The Beige is an atmospheric roots quintet from Vancouver. More introvert than extrovert, more deep and mysterious than
flashy and loud. Serious music, with literary trappings, but it knows a
good groove when it hears one.
With El
Ángel Exterminador, The Beige presents the great Canadian feel-not-so-good
album. This second independent release journeys
through surreal landscapes, catching glimpses of madness, hunger, love and
death along the way.
Singer-songwriter/author Rick Maddocks
penned the songs. After publishing his fiction collection Sputnik Diner (Knopf) and recording The Beige’s debut 01, he found his writing shaped by the
darkening cloud of news headlines and the surrealist films of Luis Buñuel. Cue
minor keys, strange murmurs of field recordings, and troubled imagery. El Ángel Exterminador was co-produced with
guitarist Jon Wood (credits: Herald Nix and Rodney Decroo). The result is a
unique, “apopalyptic” and sometimes funky brew. If you want comparisons, think Calexico
via David Lynch, or maybe Harry Nilsson tailing Pink Floyd down a Guadalajara
backstreet. Several album tracks have already featured on CBC’Radio’s “The
Signal” and other shows across Canada.
El Ángel Exterminador follows the
dream-like, gentle 01, the quintet’s debut
cd (2006) that prompted The Vancouver Sun to say, “The Beige is
a new musical force.” 01 wa …
The Beige is an atmospheric roots quintet from Vancouver. More introvert than extrovert, more deep and mysterious than
flashy and loud. Serious music, with literary trappings, but it knows a
good groove when it hears one.
With El
Ángel Exterminador, The Beige presents the great Canadian feel-not-so-good
album. This second independent release journeys
through surreal landscapes, catching glimpses of madness, hunger, love and
death along the way.
Singer-songwriter/author Rick Maddocks
penned the songs. After publishing his fiction collection Sputnik Diner (Knopf) and recording The Beige’s debut 01, he found his writing shaped by the
darkening cloud of news headlines and the surrealist films of Luis Buñuel. Cue
minor keys, strange murmurs of field recordings, and troubled imagery. El Ángel Exterminador was co-produced with
guitarist Jon Wood (credits: Herald Nix and Rodney Decroo). The result is a
unique, “apopalyptic” and sometimes funky brew. If you want comparisons, think Calexico
via David Lynch, or maybe Harry Nilsson tailing Pink Floyd down a Guadalajara
backstreet. Several album tracks have already featured on CBC’Radio’s “The
Signal” and other shows across Canada.
El Ángel Exterminador follows the
dream-like, gentle 01, the quintet’s debut
cd (2006) that prompted The Vancouver Sun to say, “The Beige is
a new musical force.” 01 was unveiled
at Vancouver’s planetarium, where the band played in darkness beneath projected
constellations. It received extensive
airplay on CBC radio and garnered widespread critical praise, while The Beige
maintained a devoted underground following through performances on eclectic
bills such as the PuSh Festival and The Vancouver Steel Guitar Festival. El Ángel Exterminador was unleashed with
a show at St. Paul’s Anglican, a Gothic Revival church in Vancouver.
Celebratory yet brooding, sold-out yet intimate, with some eerie singing along.
The Beige’s music is more introvert than extrovert, more deep and mysterious
than flashy and loud. This is serious music,
with literary trappings, but it knows a good groove when it hears one. El Ángel Exterminador is a major work
from nowhere, as the press attests:
Some
Reviews of EL
ÁNGEL EXTERMINADOR
“The Beige’s El Ángel Exterminador
is a flat-out gem of sweeping melancholia…This is smart and angry
songwriting, given a perverse sheen of beauty. There couldn’t be a classier
soundtrack for hoarding water, tinned food and ammo. 4/5.” –Adrian Mack, The Georgia Straight
“Incredibly atmospheric fare from this Vancouver
quintet that employs eclectic instrumentation...lyrics are pure poetry that
bend and shape to fit the angular rhythms. A truly original sound. 4/5" --
Greg Potter, TV Week
“The album sinisterly uses a smooth and almost
playful ambient jazz-pop sound, juxtaposed against apocalyptic-flavoured lyrics
of death, squalor and disassociation. Like some bizarre alchemy, this strange
combination works incredibly well, creating a balance between dark and light
that is surprisingly uplifting and joyful. 4/5.”—Jim Dean, Vue Weekly
"El
Ángel Exterminador is a CD I could listen to all day long...If you are
looking for some original music that's anything but boring, with intense
imagery, theatric or cinematic compositional style, and a wide range of
elements, this album will not disappoint (5/5)" -- Nathan Stafford, The Skinny Magazine
"CD of the Week: moody, atmospheric,
orchestral and, well, depressing. But it's also swinging, marching and
altogether a joy to listen to. Songwriter Rick Maddocks knows how to craft a
tasty dirge." – Stuart Derdeyne, Vancouver
Province
“Latin, rock and alt-countryish explorations that delve into the darker,
sometimes uncomfortably quieter corners. There's poetry to the pastiche, method
to the melancholy. Sophisticated songwriting that could probably use a hug.
4/5.”
–Jamie O’Meara, The Hour
El Ángel Exterminador is
now available in Vancouver record stores as well as on iTunes and CD
Baby.
Review bites on the debut cd "01":
"The Beige is a new musical force in Vancouver" -- Marke Andrews, Vancouver Sun.
"The result is a disc of literate roots-pop for urban dwellers, with a we-get-there-when-we-do attitude that coalesces into dusty, lovely ballads." -- Shawn Conner, Vancouver Courier.
"A record that fuses popular and experimental forms into a coherent whole is a rare thing, and this is a record of rare beauty."--Americana UK
"A gorgeously spacious thing.... as melodic and lyrically striking as Wilco at its most incisive--and more overtly catchy." -- Ken Eisner, The Georgia Straight.
