After just releasing 10-CD box set, incredibly prolific Bear gives away two new albums for FREE to celebrate
Download the Lost Album and Remixes, Vol. 1 for FREE here
MP3 Podington Bear – “Misfit Toys”
MP3: YACHT – “I Believe In You (Podington Bear Remix)”
MP3: Bobby Birdman – “Perfect for Light (Podington Bear Remix)”
For immediate release:
July 2 2008, Portland, OR
Anonymous musician Podington Bear made his musical den on the internet in the beginning of 2007, announcing he intended to write, record and release three songs a week, via podcast and blog. 156 songs total. During this campaign Podington Bear was spotlighted several times on National Public Radio and Wired.com, profiled on numerous blogs, selected as a “Best New Podcast of 2007” by iTunes Music Store editors, and more recently over a dozen of his tracks could be heard sprinkled across the second season of This American Life on Showtime. On June 24th, a little later than first planned, he released song #156, entitled “Graduation”. Also on that day, Portland label HUSH Records issued a 10 CD box set collecting these songs, as well as the tenth CD as a standalone, entitled simply The End.
It didn’t take long for word to come back that Podington Bear’s cover was blown, at least temporarily, to writers and fans who imported the CD into the ubiquitous iTunes application. The user-driven database Gracenote CDDB listed “Poddington Bear Aka Chad Crouch” in the composer field, flashing briefly for those who might take note. While correct on one count, it failed to be precisely right. Chad Crouch is Podington Bear. But the correct spelling of Podington requires only one D, not coincidentally like the popular portable music device.
Crouch was recently interviewed by internet culture vlog Rocketboom, which began licensing a steady stream of Podington Bear tracks a couple months ago for use in their daily videos. The interview aired on July 2nd.
This is not Crouch’s first nom de plume as a musician. He began in 1997 under his given name, releasing the record Portland Or. which would plant a seed as the debut release for the now decade-old HUSH label. Later, Crouch formed a band and issued four albums of eclectic indie pop under the name Blanket Music. Finally, foreshadowing Podington Bear, Crouch released an electronic pop album under the name Toothfairy. Front and center in all antecedents is Crouch’s vocal performances, now gone missing.
While moonlighting as an internet musical curiosity, Crouch also ran HUSH Records, a small but prolific label with a roster of mostly regional talent, and a release history of over 80 albums. HUSH will celebrate it’s 10th birthday in Portland at the Alladin Theater, July 12th with a show featuring roster artists Laura Gibson, Loch Lomond and Nick Jaina.
As a signal that Crouch intends to keep making music under the name Podington Bear, and perhaps that he intends to keep experimenting with models of distribution, he is making two albums available for free download via the hushrecords.com site. The Lost Album collects the last 11 original songs posted in the run up to number 156, whereas Remixes Vol. 1 collects the remixes peppered throughout the Podcast feed, including remixes of Radiohead, YACHT, Dntel, Bobby Birdman, M. Ward and more.
The Lost Album
1. Sparkletone
2. Janky Cluster
3. Nature Kid
4. Robin’s Egg Blue
5. Simple To Operate
6. Drama Queen
7. Misfit Toys
8. Hook Line & Slinker
9. Proof
10. Invisible Is Not Invincible
11. Graduation
Remixes Vol. I
1. I Believe In You (YACHT)
2. Father Of Failure (Horse Feathers)
3. Au Naturale (Radiohead)
4. Shake Shugaree (Laura Gibson)
5. Val K (Graves)
6. Radio Campaign (M Ward)
7. No Where (Graves)
8. Dumb Luck (Dntel)
9. Sweet Deception (Laura Gibson)
10. Perfect For Light (Bobby Birdman)
Also recently released:
The End
PODINGTON BEAR LINKS:
Myspace: www.myspace.com/podingtonbear
Podington Bear blog: www.podingtonbear.com
Press Materials: pondingtonbear.com/the_end.html