The Animators
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The Animators

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"Time Out New York, Feb 2004"

The Animators split their time between coasts, but it doesn't sound like the traveling has worn them down yet -- even if they do have to lug around an accordion. The trio's lush, electronic-twinged pop has earned them a well-deserved Sunday residency at Pete's. - TONY


"LA Times, January 2004"

The Animators, the duo of New Yorker Devon Copley and L.A.'s Alex Wong, has been celebrated for a complex melding of styles, including the songcraft of Peter Gabriel and modern sensibilities of cutting-edge producer Nellee Hooper. - LA Times


"Performing Songwriter"

Stemming from a niche of quirky pop underground artists, the Animators combine classic and literate songwriting with intricate arrangements and melodies. Home By Now is laced with folk-rock overtones in a pop-based format (with a nod to electronica and harmonies that rival Guster). The Animators are the innovative collaborating duo Devon Copley and Alex Wong, neither of whom is a newcomer to the scene—Wong is a former member of the Din Pedals, who released one album in 1998 on Epic Records and Copley is a former member of the N.Y.C.—based power pop outfit the Pasties. Their debut album as the Animators, Home by Now, is as theatrical as it is delicate; lighthearted without sacrificing content. Highly recommended. - Sept/Oct 2004


"Sacramento News and Review, August 2003"

"Wong and Copley's songs are like hook-heavy short stories put to music. The Animators don't sound like anybody else." - David Kulczyk


"Maximum Ink Magazine, Dec 2003"

“These guys sing like the Byrds, harmonize like Crowded House, and make the accordian a rock instrument.”

-top ten albums of 2003 - San Francisco CA


"DB Loss Online Music Zine"

“Anyone with the opportunity to see them perform owes it to themselves to take the dive. You won't be dissappointed, and will most likely walk out of the club holding your newly purchased copy of their CD. In fact, you might want to buy two, just in case you lose one. They're that good.” - Staff Review


"All Music Guide"

The debut record from Brooklyn-based indie rockers the Animators is an impressive one: Devon Copley and Alex Wong, though only a duo, achieve a rich, multi-layered sound that covers an impressive breadth of sonic and emotional range. At heart they are a power pop band, whimsical and a touch precious, and Home By Now marries these instincts to smart writing and pristine production. "Perfect World," which could easily be mistaken for a Toad the Wet Sprocket album track, exemplifies the latter with its marvelous arrangement, the song being massaged rather than overladen. "Medicine" stands out as well, capturing perfectly the feel of 1981 power pop, and "Girl #3" offers a poetic oversight of an alienating and alienated relationship in its use of astronomy as a metaphor for emotional distance. Copley and Wong make excellent choices throughout the album in their instrumentation and production, sprinkling in unexpected elements like Gil Evans-inspired horns on "If Only" and a downright pugnacious vocal on the intelligently aggressive "Rearrange." The Animators offer a unique and inspired approach with Home By Now, evoking the Shins as filtered through Toad the Wet Sprocket's rock ambitions, and certainly worth citing as one of the better indie pop albums of the early 2000s. - All Music Guide


"Filter Magazine"

"...a truly great duo of modern popsters..."

"pick of the week"
- 4/21/03


"Generation Magazine, Feb 2003"

“The Animators’ Help is On the Way is truly a masterpiece of hooks, melodies, and ballads for the ages.”

“’Medicine’ is a brilliantly catchy pop song a la The Stereo.”

“Any song (Medicine) that starts with hand claps is either really cheesy or really
incredible, and this song certainly can be described as the latter.”

“This song (Better Not Say) could turn anyone into an emo kid. How else can I put it? This song is perfect for winter breakups and lonely hearts.”
- Gary Huber


"Block Magazine, June 2005"

Imagine Walt Disney in a dark think tank slaving feverishly over the production of a mere frame of animation. Hold that image; replace Walt with four stunners from Williamsburg, think tank with music studio, cartoon with music, and now we have ourselves The Animators.

A Williamsburg-based pop band, The Animators draw analogies between chewing gum and The Killers, find warm solace in New York crowds and think Bob Dylan's Victoria Secret commercial is a job well done. These boys are excited about growing up musically, moving on from old bands they once gave heart to and jumping headstrong into this new era of creating first-rate pop music as jaunty as The Jayhawks and as narrative as Peter Gabriel.

On stage The Animators are one big smile. Devon Copley (vocals & guitar), Alex Wong (vocals & guitar), Phil Galitzine (bass) and Kevin Rice (drums) are pop proud happy and not afraid to school the crowd as to how much they truly love every minute of making their music. And it hasn't been easy for these guys, there's been guts, there's been glory. "Nothing has fallen in our laps, "Alex says, "Every milestone we hit has been worked for." Their newest happenings include headlining The Jezebel Music showcase at Galapagos and their month-long residency at Pianos.



The founders, Alex and Devon, met in Los Angeles, where with whiskey, coffee and flair spent the following nights composing the early stages of what was to become their sound. Following two years of bi-coastal collaboration, that bleak reality involving couch surfing and redeye flights, the two settled down in Williamsburg, finding their counterparts (Phil & Kevin) and in 2003 self-releasing their first full length album, Home By Now.

Songs such as "Help is on the Way" are testament to a sound that spins melodic pop songs unforgotten after a single listen. Songs from their full length debut, Home By Now, can be found on their website. These new songs range from melodies resembling former New York band The Realsitics to drum beats paralleling old Third Eye Blind and the pop of The Police.

They tell a story like a merchant to love; a single beat reveals the ways of a moment, the single cinematic glance into wet hot emotion. Cigarettes, a long car drive, a cheap pick up line -- The Animators turn common acts into tender songs. "Singing is communicating," says Devon, the storyteller, the voice of the animation. "All of a sudden through the instrumentation and the lyrical prose, you get it, it suggests this whole world," continues Alex.

With influences spanning from Louie Jordan's pop songs of the 40's to Bjork's ballads of today, "there is a sense of possibility of what a song is really capable of," in Devon's own tongue. With accordions, keyboards and even beat boxing, The Animators deliver addicting hooks that catch the audience by the tail.



Aside from their musical inspirations, Williamsburg's own bars and coffee shops offer these guys a cheap drink and a new view of the sidewalks. Favorite watering holes include Black Betty, The Alligator Lounge and The Atlas Cafe. Not to be forgotten is Hana Food, on Metropolitan near Union. "Omar makes the best egg and cheese. Readers: check it out," says Phil. Williamsburg is also the place where their own sound studio dwells as well as Angelhouse East, the home of much of their recording. Both places let day jobs become recording music for friends: "It's something we love to do, it helps us grow as writers and producers, " says Alex, "we never see the daylight."

As far as the future, the boys want to make a living by creating these sweet harmonious pop tunes. "And I want a hummer, a stretch hummer, with a hot tub and Sprewells, and a platinum grill," shouts Alex with a sarcastic ego the size of a king's. Coming down from the throne, The Animators really just want "to play for people that are singing the words back to us that mean something to them, that feeling, that connection, we want to do that as long as possible, amen."

Amen. - Block Magazine


Discography

How We Fight, April 2006, sophomore full-length.

The Chamber Sessions, July 2004, 5-song EP.

Home By Now, May 2003, full-length debut.

Help Is On The Way, October 2002, 5-song EP.

Photos

Bio

"Impressive ... unique and inspired." (All Music Guide, four stars)

"Highly recommended." (Performing Songwriter)

"Truly great." (Filter magazine)

The Animators create modern popular music.

Devon Copley and Alex Wong became the Animators in 2002, beginning as a bicoastal, multicultural duo. Citing as influences the songwriting and arrangements of Simon & Garfunkel and the Postal Service, and with a talent for melody in the vein of Nada Surf, they swiftly became favorites in the American singer-songwriter scene, performing in a wide range of residencies and showcases on both coasts. Wong moved to join Copley in Brooklyn and together they opened Angelhouse East Studios in 2004. Bassist Phil Galitzine joined the full band in fall 2003 and drummer Kevin Rice in fall 2004.

The Animators' new album, "How We Fight," was released in April 2006 and is currently in rotation on over 100 college and independent radio stations nationwide. The group has toured across America and as far afield as Singapore, sharing stages with the likes of Norah Jones, the Bravery, Gavin DeGraw, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and Mike Viola. Their songs have been featured on MTV's The Real World, XM Satellite Radio and numerous independent films.

Thank you for listening.