A PROPOS D'OURS BIPOLAIRE

Trio formé en aout 2008 qui réunit André Diamant (Duracell), Pif (le Chiant) et Charles (Clara Clara) L'idée de base était de faire un set d'un seul titre qui résumerait l'histoire du riff depuis ses origines à travers le swing des 50's, la pop 70's, les ambiances lounge et des relents de hard rock préhistorique, Ours Bipolaire joue ce qui vient sans trop de calcul, parce que c'est plus frais comme ça, parce que nous n'avons rien inventé.

Parce que nous sommes des ados attardés...

A PROPOS DE TH'MOLE

If You Don’t Like This You Have Bad Taste was self-released in 1995 under the name Pierre Johnson. Subsequent solo and collaborative recordings were variously released during the next several years.

He founded the Motion Recordings label in 1999 and released albums under the names Turbo Punx, The Poetry Master, Johnny Sunshine, and Experimental Man. 2000 marked the release of (Single), his first release under the Mole moniker. But it was with 2001's Communion album, after relocating to Hawai'i, that a much wider audience was introduced to The Mole. Communion included one of his signature live tunes, Caitlin, which quickly began circulating on the internet and on mix tape compilations. Meanwhile, through his outrageous live shows (including costumes and other theatrics) he developed a local following. Beloved Retard Babies, a collection of Communion out-takes, was later released as a companion piece to the album.

While part of Maui’s alternative music scene, The Mole met frequent collaborator Demune, and the pair released the Attack of the Zombie King album in 2003. Bloody Flags, an anti-war single, also featured Demune, as well as Ancient Mith. In 2004, the Mole embarked on an extensive European tour. He formed the spin-off band Headley Grange with indie rocker Body Holliday, releasing the Hurt Fire EP later that year. Motion Recordings also began issuing albums by Nomar Slevik, Hairdresser Mike, and Mattr. By the time he released Whirlwind World, The Mole had moved to West Oakland, California. Styled after Choose Your Own Adventure books, Whirlwind World was a fantasy-themed concept album, its story changing depending on which track the listener “flipped” to. The Terms None duet This Is What Happens When My Thoughts Get Ahead Of Me was the lead single from the album, released in remixed form.

As the release of Whirlwind World heralded a sizeable increase in fan-base (with sudden and unexplained popularity in Eastern European countries), an extensive West Coast tour followed, including appearances at Burning Man. 2005 also saw the single release of fan favorite How 2 B Cool, as well as the Organopolis EP on Finnish label Anti-Party Music. Meanwhile, German-based Ramadan Records released the Mattr. and Friends: Consequence of Thoughts album, nearly half of which featured vocals by The Mole.

In 2005, The Mole went to New Orleans as a Hurricane Katrina relief volunteer, where he ended up living for over a year. During this period he recorded with New Orleans artists including DJ 0.000001, Pierre Pre$$ure, Shorty, Gemma Jones, and MC Subzero Permafrost. 2006 saw the release of the Mutamigradaptation "tour CD" on Dutch label Hectic Records (including the hugely popular break-up song "I Hate You"), a massive tour including nine countries and nearly 40 dates (sharing stages with Venetian Snares, DJ Krush, and others), as well as a recording collaboration with legendary emcee and artist The Ramm:Ell:Zee.

Since 2007, The Mole has relocated to an "undisclosed" location in California, where he has been working on a children's music project under the moniker Captain Daydream. He has also been readying the release of the long-promised "new album" which has finally been announced as a release on Daly City Records for early 2009. The album, Greatest Hits (Ha Ha Ha) Vol. 1, will be composed mostly of new material, aside from several oldies and new re-makes, and is slated to feature guests including Warrior Queen, Mochipet, and Captain Ahab. Amongst numerous album cameos and compilation features, 2008 has also yielded Why Not Try, an EP released in collaboration with German electronic composer The Chukchee. Meanwhile, Big Dada recording artist K-The-I??? is said to be recording a new album produced entirely by The Mole.

A PROPOS D'ANATHALLO

It’s fitting that Chicago indie art-pop ensemble Anathallo traces its origins to a small Michigan town named Mt. Pleasant. There was no actual mountain nearby, but like most middle-class burgs, the place begged for input from active imaginations—for makeshift raft races on the Chippewa River, bridge dives in the summer, and rollerskating down the abandoned slides of an old water park.

In the 16 years before the founding of Anathallo, Matthew Joynt’s days were filled with these things, and what space was left went to the arts: music lessons, theater productions, dance companies, limited engagement lip-sync shows (co-produced, for a parental audience of two, by his big sis), and a proto-grunge band called Clockwork that rehearsed like its namesake (6:30 a.m. every day before school). In 2000, Matt finally got serious, and with a crew of self-taught musicians and marching band ruffians, he assembled an ensemble that, to this day, exists at the exact intersection of innocence, optimism, ability and curiosity.

Anathallo’s early years were likewise packed, despite having seven or eight members at any given time. They released four independent EPs (one hand-painted, another packaged with dirt and wildflower seeds), stuffed their many odd instruments into every room that’d allow it (fans’ houses, 4-H clubs, churches, veterans halls), and slumbered under the roof of their green Dodge Caravan in hospital parking lots (these had the best lighting) when they were away from home, which was often.

By the time the band released its first full-length in 2006—a shifting work of virtuosity and earnestness called Floating World—they’d racked up an astounding 18 national tours. The bulk of that year was also spent on the road (with two glockenspiels, as many an awed critic reported), and upon returning home, the band realized it was time to leave again.

Offered a permanent residency at a Chicago church (via friend and artist Tim Lowly), Anathallo moved en masse to the Windy City in January of 2007. They took up odd jobs tending to other people’s food, dogs and data, and practiced at Berry United Methodist for five hours each night. Taking their name’s Greek translation to heart (“to renew, refresh, or bloom again”), the crew’s current lineup tangled up their roots in new soil, cultivated their overlapping interests in literature, music and film, and grew heartily toward a new album.

Following a trip out to California for Coachella, the seven Anathallians dropped their day-jobs and hunkered down in one of the church’s humid old rooms. With the daycare kids next door shooting them funny faces, the band wrote Canopy Glow, an album that finds the band in the same blessed headspace birthed by Mt. Pleasant (five of them are natives to the area, after all), but more focused than ever. Rumor has it, Anticon was the only label that Matt, Bret, Danny, Seth, Jeremiah, Erica and Jamie could all agree on.