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THE SOUND OF URCHIN
THE DIAMOND
2005 - Hybrid Recordings

1 - Police Helicopters Over Brooklyn
2 - The Jack-O-Lantern *
3 - There Are People In The Clouds
4 - Bomb Me
5 - Dracula Bite
6 - White Dove
7 - Blown Away ^
8 - Howling At The Moon
9 - Sometimes
10 - The Door
11 - Last December

BONUS TRACKS:
* The Diamond
* Rock N' Roll Forever
* Times Square 5:00 AM

the diamond was produced by adam schlesinger, mixed by chris shaw
recorded at stratosphere sound, nyc
bonus tracks recorded at the apes on ice professional recording facilities, brooklyn ny
* jay jay french - lead guitar
^ james iha - e-bow & guitar

FEATURED REVIEW FROM "NEW WEST - SALT LAKE CITY"
"As much as anything else, rock music is about gesture: the swagger, the fist-pounding, the sheer abandon of it. And pop music is supposed to bring a smile to your face or a tear to your eye. The mainstream music industry has forgotten this in their apparent attempts to thwart ‘pirating’ by dispensing dreck that you’d think nobody would want to steal. But no one, least of all major labels, ever went broke underestimating consumers’ intelligence, and people gobble it up. Then way below the radar, in ‘indie music,’ which simply means bands that haven’t been co-opted by corporate wheels, there is almost complete freedom (read: not even trying to make much of a living) to poke ironic comment at pop music and culture in general. New Yorkers The Sound of Urchin just take their inspiration from people like Thin Lizzy and Def Leppard rather than the 60's music that people like Yo La Tengo and Pavement listened to; this is not your older brother’s indie rock. But drummer/singer Tomato and bassist Reverend B. Ill perform with Dean Ween in side project The Moistboyz. If that isn’t enough cred, they’ve been on major label RCA but moved to indie Hybrid for this one. Sound of Urchin's latest album The Diamond may be named after the hardest natural substance known to man, but that doesn’t mean SoU is afraid of being soft. The album opens with “Police Helicopters Over Brooklyn,?? an amazing slab of bubblegum that somehow manages to capture the paranoia and exhilaration of living in the post-911 Big Apple. Are they busting your buddy, or Bin Laden? Then the anthemic “Jack-O-Lantern,?? frames social commentary in a song about trick-or-treating. The lo-ball slink of “There Are People In the Clouds?? ends its hallucinogenic chorus of “Wanna get to know? This is how to know!?? into the hardcore punk of “Bomb Me.?? You get the feeling SoU would still be partying as the proverbial bombs were falling. That’s not exactly right. They ‘keep it so (sur)real’ all the way through, that they’d probably just have a really nice stash in their bomb shelter. This is the New York of everyone from Madonna to the Robert Deniro of both Taxi Driver and the Amex ads to lovable loudmouth cabbies and coffee shop jerks who try to steal your donut to shelter denizens. But it’s beside the point to dissect The Diamond, it’s just too multi-faceted. Not that they are schizophrenic, they just have all the moves down. They could go from bone-crushing chord progressions to incendiary guitar solos to stop-on-a-dime transitions into a doowop chorus and segue into a power ballad. Are they this year’s The Darkness? The Sound of Urchin has a lot more tricks up its sleeves. And damn, it all feels good!"

* OUT OF PRINT *

THE SOUND OF URCHIN
THE DIAMOND (limited edition)
2003 - limited edition version of the official diamond release (only 2,000 copies printed). features 2 bonus tracks and the video for "dracula bite".

1 - police helicopters over brooklyn
2 - the jack-o-lantern *
3 - there are people in the clouds
4 - bomb me
5 - dracula bite
6 - white dove
7 - blown away ^
8 - howling at the moon
9 - sometimes
10 - the door
11 - last december

BONUS TRACKS:
* rock n' roll forever
* i left

produced by adam schlesinger, mixed by chris shaw
* jay jay french - lead guitar
^ james iha - e-bow & guitar
recorded at stratosphere studios, nyc, winter 2003

 

* OUT OF PRINT *

THE SOUND OF URCHIN
LIVE IN TORONTO (E.P.)
2002 - rca records promo only

1 - lee's intro / zen magic marker
2 - fearless vampire killers / b-ill guitar solo
3 - quiz show spy
4 - the millipede / who'll stop the beggar
5 - green green gold / yo-yo* / the heater*

recorded by b-ill's magic ape dat rig of love
live at the kool haus, toronto, canada
except * from the Sandstone Amphitheater, Bonner Springs, KS

 

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also AVAILABLE ON ITUNES

THE SOUND OF URCHIN
YOU ARE THE BEST
2002 - rca records

1 - zen magic marker
2 - rock n' roll jubilee
3 - scary skull eyes
4 - billy the eagle
5 - let it rain
6 - fireflies on the 4th of july
7 - laying on your zeets
8 - the millipede / who'll stop the beggar
9 - alligator swamp
10 - the clearing hole
11 - cross the cloud
12 - space station on the 4, 5 & 6* (full band edit version)
13 - the alligator
14 - happy

produced by keith cleversley, except * produced by dean ween and chris shaw
recorded in chicago, except * recorded in downtown nyc

FEATURED REVIEW FROM "BABYSUE"
The Sound of Urchin - You are the Best (CD, RCA / BMG, Rock/pop)
"This Pennsylvania quartet seemingly came out of nowhere and are suddenly on the tips of the lips of the hippest of the hip. You are the Best is a diverse collection of tunes that sneak in and out of several different musical realms. The Sound of Urchin seem intent on bouncing back and forth from loud atonal rock...to pounding metal...to surprisingly accessible pop. More than any other band, the overall concept here reminds us of some of the later work by The Butthole Surfers. overall this band shows that they've got some good ideas and some good tunes..."

 

* OUT OF PRINT *

THE SOUND OF URCHIN
THE JACK AND DIANE E.P.
2001 - rca records

1 - jack and diane part 2*
2 - carbondale
3 - in between
4 - the heater

produced by keith cleversley, except * produced by tomato
recorded in chicago at The Payground,
except * recorded at The Apes On Ice Professional Recording Facilities, brooklyn NY

FEATURED REVIEW FROM "UNSUNG HERO"
"NYC super-rock quartet Sound of Urchin are equally likely to make you shake your ass, laugh or bang your head. Producer Keith Cleversley (Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips, Hum) helps make it happen. “Jack and Diane Part 2” is all groove. Wailing-guitar classic rock filtered through the New York underground, “Carbondale” and “In Between” show that the band can reign it in as well as they go over the top. And go over the top they do. “The Heater” is an un-song of a monster riff and beat, barely drowning out manic screaming by singer-drummer-songwriter Tomato11. With a full-length album due in January, Urchin’s latest EP is an appetizer that will leave you hungry for more."

BUY THE CD HERE

also AVAILABLE ON ITUNES

THE SOUND OF URCHIN
THE ORANGE E.P.
2000 - rca records

1 - mr. hanalei
2 - cherry mountain (herdin' the sheep)
3 - quiz show spy (full band version)
4 - fearless vampire killers
5 - space station on the 4,5 & 6 (full band extended version)

produced by dean ween & chris shaw
recorded at Joe Music Studios, downtown nyc

FEATURED REVIEW FROM "CMJ MUSIC MAGAZINE"
"There's no one making noise on the college radio charts in 2000 quite like Sound Of Urchin. Dean Ween, friend and co-producer of the group's eponymous debut EP, considers the band to be the second greatest outfit in rock today (behind his own, of course). With a style that recalls a mutant compound between '70s arena rockers Mountai and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, augmented by the musical ethics of a hardworking jam band, this Brooklyn quartet waxes poetic in its self-titled debut EP's myriad of suburban allegories. SOU's cartoon-like imagination manages to establish a common ground between suburban malls and what the band would call a "space station on the 4, 5 and 6" NYC subway line."

 

* OUT OF PRINT *

THE SOUND OF URCHIN (featuring tomato11 and barbie smooth)
ALL THAT AND A BRANDY ALEXANDER (E.P.)
1998 - steven records

1- briceskating
2- bat's taxi
3- space station on the 4,5 & 6 (barbie smooth version)
4- quiz show spy (barbie smooth version)
5- at the barbeque
6- green green gold

produced by barbie smooth
recorded in brooklyn at umbrella

FEATURED REVIEW FROM "SPLENDID"
"Imagine Bongload-era Beck dressed up, fronting a killer band and driven along by, of all things, a narrator between album tracks. The picture you'll come up with is probably pretty horrifying, but don't panic -- URCHIN is far, far better than that godawful description implies. Take the low-key storytelling of rapper/drummer Tomato11, a man who sounds like he'd be equally at home working with sampled breakbeats or a live jazz combo. Add the ultra-slick production-stylee of Barbie Smooth, who keeps everything pleasantly low-key and sophisticated. And don't forget the most unique and mind-blowing ingredient -- the between-track narration of a guy called Black Sebabbitt, whose old-time-radio-styled voiceovers sound like a cross between Jon Lovitz and Walter Winchell. Until you hear Sebabbitt talk to his silent companion Red, you can't really understand the effect he has on the music, driving everything into an alternate reality of sophisticated pipe-smoking hip-hop acid-jazz consciousness. The songs hammer home the surreal mood -- "Green Green Gold" travels rapidly from mundane conversation to hallucinatory kafka-esque vegetable transformation, while the stellar (giggle) "Space Station on the 4 5 & 6" weaves a complex tale involving Aerosmith and time travel, among other things...certainly a nice change from tales of twenty-something angst. If you buy only one more CD this year, you can't go wrong by making it The Sound of URCHIN."