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Fernando Viciconte is set to release his 9th LP, Traitors Table, on June 21 and it promises to be his most personal and provocative effort to date. Co-written and recorded with long-time cohort Luther Russell (Those Pretty Wrongs) in the space of a week, this is Fernando’s first new LP since 2015’s Leave The Radio On. The autobiographical “I Don’t Know”, was the first single , premiered by Glide Magazine. In it, Fernando wails about coming to the U.S. as an immigrant child and how—after growing up identifying as a proud American—he felt the acute, nauseating fear of being sent back to a country he never really knew. This was followed by the second single, “The Longest Wait”, premiered at Pop Matters.

The latest single, “Hey, Darlene”, strips it down to the bare essentials – guitar, hand percussion, and Fernando’s golden voice. Viciconte describes the track as “a ballad about a working class couple who have been forgotten about by a technological world that they no longer fit into. They still long for The American Dream that no longer exist and they naively believe that one day they will be able to take a seat at the Traitors Table.”

The record will be available June 21 on LP, CD and digital formats. In in addition to standard Black Vinyl, the LP will be available as a Limited-Edition Blood Red and Black splatter version (100 copies). You can pre-order the record here.

Today, we are honored to have American Songwriter Magazine premier the video for Anna Tivel’s “The Question”. Directed by Sarah Whelden and Robin Vada, the video follows the main character (played by trans-actress Carlie Guevara) as she struggles with expressing and ultimately celebrates her true gender identity. The story draws inspiration from Sarah’s own experiences as a trans-woman.

Please give it a look with an open heart, and share it if you are moved.

4th single from upcoming LP, The Question

Anna Tivel is set to release her 4th LP, The Question, on April 19 and it promises to be her most groundbreaking effort to date. Produced by multi-instrumentalist, Shane Leonard, the 3 singles released thusfar have all pushed the boundaries of Tivel’s oeuvre in unexpected ways. The stark piano and swirling keyboards of “Fenceline” and the haunting synthesizer of “The Question” are surprisingly perfectly at home, considering that these are folks songs at heart, and the lush strings of “Minneapolis” are the perfect compliment to Anna’s vocal.

The latest single from the LP, “Worthless”, continues along this vein but takes it all one step further. The gritty, pulsating bass line is the perfect backdrop, creating a palpable tension that is so thick you can almost taste the smoke. Couple that with a bluesy off-kilter guitar and Mellotron solo and it’s easy to forget that this started as a folk song.

“This is a song about labels”, Tivel says, “about how difficult it is to shake a word, a name, a category heard over and over until it feels like it must be true. It’s about the power of the things we call each other.” Fittingly, this just may be the track, and certainly the album, that moves Anna Tivel beyond the reach of conventional labels and places her in the company of the great songwriters of her generation.

The record will be available April 19 on LP, CD and digital formats. In in addition to standard Black Vinyl, the LP will be available as a Limited-Edition Marble Yellow version (150 copies). You can pre-order the record here.

This morning, Glide Magazine, premiered the second single from Luther Russell’s upcoming LP, Medium Cool. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Today Glide is excited to premiere “Talking To Myself”, which captures exactly what makes Luther Russell such a compelling artist. The song is a jangly power pop tune that brings to mind – perhaps not surprisingly – Big Star. Russell crafts a song that is about as catchy as it gets but also doesn’t slack on showing off a little guitar mastery. It also takes us back to a time when rock bands actually made compelling music that balanced emotion and songwriting prowess. Russell has definitely earned his credentials as a songwriter and musician, and with “Talking To Myself” it’s clear he has seamlessly continuing what has already been a fruitful and productive career. 

Check out the full article here!

The album is slated to be released on February 22, on Limited Edition color Vinyl, Black Vinyl, Silver CD, and digitally. Pre-order your copy here!!

Billboard Magazine has premiered the title track from Anna Tivel’s upcoming LP, The Question.

“It feels like this similar thread between the songs is sort of grappling with trying to figure out the meaning of a bigger thing and struggling with that — just the humanness of spending a whole lifetime struggling to figure it out when maybe it’s figuring out the struggle is the thing that actually gives it meaning,” Tivel tells Billboard. And much of what she writes about on the 10-track set was inspired by being on the road, “driving around and listening to the news for hours and taking in people’s stories and how everything that’s going on is affecting people in different parts of the country.”

The Question’s title track, meanwhile, came from a specific encounter during Tivel’s travels. “It’s about being in New York and looking up into a window and seeing a man putting on makeup and a wig,” Tivel recalls. “There’s a lot of people I know and friends of friends who are transgender, transitioning or just struggling, and having the president sort of waffling backwards on any progress that’s been made with that. I started writing this (song) as a poem that night and put it to chords later back at home.”

The record will be available on April 19 in LP, CD and digital formats. In in addition to standard Black Vinyl, the LP will be available as a Limited-Edition Marble Yellow version, limited to 150 copies. You can pre-order the record here.

After a few self-released records that McCue recorded while attending college in Seattle, PANGAEA marks a milestone for him. Released on Portland’s Fluff and Gravy Records in the Spring of 2018, the record marks the end of his career as a Student, and the beginning of his focus on being a full-time musician. The transition actually began a year earlier, in March of 2017, when McCue competed in the Museum of Popular Culture’s Sound Off! competition for artists 21 and younger in the Pacific Northwest. Armed only with his dad’s acoustic guitar, a wispy tenor voice-box, and more than a few starkly provocative lyrics, Jason ended up impressing the competition’s judges, comprised of Seattle music industry veterans, enough to earn him first place. The prizes included a drum set, an electric guitar, a synthesizer, which he used to record PANGAEA, as well as performance slots at Bumbershoot and Timber Outdoor Music Festivals.

His September/October dates mark his first prolonged tour, and these will be the first of many more to come.

Jason McCue Tour Dates

 

Way back around 2009, when The Harmed Brothers were still in their infancy, Eugene-based percussionist Adan Morehouse received a phone call from North Carolina. It was Ray Vietti on the phone, saying that they’d like him to join the band, and that they needed him immediately to hit the road with them. He had played in a band that had opened for them a few times, and had struck up a friendship with Ray and Alex Salcido. Problem was, Adam had a job that he didn’t feel comfortable leaving, and was planning on going to barbering school, so he turned them down.  2 weeks later Ray and Alex were knocking on his door, and they weren’t going away without a “yes’. Reluctantly, Adam quit his job, sold his stuff, and hit the road. In the end, the touring life proved to be too stressful for Adam, and his fear of tornadoes (made problematci by the band constantly touring the Midwest) proved to be too much for him. He ended up leaving the band and following up on his original plan. He was going to barbering school.

Fast forward to 2017… After working for other people for years, Adam and his friend Kurt Foster decide to open their own place, Morehouse Barbers, in the North Portland neighborhood of St. Johns. On March 3, the shop opened it’s doors, and of course, The Harmed Brothers were there for the grand opening to record a video. 

Check it out here!

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wTsAuOvzW8&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Stream and purchase up the new album here

After years of finding inspiration in the California desert, Son of the Velvet Rat (SotVR) chose in 2013 to leave behind their impressive band history in Austria, and make their home in Joshua Tree.

Today, the band celebrates their new home with the release of their sixth album Dorado – a golden treasure of desert-inspired tracks produced by the critically acclaimed songwriter and producer, Joe Henry, with guest vocals by Lucinda Williams.

Alongside this latest album creation, the band catalogue includes collaborations with other luminaries such as Lucinda Williams and former Wilco drummer Ken Coomer. Peter Jesperson, former producer & manager of The Replacements, put it aptly: “… beautiful and somber music, their lyrics are pure poetry.”

The record is available now in physical and digital formats, including limited edition gold vinyl, hand-numbered to 100. LP includes gatefold jacket, insert, and download card.

“It is a record that you will always return to for comfort in dark moments, a soother, a fret blanket of an album… It’s an Americana ‘Blue Lines’ by Massive Attack – you might not know it now, but in 10 years this will be the best record you ever heard in 2017.” — Fatea Magazine

” Dorado is truly the first great album of 2017″— Coachella Valley Weekly

” Mesmerizing!”— MAGNET Magazine

“They pull together spots of light and hope in the midst of a great ragged emptiness and allow these bright moments to shape the rhythmic momentum that propels the song forward.”— Nooga.com

“Imagine a late Dylan voice, maybe Tom Waits or Nick Cave mixed with the songscape of Brel and Brassens and it will put you in the right territory.” —folking.com

 

Fluff and Gravy Records is just one of more than 150 artists and labels that have joined Bandcamp in donating their profits tomorrow (Feb 3) to the ACLU and other organizations in support of immigrants and refugees. Bandcamp will be donating their proceeds to the ACLU, no matter what you choose to buy, but if you choose to purchase from the Fluff and Gravy Records Page, we will donate an additional 10% (effectively doubling Bandcamp’s donation).

Nick Jaina’s Brutal Lives Now Available

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Nick Jaina’s “broken-hearted chops once again shine” (Vortex Magazine) on what is easily his most daring record to date. The 14-track album primarily features work that he originally composed for a contemporary dance piece in the summer of 2014. These pieces were all rejected by the choreographer, often with no other explanation other than that they were “too sad.” Nick thought the recordings had some value in them, so he refashioned them into songs, adding vocals and choruses and found sounds to give them a different life.

Due to the unusual provenance of the recordings, almost every instrument was played and recorded by Nick himself. He gave the collection of songs the title that he proposed for the original dance piece, which was also rejected: Vies Brutales, orBrutal Lives.

Available streaming or digitally at on-line retailers right now. Settle in and give it a listen.

 

 

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Find Brutal Lives Here

 

 

 

 

We are pleased to announce that Anna Tivel has won the Telluride Troubadour contest at the 43rd annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival! It is an incredible honor to be acknowledged among all of the other amazing musicians that made up this year’s finalists.

Congratulations to Anna, and a huge thank you to all of you who have supported Anna and continue to inspire her.

You can stream her latest record, Heroes Waking Up, here.

On March 18, alt-country/post-punk pioneers Richmond Fontaine will release “You Can’t Go Back If There’s Nothing To Go Back To“, announcing that it will be their final album after a 20+ year run. Rather than a nostalgic drive down memory lane, the record offers some of songwriter, Willy Vlautin‘s most powerful work to date. Featuring long-time members, (drummer) Sean Oldham and (guitarist) Dan Eccles, the band is rounded out by Freddy Trujillo on bass this time around (following founding member and bassist Dave Harding’s move to Denmark). UNCUT gives the record a “9/10”, calling it “as good as anything (Willy) has ever written”, and Q Magazine said “Every song is like a mini Coen Brothers movie… Dramatic and poetic, you’ll sorely miss Richmond Fontaine when they’re gone”

As Willy puts it, “I wrote You Can’t Go Back… to give an end piece for all the characters who inhabited the world of RF over the years. Throughout the new record are hints of past RF albums and nods to past locations that the characters had found themselves in, and always they’re drifting and searching, hoping for a decent place to land. In the end they try to go back home where they were when RF first began. It’s where the characters started and now where they’ll end.”

The record includes 13 tracks and is available on CD (with 8 page lyric booklet) and LP (with insert). The deluxe version of the lp, featuring a gatefold jacket, 180gm vinyl, poster, and a cd with 8 bonus tracks is nearly sold out. Get your copy from Fluff and Gravy Records (North America) or Decor Records (Europe).

The band will be embarking on a European Tour in April, and will be planning US dates for summer of 2016. “We’ll tour this record for as long as we can and then we’ll a have a knock down drag-out party, wake up with a hangover, and move on”, says Vlautin.  You can follow their victory lap here. Don’t miss it.

In November 2015, Whidbey Island farmer and folk musician, Nathaniel Talbot, released “Swamp Rose and Honeysuckle Vine“. The record is more stripped down than his previous offerings, relying on his raw and immediate finger-picked guitar, supplement by upright bass and the occasional mandolin, fiddle or dobro. More often than not, Nathaniel’s narratives take center stage, as is they do in “Born To”.

Nathaniel explains… “We farmers tend to romanticize the past, perhaps to a fault, longing for  those simpler times when man was more in tune with the natural cycles of the land and skies. I’m guilty of doing so, even though i know very well that those ‘simple times’ only exist in our idyllic hindsight, and that every generation has had to grapple with their own uncertain technologies and new social norms which seem to threaten their existing relationships with nature and each other. That being said, I’m fascinated by human evolution and think it can be instructive to look back and learn from the cultural and ecological forces that drove the first 99% of our history, those that literally shaped the brains and bodies that we still carry today, mostly unchanged. The fact is that for tens of thousands of years we lived in small, tight-knit bands, intimately tied to the surrounding plants, animals and climate and bound by social contracts (political, spiritual, sexual) that would seem completely alien today. “Born To” attempts to remind us that we’re physical and spiritual products of a time that we never really experienced, an idea that can perhaps bring comfort to those that often feel alienated by the modern world. “

The video was filmed live at Fluff and Gravy Studios by Kevin Hanzlik, and features Sam Howard on upright bass, and Anna Tivel on fiddle.

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie3gqZPev-8[/youtube]

On November 20, Nathaniel Talbot will release his fourth full-length album, Swamp Rose and Honeysuckle Vine, via Fluff and Gravy Records. To celebrate, we are offering the single “Before There Was Blue” as a FREE DOWNLOAD while we count down the days to the album’s official release.

Nathaniel discusses the inspiration for the song… “Over the course of several weeks, I came across a variety of different articles, news pieces, and podcasts all investigating the role of language in shaping our minds and the way we see the world around us. I became fascinated by how our words, a non-material, purely sonic medium, could physically change our brains, and wanted to explore it more in a song. Years ago, as a budding naturalist, i began to realize that by simply learning the names of certain birds and plants it became easier to spot them along the trail, as if those words helped pull the particular subject from the backdrop and into focus. The names, despite seeming rather arbitrary, helped me to categorize and make sense of an otherwise dizzyingly complex world around me. In this tune i play around with how our childlike, pre-word brain may have interpreted the world.” 

If you like what you hear, you can order the cd or digital album here

On Sept 18, Fernando Viciconte will release his 7th solo album, titled Leave The Radio On (Fluff and Gravy Records).  Featuring Peter Buck (REM) on mandolin, and guitar, as well as Scott McCaughey (The Minus Five, The Baseball Project, The Young Fresh Fellows), the record stands to be Fernando’s finest to date.  The record has been highly anticipated since KEXP featured an early single from the record, “The Dogs”, as their Song of The Day back in October of 2014.

After a series of health problems that prevented him from touring for the better part of a decade, Fernando is finally healthy and eager to hit the road. “Most folks who tour at this level at the age of 46, they’re burnt out,” he says. “I have a new lease on life.”

 

 

Here is where you can catch him this Fall:

Aug 28th |Seattle, WA | High Dive Seattle (Record Release Party) | 9:30pm | $10
Aug 29th | Portland, OR | Star Theater (Record Release Party) w/ Mike Coykendall, The Delines | 9pm | $10
Sept 5th | Portland, OR | PDX Film Fest Solo performance | 5pm
Sept 6th | Troutdale, OR | Edgefield Winery | 7pm |FREE
Sept 15th | Salt Lake City, UT| The Heavy Metal Shop *
Sept 16th | Colorado Springs, CO | Triple Nickel | 9pm | $5 *
Sept 17th | Denver, CO | 3 Kings Tavern *
Sept 18th | Fort Collins, Co | House Show *
Sept 20th | Boise, ID | House Show *
Sept 26th | Hillsboro, OR | Rock Creek Tavern | 9pm | FREE
Oct 3rd | Portland, OR | White Eagle
Oct 5th | Sacramento, CA | The Press Club
Oct 6th | Santa Margarita, CA | Dunbar Brewing
Oct 7th | Santa Barbara | The Seven Bar
Oct 8th | Los Angeles, CA | Cafe Cinema
Oct 9th | Morrow Bay, CA | Libertine Pub
Oct 10th | Santa Cruz, CA The Crepe Place
Oct 11th | San Francisco, CA | Thee Parkside
Oct 16th | Salem, OR | Boon’s Treasurey
Oct 31st | Portland, OR | Rock Creek Tavern

 * with Michael Dean Damron and Mishka Shubaly

Go get it!

Today’s the big day! Drunken Prayer’s The Devil and The Blues hits the shelves of your favorite record stores and online establishments today.

Here are some excerpts from a few early reviews:

“Wit, romanticism, weirdness: Drunken Prayer hits that sweet spot once again” – Pop Matters

“a slurry of rockin’ back-beat, bluesy licks, filthy slide guitar, and angelic harmonies to boot” – American Standard Time

“Rebellious roots music with pentecostal zeal” – WNCW

“Lead track “Hellraiser” is adrenaline-fueled and takes no prisoners. The drums stomp, guitars gallop and Geer’s stand-and-deliver vocal style verges on violent. Wisps of smoke issue from the speakers — and there are still 11 tracks to go.” – Mountain Express

You can stream the record and purchase it here, or snag it from iTunes if that’s your bag.