State Bird Release Video for "Wasting Away" from New EP "Holy Spirits"

DOWNLOAD: State Bird - "Good Vibes"

Ohio freak-folk band State Bird have taken a psychedelic turn with the release of their new EP "Holy Spirits". This 5-track, 20+ minute EP was recorded at Tiny Telephone in San Francisco under the guidance of Ian Pellicci (Deerhoof, Rogue Wave). Compared with Mostly Ghostly (State Bird's 2008 release), the band now has a big sound where Coby and Jared wield fuzz and feedback masterfully.

The band just released the first video from the new EP for the song "Wasting Away":



"Holy Spirits" is available as a $2 download from The Record Machine.



Links:
State Bird

State Bird Records New EP: "4 New Songs"

State Bird's Mostly Ghostly CD was released earlier this year and the band did a lengthy tour back in the Spring. Now that the band is back home in Ohio, they recorded a new EP, "4 New Songs", live in their home studio. This is a limited handmade release (which is now sold out) with hand-painted covers and inserts.

While the EP is sold out, the good news is that two of the songs from the EP are posted to the band's MySpace page. Here is a link to the third song: I Don't Love U Anymore. There are more new State Bird tracks on the 'net as the band recently recorded four songs for a Daytrotter session.

It doesn't look like the band is touring outside of their local area (there is a show in Cleveland tonight) so here are some pictures from the band's show at The Annex in March.

State Bird: More Live Footage from The Annex, NYC

My parents were always concerned with the music that I was listening to when I was growing up (which were bands like Thin Lizzy, Minor Threat, Led Zeppelin and The Misfits). I always thought they were over-reactionary but I find myself turning down or off the death metal when my three year old (Jake) comes into the room.

Jake wanted to see what I was doing on the computer the other night so I showed him the live footage of State Bird that I posted to YouTube back in March. Jake hasn't heard Mostly Ghostly in a few months but he was asking where the "time to come home" song was.

Given this, I uploaded the "time to come home" song to YouTube



State Bird is playing a few dates in the Mid-West over the next few weeks but it doesn't look like they have any East Coast dates scheduled.

Links:
State Bird's MySpace Profile

State Bird: Interview with Coby & Jared + Live Footage from The Annex, NYC

State Bird's second CD, Mostly Ghostly, came out at the end of February and the band kicked off a 5 week tour last night at The Annex. I posted a review of Mostly Ghostly last month and this disc is still one of my favorite releases of 2008.

I caught up with Coby and Jared before they went onstage at The Annex and filmed a brief interview along with "I Saw The Light" which the band opened their set with.


State Bird is playing Friday night at Fat Baby along with Jaques Chirac and tickets are only $10.

Links:
State Bird's Website
State Bird's MySpace Page

State Bird - Mostly Ghostly CD Review (Record Machine)

State Bird’s new CD, Mostly Ghostly, has a certain innocent charm and the music held my attention from the first track onward. It is hard to pin State Bird down with a label – there are elements of freak-folk, Americana/alt-country and sonic dissonance of The Annuals in their music but the music spans across all of these genres. As the band uses a mix of non-traditional instruments and each of the songs seems to have some sort of musical surprise, a hypothetical point of comparison may be Devendra Banhart meets Danny Elfman.

Mostly Ghostly is the second release from Coby Hartzler, Jared Riblet and a cast of friends. Here is a link to the first track from the CD, “I Saw the Light”, which is a good representation of what the rest of the disc sounds like. The band also has an online video tour journal so here is a song from one of their shows from late last year.



In other reviews, I’ve tried to highlight stand-out tracks. In the case of Mostly Ghostly, the whole album works well as a cohesive unit and there really isn’t a dud track on the disc. If you want to check out a couple more tracks though, the band just recorded a four song live set for My Old Kentucky Blog/Sirius radio which are posted as a free download.

The other point worth mentioning is the CD packaging is one of the more interesting that I have seen in a while. The picture of the CD cover doesn’t do the experience justice as there is unusual artwork in the cardboard cover + a fold-out poster on the inside. After the “death” of the LP, I missed the experience of the gatefold cover art and the posters/booklets that used to come with some LPs so it is nice to see a band focus on both the music and the overall experience.

Mostly Ghostly comes out on the Record Machine label on February 26th and the band is currently doing a tour of the Mid-West.

Links:
State Bird's Website
State Bird's MySpace Page