UPCOMING RELEASES
Sin Asps - Sin Asps CS PRE-ORDER
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Anthony Cozzi, best known for his role in Chicago bands Cococoma and Radar Eyes, doesn’t like to be pigeonholed. Just as his band Radar Eyes evolved from a psychedelic garage outfit into a slick postpunk band, Cozzi’s influence, instrumentation, and craftsmanship have become deeper and wider, though he obviously maintains the inclusion of his precious hooks. In Sin Asps, Anthony’s new solo project, jumps from the rock songbook, plunging fully into the realm of rhythmic synthesizer music. On his debut self-titled cassette, Cozzi draws from themes of dystopia, futurism, and the mythical. Sin Asps is an alluring listen, in terms of both prescient lyrical content and sonic quality. A song like “Black Iron Prison” is both claustrophobic and catchy, musing on, well, confinement, but at other times, like on the mind-bending, rollicking “Moog Suicide,” Cozzi goes straight synth instrumental, crafting a tight, evenly-paced narrative. Sin Asps is Cozzi at his most sonically adventurous, eschewing all non-electronic instruments, aside from his voice.
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NEW RELEASES
Lil Tits - The Usual CS ORDER HERE
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"Make no mistake – there’s nothing little about Lil Tits’ sound. On upcoming cassette EP The Usual, the Chicago noise rock trio take a massive step forward - in terms of both crunch and clarity – and land on a collection of six breakneck, belligerent bangers. Breakneck begin the key word here. “Circus,” first song on the cassette, rips a hole wide open into their wild, horrific world. The track showcases Hanna Hazard’s plodding guitar and Madalyn Garcia’s throbbing bass tearing across Karissa Talanian’s intense, dynamic drumming. The EP doesn’t let up. But even though the anger on these tracks is palpable, the trio doesn’t forego humor - what’s most wicked here is their wit and pool of influence. Horror iconography and occult ephemera pepper the recordings, as do catchy, sinister mantras like “Drink the Juice!” on scorcher “Casey.”
Abrasion and relentlessness aren’t new territory for Lil Tits, but they’ve crystallized on The Usual. This is a band with swagger, a realized aesthetic, and - most importantly - some fucking killer material. Interested? Well, drink the juice." Past Press: “There is no better queasy, party-death vehicle out there right now...” – Lorena Caiazzo/Jes Skolnik, Pitchfork, December 2014 “With vocals nearly as loud and intense as its backing instruments, Chicago band Lil Tits is fighting ‘girl band’ stereotypes.” – Zoe Eitel, Columbia Chronicle, February 2016 Band Pages: Bandcamp |
Mikey Young - Your Move Vol. 1 LP/CS ORDER HERE
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"We love Mikey Young. We love his bands (Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Ooga Boogas, etc.) We love his production. We love his sense of humor. We love his fashion choices…you probably get the idea. We had the idea for a synth-driven solo series in May of 2016. Mikey had already done so much for us - mixing, mastering, being an all-around homie, and we knew we wanted Mikey to be a part of the series. Actually we wanted Mikey to kick it off. The series became Your Move, the Synthtastic Solo Series For Humans 8+ and Mikey’s debut became the first volume. Here are the rules - the music must be synth-driven, but is not limited to synths, and the artwork is chess-inspired. Why chess? Well, we wanted to have an interactive portion of the series - each artist (white pieces) selects a move and we, the label, (black pieces) respond. With each volume, a new move is made. Chess as a conceptual centerpiece was pragmatic - chess matches take a long time to finish, so this ensures longevity. Also, chess rules!
As anyone who knows him can attest, Mikey’s incredibly modest. When we first got the files from him, he wrote “see if you like any of this stuff. I can’t tell if it’s good, boring, weird, predictable, lazy…” It was perfect - everything we wanted it to be and more. The five files he sent us became Your Move Vol. 1. On these songs, Mikey combines his compositional prowess with precision and enthusiasm. They are joyous, exciting, and hopeful, testaments to the human capacity to create something indestructibly beautiful." |
Mardou - Cold Grasp LP/CS ORDER HERE
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In characteristic wry wit, Mardou front-person and songwriter Dylan McCartney postulates that it’s hard to be a band from Ohio that isn’t influenced by Guided by Voices. It shows in the Cincinnati post-punk quintet’s hooks, but also in their malleability. Over the course of its eleven songs, Cold Grasp boasts smoke-filled dance bangers like “Flash,” frenetic acid-fried nuggets like “Pan Aggressive” or “Flipper,” and gentle, beautiful ballads like “False Futures.” This variety translates lyrically too - McCartney’s words are boldly vulnerable, detailing meditations on love, destruction (self or otherwise), apathy, and consciousness.
It’s immediately apparent that the record has come from somewhere raw and deeply personal, but on final track “June,” McCartney treads a more idealistic ground. “But I died, came back in June,” he intones early in the song, illustrating his rebirth before crescendoing into a revelatory instrumental passage. A fitting send off to a record that relays both the sublime peaks and crushing depths we shoulder by being alive. Mixed by both Doni Schroader (…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Our Dead) and Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring), Cold Grasp also marks the band at their most clear, loud, and precise. RIYL: Pere Ubu, Guided by Voices, Iceage, Cloud Nothings, Protomartyr |
Kraus - Faster Than The Speed Of Time CS Order
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In early 2012, Pat Kraus was dubbed a “national treasure” by Kiran Dass of the New Zealand Listener. An active participant in Kiwi music since 1998, Kraus, multi-instrumentalist and one-man band extraordinaire, has created a prolific and profound legacy in a fairly short amount of time - I mean, the guy’s got his own wikipedia page. Indebted and inspired by a history of eclectic music, Kraus’ influences span as wide as Renaissance composition to Yellow Magic Orchestra, and thank G-d they do!
2010 saw the release of his seminal work Faster Than The Speed Of Time, an LP co-released by French labels Dilettante Courtoisie and Bimbo Towers Records. Aside from drums on tracks “Electric Cyan” and “Stalking Horse,” everything was played by Kraus himself - guitar, drums, bass, and (homemade) synthesizer. Faster Than The Speed Of Time is a deep exploration into deconstructed, electrified rock n’ roll, blending kosmische psychedelia with a love for old world music. Unfortunately for fans outside of Europe…well, international shipping can be outlandish. And like most records limited to 300 copies, Faster Than The Speed Of Time is out of print. Sorry. Was out of print. Everything changed after them boys at Moniker Records came along. Faster Than The Speed Of Time is available digitally and on cassette April 7, 2017 |
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UPCOMING RELEASES
Upcoming Releases for 2017/2018
Lil Tits - The Usual CS
Pariuh - Family Witchcraft Attack 7in EP
Sin Asps - Sin Asps CS (Anthony Cozzi of Radar Eyes)
Royal Brat - tba LP/CS
Pariuh - Family Witchcraft Attack 7in EP
Sin Asps - Sin Asps CS (Anthony Cozzi of Radar Eyes)
Royal Brat - tba LP/CS
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