~Paul Fonfara - Vocals, Guitar, Clarinet, Viola, Bandoneon, drawings and paintings
~Josh Granowski -Bass
~Chris Hepola - Drums and Piano
~Will Dockendorf - lap steel guitar
with notable alumni and frequent guests:
~Mike Brown - bass
~Kelly O'dea - Violin
~Ian Cooke - Cello
~Jonathan Kaiser - Cello
~Jackie Beckey - Viola
Influences
ennio morricone, leonard cohen, taruf de haiduks, edward gorey, black heart procession, serge gainsbourg, common misspellings and stuttering bills, 16 horsepower and the denver gentlemen, bob wills, the beatles, twin peaks, dolby(not thomas although he is pretty cool) at 15 ips, cormac mcarthy, winnie from the wonder years, egon schiele, faulkner, ian cooke, les paul, fawn fables, tin hat trio, heironymous bosch, bartok, gabriel garcia marquez, portishead, tom waits, henry darger
painted saints hail from Minneapolis/Denver and do a gutter blues/spaghetti western-heroin klezmer-chamber country-sad bastard sort of sound. the songs are tin can and twine romances in a color of rust...long wind swept open roads framed by tangled barbed wire and naked telephone poles.....harmonies from old eastern europe, the desert southwest and the sentiments of working class rust belt americana.
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PRESS:
If Disney's Fantasia grew up and released an album, if Golgo Bordello mellowed out and accuired an orchestra, if Morrisey was actually as deep as he wants to think he is, you would have somewhat of an idea of the sound of The Painted Saints.
In short, The Painted Saints are pretty damn good. Their sound is somewhat small orchestra-like and I could of sworn that on some of them that I heard a theremin in the background. All of them are very dark sounding but not in a lame Goth kind of way, they don't make you want to smoke cloves and worship Johann Vasquez or anything. The closes they come to 'rock' on this album is the song, 'Tinder,' which has more of a guitar part than most of the songs on the album but still stays true to The Painted Saints' dark orchestra sound by retaining the same instruments, cellos etc. "For the Brokers of Bottles," takes on somewhat of an eerie marching band sound kind of tone.
The best song on the album I was pleasantly surprised with was The Painted Saints covering Neutral Milk Hotel's "Oh, Comely." They seem to slow it down just a tad more than Neutral Milk Hotel originally does it and naturally they throw in a cello. Also theres no mistaking the theremin in this one now. All of these songs all show off how wonderfully The Painted Saints can have their own distinct sound while not recreating the same song again and again.
The album is good, period. I have no constructive criticism this time around and await the instructions telling me where I could buy it. Well done, Painted Saints. Well done.---------------------------------------------------------hot indie news-brooklyn
In your dream your car and breaks down in the middle of the American West. You're at a non-place where you can see the desert, the forest and the plains stretching off into the distance. The shadows of mountains rise behind the fog that shrouds everything. I doesn't take you long to realize that you're lost in time as much as in place. "The Bricks Might Breathe Again" by Painted Saints could be the soundtrack to this dream.
Painted Saints are lead by Paul Fonfara, late of Denver currently of Minnesota. To get from one to the other he had to make his way across much of the American plains and, apparently, make his way through every genre of Americana. He's a multi-instrumentalist wielding guitar, clarinet and bandoneon, he also takes on the singing/song writing duties (he's a damned good whistler,too). With other folks bringing the cello, saw, bass, violin, toy piano and percussion Painted Saints are more an ensemble than just a band. But there's a humbleness to the "chamber country" found here. These songs are always accessible, never pointlessly virtuosic.
Perhaps it's the clarinet... or the cello. But this album doesn't stay land locked in the middle of America. There's a palpable European undercurrent washing through the songs. The clarinet brings in bits of klezmer, the guitar sounds positively flamenco at times and "For the Brokers of Bottlecaps" is a waltz for a broken Baltic capitol. These influences aren't jarring they just help make the haunted rural landscape that much more otherworldly.
We're not quite in another world but the elegiac manner of the vocals is straight from the borderland between here and the Other Side. This matches the mannered, judicious percussion that's so laconic you're bound to think less of high spirited country music and more about somber "indie" rock like Morphine or Low. The rhythm section knows that you can't go too fast if you want to hypnotize the audience.
You can hear the influence of contemporary music throughout "The Bricks...". This isn't just another retro-folk album the song writing is so tight, so succinct that it feels completely modern. Even at their most protracted they evoke God Speed You! Black Emperor more than any meandering folky, just check out "Paladin Whine". It's nice that musicians can sound so world wise and still be so wonderfully youthful.
All of these elements work together to create an amazing amalgam. This troupe feels like a French cafe ensemble that got lost time and was forced to work with sheet music from the last 100 years. But Painted Saints work it all into a cohesive dreamscape, the soundtrack to your dream if it was directed by Sergio Leone.
SEPIACHORD
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Lead by multi-instrumentalist Paul Fonfara, a virtuoso clarinet player with a handle on just about any music-making device you can throw at him, Painted Saints are perhaps the most accomplished local band you've never heard of. A transplant from an incestuous Denver music scene, Fonfara possesses a technical prowess that has been on display for years; he's a former member of Devotchka and touring sideman to Jim White, but it's his songwriting and orchestral creativity that get the limelight with Painted Saints. Live, Fonfara layers guitar, clarinet, strings, an archaic Colombian squeezebox, and whistles that would make Andrew Bird blush, resulting in a self-described "spaghetti western-heroin-klezmer-chamber country-sad-bastard thing." Also a talented painter, Fonfara pens lyrics that detail the kind of dark and vivid imagery one could imagine Hieronymus Bosch creating, were he raised in modern-day rural America.
Christopher Mathew Jensen City Pages
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the appreciation for the odd or slightly out of whack sound served fonfara well.
that sense of mood alng with fonfara's eye for the unusual and his
ability to seamlessly integrate different instruments and traditions
into single songs keeps The Bricks Might Breathe Again from being
easily pigeonholed. The sleepy, nodding "Paladin Whine" stands in
marked contrast to the chain-gang country stomp of the title track and
somewhere in the middle rests the Victorian March of "For the Brokers
of Bottlecaps". Tying it all together are instrumental interludes that
give the record the cohesive feel of a soundtrack. It's an intimate
record of smal pleasures that grows with each listen.
-Steven McPherson Reveille Magazine
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Company Town takes country-blues-folks at its finest and adds awe-inspiring cello, bar banter wisdom and a few wild cards for good measure, hearkening back to a mythical time when men were men, moonshine flowed freely and a musician couldn't get by if he didn't play a mean fiddle and whistle for a fistful of dollars in his sleep...Company Town is not merely an excellent and evocative album, but something rarer-- one of thos hari on the back of your neck records that comes out of nowhere and inhabits your CD deck for weeks.
Nick Norton Splendid
ALLO FRIENDZ! 'Live at The Amsterdam Hilton' album is ready! (Punk Opera: CHE LENNON by 'The OZ from Russia', live version) Come LISTEN to some tracks on our Myspace or DOWNLOAD the whole ALBUM FOR FREE: www.dotheoz.com
Recorded on March,29 2009 at The Amsterdam Hilton for the 40th anniversary of John & Yoko 'Bed-In'!So now finally, after the mixing and editing, this cool wild version of 'Punk Opera: Che Lennon' is AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD. The CD version of the album is coming soon!
P.S. After this release The OZ are turning to record an album of their own original songs. P.P.S. And come see us live.
Hi, we @ ALL ABOUT BIG THINGS ENTERTAINMENT
(AABT) like what you doing , keep up the good work, feel free to check
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Ádriel is a special edition compilation for the seventh referencence (enz-007) based on the two previous works and a previously unreleased track (Guadalmesí in Km 90). The album is created under a post-rock with soft melodies on rising that invite personal reflection.
The source of inspiration is the newborn son of J. Quero musician and composer of "From above, in the Mountain", also named Ádriel. Ádriel SR track even contains an introduction to the music of their toys in a revers-filled background that you reach back to the past.
Within the project From above, in the mountain, and the reference Ádriel is the colaboration with environmental groups and nature related documentaries. These works will light in early 2011.
This reference is the new atmospheric delivery of fromaboveinthemountain to enzo-platform. A new image, a new path, a new direct ...
Painted Saints Thank you for your kindness and friendship Please feel free to down load my first two songs. "Catch Up" and the "Selena Rose" songs. I opened them up no charge just click on download by the smaller picture of myself. Just a small token of my appreciation for you. Painted Saints I will let you know where I will be performing.
hey:) how are you,whats up? can you please check out lyrics that i wrote *their in my blogs* & tell me what you think? some of them are comedy songs, some our rap, some are more acoustic sounding, just very different styles of music/genres oh, some of them have punk mixed into them 2;) need to get some instruments to them & vocals and they be awesome might have to add some more to them though and if you get the chance check out my ghetto poem recording on my profile and let me know what you think. thank you for your time.
Thanks for adding Vintage Hustle Records. We are an independent record label based out of OH. If you are looking for some new bands to check out, be sure to have a look at our 2010 Roster. If you like what you hear let us know and check out the bands' personal page!
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