Hardboiled Wonderland (Percy Howard & Martin Birke) As Small as a World and Large as Alone (Gonzo MultiMedia 2011) The debut 10 track album is a sonic venture through electronic and trip-hop compositions written by Martin Birke (synths, samples, electronic percussion,drum programming) & Percy Howard (lyrics,vocals ,vocal samples).Recorded & produced with Christopher Scott Cooper (guitars,samples and engineer- ing) at Blue Seven Audio from 2009-2010 with contributions by Benito Cortez (viola, violins) , Edo Castro (7-string basses) with backing vocals by Tara C. Taylor and essence. From the sultry,emotionally charged title track to the infectious dance beats of ‘Jungle Fever’ and ‘Looking for Strange’ , the trip-hop of ‘Filthy’ and ‘I Carry Your Heart’, the album plays unfolds bold,delicate and introspective. Birke &Howard met several times in the mid 90’s. Birke’s band Sandbox Trio often opened for Howard’s band NUS in their hometown Sacramen- to,CA. In 2009 they began work as a songwriting duo with co- producer Christopher Scott Cooper in Fremont,CA. at Coo- per’s studio - Blue Seven Audio. As songs began to take shape they felt the band name best described the style of the music they produced and happened to be half the title of a favorite novel by Haruki Murakami (Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World). After a year writing and recording a collection of songs including a remix by the late great bassist Mick Karn (Japan, Dalis Car) which is available on the band’s official website as a download, Birke & Howard felt they have truly created a wonderland of modern music that brings the listener into themselves and out into the exploration of new eclectic music.