(released April 2009)
The Story:
Compilation released by BAAMO (Bay Area Arts & Music Association) in April 2009.
The Songs:
Rebekah Pulley & the Reluctant Prophets - "Dirty"
Rich Whiteley - "Sunny Delight"
Have Gun Will Travel - "Land Of The Living"
Experimental Pilot - "Milk & Gasoline"
The Mojo Gurus - "Party Doll"
The Beauvilles - "Snow"
Sons of Hippies - "Cautionary Tale"
Annie Fuller - "Too Late For Me"
Ronny Elliott & Rebekah Pulley - "Lust Never Sleeps"
Judy Tampa & Bunko Squad - "He Knew Trouble"
The Ditchflowers - "Love, the Conqueror"
Military Junior - "Unconventional"
Ted Lukas - "Hearts Like Mine"
giddy up, helicopter! - "Something That Needs Nothing"
baluja - "The Good Life"
Roppangi’s Ace - "1955"
Palantine - "Dead Wreck"
Jeremy Gloff - "Lights On"
The Reviews:
-by
Gerry Galipault
-from HeraldTribune.com
-published
in April 9, 2009
"Tales
of Lust & Longing" - sounds like the title of a Harlequin romance
novel.
It's actually the name of a 18-track local-music compilation from BAAMO
Records, the recording label for its namesake -- the nonprofit Bay Area
Arts and Music Organization.
The CD, available April 14 in stores and at CDBaby.com (search
"BAAMO"), includes one song each by Bradenton's Have Gun Will Travel
and Sarasota's Sons of Hippies. They will be among the artists
scheduled to play at BAAMO's CD release party Saturday at New World
Brewery in Ybor City.
Sons of Hippies singer-guitarist Katherine Kelly and singer-drummer
Jonas Canales are tickled to be part of the compilation and CD release
party. It's another opportunity to spread their positive messages.
"Our manifesto is simple," Kelly says, "play original music that is
heartfelt, pure, and beaming with integrity; deliver positive,
aggressive messages lyrically, and demand that the audience think about
them; finally, we hope to positively influence the world through music."
As for personal goals, they would like to tour with MGMT and Death Cab
for Cutie, and "we'd also like to manufacture a time-travel machine
made exclusively out of grape Popsicle sticks," says Kelly, tongue in
cheek.
Sons of Hippies' contribution to "Tales" is the appropriately titled
"Cautionary Tale."
WMNF music director Lee "Flee" Courtney says they chose "Tales of Lust
& Longing" as the theme because "a plain old local comp wouldn't
get as much attention. And well ... lust seems like a theme most people
could identify with. We sent out requests for songs to just about all
the bands we know and selected them on musical quality and adherence to
the theme."
That theme serves Sons of Hippies well on its new album, "Warriors of
the Light," which was produced by Pro-Pain guitarist Tom Klimchuck.
"It is a catalog of the 10 songs we originally wrote as a duo," Kelly
says. "The songs, in no particular order, touch on themes such as the
apocalypse, false prophets, heartache, sex, thought vs. action,
self-motivation, determination, sunniness and being carefree, and
telepathy."
Canales, a native Brazilian, is a multi-instrumentalist, often playing
a synthesizer at the same time he is playing drums or various
percussion.
"I run effects loops throughout our songs and also play keyboard," says
Kelly, a native of Sarasota. "We met in Sarasota a couple of years ago
playing the same clubs though in different bands."
"Noteworthy instruments used in the recording process include the
berimbau, an empty Warsteiner minikeg, a 2x4 and wooden sofa leg, a box
of Nerds and a box of Milk Duds."
Maybe fans could bring Nerds and Milk Duds and play along with the
Hippies Saturday night. Also on the bill are Rebekah Pulley & the
Reluctant Prophets, Rich Whiteley, Experimental Pilot, The Beauvilles,
Annie Fuller, Ronny Elliott, Judy Tampa & Bunko Squad, The
Ditchflowers, Military Junior, Ted Lukas, Palantine and Jeremy Gloff.
"Tales of Lust & Longing" is the fourth installment in BAAMO's
series of local-music discs. Last year's collection, "Cheatin' Heart:
Tales of Lies & Love," was WMNF's second most-played CD of 2008,
behind Radiohead's "In Rainbows."
-by
Julie Garisto
-from TampaBay.com
-published
in April 10, 2009
Tales
of Lust and Longing is like a love letter to Tampa Bay, capturing the
area's lush beauty and seedy charms through musicians who embody the
folksy and forward-thinking sensibilities of Central Florida.
Produced by the Bay Area Arts and Music Organization, namely WMNF DJ
Lee "Flee" Courtney and local music scene supporter Laura Keane, the CD
remains within a very Florida rootsy-rustic comfort zone while
branching out beyond the distinctly defined niches of the music scene.
The CD stars singer-songwriters considered living legends around these
parts, such as the acerbic and inspirational Ronny Elliott, who sings
solo and in a duet with Rebekah Pulley.
Guitar rock virtuosi Rich Whitely, Experimental Pilot (brothers Robert
and Stephen Vessenmeyer) and Ted Lukas cozy up to wild-eyed young 'uns
like Tampa's blues-poppy Roppongi's Ace and Bradenton's compelling
ambient rockers Sons of Hippies. The duo is the most ear-grabbing act
south of the Skyway since Have Gun, Will Travel took aim on Tampa Bay.
Speaking of Have Gun, Will Travel, the band's Land of the Living perks
up the mix with one of its most vibrant and introspective tunes.
We also get some non-scene-dwelling artists who haven't attracted a
huge buzz yet, such as the inspirational rock of Baluja.
All are solid, professional acts that perform folk, electro-pop, hard
rock, power pop, indie pop and honky-tonks.
A couple of drawbacks: Tales of Lust and Longing lacks Latin rock,
salsa and hip-hop, other staples of Tampa Bay's musical landscape.
There's a good reason, according to co-producer Flee. He says that he
didn't want to throw in a rap or soul tune that was out of place, and
in keeping with the lyrical requirements — artists submitted
lyrics to prove their songs fell into the "lust and longing" theme
— Flee didn't want to distract from the overall motif with abrupt
changes of genre. He prefers coming up with more interesting concepts,
such as tale telling.
"The next CD will be themed more musically than lyrically," he says of
the next compilation, which will be geared toward more rhythmic styles
like world beat, R&B and hip-hop.
Meticulous care went into the packaging, too. Local artist Robert
Phelps (paintedpoetryhome.com) provides the richly layered artwork. On
the cover, he depicts the lustful mythological satyr and a backdrop of
distorted text from a romance novel. Phelps cleverly positions the
figure to hide the juicy parts.
With all great love affairs, the element of enticement is at play
throughout Tales of Lust and Longing, which draws us in and gives us a
mere tease of the musical talent Tampa Bay has to offer.
-by
Wade Tangelo
-from MetroMix
-published
in April 23, 2009
The
buzz: How do you create some much-deserved hype for the local music
scene? Assemble a first-rate, genre-hopping compilation disc of
theme-related songs like Bay Area Arts & Music Organization
(BAAMO)'s excellent "Tales of Lust & Longing." A
capacity crowd
of roughly 350 attended the April 11 CD release show at New World
Brewery in Ybor City. The $10 admission included a copy of the
delightfully passionate disc and performances by nearly all those Tampa
Bay standouts that contributed to the album, which is BAAMO's follow-up
to last year's equally impressive CD "Cheatin' Heart: Tales of Lies
& Love."
The verdict: BAAMO has once again created an awesomely eclectic,
thematically united compilation disc that triumphantly spotlights the
best of Tampa Bay's killer - yet still underappreciated - music scene.
These lusty 18 tracks terrifically rep the region's top
singer/songwriters (Ronny Elliott, Rebekah Pulley, Rich Whiteley),
alt-country ensemble (Have Gun, Will Travel), whiskey rock and rollers
(Mojo Gurus, Roppongi's Ace, Ted Lukas), indie rockers (Sons of
Hippies, The Beauvilles) and organic pop purveyors (The Ditchflowers).
There's not a bad song in the bunch, but if forced to choose just one
to whet your appetite, check out the previously unreleased opener
"Dirty," by Rebekah Pulley & the Reluctant Prophets. A sublime
slice of breezy folk-rock, it's wonderfully catchy, smart and highly
seductive!
Did you know? Rebekah Pulley's father, guitarist Wallace Pulley, played
in the band of Charlie Ryan, the first man to score a hit with the rock
'n' roll standard in 1960.
<-----return to main menu