ON THE ALBUM: Abbie Barret - vocals ******* Matt Beers - pedal steel ***** Emily Breines - violin ***** Emily Brewster - vocals ****** Charlie Conant - dobro ***** Norm Demoura - bass, guitar, organ, percussion ***** Kurt Fedora - bass ***** Daniel Hales - vocals, guitar, wurlitzer, banjo, bass, percussion ***** Mike Levesque - drums ***** Maggie Nowinski -vocals ***** Mike Pattavina - upright bass ***** Kate Stephens - vocals ***** Tony Vacca -percussion ***** Christopher Wilkey - drums ***** LIVE: any of the above + Leo Hwang-Carlos - guitar ***** Steve Koziol - bass ***** Brian Marchese - drums
Daniel Hales & The Frost Heaves featured on the online arts journal, Hoboeye:
http://www.hoboeye.com/music44.htm
Influences
13th Floor Elevators, John Luther Adams, Air Castle, alchemy, alcoves, Agha Shahid Ali, The Ambiguities, analog synth, Sherwood Anderson, animals, Angry Epileptics, Angry Johnny & The Killbillies, Animal Collective, The Anomoanon, Apples In Stereo, Simon Armitage, The Art of Clear Thinking, asparagus, autumn, avocadoes, JS Bach, Gaston Bachelard, Bag of Hammers, Kid Bailey, Jesse Ball, Nicholson Baker, Banksy, Barefoot Illiterates, basements, Bateau, Chas Baudeliare, Baystate Hotel, Beach Boys, Beatles, Beastie Boys, Beck, Samuel Beckett, Bee Gees, Stagger Lee Beers, Belle and Sebastian, Berkshire Blue, Berkshire Brewing Company, Andrew Bird, Birgitta Musik, Elizabeth Bishop, Black Diamond Super Sharp Cheddar, William Blake, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, any blind guitarist/singer from the 20s & 30s, Blues Explosion, bodies of water, The Books, Borges, Bowie, Paul Bowles, Anour Brahem, Andre Breton, Broken Social Scene, Greg Brown, James Brown, Willie Brown, Dave Brubeck, Tim Buckley, Buddha, Buffalo Springfield, Bugs Bunny, buildup of earwax, burritos, Byrds, caffeine, John Cage, JJ Cale, Calexico, Califone, Italo Calvino, Dino Campana, Captain Beefheart, Car, Buster Carter, Johnny Cash, Cat of Many Names, Celine, Blaise Cendrars, Cerberus Shoal, Chaucer, The Chills, Jesus Christ, The Jesus Lizard, cilantro, cognitive dissonance, Chopin, The Church, The Clash, Patsy Cline, Clinic, Daniel Clowes, Cocteau Twins, Coen Brothers, strong coffee, Leonard Cohen, Coleridge, Coltrane, Ry Cooder, George Crumb, EE Cummings, Conduit (the magazine), Joseph Conrad, Pat Conte, Julio Cortazar, Manuel Crailes, The Cure, Cyclub, Damon & Naomi, Donnie Darko, Miles Davis, Don DeLillo, De Chirico, Death Vessel, The Deerhunter, Devo, Steve Desaulniers, Robert Desnos, Dickens, Emily Dickinson, dioramas, Dirty Three, disco guitar, DJ Shadow, Donovan, John Dos Passos, Dostoyevsky, Nick Drake, Drink Me, Dr. Who, Duchamp, the Dude, Dukes of Stratosphere, Bob Dylan, Eagleview Drive, Umberto Eco, Echo & the Bunnymen, Eleventh Dream Day, Emetrex, Brian Eno, Will Eno, Epic Soundtracks, Ernst, Everly Bros, Evil Bill, Th Faith Healers, The Fall, Faulkner, The Feelies, Fender Superchamp, fermentation, field trips, Ella Fitzgerald, The Flamingos, Flaming Lips, Fleetwood Mac, The Fleshtones, Flying Burrito Bros, Kinky Friedman, Robert Frost, Fugazi, Galaxy 500, Terry Gilliam, Dizzy Gillespie, ginger, Elton Glaser, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Fancypants Goldthwaite, Goodfoot, Go To Blazes, gravity, Grieg, The Grifters, guacamole, Guided By Voices, Woodie Guthrie, habanero, Merle Haggard, Grant Hart, PJ Harvey, Ian Heisey, hammocks, James Hampton, Barry Hannah, Donnie Hathaway, Hawthorne, Hendricks, Hendrix, Joe Henry, Herzog, Bob Hicok, crisp high hats, The High Dials, Robyn Hitchcock, Hnatow, Billie Holliday, Homer, Gerard Manley Hopkins, hormones, horseradish, Son House, The Housemartins, Richard Hugo, Hugo Largo, Pat Hunter, Husker Du, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Illinois, Charles Ives, Izzy, Jackson 5, Max Jacob, jalapeno cream cheese, Jandek, Jane (my ’63 Guild), Louis Jenkins, Jobo, Denis Johnson, Robert Johnson, Tommy Johnson, Wild Bill Jolliff, Scott Joplin, Attila Jozsef, Joyce, Joy Division, Kafka, Wolf Kahn, kayaking, Keats, Weldon Kees, Kerouac, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Obi Wan Kenobi, Phillips Kloss, Noelle Kocot, Bill Knott, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Philip Larkin, Philip Levine, Larry Levis, Kid Loco, Killing Joke, King Crimson, MLK, The Kinks, Paul Klee, kombucha, Kris Kristofferson, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Milan Kundera, Lanfordaires, Bruce Langfeld, Daniel Lanois, Led Zeppelin, Merriweather Lewis, The Lilys, lime, The Lonesome Organist, Lorca, Lost Audio Network, Love, Guy Maddin, Magritte, Maine, Malcolm X, Mallarme, Manna House, maple syrup, Marah, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Marx, Massachusetts, Cormac McCarthy, Nellie McKay, Del McCoury Band, Meat Puppets, Melville, The ‘Mericans, WS Merwin, milkshakes, Czeslaw Milosz, Milton, The Minders, Charles Mingus, Minutemen, Miracle Legion, Mission of Burma, Mississippi John Hurt, Mohammed, Thelonious Monk, Monoland, Bill Monroe, Eugenio Montale, Montana, Eugenio Montejo, Marianne Moore, Morphine, mountains, Mr. Show, Robert Musil, Os Mutantes, Nabokov, Prince Namor, National Convention, natural history museums, Chris Nelson, Pablo Neruda, New Pornographers, New Radiant Storm King, Nietzche, Nirvana, Nuggets, Number 6, Of Montreal, Carl Orff, Mozart, Charlie Parker, Octavio Paz, Old Crow Medicine Show, Orwell, Our Poor Neighbors, Buck Owens, oxygen, Palace et al, Panda Bear, Paragraph, Charlie Parker, Gram Parsons, Harry Partch, Charlie Patton, Pavement, Cesare Pavese, Pennsylvania, People's Pint, Fernando Pessoa, phases of the moon, Astor Piazolla, ponds, Francis Ponge, Vasko Popa, porches, portabella mushrooms, Patrick Porter, Jacques Prevert, Prince, Public Enemy, Riley Puckett, Philip Pullman, Purple Ivy Shadows, Pynchon, R2D2, Lawrence Raab, Radiohead, Ma Rainey, raptors, Man Ray, Red Door Exchange, Red Red Meat, Red Sovine, Lou Reed, REM, The Rendezvous, The Replacements, The Residents, Rilke, Yannis Ritsos, Robbe-Grillet, Mr. Roboto, Rolling Stones, Sonny Rollins, saccades,Tomaz Salamun, JD Salinger, Erik Satie, Chris Sand, George Saunders, Sea and Cake, WG Sebald, Secret Museum of Mankind, Ramon Gomez De La Serna, Shakespeare, Ravi Shankar, Richard Shelton, Sam Shepherd, The Shins, Shostakovich, Sigur Ros, Charles Simic, Paul Simon, Six Organs of Admittance, sleestacks, Slint, Sly & the Family Stone, The Smiths, Smog, snare drums, Sonic Youth, Sons of the Pioneers, Souled American, Span of Sunshine, spider webs, sriracha, Frank Stanford, Stanley Brothers, Star Wars (A New Hope & Empire), Stereolab, Sugarcubes, Sufjian Stevens, Wallace Stevens, Al Stewart, Dr. Strange, String Builder, St. Daniel the Stylite, Sun City Girls, Sun Ra, Jules Superveille, synapses, Wislawa Symborska,Talking Heads, Gad Tanner & The Skillet Lickers, tapioca, James Tate, Thievery Corporation, Thinkin Fellars Union Local 282, Tinirawen, Tin Hat Trio, Tomita, tomyum soup, Ali Farka Toure, Tomas Transtromer, Trappist breweries, treehouses, TV on the Radio, Chuang Tzu, U2, Uncle Tupelo, Velvet Underground, Tom Verlaine, vernal ponds, Francois Villon, vindaloo, Stephen Vitiello, Vonnegut, Tom Waits, Robert Walser, Wild Willy Waltz, Mike Watt, Chuck E. Weiss, Gillian Welch, HG Wells, whale songs, Dara Wier, Nate Wiley & The Crowd Pleasers, Bukka White, The White Stripes, Whitman, Wilco, The Wilders, Tennessee Williams, WC Williams, Stevie Wonder, words, World Party, Charles Wright, James Wright, X, Yeungling, Yofi Faya Batyam Ella Gingeet Metuka, Yo La Tengo, Dean Young, Preston Young, Young Marble Giants,Youth Brigade, Neil Young,Yuppim Im Jeepim, za’atar, Zheeeem, Zippy the pinhead, Zorro, to name only a few...
Northpole In July "Wrong Meter" live at The People's Pint
"Frost Heaves" on insound:**************************************************
http://www.insound.com/search/showrelease.jsp?p=INS63876&from55381
"Frost Heaves" can also be purchased at the following independently owned businesses: John Doe Jr., Greenfield, MA * The Greenfield Visitor's Center, Greenfield, MA * Turn It Up Records, Northampton, MA * Turn It Up Records, Montague, MA * Mystery Train Records, Amherst, MA * The Cup and Top Cafe, Florence, MA * Seth and Eva's, Turner's Falls, MA * Dr. Records, Orono, ME * Time Lag Records, Portland, ME * Strange Maine, Portland, ME
View Daniel Hales's EPK
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"There is something very refreshing about the debut release by Daniel Hales and the Frost Heaves. It's becoming increasingly rare in the circles of indie rock to hear an artist whose lyrics are obviously the work of a well read and intelligent individual, while still maintaining a simplicity that keeps the artist from coming across as an arrogant jerk. Daniel Hales manages to accomplish this amazing feat with ease, as Frost Heaves is a warm, endearing album that is smart, yet free from all pretentiousness... The album really shifts into high gear with the psychedelia of Loose Thread, where the slight twang of Hales' voice is still in tact, but when enshrouded in the midst of swirling guitars and trippy percussion, it comes across as something totally different. Shepherd Of Lost Shopping Carts is a breezier number with a dreamy psych pop sound that is nothing short of intoxicating. Other highlights are the straight ahead REM rocker Wrong Meter, the crazy psychobilly romp of Questions For A Carjacker and the truly epic ambiance of Discontinued Road. The title track is easily the most eclectic track on the album, as it meanders on with a psychedelic glow that would be an odd ending to the album if it wasn't followed by a simple acoustic bonus track entitled Walking Home, which wraps up the entire Frost Heaves package nicely.
Frost Heaves is the type of album that is perfect for this time of year, with our all too short Canadian summer winding down to an unfortunate close. With each listen, the album grows more and more reflective, striking a perfect balance between moments of quiet meditation and tripped out mind expansion, creating a sound that is difficult to pigeonhole, yet easy to digest."
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from the blog: "It's Not The Band I Hate, It's Their Fans," August 20, 2009
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from: "Musical Promiscuity" by Ken Maiuri, the Daily Hampshire Gazette, May 21, 2009
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"...The packaging isn't the only creative and alluring thing about "Frost Heaves." The music shimmers richly, and it came as no surprise when Hales divulged that some songs have 10 layers of guitar tracks. The thick soundscape rewards repeated listenings... Its 14 songs include a largely wordless hazy epic ("Shepherd of Lost Shopping Carts"), a fractured-kaleidoscope rocker ("Northpole in July"), a raga-like, eerie funk drone ("Discontinued Road") and an immediately catchy pop gem with a disorienting chorus that feels like the fever visions of a film-noir hero, having been drugged and knocked out cold ("Wrong Meter"). The album starts out on its most beautiful, haunting note, "Bridges Freeze First," with pedal steel moaning across the sunset landscape while violins and slow-motion cymbals fill the air. "Pray your undertaker put snow tires on his hearse," Hales sings dreamily... Hales...also writes plays, poems and fiction, which helps give his songs lyrical details not often put in pop tunes.
Lines pop out as though in 3-D:
"I'll go quietly like a bedsheet drifting over New England streets."
"All descended from grandfather clocks/ breeding dust and minding our ticks and our tocks."
"A baby stroller cradling pinecones/ a sled that stalled, dissolved into the hillside/ a leash corrodes, collar tagged Shadow."**********************************************
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"Frost Heaves is a searching, searing, frequently seducing, noteworthy disc. Comprised of engaging East-Coast pop, streamy belles-lettres libretto, and an infusion of the psychedelic, lead singer Daniel Hales’ calculated words and melodies engulf all listeners who dare enter his world of discontinuance. The music carries one willingly and spiritually along and across the New England landscape Mr. Hales has experienced... First and foremost is Daniel Hales’ musing original intellectualism, combined with exciting new metaphorical takes on the material world... Daniel Hales is an acute, perhaps thrilling observer of his surroundings, and the eyefuls of such remembrances he can translate into clever, persuasive lyrical roux." ****************************** review from: Indie Music.com by Michael Haley
*************************************************************************** "Daniel Hales and his backing band offer up this 14 song full-length, which is fresh from the plant. This disc takes on country, folk, and rock—I even hear an Indian raga influence in a song or two. Bolstered by warm production...the ethereal vocals are soothing, relaxing and inviting and the instrumentation always fits each song like a glove. The songs are performed by a collective, though there is always a finely-tuned cohesion present. The album’s strengths are its subtlety and its concision. Hales knows exactly when to reel it in and when to let it loose. The group is able to channel its disparate influences into a familiar sound that stands on its own two feet."*******************************************
***********************************review from: The Valley Advocate by Ryan Duffy
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“Bridges Freeze First,” the 5 song debut ep of Daniel Hales & The Frost Heaves, travels all over the musical map, drawing on a wide range of styles: alternative/indy without the smug hipsterism, Americana without the self pity, psychedelic without the affected British accent, rock without the rawk, pop without the saccharine, folk without the new age, experimental without the elitism. Like a good mix tape, “Bridges...” blends these (and other) genres without their limitations and cliches.
And if you enjoy this leg of the journey, stick around for the full 14 song road trip: “Frost Heaves,” due out in December. As if the band raided pawn shops and bazaars from rural New England, to Tel Aviv, to Kenya, to Calcutta, “Frost Heaves” is rich in unique sonic textures: pedal steel, Hammond B3, sitar, autoharp, talking drum, cello, harmonium, upright bass, darbukka, wurlitzer, tabla, psaltery, vintage synthesizers, banjo, djembe, violin, harmonica, celeste, dobro, harpsichord, strangely tuned guitars, drum machines, banjoud, twirl tubes, secret weapon, and Pabst Blue ribbon cans played with brushes.
For this eclectic project, Daniel (songwriter, singer, strummer, picker) took a break from his bands The Ambiguities and The Wherewithal and worked closely with producer and engineer Norm Demoura (NRBQ, the Shaggs) at Harmonium Studio (in an old brassworks building in Haydenville, MA). Together with a collective of talented musicians and vocalists, and propelled by drummer Mike Levesque (David Bowie, Juliana Hatfield), they’ve crafted a pleasing musical hybrid with gorgeous harmonies and lyrics that don’t suck. Why not satisfy your ear’s wanderlust and give it a listen?*************************from Hoboeye.com
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Daniel Hales & the Frost Heaves's Friend Space (Top 28)
Dear Daniel, thank you very much for your kind words :) you have an extensive great list of influences (i'm sure you already know that one). Have a good week. hugs, Christopher
Thanks for the support Daniel Hales & the Frost Heaves! Click on the poster below to check out Cleggisode #1 on Fangoria.com right now! And come back on Friday to catch the premiere of Cleggisode #2! ...if you aren’t too scared, that is.
Dude, what happened to your wrist?! That doesn't even look real, it's so messed up. Hope you're doing okay, and hope you're back playing guitar in no time.
**** MYSPACE BLITZ **** http://www.budmelvin.com/popularmusic Download my new record for free if you haven't yet. Buy a copy of my new record on 12" vinyl COME TO MY RECORD RELEASE IN ALBUQUERQUE Sunday. July 26th, 4pm, Leisure Bowl FREE
Hales! Been listening to the new Dio w/ Sabbath album. went to PA last weekend for Teds retirement. I saw Flora and she asked about you. Lets get together man!
Hey. I'm gonna be home on Friday till the 29th. I doubt I'll be able to make a trip to you, but if you're super bored you can come visit. Are you playing any shows or anything of that sort during that time?
we have been pretty slack with the updates but i plan on getting one up right now. hope all is well in greenfield, we just put into new london, ct. hope your t day was filling and fun. talk to you soon. -joel :)
