“fly away, fly away, love is like a swallow, here today, here today, and gone again tomorrow”
Christina Antipa wove this dew- filled spider’s web of an album in a basement in Seattle with the help of her talented friends, (Jordan O’ Jordan and Shenandoah Davis both make appearances among many others.)
The resulting album evokes the northwest winters and the daydreams of impossible romance.
Woah, it is a new year. What is going on at bicycle records? Well bob is building an accounting database so we can keep better track of where the money is going and who owes what to who. Grace Ellis just arrived to intern for us through the 1st half of feburuary. I’m working on a production collective to put on shows at “the Loft”, which is the old K records studio. Bob is also the new manager of the current K records studio a couple of blocks away from us. We have a door, with a sign on it that says bicycle records, an LLC license and a bank account.
As for music… Polka Dot Dot Dot is about to head off to New Zealand on the second half of their SYZYGY tour.
The vinyl version should be coming out on Electricity and Lust Pretty soon. (fingers crossed) June Madrona is in the studio recording Lions of Cascadia hopefuly in time for our Europian tour this spring.
We’ve got a bunch of new music coming, sorry its been a bit. It’s been a crazy winter of death, evictions, and change. But we’re all ok.
I can rave for hours about the Polka Dots. I was at some of their first (U.S.) shows and was swooning as hard then as I am now, almost three years later. I’ve lived with them, had adventures with them, and know them to be as amazing at being human as they are at being musicians. I’m a little biased, perhaps.
But, if their indie stardom in New Zealand and the standing ovations I see at their shows are any indication, my bias doesn’t actually mean much.
Syzygy is their new album. It’s the much anticipated follow-up to 2007’s Love Letter to New Zealand. It came out a couple weeks ago and, for most of those couple weeks, I have been obsessed. I actually had to wait for my obsession to die down before I could write something because I was a little speechless. Read More
Olympia Show Survey!! – Click Here!
A new collective is forming for the purpose of putting on events at The Loft. We are in the process of gathering information to access our communities needs. Please follow the link to fill out our brief survey. (it comes with a sooper cute picture of a sheep!)
If you listen, the story of the band Dark Dark Dark is woven into the haunting songs of their debut album, “The Snow Magic”. It’s a story of love and heartache, death and loneliness and the persistent sense of hope that keeps you living and moving. These familiar themes are tangled up with tales of ghosts, fermenting bodies and magical dreams. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
Keep the Lions Asleep, the second album from Firs of Prey (AKA Andrew Miller of Datura Blues) basks in the glow of a West Coast sunray—odd, given the dichotomy of sunshine-y folk-pop harmonies being augmented by a falsetto that Nick Drake might gush over. Represented by small local label BPBS Arts and Media Collective, Firs of Prey’s minimalist approach takes on the form of a CD-R disc with no titles provided, but track number four might range as the pinnacle of the collection, snipping Beach Boys arpeggio and flattening it with the drone of a grumpy organ. Track five sounds like it’s playing out of a gramophone, a compliment that, as vinyl buffs can attest, means something warm and raw and great. RYAN J. PRADO – Portland Mercury
Bicycle Records
Miwagemini – The Forgetful Ocean and Other Stories
Forgetful Ocean
Gemini brings me back to the first time I heard bands like Persephone’s Bees or maybe Cat Power. Whispers of piano, guitar, and mandolin line the recesses of each song. They live there quietly moving the melody and tempo as Miwa’s voice sleepily paints lush lyrics over them. The end result are late night songs that settle in your mind and resonate for hours after the first note.
-Pasta Primavera
Miwa Gemini has apparently been hanging around all the right places with all the right people. This provocative young lady’s music bears an uncanny resemblance to Yoko Ono’s early albums…the vocals are particularly similar. (Some of these tracks sound as if they could have been outtakes from the Approximately Infinite Universe sessions.). Considering the fact that Ono’s music has seen a major resurgence over the past couple of years, the time may just be ripe for Gemini to make some major waves. This Is How I Found You will be instantly embraced by folks in underground circles. Gemini’s songs are smart and to-the-point. Her music doesn’t fit squarely within previously defined arenas. Haunting melodies combine with strangely fragile vocals layered over exacting and appropriate arrangements. The results…are highly original and thoroughly engaging. Cool tracks include “Picnic,” “Pieces,” “Room of You,” and “Paperwhites.” Recommended. (Rating: 5++)
- Baby Sue
Forgetful Ocean
“Cute as a button and talented as few, Miwa Gemini is a breath of fresh air to the female “singer-song writer” stable. Her voice is sweet, yet deep, and her folk-music stands out from the crowd thanks to the use of banjo and mandolin. It’s a bit like throwing The Mountain Goats together with Nina Simone and Tom Waits: hazy, organic, and simply stunning.” – The Rock Sellout
Gemini brings me back to the first time I heard bands like Persephone’s Bees or maybe Cat Power. Whispers of piano, guitar, and mandolin line the recesses of each song. They live there quietly moving the melody and tempo as Miwa’s voice sleepily paints lush lyrics over them. The end result are late night songs that settle in your mind and resonate for hours after the first note.
-Pasta Primavera
Miwa Gemini has apparently been hanging around all the right places with all the right people. This provocative young lady’s music bears an uncanny resemblance to Yoko Ono’s early albums…the vocals are particularly similar. (Some of these tracks sound as if they could have been outtakes from the Approximately Infinite Universe sessions.). Considering the fact that Ono’s music has seen a major resurgence over the past couple of years, the time may just be ripe for Gemini to make some major waves. This Is How I Found You will be instantly embraced by folks in underground circles. Gemini’s songs are smart and to-the-point. Her music doesn’t fit squarely within previously defined arenas. Haunting melodies combine with strangely fragile vocals layered over exacting and appropriate arrangements. The results…are highly original and thoroughly engaging. Cool tracks include “Picnic,” “Pieces,” “Room of You,” and “Paperwhites.” Recommended. (Rating: 5++)
- Baby Sue
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