Tag: indie folk

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.

In Today’s installment of NPR’s Songs We Love, Anna Powers highlights Anna Tivel’s “Illinois”, from her most recent LP, Small Believer.  “A compassionate chronicler of those lives often overlooked, Tivel is simultaneously clear-eyed and open to dreaming”, Powers suggest. We couldn’t think of a more fitting description.

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Anna Tivel’s fourth studio album ‘Small Believer’ is a collection of patchwork stories drawn from conversations with strangers, on the road, in restaurants, bars, and rest stops. Produced by guitar mastermind Austin Nevins (Josh Ritter, Anais Mitchell), the songs float on a raft of electric guitar, pump organ, and sparse bass and drums.

‘Small Believer’ is spacious and honest, a lyric-driven exploration of the things that move within us. Tivel takes great care with every syllable and every story, chipping away until what remains is blindingly true and deeply affecting.

The record is available now on lp, cd and digital formats, as well as at Spotify, iTunes and Amazon.

Limited edition gold vinyl, hand-numbered to 125 is in short supply.

Today, we are proud to announce the release of Jeffrey Martin’s One Go Around.

After Jeffrey Martin released 2014’s Dogs In The Daylight, the Portland Mercury posited that he “might be the best songwriter in Portland.” No Depression called the record “as close to a masterpiece as a folk album from an emerging singer-songwriter can get.” One Go Around is the long-awaited follow-up to that record.

There’s a quiet dignity to the 12 new tracks on One Go Around, but a kind of quiet desperation as well. With subjects ranging from the shocking story of William Burroughs’ casual murder of his wife during a drunken party, to themes of love found and lost, the stories hit hard, because we know we may not be far off from them ourselves in this time of uncertainty.

The record is available now on LP, CD and digital formats, at the Fluff and Gravy Store, Bandcamp, Spotify, iTunes and Amazon.

In addition to black vinyl there is a Limited Edition run on Red vinyl, hand-numbered to 123.

 

 

Small Believer is Anna Tivel’s 3rd full-length solo release. It’ finds the Portland-based songwriter hitting yet another high mark, with masterful production from Austin Nevins. The songs on Small Believer were written while Tivel was touring, but also in-between shifts at the odd waitressing job, or driving Meals on Wheels in her spare time. She has an extraordinarily keen eye for recasting the images she sees into song, so that a homeless man drawing comfort each day while sitting and watching a building go up, brick by brick, becomes the song “Riverside Hotel.” A chance conversation with a neighbor, also a waitress, who makes an empty promise becomes “Last Cigarette.” Each image or moment that burned itself into Tivel’s memories becomes a launching pad for a larger story that she spins into song.
Listen to the singles “Illinois” and “Dark Chandelier“.

The record is available for pre-order in all formats,including limited edition gold vinyl (limited to 100 hand numbered copies), black vinyl, cd, and digitally.

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

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.

One listen to her world-weary yet somehow bouyant songs and it’s clear – Anna Tivel has spent her share of quality hours behind the wheel of a Dodge Caravan, repeating lines over and over until the words fall in time with the windshield wipers, or until the gas light comes on.

Heroes Waking Up, Anna Tivel’s third full-length album, was be released on May 20, 2016. It is the result of a year spent living and writing in a friend’s garage and on the road. The eleven song recording winds through a dusky darkness of hopeful strangers, shadowed struggle, quiet love, and flying dreams. Produced by guitar magician Austin Nevins (Josh Ritter, Anais Mitchell, The Mountain Goats), Tivel’s faded-photographic songwriting swells above a soundscape meticulously crafted by Nevins on guitar, lap steel, banjo, and pump organ. He is joined by Sam Howard (Ruth Moody) on bass, Ian Krist (Blind Pilot) on vibraphone, Robin Macmillan on percussion, and Jeffrey Martin and Moorea Masa singing harmonies. Throw in some violin and octave violin from Anna herself and the final effect is a sweeping, dream-like exploration of Tivel’s raw imagery and powerful storytelling.

Give a listen to the record here, and then buy it.

Here’s what some folks are saying about it:

“There is not a single song on here that is easily forgettable, much less filler”. – No Depression

“Anna Tivel writes songs that demand the full attention of the listener, and it isn’t hard to give her that because her singing and writing seem to take power over you” – Glide Magazine

“Heroes Waking Up” is a kind of consecration of artistic identity – Music Won’t Save You

“Each song on this album seems to simultaneously sing of sorrow and celebration. That even in the direst of circumstances, life is a still a beautiful thing. The most accurate connection that I could draw to this album is the writing of John Steinbeck.” – Northwest Music Scene

 

 

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

New Records from Fernando, Mike Coykendall, Drunken Prayer, and Vacilando

Happy summer everyone! It’s going to be a busy one for us here at Fluff and Gravy Records. We are excited to welcome two new artists to the family, long-time Argentinian troubadour, Fernando Viciconte, and newcomer Indie Rock/Ambient Soundscapers, Vacilando.

Just to get you started, here is your 2015 summer anthem, from Mike Coykendall, as presented by Glide Magazine.

Read more about all of the release below! Remember that all of these records can be preordered here, and that shipping charges ONLY apply to the first item that you order.

The Vacilando and Fernando records are available as limited edition colored vinyl (hand numbered to 100), so be sure to get those before they go if it’s your bag.

Thanks so much for all of your support!

Much love,
John and Chad

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Half Past, Present Pending is Coykendall’s 4th solo album,and his second on Fluff and Gravy Records. A departure from 2012’s Chasing Away The Dots, which featured numerous guests (M Ward, Ben Gibbard, Zooey Deschanel) and full band arrangements, this record is all Coykendall. The goal was to bring the listener closer to his live performances, and his setup which he affectionately calls “the rig”, consisting of an oversized Kay electric guitar, a tin can kick drum and a huge set of high-hat cymbals, all awash in delay and reverb. Half Past, Present Pending mixes excellent new compositions (check out “Hard Landing”) with tracks from his back catalogue (check out “East of Cheney” or “Spacebaker Blues”) along with fresh interpretations of other artists (he covers Roger Miller, Syd Barrett etc).

Available July 17, 2015 on lp, cd, and digital formats

Sample a track and pre-order the record here!

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Hailing from Portland, OR, Vacilando might accurately be called the Fluff and Gravy house band. At it’s core, the band is a vehicle for the songs of John Shepski (FnG Head Honcho), accompanied by Chad Lanning (FnG partner, photographer, and social media guru) and Juniana Lannign (FnG Studios lead engineer).

Their debut record, While They Were Dancing, is slow and atmospheric, breathing deeply with vast empty spaces underneath heart-in-hand lyrics and a humble delivery. The band is fond of describing their record alternately as Bummercore or Bleak Midwestern Soundscapes, but just when the listener is drawn in and seemingly transported to another time and place, the band brings them crashing back to earth in a sonic explosion of screaming guitars and feedback. The music feels at once nostalgic and timeless, all while remaining grounded in the present.

RIYL: Yo La Tengo, Low, Fennesz, Vic Chesnutt

Available July 17, 2015 on lp, cd, and digital formats

Sample a track and pre-order the record here!

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The Devil & The Blues sounds at first like a party record. But fans of The Reigning Sound, The Sadies or Freakwater will recognize the droll narratives of sadness, rebellion and wild redemption on this slightly psychedelic trip through the history of American roots music. Here, once again, Morgan Geer finds common ground at the peculiar crossroads of gospel, soul and 60’s psych.

There’s a real connection to the aforementioned bands too. Along for the ride with Geer is the rhythm section of drummer Lance Wille and bassist, David Wayne Gay, both former members of The Reigning Sound (Geer, Gay and Willie, as “The Unholy Trio”, have a crazy popular video of Public Enemy’s “Bring the Noise” that Bloodshot Record’s released a while back). Dallas Good, from The Sadies, drops by to play some spectacular guitar.

Rowdy, unswerving and often outrageously funny, The Devil & The Blues, is the new old sound of Drunken Prayer.

Available August 21, 2015 on cd, and digital formats

Sample a track and pre-order the record here!

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3 years in the making, the album Leave The Radio On a virtual who’s who of Portland’s finest musicians, including Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey as well as members of M.Ward, Elliott Smith, Richmond Fontaine and The Delines. Fernando has come a long way since Magnet Magazine named him one of the ten Best New Artists of the Year in 2006. This record represents the next step in his ever-evolving musical trajectory, a career marked by creative integrity and an almost painful honesty which attracts fans from high and low that still believe in the redemptive power of rock and roll.

Last fall, Fernando dropped an early 7” single from the LP as a preview of what is to come.  The a-side (“The Dogs”) is the second track on the record, and was featured by KEXP as their song of the day.

Available September 18, 2015 on cd, and digital formats

Sample a track and pre-order the record here!

The debut album from Catherine Feeny and Chris Johnedis is finally here!  Early reviews and premiers from sites including Magnet Magazine, The Bluegrass Situation, American Standard Time, Glide Magazine and The Examiner have already begun to build a wave of excitement. It’s “a strange and powerful sound” (American Standard Time), “infectiously listenable, and like nothing you’ve heard before” (Glide Magazine).

Pick up your lp/cd/digital copy right here

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7HoFKBmmms[/youtube]

Acclaimed songwriter Catherine Feeny met jazz drummer Chris Johnedis after recording her rebellious fourth solo album. She had just come back from the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York, and he was returning from 2 years of working and studying in Thailand. The two hit it off, and Johnedis helped translate the varied rhythms of “America” — which ran the gamut between vintage drum machine sounds and captured field recordings — into a live show setting.

Two years later, working with producers Sebastian Rogers (Floetry) and Sheldon Gomberg (Ben Harper, Ricki Lee Jones), in a live four-day session in Silverlake, CA the two create a universe of sound that is sparse and propulsive, yet playful, for their eponymous debut as a duo. Producers Rogers and Gomberg and mixing engineer Tony Lash (Elliot Smith, Feist) leverage Feeny’s quietly arresting vocals and classic pop songwriting against Johnedis’s R&B inflected polyryhthms, masterfully maximizing their tools — ukulele, voice, guitar and drums.

Catherine Feeny remains best known for 2005′s “Hurricane Glass. The song “Mr. Blue” was picked up by KCRW in LA, and later featured in “Running with Scissors,” “The O.C.,” and “Miss Conception.”  The attention won by “Hurricane Glass” resulted in the album being picked up by EMI Records.

Audiences across the US and Europe have been mesmerized by the spell Feeny and Johnedis cast on stage. Feeny has played internationally as a headline act and in support of: Wilco, Belle and Sebastian, Suzanne Vega, John Prine, The Indigo Girls, Kelly Jones (Stereophonics) and Martha Wainwright.

Catherine Feeny and Christopher Johnedis’ eponymous full-length cd/lp will be released on Fluff and Gravy Records on 4/21/15, preceded by a 4 song digital ep, featuring the  single “Harm” on 2/17/15.

Find Catherine Feeny and Chris Johnedis here http://www.catherinefeenyandchrisjohnedis.com/

Pre-order the ep and full-length here http://www.fluffandgravy.com/store

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhJ15yHtAO4[/youtube]

On January 20, 2015, Fluff and Gravy Records will be releasing an expanded 2x LP version of Dogs in the Daylight.  The doubel lp set will include 4 exclusive bonus tracks in addition to the 15 tracks that make up the original cd pressing.  The pre-order link can be found here, and will ship in mid-January.

Praise for Dogs in the Daylight

“Dogs in the Daylight is as close to a masterpiece as a folk album by an emerging singer-songwriter can get” – NoDepression

“It’ll give you shivers” – The Bluegrass Situation

“It’s tough to pinpoint exactly what it is that sets certain singer/songwriters apart from other singer/songwriters, other than the thoroughness with which their songs turn your guts inside out. And by that measure, Martin is way ahead of the pack” – Portland Mercury

 

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19xi1g08NKU[/youtube]