Cairo Gang

Cairo Gang

Untouchable

God?

***The spiny tingle of excitement, the building anticipation of ritual! Chord progressions in the key of the heart! THE CAIRO GANG's music is a refreshing dip in the pools of classic youth-pop, with songs of star-crossed breakthroughs and guitars cross-talking with a bejeweled ennui and a sly sting that appeals to a higher order. Is it something in our head or maybe in the skies above? Yet, the stars aren’t going to save us, they’re destined to glitter dispassionately as we go down again—and rise up again. The untouchable stands outside, removed by necessity from the castes of our world. This remove makes him the most reliable narrator in tracking the way of things between people. Throughout Untouchable, EMMETT KELLY is such a narrator, made bemused and dizzy by the sights swirling around him, the fraying sense of connection and people’s need so keen to be self-aware that we write our own autobiographies before we should ever be called to witness, publish our diary pages and call them entertainment. As these instincts develops into interrelationships, contradictions abound for our singer. Dwelling in the head while noticing things—or waiting to notice things—and lyrical to the bitter-sweet end, The Cairo Gang serve up sweet-and-sorrow reveries of Untouchable, a breathtaking series of entanglements and attempts to break free, a trace of dolor wafting through their dancing riff-works.

Cairo Gang

Goes Missing

God?

***There is no sweeter cry than a cry of love, and no greater love than a love of music. Like mercury through our clutching fingers, it is here and gone and spikes the blood like poison—and the CAIRO knows, he’s flown all ‘round this world, sewin’ seams and sowin’ seeds in the name of that most rare, that sweet, and on the wind, melody. When he ”Goes Missing”, bet on it—that with guitar in hand and cry from deep in his chest, he’s in search of a place to beat his feet, and play the music again. Playing with other artists over the years, EMMETT KELLY has exhibited an encompassing approach to music which lends flexibility to THE CAIRO GANG's song-style. He’s a harmony singer of supreme skill, bringing not only a sweet and supple voice but also a tremendous sympathy to the singing of it (as anyone who’s caught Cairo onstage with the Bonnie ‘Prince’ will ever know). Now a couple albums and tapes and singles and things into it he’s making streamlined music for the ears, constructing with a heavy hand in order to have a heavy impact with more than just sounds, but songs, and beaming them in on bright bolts of sunshine so as to be valued by our walnut-sized pleasure centers. Gone Missing isn’t just an awesome, awesome-sounding record of guitar pop that rocks, of songs sweetly hung with candified hooks; also it’s a new report from the side of the road. (STREET DATE -...

Cairo Gang

Tiny Rebels

Empty Cellar

***Tiny Rebels is a new collection of songs by THE CAIRO GANG. They are about awareness. They show a new economy in the work of The Cairo Gang'sleader EMMETT KELLY, conjuring up quick and defined songs un-housed in the shimmering of two burning electric 12-string guitars. The sound of them a swirling desert night sky under which songs call to arms multiple voices that long to be freed from the constraints of song. To be re-blooded in a frenzy of hard hitting drums and bass. All the while set against a wild array of compressed overtones that jangle by the hand of Kelly's inversly delicate touch. In The Cairo Gang's previous efforts The Corner Man and the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy collaboration The Wondershow of the World, Kelly displayed a heaviness in subtlety. The sound of this record is what distinguishes it the most from previous works. Each song has the same instrumentation. two electric 12-string guitars, bass, and drums, with many voices often double tracked exciting a gorgeous spring reverberation and cut fiercely onto quarter inch tape. Always in the red and fighting for space, the layers are deeply compressed and pulsating, creating an un-ease that fluctuates as if the listener is in a vacuum, pushing and pulling. When cranked, it sounds as if there is music happening beyond the music. in the abstraction of the guitar sound. In the spacial irrecognition of the tape and reverb. The nonpresence of the drums.. the jagged tremoloes.. The Cairo Gang has armed...

Cairo Gang

Corner Man

Empty Cellar

***The Cairo Gang is the outfit of wunderkind Emmett Kelly, long-time guitar and vocals staple in the Bonnie "Prince" Billy band, and multi-instrumentalist for a multitude of legit musical enterprises; including at times: Angel Olsen, Baby Dee, Terry Reid, Scott Tuma, Joshua Abrams, Beth Orton, Joan of Arc, and many more. Records bearing The Cairo Gang name have been released by Drag City, Blackest Rainbow, Tin Angel, Narnack & Empty Cellar. On this effort Emmett is joined by Chicago musicians Leroy Bach (Wilco, The Boogie Band), Ben Babbitt (Pillars and Tongues, This Is Cinema), Sam Wagster (The Father Costume), avant-garde pianist Ben Boye. Mixed with worldly recording wizard David Vandervelde and mastered by Paul Oldham. This first pressing of The Corner Man (limited to 1000 copies) is presented on glorious vinyl in an elegant high-gloss (front) / matte (back) old-style paste-on sleeve with a letter pressed obi and printed inner sleeve. All LPs include a high quality download of the album.

Cairo Gang

Holy Clover

Empty Cellar

***A new EP by THE CAIRO GANG features four new songs recorded in a risen cornfield in Shelby County, Kentucky. A departure from previous cerebral and primarily acoustic efforts, this record is tight and electric with choruses and vocal harmonies all supported by an enforced bass and drums set. One mic at a time and brought to you in 33 RPMS on glorious 7-inch vinyl! Limited copies made available by Empty Cellar and Tin Angel in the USA and Europe, respectively. Includes a free download.