11.06.2008The fun years will be playing a rare one-off show here in Boston this Saturday November 8th. The show will take place at Echo Nest in Davis Square Sommerville. Here are the details: ECHO NEST 48 Grove St. Suite 206, Somerville MA, Davis Square - right behind the Davis T stop. Show will start around 8pm. Dave and I will be DJing sets to open and close the evening....so get there early and stay late! In other news...Barge is now based in Boston AND Brooklyn. Please see the contact page for address changes and details. And lastly....congratulations Mr. Obama! and salut USofA. 10.09.2008There is a great little interview with the fun years on Dazed and Confused Digital....the UK fashion/lifestyle magazine's web component. The boys reveal some band rituals and their theories regarding ringtones. Check out the article here. 10.08.2008The limited edition LP version of Bird Show's third album Untitled will be hitting the streets on November 4th 2008. So right after you pull the lever for Barack you should run down to your favorite LP peddler and pick up this fantastic album. Untitled is the perfect soundtrack for autumn with it's rich and warm raga-like feel. Ben effortlessly blends world music clatter with indy rock song structures producing a unique album that sits somewhere between Konono No.1 and Jackie O Motherfucker. Simply fantastic! As usual you can purchase Untitled as well as all other Barge releases from Forced Exposure, Aquarius, Reckless Records, Carrot Top Ltd, Boomkat(UK) or directly from our website. 09.18.2008EXTRA!! the fun years' baby, it's cold inside has been dubbed "album of the week" by one of our favorite online retailers BOOMKAT in the UK. This honor is accompanied by a stellar album review which at the end claims baby, it's cold inside to be "Definitely one of the albums of the year - an absolutely essential purchase." We couldn't agree more! So, if you aren't already a customer of BOOMKAT now is your chance to buy baby, it's cold inside from one of the best retailers in the business! In other news....We are finishing up production on the vinyl LP version of Bird Show's latest (and greatest) album "Untitled". This is a limited edition LP version of the Kranky release. There will be only be 300 of these LPs pressed for the world and should be available in the next couple weeks. So, if you haven't purchased the CD yet (or even if you have) and you love vinyl like we do, stay tuned and wait a hot minute to own what we think to be Mr. Vida's finest work to date. The album has been receiving rave reviews in the press. More to come..... 08.13.2008At long last the videos to accompany the new fun years record baby, it's cold inside are complete. Shimpei Takeda and Melissa Clarke were asked to create a couple of simple videos for the song of their choosing off baby,it's cold inside and they delivered beyond the call of duty. Shimpei created a hypnotic piece of oily black eruption to my lowville that just draws you in and allows the song to cover you in some kind of viscous blanket. WATCH MY LOWVILLE BY SHIMPEI TAKEDA:
Melissa Clarke chose to create a haunting rendition of auto show day of the dead. It reminds us of an abstract George Romero or the quiet calm and bewilderment after an extremely violent car crash on a beautiful sunday afternoon. Brilliant. WATCH AUTO SHOW DAY OF THE DEAD BY MELISSA CLARKE:
We've updated the Press page with some nice reviews and features of baby, it's cold inside. The TFY 2008 West Coast tour went well. The boys created some beautiful noise in some unusual spots and had a great time doing it. If that isn't success I don't know what is! We should have some video evidence of the trip very soon so keep an eye out for some tour debauchery TFY style. I know I'm excited! One last thing. We set up a section on the Links Page with weblinks to all the visual artists who have been involved wih the aesthetic aspect of Barge helping us look as good as we sound. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 07.31.2008Last year the fun years released their first album with Barge Recordings. life-sized psychoses was well-received by a diverse fan base of drone junkies, post-rock nostalgics and picky ambient collectors. It was clear that across the board the fun years had struck a nerve; they were able to successfully reach different listeners while jeopardizing zero artistic merit. Audiversity.com put it well: "they understand the pros and cons of being at each polar end, inspired by both the classics and the unknown, and aim for a balance between idiosyncrasy, unpredictability and accessibility" True, yet their music is far from being crossover; more so a unique salient musical language which Ben and Isaac continue to utilize, and a developed creative style that almost every type of underground music fan can find beauty in. baby, it's cold inside, both TFY aphorism and charming contrast to the more serious academic approach of their peers, is actually more appropriate a title than led to believe. Shifting sonic palettes from the warm hues and earth tones of life-sized psychoses into the metallics, blues and blacks, the new record actually sounds cold. There is something oddly lonely about it as well. For a group that disposes the conceptual and topical for pure sound exploration, baby, it's cold inside is still very much an emotive listen. Forged at the peak of the fun years’ musical abilities and a significant broadening of raw musical sentiment, baby, it's cold inside is not a record to be taken lightly. Once again "exploring the pleasures of slow evolution, repetition and decay" as music writer Susanna Bolle perfectly put it, but this time there is a much wider dynamic range, spanning from massive swells of guitar distortion to microscopic pulses, almost inaudible fragments. the fun years harness compositional energy, focus it and release it in powerful blows, while exercising their innate sense for timing and restraint. The sense of artistic control achieved on baby, it's cold inside is extraordinary, so much as to say the fun years have transcended the preconceptions of drone music as both a genre and scene. The new album by the fun years, baby, it's cold inside is available at fine retailers and DSPs world-wide as well as direct on the Barge Recordings website. ALSO...a couple of nice reviews for baby, it's cold inside have popped up on the web. First off, an extremely positive piece from Forest Gospel crown baby, it's cold inside with a "may very well be one of the most important records I have heard in years" quote....we couldn't agree more FG. DOA also deliver a nice review. We'll be posting these and others in the Press section soon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 07.13.2008THE FUN YEARS WEST COAST TOUR UPDATE! We have a few venue updates and changes. The Portland show has been moved to a warehouse space called Exit Only and Valet will NOT be playing but the bill WILL include a rare performance from Strategy and possibly another artist TBA. See below: :: Wednesday July 30th // Alameda, CA / 8:30pm : Alameda Air Base - Air Traffic Control Tower w/ Avocet - 2100 Monarch St. :: Friday August 1st // Portland, OR / 8:00pm : Exit Only w/ Strategy - 1121 N. Loring Street :: Saturday August 2nd // Olympia, WA / TBD :: Sunday August 3rd // Seattle, WA / 5:00pm : Wall of Sound Instore - 315 East Pine Street - *Looking for an evening venue :: Thursday August 7th // Los Angeles, CA / 7:00pm : UCLA Broad Art Center - Inside Richard Serra's Torqued Ellipse Sculpture w/ Deru - 2275 Broad Art Center We are still looking for a venue in Olympia and possibly an evening show in Seattle. If you think you could help the fun years book either or both of these dates please contact Ian or Dave as soon as possible. Our comrades at Textura.com offer up a feature on the fun years in their July issue. Isaac from the fun years talks about the new record baby, it's cold inside, elaborates on the process of creating tfy records, tries to avoid talking about their musical influences and the reveals the magic of lulling women to sleep with their unique sound. Read it here. In other news, BRG004 MGR/Xela Split LP continues to get rave reviews. Check out the Press section for the latest. We still have a good handful of the split left. Get yours today.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 06.18.2008BIG NEWS! the fun years will be embarking on a west coast tour in August to promote their incredible new album baby, it's cold inside. We have a couple dates confirmed and so far the venues are looking really interesting. Here's the tentative stops: :: Wednesday July 30th // Alameda, CA / the control tower - roof deck (this is a special one...more info to come) :: Friday August 1st
// Portland, OR / :: Saturday August 2nd // Seattle, WA / TBD - Need Help. :: Sunday August 3rd // Olympia, WA / TBD - Need Help. :: Monday August 4th // TBD - Need Help. :: Thursday August 7th // Los Angeles, CA / TBD So, as you can see we are looking to fill a few dates. If you have any interest in helping the fun years cast a dark spell over your town please email ian (at) bargerecordings dot com. For all tour publicity inqueries please contact dave (at) bargerecordings dot com. In other news, we have a few updates in the Press section of new reviews and mentions for BRG004 MGR/Xela Split LP. Get yours today....they are going fast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 05.11.2008Updates in the Press section.
Several new reviews and mentions for BRG004
MGR/Xela Split LP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 04.02.2008The Barge Split Series Vol. I : MGR vs. Xela has already received several notable mentions in the online and traditional music press. First off is a nice little feature in last week's Boston Phoenix. Secondly, an early review from our friends at Nothing At All.net. The split LP also received a quick and oddly translated review in the Chilean online 'zine Loop, albeit with a poor photocopied cover of the CD-Rs we send out as promos (?). We'll keep you posted as the rave reviews continue to pour in for this exceptional release. You may want to reserve your copy of the limited LP + MP3 package now on our catalog page before they are all gone. The LPs will ship at the end of this month. For those of you who prefer the more modern and instantaneous digital MP3(320K) and FLAC(lossless codec) formats, the release as well as our entire catalog are now available from our fine digital distribution partners Other Music Digital, Fina Digital Music Store and Boomkat Digital in the UK. Links to each of these fantastic digital music peddlers are available on our catalog page. Click it or quit it! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 03.22.2008Barge is pleased to announce that at the end of March we will be offering our entire catalog and all future releases via digital download in several of the latest digital audio formats. All Barge releases will be available exclusively through Other Music Digital, Fina Online Music Store and Boomkat Digital. In other news....we had our friend John "Xela" Twells in town this past weekend and all of us had a blast! Xela played a total of 3 shows with Type Label mates Zelienople and Helios. Mountains also joined the bill at the Knitting Factory. Dave and I were fortunate enough to DJ between sets at the 2 Monkeytown shows. The music and performances were all fantastic and all three shows well attended. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 02.26.2008Geoff Mullen's tour went swimmingly. People came out to the shows and witnessed some great performances from both Geoff and Eli. Dave and I went to the Knitting Factory show on Valentine's Day. I actually brought my wife to the show as our V-Day date....bless her heart. We were treated to stage collaboration from both Geoff and Eli in addition to their solo sets. I have to say that was my favorite part of the night. The improving was top notch and they managed to kick out some solid music that did not sound or feel like it was the first time they did it....which it was! Dave video taped the entire set. We are hoping to post the video soon. Which reminds me.....Barge has set up a You Tube channel to start compiling video footage of our artists, friends and affiliates. You can subscribe to the channel here. Check in regularly for updates. Also, if you happen to have any video footage of any of our artists please contact us....we'd love to post it. In other news....the Barge Split Series Vol. I featuring exclusive music from Isis guitarist Mike Gallagher under his MGR moniker and Type Records artist (and owner) Xela aka John Twells. The record is almost complete and will be available on vinyl (with free MP3 download of entire album) and hopefully digitally. Stay tuned for more information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01.08.2008Geoff Mullen will be kicking off 2008 running with a string of live dates in February. Geoff will be joined on the road by Eli Keszler who will be releasing an album on Geoff's own Rare Youth Label early this year. You may also recognize Eli's name through his percusion contribution on Armory Radio. Here are the dates as they stand so far: GEOFF MULLEN tour with
ELI KESZLER 2008 We will keep you posted on updates and changes as they come through. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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