not an Airplane
San Francisco, California, United States | SELF
Music
Press
There’s nothing careful or reserved about this album. And it’s damn good. - Sound Citizen
En esta misma tesitura, se encuentra not An Airplane, un cuarteto de Modesto, California, que acaba de sacar un vinilo digital. Aunque la vuelta del vinilo ya no sea una novedad este nuevo álbum es una reinvención en sí misma. El disco, It Could Just Be This Place, es un EP de dos canciones, una para cada cara. Una gran ópera alternativa y adaptada a este siglo, dividida en dos partes: en la cara A se puede escuchar la intrigante canción Speak In que dura algo más de 16 minutos. Por su parte, la B, presenta la provocativa Speak Out, de casi 14 minutos. En total y en definitiva, un álbum, dos temas y media hora de buena música que en su conjunto suman hasta diez cortas canciones. Efectivamente, toda una innovación en el panorama musical, tanto de producción como de venta. - Hablatumusica
[This] record is, in its highest form, a complete statement – a definite and clear articulation of an abstraction. Dominated as these times are by iPods, grooveshark, and Pandora, it can be easy to forget that an album can be crafted as intricately as a novel, a poem, or a geometric proof; where every sentence, every note, depends on its surroundings for full expression while simultaneously supporting the whole. - New Music Monkey
Not An Airplane shows that music doesn’t need to be distilled to the barest common denominator to have something worth saying. - Hear Hear!
The album is an experiment testing the patience of a generation of ADD-raddled music consumers...It’s thoughtful and poignant alt-country that both respects its roots and considers how to push them forward. - Earbits Online
This album is a spectacular gamble: two 15-minute alternative-country operettas of heartbreak autopsy, written in whiplash sequences of hope, breakdown and fragile resolution and scored with twang and bluegrass-style harmonies. It's as if Jeff Tweedy was writing for Wilco while still in Uncle Tupelo, with opera on his mind and a stopwatch in his hand. Nick Shattell is a direct composer ("There’s no God where I've gone/There's no saints where I’ve been"), and the band brakes and bolts with earthy aplomb. Not an Airplane have made other records, but this one is so bold and accomplished, it feels like a debut.
- Rolling Stone Magazine
"...a heartfelt dose of Americana that illustrate[s] the best in local music." - 209Vibe.com
"Armed with an acoustic guitar and his own distinctive vocals, Shattell’s music relates stories of heartbreak, sorrow and self-reflection."
- Sacramento News and Review
"Honorary Portlanders for life." - livemusicpdx.com
Named Modesto Area's Best Unplugged Acoustic Folk/Americana Band in 2008. - MAMA
Named Frozen Film Festival (San Francisco) Music portion winner in 2007. - Frozen Film Festival
"Best Local Album of the Year." - 209Vibe.com
Discography
I Never Wanted to Believe in Ghosts (2007 - Full Length)
Everything is not Loveable (2008 - EP)
Things and People (2010 - Full Length)
It Could Just Be This Place (2011 - Full Length)
Unpredictable Fame (Full Length - TBD: 2013/14)
Photos
Bio
The beginning of not an Airplane is as formidable to it’s ceaseless end as the spiraling nature of songwriting can only tell the story of it’s own story. Biographically speaking, Nick Shattell embodies his work as much as his work embodies him and the critical accolades and growth that have been manifested and observed by other people are still a few steps behind his own analytical approach to solving the problem. His records are just pictures that paint the puzzle that points the way to who he is the moment he sings to you.
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