Also known as Mauro Remiddi Record label Secretly Canadian | Years active 2010-present | |
Instruments vocals, guitar, sampler, loops, keyboard Labels Secretly Canadian
Acéphale Records
Volcanic Field Associated acts Youth Lagoon
Yuck
The War On Drugs Albums Permanent Signal, Gone Blind Remixes Genres Alternative rock, Indie pop, Indie rock Similar Mauro Remiddi, Yuck, Daniel Blumberg, Fang Island, Youth Lagoon Profiles | ||
Porcelain raft half awake
Porcelain Raft is Mauro Remiddi's main music project. The New York-based musician began his long, prolific career in Italy, the place of his birth, playing for small, local projects. After composing the original soundtrack for the 1997 Italian short-film La Matta dei Fiori, and collaborating and touring the world with various bands, Remiddi launched his first solo recording project under the moniker Porcelain Raft, and in 2010 released his first solo EP Gone Blind with Acéphale Records. In 2011 he signed with Secretly Canadian and released the debut Porcelain Raft full-length record Strange Weekend which peaked at #33 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums chart. Permanent Signal, Porcelain Raft's second album was released on Secretly Canadian in August 2013.
Contents
- Porcelain raft half awake
- Porcelain raft drifting in and out
- Mauro Remiddi
- 2010 to present
- Strange Weekend
- Track listing
- Critical reception
- Permanent Signal
- Albums
- EPs
- Singles
- Songs
- References
In June 2015, Porcelain Raft released the five-track Half Awake EP via Volcanic Field, Remiddi's label. The EP was available digitally and via limited edition cassette tape.
Porcelain raft drifting in and out
Mauro Remiddi
Remiddi reportedly began experimenting with music when he was ten years old, playing his grandmother's piano and making make-believe radio programs on a small tape-recorder. He began touring around Italy when he was 20, playing accordion with a klezmer trio. Although he held other jobs to support himself, sometimes doing sound engineering or playing piano in hotels, he continued to tour Europe, and when he was twenty-seven he moved to London. From there, he continued to work with other artists and to tour as the lead vocalist, 12-string guitarist, and sometimes-drummer of Sunny Day Sets Fire, a 5-piece rock band. In 2000, Remiddi spent three months in New York playing piano for an Off-Broadway show, and after spending 12 years in London, performing with rock bands and collaborating with visual artists, he traveled back to the city for the annual CMJ music conference, met his wife, and moved to Brooklyn two weeks later.
2010 to present
In the first year and a half of working as Porcelain Raft, Remiddi self-released a handful of singles and EPs on Bandcamp, put out his first official EP with Acéphale, and began playing local venues as a solo artist. The live shows, for which only one other musician, Michael Wallace (drummer) joined him onstage, featured music from Strange Weekend. In 2011, The New York Times featured Porcelain Raft in a review, describing the sound of one show at the New York venue the Mercury Lounge as an updated form "of shoegaze pop, the spacier side of new wave, contemplative indie rock." In 2012, Porcelain Raft performed two exclusive live-sessions for MTV HIVE filmed a "Take Away Show" for La Blogoteque, and was featured on NBC NY's Non-stop Sound. Consequence of Sound included "Strange Weekend" in a list of 2012's most anticipated albums. The Guardian featured Porcelain Raft as "New Band of the Day" on September 27, 2010 and in November of the same year gave Remiddi another feature in the "First Sight" series. In January 2012, The Boston Globe included Porcelain Raft in their Arts section "annual roundup of artists to keep an ear out for in 2012."
In 2015, Remiddi moved to Los Angeles and started his own label, Volcanic Field.
Strange Weekend
Upon relocating to New York, Remiddi immediately began to record Strange Weekend, inspired by his new environment. He describes the record as "a snapshot of [himself] being in New York, in a basement.”
Track listing
- Drifting In and Out
- Shapeless & Gone
- Is It Too Deep For You?
- Put Me To Sleep
- Backwords
- Unless You Speak From Your Heart
- The End Of Silence
- If You Have A Wish
- Picture
- The Way In
Critical reception
In February 2012, Pitchfork named “Unless You Speak From Your Heart” Best New Track. The A.V.Club wrote “Assembled in a Brooklyn basement, Porcelain Raft’s debut Strange Weekend has this DIY aesthetic, but tolerates no defects in presentation. Italy native Mauro Remiddi’s solo project is built on meticulously constructed and delicately polished dream-pop soundscapes, delivered with urgency and momentum.“
Permanent Signal
On June 19, 2013, Porcelain Raft announced their second record, Permanent Signal, would be released August 20, 2013. A month later, the first single, "The Way Out," was released as a self-directed visual stream by Mauro Remiddi.
Albums
EPs
Singles
Songs
Cluster2013
The Way Out2013
It Ain't Over2013