Miniboone
New York City, New York, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2013 | INDIE
Music
Press
Miniboone couple humorous, free-associative lyrics suggesting a love of Pinkerton and Brighten the Corners with detailed arrangements which cull ideas from most styles of post-British Invasion pop music; most prominently, you'll hear traces of new wave, stomp-along '70s arena-rock and millenial buzzsaw guitar. - Prefix
The track begins with some effervescent guitar jangle, layered over an odd-meter beat and Queen-era backing vocals. By the time you hit the high pitched hip-hop "baby"vocals on the hook, you're in Daryl Hall's basement watching a Joseph Gordon-Levitt film, surrounded by crushed velvet and an intense amount of geranium scented candles. - Vice/Noisey
Quirky, frantic power-pop...The album constantly feels curious, exploring musical spaces and styles in each track with a striking agility. - Death + Taxes
"Brand New Thing" - Spinner
MiniBoone, 'Man/Woman' -- Free MP3 Download - Spinner
The band’s got an equally enthusiastic sound – a vibrant, dissonant mix of disco-punk squall, New Wave instrumentation, and brisk power-pop harmonies. - NBC New York
"New York band MiniBoone are offering up this sweet new track “The Other Summer” that we’ve been spinning around the offices as of late. You can catch this jam on an upcoming 7" set to be released later this year sometime. We’re hoping you’ll enjoy this one as much as we have." - Austin Town Hall
"It’s not easy to get recommended by The Village Voice, but the New York punkpop group Miniboone may be the exception. Called “an enchanting mesh of old-school energy and new-school melody” by the Voice and “joyous power-pop” by NPR the 5-piece guy group gets their shows regularly listed in music blogs and local papers alike. Gearing up to release some new songs after the success of their first EP, Big Changes, Miniboone is taking the stage for several nights at CMJ." - Crushable
"[MiniBoone] were so good at Crash Mansion I had to drag a friend to check them out again when they played Spike Hill. They're getting love from the press with the Village Voice describing them as "an enchanting mesh of old-school energy and new-school melody," while NPR hails their sound as “joyous power-pop."" - Guest of a Guest
Five Highlights: 1) MiniBoone. It was their first time playing at Bonnaroo and you could tell they were super excited and it definitely translated into the performance with a lot of energy and goofiness that was fun to watch. - Headstash
[MiniBoone's] upcoming 7" will feature a catchy, new, power pop jam called “The Other Summer”. Like the tunes off their debut EP, Big Changes, “The Other Summer” is loaded with an instantly infectious chorus, big hooks, and wonderfully constructed harmonies. This is the sort of power pop tune we wish Weezer would get back to making, but since they’re not MiniBoone seems more than qualified to take up their torch. - Pop Tarts Suck Toasted
Wednesday, 10/20: MiniBoone: 9pm @ National Underground - Flavorpill/Flavorwire
We can’t get enough of this Brooklyn band’s joyful, immensely energetic rock full of impassioned sing-alongs. - The Owl Mag
"Inarguably potent, undeniably frenetic and laden with hooks a plenty, Big Changes is most definitely somersaulting this collective to the forefront of the Brooklyn indie circuit." - Absolute Punk
"Taut New York five-piece MiniBoone are an enchanting mesh of old-school energy and new-school melody. The band mixes the dervish energy of '78-era post-punk with the super-hooks of modern indie-pop--think Buildings And Food-era Talking Heads if David Byrne could travel back in time and tell himself about Arcade Fire. Their debut EP, Big Changes, doesn't let up for one second of its 6-song, 20-minute run time: three-part harmonies come fast and flurrious, Wire-style grooves frame hand-scribbled clap-alongs, and feverish rants spin off their axis." - Village Voice
"So here's a weird thing about MiniBoone: They write really, really fast songs. This wouldn't typically be considered all that weird, of course, but go ahead, we dare you to get real lost in a web of Brooklyn bands' MySpace pages and tell us that shit hasn't slowed down to the point where you can't figure out how people are even staying awake at the Market Hotel every night. MiniBoone is a breath of fresh air: The songs on their debut EP, Big Changes, burst at the seams with a frantic energy that hasn't really been prevalent around here since, god, maybe Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. And in fact, there are elements of that band at play here, as well as the standard Talking Heads thing, plus maybe some early Weezer and some mid-90s post-punk. When it comes down to it, though, they're in it for the hooks, and you will be too, because they are fucking huge." - L Magazine
"Local band MiniBoone, which does twitchy postpunk that’s part yearning and part quirky, seems like a strong candidate for future blogosphere love." - Time Out New York
"One of three bands I thoroughly enjoyed catching was the delectably fun, power pop quintet MiniBoone. Hailing from various parts of the country, these dudes have been rocking the NY scene for the past year or so, banging totally loud, righteous beats... shit was crazy." - Muzzle of Bees
"Joyous power-pop with unpredictable twists and turns." - NPR: All Songs Considered
"MiniBoone has fast become one of Brooklyn’s most energetic and entertaining live bands. Their spastic and nervy live shows have paid off, with mentions in many blogs, including msn.com’s CMJ coverage. The praise is well deserved; their songs are catchy, with jerky, stop-start riffs that recall the best moments of post-punk icons Devo and Talking Heads, with a healthy dose of the modern indie-rock of Arcade Fire and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah." - Quiet Color
"These six songs are instantaneous, songs that scream to be listened to again and again, and nag at you if you don't listen to them enough times." - Pop Tarts Suck Toasted
"The June Q&A features Craig Barnes of the NYC-based quintet MiniBoone. MiniBoone’s song “The Devil In Your Eyes” was featured on Fingertips in February. The friendly and articulate Barnes had so much to say that he voluntarily divided the first question into two, so this month, the Q&A has six questions instead of the usual five. If you want to know why the wild people may not be making the music any more, keep reading…." - Fingertips
"[an] eclectic mix of hooks, guitars, anthemic vocals and all-around essence." - The Culture of Me
"The as-yet-unsigned MiniBoone used two showcases during CMJ to prove that some of the festival's best musical surprises tend to break out of bands that haven't quite reached superstar status yet... [The band's] tight interplay and graceful ability to share responsibility for carrying up-tempo beats and carefully balanced melodies made them shine as one of the best new acts at CMJ." - MSN.com
"Exuberant, spontaneous... [MiniBoone] excels at packaging remarkable musical complexities into feverishly catchy pop songs." - Ampeater Review
"As if there was no other option for how these two bands [MiniBoone and Ava Luna] would sound. Right time, right people, right place. They are, after all, New York bands through and through. And, if you believe the L Magazine (or yours truly, now that I’ve seen the proof myself) they’re two of the best young bands this city has to offer. I’m looking forward to seeing where they go from here." - Ear Farm
"After much hard work (and lots of concert-going fun), we’re proud to present the debut episode of our new online video series, the Flavorpill Fix. Created in memory of NYC TV’s dearly departed New York Noise, the Fix is a collection of new music videos, live concert footage, and exclusive interviews meant to be consumed in order, in its entirety, like a TV show or a mixtape.
We’re excited to kick off the series with talent including Screaming Females, Double Dagger, Future Islands, MiniBoone, Hammock, and Sabrina Chap. After the jump, watch the Fix, learn more about the artists involved, find out how to submit your band’s videos for the next episode, and let us know what you think..." - Flavorpill
Discography
2013 Miniboone (LP)
2011 On Miniboone Mountain (EP)
2011 The Other Summer 7"
2010 Big Changes (EP)
Photos
Bio
Miniboone once described themselves as the fruit of a forgotten, exhausted and half drunken promise made by underground rock and roll to American Top 40, and then, much later, they announced that theyre finally releasing their debut record.
When we say Miniboone", were talking about a band that consists of Craig Barnes, James Keary and Doug Schrashun on guitars, keyboards and vocals, Drew St. Aubin on drums and Tony Aquilino on bass guitar. They are named after a science experiment and, if you ask nicely, will happily tell you about the time they got to visit the worlds second largest particle collider.
Since their first appearance in 2008, Miniboone have shared stages with acts as diverse and acclaimed as the B-52s, Art Brut, and Real Estate, and brought their witches' brew of caffeinated, unabashedly-delivered power pop to audiences at festivals such as Bonnaroo, South By Southwest, CMJ and NXNE.
After two EPs and one 7" comes the first full-length via Ernest Jenning Record Co., covering the fertile crescent of stylistic ground between Squeezey brain-pop and Queeny big-sounds while, if you listen close enough, telling the classic story of friends trying to find their place in a rapidly changing urban environment that wants nothing more than to co-opt them, confuse them into adulthood, jerk them around from desk job to spineless desk job, and scare them straight with tales of unfulfilled dreams and missed chances. They recorded the album over the course of a year at Serious Business studios in Manhattan with producer Travis Harrison (Lifeguards, Homosexuals) and the result is equal parts proto-punk rave up ("The Superposition of Human Affection"), harmony basted slow burn ("Magic Eye"), and Hall-and-Oates-spectrum smooth-rock ("Baby, I Hope So").
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