The Dragons Power Up! song “Filter Valve” 

Song taken from the 2010 album “Brace for the Bloom” available on Guilt Ridden Pop records.

Order DPU! music from iTunes, eMusic and CDBaby. 

Find Dragons Power Up! on facebook, twitter (@DPU) and at www.dragonspowerup.com.

Video: “Where the Bees Suck” (public domain) filmed, produced and edited by Paul Conneally

Taken from the “7 Inches” Blog. Click image to read the full review.

“The other side has Dragons Power Up! and their track, “Sea Legs”. They get a slow tempo groove going with big power chords fading out to feedback for a full measure…they have that indie pop style of Apples in Stereo with a post-punk array of changes, measured bursts of changes that could well be miniature Tortoise movements. It’s all leading to this epic chorus by the finish where all the ocean narrative comes to a head: 
But your compass is golden! 
and your sextant is golden! 
and the horizon is golden! 
and your sealegs are golden! 
In a sort of prog rock synth backed grand finale. Everything looks pretty good today, the ships on course, everythings going to be alright. Like the Annuals single, Brother, it comes as a bit of a surprise just how giant a sound they manage to work up. Chris’ [sic] got a great vocal here, subtle melodies, up front in the mix, working on this sea story, changing phrasing along with the stumbling rhythm and when he hits that epic finish, you get it. ”

Video of basic tracking from the one-day tracking session of Mike Ries’ producer project MICHAEL AND THE MOONLIGHT.

“The project started in the fall of 2010. I was working a music blog where I was attempting to write and record a new song each week and share it, but began to be frustrated with the hodgepodge of songs and production styles I was making. I had always been enamored with the pop productions of the mid sixties, particularly the work of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson and decided I wanted to make a record in that style. The kind of record where the focus is the sound of a large group of musicians playing all the elements of the song at once, in the same room. 

“I recruited fellow musicians that I either currently play with in other groups or have played played shows with in those groups including members of; Dragons Power Up!, Cloud Hidden, Big Cats!, Wizards Are Real, the Crooks, Me And My Arrow, and Invisible Flying Machine. They are as follows:

Percussion - John Vance, Spencer Wirth-Davis, Jordan Wirth-Davis
Bass - Chris Tures
Guitars - Joe Adrian, Dan Ries, Michael Coyne
Pedal Steel - Brian O’Neil
Piano - Michelle Vance
Saxophones - Eric Bloomquist, Melanie Bergstrom, Drew Brown
Cello - Renee Klitzke
Viola - Robin Heinonen
Violin - Claire Sigford

“We convened at Waterbury Studios in NE Minneapolis on January 15th to record the instrumental backings for 8 songs. Neil Weir of the Old Blackberry Way helped engineer the session and in about 10 hours we had solid takes of all the songs.”

Taken from Mike Ries’ official Michael and the Moonlight website - where you can download the newest singles. Go there. Video by JT Williams.