Josh Cole
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Josh Cole

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Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"A Writer's Writer"

"I love the way Josh Cole plays with the language." - Catie Curtis (Vanguard Records)


"Gifted"

"A well crafted and produced album, Hypocriticool spans the musical spectrum from quick-witted rock hooks to soulful sit-down ballads. Josh Cole definitely solidifies himself (and his Household) as a gifted songwriter and artist." - UnMag Zine


"Opening for Cake at MIT"

"I was impressed . . . a tight performance with a rich sound."

- The MIT Tech, Cambridge, MA


"Versatile Folk Rock"

Nice songs, cool arrangements. A little folk, a little Stones, a little X…. and more than a little cool. The male Ani DiFranco. - Hybrid Magazine


"Very Likeable"

A little bit singer/ songwriter, a little bit adult-contemporary, and a touch of rootsy-rock ’n’ roll, but most importantly a bunch of real good songs. I can’t think of any particular other performer to compare Josh Cole to, which I’m thinking is a good thing. He does have his own sound, his own identity. I like it. - The Noise


"Solid"

Powerhouse drums and machine-gun guitar riffs propel this solid rock and roll. - Twangville.com


"Pop Rock"

Hypocriticool has enough snarky guitar to rock, and enough catchy hooks to be pop. And Cole does sing a bit like a young Dylan, without working it enough to be obnoxious. - Metroland


"Traveler"

"Cole has traveled the country and it shows, as he brings an eclectic sense of worldliness and subtlety to his jazzy folk. Pianos, horns, chimes, accordions -- all the instruments are there, but they're never prominent; they're always one step behind Cole, his guitar, and his words. "
- Splendidezine.com


"Poised"

Poised for alt-rock success . . . - Boston Globe


Discography

Hypocriticool
Released October 25, 2005

1. Home is on the Horizon
2. Leaning (Feat. Lydia Warren, Felix McTeigue)
3. Hilary, You Drive a Schoolbus Through My Heart
4. Angel, Don't Go
5. Punk Rock Revival (Feat. The Halleluyeah Choir)
6. Love is A Comma (Feat. Rose Polenzani)
7. I Could Turn To You
8. Want You Bad
9. The Space Betwixt Us
10. She . . .
11. When The Old Man Reaches for His Gun
12. Gestation
13. An Action Bird

Photosyntheses
Recorded and released in 2001

1. 2 B Flying w/u
2. Women & Dreams
3. Let it Go
4. Plant the Flowers
5. Here's the Pillow, There's the Light Switch
6. Floating
7. The Ballad of the Punk Rock Window Washer
8. Fallow Fields of Folly
9. The Brightest of Lights
10. Escuchalo
11. Warm Enough
12. Crazy, You Make Me

Caught Assuming Love Things
Recorded and released in 1998

1. A Prayer for Patience in a Time of Matt Trakker's Notable Absence
2. The Could-Be Dream Lover of My Lifetime
3. Concentrated Drink Mix
4. Caught Assuming Love Things
5. Rebecca
6. A Good Reason
7. 'cuckoo-song'
8. Twilight at Swingset Day
9. Soiled
10. Forgetting
11. To a Much-Loved Sister of Brother Francis
12. Lonesome Moon Position
13. Green Rhymes With Yellow

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

After appearing with Wilco, Patty Griffin and Chuck Prophet on Paste magazine's first-ever CD sampler, Josh Cole ventured out as a wandering philosopher, a singing vagabond, a guitar-toting gourmet cook. Along the way he invaded the households of kind strangers, swapping songs for a roof over his head, and even worked on an organic goat cheese farm in the Oregon Coastal Mountains. Now, out of gratitude for all the warmth and hospitality he found while roaming the earth, Josh Cole and The Household bring you Hypocriticool, with dust-choked vocals and barbed-wire guitar corralling 13 punchy, teary-eyed, mystic songs into one righteous abode.

"While working on my brother's farm, I realized the industries of agriculture and music are the same in that they’ve grown too big," Cole says. "But when you're a farmer or musician on a small-scale, working household style, when it’s all about your relationship to your community, nature, and your craft--when you've got that in harmony--that's when it's not hypocritical. Life is bigger than being cool; to make better music and a better world you have to concentrate on being good to yourself and those around you and not being defined by what you're up against."

Hypocriticool is an eclectic collection that represents a conscious effort on Josh Cole’s part to define himself by bringing together extremes of sounds and words. While there is a lot of good music being made today, when he surveys the horizon Cole sees a great vacancy -- or rather, a vacancy for greatness. “That vacancy is somebody who pulls together the balls of rock and the lyrical assertiveness of classic folk and country to make original, quirky, hard-hitting songs; songs that awaken people’s imaginations and create new metaphors to cope with a radically shifting world,” Cole says. From Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan to the Clash to Fugazi, Cole believes that “songs -- not the genres -- dictate what music should sound like.”

Recorded over a two-year period with veteran engineer/producer Nick Joyce (Miles Davis, Mighty Mighty Bosstones), the thirteen tracks of Hypocriticool feature Coles' own Household: drummer Peter Koeplin (Kahoots, Alotia, Drop Nineteens) pounding out a deep pocket and subtle time signature changes with raw ease, and long-time collaborator Andy Macdonald contributing bass, keyboards, and guitar that throb with an orchestrated sense of space and melody.

Hypocriticool also features several notable guest appearances. Boston blues guitarist Lydia Warren contributes a smoking lead and harmonies in the song “Leaning,” while New York singer-songwriter Felix McTeigue jumps in on the vocal choruses as if to emphasize (or sympathize with) Cole's overzealous romantic gestures. The haunting nightingale voice of singer-songwriter Rose Polenzani (Voices on the Verge, Daemon Records) sweetens several tracks. Her playful back ups ride the humor on "Hilary, You Drive a School Bus Through My Heart" (a flippant homage to Morrissey) while the delicate duet "Love is A Comma (Hannah and Chuck's Wedding Waltz)” evokes bittersweet tears.

The CD’s stunning package was conceived by veteran British designers Ken Ansell (UB40, XTC) and Luke Wakeman of The Clinic. Ken and Luke subtly meld images of a world-weary Josh Cole playing guitar at the Utah salt flats with those of a clean-shaven Cole rocking out in full color with The Household -- offering a deceptively simple visual for the space where quiet and loud collide.