Milk And Scissors | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | May 14, 1996 | |||
Recorded | Kingsize Sound Laboratories, Chicago, Illinois | |||
Length | 40:35 | |||
Label | Carrot Top | |||
Producer | Dave Trumfio, The Handsome Family | |||
The Handsome Family chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [2] |
Tom Hull – on the Web | B+ ( ) [3] |
Milk and Scissors is the second album by American band The Handsome Family. [4] [5] It was released 1996 by Carrot Top Records, and by Scout Releases in the same year.
The production of the album was interrupted by Brett's brief stay in a mental hospital. [6]
The Chicago Tribune called Milk and Scissors "one of the finest albums of 1996." [7] The Chicago Reader called it "wonderfully depressing." [8]
All music by Brett Sparks and all lyrics by Rennie Sparks, except as noted
The Wonders of the Invisible World was a book written by Cotton Mather and published in 1693. It was subtitled, Observations As well Historical as Theological, upon the Nature, the Number, and the Operations of the Devils. The book defended Mather's role in the witchhunt conducted in Salem, Massachusetts. It espoused the belief that witchcraft was an evil magical power. Mather saw witches as tools of the devil in Satan's battle to "overturn this poor plantation, the Puritan colony", and prosecution of witches as a way to secure God's blessings for the colony.
The Handsome Family is an American music duo consisting of husband and wife Brett and Rennie Sparks formed in Chicago, Illinois, and as of 2001 based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They are perhaps best known for their song "Far from Any Road" from the album Singing Bones, which was used as the main title theme for the first season of the 2014 crime drama True Detective. The band's tenth album, Unseen, was released in 2016. The band's 11th studio album Hollow, was released on September 8, 2023.
Lifestyle is the seventh studio album by the American indie rock band Silkworm. It was released on August 8, 2000, by Touch and Go Records, their second on the label.
In the West is the second full-length album by indie rock band Silkworm, released in 1994. It was the band's first full-length album to be produced by their long-time friend Steve Albini; the first official recording that the band recorded with him was the His Absence Is A Blessing EP.
Odessa is the first album by American band The Handsome Family. It was released 1994 by Carrot Top Records.
Invisible Hands is an EP released by The Handsome Family. It was released 1997 as a limited Germany only, vinyl only release by Scout Releases. Only 1000 copies were pressed. The release contains an A4 lyrics sheet which states that "The House Carpenter" is a traditional, arranged by Brett Sparks. However "The House Carpenter" didn't make the record.
Through the Trees is the third full-length album released by The Handsome Family, released in 1998 on Carrot Top Records/Loose Music. The album has received significant critical praise, and is considered one of the band's best works.
In The Air is the fifth album released by American band The Handsome Family. It was released in 2000 by Carrot Top Records / Loose Music (Europe) and comes as an enhanced audio CD with an additional video for the song "Amelia Earhart vs. The Dancing Bear," from Milk and Scissors.
Twilight is the sixth album released by The Handsome Family. It was released 2001 by Carrot Top Records / Loose Music (Europe).
Singing Bones is the sixth studio album released by The Handsome Family. It was released in 2003 by Carrot Top Records / Loose Music (Europe). It includes a cover of the folk song "Dry Bones", known from Bascom Lamar Lunsford's 1928 version on Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music. In 2014, the album received a resurgence of interest when the song "Far from Any Road" was used as the theme song for the first season of HBO's crime drama True Detective.
Last Days of Wonder is the seventh studio album released by The Handsome Family. It was released 2006 by Carrot Top Records / Loose Music (Europe). The title is a reference to Puritan scientist and witch-hunter Cotton Mather's 1693 book Wonders of the Invisible World, which lyricist Rennie Sparks found intriguing because of what she called its "madness brimming under the surface of things."
Honey Moon is the eighth studio album released by The Handsome Family. It was released 2009 by Carrot Top Records / Loose Music (Europe).
Down in the Valley is an Ireland-only compilation of songs by The Handsome Family. It was released 1999 by Independent Records. The subtitle of the compilation runs: "A treasury of their most willowy and haunted songs." The compilation contains tracks from Odessa (1994), Milk and Scissors (1996), and Through the Trees (1998).
Smothered and Covered is a collection of outtakes, demos and rarities by The Handsome Family. It was released in 2003 by Handsome Family Music.
Scattered is a second compilation of demos, outtakes and rarities by The Handsome Family. It was released 2010 through Handsome Family Music and is the sequel to 2002's Smothered and Covered.
Wilderness is the ninth studio album by The Handsome Family. It was released in May 2013 by Carrot Top Records. Wilderness is an often surreal concept album about nature, with each song named after an animal.
Gently is a studio album by American singer and actress Liza Minnelli. Released in 1996, it is her first album under the Angel Records/EMI label.
Unseen is the tenth studio album by The Handsome Family. It was released in September 2016 by the band's own label Milk & Scissors Music, and Loose Music in Europe.
Daniel Knox is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Based in Chicago, Illinois, Knox rose to prominence through his collaborations with David Lynch, Jarvis Cocker, the Handsome Family, Rufus Wainwright and Nina Nastasia.
Hollow is the eleventh studio album by American duo the Handsome Family, released on September 8, 2023, through Milk & Scissors Music. It is their first studio album in seven years, following Unseen (2016), and received acclaim from critics.