News
The new record East to East - Available Now from Catbird Records!
| East to East |
About
Manishevitz is a band of unique dualities. They've experienced
flirtations with fame, critical praise from heavyweight arbiters, the
admiration of prominent peers, a devout following, and yet exist
mainly in the shadows of Chicago's landscape. They excel at
creating unconventional, cerebral music that manages cosmic,
celebratory and exuberant qualities. This music is timeless,
well-mannered, truant, and thoroughly singular; all characteristics
in parallel with the branding, 'cult status.'
East to East finds Manishevitz once again cruising the convergence
of art-pop, komishe, R&B, and exploratory jazz through a set of
shrewd, swaggering and thoughtfully-composed rock n' roll songs.
The group has seemingly shifted its approach with each release;
logically, then, East to East offers another curve to the oeuvre. East
of East offers both refinement and expansion to the heady arsenal
with its liberal use of open-ended groove structures (think Neu!)
and opulent, moody pop mutations a la Roxy Music. Through
meticulous attention to detail, the recordings achieve a level of
sophistication revealed well beyond cursory listens. East to East
offers the sound of a band reeling from its own prowess, moving
passionately through a wreckless medium.
Arriving four years after its predecessor, the bogglingly overlooked
City Life, East to East is the fourth LP from Chicago's Manishevitz,
and first for Catbird Records following a career spent under the
Jagjaguwar umbrella. East to East offers the culmination of Adam
Busch & co.'s particular take on post-everything pop forms,
delivered with the vigor of a faceless young blogworthy band and
the grace of scene veterans with nothing to prove.
- Chris Berry, November 2007
Press
MOJO |
“…blending eerie acoustic folk with a gauche art-glam flair of honking sax, aged synths, lush guitar and Busch’s … lilt…you find a band with many fine influences pinned to their sleeves, but, ultimately nothing to declare but their own lunatic creativity.”
Pitchfork |
“It's vital and provocative, lyrically and musically, and it reveals itself further with each subsequent listen. It's already the soundtrack to the human experience, as intangibly surreal as it seems and as ultimately realistic as it gets. No, it's more than that. It's everything you've ever heard and nothing you've ever heard, at once. Just like each moment of life, which is everything you've ever experienced and nothing you've ever experienced, at once.”
All Music Guide |
“Once you get over the shock of the way the band sounds, you realize that the songs have remained as strong as before. In fact, the new approach musically meshes with a hookier, more effusive brand of songwriting…fans of the band will be swayed by the stellar songwriting and the wild energy of the music, because City Life is a very good record.”
The Spill |
“Along with ever-changing tempos and moods, noisy guitar flare-ups and orchestral fills, the band manages to cram a variety of styles into a brief 35 minutes and, to their credit, are able to do so without sounding …self-important. The music is both smart and fun and doesn't take itself too seriously, at the same time letting you know it means business. Bravo.”
Logo |
“Behind the frontman lies a band well educated in melodic dissonance and time signatures so odd they could have been spliced together from three tapes, lighting a path for lyrics that generally conform to a five-syllables-per-line ethic. Such rigour has birthed great poetry, and the deceptively simple tales here…find life when absorbed through the ears.”
See Magazine |
“City Life might be able to turn any decaying autumn town into the most extraordinary place. With a great understanding for dynamics, a wonderful combination of simple guitar riffs, horns and flutes… Manishevitz encompasses both the spirits of Brit and indie-pop without sounding like they’re trying too hard. They just churn out wonderfully constructed songs that provide a great backdrop to the dimming of the light that signals another long winter.”
