Ben Caplan

Ben Caplan – Old Stock (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 44:26 minutes | 527 MB | Genre: Folk, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Under Control Entertainment, ltd.

Combining timeless melodies with a contemporary folk-rock twist, Ben Caplan explores the immigrant experience with profound understanding and wry humor on his latest album, Old Stock. Adapted from the New York Times’ Critic’s Pick music-theater piece Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, the captivating, genre-warping concept album reflects on modern issues from immigration, loss, and darkness to love, sex, and God through his “darkly funny and moving” songs (The New Yorker). Features songs from the multi-nominated Drama Desk award show.
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Ben Caplan – In the Time of the Great Remembering (2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 43:39 minutes | 479 MB | Genre: Blues, Indie Folk, Singer/Songwriter
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ben Caplan Music

Connoisseurs of coffin nails will no doubt delight at the name of Ben Caplan’s backing band. In these days of anti-smoking hysteria their title and the music behind it belies a cheeky form of rebellion, conjuring up late night bars, too much booze and a crafty hit of nicotine in the rain outside while a fight breaks out on the dance floor. Caplan’s album is a mish-mash of many styles, all of which would find their home in roadhouses and smoking dens. The album’s predominate vibe is bluesy shanties, with Caplan’s deep growl reverberating like a hybrid of Eddie Vedder and the throaty rasp of Tom Waits. The Casual Smokers themselves accompany on a variety of traditional instruments veering between jugband and gypsy punk. The odd flash of far-eastern exoticism can be heard in the likes of the stomping Conduit, but the overall effect is like a group of hillbillies have infiltrated a Brechtian cabaret.
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Ben Caplan – Birds With Broken Wings (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 44:48 minutes | 861 MB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Coalition Music (Records)

Inspired in part by Eastern European and Jewish folk traditions, Ben Caplan mixes older musical sensibilities with his own soul, straight from his hairy heart. His new album, Birds with Broken Wings, explodes with sounds both ancient and modern, with more than 30 musicians and even more instruments, combining acoustic sounds from around the world. It’s all smoothly blended by the hottest international production team around. It’s uncharted territory, and Caplan’s leading the way.
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