PRIZE AMERICA [Neil P. Howlett / Crystal Howlett]

Experimental / Ambient / Other

New York, NY, U.S.A. / Dublin, Ireland, E.U.

Billboard

On the day Neil and Crystal met in an apartment that was doubling as a recording studio in Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S.A., Neil was hanging a microphone out of a third floor window in order to record the sounds of traffic. Crystal could only laugh. However, this meeting laid the groundwork for a musical relationship that gave birth to the by now world famous recording project known as Prize America. Neil P. Howlett and Crystal Poyer were married in 2004, and shortly before this, they began making experimental recordings on some home recording gear. The first album, "Untitled 1-30" is a masterpiece of disorganization, so disorganized that it could only be meant to sound that way. The second album is a two disc set of remixes / mangled / droned-out versions of the first album - the third, "Psychodelicatessen", and the movie that goes along with it, were made in one day also, basically by just setting up, hitting record, and seeing what came of it. The two singles that followed saw the duo advance into the world of multi-track recording, actually putting some thought into some of the tracks before hitting the record button [but not too much, thankfully, these pieces are mostly raw emotion captured on tape]. And now, we have the latest work, the eight track album "Hum, Hum, Hum...Human" - an album which is so deep that the average listener could literally drown in it. Stay tuned to this couple for more works - there are definitely some planned.

_Arthur Farthing, Pretense Magazine, London, England, U.K.