BINGO PALACE
Whistle Me Higher

The debut recording of New York electro duo BINGO PALACE is a concept album. Its protagonists are horseless horsemen, drinking bartenders, whistling cowboys and extra-terrestrials in flying canoes.

The listener’s mind wanders through enchanted valleys and fiery canyons. You get to be part of racy man hunts, will be tossed and turned by torrents of love and impotence, witness blood and thunder and might even get to see the devil dancing.

Fa Ventilato and Frank Heer, two Swiss who moved to New York a decade ago, are the creators of that BINGO PALACE of sound. “The very fact that the age of lavish concept albums has passed 20 years ago made us want to record one”, says Ventilato. “On our home computers. Some kind of adventure music for couch potatoes.”
“Whistle Me Higher” mixes grand melodies with bold beats far beyond the beaten paths of modern Electronica. There are samples and software, programmed percussion and virtual synthesizers, but the adventures of Bingo Palace are just as easily populated by acoustic instruments. The track “Midnight Waltz For My Old Lady” has a trumpet wallowing in melodious melancholy, while a demure piano loop ambles lazily through the piece.

A main supporting actor is Gerald Menke’s pedal steel guitar. It reconciles, wakes deep yearnings in cinemascope and opens up the musical horizon. An occasional Cello or Wurlitzer goes well with the ingredients, just as does the voice of British crooner J.C. on the epic “Live at the Bingo Palace”. The rattling guitar on “Ponystar” is a classy bow to the great Ennio Morricone. “I want some more” is a minimal moody ambient track, full of sinister foreboding.

“The problem with contemporary electronic music is that it often revels in skin-deep excitement, says Frank Heer. “Everything seems to happen randomly, with no commitment. Sounds bubble over cool beats without going anywhere. BINGO PALACE wants to suggest a storyline, create and release tension, bind the mind to the music. You don’t need an MC for that. You need a logic, a concept and open ears.”

Fa Ventilato and Frank Heer both have been involved in the New York music scene with various projects since the mid-nineties. They collaborated with artists, DJ’s and bands and have played NY clubs such as Tonic, Bowery Ballroom, Mercury Lounge, Knitting Factory, Cooler, Joe’s Pub, or CBGB’s.

The work on “Whistle Me Higher” took two years. The album is published by Codek Records (www.codek.com) and now available in record stores, as is the the vinyl 12″ – “Live at the Bingo Palace” including a club remix by Cosmic Rocker.