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viewing 1 To 5 of 5 items
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LP
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TEN 106LP
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Keeping up the previous two-year gap between records, spring of 2019 brings Zebra Hunt's third album, titled Trade Desire. The Seattle four-piece received much praise in 2017 for In Phrases (TEN 105LP, 2017), an LP that led to a nine-date tour of Spain in July of that year. Excited and energized by the great response during that trip, they returned to the Pacific Northwest and over the next months started to work on a new set of songs at rehearsals and the occasional show. If there is a theme to Trade Desire, it might be "finding comfort and confidence". When it was time to record it, the band decided to return to the same person, Robert Comitz, who recorded City Sighs, their first album (2015). They have an easy time working with him, so it felt very comfortable. The mastering was done by Mikey Young. There is a familiarity in the sound Zebra Hunt are known for in some tracks but they also had the confidence to explore new territories. Although their main influences remain (the shimmering pop of The Feelies, the Flying Nun legacy and the Paisley Underground scene), they challenged themselves to discover new approaches in composition and feel (apart from covering "Second One To Know", originally by The Fresh & Onlys). After playing together as a four-piece for nearly four years, the band sounds like it's fully glued together on this recording.
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LP
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TEN 105LP
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2015 was a busy year for Seattle's Zebra Hunt. Drummer Mitch Leffler, bassist Erik Bennett, and singer/guitarist Robert Mercer released their debut album City Sighs on Tenorio Cotobade (2015), and supported it with shows in the US Pacific Northwest. Its marriage of the chiming pop legacy of the '80s Flying Nun catalog and the crystal-like beauty of the Paisley Underground scene was praised worldwide, and the album would be included in several "Best of 2015" lists. In June of that year, Zebra Hunt traveled to Spain for a whole week of brilliant shows which gained them many new Spanish fans. That tour also brought the addition of Aaron Sheedy to the line-up as guitarist and keyboard player. Apart from presenting their debut album, the shows served to write and test new material while the band got used to their new dynamic. The four-piece went into the studio in 2016 to record their new album In Phrases with legendary Seattle producer Jack Endino, renowned for his work with Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, and many others. Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Total Control), who has worked on several of the band's favorite records of recent years, has mastered the twelve new tracks. Marrying the energy and dynamism of their live shows with pop songs that sparkle and shine, on their second album, Zebra Hunt have delivered a collection of twelve tunes with melodic and lyrical confidence. Whether in gentle, minor-key mode on "Lonely Summer" or firing on all cylinders on the insistent and propulsive "What I Want" and Farfisa-fueled "Follow", the band thrums as much as it jangles, pulsing rhythms anchoring and framing guitars slowly unspooling silvery lines or attacking with a frantic strum. Setting scenes with a knack for lyrical evocation of times and places long gone, Zebra Hunt will leave you alternately sighing and swinging to the beat.
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LP
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TEN 104LP
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Sydney-based, skewed pop outfit Community Radio present Look Now You're Cursed, the follow-up to their highly regarded 2012 debut Serious Magic. Community Radio are led by former Youth Group and Songs member Cameron Emerson-Elliott, and also feature Patrick Matthews (The Vines, Youth Group), Jen Kevin and Mal McKernan. Early in 2014, as the band was preparing to commence work on the follow-up to their debut record (with cheap mics and ad-hoc gear they'd amassed through eBay), drummer Mal fell seriously ill. During a window of good health for Mal at the start of 2015, the band decided to abandon their plans to record themselves and to get Look Now You're Cursed done as rapidly as possible with the best help going. They headed into Alberts Studios in Neutral Bay with producer Wayne Connolly for four days of tracking, capturing Community Radio's run down, buzzing gear and stripped back elemental pop in the highest fidelity. With Look Now You're Cursed the band has matured and developed, deepening their sound and sharpening their songwriting to a unique singular point. The album delivers eleven tracks of literate guitar pop that brim with melody and mood. "Warm, witty, and whip-smart, Community Radio restore chiming guitar pop to the golden days of Teenage Fanclub and The Go-Betweens. This is timeless, versatile songwriting shot through with up-to-the-minute anxieties." -- Doug Wallen, The Big Issue.
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7"
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TEN 002EP
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Sydney-based Community Radio was formed in 2010 by Cameron Emerson-Elliott (Songs, Youth Group) and also consists of Patrick Matthews (Youth Group, The Jewel And The Falcon), Mal McKernan (La Huva) and Jen Kevin. Both tracks on this EP are built around the love of songs that sits at the heart of Community Radio, with "Sick in the Car" standing up as a triumphant blast of pop thrills, and double A-side "Wildflower" dotted with sparkling freestyle guitar play and pulsing groove. This 7" is Community Radio's first vinyl release and a wonderful example of the band's craft at creating pop gems.
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LP
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TEN 102LP
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A Country Life is the fourth album by Ginnels and their second release on Tenorio Cotobade, after 2013's Plumes (TEN 101LP). Originally started as a Dublin-based solo project by Mark Chester from Grand Pocket Orchestra and No Monster Club between 2011 and 2012, Ginnels released the albums Ginnels, Mountbatten Class and Crowns. Fourteen tracks from those three records and other online exclusives were compiled on Plumes, the band's first release on vinyl. Drawing comparisons to The Feelies, Guided By Voices, the Elephant 6 collective and the great pop legacies of labels such as Flying Nun and Sarah, Plumes was lauded as one of the best releases of 2013 by Not Unloved, Pop Lib, Unpopular and other international pop sites. Along with Chester, these days Ginnels comprises Paddy Hanna and Bobby Aherne from Grand Pocket Orchestra and No Monster Club, with Squarehead's Roy Duffy and Ruan Van Vliet. A Country Life is a bit of a departure in so much as it's the first Ginnels release to involve "proper drums" and also the first non-compilation LP release by the band. Meant from the beginning to be a focused, pure-pop 37-minute LP, a direct response to the supposed "death of the album" and an attempt to try and make something shiny and unashamedly not lo-fi, A Country Life takes its cues from classic songwriting and a desire to air grievances in public. That said, with absolutely no budget, the drums being recorded in a cupboard and everything else recorded in a 6' x 6' box room, some things haven't changed.
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