"Timeless ballads full of explosive dynamics, strange instrumentation and ethereal harmonies." - Paste Magazine
"On its first step out of the gate, Piñataland has proven itself an incredible musical force. Songs for the Forgotten Future Vol. 1 is nothing less than a masterpiece." - Delusions of Adequacy
"Eclectic...fascinating" - The New Yorker
"The surprise is how melodiously their antique-garde music pulls off the absurdly ambitious historical concept." - The Village Voice
"Lyrically rooted in the bohemian rags of Tom Waits and musically as expansive and lush as any Jon Brion production." - Sponic
"An artsy blend of ornate chamber-pop orchestration and the woozy ambience of early Tom Waits...a remarkable musical and lyrical depth...adventurous listeners will find them fascinating." - Amplifier/All Music Guide
"Refreshingly original...Piñataland's penchant for historical perspective seems to know no bounds...the yearning folksy strum and woozy twang propel it beyond the realm of a tuneful history lesson. In their hands, it becomes a stirring meditation on the definably human theme of promises broken, of being fucked over by uncontrollable forces. That it's done to a searingly lonesome country-inflected twang, augmented by strings, tuba, piano and all manner of vintage instrumentation, is almost besides the point." - Splendid Magazine
"Amazing and varied work...nothing less than inspired." - Shredding Paper Magazine
A startling alchemy of strange-but-true history, haunting instrumentation, and sterling songwriting, Piñataland have become experts at conjuring the sad strangeness of history to life with violin, tuba, accordion, guitar and drums. The band's music, lurching from the epic and grandiose to the aching and elegiac, evokes some never-existing strain of pre-WWII chamber-rock.
They have performed in the dark underground of the historic Atlantic Avenue Subway Tunnel (underneath Atlantic Avenue and Court Streets in Brooklyn); on a loading dock at the New York Times Building (where they were celebrating - uninvited - the 5th anniversary of the Time's switch to color printing); the American Museum of Natural History's Margaret Mead Film Festival (in honor of onetime museum resident Ota Benga); the Thomas Edison Historic Site (where they demonstrated wax cylinder recording), and, of course, their two favorite islands - Coney and Riker's.
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If you'd like to buy an album you can get an actual CD with lovely packaging from Amazon, CD Baby, or directly from us. If you'd like to just download some mp3s you can do so just below.
Thanks for the add! I found out about you through my friendship with Don Rauf and Life In A Blender, and I see why he has talked highly of you---I enjoy the style of your music, much like LIAB's. I hope to catch one of your upcoming shows in Aug. and if you get the chance, hope you can make it to one of our shows (July 18th at The Cutting Room, Aug. 18th at B.B. King's)....Mike from WARCHILD
Yay! New music is awesome. Is there a track listing somewhere? I saw you play in a cramped little bar several years back and there was a song about the wrong side of town or the other side of the tracks... It's been a while and my memory isn't that good. I just remember being in love with the song. Will the one I'm thinking of but failing to recall be on the album? Should I just order it and find otu that way? Hm. I think I might...
Participate In That Higher Evolutionary Space….* Do Not Hesitate……For We Are the Ones to Part the Waves…..* Beyond the Great Golden Rings…..* Remember …………* Within Each Breath …..Your Magic Sings…..*
Old Sound Logs
Deep Ground Roads Rust Grass and Weed Long in the Daze Wood Caught Sun Mornings Steam-Dew Lit Left Over Footprints in the Coming Snows Ice Crystal Crunch , Under Eyes That Dig For China Layer by Layer of Ancestral Memorized Code Hidden in the Dark and Amber Moss Covered Mist Ceremonial Sameness Beneath the Grit and Bone Space Chambered Hollows Winged Cast Cylinder Works Old Vein Mother Loads Foot Soft........Though the Tender Narrows Sanctuary Territory, Marked by the Water-Claws and Wind Hearts at the Ready Run Sounds of Eden Brook Bubbles in the Light.....High Accidentals Mirrored in the Wallows.....Spectral Reflectives... That Purple Haze of Jimi....* d.v.zdotz....*
