In their second album, The Dub Rescue Act, The Emergency Dub System pulls together scraps from the vast Ear Candle archives and the heroes and villains of the media universe to refashion into a hypnotic, impressionistic portrait of the first half of 2021. An old horror reaches its climax in the world’s dumbest failed coup, and an affable new leader looks out at the damage done and the deliberate obstacles thrown up and shouts the only words that make sense: COME ON, MAN!
“We have gone through a terrible year, and hopefully we’re gonna see some better times.” -Sen. Bernie Sanders
The Emergency Dub System has responded to the crises of 2020 with special mixes of tracks originally created by The Granite Countertops, The Experimental Bunnies, and Dr. Spaceman. Shelter in dub and keep on dubbing against fascism!
We at Ear Candle Productions have accepted the Crass Challenge. The former members of the seminal anarchist punk band Crass and the label One Little Indian have made the original multitrack recordings of their debut album from 1978, The Feeding Of The 5000, available for remixing.
In accordance with Crass’s firm, uncompromising principles (Note: this is a band that has rhymed “Clash” with “cash” more than once), we have consulted with Crass and the One Little Indian label and agreed to offer this reimagining of their rough, raging anarcho-punk vision for free. (Donations accepted.)
Ear Candle Productions is proud to announce the release of three cover songs from the final studio session by J Neo Marvin and the Content Providers!
In 2005, J Neo Marvin, Davis Jones, Stephen Abbate, and Heiko Bachmann recorded three interpretations of their favorite songs at The Wally Sound in Oakland. In 2020, Ear Candle Productions has finally made them available as individual singles, each including new cover artwork by ECP’s art director, Debra Nicholson-Bassham!
The hardest working doctor in ambient music is back with a third collection of electronic explorations. On UNTERWASSERBAHN, Dr. Spaceman injects his chill sounds with a heavier dose of rhythm along with some surprising new influences, from Kraftwerk to the Mothers Of Invention, all folded into the doctor’s own unique flow. Spend an hour on Dr. Spaceman’s underwater train and let the sounds fill your pleasure centers and tickle your extremities into new life. UNTERWASSERBAHN is a spicy antidote to a stressful society.
The online radio station that will never die is back to bring you the finest sounds of the past, present, and future.
We travel the spaceways and burrow through the treasure caves to bring you the greatest sounds of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Come join us in our quest for the music of the spheres.
On their fifth album, the Granite Countertops perform a collection of cover songs by various artists from the 20th century we deem essential for the times, to create a new standard for 21st-Century alternative music.
Starting with a thrashy blast through an all-too-timely Woody Guthrie song and ending with a Velvetesque take on the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band’s most mystical moment of Zen, J Neo Marvin and Davis Jones find profound new corners in some of their all time favorite songs. In New Standards, the duo take on raw material from David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Kevin Ayers, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, John Lydon, and more, weaving their words and music into a fresh new sonic experience. Join the Granite Countertops as they build a vision for the future out of 15 precious pieces of their past.
Credits
released March 25, 2019
J Neo Marvin and Davis Jones: All vocals and instruments Michael Lyons: Special guest support vocal on Song From The Bottom Of A Well.
Democracy by The Granite Countertops 2018 Election
GET OUT AND VOTE! Ear Candle Productions presents The Granite Countertops’ cover of Democracy by Leonard Cohen from the album The Full Disclosure Principle Revisited.
Ear Candle productions has just released the fourth album by the Granite Countertops, GIRLS CAN’T WAIT. 12 original songs performed entirely by Davis Jones and J Neo Marvin.
On their fourth album, the Granite Countertops return with a set of all-new original songs, two of which adapt the words of 14th century Persian Sufi poet Hafiz to address the world of 2018. An album of catchy post-punk, intense drones, lush vocal harmonies, gnarly guitars, quirky electronics, and hip-shaking beats. Girls Can’t Wait offers 12 songs about DIY art spaces, debased propaganda, dark nights of the soul, the healing power of love, and, especially, girls who can no longer wait.
“The Difference Between,” and “The Angels Know You Well,” from The Gift by Daniel Ladinsky, copyright 1999, and used by permission of the author.
Við krefjumst framtíðar. (Icelandic for “We demand a future”.)
At last all three albums from J Neo Marvin and The Content Providers are available for download in our store!
J Neo Marvin and The Content Providers produced three great records following the dark days after J Neo Marvin’s 18 year long partner Maati Stojanovich passed away in her sleep on May 5, 1996. The albums constitute a trilogy: 1) self, 2) other people, and 3) the world.
The songs remind us of how precious love and commitment to one’s own life traverses the meaningful changes inherent in the life and death cycle. If you are grieving, studying for a grieving role in theater, or doing scholastic studies on life and death and meaning making that heals, you will want to add these to your collection. You might just want to be reminded of how precious life is.
Either way, the music and the lyrics in all three albums, and the lovely heartfelt vocal and instrumental contributions of the 38 artists who joined in to support J Neo Marvin during his healing process, will penetrate your heart and soul.
In 2002, at a poetry reading/open mic at San Francisco’s legendary Hotel Utah Saloon, J Neo Marvin met his future wife and collaborator Davis Jones, who partnered to build Ear Candle Productions and contributes keys, percussion, and vocals on What Is Truth and Freedom Fried. The two melded creative spirits continue their partnership as the Granite Countertops and as the core couple of the Experimental Bunnies.
These three great albums are now available at Bandcamp, at reasonable prices for download. If you are interested in a physical CD, please shoot us an email and we will let you know about shipping fees and delivery dates. The CDs have beautiful artwork, and all of the lyrics in the inside sleeve.
J Neo Marvin resurfaced in 2001 with his first set of new songs since the breakup of his old band X-tal and the sudden death of his longtime companion Maati Stojanovich. Aided by a small group of family and friends, including Rico Bell of the Mekons, Carrie Bradley of Ed’s Redeeming Qualities, and Alan Korn of the Cat Heads, SLOWLY I TURNED is an intense yet melodic set of chamber-punk missives, filled with grief, desperation, dark humor, and hope.
Jangly guitars + warm folk instruments + bursts of noisy feedback + hushed, intimate acoustic ballads + bubbling hand percussion + rough garage band workouts + emotionally naked vocals + wry, truth-telling lyrics. Call it “indie rock” if you must.
WHAT IS TRUTH?
WHAT IS TRUTH? takes its inspiration from psychedelic classics like Their Satanic Majesties Request and Magical Mystery Tour, resulting in an anything-goes approach that stretches the music in whatever direction each song calls for, from the Dylan-goes-to-New-Zealand folk-rock of “Primate House (1731 11th Ave)”, to the darkly sad chamber-punk of “Ex-Supernova” or “Stick Figure”, to the thumping “Mark E. Smith in Turkey backed by a jazz combo and a Rasta drum circle” ambiance on “Fiscal Year Zero (Charge Of The Lite Brigade)”, the catchy Celtic Mariachi drone of “Formerly Boomtown”, and the full-on joyful noise of “Kite Song”. 28 musicians and singers from all over the musical map contribute to the resulting sonic crazy quilt. Recorded exactingly yet spontaneously in good old-fashioned lysergic 16-track analog by the incomparable Wally Sound, WHAT IS TRUTH? will astonish you with its musical twists and sharp songwriting.
Psychedelic indie folk-rock with compassionately confrontational lyrics. The bracing, satisfying sensation of biting into a raw clove of garlic. Like Lou Reed fronting the Incredible String Band and covering Mekons songs.
FREEDOM FRIED
FREEDOM FRIED, the third release from J Neo Marvin & the Content Providers, ranges from melodic folk-pop to snarly garage-rock and beyond, all adding up to an unflinching portrait of the state of the union in the first decade of the 21st century. It’s music for Americans who have found their home transformed into an occupied country, for foreigners who no longer recognize the once-admired, now scarier than ever, land of rock and roll, blue jeans and silly pop culture, and for any and all human beings who refuse to be stomped into submission.
FREEDOM FRIED ranges from richly harmonious folk-pop to snarly garage-rock and beyond, all adding up to an unflinching portrait of the state of the union, circa summer 2004.
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