Cars & Trains

Play Radio
Listen to Cars & Trains Radio, featuring artists like Ceschi, Otem Rellik, The Harvey Girls, Common Grackle and more…

115,833 plays (12,892 listeners)

Send Cars & Trains Ringtones to Cell
Buy
Add to my Library
The albums of Portland, Oregon based multi-instrumentalist cars & trains (Tom Filepp) consist of handfuls of microscopic crafted worlds, shaped with tiny precision. Layers of decaying feedback, sparse glockenspiel and tape samples weave a dark and dense tapestry of sound while deep brooding vocals sit atop songs with deceptive timing, subtle electronic stutters, and thunderous and organic drumming. Banjo driven four to the floor stompers yield to velvety acoustic guitar and spacious instrumentals laden with sampled americana.

Tom’s work as cars & trains evokes early Morr Music releases by bands like Tarwater, intersecting with folk-oriented electronic groups like Tunng. Found sound and distorted tape samples create urban lullaby landscapes. Undaunted, meloncholic drums and timid textures are reminicent of cloudDEAD or Tujiko Noriko, sitting atop an eclectic songwriting sensibility that brings The Microphones to mind.

Tom translates his recordings to the stage with a unique solo set, energetically looping found-sounds and live electronic drumming with layers of vocal harmonies, viola, glockenspiel, trumpet, synthesizer, and melodica. All the while keeping an intense and engaging dynamic going, he weaves his songs into a captivating near-non-stop medley that is ever-changing and unique, no two shows being quite the same.

He also runs Circle Into Square, an artist run label and magazine, the entire site and label created from scratch as a means for artists to directly release their music and artwork with cutting edge resources, and to help adapt to the constantly changing music industry.
Read more… Edit bio

Popular tags: , , , ,  See more

Share this artist:

Top Albums

See more

Top Tracks

1
22
2
21
3
20
4
19
5
11
6
8
6
8
6
8
9
7
10
6
10
6
10
6
13
4
13  
4
13  
4
Buy all tracks at Amazon MP3
See more

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).

  • Drewmanschu

    Excellent musician, and even more wonderful of a person. Support his music!

    December 2011

  • capnijodu

    молодец

    December 2011

  • loewenhardt

    i love the roots, the leaves... especially "Drop Ceilings And Day Planners" keep on keeping on! =^-^=

    February 2011

  • Danek1313

    Loving this cd. Hope I get to see him live sometime

    March 2010

  • Marshallmaddnes

    very awesome

    February 2010

  • suxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    wooooooooooooooooow!

    February 2010

  • experiment00005

    Cars and Trains = win! I had the opportunity to see him live this past year and his beard also wins. Looking forward to the new album!

    December 2009

  • -rivulett

    new cars & trains video - "i know someone who can't recognize": http://vimeo.com/7426343

    December 2009
See all 19 shouts

Videos

Events

See more Add event

News

touchosc + logic = tears of joy

19 Jan 2011 | from www.carsandtrains.net

so i recently have been trying to figure out some sort of controller situation for when i'm working songs in logic studio, particularly when i'm mixing. a lot of times using the mouse to …

Add comment

See more

Top Listeners

See more

More Information

Links
Labels