Browse by Artist: TOWN AND COUNTRY

Artist:	TOWN AND COUNTRY
Title:	Town and Country
Label:	APESTAARTJE
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	APE 021CD

"Originally released in 1998, Town and Country's s/t debut is an essential document in long form acoustic composition that combines elements of John Fahey, Morton Feldman and Tony Conrad to create an intensely focused and extremely dynamic listening experience. Features Liz Payne on double bass, Josh Abrams (Prefuse 73, Fred Anderson, Sam Prekop, etc.) on double bass, Ben Vida (Birdshow, Singer, etc.) on acoustic guitar and trumpet and Jim Dorling on harmonium."

Artist:	TOWN AND COUNTRY
Title:	Decoration Day
Label:	THRILL JOCKEY
Format:	CD
Price:	$8.00
Catalog #:	THR 083CD

"Town and Country's second release and their first on Thrill Jockey. It expands their all-acoustic instrumentation from the guitar, harmonium and 2 string basses of the first release to Josh Abrams on contrabass, piano and kalimba, Liz Payne on piano, snare drum and guitar, Jim Dorling on harmonium and celeste and Ben Vida on guitar and accordian. Seems they've coaxed their back-porch minimalism out into the café. The layered, unhurried drones developed on the first release now function to resolve through-composed pointillist melodies. Inspired by the music of Morton Feldman and Franco Batiato, Town and Country continues to present music in which the slightest changes are stongly felt, favoring timbral revelation over technical virtuosity."

Artist:	TOWN AND COUNTRY
Title:	It All Has To Do With It
Label:	THRILL JOCKEY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	THR 088CD

"With two string basses, acoustic guitar, and portable acoustic keyboards (harmonium, celeste, accordion) as its basic instrumentation, Town and Country don't just strip down to the drum/bass/guitar logic of rock, they totally sidestep it. In the studio the standard rock method of recording basic rhythm tracks followed by adding overdubs does not work as well for a band without a rhythm section. Accordingly, the group took a year to compose and arrange the songs on this record and three days to record and mix. The finger-picked-guitar-with-drones approach of the first CD has evolved into a more dynamic, group-composed ensemble playing where no particular instrument carries the water and parts are through-composed rather than looped. Influences are Morton Feldman, John Fahey, Don Cherry, Franco Batiato, Gavia Bryars and Sonny Sharrock."

Artist:	TOWN AND COUNTRY
Title:	C'mon
Label:	THRILL JOCKEY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	THR 114CD

"C'mon is Town and Country's 2nd full length for Thrill Jockey, and 3rd album overall. This album picks up where 2000's It All Has To Do With It left off finding the group fine-tuning and expanding the timbre of their all-acoustic/no electronic line up. For C'mon their string-bass/acoustic guitar core is augmented by Jim Dorling's move from harmonium to bass clarinet which he often plays in tandem with Ben Vida's cornet. In addition Liz Payne's adept handling of the hand chimes gives the record an other-worldly feel in conjunction with Josh Abrams' work on the celeste. Compositionally, Town and Country have shifted as well. Their songs were often noted for their length as much as their beauty, but for C'mon the quartet has constructed 7 songs in 40 minutes time. C'mon is the result of an entire year's labor of love. The album also begins to reveal some heretofore unmentioned influences as well: the work of Arthur Russell, Jimmy Giuffre, and Eno's recordings in the 1970's for the Obscure label mesh with Town and Country's already original and minimally lush sound."

Artist:	TOWN AND COUNTRY
Title:	5
Label:	THRILL JOCKEY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	THR 128CD

"Like many of the innovators who have carved out sub genre's in music over the last few years (IDM and Post-Rock quickly spring to mind), Town and Country along with bands like Threnody Ensemble and The Rachel's have carved out a niche based around classical and modern classical composition. All of the pieces on 5 were composed prior to recording, though some entered the studio in a more complete form than others. All selections are entirely acoustic, and experimentation continues to be employed in most Town and Country compositions. There are two types of songs on 5. The first being the concise simple chamber pieces and the second being more sprawling trance pieces. The recording process is simply tour people in a room with acoustic instruments -- no studio tricks, gimmicks, computers or samples -- in fact no amplification at all. The band pride themselves in the ideas put forth creating music of this nature."

Artist:	TOWN AND COUNTRY
Title:	Up Above
Label:	THRILL JOCKEY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	THR 165CD

"Up Above may tend to make you woozy. It's a sleepy, trance-inducing affair, an effort to engross the black bee of our minds on the blue lotus feet of our divine mother. This is a first for cover tunes and a first for singing. 'Blue Lotus Feet' is a yoga tune -- apparently there is a Will Oldham version of this tune floating around as well. 'King of Portugal' is based on Cancao dos Reis from an old Folkways 10" of Portuguese Christmas carols. Up Above refers to the Paul Bowles novel Up Above the World. Psych folk drone may be the flavor of the month but Town and Country been doing this for eight years."

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