tam

Ecstatic Peace Signs with Universal
by Colin Stutz | 03.07.2006

In February Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore signed a distribution deal between his independent record label Ecstatic Peace and music industry goliath Universal Records.

Since Moore formed Ecstatic Peace in 1981 to release the live Sonic Youth documentary Sonic Death, the label has put out more than 100 records—all artifacts of the progressive, avant-garde, underground punk and modern music scenes. Releases have included acts as diverse as Japanese noise artist Yoshimi (of the Boredoms), improvisational weirdos Jackie-O Motherfucker and the always enigmatic, mysterious and defiantly anti-commercial No Neck Blues.

The deal will allow Ecstatic Peace to manufacture and distribute through Universal’s Fontana Distribution service as well as sign and develop in joint venture with Universal Records proper. Moore and business partner Andrew Kesin will remain closely connected to all label decisions as President and General Manager respectively.

Estatic Peace’s first releases through Universal will include debut records by Brooklyn based power blues-rock trio Awesome Color, Montreal singer-songwriter Tam, and Pagoda, the outfit led by actor Michael Pitt (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Bully, Last Days).

Ecstatic Peace will continue to release exclusive limited edition records, CDs, DVDs, books and other goodies from its website.





Related Links
» Ecstatic Peace
» Sonic Youth
» Universal Music Group
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Up and Coming: Tam
By Chris Rolls
July 11, 2006 at 12:39:00 PM
Lo-fi aficionados, shoegazers, and noisepoppers rejoice! Tam has surfaced to fill your ears with music that is nothing short of brilliant.







Tam When I discovered that Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label signed a deal with Universal, my heart sank to new depths. A cold sweat claimed my aging skin and my stomach turned with anxiety. (A similar physiological chain reaction occurred when Volkswagen began harvesting tunes by the Orb, Stereolab, and Nick Drake, or even further back, when Nike plucked Lennon's electrified "Revolution" and images of William S. Burroughs.)

Over the years I have watched monolithic record labels destroy great bands and independent labels. So, the question becomes: Can the great Thurston Moore wrestle with the enemy while ensuring that Ecstatic Peace releases will retain the experimental, underground-warehouse feel that so many crave and expect. Well, if Tam is any indication, the answer appears to be yes (at least for the time being).

Who is Tam? Well, she is a seasoned musician who started out in a Django Reinhardt cover band. She then moved on to an Oasis cover band. Eventually she switched over to her own songs, aided by various other players, and released them under the moniker The Butchershop.

More time passed, more music was released and performed, and then Tam turned her focus toward ensuring that her (and her groups) music fell into the hands of Thurston Moore--a dream that thankfully led to Tam, a collection of Tam's songs complied by Moore himself.

This collection is nothing short of brilliant. Lo-fi aficionados will rejoice at its tape-hiss-enveloped simplicity; shoegazers and noisepoppers will praise the nods to late-eighties and early-nineties aesthetics. Even the covers are fantastic; the Arcade Fire's "No Car Go" gets a Pixies-esque reductionist treatment, while "Incest at Best," from Victoria's Daddy's Hands, sounds like a less narcotized Royal Trux.

Thank you, Tam; thank you, Ecstatic Peace; and yes, thank you, Thurston, for pushing more fantastic music into our collective ear holes.


Similar Artists: Guv'ner, Paradise Island, Mocket

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Tam
Tam | Ecstatic Peace

By WILL SPITZ
August 8, 2006 1:55:46 PM


I can’t quite put my finger on what it is about this debut from Canadian singer-songwriter Tam Isabel Pardo — who goes by just her first name and got her start learning Django Reinhardt tunes and playing in Oasis cover bands — but I can’t stop listening to it. Maybe it’s the songwriting, a sort of poor man’s version of Exile in Guyville–era Liz Phair. Maybe it’s the nonchalant charm of Tam’s vocals, which are out of tune half the time. Maybe it’s recording engineer/multi-instrumentalist Johnny Souranis’s ragged lo-fi approach, which fits her songs and voice like a glove. Maybe it’s curious moves like opening the 17-track album with three covers: a delightfully shambling version of Arcade Fire’s “No Cars Go” and two songs by the obscure British Columbia metal band Daddy’s Hands. Maybe it’s all of the above.
Tam + Dana Kletter + Dania Shapes | P.A.’s Lounge, 345 Somerville Ave, Somerville | August 12 | 617.776.1557


On the Web:
http://www.myspace.com/tamofvampires


- The Phoenix

Singles
Tam
"Take What U Need" (Ecstatic Peace!)
By Ray Cummings

Print Article| E-mail to a Friend| Paginate This Story Jul 6, 2006
All over her self-titled debut, Tam sings like she's loaded or a few hours removed from that state, and the music is just as drunk — a colorless Ax UPR speeding up a ramp to the proper RPM at the outset, only to reappear later (tumbling and then ramping and then tumbling again), and a cool synth ray-gun gargle phasering at the end. Tam is bravely lurching through the college-rawk chords while all of the above is going on and issues a friend's warning and a carnal invitation mixed into a lethal Long Island iced tea: "It's a sweet violation/Please don't do it again/You will lose in the end..../Take what you need." - miaminewtimes.com

Ecstatic cling

>> Montreal’s Tam on signing with Thurston Moore and cover-song complications



by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Tam has been a fixture on the local scene for years, having cut her teeth in the ’90s playing rhythm guitar in Swing Dynamique, the Gypsy-jazz tribute to Django Reinhardt featuring the late, great Mike King. She later switched to rock, with Tam & the Vampires gigging around town. Having signed a contract with Thurston Moore’s label Ecstatic Peace last year, Tam releases her first CD for the label this week.

With Sonic Youth’s Moore picking various songs from her many demos, things do jump around on the self-titled debut as far as production and style go. The lack of cohesion works in Tam’s favour, though, as synth-pop blends with Britpop, while experimental noise occasionally comes up for air. Tam manages to merge Nico, Exile From Guyville-era Liz Phair, the Shaggs and her new label boss’s band with ease, but at the same time is able to get down to the brass tacks and deliver a catchy hook.

Mirror: I thought the cover of Arcade Fire’s “Nocarsgo” was a strange pick.

Tam: Well, I have been a big fan of the band since before they got famous. I jammed once with Win [Butler] and figured out one of their songs, but his wife Régine got jealous so we didn’t play together after that.

M: What was their reaction when you told them you wanted to release the song?

T: I gave him a copy of the song after I recorded it and he said he wasn’t exactly thrilled about it, but he said he didn’t mind.

M: Didn’t you also use some demos from the Unicorns that you wrote lyrics for?

T: Yeah, I did three songs. Nick [Diamonds] was subletting my apartment when I went to Manchester and the CDs were laying around when I got back, so I just asked him if I could write some lyrics.

M: How did Thurston Moore become interested in you?

T: I had met him years ago when he did a solo show at Sala and I gave him a demo, hoping I could open for Sonic Youth. I never heard back from him, so I just kept sending him demos. I went to New York to see another solo show he was doing and met up with him there, and then I started e-mailing him for a couple of years. He said he was going to shop it for me to major labels, but ultimately he just ended up putting it out on Ecstatic Peace. He took all of the songs I had been sending him over the years and picked the 17 that he thought were the best. It’s kind of weird because he picked some songs that aren’t too relevant to me now. But at the same time, I’m really grateful that he took the chance to put it out.

M: How come the record took so long to come out?

T: It’s really a blessing in disguise, because Ecstatic Peace just signed a deal to be distributed by Universal. I had four songs by [Montreal band] Daddy’s Hands on the record and Dave [Wenger, singer] was pissed off because they were going to release it at the same time. It got really messy, with Dave e-mailing Thurston, and that’s what kind of held it up. Dave and I are friends again, but we had to take two Daddy’s Hands songs off of the record and now there are only two.

CD launch with guests at Barfly on Tuesday, June 20, 9 p.m., $5

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