17th Pygmy to hold record release party

WHAT: The 17th Pygmy Record Release Party & Holiday Spectacular with the Spirit Girls
WHERE: Dangerous Curve, 1020 E. Fourth Place, LA, CA 90013, 213-617-8483
WHEN: Saturday December 15, 2007, 7:00 p.m.
COST: $10.00 Suggested Donation

After a possibly symbolic 17 year hiatus, influential L.A. postpunk band 17 Pygmies has regrouped under the name of The 17th Pygmy. Now with "Ballade of Tristram's Last Harping" (Trakwerx) they release their second CD of 2007, a follow up to the well-reviewed "13 Blackbirds." Stillled by guitarist/provocateur Jaxon Del Rey (late of Savage Republic), the new name reflects the growing influence of late 1960s psychedelia and early1970s classic rock.
Of their live show, Lucid Culture raves "If it's possible for a sometimes quirky, often transcendentally beautiful art-rock band to slay, [the 17th Pygmy] slayed, bringing to mind other great, artsy jangle bands like the Church, the Byrds or Fairport Convention. Mixing major and minor chords,verses that built slowly to towering refrains and then subsided again, the band held the audience spellbound. If the live show is any indication, the new album must be amazing. This is a band you should get to know."
Appearing with The 17th Pygmy at their record release and holiday spectacular is The Spirit Girls, multimedia artist Marnie Weber's experimental pop combo whose Noh-style masks and ghost girl gowns lend an eerie visual impact to their avant-prog compositions. Billed as "something of a cross between Sonic Youth, King Crimson and 17th Century French Romantic paintings," the Spirit Girls present songs from their recent Trakwerx release "Forever Free."
Reviewing the album, Jack Rabid of The Big Takeover says "Not quite goth, this still conjures the post-Bowie/Eno Berlin collaboration '80s, when dark-chilly post-punk employed murky, doomy edges against textural beauty, like The Cure, Red Temple Spirits, Strange Times Chameleons, and Shiva Burlesque. This is a tribal ritual and child nightmare about scary hobo clowns, haunted horses and worried bears; music that makes you feel strange."
For more on Trakwerx and the 17th Pygmy, visit
http://www.trakwerx.blogspot.com
http://www.trakwerx.com/label.htm
http://www.myspace.com/17pygmies
For more on Dangerous Curve gallery, visit
http://www.dangerouscurve.org