FIRST FORTUNA REVIEW

From AltCountryForum.nl (translation from Dutch by Cobie Langerak):

Ah, charming: Bel Air, a small band from Brooklyn - a group that two years ago debuted with the excellent  album "Pole to Pole" has a new CD "Fortune". Allison Langerak (vocals, harmonica, keyboards), Jeff Mensch (vocals, guitar), Wyatt Tuzo (lap steel, guitar, vocals) toured the past two years from the East to the South of America.  Their sound has been   deeply enriched by the contributions of Stough Turner (bass) and Eric Kuby (drums), making "Fortune" a step up from Pole to Pole. By adding the rhythm section features this new album is clearly fuller and warmer than its predecessor. The creative energy that the group radiates by way of the drawling voice of Jeff Mensch and the sensual vocals of Allison Langerak  is boundless.
Playing with the enormous possibilities found at the interface of folk rock, indie and country, they create a world where nothing seems impossible. Mood and emotion are central to the songs, with a big role given to vocal harmonies.. "Fortuna" is a beautiful and diverse album. Just listen to the lazy and graceful Getting There or Over Mexico,a song with a jangly sound. A tormented keyboard (Christmas), groaning electric guitars (Northern Lights) and acoustic guitars (Longing). All passionate, thoughtful or whimsical compositions by Bel Air, which remind you of  a playful lamb hopping across the meadow. Sounds reminiscent of those such as Neil Young, Cowboy Junkies, The Cranberries and The Sundays. Highly recommended!

MARQUEE

This was on the Zebulon chalk board on the night of our CD Release party!

PICS FROM ZEBULON

Here are some pictures from our CD Release party at Zebulon.  There are MORE on our website www.belairtheband.com

FORTUNA NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE!

Hey there!  Thanks to everyone who made it out to our CD Release party for FORTUNA, our second full-length album!  It was a great night and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to give away as many copies of Fortuna as we did!  If you were not able to come to the party, you can still get our CD!!   It is available for purchase on our website!!  www.belairtheband.com

Also, available on our website ....... 

T-SHIRTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are very excited about our hand-screened, American Apparel BEL AIR t-shirts!  We hope you like them!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM BEL AIR!

BEL AIR DID SOMETHING ACTIVE!

Here are some pics of Jeff and Turner playing soccer with Asher, the son of our great friends and hosts in Chapel Hill, Jill and Dan.

We're Back!!!

In more ways than one! Not only are we playing our first show in NY for a long while, we will be announcing our long awaited CD RELEASE SHOW shortly. That means FORTUNA is finally ready to see the light of day. Stay tuned for a lot more updates on the old Blog (I'm going to try and update at least a few times a week) and the start of some weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly series. It's gonna be a good winter!!!
xoxoxo,
Jeff (and Allie, Wyatt, Turner, and Eric)

HAHA

From the Onion...

LAST NIGHT

It was really great to have so many awesome friends at our show at Lakeside Lounge last night. So, thanks.

Love,
Bel Air

ALBUM COVER

CREATE YOUR BAND NAME & ALBUM COVER:

To Do This

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.



I really feel like I lucked out with that band name.


Anyway, as you may know Bel Air is finishing up our second record. We had a hell of a time coming up with cover art and a title. We should have just used this handy set of instructions! We would have saved ourselves a lot of trouble! Luckily, it didn't come to that. We now have both art and a title. Yay! More on that later...

MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN

Bel Air is playing tomorrow night at the Lakeside Lounge!! 9pm. FREE!
Avenue B and 10th Street.

XO.

From the Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism

GUEST SPOT

I have, of late, had the pleasure of sitting in with the one and only Tris McCall. We played a show last Friday at the Grove Street PATH station in New Jersey as part of the JC Fridays events and got a write up in which Tris is, again, compared to David Byrne. Hee!










all pics by Zac Clark

PLEASE WORK...

I am going to give this ONE MORE TRY.

Are you ready? No. I mean, are you ready? Are you REALLY ready? Or, are you just kidding around? I'm about to unveil something major here. I've been waiting for a while to do this so you're going to need to be significantly ready to handle what I'm about to "drop".

First, though, the back story: A while ago, a little band called Bel Air released a little album called Pole to Pole that had a little song on it called "Almost". "Almost" is a simple song. A country ballad, sad and slow. Except, NOT ANYMORE!!!

Almost - Disco Remix by belairband


Re-mix genius Chris Amann with Bel Air's own Jeff Mensch

I think we can all agree that Chris is brilliant beyond his years and should quit his job and start doing this type of thing FULL TIME. Thanks, Chris for all of your hard work and Jamaican rapping!

FORT USELESS PREVIEW

StereoActiveNYC.com wrote up a preview of our show at Fort Useless!

It has some cool pictures of us from our Mercury Show.

Check it out!


photo by Jeremiah McVay

MIX PICS

Hey Y'all! We posted some pictures from our recording/mix sessions on our website including this amazing pic of Wyatt with two pairs of headphones on. Check them all out here.

COUNTRY STYLE!!

LUNCH TIME POLL

A couple of years ago I was really into recording conversations, particularly really drunk conversations with members of my old band, Breakup Breakdown. Recently, I was going through some old files on my computer and came across a 20 minute recording of Breakup Breakdown leaving a venue in Savannah, GA and going to Krystal, which, if you've never had the pleasure of going to one, is like the White Castle of the South.



On the recording we decide who's driving, discuss what's on the menu at Krystal, what's the best fast food ever and the end is me ordering at the drive-through. At one point someone tries to drag race us. It's pretty classic. Once we get to the Krystal, everyone gets really grossed out at one of the options on the menu - breakfast-in-a-bowl. After googling a picture of it, I can see why we had that reaction.



Wyatt had a similar reaction to something he saw on TV this morning: the KFC Double Down. The KFC Double Down is a sandwich made up of two fried chicken filets, two pieces of bacon, two slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese and Colonel's Sauce, which I'm guessing is some kind of mayo based concoction. There is no bun involved here.



When he told me about this, I immediately thought of the burger that Paula Deen once made on her Food Network show, Paula's Home Cooking. Her "brunch burger" is not served on a bun either. It is served on Krispie Kreme doughnuts. Not one Krispie Kreme doughnut cut in half, mind you, but TWO WHOLE DOUGHNUTS. One on the top, one on the bottom. Oh, and it also has bacon on it. Annnnnd, a fried egg.



So, the question of the Lunch Time Poll is - which one is more over the top? Which one is more heart attack inducing? Vote away!

BEL AIR - NEW ALBUM

Last week was a long week but a productive one! We mixed our 10 song album in 5 days at Excello Recording. We were thrilled to have mix master Hugh Pool at the helm because he is so talented and such a great guy. Mixing can sometimes be a daunting process but Hugh made it a really fun experience and the songs sound better than we ever imagined they would. Plus, he made a toast at the end of the session. I love it when people make toasts...

Next up... Album Name and Album Art...

8MS - TOP 30 ALBUMS

Hey Y'all,

Check out this piece on EightMillionStories.com in which me and 8MS film guy, Jon Zelazny list our top 30 albums of all time and then make fun of each other's choices.

Love,
Allie

SOMEBODY RULEZ

OH MAN.....

I've had something up my sleeve for a while and I think it's about time that I let you all in on it. But, only if you think you can handle it... Let me know if not, because this is big. BIG, I tell you!

On second thought, maybe I'll make you wait a bit.

Maybe tomorrow...

Maybe not...

RECORDING PHOTOS

Cowboy Technical Services, March, 13th, 2010.

MERCURY PIC

Here's a pic from our Mercury show on Monday. It was taken by our lovely friend Jamie MacKenzie.


Click on it for a larger version!

NEW REVIEW!

Hey there. We had an amazing show at Mercury last night. War Party and the Library were awesome. Thank you so much to them and all of our friends that made it out!

Check this out! Our Into the Sea 7" was just reviewed on StereoactiveNYC.com!! Read it and weep!

TONIGHT...

...we rip the Harrisburg, PA Radisson a new one.

We are playing the Millennium Music Conference (Friday, February 19th, 10pm). Our show is at the Local Beat and we will be playing with fellow country rockers The Hello Strangers and Booker Lee and the County Fair. After the show, the party continues at the Radisson Hotel Bar! Woot!


The Local Beat
212 3rd St
New Cumberland, PA
10pm

After party:

Radisson
1150 Camp Hill Bypass
Camp Hill, Pennsylvania

ON THE BEAT - FEBRUARY

Check out this month's column!

MERCURY SHOW!!

BEL AIR YOUTUBE CHANNEL

There are some new videos on the Bel Air YouTube Channel!! Check 'em out!

PICS FROM SUNDAY

Here are some pics of me and Jeff gettin' all singer-songwriter on yo' asses.

NEW ON THE BEAT

Hey, Y'all! My January On the Beat column is now up on EightMillionStories! It's a virtual tour of North 15th and Gem!! Enjoy.

SONGWRITERS SALON

Jeff and I are doing this on Sunday. Here's the deal:


The Songwriters Salon is curated with the help of Jared Friedman (of Holy Moly!) and features musicians showcasing new and old material. Discussion among participating songwriters is encouraged, but not required.


The SUGGESTED format (we're not strict) for the evening is for each musician to play:

- one cover
- one new song, never played before in public
- one or two additional songs, previously played or new


Starting at 6pm w/ order to be determined randomly on the night of the show:

- Allie Langerak (of Bel Air)
- Andrew St. Aubin (of Aldenbarton)
- Jared Friedman (of Holy Moly!)
- Jeff Mensch (of Bel Air)
- Jessica Flanagan (of El Jezel)
- Jim Wood (of Aldenbarton)
- Jonathan Pilkington Kahnt
- Marisa Cerio (of Boy Genius)
- Peter Frisa
- Unsacred Hearts
- MORE TBA!


Also:
- cheap beer
- and perhaps some other tasty treats

http://fortuseless.com

SMOKE BEL AIR

(Thanks, Erich)

BEST OF 2009

Earlier in the year, our debut album, Pole to Pole was reviewed for the music blog Fensepost by one of their reviewers, Ron Tremblath. Months later he included us in his "Best Of" list for 2009. We are flattered! Thanks, Ron!