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MACROCK Festival is coming up, and we’ve been given an amazing spot… saturday night! Washington DC show was decent, special thanks to our friends SENTAI, who allowed us to blow up their PA system (literally). And then extra bonus appreciation to everyone who has been mailordering in light of our recent money and tourvan problems… keep them coming, we’re almost 3/500th out of general debt!

Press Coverage:
Originally published on www.philadelphiaweekly.com on April 6, 2005. Written by Emily Brochin.

Listening to Chromelodeon, an eight-piece band whose members grew up together in southern New Jersey, is akin to climbing inside a videogame programmed by members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mr. Bungle. Working with a plethora of instruments ranging from the typical guitar-and-drums combination to violins, an accordion and a bank of synthesizers, Chromelodeon put on a hell of a show. The band is preparing to embark on a third national tour to promote their two latest albums, The Dark Sword of Chaos and Heart of Sawdust. Though it’s obvious their sound is heavily influenced by Nintendo, the band is more than a gamer’s dream come true. They produce heavily composed sonic tapestries with an epic flavor that evokes princesses and dragons duking it out in the heath. In a town overflowing with bands, Chromelodeon is one of a kind.

Check out the reviews page for some new kind words about us live at MACROCK and our new album. Things have been really picking up, after a grim financial situation in late winter. Very special thanks to all the mailorders that keep coming in (and The Shizz community), and Scott from our label BLOODLINK RECORDS in moving past those tough times. Our 2nd original album HEART OF SAWDUST is available for sale at last, and a semi-official CD RELEASE SHOW is slated for May 1st @ The First Unitarian Church with MC CHRIS (the musician for Adult Swim). This show is literally almost sold out (500 capacity space), might be a good idea to preorder tickets via www.r5productions.com !!!

Originally linked from Chromelodeon.com as “obligatory.doc”. Archived on May 15 2005. Presented with telephone number removed.

CHROMELODEON

WHO IS THE _____?
Hailing from the Philadelphia area, they are known collectively as Chromelodeon. Comprised of 8 bizarre members, their instrumentation ranges from the standard rhythm section to violin, accordion, and synthesizers, all completed with a light show and visual effects. Described best as a cross between Godspeed You Black Emperor and Mr. Bungle in a video game music writing war, this group of shadowy figures have found their epic scores to be well received by diverse crowds. Their intense and chaotic performances transform shows into personal soundtracks for the audience, demanding mental participation, imagination, or the attention of personal emotion.

Existing for over two years, they are now represented by BLOODLINK RECORDS, SOLID PR PUBLICITY, and STICK FIGURE DISTRIBUTION. They have played several sold out Knitting Factory NYC shows, and have been on two national tours. They have played consistently with some of the most recognized video-game inspired groups existing today, along with other large ones at numerous events.

WHAT DID ____ DO?
Two national tours, 3 releases, several sold out Knitting Factory NYC shows, with appearances at national festivals such at MACROCK and CMJ.

WITH WHOM DID _____?
The Bouncing Souls, Wesley Willis, Bling Kong, Need New Body, Evolution Control Committee, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Skeleton Key, and MC Chris are some of the other groups we’ve worked with.
This summer 2005 brings a 3rd national tour, to promote the official release and distribution of two new albums….

-CHROMELODEON-

███-███-████ (Ryan)
chromelodeon@gmail.com

www.CHROMELODEON.com
www.BLOODLINK.com
www.SOLIDPR.com
www.STICKFIGUREDISTRO.com

RELEASES

In the Year 20XX: Summer 2003 release. Spread widely across the country from previous touring, with glowingly abundant print and online reviews. Perfect soundtrack for a robotic holocaust.

The Dark Sword of Chaos: Release for late 2004. An album comprised of rearranged works from the original Nintendo game “Ninja Gaiden 2.” Already creating a buzz in the underground community of video game music hijackers. Accompanies select audio/visual performances.

Heart of Sawdust: 2005 release. New full length original. Showcases the many moods and movements the group is capable of. Preview tour of the material left everyone waiting for their summer return.

PRESS

“…It’s a booming battering ram of disparate riffs, epic synth atmosphere and every-instrument insanity. In other words, you’ve never heard anyone rock an accordion this hard…”

-Doug Wallen
Philadelphia Weekly
Dec 22-28, 2004

“Hailing from Philadelphia, this crazed collective fuses together metallic guitar action, howling synths, grinding accordion and circular motifs to fashion a bold, catchy, proggy instrumental mélange that I think can best be described as “spaceship rock.” Genuinely impressive – they had my attention from “hello” to “goodnight.”

-Rupert Bottenberg
Montreal Mirror
October 2004
Vol. 20 No. 18

“Memories of sitting at home in the basement for hours playing Mega Man and Zelda come rushing back after hearing these songs…. this explanation is pointless, because to understand how cool this is, you have to hear it. This is highly recommended.”

-Tim Kuehl
Punk Planet
March/April 2004
Issue #60

“Truth is, this is pure gold. Chromelodeon is an instrumental powerhouse (with some minimal vocals) that creates epic tracks from rock and new wave roots… This is truly an example of a book that should not be judged by its cover. I consider myself schooled.”

-Jason Kucsma
Clamor Magazine
Issue #26

Download: 

Things are going nuts in preparation for our 3rd US tour… we leave in 3 days! We’ve got new material, new visuals, and new car troubles. Thanks to everyone who came out to our local shows in the last month. In the meantime, check out another review we got in the Philadelphia Weekly here, along with a decent electronic compilation album we’re on for sale here.

The following files were saved with Visual Boy Advance 1.7.2 for Windows, running LSDJ version 2.2.7 and have not been tested with hardware, other emulators, or LSDJ versions. These will not work with versions of LSDJ newer than 2.4.4.

Visual Boy Advance 1.7.2 + LSDJ version 2.2.7 (demo) – ZIP – 832 KB 

Heart of Sawdust:

The Final Recordings:

Sprite Slowdown

Setlist:

  1. Polygon Sun [4:38]
  2. Aluminum [5:53]
  3. Triangular [10:01]
  4. One [5:12]
  5. Five [5:47]
  6. Six [3:46]
  7. The Parasprinter [3:03]

Audio:

Flyers:

Tour Journal:

Whoops… we barely made it out of Philadelphia…we had to get the van inspected (it passed!), and had to drive really far to pick up the trailer. After stocking up on supplies at Scam Ash we hit the road with the usual late start (thanks for the hookup Tom!).

The show tonight went very well for our first out of town date on this tour. Our new set has come together nicely already, and we’ve found new friends with Karmella’s Game. Also, we ended up completely sparked thanks to the bartender Liz dishing out way too many free “Long Island Spark Teas”. Seriously sparked. Check the pictures at this link for proof:
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chromelodeon/3rd%20US%20tour/

Photos:

Setlist:

  1. Polygon Sun [3:54]
  2. Aluminum [5:54]
  3. Triangular (aborted) [1:50]
  4. The Parasprinter [4:28]
  5. One [4:41]

Audio:

Tour Journal:

Our second show in the city with Temp Sound Solutions… the space was this strange half-warehouse run by old head punks. Had potential, but it was an off night and an overpacked bill of touring acts.

Had an optimistic last supper with Shawn Phase before leaving for TN that night, the real tour has fully begun…

Pictures!!!
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chromelodeon/3rd%20US%20tour/may%2022%20baltimore/

Photos:

Setlist:

  1. Polygon Sun [3:24]
  2. Aluminum [5:56]
  3. Triangular [8:20]
  4. One [5:01]
  5. Five [5:43]
  6. Six [3:43]

Audio:

Tour Journal:

Monday night in a small town= dead zone. Once again we get the shaft from being on a bill entirely filled with touring acts… its a shame that even though most promoters realize this is a mistake, it still happens regardless. We kept up good spirits with relaxing all day in the hotel with none other than LITTLE CEASAR and his royal pizza. Fine pizza that we conned out of him.

Pictures!!

Photos:

Setlist:

  1. Polygon Sun [4:20]
  2. Aluminum [5:55]
  3. Triangular [8:02]
  4. One [4:56]
  5. Five [5:30]
  6. Six [4:09]
  7. The Parasprinter [2:42]

Audio:

YouTube:

Tour Journal:
Today’s show was also a video shoot… the venue is well known for its “on the fly” live video editing setup. We walked away with all around fair dvd copies of our performance, which we’re still deciding what we want to do with.

Otherwise, the show was dead…and the hotel adjacent to the venue refused to give us the “band discount” the venue promised they’d offer (we couldn’t crash with anyone, because there was hardly even anyone to ask). The 8 of us slept sitting up in the van, in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Southern hospitality once again fails us.

At least we figured out how to scam free food from Chick-Fil-A.

Tour Journal:
For all the hype we’ve heard on this venue for a good while, it came up to par. Really nice space, with decent folk running it. Show once again could have been better, but we had a small number of friends and fans come out. Seeing the Minibosses in their own hometown was a bit of a personal accomplishment, since on our last tour we crash and never actually made it to our Phoenix show. We really impressed by the New Mexico Group The Coma Recovery.

We’ve been discouraged by the number of times on this tour we’ve found ourselves on a bill with all out-of-town supporting acts. Hopefully the west coast and our return trip through the midwest-to-new england will provide as they have before…. breaking even is becoming tough with these west coast gas prices.

Had a great time later in the night, staying with our friend Aaron of the Minibosses…. got to shower and cook real food for the first time since Texas (and for some of us, Arkansas). Copious amounts of video game and tv show theme songs were screamed until late at night. Also, most of the lizards in Aaron’s backyard no longer have tails.

http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chromelodeon/3rd%20US%20tour/june%201%20phoenix%20AZ/

video of the pushup contest coming soon…

Photos:

Tour Journal:

Yikes… our 3rd time back at Kilby Court, and yet again it was scheduled for a monday night. And it did ok attendance wise. And a 3rd time in a row the venue couldn’t offer a buck for gas. When things like this happen, it seems obvious that others would take up some punk rock ethics and shell out at least $20 for the depraved touring act from far away (with all our EIGHT members needing food, and ridiculous gas hog tourvan with trailer). We ourselves have done so in the past when on the opposite side of the show. Its absolutely brutal on us. But we have higher expectations for the latter half of this tour…

We’ve sunk into major gas debt from having to drive to SLC, and then having to drive to Denver the next day. Thanks to Jacob at Boing House for still being around to house us.

Pictures:
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chromelodeon/3rd%20US%20tour/june%206%20salt%20lake%20city/

Here’s some pics from yesterday… we had a day off in Vegas… thanks to Joie for putting up with us yet again, we generally behaved.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v617/chromelodeon/3rd%20US%20tour/june%205%20las%20vegas/\

Photos:

  • June 5 2005 – Las Vegas
  • June 6 2005 – Salt Lake City

Tour Journal:

Mig of The Shizz greets us as we enter the college town. The show was same as before… medium fare overall, but with one killer opener and one embarassingly terrible supporting act. Names aside, Denny choked Cameron several times, and everyone spit on the Urkel doll for good luck (its been tied to the front grill of the tourvan).

Photos:

Setlist:

  1. Polygon Sun [4:13]
  2. Aluminum [5:55]
  3. Triangular [7:28]
  4. One [5:53]
  5. Five [5:40]
  6. Six [3:14]

Audio:

Video:

Tour Journal:

After what seems forever, we finally return to upper New England to all our friends, fans, and the best guys that ever put up with us…. HARRIS. Show went very well, and we’re happy to have broke into one of the best venues in the city. A live recording was done also.

Special thanks to Barker, who is part of the -Seven Degrees of the Gypsy Scumbag- (Walt) that we encountered on tour. Seems like we were hanging out with Jeb in Missouri only days ago. Or was it weeks….?

Setlist:

  1. The Parasprinter [3:39]
  2. Polygon Sun [3:48]
  3. Aluminum [5:55]
  4. Triangular [8:20]
  5. One [5:23]
  6. Five [5:52]
  7. Zelda Medley (with Minibosses) [6:50]

Audio:

Video:

Youtube:

Tour Journal:
Wow…. this was the best welcome home reception we could have ever hoped for. We headlined to over 350 sweaty insane persons… and did a secret dual encore with THE MINIBOSSES…. couldn’t have gone any better… just check out the pictures and video below to catch a glimpse of what went down!

http://good-evil.net/temporaryfiles/minibosses-7-3-05/

(the last video in particular is amazing…. listen for the overmodulated crowd noises when they recognize the tune we’re playing)

Concert Photos:

Candid Photos:

Originally published on robweychert.com on July 7 2005.

Late last year, my friend Scott added a Philadelphia-based band called Chromelodeon to the roster on his Bloodlink record label. The band initially piqued my interest with a nine-song ep called The Dark Sword of Chaos, which was dedicated exclusively to the music from Ninja Gaiden II, the second installment in the greatest video game series of all time. It was clear that these guys shared my enthusiasm for the game, and they brought its music into an epic rock context that served it quite well. But since video game cover bands with limited appeal have been coming out of the woodwork for the last couple of years, I didn’t bother to look into what else Chromelodeon had to offer, even though I knew they had original material. Seeing them play with the Minibosses this past weekend changed my mind. And then some.
I sized them up as they started setting up onstage. Eight guys in the band, none of whom look much older than twenty-one or so. Two guitars, bass, drums, violin, accordion, an array of analogue synthesizers (including a keytar), a lo-fi lighting rig, and two projectors for visuals. This was either going to be a formless, cacophonous art project, or something really special. Whatever the outcome, I was already impressed by its ambition.
Given the band’s numbers, it is not surprising that Chromelodeon’s sound is huge. What is surprising is just how unique that sound is, encompassing punk ethos, prog atmospherics, and gamer geekery. Its guitars channel Godspeed You Black Emperor’s symphonic grandiosity, replacing the cynicism with a sense of wonder and adding a touch of metal bravado; fantasy-tinged synth lines recall a decidedly 8-bit Nintendo aesthetic; and the accordion and violin peppered throughout provide a subtle European folk texture.
Throughout the show, though, it was that aforementioned ambition, that potential, that really struck me. Once they started playing, I wasn’t just excited about what they were doing at that moment—which was awesome—but what I could imagine them doing in another year or two. Between their ostensible youth and their distinctive melodic sensibilities, it’s not hard to imagine their material evolving quickly, producing ever more sophisticated arrangements. I could already see it happening at the show—the as-yet-unreleased material they played was that much more invigorating than the great stuff they’ve already recorded.
The future looks bright for Chromelodeon. I am anxious to find out what they have in store.