Charlie McAlister on Unread / Tick Tock records

Christopher from Unread records sent me his latest release for review from Charlie McAlister. It looks like it's backed by a couple different labels, Unread being one of them. I have to admit I didn't know anything about this prolific homespun musician, until I started looking up his myspace, and that's where the ball unraveled. Apparently Charlie has released somewhere near 80 self released tapes on his own and small labels that he's seen come and go. I imagine he's the kind of guy that has been all over the country and seen every bar back room, pizza place, basement there is to play, and fought his way out of some of them.

A-Side "Carolina bi-product beach ball boogie" It sounds like we caught Charlie mid sentence talking about his feet (?) and then the track launches into spastic banjo/acoustic/washboard singing verse after verse of rapid fire lyrics in almost square dance style. It's going to take a few listens to work through even catching half the one liners in here. The percussion sounds like people working with whatever's laying around...beer boxes, trash cans, to keep up with this insane tempo folk madman.

I'm Freezing: The second track on the A-Side is mostly instrumental, Charlie creates this repetitive blues bassline with a distorted guitar soloing on top that repeats measure after measure. The song periodically cuts out and Charlie says 'I'm freezing' and 'It's cold in here'. At first I thought the tape stopped or he was messing with a loop of some kind. By the last breakdown he's groaning from the cold. And then the maddening little bassline is back, with more hooting and howling, to end Side A. I'm sure he was freezing out in some garage or barn and that's how this track started and they pressed record. I've been there, Charlie.

I don't love you anymore: The guitar has this really warm tube sound, and Charlie's yelling again either into something distorting his voice or the recording is just peaking out. There's at least 4 different strummed instruments coming together to create this carnival hootenanny. Maybe there's a Ukulele here? It's really perfect.
This has to be the best use of the trumpet sound on the SK-1, it actually works, only after repeated listens I'm realizing what that sound has to be.
As expected Charlie, as narrator, is really pissed off and gets more unrestrained as the song goes on. At the end it sounds like everyone simultaneously hitting the mic at once before the tape is stopped, and that's the homemade touch that makes me pay just a little more attention.

'Memories in the Rain' is a slow distorted drawling guitar melody that seems to get me everytime. At first Charlie's yelling off in the distance, probably at himself playing on the other 3 tracks. It's almost a sad kind of howl to just set the tone of this sincere bedroom middle of the night recording. When the main vocals start it's really up front, close to the mic. He has a kind of nasal Daniel Johnston voice, but there's some low end to his vocals here, as opposed to the typical metallic sounding distortion of the other ones. This has to be my favorite track...it's reminding me of the Mountain Goats, their home recorded feel stuff, it's spontaneous and couldn't exist any other way. It isn't too self conscious, it's not going for the obvious gag, the drums sound like cardboard boxes, it fades out with the sound of the rain.

Where does this fit into anything I've been listening to lately? Well, it really doesn't, Charlie is really out there in his own world, nearly outsider, but it seems like he's well adjusted to society enough to go on lengthy tours, and probably win over everyone he meets.

From Unread records:
Charlie Mcalister - "carolina bi-product" [seven inch] four new delicious cuts of classic mcalister strum and fuckery on pink platter.
span across and feel up some babes while square dancing on the beach. deal with the robot inside, and throw yourself out into the surf...only to drift away and rust up.
limited to 500 copies, with seven or so different hand screened covers, and co-released with : tick tock, doormat tx, borrowdeer, and carl.
A
"carolina bi-product beachball boogie"
"im freezing"
B
"i dont love you anymore"
"memories in the rain"

On Sardine colored vinyl...which is a kind of light purple. It plays at 33 and I'm pretty sure all the sleeves are hand silkscreened and different. Mine looks nothing like either of the ones pictured on Unread or Tick Tock.

It seems Unread has released several full lengths from Charlie in the past and at least one is still available, so you can get a double dose of Charlie who won't sound like anything else on your shelf.

The Dad on Unread Records

Unread Records may have moved their headquarters recently to Pittsburgh, PA but thankfully their aesthetic hasn't changed a bit since Christopher first contacted me back in 2006. Their packaging always reminded me of early Shrimper or Homestead Records handmade quality that’s still inspiring to me today. You could see in the Xerox sleeve and catalog inserts or the hand written center labels that putting out your own singles was a really personal act. Unread sent in this single from The Dad, out of Omaha, Nebraska and it also recalls those home recorded late ‘90s sounds from those labels as well with a combination of off the rails garage and ramshackle punk in three tracks that held it together long enough for two sides of basement pop.

A-Side’s “7 A.M.” opens with a scuzzy bass setting the tempo of punk speed and before you know it they've built up a rickety, layered racket in the best kind of Yips way, different than just garage because they’re make sure things have that deliberate out of tune edge. It's home recorded and personally hand crafted while ignoring the typical sad bastard sound. No one’s feeling sorry for themselves in the cement block, bare bulb basement. It’s as if Mad Nanna were going more of a pop sound, less experimental or psych. There’s no time for self reflection here, they just can’t hold anything back, the layers piled on in dense melodies. They have an informal edge with off tempo manic punk vocals that keep this from ever getting too tight or together. I got to hand it to these guys, its exactly the kind of thing that straddles the line of garage without being laid back and post-punk frantic, jagged timings, pushing things right up to that edge. "Second Best Friends" blasts spastic organ and echo yelling reverb in this jangly jam. This sloppy, taped together sound and psych organ has something to do with the Johnny Ill Band if they were handled by Mike Rep. This second track is reinforcing their unusual rhythms in both of these tracks, a jagged spazzy pop sound that you couldn’t get any other way. It’s the same reason I love Times New Viking and Home Blitz, the way the recording captures their crazy ecstasy of playing.

B-Side’s "Getting Worse" has a sharp electric melody kick this off in a slower tempo. Rehearsal space gold of inspired delivery that wouldn’t reach these heights if you were taking things too seriously, they have their shit together, what could sound like apathy is spontaneity. Their riffs are jagged and tight exploding in muddy, treble spiked pop, the chorus on this particularly delivers like G. Green’s damaged pop.

Get it from Unread Records. I can't say enough about the really unique things Christopher has brought to my attention over the years. His catalog continues to expand with gems like this getting more essential.

Unread records • Split Park/A Boy Named Thor

I was contacted by Christopher from Unread records last week to say he come across 7inches and wanted to send me a few releases for possible review. I am so glad he did. I loved them all and I'm going to give them the individual review they deserve in the next couple of days.

Maybe he caught me with these recordings at the right time but it's the most optimistic stuff I have heard in a while. I think I was a little stuck in a noise/experimental rut, but these seven inches made me want to put the needle back at the beginning of the record and flip it over just one more time. They are pure pleasure. I wanted to hear that melody stuck in my head the next day. Nothing made me happier last night. I played right through all three he sent and took notes. This is great great stuff. Pretty much they all have been recorded at 33 1/3 and packed with tracks. These are all mini EP's and we briefly emailed back and forth about this seven inch possibility, how it's been used by some notable bands and taking full advantage of it. Don't leave any groove unfilled.
This stuff is for fans of home recorded, personal, challenging music. Like early smog records where I never knew what to expect.
The first seven inch I can't get off my record player is the split seven inch pictured above by Park and A Boy Named Thor. Recorded in Chicago in 2000 (at least the Park side) this is a great sample of both artists range, you can really get a sense of them with 3 tracks by each, more than enough to know to look for a full length somewhere.

I don't know a thing about twee, or that genre, I guess it might be classified as such. I just think if it's an interesting song....if the music is good it can be recorded on anything, the songs are good period. I guess if you are into that stuff then get it, but that's not a reason to buy anything in my book.

The first track from Park 'Scout' just immediately took me back to listening to sebadoh or beck for the first time and just realizing it was ok to get it all out, there are no mistakes...that way of working, the earnestness of it. It's impossible to get something to sound like this unless you choose to. The immediacy, trying to capture those temporary moments. I can hear this pouring out of Park all at once one night, staying up until it's finished. That just gets me, that freedom, a reminder of all the possibilities by just pressing play and record.

All I used to do was sit in my bedroom and mess around with the 4 track, this completely and successfully brings it all back. The doubled vocals, quiet keyboard track, overlapped lines from the chorus and microphone bumps....and the fact that I'm listening to it on a record player makes it even better. The second track 'Like she's addicted...' was recorded in a room full of pots and pans, pieces of metal, and he pulls out a likable melody and really interesting drum track out of that pile. There's pieces of sped up recordings, previous tracks under the cassette reel bleeding through at the end of the song. It's like this unearthed jem was saved from blowing in the wind on the side of the road, and thank Unread records for rewinding the tape back on the reel with a pencil and pressing a seven inch, complete with custom watercolor.

A Boy Named Thor, Jason Corace is on the B-side and right away there's a sample from 'Grey gardens' , Edith beale asking the maysles if she'll look ok dancing.
I thought it was playing somehow at 45 though, he's really messed with the pitch of the layers of vocal tracks and it sounds ween-esque. That's another band that completely blew my mind in high school right when you hi that age of really realizing there is a whole crazy world of amazing stuff you can;t even imagine. Everything hasn't been done, and you are a little humbled.
The second track 'Dance Party USA' is a slow echoey high pitch high school dance band song, that keeps changing beats devolving into a drum machine and then back to the live track. This goes from that scene with Michael J Fox trying to save his parents on the dance floor to some kind of roadhouse scene. An instrumental number that even your grandma would love.

Bottom line I am checking out the entire catalog of Unread, and looking further into these bands.
Go now and get all available seven inches from Unread records they deserve every penny. I am jealous, it's hearing something like this, that makes me think I should get off the keyboard and go record something, or at least get someone good to record something and let me put out a seven inch for them.

Will Simmons 'Him with his head in his hands' seven inch on Unread

Unread records does it again, with this mini EP by Will Simmons. At this point I don't think Unread can commit anything bad to vinyl. Chris has a vision that I am beginning to share, with every release I hear, it just makes more and more sense.

The liner notes say this was recorded from Nov 99- Feb 00 on gross street in Pittsburgh. I've never been to Pittsburgh, but I think I know this feeling. I'll be dammed if you can't think that a 4-track becomes an instrument. I know these songs wouldn't be the same without it. It is another presence, another layer. And I will never get sick of it. I'll never get sick of these recordings by an individual alone with a 4-track. These don't sound like the typical 4-track bad quality, they are clean, but full of feeling that you get from a familiar space.

The first side starts out with 'Happy Birthday cake for Kevin', just will singing and playing his heart out on a nylon string guitar plucking a little too hard, catching every imperfection. The lyrics frantically written down on the kitchen table paper towel, his vocals just barely finishing in time, just missing the high parts but I wouldn't have it any other way.
'One man to know' is slow layered guitars, here he starts show you the sad side, in this song about maybe going back home to see relatives, the long trip, stuck on some kind of transportation...I'm not looking forward to it. You don't make any headway, no one understands any better, and we'll do it again in a year. Your father is only one man to know.
To round it out with 'praying for Pittsburgh' he pleads with the city to listen to all of it's parts for a change, not just something new, but something that will really matter. More solemn guitar and this ends much to fast, just as I'm getting into the phantom verse two, the side is over.

This was a prescription for the winter/Christmas times blues. This was 4 tracks, six songs of Pittsburgh. I pictured anyone of my high school friends driving at top speed down the side streets in our town covered in snow, they've got winter hats on. Drop Will off to his apartment, I'm going to see my friend Matt at the pharmacy, he gets off in a few hours. He'll record far off into the night and surprise everyone the next day after work with some new tracks. He captures this kind of sadness, this starkness of winter of the boring-ness any town can be, at night, covered in snow. Walking around by yourself when you just have to get out, everyone is sleeping, preparing for the next day. Like Bill Callahan, he takes a simple melody, a very simple guitar part and works it to the point where it comes back around from boring through to hypnotic and genius.

Side two finds 'Self portrait (Him with his head in his hands) again quietly starting and stopping, and I appreciate these pauses and not trying to overwhelm the listener. It's very opposite from the last seven inch by unread in that even with this number of tracks there are spaces to appreciate. Maybe not as frantic.
First Glimpse of the day is a gastr del sol sounding instrumental with disparate guitar tracks that weave in and out missing one another to realign themselves and then change direction again to slow down, just endlessly repeatable and I kind of wish this would go on and on evolving even more.
'For Vollis Simpson' changes this seemingly predictable low-fi suicide into a marching band trombone reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens, I feel that same massive sound, and choreography.

I could see fifty albums commemorating each street, each bus stop for Will in Pittsburgh, thoroughly romanticised. It could just be the winter talking but I am happy to sad bastard it up in my lonely apartment with my cats and listen to this EP one more time.

If you like any of this, and have a record player, and a soul, go get this seven inch immediately.

#21 - will simmons : "him with his head in his hands" : seven inch : a slightly different path from his instrumental outings these six songs showcase that wills ability to sing and strum is not altogether lost. this tape label veteran puts these stark folk/pop songs onto wax. limited to only 500 in hand stamped / offset covers.

Will Simmons - Rain Tonight EP on Unread Records

Here's another single from Will Simmons on long-running, Unread records. I think some of the first singles I got over four years ago were from Chris at Unread there and they have since completely inspired me to be able to press singles myself. A label can be this unpretentious, this sincere with no ulterior motive but to press stuff he was into for his friends and getting great artists out there into the world. That's why he's still around years later while I'm just writing about them.
I'm all talk, obviously.

'Rain Tonight', the first track on the A-Sid inevitably sounds like The Minks I was just listening to all afternoon probably in that same minimal way, how the notes are held forever. Also sounds like a Gold Robot single from Roman Ruins vocally, emotionally and physically close, a (Smog) feel...the slow songwriting school.
'Most Office Theme' I want to hear more of right away. I love the diversity of the 7" EP but then the one you really like it far too short, the on,y down side. Layers of plucked chords, their harmonies... this might be my favorite track, so many inspiring ideas here in less than a minute.
I love to hear a raw experimentation like, 'Chase Scene' which would be another sketch if it weren't for the brass section orchestration. The sparse, live room drum sounds with a back and forth of utilitarian guitar and bass against the frantic rim shot beat is at the perfect place, way more planning than a jam but not overdeveloped. Slow building horns over a little bit of a menacing tune.

This 5 the 2011 7" vinyl equivalent of an old '90s Sebadoh tape. You don't know what's coming next...it's not concerned with coherency or an overall concept. It's showing off just a little bit maybe, getting off on this genre jumping. Who doesn't have these pieces without a home lying around forgotten in the depths of shoe boxes full of cassettes. Sometimes the only way to exorcise those ideas is to put 6 minutes on two sides of a seven inch.
The liner notes, as you would expect are as massive as the track list. Really extensive notes from Will and a writer friend of his.I get off especially on reading these two takes on each track. I, of course can relate to taking every song seriously and spending time with them as their own entities - the weird paths they take. I'd love to see more of this, the combination of my two favorite things, listening to music and reading about it. You know how many albums I've come to love through appreciating someone else's experience of the artist?

Will Simmons strength is listening to what the song is telling him, what direction any particular piece needs to go because he can execute all of it. The slight flamenco of 'Tiptoe on Tiles' to the pop 4 track of 'Blue Blonde' to cheap Casiotone beats under sweet reverb on 'Spy theme'. Which is channeling instrumental suspense music so familiar I know it's been used somewhere. Beyond just genre is his willingness to experiment with tones...I think he's got a steel drum or is that a synth. He's taking chances, transforming the lowly everyday sounds into complex compositions. I respect the process of elevating these sounds to something else. This process leads to the best kind of music. The self-made music that handicaps itself from the beginning because whatever success you find at the end is going to be based on your talent putting it together. You won't be fooling yourself, hitting on a few lucky chords recorded on a terrible tape payer so people mistake the production quality and energy for talent.

Get it from Unread Records.

pittsburg has more then three rivers flowing through it. will simmons breathes in and out the tainted oxygen, rubs the rust from the steel strings, and lets another batch of tunes take hold. even though these songs were recorded over the past (how long has it been? ie: see catalog number) half dozen years, and it has been a good decade or so since the last proper simmons release, these two sides go down smooth...and keep you guessing as to what exactly has passed you by? here we see seven short snippets that glimpse as much into the past as they do towards the future. will has always had a knack for grasping the "tone" and this disc is not short on tone. you get haunting beauty. wispered melody. long drives into the early morning fog. oh - and an instant classic quirky pop song or two. limited to an initial pressing of 100 copies in silkscreened sleeves. includes digital download.

"rain, tonight"
"most office theme"
"chase scene"

"tiptoed on tiles"
"blue blonde"
"spy theme"
"loose boots"

Ed Grey • Unread records

The last seven inch I want to talk about that I received from christopher at unread was this Ed Grey 7". This immediately reminded me of a Hayden or Vic chestnut. The slow deliberate songs, the sparce minimal acoustic guitar. Ed Grey is purposely singing about the hard side of life, he's not going to paint you a pretty picture. The vocals are straining to get you to understand. It doesn't sound like you ever will. If I was drinking right now I think I'd have to be in the mood. Kind of like Tom Waits, I consider myself a fan, I know that he's a genius, but it can be like work, or a haircut. I know I have to go get it done, but sometimes I don't want to. I'll wait until the last minute, or skip my vitamins.
But this is classic stuff, a couple of good friends with their heart in it. I can appreciate that.

This is coming from that southern or northern place I don't have any experience of. The geography of places passed through. There is a maturity to these tracks....It's a mysterious country ed grey is coming from.
On this 7" he's offering up 7 songs at 33 1/3...
Side A:
surving you never
titan
old man, city
...iss & black candle
Side B:
hurricane
2 snakes
i defer to the expanse of your smile

I just want to say thanks to christopher at unread for all the great notes and really worthwhile seven inches, it's really great undiscovered stuff, I am glad to get the word out and if you want to hear some new great stuff on our lady of vinyl, send a few measly dollars his way.

Kids of the Atomic Age on Unread Records

Christopher at Unread has been pressing singles and releasing cassettes for way longer than I've been seriously writing about singles. He has an extensive back catalog and keeps surprising me with releases from all kinds of bands... like this lathe cut from Kids of the Atomic Age, which Christopher was/is a member...I don't see him listed in the liner notes but I know he'll be joining them on a live tour soon enough, and hopefully they make it to Brooklyn.
The sleeve is silk screened art from Chris; a couple of kids coming together, drunk and singing with a messy typewriter font. It's super nostalgic...the whole thing could be from the late 90's and this was at the bottom of that pile...I guess it's timeless in that way.
This kind of one man 4-track project is always going to exist. It's not about the technology anymore, but the immediacy of capturing these really personal moments. It's a little voyeuristic, and anyone can relate to self doubt and substance abuse.
Then there's the elusive lathe cut...if there is anything more precious than a seven inch, it's the handcrafted lathe cut single. This one is not only clear but super thick, square on the edge even, and the needle can sometimes slide into the side of the groove somehow and give the whole thing an entirely different texture.
The A-Side 'Winter Nights', reminds me of the early home recorded stuff from John Davis, or Calvin Johnson, it's the late night, alone in the bedroom, barely able to lay the vocal track down. It's even Connor Oberst, so confessional and autobiographical in obscure lyric ways that I'm straining to hear, feeling a little bit bad spying on that couple out the back window, fighting in their apartment. I know their happy sometimes.
Slow tempo bassline with minimal drum machine, echo on a xylophone, with layered high earnest vocals... it's the kind of thing that takes courage, people are actually going to hear this after all...hell, you might even have to play with that macho garage punk band setting their cymbals on fire that just got off stage. It takes just as much balls to perform this sentiment.

The second track Pen Pal Antics, sounds a little more upbeat...it's starting a brand new day, throwing away a bad report card. The chorus of voices intermingles with the crackly imperfections and dropouts of the lathe cut, and you're sure just one more play through and it's going to disintegrate. It really adds to the whole mood of this piece. It's a fleeting document, loose diary pages blew off the windowsill and are out in the street.
The B-Side, 'There is no help for you': Bryon has that teenage quality to his voice, that Cap'n Jazz pure emotional delivery....or Sunny Day Real Estate when I wouldn't ever think that it's going to work, but then of course it does better than anything. It has to. There's no pretense to it, not trying to sound like anything else. He uses it to the best of anything on A collection of Songs recorded 1995-1997.
The instrumentation here is way off in the background, the focus is always on the vocals and the content, telling the sweetly pathetic story and from under the hiss of a handcut single, it's the reason seven inches are still great, how it reminds me of pawing through new Sebadoh and Palace singles and then you take a chance on that green sleeve, Needle in the Hay and it doesn't leave the turntable for days.
...and I don't even want to be in this place, crying into my beer. Like two people on the subway reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and not even noticing each other. But it's too late, the kids can't help it.

Get it from Unread Records. If you're into the even more obscure cassette tape format, KOTAA and Chris have got some releases for you. If you this sounds good on 7", it has to get even better on the tiny reel to reel's.

the kids of the atomic age monkier was originally used for the collective songwriting output of a group of friends who randomly recorded sporadic nonsense in the drunken confines of one "members" parents basement. since the early 90s the name has been scrawled onto the labels of many a four track tape, but these days the "kid" has been "out there" and "doing it" with much more sincerity and gusto then the humble origins would have foretold. this new chapter finds bryon endocryn veering from the usual pop structure he has been traveling in over the past few years, as he gives forth three songs in heavy bass/keyboard mode. narry a guitar in sight...the result is honest, unwavering, and catchy as all hell. the new (old) twee? heartbreak and loss? brutal and uncompromising? you be the judge. limited to 50 hand cut lathe copies on clear vinyl, with stamped and silkscreened sleeve. this labor of love cost $10.

The Grapefruit Record club and Yuck single on Fat Possum

I wrote about this single Lonnie Eugene Meth had out on Unread Records a while back (which is still available from Unread). I loved his hushed 4-track bedroom recording sound few people can get away with no matter how accessible recording technology becomes. He emailed me the other day about a pretty amazing 12" record subscription series from Grapefruit Records he's going to be a part of.

Curated by fellow Omaha legend, Simon Joyner and composer Ben Goldberg you get a full length release every 3 months for the year...from who else besides Lonnie? Well... how about Lambchop, Richard Youngs and 200 Years which is awesomely a side project (?) with Magik Markers and Six Organs of Admittance members.

It's a good thing they accept gift subscriptions because I'm going to get someone who really likes me to spring for it.

I'm completely behind this model for distributing music...get people to support it on this small scale where the artists benefit directly from the fans...they release some unique material and we get super limited stuff that will make browsers of the record shelf drool.
Kind of like Jack White pressing his own stuff on 3rd man Records. Sure, I'll never be able to own any of it, but I'm glad it exists, and he's pioneering new formats of vinyl, which is pretty freaking nuts.
They joke about it being like the sub pop club without the singles, but it's done in the same spirit, and curated by people or an institution with a specific personal point of view.

They're only taking orders from Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day where all 300 subscriptions will be gone forever. Don't get all Jack White ebay on them.

Grapefruit Records is a subscription-only record club founded by Simon Joyner and Ben Goldberg to release exclusive and limited, vinyl-only LPs by dedicated artists, both known and yet-to-be-known. The only qualification required for artist participation is that both Ben and Simon love the music. Annual subscriptions include four quarterly released full-length LPs and a deluxe, hard-shell box to house the series of records that make up that year's roster of artists. The artists on Grapefruit are on loan and ever-changing so no subscription cycle will ever be the same.
By selling subscriptions directly to the public we avoid many of the expenses which make it difficult for traditional labels to make a profit. There are no promotional expenses, no distributor fees, and no returns. Since the number of subscriptions sold tells us exactly how many records to manufacture for a given year, we are able to pay all the participating artists up-front without ever having to worry about a record "breaking even" first. Additionally, the label's subscription-only distribution concept allows the established artists to share their audience with the lesser known artists featured on an annual roster. Grapefruit's mission is to expose fans to exclusive, challenging new music on vinyl while ensuring that the musicians actually get paid for creating their art.

The Tennis show last night reminded me of this single from Yuck, who I've been meaning to check out, the A-Side on this single "Georgia" has those layers of indie pop and fuzz with dual guy girl vocals. It's catchy and 90's guitar indie, which sounds good to me. If I'm not insane, they also have a sort of experimental mogwai giant sound slant at times as well. Interesting stuff. This will be gone fast.

Lonnie Eugene Methe 'Hey Jack' on Unread Records

Chris, from the long running Unread Records sent his latest single from Lonnie Eugene Methe to the 7inches NY office and I'm grateful as always. Turns out he's got a bunch of limited edition lathe's coming out soon and a flexi disc/book series! I'm going to hopefully get him on the phone to talk about these upcoming releases and what he's been up to the past 5 years or so releasing whatever strikes him in Baltimore.

This recording just aches sadness from the needle drop. It's reflecting this hard hard winter most of the east coast is increasingly finding itself in these days. A premonition of what I'm sitting in, and just made it out of a few days ago.
Maybe it's the huge room piano sound, or just the mic catching a breath a little too close, not many people can get away with this kind of outpouring of emotion, but Lonnie pulls it off easily without any vocal or musical gimmicks. Stripped down songwriting...just good writing period. Thankfully the lyrics are reproduced on the reverse sleeve because he's got a knack for this heartbreaking narrative. It's laid out, not too cleverly, just simply in a way you wish you could.
In 'Calendar Work', lines about never ending time and physical work...in such a beautiful way. I think that's what can ultimately get you through the overwhelming sadness, is the simple arrangement, and sincerity. It has to be heard...you'll make it through. Like Bill Callahan, but in a higher vulnerable register, they are classic reminiscences of the mundane. It's not a grandiose statement of the state of things...it's a note on a napkin, a scratch on the wall of the bathroom. The everyday...and those are the things that can be the most illuminating.

Turns out a couple of years ago now Chris sent Outer Space Gamelan (a damn good site that I still miss) a cassette release from Methe and he had this light to shed on the mysterious performer:

The legend here is that Christopher Fischer moved into Lonnie Eugene Methe (of a band called Naturaliste - know em? I don't)'s old house and found a tape in the rafters of the house and persuaded Methe to let him release it.

'Wounds of Winter' has an extra layer of tape hiss, and pop, from a boombox or 4-Track in Omaha but when you capture something like this, none of that matters. It can't be duplicated, it's an imperfect snapshot and you fill in the rest of the blanks. The room he's in, the at a weather outside, if it's the middle of the night, or early morning...but it's far away from anything.

That's what kills me about Neon Indian or Dan Deacon etc, the weird forced feeling of fun. It could exist at party , in the background and it wouldn't bother me, in fact it would sound right at home...and live it creates a feel of having a good time...but I think that's what's suspect, the forced soundtrack to a party. I guess I don't feel like a one man party, so this doesn't ever get played at home when I want to study something, really let it sink in. It's a distraction and I think, I don't want to watch Die Hard again...where's the documentaries?

There's no better way to experience the intimacy of an acoustic personal project like this...just don't expect to feel better about anything when it's over.

Myth or not, I'm super glad this made it to 7 inch vinyl, the most intimate human scale format for just 5$ PPD from Chris at unreadrecords (at) hotmail.com.

Ramon Speed - Effulgence and Alacrity EP on Unread Records

Ramon Speed grew up in Omaha around the same time as neighbors Simon Joyner and Conor Oberst. They must have crossed paths, the three of them, and I found a random few references here and there online, but it wasn't easy. I think it was a weird time for Omaha, let's face it.
But don't let the somber angel statue silkscreen on the cover throw you. Flip it over and there's a couple of skaters, laughing, carrying their boards to another warehouse skate spot. This EP carries the feeling and that connection between the classic universal statement indie and personal anti-production contemporary sound. It's got the best things about home recording from John Davis, Sebadoh, the rest of the unsung indie outsiders that reintroduced me to music on K Recs, Kill Rock Stars in 7" doses.
This single brought it all back, I'm excited about the whole scene, it's all worthy of consideration, it's the first thing I ever listened to, it took a huge amount of effort to finally make it to the turntable.
This sound is the indescribable thing that was Omaha, hell Saddle Creek then. Maybe it's a complete outsiders perspective of classic 90's indie Americana. The way music was being delivered was just changing and all these new voices sprang up...they were always there, but now they could finally get a real shot, on their own terms. Maybe being in middle America all of the pop culture got filtered down into an area separated by geography, with it's own inner narrative happening to come up with a completely new direction of indie. So it all gets more honest, more sincere. Or that's the only thing that still carries any currency after the 80's was this movement...music from your experience. Sort of along the lines of grunge even...reject the image....that was happening everywhere. If that had something to do with the alienation of suburbia then that was what's honest. I don't know if it was even recognized at the time, or if it took a few years to see the bare honesty of their musical statements.
It also sounds like the 13 years in between the good old days and this single haven't changed a thing, for me this could be Lync or Cap'n Jazz, the raw melodic impassioned indie that has to start off with a great rhythm. 'Amputee' has the odd time signature percussion, all flat sounding...It sounds like Ramon recorded all of this live, but there's a restraint that comes from keeping it down all those years at 2 AM upstairs, blankets on the walls. There's a definitive construction, it's been completely thought out, there's no room for free improv. For better or worse I know what I'm doing. the vocals have a little bit of phaser...he's not trying to be a vocalist, he has to be.
Then on '36,000 feet'....the combination of just off in the distance piano with those smacking drums....distorted guitar just on the surface, it's perfect. The drums have to be that way, you couldn't capture the immediacy of this if you wanted, it's one of those sincere happy accidents.
That's just the A-Side, which I listened to over and over this weekend, thinking about this one. Never even flipped it over.
This is a great single all around, 4 tracks at 33 1/3 that recaptured all of the beginnings of indie rock in a personal way.
It's great, I'll be tracking down earlier stuff.

Unread Records says:

ramon returns to form on four new cuts, after a lucky thirteen year hiatus. between 1994 and 1996 ramon speed released aproximately 60 songs from the not-always-so-safe confines of the home taping milieu, now nearly a vestige...these efforts were primarily memorialized by chris deden and simon joyners sing, eunuchs! as well as rob carmicheals catsup plate labels. there were also a smattering of compilation appearances along side such genre giants as : the mountain goats, lambchop, the bruces, etc. etc. these four songs dont necessarily pick up where ramon left off, but glow with the same bright light that made him so adored among so few...limited to 300 copies, in multi-colored screenprinted sleeves.

relapse records slimewave seven inch series

I will be getting back to unread's seven inches, but I'm still trying to do the next release justice.

Relapse is a weird label, they have a lot of death metal and thrash stuff, I don't know a lot of the bands, but they have mastadon on their label, that album got some good reviews and I keep meaning on checking it out.
This seven inch series is up to number two and if this cover art is any indication it will be some pretty serious stuff. I know I can't handle it.

Edition 1 of 6 for the Relapse Slimewave Series featuring exclusive songs from Total Fucking Destruction and Machetazo! Each edition is hand numbered to 1,000 copies and comes on a different colored splatter vinyl, this one being white/red splatter. These will never be repressed so get yours now! Highly collectible as each 7" cover in the series is to be put together to form one 42" x 42" image of an alien autopsy

Wait....42"x42"? Wow that's like 36 7 inches? Insane. That must be a typo or something. That has to be the most ambitious series I've come across. They are only $3 each, which is impressive being on splatter color vinyl and full cover sleeves...this stuff costs money people!

The Wheelers - Bubix on Blood on the Vinyl Records

Greg sent me a single in from his band, The Wheelers with a super nice note about the Iowa music scene and are fans of the great Samuel Locke Ward, The Mumfords and Ed Gray, so I bet they know all about Unread Records, who must have been based out there at some point. They're in some good company...and Greg shares my love of Jay Reatard and that final single from Shattered Records. It's no surprise that this ends up being a great EP of damaged experimental noise pop...well more straight up indie rock with lots of big twists.

A-Side's "Damaged machines" introduces their completely damaged plethora of guitar sounds, this track immediately taking off into soloing with a demented, raw sound. I can appreciate a band taking a chance on this specific, insanely crafted, alien distortion... building the whole song around it, bouncing the tracks of distortion around. Sounding a lot like that first pavement single, reckless, completely out of control in composition but tightly delivered and insanely complex...sort of ingorning everything that's trendy in a really nice way. Going right for that hard hitting pop of Frank Black (not solo). Balancing the letting loose screams and experimental screechy guitar with a quiet bass melody. Keep it off balance and then tip the scale.
"Dan" is bassline based, and their lyrics, where this completely blows up, Greg is out of his mind with layers of completely trashed guitar tones. It's really quiet leading into this layered fuzz built out of a 4-track straight line into the last few tracks. "It's your fault dan!" is an indie anthem, that great polished crunch sound of the blue Weezer album. All rhythm and a love for the harmony, but mostly not taking it too seriously... trying to break rock by having some god damn fun with it, which can be the hardest to pull off because you really have to skate that line of ridiculousness and trusting that people are going to hear it that way. If you get too loose, it might seem like you aren't even trying to care and then why should I? These guys care a lot.

B-Side "Rogues' gives you some classic rock, big, beefy solo chords, layer on the verse then switch the whole song, yelling again, finding another blowing out the red of the amp, the pedals, the microphones. They're exploring the best sounds of a guitar, when it's so damaged it starts to turn into something esle. Plus I love a solo that can't ever be repested like this, they're sort of giving into the randomness of the performance, and if they got it half right once, that's it, perfect take. As much as I'm going on about the distortions it's all under a pop umbrella, they want, after all to create these catchy tunes...but are bored with the usual arrangements. They have to be a little crazy to swing this far for the fences, and 7inches likes crazy.
"They will come" has another great bassline, talky vocals with a little bit of distortion, but you better be ready because they're always waiting to drop the hammer. Just when the quieter section is starting out, sounding a little twee, K-recs, they will bring the complete and insane noise. And not just a usual layer of distortion (duh - ed). This is picked apart zzzips and scraps of scales, ripping the wound strings right up. Greg isn't afraid to yell. So much enthusiasm,and then a locked groove of alien noises? Oh no wait, it's over.

What's not to like? Joyous, unexpected and doing their own thing... another few years of this and they're going to come out on the other side of this like nothing else.

Wow.. big color photo, massive xerox liner notes, they put this together with a lot of thought, another sign they care, this is a sincere indie pop, and you should listen to the example below, and pick up a copy.

Clark8 "Snooze" EP on Folktale Records

I keep forgetting to take a picture of the awesome art all over the cardboard mailer that Chris from Folktale did...serious sketches, and layers of paint... reminds me of Unread Records personal touches that aren't even a part of the album release. It makes you kind of realize how ridiculous clicking 'like' or confirming a 'friend' request is. I've never met Chris and here's a real, one of a kind effort. Getting records in the mail never gets old.

The color sleeve of this single of a giant spider climbing into a sleeping guys ear caught my attention right away because it's pretty much my worst nightmare. It's that Star trek movie with the bugs things that were in the helmet that ate into your brain? Thanks for reliving this nightmare Walt Gorecki...appreciate it.

Like the 5" from Folktale there's lots to go through....a Clark8 glossy postcard, xerox liner notes, lyrics and a download card from deadformat.net (ha...digital is the dead format...nice).

The A-Side from Clark8 starts out with "Snooze", the title track and this lyric, "Right before I go to bed I brush my teeth with a cigarette." The layered emotional vocals have seen a lot of....let's say....L.I.V.I.N. as Matthew McConaughey would say. Cleanly produced, crisp isolated vocals, and percussion, you can hear each pinging soprano tom hit. It's weirdly reminding me of the Verve Pipe type of alternative rock sound. I know...that's not even a genre anymore. The next track, "No purchase necessary" has some abstract imagery about a mirror, and the vocals on this entire effort are mixed way out in front. There's a folk moment with some serious fuzz that picks this track up into it's groove. They seem to want to work with comfortable low tempo grooves for vocalist Rich to get in there and flesh out his epic narrative.

"Push Down" on the B-Side has a harder rocking core with an emo, Promise Ring chorus sound that then changes gears completely into a rumbly little reggae mix. An almost synth guitar effect from the very beginning is back and a heavy rock comes around full circle. It's a jarring change, they're really running the gamut of styles for a song that seems to be about ending up at a mental hospital...and is improbably upbeat....but then again, maybe these changes are reflecting that schizophrenic, multiple personality of the character here...nicely played Clark8. I never thought I would say this but....checkmate to ME.
The final track, "Blue Widow" is another way too catchy song about weed and blow, which would really be enough to pull me in but then they go and deliver a spoken word section "...another missed connection in a craigslist ad", and "just txt me so that I can hit you back". I imagine this is coming from the character dead set on self destruction in the earlier verses, that sentiment clearly clashing with the sunny direction of the instrumentation.
There's no mystery to any of the sounds captured here, a huge amount of attention was spent on the details, you can hear it...down to the eclectic arrangement of styles and clever lyrics. They could share a bill with Kid Icarus quite nicely...that party rock, alternative sound.
Rich drives the rock storytelling feel of Clark8 with a lot to say across 4 songs on the EP, from asylums to cigarettes...mirrors to craigslist ad's, the kind of rock star life where you try to get you best material out of salvaging these messed up situations and heading into the rehearsal space to put every last thing down in that notebook.

The reverse of this sleeve looks like the victim from the front has arisen to a rainbow of enlightenment...so that's at least positive for the protagonist...unless he's dead.

Get it from Folktale Records:

Had this record been made during the previous decade their is no doubt in our minds that it would have charted on alternative rock stations everywhere. Clark 8 brings you four new songs that are undeniably catchy and captured with warm perfection. Reminicent of mid-90's alternative rock/pop punk, these songs, despite being new recordings, will evoke some kind of nostalgia, and may even get you to start dusting off some of your CD (or cassette) collection you'd forgotten you had. These records were made in a pressing of 500 with 300 on black, 100 on transparent blue, and 100 on a mix of blue and white (think non-fat milk). They come with full color covers with art by Walt Gorecki and a lyric sheet as well as a download card for free MP3's of the record.

Brosby Kills and Kash on Eastern-Watts Records

This single came to me via Chris from Unread Records, this one from a new label Eastern Watts Records. Their first one is a 3 song EP from Brosby, Kills and Kash.

This sleeve feels nostalgic, there's something about 2 pieces of color xerox surrounding the vinyl that just says, 'We want to keep this small and intimate.' Like the late '90s, those 'Asshole' Sebadoh sleeves were xeroxed and crayon colored in. You can do it inexpensively and have more of a personal connection with the artist.
This collage masking tape framed photo of the moon reflecting that water, it looks exactly like an old Eric's Trip single or Palace music variation. An immediate loneliness there, you can already hear the single acoustic bouncing over that dark water.

Lonely is the Night on the A-Side is uptempo strumming of single notes pounded out (almost Barlow style) that turns into a layered complex weave of melody and three part harmonies, it's one of those tracks that's always been all about the vocals. The minimal instrumentation is the barest of foundation for the vocal setup. There's a little '70s road feel to it, you get that they're actually going for that supergroup classic rock American sound.
'If we get back to San Francisco...'
A clap stomping rhythm drives this one, it's that deluxe heavily choreographed, upper register singalong on the highway, keep the spirits up on the trail track...a warm electric solo comes in with a harmonica and electronic(?) mouth harp.

It eventually slows down to a crawl as they pull in and transition's to 'Old Brigade', there are more harmonies here, but they've transitioned into some lonesome accordion chords panned back and forth across the speakers and closer mic'd vocals. There's a lot of room in the recording and this close vocal style is almost a little like Sam Beam's. The quiet moments of just a slow nylon acoustic melody being plucked out, right before the instrumentation starts back in again is one of those great moments where holding back nails it home. The guitars sound just slightly out of tune, the strings periodically bent slightly, and the 'boom' and 'pow' whispered vocals are a great scratch percussion track that definitely belongs in this final cut. The whole bands harmony comes in right at the end, a sort of choir moment right before it fades out.

The B-Side's 'Joy to the World' as with all good B-Side's gets a little more experimental with a foundation of live room sounding drums. When the chorus vocal 'Joy to the World' starts it's a slowed down, deep vibrato with these minor piano chords, the entire thing could have been pitch shifted somewhere along the way, but it's far from any kind of church hymn. There's a distortion hissy undertone running underneath the whole track which threatens to fall apart. The piano eventually running off in fisted chords, the distortion gets thicker and the vocals adds more layers of this monster chorus. It's a hymn to some kind of collapse, the last minutes before the end.
It all fades away to reveal a little bit of sunshine at the end, with a simple acoustic melody and buried piano. They leave the listener thankfully with some kind of hope.

They have a unique take on the home recorded experimental folk sound, and the name says it all, they pay a kind of homage to that power '70s harmony classic rock sound while pulling out some tricks to keep it anything but.

Kevin is one of the members of BKK and the founder of Eastern Watts Records. This whole venture sounds very familiar, loving the format and deciding to throw his hat in the ring according to this interview.

Get it from the Eastern Watts Records site.

Charlie McAlister 'Savage Arena' on Tick Tock Records

I've been waiting for this Charlie McAlister from Tick Tock Records to get to the top of the pile, sadly it wasn't before this light blue lathe cut was sold out from the source, so you best be quick on the draw yourself checking back regularly with Tick Tock because you obviously can't rely on me to break any of their new releases. Charlie McAlister last showed up on a Tick Tock lathe cut about a year ago, the same kind of awesome screen printed white inner sleeve and handnumbering. Charlie has been writing his particular brand of scuzzy no-fi swamp folk numbers since at least 2009, when I came across this Carolina by-product single co released with Unread Records, each time I end up poking around the world wide web for this guy I get more intrigued, imagining the front porch of a cabin in the middle of nowhere, an ancient 4-track machine, broken instruments...a bathtub of moonshine maybe in the basement. A combination of Beck from the one foot in the grave era with the patina of Mountain Goats early cassette recordings and the personality of Jonathan Richman. Hearing it delivered on this one sided handcut lathe is the icing on the cake, giving the whole thing this weird authenticity, like an old blues 78, buried under layers of hiss, taped off an old AM radio...there's nothing better to compliment this sound. It started out in the backwoods without a decent mic for miles and it will end up on this slowly degrading thin piece of plastic, leaving anyone within earshot to wonder exactly when the hell this was recorded.
The first track, "Savage Arena" has something to do with a book by Joe Tasker as noted on the reverse of this sleeve but more than that the plague of mosquito's referred to many times, every other word in fact, as 'fuckers'. I have a similar reaction when it's dusk in the middle of nowhere in the woods of the northeast...they are everywhere, and they are complete fuckers. There's no escape. The beat up stabs of guitar melody from both a halfway decent acoustic and I think one of those little plastic numbers with nylon strings is giving this a carnival ramshackle feel, fighting with the instruments to make this noise, not lasting much past a couple of go's probably. Beating on the floor, or a piece of wood, the succinct, perfect argument for making gold out of whatever is lying around. Old necessity is the friend and trademark of Charlie McAlister. At this point I don't want to hear this on anything but a hissy lathe record...do they distress brand new LP's like jeans? I bet Charlie could. I want a full length, but I'm afraid of those perfect, clean grooves. THAT'S NOT CHARLIE.
Next track, "Piss Parade", is about having to really use the restroom, as you could imagine, lots of wine, gatorade, whatever he could find to drink and I won't ruin the ending lets just say he 'rained' on their parade if you know what I mean. A couple layers of bluesy, slow bending chords...vocals right up in the blown out mic, narrating the story in a slight nasal whine, a mellow Bob Log III, I would love to hear those guys collaborate on something....or hell, play on the same bill.
Finally, "I ain't scared of shit", Charlie ends this side with a really classic almost protest track of lists of things that he's not afraid of, nuclear bombs, fire, ghosts, you name it...I also think that he's probably just really trying to convince himself most of all. A true contemporary folk sound, this is carrying on those traditions in a south carolina endgame. There's probably no one like Charlie steadily carrying on in those broken chords, and holy guitars, beating on washboards, hating mosquitos, not afraid of anything.

Marshall Mcluhan would also approve of this format.

John Thill on Limited Appeal Records

Limited Appeal Records have been challenging listeners for the past twelve years with releases from Anal Cunt and full Blown Aids, so I was expecting a speaker shattering punk or noise act from this single by John Thill. Instead Limited Appeal lived up to putting out whatever they want with this home recorded sounding single from a one man folk pop project currently based in California. With releases on Folktale and Unread Records he's finding a home on other labels with a similar philosophy placed alongside Samuel Locke Ward or Michael Hurley. He's got an inherent sadness like John Darnielle but more abstract, less spelling things out, which I might like even better. When a picture is just painted enough I can fill the rest in I'll make it even sadder and more introspective. Don't get me wrong there's a lot of humor to the tracks, they just happen to be funny because they're sad and true.

A-Side's "Las Lonely Girls" I figured he means 'LA's', but then he's also inventing the spanish conjugation of lonely girls which I like more anyway. A countdown into layers of John harmonizing with himself and an acoustic guitar, all of it immediately coming from that sincere and raw place that's impossible to manufacture. He manages to create a track that's aware of pop construction but still naive and sad with fantastic vocal harmony. Hayden and Ben Lee are coming to mind. "Lone Star" features more great vocal that wouldn't be considered traditionally great, he just puts everything into it like Jonathan Richman in this move from LA to Texas. A girl who's come to the giant state only to find the same boring things. In Strozek, the saddest thing was once they get to America everything is downhill. Moved out to make a new start and you don't get much. Drinking and just trying to get by. None of these tracks ever take the easy road. I'm really blown away by the ease of this, the lyric is dropped on this melody right from the start.

On B-Side's "In the City All Alone" this time he's got a cranky electric creaking and completely messing up whatever tune was there, man I love this kind of K Recs Beat Happening stuff. I'm finally finishing this book about Tracy Thorn and just realized how amazing The Marine Girls are, pretty similar with an American slant, there's a sort of sad blues, country sound to this, but with some jokey experimentation, like John Davis maybe? Pounded on acoustic, the hammered solo fades out and he's just got a great vocal with the harmonies working against each other. The swinging experimental sound of the rhythm makes this teetering see saw of instrumentation. No idea how he pulls this off. "A Girl Rides Her Bike" catches strings in the middle of a strum then switching to picking with that off kilter internal sense of rhythm on this one. A looped acoustic pattern that he places this vocal effortlessly over top. The strums get bounced to an echo for the last few measures and it's little touches like that that kill me before I even start paying attention to the lyrics.

Impressive black and white printed zine of drawings from John, 111 on black vinyl from Limited Appeal Records.

Kevin Earl Taylor on Tick Tock records

Tobias from Tick Tock Records contacted me about a Charlie McAlister review I did of their co-release with Unread Records a while back saying they had a bunch of other singles out. He ended up sending this amazing package with this single from Kevin Earl Taylor. I had to go for it first....It's a massive screenprinted book with a red and white marble single in the inside cover of this heavy weight paper 7" square, great binding, the images are black ink sketches on thick handmade looking cardstock that has all kind of little flecks of pulp smashed into the pure off white. It's matte ink and you can see the image pressed almost through the back where they were pressed and had something reddish in between the page and the metal press...sort of a reverse rubbing on the reverse side. That immediately made me think about Kevin standing at this press in Charleston, inking up the plates and hanging each page up to dry on the line...here they were pages all bound together, complete with a seven inch. This is a solid year of work in a mylar sleeve. If you could only release one seven inch in your life, if you only had the time or money for one...you would be satisfied with this.
I love that singles get taken as seriously as this, that they attempt to be taken seriously as high art. I'm already there of course, but to have it point directly to art in this way is great. Between the two you get a pretty complete picture, and I think it goes even further than what Nathan at HSAL was saying about liner notes. It's a portrait. Ask anyone to write a song, sketch the sleeve and shoot a video for it and you would get a pretty clear picture of what this person's all about.
So what is Kevin about? Definitely a pretty healthy uncensored combination of cheap electronic sounds, simple melodies, happy accidents. Like the drawings, they want to keep that handmade aesthetic, but see what new things can be accomplished with just a pen.
The first track on the first side (can't find the titles listed anywhere, which is kind of interesting...maybe the images from the book are meant to be the titles) has casio drum presets working under a free form out of tune toy guitar. It stays with you.
The next track gets front porch jam with banjo, recorder and bass drum, which is closest to the feel of the sketches for me. Like Coyote Slingshot, it's taking all these symbols around you without the baggage and making new use of them. The sketches have natural elements, lots of animals, plant shapes, but there's something off, and maybe a little unsettling. A sexualized polar bear standing in the water with a shawl. Humanizing the animal kingdom more than we do already. Case in point...my cats have a better life than a lot of humans on the planet. But give then a human body and I get uncomfortable.
The B-Side of 'Earthling' takes a minimal electronic 'Suicide' direction, distant echo vocals with manic emotion. He's falling apart with the hint of a dance party. It's a little bit contradictory to the very sensitive intricate nature line drawings. But then maybe it's some sort of hybrid future where bestiality has taken a weird turn into actually coming up with entirely new creatures. (I know it's not meant to be taken so literally, but the cold electronics of the second side are taking me there, it's not just a fantasy sketchbook in the wilderness anymore...sitting on a log in the woods...it's a future of some kind.) This is exactly what the conservative right is worried about, a world of sexy deer headed people. What foresight.
Amazing packaging, diverse tunes. Something for everyone in a weird way. Don't ask me to choose. Tick Tock set the bar high on this one, but I still have to open the sealed envelope lathe cut Charlie McAlister....

TT012 Kevin Earl Taylor 7" and Book - "earthling" Vinyl colors - 220 purple, 35 lt pink, 35 dk pink, and 20 blue
There are 2 versions on this release.
100 are packaged with a signed and numbered 10 page hand screened bound book of kevin earl taylor's art work. These sell for 25 bux ppd.
200 are packaged with 2-3 screenprinted loose sheets from the book. These sell for 8 bux ppd.

Get it from Tick Tock Records. It's more than your average 7", but this is no ordinary single.