PRESS
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James Blackshaw/The Glass Bead Game/Review
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Hallock Hill / by Hallock HillHard to believe that he can make such stratospheric leaps, but it is safe to say Blackshaw has never sounded better.Hallock Hill http://www.hallockhill.net/post/103533646/james-blackshaw-cross-the-glass-be ad-game 4 MAY 2009 By Hallock Hill James Blackshaw, The Glass Bead Game (Young God, 26 May 2009) Young God is hosting this magnificent opening track to Blackshaw’s forthcoming album. Hard to believe that he can make such stratospheric leaps, but it is safe to say Blackshaw has never sounded better. The numerous triplets at play at the opening of this track somehow reinforce Blackshaw’s emotive streak—and the glissandi on the strings in the background rise his already powerful melody into a richer place. The wordless vocals courtesy of Lavinia Blackwall (Directing Hand) are reminiscent of some of Philip Glass’s best work. But it is Blackshaw’s guitar that spellbinds—a blistering torrent of notes, melody and, quite simply, ideas. That final raked chord chills. He is not one to shy away from writing something beautiful, nor of performing his compositions with grace and depth....
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Chriss Sutherland (Fire On Fire / Review
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Ben Ratliff / NY TimesIf you’re in the Portland, Me., area and you want ragged folk-rock, you come see this guy.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/arts/music/08play.html?_r=1 NY Times March 4 2009 Chriss Sutherland (Fire On Fire) - Worried Love By Ben Ratliff If you’re in the Portland, Me., area and you want ragged folk-rock, you come see this guy. Chriss Sutherland, now in his early 30s, helped start the band Fire on Fire, and some of his band mates help out on “Worried Love” (Peapod), his second solo album. His raspy holler brings emotion and a little wildness, but there’s something else; you might not get what it is until the middle of the record, when he sings his version of the flamenco singer Camaron de la Isla’s hit “Volando Voy,” in Spanish, complete with ragged palmas (hand claps). It’s Andalusian grit translated into a modern American hippie mood, and it works....
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James Blackshaw releases new album
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The Line of Best FitWe’re big fans of James Blackshaw at TLOBF Towers, and we’re chuffed to hear that he’s due torelease a new album, his first on new label Young Gods. view full screen ...
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James Blackshaw interviewed for UK's BBC 4 - listen online
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It will air on Friday April 24 between 6 and 9 AM UK time. James talks about his music and plays live as well. Listen to the interview here....
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Fire On Fire / The Orchard / Review
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Jennifer Kelly / Blurt MagazineFire on Fire, out of Maine, bring you the best in backwoods weirdness,buttoned, corseted, poker-back-postured and deeply disturbed. Daguerreotype medleys of various stringed instruments - guitar, banjo, acoustic bass and Dobro - meander in precise, pizzicato patterns over decidedly non-linear narratives.http://www.blurt-online.com/reviews/view/1010/ Blurt Magazine 04/21/2009 Fire on Fire The Orchard (Young God) by JENNIFER KELLY Fire on Fire, out of Maine, bring you the best in backwoods weirdness, buttoned, corseted, poker-back-postured and deeply disturbed. Daguerreotype medleys of various stringed instruments - guitar, banjo, acoustic bass and Dobro - meander in precise, pizzicato patterns over decidedly non-linear narratives. Church loft harmonies swoop and quaver, and an accordion wheeze sad sea shanties. It's all paced at a stately, percussive tempo, the beat as regular as a drunk's steps when he's trying to fool the patrolmen. The volume is tamped down to all-natural levels. Yet don't be lulled. These songs are as bug-eyed, Pentecostal, end-of-days mad, even if they are dipped in sepia ink. This is Fire on Fire's first full-length, following on last year's five-song EP. If you've kept up with New England experimentalism, their acid-tinged, banjo-plucked Americana might sound suspiciously like Cerberus Shoal. Three of the five members......