Cave Syndrome holds you close and forces you to be mellow

Indian Casino Records

http://hangout.altsounds.com/reviews/124586-transient-songs-cave-syndrome-album.html#

December 22, 2010, 08:12 AM

The concept for the dreamy sounds of Transient Songs started to materialize for Texas-born John Frum in Seattle two years ago as a writing/recording project. A veteran musician, Frum had found cult status fronting Fort Worth’s Hasslehorse and playing drums for Dallas punk group Hagfish. Released digitally in May, Cave Syndrome is Frum’s first album under Transient Songs following 2008’s EP Plantation to Your Youth, teaming up with former Pomonas bassist Andy Gassaway.

The result is ten songs of haunting, psychedelic photographs in sepia-tone. Opening with “In this Darkness Light Seeps Through,” Transient Songs moulds a sound that is peaceful and summons images of The Bryds mixed with a measure of George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” thanks to its ethereal slide guitars. A sensation of sitting in the sunny autumn air in the countryside is a close equation to the feelings Transient Songs instils off the bat. Although possessing a warm and crisp feel, tracks such as “Smoking Slows the Healing” and “The Cancer in our Bloodline” hold perceptions of dazed emotional detachment and isolation.

Along with a PR summary drawing parallels to groups such as Galaxie 500 and Mercury Rev, a strong taste of Syd Barrett-flavored 60’s psych infuses itself with each track. A listless surrealism makes itself heard with lines such as “the sun shines inside out of you” and images of “morning skies black and blue,” conjuring the experience of ghostly, sedate acid trips set in frontier times. “Thirty-three and out at sea” is an alien existence Frum paints in “A Burrow Patch;” an ache in a time far-gone and coarsely simple.

Although met with the occasional unsettling yell or kitten-like mewl in the background, Cave Syndrome holds you close and forces you to be mellow.

Swirling in the middle of a sea of acoustic violin and cello strings courtesy of Amanda Lamprecht and Ruth Davidson respectively, electric guitars and a grand organ noise is a voice with a sensibility somewhere between Cat Stevens, Neil Young and Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo a la “Rats.” Although met with the occasional unsettling yell or kitten-like mewl in the background, Cave Syndrome holds you close and forces you to be mellow.

Happy holidays from xo publicity

http://www.xopublicity.com/xofortheholidays3.html


Right click on song title to download by song or click here "xo for the holidays volume III" to zip whole album

1. Pictures Of Then - "Presents In June"

2. Paper Tongues - "Carol Of The Bells"

3. Campfire OK - "Dreidel Song"

4. Triggers - "A Very Triggers Christmas"

5. Transient Songs - "A Christmas Stalking"

6. Piney Gir - "Snow Snow, Beautiful Snow"

7. Prayer For Animals - "Riptide / Yuletide"

8. The Winter Sounds - "McAdenville (Christmastown)"

9. Captain Nowhere - "Holiday Song"

10. Piney Gir - "A Cheery Christmas"

11. Judge Jackson (featuring: Billy Bob Thornton & Teddy "Zig Zag" Andreadis) ) - "Christmas Tree"

I recently had the oppurtunity to ask the band Paper Tongues a few questions about their sound, album and dream collaborations…

Paper Tongues Interview

http://www.drivenfaroff.com/2010/06/30/paper-tongues-interview-june-14th-2010/

Published by Max Specht

Tags: get higher, octone records, paper tongues, ride to california.
I recently had the oppurtunity to ask the band Paper Tongues a few questions about their sound, album and dream collaborations…
Please introduce yourself and your role in the band…

Joey Signa, I play electric guitar and merch guy.



How would you describe your sound to someone who had never heard you before?

We are very much a fusion of several different styles. I think U2 meets Mutemath meets Journey. It is different. The only way of really knowing is hearing Aswans voice, then you’ve heard us.



What kind of emotions or stories went into recording your debut album?

So much. It was quite a collaboration. We all threw as much of ourselves as we could into one computer then sorted threw the mess and picked out what made sense. There was a lot of back and forth and it took lots of ears to complete it but that is what made it what it is! We’re not selfish with our music.



What’s your favorite song on the album?

I love Everybody and Get Higher. Both are emotional and have so much meaning.



If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be

and why?

I personally would love to work with Death Cab For Cutie. I love what they have created and what the guitarist, Chris, pulls out of each song.



If you had to cover any one hit wonder in music history (ex. Who Let The

Dogs Out) what song would you choose?

I love playing Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Won’t Back Down is such a soulful song that is simple but feels so good.



If you could go back in time and talk to a younger version of yourself, what

would you tell them?

Don’t be afraid of conflict. Often times on the other side of it is freedom and a path that wasn’t previously open.



How would define ’success’?

Success is growth. It’s coming from one place to another in the midst of change. Success is never a destination, it’s simply a mindset.



Thanks to the band and Kaytea from XO Publicity for helping set this up!

This is sexy (very sexy) Portland, OR indie-pop with dark twists and an unapologetic hip strut swagger;

This Restless Enterprise


(The Very Foundation)

by Marcel Feldmar

"This is sexy (very sexy) Portland, OR indie-pop with dark twists and an unapologetic hip strut swagger; this is the Afghan Whigs and Urge Overkill filtered through Tindersticks and Nick Cave; this is highway driving garage rockabilly twee wrapped in red velvet; Leonard Cohen meets Paul Westerberg. Contradictions fly, but the sound is steadfast and true. Combining the talents of members who also play with Decemberists, Blue Skies For Black Hearts, The Upsidedown, and others, The Very Foundation hit on a new sound with an old school style, and fingers snap, and hearts are broken, like a perfect late night fling you wish would last longer, but it's gone before you wake, leaving only a lusty note on stained bed sheets. [urp!--ed.]"

win a prize pack of select merchandise including a Paper Tongues

http://www.glamourgirltips.com/2010/06/paper-tongues-on-tour-with-neon-trees.html

Paper Tongues is heading out on the road with Neon Trees and Civil Twilight on the Bang The Gong Tour! All three bands are also offering a FREE DOWNLOAD of one song from each band! All you have to do is tweet from http://bangthegongtour.promojam.com/mp3giveaway, and in return you’ll receive a download pack of MP3s from the bands. After you download your brand new FREE tracks, you’ll be able to enter a contest to win a prize pack of select merchandise including a Paper Tongues Exclusive package with a custom skate deck, the Habits LP, and the "Letters From The Sky" 7" with B-side of Massive Attack’s "Teardrop."

Log in to your Twitter account to tweet about the tour now, and enjoy your new music. For additional information on Paper Tongues, please head to their MySpace and make sure to pick up their Self-titled album in stores and on iTunes now!

This lady's got a fire behind her eyes. JESSIE TORRISI

Jessie Torrisi (United States)

http://www.newbanddaily.com/

This lady's got a fire behind her eyes. She's sassy and a stellar songwriter, with a deep and sensual voice and some serious skills on the drums. After playing as a drummer for a dozen New York rock bands, she recently transitioned to her latest role as front-woman of her own band quite successfully indeed.

Influenced by Americana, folk, and her having lived in Texas, Brazil, Brooklyn, and New Orleans, her eclectic musical sensibilities are fun and touching at the same time. Now taking on the electric guitar, harmonica, and kazoo, she really is a multi-talented instrumentalist and vocalist.
If you are craving some mellow, non-dramatic, but impressive down home music, look no further than Ms. Torrisi's newest incarnation of a band.
Songs we recommend you listen to: "Hungry like me!," "The Brighter Side," and "The X in Texas."

Dew Tour At Night - Paper Tongues and Neon Trees

http://www.allisports.com/dew-tour/news/dew-tour-at-night-paper-tounges-and-neon-trees

Dew Tour At Night - Paper Tongues and Neon Trees

The Dew Tour threw a free party for Boston at the Skate Open as the MTV2 Rock N Jock Concert Series kicked off at the first stop of the summer Dew Tour. An enthusiastic crowd showed up to watch the bands Paper Tongues and Neon Trees work through their songs. These were not quick three song sets either; the music was blasting historic Boston for almost 2 hours.



Paper Tongues was up first and their music is funky blend of rock and hip hop with a little funk and soul mixed in. The band is fronted by charismatic vocalist Aswan Dixon who is definitely got the personality to be a lead vocalist. He loves the crowd, he loves his job. Aswan was so appreciative of the chance to sing for the crowd that he told everyone that he and the band would be doing more mundane jobs, like raising poultry in their home state of North Carolina if it were not for music. The whole band had a great time and that energy translates into a good show. Their first album just came out in March of 2010 but with Randy Jackson of all people as the manager and promoter of the band expect to see more of them soon.

Based in Portland, OR, Prize Country's music is reminiscent of early 90's Hardcore with definite punk influences.

http://www.takingtheleadmedia.com/bands.html

Based in Portland, OR, Prize Country's music is reminiscent of early 90's Hardcore with definite punk influences. Members of Prize Country are currently Jacob Depolitte (guitar, vocals) and Aaron Blanchard (guitar, vocals). Prize Country recently ended a tour in April, completing 16 dates, making stops in Nevada, Utah, Arizona and California. One stop included a show in Las Vegas. Their set consisted of songs off of their newest album, “With Love,” released in 2009, including the one featured on this show, “What We're Made Of.” Prize Country has several releases including splits with the Loom, Traindodge, Sirhan Sirhan, and Hostile Combover.

Microtia consumed 1,650 beers (19,800 fluid ounces) during the making of this album.

http://www.imposemagazine.com/reviews/spacemaker--microtia




Microtia, Spacemaker

Microtia , Spacemaker [False Eye]

By Anthony Mark Happel »

According to the email I received from their publicist, Microtia consumed 1,650 beers (19,800 fluid ounces) during the making of this album. They also smoked 2,500 cigarettes. It should also be noted, I suppose, that the cardboard CD “case” is actually recycled from a Pabst twelve-pack box, and the track listing card is recycled from a pack of Marlboro Lights. No shit.



So, they managed to put to “good use” the refuse of their consumption? While I’m totally down with the earth-friendly marketing concept involved here, I’m not sure I can endorse such a practice every time if the result is going to be something similar to this misshapen creature.



At first, they emerge from the dark recesses of the beer and nicotine induced-stupor to almost pound out a Jesus Lizard-like nugget on the opener, “Can You Hear the Jets?,” but for some reason, shortly thereafter, they decide they really want to be a poor man’s goth-metal band, or something like that. By the time they reach the third track, “Interlude,” the pace has settled into a comfortable head-bob, and the vocals start to wind out in sustained half-to-full throated metal-flavored notes.



Now, if there was more of the full-throated thing going on, and they really tore a song apart, I could almost forgive the trappings, but instead we get a lot of semi-constipated turns that don’t really ever emote. They just hover around misery and discomfort until it all ends up sounding like the same song over and over. There are a few brief passages where the vocals started to rise and crack a la Dan K. of Die Kruezen, but very few singers could equal his squeal, and what we get here instead is the half-throated version again. This just sounds mopey and lame. Where’s the nausea and the burn?



Maybe they should have stayed away from the beer and gone straight for the crack pipe. Something/anything. By the time the last song, “Pocket Full of Bee Stings,” came to an end I was pleased that I could now listen to something else.

Paper Tongues have been announced as co-headliners for MTV2 and the Dew Tour’s Rock N Jock Concert Series!

http://theywillrockyou.com/2010/06/free-show-boston-paper-tongues-neon-trees-invade-city-hall-plaza/




Free Show Boston! Paper Tongues & Neon Trees Invade City Hall Plaza

Filed under Daily Music News, Rock



Paper Tongues have been announced as co-headliners for MTV2 and the Dew Tour’s Rock N Jock Concert Series! The dates on the 2010 Dew Tour including a stop at Boston’s City Hall Plaza on June 24th. Paper Tongues, along with Neon Trees, will perform during the nationally broadcasted event that will air on NBC as well as the MTV network.

Paper Tongues self-titled, debut album is now available in stores and on iTunes.



For additional tour dates and information, head to the official Paper Tongues MySpace,

JUDGE FOR YOURSELF: “Christmas Tree,” with none other than Billy Bob Thornton

JUDGE FOR YOURSELF: Our favorite Inland Empire rockers, Judge Jackson, for whom HITS' own J.J. Garcia thumps the tubs, have recorded a funky, new holiday classic, “Christmas Tree,” with none other than Billy Bob Thornton. The band’s Todd McTavish wrote the lyrics and Lee Jackson the music for the chestnut, which was produced by Grammy winner Jim Mitchell (Guns N’ Roses, Black Crowes) at Billy Bob’s Beverly Hills home studio, The Cave, which Mitchell originally designed and built for Slash. McTavish and  Jackson also play on the track, while Thornton takes a break from his band the Boxmasters to provide vocals and percussion. The track is also included in the XO Publicity compilation XO for the Holidays Volume III. Listen to it here. (12/17p)

Best of What's Next: Transient Songs

By Steve LaBate

Best of What's Next: Transient Songs

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/07/best-of-whats-next-transient-songs.html

Photos by Yvette Ramirez



Hometown: Seattle

Album: Cave Syndrome

Band Members: John Frum (vocals, multi-instrumentalist), Andy Gassaway (bass, slide guitar)

For Fans Of: Pink Floyd, Summer Hymns, Mazzy Star



When musicians John Frum and Andy Gassaway met three years ago, they immediately bonded over their mutual love of psych rock and dream pop. Before long, the two were holed up in Frum’s basement, cutting what would become Transient Songs’ first EP, Plantation to Your Youth; they were just beginning to gel as collaborators when they released that first collection, so hopes were already high for their next. But just as they geared up for their’ full-length debut, Frum—the duo’s singer and chief songwriter—broke his arm in a snowboarding accident. “A bad break,” he says. “It was the humerus bone.” Thus began his descent into the depths of an opiate abyss.



“It was one of the longest winters I can remember,” he says. “I was holed up in my house every day, isolated. My only outdoor activity was I’d walk around this lake in the rain with my fucking arm broke—and that’s when I started writing a lot of the lyrics for Cave Syndrome. Slowly, over that time period, things just started spiraling down—I started taking a lot of pain pills.”



Frum says the somber tone, haziness and dark subject matter of Cave Syndrome, Transient Songs’s long-delayed debut LP (out now), is a perfect snapshot of this grim period in his life. On top of the physical pain from his broken arm, his resulting inability to play guitar and struggles with prescription drugs, at the time Frum also had a close friend battling cancer; all this led to some intense soul-searching, which manifests itself in the album’s ethereal music and pensive lyrics.



“The song ‘Cancer in our Bloodlines’ is really about mortality,” Frum says. “As we age, we realize we’ve had missed loves, heroes we look up to aging and dying, that we’ve neglected those who care most about us. … It’s basically about [realizing] the transience of life.”



Despite its bleak themes, Cave Syndrome is not a depressing record. The album’s heaviness is contrasted by its airy, unbound, often uplifting sounds. Just like the first single says, “In This Darkness Light Seeps Through.”



“I go for a big, organic, rich feel,” Frum says. “That type of music—Pink Floyd and stuff like that—it’s transportive to me. … Even today, I hear new stuff like Beach House, and I like that feeling because it lifts you out of reality in a way—without pain meds or muscle relaxers.”

Concert review: Fort Worth Weekly Awards concert

Concert review: Fort Worth Weekly Awards concert
by Michelle Parsons

http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2010/jun/28/review-fort-worth-weekly-awards-concert/

The Burning Hotels were the best performers of the night - and the best  we've seen them so far.



The Burning Hotels take their name very seriously.FORT WORTH - The lineup

for Fort Worth Weekly's Music Award Festival is impressive. I was excited --

like school-girl-jumping-up-and-down-hand-claps excited. The nominees this

year truly are the best of the best Cowtown has to offer. Thirty-six bands,

including Josh Weathers, The Orbans, Whiskey Folk Ramblers, The Burning

Hotels, and Calhoun played in six venues. So I embarked on a quest (a

50-minute, 278-move Mapquest-directed quest) from Richardson to the 7th

Street corridor for stellar tunes and a little heat exhaustion. Here's the

diary of my travels:



6:55 p.m.: The Burning Hotels start sound checks. Co-frontman Chance Morgan

promises he's not a prima donna. As the crowd packs in, the temp (and

tempers) start to flare. One employee turns on two overhead fans. Tempers

back to chill mode.



7:04 p.m.: The quartet dives into "Stuck In the Middle" and blazes through

the next 40 minutes with style and finesse. This was the best set I'd heard

thus far, and turned out to be the best of the entire night. Drummer Wyatt

Adams pushed the tempo as fast as his hands could move, and the rest

followed suit in a wave of succinct harmonizing and peppy guitar plucks.

They toasted Lola's and the rest of the 7th Street venues with "Boy or a

Girl," a song Morgan said was written about his hometown hangouts.



Quaker City Nighthawks at Lola's 6th (June 18)



Here's QCN performing in Fort Worth for The Orbans' CD release party. It's a

good peek at them performing live. NOTE: Watch the volume; we don't want to

blow your speakers. Video posted by StephenTall on YouTube.

7:40 p.m.: After The Burning Hotels ended their set with the infectious

"Austin's Birthday," we leave Lola's refreshed and spunky and head to The

Pour House for Quaker City Nighthawks.

rock/hip-hop newcomers Paper Tongues

Saturday brought the hottest day yet, with the heat index reaching into the 100s by 10 am. Rebelution and Norah Jones were on my radar early in the day, but by far the best performance of the afternoon was an intimate set in the Troo Music Lounge by rock/hip-hop newcomers Paper Tongues. Their current single, “Ride to California” has been getting lots of airplay on alternative rock stations, and their newest release “Trinity” has been climbing the charts as well. Their soulful, high-energy performance, even given the fact that they were playing on the smallest stage at the festival, made the Paper Tongues performance stand out even among industry superstars playing just outside their small tent. Stevie Wonder and Jay Z dominated the main stage in the evening, despite a late start, while house legend Deadmau5 (complete with glowing mouse mask) spun his beats late into the night.




http://tv.rightcelebrity.com/?p=4673

Campfire OK sparks quirky Mychal's talent

Campfire OK sparks quirky Mychal's talent

HOT STUFF: Campfire OK with Mychal Cohen, second right, with fellow Jewish member Brandon Milner, right, and bandmates Garett Van der Spek and Andrew Eckes

SOME people may think being eccentric isn't cool - but a band hailing from the city made famous by Kurt Cobain are changing that.

Campfire OK come from Seattle, Washington, where tragic Nirvana frontman Cobain changed music.

Bassist Mychal Cohen told the Jewish Telegraph: "As well as musically, Kurt's influences were also social and political.

"His spirit - and music - is everywhere around Seattle. His old home is two miles from mine."

Campfire OK's debut album, Strange Like We Are, which will be released in February, describes the band perfectly, according to 27-year-old Mychal.

He said: "We are quirky people and we surround ourselves with quirky people.

"I am a strange human being, but so are my friends.

"Campfire OK is all about being quirky, but that is alright, it is cool, we don't have to be outcasts."

Brought up in Phoenix, Arizona, Mychal was surrounded by music from a young age.

His mother is a pianist and by the age of 12, as well as the piano, Mychal started to play the bass and engross himself in different genres of music.

Mychal said: "It has never occurred to me that I would be doing anything else but music.

"Some people, they don't know what to do, but I always wanted a career in music.

"Over time it became really obvious that it was going to be my life."

Listening to the likes of Annie Lennox, Cat Stevens and The Beach Boys, Mychal was heavily into jazz by his mid-teens.

He played in jazzesque type bands throughout high school and college, before moving to Seattle six years ago, as he wanted to get out of Arizona.

But Mychal struggled to establish himself in his chosen career and worked at various times as a mortgage broker, a sushi chef, a bartender and a motorbike mechanic.

However, his life took a turn for the better two years ago.

While playing in a two-piece band, Mychal needed help finishing an album.

So he enlisted the help of three friends, Brandon Milner (who is also Jewish), Garett Van der Spek and Andrew Eckes.

"It was an almost organic growth," Mychal explained.

"The guys in the band are my friends too and they are fantastic musicians who have the same mindset as me.

"We have developed a strong bond and we have a lot of fun together."

Campfire OK's music has been labelled as folk, Americana and pop rock, although Mychal prefers to call it pop-focused and jazz influenced.

"We are making timeless music," he said. "We only use instruments acoustically and we don't use synthesisers."

Mychal, who also performs in singer-songwriter Bryan John Appleby's band, is optimistic about the future.

"We are all really excited at the moment, especially with our first album coming out," he said.

"We are planning on touring with other bands in America, but I would also love to tour the UK too, as I have never been.

"It is something I am striving for."

Mychal, who said he is proud to be both Jewish and a Cohen, associates himself with Seattle's Jewish community and would like to visit Israel soon, with his girlfriend Sarah, who is also Jewish.

"Sarah is the love of my life and very supportive of what I do - she is passionate about the band's success," Mychal said.

"She is confident that we are going to great heights."

And Mychal's pride in his roots led to Campfire OK recording their own Chanucah song, Dreidel, Dreidel.

He explained: "We recorded it because XO Publicity makes a holiday compilation of their artists doing holiday 'themed' songs every year.

"It is a good way to let people know that you as a musician can create music for all types of people.

"We chose Dreidel, Dreidel because everyone always does Xmas themed music, but we have two Jewish members

"It was a blast to record. Simple as that."

www.myspace.com/campfireok

Watch the Christian Hansen-directed video for Dreidel, Dreidel at www.vimeo.com/17482563