
(The Line of Best Fit)
"After a four year absence from the international music scene, Melbourne threesome Silver Ray are back, bringing with them a fourth and possibly definitive record. Cinematically dramatic, Homes For Everyone shows clear progression from the groups previous release Humans, such development achieved through the concise yet indulgent use of instrumental variety and experimentation" (subba-cultcha.com)
"The three piece of Cam Butler, Brett Poliness and Julitha Ryan create a sweet instrumental balance: looping guitars, a dolorous cello, piano, gong, clarinet and a whole string section on "Streets of Melbourne'. The effect is frequently cinematic and often pretty" (soundsxp.com)
"Less abrasive than Mogwai or Godspeed! You Black Emperor, darker and more demanding than Explosions In The Sky, Silver Ray's strengths lie in their intricacy, their versatility, and their restraint. With just a skeleton crew they carve vast soundscapes that soar and dive, by turns delicate and plaintive, driving and caustic." (musicomh.com 4/5)
"Silver Ray have more of an ensemble sound for the most part, taking up an expansive sound palette from the outset: 'You Know The Truth', 'Piglet' and 'Prove It, Don Quixote!' offer up lyrical, cinematic instrumental passages that might be branded post-rock but for their sensible evasion of genre structuring conventions (no quiet-loud, by-numbers songwriting here)." (Boomkat.com)
"Fourth album from this Australian group. Lush instrumental post rock whose defining characteristic is a sound that is more life-affirming than the more apocalyptic approach which is present in much of this genre. Highly cinematic stuff for fans of 90 Day Men or Explosions In The Sky." (www.jumborecords.co.uk)
Silver Ray - Reunion (from Homes For Everyone) - filmed by Brett Poliness and Michelangelo Russo, edited by Michelangelo Russo.
We are extremley proud to be releasing the self titled (& 3rd) album by The Autumn Defense which is John Stirratt & Pat Sansone of Wilco. They are joined on the album by Nels Cline, Brad Jones and Greg Wieczorek.
The artwork has been specially re-designed by Pat Sansone himself for the Broken Horse issue and if we say so ourselves, looks great.
Its official release date is February 25th but is available directly from us now (for immediate dispatch).
The album has already picked up a handful of great reviews and more we hope are on the horizon. At the moment, we are hoping Pat & John will be over for a few select live dates in April (more info as we have it).
Also look out for "Winterlight" on the covermount CD accompanying the current issue of The Word.
"reference points include Nick Drake and CSN, Bread, Big Star and the essence of Love, Steely Dan and a dozen others" MOJO ****
"never less than utterly gorgeous" THE WORD
"wilco offshoot spins gorgeous soft rock" Q ****
"edifying and beautifully textured third out from Wilco men John Stirratt and Pat Sansone"
DAILY MIRROR ****
"soft rock at it's most elegant." TIME OUT
Listen to The Autumn Defense (my space)
The Autumn Defense CD £8.99 inc postage (UK/Europe).
Apologies for the lack of updates on this site, please check the Broken Horse blog for much more regular updates (reviews, news,playlists and general happenings).
Patrick Cleandenim's Baby Comes Home has now been released in the U.S on the mighty fine Ba Da Bing! label and momentum is gaterhing on a daily basis.
Here's the word on the street so far
"I honestly can't imagine how Patrick Cleandenim will ever be able to follow this work up, as debuts of this caliber are pretty rare. No use worrying about that now, however, as this album has far from overstayed its welcome in my CD player. Baby Come Home is one of those records that reveals itself a little more with each listen, and I'm still listening" Other Music (NYC)
"He enlisted a cast of old pals and some music students and this timeless, cracking album resulted....The collision of expansive arrangements, smart songwriting and slightly amateurish sound quality makes for something truly original" (The Times)
"Music that swings (remember that?), all sleighbells, vibraphone, and sophisticated brass and vocal parts, topped off by Cleandenim's rich delivery and lush strings, testament to his skills as a classic-pop arranger based on an encyclopedic knowledge of everything from Motown to movie soundtracks to gritty mid-60s R&B."
(The Guardian)
"An unexpected gem of an album" (WORD magazine)
"This newcomer has created a songbook with class, Rat Pack sass and a self assuredness that will make the Scissor Sisters check their shadow"(The Stool Pigeon)
"Cleandenim has crafted a magnificent album" (Alternative Ulster)
"Like debuts by The Strokes, Oasis, and even The Beatles, Baby Comes Home is a wall-to-wall clinic in songwriting...It's an instant classic a page from pop's golden era brought to life in the 21st century" (Daytrotter)
"Patrick Cleandenim will remind you of The Association, David Axelrod, Marvin Gaye, Bobby Darin, Prefab Sprout, early Todd Rundgren, ELO with soul and any number of legendary Brill Building singers and songwriters. The connection between The Delfonics and Rufus Wainwright, Cleandenim's debut is big and sweeping and oh so Sixties. The stunning album is called Baby Comes Home "(Some Velvet Blog)
"it's certainly only a matter of time before Patrick Cleandenim's big tunes are big news." (Turn The Page)
"Baby Comes Home' is so utterly accomplished, it comes over like a master-class in songwriting, albeit a very enjoyable one." (Urban Junkies)
"For the second year in a row, it seems that the small Ba Da Bing! Records has a big time winner on its hands.. Who knows where he'll go from here, but this is one heck of a great start." (Almost Cool)
"To say Baby Comes Home is a promising solo debut is putting it lightly; this is a phenomenal debut of sheer (and somewhat already met) potential." (Audiversity)
"one of the most authentic pop albums in what feels like decades." (Rant Magazine)
"Like Scott Walker joining arms with Divine Comedy, 'Baby Comes Home' has a depth and eloquence above and beyond."(Flux)
"Patrick Cleandenim is an orchestral pop prodigy and Baby Comes Home should be your new best friend" (Swell)
Patrick Cleandenim Baby Comes Home CD £8.99 inc postage (UK/Europe). 
"A cracking,timeless album...something truly original" THE TIMES (4/5)
"An unexpected gem" WORD
"This newcomer has created a songbook with class, Rat Pack sass and a self-assuredness that'll make the Scissor Sisters check their shadow. " THE STOOL PIGEON
"A songwriter and performer who gives the impression he just doesn't know how to aim low" ALTERNATIVE ULSTER
"Baby Comes Home' boasts a youthful exuberance that makes you want to skip in the street or start kissing people" NEW NOISE.NET
LISTEN:
Patrick Cleandenim (my space)
Broken Horse (my space)
We are also very happy to announce that Baby Comes Home will be released in the U.S on Ba Da Bing! records sometime in June.The label is best known for giving the world the terrific Beirut album "Gulag Orkesta" (the underground hit of 2006) as well as being responsible for releasing albums by Comets on Fire, Sons and Daughters, The Dead C and a host of others.
You can now buy/pre-order Baby Comes Home from the following online retailers:
HMV
PLAY
AMAZON
Patrick Cleandenim's Baby Comes Home will be released on April 30th 2007. Word magazine have already given it a rave review (see blog for clipping) and described it as "an unexpected gem" of an album. The album will also be released in the U.S in the near future on a super hip/happening label of the moment (more info soon!)
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