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The Phantom Family Halo

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The Phantom Family Halo
OriginLouisville, KY, USA
GenresExperimental,[1] Psychedelic,[1] Indie music[1]
Years active2007–present
LabelsKnitting Factory Records[2]
MembersDominic Cipolla, David Lackner, Ben Lord, Christian Lee
Past membersMichael McMahan, Corey Smith, Tony Bailey, Axel Cooper, Neal Arghabright, Alan the Egyptian, Stephen Shoemaker, William Benton
Websiteknittingfactoryrecords.com/artists/phantom-family-halo

The Phantom Family Halo is an American indie rock band from Louisville in Kentucky[4][5] notable for music described as having a "post-metal state of ungodly loudness"[6] while managing to achieve a "neat creepy B-movie horror feel."[7] The six-member band,[6] currently based in Brooklyn,[1] has performed with bands such as Black Angels, Black Mountain, Dead Meadow, USAisamonster, Hawkwind, Slint, Damo Suzuki,[8] Acid Mothers Guru Guru,[8] Stormtrippers,[9] Russian Circles,[10][11] Young Widows,[10][11] Sapat,[11] The For Carnation,[12] and Bonnie "Prince" Billy.[3] The band signed a recording contract with Knitting Factory Records in 2011.[2]

Louisville beginnings

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Band members include Michael McMahan, who also plays with the Louisville band Slint, and Dominic Cipolla of Sapat.[4] They frequently collaborated with other musicians active in the Louisville music scene. In 2009, the group released a double LP entitled Monoliths & These Flowers Never Die on Karate Body Records.[13][14] In 2010, the band performed in Louisville's Cropped Out Festival.[15] A report in Twin Cities Music in Minneapolis described one of the band's live performances:

They opened with a fade-in chant, and oscillated between hippie-with-a-knife and palms-up rock, their sound amalgamated from Clinic and/or Suicide and/or the "lovely" lo-fi four-tracked trend sweeping the nation and/or psych bands with modern gear.[16]

Band member Cipolla described his relation to music:

Music is therapy for everything in my life, so I only hope to achieve a even closer relationship with it. It's like a book of potions, learning how to conjure up all kinds of different spells.

— Dominic Cipolla, November 2009 in The Courier-Journal[11]

In 2011 the band recorded songs with Bonnie Prince Billy and included them on their album The Mindeater.[3][7][17] The release date for Mindeater was set for September 27, 2011.

Music reviews

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A review in The Guardian described the band as a "new heavy psych band" which "dwells in a post-metal state of ungodly loudness," and compared their music to Tonys McPhee and Iommi.[6] Prefix Magazine described the upcoming Mindeater album as "spooked-out country" similar to the Palace Brothers using a "downcast slide guitar motif" with singing described as a "cracked vocal delivery" which was "mired in murky lo-fi production values."[7] Reviewer Nick Neyland added that one song has a "neat creepy B-movie horror feel."[7] A review by John Zeiss in Prefix Magazine described the band's sound as psychedelic rock and compared it to bands such as Scott Walker and 13th Floor Elevators.[4] Reviewer Joel Hunt described the band as "inventive."[18] A review in Brooklyn Rocks described the 2LP Monoliths & These Flowers Never Die as a "brain-melting slab of acid rock" similar to Hawkwind and Spacemen 3.[10]

Discography

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  • "Raven Town Witch" (Sophomore Lounge Records) 2014
  • "Francis Jewel Don't Be Afraid Of The Jungle" (Galtta Media) 2013
  • "When I Fall Out" Knitting Factory Records 2011
  • The Mindeater (with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy)(vinyl on Sophomore Lounge Records, CD and digital on Knitting Factory Records) 2011[17]
  • Music From Italian TV (Sophomore Lounge Records) 2010
  • Hurricane Fighter Plane split 7inch /Meah (Sophomore Lounge Records) 2009
  • Monoliths & These Flowers Never Die, 2009, Karate Body Records[13]
  • The Legend Of Black Six (blackvelvetfuckeree records) 2006

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "The Phanton Family Halo". Myspace designation. 2011-09-07. Retrieved 2011-09-07. Genre: Experimental -- Psychedelic -- Rock Location Brooklyn, Website www.phantomfamilyhalo.com ... Record Label sophomore lounge-karate body-blackvelvetfuckeree ... Type of Label Indie
  2. ^ a b "The Phantom Family Halo". Knitting Factory Records. 2011-09-07. Retrieved 2011-09-07. ..The Mindeater..
  3. ^ a b c Whitney Matheson (August 30, 2011). "New podcast! Matthew Sweet, Mekons and much more". USA Today. Retrieved 2011-09-07. Bonnie "Prince" Billy, ...It comes from The Mindeater, an EP from BPB and the Phantom Family Halo. That's out Sept. 27.
  4. ^ a b c John Zeiss (July 31, 2007). "Heading to the record store? Here's what's new". Prefix Magazine. Retrieved 2011-09-07. The Phantom Family Halo hails from one of those cities that has loomed large on the American indie-rock map: Louisville, Kentucky...
  5. ^ Joe Lord (February 22, 2008). "Sample upcoming Black Mountain/Bon Iver show here". Courier-Journal. Retrieved 2011-09-07. Louisville's Phantom Family Halo, another goodie, is also playing.
  6. ^ a b c Rowlands, Marc (2008-04-22). "The new wave of psychedelia is a trip". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2011-09-07. Kentucky sextet Phantom Family Halo ... dwell in a post-metal state of ungodly loudness that appeals both to fathers with fond memories of Tonys McPhee and Iommi...
  7. ^ a b c d Nick Neyland (May 6, 2011). "Bonnie "Prince" Billy: "The Mindeater" f. Phantom Family Halo (Streaming)". Prefix Magazine. Retrieved 2011-09-07. Will Oldham ... in collaboration with Phantom Family Halo. ... "The Mindeater," which represents a return to the spooked-out country of Oldham's earlier career....
  8. ^ a b Sisario (August 31, 2007). "POP". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-07. Acid Mothers Guru Guru... USAisamonster is a guitar-drum duo from Brooklyn whose jerky, robotic constructions turn into powerful blasts of sound. With Phantom Family Halo.
  9. ^ "Weekend Plans". the deli magazine. 20 July 2007. Retrieved 2011-09-07. At the Uptown in Oakland, Phantom Family Halo and Stormtrippers will be playing ...
  10. ^ a b c "Phantom Family Halo Release 'Monoliths & These Flowers Never Die'; Play Bowery Ballroom on Dec. 1st". BrooklynRocks. November 4, 2009. Retrieved 2011-09-07. ... Phantom Family Halo ... The band's new 2LP release, Monoliths & These Flowers Never Die, is simply a brilliant, brain-melting slab of acid rock which should strike an immediate chord with fans of Hawkwind and Spacemen 3.
  11. ^ a b c d (interview with news staff) (November 18, 2009). "Dominic Cipolla interview". Courier-Journal. Retrieved 2011-09-07. The Phantom Family Halo ... touring with Russian Circles and Young Widows...
  12. ^ "Phantom Family Halo record release show". Courier-Journal. November 24, 2009. Retrieved 2011-09-07. The Halo will play a record release show at Lisa's Oak Street Lounge on Wednesday. Their double LP, which features members of Sapat and The For Carnation, is now available at karatebodyrecords.com.
  13. ^ a b Peter Berkowitz (September 14, 2009). "new records from Karate Body". Courier-Journal. Retrieved 2011-09-07. We eagerly await Phantom Family Halo's monstrous double LP, Monoliths & These Flowers Never Die ...
  14. ^ Peter Berkowitz (November 24, 2009). "Phantom Family Halo record release show". Courier-Journal. Retrieved 2011-09-07.
  15. ^ "Cropped Out Festival Celebrates Louisville's Creativity". WLKY.com (TV station). September 29, 2010. Retrieved 2011-09-07. The Phantom Family Halo record release show (Louisville, KY)
  16. ^ Andrew Flanagan (March 15, 2010). "Young Windows, Buildings bring the big guns to the Turf Club". Twin Cities Music (Minneapolis). Retrieved 2011-09-07.
  17. ^ a b "New Song : Bonnie "Prince" Billy + Phantom Family Halo : The Mindeater". My Old Kentucky Blog. May 5, 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-07. The Mindeater EP, a 4-song collaboration with Phantom Family Halo ...
  18. ^ Joel Hunt (2011). "Music from Italian TV". Leo Weekly. Retrieved 2011-09-07. ...There are a number of good bands in Louisville these days, but there's not another band here, much less the rest of the nation, as inventive as The Phantom Family Halo.
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