Coolie Pool

by Bryan on Jul.23, 2009,

Bands: After we caught Color of Seven’s last song or two, the next band to take the stage was Coolie Pool. This electronically-minded female duo definitely had an interesting sound, which unfortunately is not reflected too well by the CD they gave us after their set. Their set had more of a rock feel to it, whereas the CD almost resembles ambient trance. The guitarist was running around the stage area the entire time jamming out with spacey guitar riffs and some Tom Morello-esque innovation, while the drummer alternated between drums, guitar, cornet, clarinet, and a cool metal Brazilian samba drum called a Repinique (which I got to test it out - thanks Carolyn!) Here’s a track to check out for yourself, let us know what you think!

- Playground Boston http://playgroundboston.com/2009/07/23/provincetown-rocks-the-festival-day-1-rec

TO: Sandy/Coolie Pool
FROM: Nina Wilson

DATE: 12/03/08

COOLIE POOL – COLLEGE RADIO TRACKING


PG.#: 1 APPLES AND CATS MEDIA
DATE:12-04-08 COOLIE POOL

# CALL STATION CITY ST ROTATION PPW COMMENTS C W ST
--- ---- -------------------- -- --------------- --- -------------------------------------------------- - - --
1 WMPG PORTLAND ME LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS

2 CJLO MONTREAL, QC. CN LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

3 WWUH WEST HARTFORD CT LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

4 WMUA AMHERST MA LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C Y CO

5 WZBC CHESTNUT HILL MA LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C Y CO

6 WTCC SPRINGFIELD MA LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C Y CO

7 WBOR BRUNSWICK ME LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R N CO

8 WMEB ORONO ME LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

9 RLC PISCATAWAY NJ LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

10 WLFR POMONA NJ LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R N CO

11 WPUB NEW YORK NY LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R N CO

12 WRPI TROY NY AVAILABLE AVAILABLE FOR PLAY, NO SPINS YET C Y PC

13 WESS E. STROUDSBERG PA LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

14 WRKC WILKES-BARRE PA LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R N CO

15 WBSR PROVIDENCE RI LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R N CO

16 WRUV BURLINGTON VT HEAVY 5 #12 11/04; PLAYING "HERE IT COMES" "SCAPE" C Y CO

17 KALA DAVENPORT IA LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R N CO

18 WLUW CHICAGO IL MEDIUM 5 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

19 WNMC TRAVERSE CITY MI HEAVY 4 #30 11/11 R N CO

20 KUOM MINNEAPOLIS MN LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C Y CO

21 KOPN COLUMBIA MO LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C N PC

22 KDHX ST. LOUIS MO LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y PC

23 KWUR ST. LOUIS MO MEDIUM 5 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

24 KNDS FARGO ND MEDIUM 5 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

25 WBGU BOWLING GREEN OH LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

26 WRUW CLEVELAND OH LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

27 WLFM APPLETON WI LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R N CO

28 WBCR BELOIT WI HEAVY 4 #28 11/11 R Y CO

29 WMSE MILWAUKEE WI MEDIUM 3 PLAYING "HERE IT COMES" C N CO

30 WMNF TAMPA FL AVAILABLE AVAILABLE FOR PLAY, NO SPINS YET C N PC

31 WXDU DURHAM NC LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C Y CO

32 WUAG GREENSBORO NC LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

33 WUSC COLUMBIA SC LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C Y CO

34 WRVU NASHVILLE TN LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C Y CO

35 KVRX AUSTIN TX LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C Y CO



PG.#: 2 APPLES AND CATS MEDIA
DATE:12-04-08 COOLIE POOL

# CALL STATION CITY ST ROTATION PPW COMMENTS C W ST
--- ---- -------------------- -- --------------- --- -------------------------------------------------- - - --
36 KRTU SAN ANTONIO TX LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C Y CO

37 KSYM SAN ANTONIO TX LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C N CO

38 KTSW SAN MARCOS TX LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C N CO

39 WDCE RICHMOND VA LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

40 KHSU ARCATA CA LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C N PC

41 KDVS DAVIS CA LIGHT 3 PLAYING "SCAPE" C Y CO

42 KUCR RIVERSIDE CA TOP 30 5 PLAYING "GOBLIN SCREAM" C Y CO

43 KRCB ROHNERT PARK CA AVAILABLE AVAILABLE FOR PLAY, NO SPINS YET R Y PC

44 KCSB SANTA BARBARA CA LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

45 KSCU SANTA CLARA CA LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R N CO

46 KZSC SANTA CRUZ CA MEDIUM 4 PLAYING "HERE IT COMES" C Y CO

47 KCSS TURLOCK CA TOP 30 3 #8 11/18; #18 11/11 Y CO

48 KDUR DURANGO CO LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R N CO

49 KCSU FORT COLLINS CO LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS C Y CO

50 KDWG DILLON MT LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R N CO

51 NVWR RENO NV LIGHT 2 PLAYING VARIOUS TRACKS R Y CO

- Apples and Cats media

I was driving to Kentucky from Maine with a friend, when our car broke down in Boston at 5 p.m. on Friday. Marooned in Cambridge for the weekend, we wandered into Man Ray/Campus in Central Square. There, I witnessed an event that turned my world around. Watching the all-female rock band, Miss Bliss—gorgeous, talented, smart, and strong— it hit me that I had never before seen anything like this.

If home is where kindred spirits reside, then Boston was surely my home. Inspired, I packed up my cats and my ruby goblets and left my Kentucky farm, setting off to Boston to become the writer I wanted to be.

I followed Miss Bliss through their successful storming of the New England area and their transformation into Augusta Furnace.

Since then, those band members have played in a variety of other remarkable ensembles.

I was proud to be the vocalist in one of them. With Sandy Zaragoza, guitarist and bassist, and Carolyn Castellano, percussionist and woodwind player, both from the original Miss Bliss line-up, we added the caviar of Ellen Klein on viola and became Pincurl, an all-female chamber-rock band. Along with the Jeff Robinson Trio, Pincurl broke ground as one of the originators of the ‘90s resurgence of spoken-word with live music. Get back, Jack! The girls are taking the road. Our album “Kentucky Stories,” received Best Spoken-Word Album at the Boston Poetry awards.

To ride the wave of the zeitgeist, an artist needs to hone a new edge. The best innovations define that edge by spring-boarding from the past and evolving the genre with their own brand and mood. Sandy Zaragoza and Carolyn Castellano have done just that in their new incarnation, Coolie Pool.

Blending the organic with the electronic, the natural with the synthesized, Zaragoza is stronger than ever with her hypnotic and seductive bass and melody lines. Castellano’s ever-expanding repertoire of percussion, woodwinds, brass and the aural illusions of technology, mixes down into a tour de force that will demand that you get up and dance. Primarily instrumental, Coolie Pool’s debut album To Drive, also treats us to sweet girlie vocals that beckon us to follow. Who are those girls? Half siren, half anime? Ellen-Page style spirits giving voice to a new generation whose rules have radically changed?

Whoever they are, they’ve got my attention. Give a listen and they’ll get yours, too. Dive with abandon into Coolie Pool.


- CD Collins/www.CDcollins.com

Think Portishead meets Beth Orton and you're getting close to the sound of Coolie Pool. We're not sure where the name came from, but we are sure that this eclectic duo from Boston has woven a surreal tapestry of sound and atmosphere that will leave audiences swimming in aural ecstasy. - Captain Nick's/block Island Music Press

Coolie Pool? It may sound like an inflatable backyard device for small children, but it is, in fact, the latest musical project from a pair of women with deep roots in the Burlington rock scene. Carolyn Castellano and Sandy Zaragoza-formerly of Miss Bliss and a number of other Burlington and Boston bands-will be returning to the Old Country with an appearance at Burlington’s Radio Bean on April 17th.

The mid-to-late 80’s were a fertile time for Burlington rock-the Hollywood Indians, Screaming Broccoli, and The Switch energized the local clubs. A young band named Phish were beginning their rise. There were the Cuts, and Ninja Custodian. And many others, spread across endless nights on Main Street. Most of those in my immediate social circle spent more time at Nectar’s than anywhere else, or upstairs at border (now Metronome).

Miss Bliss were stalwarts of that scene-guitarists Zaragoza and Steph Pappas, bassist Carol DeFeciani, and drummer Castellano plied an arsenal of smart, funny songs with lyrics penned by Diane Horstmyer-many in a PowerPop vein-with the odd flat-out rocker thrown into the mix. The band pursued a demo deal with Capitol Records that ultimately did not pan out, before moving to Boston in 1988.

Following some regular gigging and some changes in personnel, they subsequently evolved into a group called Augusta Furnance. Augusta Furnace broke up in the early 90’s, but miss Bliss’ other original members are still musically active: Pappas remains a warm local presence, and DeFeciani fronts an alt-country leaning band called Lucky 57 out of Providence, Rhode Island.

Coolie Pool’s music is a departure from the punk rock and pop stylings that informed Zaragoza and Castellano’s earlier bands. Following Augusta Furnace’s demise, they both have played in a variety of settings: Sandy has played with members of the Boston rock band Fuzzy. Carolyn played with the Massachusetts jazzman Charlie Kohlhase, among many others. Both have played behind spoken word presentations.

It is perhaps the eclecticism that informs Coolie Pool’s sound, which Zaragoza describes as “electro-ambient-rock”-a multilayered palette that has drawn comparisons to the ethereal folk-pop singer Beth Orton, and the dreamtime soundscapes of Portishead.

Castellano prepares drum and bass loops in the studio, allowing the duo to improvise with different textures and instrumentation. (Castellano is a band director at Brookline (Ma) High School, and appears adept with any number of styles and shadings.) It’s an interesting mix, with Zaragoza’s chimming guitar melding with synths and brass and odd bits of percussion. “The loops free her up to play clarinet, trumpet, whatever”, Zaragoza says of Castellano’s sonic underpinnings.

The group have released “To Drive”, a 2008 five-song EP, and are gearing up for another released projected for fall 2010. Live shows have been mostly in the Boston area, but they remain open to the possibility of wider touring. “Our first gig was at a Mexican indie fest”, say Zaragoza. “If it’s a good gig, we’ll travel for it”.
by Dan Williams

I still love playing live”, she says. “There are always purists who hate loops playing in the background, but we can layer on a lot of things without it sounding like sitting listening to a record”.

Dan Williams a former chronicler of Vermont Music is a freelance writer living in Boston
- Vermont Women April 2010