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Jake Mann Press AjiSignal Review- Sept 07 Americana UK Review- Sept 07 Bay Bridged: Episode 80-Jake Mann Interview- Sept 07 SF Bay Guardian Review- Sept 07 HANX.net Interview (English Translation)- Sept 07 HANX.net Review- Sept 07 West Coast Performer Magazine Review- Sept 07 Playback: See the Light- Review- July 07 Aquarius Records Review- July 07 Bay Bridged: Podcast- July 07 Sacramento News and Review: Trust Your Ears- May 07 California Aggie: Muse- 5 Questions with Jake Mann- May 07 Bandwidth-Jake Mann SF Chronicle interview -August 06 Mad Cow String Band Press Mad Cow String Band "Live at the Delta of Venus" album review and show preview Sacramento News and Review- June 1st, 2006 by Eddie Jorgensen Show Preview-Mad Cows at Cesar Chavez Park-June 2nd Mad Cow String Band "Live at the Delta of Venus"- May 6th review by AltCountry.NL by Hugo Vogel (3 mustangs) Photos from the San Francisco Bluegrass and Old Time Music Festival w/Cross Eyed Rosie from Portland-Feb. 2006 Catching A Case of Mad Cow-California Aggie January 19, 2006 Matt Bauer Press Matt Bauer's "Carve It Out" listed in WMPG's Saltwater Farms best of 2006 San Francisco Bay Guardian October 2006 Don't hate Matt Bauer because he looks like a lost, somewhat menacing member of Neurosis. Hate him because he's so damn good: the Kentucky native's 2004 disc Nandina, was frickin' amazing, and his latest EP, Wasps and White Roses, featuring Jolie Holland, is equally excellent. Nick Drake, Iron and Wine's Sam Beam, and all ye guitarsmiths, look out.-Kimberly Chun Pure Music Review October 2006 Skyscraper Summer 2006 Jolie Holland lends a hand on "Carve It Out", providing a vocal accompaniment to the expressive near-whispers of MATT BAUER, on the Wasps and White Roses EP (Crossbill), his follow up to the fine 2004 full-length, Nandina. These three originals, two instrumentals, and two traditional covers offer more of Bauer's hushed, nearly naked banjo and guitar, augmented with a smattering of piano and fiddle. This album's title says it all-this disc examines the intermeshed realitieis of our world, it's natural workings of beauty and cruelty, most painfully examined in a creepy reworking of lullaby "All the Pretty Horses". Raven Sings the Blues on-line review July 7, 2006 My Old Kentucky Blog review of "Wasps and White Roses" July 2, 2006- by Dodge Slightly Confusing To A Stranger Blog-review July 2006 Matt Bauer receiving Heavy Airplay at the famed WFMU in Hoboken, New Jersey- June 21, 2006 Il Popolo del Blues On Line Review-June 2006 East Bay Express reviews "Wasps and White Roses" EP May 17th, 2006- by Nate Cavalieri AltCountry.NL reviews "Wasps and White Roses" May 6th, 2006 By Hugo Vogel (3 mustangs) HANX on-line German interview with Matt Aquarius Records review of "Wasps and White Roses" EP Hear an interview and an exclusive live performance from Matt Bauer on a fine radio program on KZSC, "Silverfish In the Kitchen" in Santa Cruz. Recorded on April 14th, 20006. Americana UK reviews Matt's "Wasps and White Roses" April 12th by Paul Kerr 9 out of 10! HANX on-line German review of Wasps and White Roses April-May 4 out of 5 stars Matt Bauer Davis, CA show preview in the California Aggie April 6th by Rachel Bogert Bellingham, WA's "What's Up! Magazine" profile and review of "Wasps and White Roses" April edition Sacramento News and Review album review and show preview for Matt Bauer's "Wasps and White Roses" March 30th, 20006 Pictures of Matt Bauer on WERS radio with our good friend Tom Brosseau. If you look close, Tom is wearing a Crossbill Records T-Shirt...Thanks Tom!- March 28th Miles of Music.com Reviews Matt Bauer's "Wasps and White Roses" EP...They guarentee it's great or your money back! The Stranger: Seattle alterntive weekly reviews Matt Bauer's "Wasps and White Roses"- by Kurt B. Reighley March 30th-April 5th Ctrl.Alt.Country Belgium on-line review of "Wasps and White Roses" March, 2006 Songs Illinois Review of Matt Bauer's EP "Wasps and White Roses" by Craig Bonnell March 2006 Garrett Pierce Press Metro Santa Cruz Review June 2006 "Armed with a melancholy songwriting muse and a sweeping vocal range, Pierce comes across as a little untamed, but exhilirating in his willinghness to take unpredictable and wild risks with his songs and performances. Filled with the sort of oblique yet emotionally satisfying wordplay that is reminscent of a Mukrami novel, Pierce's music may not be particularly uplifting, but it is most certainly encompassing." HANX on-line German review of "Like A Moth" 3.5-5 stars May-June reviews Americana UK reviews "Like A Moth" May 1, 2006 by Phil Edwards (the reviewer listened to it 11 times...7 out of 10) Garett receives airplay on Seattle's KEXP thanks to DJs Cheryl Waters and John Richarrd "Like A Moth" is the 10th most played album of the winter at KDVS in Davis Alt.Country NL reviews Garrett Pierce's "Like A Moth" (3 Mustangs) March 2006 Artsweek: Garrett Pierce Davis show preview-California Aggie by Rachel Bogart March 9th, 2006 Local Grooves-Garrett Pierce "Like A Moth" -SF Guardian Review February 15th, 2006 Garrett Pierce's debut attests to the old adage that less is more. Like A Moth becomes both haunting and heartbreaking when Pierce's minimalist arrangements give way to stunningly poetic lyrics: "For inside we're exploding/ My love is a weapon you're avoiding." With help from Jolie Holland, Matt Bauer, and Safa Shokrai, Moth is less a folk album and more a soundtrack to one of those philosophical late nights in a candlelit jazz clubs after two or five cocktails. -Jenny Miyaski Material Cultures: Gifted On Line Blog review Jan-Feb 2006 Artsweek: Garrett Pierce SF show preview- California Aggie by Rachel Bogart February 2nd, 2006 Pierce Your Ears: Musical Compadres- SF Weekly, December 8th, 2005 "Listening to Garrett Pierce's new record, Like A Moth, I thought, "This guy is good in the same way Sean Hayes is good." Then, clicking around Pierce's Web site, lo and behold, I found a picture of him with the behatted local musician. The two have plenty in common: Both are poet/singers whose songs manage a mix of the delicate, the folky, and the starry eyed." -Hiya Swanhuyser Folkways, Here We Come: Pierce to release new album at Delta of Venus- The California Aggie, December 1st, 2005 Independent folk artist Garrett Pierce will celebrate the release of his debut album Like A Moth with a performance at Delta of Venus on Friday. The album is the inaugural release from Davis indie label Crossbill Records, which is run by KDVS 90.3 FM DJ Michael Leahy, who currently books the cafe's Thursday-Friday night shows. It was through involvement with the cafe that Pierce and Leahy first met. Although Pierce has since relocated to San Francisco, his connection to Leahy and the Davis folk scene they helped to foster prompted the creation of Crossbill to release and promote the singer's first full-length album, which is support that has helped the artist to book his first West Coast tour. "Crossbill came about through my desire to have more hands-on involvement with the artists I'd been building relationships with," Leahy said. "Garrett has been instrumental in creating the Delta scene through booking and performing, and this album is a document of that scene that will hopefully get heard on a larger scale." While Davis may not have a monolithic indie label connected to it, the town does have a significant history of smaller indies, some of which existed for a single release. Leahy drew on the experiences and knowledge of other KDVS DJs that had run labels in order to inform himself about the logistics of releasing Like A Moth. The term "folk" may conjure for some images of burned-out pseudo activist and bushy salt-and-pepper beards, but Leahy argues for the genres continued relevance and commercial viability, citing the inclusion of Irona nd Wine on the Garden State soundtrack and Devendra Banhart's quasi-pinup status. The biography provided by Crossbill addresses these assumptions, saying the album "is not someone singing about nature in its simplest form. Natural environment does find a way into Garrett's songs...as the complexity of unanswered questions and chemical imbalances. A world between Tropic of Cancer and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." Pierce himslef expressed doscomfort with the "folk" label and its attendant associations. "There are two preconceptions that get under my skin, "Pierce said. "One is that Delta of Venus is purely-folk central when we've hosted a range of music, from punk to experimental. The other is that KDVS plays obscure music for the indie elite. The "folk" distinction is collapsing in on iteself, and the involvement of KDVS at Delta should help dispel these notions." Leahy knows from firsthand experience organizing live performances both on his own radio show, "Cool As Folk," and at Delta of Venus that there is a substantial, dedicated local audience for the music. Crossbill, in Leahy's view, is not a personal but a collective project to support and document the scene. "Delta of Venus owner Lee Walthall, the Mad Cow String Band, the listeners and audiences have all been instrumental in putting the label together," Leahy said. "They want the music available; they pack the Delta on Thursday and Friday nights for bands they've never heard of because there's a mutual trust we've built up. We can take risks others can't and there's a real appreciation for that." Like A Moth is indeed a substantial release, featuring contributions from folk and rock musicians from Davis and the Bay Area such as the Zim Zims' Jake Mann, The Drift's Safa Shokrai, Matt Bauer and Jolie Holland and featuring production from Nigel Pavao of Last of the Blacksmiths. The nine woozy, modest compositions that make up the album seem somewhat slight at first, allowing the listener to drift in and out of the songs as they build up their sun bleached, oddly familiar melodies. Joining Pierce on Friday will be Olympia quartet The Waxfire whose marriage of chamber and experimental music will nicely compliment Pierce's somewhat sparser style. -Brandon Bussolini Label Press Concert Mogul: Local Musicians Find A Home On Crossbill Records-Davis Enterprise, January 18th, 2006 Mike Leahy sits at a table at Delta of Venus, hunching over his laptop with a steaming glass of coffee nearby, heavy on the cream and sugar. He's wearing a light blue shirt with a bird's head poking through a vinyl record, the words Crossbill Records surrounding it. Looks like something he probably got at a show: one of those things at a bar or nightclub, or from some traveling band that passed through Delta of Venus, at the corner of First and B streets in Davis. But no: Crossbill Records is Leahy's new record label. He has one artist already signed, released and touring; three more lined up; and a compilation album on the way. Between booking shows for his artists, hosting the Friday morning "Cool As Folk" show on KDVS, and luring bands to free Delta of Venus shows, Leahy barely has time to pursue his graduate degree in counseling. He's already well known in the music scene across California, but especially in Davis. And although he is studying for a master's degree in counseling, music takes up much of his time. "It's overwhelming at times," Leahy said. "I'm a full-time student, I have a job. It is a lot. But it's a beautiful balance." A strange synergy bonds Leahy with his artists. Because he hosts and interviews musicians each Friday morning, he started inviting them to play at the Delta of Venus cafe on Friday nights. That snowballed into more musicians accepting invitations to his show, more performances at Delta of Venus, and a network across California that came to know about Davis...and particularly Leahy. "He's turning into a kingpin on the West Coast," said Jake Mann, the former lead singer of the Zim-Zims, who will release a solo album on Crossbill. "That's better than distribution." The first artist to sign with Crossbill Records is Garrett Pierce; his debut album, "Like A Moth" was released a month ago; it's available at Armadillo Music, 205 F St, and on the Web at cdbaby.com. Pierce worked with several other artists on that album, several of whom now plan to release albums with Leahy. These folks include Mann, Matt Bauer and members of the Mad Cow String Band, who performed with Pierce during his album release in San Francisco. Jolie Holland, a successful singer/songwriter, also worked on "Like A Moth." To get Jolie Holland to guest on Garrett Pierce's album-for a box of chocolates-is a coup," Leahy said. "She's a new folk goddess." Now Pierce and Leahy are promoting the album by touring one week at a time. "It's tough," Leahy said. "I've seen it from both ends, since I book shows here." It'll also be tough promoting groups once school resumes this week, he admitted. Leahy already toured down the West Coast with Pierce, hitting both their hometowns and leaving a scattering of albums in their wake. "I've always been a live music junky," Leahy said. "I'd still be going to shows,even if I weren't signing them or booking them." Our chat pauses as a server puts a huge cheese omelet, extra cheese, next to Leahy's laptop; he falls onto it hungrily. Soon it's gone, and he returns to booking shows for his next fair tour in March (otherwise known as his spring break). This Saturday, he'll join the Mad Cow String Band-the second group to sign with him-for an album release concert at The Palms. Mann and Bauer, who plays frequently at the Delta of Venus, will follow soon with their own albums on Crossbill. "My hope is that they all go on to something larger." Leahy said. "Eventually, I hope it helps Crossbill." -Claire St. John Best Place To Rediscover Sacramento's Americana Scene: The Delta of Venus- Sacramento News and Review September 28th, 2005 With KDVS Cool As Folk DJ Michael Leahy currently at the helm, the Delta of Venus' weekly "Down at the Delta" Americana series on Thursday and Friday nights has managed to cement a particularly solid and healthy scene that seems to fill the gap left by Sacramento's disappearing Midtown Americana scene. Waht other venue in the Greater Sacramento area (or anywhere else, for that matter) can boast a month long-residency with Bay Area folk goddess Jolie Holland (and all of Holland's shows were free!)? What other series feature snational touring acts on a regular basis? What other series ties in directly with KDVS, often offering the curious listener a glimpse of what's to come on the live stage that evening, be it contemporary singer-songwriter fare, traditional bluegrass, jug-band music, country twang, experimental acoustic freakouts or something entirely different? This is truly one of the treasures of the local music scene. Not to be missed. -Christian Kiefer |