no evil star

Beach Reading is the latest album from Boston singer/songwriter Adam Quane aka No Evil Star. Since his debut in 2006, No Evil Star has released 6 albums of dreamy? psych pop music. Once can hear many influences hear, from Animal Collective to Arcade Fire to Guided by Voices to Washed Out. That's a lot of ground to cover and Quane does it with solid musicality, interesting songs and production that frames his musical adventures perfectly. There is a lot in Beach Reading to keep one engaged. Just when you think you have settled in, the mood changes and the listener is drawn back into active involvement with the music. Beach Reading is what shoegaze should be, complex without being pretentious. Stream and download Beach Reading for free at the link below and take the sonic trip. - Floorshime Zipper Boots

No Evil Star
Album: Beach Reading
Released: February 2011
From: Boston, MA
No Evil Star hails from the mind of Adam Quane. Beach Reading is an odd amalgamation of downbeat folk, glitchy electronica, and lo-fi indie rock. The genre jumping that takes place from track to track may give you the jitters, but if you stick with them you’ll be rewarded with a truly interesting listen. For those who find bands like Animal Collective challenging, you may find a safe harbor in No Evil Star's more traditional song structures. - The Deli Magazine

Details Published on Wednesday, 09 March 2011 11:15 Written by Andrew Jeromski


When he was fooling around with the bits and pieces that he would eventually assemble to form [I]Beach Reading[/I], the first effort from No Evil Star, Adam Quane had a clear sense of purpose.

Quane, whose main gig is conjuring up the lush fields of sound that have become a trademark of his main band, The Hush Now, in which he serves as lead guitarist, wanted to create a record that captured a sense of a man caught in an endless cycle “The album was strongly conceptual. Most of the lyrics were more impressionistic with this recording, which allowed the words and songs to really develop together from one or two simple ‘images,’” said Quane in an interview conducted via email. “The images of the sea frame a record that felt sorta like Jay Gatsby's Mansion, a mansion of sound I hoped this Daisy chick I'm crazy about might one day come to a party at.”

The album represents a very bold and direct statement. It is not a mere toe in the water. Much as Gatsby’s house served as a symbol of aspiration in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, [I]Beach Reading[/I] is a declaration of the very same thing. It is a brilliantly executed concept album that produces a few moments of pure contemplative magic, and Quane fully lives up to the lofty goal of even embarking upon such an undertaking.

With an eye towards Friedrich Nietzsche’s epic 19th century tome “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” Quane wanted to “capture that sense of eternal wandering between two realms.”

He accomplishes this task by substituting the sea for the great German philosopher’s cave, and weaving a tale of a man caught between “a world he sees in himself and a world he lusts to share in with others.”

The album features one full rotation of this cycle. Or, as Quane put it: “a dickload of pining and whining over love followed by an inevitable return to the sea.”

The album came about through what the guitarist termed “a lot of sonic experimentation in my bedroom in Allston and Jamaica Plain with friends from all over,” and also features  various other musician friend’s or his.

“Dave Goodchild, Jordan Stein, and Emily Spear helped out,” said Quane of his fellow conspirators. “Along with local BU filmmakers Ahmed Khawaja and Andre Puca, whom I have been working with synchronistically on a couple film projects.”

Quane helped out with music for an upcoming film by Khawaja and Puca.

“The feature they just finished up is tentatively titled Kassandra with a K, and should premiere in Boston this Spring/Summer,” he said.

While recorded exclusively in his bedroom home studio, when it came time to put the finishing touches on his solo venture, Quane opted to turn to a firm that has mastered some of the biggest bands around today. Peerless Mastering.

“The project was recorded and mixed at home and then taken to Peerless Mastering, where Jeff Lipton and Maria Rice mastered the project,” Quane explained. “Jeff and Maria are great. Given their incredible profile, I was amazed at their generosity in working with me on shaping my home recording, but Jeff was delighted in "getting to turn the knobs harder--much harder, that is--then usual.”

According to Quane, No Evil Star should be booking some Boston shows in the near future, possibly in April or May. He says the physical release is also targeted for early summer.

For now, to hear the record, go to: [LINK=http://noevilstar.bandcamp.com/album/beach-reading]http://noevilstar.bandcamp.com[/LINK][U][LINK=http://noevilstar.bandcamp.com/album/beach-reading]/album/beach-reading[/LINK][/U]and download a free copy.

I recommend that you heed this advice. Strongly. 

Look, just get a copy of it; get a copy, do whatever it is you and your beatnik buddies do to “get your minds right,” and, as you are listening, ask yourself one simple question.

“Do you call yourself free?” - Dirty Water News