a r t i s t : Stars Like Fleas
t i t l e : The Ken Burns Effect
d a t e : 2007
l a b e l : Talitres
c a t : TAL-033
s o u r c e : CDDA
g e n r e : Indie
r l s. d a t e : Oct/2007
t r a c k s : 10
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 79,4 MB
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"The Ken Burns Effect" will not only defy characterization,
but will probably be the big break for one of New York's most
sublime and continuously undiscovered bands" - Paper Magazine
After quietly releasing a number of highly-praised, mostly
hand-traded cult releases over several years, STARS LIKE FLEAS
re-emerged in 2006 with new clothing, sonic plastic surgery,
and a desire to shed its underground trappings and engage
audiences in the flesh. Almost instantly creating a stir and
an overnight name for themselves in the overcrowded and
sentiment-suspicious Brooklyn music scene, the Fleas began
selling out exponentially larger shows in secret spaces as
well as NYC's famed Bowery Ballroom, North Six and other
marquis clubs, performing with admirers among the likes of
Deerhoof, Grizzly Bear, Excepter, Gang Gang Dance, Comets On
Fire, Man Man, Beirut, Kyp Malone of TV On The Radio, and
Akron/Family (among others).
Stars Like Fleas may truly represent a new branch on America's
phylogenetic musical tree, distinguishing themselves through
an unlikely alchemy where anxiety and confrontation accompany
something candid, joyous and unashamedly romantic. In
already-mythic, transformational performances (praised in Wire
Magazine, Time Out, the Village Voice, etc, and countless
blogs), Stars Like Fleas create music of its own haunted
species; as accessible and humane as it is unsettling and
extreme.
Pitchfork/Spin's Julianne Shepherd blogged recently of the
Fleas: "their ease and onstage familiarity feels like being
invited to the family dinner àpossibly the best band i have
seen in New York"; Grizzly Bear's Ed Droste echoed this
sentiment in a Dusted Magazine interview - "absolutely mind
blowing"; and Salon.com said "few bands have the resolve to
push their music as far toward formlessness, as well as the
skill and concentration to coax that formlessness into
something listenable, coherent and beautifulà.brilliant"
THE KEN BURNS EFFECT, a document of the band's growth over the
past year, is an iconoclastic but more immediate, organic and
lush album than its predecessor (Sun Lights Down On The Fence,
an album that received reams of critical praise and which
Pitchfork gave an 8.2 and called "intimate and utterly
beautiful"). When Fleas-fan, the composer Nico Muhly (arranger
to Bj÷rk, Grizzly Bear, and Antony & The Jonsons) helped pass
along early recordings drafts from The Ken Burns Effect to
Bj÷rk producer/collaborator Valgeir Sigur≡sson, the band were
invited to Iceland to complete and mix in the fall of 2006.
>> Mixed by Ben Frost (Bjork, Gomez) and mastered by Valgeir
Sigursson (Bjork, Mum, Sigur Ros), at Greenhouse Studios in
Reyjkavik (Bonnie 'Prince' Billy [The Letting Go, 2006],
CocoRosie [The Adventures Of Ghosthorse and Stillborn,
forthcoming in 2007]).
>> Features (ex) members/contributors of Beirut, Tall Firs, TV
On The Radio, Celebration, Fiery Furnaces, Mercury Rev, The
Silent League and additional contributions by Trevor Dunn (Mr.
Bungle, Sean Lennon, Fantomas), Thomas Bartlett (Yoko Ono, The
National, Doveman, David Byrne, Antony & The Johnsons)
Advance Praise for "The Ken Burns Effect"
"As if being one of the most fascinating live bands in New
York wasn't enough, Stars Like Fleas' The Ken Burns Effect
takes the group's aesthetic-weird, wondrous, na∩ve,
bewildering-and wrangled it into a full-length that finally
does overdue justice to their immense promiseàone of those
rare records that you want to hear on headphones to uncover
each nook and cranny of its myriad contours. It's a record
that you want to live in." - Todd Burns, Editor-in-Chief,
Stylus Magazine
"the spectacular result is full of pop songsàfar more
traditionally cogent than a typical Animal Collective
offeringàcontradictory but not obtuse, [it] doesn't have the
prodding instinct to withhold or stymie that embodies acts
like the Fiery Furnacesà one of New York's most sublime and
continuously undiscovered bands" - Jonas Oransky, Paper
Magazine
"a sprawling mix of folk, Americana, free improvàthe band can
transform a dingy room into something as gorgeous and sweeping
as the Great Plains" - New York Press
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01-Hoax Head [01:26]
02-Karma's Hoax [06:07]
03-I Was Only Dancing [05:12]
04-Falstaff [06:20]
05-Early Riser [03:32]
06-Berbers In Tennis Shoes [02:51]
07-Toast Suren [06:12]
08-She For The Woods [03:54]
09-You Azre My Meoir [04:25]
10-Some Nettles [13:41]
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53:40 min