MOVING TO TUMBLR

Peace out Blogspot. We're moving out...to Tumblr.

Check out our tumblr page at http://univoxmusic.tumblr.com

Thanks!

An experience to remember

Hello! First and foremost, we have a favor to ask of you all. Please visit The Deli Magazine's Best Emerging Artist Poll and vote UNIVOX as...best emerging artist! Thank you oh so very much!

Next on the agenda, remember when we played at The Station in South Philly on January 8th with The National Rifle? No? Yes? Maybe? A little? Well I sure remember it. And in case you weren't there to experience our newly designed line up, here's a video for yinz.



Enjoy!

Love,
Robert Anthony DeCarolis

Coming soon: UNIVOX TV

Hello everyone. We at UNIVOX, Inc. have been working on something extra, extra special. Coming soon, we will be delivering to the public two episodes of pure fun per month. That's two episodes per month featuring comedy, tragedy, and UNIVOX. You heard it. UNIVOX TV starring Dave. Dave is a man. A man you will soon come to know and love.

Watch the promo Dave made for UNIVOX TV. "Just push play" - Aerosmith



Also, while we're on the subject, I'm glad to hear that my zodiac sign will not be changing. Taurus till the day I die.

As always, your loving host,
-Robert Anthony DeCarolis

Diggin' on some jammin' grooves.

Hey everybody.
Ever find yourself wondering: "Hm, what the heck have the members of UNIVOX been listening to lately?"

Well guess what dummies, now's your chance to find out!

Lately I've been listening to a lot of really sugary sweet pop stuff. Including, but not limited to: Beach House, Guided by Voices/Robert Pollard solo, The Shivvers, The Verlaines, New England Teen Scene Vol. 1 (Comp), They Might be Giants, 20/20, Strapping Fieldhands, Beat Happening, The Yips. Dig the vidz below for some highlights.

First off, one of my favorite Philadelphia bands: Strapping Fieldhands. I'm not quite sure why the uploader put both of these songs together but oh well.



Next up: The Shivvers. Move over, Blondie. 'Nuff said.



The Yips - Bonfire in a Dixie Cup has been on my playlist recently as well. I wish I could find a different song to post here, but "Muhammad Ali" was the only one. Enjoy! Super catchy lo-fi pop from the 90's.



Also, I recently asked Josh Jones what he'd been listening to lately and this was his response (copied and pasted):







Thanks to Bette for introducing me to the real Randy Newman



Sort of...


In case you don't remember what 90's Heart sounds like, here's a taste:


Well, there you have it. On a side note, I saw my friends play a show tonight. They are in a band called Everyone Everywhere. Check them out. They sound nothing like us, but that's alright. They're worth a damn or two. And their blog is funny.

Here's a really great picture of me to close out this post:


Love,
Robert Anthony DeCarolis (taurus)

The year that was.

2010 is quickly coming to a close. And what a year it was! We released our first full length record, went on some really great tours, and played with some very amazing groups (my personal favorites being Alex Body from Iowa City and Devil Eyes from Montreal). Much has happened in the UNIVOX realm throughout the past year and we couldn't be happier with the direction we're taking things. We're going to keep on doing what we do best, which is (in case you're unaware) writing songs, recording them, and playing them for all of the warm, loving faces that gaze upon us at our live shows. Thank you all! Speaking of recordings, we recently spent about 16 straight hours in the studio with genius engineer Tim Sonnefeld. So keep BOTH ears to the ground for news on that.

So seeing as it's the end of the year and all, I'd like to take this opportunity to do something that everyone else does: make a list of my favorite records from this past year. I'm not going to get too deep into any of them, so here goes...

Woods - At Echo Lake

(Woodsist)

Woods have always possessed a knack for writing very ingenious pop songs buried beneath a dense shroud of psychedelic/lo-fi production. And on this record, their songwriting sensibilities shine boldly through the lo-fi production to make a very solid record filled with succinct, smart folky/pop songs.

Stand out tracks - Suffering Season, Death Rattles, Get Back

Beach House - Teen Dream

(Sub Pop)

Quite an amazing record filled with dreamy landscapes of lush organ and guitar sounds. Victoria Legrand's slightly deeper voice can occasionally be reminiscent of Nina Simone's dreamier wails. Very fulfilling record.

Stand out tracks - Silver Soul, 10 Mile Stereo

(Also check out the 10 Mile Stereo (Cough Syrup Remix) on the Zebra 12" also released on Sub Pop)

Clinic - Bubblegum

(Domino)

Last, but certainly not least, is Clinic's phenomenal release Bubblegum. The sound of Clinic's music and the production of their records all seemed to fit together in a very uniform way. They were very good and making songs sound very similar while being completely different. This new record puts Clinic in a different realm filled with acoustic instruments and soft drum beats. Clinic style songwriting with beautifully delicate production. Must listen.

Stand out tracks - Linda, Another Way of Giving, Evelyn

That's all for now. Thanks for the great year, everybody. Have a fun new year celebration, please shotgun at least 4 beers for me. Oh, and don't forget to download the UNIVOX MIXTAPE 2010. The download link is in my post from last week.

Love,

Rob of UNIVOX

UNIVOX MIXTAPE 2010

Hello everyone! Welcome to the 2010 holiday season! We'd like to congratulate you on making it this far in life by presenting you with the official UNIVOX MIXTAPE 2010. This collection is comprised of recordings made by us in various capacities. Some tracks were recorded before we were even a band. And because I know you're all drooling over your keyboards for the dirty little details, I'll try my best to give a detailed track by track breakdown.

Here's the link to download the MIXTAPE:
UNIVOX MIXTAPE 2010 - mediafire

1. I am, I am - Josh Jones
From Josh's solo album "murder". This track was recorded in 2005. One of my personal favorites of his.

2. Pop Tart - Joseph Bonaventura III
Recorded by Joe in 1998, probably in his mother's basement in Parkland, PA. Dig the wicked tremelo, dude.

3. Soulss - Robert A. DeCarolis
This song was probably recorded around 2004/5 at my dad's house in Levittown, PA. I can't really remember exactly when. This is one of my earliest solo recordings and probably the first recording I made that really seemed to impress Mr. Josh Jones (score!). Heavily inspired by our friends Jim T. (Pan) and Patrick (Wood-Land).

4. Pi - Fuzzbucket
The ORIGINAL recording of 'Pi' from 1997! Joe's high school band who later went on to change their name to Greyroom Breakthrough. Like we've said before, Joe wrote this song when he was about 15 or 16 years old. Over a decade later, it stills sounds great. The Fuzzbucket drummer Dave Smolen makes some great experimental sounds, which can be found here. He also runs a record label in Philadelphia called Malleable, specializing in experimental music (e.g. CSection, Mincemeat or Tenspeed).

5. The Copter - Joseph Bonaventura III
Recorded by Joe at his old apartment in Kensington in 2007.

6. Talking Dog - Kent Boersma
This was recorded by Kent in 2003/4. His sophomore year of college at UArts. According to him it's about "a bad acid trip and a broken heart." 'nuff said.

7. Lights - Josh Jones
I don't believe Josh ever released this song. Maybe on his myspace at some point. It was recorded at home in 2009. UNIVOX has recently been performing this live with our new set up. Check it.

8. Take a Long Hard Look - Robert A. DeCarolis
This song was the second of two songs I had written and recorded in a single night while living in my old house on 15th street. I believe it was late 2008/early 2009. I can't remember.

9. The Old Shadow (vocal demo) - Kent Boersma
'The Old Shadow' is a song Josh wrote. He also recorded a demo of the song. This version is Kent's a capella interpretation of the song. Friggin' genius.

10. Doctor Today - Joseph Bonaventura III
Recorded by Joe in 2002. Clips of this song were used as bookends in our video for "You Don't Know". You can watch that here.

11. Pt. I - Greyroom Breakthrough
Greyroom Breakthrough was Joe's last group prior to UNIVOX; they were originally called Fuzzbucket, which I discussed earlier. This is the first movement from Greyroom Breakthrough's sole release "Shock in the Key of Red" released by Siren Electric in 2002. (SIDE NOTE: Siren Electric was a record label run by the owner of Siren Records in Doylestown. Don't bother asking him if he has any copies left, he'll act weird and make you want to leave immediately.) This is a very unique recording in that the group had an entire album's worth of material written, but at the last second decided to scrap their original idea for the album and make an entirely improvisational record. On top of that, they went back and learned the album and would perform it live. I believe Josh engineered this session.

12. F - Josh Jones
Home recording from Josh's solo album "murder". Recorded in 2006. I once performed this song live as Josh Jones along with our friend Cristina D'Ambrozio. It was a funny night.

13. Prism/Prison - Robert A. DeCarolis
This is a track I recorded in mid 2009 at my old house on 9th street. I originally started the first half with the intention of that being the entire composition. After I finished the first half, I realized the second half was buried underneath and fit perfectly. Freak out!

14. Delicate Woman - UNIVOX
This song was recorded with Bill Moriarty in 2008 with the intention of releasing it on our first full length. It didn't make the cut. Josh had made a demo recording at home, but the rest of us didn't really know the song. So this was really our first experience, as a group, learning a song as we recorded it.

15. All this Blood Came from My Heart (vocal demo) - Kent Boersma
It is truly amazing that this version exists. Kent had written and recorded this song years ago on a four track in his parent's basement while his mind was on another planet. Josh later mixed it down. There were only two copies of this recording known to man. I found one on the floor of Kent's filthy, filthy van. I immediately took this tape from him, to keep it from perishing a lonely death in a pit of filthy, filthy despair, and transferred it to a digital format. The other is buried deep somewhere beneath the metaphysical layers of Joe's "Room o' Wonders".

16. Blessed Be - Robert A. DeCarolis
A simple, improvised track I had recorded late one in maybe 2007(?) at my dad's house.

17. View From the Inside - UNIVOX
A song Joe had written that was originally released on the 5 song UNIVOX demo we released in 2006. Recorded to half inch tape on a Tascam 38 reel to reel machine in Joe's apartment he shared with his wife (girlfriend at the time) on Temple University's campus. Screenprinted covers by Joe himself. I don't believe many of those copies exist, so if you've got one you should feel lucky ;) However, Joe tells me there should still be one last copy floating around in AKA Music on 2nd street in Philadelphia. Let the rat race begin!

Well, that concludes the true fan's guide to UNIVOX. We are very proud of all the work we do (but believe me, this collection is merely the tip of the iceberg) and hope you thoroughly enjoy every second of it. Please let us know! However, we are a delicate bunch, please be kind. Stay tuned for future mixes! Tell all of your friends!

Also, if you'd like to make your own cover for the mix, and you really like my handwriting, you can use this image. Or make your own and send it to us!



Thank you all and have a very joyous holiday. Tomorrow (wednesday the 22nd) we head to Milkboy studios in (H)Ardmore, PA to record a couple tracks with Tim Sonnefeld. He plays in a killer dance-groove band called GANG.

Be irie,
Rob of UNIVOX

Welcome to our world.

Hello. We are UNIVOX; comprised of Josh Jones, Joseph Bonaventura III, Robert DeCarolis and Kent Boersma. We are a vocal pop group based in Philadelphia, PA. The four of us have been playing together as UNIVOX since mid-2005 and there is no end in sight. For the past five years we've been performing as your basic two guitar/bass/drum combo but have recently changed our set up as you can see in the above photo of us performing at Danger Danger Gallery on 12.1.2010. This arrangement seems much more convenient and conducive to fully flexing our throbbing, pulsating vocal muscles.

It's been a slow start getting the ball rolling with this here blog of ours, but as long as our fingers work we'll continue to post entries whether they pertain directly or indirectly to UNIVOX. Also, please feel free to ask any questions you feel compelled to no matter what the subject matter, we like to think we're very good at giving advice.



This is the official music video for 'Conan' that we made ourselves. Feast thine eyes.

Also, while you're in the video watching mood, check out this animation made my our own Kent Boersma and good friend Edmond Hawkins. You can look at Ed's things here.



Love,
Rob of UNIVOX