The Crowd Scene: News

In case you hadn't noticed, we have a show coming up at the Hut...

It's the same day as the World Cup Final, but several hours after the match.

So, come down to the Galaxy Hut to celebrate England's victory earlier that day.

There's no doubt about that, is there?


We're opening for our friend Alice Despard, so we'll be on at about 9:40pm or so.


July 11th 2010

Galaxy Hut
2711 Wilson Blvd
Arlington VA 22201
(next to that place where you rented your tux for the prom)

We are going to be on a tribute record for once.

Burning Sky Records of Philadelphia, PA, is putting out an album called

If I, If I, If I,... The songs of Squeeze Revisited

...and we are lucky enough to be included. We did a version of Slightly Drunk, off of Cool For Cats. It was an interesting exercise to find a way to make it sound like us, while trying to keep the spirit of the original. I think we found a way to do it, but you'll have to be the judge.

Look out for this to be released sometime in the not too distant future, maybe August '10

Those nice people Chris and Michiko of Gone Fishing For Blue Skies in Japan have playlisted us again.

Have a look here: http://www.gonefishingforblueskies.com/
Thanks Chris and Michiko!

A nice review from Robert Barry Francos at Ffanzeen

http://ffanzeen.blogspot.com/2009/11/cd-reviews-jersey-beat-special.html
and Jersey Beat

http://www.jerseybeat.com/quietcorner.html

THE CROWD SCENE is a trio, based upon couple Grahame Davies (on most instruments and vocals) and Anne Rogers (bass and mostly harmonies), with Evan Pollack adding drums.
There are also some other players who contribute on *With Complete Glossary for Squares (wampus.com), such as pop cult icon (and rightfully so), Chris Stamey, who also produced some of the cuts here.

This trio+ calls itself “Chamber Pop,” which basically means ballads with high production values and based strongly on melody. Okay, that’s an oversimplification for this collective, since they do not hit the listener over the head with studio work, but still keep in the smooth pop genre. I’ve heard some cathedral pop that makes me feel diabetic, but fortunately, this isn’t one of those.
Well, anyone who is familiar with Chris Stamey’s solo work (“Summer Sun” is still a fave) probably has an idea of what kind of tone is set. The lyrics are somewhat bittersweet, jumping from “Walk Up to the Heath” through “Great Jones Street.” Grahame has a sweet voice that is hardly bland, and on her one solo outing, “Which Way,” Anne proves to hold her own.
While the songs sometimes seem to blend together in its tone, the Crowd Scene does not lose its direction. It’s been a while since I heard something from Wampus, and it is good to see they have kept going.

Our good friend Paula Carino has recorded a new album, called Open On Sunday
Being a thoroughly modern gal, she is using Kickstarter to move the process along to completion. Go here and do the right thing...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/521337438/open-on-sunday-by-paula-carino

Thank you.

We hear from reliable sources that we are picking up plays on SOMA FM, the listener-supported, no commercials, internet radio station.

Nice.

It really is a brave new world.

http://somafm.com/

Looks like we're going to be playing the Open Eye Cafe in Carrboro NC, as part of the Carrboro Music Festival, on September 20th 2009.
Cleverly, they've scheduled the festival for Rosh Hashanah, so Evan can't make it down for the show. Using these lemons to make a citrus based beverage, the goyim of the group are going to take the opportunity to put together something a little different.
Hopefully there will be barbeque.

Wreckless Eric has included us in his latest podcast/radio show, episode 9, which is a real treat for us.
He is officially a prince.

Give it a listen here: http://wrecklessericofficial.blogspot.com/

Hello internet

I've been hard at work writing songs for our next record, which I am bound and determined will be recorded (if not released) this year, and I have now got enough to start recording in earnest.

While we can get a pretty good result for most things in our own studio, it makes a big difference when you record the drums in a studio with a good-sized, nice sounding room -- and, you know, that can run into money. So, it struck me to try the subscription model to finance it.

So here are the funding levels, and what you get when you pony up the cash:

Base metal level: $10 A copy of our new record

Bronze Level: $25 A copy of our new record and a hug from either Anne or Evan

Stainless Steel Level:$50 A copy of our new record and your name in the thank you's in the liner notes

Silver Level: $100 A copy of our new record and your name in a big font in the thank you's in the liner notes

Gold Level: $250 A copy of our new record, name in thank you's, and we will record an acoustic version of one of the songs that ONLY YOU will own

Platinum Level: $500 A copy of our new record, name in thank you's, and an acoustic version of any song by anyone else (e.g. Accidents Will Happen, or Harper Valley PTA, or 25, or 6 to 4 (actually maybe we should record that one anyway) )

Executive Platinum Level: $1,000 A copy of our new record, name in thank you's, and we will take you out to dinner at the chain restaurant of your choice (no Olive Garden)

Strontium Level: $5,000 A copy of our new record, thank you's, dinner, and we will personally and creatively insult - to their face - your nemesis

Plutonium Level: $10,000 A copy of our new record, thank you's, nemesis insult, plus give them a dead leg (NB as long as they are smaller than us)

Executive Depleted Uranium Level: $50,000 Two copies of our new record

您好！我們的所有無數中國聽眾

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/72146-the-crowd-scene-with-complete-glossary-for-squares/
These are subdued times for the Crowd Scene. Finally, 10 years after the group’s excellent debut album Turn Left at Greenland, an upbeat-ish ‘60s-inspired psych-folk-pop feast, the husband-and-wife team of Grahame Davies (vocals/multi instrumentalist) and Anne Rogers (vocals/bass guitar), along with permanent drummer Evan Pollack and friends have returned with an intimate album of wistful reflection. With Complete Glossary for Squares is a solid two-part-harmony outing of sugar free chamber-beat-pop that touches base musically with contemporary bands like Camera Obscura and the Essex Green, especially on “Which Way”, sadly Rogers’s only lead vocal this time around, while recalling such observational lyricists as Ray Davies, Chris Difford and Glen Tilbrook. They even sound faintly like Squeeze on album highlights “Edward Learjet”, “Trick Photography” and “Cracked Leather Seat”.

The record is available at The Poetry Connection (Connecting YOU to Great Poetry)

http://www.poetryconnection.net/B001JYLVIG/With_Complete_Glossary_for_Squares.html
Have they detected the superior use of iambic pentameter, leitmotiv, and internal rhyme schemes in the lyrics?

or do they have us confused with the popular (relative term; this is poetry after all) Welsh poet Grahame Davies?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grahame_Davies_(Journalist)

Either way, let's hope poetry fans the world over are also CD buying fans

We are being played on Dan Herman's Radio Crystal Blue show, which available in a bewildering variety of formats, from old-fashioned over the air radio, to 365 internet radio, to podcast, to Real stream.
Dan has a great freeform show, playing the music he believes in and wants to promote. Give it a listen...
you can find links here:
http://cblue.lunarpages.com/

Our good friend Alice Despard asked us if we'd like to play a show with her at the Galaxy Hut.
What could we say but 'yes please'.

9:30pm
April 19th
Galaxy Hut
2711 Wilson Blvd
Arlington VA 22201

http://downloadmp3song.musicanalysissite.net
Sunshine and Rain: Aural Seedlings from The Crowd Scene


Sometimes a make a notation of comes along that is valid direct comely. And that relate is for your immersion.

Fronted by the soft-pedal-and-helpmate tandem of Grahame Davies and Anne Rogers, and supported by percussionist Evan Pollack, The Load Display pots a endless pop evoking the bittersweet sensibility of mid-duration Beatles, Brian Wilson, Ray Davies, and — more recently — Elvis Costello, the dBs, and Aimee Mann. What emerges is a melancholic optimism that acknowledges person’s slanting obstacles and uncluttered wonders.

Mastered by Jon Astley (The Who, George Harrison, Tori Amos) at Neck To The Advantage in London, With Utter Specialized for Squares features setting-apprised cameos from Chris Stamey, formerly of the dBs, and Neil Luckett of tvfordogs.

The deeds joins a Wampus Multimedia roster that includes new and immediate releases from tvfordogs, the matthew show, Venus Flytrap, Kowtow Popof, and Arms of Kismet, as well as After Hours: a Acknowledgement to the Music of Lou Reed (to which The Mob Spot contributed “Bon-bons Says”) and If I Were a Richman: a Exaction to the Music of Jonathan Richman (on which they performed “When Harpo Played His Harp”).

Unrestrictedly CD rivulet
http://forsquares.com

Amplifier Magazine
THE CROWD SCENE

WITH COMPLETE GLOSSARY FOR SQUARES

WAMPUS MULTIMEDIA (2008)

The Crowd Scene's new album With Complete Glossary for Squares isn't what you'd think. It's not a self-aware, snide attack on the state of hipness and where music fits in; nor is it some kind of manifesto decreeing the sordid politics of music consumerism and its intersect with popular culture at large.

Instead it's an album of languid pop tinged with melancholy and heavy doses of The Decemberists. Influences shine on brightly; "Great Jones Street," a tutorial on the sad song every band's obligated to write, is lifted from the novel of the same name by Don Delillo, one of the 20th Centuries best and sharpest writers currently portraying American life. And maybe the rest of the album is an extensive allusion that gives their name and album title more literary and thematic weight, but all we've got sometimes is the music; which is a house built with a heavy pop roof, walls made of indie, and a sturdy Beatles foundation.

Utlimately, though, With Complete Glossary for Squares puts me to sleep; not that that's a bad thing. Soft songs do that. They lull and sooth. And this is one of the best at that.

--Jake Benjamin [January 12, 2009]

from Powerpopaholic

This Virginia band agrees that music aint what it used to be.

Guitarist/vocalist Grahame Davies takes a trip through inner space here with a very English style, if you can imagine The Brigadier or Neil Finn with a female vocal backup.

The album is full of folky melancholy tunes, the only sign of upbeat life here is the brilliant "Edward Learjet" with an interlocking harmonic chorus and biting lyrics that recall last years' Milton and the Devils Party.

In fact, "I Wouldn't Say I'm Sorry" shuffles along it's exquisite pop moping and it leads to my favorite song here "Trick Photography" with references to The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.

This is one of those albums that grows on you like moss.

The jangle of "Cracked Leather Seat" recalls John Lennon vividly and most of the songs here are highly appealing guitar ballads.

Anne Rogers gets to shine as lead on "Which Way" - a Elvis Costello styled mid tempo song.

I couldn't find a bad track here, despite the somber tone much of the album takes - even the Big Star-like "Finish Line" - the more you hear it, the better it gets.

An impressive sophomore release that deserves a late night listen.

Another review...


"This Virginia band is back with their first disc in several years, and it's a wonderful example of pop with a British sensibility as the sound is a cross between Ray Davies, Elvis Costello and John Lennon. After that description, would it surprise you that the best track on the disc is titled "Edward Learjet"? "

Absolute Powerpop

"The album’s best entry, “Great Jones Street,” is still incredibly airy and limp, despite a charming chorus that bops along like a colorful bicycle."

-- Kevin Liedel, Muzik Reviews.com

We're taking the show on the road.

Actually the boulevard.

Wilson Boulevard.

Galaxy Hut, Feb 8 2009

Here

If MTV still played music, we'd be making money...


Which Way? from nic beery on Vimeo.

Secretly Sorry -The Crowd Scene Version from nic beery on Vimeo.

Our new record is out... you can pick it up from CD Baby or iTunes, and soon from Amazon, plus any number of other outlets.

First Obama wins the election, and now this?
This really is the good old days...

Stream the forthcoming record at For Squares.com


We have a show next week at Jammin' Java, in Vienna VA, with Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby.

Here's the info:

Sept 25th 2008

Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby
with The Crowd Scene

8pm

Jammin' Java
227 Maple Ave E
Vienna, VA 22180
Phone: 703.255.1566

Why not follow us on Twitter?

http://www.twitter.com/crowdscene
and by the way, this is our Myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/crowdscene