pistachio home-the 1st cd
Reviews of the 46bliss CD "pistachio home"
Billboard Magazine: "BLISSED OUT: Remember when bands like Depeche Mode, OMD, and Blancmange were all the synth-pop rage? Apparently, David Cooper, Clare Veniot and Jack Freudenheim do. Working together under the band name 46bliss, they've molded a sound that combines elements of that lovely era in '80s music with modern trance/electronica.
Their album, "Pistachio Home," offers an engaging melange of percolating rhythms, taut melodies, and poetic lyrics. There's much here for the pop-minded, including the hypnotically catchy "O Mayday" and the funk-infused potential single "Boy Behind The Veil." Although the material works extremely well in recorded form, the New York-rooted 46bliss comes to far more vivid life onstage. In fact, it is developing a cult following that's turning its gigs into hippy-like love-ins, replete with crowd sing-alongs and lots of hand-holding. It's quite the experience."
CMJ: New York City electronic pop outfit 46bliss characterizes its unique blend of acid house and dark, edgy post-New Wave as "transformative, raging calm." Based on the torrential mood storm of found sounds, streamlined grooves and hypnotically engaging vocal arrangements that carry the trio's promising debut album, no description could be closer to the truth. With a range that encompasses everything from deep trance to Galaxie 500-esque guitar swirl to Celtic and South Indian sounds, Pistachio Home is a sheer melting pot of dreamy soundscapes and non-stop rhythms that defy the trappings of the electronica genre. The group even bears a rock 'n' roll heart inside its computer software soul with futuristic renditions of the Beatles' "Across The Universe" and flowerpower diva Melanie's hippie anthem "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)."
Indiemonkey.com:Imagine if back in the glorious days of the early to mid 1980s a bunch of euro-pop/synth-pop type musicians discovered a time machine and flew forward to the scary reality of today. Whilst there they managed to get a good deal of exposure to modern dance/trance/ambient style club music before they buggered off back to their own time line with a couple of modern mixing boards, drum sequencers, keyboards and the like. After they had been back long enough for the whole cynical modern vibe to wear off, so they could slip back into the naïve beauty that was the mid eighties, they put the equipment to good use and knocked out a perfect hybrid album.
That album might very well sound like New York City’s 46bliss debut CD ‘Pistachio Home’. I can’t remember an album that is both so hauntingly familiar and yet breathtakingly new in its own way as well. It really is as if they had managed to find the pure pop essence of early synth-pop and brought it bang into modern dance music, without the end result seeming lame, forced or anything but invigorating. It certainly helps that the three musicians involved know how to construct very strong pop songs, songs that have varied and interesting harmonies over fresh and immaculately constructed music. The musicians in question are David Cooper who provides a very non-dance music voice as well as doing most of the keyboards and programming. Jack Freudenheim brings his considerable rhythm talents to the varied electronic drums and sequences; he also by the way is the man behind the very cool piece of music software, Sounder. Rounding of the group is Clare Veniot who provides the female vocals to compete with and compliment Mr. Cooper.
The thirteen tracks here take up just under an hour, and consist of eleven originals and two covers. Maybe the greatest compliment any band could ever receive is the fact that they cover a Beatles track and it doesn’t stand out as being head and shoulders above the rest of the album. Re-read that sentence and think about it, how many minor-label bands out there can slip in a track by the undisputed kings of pop music, and not have it weigh heavily against the rest of the tracks. Kind of like putting Andre the Giant on a see-saw with a three year old on the other end.
The song in question is ‘Across The Universe’, which is even more interesting as they tackle it with so much more style and class than the recent, horrid, bland, insipid version by little miss rich and anorexic Fiona Apple. Whilst her attempt to update the track with a modern dance vibe came of as soulless and predictable, 46bliss treat it with enough reverance to keep the feel, but not so much to not make it their own. It also helps that the three musicians in question are infinitely more interesting than Ms. Apple, although I doubt they could pull of that whole underage girl in bra and panties thang.
The other cover is Melanie’s ‘Lay Down (Candles In The Rain), which is again a startlingly good version of a very good song. Their own tracks are universally good from the opening ‘Freedom Run’, with its real 80’s feel in terms of rhythm and vocal pattern, to the obvious single ‘Boy Behind The Veil’, which I defy you not to like. Next up is ‘O Mayday’ with Clare’s haunting vocals over sweeping lite-techno music, accompanied by world music style chanting, oh if only Enya was this interesting. So here we are three tracks in and they are all beauties.
I could go on track by track, but why bother, just take
my word they are all beauties. Check out ‘Anything’
which is Beatles like in its pure pop beauty, or ‘Cura
Animarum’ which is the best non-English song I have
heard this year. ‘Hallelujah’ is a club anthem
waiting to happen, larger than life with excellent use of
layering musical sounds and styles.
46bliss are the type of band who can take club music out
to the masses without destroying its true heart. They are
also a band that are taking the best of the European
dance pioneers of the 1980s in a way I really don’t
here anyone else doing. It is an album good enough to
stand up alongside the likes of ‘Joy Division’,
'New Order’, ‘Depeche Mode’, ‘Eurythmics’
and their ilk, yet it is still undeniably a product of
the very end of the 1990s.
Seriously I recommend just about everyone check out this album, if you like pop music, period, you will love this album.
Listen.com:"Mid-tempo, hard-edged dance rhythms highlight alternative radio-ready vocals on this world music/Trip-Hop hybrid. It bridges the spacious rift between Curve and Hooverphonic. "
The Aquarian: "Remember how hip Annie Lennox was circa '83? Update her duo's haunting Euro rhythms, and throw in some creamy Bristol low-end, and you have the answer to how New York got its groove back. Ambient underground dance with definite universal appeal. "
NYRock.com: It pulses and throbs like club music; it's ethereal and haunting in spots; and if you remember Depeche Mode or Bronski Beat, then you'll be in familiar territory with 46bliss. What makes this a superior disc is the attention to details. The synthesizer programming is top-notch – never overdone, and subtle enough in spots that you have to listen carefully to notice what is going on. Of course, laying back and letting it all flow over you is a good idea too. Production is clean and clear, and the songwriting is strong, although for a while I kept hearing a distinct Beatles influence, confirmed by the cover of "Across the Universe."
About the band "I had the pleasure of hearing/seeing 46 Bliss perform. They are really a talented group, I hope to hear more of their work." [cdBaby.com listener review]
"46bliss is the best band I've heard in a long time. Every song on the CD is great. If you get a chance, see them live, it's even better! A very unique sound." [cdBaby.com listener review]
"By the time I got to Across the Universe (just about one of my favorite Beatles songs), I had been blown away. And then to top it off, Hallelujah just about made me redefine my definition of damn good music.
Pistachio Home is an album of rock-ish, pop-ish, and mostly electronic songs with vocals that will make you wish you had thought of those harmonies. Lot's of wonderful keyboard sounds (and even a little ambience) that will make any purist (i.e. one who only listens to 'real' instruments) realize that a note is a note is a note. I say buy it." [cdBaby.com listener review]