Embarrassing Fruits - Frontier Justice
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Also available at CD Alley, All Day Records, Bull City Records and Schoolkids Records.
Press For "Frontier Justice"
"As they continue to age, Embarrassing Fruits look more and more like a band we'd like to grow older with." - Bryan Reed, Independent Weekly
"On Frontier Justice, Embarrassing Fruits take a genre that once symbolized local music and revitalizes it for a new audience. It’s a balance of innovation and slack-rock sensibilities, buried under layers of cool nonchalance." - Linnie Greene, Daily Tarheel
"From their debut split Sumr Stupid Drunk Fun to the First Time EP to last year’s Community/ Exploitation, the musical push has always been about stumbling toward enlightenment. It’s an arc that’s garnered them cheers for their “easy going spirit” and pop-rock reverie and that now sees them amalgamating indie/classic/post-rock influences with confident, collaborative abandon."
-Carrboro Citizen
Embarrassing Fruits - Community / Exploitation
Available now on Trekky Records.
Order from Trekky Records.
Download from Trekky Records.
Download from iTunes.
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Also available at CD Alley, Bull City Records and Schoolkids
Records.
Press:
In the beginning, Embarrassing Fruits was a plenty-likable North Carolina indie rock trio, with the slacker slouch of Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. sweetened by the chime and charms of Versus and The Feelies. But across its last two albums, last year's Community/ Exploitation and the forthcoming Frontier Justice, the Fruits have maintained that welcoming shrug while smartly augmenting it. Whether by a trumpet line here or shouted harmonies there, but mostly thanks to sneer strong enough to swipe the slacker tag away, the Carrboro trio is finally putting its influences in forward. —Grayson Currin, Independent Weekly
Embarrassing Fruits' debut album is a fantastic slice of ragged-glory power pop that recalls the glory days of Chapel Hill, circa its "Next Seattle" period. But "Community/Exploitation" has the added benefit of mondo catchiness. —David Menconi, News & Observer
EMBARRASSING FRUITS, "CORNER"
(from Community/Exploitation, Trekky Records)
Recorded in the summer of 2007—back when jobs were plentiful, the King of Pop was still alive and the Carolina Hurricanes were at least mediocre—"Corner" is an easygoing jangle that knew little of the troubles to come in 2009. Actually, "Corner" is so infected with the nostalgic feel of worry-free summers that Embarrassing Fruits seem as if they'd be unaffected by the apocalypse itself. And indeed they're not: Over a breezy melody, lazily strummed chords and cymbal splashes, frontman Joe Norkus recounts fond memories of poolside dances and conversations about coffee with the girl he's met on the corner. When lightning hits their town and Jesus Christ comes down for a visit, the people scatter—except for Norkus and his summer affection. Hell, they're even making babies while the town burns. —Spencer Griffith, Independent Weekly
Embarrassing Fruits are a power trio from North Carolina. And maybe it's just that most of the bands I know from that state were from the mid-'90s Chapel Hill, but I couldn't help visualizing the band fitting in well on a bill with Archers Of Loaf about 15 years ago. In fact, the kind of straightforward, well-played indie-rock that Embarrassing Fruits deliver is all too rare these days, which made their hummable tunes and kick-ass rhythm section that much more enjoyable.- Al Shipley, Baltimore City Paper
"It’s hard to put a finger on why this is different from mp3 blog darlings like The Ting Tings, Fleet Foxes or Wolf Parade. But for me it harkens back to an earlier sound that I’ve yet been able to get over. It’s the sound of early Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, Big Dipper, Galaxie 500, Superchunk, Meat Puppets and on and on. Man I love that sound…what ever happened to it?"
-Songs:Illinois
Press For "Community/Exploitation"
Talk about the good old days all you want, but the Triangle music scene has never been better than it is now. For proof, listen no further than the latest and greatest in new local releases, "Community/Exploitation" (Trekky Records), the debut album from Chapel Hill's Embarrassing Fruits. It's fully realized guitar-pop with revved-up hooks recalling everyone from Pavement to Husker Du, with a trace of R.E.M.-vintage jingle-jangle thrown in. But don't sweat the reference points, because Embarrassing Fruits put the pieces together with plenty of originality on a nine-song set that is start-to-finish great.-David Menconi, The News & Observer
The moaning but anthemic "Like That"—supplies the familiarly elemental
indie rock of Embarrassing Fruits with an essential intimacy. Much like
its resplendent hooks (and those are everywhere on this magnetic
debut), such a feeling serves as a perfect bridge between the band's
youthful reverie and its incoming experience, between its '90s rock
reverence and its own personal advancement.
-Grayson Currin, Independent Weekly
Thankfully the album doesn’t go out of its way to be in-your-face but has its own invisible undercurrent – more foreboding versus being ominous. It growls easily without showing its teeth, the vibe subdued while maintaining sheer vibrancy. If this is any sign, getting older should bring about more great records.
-Brian Tucker, Bootleg Magazine
Embarrassing Fruits - The First Time EP
Available now on Trekky Records.
Order from Trekky Records.
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Also available at CD Alley, Bull City Records and Schoolkids
Records.
Press For "The First Time EP"
"[Embarrassing Fruits] strip indie rock back to its primal elements, allowing a distinctive emotional resonance to come on out."
-The Independent
"Every once in a while, a band comes around that reminds you of how much fun rock 'n' roll used to be, before the world collectively developed a fear of amplifiers. Embarrassing Fruits prove that they are that sort of band, providing the shot in the arm that has been needed for quite some time."
-The Daily Tar Heel
"Never in a hurry and never missing a witticism, the Chapel Hill boys soundtrack (late) summer with tunes that amble around town in cut-offs and dirty T-shirts, scribbling down scenes and chuckling all the way home."
-The Independent
"Though the songs are glazed with nostalgia, their directness lends freshness to their tried, but still true inspirations."
-Shuffle Magazine
"This is a welcome sort of nostalgia, a re-simplification of indie rock that harkens to early '90s touchstones. Think Pavement on sedatives. Think Dinosaur Jr. without the feedback."
-The Independent
"Sometimes the combination of snippets of words, a singer's voice and a catchy riff are all it takes for me to like a song, and that's the case with [Embarrassing Fruits' "First Time"]."
-Lost in Your Inbox
"With a low Silver Jews-like tone, mid-range vocals and poppy-flavored lyrics, one of North Carolina’s top indie bands is well on their way."
-YES! Weekly
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