2/1/09

MP3 Mondays on MOTORCITYBLOG

MAT MCHUGH"SEPERATISTA!"COMING FEBURARY 3, 2009


Viva the willful left turn! The element of surprise has been a cornerstone of great music forever: think Bob Dylan's electric revolution, or every second album by Neil Young, or the Clash's outrageous triple-disc sprawl, Sandinista! All and none of them were on Mat McHugh's mind when he took time out from his day job as founder-singer-songwriter of The Beautiful Girls to record this playful, profound and provocative solo debut, SEPERATISTA!

"What I've always done with The Beautiful Girls is to run as far as possible from what anyone thought we were. Trying my best to keep challenging myself and other people is incredibly important to me." Hence the surprising electricity of last year's ZIGGURATS album, a disc that challenged old TBG fans while captivating a whole bunch of new ones. The beautiful irony is that those old fans are likely to do back flips over the melodious syncopated acoustic grooves of SEPERATISTA! "Darling, This Scene Must End" Video

Off-kilter drums, deep bass, horns, piano, organ, melodica and cello flesh out Mat's voice, acoustic guitar and occasional ukulele on an album rich in precious sonic details. They're songs that reward interpretation on many levels. The melancholy guitar figure of "Numb" and the cheerfully ambling reggae gait of "Over and Over/ Ring The Alarm" are worlds apart, but each questions the same fundamentals of human experience. A line from "Bad Blood" expresses the shared dislocation that gives SEPERATISTA! its thematic spark: "It just gets lonely spinning around the sun."

SEPERATISTA! was recorded at Noisegate Studios in Sydney by Mat's long-term studio collaborator, Ian Pritchett, who is also down to play bass. Hear SEPERATISTA! At MatMcHugh.com

Check out Darla Farmer’s “Big Accident” mp3 here

With its album release less than a month away, the Nashville Carnival-rock outfit, Darla Farmer, is beginning to see some illustrious recognition – starting off this week with a cut on today’s airing and podcast of NPR’s “All Songs Considered” program.

With a growing audience of more than 26 million Americans each week in partnership with more than 860 independently operated, non-commercial public radio stations, NPR and All Things Considered will no doubt launch a new platform of listeners and fans across the nation.

Darla Farmer releases its full-length album, “Rewiring The Electric Forest” on February 17th and its full-length remix album, “Remixing The Electric Forest” shortly there-after, which will appear as an iTunes feature!


Check out Peasant’s “Exposure” mp3 here
Check out Emanuel and the Fear’s “The Rain Becomes The Clouds” mp3 here

Paper Garden Records is proud to announce its newfound partnership with fellow indie record label, Team Love. This partnership with the label founded by Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and manager Nathaniel Krenkel not only allows PGR to broaden its reach into retail stores nationwide, but also opens up the floodgates to a slew of new cross-promotional, marketing, and tour opportunities.

Starting out the year with a strong national release of Peasant’s debut album, “On The Ground” (out 1/27/09), Paper Garden Records has a full schedule for ’09, releasing a brand new 7-inch vinyl for Peasant’s single, “The End”, followed quickly by the full release of Darla Farmer’s “Rewiring The Electric Forest” LP (out 2/17/09), Emanuel and the Fear’s self-titled EP (out digitally 2/17/09), and Darla Farmer’s “Remixing The Electric Forest” remix album. And that’s just the first harvest!


A playwright, a director, a middle school choir teacher? A classically trained composer, and a multi-instrumentalist that counts accordion, trumpet and banjo among his many talents? Just a few of the artists assembled beneath the banner of Brooklyn’s Randy Bandits, a freewheeling, roots rocking six-piece, whose quirk-filled Americana has garnered a handful of rightful comparisons to The Band, Neil Young, Wilco and even Cake.

With the release of their second album, Golden Arrow, songwriter Jim Knable and his motley crew fortify the sound they’ve been working at since forming in 2002. Recorded over Memorial Day Weekend 2008 at Trout Recording in Brooklyn, and engineered and mixed by Bryce “I’ve produced Phish, Pavement and Sean Lennon” Goggin, the record captures the Bandits’ live charm and knack for arresting vocal harmony.

Hear for yourself.
MP3: "Modern Man
"Video: "Modern Man"




Former bare-knuckle boxer from Yorkshire, England, Findlay was heralded by many critics as the UK’s answer to Jose Gonzales when his debut album, Separated By The Sea, was released in the UK on Peacefrog Records in 2007.

The release garnering much praise, including a 5* review in the Guardian, where Dave Simpson described it as the most unlikely classic of the year.Love Will Find You moves beyond Findlay’s earlier folk sound to a more ambitious – and soulful – place. Produced by Bernard Butler (Suede), the album features songs that are lush and intimate, influenced as much by Phil Spector and Ennio Morricone as by Roy Orbison or The Beatles. His music is courageous, triumphant, challenging and otherworldly.Love Will Find You came together while Findlay was stuck on his sister’s couch nursing a broken leg (after having been run over by a cab driver!). “I’d already started going back and listening to a lot of records I’d grown up on, like Elvis Presley, soul music, doo wop, Phil Spector, The Righteous Brothers and the like. I had an idea about making a modern record influenced by the songwriting of the late 50’s and early 60’s. I just started writing, trying to work out what made a universally great song, like ‘Stand By Me’. These new songs are the first part of that process.”Following a successful tour with Duffy in the UK Fall 2008, Findlay comes to the U.S. for a few shows in February, and will release Love Will Find You here in the spring. Advance copies of Love Will Find You are available upon request.
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