Ohioan “Mouth of the Canyon” from TERROREYES.TV on Vimeo.

Ohioan “Being Cold” from TERROREYES.TV on Vimeo.

June 16th – Aqua Farm – Prescott, AZ
June 17th – the Boxing Gym – Tucson, AZ
June 18th – the Dressing Room – Phoenix, AZ
June 19th – the Treehouse – San Diego, CA
June 20th – Synchronicity Space – Hollywood, CA
June 21st – OPEN – Long Beach, CA
June 22nd – Show Cave – Los Angeles, CA
June 23rd – Steynberg Gallery – San Luis Obispo, CA
June 24th – Anno Domini – San Jose, CA
June 25th – Guayaki Mate Bar (Birthday Party!) – Santa Rosa, CA
June 26th – 1628 Lake Street (SeaCliff area, btwn 17th & 18th avenues) early/6pm! – San Francisco, CA
June 27th – Chief Crazy Horse Inn – Nevada City, CA
June 28th – day off
June 29th – Attendance Office – Davis, CA
June 30th – N Street House – Sacramento, CA
July 1st – Towne Lounge – Chico, CA
July 2nd – TBA – Portland, OR

Ohioan @ Sunburn Fest 2010

MC Chris
Dan Deacon
Akron/Family
Explode into Colors
Ohioan
Hosannahs (formerly Church)
TVP

MP3: Prairie

PRESS FOR EXOTIC BELIEVERS:

Nowhere To Run It’s the end of the world as we know it, and Ghost to Falco feels fine.

BY CASEY JARMAN | cjarman at wweek dot com

When Eric Crespo started writing what would become Ghost to Falco’s third album, Exotic Believers, in 2007, he was fretting about the end of the world—or rather, trying to avoid contributing to the end of the world. But the books he’d been reading—by author/environmental activist Derek Jensen—didn’t leave much room for optimism. So if there’s a theme to Exotic Believers, “I guess it’s about coming to grips with the idea that humans are fucking up terribly,” Portlander Crespo says with a chuckle. “[And] even if you go live out in a shack in Nowhere, Montana, you’re not going to get away [from it]. As much as you think in your head and in your dreams that you can, you’re not going to.”

If it sounds like a bummer of an album, well, we’d be lying to call it upbeat. But as purging goes, Exotic Believers is quite an exercise. Crespo’s lyrical monologues dart and dive between sharp, crusty riffs and bursts of unpredictable instrumentation from dozens of notable local musicians that include the Shaky Hands’ Nick Delffs, Dragging an Ox Through Water’s Brian Mumford and Horse Feathers’ Heather Broderick. At times, as on the Elephant Six-esque opener “Black Holes” and “Secrets of the Free,” Crespo scrambles and hollers his demands; at other times he’s a voice of calm, questioning realism—singing as if explaining the human race to an alien (“We’re just trying to survive/ And we invent things and we die/ The generations carry on,” he sings on “Everything Alive.”). Crespo presents his existential crisis alongside the natural one—I hesitate to use the word “spiritual,” as God never really comes into the equation.

The s-word doesn’t scare Crespo. “I think that’s the right word,” says the 28-year-old songwriter, who moved to Portland from his home state of North Carolina in 2001. “I think everyone, no matter if they acknowledge it or not, has to have some kind of spiritual release—whether it’s shopping or television or sports or church. Music didn’t start that way for me, but when I come to realize what it is in my life, it’s like religion. It fulfills the same need.”

If music is Crespo’s religion, the upstart Portland label Infinite Front is his new church. Though Crespo and GtF bandmate Ryne Warner dreamed up the imprint, it will be collectively run by a number of like-minded artists. Infinite Front’s launch party this Saturday presents releases by GtF, Ohioan and a four-way split 7-inch record featuring those bands alongside Dragging an Ox Through Water and Castanets. It’s a musically like-minded collective: All these artists teeter on the divide between melodic songwriting and noisy experimentation, and all analyze (however uniquely) big-picture issues of consciousness and existence in their lyrics.

But what good is a record label, or a new album—even one as epic as Exotic Believers—in the face of the impending Armageddon? Crespo says there’s value in the simple things. “You’ve gotta make yourself happy and feel alive,” he says. “I think it’s good for the world when people feel alive.”

-Willamette Week

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Since 2001, Eric Crespo has been recording under the name Ghost to Falco with a rotating cast of contributors from Portland’s independent music community. He recently released “Exotic Believers”, his third full-length and perhaps his most accomplished work to date. Released on his cooperative-run label, Infinite Front, “Exotic Believers” finds Ghost to Falco continuing to explore the odd intersections between folk songcraft, rock experimentation, and minimalist composition to assured results, at times bringing to mind Neil Young being backed by This Heat. Before hitting the road again for some upcoming tour dates, Crespo took the time to answer some questions about the making of “Exotic Believers” and his overall approach to songwriting, among other things.

–FOXY DIGITALIS (go to http://www.foxydigitalis.com/foxyd/features.php?which=462 to read the interview)

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“The first track of this record is explosive. No swell, just a bomb exploding. Rancid cello notes, angry satured male vocals. Then it abruptly stops, – and on the following Risen You’ll hear church bells tolling, – mournful violin and cello will walk you to the Sunday requiem mass, – a disarming promenade into pain finally ruined by distortion. Then this guy grabs back his folk guitar, and starts a trembling sad song, suddenly turning into a big wave of slow-hard rock, – heavy bass lines, – a short term storm in his bedroom, soon getting calmer.
Homebased in Portland, Oregon, USA, started in late 2001 – Ghost to Falco is mainly a one-man project, Eric Crespo’s one, who co-founded Infinitefront rec: emotive vocals, a sort of juxtaposition of rage and powerless inner riot, – droning sounds and psychic songwriting, – where Into the missions/quiet at home looks like a song from a cotton field, Greater good is a free-indie / post-rock tsunami, Everything alive is a meditative and confessional, Lords of the high country is a final dreamy song inside another song, left-right panning in your ears.
Exotic Believers is a different record, as coordinate, i can just cite Gowns for the neighbourghood.”

—Komikano Zine (Italy–also in Italian–http://www.inkoma.com/read.asp?id=2539)

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“There’s only one way to classify the sophomore effort [ed. note--it's actually the third full length] of Chapel Hill refugee Eric Crespo’s project Ghost to Falco and that would be as “indescribable,” though maybe “breathtaking” would suffice as well. As the follow-up to 2007’s Like This Forever, Exotic Believers furthers Crespo’s exploration into the impossible and makes countless side trips along the way. Even with a cast of more than 30 Portland musicians in the fold, Exotic Believers sounds surprisingly cohesive in an unpredictable sort of way. The only constant is the slightly cold and dirty feeling with which the listener is left after each of the album’s nine tracks. From the noise-laden opener “Black Holes” and it’s mournful successor “Risen” to the subterranean low-end growl of the epic “Comfort Series #2,” there’s an unsettling feeling to be gathered from both the wild artistic ambitions and the abstruse anti-war message hidden within Crespo’s unconventional meter. Of course, there’s a it of context missing on the album, as Ghost to Falco is a multimedia project as well. Live shows complete the picture with disquieting imagery to perfectly parallel the incongruence of the record. It’s always a risky proposition to conjoin the words “art” and “rock,” but Exotic Believers does so to stirring effect.”

—Yes! Weekly

Limited to 300 copies.  Hand-screened, 3 color covers.  Featuring artwork from Brian Mumford (Dragging an Ox), Jeffery Bowers (PRISM Index magazine, “American Boogie” film), and O Ryne Warner (Ohioan).

All exclusive new music:

Side N, Pan W:  Dragging an OX – “Bitten Apple” (from “Tropics of Phenomenon” sessions)

Side N, Pan E:   Ghost to Falco – “Harsh & Low/Duel for Thunder” (live recording in Utah desert)

Side S, Pan W:   Ohioan – “Being Cold” (new song, “horn version”, from upcoming Childs record)

Side S, Pan E:   Castanets – “Tea Song” (michael hurley cover)

all tracks are in mono, with each song hard panned left (west) or right (east), so to hear separately, pan your stereo accordingly.  also, some cross-talk is inevitable on vinyl, so personal equalization is recommended.  or just listen to two songs simultaneously and freak out.

No digital versions available.

Postage included in price.

This record will never be repressed.

Mp3:  Ohioan – “Being Cold”

Over a year in the making.

Lost in space, buried in sand, unearthed in time.

PERFORMERS:

Patrick Phillips – Tuba, Trombone, Trumpet, Human Voice, Percussion
Davis Hooker – Upright Bass, Human Voice
Morgan Hobart – Fiddle, Human Voice
Adam Baz – Drums, Percussion, Human Voice
John Gnorski – Pedal Steel, Human Voice
Michael Rae – Mellophone
Colin Anderson – Drums, Percussion, Human Voice
Jeremy Faulkner – Saw, Banjo, Charango
Sarah Winchester – Human Voice (lead on “I Have Eyes”)
Becky Dawson – Human Voice (lead on “Some Will Live”)
Jonathan Sielaff – Contra-alto Clarinet, Saw
Jeff Brodsky – Drums, Percussion, Marimba
Laura Quigley – Upright Bass
Talia Gordon – Human Voice
Christine Busacca – Human Voice
Sage Roselius – Human Voice
Arrington de Disonyso – Bass Clarinet, Jaw Harp
Nathan Delffs – Electric Bass
Benjamin Hartman – Baritone Saxophone
Eric Crespo – Korg Synthesizer, Electronics
Martin (?) – Trumpet
Hannah (?) – Human Voice
O Ryne Warner -  Lap Steel, Banjo, Human Voice, Tube Organ, Echoplex, Farfisa, Electronics, Upright Bass, Electric Guitar, Harmonica, Percussion, Ukulele, Vibraphone, Acoustic Guitar, Piano

Mp3:  “Open Road”