The Bran Flakes release new album

The Bran Flakes are back! Six years since their last full release, Otis Fodder and Mildred Pitt are returning with the thrillingly fun I Have Hands on Illegal Art (Girl Talk, Steinski). The duo of audio-collage cut-ups will tour the U.S. this summer and in preparation have begun taking song requests via its MySpace page. See more about The Bran Flakes truly wild live shows below.

The Bran Flakes have posted the first video from I Have Hands for the song “What It’s All About” on their website and on YouTube. Legendary and groundbreaking radio station WFMU recently posted thoughts about the video.

Leading up to the release of I Have Hands on February 24th, 2009, the Illegal Art label will launch a new website that more fully employs the “pay what you want” system they embraced with Girl Talk’s Feed The Animals. Back catalog along with The Bran Flakes new album will similarly be have a flexible price tag for a high quality download.

Formed in 1992 amidst tape and zine trading scenes, The Bran Flakes already have seven releases of zany mashups and poppy audio collages that are more likely to cop a riff from Evel Knievel than anything on the current radio dial. Call them the cover boys of Cool and Strange Music or simply misfits with giant paper-mâché heads, these boys have amassed a cult following for their child-like concoctions that evoke flashbacks of a sugar-induced high whilst watching Sesame Street.

For their cabaret-induced live performances The Bran Flakes bring in Susan DeLint, Th’G’Rd’N’R, Clam Bam The Talking Robot, a dancing chicken and gorilla, and audience members who wear big foam hands that they can take home after the show. Shows include animated videos, marching bands, piñatas, confetti cannons, and whatever else their imagination dreams up. They have shared the bill with Jack Dangers (of Meat Beat Manifesto), The Evolution Control Committee, Lydia Lunch, Steve Fisk, R. Stevie Moore, Puyo Puyo, and others.

Besides their devotion to The Bran Flakes, Otis and Mildred have a litany of other projects that include collaborations with Negativland, the Ubu.com-hosted 365 Days Project, their own Happi Tyme label, and the prolific Comfort Stand Recordings label that released tracks from artists such as Dan Deacon and the Russian electronic-surf band Messer Chups. Mildred is also a member of the experimental-dub band Library Science and provides musical background for vocalist Spacecake from Twizzle.

The duo has also churned out Bran Flakes-styled remixes for kitschy modern-lounge artist Tipsy, French electronic music pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey, Ipecac recording artist End, and others. To top it all off, in mid-late 2009 they will release a full-length album of commissioned remixes they’re constructing of legendary Raymond Scott material. With Otis in Montreal and Mildred in Seattle (living in a clown house!), their studio work often occurs through long-distance collaboration. Both are employed in web-related work and are obsessive record collectors, having collectively bought out a thrift store of over 5000 records at one point.

The new album I Have Hands is 100% samples. No other band dares to invite Lawrence Welk, Mister Rogers, Van Halen, and Strawberry Shortcake to the same party. One track uses Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” at its center, while juxtaposing the familiar guitar pluck from Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” and then ends with the Osmonds singing about freedom. While the look and feel is distinct, The Bran Flakes are right at home on the label that has championed Girl Talk, Steinski, and other samplephiliacs. As always, Illegal Art claims Fair Use for this recording. No harm was done to the original artists.

I Have Hands Tracklisting:
Release Date: February 24th, 2009

01 Hi
02 Rodeo Butterfly
03 KLAM
04 Stumble Out Of Bed
05 I’m Not Feeling Very Well
06 Marchy March
07 Don Knotts
08 The Girl That I Used To Be
09 What It’s All About
10 Dance Of The Sugarsnap Fairy
11 Singing Dogs
12 Make A Funny Sound
13 You Can Do Most Anything
14 Do You Want Salad With Your Taco?
15 Mini Mountain Queen
16 The Sidewalk Song
17 I Wonder Where My Grandmother Is?
18 Mr. And Mrs. Footsie
19 Funky Feeling
20 I Comb My Hair Sideways
21 Van Pop
22 If I Loved You
23 Fifty Four Fifty
24 Jump Up!
25 Beat Head
26 The Crickets Ditty
27 Sunshine Country
28 I Am A Promise
29 I Have A Friend
30 Bye

On The Web:
www.thebranflakes.com
www.myspace.com/thebranflakes
www.hellobran.blogspot.com
www.illegalart.net
www.myspace.com/illegalart