The Carpet Squares
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Music
Press
Reading the Carpet Squares' bio which outlines how they arrived at their band name (deriving from a basement studio that had carpet samples on the rafters), plus viewing the self-titled album cover (which made me think of Roswell, The X Files and spaceship crop circles in the Midwest), I was intrigued. Visiting their website, where they were asking for recommendations for a Guinness Record to break (which garnered some funny suggestions below), it's clear they have a sense of humor. Released last November, the teetering between hilarity and slyly giving social commentary about heartbreak and certain types we encounter in our daily life, helps create the entertaining earth-dwelling and extraterrestrial roadmap the listener will use throughout the album.
In the spirit of 60's folk and 70's classic rock which featured some great songs about states and cities, the album offers up ferry-riding "Long Island" and VW Beetle-road trip (in my head) inspiring "Independence, WI", which conjure up vivid imagery for the listener, emotionally tying the location to a different woman from the past. The songs are all over the musical spectrum-punk, funk, rock, folk- a little B-52s, Jamiroquai, Flaming Lips, Maroon 5, 90's WallFlowers and REM with one of the lead vocals on this record reminding me of the whine/wail of Michael Stipe. Also channeling Neil Young who eloquently described daily life straddling the bluesy folk line, the Carpet Squares also blur that line on "Saloon". But no song stands out like "Cubicle Queen", which could have been turned into a SNL short, describing a woman we've probably all encountered in 9-5 corporate America, "sweeping the mines while you're high on caffeine... plotting revenge on the copy machine". Off-center with great guitar riffs overall, the Carpet Squares are cut from great band material. - Carla Howard - Music Emissions.com
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
The Carpet Squares began in February 2009 as a recording project of Nick Fazzini (vocals, guitar, sequencing, bass) and Brian Strain (drums, vocals, keyboards, bass). After a decade of writing and performing together, the two musicians found themselves without a band and separated by nearly 200 miles from Monday through Friday. Refusing to stop making music, they set out to write and record a full-length album of new material. They built a modest project-studio in an old basement whose rafters were completely covered with carpet samples by a previous resident The Carpet Squares were born. Fazzini and Strain holed up in their basement studio for most weekends over the next two years to create their debut album. The project became a completely independent effort Fazzini and Strain took on all tasks of constructing the album themselves writing and performing all parts, as well as handling all engineering and mixing work.
The resulting album is both coherent and evolving as it navigates blends of textural rock, folk, and electronic pop. In November of 2011 the self-titled, full-length album was independently released and is available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and CD Baby.
Since the release of the album, the geographical circumstances that forced the group to be a studio-only project are no longer. The Carpet Squares have augmented their live performance line-up with long-time friend Dan Richardson talented bassist and vocalist. Having played with Dan in a previous band throughout high school and college, The Carpet Squares have the musical chemistry of a group that has played together for years (because they have). As a live group they are exciting, raw and energetic. Expect to hear well-written songs, group improvisation, and a new setlist every night.
Visit http://thecarpetsquares.com for more information
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