Philadelphia's
City Paper gave
Bullette a prize! Reviews/Interviews listed in chronological order from first on 5/25/05 to present - click on name to jump to article |
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The Mystical Beast (May 25, 2005) |
The Smudge of Ashen Fluff (2/2) more recently (2007)
PODCASTS: RADIO: MYSPACE: |
| Promotional Bullette Press One Sheet - Download PDF Promotional Bullette Poster - Download PDF |
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| Presses stopped: Bullette There's not a track on the new album The Secrets by Bullette that couldn't be improved by lopping off a minute (if not more) and that's the only negative I can think of, so why not make it the lead. In all other respects, the most original and intriguing album of 2005 is likely to be this out-of-nowhere mp3 download. Not sure if my recent post on her pal Rob Montejo's old band Smashing Orange created a psychic pull or if it was just a coincidence. I woke up at 2:00am on Monday night and reflexively checked gmail. Found a message sent at 11:00pm earlier that night that was just "off" enough to pique my interest (the photo, in which Ms. Bullette looks not unlike someone who might have hung around with Lisa Carver back in the day probably didn't hurt), clicked a link, and gave a quick listen to two mp3s. I'm not the sort to download a full album and give it three consecutive listens at 2:30am on a weeknight, but that's exactly what happened next. Influences are listed, and include Nancy Sinatra (very apparent in the vocals, plus there's clearly some Lee Hazlewood in the songwriting), Mark Bolan, Alex Chilton, Loretta Lynn, etc. It's tempting to think of her as an outsider artist, especially after listening to some of the synth pieces that come at the end of the album (one of which is a Rob Montejo production), but her blog makes it clear that she's smarter than your average cookie, and very aware of what's going on in past and current music. Call her an insider/outsider artist, but there's nobody (to my knowledge) making albums quite like this in 2005, full of dropped beats, stream-of-consciousness melodies, un-selfconscious lyrics, and ultra-creative-on-a-shoestring-budget arrangements. I catch the occasional similarity to Linda Smith (another generally solo female artist, who has a number of shared influences) but that's about as close as I can come, and it only applies to a few tracks. Overall feel is more like this should be a forgotten cult album from fifteen years ago, 'cept it's brand new. I checked out her old band Nero's mp3s (the video makes for interesting watching) but nothing they did is preparation for her solo stuff. As mentioned, the whole album is available for free at her website, but for the lazy: We Are Not From Sugar. possibly the most accessible track. Not entirely unlike Stereolab, and will leave you unprepared for... Lemonade. It's not as easy to dodge a beat as the guitar part on this makes it seem. This one, in turn, sounds nothing like... Don't Start Believin'. If you think you know exactly where this one is going after the first two verses, you're either psychic or mistaken. Very Nancy and Lee, up to the point where it hits the bridge. I could go on. The weirdness of this album generally isn't the dramatic, in your face kind (e.g. screaming, yelling, overtly clever lyrics, production overload). It has more to do with an artist (sort of a la Daniel Johnston, but without the amateurness, creepiness, etc.) pushing normal song structures slightly around the bend. Lyrics are also posted, and are worth paying attention to. If she hooks up with the right producer, her next album could be an out-and-out classic, no apologies needed.
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The Mystical Beast - May 25, 2005
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The Eyes Have It... Bullette - Little Bird The Mighty Mystical Beast beat me to the punch on this one, but I'm going ahead with a shorter version of the post anyway as this really deserves it, and besides, Dana didn't pick my favorite tracks.... This whole album is just incredibly listenable, I'm already
at the point of obsession, I've only had it for a day or two
and already know all the words and all the little parts of
music that go to making up The Secrets, Possibly
my favourite album of 2005 so far.... Now you know me... a bit of a miserable bugger most of the time, but I swear this track never fails to raise a big smile, and the whistling towards the end is just wonderful. And if that isn't enough (and surely it would be for any other mere mortal) it segues perfectly into Your Eyes Have It, a song for which the words coy yet jaunty were invented. The whole album is a joy to listen to, and one of the things that really makes it for me is the lovely slightly rough edges. Unlike your average singer/songwriter Monika Bullette is not afraid to show the frailties of her voice (I really mean that as a compliment), she could almost be the girl next door... (if you happened to live next door to a gorgeous lady who writes brilliant songs that is!), and the music is played with a certain looseness (and that's a compliment too) that makes this a warm and human listening experience. You can download the whole album for yourself from her site, and you really should. Go on... treat yourself Visit - Bullette Simon
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Spoilt Victorian Child - May 26, 2005
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Coincer la bullette dans un courant d’air pur… Bullette - The Secrets En lisant aujourd’hui l’audioblog The Mystical Beast, j’ai découvert un album étonnant d’une jeune artiste américaine Bullette qui propose son album The Secrets en téléchargement sur son site. Chose faîte sur le moment (allez savoir comme ça parfois, on fait confiance d’emblée à un artiste)… et euh… c’est simple ça tourne en boucle sur mon ordinateur depuis. Je ne vais pas me lancer dans une longue diatribe dythirambique de l’oeuvre, ni même chercher les filiations musicales (foisonantes) de cette perle - de toute manière elle les donne en première page de son site. Oui car il s’agit bien d’un premier album plus que convaincant à la richesse étonnante. Il y a tout sur cet album : l’enthousiasme, la profondeur (jetez un coup d’oeil aux paroles, ça vaut son pesant de cacahuètes) et une ironie sous-jacente… et franchement rien n’est à jeter : que ce soit Lemonade avec son riff de guitare dur qui martèle le morceau avec une redoutable efficacité ou le titre phare The Secrets, morceau qui semble léger en surface. The Secrets sera mon disque de chevet pendant un petit moment, et quitte à suivre le mouvement de The mystical beast, un de mes albums 2005. TRANSLATION - by Bullette's Father From the very first moment (you know how it goes sometimes - you click with the artist right off) it threw me for a loop, on my computer yet. I won't launch into a long, wildly enthusiastic diatribe on this work, not even search for influences which are abundant in this pearl - besides, she gives those anyway on the first page of her website. This is a first album, but all the more convincing in its astounding richness. It is all there: the enthusiasm, the depth (just take a glance at the lyrics too, it's worth the small effort), and an undercurrent of irony. And frankly, nothing should be cut, certainly not "Lemonade" with its hard guitar riff hammering the piece with formidable effectiveness, nor the title piece "The Secrets", which only seems lightweight on the surface. The Secrets will be my "bedside" disc for a bit and - even if it means following the Mystical Beast's lead - one of my choice albums of 2005. |
ecrivains.org, PODvains et Versus - May 26, 2005
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I was happy to find a pleasant surprise in my Gmail Inbox. I love receiving review requests when the music is as polished and enjoyable as this. This is clearly an artist on the verge of big things: her lyrics are contemplative, nuanced, and poetic, and her music is eclectic with variations in tempo and style that complement each song well. The style ranges from good ol' indie rock (Don't Start Believin', a play on Journey's song title) to edgy alternative (Show Me) to contemplative eclectic acoustic rock (Little Bird) to gorgeous unclassifiable downtempo/rock fusion (Uneasy); OK, I'm just making up genres now, but you get the idea. You can hear the influence of Nancy Sinatra (listen to Disappearing Act, wow), Aimee Mann, and Stereolab. She has a unique style that is difficult to describe; I liken it to a mix of Trespassers William, Feist, and Masha Qrella, good company for indie fans. And if she didn't win me over with her awesome music, she did with the Metric pics on her site that she pointed me to.
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| Bullette is Your New Favorite Artist
Wow, since i've started this little blog i've received an e-mail or two from artists asking me to feature their music, and I do it as often as I can. But when I received the email from Monika Bullette as i was about to go to bed, I had a listen to one song and was instantly compelled to post...i felt like i had to do my readers a service by doing it right away. All I could think as I listened to song after song was, "where did this come from?" On Bullette's website, Nancy Sinatra, Marc Bolan, Loretta Lynn, and Stereolab are all listed as influences, but make no mistake, this woman is an original. I'm a little late on this post, as much has already been written on other blogs about the greatness of Bullette (Spoilt Victorian Child and The Mythical Beast both have real nice writeups), plus it's past my bedtime, so i'm just going to recommend you download these beautiful songs right now. Absolutely an early contender for best album, and most original artist, of the year. No question. And thanks to you, Bullette, it is now nearly 2 a.m. and I have to call in sick to work tomorrow so i can listen some more. Don't Start Believin' mp3 I had a hell of a time deciding which songs to post...so go right now and Download, or better yet, purchase, Bullette's entire album, "The Secrets", at her website. And if there's any justice in the music world, this will receive a wide release sometime in the near future. You heard it here first (or second or third, but who's counting?).
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Gorilla Vs. Bear - May 27, 2005
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Following up on recent entries at The Mystical Beast and Spoilt Victorian Child, I checked out Bullette's music. And I'm happy to report both writers are right: this is an exceptional set of songs. Because the songs are all available at her site, I'm not posting any here - but what most impresses me about them is that they're simultaneously musically diverse but clearly the product of a particular musician's perspective and taste. Too often, "musically diverse" is another way of saying "it sounds like a compilation...of ten different mediocre bands in ten different lame styles," or that a musician has no sense of self and has merely been digging through the last several Officially Pronounced Hip styles at Pitchfork...but Bullette (you can think of the name as several puns, even though it's also just her surname) sounds instead like someone with a well-stocked music collection who loves and understands the different sounds and styles she works with rather than merely aping them for someone else's approval. Not to mention that what's cool doesn't seem to be in the least a functional criterion for her music: some of it, to be sure, would impress people hanging around outside cool record stores, but some of it would puzzle them or piss them off. No matter. My only quibble is that the three tracks with the most synthetic atmospheres are grouped together near the end, which makes the difference in their sonic atmosphere stand out a bit gawkily. (The other quibble isn't mine: as Dana points out, a few tracks could be shortened a bit.) But this is definitely music that, even on first listen, makes me want to hear more, and makes me anticipate what Bullette will do in future recordings.
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The Architectural Dance Society - May 27, 2005
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I had to go to the attic the other day and look for my old records. This band is inspiring. You know, they sounds like the very early Fairport Convention, (When Judy Dyble used to sing (and knit on stage...). It's soooo great music, and this is 2005. I can't believe it. Monika even starts to sing some notes on the chorus too early in What Love Can Do Without (2.12 into the song), and says "oops, sorry". Just like in the classic The daughthers of Albion-LP from 1968. Remember that, anyone? It was one of my favourite psych-rock albums of the sixties. Great, if you can find it (try eBay!!) Listen to Don't Start Believin' for example. And all of the album is available for download at their site I am talking of the band Bullette, and their debut "The Secrets". Strange, great harmonies and innocence. The joy of making music captured in one piece. No, not Pet Sounds, don't get me wrong, here something cold and reserved is lurking under the surface cravin for your ears (but hiding very well i must say). Another time. This is "The devil in a blue dress":-) Watch out for Monika Bullette, and Hangnail Phillips and Rob Montejo, too! A breakthrough will come soon. It really must, because stuff of this calibre can not be hidden and overseen by any record company with some senses still left, and, a contract would suit Monika very well, i think.
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Cool New Songs And then, just this morning I get an email from a girl named Bullette. She says she cried during the Elvis thing too. She's got her entire album ready to download here. And I've only heard the first 5 songs, but I really like it so far. You should def. check it out 'cause at least the first 5 songs are good. It's like singer-songwriter, but late-60's harmony sounds, and cool instrumentation all together. Here is a direct link to one, but you can get the whole album at her site: Bullette - Show Me
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Rock n Roll in the Real World - May 27, 2005 |
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God Is A Bullette I'd write a glowing review of Delaware artist Monika Bullette but I think Chris has already done a bang up job. These 2 tracks are my favorites of hers so far, make sure you go visit her site for more tracks & to purchase her album "The Secrets": Bullette: Lemonade
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Indoor Fireworks - May 27, 2005
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Bullette in the gun Mystical Beast a publié hier un billet sur Bullette. Cliquez de ce pas et allez écouter We Are Not From Sugar : 4 minutes 13 de voix éthérée, de rythmiques à la Broadcast, de mélodies délicieusement frigorifiées (avec une ou deux fausses notes de bon goût). Je réserve mon avis sur le reste de l'album, que je n'ai pas encore eu le temps d'écouter dans de bonnes conditions, mais ce morceau est quasiment parfait et l'écouter me rappelle mon coup de coeur de 2004 pour Post Industrial Boys. L'album peut être téléchargé gratuitement (et dans son entièreté) sur son site officiel sous format .zip. Pourquoi se priver? TRANSLATION - by Bullette's Father I reserve judgement on the rest of the album, I have not yet had the time to listen to it under favorable conditions, but this piece is almost perfect and listening to it reminds me of my favorite of 2004 - Post Industrial Boys. The album can be downloaded in full and for free from her official web site in .zip format. Why do without?
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Je dis ça, je dis rien. - May 27, 2005 |
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Monika Bullette aka Bullette offers up her debut album The Secrets as a free MP3 download. Her influences are pretty varied though Syd Barrett seems to be the one that sticks out in my mind. I tend to be drawn towards the more ethereally produced songs such as "We Are Not From Sugar", which sounds like something that may have appeared on a long-forgotton early-nineties 4AD release (a la Swallow or Ian Masters-era Pale Saints) that dominate the second half of the album. Had 4AD not completely lost it's sense of direction (about 1998 by my reckoning) this is the type of album I would half-expect producer Ivo Watts-Russell to remix into lesser-obscurity. Get it while you can.
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My Mean Magpie - May 28, 2005 |
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I was pretty surprised and flattered to receive an invitation to review Bullette's album 'The Secrets' in my mail yesterday, and a bit worried that I would have to respond by writing a bad review. Thankfully, this is a great album. The influences listed on her site are wide and varied, but somehow make sense when you listen to the album as a whole. This collection is so original that it's not fair to compare it to anything that has gone before. That said, 'Little Bird' reminds me of The Decemberists' 'Picaresque' for some reason, in its lyrics and narrative. 'Disappearing Act' is jazzy in a Nouvelle Vague way, while 'Lemonade' is what I wanted the new White Stripes album to sound like. The new ideas presented on each track only serve to make the album more intriguing, and to draw you deeper in. I will be listening to 'I Can't Tell You Why I'm Smiling' for the next few months. In places 'The Secrets' reminds me of The Doors, or Love's 'Forever Changes', and it is impossible to pigeonhole this artist, or even anticipate what the next song will sound like - you may find yourself smiling in surprise at an unexpected move. The album is currently up for free download. It's the most original and endearing thing I've heard in a while - get it while you can. Listen:
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The Torture Garden - May 28, 2005
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| believe at least some of the hype Has Bullette put out the best album of the year? Maybe not, but it is in the upper reaches of the top 10 list. Already, she has generated some buzz . If she really takes off (or at least becomes the darling of people who over identify with a particular character on The OC ), it could be a sign of things to come for the music industry. For the first time, an artist would have broke (relatively) big without the aid of a label of any size, not radio support, and their album being given away for free on the internet. The music industry is not even close to coping with the realities of the internet. Major artists and labels still drag their feet over online download stores, and those models are nearly a carbon copy of the old way of doing business. Robert Brightman (sorry, no good links) has hypothesized that the communications revolution may in fact equal agriculture in reshaping society. This is probably a bit to much hype but his point should be well taken. Information exchange has been forever changed and that means every business has to change along with it. This is particularly harsh for the entertainment industries because what they sell is information. What the music industry, movie studios, etc. have yet to realize, is that from now on it is cheap and easy to exchange high volumes of information. They need to face this reality soon or they may not last another generation. I would not hold out any hope for a change. Much of the current industry problems, come from the passing of the great CD re-buy. In the 70's, no entertainment was bigger than the music industry, they literally could not print enough records to meet the demand. However, when disco died, the industry hit a slump that it has never truly recovered from. The modern industry had come from the coming of age of the Baby Boomers in the 60's and 70's. By the end of the 70's, nearly all of the major artists from the Baby Boomer's youth had broken up or lost their way and Punk created a new criteria for judging what was cool (also here ). The industry needed to fundamentally reform, to reflect that the Boomers were no longer in their prime new music buying years. However, the introduction of the CD saved the industry from new reflection. With the introduction of the CD (and cult of the reissue that soon followed) Boomers began to re-buy all of their old records. This new revenue stream allowed the industry to ignore the structural problems that had developed in the early 80's. By the end to the Century, the growth of reissues had ended and the industry was once again faced with the fact that they did not have a clue about selling music to young people, or even understand how music fit into the life of people born after the Beatles broke up. The industry has chosen to not face this fact, and has instead focused on how internet downloading is supposedly killing them. This is why the labels have neglected online music and have instead put more work into pushing DVD/CD combo discs, audio DVDs, etc. Their only solution is to have the Baby Boomers by their records for a third time. Having been born during the Regan Administration, I can only summon so much irritation at this but on behalf of my parents, I would like to quote our President: “fool me once, shame on you, fool me- um… er… um… we won't get fooled again!” |
Mysteries of Portland - May 30, 2005 |
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Occasionally, people send me music. Original CD's, mix CD's, the occasional 7", and live show appear with regularity in my mailbox, and I listen to everything sent my way. At the moment, I'm about a week behind, but I was reading The Mystical Beast's reaction to the Bullette album, The Secrets. I recognized the logo from my mail bag, and dug out the CD she had sent. I have mad respect for the MB (Mystical Beast, not mail bag), and the post definitely perked my interest. I remembered receiving the CD, and being touched by the sincerity of the note Monika Bullette had included. I put the album on yesterday afternoon, and Bullette's music turned a grey day blue. My wife walked in, and after hearing about half a song asked me to burn a copy for her as well. Bullette won't be without a label for long. This talented woman deserves to be heard, and lucky for us, has placed her album online as a free download. Grab the record, and share the love with your friends... Bullette: free & legal entire album, The Secrets [mp3] |
largehearted boy - May 31, 2005 |
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If you have the chance, download this album. Bullette's album is a sore, tender, vital experience. 14 songs turned into a soliloquy which shines poignant hope. "I've been trying to hold your hand |
Blindheit - May 31, 2005 |
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| BULLETTE: Cantante Delaware, USA Influencias: B. Bargeld, M. Bolan, D. Bowie, J. Cash, N. Cave, A. Chilton, L. Cohen, M. Dietrich, B. Goodman, F. Hardy, L. Lenya, L. Lynn, M. Manson, R. Orbison, E. Piaf, C. Porter, E. A. Presley, T. Waits, H. Williams. Prueben escuchando algunos temas, esta es una de las propuestas
nuevas del 2005, esta dando que hablar, con composiciones simples,
folk, bluegrass, rock y pop. |
jirafa 1970 - May 31, 2005 |
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Bullette has appeared pretty much everywhere on the web the past week or two and for good reason. She has drawn comparisions to Nancy Sinatra, Aimee Mann, Lali Puna and if I was one to express my own – Liz Phair(ish) with a dash of Jolie Holland. I received her email, read a few reviews, and knew this was going to be something different. With the assistance of Hangnail Phillips, Bullette's self-released downloadable album “Secrets” throws you a vast array of different sounds, each as adorable and delightful as the previous. The second track “Little Bird” is a favorite of mine. Couple "Little Bird" with the Opener "Show Me", and you've just begun to tap into the diversity that Bullette brings to the table. All in all, this is a well kept secret and one that shouldn’t last for long since music as ingenious as this can only grow. Have a listen to the first three tracks and delve into the rest! Permission provided for posting the sounds. Bullette - Show
Me |
The Acousticwoodlands - June 1, 2005 |
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Broke Broke Broke in the Water Bullette - "Show Me" This was sent to us last week. I was skeptical at first (I usually am when the promotion is so professional) but Bullette withstands the test: every time I listen to a song I make a wish, and if I make the same wish twice I--- no, there's no test. Mathematically, it's good; write it down, map it out, you'll see. She's a completely competent musician interested in entertaining you. Worked on me. Plus, the rest of her album changes up the pace, so your brain is tricked into wanting more. MUSIC IS AN IRON LUNG AND HEAVEN IS A PRISON. |
Said the Gramophone - June 1, 2005 |
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Bullette, Bono, Llamas, Cats, Dogs, Pythons, a Pig and a Chicken BULLETTE is trying to attract attention from record labels by offering an entire album for free download at her website. You can download the whole thing at once or a track at a time, which is what I'm doing. So far, so good. It's indie-rockish, with various flourishes...tuneful, not inviting an obvious comparison with others offhand, which is good. |
Claude Pate .com - June 1, 2005 |
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| [This is good.] Meet Bullette. Monika Bullette is a musician from Delaware. Like most musicians in her position, she has played in a couple of bands, had some local success, but isn't well known outside of the local scene. Until now that is. Being a bit web-savvy, she has released her entire new record online for free download. And the indie music blogs are falling over themselves about how great the album is. One listen to the first track "Show Me" made me believe that they were right. This album is, so far, my favorite of the year. To give you an idea of what it sounds like, go grab one of Stereolab's old albums, Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose, Sleater Kinney's The Hot Rock, a copy of Bjork's Vespertine, and an old Nancy Sinatra 45, and melt them all together. As you can imagine, the sound of the record is as varied as it is original. Yet, as varied as it is, there's a cohesiveness that keeps the record together. Some of the songs, like "What Love Can Do Without" or "Your Eyes Have It" are as catchy as anything else out there right now and almost beg you to sing along. I really couldn't recommend this any more. Give it a shot. The MP3s are here, and a zip file of the entire album is here. If you download it, let me know what you think. Current Music: Bullette - Your Eyes Have It |
The Promethical Son - June 1, 2005 |
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The Spectacular Fantastics and Bullette Sometimes a band comes long that really creates a buzz on the mp3 blog scene. It's a fairly straightforward process and I'm surprised more bands/labels don't follow these examples. Essentially these bands release a full cd or ep and simply make an attempt to contact as many relevant bloggers that they can. Two of the most recent and most promising artists who have released music for free on the internet are the The Spectacular Fantastics and Monika Bullette. Monika Bullette has released her whole new album free on the internet for a limited time - it's called The Secrets. She has quickly gained the adoring attention of some of the best (and I imagine usually somewhat jaded) mp3 blog sites. These songs together with The Spectacular Fantastics make a great 60's inspired soundtrack. PS "Little Bird" is brilliant! |
Songs:Illinois - June 02, 2005 |
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[new music thursday] - [thursday’s feature] We were thinking of writing about southeast London’s DIY art-rockers Art Brut this week, that is, until we stumbled on Bullette’s The Secrets. We would like to start out with this quote from the Mysteries of Portland, “Has Bullette put out the best album of the year? Maybe not, but it is in the upper reaches of the top 10 list. Already, she has generated some buzz.” Bullette has generated this “buzz” all on her own without the aid of a record label by posting her debut album, The Secrets on her website. You can read about how this could, in turn, affect the music industry, etc. in the Mysteries of Portland article, but we’re here to talk about the music. Delaware-based Monika Bullette is the brainchild behind The Secrets, which can be downloaded legally below and on her website. Bullette lists many influences such as David Bowie, Edith Piaf, Nick Cave, Loretta Lynn, T. Rex, and Echo and the Bunnymen in her profile. You can hear a wide range of influences on the album, making it difficult to compare the entire album to a single genre. The early tracks draw heavily on sounds from the late 60’s artists such as Françoise Hardy and Syd Barrett, while the songs toward the end of the album evoke a more cerebral, spacey, and ethereal mood. These songs are what grabbed our attention. The Stereolab inspired ‘We Are Not From Sugar’ is perhaps the album’s strongest song and also brings Midnight Movies to mind. The synth tracks ‘Let’s Kiss’ and ‘Uneasy’, which conclude the album, show that Bullette knows where music is going today, and leaves us anxiously anticipating what she may do on her next record. Bullette currently does not have any live shows listed on her website. Are there any booking agents or promoters out there that can book her for a show here in NYC? [thursday’s favorite downloads] |
Crackers United - June 02, 2005 |
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HEADLINES It will take you to an extraordinary place: Bullette’s new album, The Secrets, available for free download. [via MB, SVC, so many more] |
The Morning News - June 02, 2005 |
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Bullette The Secrets (Bullette, 2005) Today I received several packages of music. One I was expecting and one I had no idea was going to arrive at my doorstep. Sometimes it is the things in life you never expect that are the best things. Life is like that. Bullette is Monika Bullette, an accomplished musician and singer from Delaware. Her music has influences ranging from straight up indie rock to classic folk to music that will make you dance with infectious beats and everything in between. The Secrets is her debut album, a heart-filled record which took her three years to complete, containing 14 amazing tracks in which Bullette herself plays the vast majority of the instrumentation. Her producer and sometimes collaborator Hangnail Phillips adds to many of the tracks and Rob Montejo plays all the instruments and sings background vocals on We Are Not From Sugar. This is honestly one of the most refreshing albums I have heard in a very long time. From the opening, pounding indie rock track, to the simple, mellow folk song Little Bird, to 60s R&B influenced tracks like Don't Start Believin'. This album is a folk gem in the rough. Gorgeously produced, Bullette also has an angelic voice and a pentient for song writing that defies convention and genrefication. She also expands on her vast influences by experimenting with noises and sounds that become integral whether they are haunting or sweet. But this woman can also throw down, like on the 70s hard rock influenced song Lemonade or on the following fuzz rock track Night Starts Over. This record will absolutely draw in any open minded punk rocker, indie rocker, folk rocker, country rocker, shoegazer or trip hopper (the end of the album turns more electronic and dark). The Secrets is built in a prog-folk tradition that Bullette may have just invented all by her beautiful lonesome. Prog because the record brings in all styles but while it sometimes melds them, it also throws them at you one after another, like a wonderful maze. Folk because you can tell that stripped down, inside her heart, Bullette bleeds folk, both in her words and music. The Secrets is currently available for free download but I suggest anyone interested in the album buy one of the limited edition CD-R slimlines from her. They come in stunningly designed triple velum covers with a hand painted liner note sheet. And, if any label out there is looking for a great new artist to release contact Bullette or Uncommon Folk. I've got business cards and The Secrets deserves a proper label release and international distribution because it is one of the best records too many people may unfortunately not experience this year. |
Uncommon Folk - June 02, 2005 |
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I know I'm tardy But I can't resist chiming in on Bullette. Everyone else is already going bonkers over her. Hopefully this post will get out to the one person on the Internet who hasn't already heard the word. What's really interesting to me about this whole Bullette thing is that in just over a week she's become hot shit -- like, majorly. I think it was totally wise and brainy of her to contact all these mp3 bloggers, and even more wise to make her album The Secrets available as a free download. Also, it helps that the record is really good. I'm with a lot of my fellow bloggers in pointing out Your Eyes Have It as a favorite track, but there's plenty of creativity and melodic goodness in every single song. I'm also very fond of Lemonade, Little Bird, and Show Me. I hear echoes of The Kinks, Stereolab, Liz Phair, The Breeders ... the list goes on. Assuming the attention keeps piling on, I can imagine a day
when people will look back at Bullette's sudden success as
a landmark in rock history. Time will tell. |
I'm a Cuckoo - June 02, 2005 |
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Flares, Foot Stomping, Fists of Fury, Bullette Monika Bullette sent an email about her CD, which I didn't quite know what to make of at first (she's in good company; I hated Pet Sounds when I first heard it--I think sometimes I'm just slow at figuring out what rules certain music has decided to govern itself by). Anyway, Bullette's work has been praised by Said the Gramophone, Spoilt Victorian Child, Large Hearted Boy, and Mystical Beast (all by better writers than I am), so if those sound like your kind of music then check it out. And if they don't, check it out anyway. It's odd, innovative work,
fun and striking and just good. I don't know which to emphasize,
though I think "Don't
Start Believin'" and "Disappearing
Act" are as good a start as any. Go poke around; you'll
be pleasantly surprised. |
Tuwa's Shanty - June 05, 2005 |
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bullette hace una semana recibí un e-mail de una tal monika bullette. me invitaba a descargarme su primer álbum, "the secrets", y, en compensación, hacer una valoración del mismo en este blog. reconozco que estas cosas suelen darme muuuuucha pereza, pero ya que se tomó la molestia de darse a conocer, entré en su web y me bajé un tema al azar con la secreta esperanza de que fuese lo bastante malo como para no tener que escuchar el resto. para mi sorpresa, "i can't tell you why i'm smiling" resultó ser más emocionante de lo que pensaba, así que me bajé el disco completo. a medida que lo iba escuchando fui pasando de esa sorpresa inicial a la incredulidad: no podía ser tan bueno. por mi cabeza rondaban flashes de love, las raincoats de "odyshape", nancy sinatra, el cabaret alemán de entreguerras, la 60's psicodelia, stereolab e incluso astrud gilberto. su música tiene un sello de originalidad que me impide clasificarla más allá de folk-rock ecléctico, lo cual tampoco es decir mucho, así que mejor lo escuchas y decides por ti mism@. compositora y multi-instrumentista de gran talento, bullette ha mimado su primer disco (le ha dedicado tres años) hasta convertirlo en una joya que escapa a la tiranía de las tendencias y puede ser disfrutado por cualquier persona desprovista de prejuicios y con buen oído musical. visita su página y descarga el zip que contiene "the secrets", 14 canciones con sus correspondientes letras, antes de que una discográfica la fiche y desaparezca. [mp3] Translation by Bullette's Father A week ago I received an email from Monika Bullette inviting me to download her first album "The Secrets", and, in return, to give a review of it on this blog. Now, I know these things tend to make me reeeeally bored, but even so, I took the trouble to find her, enter her website, and download a track at random with the secret hope that if it should be sufficiently bad that I could skip the rest. To my surprise "I Can't Tell You Why I'm Smiling" turned out to be more thrilling than I had anticipated and so I downloaded the entire disc. As I kept listening, my initial surprise turned into incredulity. I could not be THAT good! My head was filled with flashes of Love, The Raincoats' "Odyshape", Nancy Sinatra, the German cabaret between the World Wars, the psychedelic 60s's, Stereolab, and even Astrud Gilberto. Her music bears a mark of originality that I cannot classify beyond eclectic folk-rock. However, this doesn't say much, so you better listen and judge for yourself. Bullette is a composer and multi-instrumentalist of great talent. She has pampered her first disc (over 3 years of dedication !) until it turned into a joy that defies the tyranny of trends and can be enjoyed by any unprejudiced person with a good musical ear. Go visit her site and download the zip which contains "The Secrets"' 14 songs along with their lyrics before it disappears. |
búscate un novio - June 05, 2005 |
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| Indie Update What to think about the newcoming bands trying to promote their music by offering their releases on the net free of any charge. Personally, I think it's smart and makes much sense. And Bullette did just that. They offered their debut release - The Secrets on their web page with included lyrics and a promoting poster. All you should do is to take it and listen to it. And you should really do it. The music that Bullette creates is warm and gentle. Ambiental and acoustic sounds with a beautiful voice of a lead singer make the journey through The Secrets pleasant and joyful. I look forward to their new release. |
Indie Surfer Blog - June 07, 2005 |
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Bullette Rakst á þessa ágætu söngkonu/sveit í morgun en hún var að gefa út sína fyrstu plötu á Netinu og er öllum frjálst að hala henni niður endurgjaldlaust. Hér er um að ræða eðal indie með sígildum 60's tilvitnunum, folk ívafi og sykursætum laglínum. Reyndar finnst mér orðið full mikil einfeldni í því að flokka tónlist svona niður þar sem það lýsir varla þeim hughrifum sem hún getur haft á mann. En hvað um það. Bullette er s.s. að gefa fyrstu plötuna sína, The Secrets, án endurgjalds og hvet ég ykkur eindregið til að kynna ykkur þessa sveit. Skellið ykkur hingað og njótið vel. Bullette - The Secrets |
Hefur þú heyrt þetta? - June 07, 2005 |
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Bullette I blog indicano la strada, il popolo del Web la segue. Ok, forse è un'esagerazione, ma ormai capita sempre più di frequente che un blogger scopra un gruppo o un artista sconosciuto, lo segnali al pubblico e questo gruppo o artista sconosciuto diventi improvvisamente una sorta di fenomeno, il cui nome rimbalza freneticamente nella blogosfera. L'ultimo esempio di questo processo si chiama Bullette, una ragazza del New Jersey di cui probabilmente neanche sua mamma conosceva il soprannome, fino a quando il 25 maggio è uscito questo articolo sul blog The Mystical Beast. Argomento in questione, l'album omonimo Bullette, che l'intraprendente cantante ha deciso di mettere gratis sul suo sito, non sotto Creative Commons ma solo fino a quando le canzoni non diventeranno "economicamente redditizie". Apriti cielo. Da quel 25 maggio in avanti il nome di Bullette è diventato uno dei più citati nella rete dei blog americani, con una percentuale di iperboli sempre crescente. E volete sapere una cosa? Bullette è davvero un gran bel disco, sorprendente sia per la varietà che per l'originalità delle influenze e degli stili. Tanto per intenderci, non siamo di fronte al solito clone rockettaro dei Talking Heads o all'ennesima folk singer di cosmica tristezza indie. No, qui dentro al massimo c'è un po' di malinconica
saudade brasiliana (Disappearing
Act) in mezzo a tanto amore
per una visione classicheggiante della canzone, che prende
spunto da Nancy Sinatra per poi allargarsi in direzioni psichedeliche
(primi Pink Floyd?), schizofreniche (Fiona Apple?), pop (Fleetwood
Mac?). Con momenti di soave e sorprendente fantasia, come quel
fischiettare in Little
Bird che parte a sorpresa al minuto
2:15 e sembra uscito da un film di Doris Day. Di paragoni,
poi, se ne potrebbe aggiungere a bizzeffe. Lei stessa nel sito
parla di Marc Bolan, Edith Piaf, David Bowie, Cole Porter e
Marilyn Manson (e probabilmente è l'unica al mondo a
citarli tutti e cinque in un'unica serie). Noi ci limitiamo
a segnalarvi l'indirizzo e ad augurare lunga vita ai blog e
alle loro scoperte.
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Kataweb - Musica - June 08, 2005 |
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The Obligatory Bullette Bandwagon Post Monika Bullette has been hunting down all the mp3 blogs and sending them e-mail messages. She’s almost as efficient as EMI. I downloaded her online album over a week ago, after largehearted boy said “This talented woman deserves to be heard,” and linked to the verbose Mystical Beast’s review, which calls her album, The Secrets, “the most original and intriguing album of 2005.” I wasn’t going to review it, since all the other blogs already have. It would be redundant. But since I received the gracious e-mail message this week, with a complimentary personal touch, yeah, I’ll say a word. The two things that first struck me about The Secrets was its intimacy and its range of styles and tone. When I first pop in a CD, I like to listen to the first 20-30 seconds of each track to get an idea of what I’m getting into. After doing the exercise with this album, I knew I was in for a varied and refreshing listen from an uncompromising songwriter. She does growling guitar rock (Show Me (mp3)), ultra-harmonic heartbreak pop (What Love Can Do Without (mp3)), creepy accordion obsession rock (I Try (mp3)), PJ-Harveyesque acoustic aggression (The Secrets (mp3)), even bossa nova (Disappearing Act (mp3)), all with a voice that makes you feel alone in the room with her. So though she runs the musical gamut, it all comes together in a strong singular personality. And her lyrics are incisive. From What Love Can Do Without: The second time is sweeter still
From I Try: I’ve been trying to tear you out I've been trying to sing you off my mind
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Pop Drivel (The Smudge of Ashen Fluff) - June 08, 2005 |
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Sempre a proposito di free download, è uscito il 15° episodio di quella rubrica-capolavoro degna di premio Pulitzer che è Creative Kicks. Al suo interno si parla anche di Bullette, la cantautrice che sta facendo impazzire i blogger americani. Also featured as "The Good Morning Album" for June 10, 2005. |
Il Pozzo di Cabal - June 08, 2005 |
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| in Thai - please go to link to read ------> | You Are What You Read - June 09, 2005 |
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We Interrupt for This Bullettin': Late last month Spoilt
Victorian Child, among others, wrote up the self-released freely
downloadable
mp3 album, "The Secrets," by Delaware-based songy
singwriter Monika Bullette. I, too, endorse it. The stylistic range is wide, to say the least: "Show Me" sounds like the Monkees, in a "Steppin' Stone"-ish bad mood, fronted by PJ Harvey; "Little Bird" is sweetly Vashti Bunyanesque (with whistling!); "Don't Start Believin'" is a Mama/Papa/Spoonful of harmonious pop; "Lemonade" is a fine dirty blues ["Stir that pitcher/Make the ice cubes clink/You're making me thirsty/For more than your drink"]; and "Disappearing Act" is a languid, saxophone-spiced bossa nova number (which needs to be translated immediately into Portugese and performed by a real Brazilian so that Ms. Bullette will be rollin' in royalties). The closing synthe-drone songs don't do much for me, but the project as a whole displays ambition, potential and talent to burn. |
A Fool in the Forest - June 10, 2005 |
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| Bullette Review. While the alleged purveyors of independent music TO COME pioneer dismal futures full of onanistic meanderings on drunken laptops... while saddle-creeps half-heartedly reinvent American music after its embarrassing rednecky stereotypes... while hideous CENTAUR beings, each with the calculating head of an entrepreneur grafted onto the body of the sylphlike UR-ARTIST of STEREOTYPE, busily sell more ringtones and hoodies and neckties and Ashton Kutchner trucker hats than CDs ... while, for the first time ever, the genre of fashionXcore emerges, admitting and even EMBRACING that the superficial trappings and faddish gesticulations attending music have attained PRIMACY... while all of THAT rabid rubbish rubs abrasively within the ears of impotent napsterites (now available for FEE) -- the enchanting MISS BULLETTE offers the world a refreshing solution -- OBTAINABLE COMPLETELY FOR FREE! THE SECRETS contains all the razzle-dazzle diversity and the masterful narrative flow of the greatest of joyful, lovestruck musicals... but its virtuoso displays of musical showmanship are tempered by moments of touchingly sugary simplicity. How can something so maturely, archly confidently executed uphold such a delectable sweetness and innocence -- and still be great POP MUSIC? It takes an incredible degree of focus, precision, and mezura rarely located outside of the 20th century’s French pop pantheon. France Gall, Les Poppies, Brigitte Bardot, Barbara, Jane Birkin all knew that INNOCENCE is something CREATED by a pure heart -- not something one is born with just to be inevitably LOST. And oh, if MUSIC somehow managed to lose its innocence, Bullette has turned a 120 lumen Surefire brand flashlight upon alternative innocences lurking insecurely in the tenebrous gunungagaps they withdrew to -- and has given to them both FORM and BACKBONE! But let’s start with the negative things first, as I’m trained, grievously, to behave as a big jerk and an Adornian. (I can promise that this will be a very short, mostly self-referential paragraph.) At times the recording -- admittedly quite fair and lush for a DIY project -- leaves a bit of its digitalia dangling noticeably. A direct-recorded guitar or a squeaky bedspring or two means that snobs might snob the affair, but only because they KNOW that Bullette’s work fully DESERVES (...unlike so much other music that receives it...) the warmth of the most admittedly clunky of analogue equipment. Here is an album more worthy of “If You’re Feeling Sinister” era Tony Doogan production than Belle and Sebastian themselves. Speaking of Belle and Sebastian, fans of BS will be disappointed to find that all of the Scottish supergroup’s ultra-sophisticated-jangle-pop-plus-folky-gentleness-plus-playful-melancholy-plus-retrospective-remixery is present in Bullette’s music WITHOUT the trite hipster posturing so often frivolously fetishized. Rather than despondently luxuriating in pococurantism, Bullette comes across like the one-man-band found in Mary Poppins, pushing a herd of instruments (she plays them all) towards her audience with the willful determination of a tick, yet without its BLOODTHIRSTY intents -- on the CONTRARY, the BLOOD OF THE WORLD is thirsty for a heart that ticks like BULLETTE’S HEART... and this shows in an admittedly dainty but rapidly expanding collection of international compliments, dutifully noted at her website. THE SECRETS opens with a jaunty tamborine-tapping love song tinted with the slightest bit of aggression -- a charming hangover from our chanteuse’s Nero days. Listeners expecting an album of similar fare will be startled by the contrasting sparseness and undulating tempo of the second track -- LITTLE BIRD. Here is Bullette at her most intimate and vulnerable, risking everything to deliver -- so early on in her album -- something that sounds very not unlike BULLETTE: THE MUSICAL. Von Trapps might go tramping about through one’s head -- but the lasting impression is overwhelmingly positive -- one is reminded more of Leslie Caron in Lili. YOUR EYES HAVE IT is an olive-and-rust-colored merry-go-round ride... bah bah bah bah bah bah sing memory’s enchanted children, and everyone SMILES -- but look closely, and note the ladies of the party are decidedly NOT riding sidesaddle. For fans of pop, DON’T START BELIEVING is the album’s highpoint -- we have the venerable Hangnail Phillips to thank for that. The song sounds like Arthur Lee’s LOVE (NOT the post-prison reunion tour... what DID they DO to him in prison?!!) on Prozac and Xanax and Lexiprol and Ativan and Ritalin and Dervoset and Ephadrine and even Proventil, or the Mamas and the Papas chewing their ham sandwiches more thoughtfully after being given yet another second chance. One thing becomes apparent -- harmonies across the album, even and especially two-part harmonies, are INCREDIBLY sophisticated. WHAT LOVE CAN DO WITHOUT -- again, a dark, quasi-mad happy beauty reminiscent of Arthur Lee... it’s the song playing when Sylvia Plath opens the oven. With I CAN’T TELL YOU WHILE I’M SMILING it’s back to the fairground again for more BULLETTE: THE MUSICAL, with the brontosaurus stompings of tuba and the hee-haw of broken violins blowing to and fro in BULLETTE’S breezy vocals. I TRY... oh, now the clowns are stumbling home, saddened as always by the sounds of the children’s happiness... but the children aren’t REALLY happy, in spite of how silvery they might sound, because they know that they shan’t be children too much longer... and then life’s accordion will begin its slow and determined process of detuning and retuning and huffing and puffing until the memories with each note riiise agaiiiiiiiiin, and then EVERYONE is a clown. LEMONADE attains an uncanny, almost -- ALMOST -- unsuitable aggression stuffed full of Zappa-tista saxophonettles. NIGHT STARTS OVER -- RETURN TO OZ or some other, more sanguine landscape? The album’s tenth track, DISAPPEARING ACT, would be a sultry and melancholic Portuguese interlude if it wasn’t too GOOD to be an interlude... at times, in spite of its sparseness, it seems the most professional and satisfying of all the album’s songs. THE SECRETS -- the album’s title track -- is a gypsy wagon traveling through a manic-depressive chord progression to arrive at an abandoned renaissance fair. Good, we never liked LIVING HISTORY anyway. WE ARE NOT FROM SUGAR is a rare treat -- an appearance from My Wig is Rob‘s, oops, I mean On’s, always exceptionally elusive Rob Montejo (also, songwriting mastermind of “Smashing Rob”), whose still waters always run deep with the most impeccable of shoegazing stylizations. LET’S KISS, a bit of synthesthesia, sounds PRECISELY like what I imagined THE LAST OF THE REALLY GREAT WHANGDOODLES looked like (...and is it ANY coincidence who wrote THAT book, I ask?!!!). UNEASY -- the album’s final track, is just what the title suggests... but unlike Conor Oberst’s recent electronic whangdoodlings, it doesn’t sound like Bullette is trying on someone else’s pants and finding that they don‘t fit; somehow, the quasi-industrial loogie-hacking percussion fits marvelously with so many other disparate elements that should NOT fit together so neatly as Bullette has managed make them fit. The album -- which, I’ve not yet mentioned, comes
with the finest DIY packaging I’ve ever seen anywhere
(...yet which I’ve not seen in my local record store,
sadly... paraxodically...) -- is deserving of all the superlatives
its internetional audience has been bestowing upon it --
and more. If we are fortunate, Bullette will not be like
Ingeborg Bachmann, moving to Italy just to die in a fire,
leaving behind just one single novel giving traces of what
histories women AND HUMANKIND ESPECIALLY can trace in place
of the space mainstreamy gobbledy-gook patrimonial BULL-shit
hath cock-a-doodled as ART’S GRAY AND GIRL-LESS FUTURE...
she’ll keep doing what she’s been doing -- watching
the boys playing with themselves, in mild amusement, all
the while scheming up delightful new ways to make them stop
looking at THEMSELVES for another fifty-four minutes and
fifty-three seconds. |
Jason R. C. M. S. B. K. C. dB. - June 10, 2005 |
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logorrea di fine giornata This article is about the changing face of music promotion - using electronic means (mp3 and Internet) to get the word out c) gli artisti. |
Il Pozzo di Cabal - June 14, 2005 |
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Sharing Secrets A bewitching Wilmington, Del., singer named Bullette spent three years of "languid and bittersweet study" recording her debut album, The Secrets. Then she gave all the music away. Bullette made Mp3s of each new song available for free download on her web site, then sent notes to a group of influential MP3 bloggers. What sort of strategy is this? A winner. "I'm not the sort to download a full album and give it three consecutive listens at 2:30 a.m. on a weeknight, but that's exactly what happened next," wrote The Mystical Beast. The Beast concluded Bullette had created "the most original and intriguing album of 2005," an eccletic work from an outsider artist influenced by Nancy Sinatra, Marc Bolan, Alex Chilton and Loretta Lynn. Beast raved about "the dropped beats, stream-of-consciousness melodies, unselfconscious lyrics, and ultra-creative-on-a-shoestring-budget arrangements." David Gutowski, an ex-Philadelphian who writes the Largehearted Boy mp3 blog, was similarly stunned. In an email, he wrote, "Unlike most unsolicited, unsigned artists who have sent me their work, hers is simply amazing." The singer, whose full name is Monika Bullette and has played in a number of local bands, has posted the notices of adulation on her website, where all of the music can be found - for now. Those wanting hard copies of the music can send her $10. Why pay when it can come for free? To support her. And to receive in the mail what Uncommon Folk called one of her "stunningly designed triple velum covers with a hand painted liner note sheet." "Possibly my favorite album of 2005 so far," wrote the British blogger Simon at Spoilt Victorian Child, who went cuckoo over Bullette's "Little Bird" song. "Now you know me ...a bit of a miserable bugger most of the time, but I swear this track never fails to raise a big smile, and the whistling towards the end is just wonderful." The track I'm listening to most? The Stereolabesque "We Are Not From Sugar". By email, Monika Bullette explained her thinking: Underground poets, underground writers, and artists have always found a way to get their works to the hands of interested receivers. I want my songs to be heard. They were not made to be haggled over, poked and prodded to gain the highest profit. I am lucky enough to have these songs ready at a time when iPods and MP3s and blogs have converged so that there is an interest in finding music (and not just top 40) over the Internet. With the explosion of podcasts, everyone wants to be their own dj and is looking for songs that not everyone else has heard. I've received some good feedback from http://ipodderx.com:/, http://phlow.de/, http://www.starfrosch.ch/, among others. With DIY I also keep my independence. One glance at the most recent music business sob stories from Fiona Apple to Aimee Mann underscores that with the umbrella of a record contract you lose the freedom to decide - time constraints, touring obligations, "It's not a single", etc. Also see - The Problem With Music - by Steve Albini - http://www.negativland.com/albini.html The campaign is going well. Every day I find a new venue to gain visitors whether it be a podcast forum, a online music zine, an indie radio station, or blogs - just adding to the snowball that started rolling when The Mystical Beast, Spoiled Victorian Child, Largehearted Boy, and other music blogs paid attention to the email and packages I sent to them. "The Secrets" continues to gather wonderful reviews from all over the world: Taiwan, Iceland, Sweden, France, Italy, UK, China, etc. There have been visitors from as far as Singapore, India, Chile, Hungary, and Malaysia. It is well worth the expense of the bandwidth to know that the songs are getting ears worldwide. I have a MySpace account which passively streams some of my songs and allows people to make comments, become my "friend", and be directed to my main site: www.bullette.net. Other online communities like Blogger and LiveJournal have brought people to Bullette by bouncing around posts like "Bands to Watch" or "New Favorite Songs". I released "The Secrets" online on 5/5/05 as free individual mp3s as well as a free zip of the entire album with lyrics and artwork. As of today there have been 1,441 downloads of the full album zip - I highly doubt that in 5 weeks time an unsigned artist with no distribution contract could sell 1,441 albums. And this does not count the individual song downloads and songs hosted on MP3 blogs, download.com, hellthy.com, and other mp3 repositories. Now the question of "if you give it away, do you have anything left to sell?" - well, not everyone has an iPod, the skills or patience to find new music online, or even access to the Internet. I have devised a physical album which I sell to people who would prefer a disc and send to radio, print, and web venues that prefer a disc to review. This is a limited edition slimline with velum and hand painted paper inserts of my own design - each unique - for $10 postpaid in US and $15 worldwide. Although this is not a money making venture, I could see "The Secrets" getting picked up by a limited distribution deal and pressed and packaged as I had envisioned - while I retained all rights to the songs and the distributor gets a cut of the profit. Or perhaps a song will be featured in a soundtrack or TV show. Or with enough interest in my debut album, I could sell my next online with a built-in fan base. My short term goal is to give the recording industry a little shake - (see http://pforportland.blogspot.com/2005/05/believe-at-least-some-of-hype.html) and get "The Secrets" heard. |
BLINQ - The Philadelphia Inquirer - Daniel Rubin - June 17, 2005 |
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| New Girl in Town
"Let's kiss like there was nothing before. |
Whiplash - June 19, 2005 |
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June Surf Report Hmm. Just noticed I never ended up talking about Bullette, as I promised at the end of May. Such is life in the endless information stream that is the internet. And (such is life in the EIS) by now you may have already heard, as many blogs and other indie-oriented web sites have written about her. But just in case: Bullette is the name with which Wilmington (Del.) singer/songwriter Monika Bullette performs, and in May Ms. Bullette let loose a guerilla publicity campaign, aimed at blogs, to let the world know about her CD, entitled The Secrets, which she has made available in its entirety for free on the web. Yeah, you can download the whole thing, right here. There are 14 songs in all. I haven't heard all of them, but have now listened pretty closely to half a dozen, and there is some appeal here, even as I can't quite feel at home enough with any of them (yet) to feature them on "This Week's Finds". But, as is my way, I continue to listen and re-visit and will eventually make my way through the album. Maybe a song will eventually hit "This Week's Finds", and if not from this CD maybe from her next one. Clearly Ms. Bullette is a certain sort of a force to be reckoned with (the Philadelphia Inquirer recently saw fit to write about her, the angle being local[ish] musicians with an unusual approach to distribution); but when in doubt, I keep time on my side, and I keep listening........ |
Fingertips - June 22, 2005 |
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| So, semi-ironically, I'm really not a big fan of the whole
mp3 thing. I own over 1600 CDs, I make it a point to hit the
local record shop weekly, I think that the iPod-itization of
the music industry is going to kill the idea of the "album" as
we know it.
Then again, maybe this whole "free the music" internet distribution thing won't be so bad. Consider Bullette. She's an indie rock musician from Delaware, and is getting some nice press for not only pushing the free aspect of it, but because it's good! Like, real good. It's not really comparable to anything I can think of, but it spends a lot of time mixing styles and just being itself. I'll toss Show Me and Lemonade out there, but you can download the whole thing for free from her website, so there's no risk! |
Badly Drawn Jeff - June 27, 2005 |
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INTERVIEW with MONIKA BULLETTE musicgeek.org - Why did you release "The Secrets" online? How much did Wilco play an influence in that decision? "The Secrets" was released for free and legal and distributable download online because I had weighed 1.) the financial aspects of duplicating the music, then packaging it as I had envisioned, then mailing it out to only potentially interested parties, and then waiting for some response - against 2.) a free release which could take advantage of the explosion of digital music demand and instantaneous access. iPods, podcasts, MP3 blogs, and world wide access via the Internet all have collided to make this a very receptive environment for my songs. Wilco's story is much different from my story: They already had a contract with a big label who didn't know what to do with their record - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco persevered with a boutique label. The film "I'm Trying to Break Your Heart" was illuminating in a way that every rock documentary is from "Some Kind of Monster" to "The Ramones - End of the Century" to "Gimme Shelter".You get a glimpse into the mysterious workings of the thing called a band - in a "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" way. But to answer the question - Wilco played no part in the decision - I hadn't thought of the Internet connection until you asked the question. musicgeek.org - How did you manage to combine your influences into "The Secrets"? Additionally, how did you manage to capture a sound much older than you are? There isn't a conscious effort to combine influences. I find that these just are the songs that I can write. Forcing yourself to fit into an expectation will give you just that - a forced sounding song. I'm not a musical discriminator - I have hundreds of records and cds and music files ranging from Harry James to Danzig to Hank Williams. I like to trace my favorite songwriters'/bands' favorites. I also take breaks away from any music whatsoever. The sound that is captured is a result of the recording process at my co-conspirator Hangnail Phillips' home studio The Control Room - perhaps the layering of instruments principally played by me, from drums to guitars to vocals to accordion to violin, isn't a shiny new homogenized Top 40 radio sound. musicgeek.org - What separates you from the masses of singer-songwriters? (besides your obviously different style, of course.) I want to have a new song - not a re-hash of someone else's? I am Bullette, hear me roar?? musicgeek.org - What was your favorite instrument to play on the album? I particularly enjoyed the physicality of the drum set - the guitar parts were all written in the process of the song writing and the drum parts were fleshed out later in the recording process, which was fun and spontaneous. musicgeek.org - How do you think you will fare in the long run, having jump-started your own career through your own means and terms? As you said, any progress so far has been on my own terms and means so I have no one to blame/praise but myself for the songs' reception. At this point all options are still open. I already thought the songs were a success but having people listening to my songs in Thailand, Iceland, and Australia, etc. is icing. It has really been cool to shout into the abyss and have the abyss shout back "You're A-OK!". Career is the operative word in your question - if you mean it in a bread-winning sense I wouldn't discount this possibility but I would rather Career mean "a life-work chosen by a person to use personal talent to contribute to society". Of course this sounds stilted but with that definition I think I can have a Career - reach people with these songs and my next - and provide a provocation, an escape, some enjoyment, a few answered questions, and many questions asked. musicgeek.org - In the future, will you be releasing your music online, or will you pursue a more traditional route -- finding a record label, maybe? Things are changing rapidly - CDBaby is an option for sale of the next album and it's rapidly becoming the indie artist's retailer of choice for physical (and digital distribution via Apple iTunes). Here's an optimistic interview of CD Baby founder Derek Sivers - http://laweekly.com/ink/printme.php?eid=64780. Distribution in brick and mortar stores is also a hurdle to cross. The short answer is "I haven't decided" - the story is still unfolding. I'm learning more everyday about business, the Internet, what I want and don't want, how incredibly varied and huge the world is and its hungers are, and my place in it all. |
musicgeek.org - June 28, 2005 |
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Hello sunshine come into my life This is long overdue. A one Ms. Monika Bullette, took the time to ask if we could review her album the Secrets. Although we normally don’t do much in the way of that, we couldn’t refuse her request after she asked us so sweetly—‘sides she a Holly Golightly fan. Overall we’re really liking the record. The songs tend to be about the singular theme longing for and losing love. As far as a singular theme that’s a pretty good choice ‘cause there’s enough relatable subject matter to avoid the case of the dreaded sameness. But what makes the Secrets so refreshing is that there’s a great variety musically to augment the usual gentle guitar strumming and soft vocal delivery that you might expect. Now things don’t fly all over the place like a Fiery Furnaces record, but there’s still a good breadth of instrumentation and enough hook changes to keep things interesting. Little Bird makes good use of the underrated technique of whistling, Lemonade sees her deliver some raw vocals in the role of seductress, and it also makes good use of the sax. But, we like Bullette best when she’s rockin’ out like on the album opener Show Me. As far more competent people than us have pointed out if there’s one major criticism, it’s that many of songs (see Uneasy) seem a little drawn out. But, still, there’s no doubt Bullette’s a true unsigned talent that record reps should be fighting to woo. Until then we suggest do the save as thing and grab Show Me ‘cause we have a feeling we still be rockin’ that tune and her album come years end. |
Rock Snob - June 28, 2005 |
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| Monika Bullette Figures Out Ways to Avoid the Neighbors
Monika Bullette answered my question, "What do you see when you listen to music in the dark?" Instead of posting it under the comments, I saw her brilliant reply as a great opportunity for an mp3 post. Here's what she said: "What I see in general? In fact I "see" a black (but a black like the night time oil stain of a quik stop grocery parking lot). I find that knowledge gives you a decreased ability to "let go" - the more you know about the mechanics of music making or recording engineering the more likely you'll dissect it into parts than enjoy it as a whole. When I can get away from that I see in my thoughts range from musings on the people who introduced me to the song/band to abstract visualizations like you get with computer digital music players to devising a story around the lyrics with specific people playing the roles. But they aren't laid out like a film in front of me - they're further deep in my brain like a four inch sphere from the center point. Okay, I did it - I put on my headphones and closed my eyes and listened to a song (one for which I had never seen the video - since that usually burns an imprint in my visuals). I listened to "I'm A Mess [mp3]" by Nick Lowe from The Convincer album. What I see in specific? Well, despite strong showings of memories of Nick in a fine bespoke suit from when I saw him in Philadelphia, I get sparks of musty wall to wall carpeting and very wide vertical venetian blinds closed against the daylight and figuring out ways to avoid the neighbors. (And a tiny delight in that one snare hit at 2:07 where the bridge hovers for a bar.) What a great song!" I suspect that she would do justice to "I'm A Mess" as a live cover. I mentally break songs up into parts, too; I'll dissect them, and I never listen to the same song in the same way twice, but I'm still able to "let go," and that's where the high is. It's an especially strong high when the album has one good song after another, with material that breaks through all the stale pop clutter - a patch of clean grass as we walk out among the manure. It's hard to find albums that sound new, and doubly hard to find ones that are both new and good. Bullette's The Secrets (free download or $10 limited edition CD) and Final Fantasy's Has a Good Home are two records that are both. That's why I asked them the question (Owen Pallett's reply is in the comments to Monday's post): I thought they'd have the most interesting answers. If you don't have their albums, you're missing out on a piece of the future. Many thanks to Monika Bullette and Owen Pallett for their replies. |
Pop Drivel (The Smudge of Ashen Fluff) - June 30, 2005 |
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| does anyone still read Maximumrockandroll?
It occurs to me, that when I reviewed The Secrets by Bullette I should have mentioned that she is not alone . I have not fully digested Wit's End so I will hold my comments about the music. However, its very existence demonstrates the growth of a new music industry. Legal almost wins aside (today is apparently self–linking day), the music industry is in big trouble and will not get better until someone fixes its structural defects. Even the supports of the industry are fading. Rock radio has never recovered from the post-grunge slump and is vanishing for more then a few major markets. MTV, VH1, etc. have matured as channels, which means they play little or no music. Older crowds can afford three (sometimes four) figure fees, so the nostalgia circuit now dominates the concert industry. etween vanishing radio, a declining concert industry, and economic incentives that promote piracy, it is not clear what exactly a major label (or to some extent an farm team label deal) will get you. If you are a white boys with a guitar, and not heading to Nashville, it is probably not worth it (or at least it won't be worth it in a generation). For example, The Problem with Music looks a little better nowadays because the band gets to keep the thirty thousand dollar video budget (plus CD retail prices have increased at almost twice the rate of inflation). The music industry still has all of the institutional advantages: history, tradition, experience, infrastructure, capital, and political power. However, three of these advantages (experience, tradition, and infrastructure) are of diminishing value and the industry is doing all that it can to squander their historical legacy and capital advantage. Political power goes a long way but I for one would not bet my livelihood on it. |
Mysteries of Portland - July 16, 2005 |
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PICK OF THE WEEK I was denied the schadenfreud I was expecting when Monika Bullette's self-released debut began to unspool on the mp3 player. Smug in my renown as greatest music critic in the history of the world, I was prepared for a sub-standard effort from this currently unsigned Delawarean whose music had reached me via a solicitous e-mail arriving amid a heap of Viagra advertisements and pleas for cash from dubious entities with names such as “Expertise E. Peafowl” and “UNICEF.” But, once again, the capacity of ordinary, work-a-day people to remain undaunted and creative in the face of a suffocating world provides relief to that persistent feeling that we're all just pawns in a game run by the likes of Clear Channel and Rupert Murdoch. Homogeneity and predictability be damned, right Monika? Bravely choosing to make her music available totally gratis on her site and determined to chart her own way through the invariably corrupting maze of the music industry, Monika reminds us that any creative endeavor worth undertaking is worth doing for free. Which isn't to say she shouldn't cash some checks for her effort, but if your art can't exist in a financial vacuum, on its own terms, it probably shouldn't exist at all. That's an important and all-too-easy-to-forget sentiment, but one that would be a chore to support if The Secrets was a bore to listen to. It isn't. Right from it's opening songs - the crooked, crusty, catchy “Show Me” and the Syd Barret-esque ballad “Little Bird” – it's clear that Monika Bullette is an inspired purveyor of psychedelic pop, despite the odd fact that her lengthy list of influences is decidedly light on the psych side. No matter, her seemingly voracious appetite for music and art (not to mention her decade-long persistence in the Delaware scene) makes one feel guilty for all that time spent just sitting around the house. And whatever artists she draws from come out sounding like the work of an individual. But it's still the unpredictable psychedelia of guys like Arthur Lee and Bryan MacLean from 60s heroes Love that Secrets initially recalls, albeit a slightly more whimsical variety. Monika and cohort Hangnail Phillips (who helped pen the excellent “Don't Start Believin'”) aren't afraid to kick up some noise either, lacing many of these tracks with scabrous guitars, screeching violins, and a variety of odd sounds. Deeper into Secrets strange lullabies like “Uneasy” and the dreamlike “We Are Not From Sugar” tap different veins of expression. No, not every track here is a winner - could do without the P.J. Harvey sludge of “Lemonade” - but they are all driven foremost by a sense of exploration and experimentation. Take advantage of Monika's largesse and sample her wares yourself. Help her leapfrog the industry, strike a blow for creativity, and, if you can, slip her a few bucks. Bullette FILE UNDER: |
Delusions of Adequacy (Chuck Zak) - July 19, 2005 |
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| FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS! Bullette's "The Secrets" was reviewed in ORIGIVATION magazine by Kevin Keating: "Monika Bullette's debut album, The Secrets , may be the best album you haven't heard. Terribly imaginative and completely novel, The Secrets is an indie orgasm - honest, intelligent, at once melodic and experimental, and utterly fearless. And, unlike most indie music, Bullette is actually indie-pendent, written, performed, produced and engineered all by herself (with a little help from collaborator Hangnail Phillips). Don't be fooled, though, by the singer/songwriter label - Bullette is a singer/songwriter like Elvis Costello is a punk rock band. Seriously, now, kids, this entire album is available FOR FREE on her website. Just try it. It costs you nothing, and even if you're not crazy about the album, I'm sure you'll agree that she is a genuine artist - unrelenting and unpretentious." |
Origivation Magazine - August 30, 2005 |
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| TWANG! Monika Bullette komt uit Delaware in de VS en ambieert geen platencontract. Liever zet ze haar muziek direct op haar website zodat iedereen met interesse ze er gratis af kan halen. Maar je mag Monika ook geld opsturen in een envelopje, dan stuurt ze jou het zelf vormgegeven plaatje in fysieke vorm toe. Als je er nog meer geld voor over hebt, kan ze proberen om het plaatje echt uit te brengen. Lief, hé? Dat Monika Bullette geheel op eigen kracht, met het internet als voornaamste hulpmiddel, haar weg probeert te vinden is bewonderenswaardig. Bewonderenswaardig is ook de hoeveelheid muzikale ideeën die ze op The Secrets aan de dag legt. Meestal is (free) folk het uitgangspunt, maar er wordt van alles bijgehaald: psychedelica, rock, elektronica en nog een handvol gelijkaardige terminologie. Die veelheid aan ideeën is leuk en levert zeker een uitdagend en afwisselend plaatje op, maar de coherentie is soms wat ver te zoeken. Mede door de enorme diversiteit is het soms even zoeken naar de mooie momenten en wordt het je als luisteraar ook niet heel gemakkelijk gemaakt. Het ene moment luister je naar zeer makkelijk te behapstukken folky liedjes, een volgend nummer word je overspoeld door een stevig geluidstapijt van elektrische gitaren en blazers. Toch is The Secrets een plaat die per draaibeurt mooier en interessanter wordt. Wat dat betreft is de titel uitstekend gekozen. Bullettes stem heeft wel wat weg van die van Nancy Sinatra en komt het best tot zijn recht in de opener ‘Show Me', het uitermate zonnige ‘Don't Start Believin'' en het hypnotiserende prijsnummer ‘We Are Not from Sugar.' Wellicht zou Monika Bullette gebaat zijn bij iets meer uniformiteit, maar vooralsnog dwingen haar experimenteerdrift en onconventionele aanpak wel respect af. Translation by Bullette's Father Monika Bullette comes from Delaware in the US and is not under any recording contract. Instead, she puts her music directly on her website so that anyone interested can get it for free. But you can also send Monika some money in an envelope and she will send you the actual disc styled in her own design... and if you have even more money to spend, she might even try to bring out the disc commercially. Neat, isn't it? That Monika Bullette tries to make her way entirely on her own, with the Internet being the principal avenue, is admirable. Admirable also is the variety of musical idead which she demonstrates in "The Secrets". Very often, folk music is the starting point, but something of everything is being drawn upon: psychedelica, rock, electronica, and another handful of terms of that kind. The multiplication of ideas is amusing and certainly leads to a challanging and varied disc, but coherence is sometimes hard to detect. The enormous diversity also makes it hard to rest in the beautiful moments and you as the listener are not quite made at ease. One moment you listen to a lovely folk song and in the next number you are overwhelmed by a solid wave of electrical guitar and trumpet bursts. Yet, "The Secrets" is a disc that becomes more beautiful and more interesting the more you play it, and that makes the title an excellent choice. Bullette's voice has something of Nancy Sinatra's and comes into its own best in the opening "Show Me", the extremely sunny "Don't Start Believin'", and the hypnotizing winner "We Are Not From Sugar". Perhaps Monika Bullette should strive for some more uniformity, but above all her passion for experimentation and unconventional approach commands our respect. |
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| SHOW ME Artist: Bullette |
Podcast NYC: Podsafe Music - September 7, 2005 |
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Bullette: Her Secret's Out "Show me what I need..." Monika Bullette's music fills the room and my spirits lift and lilt. The weight of the world goes away and I'm caught in the spell the music creates. I wish I could say I discovered her first. I'm a music junkie. I hit the mp3 blogs and other sites that offer free, legal new music several times a day. They all raved about Bullette. After reading her influences, on both her site, and her MySpace profile, it was easy to see why she is all and none of them. She's taken the influences like ingredients and put them in a blender, creating something entirely new and better. Check these out from MySpace: nature vs. nuture, Albrecht Dürer, Bill Viola, JeremyBlake, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Blixa Bargeld, David Bowie, Nick Cave, Marilyn Manson, Lotte Lenya, Loretta Lynn, Benny Goodman, T. Rex, Echo and the Bunnymen, Isabelle Huppert, Steve McQueen, Hannah Schygulla. What a list! "I want more, more, more...", she sings from "Lemonade". Wow. The "sounds like" part was equally as impressive. Nancy Sinatra, Lotte Lenya, Tammy Wynette, Siouxsie Sioux, Marianne Faithfull, Billie Davis, Freakwater, Rasputina, Martha Wainwright, Holly Golightly, Sarah Harmer, Aimee Mann, Mindy Smith, PJ Harvey, Ronnie Spector, Regina Spektor. Link . She lists more on her site, which is a must visit as it displays her amazing talents. Link . B. Bargeld, M. Bolan, D. Bowie, J. Cash, N. Cave, A. Chilton, L. Cohen, M. Dietrich, D.E. Edwards, B. Goodman, F. Hardy, L. Lenya, L. Lynn, M. Manson, R. Orbison, E. Piaf, C. Porter, E. A. Presley, T. Waits, H. Williams. The music changes and "Night Starts Over" begins to play. Ahhhhh. My ears strain to hear each word. The songs are crafted like a Frank Lloyd Wright or even a Michaelangelo. She put everything into this project, from taking 3 years to fine-tune the fine tunes and then made the very smart move of contacting all the music blogs and even smarter, offering it all for free. However, once hooked by the free download, I'm sure many will want the real deal -- the CD. "Disappearing Act" has begun to play and it's again very different from the rest which are all different, displaying her wide range of styles. I just read the Music Geek interview. I'm hard to impress and I'm impressed! How did you manage to combine your influences into "The Secrets"? Additionally, how did you manage to capture a sound much older than you are? I'm a bit late in my review of her fabulous, unparalleled music, having promised to do it months ago and putting it off due to stupid mental blocks, feeling I don't possess the writing skills necessary to describe The Secrets adequately. I listen to it everyday, from the CD which I was lucky enough to receive. Monika's perfection and impeccable taste are what set her apart from others who adopt the DIY ethic. I was beyond impressed when I opened the package. This is no ordinary CD and the professionalism and exquisite taste rival any in the biz. The art on the cover, the inlay, the lyrics and the label itself are brilliant. |
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| RAW LIKE SASHIMI presents the New Artist MONIKA BULLETTE OK, this is by far the most amazing thing I have hosted here. I am not really a fan of unknown artists. I mean, how many unheard bands clog the $1 bins at used-CD stores? I shudder to think. As a breed, they have their place, and their motive is obviously to GET heard, but as long as they're not, they are generally hard to judge, and difficult to assess. And which ones do you listen to? How do you sift through the pile of them? When RAW LIKE SASHIMI started, I started getting daily requests from musicians and artists who simply visited my blog to download stuff. Fine, but many of them directed me to their own work, with a request to link to their mp3 or host their own album. Not to sound like a snob - I mean, I'm no musician myself - but this blog was meant to primarily feature music that I MYSELF LISTEN TO and not to feature music that has been referred to me, no matter how good they may be. For example, people ask me, why don't I feature Incubus or U2 here. Simple, I don't listen to them, thats why. This is not a public service blog, its a selfish blog. Me, posting music I LIKE, in the hope that like minded music lovers can entertain themselves. Thats the extent of my interest in the public, really. And then came Monika. I love how she words her emails. First, I must say shes gorgeous. I mean, one look at the pictures on her website and you can tell this is no ordinary beauty. Thankfully, she is verbose and eloquent as she is pretty, and her beautifully worded message to me got me interested. Now, I rarely listen to artists who are Net-published in the fear that I may be wasting my time (I bought into the whole "Fisher" thing a few years ago - what a dud that turned out to be), and really, I am just really comfortable listening to my old Mariah tapes. Monika Bullette shared with me her album "The Secrets". This is the first time my blog has hosted a non-commercial album, or an album by an unsung musician. Monika is certainly a dilemma. What genre does she fall into? Well, I listened to three of her tracks, and then wrote down the genres that the music seemed to embrace, and the artists that she resembled (well, to me, at least): 1. Jazz (Monika has influences of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone in her voice) 2. Blues (theres a bit of Joss Stone and Bonnie Raitt here) 3. Folk-Pop (a lot of Jewel here, some Imogen Heap) 4. Neo-Soul (some Fiona Apple, some Tori Amos) Now, looking at the above list, its near impossible to categorize Bullette (I love how she calls her musical self by her last name!). Upon first listen, the music is more of a rocking Jewel Kilcher, with some Dresden Dolls thrown in. Is this a good thing? YES . Whats even better, is that she sounds like all of the above artists and is thankfully not a forced imitation of any of them. Also, despite her youth and the obvious folk influence on her music, she does not sound like an ingenue in training a la Vanessa Carlton. The music itself is jazzy, yet there are influences of some really hard-hitting rock, with memorable verses and choruses. Personally, I think Monikas' strength lies in her lyrics. Some of the words here are sheer poetry. I actually logged on to her website, got the lyrics, and then listened to the entire album reading along to the words. Let me tell you, she is perhaps the most gifted female lyricist we have since Fiona Apple. And thats not a tall claim either. Regard the lyric of "I Try" : "I've been trying to sing you off my mind But with each note you bloom again Like blood in water I'm circling A bait sensed from within" What poetry! Not only does the artist recognize the power of imagery, her incorporation of the right lyric mated with the right tune is an accomplishment on its' own. How many beautiful songs by other artists have been buried under despicable instrumentation? Well, you won't find that here. The wonderful thing here is that Monikas' clear voice (I would say its a mixture between a young Jewel and Loretta Lynn, with Bonnie Raitts' spunk) is never hidden and never obscured by the actual music. What I also appreciated about this CD, is that it doesn't just dwell on that theme all musicians sing about - love. Heres the lyric to a song called "Disappearing Act": "You won't find me riding elephants I've dropped out from that act A new delight has called to me Apprentice sleight of hand It suits me well Disappearing act A figure that's seen and winks And never seen again Watch now Closely It's a mystery I couldn't tell you how to see" What could it be about? Well, thats exactly it! The abstractness of it all entices one! Monika Bullette is certainly a bright new artist, and this CD (included here with bonus tracks) is a perfect example of how there are so many artists out there who need to be given a chance to blossom, and who might go unheard if not for blogs such as ours and others. Monika has also made me realize that the beauty of music is sometimes found in the most unexpected places, and that corporate establishments do not neccessarily support the most deserving of candidates. In "The Secrets" we have a dream realized, and we also witness the birth of a splendid new talent - Monika Bullette. I recommend that every visitor to this blog download this album ASAP. I cannot insist on how good this music is. Also, Monika has a Net Presence at http://www.bullette.net - pay her a visit today! |
RAW LIKE SASHIMI - October 11, 2005 |
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Episode Two 23.10.05 Diverse would be an optimal way to describe the ethereal and pop rock Both artists are advocates of distributing their music to the public for |
psycherêve dot com - psycherêve sound - October 23, 2005 |
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| DOWNLOAD OF THE WEEK : "THE SECRETS" By MONIKA BULLETTE Get your hands on this incredible album by independent artist Bullette. If you're into Tori Amos, Jewel, Ani DiFranco, Alanis Morissette, and Sarah McLachlan , chances are you will fall in love with this CD. RAW LIKE SASHIMI'S EXCLUSIVE REVIEW OF "THE SECRETS" FLOWERS WILT BEFORE THE SUN A Review of Monika Bullettes' “The Secrets” If theres one miraculous discovery this year, let it be Monika Bullette's spine-tingling songwriting. I have had her full length album “The Secrets ”, for a little while now. Its one album that I tirelessly promote to friends and family, and probably one of the few albums I can play all the way through without tiring of. That's quite a recommendation right there, considering I have a collection of over 3000 albums on vinyl and CD. I also recently hosted the entire album for download on my blog, and watched as people from all over expressed delight and glee at the discovery of a brand new quality artist. As part of the music blogosphere, my blog was perhaps just one of many that hailed Monika Bullette as a new force to reckon with. Now that's a statement that has often been abused. They said the same things about Debbie Gibson, Taylor Dayne, and even Beyonce Knowles. However, to the discerning ear, it is quite clear and plain as to what a promising new talent means. In this age of heightened standards, my own parameters are simple: the person should sing their own songs without any vocal enhancement, the person who sings it should also be the person who wrote the song, and preferably be the one who composed the music. Again, this is something that's not just hard to find, but difficult to assess once found. Just because Hilary Duff wrote one song off her CD, does that now make her a promising new talent, in my book? Plainly, no. I also look for the *it* factor – that elusive quotient that is sadly missing from most singer-songwriters today. While its clear that talent alone cannot sell records – or even play them to a minimal audience, the ‘it factor' will guarantee that justice will be served at some point. I truly believe that. And ‘justice' may not mean massive record sales nor primetime recognition – it might just mean absolute respect and loyalty from a band of quality fans and listeners. That said, I must say that I would personally love to “The Secrets” top charts everywhere. Whether this is a near possibility or a distant dream (Jewel and Dido both waited years before their debut albums caught on), I know that I'll be there in the front benches, cheering on. So what is it about “The Secrets” that makes me want to sit down and write a fleshed-out review? I don't know. Upon closer introspection, I guess the reason this album appeals to me so much is because I relate to it on a personal level (in the same way many people exclaim “that album is the soundtrack to my life!”). I am also an eclectic person by nature (my two favorite films are “13 Going on 30” and “Les Enfants du Paradis”), and I guess Bullette is pretty much the same, both thematically and musically. I could use a plethora of pretty phrases here to describe what the album sounds like but heres a breakdown of what I personally think it is: its like an amalgamation of psychedelic 1960s model Linda Perhacs' “Parallelograms” combined with vintage Kate Bush (her “Never for Ever” days), vintage Tori Amos (“Little Earthquakes”) and vintage Jewel (“Spirit” ). If you somehow married this essence with the musical stylings of 1920s Jazz great Annette Han shaw, and then let it marinate in some “Wonderfalls” and “Carnivale” theme music, you have it down pat. Granted that's a lot to take in and amalgamate, but that's what it sounds like to me. Another thing it is, is acoustic. Yes, there is obviously a lot of instrumentation, but this album both respects and honors the voice as an instrument of its' own. Monikas' voice is a strong and crystal clear thing. Its knows its bounds, yet cheerily plays with the outer limits without ever compromising on the integrity of the song. And then there are the lyrics. Oh God, those words. In an earlier piece on this album, I noted that Monika was very akin to Fiona Apple in terms of her lyricism. After spending a while with this album, I would second that opinion, and also add that while Fiona sometimes uses imagery just to fit a rhyme in (and who can blame her), Monika doesn't go the easy route when it comes to words. Sentences start and end like dark alleys, sometimes they swirl and come around, looping together, and resonating with an earlier, seemingly unrelated verse from the start of the song. On opening track “Show Me ”, the theme is desperation. A plea to a lover to “shake her up”, the track works on multiple levels – what exactly does the character in the song want? Theres lots of the Fiona kinds of imagery here – “In a place where they let babies cry / You wear your fine clothes out / From the inside / From your squirmin'....” Later, she says: ”A love ends with bitterness / tasting of cider pressed / From the apples of the lover's hearts / Isn't it just better not to start?”. Whether it's the lament of love lost, or the plea to get back together again, the song works as a fine opener to a stellar album. The track “Little Bird” then, is a turnaround as it seems more of a laidback little ditty to nothing in particular. But the charms it hides is worth investigating. I think of it more as an ode to innocence and naivete. That's something I love about this album. In terms of a cohesive theme, the closest I could put my finger on is ‘change'. The album shifts tone and perspective from track to track. The one thing this symbolizes is diversity but in terms of introducing a new artist, it proves that the artist is both diverse and willing to take risks. Also, it discourages any ideas that the artist is made in a certain mould and therefore is to be pigeonholed into a certain genre. I like the idea of Monika playing around with themes, but I must credit her with the vision of her songwriting. The word that comes to mind is ‘timeless'. I also like that her love songs, or songs about various kinds of love, could also be approached from a spiritual angle. I realized this the other day. When you look at a somewhat sensual song like “Your Eyes have it” in this light, it becomes a stunning masterwork. If its Gods' eyes shes' speaking about, the lady sure has a way with using the English language. Amazing. However, my favorite moment on the record occurs when Monika is not specifically singing about love. Its on a song called “Disappearing Act” and the lyric goes: “You won't find me riding elephants / I've dropped out from that act / A new delight has called to me / Apprentice sleight of hand / It suits me well / Disappearing act / A figure that's seen and winks / And never seen again / Watch now / Closely / It's a mystery / I couldn't tell you how to see….”. This lyric fascinates me as it could be about so many things. From the perspective of a love story, it could be about someone who is leaving their partner for someone new, sort of out of the blue. On a personal level, it speaks of change, and how one is finally leaving behind a habit oft repeated in favor of perhaps more productive behaviour. On a spiritual level, it speaks on two different layers. One, from the perspective of a person who has stopped believing in God and is telling God just that, or two, sung from Gods' own perspective. Seriously, when you actually sit and dissect the riches that this album offers you, it makes that Bible of lyrical songwriting – Tori Amos' “Boys for Pele”, look like childs' play. All of Monikas' incredible imagery are then fully realized on the title track, “The Secrets”. I think of this as the equivalent of Sinead O'Connors' classic ballad “I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got”. Indeed, the sentiment on this track is similar, but the melody is paired with songwriting so sublime, so simple, that its almost heartbreaking. “These secrets in honeycombs / Stung me in undertow / To counterfeit seas / With buckling knees / You leave”. I must remind you that a great portion of the lyrical content of this album is devoted to unrequited love – but theres a mystical element of desire and coming-to-terms that envelops all of this. Getting past these layers takes time, and perhaps repeated listening, but when I called “The Secrets” a ‘rich' album, I meant this, and much more. On some tracks, the hidden imagery is so baffling in its' resistance to unveiling that it appears futile. On “We are Not from Sugar”, a simple, repeated line forms the base for a bewildering track, until you figure out that the song is open to interpretation. Theres a gothic element to this record that may not make itself apparent upon first listen, so this is something a listener will have to take into consideration when letting the music fill the room. Thankfully, this is not a ‘happy' or ‘sad' record. Its definitely an upbeat album at times, but even the happiest of tunes and melodies are backed by an aching, ubiquitous melancholy that is so sincere, so endearing, that you cannot help but be dazzled and mesmerized by the sheer power of its innocent origin. In the end, “The Secrets” is a record that is musically sound. What is shocking about this, is that despite being an album that is not on a major record label, it sounds absolutely professional, and not in that clinical, produced fashion either. Whether or not it brings corporate bounty to Monika is another story, but I just wanted to point out the music on this CD, and what it could mean to you. Thinking back upon the first time I heard “The Secrets”, I am glad to report that it holds up very well with time and repeated playing (at least three times a week in my abode). Also, the lyrics now seem to me an old friend, so I can sing along when in the shower, and hum along to the melodies when getting into bed and reading my novels. Its already an old friend, and I suggest you give it the chance to make it yours. Never monotonous, never overbearing, this is sublime music at its' best, and a classic example of what a talented singer-songwriter can achieve. “The Secrets” is an enormous achievement and a wonderful endorsement of the Internet and shared music. I'm so glad to have had the chance to be part of this. Sometimes it takes a Bullette to turn your life around. |
RAW LIKE SASHIMI - November 2, 2005 |
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| Philadelphia's City Paper gives BULLETTE a Choice Award
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| BULLETTE - THE SECRETS (self-released) Certainly tracks like "Show Me" and "Don't Start Believin'" dominate the album on the first listen, but it's tracks like the bossa nova feeling "Little Bird", "Your Eyes Have It", and "Disappearing Act" or the overly sexual "Lemonade" that tell you more about the thoughtfulness and desires of Bullette. This touches on another point that has always been part of Monika's musical landscape: sex. Monika's guitar line alone in "Lemonade" conjures images of Nancy Sinatra's boots. But the lyrics, "I'll pay a quarter for some of your stuff", "You make me thirsty for more than your drink", and "And I want more, more, more, more" drive home a message of sexual gluttony. The funny thing is that Monika released the album for free on her website, and plenty of other alt-folk blogs around the web. So the irony is that you don't have to pay a quarter, and you can get all you need. Visit www.bullette.net for the download (Andrew Miller) |
TRIC ZINE 21 - November 8, 2005 |
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[review 2005: the best of the year] Internet marketing, whether intentional or unplanned, has already produced its share of runaway hits. Entire trees have been felled so that newspapers and magazines could gaze in starry-eyed wonder at Broken Social Scene's journey to the heavens, propelled on the rocket fuel of Pitchfork praise. There's that whole Crazy Frog thing, which could never have happened without the internet's ability to serve cheap ringtones to thousands of cellphones at any time or any place. And then there's the story of Wilco and Fiona Apple, who both managed to leverage internet support to get their leaked albums released for real—a tactic that worked so well for Wilco that even today, people wonder if it wasn't all part of some master plan by Warner (whose subsidiary, Nonesuch, eventually released Yankee Hotel Foxtrot ). But if you're trying to spread the word about your album, there's nothing better than putting the whole thing on the internet, free of charge and for anyone to download. It's a trick that Toronto singer/songwriter Tamara Williamson tried a couple of years back; she wrote back then that selling records didn't matter that much to her, since she made more money as a gardener anyways. Imagine if she'd just waited a few years and put some effort into getting the word out; she could've been Monika Bullette. As The Smudge of Ashen Fluff put it, “Monika Bullette has been hunting down all the mp3 blogs and sending them e-mail messages. She's almost as efficient as EMI.” Here's a hint to all you starving musicians hoping to use The Internet as a promotion medium: greeting the person you're emailing by name does wonders. It worked for Bullette, and it can work for you too. But I've said too much about Bullette's can-do spirit and unusually successful internet campaign. What about her music? The best thing about writing about Bullette is that she's got a hook (the internet promotion) and she's got the goods to boot. The Secrets is deliciously ramshackle, seemingly the product of an eccentric musical genius with a large record collection and a penchant for improvisation. Whether it's the retro garage of “Show Me,” the winsome guitar pop of “What Love Can Do Without” or the eerie industrial dirge of “Uneasy,” Bullette demonstrates a solid grasp of a wide variety of genres. The Secrets never sounds like more than the sum of its parts because the parts are so disparate, but for once this is a forgivable sin; there isn't a single song on the album that isn't a great listen. But don't take my word for it; like I said before, the entire album can be yours for the taking. And just like Tamara Williamson's internet release, if you end up buying The Secrets, it comes with a pretty hand-crafted cover. How can you lose? |
Angels Twenty - December 24, 2005 [the best of the year] |
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TOP 25 ABLUMS OF 2005 13. Bullette -The Secrets Official Site Monika Bullette is one of the most unique and versatile artists out there today, with influences ranging from Marilyn Manson to Loretta Lynn and unclassificable in genre. Much of it I'd describe as loungy "chill" folk, one track sounds like it'd fit perfectly in a 60's spy movie while another is more on the trance-y side. I'm just gonna throw Your Eyes Have It up for grabs, but her ENTIRE album is up for download at her site . You could cough up $10 for a limited edition CD-R if you feel so inclined. :) |
Magic Poison - December 30, 2005 |
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PRESS FOR SHOW ME SINGLE - 2004 BULLETTE "Show Me/Little Bird" (single) I'm glad someone around here still remembers the importance of a single. Most local people (myself included) somehow manage to dump out half-done full-lengrh demo cd-rs, rather than just showing a couple pieces that really took time to make. Bullette is the first proper thing to come from Monika since her days in the local band "NERO" several years ago (some of whom are now part of The Situation). The first song is like a dominant cross between sultry Nancy Sinatra and crass Iggy Pop. The second song is a sad little ditty with acoustic guitar, whistling, and what seems to be a violin. She played all the instruments on here, including the drums, and it sounds great. Can't wait to hear more! It came in a slimline case, and the text was printed on multiple transparencies. One thing I always appreciated about the NERO 7" singles was the interesting packaging. I'm not sure if I get the name Bullette, though... I guess it's kinda funny. |
Tric #16 - zine based in Delaware
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