“11”
Recorded when me and my family were displaced to Austin, Texas after Katrina flooded most of New Orleans. Casio keyboards, recorder, toy glockenspiel, megaphones, mandolin, found percussion…Subject matter ranges from Katrina’s aftermath (“Don’t Thank Me Thank Jesus”) , unrequited love ( “Who Let the Sunshine In”) to the adventures of busking in New Orleans’ French quarter ( “The Starving Artist Syndrome”).
“The many arduous travails and pertinacious tribulations of the lo-fi, Tropicana, blues rocking, Phil The Tremolo King, are etched across every song from his last concomitant collection, 11.” ( God is in the TV, UK )
4-Track Adventures
My contribution to Cassette Store Day, a collection of old 4track recordings made over the years.
“Phil delicately runs through a gamut of redemptive country and western, hazy psych pop, sleepy bedtime lullaby’s, the troubled quivering minimal blues of Sparklehorse and plaintive Leonard Cohen-esque mooning, to produce his most stripped back, but effective work yet.” ( Monolith Cocktail, UK)
A Man…A Mood…A Guitar
Recorded in NYC with Vic Ruggiero and Dave Hillyard of legendary NYC ska band the Slackers. As a broke immigrant musician my main source of music was cassettes and vinyl records I bought on the street and in thrift stores. Many were quirky 60s and 70s jazz and easy listening records. They provided the main musical inspiration for the songs on this album, in fact the record cover is inspired by Al Caiola‘s kitschy “Gold Guitar” album. Al Caiola was a 60s NYC session guitarist who recorded an endless stream of twangy easy listening albums ( and I love every one of them! ). Think The Ventures with jazz chops and a string section.
Songs range from old-time swing (“That old Feeling”), Bacharach-style ballads ( “I’m Prepared to Let you Go” ) to Mancini-esque instrumentals (“Stir-Crazy!” and “the Trap Pt. 2”) and a nod to indierock (“Build More Jails”). Eclectic is my middle name!
Songs from Planet B
My first official recording as Phil the Tremolo King, made on a 4-track cassette in a squat in New York’s Lower East Side, a few years before two hundred riot cops booted us out.