Ernest Gonzales - Been Meaning To Tell You

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Press release
Soundclips

4...according to our Business Lady on Thu 18 Feb, 2010.

Don't know much about Ernest Gonzales but it would appear that the Art Union/Maomoo label are big fans with this LP coinciding with a book release/multi artist collaborative effort. You can read more about the related shenanigans in the press release or follow this link. For now, i'll stick to banter about the album in hand. 'Been Meaning to Tell You' is a joyous romp of beat and melody composed primarily on sequencers but with the organic feel you expect from an expert in the field. Synths are lush and overwhelming with the beat production that is refined and crisp. Musically it reminds me of that Joy Division/New Order crossover point where indie rock becomes dancefloor filler. It has that all genre, all styles, informed production technique that prevents it from being strictly a dance record or indie pop record. Obviously, it's both. Light warm and inviting stuff.

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The Friends of Friends label ventures into the world of Exponential Records boss Ernest
Gonzales with a full-length album and art project that speaks louder than the music
alone. Been Meaning to Tell You hopes to be more than merely a foray into the LP
format for the label and Gonzales’s second album but rather a glimpse into eyes and ears of
EG and his friends…

Been Meaning To Tell You is an album of raw emotion interpreted into sound and stands
as a testament to Ernest’s wife, Devyn. From the unlikely joy of wintry bells
speed-skating alongside beatboxing ("Dancing In the Snow") to a bleeps-and-blips
shuffle ("Falling Asleep to the Glow of the Television"), Gonzales' musical vocabulary is
right on, while psychedelic riffs and acoustic guitars alike haunt the album's thirteen
tracks; the songs are all linked by a well of innovative sincerity. His unique sound has
received accolades from places like Pitchfork, XLR8R, RCRD LBL and he has remixed
artists such as Sunny Day in Glasgow, AM Architect, Daedelus and others. The album wouldn’t be a Friends of Friends project if it weren’t something special so EG and FoF invited a over 30 people to the mix! The final collaboration includes 16 tracks from the likes of Daedelus, CYNE, Faunts,
Yppah, matthewdavid, & Copy and is accompanied by a full-color art book featuring
original works from 14 visual artists. The book will be available in physical form from FoF
Music as well as in the digital bundle in all formats (as a .pdf) including as a download
with the 180g white vinyl released by Tall Corn Music. On top of all the amazing contributions from friends, the Been Meaning to Tell You posse has created a website to house these creations and more. The website, www.beenmeaningtotellyou.com, tells all about the album and includes gorgeous
previews of the book's artwork, downloads, and all sorts of interactive shenanigans to
entertain you while you bliss out to the music and swoon over the art.
Moamoo release a CD format of this album and the vinyl is released by Tall Corn Music.
www.beenmeanintotellyou.com