Palmas
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Palmas

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"Palmas Remixes Radiation City"

The remix of Radiation City's sterling single "Find It of Use" premiered over on Prefix yesterday. This infectious remix was done by Portland artist Palmas, AKA Joshua Fulfs, and he's concocted a tropically tinged, slightly Balearic dance track out of Radiation City's stately, dramatic tune. (If you haven't heard the original version of "Find It of Use," you can hear it here, and if you haven't heard the incredible EP that it's taken from, Cool Nightmare, well, get on that shit, dammit. It's fantastic.) Here's the equally-as-good Palmas rework.
LISTEN:

Radiation City - "Find It of Use" [Palmas remix]

You can catch Radiation City on Thursday, May 31 at Mississippi Studios, opening for Deer or the Doe at their record release show. Meanwhile, listen to Palmas' fine, fun, bouncing Dead Beat Demos EP over on Bandcamp; it's perfect for these moments of unreliable sun that seem to come and go. -NED LANNAMANN - The Portland Mercury


"Radiation City: "Find It Of Use" (Palmas Remix) (Prefix Premiere)"

It's been a big year for Radiation City. After re-releasing its 2011 full-length, The Hands That Take You, and dropping the Cool Nightmare EP in April, the Portland, Ore.-based quintet is getting accolades for its beautiful restyling of '60s pop.

The band was recently named "Best New Band" of 2012 by its home city's lauded alt weekly, Willamette Week, as well as winning over music critics throughout the blogosphere.

Fellow Portlander, Palmas, remixed the five-piece's single, "Find It Of Use." The musician created a new dimension to the already magnificent track by streaming an energetic, synthy beat through the dense original and replacing the epic, vocally charged ending with electronic bleeps and samples of vocalist Elisabeth Ellison's haunting voice. The result is an electric, dance-inducing track that would be a good fit on any summer mixtape. Listen to the remix and orginal below. - Katrina Nattress - Prefix Magazine


"Palmas :: Good Together"

It's a beautiful sunny September here in Portland, Oregon and the annual MusicfestNW has just started! So many amazing bands, just look at this lineup! I'm excited to see several of the groups scheduled to play but I'm most stoked for the local talent.

The organizers at MusicfestNW do an excellent job providing opportunities for talented local Portland bands to share the stage with national acts. Case in point - one of my favorite groups to start up within the last couple years, Palmas, is sharing the stage with Tanlines on Sept. 6. I'll be there, at Holocene, DJing with some friends before and after the music.

I always look forward to seeing Joshua Fulfs and Sully Alaatar come together on stage, as it's truly a special thing. Palmas blends together a unique variety of bouncy, latin-inspired percussive beats and clever dance grooves. It's full of hooks that suck you in and keep your finger on the repeat button. I could write on and on trying to describe their sound and still not do it justice. The best thing you could do is give 'em a listen.

So far, Palmas have managed to generate quite a bit of excitement with their infectious 4-song Dead Beat Demos. Last January, it was pretty much the soundtrack of my Florida vacation. It really is hard to believe these are just demos and we've been patiently waiting to see what Palmas can do in the studio. Word on the streets is, a proper full length is in the works. Enjoy. - Off the Radar


"Stream: Palmas – Dead Beat Demos"

One of the many cool things about living in Portland is that we get to hear great bands before the rest of the world does. Palmas is one of those bands. We’ve had the pleasure seeing them perform throughout the city and they are a breath of fresh air. Imagine if James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) and Timbaland had really interesting sex, and afterwards one of them got pregnant… and then gave birth… not necessarily to a human baby, but a mythical smoke monster that made fucking awesome music for people to dance to. That’s Palmas in a nutshell. This first tape is a collection of insanely awesome demos that you can get for free. Word on the street is that a more polished EP is on the horizon. Get ready to tell all of your friends that you knew about Palmas before they did. -Brian Dekker - cafemaroon.com


"Stream: Palmas – Dead Beat Demos"

One of the many cool things about living in Portland is that we get to hear great bands before the rest of the world does. Palmas is one of those bands. We’ve had the pleasure seeing them perform throughout the city and they are a breath of fresh air. Imagine if James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) and Timbaland had really interesting sex, and afterwards one of them got pregnant… and then gave birth… not necessarily to a human baby, but a mythical smoke monster that made fucking awesome music for people to dance to. That’s Palmas in a nutshell. This first tape is a collection of insanely awesome demos that you can get for free. Word on the street is that a more polished EP is on the horizon. Get ready to tell all of your friends that you knew about Palmas before they did. -Brian Dekker - cafemaroon.com


"Cut of the Day: Palmas, "While We While," Dead Beat Demos"

Any music writer/lover worth his or her salt loves to dig for new tunes to listen to and fall in love with. We spend inordinate amounts of time on music blogs like this one, reading up on new bands or old artists we've never heard of before, and tearing through the shelves at record stores like animals (but careful animals who want to make sure not to bend the corners of a record sleeve and depreciate its value).

Personal recommendations are the best, however. It's been vetted by people whose opinions we trust and we can dive in without reservation. So as it happens, my first run in with Palmas was via the website of Ancient Heat, a local nonet that plays straight-up, non-ironic disco pop. I had recently fallen in love with their debut 12" single, and was scraping up some more information on the group. And somewhere in the mix—probably via their Facebook page—they encouraged fans to check out these new tracks laid down by a gent who goes by the name of Palmas. Two mouse clicks later and I was in love.



The music is cooked up by one gent Joshua Fulfs, a fellow music junkie who has spent some years studying African and Latin music, including a stretch in Argentina absorbing the digital cumbia movement. Now that he's back on his home turf, he is pulling from these and other various influences to create this intoxicating brew.

Though it was hard to pick a favorite among the four tracks, this is the one that felt the strongest of the bunch. The rhythm is as sexy as they come, a shimmying groove that feels feather light. It never really touches ground. It just bounces and sways and teases. You're already in deep by the time Fulfs' vocals kick in. His is a hazy, processed melody that adds a little heft to the proceedings but never weighs it down.

Are these really demos? I want to find out and may just corner Fulfs soon and find out. If they are, I'm shocked at how complete these sound right now. Adding even more production gloss and tweaks to it could completely crack apart what is so solid about these tracks, or it could shoot them into the air to explode like a bottle rocket. -Robert Ham - Willamette Week


"Cut of the Day: Palmas, "While We While," Dead Beat Demos"

Any music writer/lover worth his or her salt loves to dig for new tunes to listen to and fall in love with. We spend inordinate amounts of time on music blogs like this one, reading up on new bands or old artists we've never heard of before, and tearing through the shelves at record stores like animals (but careful animals who want to make sure not to bend the corners of a record sleeve and depreciate its value).

Personal recommendations are the best, however. It's been vetted by people whose opinions we trust and we can dive in without reservation. So as it happens, my first run in with Palmas was via the website of Ancient Heat, a local nonet that plays straight-up, non-ironic disco pop. I had recently fallen in love with their debut 12" single, and was scraping up some more information on the group. And somewhere in the mix—probably via their Facebook page—they encouraged fans to check out these new tracks laid down by a gent who goes by the name of Palmas. Two mouse clicks later and I was in love.



The music is cooked up by one gent Joshua Fulfs, a fellow music junkie who has spent some years studying African and Latin music, including a stretch in Argentina absorbing the digital cumbia movement. Now that he's back on his home turf, he is pulling from these and other various influences to create this intoxicating brew.

Though it was hard to pick a favorite among the four tracks, this is the one that felt the strongest of the bunch. The rhythm is as sexy as they come, a shimmying groove that feels feather light. It never really touches ground. It just bounces and sways and teases. You're already in deep by the time Fulfs' vocals kick in. His is a hazy, processed melody that adds a little heft to the proceedings but never weighs it down.

Are these really demos? I want to find out and may just corner Fulfs soon and find out. If they are, I'm shocked at how complete these sound right now. Adding even more production gloss and tweaks to it could completely crack apart what is so solid about these tracks, or it could shoot them into the air to explode like a bottle rocket. -Robert Ham - Willamette Week


"PDX Paragons"

Josh Fulfs has ethnowave on lock. It's easy to tell after comparing his four main tracks posted out there in the universe and his springtime remix of Radiation City's "Find it of Use". His original content brings the Latin Heat and African Beats to a level as high as Q's IQ. With an Ethnic Studies degree in hand and trips made to South America, Fulfs is now Palmas and tearing up your ears with his take on digital cumbia, which is straight out of Argentina.
Luckily, the genre is new enough here that it's not yet pretentious. Combining three types of music, which are all danceable on their own, creates a challenge to not overstimulate. His talent shines when you hear him slow things down at just the right time, bring you back down to Portland, make you ache for more and then start it back up again. Let's say you're a little tired of the EDM scene: Josh plays live with a few buddies and flits around Portland frequently enough to consider his show an option now. - Kelly Kovl - Eleven Magazine


Discography

EPs:
Dead Beat Demos (2011)

Singles:
While We While (2011)
Find it of Use - Radiation CIty (Palmas Remix)

Photos

Bio

It started with an elementary school marimba band. What followed was a high school career absorbing Coltrane and Scott-Heron, a degree in Ethnic Studies, and a stint immersed in Buenos Aires’ burgeoning Digital Cumbia scene. This is the path that has lead now-Portland-based musician Joshua Fulfs to where Palmas begins.

Weaving dense African and Latin percussion and warbling synthesizers into dance-demanding beats all filtered through an unwavering pop ethos, Palmas is a discussion is counterpoint. Club ready production is pulled from organic and roughly hewn casts, electric guitars blend effortlessly into walls of samples and joyful melodies mask jaded lyrics about vacuous romances, wasted youth, and aimless summer nights. All this leads Palmas to find a different answer to the all too hashed-over question of where “world music” and “pop music” intersect.