Hey, it’s getting warm out so we decided to pick one of the best summer songs from one of the best summer albums of all time. I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One was a huge record for us, as I’m sure it was for a lot of you. I can remember vividly the first time I saw Ira shred a guitar on stage at Gabe’s Oasis in Iowa City. It was truly a life-changing event. Here’s our take on Yo La Tengo’s great tune, “Sugarcube”.

Listen to the right >>
or
DOWNLOAD

Evan Davies over at WFMU just posted this great entry on the WFMU blog about our live set at the station: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2010/04/the-laureates-play-live-at-wfmu.html

You can get all the links there, but if you haven’t heard the WFMU set yet, it’s available for free download at the Free Music Archive right here along with the first 7″ EP and No Kontrol. There are a few unreleased tunes on there as that will probably become a part of our next LP. You heard it from Evan’s show first!

Well geeez, we forgot to post about the new cover for April! It’s The Soft Boys’ classic I Wanna Destroy You, and you can listen to it and download it right over there >>. Or if you’re looking at this from anywhere but the website, go to the website and then look over here >>.

Also, we’re getting ready to hit the road for a few shows in New York. Hope to see a lot of good friends along the way and meet some new ones too. Come out to one of the shows if you can.

The cover tune for March is here, this time exclusively via Chicagoist for the first week of March. Here’s what they have to say about it:

“The Laureates don’t seem to believe in taking things easy. They just celebrated the release of their new EP No Knotrol over the weekend, and they’re currently amidst a run of releasing a free MP3 cover song to fans every month throughout 2010. January found them putting their own spin on The Velvet Underground’s ‘I Can’t Stand It’ and February’s offering was the creeping Breeders nugget ‘Do You Love Me Now.’

This month the band tackles ‘With A Girl Like You’ by primordial garage stompers The Troggs and they are releasing it exclusively through Chicagoist for the first week of March! So snag it below and kick the week of with their raw guts-n-blood take on the tune.”

Go grab it at Chicagoist now!

Seriously, totally free. We had a great time making this record with our friends, and we just wanted to remove another barrier to getting our music out there so more people could hear it.

Head over to CandyDinner.com to download No Kontrol for FREE!

Cover #2 in our series for the year is from The Breeders’ 1993 classic, Last Splash.  “Do You Love Me Now” features Kerri Preston helping out on vocals. Download it here.

Big stuff happening today!  NO KONTROL will be released on February 16th, 2010 via Funambulist Recording Company, with a release party the following week on at The Hideout in Chicago.  The EP is limited to 200 copies, recorded and mixed by Johnathan Crawford, mastered by Carl Saff, designed by Mike Renaud, and hand packaged by your’s truly.  We’ll have them at the shows and for sale here on the website.  Check out the first cut from the EP over there to the right.

The release show is scheduled for February 26th at The Hideout, and we’ll have Tiger Bones, The Runnies, and Only Children joining us for the party.  Should be a great night.

Finally, we’re trying a little experiment.  We’ll be releasing a cover song every month this year, starting with The Velvet Underground’s “I Can’t Stand It”. These are free, and are recorded in our practice space on an 8-track cassette recorder, and consist of a bunch of songs that we really like.  We hope you do too.  Come back on the 1st of every month for a new tune.

Our pals The Fake Fictions are playing their last show ever, and while we don’t really approve of this kind of behavior, we’re happy to announce that we’ll be playing that final show with them.  Also joining us is another Chicago crew, Very Truly Yours.  We’ve been trying to hook something up with them for a while now so we’re excited to have them on the bill. This all goes down at Ronny’s in Chicago on November 20th.

In EP news, we’re finished mixing and the record is going off to Carl Saff very soon for mastering.  We’ll be hitting a few states with the new tunes in the new year, so keep an eye out for shows in your town.

We finished tracking for the (working title) No Control EP this week.  Some crazy hippie bongos got in there somehow…we’ll see if they make the cut.  Mixing over the next couple weeks and hopefully we’ll have something hot for you in the new year!

Hey all, we’re going back to the stu-stu-studio this weekend to record an EP with our good buddy Johnathan Crawford (Paul Cary, Tiger Bones, France Has the Bomb).  We’re not quite sure what the plan is for release yet, but it’s probably going to be this fall and it’s probably going to be free.  The jams:

No Control
Cooler Birds
Beauty Spies
Disconnected
Get Sensitive

We’re going lo-fi with a 8-track tape machine and a bunch of reverb boxes. Buckle up.

Our song, “Your Filthy Eastern Ways” from There Are No More Gentlemen will be featured on Royal Pains on the USA Network tomorrow night.  Tune in and check it out!!

Our first show in Chicago since April, and It’s gonna be a barn burner! We’re excited to be playing with our good friends and neighbors in Coupleskate.

August 13 - The Hideout, Chicago
9PM - Good Morning Valentine
10PM - Coupleskate
11PM - The Laureates

Just got back from our mini-mini-tour to Minneapolis and Milwaukee this weekend.  Thanks to all the friends who came out to see us and thanks to all the new friends we made for showing us a great time.  We saw a lot of really good bands at both of the shows too…we’ll be looking you guys up so we can play together again.

Thanks for making our very first road shows a great success…See you all again soon!

The past few weeks, There Are No More Gentlemen has been getting some radio play at college and community stations nationwide and we’re excited to see that it made it on the CMJ 200 chart this week, coming in at #168!

Thanks to all the stations supporting the record!

Dig.

Mr. Evan “Funk” Davies at WFMU has placed There Are No More Gentlemen at #14 in his top albums of the year.  See the full list here:  WFMU’s Beware of the Blog

Our debut album, There Are No More Gentlemen, is now available at the iTunes store.  Go get yourself a present…you’ve already done so much for everyone else…

iTunes

Got some news for you kids looking to pick up the new record outside of Chicago. We’ve just made it easier for you. There Are No More Gentlemen is now available at any at any of these fine online retailers:
Insound
Parasol Mail Order
Amazon MP3
Reckless Records

Don’t forget the Record Release Party tomorrow at the Empty Bottle! Our friends Jeanine O’Toole (from The 1900s) and Ben Grigg (from Geronimo!/Inspector Owl) will be joining us to help rock all the cuts from the record straight through. Picture Books and Fake Fictions will be opening, and we’re ecstatic to have them. Bring your dancin’ shoes, this is gonna be a good one!

Happy record release day!

There Are No More Gentlemen is released to the public today! Get it here on the website though Paypal, or at any of the fine record shops here in Chicago. Soon enough, it will also be available via Insound and Parasol mail order, as well as iTunes. If you work at a record shop and want to stock a bunch of copies, go to the contact page and hit us up on email. We’ll totally hook you up.

Of course, you can always get a copy straight from us at the record release show next Wednesday Nov 19th at the Empty Bottle. We’ll be giving away free copies of our 7″ EP with every CD, but the real reason to come out is because it’s going to be a hell of a night and a lot of fun.

Listen up to WXRT’s Local Anesthetic this Sunday at 7:30PM. Sounds like there will be a couple tunes a-spinnin’.

Look kids, new website!

Thanks to everybody for coming out to the Metro the other night to see us. We had a great time…hope you did too.

So hey, there’s been some misleading press lately about how we have the new album, There Are No More Gentlemen, up for free download. Truth is, we don’t. The album isn’t even out yet, but never fear. Drop date is November 11, and we’ll have it available through a number of sources then. Local shops in Chicago, Insound, Parasol Mail Order, and eventually iTunes. We’ll set things up so you can get the MP3s here as well.

You know what though, we don’t want you to leave empty-handed if you were out lookin’ for some jams, so head over to the Music page and you can download our debut EP for free. It’s 4 tracks that we put out on a 7″ a while back. Hope you dig.

Back to the new record…If you’re not yet in the know, we’ll be having a big old party for the release on November 19th at the Empty Bottle here in Chicago. Our buddies Picture Books and The Fake Fictions will be joining us, and we’re super pumped. Should be an excellent night full of music and friends. Also joining us on stage for a few tunes will be Ben Grigg of Geronimo! and Inspector Owl and Jeanine O’Toole of the 1900s. Can’t wait to see you there!

Wow, our buddy Mike Renaud did it again! Here’s what he made for the final release artwork for There Are No More Gentlemen. We think it’s tops. Looky looky…

Digipak Outside »
Digipak Inside »
Digipak Inside w/ CD Face »

We’re gonna throw a big ol’ party for the record release on November 19th at the Empty Bottle. Our friends The Fake Fictions are going to open it up, and we’re working on adding one more band to the bill.

Before that though, Metro on October 23rd with The Spinto Band and Frightened Rabbit! Should be a killer show. You’ll probably want to come to both if you know what’s good for ya.

We did an interview with Chicagoist last week. Check it out here: Chicagoist Interview.

Bottom Lounge tomorrow!

Some nice words about the upcoming full-length as well as the 7″ in the blogs in the past few weeks…

Veritas Lux Mea
3hive
Unpiano:Music
Back in the City

…and we were on The Unblinking Ear’s podcast last week.

Check this out. Our buddy Mike Renaud made these awesome packages for our There Are No More Gentlemen promo CDs! He designed it and screen printed, cut, and scored each by hand. Go show him some love: michaelrenaud.com

Closed »
Opened 1 »
Opened 2 »
Disc »

Hey everybody, we’re done with mastering! We’re giving you a free download of “A Novel Approach”, because we love you. Here it is (right-click or ctrl-click to save): A Novel Approach. Enjoy!

Thanks to Carl Saff for putting up with our indecisive ways and busting out the excellent mastering job. The artwork in the player is fake. We made it up. It’s crap. Our buddy Mike Renaud is working on some good artwork for the album. He did the art for the 7″ before, and we trust the new stuff will be equally as awesome. We’re still working on figuring out when this album is going to come out, and on what imprint. We’ll give you the scoop as soon as we know, but for now we’re hoping for sometime in September. Anyone wanna put out a record?

Also, don’t forget: Show tomorrow at Ronny’s!. See you there!

Hey kiddos, we’ve got a big show coming up at The Hideout, and it promises to be a sweaty fun-packed night. Mix cheap PBR with balls-out rock from The Laureates and Mark Mallman, add some booty-shakin’ mixes from DJs Bald Eagle and Mother Hubbard and how could it not be a good time? Here’s the deal though…these Life During Wartime parties tend to sell out pretty quickly, so go get your tickets now!

In album news, we’re going to be placing it in the very capable hands of Carl Saff for mastering at the end of April. Stay tuned, because once it’s done we’ll probably post some of the finished cuts here.

We just finished up mixing at Phantom Manor last night and thought we’d post a few of the new jams on our MySpace page for you guys to check out. These are unmastered, but about as close to done as they can get. Release date for the record is still up in the air, but stay tuned here and at MySpace and we’ll keep you posted.

Nothing’s Perfect, Your Filthy Eastern Ways, and A Novel Approach are all from the Manor sessions.

Dig!

Last session at the Manor we finished up tracking for the full-length, adding acoustic guitar, horns, piano, vox organ, and a few more percussion elements. We’re going back in this weekend to mix the record, which means it should be finished really soon!

Possible album titles:
Fold Your Ghost
Hands On Craze
There Are No More Gentlemen
Hey Stripper! (A Gentlemanly Kind of Blues)

Our show at The Pike Room in Pontiac was canceled today. News is that The Valentinos broke up, so the whole show was canceled. Unfortunately, we can’t justify the cost to drive to MI for just one show, so we’re dropping off the bill at Paycheck’s in Hamtramck as well. Our apologies to anyone who was planning on coming out to the shows. We’ll try to get up there soon.

Last night’s session was all vocals again: I Want to Miss You, Furniture Moves, Make You, and we finished up some extra stuff on There Are No More Gentlemen and Witching Boots. Crawfie sang too! Awesome!

So that pretty much wraps up the vocals. We’ve got all the singin’ we can handle at the moment on all 13 tracks, which makes next sesh a keys/percussion/noise session.

Don’t forget Dekalb next Friday (the 15th). We’re playing at Otto’s with Seaworthy.

Ok, a little late now, but here’s the deal: Last Friday we did a short “sesh” at the Manor and layed down vocals for Witching Boots and Nothing’s Perfect. Ooos and aaahs abound. We’re heading back in this Thursday night to belt out some more.

Some shows coming up too. Dekalb next weekend, Michigan a the end of the month.

“Oh man”. We spent the past weekend back at the Manor, working on guitar and bass tracks, vocals, and percussion. We’re getting pretty close on some of the songs, but 13 tunes with vocals and horns and organs and pianos and shakers and tambos can take some time, so keep your pants on. In-between takes, we watched cartoons and Guns ‘N Roses videos and wrote a new song called “Hot ‘n Ready”, inspired by Little Ceasar’s Pizza. Nobody tried to steal our beer but we ran out too fast. No, we don’t have any money for your art supplies. We’re spending it all on gold records. C’mon.

Got vox and geets and percs on these guys:

Her Fiction, Your Filthy Eastern Ways, Coronation Now!, It’s Shattering, My Association, There Are No More Gentlemen, Tomorrow Today, A Novel Approach

We’ll be back in the studio shortly to keep tracking. Stay close.

A couple of top ten and best of lists to note here at the end of the year…

Evan “Funk” Davies of WFMU has The Laureates EP sitting pretty at #5 in his “Top Singles/EPs” of 2007. Take a look at the whole list here.

Also, The Unblinking Ear has “Witching Boots” in The 2007 Playlist and sporting the title for the obscure category of Song I heard on Evan “Funk” Davies show on WFMU and immediately thought “I must have this”. Check the whole 2007 in Review story here.

Thanks to Evan and Paul for the shouts. In recording news, we’re heading back to the Manor to work on the album again in mid-January. We’ll let you know how it’s going.

Happy New Year!!

We had a great time with the brilliant Mr. Lust at Phantom Manor last weekend. We watched some DVDs, played some video games, had some laughs at Lust’s interpretation of dirty south hip-hop and his sensitive MC alter-ego, tried to avoid the man-child who almost stole our beer, and played a lot of air drums in the control room. But aside from all that, we recorded basic tracks for 13 songs. Here are those songs:

Your Filthy Eastern Ways
Tomorrow Today
It’s Shattering
A Novel Approach
Nothing’s Perfect
My Association
I Want to Miss You
Make You
Her Fiction
There Are No More Gentlemen
Furniture Moves
Coronation Now!
Witching Boots

We’re not sure at all yet about the tracklisting or even what songs will make the final product, but those are the ones that we have basics for. We’ll be heading back in to the Manor in January to put down some more guitars, vocals, horns, organ, percussion, etc. We’ll post some photos from last weekend here when we get them.

Thanks to everybody who came out to the free Monday show at the Empty Bottle. That was a hell of a fun time. If you took any pictures send ‘em to us. We’re gonna take a break from the shows for the holidays, but we’ll be back in 2008.

Tomorrow we head over to the Manor to start tracking the full-length, armed with horns, maracas, sleigh bells, and a boat-load of chili. The organ is still in the shop, so we’re gonna have to wait to put the keys down. We’ll keep you posted with photos and updates about what we’re recording as we go.

We made a Christmas jingle at the practice space last night. We’ll post it here or on our MySpace when Chad gets it mixed.

There’s a nice little review of the 7″ EP over at the Seven Inches Every Day blog. Check it out, it’s a pretty cool blog.

We start recording at Phantom Manor this weekend. We’re all pretty psyched to get these tunes down on some tape.

See you at the Empty Bottle tonight!!

“Witching Boots” was played on Liz Berg’s radio show today on WFMU in New York. Check out the archive stream of the show here: Liz Berg on WFMU - November 12, 2007. Check out the whole show, she plays a lotta good tunes. “Witching Boots” comes in at about 2:32:45.

We’re getting a Farfisa tomorrow. Sweeeeeeeeeeet.

Thanks to everybody who came out to the two shows last week. Our friend Joe Kirschling from Quinn Scharber and the… took some awesome photos at the Silvie’s show that you can see in the images section.

We’re gonna take a slight break from all the shows and concentrate on getting ready to record in December. We’re bidding on organs on eBay (snipers be damned), writing and learning horn parts, re-arranging some songs, and buying up all the 2″ tape on the planet. Sessions at the Manor start December 8th, and we’ll be in and out of there recording and mixing and listening to those mixes on our stereos, your car stereo, and your mother’s iPod.

We love you. We’ll be back with more songs.

We’ve got two great shows coming up next week for you. First, we’ll be playing at Silvie’s Lounge in Chicago on Thursday, November 1st with our friends Bird Ate My Donut and Milwaukee’s Quinn Scharber.

Just added today is a Chicago/Iowa City mashup with the fantastic Death Ships and Paul Cary. That one happens on Sunday, November 4th at the Beat Kitchen in Chicago.

Keep an eye on the site for more shows coming up and news about recording. See you next week!

Woah, it’s been a little while. Thanks to everybody who came out to the shows at the Underground Lounge and Ronny’s. Last Friday at Ronny’s was the most fun we’ve had like, ever. The Gay Baby sing-along was awesome as always, and The Gunshy sounded even better with the full band in tow. Go check those guys out while they’re on this tour if you get a chance.

We just added a show with our friends Bird Ate My Donut at Silvie’s Lounge in Chicago. That one will happen on November 1st. It’s a Thursday, which is the first day of the weekend. In case you didn’t know. We’re working on booking more shows as well, so keep checking back.

The most exciting news is that we’re going to be paying a visit to Mr. Mike Lust at Phantom Manor Recording in December, where we’ll start spinning tape for what will hopefully become The Laureates’ first full-length album. We’re going to spend some time on it, so no release date is scheduled yet, but we’re gunning for sometime next year for it to hit your hands.

You can now pick up the Laureates S/T 7″ at three of the best record shops here in Chicago. Permanent Records, Laurie’s Planet of Sound, and Reckless Records are all stocking the record.

We have a couple shows in the works too. Keep an eye out on the shows page for more details soon!

Thanks to everybody for coming out to the show at the Empty Bottle the other night. Our friend Greg Dizzia snapped a few photos for us. Check them out on the images page.

Thanks also to Apteka and Flying Over Iceland for being great guys and great bands. It was an awesome show and fun time all around.

See you soon.

The Laureates’ new website is finally in action! Thanks to Michael Renaud for helping out with the fonts and for the brilliant design of our first 7″, on which this website layout is based. Shouts also go out to Joseph Mohan for taking the awesome live photos that you’ll find on the images page.

We have a show at The Empty Bottle on Sunday July 8th. We’ll be playing second in a three-band lineup including Flying Over Iceland and our good friends Apteka. We’ll bring the back-beat and Apteka will provide the eye-gouger soundtrack.

We’ll also have our new 7″ complete with fresh hand-screened covers ready to go at this show. If you can’t make it to the show or if you got ants in your pants, you can write us and we’ll let you know how you can get one. OR if you like the ol’ MP3 deal, you can head on over to the music page where you can download all the jams for FREE! No joking, just make sure you tell your friends and neighbors.

If you want to know when we have shows, release stuff, what we had for lunch, or where we’re going for drinks, join the mailing list. We’ll let you know when there’s a happening.

Finally, we’re working hard to get some new tunes written and to play some shows around the Midwest. We’ll debut one of the new songs at our Empty Bottle show next Sunday. If you book shows in or around the Midwest and want us to rock the old(ish) and the new in your city, please let us know. We’d love to come see you.

Enjoy Yourselves,
The Laureates

The Laureates’ sound came together over a two-year span beginning in late 2005 after Chad independently wrote and recorded a self-produced lo-fi “album” that was exciting enough to inspire him to go out and find people to perform the songs. He first found Crawfie (bass) and Pete (drums). Adam (guitar) joined in February of 2007. The resulting music recalls traces of teenage years spent listening to the underground rock of the ‘80s and ‘90s and classic rock and roll heard on the radio in dad’s car. The songs seem to pretend that Pixies and The Replacements were contemporaries of The Beatles or The Who or if the British Invasion never stopped but only changed uniforms.

No Kontrol, released February 16, 2010 via Funambulist Recording Company, is The Laureates’ 3rd effort, preceded by a 7″ EP and a full-length album. It was recorded by John Crawford (Paul Cary, Tiger Bones, France Has the Bomb) in Chicago in fits and starts, July through October 2009. This 5-song collection tweaks the vintage rock and roll/pop sound of the band’s debut full-length, There Are No More Gentlemen by adding a touch of noise and reverb-ed abandon. While this might be a looser and wilder affair, the songs on the No Kontrol EP still betray their intention to try and melt cold, city hearts.

Peter Gray - Drums, Vocals, Percussion
Adam Penly - Guitars, Vocals, Trombone, Organ, Piano
Chad Preston - Vocals, Guitars, Piano
Crawfie Ward - Bass, Trumpet, Vocals

Thursday, August 5, 2010
Subterranean, Chicago, IL
w/ Village, Like Pioneers

Friday, April 23, 2010
The Abbey, Chicago, IL
International Pop Overthrow Festival

Sunday, April 11, 2010
Bug Jar, Rochester, NY

Saturday, April 10, 2010
Pianos, New York, NY

Saturday, April 10, 2010
WFMU, Jersey City, NJ
Taping for Evan “Funk” Davies radio show!!

Friday, April 9, 2010
Arlene’s Grocery, New York, NY

Saturday, March 13, 2010
Cole’s, Chicago, IL

Friday, February 26, 2010
The Hideout, Chicago, IL
NO KONTROL EP RELEASE PARTY!!

Saturday, February 20, 2010
Blue Moose Tap House, Iowa City, IA

Friday, February 19, 2010
The Annex, Milwaukee, WI

Friday, November 20, 2009
Ronny’s, Chicago, IL
w/ The Fake Fictions, Very Truly Yours

Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Hideout, Chicago, IL
w/ Coupleskate, Good Morning Valentine

Satruday, May 2, 2009
Linneman’s, Milwaukee, WI
International Pop Overthrow Festival

Friday, May 1, 2009
Uptown Bar & Cafe, Minneapolis, MN
w/ The 757s

Sunday, April 26, 2009 - Early show 7:30 PM (18+)
Schubas, Chicago
A Benefit for Sexual Assault Awareness Month Hosted by the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, PAVE, & the Voices & Faces Project
w/ Martha Berner, Tyler Jon Tyler

Sunday, April 19, 2009 - Daytime show (ALL AGES!!)
Abbey Pub, Chicago
International Pop Overthrow Festival

Sunday, March 15, 2009
Subterranean, Chicago
w/ Eat Sugar, Paul Cary

Friday, February 6, 2009
Metro, Chicago
w/ The Ivorys, Big Science, Pet Lions

Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Empty Bottle, Chicago
Record Release Show!
w/ Picture Books, The Fake Fictions
[VIEW POSTER]

Thursday, October 23, 2008
Metro, Chicago
w/ The Spinto Band, Frightened Rabbit
[VIEW POSTER]

Thursday, September 25, 2008
Bottom Lounge, Chicago
w/ The Winter Sounds, Love In October
[VIEW POSTER]

Friday, August 15, 2008
Subterranean, Chicago
w/ The Midnight Shows, The Penthouse Sweets, Millions of Brazilians
[VIEW POSTER]

Thursday, July 3, 2008
Schuba’s, Chicago
w/ Kaiser Cartel, The Night Owl Choir
[VIEW POSTER]

Saturday, June 28, 2008
Ronny’s Center For the Performing Arts, Chicago
w/ The Fake Fictions, Bunny Grunt

Thursday, June 19, 2008
The Metro, Chicago
w/ Ultra Sonic Edukators, The Gunshy, Inspector Owl
[VIEW POSTER]

Friday, May 9, 2008
Ronny’s, Chicago
w/ HWY, Absolutely Not
[VIEW POSTER]

Saturday, April 12, 2008
Life During Wartime Party at The Hideout, Chicago
w/ Mark Mallman, Life During Wartime DJs
[VIEW POSTER]

Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The Note, Chicago
w/ Minmae, Pool of Frogs, Salt & Samovar
[VIEW POSTER]

Monday, December 3rd, 2007
The Empty Bottle, Chicago
w/ Lee Marvin Computer Arm, Hi Red Center
FREE SHOW!!!
[VIEW POSTER]

Sunday, November 4, 2007
Beat Kitchen, Chicago
w/ Death Ships, Paul Cary
[VIEW POSTER]

Thursday, November 1, 2007
Silvie’s Lounge, Chicago
w/ Bird Ate My Donut, Quinn Scharber

Friday, October 12, 2007
Ronny’s, Chicago
w/ The Gunshy, Gay Baby, Andrew Bryant
[VIEW POSTER]

Saturday, September 29, 2007
Underground Lounge, Chicago
w/ Beardog
Beardog CD Release Party!

Sunday, July 8, 2007
The Empty Bottle, Chicago
w/ Apteka, Flying Over Iceland
[VIEW POSTER]

Thursday, May 17, 2007
The Beat Kitchen, Chicago
w/ David Singer, Mason Proper
[VIEW POSTER]

Wednesday, April 25, 2007
The Empty Bottle, Chicago
w/ Team Band, Tigerpaw
[VIEW POSTER]

THE LAUREATES – Her Fiction – There Are No More Gentlemen

These guys are a new band from Chicago releasing their first LP. “Her Fiction” is the first track and it kicks off the album right. The killer guitar hook right off the bat will stick with you for hours. Sounding something like a collaboration between Ted Leo and Robert Pollard where Ted Leo is chasing Pollard around with his speedy guitar lines.

[READ ORIGINAL]

Midwesterners who transplanted themselves to Chicago and have a knack for succinct rock songs with a fine sense of melody. Bass and drums push themselves to the forefront on this, their debut record. Track 3 is a standout and reminds me of someone I just can’t put my finger on. Chad Preston’s voice is slightly Robert Pollard and fans of GBV and Spoon might find this a welcome edition to their Genuis playlists.

[READ ORIGINAL]

“Il debutto dei Laureates è sicuramente dedicato agli amanti degli anni sessanta, la band nasce nel 2005 e dopo un folgorante ep omonimo ecco uscire There Are No More Gentlemen.

Con uno stile di riferimento principale che è quello del Rock-Pop, la band cerca di pescare dal passato melodie portandole ai giorni nostri, cosa predominante in queste tredici canzoni della band  di Boston è il reprise di tutto cio che è stato eseguito dagli anni 50 fino ad oggi, si possono udire accenni di motown, dei Kinks, qualche riferimento a Ian Curtis e persino The Monkees.

Si parte con Her Fiction, e un ritmo sotenuto a caricare un pop reminescente anni 60 con tanto di coretti annessi; Your Filthy Eastern Ways segue la stessa marcia assieme a Noting Is perfect, delle canzoni estremamente ballabili caratterizzate da un groove potente ritoccato da molti strumenti quali piano trombe, arrivando ad avere a tratti qualche influenza beat.

Sulla scia di una brezza leggera si esprimono It’s Shattering, che rallenta i ritmi e trasloca nei seventies inglesi, mentre My Association rispolvera un funk pop melodico; con Tomorrow Today si da una sterzata verso un suono piu punk e underground, Coronation Now continua con un rock tirato e qualche richiamo al jazz.

Gentlemen è l’unione di tutto cio che si è fatto finora nell’album, canzone dove tutte le qualità della band emergono, e si tramutono in una perla suonata nei giorni nostri ma che racchiude in se stessa le influenze del passato, che toccano anche i Joy Division in Witching Boots, dove un suono frastagliato e frenetico fa da cornice a un intonazione vocale omaggiata a Ian Curtis.

Complessivamente l’album di debutto dei Laureates è uno sguardo fuggente alla musica degli anni passati, che sta alle basi di tutto ciò che si è fatto fino a oggi; lo consiglio principalmente a chi ha nostalgia di quell’era segnata dalla nascità del rock e tutta la sua evoluzione, affiorano alle nostre orecchie chiari richiami a band del calibro dei Kinks, dei The Monkees; o a periodi contrassegnati dalle lotte tra Mods e Rockers, la nascità del Motown e l’amore per quella gelida atmosfera creata dai Joy Division.

Matteo Guglielmi”

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“The Laureates pen ’60s inspired pop with a new millennial sensibility. That is to say that while they wear their influences proudly on their buttoned lapels, they still sound utterly modern. Their forthcoming full-length, There Are No More Gentlemen, is all syncopated strumming and lackadaisical melodies, equal parts paisley and punk.

So forgive us if we form the mental image of four fresh faced kids in matching suits when imagining their live show, which is actually just about the exact opposite of what the band actually looks like, but we can’t help ourselves. Especially on a track like “Nothing’s Perfect” when singer Chad Preston’s honeyed tenor is backed by a crooning chorus of “oohs” from his bandmates, and then punctuated by a swooning trumpet line.

These are the sort of tunes custom built for shimmying gals out of their miniskirts and boys out of their stovepipe slacks.”

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“Weird how I listened to this, and was going to write a review that said (among other things) ‘Interpol produced by Phil Spector.’ Then, doing some background research into the band, I discover that Seven Inches (Everyday) said essentially the exact same thing.

The Laureates remind me when Uncle Bob took GBV down the hi-fi route, having pulled everything he could out of his basement recordings. As you may recall, many GBV loyalists rebelled against the slickness; if you go back to ‘Do the Collapse’ eight years later, the songs hold up (though, what you need from that era is the Hold on Hope ep, which is the best hi-fi thing Bob ever released).

That is to say, this single is about the songs, the hooks and the production. For a band of this genre, this sounds slick as snails, and these guys fall all over themselves to pile hook after hook into every song.”

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“The music of Chicago is perhaps more varied than any other city in America. Post rock, grunge, hardcore punk, jazz, blues, the Windy City is an anomaly in the wealth of talent that springs forth. Cutting to the center of it all are The Laureates, a new 4 piece with only a few shows and now a 4-song EP to speak of. By getting to the basics of rock and roll with a touch of early British influences their first foray into a recorded output is a fun and energetic burst with a surprising maturity.

Opening strong and improving until the end, the self titled 7″ is a crash course in early garage rock and ends up somewhere around mid period Guided By Voices. Guitars are fuzzed out and the vocals are awash in reverb, the bass pulses along and cymbals crash all around. In the true spirit of old fashioned rock n’ roll the lyrics aren’t life changing- problem solving manifestos, more ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ than ‘Village green Preservation Society.’ Starting off with ‘I Want To Miss You’ the group bursts open with chords we’ve all heard many times before but you can’t exactly say from where. It’s classic Nuggets bliss with descending chords and half intelligible vocals.

Second track ‘Witching Boots’ keeps toes tapping with it’s bouncy bass reminiscent of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists’ ‘Ballad Of The Sin Eater.’ It manages to steer clear of the mod-punk lyricism of Leo however with the catchiest melody on the EP. ‘Hello, Hello’ is where we get into the Bee Thousand/Alien Lanes-era GBV with big crunchy power chords acquiescing to single note reverberations. A 3 note solo and a fade out later all it needs is a nonsensical title to make Pollard proud. The brief EP ends triumphantly with ‘The Warm Son’, a blistering opening if ever there was one.

There is a definite feel of yearning and angst but without the cocksure nature of most guitar based Midwestern bands. This is where The Laureates show they are wise beyond their young rock years. They aren’t here to show their chops or wow you with flash, they are far more subtle than that. For a band with only a handful of gigs under it’s belt there’s a surprising amount of maturity to be found. Put down those OK Go CD’s and pick yourself up this fine new 45 of real power pop rock.

-Matthew Smith
02/22/08″

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“Resonant, strong vocals anchor this marriage of 60’s Brit jangle and modern indie rock, making this a bit of a joy. New bands take note: see…you are not required to get a whiny singer.”

From The Unblinking Ear’s 2007 in review:

“The Laureates ‘Witching Boots.’ MP3s of all the songs from the Laureates’ 4 song 7″ EP are available for free on their website but I was so floored by this track I needed it in a hard format as well. Anytime I’ve played it for anyone since they’ve immediately perked up with ‘Who is this?’ Yes, it’s that good. Go show them some love.”

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“The Laureates were kind enough to send me their latest single on Funambulist recording company. I finally got around to giving it a spin this weekend:

This could easily have been recorded a few decades ago in the wall of sound tradition of bands like The Crystals, in fact this opening riff on the first track “I want to miss you’ reminds me so much of their track ‘Then he kissed me’ that it was one of those ‘what’s the name of that song’ moments which, thanks to the internet only lasts a minute.

From there the EP keeps this 60’s garage feel, complete with rhythm guitar lines, and chorus changes, and harmonizing. There is heavy reverb/echo on everything, including Chad’s vocals, down to the drum kit. I like the distance vocally, placed somewhere in the middle of the mix and sounding a bit like an upbeat Paul Banks from Interpol, that deep, half talking, kind of holding back emotionally, saving it up to lay it on if and when it’s called for.

It’s not far from early Rolling Stones, or the Kinks, like ‘Mother’s little helper’ when the distortion was novel and incorporated into little pop jems. The guitar on ‘Hello, Hello’ really reminded me specifically of ‘Can’t get no satisfaction’ that up the scale chord and even blues-ish influenced riffs.

This recording lends itself perfectly to the seven inch format, I’m a huge fan of mini EP’s like this where you can really get a feeling for the band. How they fit these 4 tracks on a single I still don’t understand, they don’t feel short, this is like one of those unearthed gems that collectors drool over finding a copy, a misplaced garage band like the Zombies that is mentioned repeatedly as influencing all kinds of people to pick up a guitar. It’s stripped down, I’d believe it if you told me it was recorded fairly live in the studio. It’s just successful rock period.

They reference the spectrum from The Jam and Spoon as independent contemporaries and I can hear that, the structures, the songwriting, and honest rock sound, no gimmicks. Witching Boots starts out with bass line which is joined by a fuzz guitar single string melody and another layer of guitar comes in over that. I like this two rhythm guitar sound, they’re always working together. They never drown each other, they’re both necessary. There isn’t a lead, both working towards the same end, that arm windmill energy. Chad’s vocals are echoed and in traditional wall of sound style, all the sounds bleeding into each other. There’s a lot of capable harmonizing on all tracks, which at first I don’t even think I noticed right away.

This single is an impressive first EP in this balanced, timeless sound. A modern take on the infancy of straight ahead rock and roll.”

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