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The Keep Out 7″ attempts to characterize the inner dilemma and turmoil of which life invariably consists. White is Night is a song of self-reflection in the brightest night of winter. It simplifies all the things that bring you down into the dirt beneath your shoes and the awareness of all that’s really important. Mako Sica explores the thought that life can turn on a dime. Lush green grass can abruptly change to barren earth and the brightest blue sky can turn ashen gray. Its the idea of remaining vigilant and the inability to stay inside.

LP’s Limited to 300 on red vinyl. Comes with free mp3s
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Garage-rock rave-ups and sparkling pop with sharp lyrical left turns, motorik 4-on-the-floor post-punk beats recalling smart-rockers like the Sea and Cake, The Jam, XTC, REM’s ‘Chronic Town’. Brittle beauty and gleeful abandon with a punch-drunk factory rhythm section.

LP’s Limited to 200 hand-numbered clear blue vinyl with
silkscreened covers. Comes with free mp3s

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Staring into tears of heartbreak, loss, mythological hallucinations, and war torn landscapes, the Singleman Affair continues upon their path of downer folk and psychedelic melancholy, preying upon their familiar cohort of influences, Fred Neil, Nick Drake, Skip Spence, and John Martyn, crafting their very own sonic landscapes and vision. Unveiling a dynamic shift from the Alan Mcgee released “Let’s Kill the Summer” and its lo-fi bedroom recordings, “Silhouettes at Dawn” is a lush orchestrated arrangement, accented by diverse instrumentation bringing to mind Love’s “Forever Changes”, Leonard Cohen’s “New Skin For The Old Ceremony”, Fairport convention’s “Liege and Lief” or Nick Drake’s “5 Leaves Left.”

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10 tracks on cream-colored vinyl

Darling’s first full-length record is about licking your paws and moving on. From start to finish, it’s about knowing where you are in life and what’s important. Lights that last forever are the people and ideas that matter most and will guide you as you age. As Darling matures, the pop grows (of Montreal, the Cars) as much as their guitar attack warbles and clangs (Television, Neil Young). The album starts at an uncomfortable moment in life and progresses to a new beginning and a renewed appreciation for life around you. You can hear old memories fade away and new ones begin, starting with a heart attack and ending with a gathering of hope. This record combines the wistful melancholy and shimmering joy of the last two EPs into a complete story.

Racehorse is a midway point for the Singleman Affair. It captures the ache, the homespun spirit of “Let’s Kill the Summer” and the new adventurous songwriting of the new Singleman Affair, hinting at the glory of the upcoming “Silhouettes at Dawn” LP due later this year. Dusty arpeggios from lingering afternoons, downtempo dirge for sunspots and spiderwebs. Handmade cd’s with an amazing cover from Katy Collier.

The Singleman Affair’s homespun folk dons a jetpack and some fancy new duds (no pun intended). This new EP captures the Singleman Affair live in late 2009, transitioning into a propulsive quartet. Drummer Don Ogilvie (Pedal Steel Transmission, Darling) gets some proper help from stand-up bassist Toby Summerfield (Crush Kill Destroy, Algernon), bringing some fierce collective spirit to some new and old tunes. The small group leavesa lot of room for Jacob Smith’s keys to shine, and Dan’sguitar rings out. Thanks to Dan Mohr for the excellent recording, and Brett Barton for mastering. This was gonna be a tour only cd, but we couldn’t resist.

Finally. The US release of the Singleman Affair’s 2007 debut with an expanded digipak and 2 bonus tracks that were previously only available on a 7″. This cd is must-have for anyone into the hushed bedroom folk of today’s psych scene. 15 brilliant tracks that whisper their way through the smoky forest and into your subconscious, delivering tales of lost love and internal destruction, but peppered with the hope of sundrenched tomorrows.

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2 fiery tracks from the melancholies in a mid-life crisis. “The Thoroughs” streaks through 1982 New Order and Broken Social Scene alike, passing out angled glances at the minimalist trot of Can and Trans Am, but sticking close to the melodic nature of early Pretenders. “Sweet Enemy” is an absurd nod to Cervantes through the eyes of Keith Moon. Break out your friendly stomp.
tracklist

a. The Thoroughs 3:11
b. Sweet Enemy 4:16

7″ on blue colored vinyl w/ silkscreened cover and free downloads

An unlikely skin for such severe emotional heartbreak. 7 Tracks of chrome disillusion and polished denial. The lo-fi Darling is left in the dust for Built To Spill and Television style 3-minute guitar workouts. Bassist Nick Voss penned 2 of the 7 tracks, adding a Jim O’Rourke tongue-in-cheek disenchantment to Jeff Schneider’s towering Neil Young heartache. This is a breakup record, written and recorded on the fly, and infected with an Animal Collective urgency.

The debut single from the Tiger Trio leaps from their jazzy strut straight into a driving dance groove bouncing along a thick bass line and breezy lyrics- check out the concise organ solo from Jesse Levine for the moment to jump off your chair. Equal parts Sea and Cake and Fela Kuti.

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Mean Sea Level have captured a singular experience on their new, self-titled release; that of lying on cool grass besides the campfire as darkness falls. Staring into the sky, slowly carried upwards by the flickering firelight and entering the night, the stars turn from brilliant diamond points to a vast blanket of luminescent heaven. The band summons these sensations by blending together two distinct traditions in popular folk music: the back-porch authenticity of whiskeysoaked strumming that stretches deep into the American past and has recently manifested itself in artists like Will Oldham and Sam Beam, and the expansively lyrical psychedelic-folk first pioneered by Bert Jansch and Nick Drake. This limited edtion cd comes in a silkscreened folder.

2 dense and humid folk tracks from Annie Reese, Cardboard Sangria’s answer to Mazzy Star via Leonard Cohen and Fairport Convention.Backed by members of Hummingbiird, the music draws a hazy folk smog under Annie’s luminous voice. Every record ships with a free coupon for MP3′s.

tracklist:
A Tonight, Tonight
B Perpetual Love

Want to know what happened when the Singleman Affair headed out to sea for 2 months with nothing more than borrowed equipment and an ill-fated Mazda? 14 tracks of hushed gothic folk and sprawling catharsis. The 3-piece outfit and the 6-piece squad both contribute mostly new material to this once ‘tour-support’ only cd, recorded in Boston, Atlanta and Chicago’s own Hideout

This album is a soulful walk through your mind and eventually to the discovery that although your time on earth is limited, your creation will live on forever. From the title track “Ground is Sound” ambient beginnings followed by a raucous chorus line are meant to symbolize the path your mind takes you from the cradle. Early Hood whispers through layers of Death Cab computers and the sweet and hopeful, with ambient bliss followed by a raucous chorus. With Television and New Wave guitars, Malkmus or Martsch vocals and the ever-present melancholy, this is where Darling hits its stride, spilling secrets over acoutic guitars, fending off mini-Korgs at every corner.

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This album is the new destination of the ex-Pedal Steel Transmission, recorded by the band in seclusion in a Michigan cabin and mixed by longtime Yo La Tengo producer Roger Moutenot in Nashville. Gritty and tight psych workouts laced with an american romance and the occasional towering guitar solo. A live and airy document of a band in transition.

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Last minute fleeting attempts at beauty. Sometime nightmare music. Sun-dazed from high expectations and the inevitable crash. Improvisations culled from being locked in a studio with no rules, only a list of ghosts and their moments to chase. “Soon to Fail” is staring into the sunset from the back seat, weather-beaten from knowing good intentions only win from within. This music is our sanctuary, a saint within the walls of a police blockade, like the church the group is named for.
(Gastr del Sol, John Martyn, John Fahey, Simon and Garfunkel, Black Heart
Procession, DMST, Elisabeth Cotton, Django Rheinhart,)

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The 2000 debut of the Pedal Steel Transmission. Songwriters Dan Schneider and Gary Pyskacek duel it out song for song in an ecstatic spazz-out of genres: Irreverent rockabilly a la Pixies, straight up country with a flare for 70’s revivalism (Flying Burrito Brothers, Zappa, NRPS). The most striking aspect of this album is the soaring guitar interplay. Pedal Steel mingles with John McLaughlin and Sonny Sharrock bursts, spazz-outs and improvisations that remind you more of Alan Licht or Thurston Moore than of Carl Perkins. This is Pedal Steel at its rawest and most care-free– reverent to the Chicago alt-country tradition with one hand, planning a stab or two with the other.

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With the release of “The Angel of the Squared Circle”, the Pedal Steel Transmission emerges with its most commanding performance to date. Songwriters Dan Schneider and Gary Pyskacek have reached a new level of maturity and intensity, and both seem to have found their own distinct voices. Blending and weaving a cohesive story and experience throughout the record, the Pedal Steel Transmission has forged a memoir of lonely nights and harrowing demons, a cinematic experience of sexual and emotional self-destruction seen through the eyes of everyday confusion and anxiety. From the tattered, apocryphal caravan sound of the album’s opener “Waiting” to the quiet awake/asleep sounds of “Amy” and “Maritime Glare”, the album unfolds into a beautiful story that ends all too soon. The album’s diversity is soon felt in the razor-wielding cry of “Gilman Report”, where the band pushes the limitations and boundaries of standard post-rock. The starvation of “I Saved the Last High Style for You”, and the quiet sonnet of “In Mourning:Reprise” find the listener staring blankly out the window on a pale rainy Chicago afternoon.

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This is the Pedal Steel Transmission at their naive finest. Stereolab collides with Hanks of all generations to rhythm-up a good feast. Pedal steel and distortion, alternate tunings, time-signatures discarded, feel Pedro the Lion through John McLaughlin and a suddenly singy Tortoise. The album that put this foursome on the map amidst a a sickened clan afraid of everything country and beautiful alike. A group spent from trying too hard and sick from the overblown serious, 23 and angry from the rules, yelling at the ceiling at 4AM. Oh, and a guitar hero or two.

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Sainte Chapelle is Dan Schneider and Gary Pyskacek (both of Pedal Steel Transmission) fleshing out ideas and molding improvisations. The group formed in 2000 to release it’s self titled EP for Cardboard Sangria Records, a collection of 5 improvised pieces recorded in a weekend following a mind-bending month-long trip to Europe, and the necessary withdrawal from life that followed.