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NOW SHIPPING!
Mike Keneally Band
Dog Standard Edition
Mike Keneally's first album in well over two years is also the recorded debut of the Mike Keneally Band: Mike on guitar, keyboards and lead vocals, Rick Musallam on guitar and vocals, Bryan Beller on bass and Nick D'Virgilio on drums and vocals. It's a powerful, electric album of music that the fierce foursome has been honing onstage for months, along with the surprises you've come to expect on a new Keneally album.
Dog Bites
(Two minutes and twenty-six seconds of excerpts from each of the 11 songs on DOG) |
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©2004 Exowax Recordings, Spen Music, BMI
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Track list:
Louie
Bober
Splane
Pride Is A Sin
Simple Pleasure
Physics
Raining Sound
Choosing To Drown
Gravity Grab
This Tastes Like A Hotel
Panda
See below to order the special edition, which also contains Dog DVD!
Scroll to the bottom of the page to complete your order...
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NOW SHIPPING!
Mike Keneally Band
Dog Special Edition
This special edition includes the audio CD Dog (see above), but also contains a first for Exowax: Dog DVD, a region-free NTSC DVD that includes live MKB performances in Dolby 5.1 Surround, behind-the-scenes studio footage and extras. And in the time-honored Exo-tradition, Mike has hand-numbered and autographed the first 2500 copies.
Scroll to the bottom of the page to complete your order...
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COMING SOON!
Keneally + Metropole Orchestra
The Universe Will Provide
Mike Keneally's first foray into orchestral composition, The Universe Will Provide is Mike's stunningly beautiful imaginary collaboration with himself at age eight. Commissioned by NPS Output and recorded during a sunny, dreamlike week in Holland, TUWP features the talents of the 52-piece Metropole Orchestra supporting Mike on guitar and keyboards. You have never heard any music like The Universe Will Provide.
| ON SALE SOON |
Keneally +
Metropole Orkest
The Universe
Will Provide |
$14.99 ea.
+P&H |
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Mike Keneally
"Wooden Smoke" Standard Edition
"When critics use the word ‘mature’ to describe somebody’s music, it’s usually code for ‘old and boring.’ Well, I’m wresting the word back to apply it in its proper sense to Mike Keneally’s ‘Wooden Smoke’: this album is strong, gentle and wise. How many people do you know who can make a CD sound hand-carved? Beautiful."
---- Andy Partridge of XTC
Mike Keneally's tenth album contains some of the pop innovator’s most elegantly adventurous music, set in a largely acoustic soundscape. A multi-instrumentalist with an unmatched pop cunning and an unrelenting gift for ear-twisting harmony, Keneally first rose to prominence as Frank Zappa's "stunt guitarist." His previous album, the critically acclaimed "Dancing," debuted on three Billboard charts in 2000. "Wooden Smoke" combines Keneally's own multi-tracked virtuoso performances with several of his catchiest tunes.
"At the end of 2000," reports Keneally, " I started playing a whole lot of acoustic guitar, sitting on the floor in the living room. The sound of the instrument and the physical sensation of playing it formed the bedrock of "Wooden Smoke;" it's not your typical acoustic album, though there is a lot of interesting sound happening, generated in some fairly unorthodox ways."
In a characteristic departure from his previous releases, Mike has crafted a work that's courageous, yet soothing and evocative. A number of songs on "Wooden Smoke" feature dramatic and highly precise vocal arrangements, but the remaining material showcases Keneally on a variety of surprisingly unusual instruments, particularly for a record which sounds as familiar and fittingly accessible even as it challenges the listener.
Wood Chips
(Two minutes and twelve seconds from "Wooden Smoke") |
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©2001 Exowax Recordings, Spen Music, BMI
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Mike Keneally
"Wooden Smoke" Special Edition
"Wooden Smoke" features contributions from Mike's Beer For Dolphins mates Bryan Beller, Rick Musallam and Tricia Steel, along with atmospheres and percussion by Marcelo Radulovich and Nathan Hubbard.
"There are elaborate vocal arrangements on a number of songs, but the album is about half instrumental," explains Mike. "The music is a little hard to describe. It’s mysterious, but intimate and inviting. It has a kind of plot, but you can’t figure it out. It feels really warm, and I love listening to it – I hope you enjoy it too."
This special edition features a second CD, "Wooden Smoke Asleep," a somnambulistic, abstract reflection of the original album, comprised of remixes, reinterpretations and additional music. The first 2000 copies will be hand signed and numbered by Mike. Orders will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis until the numbered Special Editions are sold out.
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"Wooden Smoke" T-Shirt
Exo-artist atticus wolrab's tasty "flower gramophone" illustration from Mike Keneally's new album is put to elegant use on the front of this 100% cotton, heavy-duty cardinal red/maroon-ish "Wooden Smoke" T-Shirt. The front also features Mike's name and the title "Wooden Smoke." The reverse sports the tasteful-but-mysterious Exowax Recordings logo and that good ol' www.keneally.com URL.
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Mike Keneally
"Nonkertalk"
PREVIOUSLY UNAVAILABLE FOR NEARLY 2 YEARS!
This is the rare second CD originally included in 1999's long-sold out two-CD "Nonkertompf Special Edition" of 500. By popular demand (and the gracious permission of MK fans who originally bought the Special Edition), several extra copies of the original "Nonkertalk" pressing are now available for purchase.
"Nonkertalk" features a 40-minute conversation between Mike and Exowax CEO Scott Chatfield about the making of "Nonkertompf." Beneath the voices are different mixes and alternate takes that illustrate and underscore what is being discussed. Occasionally, the interview stops completely for an interlude of music not included on "Nonkertompf." "Nonkertalk" is topped off by a short video, "ClickFlick," playable on most computers. It shows Mike in the studio recording the song "Click" (some owners of this CD are, to this day, unaware of the video's existence!).
The CD comes in a no-frills white paper sleeve with a cellophane window and no cover art, liner notes or documentation.
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"Dancing Tour '01" T-Shirt
It's the surprise hit of the year! Previously only available at MK/BFD shows, this tasty number was sold out long before phase one of the Dancing Tour '01 tour ended. Modeled here by sax n' flute maestro Evan Francis outside a cheesy, bug-infested motel in North Attleboro, MA (but that's another story), this heavy-duty, 100% cotton pre-shrunk T-shirt features a witty variation on the popular atticus wolrab cherryhearts design. On the front, you'll find a slightly abstract red-and-white rendition of the logo, along with the simple words "DANCING | TOUR | '01." And the shirt's reverse is all business-- Mike and the band's name in bigass letters, accented by tiny cherryhearts, with the Dolphin roll call beneath in proud-yet-modest lower case: mike keneally, bryan beller, nick d'virgilio, evan francis, rick musallam, tricia williams and marc ziegenhagen. Punctuating the entire statement is the beloved skating devil Exowax Recordings logo. Clearly, the "Dancing Tour '01" T-Shirt says as much about you as it does about MK/BFD. This great garment goes far beyond merely mumbling "I was there;" it trumpets to the world that you are a shredding, super-sharp shirt showman. No wonder Bassboy Bryan Beller calls this sassy number his favoritist Exo-Shirt ever!
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Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins
"Dancing"
Sometimes it seems that actual human feeling, conveyed through passionate musicianship and songwriting, is all but absent in popular music nowadays. Mike Keneally is thrilled to prove otherwise with his eighth album, "Dancing." Mike has invited Beer For Dolphins, his masterful eight-piece band, into the studio to lay down nearly 80 minutes of the most gleefully adventurous, yet heartfelt, Keneally music ever. This album is truly a feast for the ears.
While 1999's acclaimed Keneally solo release "Nonkertompf" was an instrumental album, "Dancing" is mainly based around songs with vocals. Keneally (known by many as a guitarist from his work with Frank Zappa and Steve Vai) here delivers highly emotional vocal performances which may come as a surprise to a lot of people. The style of the album's 20 tracks veers from upbeat pop to free-form improv, introspective balladry to ferocious rock raveups, Beach Boys and Bacharach sugariness to utter uncategorizability and beyond. Yet it all hangs together, thanks to the powerful and freewheeling sound of Beer For Dolphins, and the personal quality of Keneally's composing. A genuinely individual rock songwriter, Mike has developed a whole lot of heart and confidence through the eight years of his solo recording career. A music-lover in the extreme, he makes music which embraces all other music-lovers– and listeners the world over are gratefully embracing it in return.
The 20 songs featured are Live In Japan, Ankle Bracelet, Poo-Tee-Weet?, Backwards Deb, We'll Be Right Back
Joe, Pretty Enough For Girls, Taster, Dancing
Selfish Otter, Only Mondays, Lhai Sal. The Mystery Music, The Brown Triangles, MM, I Was Not Ready For You
Ragged Ass, Skull Bubbles, Friends And Family and Kedgeree.
"There's only one Mike Keneally. No, wait, there are dozens. There's Keneally the pop auteur, whose songs flutter and jab with ecstatic melody. There's Keneally the exhortative vocalist, one moment a supple balladeer, the next a heavy-metal hellion. What about Keneally the bandleader, a multi-instrumental octopus running the show with dazzling wit and profound musical charisma? And please, don't forget the guitar hero's guitar hero.
Mike Keneally is a staggering talent who believes rock should aim straight for the soul. His lyrics are often hilarious, occasionally moving into personal unburdenings, spun around sounds that underscore the emotions at hand. With so much depth and history (and appearances with everyone from Screamin' Jay Hawkins to Sting to Roseanne to Frank Zappa), it seems a stretch that he lands so squarely in the realm of the radio-ready. Equally unexpected is that he'd veer back into mainstream territory after last year's unaccompanied studio adventure Nonkertompf, and in so doing, be poised to approach the brilliance of 1997’s Sluggo!, a masterwork that raised the bar for willfully eccentric pop.
Dancing finds every piston pumping. Keneally's strengths and emotional outreach are focused into a 20-song barrage of unhinged artistry harnessed as tight, riotous, and heartfelt rock. With wild tunes like "Ragged Ass" and subtle mysteries like the title cut, it conjures an array of pleasures; the epic "Pretty Enough for Girls" moves from anthemic to cinematic surrealism. With the rhythmically surprising "Joe," he beats the crooner's art at its own game.
This is arresting modern rock, a bold step forward for an artist who's been garnering the awe of his forebears, from XTC to Ween to Queen to one-time employer Zappa - a notoriously exacting chap who dubbed Keneally "the best new guy who's ever been in the band." Replace "band" with "business," and you've nailed the guitarist for 2000. Dancing will get you doing just that: Listen while cooking and you'll burn dinner, listen while driving and you'll miss your exit. But do listen."
--Matt Resnicoff, VH1.com, October, 2000
Hey Kids, It's Tiny Dancing!
(a teeny, two-minute taster of the album's 20 songs) |
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©2000 Exowax Recordings, Spen Music, BMI
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"Dancing" Denim Jacket
Here is The Story Of The "Dancing" Denim Jacket: It's a sturdy 100% cotton stonewashed denim number with buttoned flap chest pockets and cuffs, front slash pockets and adjustable waist tabs. "Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins" and the "Dancing" title top off the right chest pocket and the "Dancing" cherryhearts are colorfully embroidered above wearer's heart. At first we made a few of these just for the band. But we liked 'em so much that we thought it'd be sad to keep 'em to ourselves. They're not cheap, but we've tried to keep the price as low as we could-- we make about as much on one of these puppies as we do a T-shirt. So, hey, no pressure or anything; we just didn't want you to think we were holding out on you!
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"Dancing" T-Shirt
What can be said about this beauty that hasn't already been touted by a delighted Modern Apparel magazine? M.A. called the "Dancing" T-Shirt "...a triumph of form and function. This delicious teal 100% cotton garment soars to new and provocative levels of stylishness. With a teasingly succulent four-color cherryhearts logo on the front and an elegantly simple statement of band, title and web address on the reverse, anyone sporting one of these gorgeous garments should be prepared for an extra hickey or two by the end of the day." On the other hand, you might want to take this praise with a grain of salt, since Modern Apparel magazine doesn't exist.
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Mike Keneally NonkerShirt™
Mike's first foray into the heady world of high fashion!
Available in sizes!
Face the new millennium snug and smug in the familiar caress of 100% earth cotton with the cheery, trucking Nonkertompf Drumbot™ watching your back, confidently warding off evil and mediocrity!* It's an ash-grey, long-sleeved deluxe Henley jersey with three wood tone buttons (for buttoning purposes). The front features the certainly mysterious Exowax Recordings logo along with the equally bewildering web address; both sides are classily silkscreened in black, white and faux-futuristic silver. Production of this stunning 21st-century garment was personally supervised by Lamn Xavb himself, who nearly drove Beloved Artist atticus wolrab mad with arbitrary revisions, playful electrical shocks and endless obtuse tales of the netherworld.
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Mike Keneally "Nonkertompf"
Mike Keneally ponders the infinite for about 74 minutes...
Mike's seventh album is a very personal instrumental effort featuring Our Boy playing everything, including guitars, keyboards, drums, sax, a stool and about a dozen other devices. Nonkertompf is a 74-minute stream-of-consciousness flight-of-fancy that takes the listener on an unparallelled sonic journey. Countless styles and moods are explored and seamlessly sewn together, always with extraordinary musical precision, rich orchestrational sense and a very big heart. It's his first release on Exowax Recordings-- in its first few weeks of release it became San Diego's best-selling CD and made the national charts. Check out Nonkeroni! to read what others think of this disc.
"I saw guitarist Mike Keneally play with Frank Zappa in the 1980s, nimbly negotiating the maestro's knotty charts, and I've watched Keneally cook hard with his twisted-fusion outfit, Beer For Dolphins. But none of it prepared me for the color and density of Nonkertompf, a whirl of thirty-five instrumental miniatures, played by Keneally in their entirety and advertising not only his spicy fluency on the guitar but a flair for hot melodic sabotage rooted, yet not imprisoned, in Zappology. The music flies mad and fast, but what the hell? You have a whole century to digest it."
--David Fricke, Rolling Stone, March 2, 2000
"Nonkertompf is a different kettle of fish. This is wildly diverse stuff, comprised of arena rock anthems, folk themes, crazed ditties and piano ruminations. You may hear Zappa, but also Hendrix, prog-rock guitar and hints of cartoon music. Connections and recurring themes emerge, suggesting an underlying dream-like logic. [Keneally]'s a versatile, imaginative player with an offbeat sense of humor."
--Jon Andrews, Down Beat, April, 2000
Take the Nonkertour
(a fleeting moment with each of the album's 35 chapters) |
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©1999 Exowax Recordings, Spen Music, BMI
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"Mike Keneally Ripped My Head Off™" T-Shirt
A striking homage to Mike's deadly musical talents. Purple, orange and white on a thick, lime-green 100% cotton shirt, the front depicts the internationally recognized Happy Victim Of Mike symbol, whose sublimely grinning decapitated cabeza bounces atop the sacred website address on the back. Needless to say, it's another atticus wolrab creation and we'd all like you to have one.
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