Happy February! December and January were half-fun, half-crazy for us here at Hometapes. We took our show on the road: Adam, Sara, and Castle (the dog, of course) drove to Arkansas (home turf) and Texas (honorary home turf) for the Christmas and New Year holiday. By the time we drove back toward Colorado through the hills, the dark, and the snow, we were bursting with 2008 plans. Hometapes was born and raised behind the wheel of a car. 

We've been working every day since we got home....and we're almost ready to talk about Pattern is Movement's new record, their tour, the new members of the Hometapes family (Stars Like Fleas and Megafaun!), and SXSW. But not quite. First, we start with this:

Brad Laner's "Neighbor Singing" sprinkled magical psych dust on us in November, both sonically and visually (that part thanks to Josh Keyes). All the while, we were behind the scenes planning yet another manifestation of this beautiful thing: a limited edition LP! These have slowly been flowing out into stores, and now, armed with our own special copies for Hometapes shoppers, we're offering them for sale.

The white vinyl LP is accompanied by a cool little unique download card, so you can have your analog and eat your digital too. Instead of the standard ol' white dust jacket, we put the record in a printed dust jacket that bears two large Josh Keyes images. This slides into a reverse board sleeve, also exalted by two of Josh's paintings, happily unencumbered by any text or other design tomfoolery. It's perfect. GET ONE HERE.

While this was gestating, Brad managed to get showered in some great reviews...

Pitchfork

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/46850-neighbor-singing

"...Laner has made his own version of a psychedelic folk-rock record, drawing upon his affinities for dense, layered compositions and shape-shifting song structures, in the process quietly slipping into 2007's sunny electro-psych-revival with Caribou and Panda Bear...'Neighbor' is Brad Laner's return to making a guitar record, one that shows he is still finding ways to extract as many mangled and gorgeous sounds from his instrument as ever."

All Music

http://wc05.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0xftxz9hld0e

FOUR STARS

"...this is Laner at his most winningly pop, playing around with fuzz and orchestrations and whatever else he sets his mind to. After his extended explorations in more extreme instrumental sounds via the Electric Company, Neighbor Singing has more of the feeling of his work on the first Amnesia album, though even more winningly so, his long-based love for the Beatles and the Beach Boys coming through clearly but avoiding the retro pitfalls of so many others who have similar fascinations. In place of too clean re-creations or overwrought confections are easygoing melodies, gently treated vocals, and a lot of understated instrumental curiosity."

LA Weekly

Feature article: "Brad Laner, Medicine Man" (ran Wed. Nov. 21, 2007) by Mikael Wood

http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/brad-laner-medicine-man/17740/

"...it’s a stunner, a gorgeous little psych-pop gem that distills all of Laner’s work down to one easily consumable (yet deceptively complicated) essence. Catchy choruses, cool guitar noises, warm-and-fuzzy electronic squiggles — they’re all here."

"'I play the album for bands I’m working with, and it blows their fucking minds,' says Thom Monahan, who worked with Laner on the mixing of Neighbor Singing. (In addition to playing bass in the Pernice Brothers for a spell, Monahan has produced recent records by Devendra Banhart, Brightblack Morning Light and others.)"

ALARM Magazine (review plus a feature on Brad!)

http://www.alarmpress.com/1649/music-reviews/brad-laner-neighbor-singing/

"As the central songwriter of dream-pop heroes Medicine, Brad Laner was responsible for some of the most ethereal and trippy pop tunes of the ’90s....Neighbor Singing retains the hallmarks of a Laner album — a fearsome arsenal of effects pedals, melodies seemingly beamed down from the cosmos, and heavenly vocal harmonies...His gorgeous pop concoctions make Neighbor Singing a successful solo 'debut.'"

The Tripwire

http://www.thetripwire.com/reviews/2007/11/26/neighbor-singing

"As the leader of often-overlooked pink-pop masters Medicine and electro-shoegazers Electric Company, Brad Laner has not only influenced/tutored an entire generation of would-be auteurs on the role of noise-based pop music, but has proven an uncanny ability to forecast trends a decade or more in advance. On Neighbor Singing, the first 'official' solo outing of his career, Laner eschews Teutonic electronics and J&MC-esque walls of sound in favor of shimmering, reverb-laced bedroom pop confections that waft by on gossamer wings."