Uncle Bonsai
Seattle, Washington, United States | Established. Jan 01, 1981 | INDIE
Music
Press
“...innovative approach and a vibrant signature style. At a frenetic pace, with endlessly entertaining wit...notable for zinging one liners that cut through egos and pretensions and cultural blind spots like a scalpel.” - City Paper (Philadelphia)
“...complex but catchy vocal music...tackle issues most songwriters wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pen. Their forte is to take the most unusual subjects and deliver them with hot musicianship.” - Oakland Tribune
“Uncle Bonsai is one of todays most talented and entertaining folk vocal trios...sounding at times as sweet as a church choir or skipping and swinging like psychotic Andrews Sisters and brother.” - Jackpot, CMJ New Music Report
- City Paper (Philadelphia), Oakland Tribune, CMJ New Music Report,
“The Grim Parade” will make you smile, think, laugh, reflect and definitely tap your foot. Like Peter, Paul and Mary, Adler, O’Neill and Ratshin click together perfectly and seem to have that certain je ne sais quoi that makes it all mesh. The music is gentle and not overdone, the women’s singing is clear and pure, and the themes of the songs could only have come from the minds of musicians who are all plainly on the same wacky page.
Uncle Bonsai has mastered the art of making music that is impossible to pigeonhole, but the group’s wide appeal and solid cult following show that the music certainly speaks to the masses. That is probably because all their songs, as evidenced on “The Grim Parade,” speak in a witty, satirical tongue to life, love and all things that make the world go round, from family relationships to death and everything in between, including the perennially disappointing life of a fictitious everyman named Doug who is sung about on several tracks." - Tacoma Weekly
“...hilarious and very entertaining, through perfectly meshed voices and acoustic guitar. Every piece is a gem; each has the same kind of quirky sardonic edge that Loudon Wainright III and the Roches work has.” - The Toronto Star
The group has achieved an almost cult status...delighting audiences with such songs as “Cheerleaders on Drugs”, “Chubby Wanna Sundae”, “Boys Want Sex in the Morning” ...Their music ranges from irreverent to ironic, from satirical to sad. And despite the folk tag, their music defies categorization as it incorporates elements of jazz, pop, broadway, reggae, and classical.” - Associated Press
Who or what is Uncle Bonsai?
A Seattle vocal trio with harmonies as tight as the Andrews Sisters' and acerbic rhymes worthy of Tom Lehrer.
Singers Ratshin, O'Neill and Arni Adler are pitch-perfect in their delivery of often complex harmonic arrangements. And if there were an Ella Fitzgerald Award for Exquisite Elocution in Song, they would surely get it. The trio officially bills itself as a "folk" outfit, but has none of the naiveté that label might suggest. These are nicely edgy, sour-sweet songs, written for grown-ups. - The Seattle Times
“No other folk group has a vocal blend comparable to Uncle Bonsai. Uncle Bonsai writes and performs songs that combine folk-oriented melodies with lyrics whose intricate rhymes, ironic knowingness and satirical thrust suggest vintage theater songs filtered through the influence of the Beatles." - The New York Times
“Uncle Bonsai, a folk-pop trio from Seattle, performs funny original songs whose exquisite musical detail and subtle needling wit attain a level of craft not often seen in pop.” - The New York Times
Discography
[Live video available at http://www.unclebonsai.com/audio.html]
Uncle Bonsai has sold over 100,000 copies of their various recordings and have been featured on commercial, public, and community radio throughout the world. The group has had a number of live concert broadcasts ("Folkstage" in Chicago, "Mountain Stage" in West Virginia, etc.) and has been featured on a number of compilations. The group has 8 Compact Discs and 1 CD Single, including the brand new release "The Grim Parade."
Discography:
A Lonely Grain of Corn (LP 1984)
Boys Want Sex in the Morning (LP 1986)
Myn Ynd Wymyn (1986)
The Inessential Uncle Bonsai (1991)
Doug (1999)
Plain Brown Wrapper (1999)
Sponge Boy (CD Single) (1999)
Apology (2000)
A Lonely Grain of Corn (CD Reissue 2003)
Boys Want Sex in the Morning (CD Reissue 2004)
The Grim Parade (2010)
“Singers Ratshin, O’Neill and Adler are pitch-perfect in their delivery of often complex harmonic arrangements. And if there were an Ella Fitzgerald Award for Exquisite Elocution in Song, they would surely get it. These are nicely edgy, sour-sweet songs, written for grown-ups.” - The Seattle Times
Photos
Bio
“A folk-pop trio from Seattle, Uncle Bonsai performs funny original songs whose exquisite musical detail and subtle needling wit attain a level of craft not often seen in pop”
- The New York Times
Now in its thirty-seventh year, this acoustic folk-pop trio continues to tackle topics such as first-world problems, the creation of the universe, the afterlife, and, of course, holidays with the family. The group has eight recordings and, in mid-2013, released its first ever "bedtime book for grownups," "The Monster in the Closet/Go To Sleep." This fully illustrated, reversible, hard cover book for parents, features two popular Uncle Bonsai songs, with artwork by members Arni Adler and Patrice O'Neill, and includes a recording of the songs. In September 2017, the group released its ninth cd, "The Family Feast: The Study of the Human Condition, First World Problems, and the Lasting Physiological and Psychological Effects of Eating Our Young," and set out on a series of CD Release concerts throughout North America.
“No other folk group has a vocal blend comparable to Uncle Bonsai. Uncle Bonsai writes and performs songs that combine folk-oriented melodies with lyrics whose intricate rhymes, ironic knowingness and satirical thrust suggest vintage theater songs filtered through the influence of the Beatles." - The New York Times
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