Aortica Mor

Collection Contents

#		Title	Length
1		The Arsenic Kiss of Wet Lips	0:46	Play
2		Penny Farthing	3:06	Play
3		Dandelion Wildfires	4:07	Play
4		Evening	3:06	Play
5		Theta Clear	2:53	Play
6		Mercury Retrograde	3:16	Play
7		Persanity Insonified	3:01	Play
8		Windchimes	5:26	Play
9		Pincher	1:17	Play
10		Deep Back Woods	3:44	Play
11		Smoke Signals	5:33	Play
12		What the Zoo Did to You	4:14	Play
13		Inventions	2:12	Play
14		Ravinia	4:24	Play
15		That One Salty Sea	4:02	Play
16		Comet Sentasan Arrow	8:27	Play
17		Medusa's and the Alley	2:18	Play

Items may be purchased individually.

Contributors

Details

Royalties

See the payment distribution when this media is bought.

Description	Amount
Bitmunk Marketplace Service	USD $0.98
CD Baby Artist Royalty	USD $5.97
CD Baby 9% Digital Distribution Cost	USD $0.54
Bitmunk Download Service	USD $0.83
Bitmunk MicroPayment Service	USD $0.01
Total	USD $8.30

Bitmunk uses a micropayment system that is accurate to 7 monetary digits.
Mouse over an individual amount to see its exact value.

Description

Aortica Mor - thebrotheregg
Bingo Lady Records
review written by S.P. Clarke of 2Louies Magazine
(http://www.twolouiesmagazine.com/)

Far from the fuel of the inklings of the celebrity press, dwell Adam Goldman and thebrotheregg. Composed of intelligence, wit and invention, thebrotheregg wist in wan shambled shades, easily the equals of Colin Meloy and other Decemberisms. Hard to pin down with the shackles of simile or oblique comparison. XTC and Flaming Lips: at times, but as often as not, mostly just themselves. Quixotic musical chameleons. Passive aggressive. Too smart, perhaps, for their own good.

Goldman sings and mumbles thoughtful lyrics, sometimes, as with "The Arsenic Kiss Of Wet Lips," rather obscurely. "Penny Farthing" contains glimpses of lyrical grandeur: "I circle like a shark/ I follow like a weekend." Well, of course he does. But with the lovely waltzes (more frenetically so, the latter) "Dandelion Wildfires" and the strangely compelling "Evening," a deep, rich melodic sense rises to the fore. With Sam Ross on bass (cello, keyboards, vocals), Tofer Towe on drums (keys, mandolin and vocals and Chris Kalani Gabriel on guitar (keys, clarinet and vocals), joining Adam on guitar (and lead vocal), the ensemble demonstrates estimable euphony, unique and quaintly arcane, with chops and ideas aplenty.

Chanteuse Kaitlyn Ni Donavan, a frequent member, adds violin and viola to tracks such as "Theta Clear" and "Mercury Retrograde," with occasional guest Jeff Henry contributing rumbling baritone sax and recorders on the latter. The instrumental, "Persanity Insonified," lives up to its name, a synth (sounding like a theremin) and viola mlange of some specific cosmic gravity, as yet unknown: spacey and alien. Cool. "Wind Chimes" matter-of-factly drops a brief melodic reference to Brian Wilson's Smiley Smile piece of the same name while rushing headlong breathlessly. "Pincher," like the first song on the album, mad hatters momentarily (with Kaitlyn adding a vocal) before falling to the floor.

Lords of the flies and frogs swirl and croak before dissolving into "Deep Back Woods," a woozy daydream: "Flies flutter inside we divide and subdivide." Well, of course we do. Kaitlyn and Adam sing in scary unison on "Smoke Signals," with Kait so close mic'ed she sounds like Claudine Longet (look her up) cooing softly on this slippery bossa nova. Adam's curious, freeform vocal delivery on "What The Zoo Did To You," cartwheels across a dither of a verse, before alighting with great piquant preciousness upon the line: "Stars move while I remain stationary beneath them," which is simply gorgeous in its odd, disoriented splendor.

The off-kilter love song "Inventions," makes perfect sense if you listen to it with one eye closed. "Ravinia" stutter steps in Goldman's familiar fashion- ram jamming words into melodic syllables like so much sausage into a pliant artistic casing. Frank Zappa (were he still with us) would appreciate some of the anomalously perplexing musical interludes found here. "That One Salty Sea" is a trip down memory lane... for your DNA.

Determined to throw you off the track, thebrotheregg are as elusive as an honest man in a snowstorm. The lyrical stream of consciousness runs tributarily into rivers of not quite understanding. A waterfall rushes. A cloud passes. A bird calls in the distance. Oranges and apples, standing proud and tall together. You know, thebrotheregg are much too good for you and you don't deserve to hear them. You wouldn't understand what they were doing anyway. It's just one person's inkling.