some of the great bands we've played with:
Papercuts
Grizzly Bear
Mates of State
Feist
Horse Feathers
Citay
Au Revoir Simone
Cotillion
Mantles
The Oh Sees
John Vanderslice
Oranger
The Fits
Judgement Day
Trainwreck Riders
Two Gallants
Viva Voce
Scrabbel
Mumlers
Cake
Waxfire
Persephone's Bees
Pickwick
Asobi Seksu
Sounds Like
"You'd never know from listening that it took the Botticellis' four years to craft their debut album Old Home Movies. It sounds like the work of one sun-soaked late summer afternoon spent playing tunes with friends and family. The album is suffused with warmth and peacefulnees that flows from the gentle strum of the guitars, the rich organ that seeps into songs like the golden glow of a sunset, the lush vocal harmonies, and the classic pop song structures laid down by the group's architect Alexi Glickman. He also possesses the kind of sweet, high voice that would have held him in good stead in the Wilson household. Indeed like much West Coast pop since about 1962 on, the Botticellis have drawn influence from the Beach Boys. In this case it's the late-'60s version of the band when the boys sported beards and preferred to surf their inner consciousness rather than the waves. You can also hear Phil Spector in the reverb-y production, power pop in some of the more uptempo tracks (like the back to back crunch of "Up Against the Glass" and "The Reviewer," which are enough to put every band on Rainbow Quartz to shame), '70s AM radio pop in the slow, sensitive ballads (the gloriously sugar-y "Who Are You Now" would have slotted in perfectly between Bread and Seals & Crofts), and the peppy jangle of modern Canadian indie pop. These influences are very well blended into an overall sound that is purely the band's own, though, and it's easy to enjoy the album on its own instead of constantly, distractingly, playing spot the lift. Maybe it's the craft that went into making the album, the sheer amount of time they must have taken picking the best songs and performances that makes Old Home Movies so fully realized. Maybe it's just a happy accident. No matter, the important thing is that the album is as fine a slice of warm, sweet indie pop as you're liable to find in 2008 or anytime."
-Tim Sendra, All Music Guide
"California may not be as inexorably linked to surf music as it was before the collapse of The Beach Boys but tenuous threads still connect the waves with the Golden State. The Botticellis’ debut, aptly titled Old Home Movies, is a shimmering analog paean to sun-bleached daydreaming. And like those Super 8 movies your parents dust off, the grainy pictures blur at the edges. Movies was recorded at Tiny Telephone at at the ensemble’s communal home in the foggy Outer Richmond district in San Francisco. Guest musicians include violinist Anton Patzner (Bright Eyes) and Jason Quever (Papercuts), who played drums on one song and helped the band commit the album to analog tape.
The Botticelli’s artistic decision to dip heavily in the sounds of ‘60s surf music doesn’t lessen their contemporary thrust. Old Home Movies skirts a sticky nostalgic mire by asserting The Botticellis as a mature band, perfectly adept at both pastiche and melody.
Botticelli means “little barrel,” a surf term Zack Ehrlich (drums) and Alexi Glickman (lead songwriter/vocalist) started using as kids for their favorite California wave. As an aural equivalent, the lovely title the lovely title track’s hypnotic Vox Continental’s drone pulls you in like the vein of a big roiling wave. ‘When I Call’ vies for the darker veneer of a chamber orchestra. The surf guitar recalls the work of landlocked surf rockers, Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet. Movies is out on Antenna Farm Records May 13. It took four years of painstaking cultivation, and it shows. Beneath all the reedy organs and reverb is a beautifully subtle debut."
-TLOBF
"The Botticellis is a California-based quintet whose music recalls 1960s pop but is flavored and threaded with twenty-first century sounds and ideas. At times the band's smart, intricate pop sounds like a modern progressive take on the music of The Smiths. Songs are the heart of Old Home Movies...and songs are what make this album such an appealing spin. The overall sound of this album is out-of-synch with most of the popular bands we have heard of late. Instead of jumping on the latest bandwagon... these folks seem to be just normal musicians driven by a sincere, innate desire to create and record. As such, the ten tracks on this album are pure and refreshing. The vocals are smooth and natural, never forced. And the arrangements are a perfect fit for the songs. Our favorite tunes include "Old Home Movies," "When I Call" (a particularly beautiful track, our favorite...), "New Room," and "Table By The Window." Very nice stuff... (Rating: 5+)"
-Babysue
"I need bands like these to come straight out of nowhere and take me while my guard is down. Especially with a punchy, wonderful pop song like Old Home Movies, whose glimmering surf-music throb is coated with an unseasy sheen, giving it a complete, mature texture. So mature, actually, that if I were to meet The Botticellis, I would most likely call them “sir.”
-Limerick Ox
"Old Home Movies is packed with beautifully crafted pop filled with Big Star type hooks backed with vintage keyboard washes under soulful croony vocals."
-Now Hear This
"...the title track and ‘Up Against The Glass’ show exactly why it [Old Home Movies] could be one of this years most treasured releases."
-MP3 Hugger
"The musical byproduct of communal living in the Outer Richmond district of San Francisco, indie pop-surf band The Botticellis impressed me when I saw them at NoisePop last year opening for Cake. They've got a tight, sunny, '60s sound saturated with multihued orchestral melodies. I'd posted an earlier version of this addictive little song last year; it's now revisioned for their debut album on the Oakland, CA label Antenna Farm. Check out the vintage, analog sound of the album Old Home Movies when it comes out May 13. They're playing some Bay Area shows in the coming months and also will be at SXSW."
-I Am Fuel, You Are Friends
"Old Home Movies"...is another CD I can't seem to stop playing. [The Botticellis] have a sound similar to BIG STAR or THE POSIES sometimes, but that would be pigeonholing them if that's all they are. It's BEACH BOYS sometimes, and at other times it's just gorgeous. "Old Home Movies" drips with something lush... A fantastic band."
-Future Sounds
I just downloaded my copy of Old Home Movies from itunes. I am very pleased with the decodence of the music. It is very multi-layered and pleasing to the mind and ear. Indeed, if I should stumble upon a random band on myspace, God blessed me when I found you guys.
just saying hello and congratulations on the new album. chad and i are big fans and we cant wait to hear the full thing. will never forget playing that night at the hemlock with you guys, an amazing evening of music. much love and appreciation, jordan
