Fluff and Gravy Records Showcase at Dante’s, 4/18/14

On Friday, 4/18, Kenny Feinstein will perform his 2013 acoustic tribute to My Bloody Valentine‘s Loveless in it’s entirety at Dante’s (Portland). Feinstein’s meticulously crafted Loveless: Hurts To Love was created over a period of 2 years, with help from producer Jeff Kazor (Crooked Jades) and Bruce Kaphan (American Music Club). This special event will mark the first time that Feinstein has performed the compositions live . 

Billed as a Fluff and Gravy Records Showcase, the event will feature 4 bands from the label’s roster, which will culminate with Feinstein’s homage to MBV. Also included on the bill will be Mike Coykendall and 2 other artists to be announced later.

Tickets are available here

The Evangenitals to preview first single from upcoming Moby Dick; or, The Album

Moby Dick: or, The Album, the band’s debut album with Fluff & Gravy Records, will be released on March 18, 2014. It is a musical swirl of immaculately crafted songs, each interpreting an aspect of Melville’s masterpiece with an approach that tacks between intricate arrangement and the deceptively simple country-inflected tunes for which the band is best known.  The first single, Quee Queg unfolds slowly, over the better part of 8 minutes, drawing the listener in and washing over them with it’s swirling strings and harmonies.

For Juli Crockett, the band’s co-founder and primary lyricist, this was the track that started it all.  “Quee Queg was the first Moby Dick song I ever wrote. It’s also the last track on the record: The Alpha and the Omega!  It’s the first song that we ever played as The Evangenitals. The song has always had a kind of magic about it… it quiets noisy rooms, takes people on a journey. There’s something transcendent about it; it exists in another space and time.”

Staged as a love story between Ishmael and Quee Queg, this is a track filled with yearning, forbidden love, and energy of the unattainable.

Says Feldman, “I originally envisioned the concept with an ex-boyfriend (Gordon Torncello) in New York circa 1995. It was before I’d ever actually read the book, and it led me on a decades long fascination with the tale. I mean, you don’t HAVE to have read Moby Dick to have an experience/idea ABOUT Moby Dick. Epic works are accessible: we all can relate to Ahab, the White Whale, in some way because we all know about obsession, pursuit, mystery, and the unknown.  Gordon was reading the book, and he’d tell me these crazy stories that I began to put together in my own head. That may be what gives Quee Queg it’s dream-like quality, because it’s made up of these fragments and images passed down through storytelling. Gordon had written the “do you want me” line randomly, and I heard him singing that and decided it should be a love story about Ishmael and Quee Queg. The rest is history”.

Hillstomp will be playing a string of Spring shows in support of their upcoming 4/15 release, Portland, Ore. The record finds the duo refining their craft and expanding their repertoire on tracks that range from moody folk ballads to the raging stomp they are best known for.

Here is a sneak peak at Don’t Come Down

Upcoming Tour Dates

3/14-15 – Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, Ore
3/21 – The Royal, Olympia, WA
3/22 – Ray’s Golden Lion, Richmond, WA
3/28 – The Nectar, Seattle, WA
3/29 – Wild Buffalo, Bellinghman, WA
4/10 – Live From The Divide, Bozeman, MT
4/11 – The Filling Station, Bozeman, MT
4/12 – The Top Hat, Missoula, MT
4/18 – Bombs Away Cafe, Corvallis, OR
4/19 – Pak-It, Bend, OR
4/24-5 – Sam Bond’s Garage, Eugene, OR
4/26 – River City Saloon, Hood River, OR
5/2 – French Broad River Fest, Hot Springs, NC
5/17 – Bar Deluxe, Salt Lake City, UT

The record will be available on CD and LP, and can be pre-ordered here.

The Evangenitals have announced a string of Northwest dates to support their upcoming Fluff and Gravy Records release, Moby Dick; or, The Album. The record, to be released on March 18, 2014, is a musical swirl of immaculately crafted songs, each interpreting an aspect of Melville’s masterpiece with an approach that tacks between intricate arrangement and the deceptively simple country-inflected tunes for which the band is best known.

Catch them in the act this March!

Saturday March 1st Pre-Lease Party, Pappy & Harriet’s, Pioneertown, CA
Thursday March 6th Frog and Peach, San Luis Obispo, CA
Friday March 7th  Angelicas, Redwood City, CA
Saturday March 8th The Stork Club, Oakland, CA
Sunday March 9th The Crepe Place, Santa Cruz, CA
Monday March 10th Orr Hot Springs, Ukiah, CA
Tuesday March 11th Palm Lounge @ Eureka Inn, Eureka, CA
Wednesday March 12th Bomb’s Away Cafe, Corvallis, OR
Thursday March 13th Alberta Street Pub, Portland, OR
Friday March 14th Walla Walla Guitar Festival, Walla Walla, WA
Saturday March 15th Cornucopia on 5th, Eugene, OR

and

Friday March 28th Moby Dick Unplugged! w/ special guest Jim Kweskin: Coffee Gallery Backstage, Altadena, CA

PRE-ORDER the record!

Pre-order HERE

 

The Evangenitals sign with Fluff and Gravy Records and announce new record

Fluff and Gravy Records is proud to introduce you to, The Evangenitals. Founded by playwright/director Juli Crockett and opera, jazz & gospel singer Lisa Dee,  The Evangenitals are an alt-country/Americana love revolution made flesh for your listening pleasure. On a quixotic crusade in the key of life, hell-bent on breaking hearts open, they are a genre-bending, ever-creating force of nature. The Evangenitals boast one of the most eclectic resumes in the indie music world. As live performers, they’ve built a fiercely loyal following through a thousand shows at clubs, coffee houses and festivals throughout the world (including Scotland’s prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Their shows are notable for music that can be bawdy and rollicking in one moment, and, in the next, sufficiently mysterious and haunting to make the rowdiest of beer brawlers pause, turn toward the stage and listen.

Moby Dick: or, The Album, the band’s debut album with Fluff & Gravy Records (March 18. 2014), is a musical swirl of immaculately crafted songs, each interpreting an aspect of Melville’s masterpiece with an approach that tacks between intricate arrangement and the deceptively simple country-inflected tunes for which the band is best known.  At times the songs are lushly poetic, at others, coarsely powerful. Joined by such notable guest artists as: folk legend Jim Kweskin (of Jug Band fame), acclaimed avant-garde performer Dorian Wood, and composer Jeremy Zuckerman (“Avatar: The Last Airbender” and recent #1 iTunes Soundtrack “Legend of Korra”), among others, the band has crafted a timeless record that will resonate equally with fans of the classic Melville novel, and those who have yet to discover it.

Check out the video below for a sneak peak…

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY92-AvSOV0[/youtube]

As 2013 draws to a close, we at Fluff and Gravy Records wanted to extend our warmest holiday wishes, and hope that you are surrounded by loved ones and friends. Be sure to follow our Facebook and Twitter feeds over the next week, as we recount some of the highlights from the past year. Our hearts are filled with love and gratitude for all of the wonderful artists that we have been lucky enough to work with, and all of the dedicated friends who have given us their support.

As we prepare to hunker down with our families for the next few days, we leave you with this, the debut track from Vacilando (featuring John, Chad, and Juni of Fluff and Gravy Records). A full-length record from the band is just one of the many things that we have in store for you in 2014.

https://soundcloud.com/fluffandgravy/christmas-at-home-vacilando

Much love to you all, this holiday season.

John, Chad, Juni, and Jennifer

“Don’t Come To Me”, from Nick Jaina’s Primary Perception evolved from an attempt to write a sympathetic indie-pop song from the perspective of a largely unloveable politician. The track was called “unshakeable” by Spin, and was featured on NPR’s Heavy Rotation, as well as Morning Edition. When it came time to create a video, Jaina teamed up with director Seth Whelden, from Portland-based production company, STNDRD, and choreographer, Candace Bouchard, from Oregon Ballet Theater.  “I’ve been working on composing music for ballet over the last few years, and there is not a better feeling than making music that people dance to, in any style or context”, says Jaina. “I asked my friend Candace Bouchard from Oregon Ballet Theater if she would humor watching me dance at a club and offering some direction on which moves worked. I also asked her to choreograph a routine for some real ballet dancers. The idea was that I would come in with my untrained moves and disrupt this beautiful thing they created, but in the process maybe I could suggest in them some autonomy. I mostly am wary of musicians acting in music videos. We’ve all probably spent too many hours watching musicians try to act. So why not just try to dance instead? At least the results, if not professional, would perhaps be endearing in their awkwardness.”

Enjoy the video, in all of it’s awkward beauty, here.

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M47iv0sg-6k[/youtube]

On his 2013 lp, Primary Perception, Nick Jaina took a gamble, gathering only the people in the studio who wanted to be there and figuring out what song to play only once they were all assembled. It was a completely non-scripted experiment. Often no one had heard the song prior to the session and the four to eight people in attendance would just work out an arrangement right there in the studio, sometimes with three guitarists working at the same time, sometimes with three drummers. Almost all of the instruments were recorded live and the experiment kept everyone focused on the song at the moment, not thinking of what was to come, and arranging their part while they could simultaneously hear what everyone else in the room was doing.

For a limited time, you can order Nick Jaina’s Primary Perception on  deluxe LP and receive an exclusive 7″ with 2 unreleased tracks (Sea of Japan b/w Delta of of Venus). To order the record on Deluxe LP/LP/CD/FLAC/mp3, click here

 

Fluff and Gravy Records and Drunken Prayer are proud to give to you, the first video from House of Morgan, “Hunt Me Down”.  The video is an accurate reflection of the dark comedy that is House of Morgan. According to Drunken Prayer mastermind, Morgan Geer, the creative process was much the same too. “I did it myself using whatever materials were at hand, mostly found and forgotten, and worked within my own ignorant limitations to create something very close to something original”.
The video and the album it comes from have been described as “an unintentional homage to Captain Beefheart”.

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QubS_XSuJk&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

House of Morgan, the Nov 2013 release (Fluff and Gravy) finds Geer taking things into his own hands. While the critically acclaimed Into the Missionfield was a densely layered studio undertaking, House of Morgan, was self-recorded using a Tascam cassette machine, a Radio Shack condenser mic, and Garage Band with nearly all of the instruments played by Geer in his bedroom. The resultant tracks are striking in their raw and naked beauty. From an enchanting cover of the old Depression era, “On Mobile Bay”, to screaming punk/blues rants like “KEF-666” and “Ultrabad”, the musical themes are widely varied.

While there are three different versions of previously released tracks here, House of Morgan is far from a sentimental stroll through the Drunken Prayer back catalog. These tracks offer a window into the mind of Morgan Geer, and the view that it affords is at once unsettling and comfortable. Though the record is sometimes a sharp contrast to previous efforts, this is undoubtedly a Drunken Prayer record. Geer’s trademark vocals, guitar, and wit are the threads that tie these divergent records together.

Hong Kong Banana – “Hard Times” video

 

Fluff and Gravy Records is proud to present the official video “Hard Times”, the first single from Hong Kong Banana’s debut EP, Now, But Not NOW Now.

The song itself grew out of a riff that John had going for a while. According to frontman, Nigel Bubblesworth, the band wasn’t particularly hot on idea, but John just “kept playing the crap out of it”. In a moment of inspiration, the riff developed into a song all at once, with Nigel and Amora improvising lyrics and the melody. The song quickly grew to become a staple of their live set and it was a natural for the first single on the ep. When it came time to concept a video they contacted fellow Portlander Eli Thomashefsky who had been working on the set of Grimm. The concept for the video was something that Thomsashefsky had been mulling over for a while, and “Hard Times” seemed to be the perfect match for it.

When it came time to shoot the video, the decision was made to do it all over the course of a single day. Bubblesworth comments that “even though I had almost no sleep and it was 16 long hours, I somehow found the whole experience exciting. It was really cool working with the crew that Eli put together”. While the video features the band hitting the town, with stops at a video arcade, strip club, a barbeque, hot tub, and a fiesta, the band agrees that their favorite part was the live performance. Says Bubblesworth, “a guitar in hand, a set of sticks and a microphone to a band is like a fly infested blanket to Linus. Safe and secure”.

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cAt0kqG8aw[/youtube]

 

 

The Harmed Brothers have announced plans for a US tour this Fall in support of their new record, Better Days.

Click here for more details

“Unlike the unmussed fashion-grass coming from the Mumfords of the world, there’s something rusty and raw in the Harmed Brothers’ songs, something hungry and a little wild-eyed” – Portland Mercury

 

“…a wonderful treat from artists at their best.” Ned Ragget – Pitchfork Magazine

Our friends at Pitchfork give high praise to Waterdrawn.

Read the full Picthfork review of Waterdrawn by Horse’s Ha here.

 

Here we go again! We are proud to announce that Sassparilla has signed with Fluff and Gravy Records. We will be releasing their follow-up to “The Darndest Thing” in Spring, 2012, which has been getting rave reviews since it’s release earlier this month. The new record will be recorded and produced by Chet Lyster (The Eels, Lucinda Williams). Can’t wait!

We are proud to announce that Drunken Prayer has signed with Fluff and Gravy Records. We will be releasing the highly anticipated “Into The Missionfield” on February 7th, 2012. Drunken Prayer will be leaving their current Portland base at the end of November, 2011, to kick off an extended tour of the East Coast, followed by a Summer 2012 National Tour. Balls Will Roll!!