Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Father Murphy comin' to town

We sold a bunch of cds by this weird Italian band Father Murphy when we listed it not long ago, and so we thought we'd let interested folks know that they're on tour in the States starting tomorrow, coming to the Bay Area later this month.

Here's all the dates they have confirmed, local ones (to us) highlighted:

Jun 11 NORTHSIDE FESTIVAL@BRUAR FALLS, AAGOO RECORDS SHOWCASE! BROOKLYN, New York
Jun 12 AS220, w/Blevin Blectum , Shawn Greenlee, Israel M PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island
Jun 13 PIFAS PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania
Jun 15 VELVET LOUNGE WASHINGTON, Washington DC
Jun 16 MORNIG GLORY COFFEEHOUSE, w/Alpaca Beretta Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Jun 17 RACHEL’S CAFE, w/Mark Trecka BLOOMINGTON, Indiana
Jun 18 EMPTY BOTTLE, w/Mayor Daley CHICAGO, Illinois
Jun 20 SUNSET TAVERN SEATTLE, Washington
Jun 21 PORTLAND, w/Ghost to Falco PORTLAND, Oregon
Jun 22 HUB, w/Dead Western SACRAMENTO, California
Jun 23 21 GRAND, w/Baaddd (Australia), KIT, Strip Mall Seizures OAKLAND, California
Jun 24 ATA, w/No Deposit No Return Blues (film) SAN FRANCISCO, California
Jun 24 KFJC, RADIO SHOW LOS ALTOS HILLS, California
Jun 25 THE SMELL, w/Albinocrowmusic Festival LOS ANGELES, California
Jun 26 ECHO BURIO, w/MONSTRO LOS ANGELES, California
Jun 30 GOODBYE BLUE MONDAY BROOKLYN, NYC, New York
Jul 1 TRASH BAR, w/Miles Turney El Jezel Joe Iadanza The Bright Room NEW YORK, New York


Here's what we wrote about their cd entitled ...And He Told Us To Turn To The Sun, which should explain why we're curious to see 'em:
We get sent a ton of stuff to check out. And it's awesome, truly, So much amazing music to discover, but at the same time it's so overwhelming. But every once in a while a record pops up that makes it all worth while. Such is the case with this disc from these Italian weirdos Father Murphy. What makes it even cooler is that this record, and this band, are SO hard to describe.
It's a bit like folk, a little bit like post punk math rock, a little avant noise, but stripped way down into something skeletal, they definitely sound a little bit like one of the new breed of freak folk psych folk cd-r outfits, but at the same time, they sound like NOTHING you've ever heard. Detuned guitar plod, spaced out rhythmic thump, lots of deep shimmery ambience and FX drenched drifts, wavery falsetto crooning, warbly organs, and the occasional bursts of feral yowling, wow. Unhinged, fractured, freaky, passionate, super intense and awesome.
In discussing Father Murphy, other reviewers have mentioned Robert Wyatt, This Heat, Samla Mamas Manna, we also hear plenty of Marc Ribot in the guitars, all angular and off kilter, there's also some mysterious female vocals that surface here and there, field recordings, crickets, birds, all beneath weepy mournful Morricone-ish twang, a sound both woozy and ominous, dreamy and dense, a glorious deathlike dirge, part Dirty Three, part fluttery forest folk, a little wheezy organ dirge pop, some slooooooowed down Blonde Redhead, like we said this is super hard to describe. but what we do know is we love it. And you will do, if your tastes run toward the dark, the dolorous, the mysterious, the haunting, the dirgey and the deathlike.

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