Album Notes

Marilyn Carino and Ben Rubin have written 10 new songs to create a sonic and lyrical landscape reflective of New York City entering the 21st century. Mudville's first full-length record is a venture deep into cutting-edge soul-electronica and features appearances by saxophone great Seamus Blake, guitarist Avi Bortnick (John Scofield Band), telecaster maestro Jim Campilongo, and vibraphonist/producer MNO (Lumin).

The Village Voice characterizes MUDVILLE's sound as full of "brooding sexiness" and singer Marilyn Carino's voice as "somewhere between P.J. Harvey and Sarah Vaughan".

Indiefan says the New York duo of Carino and producer Ben Rubin "...have created a truly unique sound that reaches into your soul and finds a home amongst your bittersweet memories and forgotten love affairs... Rubin constructs an aural landscape of break-beat percussion and melodic distortion that plays muse to Carino's passionate lyrics in perfect symbiosis. This music is wet, dripping from the speakers and running around you and holding you. "

Detroit Music Outsight calls MUDVILLE, "Sophisticated... melding exquisite slow-soul vocals from Marilyn Carino with trashcan downbeat rhythms from an unhurried, post-industrial Ben Rubin".

The brainchild of songwriter/vocalist Marilyn Carino and producer/bassist Ben Rubin, MUDVILLE began in San Francisco where Carino was a sweet crooner in traditional bluegrass and alt-country bands and loaned her strange, fearless voice to recording projects with Billy Talbot of Neil Young's Crazy Horse and with Rain Parade. Rubin was a bassist in that city's vibrant jazz scene and since moving to New York has remixed tracks (as Benny Cha Cha) for Wu-Tang Clan's Killah Priest, Brazilian Girls, Karsh Kale, Marshall Crenshaw and others and has toured with Crenshaw, Jazz Mandolin Project and Chris Brown & Kate Fenner. After these homegrown New Yorkers returned to their East Coast roots, they added electronic elements to their soul-based post-rock sound to create MUDVILLE. The duo list such varied influences as P.J. Harvey, Deltron 3030, Latin Playboys, Duke Ellington, Headhunters, Bill Monroe, Al Green, Pink Floyd and free-jazz saxophonist Ellery Eskelin.

Visit Mudville's MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/mudville and
Mudville's website @ http://www.mudvillemusic.com