wampus multimedia rolls out debut CD from arms of kismet

U.S.-based indie label Wampus Multimedia introduces Eponymous, the debut CD from postmodern pop alchemist Arms of Kismet. Featuring ten slices of sincere irony, Eponymous drops echoes of Beck, Freedy Johnston, Bob Dylan, Aimee Mann, David Lowery and a gaggle of other great songwriters into a Waring blender... and reconstitutes them as something fresh and new.

From fractured Americana (“Cuckold of Titan,” “Sepia Eyes”) to beatbox hip-pop (“Karma Never Forgets,” “Beautiful Career,” “Standby”), Arms of Kismet paints new and abandoned genres in shades bright, soft and psychedelic. From updated '60s melodicism (“Hang,” “Foldback”) to new-breed alternative rock (“Are You My God,” “Alive and Awake,” “Sail Seven”), Eponymous is a canny synthesis of styles, a neo-“singer-songwriter” album more adventurous than confessional.

Written and produced by Mark Doyon (who released three CDs in the 1990s as Wampeters) and mastered by Jon Astley (Tori Amos, Jools Holland, Pete Townshend), Eponymous mines existential terrain. Blending traditional instrumentation with atmospherics, samples and blips, it considers what it’s like to be born and not know why, what it’s like to know death awaits but not the hour of its arrival. Pitching a tent between the camps of Americana, hip-hop and classic rock, it summons a warm, analog vibe that sounds as natural in a coffeehouse as it does on a car radio.

It makes for toe-tapping, tragicomic rock 'n' roll.

Doyon, who published a book of fiction, Bonneville Stories, in 2001, thinks of Eponymous like a collection of short stories. “Songs speak in a more emotional way, maybe, but they’re still stories with characters and plot and a point of view. They’re compact fables.”

Eponymous features Washington, D.C. indie-scene denizens Kowtow Popof (Eat My Dust), The Crowd Scene (Turn Left at Greenland), Janna Audey, Rob Santos, Eamon Loftus, Scott Goodrick and others. Look for Eponymous at CD Baby, CD Street, Amazon, Tower Records, Borders and many other retailers.

Don’t miss Arms of Kismet on tour throughout the eastern United States in April 2004.

Visit:

http://armsofkismet.com

Buy:

http://cdbaby.com/armsofkismet

Read the day-of-release review by Jason Warburg:

http://dailyvault.com

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Get the Good Stuff: Releases from Wampus

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Arms of Kismet / Eponymous

Literate and insidiously catchy, Arms of Kismet is postmodern pop for the savvy, ironic streetcrawler.

Kowtow Popof / Kowtow Drops the Pop Off

Powerfully nuanced postmodern rave-ups that set the car radio ablaze. "Preternaturally surrealist post-pop." --Eve Zibart, The Washington Post

Various Artists / After Hours: a Tribute to the Music of Lou Reed

Emerging indie artists create the ultimate Lou Reed retrospective.

tvfordogs / Heavy Denver

The best modern-rock record of the year -- hear it for yourself.

Amateur God / Near Life Experience

Dark gothic-semi-vocal-ambient music in the tradition of Mylene Farmer, All About Eve, Celtic Frost, Type O Negative, Sisters of Mercy, The Gathering, Jean Michel Jarre, Orbital, Front 242, Rammstein, Art of Noise, and Voivod.

Various Artists / If I Were a Richman: a Tribute to the Music of Jonathan Richman

A wildly entertaining ride through the repertoire of one of rock's most original and eclectic songwriters. Like Lou Reed & the Velvet Underground before him, Richman's deceptively straightforward music defies easy categorization. From his early days with the original Modern Lovers, through numerous iterations of the Lovers, to his latter-day solo career, Richman's work has mixed an arresting sense of innocence with a deep sensitivity to human emotion.

Various Artists / Glass Flesh 2: a Tribute to Robyn Hitchcock

Twenty-one great ways to skin Robyn Hitchcock's cat. Indispensable.

Wampeters / Murder Your Darlings

D.C. post-modernists reinvent the contrarian rock sensibility. Smoldering chamber rock descended from the Band, the Beatles, and the Beach Boys. "A great narrative album. The last great mainstream release that exemplifies this method of development of style and sound is Wilco's Summer Teeth." --Heidi Drockelman, IndieMusic.com

Mark Doyon / Bonneville Stories

Crisp fiction from Arms of Kismet's Mark Doyon that's as dark as optimism gets. "A brilliant collection of beautifully written stories that made me cringe, grimace, and laugh, while sometimes moving me to great pity.... There just aren't any flaws here, and I can't possibly do this book justice in a review. No one could, really...." --Laurie Edwards, CultureDose.net

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1929763093/qid=1034199246/sr=8-7/ref=sr_8_7/102-8551637-2399362?v=glance&n=507846

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Coming in 2004-05

Dedicated to the support and promotion of independent music, Wampus is home to growing roster of indie artists. Interested in becoming a Wampus artist? Read all about it.

http://wampus.com/programs.html

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