OLA PODRIDA
''GHOSTS GO BLIND''
APRIL 30 2013
41:44
1 /Not Ready to Stop
David Wingo/5:39
2 /Fumbling for the Light
David Wingo/4:03
3 /Washing Away
David Wingo/4:39
4 /Blind to the Blues
David Wingo/4:31
5 /Staying In
David Wingo/4:05
6 /Ghosts Go Blind
David Wingo/5:20
7 /Speed of Light
David Wingo/4:06
8 /Some Sweet Relief
David Wingo/4:07
9 /The Notes Remain
David Wingo/5:14
David Wingo/Vocals
Colin Swietek/Guitar
Matt Clark/Bass
David Hobizal/Drums
REVIEW
by Fred Thomas
For much of the band's early existence, Ola Podrida founder David Wingo split his time between the bedroom folk solo project and composing scores for films. Wingo's first two albums were soft, mumbly acoustic affairs, but with an inescapable sense of underlying narrative running throughout. For third full-length Ghosts Go Blind, Wingo has expanded from his shut-in home-recording ways to form a full band and record mostly live in the studio, but even with these advances in sound, it's hard to escape the cinematic underpinnings that characterize Wingo's work. The nine songs that make up Ghosts Go Blind are a big step forward. Rockers like "Speed of Light" and "Not Ready to Stop" breathe in a way that only a live band in a room can, sounding like Magnolia Electric Co. in an especially reflective mode, or Yo La Tengo indulging their most Southern impulses. The more restrained numbers also benefit from the support of a full band. The gentle amble of "Blind to the Blues" feels more sturdy with steadfast live drumming and glittery guitars urging on Wingo's slacker harmonies, and the low-lit moods of "The Notes Remain" also sound more confident and sure-footed than they might had Wingo cobbled together the instrumentation by himself. Wingo's downtrodden lyrics fit the soft indie textures of Ghosts Go Blind, setting up images of the desperate last straggler at the late-night party, the couple in a rut who don't like to go out anymore, and a group of friends experiencing their finest hours together without even realizing it. The marriage of wistful, brightly arranged indie with Wingo's reflective and cinematic verses makes Ghosts Go Blind an impressive set, easily the most effective collection from the Ola Podrida moniker.
BIOGRAPHY
by Marisa Brown
Ola Podrida, the brainchild of David Wingo, was born in early 2005, after Wingo had returned to his native Texas from New York. Although he had played instruments throughout high school and college and even composed the scores for friend David Gordon Green's movies George Washington, All the Real Girls, and Undertow, he had yet to make anything as a singer or songwriter. He recorded the songs on what would later be his debut album alone in his basement before shifts at the video store where he worked, but brought on friends guitarist Robert Patton and drummer Matthew Frank for his live show. All three musicians moved to Brooklyn in 2006, where they added Johnny Christ on keyboards and guitars and American Analog Set singer Andrew Kenny on bass. In the spring of 2007 Plug Research released Ola Podrida, and Wingo continued to work on film scores, including Todd Rohal's The Guatemalan Handshake and Craig Zobel's Great Wall of Sound, which premiered at the 2007 SXSW festival in Austin. A second Ola Podrida album, Belly of the Lion appeared in 2009 and Wingo continued soundtrack work, including co-composing with Explosions In The Sky in 2011 for the Emile Hirsch/Paul Rudd movie Prince Avalanche. For the next Ola Podrida album, Wingo expanded from his bedroom aesthetic into a full band set up, including Colin Swietek on guitars, Matt Clark on bass, and David Hobizal on drums. The expanded line up worked out Wingo's songs, expanding them into the third full-length Ghosts Go Blind, released in 2013.
''GHOSTS GO BLIND''
APRIL 30 2013
41:44
1 /Not Ready to Stop
David Wingo/5:39
2 /Fumbling for the Light
David Wingo/4:03
3 /Washing Away
David Wingo/4:39
4 /Blind to the Blues
David Wingo/4:31
5 /Staying In
David Wingo/4:05
6 /Ghosts Go Blind
David Wingo/5:20
7 /Speed of Light
David Wingo/4:06
8 /Some Sweet Relief
David Wingo/4:07
9 /The Notes Remain
David Wingo/5:14
David Wingo/Vocals
Colin Swietek/Guitar
Matt Clark/Bass
David Hobizal/Drums
REVIEW
by Fred Thomas
For much of the band's early existence, Ola Podrida founder David Wingo split his time between the bedroom folk solo project and composing scores for films. Wingo's first two albums were soft, mumbly acoustic affairs, but with an inescapable sense of underlying narrative running throughout. For third full-length Ghosts Go Blind, Wingo has expanded from his shut-in home-recording ways to form a full band and record mostly live in the studio, but even with these advances in sound, it's hard to escape the cinematic underpinnings that characterize Wingo's work. The nine songs that make up Ghosts Go Blind are a big step forward. Rockers like "Speed of Light" and "Not Ready to Stop" breathe in a way that only a live band in a room can, sounding like Magnolia Electric Co. in an especially reflective mode, or Yo La Tengo indulging their most Southern impulses. The more restrained numbers also benefit from the support of a full band. The gentle amble of "Blind to the Blues" feels more sturdy with steadfast live drumming and glittery guitars urging on Wingo's slacker harmonies, and the low-lit moods of "The Notes Remain" also sound more confident and sure-footed than they might had Wingo cobbled together the instrumentation by himself. Wingo's downtrodden lyrics fit the soft indie textures of Ghosts Go Blind, setting up images of the desperate last straggler at the late-night party, the couple in a rut who don't like to go out anymore, and a group of friends experiencing their finest hours together without even realizing it. The marriage of wistful, brightly arranged indie with Wingo's reflective and cinematic verses makes Ghosts Go Blind an impressive set, easily the most effective collection from the Ola Podrida moniker.
BIOGRAPHY
by Marisa Brown
Ola Podrida, the brainchild of David Wingo, was born in early 2005, after Wingo had returned to his native Texas from New York. Although he had played instruments throughout high school and college and even composed the scores for friend David Gordon Green's movies George Washington, All the Real Girls, and Undertow, he had yet to make anything as a singer or songwriter. He recorded the songs on what would later be his debut album alone in his basement before shifts at the video store where he worked, but brought on friends guitarist Robert Patton and drummer Matthew Frank for his live show. All three musicians moved to Brooklyn in 2006, where they added Johnny Christ on keyboards and guitars and American Analog Set singer Andrew Kenny on bass. In the spring of 2007 Plug Research released Ola Podrida, and Wingo continued to work on film scores, including Todd Rohal's The Guatemalan Handshake and Craig Zobel's Great Wall of Sound, which premiered at the 2007 SXSW festival in Austin. A second Ola Podrida album, Belly of the Lion appeared in 2009 and Wingo continued soundtrack work, including co-composing with Explosions In The Sky in 2011 for the Emile Hirsch/Paul Rudd movie Prince Avalanche. For the next Ola Podrida album, Wingo expanded from his bedroom aesthetic into a full band set up, including Colin Swietek on guitars, Matt Clark on bass, and David Hobizal on drums. The expanded line up worked out Wingo's songs, expanding them into the third full-length Ghosts Go Blind, released in 2013.
