In photography, the golden hour is when the sunlight is at the perfect angle to capture beautiful images; in the medical world, it's the window of time where a life can still be saved after severe injuries. Both meanings could apply to The Golden Hour, Firewater's first album of original material in four years: it's a musical travelogue of the three years Tod A. spent in India, Turkey, Pakistan, and Indonesia (which he also chronicled in the blog Postcards from the Edge of the World) after his divorce and the reelection of President George W. Bush in 2004, and each song is like a vibrant, sometimes violent, snapshot along the way. A.'s travels were no vacation -- if anything, there's a sharper edge to his songwriting here than in years, and combined with the contributions of local musicians from each country, The Golden Hour is some of Firewater's most consistently potent music. The album underscores its concept by kicking off with "Borneo," a jaunty, pissed-off exit song listing all the reasons for leaving the U.S. ("You got a monkey for a president" is near the top) with theatrical flair, and from there, A. and crew -- including drummer/producer Tamir Muskat of Balkan Beat Box -- find ways to dance on their troubles with quintessentially Firewater songs like "Hey Clown," "Already Gone," and "Three Legged Dog." The band ups the ante with "This Is My Life," where the tumba, chimta, and dholki of the native musicians (many of whom normally play in the backing bands for belly dancers) add an extra spark to the song's already fiery rhythm. But for every brash moment on The Golden Hour, there is an equally vulnerable one, whether it's the cautionary tales of "Paradise" and "A Place Not So Unkind" or "Six Forty Five," an elegant ballad filled with emptiness as it wanders from sunset to sunrise. On "Weird to Be Back," Tod A. notes that "everything's the same or maybe just a little worse," but that can't be said of The Golden Hour -- it's some of Firewater's angriest, most poignant, and most accomplished music.
Firewater is a band founded by Tod Ashley in 1995. He describes them as a "wedding band gone wrong".After Tod left his previous group, Cop Shoot Cop, he quickly regrouped and formed Firewater to explore the styles of music Cop Shoot Cop had only hinted at, including klezmer, cabaret, ska, jazz, and gypsy forms. More than one source described the original Firewater lineup as an "indie rock supe...
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Have posted on these guys before... no wonder I like them.... this is awesome..Added to the list to check out live based on this for sure...
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Seen quite a few posts about how good these guys are live, this session at KEXP definitely gives credence to that...
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In 2005, Firewater’s Tod A embarked on what would become a 3-year sabbatical through the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent and South East Asia. As the leader of a loose collective that has included a few dozen of the best players in rock today, he has always loved the act of collaboration, incorporating klezmer, ska, cabaret and gypsy elements into his songs in ways that were far ahead of hi.
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So, I caught of the first of two homecoming shows by Firewater last night. Saturday's show found them at Southpaw in scenic Park Slope, Brooklyn. I'd never been to this venue before, but it's amazing. Great space, very roomy, nice sight-lines. Very nice.The band was completely on fire, pardon the pun. Along with Erik Sanko of Skeleton Key filling on bass detail, Tod was flanked by a female trom...
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Back from a self-imposed three-year exile from American shores, erstwhile Brooklynite Tod [A] has reinvented Firewater, his versatile hell-bent wedding band as more of a multi-culti force than ever before. Writing and recording the band's 6th album, The Golden Hour while traveling through India, Pakistan, Turkey and Israel, Firewater's new material crackles with the inimitably exotic character ...
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I've got it, after watching this video of my radio friends up at KEXP doing the island-native backup vocals for Firewater's "Borneo" (about which and for free mp3, see earlier post).We here at SoundRoots global headquarters want to be backup singers. It's a little dream we have...is it really so much to ask?~~
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Borneo |
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| 2 This Is My Life |
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| 3 Some Kind of Kindness |
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| 4 Six Forty Five |
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| 5 A Place Not So Unkind |
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| 6 Paradise |
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| 7 Banghra Bros |
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| 8 Electric City |
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| 9 Hey Clown |
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| 10 Already Gone |
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| 11 Feels Like the End of the World |
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| 12 Weird to Be Back |
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| 13 Three Legged Dog |
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| 14 [CD-ROM Track] [Bonus Documentary Video] |
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 "The Golden Hour")
