Monday, October 15, 2007

HEALTH cares: L.A. underground quartet to play multiple CMJ parties, posts MySpace remix site, tours U.S. and tops U.K. charts. Yes, all at once!

HEALTH, the L.A. underground music quartet whose -- ahem -- infectious music is catching everywhere from online press (ranking a stunning #5 on the elbo.ws “most blogged about” list) to U.K. radio (its recent collaboration with Crystal Castles hitting #9 on the Indie Charts) is slated to play no less than SEVEN events during the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City this week, including a secret rooftop video shoot for a very popular website named after farm tools. See full performance schedule below. Not only do the members of HEALTH rock the rock, they also talk the talk. To wit: the ambitious group will be available to chat with the media during its week in NYC and writers are encouraged to sign up for interviews by contacting dave@fanaticpromotion.com as soon as possible.

HEALTH has also set up a separate MySpace page from its regular band site (LINK) for all of its myriad remix/collaboration projects. Check it out HERE. The impressive word-of-mouth excitement about HEALTH has quickly become an international phenomenon. The band recently ripped a swath across the U.K. -- garnering praise from the NME, BBC radio and many more -- and HEALTH is currently healing cynical souls all across the U.S. (see complete dates below.) HEALTH’s live shows are sweaty, packed fits of beautiful noise that could perhaps be best compared to Liars, Animal Collective and latter-period Black Dice.

HEALTH’s self-titled debut full length on the ultrahip Lovepump United label hit shelves on September 18th. Soon, L.A. based Cold Sweat Records (Battles, Phantom Family Halo, This Moment in Black History) will issue the vinyl version of the album as well. As if that weren’t enough HEALTH activity, the band has announced a slew of commissioned remixes to follow hot on the heels of the album. The impressive list of remix collaborators includes Pink Skull (Minneapolis), David Gilmore Girls (Amsterdam), Crystal Castles (Toronto), Curses! (NYC), Toxic Avenger (Paris), CFCF (Montreal), Juiceboxxx (Milwaukee), Narctrax (Tokyo), Lovely Chords (Buenos Aires), et al.

The group’s surging notoriety is also due in part to the magic of the Interwebs. In addition to the blog attention described above, Anthem Magazine recently posted and amazing live performance of the HEALTH song “Glitter Pills” shot at The Smell in downtown L.A. Watch it HERE. Additionally, director Nik Mercer shot a collaboration between HEALTH and Aa (Big A Little a) reworking the former’s tune “Crimewave” (LINK). Plus, PaperThinWalls.com recently posted a raving track review of “Glitter Pills” HERE.

Regarding the remix onslaught, HEALTH recent issued the following statement: “HEALTH likes to make scary noises, we like to chant until our faces go red, we like to beat on drums until there’s blood on the floor. But we also like to boogie, and sometimes we need help from people we admire. There is a great big world full of music and there is no excuse for standing in the corner with your eyes closed. You can always make friends with the other kids in class, even If your favorite band is Slayer and theirs is Bell Biv Devoe, so let’s hold hands.” An MP3 of the CFCF remix of”Triceratops” is already available. Click HERE.

More about HEALTH:
Instead of finding a room where the only thing one can hear is their heartbeat, HEALTH recorded its debut full length in one of the band’s favorite places. The Smell is an all ages music venue in downtown Los Angeles. It is open and brick and dirty and dark, but when you sing a church hymnal or hit a drum as hard as you can the sound is beautiful. They did both of these things on the record. They also went out and found equipment built the same time as The Smell, mostly ribbon microphones designed by the BBC for radio broadcasts in the 1930’s, things George Martin liked to use, and other things they didn’t know about. The record is 11 songs in less than thirty minutes - on it there is new music with old sounds.

HEALTH was six months old the first time they played for real people. Before that, there was more talk than music, mostly about art, food, sex, animals, records, drugs, politics and sleeping. After two more shows in Los Angeles, the group self released a 7-inch and went on tour. While they were traveling, people told them their music was weird. When they got back they played on a bill with Ex-Models and Death Sentence Panda. They felt like grown men. After that, people let them play shows more often, mostly at all ages art spaces like The Smell and Il Corral. They became friends with other L.A bands like No Age, The Mae Shi, Mika Miko, BARR, Captain Ahab, Anavan, and Abe Vigoda. Then they went on three more tours and a trip to SXSW.

HEALTH have also had a hand in 8-bit glitch duo Crystal Castles’ recent success. In addition to a Crystal Castles/HEALTH split 7” (released concurrently on Lovepump United with HEALTH’s LP), Crystal Castles highly anticipated Crimewave EP is named for a HEALTH remix for which the two bands recently shot a video. Watch it HERE.

HEALTH Live at CMJ, 2007:
Monday – 10/15
05:00PM – Secret Rooftop Shoot
Wednesday – 10/17
04:30PM – Fader Magazine Side Show
at 146 Orchard (btw Stanton and Rivington)
Friday – 10/19
02:30PM – Brooklyn Vegan Party at R Bar
10:15PM – CMJ Showcase at Knitting Factory
02:00AM – Vice Magazine Party at TBA
Saturday – 10/20
06:00PM – Soundfix Records In-Store
10:00PM – Death by Audio at 49 S. 2nd St (btw Wythe & Kent)

HEALTH On Tour:
*w/ Crime Novels
^ w/ Yip Yip
% w/ Aids Wolf
10/15-10/20 CMJ (See schedule above)
10/16 Purchase, NY Suny Purchase*^
10/17 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY Bard College*
10/18 Philadelphia, PA Danger Danger Gallery*^
10/19 New York, NY Knitting Factory CMJ^%
10/21 Baltimore, MD The Depot^
10/22 Washington, DC Civilian Arts Project*^
10/23 Charlottesville, VA Bridge Progressive Arts Space*
10/24 Charleston, SC Tin Roof*
10/25 Savannah, GA The Sentient Bean*
10/26 Atlanta, GA Lenny’s Bar*
10/27 Birmingham, AL Bottletree*
10/29 Houston, TX Proletariat*
10/30 Austin, TX Emos*
10/31 Denton, TX Eighth Continent*
11/01 Lubbock, TX Bash Riprocks*
11/02 Tucson, AZ The Living Room
11/03 Los Angeles, CA The Smell* (Dave Clifford Birthday Show)
11/15 San Diego, CA Che Cafe%
11/16 Los Angeles, CA The Smell%
11/17 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the the Hill%

HEALTH Tracklisting:
Stream The Album HERE
Released: Sept. 18, 2007

01. Heaven
02. Girl Attorney
03. Triceratops (MP3) (CFCF Remix MP3)
04. Crimewave (MP3)
05. Courtship
06. Zoothorns
07. Tabloid Sores
08. //M\\
09. Glitter Pills
10. Perfect Skin (MP3)
11. Lost Time

On The Web:
www.healthnoise.com
www.myspace.com/healthmusic
www.lpurecords.com
www.myspace.com/lovepumpunited
www.fanaticpromotion.com/current/health.html

Subscribe to Fanatic:
Posted by at