Jason Snell, Andrew Higley and Joe Suer have started a project, Ohio Knife, which will have their first release at this years' SXSW. "Ohio Knife is OK!" EP, recorded and mixed at Welcome to 1979 by Greg Thompson and Chris Mara, will be released on Detroit's own, Fountain Records.

Stay tuned for more news and releases.

The Chocolate Horse – Beasts

With its dark, hypnotic and emotional allure, dynamic Indie crew The Chocolate Horse’s third (and best) album deservedly received the most attention yet for the band. 

Pretty interesting concept, check out the info, re-mixing and cash is a safe bet.
Here is some info on the folks behind Radius, Ripple FX Films

We're pretty stoked we're recording at Welcome to 1979 studios this coming weekend. If you haven't seen the studio, click here to check out more about it.

Calling an album “cuddly And warm” doesn’t evoke the same mystery and edginess as calling it, say, Beasts. Besides Beasts, hand-over-fist, makes for such a supercool title. But antithetical to its name, this disc is, in fact, a cozy album.

The Chocolate Horse (a supercool band name at that) isn’t a conventionally “cozy” band. The band’s roots are firmly clasped to the dirt of folk music. But their music isn’t the simple folksy “wear my heart on sleeve” lyrically focused folk, nor is it the flatteringly pastoral and ornately orchestral type of folk. The Chocolate Horse sometimes performs live as a one-piece band, which is not hard to imagine at all, since their songs, even in their fully-realized forms, still tightly cling on to the simplicity of their germ.

But The Chocolate Horse also sometimes plays live as a complete band, and thank goodness that’s what they do – performing as a six-piece – on Beasts. Incorporating instruments such as keyboards, vibraphone, saw and bone, and flute in an all-inclusive musical lineup, the band creates a sophisticated indie folk sound that couldn’t be far from either indie rock or folk: prime examples, “Escape All Responsibility” and “Characters Of Egypt.” Little hints of keyboards provide fleeting but strong impressions on songs dominated by the acoustic guitar, the piano, and the flute, and other whimsical instruments, creating a complicated and titillating world beneath the plain exterior.

Although The Chocolate Horse’s music is comforting, it is not too accessible in the pop music sense. One of the main reasons is band frontman and founder Jason Snells, whose vocals are dry and slightly boorish, albeit in a good way. His tad indifferent singing might add a know-nothing rustic accent, but does very little to pep up the poppiest of cuts – like the buoyant “All About You” – and elevate it to instant adorability. For the occasional rock numbers (like “Fools Gold” and “Found Another Way”) that have the laidback stoner feel of bands like Meat Puppets and Dinosaur Jr., Snells’s detached vocals fit too perfectly.

Beasts is rife with complex undercurrents, even though on the surface it is a raw folk record. It is in fact an artsy rock album in the guise of a simple acoustic one. The beauty of Beasts is how The Chocolate Horse lets the creature in it exist at its most virile, while at the same time taming it to absolute perfection.

Rating: A-

By Vish Iyer

More info from The Dailt Vault

Song: Characters of Egypt
Artist: The Chocolate Horse
Album: Beasts

Video by Caleb Halter
http://www.calebhalter.com

TheChocolateHorse.com
chorse@thechocolatehorse.com
The Chocolate Horse Beasts STA-010
StableRecords.com
Stable Records 2011

The Chocolate Horse:
Jason Snell -- vocals, guitars
Andrew Higley -- keyboards, French horn, bowed saw
Paul Brumm -- bass, backing vocals, guitar on "Found Another Way"
Johnny Ruzsa -- alto flute
Dave Cahill -- drums
Joe Suer -- vibraphone, keyboards, drums on "Fool's Gold"

Recorded August 2010 -- December 2010 at the Stable, Cincinnati, OH; the Masonic Lodge, Covington, KY; and at Andrew's house, Nashville, TN

Engineered by Paul Brumm
Additional Engineering by Jason Snell and Joe Suer
Mixed by Joe Costa at RCA Studio A, Nashville, TN
Mastering by Marc Chevalier at ravensound, Nashville, TN

Cover Photo by Andrew Higley
Back Cover Photo by Jason Snell
Design by We Have Become Vikings

Lyrics:
Characters of Egypt
You asked of yourself, who really cares
If you stopped all of this, no way

All you really want, is someone to hear

You knocked on all of the doors, to all of the clubs
You spinning your wheels, just to keep up

All you really want, is someone to hear

You asked of yourself, who really cares
If you stopped all of this, no way

(repeat intro)

All you really want, is someone to hear