Spring 2013 8tracks

A little late on this one, but whatever.

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GREG MULLEN AND A TOUR OF COSMIC AMERICA

Published on thebomberjacket.com.

Greg Mullen snubbed out the joint he’d been smoking just as the bus pulled up. He was wearing a cowboy hat with the sides curled in and big white, heart-shaped sunglasses. He was traveling with only a suitcase and a guitar. High and exhausted, he took his seat and the mystical voice of the bus driver came through the speakers. He said, “Let me be the first to welcome you to the future,” and then the image of everything around doubled, splitting apart horizontally into the cyans and magentas of a 3D image. The bus took off, bringing Mullen to a strange and wondrous place hidden somewhere under the surface of the everyday USA.

On Greg Mullen’s second record, There Are AMERICAS Beyond This America by Greg Mullen and the Cosmic American Band, he assumes the role of the “Cosmic American Bus Driver,” musically guiding you through a land you know well but have never seen before. A place where sculpture gardens grow in backyards and your pockets are full of shooting stars, a place where dogs can laugh, a place with devastating 15-foot waves of molasses, a place where Joan of Ark rides the subway with Mr. Clean and Commissioner Gordon, a place where devils hide in the mountains waiting to snatch your tongue, a place where the Seine, the Charles, and the Zambezi rivers converge into one steady trickle, a place where you can digitize the whole experience on social media websites to make your ex-girlfriend jealous…a place called “Cosmic America.”

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Winter 2013 8tracks

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VIDEO: Greg Mullen and the Cosmic Band :: Best Ever Birthday Party

 A new video from Greg Mullen called "Best Ever Birthday Party"

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VIDEO: Greg Mullen :: Happy Birthday

A classic favorite from Jamaica Plain that is now discovering the heartland in Austin, just released a video for a new song "Happy Birthday." In his journey through the Texan wilderness, he discovered a lone Prada shop on a dusty road and it spoke to him.
Expect a new record very very soon with the Cosmic American Band (tentatively)!

Click here to read a review of his last amazing record, The Hungry Ocean.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Greg-Mullen/326374501774
http://gregmullen.bandcamp.com/album/the-hungry-ocean

Watch the video below the jump.

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The Whitehaus Family Record Family Record Vol 2 :: Are You In Paradise?

Click here to hold this.

The Whitehaus Family Record 

Whitehaus Family Record Family Record Volume 2: Are You In Paradise?

November 11, 2011

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Jamaica Plain's The Whitehaus Family Record have released their second vinyl compilation this month. It features a lot of the Mango Nebula's favorite artist's including Greg Mullen, Gracious Calamity, MANNERS, The Needy Visions, Shai Erlichman, Chris North from The Points North, Shira E. from Tiny Tornadoes, and the Woodrow Wilsons. Buy the MP3s or vinyl here.

Find out about the first Whitehaus Family Record Family Record here.

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Do It Together Boston :: 2010 Review, Part II

On a snowless day in January, I moved to Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. Since the previous summer I had been working to promote and prepare releases with an art collective called The Whitehaus Family Record. Through the group and other associated collectives, I saw most of my favorite shows of 2010 and the Whitehaus even had a hand in one of my favorite records of 2010.

My new apartment was just down the street from their four story house that is best explained as a living and breathing art project. Junk, toys and broken instruments dangle from every corner and every chandelier as an ongoing dumpster diving piece. The place houses anywhere from ten to fifteen people, stacked high on homemade bunk beds or sometimes even living behind a curtain under the stairs. They are any manner of artist including poets, musicians, and visual artists. On any given day, one could walk into the house and find them performing a number of rarities: from remixing the audio from children’s VHSs on a floor littered with pedals to eating extremely salty oysters and preparing a living beverage called Kombucha.

What makes the Whitehaus and also the other musicians in Boston all the more interesting is that they tend to share a collective ethic both musically and spiritually. At the Whitehaus they call it The Yes Wave, and it also serves as their genre to subvert categorization. Sure, it’s based around openness , inclusion, and anti-elitistism, but it’s really about addressing and accepting everything that comes your way. To welcome whoever or whatever comes to your door and wants to play in your living room, to be open to whatever someone is trying to show you.

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Mango Nebula 2010 :: According to Last.fm

In searching for other ways to arbitrarily quantify music, I started thinking about all the different subjective influences on "lists" and that it might be a good idea to isolate each one and note the qualifier. So, here is my list of albums from 2010 that I listened to the most, according to last.fm (which is irrefutable).

10. The National :: High Violet
The National :: "Bloodbuzz Ohio"

9. The Whitehaus Family Record Family Record
The Whitehaus Family Arkestra :: "Maple Syrup Moon"

8. Villagers :: Becoming a Jackal

Villagers :: "Home"

7. Woods :: At Echo Lake
Woods :: "Suffering Season"

6. Sufjan Stevens :: The Age of Adz
Sufjan Stevens :: "Age of Adz"

5. Nana Grizol :: Ruth
Nana Grizol :: "Cynicism"

4. Titus Andronicus :: The Monitor
Titus Andronicus :: "A More Perfect Union"

3. No Age :: Everything In Between
No Age :: "Fever Dreaming"

2. Wavves :: King of the Beach
Wavves :: "Super Soaker"

1. Greg Mullen :: The Hungry Ocean

Greg Mullen :: "Ten Thousand Years"

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Greg Mullen Video :: Pipes that Drain Out to the Sea

Greg Mullen's buddy, Chris Kursel, has made a video for one of my favorites, "Pipes that Drain Out to the Sea" from The Hungry Ocean. It's a pretty glorious combination of super 8 and animation.

gregmullenmusic.commyspace.com/welcometothelifeadventure

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Greg Mullen :: The Hungry Ocean

"Like Dante climbing out of hell, if his guides were Bob Dylan and Bukowski"

MP3: "Greg Mullen - Ten Thousand Years"

The Hungry Ocean has all the charm of a folk singer, kicking stones down a dusty road with a harmonica ‘round his neck and guitar strapped to his back, traveling to play his soulful tunes about everyday things. Yet at times, Greg Mullen’s voice quivers strangely supernatural and the words he sings veil some otherworldly pseudo-apocalyptic occurrence. It’s something like Dante climbing the wrong way out of hell if his guides were Bob Dylan and Bukowski, instead of Virgil. All of it is decorated with a whirlpool of beauteous piano, horns and lovely female harmonies.

The theme of wishing to be a ship and failing to float in a vast, all-consuming ocean is strongly present on the album. There's two bummed out Narwhals on the cover and even the 12" vinyl is cleverly pressed a transparent green. In ‘Ten Thousand Years,’ Mullen sings, “We both had a hard time trying to decide what to be for Halloween. Said, ‘I'll be a ship, you be a flying machine.’” In the same song he also mentions that he’s been dead for ten thousand years.

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Blastfest 3!!!

Anyone who has been to the Whitehaus has probably spent some time staring into the wall collage of knick knacks, toys, broken instruments and other assorted randomness like an ISpy book you read as a kid. Each year on the vernal equinox, all the most interesting sculptures adorning the walls, ceilings and all the spaces in between the haus are dragged from Jamaica Plain to Cambridge in order to decorate the stage and concert hall of the Central Square YMCA. A similar collage of sounds was assembled from the Whitehaus Family Record’s artists and friends, for the all day, 22 band talent showcase that was the third Blastfest.

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Greg Mullen record release show

Greg Mullen has a release show for his LP The Hungry Ocean tomorrow at the Hallway Gallery in JP. I had the pleasure of catching Saintseneca at the Islington House last night and they are a wildly entertaining and goofy act. On top of that, The Woodrow Wilsons are always an amazing feast for the ears. The Hallway Gallery is a cool little venue on South Street, right off of Centre Street. It's literally a hallway and always has lovely art upon its walls. Check it out and pick up Greg's record. It's transparent green vinyl!!!



Get a taste: here.

myspace.com/welcometothelifeadventure

gregmullenmusic.com

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Preview :: Greg Mullen - The Hungry Ocean

Download "Greg Mullen - Ten Thousand Years" (right click, save link as)

The Whitehaus-ian Greg Mullen just finished an LP of insightful, stomping, heartbreaking, pseudo-post-apocalyptic folk called The Hungry Ocean. He's having a record release show at the hallway gallery in Jamaica Plain on March 26th with Saintseneca and The Woodrow Wilsons. You can also pick up a copy of the 12" LP in advance this weekend at Blastfest!!!(which never seems right in type without at least three exclamation points.)

Greg's voice is unassuming and supernatural, talking about every day things that eerily seem to veil a deeper poignancy. 'Ten Thousand Years' has this seeping line, "We both had a hard time trying to decide what to be for Halloween. Said, 'I'll be a ship, you be a flying machine.'" Seemingly desperate to float in a vast, all-consuming ocean, like Dante climbing the wrong way out of Hades if his guide were Bob Dylan and Bukowski instead of Virgil. It all enters a fluid whirlpool of acoustic, trumpet, harmonica, harmonies and even a little aggressive electric in the song 'Telephone.' When the brushes hit the snare drum in 'They Looked Like Giants From Down There,' the rhythm is particularly infectious.

myspace.com/welcometothelifeadventure

gregmullenmusic.com

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