For more information, comments, or questions contact Bryan through http://www.bryanhighhill.com
copyright 2010 Bryan Highhill. Lumpy Recordings
Review from the "Pasa Tiempo" Arts and culture magazine in Santa Fe, NM:
“LUMPY From Wilderness Cove (self-produced) More than a year in the making, this CD is the newest project from classically trained trumpeter Bryan Highhill, who plays with the popular Santa Fe Latin/funk/hip-hop collective Felonious Groove Foundation. Recorded at the College of Santa Fe, CalArts, Warehouse 21, and bedroom studios between October 2008 and December 2009, From Wilderness Cove is a glistening cherry atop an already generous sundae of great local talent. Highhill ditches the strict party vibe of his funkified Felonious self in favor something more personal, all the while channeling Weezer, Beat Happening, Daniel Johnston, Fishbone, Beirut, Bowling for Soup, and They Might Be Giants. But Highhill is no imitator - nor is he a one-horn wonder. Assuming roles throughout the album as a vocalist, percussionist, piano player, Rhodes keyboardist, fluegelhorn player, trumpeter, guitarist, and programmer (and mixer, and co-producer, along with Frogville Records engineer Matthew “Kabby” Kabakoff), Highhill comes into his own as a regreshingly original and honest lyricist with versatile instrumental chops. He’s not a lone in the endeavor, enlisting the help of local guitarist Peter Williams (Love Gun, The Rev. Karol King Kong, W21’s School of Rock), drummer Tim Carr, and bassist Graham Chapman, to name a few. To purchase the album and hear samples of songs (as well as Lumpy covers of tunes by Jimmy Cliff and Sam Cooke), visit bryanhighhill.com.
-Rob DeWalt”
Review from Victoria at the website www.fallopia.net:
“If you’re looking for the next best thing to getting everything you ever wanted, check out the newest studio album of brassman/troubadour/party-maker Bryan Highhill’s musical collective Lumpy coming out of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The album is titled “From Wilderness Cove“.
From the first stretch of the first track, you know it is going to be all foolishness. Then you’re right, and my birds how delicious it is. There’s a swoony loony sort of urgency to this album, like a drunken elephant stumble-rumble-dancing around the rim of a volcano. At any given moment everything is about to collapse in on itself or burst. Hard to say which.
Take the fourth track on the album “Not The Same Man“. Thematically it’s almost embarrassingly super-pop, and you can’t help but feel like Bryan is making fun of you for being so into it. Nevertheless, into it you will be. That’s it. See your head, bopping up and down? It’s sexy and silly…now that’s an accomplishment.
My absolute favorite is the rocking, raucous “Southern Plantlife” (Track 6). This is one of those tracks that leaves you breathless, sweaty, and angry at your mom in a deliciously indulgent, adolescent sort of way. Play the track again, a second time, only louder. Maybe it’s not your mom after all, but who gives a damn. The point is that you’re half-hitting pitches, screaming words you don’t quite understand and driving too fast. It’s all the beauty of teenage angst that you were too “chill” to let out when you were younger. Go head. Do it again.
If you’re not in love with Lumpy yet, pump Track 10 “Owls” through your speakers and take a little vacation. The entire Lumpy collective shines, reminiscent of The Polyphonic Spree or some epic Sufjan Stevens composition.
Whether it is the stomp-your-feet determinism of “Tell You So” (such fun!) or the pulsing party sing-along “I’ll Bring You Down“, you can’t deny that the feverish horn lines carry this music. As a classically trained trumpet player, Highhill really lets the instrument serve as the mouthpiece of the album, even though the tracks all have vocals. Bryan is playing his own percussion as well, which really serves as a rhythmic interpreter of your heartbeat, doing all the things your organ cannot. Don’t put this album on and expect to do something else. It is all very noisy and distracting and Bryan’s signature voice is one you can’t ignore. But- if you’re ready to give yourself to one man, now is your chance.
You can preview the entire album here at bryanhighhill.com but I’m warning you now that the 20 second taste-bytes won’t scratch the itch. You might as well buy the whole damn album now. Listen to it twice. The rest is history.
from the horses mouth:
“Tracking was started in October of 2008. Most of the tracking was done at the College of Santa Fe recording studio using pro-tools. But some was also done in my bedroom. Everything was done one instrument at a time and some of the parts and structure were improvised during the recording process. The mixing was done with Apple Logic and the project was completed December of 2009. ” - B.H.
(Now just in time for Valentines Day. Nothing says I love you more than sweat & ecstasy.)”
Read more...