Posts Tagged ‘Labor Against Waste’

CHRISTOPHER PAUL STELLING – ” Labor Against Waste “

Posted: December 1, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

Christopher Paul Stelling is one of those performers you could easily envy, with a superbly salient voice and ultra-skilled fingerstyle-cum-claw-hammer playing technique, all on one instrument. A real talent as well as an engaging character.

As any musician knows, the time that passes between conceiving the idea of an album and hearing it in its entirety can be very long; the songs on there need to have some staying power for the player as well as the audience. Christopher comments ‘Well, yeah, I finished the record back in September last year, and I started writing it in February, so I’m over this one,’ he laughs. ‘I’m ready to start looking at another project. I’m totally glad people can hear it now and I’m happy with how it’s being received, but I haven’t really listened to it for a while now.’

As well as being an effective, exciting 10-tracker, Labor Against Waste was in itself a labour of love for Christopher. ‘The record is out on a label, but my friends and I did the whole thing; I went into the studio initially with The Low Anthem to record a bunch of songs I had, and then I went off to Europe, came back with some more songs and went into the studio with a band and some good gear. It was recorded in segments because studio time is fucking expensive and it was mastered and mixed by us, so in that way it’s a very important one.’

http://

I had a lot of difficulties to decide where to put this one should it be in my top albums of the year, having see the guy perform earlier this year . “Labor Against Waste” by Christopher Paul Stelling is an album that is very dear to me.  A great album despite some minor flaws. And those aren’t really flaws.

CHRISTOPHER PAUL STELLING – ” Dear Beast “

Posted: May 27, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , , , ,
0

Christopher Paul Stelling  has a new album to be released and a gig at the Guitar bar in Nottingham the album titled “Labor Against Waste” is coming in just 3 weeks on 16th June on Anti Records world wide. With a huge tour to follow this perpetual tour. This is just the start. 69 shows, 10 countries. Illustration by Salome Iljana. 

Christopher Paul Stelling is not just an incredible guitarist—one who is capable of filling a room with only his dexterous finger-picking, voice, and stomp of his foot—but he’s also an excellent songwriter. Watch in the above video as Stelling performs the haunting lullaby “Dear Beast,” off his new album, Labor Against Waste,

Channelling folksters and bluesmen of the past while staying firmly planted in the present, Stelling draws from many styles to craft rich melodies on his old nylon string guitar, which he calls “Brownie.”

Stelling and a friend snuck into an abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn to shoot “Dear Beast” and the dilapidated, cavernous space fits the song’s theme of finding beauty in the ugly aspects of ourselves.

“‘Dear Beast’ is a song about a lost faith renewed through a reversal of perspective; through embracing that which is lost as a new kind faith,” writes Stelling in an email. “It’s about excepting our flaws completely, and moving on from there with them in our full embrace. It’s about taking responsibility and caring for the beast that lives in all of us and for the metaphysical beasts that we’ve created because of our inherent need to feel watched over and protected.

23/6 – Nottingham, UK – Guitar Bar

24/6 – Cardiff, UK – The Moon Club
25/6 – London, UK – The Garage

CHRISTOPHER PAUL STELLING – ” Hard Work “

Posted: May 7, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

Christopher Paul Stelling is a brilliant fingerpicker with a message: “I know my work is never done, ’til I can see the good in everyone.” That’s the heart of his new song, “Hard Work,” and the setting for this live, one-take performance couldn’t be simpler: his tiny NYC kitchen. The song comes from his stirring album, “Labor Against Waste”,which is out on June 16th. Come on in my kitchen… and check out this live video for
“Hard Work” from the upcoming Labor Against Waste via the fine radio station NPR Music
Preorder the record to receive this song and
two others instantly: http://goo.gl/XUzYg4

 

CHRISTOPHER PAUL STELLING – ” Warm Enemy “

Posted: April 9, 2015 in MUSIC
Tags: , ,
0

Life on the road is stressful, but in between the broken-down cars, the sleepless nights, cancelled gigs, and general headaches that afflict the touring musician, brief moments of unexpected beauty are merely an invitation away. Such was the case with Christopher Paul Stelling, the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter who found himself standing with just his acoustic guitar in a gorgeous sanctuary flanked by gnarled, entwined trees in Charlottesville, Virginia.
After performing the night before, Stelling met up with Charlottesville’s Pando Creative to film a spot for their Garage video series. “The Garage is the literal garage of a funeral home called Hill and Wood that doubles as a venue in the warmer months,” he recalls. “When they brought me to the location they had chosen, I was stunned….It was a giant installation of woven saplings by an artist named Patrick Dougherty on the campus of UVA.”

Stelling has self-released two albums of his inquisitive, incisive folk and toured through America and Europe. But after cutting his third album, he realized he lacked the wherewithal to repeat the process of raising money by himself. He shipped the music to Anti-, home of singer-songwriters like Tom Waits and William Elliott Whitmore, and connected quickly. On June 16th, they’ll issue his “Labor Against Waste”. For these songs, Stelling stretched his approach to include elegiac strings and solemn harmonies on “Too Far North,” clanging percussion and driving banjo on “Death of Influence” and a shuffling, simpatico band for “Revenge.” The record delights at the threshold of polished folk-pop and rustic old folk; and he seems bound to make converts on both sides of that divide.

Christopher Paul Stelling

What follows is an intimate look at one of the tracks off Stelling’s stunning debut, “Labor Against Waste”, out June 16th via Anti Records. It’s one thing to give in to the hypnosis induced by Stelling’s fluttering finger-picking on the studio track, but to catch him live is to see Stelling at his prime, all hoarse inflections, pensive delivery, and a pristine, total package of a one-man musical outfit that recalls the intensity of The Tallest Man on Earth and labelmate Glen Hansard.

It’s been a big week for Stelling, too: In addition to the drop of this video, for “Warm Enemy,” Stelling announced on April 9th that he’ll be joining the lineup at the Newport Folk Festival this July 24th–26th. “I’m beyond excited to be playing at Newport Folk Festival this year,” he says. “Historically, it’s one of, if not the most important music festivals in existence….I don’t put much stock in labels, but ‘folk’ is one I’ve come to appreciate, simply because it just means ‘people’…simple as that. At its core, all music is folk music.”

Listen to the live cut of “Warm Enemy” below, and stay tuned for the release of Christopher Paul Stelling’s Labor Against Waste on June 16.