EXOTIC AMERICA

 

  "The music is fresh, not formulaic ... The folk-rock songs are versatile, solidifying a soundtrack to accompany moments of listener introspection.  The care and attention given to every cut allows each song to stand strong, making the whole an extraordinary collection."

   "Andy Robinson couldn't have chosen a more apt name for his new album, Exotic America. It is particularly difficult to blend Eastern and Western musical idioms so naturally, so seamlessly, let alone with a simultaneous, synergistic mixing of traditional acoustic instruments and modern electronic synthesizers ... but Mr. Robinson has succeeded here... It's very easy to forget that this is an instrumental album; the melodies and solos are engaging, performed on instruments that one would hardly think belonged together, but somehow they do....Exotic America as a whole is a melting pot of cultural diversity stirred in the cauldron of joy."

Simeon Flick, San Diego Troubadour, Nov. '04 issue. 

  "Few albums are as appropriately titled as this Exotic America.  'Americana' seems to be a hot genre these days and Andy’s new album is both 'Americana' and more . . . Andy has struck a remarkable balance – fans of pop will love the hooks and compelling melodies and the more adventurous of us will appreciate the multiplicity of colors, timbres, and oddities in the mix... Andy plays acoustic and electric dulcimers, synthesizer, hand drums, Egyptian tambourine, harmonica, cowbell, ceramic toy flute, acoustic guitar, finger cymbals and other percussion instruments such as bongos, shaker, and bamboo and wood chimes. Additionally he throws in stylophone, chord organ, kalimba, and does vocals. Did I miss anything? Wow!

Exotic America is an eclectic mixture of new music, but there’s something familiar and reassuring about it at the same time. For example, the title track conjures up momentary impressions of Phil Keaggy’s work on Sunday’s Child and there’s a multitude of tiny moments throughout the disk that seem so familiar – strands of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Marvin Gaye, and Yes among others; I suspect that each listener will project into the material their own history of listening. However, Exotic America really sounds and feels original and easily avoids derivativeness... There are some especially hot tracks such as the title track and “Children’s Games” featuring the excellent slide work of Scott Colby  who makes a return after providing all the guitar work on Andy’s 1998 release, The Andy Robinson Band. (Slide guitar junkies owe it to themselves to pick up a copy of that disk immediately!) ...

The production quality is stunning and you can tell that a lot of hard work went into this album. If you like Americana but wish something more, well, exotic, then here’s your ticket. A solid 'A' effort."

Kronosonic.com, the site of the International Society for Creative Guitar and String Music. Visit the site to see the full review.

  "This album is a real smorgasboard of beautiful melodies and surprising sounds - you never quite know what you're going to hear next, but you know you're going to like it.  Tantalizing, original and truly enjoyable!”

Mike Keneally, avant-guitar virtuoso, Exowax recording artist

  "This is an incredibly fun, upbeat, infectiously optimistic-feeling CD... To me, each piece is a tone poem, evoking images.  My personal favorite, Children’s Games, evoked images of elephants proceeding majestically along.  Sometimes the images metamorphosed when I learned the name of the piece; while at other times they didn’t. For example, those evoked by After the Fires changed from general pastoral images to the entire ecological succession following forest fires, helped along by the evolving rhythms and complexity of the music.  When specifically cued up, a piece called Penguin called up visions of penguins tending their eggs and young on the Antarctic ice and swimming/flying underwater; did they change when I discovered that it was written in honor of the Penguin Café Orchestra? They did not! Way-cool!

The sequencing of the pieces adds another enjoyable dimension, as the series progresses like the movements of a symphony. Here, the number of levels at which each piece and the totality can be appreciated is limited only by the listener’s imagination. Highly recommended for anyone willing to explore both music and their own imagination."

Kathryn LaMar, The Folknik,

 

 

 

  On 'After the Fires': ..."Wow, amazing, very beautiful."  On 'Different World Song' and 'Nameless Parade': ..."Really fun, very different.  Each tune seems to have its own planet ... the joy of it comes right through ... some very fun stuff."

Don Lopez, DJ, Manao Radio 91.5FM, Wailuku, Maui.  Excerpts from live radio interview with Andy Robinson, 8-29-04.

  "Acoustic music bores me, but this is really cool, and very different …  good playing on it and the production is excellent…  Even us guys who hack things to death like this CD, so ya gotta love that!"

Terry Myers, electric guitarist

 

THE ANDY ROBINSON BAND    

“Andy is a great songwriter.  ‘God Loves a Joke’ is brilliant.  I like this CD more every day.”

Mike Fishell, musician, Santa Barbara

“I’d like to know how best to go about emulating the sound quality of Andy’s album, since it was recorded completely on the Roland VS-880.  I would be ecstatic if I could reproduce that clarity and dynamic range.”

Brian Baker, recording enthusiast

DIFFERENT WORLD

    

THE QUESTIONAIRES

    "This is a trio that plays dulcimers, fiddles, mandolins, and guitars that easily rise above the threat of playing a horrid imitation of a '50s/'60s folksy music thang.  There's lots of humor, depair and dark inrony in these sharp lyrics.  Somehow I got the funny impression that a few of these songs sound like what Pete Seeger would be doing if he had been born 20 years later and had a lot less sunshine in his smile.  Musically, the group sounds really superb.  I especially like the edge of the lead vocalist.  The harmonies are exceleent, and there is really nothing like the textures of a well-executed string section"

Bart Mann, BAM Magazine, September 10, 1993