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UNICYCLE LOVES YOU LP OUT NOW on Highwheel Records!!!
Get it right now by clicking HERE!!!
produced by Brian Deck (Iron & Wine, Modest Mouse)
featuring members of The Bitter Tears
art & design by Jeremy Phillips
Unicycle founder Jim Carroll crafts tunes and lyrics that can be simultaneously dark and toe-tapping. Hear a Unicycle song once and discover it has burrowed into your frontal cortex. Jon Pollock, after just a few mega-calorie-burning minutes on stage, has the appearance of a hallucinating shaman emerging from a sweat lodge. Nicole Vitale, Baker and Labrada provide a percussive wall of often bouncy, always novel punk driven beats that buoy three-part harmonies and conjure up tuneful artifacts of pop evolution from 1958 to 2008.
Unicycle Loves You self-titled full-length album (produced by Brian Deck) will be released on Highwheel Records June 10, 2008.
Unicycle Loves You answer 20 questions on THE NIGHTFLY
NY Press says:
When listening to Chicago's Unicycle Loves You's self-titled debut, it's pretty clear that this is the product of a band that's spent a lot of time listening to the best music of every era, picking apart exactly what makes each thing great. Not only do they understand it, but they have the brains and chops to be able recreate that magic, blending/shifting between each of these influences flawlessly, while maintaining a singularly cohesive product.
The list of influences seems endless, but Unicycle Loves You never sounds derivative. Album opener "Great Bargains For Seniors" seems to mix everything from Can to The New Pornographers to Television, and that's just the start. Over the course of 10 songs, the band generates an eclectic contemporary history of pop rock as intelligent and catchy as anything any of those influences have ever created.
Friday night's concert at Park Slope's Union Hall was the band's first ever NY gig, and as great as their record is, they were even more impressive live. Full of energy, despite a very long drive, they were as tight as a veteran band with decades of practice. The dizzying bombardment of style shifts were sewn together seamlessly, even though the band often had trouble hearing themselves on stage. Vocal harmonies act as one of the band's biggest weapons, and they always arrived on point.
Forget Vampire Weekend, Unicycle Loves You just released the best poppy indie rock album of the year, and probably the best debut album of the year. Soon the blogosphere will discover this treasure and their name will be everywhere, eventually leading to a backlash after Pitchfork praises them, and they become so popular that it becomes uncool to like them.
- JL
URB Magazine says:
Often times when bands pay homage to their influences they end up being lax mimickers. Thankfully, Unicycle Loves You is far from that. They take bits from various genres spanning over several decades and pack them all into an indie-pop cornucopia of tasty feel-good music riddled with insightful lyrics. The Chi-town Quintet is currently busy touring/promoting their first full-length self-titled album due out later this year in early June. Unicycle Loves You kids and chances are you'll love them right back.
-AM
USA Today says:
Chicago group purveys zippy, energetic, complex pop tunes and impresses me considerably.
- KB
The Onion says:
Unicycle Loves You is equal parts deranged adrenaline and quirky genre exercises.
Chicago Tribune (RedEye) says:
Is it glam or new wave? Indie rock or power pop? Are they more influenced by the '50s, '60s, or '80s? Or are they just living in the moment? The answers aren't readily apparent on Unicycle Loves You's debut, but what's undeniable is the band's ability to remain entertaining and original while also vaguely reminding you of other acts you can't quite put your finger on. If songs like "Highway Robbery" don't add fun and sunshine to your day, you've got problems music can't fix.
-MP
CS Magazine says:
It won't be long until your smitten with U.L.Y.'s upbeat music on their self-titled debut. Combining 60s psychedelia with 70s arena rock hallucinationsand an overall hand-clappy circus vibe, Unicycle Loves You is one big party-and perfect for a hot summer in the city. The band's three-part harmony is a refreshing respite from the manufactured pop on the radio.
-KT
UR Chicago says:
Nothing better than the box-of-chocolates analogy can describe the music of Unicycle Loves You. It is a sweet and sugary tasting menu featuring all your favorite delights from decades of old. While sampling their new record, or their explosive live show, you will undoubtedly taste the delicious, crunchy alternative of the early 90's, the smooth silky 80's new wave, the decadent and dramatic 70's glam, and of course, the classic and forever trendsetting 60's catchy pop. It's all right here in one handy package.
- BN
TimeOut Chicago says:
Unicycle Loves You careens through genres like a rubber bouncy ball.
Flavorpill says:
When local sunshine popsters Unicycle Loves You appeared on the Chicago scene nine months ago, they seemed fully formed, as if they'd stepped out of some secret Frankenstein indie-pop factory. At their first show in November of last year, the irrepressibly ebullient quintet arrived with an easy onstage chemistry and a stable of perfectly appointed pop songs, replete with clarion harmonies and '60s-style innocence. The lighthearted sound that garnered them immediate praise in the blogosphere has wisely retained its original whimsy with the help of tambourines and clap-alongs, while steadily increasing in complexity and sophistication.
-SN
Radio Free Chicago says:
Their influences stand side by side with them and can be heard, seen and felt within almost every song, but said influences jump through eras and seem so varied that they never overstay their welcome. A hint of 50's in the chorus of "Dangerous Decade", an homage to mid-60's psychedelia in "The Fuzzies Don't Sting" and doses of 80's influence administered throughout. In the live setting these songs are accompanied by a musical exuberance and an inclination towards the humorous which keeps the music feeling minty fresh. The interplay between guitars, paired vocals and interlacing keyboards are all part of a package that seems considerably ahead of their three shows to date. One can't help feeling it will only get better with time.
-RO
Captains Dead says:
they pack all the awesomeness of the last 30 or so years of music into 3 or so minutes better than i have heard anyone trying to pull off in a long ass time. ba da ba ba ba, im lovin it.
Babysue says:
These guitar-based pop tracks are catchy, upbeat, and ultimately hummable...a pure feelgood listening experience that features complex arrangements and top notch vocals. . . an easy thumbs up.
Wordpress.com says:
Their sound is, well, pretty fucking sweet. An amalgam of self-acknowledged influences ranging from sunshine pop to glam rock, they manage to be catchy without being kitschy, eclectic without losing focus, and clever without even trying.
-CK
No Dessert For You says
the bouncy, dark, concise melodies of Unicycle Loves You have made their rise to Second City prominence quick and clean.
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