Top Tracks of 2011

For one reason or another, whether they touched us personally or they simply blew our minds away, these are the individual tracks we could not stop listening to. (Just a note, all of the songs are in alphabetical order according to song title, but we decided for the first time to single out our top pick at the bottom of the list.) Enjoy!

The Chapman Family’s “Anxiety” (from thechapmanfamilytv YouTube Channel).



The Android Angel’s “Brooklyn Bridge” (from the The Android Angel Bandcamp page).



Those Dancing Days’ “Fuckarias” (from the wichitarecordings YouTube Channel).



Cut City’s “Ghost Pose – 1) Lover, 2) Drifter, 3) Floater” (from the Cut City Bandcamp Page)



The Japanese Popstars’ “Joshua,” featuring Tom Smith [of Editors] (from TheJapanesePopstVEVO YouTube Channel).



She Wants Revenge’s “Little Star” (streaming on their Facebook BandPage).

//orangenoise’s “Rabblerouser” (from //orangenoise Bandcamp page).



Stephen Vs. Stephen’s “The Void” (from the Stephen Vs. Stephen Bandcamp Page).

http://stephenvsstephen.bandcamp.com/



PJ Harvey’s “The Words That Maketh Murder” [Live] (from the PJHarveyVEVO YouTube Channel).



Track of the Year: Duran Duran’s “Before the Rain” (from the 07DuranDuran YouTube Channel).

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The Android Angel Answers 5 Yet Again

Another interview I have sat on for too long – taking a very easy July and August, doing little in way of posting, the summer ended with Hurricane Irene. We, in the New York City area (and the northeast of the USA in general), are not accustomed to hurricanes; so of course there were some that thought this event was an inch away from the Armageddon. Other than causing me to have some connectivity issues, Irene had very little effect on me. But watching all the constant, minute-by-minute updates on the hurricane, made me think about New York City, and of course that led me to listen to The Android Angel’s latest album, “Marble Sun,” which I reviewed earlier this year (link). Paul Colto, the man behind the moniker, wrote this album as an ode to New York City and was more than happy (yet again) to answer some questions for me. On that note, I want to thank Paul Colto for taking the time and answering 5.

(Photograph by DeadByCinema)

1. Last summer, you spent five weeks living in the Borough of Brooklyn, New York City. As a musician, how did your stay impact you?

In New York I realised that it was time to start making the instrumentation, lyrics and rhythms in my songs more interesting - to push myself more than I'd ever done before. I walked the streets of the city for days on end thinking about how to achieve this. When I got home it unexpectedly manifested itself in my other, new project, Free Swim, which has received by far and away the most positive reviews and coverage of any project I've ever been involved in, and also been the most fun. I learnt a great deal about the dynamics of live performance from all the gigs I went to - Cut Copy, Spiritualized, Grizzly Bear, Local Natives to name a few. I also learnt to cheer the fuck up and realise that life is a truly wonderful thing full of opportunity and inspiration and all that jazz.

2. From what I understand, “Brooklyn Bridge” was written before your trip to New York City last summer. Was the intention from the start to compose a collection of songs that were inspired by New York City? How did this thematic thread develop?

I took ten songs to New York that I had planned on perfecting while I was out there. After a week or two though I began to take my guitar with me on my explorations of the city and started playing in the parks and squares I'd stumble on. It was magical. Those first two weeks in particular were a manic but glorious assault on my senses. It was all very overwhelming, not to mention a feast for my imagination, and I wrote 10 brand new songs.

On my previous record I flushed out 5 or 6 years of bitterness and sadness about things that hadn't come to pass that I'd hoped would. My time in New York made me feel positive about my life as a musician for the first time. My songwriting stopped being my therapy and became something much more beautiful. I am truly indebted to the city for that and "Marble Sun" became a love-letter of thanks.

With regards to the song "Brooklyn Bridge", yes I wrote it in the months leading up to my trip - it's the sound of the excitement. I wasn't going to include it on the album but Android Angel bass player Joe convinced me to and I am so glad he did. His encouragement and piano & string arrangements really elevated the song. I simply cannot wait to collaborate more with Joe, and Steve (drummer) and Ryan (Free Swim drummer) in the coming years.

3. Can you tell us a bit about Sex Farm Records?

It's my own DIY label on which I release all my music as Android Angel and Free Swim. It gives me complete creative control to record the music I want to make, the way I want to make it, with whom I want to make it, and how I want to release and tour it. I hope the name of the label shows that I don't always take all this quite as seriously as it might first appear...

(Photograph by DeadByCinema)

4. You describe The Android Angel as “serious” music, while Free Swim, the other moniker you produce music under, as “less serious.” How did Free Swim come about, and why use two distinct monikers?

Basically, the "Marble Sun" was taking a lot longer to finish than I'd expected because Steve, Joe and I could only meet once a week to work on it. So I started to get a little restless and decided to record a couple of stream of consciousness EPs over a couple of weeks last winter to keep me out of trouble. They became the first two Free Swim EPs. I didn't want to just write 'normal' lyrics for them so with the help of my good friend Dave Knight we devised a couple of concepts for the EPs to be about.

The two projects are very different - with Android Angel I think very carefully about the songs, working on them for a number of months before recording them. With Free Swim there is absolutely no preparation whatsoever. I literally put a week aside to make an EP and start on the first day and see what happens. They are both incredibly rewarding projects in completely different ways.

5. Out of curiosity, I know you are on your way to Romania … will you be taking the opportunity to write new music out there, or will this be a true holiday?

For the fourth Android Angel album I wanted to go somewhere completely the opposite to New York. A farm in the Romanian Mountains sounded about right. Also my dad's Romanian and it will be the first time I've ever been to the 'fatherland' so to speak and it will be nice on that level too - more personal.

I'm taking my guitar with me to work on 5 or 6 songs that I’ve been writing the last couple of months and to hopefully write a few more. Together they'll make up the fourth album. I haven't written any lyrics yet; I want to wait till I get out there for that. It's not really a "holiday" as such cause I'll be working really hard on the farm to earn my keep, and writing songs in the evenings. To be honest, my life feels like one big "holiday" - I get to visit a new country and culture one month a year with my guitar then spend the intervening 11 months recording an album about it and fooling around with other projects like Free Swim - it's more than I could ever have dreamed of really. I am a very, very lucky man and I try not to take it for granted by working as hard at my craft as possible. Next year, California!

Keep up with The Android Angel at their homepage, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Also head over to The Android Angel's Bandcamp page, where you can preview and download their music.

Also, I will be dedicating time to write about Free Swim very soon. In the mean time, start exploring Free Swim at their Facebook and Twitter, and check out the Bandcamp page, where you can preview and download their music.

Here is the video for The Android Angel’s “Brooklyn Bridge” from the deadbycinemafilms YouTube Channel.

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The Android Angel: "Marble Sun"

My thanks to Paul Colto for keeping me in the loop.

In my time writing this blog, really getting in the trenches and researching music and a wide range of artists, the artists that I have really come to admire the most are the truly independent artists. These artists, who do not have the support (or the corporate fedders) that comes with the support of a major label, continue to produce music that is often under the radar of most music aficionados. The Android Angel, the brainchild of Paul Colto, falls into this category. I need to be upfront … I reviewed Android Angel’s “Glow Worm” (link), and a few e-mails later followed up the review with an interview (link). While Colto was visiting Brooklyn, he was crazy … that is kind enough to sit down with Mirage and conduct a small interview on camera and perform his song “Hey” in McCarren Park (link). While we walked about in Wililamsburg, down Bedford Avenue, Colto confided that during his time in New York City he was composing his upcoming album. “Marble Sun” (6 June 2011) is the culmination of his time spent in New York City, and with a touch of his Surrey sensibility and New York influence, “Marble Sun” is a beautiful collection of ten songs that reminds us that our every day experiences, which we often take for granted, can be some of the most grandiose moments of our lives.



Inviting you into the oasis of the album is “Long Meadow,” a tribute to Prospect Park – one of New York City’s oases in Brooklyn where one can take a break from the hectic urban existence. For those of us who are familiar with New York City, track-to-track, we are invited to experience and/or reconsider once again what has become familiar and hackneyed, ignored and taken for granted. Though I typically use the Williamsburg Bridge, the track “Brooklyn Bridge” is an ode on a world icon. Here, Colto uses the imagery of the bridge to represent a moment of transcending from the normal everyday to new experiences: “untold scenes lie in wait for me.” And it is an apt metaphor for the listener: as we listen to Colto’s impressions, we experience what we have taken for granted anew. And for those who have never experienced New York, as you listen you are invited to experience a new world from the eyes of an outsider.

I rarely believe in the authenticity of a lyricist’s point of view; I cannot imagine or believe that every song written by any artist is about their own experiences, as opposed to having been inspired by the narratives of others, literature, films, etc… “Marble Sun,” however, is one of the few albums that the authenticity is simply not questionable. Other than “Brooklyn Bridge,” all of the songs were written while Colto was in New York City for a few weeks. “Toodle Pip” (my favorite track on the album) is his impression of Bryant Park, where the nearby “buildings touch the sky,” realizing towards the end of his trip that he will be leaving soon. And of course, his love letter to New York City, “Oh My Love,” is heartfelt when he promises that “there will come a time when I will come back to you, hold you and love you as mine.” But it is not just the lyrics that are authentic … even the music breathes authenticity. Take the manic “Slippers” – the music symbolically represents the frenzy of The Avenue of the Americas. It is not often that we consider connecting music as a means of describing topography, but Colto does it beautifully.

And speaking about the music, the album easily streams through rock to savvy pop to introspective acoustic. Though I love the lusciously arranged layers in the rock songs, it is the acoustic songs that really have stolen my heart; Colto has a natural talent to strum that acoustic guitar. Like the prior album, “Glow Worm,” “Marble Sun” is emotionally bare … this is music that is not just meant be heard and enjoyed, but also felt and pondered on. And anyone who has ever traveled (like myself coin tossing at the Trevi Fountain) will relate to this album – falling in love with a foreign city, to see it beyond the jadedness of the natives, and appreciating something that you are leaving behind. Furthermore, this third album continues to build on what The Android Angel has built: regardless if the track employed bigger or smaller arrangements than the last time, his ability to stir the visceral is greater. His consciousness as an artist in a larger world has grown. And the overall quality of his craftsmanship has matured and continues to develop, while flirting with new ideas. Leave it to Paul Colto, The Android Angel, to produce an album that really makes you reconsider everything else you have listened to earlier in the year.
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Track Listing:
1. Long Meadow
2. Slippers
3. Call the Curator
4. Lafayette Bloomed Violet
5. Photographers or Ball Players
6. Brooklyn Bridge
7. Toddle Pip
8. Oh My Love
9. La Orana Maria
10. Concealed Reveal

Keep up with The Android Angel at their homepage, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Head over to the their Bandcamp page where you can preview and purchase “Marble Sun” (hint, do this ASAP!).

Here is The Android Angel’s video for “Brooklyn Bridge” from the deadbycinemafilms YouTube Channel.

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The Android Angel Answers 5 (Again)

So here is a first for SlowdiveMusic Blog....

The Android Angel (Paul Colto), whom I have reviewed (link) and interviewed (link) earlier this year, was spending some time in New York City. It gave us the perfect opportunity to sit down with him and conduct an interview face-to-face, on camera. Mirage asked the questions, and we would like to thank Paul Colto for taking the time and answering five in person.



Keep up with The Android Angel at homepage, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.

If you are in the NYC area on Thursday, August 19th, you may consider coming down to Recoup Lounge (21 Rivington St.) at 8pm and catch The Android Angel sole area show. Read more ...

The Android Angel Answers 5

I came across The Android Angel’s “Glow Worm” a few weeks after it’s release, and it was one of those moments that I really wanted to kick myself for not being on top of this one. There was something about the strumming and pure emotional power that really caught my attention. After posting my review of the album (link), I had the chance to communicate with The Android Angel (Paul Colto), who took the time to answer a few questions. As real as his music, these responses really show more than a musician, but rather the man behind the artistry, not to mention that I got to pick up a new British idiom. I would like to thank Paul Colto for taking the time for answering 5. Enjoy!



1. Who are your musical and non-musical influences?

Like most musicians, I love to listen to as much music as I possibly can. Guitar bands I’ve always loved and whose songs I have grown up with and studied a great deal include Mercury Rev, Spiritualized, Super Furry Animals, Radiohead and The Mars Volta. I also love classic songwriters like Neil Young and Bob Dylan alongside more contemporary ones like Cornelius, Bon Iver, Caribou and Antony and the Johnsons.

Non-musically I try to incorporate everything and anything beautiful that I see and feel in reality, or in dream, in some way in my music.

2. "Android" always connotes something cold and inhuman to me, but your music is all too human and full of emotional contexts. So, why the moniker, "The Android Angel?"

I’d basically lived a wilderness existence in England for five years after University and felt like I was going insane. So two years ago, inspired mainly by the poems of William Blake, I gave up my various vices to just write, record and perform music that I enjoyed making. The Android Angel, as a musical project, emerged. I’d like to think that the name represents the detached isolation of devoting your life uncompromisingly to your art but to be totally honest, I can’t remember why I chose it.

3. It seems like many musicians are taking their cues from the past to the point that they sound like veterans, but you have not gone down this road. Though every musician has influences, as an artist, how important is it for you to have a signature sound that is your own and not the past's?

To be honest I don’t really think of it. Android Angel is an outlet that provides me with complete control and freedom to make music for no reason other than enjoyment. There’s no agenda, I simply make whatever music I feel like making. When I’ve got 10 or 11 songs I record them all to the best of my ability and then release them in the hope that other people might gain the same satisfaction listening to them as I do making them.



4. Your strumming really caught my ear. Out of curiosity, do you have a favorite guitar? How about your other instruments, any favorites?

Along with all my other uninsured equipment, my favourite guitar was stolen from the back of my car in July last year. I realized once it had gone that I’d bonded very closely with that guitar because I wrote a lot of the songs that are making me the musician I hope I am becoming on it. It was an Art and Lutherie acoustic guitar I inherited from a girl who bought it on a whim but never really played it. I sourced a replacement on EBAY a few months ago and we’re getting on pretty well so far.

As far as other instruments go, possibilities never seem quite as infinite as when I’m playing the piano. I’m not that good at it, but I know enough to get what I need out of it. I love playing the drums but I have a very fractious relationship with the electric guitar - we have a bit of history…

5. You essentially recorded "Glow Worm" on your own, but during live performances there are two other musicians present. For those of us who have not seen you live (yet), what can we expect to see and hear that we would not expect from listening to the album?

I toured the first record with just a drummer, but for the “Glow Worm” show in London in April I’ve got a bass player on board too so that we can do some of the heavy rock music from the record alongside the acoustic stuff. Having bass and drums will also give me the chance to play some songs from my first album “Bless” in full technicolor for the first time.

On the first tour we’d finish each set by getting people in the crowd onstage to play percussion on the last song which worked a treat. I’d like to think we’ll come up with a way to take it to an even higher level this year – perhaps we could completely swap places so by the end all the crowd is onstage and the band is the audience. Hmm…

Keep up with Android Angel at their homepage, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.

Also, do yourself the favor and head over to iTunes and pick up the latest album, “Glow Worm.” And of course, you could also pick up the debut album, “Bless.” (I did a bit of the ground work for everyone – listed below each album are the direct links to the national iTunes’ stores by album.)



“Glow Worm” (30 November 2009)

Australia
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Deutschland
España
Finland
France
Greece
Italia
Japan/日本
Luxembourg
México
Nederland
New Zealand
Norway
Österreich
Portugal
Schweiz/Suisse
Sweden
The United Kingdom
The United States of America

"Bless" (24 December 2008)

Australia
Belgique
Canada
Denmark
Deutschland
España
Finland
France
Greece
Italia
Japan/日本
Luxembourg
Nederland
New Zealand
Norway
Österreich
Portugal
Schweiz/Suisse
Sweden
The United Kingdom
The United States of America Read more ...

The Android Angel: "Glow Worm"

The Android Angel’s “Glow Worm” (30 Novmeber 2009 via download) flew right under my radar when it was first released. It was while visiting a friend, who was playing the album in the background, that I became aware of “Glow Worm” and was instantly curious. The opening track, “Music of the Android Angel,” is a catchy ditty, but belies the tour de force that was about to follow. It was almost as if the song was written to be the lighthearted opening track of the album, and, as a result, does not pack the visceral power or solid craftsmanship of the rest of the album. Laced with a nice arpeggio and a harmonica (and a strange monologue), the song boarders on a new wave sensibility not present elsewhere on the album, but as the second track rolls in, “Second Base,” you realize that the songwriting deserves cred.

The Android Angel is really Paul Colto; the moniker he has chosen to write under really is a misnomer. There is nothing “android” about the album; actually, it is warm and visceral in such a good way. A multi-instrumentalist, Colto is credited with the composition of the entire album and a slew of instruments: guitar, bass, piano, drums, harmonica, accordion, keyboards, etc… (Live, two other musicians are on stage.) And lyrically, Colto is able to hit those universals; like in “Second Base,” “..stuck on second base, I feel my life’s gone wrong, I feel all hope is gone…” But it is the third track that really grabs you. “In Communique” opens with beautiful strumming; one of my biggest critiques of so many guitarists is their inability to strum beautifully. Colto’s is not only fluidic (odd for the combination of chords), but also it is emotive. And then you hear those final words of the stanza, “Because if I can’t wake up with you, why am I so in love with you?” Bingo, the universal angst of not being able to have what we want.

The album continues to sweep through many themes that most 20’s / 30’s something will easily relate to. “Unfinished Business” capitalizes on that feeling of being lost, while “My Virus Crown,” in Colto’s word, “I’m Not Alright” (how difficult it is for us to admit that we are “wrong” and not the world around us). But the next track leaves you to think a bit: “Wheels” is not that acoustic. All of the sudden, the acoustic nature of the album starts to give way to that telecaster. And in the following track, an admission (and another universal truth): “I hate the way I want you, but I need the way I love you…” (“Love With No Reason”). Okay, I know what you may be thinking, “Needy, needy, needy…” But, on an album that Colto seems to be opening and bearing it all, being forthright and not lyrically shamming, the admission goes down nicely; Colto again manages to hit a universal truth, one that we rarely like to admit to ourselves.

I think that people may have two problems with this album. The first is that it is not the “acoustic” fest the band has been touted to be; and that is not Paul Colto’s fault. Expectations are not always a good thing, because they do not always allow us to experience things on their own merits; what is important here is that the craftsmanship of the album is solid. The second is that this is emotionally too bare. Well, in a field where most musicians are lyrically contrived (let’s be realistic, do all of these artists really have such horrible existences, especially the established ones?), it is reassuring that there are other people out there who are emotionally real, with the same sets of feelings and insecurities, like in the closing track, when Colto sings, “I hope it’s not the beginning of the end” (“The Beginning of the End”). Some times a nice dose of mellow reality can do more than forty-five minutes of feigned angst. Check this album out.



Track Listing:
1. Music of the Android Angel
2. Second Base
3. In Communique
4. Unfinished Business
5. My Virus Crown
6. Wheels
7. Love With No Reason
8. Glow Worm
9. Our Secret
10. For a Sleepless Friend
11. The Beginning of the End

Keep up with The Android Angel at their homepage, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.

Here is the video for “In Communique” from the paulcolto YouTube Channel.

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