Paper Airplane and it's CD "MIddlemarch" (All Hail Records) hit #19 for the year in CD Baby's Garage Pop top-sellers charts.

http://theotherpaper.com/topliveandlocal/
(check back over the weekend for video of a Paper Airplane acoustic performance)


Paper Airplane
Something old, something new
By Jon Theiss

Singer/guitarist Ryan Horns must have been getting lonely while touring solo 10 years ago, because he abandoned the effort just as it was gathering steam.
Working with drummer Antonio Garza, he later started recruiting others for a new project called Paper Airplane. Launched in early 2005, the group—which also includes Caleb Bandy (bass) and Teresa Kent (keyboards, vocals)—is writing and performing some of the best indie pop in Columbus.
And that’s a good thing, considering the amount of bad indie pop that’s oozing from butt-hurt wannabe poets from the ‘burbs.
Paper Airplane pounded the pavement in support of its first release, Middlemarch (2007), a collection of get-stuck-in-your-head pop gems that garnered well-deserved critical acclaim. Now the band is busy at work on its newest effort, White Elephants, on Columbus’s All Hail Records. Members said they’re aiming for a warmer, more “live” sound on the new album by recording on analog tape and ditching most of the digital equipment.
They’re throwing back to the past with some interesting instruments, too. They’ve incorporated a Stylophone (a synthesizer played with a stylus from the late 1960s) and an Ace Tone organ (another marvel of 1960s technology) to pepper their songs with off-the-beaten-path tones.
But just because they’re recording on older instruments in an older recording medium doesn’t mean they’re the millionth band to ape the same old clichés. Paper Airplane might remind you of pop bands of the past in some ways, but the band’s versatility and interesting take on their musical framework is the thing that differentiates the group from the rest of the pack.
“Lately we’ve tried to get a lot more rough sounding and tried to be a lot more interesting in terms of where the (song’s) structure’s going to go,” Horns said.
“I seem to think that indie pop can’t really go anywhere unless it starts incorporating stuff that’s going on right now—or else it’s just gonna be your basic verse, chorus, verse, bridge, then it’s over. So we’re trying to mix that up a little bit.”

I've been reading this Cincinnati web-site for a while now. This past week they were nice enough to focus on Paper Airplane:

The Wheel's Still in Spin:

Better Than The Chili: Paper Airplane

Once a week The Wheel's Still In Spin highlights a band from the Greater Cincinnati area. Whether you prefer Skyline or Gold Star, you will agree that this band is "Better Than The Chili."

Download "Missing" (mp3)
Download "Four trucks sitting in the snow" (mp3)

Half of Paper Airplane lives in the Cincinnati area. The other half resides in the Columbus region. Somewhere in between the cities, on I-71, there are some of Ohio's token attractions – King's Island amusement park, some outlet malls, the occasional waft of the ever-present cows, and a roadside billboard that declares, "Hell is real!" But Paper Airplane is the best thing that can call the space between Columbus and Cincinnati it's home.

Paper Airplane released Middlemarch in the Fall of 2007, but the album only recently fell upon my ears. Middlemarch is an alluring album with catchy melodies employing various pop production devices. There are vintage keyboards ("Missing"), string arrangements ("Fire Escape"), and reverse guitar tones ("Steps") mixed with the diverse rock sound the band creates. Singer Ryan Horns' voice and melodic choices are appealing. Overall, Middlemarch is one of the strongest releases, especially local releases, I've heard. Imagine an album made by Wilco between Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but with a strong Beatles influence.

Currently, in between live performances, the band is recording their next album at Ultrasuede Studio, the Cincinnati studio that has recorded the latest albums from the city's best bands including Heartless Bastards, Wussy, and Buffalo Killers.

This weekend, Paper Airplane is playing three shows in the state with The Dreadful Yawns from Cleveland. On Friday, March 23rd, the two bands will be in Columbus at Ravari Room with The Loyal Divide. On Saturday, March 24th, both bands with be in Cincinnati at Northside Tavern with The Harlequins. And on Sunday, March 25th, they'll play Sloopy's in Dayton with The Seedy Seeds.

Saturday's show, like all shows at The Northside Tavern, is free.

Buy Middlemarch from CD Baby

www.myspace.com/therealpaperairplane

Thanks to writer Andy Sedlack for helping to hype our upcoming Dayton show w/ The Dreadful Yawns.

ActiveDayton.com:

The beat on the street: Paper Airplane knows how to use the "loud-soft" dynamic; this means they'll build it up and tear it down often. The group's thunderous, pounding-piano-flavored rock music is fun, insightful and most of all, refreshing.

I just noticed that Paper Airplane "Middlemarch" is resting at 24 among the Top 40 best selling CDs on CD Baby's Pop/Garage Rock genre. Thanks consumers! With each of our CDs purchased you are saving our American economy.

Check it out: http://cdbaby.com/top/449

Thanks to writer Cary Smith and photographer Eric Wagner.

Like a carefully creased notebook paper masterpiece floating by the force of a strong wind, the upbeat vocals and guitars take turns that are outside the bounds of your standard rock formula. Before coming to a halt and gracefully landing on the ground, the melodies will make you wonder if you were a passenger.
It’s easy to see where a band like Paper Airplane gets their name.
"We just wanted to change things up," says Ryan Horn, lead singer and guitar player for the band. "Everything sounds the same nowadays and we wanted to do something different that we really liked."
Horn and his bandmates, Teresa Kent ..boards, Caleb Bandy on bass, and Antonio Garza on drums, have been together since 2005. Having started out in the Cincinnati rock scene and putting out their debut album Middlemarch on Columbus’ All Hail Records, they consider themselves a two-city band, with most of them calling the Columbus area home.
"I think Columbus has really started to develop a reputation for having noise rock bands," says drummer Antonio Garza. "We’re so much different than that, it makes us a lot easier to take."
The majority of Paper Airplane’s tracks ooze the influences of bands like the Beatles and the Kinks. Their musical sound is positive and upbeat for the most part, but its roots linger on the darker side of things. Horn, who is the primary songwriter for the band, takes a lot of his experiences as a crime reporter in Marysville into account when writing.
"You might hear one of our songs and just think it’s about a girl or something," says Horn. "It’s more likely to be about something much more disturbing. I like to write about the absurdity of everyday life."
For more information check out the band’s profile at: www.myspace.com/therealpaperairplane

Check out the magazine online at: www.columbusmag.com

Check it out here: http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/tu/tu080226paper_airplanes_-_fo


Our own "Four trucks sitting in the snow" was featured Tuesday on Nic Harcourt’s "Morning Becomes Eclectic" radio show in California. They continued to feature the song throughout the month.
Many thanks to Harcourt and Anne Litt for the airplay!

The radio push for "Middlemarch" continues and our music is climbing the charts on stations such as:

CIXS Montreal PQ-Canada 16
KAPU Azusa CA 21
KMHC Gresham OR 17
KNOM NOME AK 7
KWLC Decorah IA 18
Radio UTD Richardson TX 26
URH Hilo HI 9
WAKE Winston-Salem NC 26
WARG Summit IL 30
WCCS Norton MA 22
WCFM Williamstown MA 13
WCVF Fredonia NY 20
WDBM East Lansing MI (P1) (M) 26
WECB Boston MA 8
WGBK Glenview IL 16
WIDR Kalamazoo MI 23
WMBR Cambridge MA (P1) (M) 25
WMXM Lake Forest IL 16
WNHU West Haven CT (P1) 12
WOUB -AM Athens OH 19
WRVU Nashville TN (P1) (M) 27
WTSR Ewing NJ (P1) 2
WUSC Columbia SC (P1) (M) 21
WUSR Scranton PA (M) 13
WVCW Richmond VA 20
WVYC York PA 25
WWPV Colchester VT 27
WXDU Durham NC (P1)(M) 21
WXJM Harrisonburg VA 14


If you know anyone in these station areas, tell them to call and request they play more Paper Airplane "Middlemarch" !!!

thanks!

The Guided by Voices show at Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky was a blast. Thanks to Chris Wales for setting that up.
His Master Bob Pollard attended the show and that fact that he was there really made everyone's performances special - knowing the dude who wrote the songs was looking over there shoulders with a smile.
Paper Airplane performed Smothered in Hugs, As we go up we go down, and Cut-out Witch.
Take a look in our "photos" section for pics taken by Terri at www.terrinelles.com.

Recent good news for Paper Airplane, thanks to All Hail Records for hooking us up with Team Clermont.
The company will help push our CD "Middlemarch" on the national radio circuit early this year!
They have worked locally with our friends Wussy and Captain of Industry - nationally with Franz Ferdinand, The Flaming Lips, Strokes, Wolf Parade, etc.

http://www.teamclermont.com

Head on over to WWW.HOLLISTERCO.COM.
Thanks to Mike Brewer for putting our song "This one's for us" on the site's music player!