"Thebrotheregg, Portland's reigning overlord of quirky psychedelic pop" - High Bias
Please regularly visit the following brilliant music print/webzines whom have so favorably embraced thebrotheregg:
http://www.freecitymedia.com/
thebrotheregg - Aortica Mor (Bingo Lady)
Portland, OR band thebrotheregg caught my attention a few years back with the Woronzow Records release Snowflake and Fingerprint Machine. On that CD, songwriter Adam Goldman demonstrated a particular gift for conjuring powerful moods and images through subtlety rather than bombast. The follow-up Aortica Mor continues in a similar semi-acoustic indie rock musical vein but does not go into the same kinds of dark lysergic fantasies that characterized much of the previous album. Aortica Mor has a more down-to-earth focus while expanding on the beatnik jazz/folk influences that make the band's music flow so pleasantly, as voices and instruments float above the easy bounce of a distinctive acoustic bass. On Aortica Mor, thebrotheregg is a large collective made up of Adam Goldman (guitars and vocals), Sam Ross (bass, cello, voice and keyboards), Tofer Towe (drums, vocals, keyboards and mandolin), Chris Kalani Gabriel (guitars, vocals, keyboards and clarinet), Kaitlyn Ni Donovan (vocals, violin and viola), Jeff Henry (vocals, baritone & alto saxes and recorders), Kevin Cruise (guitars and keyboards), Michael Weaver (keyboards and vocals), Keith Brush (bass), Paul Johnson (tablas), Michael Stirling (tambura), Sean Lynch (piano and organ), Sam Jansons (drums), Cary Porter (scary voices) and Michael Walsh (flute). At less than 45 seconds in length, "The Arsenic Kiss Of Wet Lips" serves as a opening fragment with a Bob Pollard-like resonance. The loosened, groovy neo-military beat, light tentative keyboards and whispered vocals set the gentle, thoughtful tone of the songs to follow. "Evening", in particular, dances along delicately on a jittery guitar figure and sweet harmonies. The band gives us a new version of "Mercury Retrograde" from Free City's Further Adventures… compilation, and also includes "Theta Clear" and "Deep Back Woods" from the split EP thebrotheregg shared with the 1090 Club. The instrumental "Persanity Insonified" provides an enjoyable light psychedelic detour between the intensity of "Mercury Retrograde" and "Windchimes". The eight-minute suite "Comet Sentasan Arrow" sums up a number of the themes at work in the rest of the album with a grand dynamic edge. Aortica Mor has an engaging wistful sadness that recalls Nick Drake, and an understated arrangement style that allows Adam Goldman and company to layer on a lot of musical ideas without compromising the simple clarity of the songs. Go to www.thebrotheregg.com and www.bingoladyrecords.com.
http://mezecl.blogspot.com/
thebrotheregg "Mercury Retrograde"
Formerly on Nick Salomon’s Woronzow Records, Portland, Oregon’s thebrotheregg shares the historical perspective of Salomon’s Bevis Frond without sounding much like them. The tasteful, slightly off-kilter folk-pop on their new album, Aortica Mor, exhibits flashes of Love, Nick Drake, Van Morrison, and the Incredible String Band. It still retains its own identity, though, largely due to Adam Goldman’s somewhat awkward vocals, and an overarching sense of rainy-day idleness. “Mercury Retrograde”, with its wistful melody and strings, and that pretty, boy/girl/boy break-down, is one thoroughly satisfying indie-pop chestnut. The album itself is long as hell, but enjoyable in the main.
http://www.dreamgeo.com/
thebrotheregg "Aortica Mor" (Bingo Lady, P.O. Box 1712, Billings, MT 59103 www.bingoladyrecords.com) Bouncy propulsive and melodic, and slightly miraculous concentrated goodness and good will built around the songs and voice of Adam Goldman. This Portland, Oregon quartet make a bright and deliriously blissed out brand of fey psychedelic pop that is addictive and infectiously joyous. They bring to mind a low key Sea and Cake in places perhaps, but they also recall Olivia Tremor Control, Mercury Rev, the Kitchen Cynics, Dogbowl, Lambchop, Clive Pig & the Hopeful Chinamen, and other charming eccentrics. Soaring on harmonic layers of voice and instrumentation, making these intricate soft spoken miniature pop masterpieces.
thebrotheregg
Aortica Mor (2004)
Review by: Rafael Garcia
Date: 2/1/05
visit: 2Walls
Layered dreamscapes and bare minimalism combine on Aortica Mor, an enrapturing and endearing release from this experimental quartet hailing from Portland, OR. Making extensive use of recorders, strings, and even an accordion to accent a body of lo-fi compositions, thebrotheregg proves itself worthy of the capital intentionally left out of its name.
Adam Goldman’s wispy vocals echo the sad-hearted gloom of many an indie boy past, yet always retain an inviting softness and pleasant melody. When coupled with his charming knack for lyrical cleverness [“your body’s a temple/my body’s an amusement park”] and the requisite sugar-sweet female backup vocalist who’s brought in on occasion, magic occurs. While overlong and somewhat underproduced, Aortica Mor succeeds admirably.
On the album’s clear opus, “Mercury Retrograde,” low-pitched strings precede and buoy Goldman at his best, a throaty, lusty croon that maintains the intimacy of the spoken word, and elevates perfectly to match the chiming-in of Kaitlyn ni Donovan’s recurrent vocals. A recorder and horn lend jangle-pop catchiness and melody without resorting to the self-consciously geeky efforts of groups like the Unicorns. On the equally charming “Smoke Signals,” Ms. Donovan and Goldman again effect a trip into dream pop territory with a quality achieved previously only by the Rentals.
thebrotheregg’s unique “avant-rainpop” sound should prove favorable to any fan of indie rock. Despite the pretentious title, the album’s songs soar with an impetus rarely seen. Somewhere between Nick Drake’s naked emotionalism and the Microphones’ knack for melody, thebrotheregg provides a fulfilling and memorable venture into a soundscape of dreams and the desires that inspire them.
thebrotheregg - Aortica Mor (CD, Bingo Lady, Moody pop)
visit:BabySue
Some bands start off with a modest following and then promptly alter their music to cater to a larger fan base...losing their original vision in the process. And then there are bands like thebrotheregg. The band garnered a good bit of attention with their last album (Snowflake and Fingerprint Machine)...but instead of fine tuning their music to reach more fans, they chose instead to take the opposite path. Aortica Mor is a purely artistic effort. The gentlemen in this band aren't trying in the least to come up with a hit. The songs on this album are odd, peculiar journeys into this band's imagination. These cuts are hard to pigeonhole and categorize...yet they are highly inventive and effective. The melodies are like streams that wind and fall down the sides of mountains. Jazzy and subtle pop combines with flashes of progressive rock to create heady and intelligent compositions. This lengthy album (clocking in at over an hour) features wonderfully understated tunes that are simultaneously smooth and unpredictable. Great cuts include "Penny Farthing," "Dandelion Wildfires," "What the Zoo Did To You," and "That One Salty Sea." Great stuff, far outside the norm... (Rating: 5+)
Aortica Mor - The Brother Egg (thebrotheregg)
Bingo Lady Records
review by: S.P. Clarke
visit: Two Louies
Far from the fuel of the inklings of the celebrity press, dwell Adam Goldman and The Brother Egg. Composed of intelligence, wit and invention, The Brother Egg wist in wan shambled shades, easily the equals of Colin Meloy and other Decemberisms. Hard to pin down with the shackles of simile or oblique comparison. XTC and Flaming Lips: at times, but as often as not, mostly just themselves. Quixotic musical chameleons. Passive aggressive. Too smart, perhaps, for their own good.
Goldman sings and mumbles thoughtful lyrics, sometimes, as with “The Arsenic Kiss Of Wet Lips,” rather obscurely. “Penny Farthing” contains glimpses of lyrical grandeur: “I circle like a shark/ I follow like a weekend.” Well, of course he does. But with the lovely waltzes (more frenetically so, the latter) “Dandelion Wildfires” and the strangely compelling “Evening,” a deep, rich melodic sense rises to the fore. With Sam Ross on bass (cello, keyboards, vocals), Tofer Towe on drums (keys, mandolin and vocals and Chris Kalani Gabriel on guitar (keys, clarinet and vocals), joining Adam on guitar (and lead vocal), the ensemble demonstrates estimable euphony, unique and quaintly arcane, with chops and ideas aplenty.
Chanteuse Kaitlyn Ni Donavan, a frequent member, adds violin and viola to tracks such as “Theta Clear” and “Mercury Retrograde,” with occasional guest Jeff Henry contributing rumbling baritone sax and recorders on the latter. The instrumental, “Persanity Insonified,” lives up to its name, a synth (sounding like a theremin) and viola mélange of some specific cosmic gravity, as yet unknown: spacey and alien. Cool. “Wind Chimes” matter-of-factly drops a brief melodic reference to Brian Wilson’s Smiley Smile piece of the same name while rushing headlong breathlessly. “Pincher,” like the first song on the album, mad hatters momentarily (with Kaitlyn adding a vocal) before falling to the floor.
Lords of the flies and frogs swirl and croak before dissolving into “Deep Back Woods,” a woozy daydream: “Flies flutter inside we divide and subdivide.” Well, of course we do. Kaitlyn and Adam sing in scary unison on “Smoke Signals,” with Kait so close mic’ed she sounds like Claudine Longet (look her up) cooing softly on this slippery bossa nova. Adam’s curious, freeform vocal delivery on “What The Zoo Did To You,” cartwheels across a dither of a verse, before alighting with great piquant preciousness upon the line: “Stars move while I remain stationary beneath them,” which is simply gorgeous in its odd, disoriented splendor.
The off-kilter love song “Inventions,” makes perfect sense if you listen to it with one eye closed. “Ravinia” stutter steps in Goldman’s familiar fashion- ram jamming words into melodic syllables like so much sausage into a pliant artistic casing. Frank Zappa (were he still with us) would appreciate some of the anomalously perplexing musical interludes found here. “That One Salty Sea” is a trip down memory lane… for your DNA.
Determined to throw you off the track, the Brother Egg are as elusive as an honest man in a snowstorm. The lyrical stream of consciousness runs tributarily into rivers of not quite understanding. A waterfall rushes. A cloud passes. A bird calls in the distance. Oranges and apples, standing proud and tall together. You know, the Brother Egg are much too good for you and you don’t deserve to hear them. You wouldn’t understand what they were doing anyway. It’s just one person’s inkling.
thebrotheregg
Aortica Morhttp://amplitude-phonography.blogspot.com/
When I lived in Portland I always heard good things about this band. Unfortunately I never got around to checking them out. After a few spins of this disc I wished I had. This music is low-key sunny music with an up beat feel. The vocals have the same relaxed feel of former fellow Portlander Jeff London. This record is a summer record well suited for backyard bbq'ing and badminton.
thebrotheregg use both folky and stringed instrumentation to create sweet mellow psychedelic tinged pop. I think my favorite track is “Mercury Retrograde.” The song features great horns, strings and a rolling drum beat. The song also features the wonderful backing vocals of Kaitlyn Ni Donovan. Since I am not up on my astrology I have no idea what, “Mercury Retrograde will always break down your Machinery,” means exactly.
The press sheet talks about a lo-fi sensibility which confuses me. Everything on this record is recorded beautifully. Maybe they are talking about a D.I.Y. aesthetic. These home grown nuggets suffer not at all from flaws in the production on this fine disc. (Bingo Lady Records) (Dan Cohoon)
the brother egg
Aortica Mor
( bingo lady ) 2004 [ -or - early 2005]
"rusting can be depleting if we are destined to keep repeating the same old song"
The one and only time I made it out west, I went to breathtaking Portland, Oregon for 2 concerts - this was a year called 2001. While in Portland, I made myself welcome at the many great record shops they had waiting for me - and one of these stores offered the brother egg hand-crafted EP I reviewed some time ago. Still to this day, the brother egg are my sound of Portland - a quirky collection of slighltly off-beat anthems I can always retreat to and know I'm going to be satisfied.
Somehow, a label all the way over in Montana (bingo lady) had the sense to release this current full-length from the egg's (and their battalion of faithful servants), Aortica Mor ( Snowflake and the fingerprint machine, another solid A, was further east on Rubric ). This is a band that spits demon rice directly into the face of common song, and fear not placing a guitar / mandolin / clarinet solo smack dab in the middle, opening [or any spot for the matter] of a track. Take "Evening" as a footnote, though not nearly as odd as this text makes it seem - the 3 minutes that consume the track aren't your common creation.. . and that's just why we adore the brother egg. They make albums that satisfy them and the willing audience they reach.
There's plenty on here that's safe to get your mother into as well, such as the delightful cello & brushed drum rhythm of "Mercury Retrogrande" and her accompanying "so off kilter will your clockwork be / or else the floor must be slanted". Lyrically, the brother egg (and/or Adam Goldman) is a marvel to say the slightest.
More of a useful work of modern man that your standard bland record, the brother egg are the neon jesus set high in a sky of dim stars. "Persanity Insonified" - c'mon, what is NOT to love here?
kaleb 08.26.05
thebrotheregg "Aortica Mor" (Bingo Lady, P.O. Box 1712, Billings, MT 59103 www.bingoladyrecords.com) Bouncy propulsive and melodic, and slightly miraculous concentrated goodness and good will built around the songs and voice of Adam Goldman. This Portland, Oregon quartet make a bright and deliriously blissed out brand of fey psychedelic pop that is addictive and infectiously joyous. They bring to mind a low key Sea and Cake in places perhaps, but they also recall Olivia Tremor Control, Mercury Rev, the Kitchen Cynics, Dogbowl, Lambchop, Clive Pig & the Hopeful Chinamen, and other charming eccentrics. Soaring on harmonic layers of voice and instrumentation, making these intricate soft spoken miniature pop masterpieces. - Dream Magazine
http://www.dreamgeo.com
As elusive as the weather, it is nearly impossible to categorize thebrotheregg, their latest CD ‘aortica mor’ and the strange sounding songs within. Maybe it’s the off-kilter vocal delivery that gives each song it’s individual feel, or maybe the surreal, stream of consciousness words themselves. Add to that a wide array of lo-fi instrumentation, including some poetic string arrangements, and you have an album that swirls around your ears in an unique and enchanting way , drawing you in slowly but surely. (Bingo lady records P.O. Box 1712 billings mt 59103 www.bingoladyrecords.com) http://www.terrascope.co.uk