Sunday 27 November 2011

WE ARE THE WOODEN HOUSES - DEAD SUN

Released October 2010
TOR08

In the spring of 2010 my partner and I went to Egypt. I packed my bags with Camus, Vonnegut and Huxley. I packed my ears with Agitation Free, Can and Bobby Beausoleil among others. We sailed down the Nile, basking in the African sun. The speed at which we travelled directly informs this music, fast enough to realise motion, slow enough to observe everything. I wanted to create a kind of Folk / Krautrock hybrid. Some of it sounds kinda folky, some of it kinda Krauty. Three long instrumentals. The first, "Open/Winter", is the third of three versions I recorded. It started out as a solo guitar piece which I then elaborated with some Organ and Theremin sounding slide. "Dendrenthema" is a fleshed out reworking of an earlier song and is probably the most German inspired music here. "Throbbing Cosmic Wound" was a joy to record. After a picnic by a river, my partner helped me create a 15 minute drone which I then attached to a long folk piece. It's a trip. The artwork was a picture I took in the nature reserve behind my house. The upturned train tracks represent the end of the conceptual line for the music which had no pre-determined destination. It's three long spacey instrumental songs in half an hour. Dig it or don't. - Stephen

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http://www.mediafire.com/?fi5x6y38cgepvh6

THE DEAD WEST - VOLUMES I & II

Released August 2010
TOR07

It takes some cojones for a band to open their account with a sprawling double album, even if the trio concerned all have a good chunk of musical miles under the belt in varying identities, often together - a Venn Diagram of Benson, Gillen and Thompson’s output would see no small amount of cross-over.
However, The Dead West is a different beast to their previous works - this is self-consciously epic in tone, the scene set by the opening “Clouds Disperse” which takes up nearly a quarter of the first disc’s running time. Like James Brown on stage, it frequently threatens to grind to a halt before renewing it’s energies and staggering on that little bit further. Images of parched earth, lonesome roads and giant mesa outcrops are brought to mind in this track, a theme which is picked up lyrically in the subsequent “Kings Of The Road”, a near polar opposite musically (bright, airy, short) and one which draws together Kraftwerk and The Beach Boys at its end - a mash-up that in retrospect seems obvious, but has thus far been overlooked.
It is the America as romantic idyll, as home to imaginary characters that informs the majority of The Dead West, the final outpost for strangers with mysterious scars, strong and enigmatic women, the search for a new future and a place to bury the past. The fascinations are clear : the music, the cars, the landscape; a culture experienced through the books, songs and movies that celebrate the country. Perhaps the influences weigh too heavy at times, but even then they are shot through with a certain English sense of distance, a twinkling in the eyes (the title of the Talking Heads homage “Zen Fringe”, for example.)
Although there appears an over-arching theme on the album, musically it is a grab bag of genres with each of the trio bringing their own influences to the work. It is only to be expected, therefore, that The Dead West veers from one sound to another; the plaintive “Johnny Don’t Forget” - a song in search of a Phil Spector Wall Of Sound - sits next to the Fall-esque holler of “The Crying Sea”, which cranks the dials into the red as it staggers to a conclusion. It shouldn’t make sense, and yet, because of what has gone before, kind of does.
The Second volume is the calmer of the two and contains the less obvious songs, the ones that need more time to appreciate. There is a trade-off; the first volume has the majority of the whoopin’ and a-hollerin’ stompers, even if it does stagger around like a drunken mountain man, high on fermented berries. The second volume doesn’t grab the attention as much immediately and yet is the more consistent sounding work - it opens with two instrumentals before the relaxed, folky “All The Girls Are Called Beatrice” which sounds like it could go on and on around its circular chord sequence…and pretty much does. The John Fahey influence makes an appearance in several places and then after the surprisingly jaunty “River Run” the trio give it some experimentation with the abstract closing radio experiments of “Woodsong/Hellsong” and the bluesy “Down The River”.
It could perhaps be argued that with a little judicious editing The Dead West could lose a couple of tracks and fit the whole shebang on one disc; but that suggestion flies in the face of the whole notion behind this double album; this is a place to go out on a limb, to try something a little different. Perhaps the writers’ influences don’t sit as comfortably side by side as they thought. Perhaps, at times, it smacks of a chaotically mix of tracks offers something for everyone (liking every track is probably limited to the band themselves); as an introduction to the Treehouse Orchestra, it could double up as a virtual label sampler. As sprawling double debuts go, it’s definitely a strong contender; in fact, it is so comprehensive an expression of The Dead West’s sound that one wonders where they can go next - a shambolic three volume set perhaps? - Review by Jeremy Bye

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http://www.mediafire.com/?94q88gjkzhd2503

THE NIGHTOWL SINGS - GHOSTS E.P.

Released May 2010
TOR06

When Marc, Dave and myself decided to form The Dead West we collected together the songs we would like to record. As always, Marc had way more than we would need. He decided to record the five songs that make up this E.P. alone and produce his first solo work.
Static, crackle. A melody starts. Sounds recorded in isolation and not anchored by time. The listener feels like a ghostly electronic communication has been captured, travelled through steel and wire and manifests itself as aural mist. Out of the mist stand heroes of both old and modern times, Buster Keaton, Calvin Johnson. “Man On Wire” is a salute to love, art, people here, people gone and the beauty that one can feel when unafraid to surrender his heart to such things. “Clouds Pt.1” feels like the listener has turned the dial and picked up the same lost broadcast that picked up the opening track. Imagine songs as shattered glass, some of the pieces are big enough that the original artefact can be worked out. “I’ll stay by your side.” Ah, this is a love song. “A ghost is born today.” Or perhaps not. “Huxley Lowfair” is a near ten minute story describing the life, death and after life of an American civil war soldier. Quite how our protagonist ends up haunting a library in Glasgow is a mystery. The broadcast is interrupted by more static and noise. Some communication is lost, never hitting it’s mark. Sometimes it doesn’t matter. In the end the singer assures us that no exorcism or worry is needed. If you never pick up this transmission again, it’s ok. The ghosts are laid to rest and all we have are memories. - Stephen

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http://www.mediafire.com/?ms2jnyysc07ssq3

VARIOUS ARTISTS - CHRISTMAS WITH THE TREEHOUSE ORCHESTRA

Released December 2009
TOR05

Why not a Christmas record? We’ve all grown up with Christmas singles and the seasonally-themed album. The impulse is as old as pop itself, from "White Christmas" through Elvis, The Beach Boys (even Johnny Cash had a go) all the way to Low, The Flaming Lips and Sufjan Stevens. And, of course, above all stands Phil Spector’s "A Christmas For You". So the Treehouse Orchestra’s roster of artists came together on one record – for the first time! – to offer their own special wishes for the festive season. From the traditional (Treehouse’s accapella rendering of "Angels We Have Heard On High" and a spine-tingling "Auld Lang Syne" from We Are The Wooden Houses) through the kitsch (The Road Movies’ "Christmas in Hawaii") to newly-minted classics like The Otters’ "Feast of Stephen" and "It’s Christmas Time!", this a record to take to your hearts and pull off the shelf every December. Happy Christmas everyone! - David

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http://www.mediafire.com/?g9is0tvsvzc7a91

Sunday 20 November 2011

OLD WEIRD - S/T

Released August 2009
TOR04

In early 2009, David and Marc had a vision over a good few pints of Guinness in Ye Olde King's Head (a sacred place and a site of many such visions, it must be said.) It was a vision of music as old as space and weird as time, travelling through the cosmos like stardust static and penetrating Earth's atmosphere like powerful pollen, settling into the soil and coming up from the ground as giddy green shoots of strangeness. Their idea was to condense the essential weirdness of folk, to take songs old and new then, if possible, take the 'song' part out, seeing what might be left. What essence remained. Old Weird is a manifestation of this phenomena, translating an ancient and ageless impulse into something new, vibrant and mysterious, demonstrating once again that there's nowt so queer as folk. - David

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http://www.mediafire.com/?264369om48czib3

HILLS! WEREWOLVES! RUN! - S/T

Released July 2009
TOR03

In the spring of 2009, the debut album by Hills! Werewolves! Run! (Marc Gillen, Stephen Benson) was released. Stylistically, the record covers a lot of ground. Running through the records spine are four miniature electronic instrumentals, coming over like Suicide lost on a foggy night in the Cumbrian hills. "Ships On Fire" the album's second track, struts like the Holy Modal Rounders hi-jacking a Velvets rehearsal, whilst David Byrne looks on, jerking his left hip at an empty disco. "Burn" is a whiskey soaked alt. country lament which looks up to grey coloured skies with tired eyes. Then bursts forth "Dreamin' About Jeffery" a stuttering alt. folk stomp drunk on surreal dreams about St. Augustine and sea creatures. An uneasy calm permeates the end of the album as the lovelorn piano of "Cassie Don’t Dance" cascades gently into the spooky introspection of "Candy", where trains whistle to keep the ghosts awake as sounds blur onto the end. - Marc


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http://www.mediafire.com/?3egrn4fq8qn5z63

WE ARE THE WOODEN HOUSES - DAG LIEF

Released February 2009
TOR02

My band had just broke up and I didn't know what to do. Marc suggested I come over to his house and record whatever I wanted. So, in January 2009, I headed over to Marc's with no clear direction or solid ideas. I had been thinking about my environment, how my county can sometimes feel isolated from the rest of the country. I wanted to make music that felt like it had escaped from somewhere, a land of witches, cats and spooky houses. Two songs on here are solo guitar compositions, in the past they would have been elaborated with multiple instruments and vocals but I decided to leave them be. An ambiance was forming. Two more songs were guitar based, semi improvised soundscapes. A method was conceived. The last track was wholly improvised, Marc and I playing 12 string, Piano, Electric Guitar and Radio. A principle was born. This recording is lo-fi, full of mistakes and is scratchy as hell but it laid a blueprint for what I wanted to do. We Are The Wooden Houses exists. - Stephen


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http://www.mediafire.com/?wglmpy14gp9ttuq

TREEHOUSE - FIVE STARS IN A FIELD AT DUSK

Released January 2009
TOR01

Before the Treehouse Orchestra, there was Treehouse - a place to play, to rest, to create and to explore. Four friends – Marc and Rachel Gillen and Alex and David Thompson - came together to make music without having done so before and with no definite idea about what kind of music they might make. The instruments they played – some learned (or relearned) as they went along – and the songs they had at hand (mostly by Marc, others written or found along the way) dictated the way ahead. The record that resulted was a sprawling, eccentric creature, with offbeat pop, folk tunes, cowboy songs, spooky ballads, ragged country and bursts of noise and experimentation (lost transmissions) sharing the airwaves. Out of the nooks and crannies, through the windows and out into the world, an orchestra of the imagination began to send out sounds and ideas, music that exists for its own sake but also to celebrate art, friendship and discovery. - David


Download here :

http://www.mediafire.com/?fhlf6h2vq4sd41s

Tuesday 1 November 2011

On a bright and clear day, July 2008, a large box arrived. In the box, lay a machine, black and heavy, with knobs and buttons you could press with ease. It was a Fostex 8 track port studio, paid for with pounds, designed to catch sounds and realise ideas and dreams.

On a grey day, a few weeks later overlooking a man made lake, I exchanged ideas with Rachel for names of recording artists. Treehouse, The Treehouse Orchestra, The Nightowl Sings were mentioned amongst others. These names seem to enter the world with ease. A band and a label were born.

Songs were written, friends were asked and sounds began to form. The Treehouse Orchestra was growing. The first branch of this orchestra was Treehouse (Marc Gillen, Alex Thompson, David Thompson, Rachel Gillen); an album ‘Five Stars In a Field At Dusk’ was recorded and released in January 2009. The songs had a homespun feel, like the artwork that protected them. Folk, country, indie pop, drone and noise mixed together over it’s eighteen compositions. Guitars, Piano, Violin, Mandolin, ukelele, voices, samples, static and love sprung out of it’s beautiful mess.

Before we could catch our breath, three more branches sprung forth. Stephen Benson who had helped out on the Treehouse album formed We Are the Wooden Houses and conjured up a five track E.P. of guitar pickings and drones which meandered through an insular world of beauty and isolation, looking for John Fahey and Soledad Miranda. This was followed in the spring of 2009 by Hills! Werewolves! Run! (Marc Gillen, Stephen Benson) who released a playful album of miniature electro, country ballads, folk and Velvets tinged sonnets. At this point Alistair Popple became involved, adding much needed skill to the mixing, production and post production needs of all the artists. Alistair would prove to be an invaluable source of advice and expertise over the following years.

Old Weird (Marc Gillen, David Thompson) arrived in the hot summer, a year on from that first day, an E.P. of ghostly folk songs was conceived, like Harry Smith at a wake. These releases like the first had homemade artwork, pulling together cloth and pen, stories, photographs and illusions. They were given away as gifts to those we loved ; they all had a number TOR01, TOR02...etc. Each became a stepping stone to the next place, a bridge for us to see from.

At the end of the year we made a Christmas compilation which was held together with wood and glitter. It featured all the artists and people above, in addition to this, new artistic entities entered the fray, step forward The Ottors (Alex Thompson) with her stately and haunting violin tones enter to The Road Movies (David Thompson, Marc Gillen, Stephen Benson) brandishing a trio of guitars and alter egos rising up to an alter of Hawaiian psych.

Then came 2010 and an E.P. landed by The Nightowl Sings (Marc Gillen) with twenty minutes of deconstructed piano, reverb and songs about 19th century ghosts. Next up The Dead West (formally The Road Movies) who put together a double album so sprawling, listeners were given a map before listening. The first disc took in guitar pop of all persuasions , linking Kraftwerk with The Beach Boys, Hank Williams with The Clean, all seemed possible. The second disc provided an esoteric journey through Kraut, psych, old time waltz, distortions, drones, clicks and meandering tall tales of love and death.

In the second half of the year a second We Are the Wooden Houses E.P. came, which added strung out repetitive ambient textures to beautiful plucked strings and a Nightowl Sings album which was something of a homage to early 90’s American indie rock.

That brings us almost up to date. This year has seen the release of the first Cat Of Tomorrow album (David Thompson) which links the BBC radiophonic workshop, Joe Meek and Buddy Holly and a We Are the Wooden Houses album full of beautiful sound poems, murder ballads and pastoral psyche. This was quickly followed by the second Hills! Werewolves! Run! Album, a high octane lurch fed on Sonic Youth, Norwegian Metal and political dissent. We have also enjoyed an E.P. from Shane Magee A.K.A. Whirlaway. (Shane was a member of Carlisle alt. Legends Harbourcoat along with Marc Gillen, Stephen Benson and Alistair Popple.) Shane’s E.P. is a haunting song collage full of whispers and battered dreams, simultaneously elegant and sad.

In the pipeline is another Dead West release, a Nightowl Sings album, a compilation of traditional folk songs and solo project from Alistair as yet unnamed.

I make that sixteen releases in three years, here’s hoping that creative streak continues and that you lucky listener can find the joy in these recordings that has sustained us thus far…
- Marc.