BLUE STATES
Memphis' first signing, Blue States aka Daddy D aka Andy Dragazis have been
with us ever since. King of the strings, and much more besides, Andy's
consistently come up with the goods, from Your Girl on his debut Nothing
Changes Under the Sun, through to Allies on his recent offering First Steps
Into.
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01. Down The Days
02. Burning Daylight
03. Saltlick
04. The Departure
05. The Return of Elios Therepia
BUY
01. Allies
02. First Steps...Last Stand
03. Holding Ground
04. The Electric Complement
05. Gaining Time
06. 100's & 1000's
07. Look To Your Laurels
08. Down The Days
09. Red And Shine
10. What Can Be Done To Right A Wrong
11. Distant But Not Forgotten Shores
12. Writing Home
13. Last Of Old England
A The Last Blast
B Alice Bright Lane
BUY
01. Across The Wire
02. For A Lifetime
03. Ten Shades
04. One Night On Tulane
05. The Last Blast
06. Output
07. Final Flight
08. Alright Today
09. Leaning In
10. Sad Song
01. Metro Sound
02. What We've Won
03. Colouration
04. Only Today
05. Studio 20
06. Bare Bones
07. Season Song
08. Man Mountain
09. The Winfield Audition
10. Double Speak
11. Halfway Highway
12. Adrift
BUY
01. Arion
02. Diamente
03. Trainer Shuffle
04. Stereo 99
05. Spit and Soar
06. Golden Touch
07. Your Girl (CLICK TO LISTEN)
08. Looking Glass
09. Theme From Within
10. Elios Therepia
11. Heroes' Elegy
12. Cherio Manoli
13. Walkabout
14. Daystar
"Leaves you in no doubt that Blue States are destined for greatness." - 4/5 Uncut
"Blue States have turned their abstract musical visions into more accessible pop while retaining the cinematic feel of their earlier work. There is symphonic majesty, sad drifting beauty, lyrical thought and melodic poise." - The Times
"The Soundings manages to slip anchor from the downtempo doldrums where so many have been stranded. They still make grand gestures such as the orchestra that closes Sad Song but it's also a more bare boned sound with the pocket symphonies of the first two albums replaced by simpler song structures and Chris Carr?s yearning voice. The lyrics venture in to darker waters than previously but Blue Sates still fill their sales with powerful sonic win." - Jockey Slut
"Out go Air-like pastoral soundscapes in come tugging bass lines and urban angst. Opener Across the Wire is superb, vocalist Chris Carr pitching his 'under the grey skies' cry against mountain sized melancholia. One Night on Tulane stella brew of flugal horns and Japanese extures would have graced any late 80s Cure album while The Last Blast chugs wonderfully in the manner of German band Neu!" - The Guardian
MAN MOUNTAIN
"If the art of pop is to stay ahead of the game, Blue States should be leading the field" - The Guardian 4/5
"Season Song and Doublespeak are gale force wind epics resounding with elemental wonderment. Most Chillout caters for the lounge; Blue States reach for the skies" - 4/5 Uncut
NOTHING CHANGES UNDER THE SUN
"There's cinematic music, and then there are seductive, creamy sounds that make you feel like a film star..." - 4/5 The Guardian
"Lavishly evocative" - Q 4/5
"Dragazis has a musical imagination that transcends... Check out the blissfully expansive Arion or Golden Touch, with its glittering glimpses of Arcadian coastlines. Essential escapism" - 8/10, The Times
"A gorgeous, sweeping thing, both flooded with silvery light and bruised by menacing melancholia" - Time Out
"Blue States have a scale and grandeur seldom heard in modern music" - The Observer
1999 First release for both Blue States and Memphis is the "Blue States Forever" EP. Further EPs follow - Your Girl and Walkabout. Blue States find themselves in some weird downtempo twilight zone inhabited by Zero 7, Bent, Lemon Jelly and many more.
2000 Blue States release their first album Nothing Changes Under the Sun, an expansive, windswept, epic stand out tracks include Your Girl and Stereo 99. It's critically acclaimed and starts to sell surprisingly well.
2001 Blue States are naturally asked to perform at the Big Chill Festival in Somerset, England and Andy hastily puts a band together including Sam Walker (drums), Chris Carr (guitar), Dicken White (guitar) and Karl the Jackal (bass) - Andy takes up keyboard duties. This ramshackle unit starts touring round the UK. The album is licensed to the Thievery Corporation's record label ESL Music and gets a US release. Lady singer Ty Bulmer joins the band to add some sass and vocals.
2002 Andy begins work on second album Man Mountain with Ty plus a gaggle of other local musicians - there's a brass section, a string quartet, congas, live drums, Theremins and more. The result is a rich, melodramatic brew and the album is licensed to XL Recordings for the world, save the US were it stays on ESL. The band head to the US to tour, with Jon Chandler joining on drums, and perform at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake and SXSW. Season Song, one of the albums stand out tracks is used as the lead track on the movie 28 Days Later.
2003 Ty leaves Blue States to start her own band, New Young Pony Club. Andy regroups, reappraises and decides he wants to be in a proper indie rock guitar band, the downtempo tag having becoming pretty tiresome. He coalesces around Jon Chandler and Chris Carr, with Chris taking up vocal duties. The new three piece start recording next album The Soundings. Its Blue States' best album yet with nods to My Bloody Valentine and Ride, the sound of Andy, Jon and Chris's early tennagedom.
2004 Memphis release The Soundings and the band tour UK and the Scandinavia with label mates The Go! Team. Fractures appear in the triumvirate and the three piece splinters after a bun fight at Reading Festival.
2005 With Blue States seemingly in ashes Andy builds his own studio in a space in Whitechapel in London with the intention of producing other bands. He starts recording Memphis' eccentric axe god Toby Jenkins a.k.a. The Squire of Somerton and his mates' The Eighteenth Day of May debut album for Ryko Disc.
2006 Andy gets the all singing all dancing The Pipettes gig and co-produces their debut album with Gareth Parton - Andy contributes all of the string arrangements to the record - its his strings that open stand out track Pull Shapes. Inspired by his time writing and recording with The Pipettes Andy decides to give Blue States another crack but this time on his own. He also starts playing live with the Squire of Somerton's new band, glam/prog outfit Zan Pan.
2007 Andy completes fourth Blue States' album First Steps Into which includes vocal samples from an old ex girlfriend's Serena and Andy himself. It's a monumental, prog flavoured, filmic and highly melodic monster that outstrips anything that he has done before. Memphis Industries are all set and proud to release in 2007