posted December 23, 2016 #
Here we go. The final Friday Videos of 2016 coincides with the break for the year. No more sitting at a desk on a regular basis means a much lighter blogging schedule. I was going to go with a Christmas heavy playlist but I'll try to keep it varietal.
Thanks for reading - be it RSS or on the web. I really really appreciate it and hope to make this thing much more worthwhile in the year to come.
If you didn't catch
The Mummy trailer that was let loose on the world without proper audio rendering,
have a peek.
Enjoy your 2016. I'm ready for the refresh.
posted December 23, 2016 #
This is part of a 2016 Year in Review of yk Records releases... a healthy reminder to catch-up if you don't know them already.
I won't lie, having the opportunity to re-issue
Chariots of Fire from
Apollo Up! is a bit of a dream come true for me. When the album was originally released ten years ago (2006), I can remember thinking how awesomely
cool Theory 8 Records was for putting out such a wonderful piece of work.
If you're paying attention, you may have noticed that two
other yk Records releases from 2016 involve members of Apollo Up; namely
Tower Defense and
Jay Leo Phillips. I am extremely pleased to be involved in their post-Au work and honored that they'd let me be involved in re-issuing the album on
gold vinyl (naturally). Of course, it's on
all the digital platforms too if that's your thing.
I've
said it before and I'll say it again. Nashville in 2006 was on the
cusp of something but hadn't made it there yet. There was no shortage of amazing music emerging from the city but the world wasn't watching for it in the same way they are now. I know that may sound absurd but I honestly believe it to be true.
Chariots of Fire came out before it's time as it is a perfectly accessible but just left-of-center rock record to stick out. It's centered around post-punk, math-rock and a bit of big anthemic Rock (capital r), layered underneath the right amount of intricate details - tubular bells, horn parts, little mellotrons, etc.
This is a record a youth would hear and it would change what they think about music. In my opinion, it's that good. I'm just happy to have done my small contribution to get it out into the planet on vinyl for someone to discover down the line.
posted December 23, 2016 #
This is part of a 2016 Year in Review of yk Records releases... a healthy reminder to catch-up if you don't know them already.
Back in 2009, I convinced Andrew Brassell to let me release a bevy of songs he'd concocted over the years in his bedroom. The first
Slowmotions records was a cobbling together of noodlings and late night creativity he'd done as a young musician and on his off time from
And The Relatives; a band that released their
final album on
yk records later on in 2010.
He moved to Los Angeles shortly after that record came out and started producing and writing for others. I assumed his days making solo work were behind him. Fortunately, that was a very incorrect assumption. It's been seven years since the first release but
The Domes is well worth the wait. It's available on
bright yellow vinyl and
available to stream in your ear holes right now.
Everything about this record is a monumental step up from the previous. If the first record,
Quick Potions, was a fever dream of pop songs this is a lucid awakening within that same world. Brassell's sensibilities haven't so much
changed in the years between records but, simply, greatly improved. His strange guitar noises are more locked in and controlled but every bit as strange. To me, his lyrical musings, even at their most silly, are undercut with a melancholy that I've always enjoyed. Give a listen to "
Banker" and "
Man on a Mission" to see just what I mean.
The other upside to this record is that it breaks the seal on his output silence. I look forward to even more Slowmotions records in the future.
posted December 23, 2016 #
This is part of a 2016 Year in Review of yk Records releases... a healthy reminder to catch-up if you don't know them already.
My initial familiarity with Jay Leo Phillips came from seeing his band
Apollo Up! play around Nashville in the mid-2000's and thinking they were, hands down, the best band the city had to offer. Jay eventually joined
Forget Cassettes and then
And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead and then moved to Germany for a few years. I assumed I wouldn't ever get to hear much new from him after that.
A few years past and Jay moved back to Nashville and we started discussed putting out a solo record from him. After toiling over it for some time, the results are
One Million, One Million, One Million, an album of songs composed, performed and recorded entirely by Jay. It's available on
grey vinyl and
streaming all over.
The album is, clearly, a departure from anything Jay has done previously; both in terms of the production style and the musicality of the thing. It's a rock record; complete with rock record level energies, building tensions, chanting refrains and plenty of danceable bits but it feels like the strange cousin of your standard rock record. There's lots of keyboards, programmed drums and a sparse grit on everything that keeps you from officially filing it under Rock. I can't explain it and I'm happy about that.
posted December 22, 2016 #
new track from the new EP
posted December 22, 2016 #
This is part of a 2016 Year in Review of yk Records releases... a healthy reminder to catch-up if you don't know them already.
Singles Only from Birdcloud is a tricky release for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it's a compilation release of their previously available EP's; pressed to vinyl into a double record gatefold package on
cum colored vinyl. And that leads right into the second tricky part about Birdcloud; their level of crassness and humor can be rather offputting.
The duo is a hyper sexualized, intentionally over-the-top act of commentary on the South. The characters they sing about are
real. The mindsets they portray in their songs are real situations that happen in the South, all the time. But that doesn't mean that their songs are endorsing those things; they are mearly immersing themselves in the portrayal of them.
The songs in the above
sampler are the tamest on the record. You can hear the whole thing
wherever you stream music.
There's been some controversy around the two but I stand by them and am proud of this release. The line they walk can be very blurry but, ultimately, they aren't promoting an agenda or a lifestyle, they're shining a light on the absurdity of it.
posted December 22, 2016 #
This is the fifth album from
Uncle Skeleton and he continues to blow my mind mixing classical music styles and influence with more traditional electronic bleeps and bloops and even a touch of Vaporwave.
Cocoa Beach is the fifth release from Uncle Skeleton and treads into some new territory. If you haven't heard
Handy Looky or
Pet Island III, take a moment to give them a spin as they are unlike any other Uncle Skeleton track.
It's available on
baby blue vinyl and
streaming everywhere, naturally.
Now that Ross, aka Uncle Skeleton himself, is extremely busy making music at
at DOTS, I wonder about the future of Uncle Skeleton releases. Will this be the last? I sure hope not because these new directions are fascinating.
This isn't the last you'll hear of this album. I still plan on cutting together some videos for it as it's just too good to go languishing in obscurity.
posted December 22, 2016 #
If you haven't noticed, I'm running through all the
yk records releases of 2016 just as a reminder that if you missed out on one of these phenomenal releases, you still have time to catch up.
In June,
Makeup and Vanity Set released
Brigador, Volume I, the soundtrack to an
indie game of the same name. In October, he followed it up with
Volume II. Both are available on beautiful vinyl tucked inside packaging by
version industries. Of course, they're both streaming everywhere (
Volume I,
Volume II).
For me, this is a tiny glimpse into the true future of Makeup and Vanity Set music. It's a great blend of his extremely dark soundscapes (ala
Wilderness) and some of the dancier stuff that he did much previously. In other words, it's dark and apocalyptic like you want from a MAVS release but it's still oddly
accessible. I can foresee this work all over movies and TV; a future that I don't think it's fantasy in the slightest.
posted December 22, 2016 #
It's like Berenstein vs Berenstain all over again but with more racism.
posted December 21, 2016 #
World's first combination IHOP/Applebee's to open in Detroit https://t.co/NLVEg8TjOi
posted December 21, 2016 #
☕☕☕☕
3 hours left to snag my groupees bundle! a ton of jams for $8.
https://t.co/bDB48IU9y0
posted December 21, 2016 #
I'm continuing to
fully reviewing the 2016 releases of
yk records. If you missed out, now's the time to catch up.
YK-035 is the debut release from
Nightblonde,
Numbers, a spacey affair that pulls influences from amazingly disparate sources such as Morissey or the idea of retrofuturism. On paper, it sounds like a strange pairing but they pull it off wonderfully. It's easy to draw the comparison to the likes of The Cure, particularly the songs that are heavily bass driven.
They've crammed in a ton of harmonies and layered vocals to the nine-song affair, available on
clear vinyl inside of a custom die-cut package. If the world were a fair place, Jill Townsend would get a huge nod for her amazing work on the artwork and sleeve.
The album is
streaming everywhere and the band has posted a rad
Youtube playlist of custom looping artwork to listen to the album. It's like
1984 but with 80's infused pop music.
posted December 21, 2016 #
I am
reviewing the 2016 releases of
yk records, my label. If you missed out, now's the time to catch up.
Following on the heels of
POLY, the sophomore release from
Tower Defense, a double-bass power trio turned quartet that makes an absolute
blast of post-punk rock songs. The EP was released on
green vinyl with the A and B sides being the same songs; play whichever side you'd like! It's also
streaming everywhere, of course.
If you missed the video for "
History", watch it ASAP. It's an excellent tribute to the city of Nashville through a song about fighting for the greatness of your city as it is consumed by new development (seriously).
My only complaint about this release is that it's too damn short. You can listen to the entire thing in just under ten minutes.
posted December 21, 2016 #
By all accounts, 2016 was a big year for
YK Records. I can confidently say I have a "record label" now (as pretentious as that may sound) instead of saying I have a "side hobby." I put out ten (!) records from some absolutely wonderful artists spanning a wide gamut of genres. Let's take a moment to review.
First up was
POLY's full-length album
Let's Have An Adventure. Released on confetti explosion vinyl and
streaming everywhere, it's a wonderfully innocent, borderline twee, pop record.
Every time I listen to it I am consistently impressed that the band set restrictions for themselves - no guitars, no electronics - and actually accomplished it. It's an amazing variety of instrumentation and adorable storytelling.
posted December 20, 2016 #
I made a non-scientific chart on design feedback: https://t.co/qhyJaXH0P1
posted December 20, 2016 #
Those Darlin's frontwoman fighting cancer with a fearless attitude. Contribute.
posted December 20, 2016 #
the wonderful wobbulator machine for young and old alike https://t.co/gg6ffFbnto
