Triple R Records » artists

artists

	THE AURELIANS Leader Joe Welch formed the Aurelians to explore the limits of songwriting, recording, and performance. With an emphasis on indie rock, the Aurelians combine elements of many international folk styles. Compare to Radiohead, Elvis Costello, and the Flaming Lips. Check out the Aurelians two Triple R works Guillotine and The Quare Fellow, as well as the band’s debut independent release Plastitopia.
	BORN AGAIN FLOOZIES A voluptuously surreal performance: the rhythm section is two tap dancers and a tuba, the singer plays guitar the way most people play the piano. Steve Albini describes the Born Again Floozies as ‘a rock band with extras, but thatâs comically understated. Kind of like saying Franz Liszt merely waltzed.’ But we like to think of them as brilliant Fellini-esque songmongers. The Born Again Floozies are guitar, tap dance, a 1922 marching bass drum, and tuba. If you appreciate the originality of Tom Waits, and the flare of the Flaming Lips, you’ll dig the Floozies. Five-song EP Novelties, Addenda, and Ephemera released September 26, full-length EP due Spring 2007.
	CHRIS COOLIDGE The alter ego of Johnny Socko guitarist Chris Smail. The four-piece group plays straightforward pop with a rock attitude. Compared to the Foo Fighters, Cheap Trick, and the Clash. The Indianapolis Star’s David Lindquist writes, “Chris emerges as a personable, pop-minded songwriter/vocalist…a deft master of agreeable melodies and just-right storytelling.” Troy Michael of Champaign’s Commercial News Night Life added, “Coolidge (and band-mates) showed a strong stage presence as they launched their fiery and upbeat songs to admirers in flawless manner.” This powerful outfit has been doing just that for years. Check out Coolidge’s debut release Center of the Universe.
	JOHNNY SOCKO Through a die-hard work ethic and nonstop touring, Rock/Ska legends Johnny Socko have sold over twenty-six thousand recordings internationally, with nationwide radio play for all four of their releases. The band has performed over two thousand shows coast to coast, sharing the stage with such acts as Kid Rock, The Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Fishbone, Maceo Parker, and Rick Springfield, building a large and rabid fan base along the way. Socko’s latest self-titled release debuted at #18 Top Add on the college radio charts, peaking at #102 in seven weeks on the charts, and charted in the Top 25 on Album Network and Top 20 on R&R. The disc was awarded “Album of the Year” by the Indianapolis Star. Tracks from the group’s 2000 Quatro appear on MTV’s show “Undressed” and in the film Goat on Fire and Smiling Fish, which premiered at Sundance 2000. The album was also cited in New York’s Village Voice 2000 Critics Poll. The five-piece group from Indianapolis blends rocks, horns, melodies, and rhymes to create the sound called Big Rock.
	LAS VEGAS BODYSNATCHERS Take Les Claypool and Keith Moon and smash them up into one acoustic guitar player: add drums and bass to songs that grab you and take you somewhere, and you’ve got the Las Vegas Bodysnatchers. Highlights from the band’s debut self-titled release include “Double Negative” (imagine Julian Cope singing with Tool), the fist-pumping instrumental “Sorry I Punched You In The Face #3″, and the delicate and mind-boggling “Temptation”, a one-handed guitar instrumental. The songs are raw and energetic, the guitar playing is quite unconventional: an extremely percussive and aggressive style where the strings are struck with both the right and left hand, like a piano or even a drum.
	SKIDMORE FOUNTAIN Chalk it up to his sister’s taste in boyfriends. Showing interest in her beater guitar, ten-year-old Randy Bergida was instructed by the paramour to sit in his room and strum until he made a sensible rhythm. “I learned the guitar by writing,” the Skidmore Fountain frontman reveals. “I figured if I could write songs that were harder than I could play, I would get good.” Skidmore Fountain is an indie rock band that feels simultaneously classic and unconventional, comfortable and disquieting. Five-string electric cello (its fifth string acts as bass), guitar, drums, and vocals make up the Brooklyn-based band. Multi-Grammy award-winning producer Ken Lewis (John Legend, David Byrne, Beastie Boys) produced the band’s 11-track sophomore release, Break (Triple R Records), a complex, textural and certainly modern sound. “A lot of innovative and enjoyable music here,” Music Morsels wrote of the disc. “Brooklyn’s Skidmore Fountain sprays out poppy streams of alt-rock with surprising dexterity,” proclaimed CMJ New Music Report. “The gobs of catchy choruses seem destined for crowd shout-alongs.” It was in Brooklyn that the original three multicultural multi-instrumentalists—Randy, guitarist Steven Cohen and cellist Topu Lyo—joined with veteran R&B/ska drummer Dylan Wissing (Johnny Socko, Novel). Together, the solid quartet quickly gelled into an advanced, exciting group with unique indie rock orchestration. Avant-garde electronica elements sit atop old-school soul and rock-steady grooves, giving the music a kind of dubby Björk/Massive Attack/Arcade Fire vibe. Working musicians all, Dylan feels that the group has already “made it,” to some extent. “To be able to do this and sustain makes me happy,” he says. Adds Steven, “The biggest challenge is having four extremely passionate and sensitive musicians fully love every song.” Still, there are landmarks on the horizon, ones Skidmore Fountain is confident they’ll achieve. “I feel we can jump in whenever the time is right,” says Randy. “Our sound can bend about a bit, appeal to a wide range of listeners yet still appease the indie rockers. After all, we have a five-string cellist who’s looping bass lines and singing melodies with his upper strings.” In fact, Topu’s contributions often feel a bit classical, recalling the avant-garde minimalism from the ’50s and ’60s, and composers like Stockhausen, Steve Reich and Terry Riley. The four spent the better part of the winter writing new material and will soon head into the studio to record the follow up to Break. Both regional and national touring are planned for 2008, along with aggressive college radio and publicity campaigns. “It’s all about being creative,” Topu concludes. “Keep inventing. Never stop. Search for new song themes, new textures. Ask new questions, not the same ones over and over.” Listeners who follow this advice are sure to end up at Skidmore Fountain’s door, ready for refreshment.