Album Notes

Think ELO and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Think Flaming Lips
and Can. Think Terry Riley and Talking Heads. Channeling
a kindred spirit, New York City-based indie rock band
Skidmore Fountain is a bit on the unconventional side,
with fi ve-string electric cello (its fi fth string acts as bass),
guitar, drums and vocals making up the group. Skidmore
Fountain brings the recording studio to the stage, with live
string arrangements and ambient soundscapes looping
through an Echoplex, vocals intensifi ed through analog
delay pedals, and lushly orchestrated guitar lines, all sitting
atop pounding, old-school R&B and dub rhythms.

The four members of Skidmore Fountain work
collaboratively, equally sharing in the songwriting and
production. The band has been hard at work for the past
year on their latest album, Cloudless Blue (Young Love
Records), writing in a tiny (and nearly airless) Brooklyn
basement. The band received a huge boost by winning
the 2008 AirPlay Direct’s “All Things Digital” songwriting
contest, allowing Skidmore Fountain the luxury of a national
promotional campaign and the chance to record in a
haunted church on Elm Street.

Originally meeting in Tucson, Ariz., the three founders —
Randy, Topu and Steven — began performing together
in avant-garde art-house happenings. Then, moving to
Portland, Ore., they electrifi ed their sound, recording their
fi rst album with Tape Op legend Larry Crane (Elliot Smith,
Stephen Malkmus), which was picked as a CD Baby Staff
Favorite. Next the gang crossed the continent, joining
forces in NYC with drummer Dylan where, as AM New York
reported, “the quartet is settling into the local scene nicely.”

In 2007, multiple-Grammy award-winning producer Ken
Lewis (David Byrne, Beastie Boys) produced the band’s
2007 11-track release, Break (Triple R Records). Break was
recently picked as an iTunes favorite album; additionally,
it charted on FMQB, and the title track appeared on MTV.
“The gobs of catchy choruses seem destined for crowd
shout-alongs,” said CMJ New Music Report.