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The Better Letters

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Let's Talk About It
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Let's Talk About It
Album:
Released: Aug 13, 2012
Label:

General Info

  • Genre: Pop

    Location Parkesburg, Un

    Profile Views: 12737

    Last Login: 1/15/2013

    Member Since 7/2/2008

    Website www.thebetterletters.com

    Record Label 4:3 Records

    Type of Label Indie

  • Bio

  • Members

    Joe Palumbo - Guitar, Singing /// Abe Something - Keyboards /// Ben Brunnemer - Guitar /// Steve Goldberg - Drums

  • Influences

    Music

  • Sounds Like

    Your new favorite band.

The Better Letters "Play It Straight" EP (2012) MP3s


Play It Straight EP (2012) 4:3 records

1 - Let's Talk About It
2 - Play It Straight
3 - I Wanna Be Your Dog


FREE DOWNLOAD at www.thebetterletters.com

The Better Letters "Mixed Feelings" LP +MP3s


Mixed Feelings (2011) 4:3 records

A1 - Short Term Memory
A2 - Rising To The Top
A3 - What Nice Weather We're Having
A4 - Car Wreck
B1 - Take What You Need
B2 - Bare Arms
B3 - Swing (suburbanite)
B4 - You Like Boats


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Play It Straight Press

" ...The Better Letters write songs that are driving and verbose, but precisely calculated. ... plenty of instrumental layers that swoop in and out, intertwining musical lines, and vocals in the round. All of this often makes the quintet sound twice as big, and it’s really great to hear it done well. Playing music this busy is a difficult balancing act to pull off..."

--27 Teeth (A Music Blog from DC)


"...The blend of vocals harmonising in the background against the lead is beautifully mixed, all the while the same riff flows elegantly in the background, distributing a strong and taut track that is heaving with flawlessness thanks to the impeccable ability this band has to create music....
--Louisa Smith, Dead Press

Mixed Feelings Press:

" ...The Better Letters deliver quick-hitting jolts of strange electricity, featuring frantic riffs, catchy vocals and often some well-placed synth that will certainly remind you of the eighties... If taut, erudite guitar rock is your thing, rest assured: the heat goes on."

Matthew Manuszak, Beacon Pass


"... This LP harbors no metaphorical mind fucks ...
Produced with crisp snare drumlines and hyperactive lyrics that take boat complimenting seriously, "You Like Boats" shows what is really good about Mixed Feelings. "I really like what you've done with the place/ I must say you have a good eye," they sing, ... Intriguing! ... I like this band."

Lauren Fukano, Redefine Magazine


"...It’s like the 60′s soul, 70′s funk and 80′s new wave had a three headed child...
...Ben Brunnemer and Joe Palumbo vibrate disco through their fingers without complicating it. They go for a cleaner sound and I think that is what pays off best on the album.
...They grab the best of several decades.... It’s that contrast that kept pulling me in."

Hannah Marney, The Blue Indian

7 inch press:

"...it's frantic, a little unnerving, not even necessarily lining itself up to be danceable, like !!!, it's got that energy, but not going in for the easy hooks...I like the fighting metaphor...they jab around waiting, not to knock you out ever, just poke around until you go down...But this sounds a little more unemotional...dare I say they get into Devo territory even...or the Units? ... 'Container' raises the post-everything bar adding plinky keys to the epileptic changing jangly thin electric thin, barley amplified sound. ...pure art school...appropriate weird stuff..."

Jason Dean, 7inches


"...The bouncy “Container” smacks of Freedom of Choice era Devo without some of the histrionics. However, the Better Letters also blend pop elements that make the band come across as an Americanized, male Shonen Knife. ..."

Jim Testa, Jersey Beat

The Better Letters "That's Not All" 7" + MP3s


A: That's Not All
B: Container

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Past shows:

02/29/12: When Worlds Collide Showcase, New York, NY
10/01/11: 4th Street Art & Music Festival, Jersy City, NJ
09/30/11: The Gutter, Brooklyn, NY !!! THE BETTER LETTERS RECORD RELEASE SHOW !!! featuring We Can't Enjoy Ourselves and Streight Angular!
09/22/11: Shrine, New York, NY
08/10/11: Cubicle Songs featuring Joe Palumbo of The Better Letters
06/24/11: Artful Dodger Clusterfuck Fridays: CLICK HERE TO WATCH LIVE @ 6PM
05/14/11: Death By Audio, Brooklyn, NY with We Can't Enjoy Ourselves, Sam Mickens, and Emperor X
05/09/11: Union Hall, Brooklyn, NY with Karabas Barabas
03/04/11: The Box, Charlottesville, VA, with Miniboone
03/02/11: Preservation Pub, Knoxville, TN
03/01/11: The Basement, Nashville, TN
02/28/11: Cahoot's, Louisville, KY
02/27/11: Lemon Grove, Youngstown, OH
02/26/11: Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, with Do You You Need The Service? and Univox
02/27/11: Lemon Grove, Youngstown, OH
02/28/11: Cahoot's, Louisville, KY
03/01/11: The Basement, Nashville, TN
03/02/11: Preservation Pub, Knoxville, TN
03/04/11: The Box, Charlottesville, VA, with Miniboone
12/21/10: Bowery Electric, New York, NY. Women In Need Holiday Benefit Concert with Sounds For Your Hounds (Jesse Murphy, Jason Darling, Gabriel Gordon, Jason Blum), Leah Siegle, Only Son (Jack Dishel of the Moldy Peaches), and Jesse Malin & The Saint Mark's Social
11/14/10: Southpaw, Brooklyn, NY, with Gold Smoke
10/20/10: ConArtist, New York, NY. The Better Letters play a non-CMJ performance with a band DJ set through the night.
10/16/10: Goodbye Blue Monday, Brooklyn, NY, with Last Tide (from DC)
10/06/10: Lulu's, Brooklyn, NY, with Small Devices and The Goodnight Darlings
10/02/10: 4th Street Art & Music Festival, Jersy City, NJ
08/31/10: Spike Hill, Brooklyn, NY
08/13/10: Cameo Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, with Asa Ransom and Spirit Animal
07/18/10: Sarah Roosevelt Park (Chrystie Street btw Delencey and Broome), New York, NY, with TV Baby.
07/22/10: Union Hall, Brooklyn, NY, with The Dough Rollers, and Last Good Tooth
06/06/10: The Bell House, Brooklyn, NY, with The Hydes, Ribbons, and Binary Marketing Show
05/19/10: Don Pedro's, Brooklyn, NY, with The Living Kills
05/13/10: 1st ANNUAL SPRING MIXER! at Public Assembly, Brooklyn, NY, with SSSEN, The Hollows, Poison Ivy League, The Fancy Shapes, and Rad Unicorn
05/05/10: Cinco de Mayo Listening Party, at Panda, New York, NY
02/13/10: Lit Lounge, New York, NY, USA
01-23-10: Kung Fu Necktie, Phillidelphia, PA, USA / with Do You Need The Service? BUY TICKETS
01-19-10: Lit Lounge, New York, NY, USA
10-1-09: Coco66 / 66 Greenpoint Ave, Brooklyn, USA / Joe Palumbo from The Better Letters with The Missing Teens.

Bio:

The Pennsylvania based quintet, The Better Letters, started as a synth-pop duo. With the help of a Gemini Beat Box, Joe Palumbo would write catchy micro-pop gems based around the gesticulations and modern dances of friend and keyboard champion, Abraham Something. They later fleshed out the group by adding Ben Brunnemer, Steve Goldberg, and Darryl Specht and soon after completed their debut album, Mixed Feelings (4:3 records). The band acquired Brunnemer after pulling him out of a DJ gig at an underground gay club in the West Village and convinced him he needed to play guitar for them. Brunnemer and Palumbo have been involved in previous collaborations so integration was seamless. Soon after, Goldberg was pushed off a conference call in the lobby of The Tribeca Grand. The guys convinced Goldberg (who was referred by a mutual friend) to cut out that garbage and play drums for the band instead. Fashion enthusiast and recreational Mennonite, Darryl Specht  joined the band after being promised things from the band that never came to fruition. Despite being hustled into the band, Specht stuck around because he loved the music, but mostly because he felt bad for the other guys.

To be ultra vague, The Mixed Feelings LP can be described as the progeny of disco and folk music. The seemingly innocuous lyrics caroled & bellowed by, and at times, squeezed out of Joe Palumbo actually discourse on linguistic profundities, hyper-romanticization, evolutionary misdirection, and weather patterns. The band's sound has been likened to popular 20th century artists such as Gary Numan, Talking Heads, and The Cars to name exactly three. 

The Better Letters are part of the 4:3 records family ( www.4-3records.com ) where they have released their most current effort, Mixed Feelings (2011) which followed their That's Not All - 7" (2010) release. The band will be releasing an EP in the summer of 2012 which will be available digitally for free from 4:3 records. 



Members:

*Joe Palumbo - Regular Guitar, Singing
*Abe Something - Keyboards
*Ben Brunnemer - Regular Guitar
*Steve Goldberg - Drums
*Darryl Specht - Bass Guitar

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