REBECCA GATES and the CONSORTIUM the FLOAT LP+MP3 / CD Release Date: 23Rd of July, 2012
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REBECCA GATES AND THE CONSORTIUM THE FLOAT LP+MP3 / CD Release date: 23rd of July, 2012 RECOMMENDED SONGS The personality of an artist may manifest itself in many different ways. Rebecca Gates’ does 3. & & & so by approaching pop music in an heterodox and refreshing way. After all, no one ever said 4. Rose 10. Suite Sails that pop songs had to be always written mirroring those by Ray Davies or Paul McCartney. The Portland-based songwriter breaks an eleven year hiatus and delivers an exciting new TRACK LIST record, The Float (La Castanya / Parcematone / 12XU, 2012), recorded with the help of 1. Van Noten 007 2. Tips On Spines several household names in the American independent scene. 3. & & & Rebecca Gates started her career by leading The Spinanes in the first half of the nineties. 4. Rose 5. Harlesden To Vals Their first LP, Manos (SubPop, 1993) was released by SubPop in the midst of the grunge 6. Lease And Flame craze, although the duet’s emotional indie rock had a lot more in common with the Olympia 7. Lighter Than We Go scene groups (Kill Rock Stars, Unwound, Heavens to Betsy) than with the tartan flannel shirts 8. Claudine Lounges Chiklet Chic 9. The Curl Of The Coast and goatees mob. Some years later, their friend Mac McCaughan would release a compilation 10. Suite Sails featuring their early singles, Imp Years (Merge, 2000). Their second record, Strand (SubPop, 11. Slowed Lowed Lowered 1996) was the first one in which Rebecca Gates (vocals and guitar) and Scott Plouf (drums, HIGHLIGHTS later in Built to Spill) enlisted the collaboration of several musicians from the area and, from • New album from the former singer of the standpoint of expressive richness, it means a step ahead. The songs rely on a much wider The Spinanes and imaginative instrumental work and the inclusion of guest voices such as Elliott Smith • The record features members of Califone, provides the whole record with a remarkable depth. The warmth of Rebecca’s delicate voice Godspeed You Black Emperor!, The Jicks, The Decemberists, The Cribs, Iron and Wine, fills my room every time I play this unforgettable LP. In 1998, Rebecca Gates left the American Los Lobos, Silver Mt. Zion, Quasi, Tortoise, Northwest to live in Chicago, one of the cities where she recorded Arches and Aisles (SubPop, The Sea and Cake, Wild Flag, Blue Cranes, 1998). The last work she would release under the Spinanes moniker is an ambitious collection Eleventh Dream Day, etc… of mature and heterodox pop songs for the recording of which Rebecca surrounded herself • Rebecca Gates has collaborated with, among others, Elliott Smith, Willie Nelson, with renowned musicians from the exciting Chicago scene such as John McEntire (Tortoise) The Decemberists and Laetitia Sadier. or Sam Prekop (The Sea and the Cake). After releasing a solo effort in 2001, entitled Ruby • La Castanya releases the album in Europe Series, Rebecca decided to give a new direction to her artistic interests and, for ten years, she and also works as Rebecca Gates booking has focused on audio art in Texas, editing The Relay Project, an audio magazine, and showing agent in the continent. her own work at galleries in the USA and abroad. Nevertheless, Gates has never stopped • Parcematone, Rebecca Gates label, and 12XU, Gerard Cosloy label (founder of writing music and, all through these years, she has participated in recordings by artists such as Matador and Homestead) release the Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab), Willie Nelson, The Decemberists and Ted Leo. record in the USA. • Rebecca Gates will tour Europe presenting It’s difficult not to fall into blatant namedropping when talking about the new Rebecca The Float this 2012. Gates record, as the list of musicians that play in it is bound to take one’s breath away: Doug McCombs (Tortoise), John McEntire (Tortoise, The Sea and Cake), Nate Query (The ALBUM SPECIFICATIONS Artist: Rebecca Gates and the Consortium Decemberists), Joanna Bolme (Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Quasi), Thierry Amar Title: The Float (Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Silver Mt Zion), Rebecca Cole (Wild Flag), Gary Jarman (The Label: La Castanya Cribs), Joe Adamik (Califone), Tim Rutili (Califone, Ugly Casanova) and many more. In spite Reference: LC 13 of this variety, The Float stands as a perfect block (after all, the best salads require a wide Format: LP+MP3 / CD Genre: Alternative variety of ingredients) and the former Spinanes singer conducts the procedures at all times, Release date: 23rd of July, 2012 preserving the stylistic and creative unity all through the record. Her voice sounds mature and does not convey as much frailty as in her previous records. There’s a hint of the great CREDITS Rebecca Gates: Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Piano, black music vocal melodies (Rhythm & Blues section) –maybe due to the fact that Rebecca Organ, Xylophone, Celeste, Rohdes, Radio, Vox is no stranger to the Memphis music scene– while a surprisingly sexy and seductive aura The Consortium: (falsettos!) pervades some passages in the record. Just as other great bands such as The Joe Adamik, Thierry Amar, Jim Becker, Sea and Cake do, Gates is able to merge the non-derivative heterodoxy of the post-rock Steve Berlin, Joanna Bolme, Rebecca Cole, arrangements with the brightness of catchy pop music. It’s an ambitious (from both the writing Rebecca Foon, Mark Greenberg, Gary Jarman, Ben Massarella, Dough McCombs, and performance standpoints) and instrumentally colorful record, packed with melody, and it John McEntire, Jessica Moss, Sonja revolves around Rebecca Gates’ warm and attractive voice. Myklebust, Nate Query, Tim Rutili, Ji Tanzer All songs written by Rebecca Gates On stage, Rebecca surrounds herself with a unit called The Consortium, formed at different Arranged by Rebecca Gates with assistance times by some of her best friends: Ji Tanzer (Blue Cranes), Joanna Bolme (The Jicks, Quasi), of the engineers and The Consortium Rebecca Cole (Wild Flag), Nate Query (The Decemberists), Jenny Drizos (The Decemberists), Produced by Rebecca Gates Amy Domingues (Garland of Hours) or Dave Depper (Loch Lomond, Blue Giant). Her Mastered by Jeff Lipton forthcoming European dates will allow us to meet this exciting American songwriter and at Peerless Mastering, Boston, MA performer again. Maria Rice - Assistant Mastering Engineer Art design and photography: Rebecca Gates Design and layout: Rob Jones LABEL / MANAGEMENT CONTACT La Castanya • www.lacastanya.com La Castanya [email protected].