The following musicians know
what they each did for us...
and we love them for it!
Contributing Musicians to share
in the brunt of the
blame/credit for
"Nervous Constellations"
& the latest release,
"Songs in the Key of the Mountain Birds Blue":
They each know what they each did for us...
and we love them for it!
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A percentage of disc sales
will go to research
into finding the cures for Multiple Sclerosis and Autism:
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Sweet Relief Musician's Fund http://www.sweetrelief.org/,
(Sweet Relief Musicians Fund provides financial assistance
to all types of career musicians who are struggling
to make ends meet while facing illness, disability,
or age-related problems.),
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http://www.ms-research.org/
(Multiple Sclerosis National Research Institute,
which is a division of Torrey Pines Institute
for Molecular Studies, a not-for-profit
basic research center dedicated to the discovery
and development of innovative research methods
that lead to treatments for major medical conditions,
including multiple sclerosis, AIDS, Alzheimer's disease,
pain, heart disease, many types of cancer, and more.)
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& Autism Research Institute
http://www.autism.com/
(The Autism Research Institute (ARI),
a non-profit organization,
established in 1967 & for more than 40 years,
ARI has devoted its work to
conducting research,
and to disseminating the results
of research, on the triggers of autism
and on methods of
diagnosing and treating autism.
They provide research-based
information to parents and
professionals around the world.
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Influences
Oooh! Lots of people, places and things inspire us!
Maybe one day we'll be lucky enough to return the favor!
This disc is a nice start, we think!
Sounds Like
All of the most vivid colors of the world all swirled together,
added, while still very freshly squeezed, to the most ever-delectable,
most passionate, & most scrummily throbbing feelings
anyone has ever felt!!!
We're talkin' longing, baby! Wheee! LOL!
We LOVE MUSIC-making...like we LOVE YOU!
A cool tasty treat of undulating music on a hot summer's day! YUM!
Eat it while it's super-fresh! Mmm, Mmm, Mmm!
A delicious audible YUM for your mind, heart and ears! :)
Here are a few of our band's Vids...
lovingly assembled by band member Jeff!
Enjoy...and share! :)
Veronica & Tory ham it up
& yet somehow still manage
to convey some basic deets
about the next Smoldering Ashes release,
"Songs In the Key of the Mountain Birds Blue".
This was their second take
& Veronica says she was trying
to intentionally force Tory
to carry the weight of the conversation
& to shake his composure.
This was just a game she likes to play, apparently.
She both succeeded and failed.
Tory would be a good poker player. :)
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How on earth...or elsewhere, for that matter...
did this band come to be, pray tell???
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Well, you see, little Jimmy & Jane...
once upon a time...
17 Pygmies/17th Pygmy stalwarts,
a couple of "mysterious, creative & lovable kooks",
Jeff Brenneman
and Dirk Doucette
(both alumni of the White Glove Test),
ventured out of their California homes to meet
(cue the corny music...da...da...DA!)
Veronica Ashe
and Tory Troutman,
who are
a couple of "odd, but kinda nice, screwball types",
& Oklahoma-based alternative rockers.
Their latest Okie-band,
were college radio favorites, long ago.
(judyjudyjudy)
Once united with the CA fellows...
they decided
to become cape-wearing crime-fighters
& to make good music together...
so they expanded upon the musical
ether-pop terrain
laid out...
by the Okies' previous bands,
Animated Mayfly Festival
and Exapno Mapcase.
Somewhere, the twain did meet...electronically,
and together they drove in the golden spike that IS...
"Nervous Constellations".
And...
so, little Wilma and Wilber, that's the way babies are made.
Now come give your Great-Uncle "know-it-all" a knuckle-bump.
:)
We've got new music in the works!
BTW: We're avail. for download/sale on Amazon, CD Baby, & iTunes!
PLUS the following link's also where you can order our music:
The image above is the 1/2 page advert
in a recent issue of The Big Takeover!
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--- And below's the review from The Big Takeover! ---
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(This in 'Jack's Other Reviews' section:)
"Smoldering Ashes NERVOUS CONSTELLATIONS
...Moonlighting 17 Pygmies members Jeff Brenneman (guitar) and Dirk Doucette (drums), both also of White Glove Test, are also behind Smoldering Ashes, which heads in yet a different direction. Utilizing silky voiced Oklahoman Veronica Ashe as muse, this outfit prefers lithe atmospheric light pop that isn't a dustbowl far from where The Sundays and Innocence Mission or Natalie Merchant have taken us. Nice Sunday morning music for sure, with a classical strings element on 'Sea-Blue' delivers Nervous Constellations into an abject, after-rain radiance...."
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--- Below's the March 2009 Sepiachord.com review---
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"If a band's name is to indicate the technical nature of its music
then Smoldering Ashes is poorly named.
The songs found on the "Nervous Constellations" debut are not
the charred remains of burnt offerings. They are carefully constructed
and assembled mosaics of sound.
The collection starts off with "Barker" which has an apt under-current of
circus music, like a Doors song but more restrained. Restraint is an important key to the success of this album.
This is a band that holds back, never going too far or over the top. They're
like a lover who promises you a kiss then makes you lean in for it...
only to shift back slightly to make you lean into them even farther.
"Nervous Constellations" is all moist lips and promises.
Instrumentation is varied, yet never pointlessly so. This isn't about showing
off virtuoso talent (unless it's Veronica Ashes' sultry voice which is
appropriately front-and-center on each composition). Take "Temporary Archives": the use of the bells/chimes on this song is remarkably pulled back, where others would end up in AC/DC or Smashing Pumpkins territory Smoldering Ashes smoothly moves you into another realm by
coupling the bells with americana-tinged violin.
But this isn't a retro album. Most of the songs are built on organic
elements but they don't sound dated and the band has no fear of working in more electronic elements (as on the splendid "Duct Tape
& Superhero Love").
There's a sexy loungey-ness that runs through the pieces that, when couple
with the integration of the organic and electronic, evokes memories of the
late 80s output from 4AD records yet is still *distinctly contemporary*. This album may be perfect for strolling through the rain with your
headphones on, yet it is no stroll down memory lane. "Nervous Constellations" is not repackaged nostalgia. But it does tap into our
recollections of love and desire. And into our longing for love and desire
yet to come.
If a band's name is to indicate the nature of the music's spirit, then
Smoldering Ashes are well named indeed."
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--- Below's our first review by LunarHypnosis.com! ---
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"Nervous Constellations' is the debut album of Smoldering Ashes, which includes members of label mates 17 Pygmies and former members of judyjudyjudy.
Smoldering Ashes can't really be defined by one genre. This album mashes together (and I use that in a good way) moments of folk music, indie rock, softer melodic pop, dark ambiance and noise. The voice of Veronica Ashe is fantastic, calming without sounding like she's trying too hard, and melodic enough to smooth the highly varied sounds that play themselves out behind it. Now, the hard part: How to describe those sounds? Quirky space folk pop? Experimental indie atmospheric rock? Perhaps the best description is in the band's bio page: 'a kitchen sink concoction of melodic cacophony.' Whatever you want to call it, the music is fantastic. No song sounds the same (with the exception of the album opener and closer, in which this is done intentionally). 'A Comedy of Arrows' is calming, melodic pop. 'Sea-Blue' has a waltzing, meandering feel to it. 'Believe it, Brother' is a fast paced, head-bobbing indie rock song. 'The City Electric' is a hodge-podge of noises and interesting melodies.
These differences are the beauty of this album. Every song is unique; its own story inside the book. This is the kind of album I wish would just go on forever, each song unique yet following similar lines, and while the 32 minutes of this album are fantastic, hopefully this is just a taste of things to come from this band. Recommended for fans of great music from all different styles."
November 1, 2008
By Ormr
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--- Below's a review by Lucid Culture.wordpress.com: ---
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"CD Review: Smoldering Ashes – Nervous Constellations
November 18, 2008 ·
Much of this cd is the great album the Cure should have made between Faith and Seventeen Seconds but didn’t. Same watery guitar, same dark pensive sensibility, but none of the affectations. This collaboration between Oklahoma musicians Veronica Ashe and Tory Troutman and 17 Pygmies guitarist Jeff Brennman and drummer Dirk Doucette bridges the gap between 80s goth like This Mortal Coil and Dead Can Dance and nouveau psychedelia in the sense that its ambience is warm and draws you in. Ashe’s voice has an offhand beauty not unlike indie acoustic siren Linda Draper, and the two share a terse, imaginatively playful lyricism (do they know each other?).
After a brief, pensive opening track spiced with some raw harmonica playing, there’s the marvelous A Comedy of Arrows. Bouncing along on a deliciously watery chorus-box bassline straight out of the Laurence Tolhurst playbook, packed with big boomy chords, it’s catchy beyond words. The following two cuts, Shenfinity and Sea Blue are a study in contrasts, the first a beautiful 6/8 reflection, the second reverting to Robert Smith style new wave pop. The next track, 1000 Birds Scatter is slow and ambient with bluesy lead guitar and a striking tempo shift on the bridge. Other standout tracks on the cd include Duct Tape and Superhero Love, a dead ringer for legendary Australian art-rockers the Church with its lush, echoey layers of guitar; The City Electric, which gets totally psychedelic with a water-droplet effect (echoes of Country Joe and the Fish, maybe?); and the beautifully deliberate, tastefully orchestrated Temporary Archive. “I'm a believer in chaos, a tourist on a mystery bus tour,” Ashe announces matter-of-factly. The cd concludes with the brief, evocatively carnivalesque Kite:
The carnival’s come and it’s time to say
Goodbye, cruel world…
Hello to spring, take off the mask
Put on your face
Soul on a string
Time to see how you fly
An aptly optimistic note on which to close this marvelously captivating cd,
best experienced on earphones late at night.
Categories: Music · Reviews
Tagged: Music, Reviews, new wave, psychedelia, 17 pygmies, rock, goth music, smoldering ashes, nervous constellations, the church"
Dirk and Jeff's other full-time band is "17 Pygmies"
and their band's myspace site is found among our friends.
Please drop by and give 'em a good listen to...
and perhaps purchase a disc of theirs as well!
Thanks for your interest! :)
PEACE, LOVE n LIGHT,
oh...and Mega-Blessings,
Tory & Veronica of
***Smoldering Ashes***
hey thank you so much for the add we really appreciate it the music sounds great hope you'll give our songs a listen and our albums a download please let us know what you think how are you? :]
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