- Release Info -------------------------------------------------------------- -
Artist: The Honeydogs
Album: Sunshine Committee
Label: Princess Records
Playtime: 24:09 min
Genre: Indie
URL:
Rip date: 2009-03-03
Street date: 2009-03-13
Size: 34.32 MB
Type: Normal
Quality: 188 kbps / 4410kHz / Joint Stereo
- Release Notes ------------------------------------------------------------- -
The last thing The Honeydogs' lead singer songwriter Adam Levy wants his band
to be is a Sunshine Committee. You know, the cloying co-workers who attempt
to bring a little Trojan Horse happiness to the dysfunctional corporation on
the eve of mass layoffs with flowers, pizza, ribbons, lace, and cupcakes?
No, the Honeydogs have chosen a tough path, singing about serious subject
matter always avoiding the maudlin and producing some music of great
emotional intensity, complexity and beauty.
Starting with 2001's brilliant day darkener, Here's Luck, the band charted a
course of, as Paste magazine said, capturing "the Zeitgeist of this anxious
era." The follow-up, 10,000 Years, was hailed as the bands' masterpiece--a
concept album based on Levy's experiences in social work telling the story of
a poor urban test tube kidsÆs rise and fall during a genocidal apocalypse in
the not-so-distant future. In 2006 the band released Amygdala, a record
thematically exploring fear in its varied forms--abandonment, losing
children, war & death, aging, social decay.
In 2009 the band emerges with an offering considerably more hopeful in these
desperate times. The tracks on Sunshine Committee reflect a complex, often
nuanced intersection of art and humanity while marking a return to a more
live, rocking sound.
Once featured guests, Matt Darling on trombone and Steven Kung on trumpet
have now become integral core members of the band, adding a vintage
Stax/Volt-Muscle Shoals unctuousness to the record. Bass player Trent
NortonÆs writhingly hooky parts almost singularly define the new improved
sound. Levy and Brian Halverson have further perfected their guitar
matrimony, playing off each other and swapping leads and obbligatos. Peter
Sands, given extra real estate space, layers clavinets, harpsichords, pianos,
Hammond organs, Chamberlains, and various odd keyboards from his museum of
myriad electronic instruments. Drummer Peter Anderson directs traffic like an
empathic inner city principal, alternately slamming and playing with great
economy, sensitivity and restraint.
As always, the band refers to the traditional soul and rock touchstones while
creating something interesting, unpredictable, insightful, and moving: shades
of the StonesÆ Exile on Main Street, Fresh-era Sly Stone, twilight Hendrix
and Revolver-esque Beatles, all with LevyÆs surreal, evocative and enigmatic
lyrics winding sinuously through the savory mix.
Sunshine Committee is the bandÆs first truly self-produced effort, with the
entire band involved in the conception, engineering and editing of the
record. Granted permission to record this and his childrenÆs record (Bunny
Clogs) at the Institute of Production and Recording where Levy is a teacher,
the EP's production provided top students with a ôlaboratoryö environment in
which to experiment with various mics and recording techniques, comment on
arrangement and performance, and assist in the editing process.
Capping off the roster of contributing talent, friend and mainstay John
Fields, freshly finished with recording the Jonas Brothers, offered up his
mixing expertise to the band.
- Track List ---------------------------------------------------------------- -
01. Sunshine Committee ( 4:02)
02. Fiber Optic Paramour ( 3:26)
03. Good Fight ( 4:59)
04. Balaclava ( 4:31)
05. Stash ( 3:00)
06. Levers, Pulleys & Pumps ( 4:11)
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