NUCULTURES: Butterflies, Zebras, And Moonbeams

Nucultures

Butterflies, Zebras, And Moonbeams

© 2007 1k Recordings inc (837101315784)

CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.

This adventurous double CD collection of music is a kaleidoscope of songs and sound blending shapes and hues with vocals, horns, strings, piano, drum machines, vocal loops, guitars, bass, and left-field electronics into a brilliant textured soundscape.

notes

Philadelphia’s finest unite and create 2-disc downtempo opus – NUCULTURES -- “Butterflies, Zebras, and Moonbeams”

NAMED AN ESSENTIAL RECORD OF 2007 - JOHN DILIBERTO (ECHOES)
NAMED AN ESSENTIAL RECORD OF 2007 TOP 25 - ECHOES RADIO STAFF

Recording as the collective “Nucultures”, ‘Butterflies, Zebras, and Moonbeams’ is a collaboration between Philadelphia lyricist/vocalist Ellie Perez, acclaimed guitarist/producer Tim Motzer, and bassist/songwriter Barry Meehan. Each contributes vocals, songs, words and music to this ambitious 2 CD album project.

At a time when artists and labels are downsizing, this group of Philadelphia artists have ramped it up and released an ambitious 2 cd set.—Butterflies, Zebras, and Moonbeams on 1k recordings. This adventurous collection of music is a kaleidascope of songs and sound.blending shapes and hues with vocals, horns, strings, piano, drumkits and machines, vocal loops, guitars, bass, and left-field electronics into a brilliant textured soundscape of modern pop music.

From three perspectives, lyrically and vocally, “Butterflies, Zebras, and Moonbeams” delves into questions of love, war, darkness, despair, light, and hope. musically it’s an eclectic 21 song journey with acoustic guitars ruminating over electronic and tabla beats; the shimmering vocal downtempo tone-poems of Ellie Perez (Night is Beautiful, Run for Cover, Behind the Moon); the dark foreboding jazz of ‘Babylon Is Crying’; upright pianos floating over languid grooves of ‘Think I’m Losin It’ and the wind swept desert guitar musings of ‘Mind Dunes’.

Butterflies, Zebras, and Moonbeams features stellar musical guest contributions from trumpeter John Swana, cellist Helena Espvall, and Brooklyn drummer Jeremy Carlstedt, among many others…

Nucultures latest album is a stunning collection of songs, with some obvious electronic components but Butterflies, Zebras, and Moonbeams is organic at heart.

Produced by Tim Motzer for 1k recordings
(Tim Motzer has collaborated with many artists including david sylvian's nine horses, jaki liebeziet (can), burnt friedman (flanger), ursula rucker, kenny lattimore, dj jazzy jeff, king britt, jamaaladeen tacuma (ornette coleman), jeff sharel, les nubians, isaac hayes...)

reviews

Please log in to review this album.

  • author: Debra

    This is one of the best CD's I have enjoyed of late. The vocals, instrumentation, lyrics are wonderful. I would love to hear Nucultures live! CD Baby and Nucultures and Portland Oregon...doesn't get better than that!

  • JAMBASE REVIEW
    author: JAMBASE

    Nucultures: Butterflies, Zebras, and Moonbeams (1 K Recordings) Silky smooth but never sleepy, Nucultures have arrived to fill the gap left after Kruder and Dorfmeister failed to follow-up their landmark K & D Sessions. This is unabashed trip-hop, a descendent of Tricky, Morcheeba and, on the more bootilicious bangers, Deee-Lite. Where Nucultures expands on their ancestry is in the bedrock musicality and undeniable melodic grace of this ultra creamy double-disc offering, an endlessly shifting landscape spread over 21 tracks that never drags or falters. Nice.

  • BABY SUE REVIEW
    author: BABY SUE

    NUCULTURES - Butterflies, Zebras, and Moonbeams (Double CD, 1 K Recordings, Progressive/pop) Nucultures is the trio consisting of Philadelphia's Ellie Perez, Tim Motzer, and Barry Meehan...all of whom contributed songs, words, and music to this hefty double disc package. Three different perspectives and viewpoints may help to explain the impressively divergent ideas and sounds on Butterflies, Zebras, and Moonbeams. The packaging on this one immediately caught our attention. The CDs are packaged in a beautifully designed triple fold digipak sleeve designed by Thomas Schmid for Eneone.com. Nice, very nice...but the music is what impresses us the most. Fortunately, this is a case where the packaging perfectly matches the music inside. The press release that accompanied this album accurately describes it as "...a stunning collection of songs with some obvious electronic components...but it's organic at heart." These songs were produced, recorded, and arranged by Motzer in Philadelphia. The songs sound nice and thick...yet they never come across sounding unnecessarily multi-layered and slick. This might best be described as modern pop mood music. There really isn't a sour pumpkin in the patch here...but particularly significant tracks include "Night is Beautiful," "Behind the Moon," "Lifeguard," "Think I'm Losin' It," and "Nowhere." Very nice, rather dreamy in nature... (Rating: 5+)

  • NUCULTURES - butterflies, zebras, and moonbeams -- indeed!
    author: ALL MUSIC GUIDE

    Not only is it becoming increasingly hard to find an album that runs the gamut of several different musical styles, but all-encompassing double albums are even more of an anomaly in this day and age. But the Philadelphia collective Nucultures is not your average, ordinary band. On their 2007 two-disc set, Butterflies, Zebras, and Moonbeams, the group (which is comprised of lyricist Ellie Perez, guitarist/producer Tim Motzer, and bassist/songwriter Barry Meehan -- all of whom also contribute vocals) issues a true musical potpourri. With a largely laid-back feel throughout and a mixture of electronic and acoustic instruments (additional players lend a hand), many of the songs sung by Perez are equally jazzy and sultry -- and slightly Portishead-esque -- especially such standouts as the album opening "Night Is Beautiful" and "Behind the Moon." But even Nostradamus couldn't predict the group's next move, as they manage to touch upon electro-acoustic-folk ("Think I'm Losing It"), breezy meditations ("Mind Dunes"), and soundscapes ("Amorphous Lake") -- all the while managing not to lose the listener. If it's laid-back but unpredictable pop that is equal parts jazz and trip-hop that you're after, Nucultures' Butterflies, Zebras, and Moonbeams will most definitely not disappoint.

  • butterflies, zebras, and moonbeams -- indeed!
    author: nikki style 2007

    Nucultures Butterflies, Zebras and Moonbeams 1K Recordings Butterflies, Zebras and Moonbeams, the first release from Philadelphia musician collective, Nucultures, is an exercise through lush aural landscapes and bedroom loops. It's a fully realized version of Aussie downtempo navel gazer Sia, but with a chamber pop-lite background of literate musicians, who snowball ambient melodic chord structures into things of toweringly great beauty. Synthy plunks are channeled into a kaleidoscope of rueful jazzy interludes. At times, Butterflies, Zebras and Moonbeams could stand as a testament to the budding mystique of a great Miles Davis masterwork such as Kind of Blue. But it exists in a post-Portishead era, encapsulated in its own time and entity. There's that gorgeous block piano chord tinkle on the standout track, "Babylon is Crying (Tigris)." Like a good Davis cut, "Babylon is Crying (Tigris)" fills the room with its ubiquity, changing everything in the room with its seismic wake.

  • butterflies, zebras, and moonbeams -- indeed!
    author: straight no chaser (uk) 2007

    NUCULTURES -- Butterflies, Zebras, and Moonbeams (1k) An ambitious offering from multi-instrumentalist Philadelphia lyricist Ellie Perez, guitarist Timmy Motzer and bassist Barry Meehan, with twenty-tracks spread over two CD’s. Describing itself as a kaleidoscopic project which blends ‘shapes and hues into a textured soundscape’, the project is not shy in setting out its stall. For the musicians amongst you, it’s really a chance to get into the mind of some of Philly’s most respected musicians. In particular, Timmy’s guitar work offers fellow players a master class in ‘ideas’ – ways in which the influence of past masters like Jimmy Page and Chris Whitley (RIP) can be brought into the 21st century to help enhance this new-jazz lizard lounge sound. Check in on ‘Head’ for an example of how this translates through. For the passive listener, go straight to the superb ‘Night is Beautiful’ featuring Brooklyn drummer Jeremy Carlstedt, it’s a masterpiece that sets up us nicely for the third cometh of Portishead later this year. (WP) -- Straight No Chaser UK

email

Please log in to email this artist.