News

KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, hosted by Nic Harcourt, has selected the song “14 Reasons” as their featured “Today's Top Tune” for, Thursday, July 3.  They’ll make it available as a free download for 24 hours on their page and on the podcast pages of I-Tunes, and then stream the song for 3 months on their page. A few of the recently featured artists have included Neko Case, Mike Doughty (of Soul Coughing), Aimee Mann, Fleet Foxes, The Kills …We’re honored to be in that company and to have been noticed by this nationally known and influential show.

CD Baby selected Until the Ocean as an "editor's pick". in the alt folk, rock (mood:quirky) and rock/Americana categories

Click here to read the first full length review of Until the Ocean (by writer Luke Fenchel, Ithaca Times, June 11, 2008) Until The Ocean, The Horse Flies’ first studio release in more than fifteen years, is an immense and captivating work of sophisticated art: not only the finest album to come out of the Ithaca area in many years, it stands among the best American releases from any region in any genre this year. While most US bands seem content to rehash and revisit well-trodden territory, only venturing tentatively and hesitantly into the uncharted landscape of new sounds and ideas, The Horse Flies confidently chart a course that transcends both topographic and sonic classification. No mere academic exercise, experimentation is clearly an innate part of the group’s genetic makeup; Until The Ocean is the sound of a mature and comfortable group mapping the musical way for the rest of us. The album seamlessly incorporates the disparate sounds of the Appalachians, Bulgaria, West Africa and Kurdsistan — and that only partially touches upon the first three tracks. Pick it up to hear what globalization sounds like. more ...

How's your Dutch? Here's one from Rootstime, a Belgium publication ...
And here's the English translation ...

Early response from press and radio:

Just wanted to let you know that the new cd you sent arrived safe and sound today! My first impression is that it's another great and beautiful record. Thank you, again!
Eric (Heaven Magazine, Belgium)

Love the record !! Good response  ... more next week …
Colin Fielding (Radio DJ, Melbourne, Australian)

You guys are great. Very unique material. (Radio DJ, WDYN, Rochster, NY)

Just to let you know that the package with the new Horse Flies album has arrived safely - and that we had the first tracks on air. What a great album! For my ears it connects with the strongest material that the Horse Flies have come up with over the years. I'd really love to see the band live again. Hope it'll work with another German tour. I'll try to spread the word.
Arne Schumacher (Radio DJ, Bremen, Germany)

Not a straight-ahead, simple folk album, Until the Ocean is a brilliant production.
(Dennis Brunnenmeyer, Nevada City Limits, KVMR, Nevada City, CA)

Some radio stations we know about where the album is now being played:

*Festival Radio (Online Folk Festival) (Rafting came in at number 4 of top rated songs in June)

*WPKN, Bridgeport, CT (where we did a live interview on July 1)

*WVFS, Tallahassee, FL

*Maine Public Radio

*KVMR, Nevada City, CA

*KRVM, Eugene, OR

*RadioFreeAmericana.com

*Radio Bremen, Germany

*WDYN, Rochester, NY

*WMWV, North Conway, NH

*Radio Shift

*3INR, Australia

KCRW, Santa Monica, CA (14 Reasons was "Today's Top Tune" on July 3 and continues to stream for 3 months)

WYEP, Pittsburgh, PA

WNYC (New Sounds with John Shafer), NY

4RED-FM, Brisbane, Australia

3INR-FM, Melbourne, Australia

Three D Radio, Adelaide, Australia

*WVBR, Ithaca, NY

*WICB, Ithaca, NY

*WUNC, Chapel Hill, NC

Some first comments from the public:

It's a beautiful day! Thank you KCRW for the song of the day download. Every once in a while you find a jewel in a crown of thorns. (I-Tunes user)

Sounds like they used all their influences and made a darn near perfect album. (I-Tunes user)

Stunning new album. Boy am I a happy man. If you know the music of the Horse Flies, you'll know what you're in for. Wowdom. Unique and groovy.
(Quincy, MA)

… The Horseflies are like advance scouts adventuring into new territories.  I can hear several "traditional" musics embedded in the mix, but you pull all these together into what we scholars call a "creolization" in which all the old is carried forward into the new.  Flailing banjo with oriental melodic lines and African rythmic patterns could be just a "new age" pastiche, but you have created a unity. This musical excitement induces us to accept the tough messages of the poetry.  All these years I've been excited about every new stage of your music, knowing the next adventure would be as bold as the last.  So I follow behind, delighted and grateful for this opening you create for us to enter new places.  Thank you.  (Ithaca, NY)

This is the abum of 2008 for me. I can't believe that this band hasn’t gotten the recognition that they should have. The music industry isn't what it used to be, with terrible bands and singers becoming millionaires with songs written by ghost-writers and all of the best music forced into the underground. Actually... I think the music industry has always been like that. Anyways, anyone with a respect for amazing music should buy this album... there are so many different styles of music from all over the world being blended together so perfectly on this one disc that I think my head will explode every time I listen to it (that’s a good thing.) (Amazon)

I've been a fan of the Horse Flies for years but never really enjoyed listening to their albums from beginning to end in one sitting. I usually pulled out one or two songs from each and left the others behind. Gravity Dance has some great numbers but the full drum kit takes away from the overall Horse Flies sound. Then I found out they were releasing a new album. On their website I found about 5 sample tracks and I was hooked enough to buy the download as soon as it appeared on Amazon. Until The Ocean is really, really good. Classic sound and some nice percussion mixed in. There are certainly tracks that are my favorites (Veins of Coal, Build a House and Burn It Down, Drunkard's Child) but I can truly enjoy the entire album. The Horse Flies are unlike any band out there today and if you can ever catch them live you will be in for a treat … If you've never heard the Horse Flies then plunk down the bucks and give it a listen.  (Amazon)

This album is definitely not to be missed.  It is amazing how well this band blends so many different styles of music into something that sounds so good!  You have to listen to every single song on the album, but my favorites have to be “Carnival Lips”, “Build a House and Burn it Down”, and “Oh Deah.”  I hope that this amazing band gets the recognition that they have deserved for so long with this new release, which, in case you didn’t know, is the band’s first in over a decade. (I-Tunes)

There is really only one thing to say about this album: Buy it! As a musician and long-time Horse Flies fan, I am happy to say that this album is one of the best I've heard in a long time. The music is always moving, always going somewhere, and never static. The band sounds locked in, and in the pocket. The vocals are clear, and the fiddle sits just where it should. Bass, accordion, and percussion provide an rythmic bed that just begs the listener to get up and dance. This album really deserves a 6 Star rating; it really is that good. A brilliant album from a brilliant band! (Ithaca, NY)

Haunting album title, with haunting music to match. The Arabic undertones in 'Rafting from my front door' bring you on a journey to a place you don't get to visit enough. The Tom Bailey-esque vocals in 'Carnival Lips' drive us to forget that we're the freaks instead. This album is accessible to a wide audience, with a clever fusion of traditional influences from eastern Europe to Appalachia, the Bayou to the rice paddy. Innovative production techniques punctuate the humor delivered in many of the songs on this album. The minimalist instrumentals create a constant give and take, each phrase building organically on the previous in a way that can only come from musicians with so much experience together. This album is good from the first time you hear it and just keeps getting better. (Ithaca, NY)

Wouldn't it be great to send a video of Baghdad Children to Barack Obama? At the Great Blue Heron Festival, when we first heard it, it was so overwhelming. People twirling and singing "I believe in love- all around love" I have the audacity to hope that song could change the world. Thanks Richie.  (Guy Mills, PA)

Loved the build the house, tear it down song, and great music throughout.
(Florence, MA)

We listened at home last night and were really impressed by the sound and production (as well as the playing of course).
(Boulder, CO)

Received my copy of "Until the Ocean" on Saturday,..have been wearing the grooves out  of it since … I will truly miss the  whole "Horseflies Experience"@ The Blue Heron this year...Thanx to the Funkyside for their speedy delivery.
(Lafayette L.A.)

It's 9:31 here in Athens, GA and my sweet wife Nancy just spotted a lightning bug out the kitchen window as we were gyrating to VEINS OF COAL.  We carried it out onto the back porch where we danced as y'all sang and played.  Great album.
(Athens, GA)

It ain't your grandfather's old time!
(Washington, DC)

You guys sound swell.
(Phila., PA)

So mezmerizing. You guys rock!
(California)