Fanatic is a music marketing company established by Josh Bloom in 1997 to build fan-to-fan connections between artists and the media. For 25 years, Fanatic has continued to help launch careers through the strategic advocacy of creative talent.
“Brings me to tears. One of my favorite
albums ever,” posts a fan about Lost
Causes; One tear at a time is how Jared Putnam builds his loyal following.
+++
Jared
Putnam of The March Divide as photographed by
Short Eared Dog Photography.
+++
PLAY, POST & SHARE The March Divide | “King of The Lost Cause”
“King
of The Lost Cause” was
the least put together song going into making this album,” explains Jared Putnam of The March Divide.
“All I really had was a bad phone
recording of an idea, we had already scheduled the studio time, but I knew that
I didn’t want to leave this idea out of the mix. As it turns out, the song is
an obvious expression of the anxiety that come with writing songs for a
living.”
Music discovery site Alt77says, “The March Divide’s ‘King of The Lost Cause’ is a blues song, with a deep emotional
crease struck right across it. The song works as a companion that’s ready to
confess feelings of daily misery that are, at least, as intense as your own. A
lot of people feel this.”
Hear“King of The Lost Cause” now at Alt77 or
at the link above.
+++
PLAY, POST & SHARE
The March Divide | “This World Is Gonna End”
[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIfr2RMHhg8 +++ “‘This World Is
Gonna End’ is a birthday gift for my wife,” says Jared Putnam of The March
Divide about the closing track from his latest album Lost Causes, out now.
Watch the lyric video for the song here. Putnam jokes, “I also bought her
stuff. I’m not that cheap!” About the song itself, he explains, “I initially
recorded a piano track, but my producer, Mike
Major, felt it was too dark, so we replaced it with the more light hearted Wurlitzer
part throughout. I was perfectly happy with my original piano part, but without
Mike giving his input, this song
wouldn’t carry any of the stand out quality I think it does today. The
collaboration throughout Lost Causes is really what sets it
apart.” +++ The March Divide Lost
Causes (Slow Start Records) Out Now Streaming Link: STREAM FULL LP
Track Listing: 01. I Wanna Hate You (STREAM) 02. Tension in the Air (STREAM
| VIDEO) 03. I’m Not Perfect (STREAM
| VIDEO) 04. Dover Cir (VIDEO) 05. Corduroy 06. Giving Up 07. Virginia (STREAM) 08. Mont Del Dr (VIDEO) 09. King of The Lost Cause (STREAM) 10. This World is Gonna End (LYRIC VIDEO) +++ PLAY, POST & SHARE
The March Divide | “Tension In The Air”
[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfiAVLf9_nU “Putnam’s
urgent melodies, wrapped in just-slick-enough production, draw you in and keep
you there. “‘Tension In The Air’ is
one of The March Divide’s best
examples of this trick to date.” – The
Big Takeover About the music video for the song, recently
premiered by Dallas NPR-affiliate
KXT, Putnam says, “The song is about
needing a break from the mundane. We all have our own thing, and life can become mundane for a lot of
reasons. So, we made a video about what that break might look like if you’re a
puppet with no morals or self-control!” Hector Gallardo of Subharmonic
City Productions, the director of the clip, and de facto puppeteer
explains, “This puppet is inspired by the movie ‘Labrynth,’ and was made by a group of very talented artists here
in El Paso, Texas.” Gallardo continues, “Growing up with ‘Sesame Street’ and ‘Fraggle
Rock,’ I always loved what they did with these puppets, but until I did
this myself, I always took for granted what goes into making those shows. Some
of these shots are honestly torturous. You have to really contort your body to
not end up in the shot!” “In the scene with the band, everyone
at the bar was super happy to meet and party with the puppet. They kept asking
what his name was and I realized we never gave him one. That night, he was
forever known as Maurice.” +++ The March
Divide | Live
07/01/2022: Plano, TX @ Terra Mediterranean
07/07/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralo’s
07/08/2022: Boerne, TX @ Gather Boerne
07/09/2022: Cibolo, TX @ 1908 House of Wine & Ale
07/16/2022: Plano, TX @ Terra Mediterranean
07/21/2022: Wichita Falls @ The High Dive
07/22/2022: Tyler, TX @ ETX Brewing
08/20/2022: Plano, TX @ Terra Mediterranean
08/23/2022: Red River, NM @ Noisy Water Winery
08/24/2022: Albuquerque, NM @ Noisy Water Winery
08/25/2022: Santa Fe, NM @ The Cowgirl BBQ
08/26/2022: Ruidoso, NM @ The Cellar Uncorked
08/27/2022: Alamogordo, NM @ 575 Brewing
08/28/2022: Cloudcroft, NM @ Cloudcroft Brewing
08/31/2022: Clovis, NM @ Bandolero Brewing
09/01/2022: Albuquerque, NM @ Rio Bravo Brewing
09/02/2022: Alto, NM @ Enchanted Vine
09/03/2022: Ruidoso, NM @ Lost Hiker Brewing
09/04/2022: Las Cruces, NM @ T or T Brewing
10/02/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralos
10/06/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralos
10/07/2022: Corpus Christi, TX @ Art Walk
10/08/2022: Cibolo, TX @ 1908 House of Wine & Ale
10/10/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Sternewirth Sessions (Emma Hotel)
10/14/2022: Plano, TX @ Terra Mediterranean
10/22/2022: Plano, TX @ Terra Mediterranean
11/11/2022: Tyler, TX @ ETX Brewing
11/18/2022: San Antonio, TX @ The Point Park
11/19/2022: Cibolo, TX @ 1908 House of Wine & Ale
+++
PLAY, POST
& SHARE
The March Divide | “I’m Not Perfect”
[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ougIiJ1TFmA +++ “An open nod
to the 1990s rock that was on the radio a lot after Kurt Cobain died, but it
doesn’t sound like a retread. It sounds inspired.” – Central Track “When it came to making the video for ‘I’m Not Perfect,’ I’ve always enjoyed
working with Hector Gallardo of Subharmonic City Productions,” says Jared Putnam of The March Divide about the video for the first single from his
upcoming sixth album, Lost Causes (June 10, Slow Start Records).
“If a song brings out a tough memory or emotion that you’re just not ready to
deal with, Hector can put visuals to
it that will make you look and keep you from turning away.” See
the “I’m Not Perfect” video via Ghettoblaster Magazinehere. Texas-based music discovery website Central Tracksays
of the song, “Fort Worth-based Jared
Putnam has a soft spot for ‘90s pop rock. ‘I’m Not Perfect’ might be an open nod to the 1990s rock that was
on the radio a lot after Kurt Cobain
died, but it doesn’t sound like a retread. Compare it with songs from August
and Everything After (Counting
Crows) or New Miserable Experience (Gin
Blossoms) and it sounds inspired, but not taking direct lifts from those
records.”
+++ The March
Divide | About
I wanna hate you. I’m not perfect. Giving up. King of
the lost cause. This world is gonna end. Jared Putnam is a funny guy. No, really, he is. Don’t let the
negative words above, which comprise five of the ten song titles on Lost
Causes (oops, he did it again!), Putnam’s
sixth album as The March Divide,
fool you. Being able to laugh at yourself is one of the tenants
of comedy and Putnam’s greatest
strength has always been to take his everyman, self-effacing character and wrap
it in urgent melodies backed by just-slick-enough production to draw you in and
keep you there. It’s why over the years music critics have called his
songs “impressively hooky” (American
Songwriter) with “classic pop hooks” (The
Big Takeover) where his “pop sensibility comes entirely to the forefront” (Under The Radar). As a next-door neighbor who you would actually like to
know, Putnam doesn’t try to overstay
his welcome, either. Even though he is a prolific songwriter, after the release
of his appropriately titled fifth album cinc in April of 2021, he figured he
was tapped out of ideas for a while. Instead, he started making the best distillation of
his talents to date. As Putnam tells
it, inspiration returned as he was just out doing Dad stuff. “I was driving my kid to school and Gin Blossoms came on the radio. I’m a
forever fan of Gin Blossoms, but
this was ‘Hey Jealousy,’ which
commercial radio has been running into the ground for 30 years. “But in that moment, it was the greatest thing I’d
ever heard! The hooks, the subject matter, and all the rest were as they’d
always been, but I was struck by how it was put together. In that moment, that’s
what made the song great.” Putnam has spent years deconstructing pop songs in an
attempt to discover the formula. This “Hey
Jealousy” epiphany may have been destined, because the blueprint of the
connection Putnam realized while
just doing Daddy duty allowed him to build Lost Causes. “I’ve always been fascinated with dissecting what
makes a song great and trying to find the catalyst for the chemical reaction
that emotionally connects us to where a handful of tunes are run into the
ground for 30 years,” he says of the rarefied air that a timeless hit song
occupies. Joining Putnam
under The March Divide banner for Lost
Causes are friends Ernie Garcia
(long-time player with El Vez and Javier Escovedo) on bass and Jason West on drums. “Our mutual love of Cheap Trick has always made Jason
the perfect drummer for my songs,” Putnam
says. Lost Causes was mixed and mastered by Mike Major (At The Drive-In,
Coheed and Cambria.) “Mike also
produced a lot of great bands around the southwest,” Putnam explains. “It wasn’t lost on me that Gin Blossoms are from Tempe and have a very staple southwestern
sound. Mike knew what I was going
for.” Lyrically, the songs on Lost Causes pick up where
the last single from Putnam’s
previous album left off. At the time, he had started to write in a more stream
of consciousness style, even making a promise to himself not to change his
words. “It’s pretty satisfying to just say what you want to
say, without worrying about how cool it sounds,” he said at the time. This is why Putnam’s
humor shines brighter than ever on Lost Causes. I wanna hate you. I’m not perfect. Giving up. King of
the lost cause. This world is gonna end. We have all felt these things, but putting them in
song, or voicing them at all could seem whiney or at least cynical and
pessimistic. Not so, with Putnam,
who has become a master of this somewhat sarcastic craft. Instead, these songs
are relatable confessions in a candy coating. “Writing sad songs about utter loneliness comes very
naturally to me,” he says. “These kinds of songs are very therapeutic for me to
write.” These sad songs are the ones that most connect with Putnam’s growing audience, especially
those overseas that have propelled tunes such as his 2019 release “Secrets,” to just-shy of a million
Spotify spins. “I’m Not
Perfect,” the first single from Lost
Causes, started out as one of these “downer” tunes, but in sharing his
early demo with his collaborators, Putnam
was pushed to make it more, while keeping what makes it The March Divide. The tune opens Lost Causes and is a
total success. “Even though writing these types of songs is
therapeutic for me, it’s also a rut,” Putnam
says. “Emotionally, I got so much more out of working on ‘I’m Not Perfect’ by working with others. I’m hopeful that the fans
who crave these songs from me will too. Maybe we can all get out of our sad
bastard rut together.” He’s a funny guy. Lost Causes,
the sixth album by The March Divide,
is out now via Slow Start Records. Jared Putnam of The March Divide is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information. +++ The March Divide | Links ASSETS : WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : BANDCAMP : SPOTIFY : APPLE
: SLOW START RECORDS +++ Josh Bloom at Fanatic
Promotion | Contact WEBSITE
: FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL
“Everything’s surging forward with dramatic, volatile force, and yet MOTORCADE are calm, cool, and collected,”
saysAtwood Magazine in its coverage
of the band’s popular song “Slip,”
taken from the See You In The Nothing album, out now via Idol Records.
Writer Mitch Mosk continues, “Masters of balancing chaos with control,
they shine with charming post-punk passion as ‘Slip’ soars with captivating warmth and undeterred drive. We can
appreciate ‘Slip’ for what it is: A sign of turbulent times; an anthemic,
emotional rallying cry in the darkness; a valiant outpouring of self-expression
in a sea of overwhelming futility and frustration.”
“Few Dallas bands can claim a pedigree as strong as MOTORCADE’s, so it’s not a surprise
they just released one of the best North Texas songs of the year,” proclaims
Eric Grubbs of Central Track, the
influential Dallas-based music discovery website. “Recalling the layered bliss
of Echo & the Bunnymen’s Ocean
Rain (and especially its opening ‘Silver’
cut), ‘Slip’ is three minutes of
dense joy.”
+++
MOTORCADE | Live
06/24/2022: Dallas. TX @ The Kessler Theater (w/ FIT) (Tickets)
Members of MOTORCADE
recently chatted
with Dallas NPR-affiliate KXT about the band’s new album See
You In The Nothing. KXT’s Preston Joneswrites,
“The sense that Motorcade knows
precisely what it wants to achieve, and knows precisely how to achieve it is
evident throughout the 11 tracks on Nothing, spilling from the ominous
beauty of the opening track ‘Shift’
through to break-out single ‘Slip,’
which aches with reverence for vintage 1980s New Wave and Gothic-tinged pop.” +++ MOTORCADE See You In The Nothing (Idol Records) Out Now Streaming
Link: STREAM FULL LP
In the four years since the glorious darkness of MOTORCADE first hit the scene, life got
a little bit darker, but somehow, more glorious. Maybe the Dallas-based band’s name represents one of
its town’s terrible moments? It’s not meant to be morbid, but reminds of
mortality. Working within that context, the four veteran
musicians of MOTORCADE manage to
document beauty and vitality with their upcoming second album. This music feels immortal! Listen for some of the band’s heroes – think late ‘80s
/ early ‘90s button-the-top-button bands such as The Cure, Depeche Mode, New Order, and The Jesus and Mary Chain – peeking through on the 11 original tunes
comprising See You In The Nothing (Out
Now, Idol Records.) And don’t forget The
Smiths: Drummer Mike Joyce has
already spun MOTORCADE on his
UK-based radio show. Heroes peeking through, or as influential
Chicago-based scribe, Greg Kot put
it when naming MOTORCADE’s debut as one
of his best albums of 2018, “The Dallas band has a profound affinity for
the new wave and post punk of the ‘80s, not as nostalgia but as a timeless
vehicle for self-expression.” Similarly, the band became a hit with the Dallas NPR-affiliate KXT that year. The influence was also felt by Minneapolis Public Radio station 89.3 The Current, which named MOTORCADE’s
“Walk With Me” one of its “Top
100 Tracks of 2018.” This kind of expert appropriation of sound is the work
of some of the busiest musicians on the Dallas scene. Over the years, band members John Dufilho (Bass, Voice), James
Henderson (Guitar, Keyboards, Voice), Andrew
Huffstetler (Voice), and Jeff Ryan
(Drums), have recorded and toured with St.
Vincent, The Apples in Stereo, The War on Drugs, the late, great Daniel Johnston, and many more. Forgive the four years between records, but it took
the world closing and the resultant long and late nights in a locked down city
in order for See You In The Nothing to even exist. The finished product is so worth it. Here in 2022, with accolades for its debut feeding the
new material, we have the current MOTORCADE
single “Slip,” which is perfection. “Recalling the layered bliss of Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ocean Rain (and especially its
opening “Silver” cut), ‘Slip’ is three minutes of dense joy,”
says Central Track, the go-to local
music discovery website for Dallas. “It’s one of the finest singles released by
a North Texas-based act this year.” Darker, but somehow, more glorious. See You In The Nothing, the second album by Dallas-based foursome MOTORCADE, is out now via Idol Records. Members of MOTORCADE
are available for interviews. Contact Josh
Bloom at Fanatic for
more information. +++ MOTORCADE | Links ASSETS : FACEBOOK : INSTAGRAM : TWITTER : SPOTIFY
: APPLE
: IDOL
RECORDS +++ Josh
Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact WEBSITE
: FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL
Portland-based instrumental bass &
vibraphone duo of Cliff Hayes (Carcrashlander), A. Walker Spring (Old Time
Relijun) influenced by Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Tortoise.
+++
CLIFFWALKER (L-R): Cliff Hayes, A. Walker Spring.
Photo credit: Cliff Hayes, A. Walker Spring. +++ PLAY, POST & SHARE CLIFFWALKER | “Pulling Threads”
[STREAM]: https://fanatic.lnk.to/cliffwalker-pullingthreads CLIFFWALKER, the Portland, Oregon-based instrumental duo of Cliff Hayes (Bass, Keys) and A. Walker Spring (Vibes, Drums, Keys,
Guitar), will release its debut EP “Painted
Gray Sky” on June 24. In its premiere
coverage of the “Pulling Threads”
single, music discovery site Treblesays,
“The duo find an unexpected harmony between ethereal, hypnotic vibes and a
distorted, robotic bass groove. It’s a gloriously mesmerizing track that makes
natural counterparts out of (seemingly) unnaturally paired elements—not quite
jazz, not quite rock, definitely not prog but some kind of dirty lounge groove
space in between. And it’s a lot of fun to listen to and get lost in.” Stream “Pulling
Threads” by CLIFFWALKER at the
links above or here. +++ CLIFFWALKER “Painted Gray Sky” EP (S/R) June 24, 2022
Track Listing: 01. Calm Sea 02. Painted Gray Sky 03. Reflected Sun (STREAM) 04. On Her Last Legs 05. Pulling Threads (STREAM) 06. Punching Clocks (STREAM
| VIDEO) +++ PLAY, POST & SHARE CLIFFWALKER | “Punching Clocks”
[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQGuuBO9hpE [STREAM]: https://Fanatic.lnk.to/cliffwalker-punchingclocks “Delightfully teeters on the edge of chaos...” says music discovery blog Independent Clauses in its coverage of “Punching Clocks,” the debut single by
Portland-based duo CLIFFWALKER. “‘Punching Clocks’ is the sort of thing
that the word post-rock was made for. It’s rock put in the service of other
moods. The interplay of the leads produces the experience of a spy-movie chase
scene.” The Portland, Oregon-based instrumental duo of Cliff Hayes (Bass, Keys) and A. Walker Spring (Vibes, Drums, Keys,
Guitar) took inspiration from DEVO’s
“Beautiful World” for its “Punching Clocks” video. “‘Punching Clocks’ draws inspiration
from the daily dread of going to a job you dislike and the conditioning of
human existence to the dictates of time,” says Hayes of the song. “Depicting these themes in the video, we see
birth, followed by the ticking of the clock as the child is expected to jump
through the hoops of schooling.” He continues, “Then adolescence hits, followed by a
quick progression to adulthood where the reality of the working world hits
hard. As the pace of the clip picks up, there are huge crowds of workers,
industrial workplaces and assembly lines. Scenes of arguments, fighting,
drinking, and laughter are all precursors to the conflicts that emerge between
nations. Only humans can wreak havoc on the world in such a unique way.” While the song and its video address dark themes, Hayes points out, “I'm not always doom
and gloom. Honestly, I do have a decent sense of humor!” Stream “Punching
Clocks” by CLIFFWALKER at the
links above or here. +++ CLIFFWALKER | About
CLIFFWALKER is not just a cool name for a band. The Portland, Oregon-based instrumental duo of Cliff Hayes (Bass, Keys) and A. Walker Spring (Vibes, Drums, Keys,
Guitar) are just lucky to be named that way. To take the serendipity a step
(sorry, had to) further, the sound of the pair’s upcoming “Painted Gray Sky” EP (out June
24, 2022) is also edgy. We can dispense with the puns now, let’s talk about
the music: It’s like if a sexy Kraftwerk had joined in on the sessions with jazz legend Don Cherry and composer Ron Frangipane scoring Alejandro Jodorowsky’s “The Holy Mountain.” Or maybe they picked up John Carpenter on the way to Tangerine
Dream’s studio to make the music for Michael
Mann’s neo-noir heist action thriller “Thief.” The repeating riffs of minimalist composers such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Terry
Riley are also touchstones, and for those born more recently, Hayes and Spring suggest that the instrumentation on “Painted Gray Sky” is in the vein of Tortoise, but driven by bass lines a la Death From Above 1979. Either way, the 1970s are coming in hot, no matter
what! Skipping forward a half-century, CLIFFWALKER came to fruition under the gray skies of the Pacific
Northwest as Hayes was constructing
a “library of bass riffs” (“Cliff’s Riffs!”) “My toying with riffs started to morph into learning
cover songs and then trying to cover these songs entirely on bass,” Hayes explains. As it turns out, the “library of bass riffs” further
morphed into “Painted Gray Sky,” as
the melodic bass work of Hayes laid
the foundation for Spring’s hypnotic
vibraphone, guitar, and synth lines. As well as playing in Portland’s beloved indie rock
outfit Point Juncture, WA since
2004, Spring has co-hosted a weekly
songwriting podcast since 2020 called “Honest
Jams,” where she’s honed a diverse set of arranging skills, which are given
free rein on “Painted Gray Sky.” From Classical, through to Jazz and post-Rock,
instrumental music is not novel. It’s not Pop either, but here, CLIFFWALKER manages hooks without the
aid of vocals. This quality lets the natural rhythms of CLIFFWALKER’s songs shine without distraction. And all of these references to musical genres count as
influences in the CLIFFWALKER sound. While Hayes
was working to become a top-notch Jazz bassist in his early college years by
“practicing a lot of scales and arpeggios and reading a lot of charts,” he was
also immersed in all kinds of music as a record store employee, the guilty
party in so many musicians’ burgeoning career paths. “Nearly all my waking moments were spent playing,
listening, or learning about music,” he remembers. Hayes relocated to Portland in 2005 and some years later,
via fleeting meetings at the gigs of mutual friends, found himself in a
conversation about artificial intelligence (in 2014!) with a producer friend of
Spring’s. “I was discussing how AI could be created to produce
music by feeding it a library of riffs to train itself,” Hayes says. Soon after, Hayes
started recording his riffs at home with this idea in mind, and eventually
wondered if Spring might be
interested in playing drums with him on some material. “Before I left that first session, we had already
started recording the basic bass, drums and vibes that are on the final EP.” “Painted
Gray Sky” by CLIFFWALKER is scheduled for release on June 24, 2022 preceded by the singles “Punching Clocks” on May 13
and “Pulling Threads” on June 3. Members of CLIFFWALKER
are available for interviews. Contact Josh
Bloom at Fanatic for
more information. +++ CLIFFWALKER | Links ASSETS : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : BANDCAMP +++ Josh Bloom at Fanatic
Promotion | Contact WEBSITE
: FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL
“I
killed your Dad / I know, that’s bad / But there’s no reason / Why it has to
drive you mad,” sings Slavens on single from upcoming Alphabet Girls, Vol. II. +++
Paul
Slavens as photographed
by James Bland +++ PLAY, POST & SHARE Paul Slavens | “Ophelia”
[STREAM]: https://Fanatic.lnk.to/PaulSlavens-Ophelia +++ Paul Slavens’s upcoming new album Alphabet Girls, Vol. II
(his first in 12 years — out June 24
on State Fair Records) is a carnival
of styles: Pop, Prog, and hyper-kinetic Jazz pieces titled from “Naomi” through “Zelda,” hence the album’s name. The new single “Ophelia,”
reminds of the compositional nature of Frank
Zappa and the intellectual humor of They
Might Be Giants on a song in which Slavens
assumes the voice of Shakespeare’s Prince Hamlet asking the doomed Danish
noblewoman of the title to “give a guy some slack,” reasoning that “I killed
your Dad / I know, that’s bad / But there’s no reason / Why it has to drive you
mad.” The track also features vocals from Rosana Eckert, who most recently
appeared on the Grammy-winning Eberhard by the late composer,
orchestrator, pianist and keyboardist, Lyle
Mays. Alphabet Girls, Vol. IIis the
crystallization and distillation of the Nebraska born, Denton, TX-based
artist’s long, varied, and accomplished career. On record, Slavens’s endurance is a listener’s treat. Alphabet Girls, Vol. II
plays like the product of a “been everywhere, seen everything” guru-type
somehow fitting all of his experience and education onto five lines of musical
staff like some kind of trippy Tetris. Funny, but serious. Jazz, but pop. Quirky, but
grounded. Alphabet Girls, Vol. II (the title isn’t a red herring, the
“girls” of Vol. I showed up twelve years ago) is all of these things and
more. +++ Paul Slavens Alphabet
Girls, Vol. II (State Fair Records) June 24, 2022
Track Listing: 01. Naomi 02. Ophelia (STREAM | VIDEO) 03. Priscilla 04. Queenie (VIDEO) 05. Robin 06. Sadie 07. Trudy 08. Ursula 09. Vanessa 10. Wanda 11. X (On My Heart) (STREAM
| VIDEO) 12. Yvonne 13. Zelda +++ PLAY, POST & SHARE Paul Slavens | “Queenie”
[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpNbwoRMoHI “‘Queenie’ is just a
blast of jazz energy,” says Paul Slavens of the speedy Jazz cut taken
from Alphabet Girls, Vol. II. “I gave four University of
North Texas jazz hot shots my sheet music and told them to play as fast as they
could.” Following a recent “Song of
The Day” nod for the track, Dallas-based
music discovery website Central Track
chatted with Slavens for a piece
entitled “Paul
Slavens Is Very Non-Busy,” which actually details how busy Slavens is these days. Read the full
interview here. +++ PLAY, POST & SHARE Paul Slavens | “X (On My Heart)”
[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1FPwxe0t5A [STREAM]: https://Fanatic.lnk.to/PaulSlavens-XOnMyHeart “The Denton-based composer, musician, and all-around
entertainer is poised to release his new album, Alphabet Girls, Vol. II,
on June 24,” says
Dallas-based NPR-affiliate KXT. “‘X (On My Heart)’ is a theatrical number that tells the story of a
man who wants to know more about a mysterious woman who left him with a note
and a sense of longing.” The song is the first single
and video from Alphabet Girls, Vol. II(that’s from “Naomi” to “Zelda”), and
as the circumstances above allude to, it is the only song on the album that
isn't titled with a woman's name (as far as we know, it’s just “X!”) +++ Paul Slavens | About
Alphabet Girls, Vol. II by Paul
Slavens (June 24, State Fair Records) is the
crystallization and distillation of the Nebraska born, Denton, TX-based
artist’s long, varied, and accomplished career, complete with all of the
requisite breakthroughs and disappointments. On record, Slavens’s
endurance is a listener’s treat. Alphabet Girls, Vol. II plays like
the product of a “been everywhere, seen everything” guru-type somehow fitting
all of his experience and education onto five lines of musical staff like some
kind of trippy Tetris. Funny, but serious. Jazz, but pop. Quirky, but
grounded. Alphabet Girls, Vol. II (the title isn’t a red herring, the
“girls” of Vol. I showed up twelve years ago) is all of these things and
more. But not. “My goal was to make beautiful sounds,” Slavens said. “I am not too impressed
with my singing or my playing. I am most interested in the compositions. That’s
number one. I do not feel like I am a ‘songwriter,’ but rather a composer who
sometimes works in song.” A songwriter, but not. Some other artists and their eras that Slavens names as touchstones include Burt Bacharach, early Kate Bush (“I always thought that she
approached her music as a composer”), and later Scott Walker (“I love his unconventional use of orchestra”),
adding, “I can’t downplay the influence that Chopin had on me.” Opening Alphabet Girls, Vol. II with a
reworking of the same piece that closed Vol. I, the instrumental overture “Naomi,” we are quickly whisked into a
cinematic universe, which, like its predecessor, is an alphabetically ordered
ode to women given their rightful place as rulers. Gentle orchestrations, deep
sinewy cellos, plucked harp, and accordion contribute to this “sad waltz,” as Slavens calls it. Some will use the
word “masterpiece” immediately, because how else to define work as detailed,
studied, and mature as this? But not. Not too mature. Because at 60-years-old, it’s clear that Slavens has accomplished so much
artistically and otherwise, that he just doesn’t give a fuck. As listeners,
that’s the entire game. We’re better for that. To wit, the record quickly moves
on from its delicate opening into “Ophelia,”
a sorta nutso number made even stranger by how it was influenced by Slavens’s stir-crazy lockdown labor. “I got into some kind of ‘state’ and completely
reimagined and mutilated the recording,” Slavens
remembers. “I was isolated, so I allowed myself to do some things I might not
have,” he said of a song in which Prince Hamlet asks that the doomed Danish
noblewoman “give a guy some slack” because, look, “I killed your Dad / I know,
that’s bad / But there’s no reason / Why it has to drive you mad.” If you’re not already completely on board with Slavens at two tracks into this
journey, you’ll be thumbing a ride home for days, because we’re already far
from civilization. Someone important in Slavens’s
life who stood tall enough to ride this ride, and even in passing still looms
large over the project, is Texas music icon, Trey Johnson, co-founder of Slavens’s
label State Fair Records, and the
man who was the main advocate behind bringing Alphabet Girls, Vol. II
to completion. “About three years ago, Trey started getting me gigs at (James Beard semifinalist and ‘Top
Chef’ contestant) John Tesar’s
steakhouse, playing standards,” Slavens
recalls. “He was so helpful and the gig was sweet. As I got to know Trey, he heard me playing ‘Alphabet Girl’ songs and started
encouraging me to finish the project. “It was also Trey
who suggested that I sing these songs myself,” Slavens continues. “Many of the vocals are first takes and the
first time I sang the words, which is in stark contrast to the meticulous
nature of the rest of the recording. It hit me really hard when Trey passed away. He was the one who
believed in this project and made it happen.” It is to Slavens’s
credit that he endeavored to trust more “help” from the music industry. His
highs and lows have been higher and lower than most of what passes as an
indie-rock daydream. The quick history that got Slavens to the good part sorta plays like this: Formed a local band his mid-20s that went on to sell
out the big rooms around town. Lost band members to more successful bands
looking to climb the ladder. Re-grouped and hit it harder with more sell-out
shows locally and record sales to match. Received promises and apologies from
major players. Slavens: “The first time a famous person made me believe they
were gonna make me famous.” Got desperate, signed a bad deal to make a
“shitty-sounding” record of his best material, which the label promptly held
hostage. Crowds dwindled. Lost more band members. Fired the manager. Changed
their sound. Formed a new band. Made a record he loved. Got signed again. Slavens: “That was the second time a famous person made me
believe I was gonna be famous.” That’s plenty to get the picture and likely more than Slavens wants to recall, so what about
that good part? Around this time, Slavens
had a side hustle working as a commercial and voice-over actor. He had also
started improvising in order to improve his auditions. Eventually signing with
an agent, Slavens started working a
lot while continuing to do improv with a group, and then began producing more
than a dozen productions of his own. Around this time, the Dallas public radio station KERA took an interest in Slavens, a relationship that has
continued to this day, first at KERA,
and then its music-based offshoot KXT,
which has itself grown into a recognized, respected, and influential National Public Radio affiliate. To date, “The
Paul Slavens Show” has received “Best
of Dallas” awards from the Dallas
Observer in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012. Slavens
also received the award for “Best DJ”
from Dallas Observer in 2008, 2011
and 2014. Even with his focus on his radio show, Slavens has continued music-making,
starting a weekly residency at Denton venue Dan’s Silverleaf that is still happening. It’s here where he
started getting into making up songs on the spot and where the genesis of what
would become the “Alphabet Girls”
project came to fruition, culminating with the release of Alphabet Girls, Vol. I in
2010. Slavens: “Thousands of made up songs and a lot of whiskey.” But not. Alphabet Girls, Vol. II by Paul
Slavens is scheduled for release on June
24 via State Fair Records
preceded by the singles “X (On My Heart)”
(May 20) and “Ophelia” (June 10). Paul Slavens is available
for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom
at Fanatic for more information. +++ Paul
Slavens | Links ASSETS : FACEBOOK : INSTAGRAM : TWITTER : YOUTUBE : BANDCAMP : SPOTIFY : APPLE
: STATE FAIR RECORDS +++ Josh Bloom at Fanatic
Promotion | Contact WEBSITE
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