bob dylan, elvis costello, tom waits, john lennon, plastic ono band, leonard cohen, nick drake, wilco, sufjan stevens, broken social scene, animal collective, peter gabriel, andy partridge, xtc, bjork, beck, paul mccartney, stevie wonder, the beatles, radiohead, dj spooky, charles mingus, joni mitchell, david byrne, the flaming lips, cornelius, elliot smith, iron & wine, david bowie, red house painters, mark kozelek, cocteau twins
Sounds Like
radiohead, beck, peter gabriel, scott walker, the flaming lips, nick drake, animal collective, leonard cohen, the beatles, elliott smith, the beach boys, david bowie, iron & wine, xtc, thom yorke, john lennon
“And for Cloyd, all those possibilities finally seem within reach. He’s been signed to a New York label, Engine Company, and his first album, Unhand Me, You Fiend!, is scheduled to come out in January.”
—Adam Sternbergh, New York Magazine
"Having recently departed New York City for Buffalo, you can almost hear the isolation in David Cloyd's debut. Unhand Me, You Fiend! jumps between folky, Jeff Buckley-esque ballads, minor-key raucous indie-guitar workouts . . . and it's a joy to listen to."
—Amelia Raitt, eMusic.com
“This album is the perfect demonstration of high-minded Lo-Fi...”
David Cloyd, one of the exciting new artists on the Engine Company Records roster, steps onto the national stage with his debut album, Unhand Me, You Fiend! The unique story of the creation of the album and Cloyd's ascent to national awareness is equaled only by the stories told in Cloyd's songs themselves.
A performance major and multi-instrumentalist, David Cloyd had already established himself as a staple in New York City's indie-rock scene. But in early 2008, David Cloyd's musical future looked, at best, uncertain. His band had broken up, and the options in front of him were far from ideal. So, he sat down on the floor of his 9-foot by 9-foot home studio in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, to assess his resources, and the situation. He had a personal computer he had built by hand. He had two reference monitors he had bought on sale, and one $130 Japanese condenser microphone. He had one acoustic guitar, one electric guitar, a Mexican bass guitar, a keyboard with some broken keys, two amplifiers (one borrowed), and one drum machine. He had no money for studio time or more recording gear. What he did have was a wealth of songs and no one but himself to play them. "If you wait for the perfect circumstances to record an album, then you wait forever. So, I worked with what I had."
What Cloyd soon had were rough sketches for a number of recordings that found their way to producer, recording artist, and Engine Company Records founder Blake Morgan. "What I listened to were his recordings, but what I heard were his songs. There's no recording studio in the world that can make your lyrics great or your melodies memorable," says Morgan. "David's were."
Morgan committed to mixing what Cloyd was recording, setting a deadline for Cloyd to finish his work in his hand-built studio. "He was actually in the perfect environment, at the perfect time. I didn't want him to change the way he was working, or how, I just wanted him to keep going." From Cloyd's perspective, "It was like I had Blake sitting on my shoulder every day I was tracking. The very last line I sang was so fitting, literally the night before the deadline: 'I'm up in the air/I'm down to the wire.'"
Once Morgan began mixing the fully-tracked record, he wanted to ensure that they preserved the architecture Cloyd had built around the songs, while not obscuring the songs themselves. The result is Unhand Me, You Fiend!, an album that is anything but small in scope.
From its opening moments, Unhand Me, You Fiend! evokes comparisons with Radiohead, Beck, and Peter Gabriel, while underlining its improbable journey towards high fidelity ("Start with a landslide upward/Start with wide eyes, 'Sold Out Bargain'"). In "Never Run," tremolo electric guitars buoy Cloyd's Lennon-esque vocals like orchestral string parts, while the sparseness of "She Asks Me" serves to highlight its lyrical twist in describing a relationship on the ropes ("Why do you keep me/Why do you love me/She asks me"). The album's range matches its stakes as Kid A-era drum loops propel the frenetic "Come Out Wherever You Are," while the final, title track is performed by Cloyd a-cappella.
Ultimately, Unhand Me, You Fiend! was mastered by Grammy Award–winner Phil "Butcher Bros." Nicolo at the world-famous Studio 4 in Philadelphia, completing its unimaginable voyage. "This album is the perfect demonstration of high-minded Lo-Fi," says Morgan. "It's an amazing sounding record, proving beautiful music is beautiful music, however it was made."
"But," adds Cloyd, laughing, "if you know where to listen, I swear you can hear my upstairs neighbor's dog barking."
GET YOUR OWN FIENDISH DESKTOP WALLPAPERS!
Find your screen size, save it to your computer, and set as your desktop background!
happy new year! thought i'd let all my MySpace friends know about my twitter & facebook pages. i'll still keep my MySpace rockin' with new tunes, blogs etc., but do most of my daily updates by twitter & facebook. Hope to c-ya there!
Just checking in with you my friend and hoping you are well this holiday season!
A THOUGHT AT CHRISTMAS ...
"The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens, easing other's loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas."
~ W. C. Jones
MAY YOUR HEART BE FILLED WITH THE JOYOUS SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS ALL YEAR LONG!
Please stay in touch from time to time and let me know how you are!
Ever wondered what to do in the event of a nuclear threat?
A while ago I found stuff that inspired me to make this film:
Living Under the Shadow of the Nuclear Umbrella
Both artistic (ensure you get the background music!) and educational, it primarily comprises official British government civil defence advice.
Though source materials are quite aged, much remains relevant today.
I encourage all to visit the YouTube page to learn more (Show support! Rate! Comment!) and responsibly circulate as widely as possible, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaIim3Rj7L4
Hey! Happy Thanksgiving! Just wanted to let you know that I have a ton of new songs up on my page, including a remix done by my friend Alex Niceforo of the band "Settings" and a cover of "Whatever You Like" by TI. Stop by and check out the new songs/new layout if you get some time! And come talk with me! Im looking to fill up my top friends, and giving away free stuff! Message me to find out how! -Derrik
The Frontline is gonna be playing tonight @ Neitzche's for Artvoice's
Battle of the Boom Contest. The show starts at 10:30 so come check it
out. We're playing with/against The Tins, Hunger Anthem, and Colors In
The Air. We're the headlining act so it should be a late show.
Admission is $5 @ the door, ages 21+. So bring some friends and enjoy a
great night of local music after all your Black Friday shopping. For
more information on the event go to http://boom.artvoice.com. If you want more info on The Frontline, go to www.myspace.com/thefrontlineny. Thanks for the support. Take care!
Good to have you as a friend! So great to see the internet in action this way, shortening distances between people.
I hope all's well with you and that you enjoy checking out my web site some time.
For occasional, new, refreshing, insightful and (possibly?!) valuable content, I encourage you to sign up for my free newsfeed/email newsletter (using the form on site at page right - high quality, low quantity, no spam!).
You might enjoy watching some of my films (use the on screen controls to skip between them):
DAVID CLOYD we started posting more "Evro Music" videos on YouTube. A lot of new songs are up. We recorded them on a cell phone, so the audio isn’t great. Here's the link, http://www.youtube.com/user/EvroMusic1 tell us what you think and leave us a comment on MySpace or YouTube. Peace out and have a good day! - EVRO
Welcome to “DM Country”, home of the "DM Tongue Twister". Here's a "DM" tongue tangling tambourine jangling double fisting mind twisting riddle to get you through your day and help you keep a grin above your chin through the week. Have a Tornado swirling Fly caught in a hurricane whirling Hope I make it out alive hurling Thank God I’ve landed back on my feet twirling Day!!!
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![elizabeth [vices]](http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/118/s_fcd9b4723a1142acbcd8c2f27d908edd.jpg)
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