DOWNLOAD: PALEO: "In the Movies" (from Fruit of the Spirit - out June 21st)

(photo: Cary Norton)
"Howling world-weariness and manic, bat-shit happiness, recalling both the magical weirdness of Neutral Milk Hotel and the disturbed genius of Elliott Smith.” – Flavorpill NYC

Living in a car for over five years, booking his own shows, producing all his own music, Paleo (aka David Strackany) has become something of a mantlepiece in the American house show circuit. His tour history is a database for kindred spirits: over 700 shows across the US, about 150 a year since 2005. And while his self-released first record, Misery, Missouri (2005) earned him high marks from a number of sources, Paleo gathered most of his notoriety through his songwriting mecca, The Song Diary. Easter Day 2006 to Tax Day 2007, he wrote and recorded 365 songs consecutively. Paste called it "a streetfight of freakish prolificacy" and Daytrotter's Sean Moeller playfully crowned him their "Poet Laureate."

Holing up in Davenport, Iowa, the twenty-something got taught the ropes of analogue recording from the original Daytrotter engineer, Patrick Stolley. Stolley's place is a minefield of old analogue gear, a phalanx of synths and amps insulate the walls, piles of grease-thirsty old tape machines, bells, whistles, six-strings, four-strings, twelve-strings, no strings. With this wonderland at his disposal, the young magi decided to try something which'd never occurred to him before: collaboration. Friends strode in from around the region – Chicago, Minneapolis, Iowa City, Rock Island, and Lawrence – and with next to no rehearsal and no lead sheets, they huddled for a three-day creative blitzkrieg. Electrofolk artist Cloud Dog lends samples and howls in the background, the bastard folkies from Minnesota add their sad, quirk-pop sensibility, and a revolving door of drummers and percussionists take turns on the kit. Strackany just let the tape roll, and together they bottled a mischievous, mercurial record sparking with imperfection. Fruit Of The Spirit will be available on June 21st in both CD and Digital formats through the Brooklyn imprint Partisan Records.

PALEO kicked off his 2011 Spring Tour last month at SXSW and is playing two local shows later this week.

Wed. April 27 - Pianos, NYC (w/ Grimis, Kenya Movie Screening and Basement Band). Cover is $8 and PALEO is playing at 11PM.

Fri. April 29 - Knitting Factory, Brooklyn (w/ LAKE, AgesandAges and April March & Julien Gasc). Tickets are $10 advance / $12 day of show.



Links:
PALEO