Funeral Club: February 2011

Past Releases & Reviews

RELEASES:

"The Year of the Bloody Sevens" - Full Length (2010)

Reviews:

“... Mary Shelley hooking up with Nick Cave for some gothically cool western twang-in a maze of blood and lead.”

- unpeeled.net

“...It’s the sound of a desert night addled with early ’60s pop and the rust-edged creak of Tom Waits at his earthiest.”

- webinfront.net

“It's gothic. It's gothic in the classical, brooding, menacing sense... Poe is American and so are Funeral Club and they have the monochromatic, funeral beat down to a tea party. "Arrival" yaws and slops a slow march down the graveyard path with black glitter feedback, archly necrophiliac lyrics half swallowed, half spat by some greyscaled angel and it still feels right, still sounds like Poe has been jamming with Nick Cave.”

-unpeeled.net

"Whiskey & Clyde" - Single (2010) - www.funeralclub.rcrdlbl.com

"I Am A Shootist" - EP (2009) - Self-Released
Mixed by Raymond Richards (Idaho Falls, Neil Halstead)
Mastered by KRAMER (Low, Daniel Johnston)

Reviews:

"...It’s the sound of a desert night addled with early ’60s pop and the rust-edged creak of Tom Waits at his earthiest, as evidenced by the otherworldy shuffle and alt-twang charm of “Father of the Revolver,” the hymn-like starkness of “Save My Soul, Conquistador,” and the sepia rumble of closer “We Never Sleep.” However, it’s the title track that draws all of those disparate sounds and songs together, acting as a lovely and darkly alluring lynchpin that binds the EP and stands as a haunting window into the Owls’ aural world of artful, sand-blasted beauty and ominous twilight pop."

by Travis Woods - www.webinfront.net (http://webinfront.net/?p=2042)

"The Grizzly Owls, on the other hand, have big brass balls. Their sound clearly owes a bit of a debt to any number of countrified folk acts, but their unswaying dedication to that sound and their willingness to carry it to the nth degree are impressive. The tracks on the freely available I am a Shootist EP all prominently feature the high, warbling vocals of Jenny Andretti in front of spare, spaghetti western-esque soundscapes. That cowboy on the cover is no joke; these tunes are intensely evocative of barren desert landscapes, lawless bastards and circling vultures. It’s a pretty unified artistic vision, complete with deeply morbid lyrical content (the number of people that get shot, stabbed or hung from trees in this EP’s four songs is too high to count accurately.) All that taken into account, the tunes here are catchy and relistenable. I’m particularly fond of the Pancho Villa feel of 'Save My Soul Conquistador.' "

by citizendick.org

"...could be the quiet-time antidote to the rough-and-tumble Spaghetti Western rock on L.A.’s Spindrift. It’s twangy and haunting and more than a little bit creaky, but rife with plenty of imagery. As foreboding as the wide-open spaces can sound."

-Buzz Bands L.A.

"...a haunting collection of melancholic campfire gems that recall Mazzy Star by way of Ennio Morricone."

- Earfarm.com

"'I Am a Shootist', features music that wouldn’t be out of place in a black and white spaghetti Western. Dark, minor keys but with a cleverly tongue-in-cheek tone. A little bit Nick Cave, but with Meg White’s offbeat vocals.

- A Free Man

"SOUNDS LIKE? Mary Shelley hooking up with Nick Cave for some gothically cool western twang-in a maze of blood and lead. It's already sounding like The Grizzly Owls are serious talent with senses of both style and humour. The military shuffle and dusty pluck n shimmer called "Father Of The Revolver" confirms this. IS IT ANY GOOD? Oh no, this is... excellent, good has nothing to do with it. These are sweet tunes, tied with pretty ribbons to writing of the finest steel. The Grizzly Owls mine old shafts and come up with new treasures."

- unpeeled.net

"The People Have All Gone" - EP (2009) - Self-Released
Mixed by Raymond Richards (Idaho Falls, Neil Halstead)
Mastered by KRAMER (Daniel Johnston, Low)

Reviews:

"The follow up to California's The Grizzly Owls twangy debut By Night On My Bed showcases the band offering forth even more lo-fi country twang. The last time around, Joseph and Jenny Andreoti combined the classic syrup of Kris Kristofferson with the experimental nature of The Cocteau Twins. This time around things are more honky tonk, and less eclectic, allowing the band to master a specific sound which works very well in their favour. The band used the film The Last Picture Show as inspiration, as well as some found pictures of Jenny's father during The Korean War. This no doubt contributed to the EP's overall authentic sound. Jenny's voice still displays a raw emotion that is swooping and cinematic, but also seemingly more controlled. The guitar sound is mired in echoey beauty, while the banjo presents a unique uptempo contrast to some of the more sinister lyrics that it accomanies, such as those found in The Legend Of The Ghost Man. That song comes across sounding like an old traditional folk tune. Another highlight is Madman, Hysterical Woman which combines cheatin' and hurtin' lyrics with twangy vocal harmonies (featuring Raymond Richards) and some sweet resonation, making this a truly perfect country song."

- ItsNotTheBandIHateItsTheirFans.blogspot.com

"...If Steinbeck, in a fit of writers block, had picked up a guitar joined forces with Patsy Cline's Cocteau Twins obsessed sister to form a covers band dedicated to the works of Johnny Cash and Nick Cave this could well have been his first EP. If Americana was the reinvention of old time country music then The Grizzly Owls are the reinvention of Americana."

- The Devil Has The Best Tuna

"Their somewhat dark Americana mixed with soft melodies, twangy sweet vocals and equally twangy guitars makes a gorgeous combination from start to finish."

- I Am The Crime

"When I think of Bakersfield, CA I think of dreaming melodies floating over rhythmic acoustic guitar. I think of warm breezes and a subtle twang of Western thoughts. The Grizzly Owls have all that one would associate with a gentle West Coast sound, and a quirky vocalist named Jenny Andreotti as well. Jenny has a gentle voice, but sings in a way that always leaves you thinking she may be onto something bigger."

- What to wear during an Orange Alert?

"When you listen to The Grizzly Owls, their music creates a vastly rich landscape of musical sounds that combine the folk and country twang that has been like coffee for me lately. It is a new addiction that I cannot get enough of! Deeply lathered in the eerie vocals of Jenny Andreotti, this band creates a moment, like a steady procession through a scenic moment as it builds its sound..."

- Loudvine.com

Feature at Rock Sellout:

http://www.rocksellout.com/2009/04/14/the-grizzly-owls-the-people-have-all-gone/

"Right off the bat, I was struck by their shaggy-north west owl-forest name: The Grizzly Owls. What I love about this duo are their equal nods to Julee Cruise’s high pitched angelic warbling in Twin Peaks and Merle Haggard’s love songs. This strange combo is a little bit haunting, a little bit twang."

- Halcyon Magazine

"Whiskey and Clyde" - Single (2008) - RCRD LBL

"By Night On My Bed" - Full-Length (2007) Self-Released

REVIEWS:

"If you were out browsing the bins at your local record store, and you stumbled upon the bearded visage adorning the Grizzly Owls’ release By Night On My Bed, you might imagine it to be another creaky, folk-flavored Americana nostalgia act. But though the Owls do owe a debt to Bakersfield country and their own familial dust bowl roots, thankfully, mercifully, you’d be wrong. The Grizzly Owls are a whole lot more iconoclastic than all that lack of jazz. Casio beats and tinkly piano trills share the landscape with spaghetti-western guitar and Jenny Andreotti’s heavily reverbed vocals on tracks like “What’s a Girl To Do?” and “Oh Good God, How I Want That Man”. Then there are songs like “Mother, Oh Mother”, bizarre minimalist pastiches of competing resonances, buzzes and blips that communicate familiar emotions and landscapes skewed at odd, interesting angles."

-Pop Matters (Michael Metivier)

"In general, most albums are filled with tracks centered on some kind of theme; the number one topic being heterosexual love and romance, followed in the distance by social commentaries and, oh, lets say drugs and murder (note that this list is something I just came up with, sans research, so please refrain from flooding my inbox with statistically supported refutations). With all of that heartbreak and the occasional bong rip or throat cutting, it is indeed a rare occasion when one finds an album with the Dust Bowl being it's main theme and inspiration (although my prediction is that 2008 will see at least 50 major Dust Bowl themed releases). But when an artist takes the initiative to pen a historically inspired album, they usually come up with something pretty good.

All joking aside, husband and wife duo Joseph and Jenny Andreotti, who perform under the moniker The Grizzly Owls, penned their self-released full-length debut, By Night On My Bed, on inspiration provided by their grandparents' journey from Oklahoma to California during the great Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s immortalized in John Steinbeck's 1939 Pulitzer- and the Nobel Prize-winning masterpiece, The Grapes of Wrath. Both lyrically and musically, the Andreotti's odd source of inspiration can be heard, with harmonica and steel guitar setting the mood for lyrics about Jeremiah (the album's protagonist, who just happens to be the perfect man), rifles, and the Dust Bowl itself.

Of the eight tracks on The Grizzly Owls' debut, "I Am a Child of The Dust Bowl" is By Night On My Bed's clear standout. The track recounts the hardships of the Dust Bowlers - no food on the table, holes in their clothes - and is catchy to the point that fans of Morrissey will recall the Mozzer's "Sing Your Life."

Another noteworthy song is "Jeremiah", a love song about a man named Jeremiah (even though Jedediah is a much prettier name) that encapsulates everything likeable about The Grizzly Owls. Here the Andreottis go all the way with their geekifying of the Depression-era theme, and why not? If there's a love song on the album, it should be about a Dust Bowler named Jeremiah, dammit.

As is often the case with distinctly conceptual albums, By Night On My Bed will likely garner a host of different reactions from listeners. Some may be turned off by The Grizzly Owls' folky yet cinematic sound, which is most directly comparable to Neil Young's soundtrack for Jim Jarmusch's classic Dead Man, while others will love them for being gutsy enough to base an entire album on such an odd theme as the Dust Bowl. Still others, myself included, will land somewhere in-between; I like the whole concept of the album, but at times - especially when The Grizzly Owls are at their strongest - broadening their horizons beyond the dusty landscape of old-timey Oklahoma would have clearly lent itself to a stronger album."

-Lost at Sea (Daniel Svanberg)

"By Night On My Bed is Americana, not so much in terms of rehashing history, or simply referencing the archaic, but instead capturing the mood of migrating across the country, careworn and exhausted, but convinced you’ll be stronger for the journey. In fact, Joseph and Jenny Androetti, the artists involved, cite their families’ Dust Bowl migrations to Bakersfield, CA as inspiration. Realistically, they needn’t do so, as the song titles give it away, specifically, “Rifles and Hemlines” and “I Am A Child Of the Dust Bowl.”

Every aspect of the album sits as a testament to their self-purported genre; even the liner art pictures absurdly overdressed ancestors being photographed beside their prize horse and clapboard barn. Jenny Androetti’s sweet voice sounds like some long-gone great-aunt, the spinster singing eerily to an infant from the newest generation from the netherworld. Most of the songs feature a beat like a horse clopping along in an old Western as cowboys squint against the glare of the sun.

There’s a nod or two toward Tom Waits in the darker songs, with stronger riffs accompanied by an occasional slide on the guitar. But Jenny’s voice and tone is all her own, and The Grizzly Owls could never be accused of sacrificing their own identity. Even the album itself identifies in a very specific way that would be difficult to duplicate without feeling redundant.

If there is any complaint to be had about the album, it’s certainly not to do with the actual composition and execution of the music. No, in this case it’s the brevity of the whole thing. It takes one by surprise to hear the first song so soon again. Did I doze off? Was my mind wandering too much? No, the album is just shy of 30 minutes. The lengths of the songs are just right, (although many are shorter than your typical pop song), there just aren’t enough of them.

By Night On My Bed is exactly what it’s meant to be, which is surprising considering how artistic it is. The art doesn’t impede the music, nor vice versa. It can be hard to find a good balance, but the Androettis managed it quite impressively."

-Stranded In Stereo (By Annie Lynn White)

"Joseph and Jenny Andreotti have been making beautiful music together for several years now. Thankfully, the rest of the world now gets to enjoy the fruits of their labor with the release of The Grizzly Owls debut CD, entitled 'By Night On My Bed.' This is a new kind of alt-country, steeped heavily in the classic country styles of Buck Owens, the dry wit of Lee Hazlewood, the echoed croon of The Cowboy Junkies, while also being equally influenced by experimental artists like The Cocteau Twins. The album opens with "What's A Girl To Do?" which is basically a straight ahead shuffling alt-country tune. It's immediately followed up by "Jeremiah" which straggles along at a haunting, yet effective pace. "Rifles And Hemlines" couples a compelling title with a sultry yet playful vocal. "Oh Good God, How I Want That Man," would not be out of place at your local honky tonk dive. Neither would "I Am A Child Of The Dust Bowl," an ethereal spaghetti western styled sound with great yet subtle percussion. The album clocks in at less than 30 minutes, which is actually a perfect length since this is a release that cries out to be digested properly. Do not rush through this one, but absorb it well, take it in and enjoy its classic sound."

-it's not the band i hate, it's their fans

"By Night On My Bed" is the damaged and dusty debut from The Grizzly Owls [husband and wife duo Jenny & Joseph Andreotti]. The self-released album is a collection of pure Americana ballads infused with a sinister brand of cutting-edge lo-fi alt/country. The offbeat opener, "What's A Girl To Do?," features Jenny Andreotti's achingly charming vocals over a somber --- yet up-tempo --- alt/country rhythm that is either a sadly loving or happily painful.

"Jeremiah," the album's second track, is as heartbreakingly lovely as the first. As Joseph Andreotti lays down some seriously shadowy guitar work, his wife agonizes through vocals slowly reaching into your soul with each harrowing note.
And it just gets better --- if you consider misery and torment "better" --- from there. The album continues with the gorgeous "Rifles and Hemlines," a twangy and tortured alt/country anthem that sounds like Neko Case doing the soundtrack for a David Lynch western.
The album's breakout track, however, is the haunting and aggressive "26." A must listen."

- my big mouth strikes again

CNET / Download.com: Editor's Pick of the day (01/03/08)

"A song titled 'Rifles and Hemlines' sums up the style of Joseph and Jenny Andreotti's duet. This is classic Americana (Ok, with the occasional synth beat), crafted around quivering bass licks, gleaming pedal steel, and miles-away vocals. Should life on the Plains sound this good?"

- CNET : Editor's Review

“California’s The Grizzly Owls want to take you to the honky-tonk. But not just any honky-tonk. Their bar is a Dust Bowl-era joint where Nick Cave and Merle Haggard swap stories while Patsy Cline (or is it Elizabeth Fraser in a cowboy hat) sings a sad ballad concerning fallen women. Then after the inevitable bar-fight, they all settle down and watch European art-house cinema... If we are going to make musical comparisons, Neko Case is a decent place to start. A sort of old-timey country sound filtered through a post-punk aesthetic. But while Case has slowly grown away from formal country structures, The Grizzly Owls keep a steady Spaghetti Western-influenced sound firmly in place (along with some hints at electro-pop). It very much reminds me of an ethereal band trapped in the Old West.”

- A Sweeping Curve of Sound

“Throughout, by night on my bed is an interesting work that will surely grow on you the more you get to know the music. Sometimes cow poky and prairie like, while at other times bringing about wild hybrids like the gloomy and mysterious acoustic "Jeremiah" that sounds much to its credit, like an gothic country number recorded in another dimension. "Rifles And Hemlines" is another interesting elixir that half feels like the soundtrack to a covered wagon movement, only if it were on some tropical island and the folks had stopped for toddies and a naked swim. My favorite on by night on my bed, is "Mother, Oh Mother," which comes equipped with a shimmering hypnotic riff, giving the tune a wildly exotic character. Overall, the album is full of atmosphere, brought about by well thought out, but fairly spare and simple instrumentation, complimented by the above par additions of the vibraphone, pedal steel, and baritone guitar. By Night On My Bed has definitely grown on me, and it includes the best use of what sounds like a casio drum machine that I've heard in years.”

- Parasites & Sycophants

“This ain’t like any country music I’ve ever heard before. It’s Kate Bush singing the theme tune to a dusty spaghetti Western produced by David Lynch. It’s the Cocteau Twins covering the Cowboy Junkies. It’s Americana Jim but not as we know it... The Grizzly Owls are taking Americana in a fresh and exciting new direction. These owls are ready to fly.”

-The Devil Has The Best Tuna

“I did not know what to expect went I first saw the band name "Grizzly Owls", but after giving them a listen I was sold. Sold on the sound, man. It's like Americana meets a spaghetti western meets a French new-wave film. Yeah, very different and interesting.”

- JenLAND

“The Grizzly Owls music makes for some effective hangover medication, having sweet country music sounds mixed in with the vocal style of say … Julee Cruise from the Twin Peaks era.”

-Lunapark 6

“einen selfrelease starteten in 2007 the grizzly owls. deren werk "by night on my bed" kommt wesentlich erfrischender daher, als es zunächst bei silje nes den eindruck hat. aber auch hier gilt es, einen zweiten blick zu wagen. der wache schunkelpop hat durchaus seine dunklen momente. jenny und joseph aus bakersfield sind sich dabei ihrer wurzeln bewußt und bauen auf den fundamenten buck owens und merle haggards auf, sehen aber weit über den tellerrand hinaus. so ergänzen sie manch klassisches gewand um einsprengsel perkussiver art, aber auch griffiger rhythmik und freien gesangs. einen experimentellen charakter muss man dem paar zubilligen, aber es wird einem garantiert warm ums herz, wenn jenny jauchzt und frohlockt. und mit "what's a girl to do" haben the grizzly owls einen kleinen hit gelandet. immer wieder traurig zu sehen, dass auch sie ohne ein label dastehen.”

- das klienicum

"From the cover art and inside photograph of Jenny's ancestors to lyrical references, everything about "By Night On My Bed" is an homage to the dust bowl era of the late 1800s, early 1900s. Unique, fresh, and infectious - it's fun listening even for the cynical indie music grinch... you may enjoy the off-beat, immediately engaging, rhythmically complex, and surprisingly melodic music of The Grizzly Owls. Give this a listen or three before you make a judgement. And remember, we are all children of the Dust Bowl."

- PLUGGED : indie beat reporter

“Their version of pop is a mix between honky-tonk Magnetic Fields and Americana Cocteau Twins... The Grizzly Owls voyage through electro-pop as cowboys, but the outcome is rich in diversity and substance. If only more great bands took the chances that this band does. You know it's weird...but you also know it's good.''

- The Black and White Magazine

"...a truly unique offering in scene of mediocrity and trendiness."

- Adam's Music Review Blog

Saturday, February 12, 2011

To Our Funny Valentines