Press (2004)

"As members of three of my favorite local outfits come together to form The Physics of Meaning, I'll go ahead and preemptively call this newfangled excursion a Triangle supergroup. Mark Paulson and Wes Phillips of Ticonderoga, Daniel Hart of Go Machine and Ann Polesnak of Utah! have something special on their hands with this mercurial, under-construction pop pursuit. Kapow Music, the newest Bu Hanan project and one of the area's upcoming acoustic projects, opens."

~Grayson Currin, the Independent Weekly

"The Soapbox, Wilmington's resting place for the independent traveling band, will host a show on Nov. 19 featuring Sheerwater, Marstellar, and Chapel Hill uber-bands Go Machine and The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers.

Go Machine and The Prayers, both artists under the Bu Hanan record label (run by the members of Go Machine), have long been known in the area for their unique blend of sound, musical styles and performers. The two bands share between them more raw talent than half of the musicians riding in the mainstream today.

Unlike the level of competition that exists between most musicians, the members of Go Machine and The Prayers rotate in and out of each other's recordings, working together to create a streamlined sound that is both beautiful and engaging. David Daniels of Go Machine believes that the concept of recording with other musicians has made them stronger as a group.

"Everyone in Go Machine has always simultaneously worked on other projects. Bands with monarchs aren't always uniformly committed or even happy. Not wanting to stifle each other, we are currently taking the approach of simply writing/recording music (sometimes alone or in twos), and then, only after it's finished, deciding under what moniker it needs to be released," said Daniels.

Perry Wright, founder and life force of The Prayers, shares a similar view on the concept of rotating musicians through a band.

"Go Machine and I are coming off of a tour across the Southeast. We traveled in one van, with basically one set of equipment, and played two sets every night. So we got to be environmentally friendly and cost-effective at the same time. And I got to have three of the most accomplished musicians I have ever met as my band every night. I can't think of better reasons to do things any other way," said Wright.

While both bands have a complicated sound on their recordings, the most amazing attribute of the groups is that they are able to re-create it at each of their shows.

"Recording is fulfillment for my brain; I like working out the mystery of how we're going to make this song into something that sounds good on a car stereo. Live performance is fulfillment for my heart: to be sharing with other people, to embrace the spontaneity and electricity of music in the moment. At its worst, live performance is a good learning experience. At its best, live performance is true, intangible beauty," said Daniel Hart of Go Machine.

Without overstepping any boundaries, the members of Go Machine and The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers could easily be called brilliant. Anyone looking for a reminder of a time when music meant something should head to The Soapbox on Nov. 19."

~Linnie Sarah Helpern, the Seahawk

"Perry Wright of The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers and Go Machine's Alex Lazara, who produced Wright's new album, The Mother of Love Emulates the Shapes of Cynthia, are sitting in the coffee shop of Barnes & Noble, fresh from a 12-date tour of the Southeast. They're members of the Bu Hanan Records collective, and their back and forth banter is that of two people who know each other well. Perhaps even too well. "We just finished the album. It's 12 tracks, 50 minutes long," says Wright, who looks like he could be Opie's taller, older brother.

"That's a meaty album," I offer.

"I told you, everyone is 35 now," Lazara comments.

"It's two Weezer albums for the price of one," Wright suggests.

"You need 50 minutes when you have seven syllable words in your songs like Perry does," Lazara gibes.

Of course, it's all good-natured. During the tour, Go Machine served as Wright's backing band.

"It worked pretty well because we got to share gear and the van at $2-a-gallon. It was the only way to conceive of a tour that could break even," Wright says.

The new album (which will be available in February or March) was recorded at Bu Hanan's in-house (literally) studio. It's a vast leap forward from the last Prayers and Tears album, Psalterie, not just because of new equipment purchases, but because they finished the last one in a mere seven days.

"Perry had finished his master's degree and I was unemployed," Lazara explains. "We were hanging out one Saturday night and we knew we had nothing to do the next week. So we started it Sunday night and we released the album at our show the next Saturday night."

For this album, Wright worked with Lazara and fellow Go Machine member Daniel Hart (who arranged the string parts) between their tours, and finished up this summer. Wright sent it to Chris Colbert in Indiana to master it.

"He mastered the last Pedro the Lion, Elf Power and Summer Hymns," Wright says. "The stuff he's done has a lot of nice play between acoustic tracks and electric, so I thought he would do a nice, thoughtful job of not over-compressing."

"The album was mastered analog for the sort of purists who want analog warmth," pipes in Lazara. "The guy who mastered it, he goes out of a digital source through analog mastering equipment back into a digital source, so it has an analog master on it, which warms it up."

"I'm not a songwriter," Lazara explains a moment later. "I have to do something to justify my existence."

Since he seems to know so much about these kinds of things, I offered former music composition major Lazara a chance to describe Wright's sound.

"Perry doesn't really write traditionally structured songs, verse-chorus-verse-chorus, a bridge and a double chorus at the end," he explains. "Perry's music sort of thrives on this polarization of this super-intimate and this cathartic release. Sometimes you have an entire song of this intimate thing and an entire song of these explosions. One of the things that attracted me to Perry's work is he plays with dynamics, and I don't think enough bands out there do."

~Chris Parker, the Independent Weekly

"New Chapel Hill resident (by way of Austin, Texas) John Ribo completes an odyssey begun in Lyon, France, in 1999 on a $70 analog four-track, with this, his debut album. Its pretty, low-key charms recall the rustic pop intimacy of Sparklehorse in their quieter moments or the sunny tones of a stripped-down Grandaddy. Like both acts, the gentle guitar melodies are sometimes accompanied by washes of ambient electronic tones as well as the well-deployed additional instrumentation, such as the wistful violin line of the loping "Cycles," or the theremin on the jaunty, noisy pop tune "Just There" and the haunting "Ease." Most of the tracks are spare, operating on a very successful less-is-more strategy. In fact, several of the best-realized tracks are straightforwardly folky in tone, such as the melancholy "One-way Train" and "Just A Boy Pt. I," with its warm vocal harmonies. The album's highlight, "Ma Tutrice," manages a mesh of both approaches, with the rambling, bluesy acoustic guitar abetted by a bevy of effects that forge a rich gumbo of sounds, which somehow only reinforce the song's happy, head-bobbing melody. A solid, friendly album whose moods move like weather through gray skies, cloudy mornings, little rainbows and bursts of sunshine."

~Chris Parker, the Independent Weekly

"There's a mess of bands comin' atcha on Saturday at the New Brookland Tavern. Noth Carolina's Bu Hanan Records is routing its first collaborative tour, featuring Go Machine and The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, through these parts to hook up with the jittery blues-rock of The South Holes, the indie crank of Vinyl are My Pants and The Sharpest Knives in the Drawer. Big Lebowski fans will recall that Arthur Digby Sellers wrote 156 episodes of Branded: "The Bulk of the series... not exactly a lightweight... and yet his sun is a f!#cking dunce." The group features members of Sixpence None the Richer and, fittingly enough, Go Machine, whose own sound has been pegged as "sad-eyed country-electro-rock-fusion."

~KFL, the Free Times

"Chapel Hill's self-declared "only sad-eyed country-electro-rock-fusion" trio begins a two week southeastern tour with this date. Go Machine's eclectic sound is built around theremin and violin and it includes a good bit of laptop as well, meaning this won't be your standard power trio or country crooning. More like (mellower) Radiohead meets Whiskeytown. With co-Bu Hanan Records artists The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers - easily one of the best band names out there. SK Net Cafe."

~John Schacht, Creative Loafing Charlotte

"Go Machine's Daniel Hart will be pulling out some of his solo material at Blue Coffee Company in downtown Durham today. But "solo" might be a bit of a misnomer, because Hart will be joined on stage by a six-piece ensemble that includes accordion, violin, viola and cello. If Go Machine might be described as an experimental pop outfit with flashes of everything including rock, bluegrass, electro-pop and space rock (especially on their Theremin-based tracks), then you can imagine the eclecticism that informs Hart's solo work.

A transplant from Texas, Hart released a solo album before moving here, and the set will include selections from that release as well as new compositions. Hart is just returning from a tour, where he played violin for several weeks in the Dallas rock symphony Polyphonic Spree. He's joined by Sleepsound and Amanda Wholhouser, performing what would appear to be one of the first shows at the Durham coffee shop since it was one of the hosts of last year's Durham Music Festival."

~Chris Parker, the Herald Sun

"Given the recent release of their sophomore Together We're Heavy, a handful of appearances on national television and a funny little incident in which a percussion microphone was mistaken for a bomb, most people with as much as an ear to the indie rock world would know the 24 piece, Dallas-rooted Polyphonic Spree.

They probably don't know Go Machine, though.

Go Machine is another Dallas-borne rock oddity, a three-piece who - by way of members Alex Lazara, Daniel Hart and David Karsten Daniels and their disparate, sprawling collective influences - prove that little things can come in small packages. [webmaster's note: We think he meant to say big things?] Together, they carve a Modest Mouse-meets-Air-remixed by Prefuse 73 aesthetic from a spacey, heady amalgamate of heartbreak and breakbeats.

And the Spree connection isn't simply geographical. Turntablist/vocalist/violinist/bassist/guitarist Daniel Hart served as the Spree's violinist, and Ryan Fitzgerald - now the big band's guitarist - was part of the Go Machine's seven piece configuration years ago back in Dallas. [webmaster's note: actually, the name of the old band was Fool's Cap] After that unit disbanded, the band's principals headed to different parts of the West Coast, with Lazara returning to Los Angeles and Daniels heading north to Portland. Hart eventually found himself in Durham, pleading with his former bandmates to join him in the east and give the band another go.

They obliged, returning to spearhead Bu Hanan Records, issuing look to the as Bu Hanan 003 (Daniels had previously issued two solo albums on the label), booking a handful of local shows, and quickly gaining substantial local affection. Bu Hanan continued to grow, releasing a full-length from charged singer-songwriter Perry Wright as The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, followed by New Frontiers, a late 2003 compilation of local bands. Hart spent five weeks opening for David Bowie with The Polyphonic Spree in early 2004, but the band has spent the last few months building and rehearsing material for a long overdue, highly anticipated follow-up."

~Grayson Currin, the Independent Weekly

"David Karsten Daniels has a doleful, lethargic grace underscored by a variety of approaches from a sturdy thrumming undercurrent of electronics, washes of psych folk acoustic to sparse, minimalist guitar. The tone recalls Drag City's '90s roster with echoes of Bill Callahan, Will Oldham and The Silver Jews in Daniels' mournful confessional elegies. There's a scrapbook/journal-ish stream of consciousness style that makes his latest album, Angles (Bu Hanan), an especially intimate portrait of a break-up.

Similar to: Smog, Radar Brothers, Royal City"

~Chris Parker, the Independent Weekly

"Go Machine formed in 2003 led by solo artist David Karsten Daniels and Daniel Hart, who was among the score of musicians comprising Austin's symphonic popsters Polyphonic Spree. Employing an equally adventurous approach, they build gently pulsing tracks from an exotic mix of samples, loops, violin and Theremin in addition to the standard guitar/bass/keyboards/drums set-up. Their experimental pop sound covers a wide territory with plenty of bleed and overlap--from parched country dirges to rumbling bluegrass and bubbling electro-pop, all infused with a majestic grace. Their debut EP, Look To The (Bu Hanan), came out early this year [sic].

Similar to: Crooked Fingers, Four Tet, Varnaline"

~Grayson Currin, the Independent Weekly

"If Perry Wright's music has a greatest strength, it is certainly conviction. After all, Wright is an indie singer-songwriter who sounds like a self-edited Connor [sic] Oberst but openly confesses his admiration for the writing of Counting Crows crooner Adam Duritz. He writes about religion, too--the son of an occasional music minister, Wright doesn't want to preach, proselytize or convert, he just wants the audience to listen as he sorts through the qualms in his head. Expect a sophomore record later this year on Bu Hanan Records."

~Grayson Currin, the Independent Weekly

"It will be worth your time to help welcome Go Machine back to the Triangle from its most recent half-national run, which took the band from its current Chapel Hill hideout to its former Dallas epicenter by way of David Daniel's childhood haunts and treehouses deep down in Alabama. Expect the trio--rendering its highly accessible, hip-hop-to-post-rock experimentally eclectic pop--to be in high form on the heels of its first tour since Daniel Hart returned from a month of opening for David Bowie as The Polyphonic Spree's violinist. Locals Eyes to Space open, along with members of Maserati in the newfangled, up-from-Athens outfit, Who Is Myrtle Malloy?"

~Grayson Currin, the Independent Weekly

"For the last two years Go Machine has been reaching out from the hills of the East Coast into the wide expanse of the US in search of making a name for themselves. This talented trio from North Carolina’s Chapel Hill has been termed “country-electro-rock fusion.” Which, once you’ve heard them, pretty much makes sense. Their unique style seems sporadic at times and a bit improvised but, as the melodies continue it becomes clear that much thought and coordination have been put into their songs. As Go Machine seems to be in a constant state of evolution and improvement their music documents their changes. The trio never fails to impress and awe as they transform and morph through folk inspired tunes into a raw a raucous indie band with the scratch and beat of turntables. Go Machine has much to offer to the soul seekers of music out their, and much can be learned from this all together genius composite of a band.

Baton Rouge will have its very own chance to take part in this lesson learning experience at Red Star, June 15th. So, if you don’t want to be left in the dark about the magical essence of good music you should find yourself there."

JetBunny Magazine

"It's always a good sign in such a busy music region as the Triangle that folks are cranking out compilations and surveying things at a particular time.

New Frontiers covers a variety of styles, mostly rooted in the guitar-bass-drums school of melody, but some veer off that familiar course. Everyone here is from the (in this case, generalized) Chapel Hill area. Many are still in their infancy as bands, while others are more settled. Pop band Roman Candle starts things off with "Something Left To Say," a cut off their 2002 record Says Pop, that made some waves on college radio. It recently ended up as incidental music on an MTV show, planting its hummable notes in the subconscious minds of teenagers everywhere, or something like that. There is plenty more catchy pop rock here, from the harmonies of Eyes to Space's "One Minute Mile" to Velvet's naughty tale "My Friend Fur" ("Sometimes I like to touch her..."). Go Machine contributes a devotion to their home turf with "From Where I Come," with half-spoken lyrics darting around percussion and various background samples for a diverse change of pace. On a different plane altogether is the edgy guitar anthem by Alli with an I and Amish Jihad's math-rock instrumental. Sentinel has the most riveting entry here; metalloid punk that's all shredding guitar riffs set against bottom-heavy bulldozing rhythms. The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers evokes a nice mysterious feel and a big sound from synthesizers and electro beats. Nathan Asher and the Infantry issue a long political call, replete with anti-Bush sentiments. There's so much more here to check out; 21 tracks in all. Pick one up and take a peek into yet another tributary of this area's river of song."

~Chris Toenes, the Independent Weekly

"Go Machine from Chapel Hill melted all of our brains last year, came back and did it again. The three piece plays a mind-boggling blend of country and electronic music, with members constantly switching instruments. Alex Lazara mans a synthesizer, a drum machine, and a theremin, lanky Daniel Hart switches between guitar, violin, bass, and drums, and bald, bearded David Daniels starts out as the drummer and eventually switches over to guitar, bass, and keyboards. And they all sing. It’s a sonic kick to the head that leaves you dazzled and enchanted - three amazing musicians making music that manages to sound improvised while nailing tricky rhythm changes and mood swings with intense precision."

"The Prayers & Tears Of Arthur Digby Sellers is actually an ever-changing ensemble patterned like the Elephant Six collective, showcasing singer/songwriter Perry Wright. Perry’s a good-looking, affable blonde kid with a very likable voice. Having members of Go Machine in his backing band certainly doesn’t hurt either. The music builds and collapses, starts and stops, jerks and twists, while the vocals sigh and soar. Wright looks like he’s about as old as Conor Oberst and every bit the songwriter, only devoid of the mawkish self-pity, pretentiousness, and wordiness. It’s all quite lovely and another reason why that damn N. Carolina triangle (Chapel Hill – Durham – Charlotte) bears close watching again."

~Jim Testa, JerseyBeat

"Go Machine Much as digital video is making real filmmakers out of amateurs, so the recent wave of home studio software is putting professional-sounding rock 'n' roll production into the hands of people willing to tinker with conventional formulas. Look to the, the debut EP from this North Carolina band, makes a good case for the trend. While their stitched-up indie-pop sometimes falls apart at the slightest tug, Go Machine work a lot of emotional range into a set of genre-slamming songs. Acoustic folk weaves through glitch-tronica, dotted with arena-rock punches and overlaid with strings that pulse slowly and quietly. It sounds at once familiar and odd--and deeply personal."

~Noel Murray, Nashville Scene

"Ready Steady Go Machine:

Chapel Hill's Go Machine blend a variety of instruments in their music, including turntable samples, violin and theremin. Their style, featured on their first release look to the veers slightly to the left of a typical pop.

The band has been keeping a busy schedule and doesn't look to be slowing down. They've started work on their second full-length and member Daniel Hart recently returned from a stint on tour with the large ensemble Polyphonic Spree, which opened several dates for David Bowie. After a set of Triangle-area dates, the band is headed east for Wilmington's WE FEST, then off for a three week Southeastern tour in June, taking them through Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia and points nearby. You can keep up with their activities through the band's website: www.gomachinemusic.com"

~Grayson Currin, the Independent Weekly

"Wearing your influences on your sleeve is a bit risky for any band, if the groups you look at for musical inspiration are at a level above the big 3-- the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Elvis. Everyone is influenced by the aforementioned founding fathers of the rock dynasty-- it's when groups closely follow the sound of later, more specialized groups that trouble arises.

Aping Radiohead, with a sound like no one else's, is a bit daft (but that hasn't stopped Travis or Coldplay from following The Bends-era group to its overblown conclusion). The Chapel Hill band Go Machine sound, depending on the song, like Coldplay, Postal Service, and a pickup truck of bluegrass musicians suffering a high-speed collision with a sample-crazy DJ.

Sometime in 2002 songwriters Daniel Hart (vocals, guitar, violin, bass, drums) and David Daniels (vocals, drums, keyboards, guitar, bass), programmer Alex Lazara (keyboards, programming, theremin, vocals) and percussionist Jeremy Portwood formed Go Machine via long distance phone calls and the Internet.

Setting up musical shop in North Carolina, the group began to record what would become their first album, look to the (Bu Hanan Records), released in 2003. That year would also see the exit of Portwood, but the group persevered as a three-piece, relying increasingly on laptop trickery to supply the group's rhythm.

look to the is described as a mini album on the group's website (gomachine.com [sic]-- though we in the music biz would probably label the album an EP); composed of six songs and running a little more than 35 minutes, it reveals an apparently schizophrenic band who have not yet defined themselves apart from their forefathers.

Track 1, "Great Northwest"-- all acoustic guitars and violin, and for the first three minutes or so, only random vocal samples-- set the group's sound apart from any good bluegrass outfit. At the three-minute mark, suddenly the beat becomes disco, and synth bass warbles in the song's background. It's a neat fake-out trick, and the group pulls the switch well.

As for Track 2, "Many Times"-- either Coldplay or Go Machine have something to explain here. "The Scientist" from the former band's second album, Rush of Blood to the Head, is as good a touchstone as any.

Track 3, "Doppelganger"-- though the song seems to be about a personal twin, the title could also refer to the electronic beat-heavy (combined with acoustic guitar) sound of this track vis-à-vis the sound of the Sub Pop group the Postal Service. Considering they released their first album in 2003, it's not like the latter group is unknown here-- the Postal Service is a bit of a super-group, composed of members of Dntel and Death Cab for Cutie.

Track 6, "What Can You Do (but keep movin' on)" is one place where Go Machine's originality comes shining through-- slow building to a group singalong to "What can you do but keep movin' on?" the tune is a beautiful rendering of staccato violin and plucked electric, and even live drums.

Two interesting songs out of six does not an EP save, and I'm waiting to hear Go Machine transcend their influences-- give me a ring when you do."

~Mark Gebrowski, the Hook

"The third solo album from Go Machine multi-instrumentalist David Karsten Daniels is a sparse and doleful affair. Meddling with an array of indie-rock influences and a wealth of instrumentation, Daniels indulges in that most fearsome of concepts, the "break-up" album, inspired by his own struggle to maintain a long-distance, cross-coastal relationship with his girlfriend of four years. This might seem like a horrifically self-indulgent prospect, but it's handled with a fragile, confessional elegance that grows more intriguing with every listen.

It's not without its reference points. There's a pungent whiff of Radiohead in the opening "Goodbye", mournful nods to Will Oldham in "Scribble Your Name In The Dark", and even the sad-eyed lamentations of the Radar Brothers in "Alcohol". Nonetheless, Daniels' individuality shines through by way of the intimacy of his rambling, conversational delivery. The songs arrive almost as fleeting thoughts, scraps, moments, frozen stills or notebook scribbles, making for a deeply personal record as commendable for its frail honesty as it is for its misty-eyed songwriting.

Likewise, the album flows with a curious mood-swing logic that works in tandem with the "break-up" conceit. The smouldering internal drama of "Goodbye", for example, gives way to the deceptively cheery acoustic ditty "Note To Self", in which Daniels asks, "How could you be so silly as to think we could grow together?" From there, "I'll Just Play Guitar" gives Daniels a chance to console himself in song, "Holding Pattern" is a compelling, wandering ambient insert, and "Marriage Proposal" is the record's centerpiece -- a sorrowful acoustic waltz that burns and crackles like the embers of a charred heart. It's not all misery incarnate, though. Fittingly for a "break-up" record, the album comes to rest on "Give Up... And You Are Changed", and this track's elated chorus ends the proceedings on an almost optimistic note.

Ultimately, Angles is a sparse but beautifully poignant account of falling out of love. It's certainly a grief-stricken listen, but Daniels mostly sidesteps self-indulgence by translating his own experience into something universally resonant. It's highly recommendable, not only as a willfully disconnected and confessional album of battered indie-folk, but also as something of a self-help manual for the broken-hearted."

~Allan Harrison, Splendid

"Go Machine's Daniel Hart was originally among the score [sic] of musicians comprising Austin's [sic] symphonic pop legion Polyphonic Spree. His quartet (then a threesome) [sic] left Texas for Chapel Hill, but brought that same adventurous attitude with them. Their debut release, "Look To The," features gently pulsing tracks built on an exotic mix of loops, samples, violins, and Theremin, in addition to the standard guitar, keyboards, bass and drums. Their experimental pop sound covers a lot of territory with plenty of bleed and overlap, from parched country dirges to rumbling electro-pop, all infused with a majestic grace."

~Chris Parker, the Herald Sun

"Retrospective on rock: a look back at the year in local music

It's fitting that Merge Records is celebrating its 15-year anniversary after a spectacular year in local music. The Durham-based indie record label, spearheaded by two bandmembers of Superchunk, began in Chapel Hill when many local bands were gaining national coverage. In 2003--despite the loss of Radio-Free Records, Durham's only independent record store--there were a number of notable local indie rock releases--Portastatic's The Summer of the Shark among others--that got critics around the nation talking.

Jett Rink's eponymous debut was one such release. With a live-wire stage presence and frenetic vocal/instrumental arrangements to match, singer Viva fronts the band as a rock spirit materialized. I first saw Jett Rink play at the Compulation, a compilation of songs from local rock groups, release party, which in and of itself was the closest thing to a tribute to the region. The honors for the Compulation and the Jett Rink EP go to the intrepid visionaries at Durham's new record label Pox World Empire. The "Poxperiment" is coming.

The vets at Merge themselves heralded arguably the area's next big thing. The Rosebuds wowed enough critics, including myself, with their worldwide premiere Make Out to get on several end of the year top ten lists. With a sound that harkens back to the Smiths if they did sunny pop-rock, the band has constructed some of the tightest melodies in decades.

However, this year's local rock heroes have to be The Butchies. Back with their strongest set of songs yet, they stick true to the pop formula, inserting just a little bit of grrl rock 'tude here and there. I've never seen a band have more fun on stage, nor one that radiates such a rock-star presence.

This summer's musical releases are even more promising. You will know The Comas, Chapel Hill's rockin' stoners; Tres Chicas, alt-country with a feminine edge; des_ark, poignant vignettes crooned by a rock banshee; Go Machine, electronic rock at its melodious best and hip-hop visionaries, Little Brother."

~Robert Wintrode, the Chronicle

"...Opening for The Anomoanon is Chapel Hill area's The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers (whom I will refer to simply as Arthur Digby Sellers form [sic] now on). This band features a rotating collective of musicians, all performing music written by guitarist and lead vocalist Perry Wright. These guys are more my style, mostly because of its general lack of any sort of folk-music connection. Because of the large and oft-changing lineup of Arthur Digby Sellers, each song on their album, Psalterie, has a unique feel to it. The styles often vary from indie rock to noise rock, to jazz and back again. Their live shows are always interesting, as you never know how many people will actually be performing. It could be an entire five-piece ensemble, or it could be just twos.

Lyrically, Arthur Digby Sellers really appealed to me. They are full of all the cynicism, sarcasm and bitterness that I have grown to love over the years. However, they are also quite beautiful, and not just the juvenile scrawlings you might expect from an angst-ridden teenager abusing his personal diary. In the song, "A Second Reply to St. Anselm of Canterbury," contains some of the best lyric writing on the album. This song is interesting because it constantly kept me expecting some sort of breakdown or crescendo, as the music builds and builds while Wright laments, "Reconstruct the days in the fall you tried/As you hold on tight to the day she died/Cause you lose the things that you hold too tight/If the dreams you have keep you up at night."..."

~Alan Maready, Encore

"...Opening for The Anomoanon is Chapel Hill area's The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers (whom I will refer to simply as Arthur Digby Sellers form [sic] now on). This band features a rotating collective of musicians, all performing music written by guitarist and lead vocalist Perry Wright. These guys are more my style, mostly because of its general lack of any sort of folk-music connection. Because of the large and oft-changing lineup of Arthur Digby Sellers, each song on their album, Psalterie, has a unique feel to it. The styles often vary from indie rock to noise rock, to jazz and back again. Their live shows are always interesting, as you never know how many people will actually be performing. It could be an entire five-piece ensemble, or it could be just twos.

Lyrically, Arthur Digby Sellers really appealed to me. They are full of all the cynicism, sarcasm and bitterness that I have grown to love over the years. However, they are also quite beautiful, and not just the juvenile scrawlings you might expect from an angst-ridden teenager abusing his personal diary. In the song, "A Second Reply to St. Anselm of Canterbury," contains some of the best lyric writing on the album. This song is interesting because it constantly kept me expecting some sort of breakdown or crescendo, as the music builds and builds while Wright laments, "Reconstruct the days in the fall you tried/As you hold on tight to the day she died/Cause you lose the things that you hold too tight/If the dreams you have keep you up at night."..."

~Jesuíno André, Junkmail

"Chapel Hill band The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers will be appearing at The Soapbox on April 16, along with The Anomoanon, to promote their new [sic] album Psalterie.

Songwriter Perry Wright is the mastermind behind what could be one of the most astonishingly organized bands in North Carolina. Composed of various musicians on the Bu Hanan record label, The Prayers is structured around Wright's brilliant lyrics and innovative style.

Wright and his rotating band of merry musicians offer a testament (literal and figurative) to their talent with the release of Psalterie.

The composition of Psalterie is almost as intriguing as the band itself. Each track is loosely based on a Psalm that harbors some deeper meaning for Wright. The lyrics of every song are crafted around, but not directly related to, various lines of scripture that somehow manage to take on a whole new meaning in Wright's hands.

Track three, "(88:5) another rock star laments" is a surprisingly candid commentary on what it means to be in the limelight. The lyrics "Everybody loves me for an hour every night, but love isn't everything you know, I'll be on the radio" offer an insight into the inner thoughts of a performing musician.

The Psalm referenced at the beginning of every title makes for easy indexing if one is so inclined to research the basis of the lyrics.

Often compared to the likes of Bright Eyes, Wright's haunting vocals are the cornerstone of what makes Psalterie so effective. Combined with violins, accordions, Theremin and drums, the vocal harmonies of The Prayers are tantamount to the most progressive and entertaining of church music.

It is almost impossible to do anything else once under the spell of Perry Wright's magic.

All at once hypnotic and intelligent, The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers' Psalterie is a wonder to behold. The 10 track CD is one of those rare treasures than can be listened to straight through without breaking.

Psalterie is available on their Web Site (www.prayersandtears.com), as well as at their April 16 show at The Soapbox."

~LinnieSarrah Helpern, the Seahawk

"...Not quite as sprawling, but close: Chapel Hill's Go Machine, which incorporates fiddle-driven twang into electronic rock in an amazing fusion on its debut album, "look to the" (Bu Hanan Records). It's futuristic dance music for back porches, and you can catch it live Saturday at De La Luz. Annie Clark, Project Mastana and Sedona are also on the bill."

~David Menconi, the News & Observer

"The Girls and Boys tour, featuring Chapel Hill band Go Machine, and Boston songbird Annie Clark, will reach Wilmington in The Soapbox on Feb. 20, at 9:30 p.m.

Along with Wilmington band The Jackson Hives, Go Machine and Annie Clark are sure to offer an unusual and amazing show.

Boston native Annie Clark manages to combine the vocal styling of both Bjork and Nico on her record, Ratsliveonnoevilstar. Clark's completely original sound and poetry infused lyrics help to push her to the brink of profundity. Both thought provoking and heart wrenching, Annie Clark alone is worth the price of admission.

Still, Chapel Hill's Go Machine is worth all of that and more. Featuring Daniel Hart, originally of The Polyphonic Spree, the four-man band has a truly progressive and inherently beautiful sound. The only word to describe Go Machine is brilliant. Not only are they intelligent, but their music is also electronically and musically perfect.

Their first EP, Look to The, has been compared to the likes of Radiohead, The Beatles and Beck, and rightly so. The six-song EP feels like more of a grand epic than a short-form record. Each song is different, with a certain distinction wiping the musical slate clean of whatever came before.

Hart, along with band-mates David Daniels, Jeremy Portwood and Alex Lazara, combine violin, guitar, theremin, turntables and vocals to create an electronica sound fused with country and pop. The music is almost impossible to explain, mostly because it leaves the listener in a state of complete and utter astonishment.

Perhaps the best example of Go Machine's completely indescribable sound is track five, "Red Balloon." Not only are the lyrics completely brilliant, but they also sing them in three different languages. The words shift from English, to Spanish, to French and back again with a fluidity that is almost impossible to notice.

The Girls and Boys Tour, featuring Annie Clark and Go Machine, is sure to advance the careers of these truly deserving musicians. Chapel Hill band Go Machine is destined for stardom and the notoriety they have earned. "

~LinnieSarrah Helpern, the Seahawk

"In a perfect world, the title of David Karsten Daniel's [sic] solo album wouldn't be Angles. Instead, it would be the singular Angle, a reflection not only of the months Daniels (of Chapel Hill space-rock trip, Go*Machine) spent locked away in his home writing and recording the material for this, his third, solo effort, but also of the singular, direct focus of the work, a melodramatic case study in how to get left behind by a woman who has dreams of her own and, more importantly, just how to survive her.

But, seconds into Angles, you get the intense feeling that the world isn't perfect. "'See you later,' you corrected/ Trying to put it into perspective/ Just to hide what it was," Daniels moans from somewhere inside of a barrel, keeping time with the dirge plodding in the background as a salvo of synthesized noise barges in on his forlorn nostalgia. "The goodbye, goodbye." Daniels spends the next eleven tracks reckoning with the demons stemming from a trans-continental flight and the unrequited, confused love that followed, leaning on his acoustic guitar, Jeff Tweedy and Connor Oberst for precedent and support. He nails Elliott Smith's sad-eyed swing with the accusatory "Note to Self" and tackles the Bright Eyes methodology of testimonial pursued by cathartic cacophony for the album's midsection. "I'm going to learn how to be an alcoholic/ Hard as I think that would be," he declares during "Alcohol," the fatalistic suicide glimpse in which he disavows food and sleep moments before the dawn of the next three numbers.

That resurrection begins with "Siamese Hearts," a wistful number that finds Daniels looking for a Midwest rendezvous point for him and his paramour. It ends with "Give up...and You Are Changed," a gorgeous, if tangled, anthem for the broken-hearted. "I can't do much more to fix this," Daniels demands time and again before relenting to a three-minute chorus of angels chanting "You Are Changed!" above an enormous pedal point. And so it ends, the album and the relationship, the latter prompting the former and the former--an especially vulnerable, extremely unsettled look at a man with little left to lose--eventually curing the latter."

~Grayson Currin, the Independent Weekly

"By mixing the backwoods dialogue of some mountaineer and the psycho-semantics of a therapist at the beginning of "Great Northwest," the bluegrass pickings of go [machine] will engross your ears from the start. David Daniels, Daniel Hart, Jeremy Portwood and Alex Lazara have comprised a band that showcases the beauty of bluegrass tonalities set in Americana rock with electronica beats.

Fusing such musical stylings makes go [machine]'s look to the one of the most original six-song cds I can honestly say I have heard in quite a long time. It has experimental intelligence, low-country vibes and acoustical genius running through its entirety.

Expect to hear Neil Young meet up with Thom York on "Many Times." And when the electricity cranks up from the acoustic subduedness of the song, you’ll be jolted into realizing this music will move you in all sorts of directions. Likewise, as "Doppelganger" begins, prepared to be swooned into an '80s electronic jig, topped off with an electric violin that simply traps you into bliss. The main vocals in this song are mumbled, rather than annunciated, making it seem misunderstood, while being completely coherent altogether.

As for the other three songs on look to the, they’re just as ambiguously enticing as the first three. It only happens once on the cd (during "Ghost in the Machine") that you may say: "Enough! No more squeaks, static and looped talking; it's driving me crazy!" But sometimes crazy is great. go [machine] will make you feel insane in a normality that's forgiving. See them with the Jackson Hives and Annie Clark on February 20th at the Soapbox. "

~Shea Carver, Encore

"If you simply can't make it to the hip-hop showcase or perhaps if you just love smoke, PBR and Kings, consider showing up a night earlier and catching a fine rock triple rock bill on the 29th. Braggadocio, recent acoustic addidions to Raleigh following a move from Iowa City, will get the night started, followed by a set from the ubiquitous (and soon-to-be-touring) GO MACHINE. The Balance - the nascent trio of former UNC students and Triangle music alumni Matt McCaughan (Portastatic), Jim Brantley (Ashley Stove), and Wes Philips (Speed of Sauce) - will finish the night with their first headlining set."

~Grayson Currin, the Independent Weekly

"Three bands appearing on the forthcoming compilation of emerging Chapel Hill acts (due out on Go Machine's Bu Hanan Records next month) will be performing together in Raleigh days after the first of three release parties slated for the disc. Alli With an I will join Nathan Asher and the Infantry and local funk-rock outfit, Saunter, for a Friday night triune at The Lincoln Theatre on Feb 27."

~Grayson Currin, the Independent Weekly

"Bu Hanan Records just released David Karsten Daniels' third album, Angles. A member of Triangle outfit Go* Machine, Daniels assembles minimal song-stories, patching together guitar and an often-twanged voice with the pops and clicks of sampled beats. In February, Bu Hanan is releasing a Triangle-area compilation, entitled new Frontiers, with a variety of rock and pop bands and some that fall in between. On board are 40 ounces, Alli with an I, Amish Jihad, Can Joann, David Karsten Daniels, Eyes to Space, The Feebles, Go* Machine, Nathan Asher and the Infantry, The Never, North Elementary, Oedipus Dick, Permanent Darling, the prayers and tears of arthur digby sellers, Roman Candle, Saunter, Sentinel, Suspended Principals, Tad Dreis, Velvet and the Xtreme Badasses."

~Chris Toenes, the Independent Weekly

"David Karsten Daniels will play the Local 506 to celebrate the release of his third album, Angles. He'll share the stage with Bu Hanan artist the prayers and tears of arthur digby sellers, as well as Permanent Darling."

~the Independent Weekly