Deaglan
New Member
**********************
BLUE STATES (live)
+
Jimmy Behan (live)
POD, Harcourt St.
Thursday 5th December 2002. Doors 7:30pm
Admission €16 on the door.
With their classic new single 'Season Song', released this week after featuring as a lead track from 28 Days Later; filling the airwaves and getting across to a broader audience; BLUE STATES are somewhat predictably mentioned in the same tones as Zero 7, Lemon Jelly and Bent as 'the UK's answer to Air'. They have been slowly building a name as classic proponents of timeless Balaeric bliss since the release of their massively acclaimed debut album 'Nothing Changes Under the Sun' on the ultra-cool Memphis Industries in 2000. Based around the cinematic soundscapes of Andy Dragazis; BLUE STATES were then picked up by XL Recordings (Basement Jaxx, White Stripes, Prodigy, Badly Drawn Boy) who released the second album 'Man Mountain' just over two months ago.
A clear and decisive progression from the debut; acclaim for the new album has once again been widespread and overwhelming - see more quotes below. Playing at Cuba Galway on Wed 4th December and POD Dublin on Thursday 5th; this is their first shows in Ireland since lifting the roof off a New Breathe night at POD and playing the Trinity Ball in early 2001.
Taking with him a six-piece band including acoustic and electric guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and vocalist Ty Bulmer; the return of Andy Dragazis and Blue States to Ireland is eagerly-awaited. Support from Carlow's Jimmy Behan, fresh from wowing the crowds at The Big Chill festival in London; also on the bill in Dublin.
BLUE STATES biog 2002
So, what is it about Blue States? Ever since the first clutch of EPs released four years ago, Blue States has always been about grand, sweeping music with an evergreen lustre that masks a deceptive emotional punch. With their second album, Man Mountain, it's as it ever was, only more splendidly realised.
"To me it feels like my first album," says Blue States' songwriter /
multi-instrumentalist /string arranger / producer Andy Dragazis. "For the first time I was able to realise a lot of the possibilities I could
only hint at before, like finally having the chance to arrange real strings, which for me was the most enjoyable part of recording. It's just more of a creation."
Not that his actual debut, Nothing Changes Under The Sun, the first-ever album to be released on the fledging Memphis Industries label in mid-2000, is anything to sniff at. An instrumental album flush with the emotion of epic romantic cinema soundtracks, sepia-tinted melancholy filtered through joyful introspection, Nothing Changes was not only vastly acclaimed, word of its inner beauty spread to punters everywhere. In authentic slow burner style, the album sold and sold, and kept on selling, the phenomenon resulting in an international deal with those knowing ears at XL Recordings.
Enter Tahita 'Ty' Bulmer, London-born and brought up in Europe and the US. Brought in as a one gig experiment, Andy and Ty clicked in a Vulcan mindmeld manner. Their very first writing session resulted in the perfect pop melancholia of 'Only Today'. Ty's pure, sweet soprano sings of dreamy childhood summers full of loss and disappointments. Her intuitive understanding for the unspoken longings and romantic nostalgia of Andy's music gives their collaboration an all too rare chemistry.
Hark at the Gainsbourg-a-like glory of 'What We've Won', the flipside to the darker resonance of a choir of East London and Essex school children on the astonishing 'Season Song'. Not forgetting the outstanding instrumentals which are the continuing mainstay of Blue States, from the deep lupine lope of first single 'Metro Sound', the psychedelic swirl of 'Colouration', where joy and tragedy intermingle in brilliant technicolour.
Behold Man Mountain in all its ambitious breadth! Swoon as power and grace build to form a heartfelt and timeless masterpiece! Gasp in wonder as Blue States claim their rightful place at pop's toppermost
peak!
Revealing itself slowly and tenderly, Blue States' stellar accomplishment is now yours to discover...
PRESS QUOTES ABOUT BLUE STATES 2002:
"Man Mountain more than delivers... an album that oozes lush, summery beauty from every dusty vinyl groove... A rare treat indeed" ALBUM OF THE MONTH 4/5 iDJ
"flits effortlessly from cinematic pop to pocket symphonies, euphoria mingling with melancholy moods... magical and uplifting. One of the summer's must-buys" 4/5 The Guardian
"has a scale and grandeur rarely heard in modern pop" The Observer
"we need more like it" 5/5 Seven Update
"the best sixties soundtrack album never released" 5/5 Maxim
"gale force wind epics resounding with elemental wonderment. Most chill-out caters for the lounge: Blue States reach for the skies" 4/5 Uncut
"In Andy Dragazis' hands, chill out hasn't reached an impasse but found a path that's heading straight to heaven" 4/5 Jockeyslut
"an origianl, non-cliched soundtrack for today's chill-out generation... Arty, melancholic, gentle, sweeping, retro and futuristic... investigate" Mixmag
"funky and melancholic at the same time" FHM
"exceptional cinematic downtempo delights" Music Week
"A tightly packed canvas of soundtrack tinted keyboards, loose-fitted funk guitars and breezily becalming vocals... Blue states offer fresh and vital horizontal ways. Zero who?" 4/5 Seven Monthly
"melodies that seem to have escaped from the soundtrack to an impossibly cool 60s movie involving sports cars, casinos and the French Riviera" Q
"Intelligent, mature music for a thoughtful listener" Straight No Chaser
"it's glorious" 8/10 Hot Press
"heavy with soul and emotion" Time Out
"glorious, elegant, lush, soporific, cinematic, uplifting... and any other gushing adjective you may care to mention" i-D
"a mellow, hauntingly lovely affair with dreamy female vocals set to a swoonsome orchestral score for the best Bond movie never made" Sunday Telegraph
"a serene ocean of sound with a turbulent undertow" 4/5 The Times 'Play'
"a significant step forward... a slow burning strum of a collection that should win Blue States the wider audience they deserve" 4/5 Muzik
BLUE STATES (live)
+
Jimmy Behan (live)
POD, Harcourt St.
Thursday 5th December 2002. Doors 7:30pm
Admission €16 on the door.
With their classic new single 'Season Song', released this week after featuring as a lead track from 28 Days Later; filling the airwaves and getting across to a broader audience; BLUE STATES are somewhat predictably mentioned in the same tones as Zero 7, Lemon Jelly and Bent as 'the UK's answer to Air'. They have been slowly building a name as classic proponents of timeless Balaeric bliss since the release of their massively acclaimed debut album 'Nothing Changes Under the Sun' on the ultra-cool Memphis Industries in 2000. Based around the cinematic soundscapes of Andy Dragazis; BLUE STATES were then picked up by XL Recordings (Basement Jaxx, White Stripes, Prodigy, Badly Drawn Boy) who released the second album 'Man Mountain' just over two months ago.
A clear and decisive progression from the debut; acclaim for the new album has once again been widespread and overwhelming - see more quotes below. Playing at Cuba Galway on Wed 4th December and POD Dublin on Thursday 5th; this is their first shows in Ireland since lifting the roof off a New Breathe night at POD and playing the Trinity Ball in early 2001.
Taking with him a six-piece band including acoustic and electric guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and vocalist Ty Bulmer; the return of Andy Dragazis and Blue States to Ireland is eagerly-awaited. Support from Carlow's Jimmy Behan, fresh from wowing the crowds at The Big Chill festival in London; also on the bill in Dublin.
BLUE STATES biog 2002
So, what is it about Blue States? Ever since the first clutch of EPs released four years ago, Blue States has always been about grand, sweeping music with an evergreen lustre that masks a deceptive emotional punch. With their second album, Man Mountain, it's as it ever was, only more splendidly realised.
"To me it feels like my first album," says Blue States' songwriter /
multi-instrumentalist /string arranger / producer Andy Dragazis. "For the first time I was able to realise a lot of the possibilities I could
only hint at before, like finally having the chance to arrange real strings, which for me was the most enjoyable part of recording. It's just more of a creation."
Not that his actual debut, Nothing Changes Under The Sun, the first-ever album to be released on the fledging Memphis Industries label in mid-2000, is anything to sniff at. An instrumental album flush with the emotion of epic romantic cinema soundtracks, sepia-tinted melancholy filtered through joyful introspection, Nothing Changes was not only vastly acclaimed, word of its inner beauty spread to punters everywhere. In authentic slow burner style, the album sold and sold, and kept on selling, the phenomenon resulting in an international deal with those knowing ears at XL Recordings.
Enter Tahita 'Ty' Bulmer, London-born and brought up in Europe and the US. Brought in as a one gig experiment, Andy and Ty clicked in a Vulcan mindmeld manner. Their very first writing session resulted in the perfect pop melancholia of 'Only Today'. Ty's pure, sweet soprano sings of dreamy childhood summers full of loss and disappointments. Her intuitive understanding for the unspoken longings and romantic nostalgia of Andy's music gives their collaboration an all too rare chemistry.
Hark at the Gainsbourg-a-like glory of 'What We've Won', the flipside to the darker resonance of a choir of East London and Essex school children on the astonishing 'Season Song'. Not forgetting the outstanding instrumentals which are the continuing mainstay of Blue States, from the deep lupine lope of first single 'Metro Sound', the psychedelic swirl of 'Colouration', where joy and tragedy intermingle in brilliant technicolour.
Behold Man Mountain in all its ambitious breadth! Swoon as power and grace build to form a heartfelt and timeless masterpiece! Gasp in wonder as Blue States claim their rightful place at pop's toppermost
peak!
Revealing itself slowly and tenderly, Blue States' stellar accomplishment is now yours to discover...
PRESS QUOTES ABOUT BLUE STATES 2002:
"Man Mountain more than delivers... an album that oozes lush, summery beauty from every dusty vinyl groove... A rare treat indeed" ALBUM OF THE MONTH 4/5 iDJ
"flits effortlessly from cinematic pop to pocket symphonies, euphoria mingling with melancholy moods... magical and uplifting. One of the summer's must-buys" 4/5 The Guardian
"has a scale and grandeur rarely heard in modern pop" The Observer
"we need more like it" 5/5 Seven Update
"the best sixties soundtrack album never released" 5/5 Maxim
"gale force wind epics resounding with elemental wonderment. Most chill-out caters for the lounge: Blue States reach for the skies" 4/5 Uncut
"In Andy Dragazis' hands, chill out hasn't reached an impasse but found a path that's heading straight to heaven" 4/5 Jockeyslut
"an origianl, non-cliched soundtrack for today's chill-out generation... Arty, melancholic, gentle, sweeping, retro and futuristic... investigate" Mixmag
"funky and melancholic at the same time" FHM
"exceptional cinematic downtempo delights" Music Week
"A tightly packed canvas of soundtrack tinted keyboards, loose-fitted funk guitars and breezily becalming vocals... Blue states offer fresh and vital horizontal ways. Zero who?" 4/5 Seven Monthly
"melodies that seem to have escaped from the soundtrack to an impossibly cool 60s movie involving sports cars, casinos and the French Riviera" Q
"Intelligent, mature music for a thoughtful listener" Straight No Chaser
"it's glorious" 8/10 Hot Press
"heavy with soul and emotion" Time Out
"glorious, elegant, lush, soporific, cinematic, uplifting... and any other gushing adjective you may care to mention" i-D
"a mellow, hauntingly lovely affair with dreamy female vocals set to a swoonsome orchestral score for the best Bond movie never made" Sunday Telegraph
"a serene ocean of sound with a turbulent undertow" 4/5 The Times 'Play'
"a significant step forward... a slow burning strum of a collection that should win Blue States the wider audience they deserve" 4/5 Muzik
