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***Crickey, are these cows playing the instruments? Somewhere in the German countryside, inside a small under equipped studio, four cows are constantly exploring their weird version of lo-fi electronic country music. They are known as The Lonesomes. Well, either that or they are actually the solo recording entity of musician Adi Gelbart, who claims he is just the cows' manager. Though the Lonesomes' music originates from country, it seems to cover a great range of styles and influences from easy-listening through lo-fi minimalism to broken jazz and library music, creating an entirely new genre-- "Cow-Fii." At times like a delicate update of Soft Machine, at other times recalling the offbeat insanity of Joe Meek, the deep psych vibes of Edan or the otherworld pop of Grandaddy, This Is Cow-Fi is nothing if not unique and in these increasingly conservative times, a welcome breath of fresh air amongst the mass of slop rock and techno bores that abound. The Lonesomes released their debut album-- a tribute to the great outdoors-- at the end of 2003 to rave reviews. It was played extensively on the famous New-Jersey based radio station WFMU, where the album was also featured on a top 10 albums of the year list. Since then, Adi has collaborated with esteemed bedroom musicians Dan Deacon (Carpark Records) and Frederik Schikowski and his work has been included on numerous compilations for the Mille Plateaux and Digital Kranky labels. Say it loud I love cows and I'm proud! ...(The Lonesomes) is a fun release, and though it may seem like a novelty at first, it has a certain inner depth that makes it a much more durable record. Matt Shimmer, Indieville The Lonesomesi new disc is a quite lovely amalgamation of warm, fuzzy electronic synth-pop laden with effects, fiddles, guitar and xylophones WFMU 30-second MP3 excerpts: 2001
Season Finale
Work Song
Anne's Mood
Thunder Road
Hotel 70
Holstein Riot
Heavy Water
Lakeside 5PM
Almauftrieb
Freezeout
Crop Circle
Emoo
(Now) I Am Still Lonesome
Riverbank 3AM
The International Anthems Of The Cows
On The Lonesome Way Home |
