Music
Press
"4 stars.. After a listen to The Music Lovers` Guide for Young People one thing is certain, the Music Lovers do indeed love music, to be more specific, the golden age of U.K.-based pop music that first bloomed in the mid-`80s with artists like Lloyd Cole & the Commotions, Prefab Sprout, and the Bluebells, and which was later perfected in the late `80s and early `90s by bands such as the Trash Can Sinatras and the Beautiful South. Like them, the Music Lovers are hopelessly heartbroken and romantic, literate almost to a fault, and totally committed to being as sophisticated as possible at all times both lyrically and musically. Indeed, the sound of Guide for Young People is rich and warm; the chiming guitars and restrained drumming that form the foundation are backed by a rotating array of strings, keyboards, and percussion. Above all this float the charming and sophisticated vocals of Matthew Edwards, which are joined by some lovely harmonies and the occasional appearance of Jun Kurihara`s earthy vocals and provide a welcome female viewpoint to balance the restrained male angst."
-All Music Guide, October '06
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THE MUSIC LOVERS
The Music Lovers' Guide For Young People: they're woozy, they're boozy,
they're absolutely schmoozy
By Andrew Harrison
We at THE WORD fell discreetly in love with The Music Lovers - San
Francisco-based, Birmingham/Brixton-born, Bacharach-marinaded and probablyunique in pop - when their debut CD arrived last year. With their gin-spritzed string arrangements and cocktail-bar melancholy, they came off like a Rat Pack version of Lloyd Cole. *Plain Boyish* and *The Sailor And You* roaring past like a Vegas Morrissey. But grand, glossy and slightly seedy ballads like *The Sea And The Sun* are what really sets them apart.That, and the sense of literature-deranged mission: singer Matthew "Ted" Edwards eulogises Maoist minimalist composer Cornelius Cardew, transplants Jean Genet to Birkenhead and suggests we throw in our petty jobs for a precarious life in pursuit of pop perfection. The way he sings it, it
doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.
WORD Magazine UK, Dec '06
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'... it's stately cha-cha rhythms and Vegas-grade musical lexicon - bells, orchestras, woodwind, extravagently picked guitars - combine with Edwards love-broken lyrics to suggest a lost Graham Greene novel about seedy Brits shipwrecked in Caesars Palace rather than Port-au-Prince... immaculate'
WORD Magazine (UK) Dec '05
'When The 'Lovers craft romantic songs as gorgeous as these, you'll want to stick around for the pillow talk' - MAGNET 2005
'Gorgeous and knowing work' - AMPLIFIER 2005 - All Music Guide, Word, Magnet etc.
Discography
November 2003 - "Cheap Songs Tell the Truth" EP, Marriage Records/Le Grand Magistery
November 2004 - "The Words We Say Before We Sleep" Album, Marriage Records/Le Grand Magistery
October 2006 - "The Music Lovers Guide for Young People" Album, Le Grand Magistery
Coming in March 2008 - 'Masculine Feminine' , Le Grand Magistery Records US, , Enoug-ho JP, Sleeping Star Italy
All the Music Lovers records are available from www.darla.com, Amazon, ITunes, or you local record emporium!
Photos
Bio
It can be no other way - being a Music Lover either kills you, or makes you stronger. Here's the boring version of the story with all the onstage collapses, drugs, failed marriages and fist-fights taken out...
Thank God for Jon Brooder and his loyalty from the start... He has put up with a lot!
Ted
Dec 2006
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Ted' Edwards was born in Birmingham, England, the son of a factory worker and a nurse. He was brought up on a soundtrack of rock steady and show tunes, pochine and pianos. Ted was at various times a bingo-caller, a parks-ranger, and a prize-winning young writer. In 1994, England could contain his youthful ardor no longer, so he moved to San Francisco￾ÂWhilst working as an MC at an SF cabaret joint he met bass-player Jon Brooder ￾ÂA fellow Englishman and former 'Best Looking Window Cleaner in London' (Evening Standard). Together they enlisted Ted's childhood chum Paul Comaskey ￾Âpainter, drummer and restaurateur, and the first incarnation of The Music Lovers were born. The group's first show was in NYC in 2002. Very shortly afterwards the group circulated a demo (produced by Sean Coleman of Kelly Stoltz band) which attracted attention from a number of fine independent record houses ￾ÂOne being Matthew Jacobson's Le Grand Magistery. In early 2003 the group signed to the Le Grand Magistery label for three albums. The first fruits were an EP which brought together most of their first demo ￾Â'Cheap Songs Tell The Truth.' It was released in November 2003 to overwhelming critical response and big college play. The Music Lovers asked film-maker Albert Maysles if they could use a still from his acclaimed movie 'Grey Gardens' for the cover of the EP and once Albert had listened to the group, he granted their wish. The Music Lovers utilized an ever-changing personnel of rogues, alcoholics and egomaniacs to help mold their fiery vision of pop perfection. This fiery vision' prompting one exiting piano played to exclaim he didn't think he'd be 'working with John Cassavetes!' From this late-night cauldron The Music Lovers first full-length record was born in October 2004 ￾ÂThe Words We Say Before We Sleep' Once again the record faired very well critically and interest and sales expanded accordingly; with the record gaining many fans in Europe and the Far East. Unfortunately, in early 2005 a spiritual epiphany struck Mr. Comaskey and he left The Music Lovers to open a fish tacqueria in Maine. Co-incidentally around this time 'Ted' had been asked to join a touring line-up of arch 80's art-rockers The Monochrome Set. He declined, but through this process met Jun Kurihara, pianist and accordionist, ex of Japanese cult-pop icons The Nelories. Jun and Ted shared a keen interest in Jean Genet and unfettered pop and a new unholy allegiance was wrought. Needing a drummer, the group enlisted Colin Sherlock, an Irish sea-captain (really) who had played drums since he was 18 months old! Needing an injection 'rock firepower' the group also brought in an old friend of Ted's from his cabaret days, record producer Bryan Cain - former guitar-player for drag-queens and a rock-operas... This is the line-up that recorded our third record ￾Â'The Music Lovers Guide for Young People' (Sept 2006, LGM).
In July 2006 Colin was forced to return to Ireland and the dynamic Mr Ping Chu entered our cult... Ping is a titan of the tom toms, a supremo of the snare! This is the line-up that has now been together for the last 14 months playing throughout the Western States and recording The Music Lovers new opus ￾ÂMasculine Feminine" - The new album is released in the US by Le Grand Magistery in March 2008, and in Italy (Sleeping Star) and Japan in April 2008.
We like, or have been compared to -
Serge Gainsbourg, Dusty in Memphis, Sparks, The Brill Building, Yo La Tengo, Marvin and Tami, Roxy Music, Jimmy Webb, Spoon, 'Hunky Dory' Moz and Marr, John Cale, The Bad Seeds, Scott 4, Go-Betweens, Girl Groups, Elvis in Memphis '70, Laura Nyro, Sly and Robbie, 'Oliver,' Goffin and King, Tim Hardin, Big Star's 3rd, Muscle Shoals, The Clash, The Kinks, Nick Tosches, Jackie De Shannon, Pulp, Charles Willeford
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