November 6, 2007

The Electric Tickle Machine - Mercitron













Guitars, bass, sleigh bells, glockenspiel, melodica, slide whistle, electronic bow, tambourine, feedback, claps, shakers; all played and garage banded by The Electric Tickle Machine aka (Thomas Laplaige), who sounds like Damon Albarn's lucid spaghetti western dreams.

Mercitron is the soundtrack for slowrolling steam locomotives, cracked boots and panoramics across a forgotten landscape, so pop in some big league chew, shake the dust off your bedroll and lay back son.

The Electric Tickle Machine - Mercitron

We asked Laplaige about his recording style and how someone living in the East Village drops all this "Dark Tower Series" heat, and with a piece of hay hanging out of his mouth he says:

"These songs were written on the fly as i recorded them. I start with a simple guitar line or melody and build from there. I don't go in with too many preconceived notions of what the end product is going to sound like. Each new piece inspires the next until the shape of the song begins to fill out and then i run with it. Everything is self-recorded at home using just my built-in computer microphone and garageband which has a hand in dictating the process. I'm in the process of continued recording and recruiting a band with hopes of getting my album (tentatively titled Apples) together for an early 2008 release and tour. What that release will entail is still up in the air. I am looking for a label... one that likes vinyl."

We smell an indie A&R showdown at high noon. Get, ah, tickled more at Thomas' blog.

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