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| Welcome to the BIG LOW website! We are Dan Tuffy (songs, acoustic & electric guitars, banjo bass, vocals) Marc Constandse (bandoneon, percussion incl. darabuka, morrocan castinettes, gembir, cajon, chains and basically anything that rattles and makes a cool noise) & Michiel Hollanders (resonator guitar, velophone, singing saw and assorted textures from wherever he can get them). Basically what we are about (apart from - yawn - trying to put good music into the world with feeling) is stories in the song and in the sound. Characters, places, feelings, memories and the strange powers of the natural world. None of it is invented. I have inherited a catalogue of stories, feelings, strange notions and philiosophies about life and the human spirit from the valley where I grew up. To enhance the telling and capture the right atmosphere we often record our music using sounds generated from unexpected sources. A standard bass, drums, guitar, violin, keyboard-whatever line-up would not do our material justice, nor would it satisfy us as musicians. We look for sounds that can tell a story and we often find the right "instrument" for the job at hand lying on the floor of the shed. We also run the Smoked Recordings label, a label for "Amplified Acoustic Music" and the Smoked Sounds studio. If you like what you hear check the label catalogue out because you will probably like that as well: www.smokedrecordings.com For totally up to date and more current info check the BLOG or MYSPACE buttons. These are updated quicker than this site. CONTACT US FOR BUSINESS: info@smokedrecordings.com AGENCY: henk@alleslos.nl And finally, all of us also play in the sensational Balkan folk/improvistation combo that goes by the name of PARNE GADJE. Anyway, other people are better at describing what BIG LOW does than we are. Here is what they say: "Sinister rattling from an unrecognizable instrument and a growling
vocal that staggers blindly from one song to the next…..a wonderful
amalgam where there is as much room for comparisons with Kurt Weill
and Tom Waits as there is for the Australian outback" "It is slowly becoming evident to everyone that the Australian Dan Tuffy is not
your average singer-songwriter. His choice of subject material cannot be pinned to
a single theme, while his choice of accompaniment is, at the very least, unique
within its genre....in the 40 minutes it takes to listen to the album an avalanche of
stories falls over you, each with its own unique charm and beautifully strange instrumentation"
"Cinematically atmospheric with echoes of Beefheart & Waits. This is great! Not
perhaps the most original of starts to a review but when you hear a CD as impressive
as this from a band you've not previously heard of you just want to tell everyone!
Truly excellent by any standards"
"The musical influences are too many to mention: folk, blues, jazz, rock, cabaret music
from the '30s, Nick Cave, Lou Reed and throw in a little experimental electronica as well.
The unusual instrumentation is full of surprises too: bandoneon, velofoon, singing saw,
darbuka. A kaleidoscope of musical discoveries that sounds at once earthy, ancient,
refreshingly new and universal" |
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