Picastro
Whore Luck
Appearances by Final Fantasy's Owen Pallett and Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart.
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Picastro
Metal Cares
Polyvinyl debut and Picastro's second full-length. Line-up includes Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy).
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Picastro
Become Secret
Picastro's 4th full-length
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Picastro
War of the Worlds Poster
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Various Artists
Polyvinyl 2005 SXSW Poster
Comes rolled flat in a tube.
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Various Artists
Polyvinyl CMJ 2005 Poster
Comes rolled flat in a tube.
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Commanding influences as varied as gypsy field recordings,
Greek rembetika, Russian folksongs, Faces,
and Black Sabbath, Toronto's Picastro craft starkly discordant
soundscapes where murmured vocals cascade alongside a rich panorama of
dissonance and string-laden dynamics.
Picastro formed in 1997 at a
time when the Toronto
music scene was predominately catering to loud rock bands. Early Picastro sets consisted solely of
acoustic guitar and eventually cello. This early arrangement attracted the
curious due to the strong dynamics produced from the relatively unusual musical
pairing the two instruments.
It was not until 2002 that Picastro released their debut album Red Your Blues on Los
Angeles' Pehr. Stateside, the album began amassing an
abundance of critical praise and the album repeatedly sold through pressing
after pressing before eventually falling out of print because of the cost of
the album's unique artwork. England's
Monotreme Records picked up the rights to Red
Your Blues where the album garnered further critical praise in Europe.
By the time Red Your
Blues appeared, the band had evolved considerably, expanding from acoustic
guitar and cello to acoustic guitar, cello, electric guitars, piano, and
violin. Live performances consisted of anywhere from one member to six members
as Picastro played shows alongside Smog, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mick Turner (of The Dirty Three), Cat Power, Elliott Smith,
and longtime friends Cerebus Shoal.
In 2005 Picastro
released their second full-length, Metal
Cares through Polyvinyl Records. The album featured collaborations with
Tigerbeat6 artist Dwayne Sodahberk,
Jim McIntyre of Sea Snakes, Evan
Clarke of Blake and Rockets Red Glare, Zak Hanna of Bush League and Pecola , and Owen Pallett who has recorded with Arcade Fire, Jim Guthrie, and Hidden
Cameras in addition to his own projects Final Fantasy and Les
Mouches.
Picastro's third album, Whore Luck, was released in September
2007. The album contains varied and
ambitious arrangements, with new members (cellist Nick Storring and drummer
Brandon Valdivia) adding a more experimental and chaotic edge to the already meditative
tones inherent in Liz's songwriting.
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Hortur
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Car Sleep
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No Contest
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Sharks
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Liz Hysen
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Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
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Nick Storring
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Cello
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Brandon Valdivia
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Drums
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Italy Booking
Promorama
Daniele
France Booking
Pierre Temple
European Booking
Toutpartout
Felix
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