Label partner Matt Yarrington discovered the group via MySpace and quickly became hooked on its last album, 2005's Dear Birds, a winding soundscape that blended samples, electronic beats, and live instruments.
"I think it was the trumpets and train sounds, coupled with a warmth reminiscent of vinyl pops and hiss, which had me blasting Dear Birds in my car with the windows down, hollering at the sun," says Yarrington. "I hope [the label] gives them room to make more music."
The deal is for one disc, but the group and the label hope to continue working together. Minadeo's digital Patternbased records will co-release the disc, titled We Are All Counting on You, William. The album is complete, but won't be released until this summer, after the labels have had time to coordinate a promotional push.
"It sounds a lot like the previous album, but it's more cohesive as an entire piece," Minadeo says of the new disc. "And a lot of the individual tracks are stronger and more emotional, as well as more technical."
Scene readers voted Poets of Another Breed -- a live-band rap group -- band of the year in 2000 and top hip-hop act in both 2000 and '01. Farrow, a longtime affiliate of the group, also produced a new disc due this spring on Patternbased from all-star hip-hop group Honeypot.
· Lovedrug's Everything Starts Where It Ends cracked the Billboard top 200, debuting at No. 162. Yahoo! Music handpicked the Canton band for its voter-driven Who's Next campaign.
· Guitarist Spike LeMay has rejoined Brook Park's Balomai Brothers after leaving the warped rock group before 2005's You Don't Have to Like Us . . . a Ghoul Skit. That album's "And Every Single Song Is Gonna Go Like This" was nominated for Scene's song of the year. The duo has started recording a new album. "It's jangly psycho-pop," says frontman Szars Painis. "And with us doing it, it has that bad quality that makes it junk-rock."
· Smart-ass rockers Smiley Baldazar have finished recording their second LP, Relax . . . It's Out of Control. Titles include "Fustercluck" and "Potato Bug Guinea Pig Dog." Visit www.SmileyBaldazar.com to hear unmastered demos. No release date has been set.
· Pop group Saul Glennon has re-pressed its 1995 sophomore LP, Women, Mansions, Women, Yachts, Women. The disc is available via CD Baby and will soon be uploaded to major download sites. In response to the warm reception of singer Jack Rugan's recent solo sets, Rugan and guitarist-singer Adam Zieleniewski plan to perform a series of dates as the Saul Glennon Duo, playing eclectic covers of pop nuggets from the past few decades.
· Visit Scene's C-Notes blog -- updated multiple times daily at CleveScene.com/blogs -- for early concert announcements, multimedia links, and online exclusives, including interviews with local and national bands.
