Harlem - Mon 23rd Aug
+ Spectrals, The Lucid Dream
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HARLEM
HIPPIES
The New Album Released April 26th 2010
Led by dual vocalists Michael Coomers and Curtis O’Mara (the duo switch between guitar and drums, both onstage and off) and recently joined by bassist Jose Boyer, Harlem have already generated a mountain of attention Stateside, both with their fantastic live shows and their recorded output.
Relocating from Tucson, AZ to Austin, TX, Harlem first came to people’s attention with their self-issued 2008 LP/CD, Free Drugs. Pitchfork’s Roque Strew hailed it “a marvel of cartoonishly masculine, crudely analog brevity”, Gorilla Vs. Bear considered it to be “super infectious, instantly endearing”, and kindly supplying a quote that we’ll gladly take out of context, the Austin Chronicle’s Audra Schroeder has fallen preil to the album’s “anxious, stuttering charm.” It might all sound highly suspicious, but anyone who’s heard Free Drugs or witnessed Harlem laying waste to any number of shoebox sized venues (some of which were, in fact, shoeboxes) can attest, the band’s casual virtuosity is only eclipsed by their otherworldly songwriting skills.
Harlem now make their Matador debut with Hippies, a sixteen track pop meisterwerk, recorded with the assistance of Mike McHugh, revealing the triumvirate to still be in fine fettle. The gents have really “knocked it out of the park” (as ice hockey fans are so fond of saying) with this one, and we remain confident that this will have great appeal even for those of you who’ve never laced ‘em up before.
Harlem are touring the US around release and plan to reach Europe later in the year.
I’m there!