The Strange Boys of Bella’s Bartok release new album, ”Is Me That Monster?
NORTHAMPTON, MA: The Western Mass-based circus punk and freak folk spectacular Bella’s Bartok announce the release of their new album, “Is Me That Monster?” on June 15th, 2018. The first single, “Graveyard Funk No. 2,” was released on June 1, 2018. The tune is a janky, bone rattling song reminiscent of 60’s era New Orleans rock n’ roll and the dark glam of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The narrative is both a personal lament and social critique — inspiring and reminding one that hope springs eternal, even after devastating loss, even in the face of unforgiving greed.
IS ME THAT MONSTER?
The past four years have been such a time of change. With change comes growth and growing can be hard and it can hurt. As a band and as individuals, Bella’s Bartok has learned how to love each other, how to create together and how to support one another. Even though the building of Bella’s Bartok began almost a decade ago, the adventure that fans have chosen to come along on has truly just begun. The new album is the culmination of three years of drinking, loving, thinking, raging, screaming, singing, traveling, shouting, living, dying, and loving again.
Again, and as always, the new tunes are about loss and love, justice and the pursuit of communal joy. Perhaps their most personal album, “Is Me That Monster?” encompasses all that the band has learned and experienced over the past 3 years. They’ve tried new things and brought back some old. The entire album is a set of loosely connected narratives beginning with a brief glimpse of a dark future and ending in the fruition of the fateful foretelling.
Recorded in the winter of 2017-2018, engineer Ben Ruddock set his sights on making this album the next step in Bartok’s wonderfully grotesque evolution. The forwardness of the lyrics and the passion of the players opens the dialogue between the listener and the band.
Bella’s Bartok
All little children grow up, one day — all except the bedazzled and glittered boys of Bella’s Bartok. Inspired by elements of Vaudeville, centuries of street performance, and an unyielding drive to promote camaraderie, Northampton, MA-based Bella’s Bartok delivers a passionate kaleidoscope of sound. The songs are born of Americana and folk music of their immigrant grandparents, blended with the joy of a particular brand of pop sensibility. Their performances are at once a primal stand against oppression and a declaration of joy in the face of adversity. From quiet reflections on loss, to the howl of justice in four-part harmony, Bella’s Bartok sonically and lyrically delivers a sweaty, soulful dance-party that is sure to leave the audience happily breathless. Started in the dimly lit alleyways of Great Barrington, MA, Bella’s Bartok gradually evolved from street-punk performers to an electric, brass-filled, accordion-based spectacle that has continued to entertain audiences for nearly a decade. The band has shared the stage with musicians and acts such as Too Many Zooz, Rubblebucket, Red Baraat, The Indigo Girls, Larry & His Flask, The Suitcase Junket, Parsonsfield, And the Kids, Rough Francis, West End Blend, The Blind Owl Band, Consider the Source, Donna and the Buffalo, Meat Puppets, World Inferno/Friendship Society, Rupa & the April Fishes, Arc Iris, and many more.
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