Castles of Nebraska

We are very pleased to announce the release of our new album, Castles of Nebraska.  This is our last electronic drum album, and a mature effort showcasing our more than ten years as a working band.  It has a melancholy tone and a psychedelic quality, grounded by a folk sensibility in the songwriting.  The title track, Castles of Nebraska, is a soaring anthem sung by Sharon, then we go inward, into a more eerie and emotional space with the tracks My Life is Over and Brightened Up the Sun, beautifully sung by Jonn.  We have a couple of great instrumental tracks we're very happy with as well, Allow Me to Wallow and Benevolent Texture of the Universe.  You can hear four complete tracks on our website, so check it out!

The artwork for the album was made by the incomparable Cale Wilbanks, who has been very supportive of Bumtech.  He designed a completely new concept for the sleeve, which looks like a traditional 7 inch record, and indeed incorporates a record into the package design.  The album is on cd, however, so everyone can play it.  Even the cd is hand-painted, and every part of the package is a hand crafted work of art.  It's available in a very limited edition of 15 copies, and can only by purchased in it's physical form by e-mailing us directly.  They cost $35 each, which includes shipping.

If you would like to download Castles digitally, it's available at CD Baby, Amazon, and soon at iTunes.  All the links to purchase the album are at: www.bumtech.com/music.html.  You can hear the album tracks there as well.

Here's what they look like!

 

Recording with David J

Bumtech had the great good fortune to record a track with David J of Bauhaus and Love & Rockets this past Monday.  We recorded the track at the studio of producer Kerry Brown and Smashing Pumpkin's Billy Corgan.  David J provided an excellent bass line reminiscent of the Beatles' Rain on his fretless Fender Precision Bass.  Jonn did lead vocals and guitar, and Sharon played the drums and Micro Korg.  Sharon and David did some nicely layed oohs in the background to top off the track.  The track was produced by Kerry Brown with assistant Kevin Dippold to a great result!  The track is as yet unreleased but stay tuned!

The session was made possible by David J fan and friend of Bumtech, Mick Lai.  Cale Wilbanks documented the session and captured the spirit of the day with some great photos.  See more at Bumtech's Facebook page: 
www.facebook.com/bumtech

The track will be available for you to hear soon!

 

Had Some Laughs, Killed Some Time

Our three day California tour was a lot of fun.  We arrived in Fresno on Thursday, Oct. 27 for a show at the charming Tokyo Garden, an establishment that has been a Fresno landmark since the 50s.  Although the streets of Fresno were silent, there was plenty of rockin going on at the Garden.  We were joined by some nice Fresno locals, Tommy Marquez, SirenSinging, and Llama Boy.  Chris Bochin of Llama Boy kindly put us up for the night and gave us some Tang.

The next day we drove to Oakland for a Friday night show at Mama Buzz, a really cool cafe with veggie food and GOOD COFFEE!  We conversed with the with Oakland locals about Oakland, LA, and Portland, Occupy Protests, and the Nov. 2 General Strike in Oakland, which Bumtech is observing from our home base in LA.  We played a great show and were joined by Nintendo DSi dj Jahnonymous and Guitar Wizards of the Future.

 

On the way we had to resist buying this T-Shirt:

On Saturday we went back to Mama Buzz for breakfast, MORE COFFEE, and to see our friend, legendary punk rocker Eddie Morgan of first wave Portland punk band Ice-9.  Jonn looks good in Ed Mo's glasses.

Then, off to San Luis Obispo for our last show of the tour.  It was Saturday night and there were plenty of drunk people in Halloween costumes as early as 9pm.  We had a great time in SLO even though they spelled our name wrong.  The Frog & Peach provided plenty of Makers Mark to help me get over my cold.

And that does it for another tour!

 

T-Shirts for the Masses!

A while back we made a really awesome t-shirt.  Now you can finally get it online, exclusively through Le Spec Gallery!  Le Spec is a wonderful new spot for arts and culture near Historic Filipinotown and Echo Park, definitely worth checking out for fun events, or just to see the artwork.  They are also carrying our cd, Beautiful Music, in the shop.

 

The shirt is very comfy and stylish, and made on American Apparel.  Everyone wants to know about the guy on the shirt.  It’s our good friend, Nate, our neighbor and postman back in Portland.  He made his own Bumtech shirt and posted a pic of himself wearing it on our new myspace page as our first posting back in the day.  We took it and created this cool design.  His hair really was pink!

 

So support Bumtech and Le Spec with this purchase you won’t regret.  It’s a damn fine garment.

 

Go shopping at Le Spec's online store!

 

 

 

 

Video 2: Spirit

Our second music video is out!  The video is for the song Spirit, off of our new album, Beautiful Music.  We filmed it in the wilds of West LA, where we call home.  The first day was filmed in Baldwin Hills, with spectacular views of the city as a backdrop, and the magical natural lighting that brought the film industry to Los Angeles.  On day two we filmed at the old defunct railroad crossing at Westwood Blvd.  This location will eventually be the site of the Expo Line light rail all the way out to the ocean.  For now it is a lush, grassy wilderness.

Spirit

In all I do, I will remember you
In all I see,
Your spirit lives and breathes
The city lights stretch endlessly
In the crashing ocean tides
I feel it on the sundrenched hillside 

I was afraid, so I turned away
I was alone, I chose to separate
In all I do, I will remember you
In all I see, 
Your spirit lives and breathes
In the mountains and the ocean breeze
In the burning summer skies
In the faces of the people in the street

In all I see, I sense fragility
All that I know, I don't know anything
In all I do, I will remember you
In all I see,
Your spirit lives and breathes
The city lights stretch endlessly
I see it in your eyes
I feel it on the sundrenched hillside

Filming Spirit

We're working on our next video for the album Beautiful Music.  It's for the song Spirit, and the video is coming along beautifully.  We took some hillside footage yesterday close to home.  The natural lighting was superb, and the grass was exactly the shade between green and yellow that we wanted.  We got a nice view of the city, but no mountains.  It was a nice amount a hazy to provide some good ambience though, and the wind created some drama, and brought in some late day clouds.  My sister, Rina, provided us with a couple of gorgeous vintage dresses from her collection.

More work to do today!  Here are a couple of pretty stills from what we've done so far...

Costa Rica

We flew to Costa Rica for a photo shoot this weekend... well, we didn't actually go to Costa Rica, but rather to a secret local jungle for a shoot with the incomparable Cale Wilbanks.  Cale asked us to do the shoot and how could we refuse?  So we enjoyed a luxurious rainforest locale, wearing a combination of vintage and modern clothing, and showing off some nice vintage gear.

We'll be posting the pics soon.  For now, check out his beautiful photography at:
www.ocularsinister.com