Two Ton Sloth - s/t — bradhamers

Two Ton Sloth

Two Ton Sloth is Brad Hamers & PZ (Big Pauper)
Label: Token Recluse Recordings
Format: LP, CD, Digital
Country: USA
Released: Jan. 2008
Genre: Art-Hop, Experimental, Lo-Fi

Tracks 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Written & Produced by PZ (Big Pauper).
Tracks 2, 3, 4, 11 Writen & Produced by Brad Hamers & PZ (Big Pauper).
All Lyrics & Vocals by Brad Hamers.
Violin on tracks 1, 4, 10, 11 by Shannon Rose Steele.
Cello on track 2 by Teddy Parker.
All tracks by PZ (Big Pauper), Track 4 Mixed by Jeremy Sherrer & PZ (Big Pauper).
Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk (Stereophonic Mastering)
Album Design, Art & Layout by PZ (Big Pauper).

Debut LP from Brad Hamers and PZ (Big Pauper).
The bulk of this record was recorded in spring of 2006 in NY...the rest was recorded in the winter/spring of 2006/2007 in Portland, OR. (The LP also features a Hidden Track- a 20 minute Out-take Reel of late nights in the studio getting silly).

Recording Locations:
- Jackpot Recordings, Portland, OR
- Pun'kin & Morgans, Portland, OR
- The 4th St. Hit Factory, Troy, NY
- The Clinton St. Hit Factory, Portland, OR
- The Cottage Ave Hit Factory, Albany, NY
- The Fishbowl, Cornwall, NY
- The Stark St. Hit Factory, Portland, OR

“Mashup/Glitch kingpin PANZAH ZANDAH (Big Pauper) teams up with BRAD HAMERS of PHELGM, 3SC for this "moving piece of poetry set to minimal and eerie sounds that hit and hit hard" (from FIRST COAST NEWS). BRAD's words and PZ's sounds combine to make something very different.” - Groove Distribution

DOWNLOAD at TWO TON SLOTH’s BANDCAMP...CLICK HERE

Press:

French Review Site - Fake For Real .NET & Pop News . COM (2007):

“Brad Hamers a pris son temps. Plus de trois ans, en effet, se sont écoulés entre le formidable The Cut-Ups of a Paper Woman et le présent disque, annoncé pour ce début 2008 mais disponible sous le manteau depuis plusieurs mois déjà. Entretemps, il y avait bien eu Ligature, mais cela ne comptait pas vraiment. Même si le nouveau disque contient des réminiscences de cette suite de poèmes sortie l'an passé (ces "Facefullsand" et "Fog Over a Bed in a Bottom Floor Apt." où les paroles prennent le pas sur les beats), PZ alias Panzah Zandahz, producteur et fondateur du label Token Recluse, offre cette fois au rappeur, les sons riches et les structures complexes qui vont avec les tirades de son spoken word atypique.”

“Même si ce disque paraît plus décousu que The Cuts-Up…, surtout avec son long morceau final en plusieurs mouvements, sorte de "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" à la sauce Brad Hamers, avec touches d'humour et ironie en rab', Two Ton Sloth is Brad Hamers & PZ se montre digne de son prédécesseur. Les instruments multiples dont PZ accompagne les déclamations, tantôt introspectives et tantôt politiques, du rappeur, l'habillent à la perfection. La guitare acoustique de "Patch" est somptueuse, le crescendo en cordes de ''School Play from a Cloud's Left Lung" et son apothéose en guitare espagnole prouvent que l'emphase sait parfois être belle, et "Stretching a Spark Around a Pulley" montre comment magnifier une boucle : en la malmenant violemment. Même si tout cela paraît d'abord désordonné, tout concourt finalement à faire de cette collaboration avec Panzah Zandahz, après l'album de Phlegm et son disque solo, une nouvelle réussite signée Brad Hamers.“

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Pop Matters .COM (2008):

“An almost-holy debut hybrid of hip hop and Charles Bukowski-like spoken word poetry. Two Ton Sloth is teaming with philosophized lyrical missiles aimed at society and self. The album was recorded at several studios coast to coast and, probably -- judging by the spacey aesthetic -- at the wee hours of the morning when the sub-conscience runs free and meanders across the murky depths of “Ethereal Mucus”, “Jesus Is a Disastrous Rhythm”, and “School Play From a Cloud’s Left Lung”. Brad Hamers is on rhymes and Panzah Zandahz (PZ) produces the multi-genre Beck-esque sound collage. Does the abstract, lo-fi and highly experimental endeavor succeed? Yes, when Hammers hits the mark and only if you stay up late enough to where you can get slap-happy enough to stomach the self-indulgent moments on the bloated last track “Fog Over a Bed in a Bathroom Floor Apt”. Other than that, the mood of Two Ton Sloth is perfect for slipping into a surreal late-night contemplative musing and doesn’t listen as lethargically as the moniker suggests.”

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MTV .COM (2008):

“Terrifying”

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DeadMagazine .DE (2008): (German):

“Two Ton Sloth (dt.: zwei Tonnen schweres Faultier) sind Rapper / SlamPoet Brad Hamers und Panzah Zandahs, der sich für die Produktion und Instrumentierung aller Songs verantwortlich zeichnet.

Nachdem Brad Hamers sich bereits durch einige mehr als solide Releases einen Namen gemacht hat, war man gespannt auf seine erste Veröffentlichung zusammen mit einem amtlichen Produzenten und „An Album“ hat auch zu bieten, was man sich erhofft hatte: Die Produktionen von PZ sind für mich einige der besten Lo-Fi-Psych-Hop-Beats seit Sixtoo´s Klassiker „Duration“. Auf Seiten der Texte hat sich hingegen nicht allzuviel getan – Brad Hamers beschäftigt sich auch weiterhin vor Allem mit exestentiellen Fragen zu Leben, Liebe und Tod, dargestellt anhand von New Yorker Alltagsminiaturen, die er gewohnt pathetisch, weihevoll vorträgt. Und hier liegt leider auch der wirkliche Schwachpunkt des Albums: Ist man zu Anfangs noch schnell vom Zusammenspiel der meist schwergewichtigen Worte mit den gefühlvoll arrangierten Beats in den Bann gezogen, so beginnt Brad Hamers Vortragsstil nach einigen Songs schlichtweg zu nerven – Nahezu jeder Absatz wird auf die gleiche Art und Weise betont und man verliert schnell den Faden beim Zuhören. Hört man das Album jedoch portionsweise, sind darauf wirkliche Glanzstücke zu finden für jeden, der nach einer tragenden Verbindung von Rap und „Poetry“ sucht.“

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Portland Mercury (2008): (Interview w/ Big Pauper (PZ):

“No, not Two Ton Boa. There is, curiously enough, another local band with a moniker that describes a two-thousand-pound animal. But unlike the thumping dark cabaret of the Boa, the Sloth is a baffling assembly of found noises, junkyard hiphop beats, and the clenched-teeth flow of spoken-word frontman Brad Hamers. On their most recent release, Two Ton Sloth Is Brad Hamers & PZ, it's hard to ignore the gritty production half of the duo, who goes by the name PZ. In the past few years PZ's groundbreaking forays into the murky genre of mash-ups have put his name on the map, tweaking material from the likes of Radiohead and Beck. PZ took a moment from mashing his musical library to talk about his hunger for success and tofu, the world of mash-ups, and which two-ton animal can throw down the best.

What was the motivation to focus on a collaborative project like Two Ton Sloth instead of sticking with mash-ups?

Mash-ups are just a hobby, something light and fluffy to take the edge off, sort of like Cheetos. Yes, if music were food, mash-ups would be a corner store bag of Cheetos or those corn horn things. I eat them on occasion, but I'm more apt to eat tofu stir-fry, know what I mean? Tofu stir-fry being Two Ton Sloth, I guess. Damn, these metaphors are getting out of hand. I think I'm just hungry. Essentially, I'm often working on other kinds of projects; it's just that the mash-ups and unauthorized remix work usually attract the most attention. My heart usually resides with Two Ton Sloth.

Since mash-ups involve you being separated from the artists, was it a transition to work hands on with Brad Hamers in Two Ton Sloth?

Oh no, not at all. I'd been seeking a solid musical partnership for some time, and our first album really came together in a matter of weeks. I approached Brad with the project as a fan of his work. I knew what he was capable of, having already been familiar with his solo album. I already had a clear idea of what our collaboration could be and what I wanted to contribute to it.

Since there is another local band called Two Ton Boa, I have to ask, who wins in a rumble? The Boa or the Sloth?

If we're talking a rumble in the animal kingdom I'd have to say that a sloth would win on sheer apathetical merit alone. However, if we're talking a rumble in the parking lot with the actual band? We'd probably lick 'em—I can throw a cell phone pretty hard.”

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(photo by Big Pauper. Germany, 2007)

(photo by Big Pauer. Germany, 2007)

(photo by Adam Vanerpool. NY 2006)

(photo by Adam Vanderpool. NY 2006)