:papercutz

:papercutz is about adventurous pop music.

Started as Bruno Miguel’s music project they’re now a live band. Pursuing a balance between acoustic and electronic sounds on instrumental and vocal tracks, Bruno’s young project has resulted from love of live instrumentation, organic electronics, dream like melodies, pop vocals and cinematic piano ambiences.

After appearances on various international compilations :papercutz signed their debut album Lylac to Montreal’s Apegenine Recordings who has released music by artists like David Kristian, Emanuele Errante, Khonnor, Klaus Lunde (Xerxes), Julien Neto, among others and the album shows :papercutz stretching their song pop format further.

Their special edition single Ultravioleta rmx’s features their album single "Ultravioleta" and remixes from known or emerging artists like The Sight Below (Ghostly International), Neotropic (Ninja Tune, Mush), Spandex (Sleep Debt, Hand on the Plow) and Signer (Carpark Records).

The group, who are now on tour promoting their debut album, won April this year an award on The People's Music Awards whose ceremony was held on London, gaining praises from the likes of BBC presenter Anne Nightingale, producer/composer Ian Sanderson or known XFM Producer, Eddy Temple-Morris and have been recently showcased by Myspace/Vodafone "Ones to Watch" in 2009, being the first Portuguese band ever to achieve such acknowledgement.

Now on UK Audiobulb Records :papercutz new release "Do outro lado do espelho (Lylac ambient reworks)" whose main title, in their Portuguese native language, means on the other side of the looking glass, is made up of diverse ambient interpretations from the album "Lylac" from well known and respected ambient and experimental artists (Taylor Deupree, Helios, Jasper TX, Simon Scott, among others) and a new :papercutz song specially composed for this album. Released May 2010.

:papercutz are currently recording a new original album. Expected release early 2011.

Selected press:

[Do outro lado do espelho (Lylac ambient reworks)]

":Papercutz has commissioned a remix album of his work which reads like a who’s who of contemporary drone. Remix records are often, by their very nature, frustratingly inconsistent, but thankfully Do Outro Lado Do Espello represents a notably coherent and engaging exception." Drowned in Sound

"delightful ambient" Record Collector

"Lovely set of shoegazy ambient remixes" Boomkat

"Here are twelve amazing tracks by masters of ambient and modern classical composition!" Headphone commute

"Soundscapes developed into lush new ambient forms or retract into spacious drones, while the voice is in turn wrapped in textures and treated as just another sound source, or isolated as primary organic element to increase its impact." The Milk Factory

[Lylac]

"On his debut full-length release Lylac, Bruno Miguel (aka :papercutz) creates an arrestingly original experimental pop style by marrying glitch-laden electronics and funky beat programming to soaring vocal melodies evocative of the producer's native Portugal and acoustic instrumentation (piano, strings, xylophone, melodica). The resultant songs are densely packed with micro-sound detail and texture but not so excessively that they collapse under their collective weight....augmented by acoustic guitar shadings, lush female vocals float dreamily over intricate arrangements of tight beat patterns throughout Lylac's forty-seven minutes."

Textura

"Bruno Miguel has created a work which doesn't show off with its diversity but instead presents a whole new vision of what antiquated terms like „Pop“, „Electronica“ and „Contemporary Composition“ might mean in the 21st century. It might be a good idea to ask for other people' s advice at times. But in this case, the best recommendations for Miguel about the future direction of :papercutz is probably to follow his own instincts."

Tokafi (Album of the month)

"A bewitching album that invites you on a fascinating trip into the world folk experimental pop music. One of the best releases in 2008! 10***"

Cuemix-magazine

"Clinically cool ‘Lylac’ is the eventual debut album from Bruno Miguel’s: Papercutz. A mix of woozy soundscapes and ambient beats, ‘Lylac’ bridges the gap between the inhuman To Rococo Rot and Radiohead’s masterful ‘Kid A’; blending the inhuman with heart aching beauty, creating a record that’s both chilling and joyous at the same time."

Subba Cultcha (4/5)

"‘Lylac’ by Bruno Miguel’s :papercutz project is one of the most extraordinary albums I have heard all year."

Echoes And Dust (Top 40 best of the year)

"It’s an LP specialising in a vibrant and emotional blend of electronica, glitch and synth-pop, one that provides the kind of understated intensity perfect for late night introspection."

Experimusic

"Lylac is quite an accomplished form, it’s balance between acoustic and electronic approaches is seamless and invisible, vocal presence is foregrounded and yet not dominant, clarity of intonation of the piano, xylophone and melodicia display the technical achievements. Lovers of glitch electronicia, acoustic jazz fusion and classical ambience will be amply rewarded by the sophisticated simplicity of this album."

Cyclicdefrost

"Lylac is ultimately a promising start to what ought to be a brilliant career."

The Silent Ballet

"From digitally manipulated recordings of organic instruments, to organic interpretations of abstract digitalism…I’ve always thought of our five senses as just receptors of various communication protocols through which we all attempt to send or receive a message. On Lylac, Miguel does just that. He fans out the confetti of his shredded thoughts into our ears where they circle, float, and finally settle to cover the empty spaces occupied by silence."

Headphone Comute

"...elegantly crafted in a pop sense where glitch based idm meets acoustic rhythms and vocals."

Emerging Sounds

"Um disco como este não merece ser exclusivo de meia-dúzia de privilegiados. Está aqui um tesouro a descobrir urgentemente."

David Pinheiro 4/5 (Diário de Notícias/Disco Digital)

"O que é isto? Nova pop ambiental? Pop electrônica de câmara? A estética indie lo-fi dos anos 90 redefinida via maquinaria digital e ciência sampladélica? A resposta é previsível mas verdadeira: é tudo isso e nada disso ao mesmo tempo. É também algo mais raro do que se pensa, no que à Arte diz respeito: um acidente feliz. Porquê? Simples: por uma vez esse cliché mal contado da "falta de pretensões" constitui-se como efectiva força motriz de recomendáveis resultados finais."

RR 4/5 (Blitz)

"...será elementar confirmar aqui a ascensão da pop lusa a um estádio de maturidade decorrente do sábio cruzamento de referências da produção exterior e dos impulsos criativos de um mundo interior."

Expresso / Recomendado em Câmara Clara (RTP)

"Apesar da abertura de horizontes (e geografias) propostos pelas remisturas assinadas por nomes como Neotropic, Spandex, Signer e The Sight Below, é na canção original que mora o instante mais interessante deste single. Uma canção feita de pormenores, de acontecimentos breves, de pequenos silêncios entre notas tocadas. Um reencontro interessante das electrónicas made in Portugal com vozes cantadas em português, num diálogo que garante um bom efeito de cartão de visita."

Nuno Galopim

"Um bom exemplo de como a música portuguesa continua a dar cartas, cá dentro e também lá fora. Belo."

Mescla Sonora

"Delicioso!*****"

Fenther

"Bom gosto; é o que nos apetece dizer, finda a audição de “Lylac”. Refinada a forma como Bruno Miguel aplica a electrónica num produto pop de feições indie, sem nunca perder alguma da sua veia experimentalista; suave experimentalismo.'Lylac' foi e é uma aposta da editora canadiana Apegenine Recordings. Uma aposta também nossa."

A-Trompa

"um caso seríssimo de talento, honestidade, bom gosto, e consistência."

Vai Uma Gasosa

"Lylac é um planisfério de sensações, apoiado na pop de cariz electrónica, os :papercutz traçam um quadro onde a amálgama de cores e ruídos, vai transmitido uma dupla sensação, de um dos lados do espelho temos a canção pop, do outro lado temos a inovação e a estrutura experimental."

Penso Sonoro

"Sometimes you get albums like this, filled with melodies, rhythms and vocals, that uplifts, inspires and somehow restores a little faith that music can still surprise you and still give you something new. Sweet, soothing and intoxicating... and now I'm starting to run out of descriptives! Buy it and see what I mean for yourself."

Kate Turgoose (10/10) (Connexion Bizarre)

"Schöner intensiver Pop fernab der Massenware!"

Feindesland Music Mag

"This is the debut :Papercutz album, a delicately glowing album – dreamstates, delicate left-field electronica, clever rhythm patterns, touches of intricate post-rock (the adventurous side), quiet considered beauty, pop sensibilities, brightness..."

Organ Magazine