Here is a reminder of what they’re capable of……swoon…….

Price: 4 euro (Currency Converter)

It’s been a couple of years since that great Canadian invasion, a remarkable period around the middle of the decade when it appeared as if
every new exciting act emanated from that part of the world. Things have quietened considerably but now and then something wonderful emerges. Hamilton is at the epicentre this time and the Rest are the ones pulling the strings. Curiously we came to know about this collective via their electronica side project Allegories but one listen to ‘Walk On Water’ quickly had us refocusing. The song is taken from the bands second album ‘Everyone All At Once’ which has been blessed with an epic grandeur that reveals umpteen secrets on close inspection. It is hymnal and flamboyant at the same time and evokes early U2 and that great fire of 2005 while still carefully negotiating its own path. We’ve been in touch with front man Adam Bentley for a couple of years but when we suggested that he consider digitally releasing ‘Everyone All At Once’ through indiecater we weren’t necessarily expecting a positive. When it arrived we quickly scanned the nearest thesaurus to find ingenious words that could adequately describe this wonderful album. Unfortunately they haven’t been invented yet so you’ll have to take our word for it. If that’s not worth the web it’s written on then you can stream the whole album to make up your own mind!

But first here is Adam giving us some of his inner thoughts about the record:

‘Everyone All At Once took shape over a two-year period of writing, recording and being patient. Sparked by a collective need for improvement and progression from out debut album Atlantis, Oh Our Saviour, we headed to a remote family cottage to write and focus on music. The results, we believe, are the best music any of us have been a part of, representing a period of excitement and growth in the band, and for a change this growth does not involve an additional member joining our ranks.

This is an album that we feel as strongly about each and every track, and in a world of expanding music more focused on the quick instant pleasures, we hope that you can completely fall into these pieces, finding new ways to listen, and varied interpretations around each word, tone, rhythm and melody.’

Listen To Everyone All At Once!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Press Quotes

Indie Rock Cafe

‘…full of harmonies, melodies and day-dream symphonies…’

Herohill

‘…the band’s melodies move along like ocean waves…’

Bringer of Song

‘…a cinematic energy, a driving-scene-montage thrum to the song that pulls me in…’

Elsewhere
Leonard’s Lair, Side One: Track One, Stop Sleeping, Yo, Swear I’m Not Paul

Price: 2.50 euro (Currency Converter)

We think the best time of the year to listen to indie pop is during the summer. What better way to experience sweet melodies than when the sun is shining and most people are on a 2 week sabbatical away from crust earning activity. This year our mission was to source the perfect summer soundtrack and we could think of no better band to achieve that aspiration than the Very Most. The Idaho outfit have had a productive 2009 with ‘Summer’ representing the 2nd instalment of a 4 part seasonal themed project they’ve undertaken with indiecater (part one is here). With the Very Most the rewards are instant (and enduring), their lyrics are universally joyous and the instrumentation is masterfully tailored by chief song writer Jeremy Jensen. We always find it a little incomprehensible that their pop nuggets aren’t the stuff of daytime radio playlist makers dreams. We’d love you to spread the word because the world needs tunes like these to cheer it up.

As ever you can listen to every song on this release and even download the sunshinetastic ‘You’re In Love With The Sun’ for free. If you’re suitably impressed at that stage all you have to do is part with €2.50 and all 4 tracks will be yours forever!

A big thank you to Julia Green for creating the EP’s wonderful artwork. If you’d like to read the lyrics from the EP click here.

Listen To Summer!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Free Download: The Very Most – You’re In Love With The Sun

***Spring/Summer EP Deal***

Add the Spring & Summer EP’s to your shopping cart and use the discount code ‘springsummer’ to get 50 cents off the total price. That’s 2 EP’s for €4.50!!

Press Quotes

Powerpopaholic

‘…gently tailored pop touched by magic.’

Another Form of Relief

‘…a thing of beauty…’

Venntertainment

‘will have you dreaming of sunny, sandy beaches and carefree days of youth…’

Elsewhere
Quick Critique, Popistant, Tenacious T, Russell’s Reviews, I Am The Crime, 180 Grados Largehearted Boy, The Culture of Me, Lito Music, Swear I’m Not Paul

The Very Most’s ‘Summer’ EP will be with us on the first day of the new season! You can listen to ‘Spring’ here.

You can buy ‘Good Fight Fighting’ (video above) here or there.

Price: 2.50 euro (Currency Converter)

There is nothing more satisfying for a music blogger than to be there at the beginning of something special. It has happened once already and our instincts are telling us that lightning could be about to strike again with this new duo from Meath/Dublin called The Ambience Affair. Jamie Clarke and Marc Gallagher have only been playing together for a few months but their debut recording is something to behold. The 4 track ‘Fragile Things’ EP was released as a handmade limited edition in February and we got wind of the title track soon afterwards. My first impression was that it didn’t sound like an Irish band, especially one taking its first tentative steps. Here were 2 young lads sculpting experimental sounds that on closer inspection also revealed wonderful tuneage. That the instrumentation is mostly acoustic makes what happens sound all the more exciting. Add in Jamie’s intense vocal bursts and you have a recipe that will have the listener salivating for the Ambience Affairs’ next bold move. The sparkle is evident for all to see and we’re confident that this is the beginning of something really special.

Jamie gave us a bio for the band and an account of how the EP was made.

“The Ambience Affair are a two-piece from Meath/Dublin who combine looped vocals & guitars together with driving rhythms to create songs that are both captivating and original. The EP ‘Fragile Things’ was recorded in 3 days in Dublin and was the band’s first ever experience recording.They’ve been together 10 months after Jamie met Marc in the music shop Jamie had just started working in. Jamie was looking for a drummer previous to this and Marc came to one of his solo gigs and decided there was enough there to start the band.

-Jamie”

Listen To The Fragile Things EP!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Free Download: The Ambience Affair – Fragile Things

Press Quotes

Venntertainment

‘Layered guitar over immediate vocals and tight-as-a-duck’s-arse drums…’

love shack, baby

‘it’s happy/sad/angry all at the same time and it makes me want to dance and cry…’

Elsewhere
Swear I’m Not Paul, Largehearted Boy

Our favourite troubadour (must admit I never use this word in real life but on this page it looks lovely) is treading the boards for the first time since the arrival of his new son. Will he break down in paternal tears or instead just sing about livestock calving? Who knows, but one thing that is guaranteed is that Ro will lay on a splendid precursor to the main event William E. Whitmore in Whelan’s on April 20th (Monday). Have you heard his debut album yet (or the follow up for that matter), it’s brill so imagine the glee to be gleaned from hearing it live. We’ve got 2 pairs of tickets to giveaway so just get in touch to brighten up at least one Monday this month.

Update: Congrats to Claire & Stephen – enjoy the show!

Price: 2.50 euro (Currency Converter)

Ever since we laid ears on ‘Die 5times Times5’ back in 2005 we knew this band were special. Who else could pour vitriol so eloquently within the confines of a shoegazetastic tune? The track was taken from South Ambulance’s self-titled debut and what a magical piece of work it was (much like everything that Labrador turns its hand to in fact). Fast forward 4 years and it really puts a siren in our emergency vehicle to be able to offer up the bands latest series of EP’s. EP#5 and EP#6 will be along later in the year but for now we can celebrate in the melody doused aroma of EP#4. South Ambulance come from Sweden so you know the goods on offer will be quality. What makes this digital release even sweeter is the bonus track ‘Kinky Love’. This is a cover of the venerable Pale Saints track (which in itself was a cover of the Nancy Sinatra original) and is every bit as good as the original. And as an ageing shoegaze fan myself I feel comfortable in that assertion. EP#4 costs just €2.50 which makes it cheaper than chips and a good deal less fattening.

We spoke to the band recently and they told us about the EP.

“Hello everybody. Sitting in the attic among our half forgotten fortune telling accessories on one particularly windy night, we decided to lay some cards. After some turning and reading in the halflight it was clear it’s high time you all heard more from us, South Ambulance. While we were at it we dusted our age old Ouija board as well to give it a go. It repeatedly spelled out the well-used number 3, and so this is the number of EPs we’ve recorded, and which we’re proud to release through Indiecater this spring. We’re starting out with EP#4, which contains songs of little contemplations on death, desperate space travelling, and sudden ageing.

/South Ambulance, March 2009″

Listen To EP#4!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Free Download: South Ambulance – Davy Crockett

Press Quotes

indie-mp3

‘blissful 13 and a bit minutes…’

Fingertips

‘Friendly, skewed, comfortably messy, unexpectedly melodic…’

How Marvellous

‘it’s all tuneful & harmonious & vocal ‘ba ba ba’s'…’

Elsewhere
Indie Surfer, Indiependent Music, The Velvet Rut, Lyrique La Discorde, Burning World, Coast Is Clear, bleek spook

Price: 4 euro (Currency Converter)

The Van Allen Belt are quite unlike any other band you’ll hear this year (or any year for that matter) and your first impression could well be quite different from the one you harbour after several listens. When I bask in their lavish productions I always think of Motown (a peculiarly indie brand it must be said). Now my knowledge of that particular genre isn’t exactly stellar but there ain’t no mountain high enough to dispel those thoughts. The other thing that’ll strike you about the Pittsburgh collective is their lyrics which are soaked in a most cerebral brand of satire (reminise about that soundtrack to ‘The Life of Brian’). So while you style your beehive you’ll chuckle at the gloriously lobbed potshots emanating from your stereo. ‘Meal Ticket To Purgatory’ is a hugely ambitious work and one you may struggle to digest in one sitting but there are modern classics peppered throughout. The album was originally released in 2007 but we believe it deserves a second airing and a much wider audience. The Van Allen Belt are currently putting the finishing touches to their sophomore so this should keep you entertained until it arrives. The download bundle comes complete with the music, artwork and lyrics.

Here is Ben from the band and his version of events that lead to the recording of this album.

‘I began working on PURGATORY shortly after I was fired from the bar I had worked at. After performing for a couple years in avant-garde acts that seemed to change names every show, I wanted to do something more accessible. Perhaps, something I could live off of. So I recruited 3 musicians I’d worked with the previous year on an awful experimental album and set off to make something “listenable”. Tamar Kamin had worked with me a few times before on soundtracks, but never anything with lyrics. Scott Taylor was a longtime friend and film school classmate. And Martine Mancini had also been a friend for a while and, of all things, the former roommate of the girl who never moved to Vancouver with me.

The first mix of ‘So It Goes’ was a little rough, and it became a multiple draft process. In the meantime, we recorded the next two, ‘Charity Sex’ and ‘Way Up’. A moment I will never be able to relive, was the first time I played back ‘Way Up’ and the beat kicked in. It was when I knew we were doing something special.’

Listen to Meal Ticket To Purgatory

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Free Download: The Van Allen Belt – Baby Boomer Backstroke

Press Quotes

Leonard’s Lair

‘it can still cause a thrill even after a few listens; a testament to the durability of these wonderfully odd songs’

Song, By Toad

‘this is pure mental brilliance’

Pittsburgh City Paper

‘a pleasant, freak-out surprise’

mp3hugger

‘as much as it sometimes sounds retro I can’t escape the feeling that the Van Allen Belt are somehow going to form the crux of the future’

Swear I’m Not Paul

‘not sure exactly how to describe it’

Elsewhere
Naku Yoru, das klienicum

Price: 4 euro (Currency Converter)

Ireland has produced a skip full of acoustic troubadours and it’s almost a cliché at this stage to scoff. But where there is quantity there will always be gold amongst the silt and over the years Mumblin’ Deaf Ro have proven to be one of this country’s most treasured songwriters. I first became aware of Mumblin’ Deaf Ro when his second album ‘The Herring And The Brine’ was released in 2007. I’ve got to admit that his vocals took a bit of getting used to but his pithy lyrics and imaginative riffage quickly won me over. In fact What’s To Be Done With El Salvador made enough of an impression to become the 4th favourite song of 2007 over on mp3hugger. That discovery led to MDR’s 2003 debut ‘Senor, My Friend…’ and again I was smitten. Ro has a gift for storytelling and his talent ensures that his lyrical jaunts are coloured by wide-eyed instrumental arrangements. Getting to know this album is a real joy and over time you’ll discover your own favourites.

This digital release includes the album and 3 bonus tracks, 2 of which were not on the original release and another which is a solo version of ‘These Men Get Paid To Know’. Also bundled in the download is the original artwork, some photos of Ro from the time and an in-depth analysis from the man himself about each of the tunes. You can sample the whole album and even download ‘The Hero Is A Graduate’ for free on the right sidebar.

Ro spoke to us recently and gave us the background on how ‘Senor My Friend’ came to be.

‘(In reading this piece, try to picture me being interviewed beside a mixing desk, like on TV – journalists/writers get interviewed in front of bookshelves.)

About six years ago I released ‘Senor, Mr Friend . . .’ and I’m hugely flattered and grateful that mp3hugger has decided to exhume it for this indiecater release.

While recording the album I went through several phases of self-doubt about whether it was just a vanity project, whether the album would sink unnoticed, and whether I’d be able to finish it at all. I had been playing gigs since February 1993 in various bands and, latterly, as a solo act; usually to very small crowds and on a bill with acts that were outrageously incompatible. (Where do all those heavy metal bands come from and why are always next door to me when I rehearse?)

The business of recording music at home with basic equipment and zero expertise is documented on the liner notes of the album itself (included in this download). I started by doing a demo of three songs: ‘Every Now and Then She Gets a Moment’, ‘Keep the Line Movin’ and the ‘Ballad of Lonesome Ray James’. The idea was that I’d hand it around to people and maybe get a few support slots. Alison Curtis from Phantom FM (back when it was a pirate) started playing Keep the Line Movin’ from that demo. Encouraged, I decided to rattle off a few more songs and make it into a longer recording or maybe an album. It was a lot harder than it seemed, and took me about 18 months in total. I recorded during the evenings for the most part, usually when I was quite tired. I made loads of mistakes and changed my mind far too often.

I also had little idea of the work involved in releasing an album. In recent years I have organised a wedding, bought a house, taken on more responsibility at work and completed further study, but none of it compares to the intensity of releasing a record. For instance, the CDs were pressed in the Czech Republic but were impounded at the airport with punitive daily fines; at the same time I was trying to deal with a record number of parliamentary questions (500 on one day) for the then Minister for the Environment, Martin Cullen. There were a huge number of emails, phone calls, dead ends and changes of plan to contend with and amidst it all you try and retain some sense of the artistic serenity that lets you focus on the music itself. It is an exhilarating but extraordinarily vulnerable, and narcissistic, period.

I had hoped to get reviewed in some places as I couldn’t afford to promote the album properly, but it never really occurred to me until the last minute that the reviews could be bad and that I could be humiliated publicly – people in work still thought I was trying to become the next Ronan Keating. In the end it all went well enough. The reviews were kind. I have a theory that if papers like your music they review it if they can, and if they don’t, they don’t – what’s the point in slagging off an act nobody has heard of? The launch night was very special. My girlfriend (now wife) was rushed to hospital just before the gig with chronic stomach pains, but she made it back to good health and to the gig for the encore. It was that sort of night. A small but enthusiastic coterie of fans bought the album and has kept listening to it over the years, which means a lot to me.

In preparing for this re-release I listened back to the album a few times to gauge my reaction to it now. Naturally – like all musicians — I wince at some of the more obvious missed notes and loose timing. I think that the clumsy recording is part of the album’s personality though and that it wouldn’t be same if it were cleaned up. I still love the songs. They were recorded over a spread of years but the bulk of them were written during the four happy years I lived in the city centre of Dublin with two of my closest friends in a non-gay three-man living arrangement. The album recreates that period for me perfectly whenever I listen to it.‘

Listen to Senor, My Friend..

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Free Download: Mumblin’ Deaf Ro – The Hero Is A Graduate

Senor, My Friend Also Available Here!
* * * * * * *

Press Quotes

The Devil Has The Best Tuna

‘if you like lo-fi finger picking folk, insightful lyrics and beautiful chord progressions then all your Christmases have come at once’

Cluas

‘Mumblin’ Deaf Ro’s music is of remarkable feeling, imagination and honesty. It gushes pure talent.’

The Irish Times

‘an unfailingly melodic and sometimes moving testament to the power of ingenuity, wit and the Roland VS-880 home recorder. Cherish it.’

Elsewhere
Off Her Rocker, das klienicum, Swear I’m Not Paul, Nick Thinks, 2 U I Bestow, State Magazine

Price: 8 euro (Currency Converter)

Fancy receiving your favourite indiecater releases through the post? Well now you can with the funky new indiecater USB memory key. The USB key costs €8 (which includes worldwide shipping) and comes with a memory capacity of 1GB. That should be more than enough to store over 150 high quality mp3s! It’s also plug and play, which means that once you stick it into your computer or stereo (if it has a USB port) it is a breeze to transfer the songs and artwork. And when you’re done you’ll be left with a cool USB key that you can use over and over again to move whatever files you like. And it’s really light and dinky (measuring: Length 64mm, Width 20mm, Height 8mm).

We think this little gizmo could suit you if you have a bad internet connection, are short on time or if you are sick of the download/unzip file merry-go-round. All you’ve got to do is add the USB key to your shopping cart and then select the albums you wish us to load onto it. Of course you’ll still be given the option to download the albums straight away as normal. Be careful that you include your full address with your order!

If you’d like to order more than one USB key at a time please give us a shout.

Price: 4 euro (Currency Converter)

If any record deserves to be given a vinyl release it’s this one (we’ll get round to it I promise) as the 8 tracks on ‘The Language of Everyday
Life’ neatly divide into 2 sides. Side A (tracks 1 – 4) is slow and thoughtful, Side B (tracks 5 – 8) is quicker and if anything even more contemplative. This is a magical piece of work that always pops into my head when I think of my favourite albums. And although the production values may have been raw In Motion’s flawless melodies effortlessly banish any misgivings. This is an album of its time and of all time displaying a masterful array of indie pop moments (with a pinch of shoegaze). You’ll find yourself falling in love with the chiming guitars/sweet harmonies or just weeping gently at the plain old heartache that pervades throughout.

What’s even more exciting about this digital reissue is that the band have remastered the original album and given us 2 non album tracks ‘It Takes A Long Time’ and ‘Untitled’ (we haven’t included them on the preview player below so you’ll have to buy the download bundle to hear them). One of these bonus tracks is fast and the other is slow in keeping with the notional split on the original album. So even with economies crashing, companies burning and less money in everyone’s pocket we believe this will be the best 4 euro you spend all year.

We recently spoke to Liam Ryan from the band and he gave us the lowdown on how ‘The Language of Everyday Life’ was put together:

“In Motion sprang to life around 1988. Three school friends, Liam Ryan, Alan Kelly and John Duff, were drawn together by a love of similar music and attempted to master their instruments (well kind of) in a Crumlin shed. The first gig, I believe was in McGonagles ’90 and was quickly followed by many others in the legendary Underground, Rock Garden, Trinity, The Attic, Fox and Pheasant, Whelan’s, The Village (Cork) etc.

Alan O’Boyle joined the ranks on guitar sometime in ’93, filling the sound out. We recorded ‘Five And Twenty Thousand Days’ with MSR in Elm Tree studios Cork in January ’94 which also ended up on the album. Dead Elvis were an independent label that had already released the first Wormhole album. Eamon Crudden approached us and suggested doing an album. We started recording ‘The Language of Everyday Life’ in June 1994 at Fuse, Parnell Street, which was the hub of Dead Elvis operations. Marc Carolan was at the controls and did a great job. Can’t remember how long it took but probably would have taken a lot less time if we weren’t popping into the Welcome Inn for the odd pint! Cheers the Alan O’B for remastering the album. Hope you like it!!! All band proceeds are going to Aware.”

Listen to The Language of Everyday Life!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Free Download: In Motion – Hollow Blow

Spring EP & Remixes: 4 euro (Currency Converter)

Over the next few weeks you will start to see some ‘Spring’ revisions appearing about the place. That’s because we’ve passed the Very Most’s precious work to some brilliant minds. Their task will be to reimagine the tunes using nothing other than their own brainwaves (and probably some laptops). You’ll be able to hear the fruits of their labour on this very page.

12 Feb: We are delighted to present the first remix courtesy of Rod Thomas. It’s a wonderful take on ‘The Only Pretty Ring Time’ and for a limited time it will be free to all those who’ve already purchased the ‘Spring’ EP (give us a shout and we’ll send it on pronto). Hurry along now.

The Very Most – The Only Pretty Ring Time (Rod Thomas 4 Seasons Remix)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

22 Feb: Remix 2 is the work of Ben Ferris of Nonstop Everything and the Van Allen Belt. And it really does turn out to be a belter take on ‘Today It Is Even Better’. Only the keenest Very Most students will identify the original such is Ben’s radical reinvention of Spring’s opening track. This is free for a limited time to those who’ve already bought ‘Spring’.

The Very Most – Today It is Even Better (Nonstop Everything’s String Theory Mix)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

1 Mar: Jed from My Teenage Stride makes it a hat-trick of remixes and being the shoegazers that we we are we think it’s pretty great. Jed has put the brakes on the giddy momentum of the Very Most’s original and given us a glorious feedback drenched replacement. This is free for a limited time to those who’ve already bought ‘Spring’.

The Very Most – Today It Is Even Better (My Teenage Stride Remix)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Spring EP: 2.50 euro (Currency Converter)

Spring EP & Remixes: 4 euro (Currency Converter)

Ahh the 1st of February, ahh the 1st of Spring, ahh the first of many! Yep, we’re finally on the musical map with the first indiecater exclusive release courtesy of our good friends from Idaho the Very Most. You can listen to the first quarter of our ‘A Year With The Very Most’ project below. It’s called ‘Spring’ and given the time of year that we’ve released it I’m sure you can guess the name of the other 3 parts that will be along later in the year. Down with all those gimmicks I hear you say and we agree. The most important aspect of our union with the Very Most is that it has resulted in some seriously great music. In fact if one were to close ones eyes and listen intently one could conceivably end up getting smile cramp such is the happiness it expels. And all it costs is buttons (metal and in the shape of 2 and a half euro coins – in return you get 4 high quality mp3s and some neat artwork) to let the good times flow. We’d like to thank Jedrzej for the great shots that make up EP’s artwork and Chris and Laura’s production crew based out in Maynooth who are currently putting a video together for one of the songs. Exciting times! Summer will be along on May 1st.

Listen To The Sound Of Spring!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Free Download: The Very Most – April Is The Kindest Month

Spring is changing……

***Spring/Summer EP Deal***

Add the Spring & Summer EP’s to your shopping cart and use the discount code ‘springsummer’ to get 50 cents off the total price. That’s 2 EP’s for €4.50!!

Press Quotes

Three Imaginary Girls

‘…will warm you up so fast you’ll forget it’s still cold outside…’

3hive

‘Prepare for an imminent cheering up by the band that makes dying sound like a jangle of a good time.’

The 405

‘I became endeared to its shamelessly poppy and charming qualities’

Eardrums

‘Beautiful, optimistic, seemingly care-free pop-music with boy/girl vocals, delicious choruses, tambourines and handclaps.’

Elsewhere
Adrift On Deep Water, The Culture Of Me, Nialler9, Not So Fresh, Swear I’m Not Paul, Tenacious T., The Clare People, Russell’s Reviews, Fire Escape Talking

Price: 3.50 euro (Currency Converter)

‘The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman’ was my favourite album of 2007 so having it on indiecater is really special. Folklore (myspace) is Jimmy Hughes and lots of his friends, you might know him from his Elf Power work but in our estimation this album unlocked a previously untapped seam of brilliant creativity. ‘The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman’ is not exactly a linear record but this approach is vital in order to recount the grandiose tale. As the songs trickle by you’ll appreciate how strong each one is. They may sound like they’ve appeared off different records initially but the fog will clear and you’ll find yourself traversing through the story many times over. The bonus of course is that there are splendid melodies to be found on every corner. The album costs €3.50 and the download bundle also includes all of the original artwork. If you’d like to do your own investigation you can read the lyrics on this page. If you’d prefer to buy the CD there are some copies available here. As ever you can preview the whole record on our player below.

We asked Jimmy to give us the background on how the album was put together and what follows is his answer.

“I first started writing The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman as a novel upon graduating from college in 1997. The concepts and notes for this story were messily collected in various places (I once found a page of forgotten notes in the middle of a dictionary that I hadn’t opened in years), but I stopped writing short fiction in general as I focused more on music. Since then I have been playing in various bands, but it wasn’t until forming Folklore in 2005 that these stories found their home as a concept album, joining the fiction with the music. Someday, I would still like to spend the time elaborating this story as a longer work of fiction, but for now, I really needed to get some of the ideas and imagery out of my head and onto the page. Since songwriting is the media I have been working in, that’s how the stories ended up going down. The original idea was to create a history around the central character, H.W. Beaverman, based only on the hearsay, rumors, and gossip of the people in the town(s) around him. H.W. Beaverman is an older man, a hermit of sorts, and though few really know him, many speak of his legend and of his (theoretical) demise. As the album progresses, each character tells something new about Beaverman but also contradicts the previous account, thus deconstructing the rumor tree in reverse up to the end of the album when the listener hears H.W.Beaverman’s first hand account. As an album, rather than a novel, it leaves a lot up to the imagination of the audience, but I kind of like that aspect of how it turned out. Keeps them guessing. I think H.W. Beaverman would want it that way.

I also set out to cast the characters via their vocal counterpart. Everyone whom I initially asked to sing the parts agreed, and the album, once it got rolling, came together exactly as I had originally conceived it. Not that I expect things to fall apart around me, but I never expect things to come to fruition quite so easily, so that this album exists as it does (and that people have had such a positive reaction to it) makes me very happy.

Contrary to assumptions by some reviewers and speculators, the mysterious H.W. Beaverman is a real person, in spite of some of this storyline being fictionalized. These accounts of the man were compiled from different sources and different areas of northern New York State, namely Lake Bonaparte in the Adirondack Mountains, Wellesley Island in the 1000 Island Region of the St. Lawrence River, Skaneateles Lake in Skaneateles NY, Onondage Lake in Syracuse NY, and along the Susquehanna River in Binghamton NY. Any geographic features mentioned in the songs are real places, and all of the characters are real people (or at least conglomerations of multiple real people).

There are also some extra songs from the Beaverman tales that didn’t fit into the timeline of The Ghost Of H.W. Beaverman album (back-story, flashbacks, settings, ghost stories). These songs were recorded and compiled on Folklore’s second album Carpenter’s Falls which came out in 2008. These stories are still part of the Beaverman tale, but for example, one tells the story of how ghosts are able to rise from the waters of Lake Bonaparte, while another tells of how the Susquehanna River is haunted, and yet another is the recounting of a suicide at Carpenter’s Falls.These stories all take place in the same setting as the Beaverman story, though mostly indirectly related to the man himself, and they more address the idea of why people believe that certain places or certain things are haunted. There are also some stories in the mix elluding to Beaverman’s youth. But these songs are descriptive lyrically, whereas all of the songs on The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman are sung as first-person accounts. That is why I decided to group these two albums as I did. But know that this second album Carpenter’s Falls does exist should anyone find themselves wanting to know more about the ghost of the elusive prankster H.W. Beaverman.”

Listen To The Album Before You Buy It!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Free Download: Folklore – The Pharmacist

Press Quotes

‘Regardless of whether Beaverman is a malevolent presence with inhuman powers, a convenient enigma, a misunderstood accident, or something else entirely, this is a delightful record.’

Pop Matters

‘The songs are poignant and provocative, heartbreaking and haunting.’

Viva Indie

‘The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman plays as a collection of beautifully-crafted pop songs, and the story they happen to tell only gains resonance the deeper you dig.’

Optical Atlas

‘Many of the songs have a different vocalist which when combined with the gloriously rambling instrumentation provides for a breathless listen’

mp3hugger

read lots more press here

You’ve probably established by now that everything that has appeared on Indiecater thus far has been as a result of our begging, borrowing or stealing (pick the odd one out). Well, that’s all about to change because we’ve teamed up with our favourite new band the Very Most to work on a project that will be exclusive to the label! The project will be called ‘A Year With The Very Most’, not too clever you might say but it has a nice ring to it we think. Anyway, the whole thing is based around a very simple premise, namely the 4 seasons of the year. To expand, the plan is for the Very Most to record 4 EP’s (download only for the moment) in 2009, each to be named after the season in which it is released. So on February 1st the ‘Spring’ EP will make its entrance, on May 1st the ‘Summer’ EP will be hatched and so on. Each release will have 4 brand new seasonally tailored tunes, will bear the Indiecater logo (currently not in existence but come February…) and will cost a mere €2.50. So by December 2009 we’ll have a bevy of pretty new tunes and we’ll celebrate by doing something special. It’s giving us butterflies even thinking about it. As they say in all the best sci-fi yarns, watch this space!