HEY GALAXY
$ 9.00
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Listen to "Your Life"
All preorders of HEY GALAXY include immediate free download of the tracks "Your Life" and "Orlando."
HEY GALAXY was created in the midst of another project as a result of the current political upheaval in the United States. Gibson was working on an album entirely about love, accompanied by an orchestra, but after the 2016 presidential election they felt moved to put forth a more social justice-oriented project. "There’s a quote that says, ‘Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.’ I wanted to do that. I wanted to make something political and human and gutsy in its revolt. Something beautiful in its sweetness and rage and vulnerability. Something loud and tender at the same time."
HEY GALAXY does just that. The sixteen poems on the album tell the story of our times. Whether it’s "Orlando," which brutally relives the massacre at at LGBTQ nightclub and Gibson’s own struggles with coming out, or "A Letter to White Queers, A Letter to Myself," which combats white privilege during the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement, Gibson’s poems awaken us with their urgency, honesty, and their lyrical meld of grit and beauty.
All LP and CD purchases include the full digital file for immediate download on release day.
TLE-072 (2017 ) - 1. Your Life
2. Radio (feat. Jesse Thomas)
3. Orlando
4. Angels of the Get-Through
5. Boomerang Valentine
6. Letter to White Queers
7. Orbit
8. Elbows
9. Photoshopping My Sister's Mugshot
10. About the Weather
11. Give Her
12. Ode to the Public Panic Attack
13. The Day You Died Because You Wanted To
14. Good Light
15. To the Men Catcalling My Girlfriend While I'm Walking Beside Her
16. Fight for Love -
Andrea Gibson is not gentle with their truths. It is this raw fearlessness that has led them to the forefront of the spoken word movement. The first winner of the Womens World Poetry Slam, Gibson has headlined prestigious performance venues coast to coast with powerful readings on war, class, gender, bullying, white privilege, sexuality, love, and spirituality. They write books, record albums, perform, and tour.
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Y La Bamba exists in the dimension of the Mexican American imagination: somewhere cynical and optimistic at the same time. While there is a celebration of the Mexican creativity that has informed Mendoza’s life, there is a darker side to reconcile with. Where do mujeres fit in to the American story? What are the sins for which we are all guilty? How do different generations interact with the world? How can a culture become visible without tokenization? It is no surprise that in Mujeres, Y La Bamba’s first record with Mendoza at the helm of production, Mendoza contemplates these questions to tell her story. But it is not just Mendoza’s story. Challenging a narrative and dealing with the emotionality of that effort— that is everyone’s story.
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Bio written by Eliza Cossio
TLE-081 (2019) - 1. My Death
2. Real Talk
3. Cuatro Crazy
4. Conocidos
5. Lightning Storms
6. Dieciséis
7. Boca Llena
8. Perder
9. Mujeres
10. Una Letra
11. Santa Sal
12. Bruja de Brujas
13. Follow Your Feet
14. De Lejos (Digital only bonus track)
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Y La Bamba has been many things, but at the heart of it is singer-songwriter Luz Elena Mendoza’s inquisitive sense of self. Their fifth record, Mujeres, carries on the Portland-based band’s affinity for spiritual contemplation, but goes a step further in telling a story with a full emotional spectrum. Coming off Ojos Del Sol, one of NPR’s Top 50 Albums of 2016, Mujeres exhibits the scope of Mendoza’s artistic voice like never before. “Soy como soy,” Mendoza says, and that declaration is the bold— even political— statement that positions Mujeres to be Y La Bamba’s most unbridled offering yet. Mendoza forges new narratives from old stories of heritage and family, tracing history while forging modern chicana feminism. The raw honesty of Mujeres is in fact the raw honesty of Mendoza. Armed with the emotionality of traditional música mexicana and the storytelling of American folk, Y La Bamba’s artistry is not just their musical ability but Mendoza’s search for unadulterated truth. It is in an ancestral journey in which Mendoza comes to terms with the influence and limitations of her upbringing. While there is a celebration of the Mexican creativity that has informed Mendoza’s life, there is a darker side to reconcile with. Where do mujeres fit in to the American story? What are the sins for which we are all guilty? How do different generations interact with the world? How can a culture become visible without being tokenized? It is no surprise that in Mujeres, Y La Bamba’s first record with Mendoza at the helm of production, Mendoza contemplates these questions to tell her story. But it is not just Mendoza’s story. Challenging a narrative and dealing with the emotionality of that effort— that is everyone’s story. Mujeres was recorded by Luz Elena Mendoza and Ryan Oxford at Color Therapy Studios and Besitos Fritos Studios in Portland, Oregon. Mixed by Jeff Bond, with Grace Bugbee on bass, John Niekrasz on drums, Margaret Wher Gibson on keys, and Ed Rodriguez and Ryan Oxford on electric guitar.
Bio written by Eliza Cossio
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Listen to the song "Downpour"
Soulful noise pop, inspired, propellent psych pop… Trying to nail down the sound of Bells Atlas is a bit like narrating the inner workings of a kaleidoscope – where it's more about tripping out than nailing it down.
TLE-080 (2018) - 1. Overshare
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A surreal blend of r&b, psychedelia, jazz, and pop, rooted in the cultural bellwether of Oakland, CA, Bells Atlas has supported a number of international artists and shared the stage with acts such as Hiatus Kaiyote, Badbadnotgood, Bilal, Meshell Ndegeocello, W. Kamau Bell, Angélique Kidjo and more. They have also been making a name for themselves nationally as the touring band for NPR’s Snap Judgment since 2016, and recently wrapped up a sold-out tour supporting Bermuda Triangle, side-project of Alabama Shakes lead singer Brittany Howard. Channeling at once the ramshackle lo-fi beats of Tune-Yards and the sighing lullabies of Sade, Bells is like the passing bubbles of an unknown aquatic life-form, music percolates from depths untaken, playing in a deep blue pool of life, death and the fluid in-between.
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Listen to the song "Vibrations"
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TLE-077 (2018) - 1. Slow Down
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