|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Oriental Boulevard, Six Times, Meadowport Arch, Today Knows, The Great British Spring, Like A Summer Rain, The Swimmer, Cienfuegos, The Automobile Song, Oceans In The Hall, Vale Of Cashmere, Aleida's Theme |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
| » |
The New York Times, USA
|
| "Brass band horns and Age of Aquarius flutes lace around chunky guitars while honky-tonk piano parts and Wurlitzer organs reverberate with the swirling joy of a carousel ride."
|
|
|
|
| » |
Magnet, USA
|
| "a collection of panoramic, pastoral pop that reflects the sights and sounds of its world with the same loving texture and colour with which Brian Wilson used to illustrate the California shore"
|
|
|
|
| » |
Brian Howard, Philadelphia City Paper
|
| "The baroque, orchestral pop of bands like The Association has always been close to the Brooklyn-based kids of The Ladybug Transistor. On prior albums, they've hinted at the tart, creamy centre of that '60s pop radio sound. On their third LP, they get an A, with lush production, piano, strings, flute, horns and warmer synths. From the "Mr Kite" calliope feel of "Six Times" to the cheekily appropriated melody of Gary Lewis and The Playboys' "This Diamond Ring" on "The Swimmer", it's obvious the band has done its homework. And 'The Albermarle Sound' amounts to much more than a history project." |
|
|
|
| » |
David Daley - Magnet Magazine, US
|
"Ladybug Transistor is Brooklyn's indie-rock version of The Mamas And The Papas, its nucleus consisting of two couples in their group house on the outer banks of Park Slope, writing glorious, '60s-styled pop songs celebrating the tree-lined neighbourhoods around Prospect Park and the beaches of Coney Island.
'The Albermarle Sound' is the band's third and finest album yet, a collection of panoramic, pastoral pop that reflects the sights and sounds of its world with the same loving texture and colour with which Brian Wilson used to illustrate the California shore.
Ladybug's songs are scenic, spacious and uncluttered, magnificently instrumented with well-woven sounds of flutes, trumpets, organ and violins. Gary Olson had a deep, resonant voice that grounds emotive, orchestrated ballads like "Today Knows", while charming harmonies drive carnival burlesque-like "Six Times" and the jaunty, reeling "The Automobile Song"; the wispy "Oceans In The Hall" and "Meadowport Arch" could have been on the '66 pop charts. Such swoon-inducing beauty is equally essential listening for fans of the Left Banke or modern-day orchestral mavens like Eric Matthews." |
|
|
|
| » |
Careless Talk Costs Lives / Tangents
Read it here »
|
"Getting slightly more up to date, time-wise, Brooklyn's Ladybug Transistor obviously have a love for the greatest of soft summer pop too. The influence of people like the fabled Millennium, Cyrkle or Association is all over their 1999 minor-classic The Albermarle Sound, which is finally given a domestic UK release thanks to the fine people at Pointy records.
Maybe no surprise then to find Joe McGinty (ex of those Groovy Little Numbers) cropping up as strings arranger, whilst there's an explicit reference to the Californian sixties sounds dropped cleanly and clearly with a peach of a cover of Jan and Dean's 'Like A Summer Rain' - co-written by Gary Zekely who was of course the prime writer in the fabulous Yellow Balloon. Not that their native New York isn't present in the mix too: 'Today Knows' is a great revision of Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day', for example, all swelling strings and hidden aches. But The Albermarle Sound isn't the sound of urban streets, it's the sound of leafy parks and suburban lawns; a perfect summer snapshot encased in the sweetest amber." |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE LADYBUG TRANSISTOR
Website
»
The Ladybug Transistor are from New York. Brooklyn to be exact. The past five years have seen them evolve from a three-piece band into a six-piece mini orchestra.
The current line up was solidified in 1997 after the release of Beverley Atonale, their first full-length L.P. for Merge. Two years later "The Albemarle Sound" was released to much acclaim. Dubbed the last great pop album of the century, it was a landmark for the group and won them new audiences worldwide. Several tours of the United States and Europe ensued.
In 2001 The Ladybug Transistor released "Argyle Heir" recorded as always at the band's Marlborough Farms headquarters in Brooklyn with Gary Olson and William Wells at the helm.
Argyle Heir's 14 new songs, together with the band-?s built-in flair for arranging them, add even more dimension and density to the established Ladybug sound.
|
|
|
