A little info about the album is here:
From:
Splendid eZine
Quote:
Splendid: You have another album, Unicorns Are People Too. When did that come out?
Nicholas Diamonds: That came out in February of last year.
Splendid: Wow. You put out two albums in one year.
Nicholas Diamonds: Yeah, and we've got tons of songs backlogged that we're going to work on in Florida. We're going to hang out in Florida for a little while, so that's exciting. Yeah, Unicorns Are People Too is something we put out ourselves, quietly, like 500 copies. We sold them at shows and record stores, and it's long out of print, all sold out, hard to find.
Splendid: Any plans to put that back out again?
Nicholas Diamonds: People are still discovering us, so we want to wait to put it out, I think. Maybe one more album... We want more people to have an idea of what we're doing, because that might throw people off. It's a bit different -- really, really lo-fi, and goofy, kinda.
From:
Tiny Mix TapesQuote:
... Self-released back in March of 2003, The Unicorns first album, "Unicorns Are People Too" was a tour-de-force into the no-budget frills of low-fi recording, and reached the esteemed ranking of number twenty-nine on the Canadian charts.
Recorded by Diamonds and Ginger on a shoestring budget, the album has officially taken its' place among rare out-of-print albums, liken to that of Pavement's "Slay Tracks."
"It was [recorded on] a shitty computer; like a shitty old computer and a shitty computer mic." recalls Diamonds of the recording sessions. "It was just the cheapest. I don't know? It cost nothing to make that album. We didn’t know what we were doing. We only put it out because we felt like we should."
With an initial pressing of only five hundred compact discs, the now out-of-print "Unicorns Are People Too" is the latest hot commodity amongst the over-crowded underground.
"We recorded it like a year before that, but it kind of just sat around for a long time. And then we were like, 'Shit, let’s just put it out!' So that’s what we did. I don’t know why we did it, but we did it."
"And it’s obvious that the songs don’t sound the same now than they did then." adds drummer Jaime Thompson. Also noting that, "The new songs we’re doing now are a bit more collaborative."...
From: the UAPT Liner Notes:
Quote:
Songs 1-6 recorded at The House of Common (Nick's House?) on December 24th, 26th and 27th, 2001, Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada
Songs 7-9 recorded at "The Company" with Joey on March 14th 2002, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Bells & Whistles, Smoke and Mirrors whipped up in January and May respectively, and released January 2003
Review from:
Exclaim!:
Quote:
The Unicorns
Unicorns Are People Too
I've long suspected that small mediocre towns spawn great artistic visions. Such is the case with The Unicorns. From the salmon capital of the world come two gleefully art-damaged youngsters who, after escaping Campbell River, BC, have recorded a wonderfully fucked up collection of songs. The duo is Alden Ginger and Nicholas Diamonds, and their self-titled debut is a disorienting excursion into their twisted inner lives. Crammed full of crackling pop, glitchy samples, strangled vocals, fuzzed-out guitar, tinny drum sounds and often impenetrable lyrics, the record spins eagerly from sense to nonsense. It's a lo-fi recording that has been expertly (and lovingly) cut up and reassembled. The stuttering songs spiral out of control with great enthusiasm, and there is plenty that lurches above the sonic collapse to appease the sound junkies. It all coheres in a smoking, twisted metal mass of tacky beats and slacker vocals, and despite the fact that every sound on the record has been processed several times, it is never over-crowded. The duo warble in unison throughout, and their screeches make for a delightfully satisfying sing-along - just stop yourself from crying "satisfy the bride! Fellate the groom!" after a few listens. It's the sort of mess that is never less than pretty. Their thrift-store sensibility is sublime. Oh mythical Unicorns, save us from all that is hopelessly normal!
Helen Spitzer
From:
Hour magazine:
Quote:
...There is a record to be heard. And though you get the impression that Diamonds would prefer that you didn't hear it, he's just being silly. In the spirit of Ween, the Folk Implosion and any other two-headed creatures with heart, the self-titled debut is all about that palpable off-the-cuff exuberance of two heads plugged together.
"We wrote pop songs and then fucked with them," he says, explainging how once they'd put the tracks down it was just about adding the "smoke and mirrors."
"I guess, ultimately, I want to find the balance between good songs, good beats and just exploration of sound."...
And a lot more info can be found in an April 2003 interview with SHZine,
available here.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
