Showing posts with label band. Show all posts
Showing posts with label band. Show all posts

Saturday, January 26, 2013

The Zookeepers - True To These Times / Signals - ...And Those Times, Too

This split 12inch release between The Zookeepers and Signals, brought to us by Cellar Hits Records, exemplifies what I love about indie rock music: youthful, fearless, boisterous, divergent. I had high hopes from the minute I held this minimally designed record, and The Zookeepers and Signals certainly delivered.

The record jacket itself is a standard plain white cardboard sleeve, similar to one you might buy for that naked John Coltrane 12inch you found at the thrift store last Sunday. There is no actual printing on the white jacket, but a 6" paper square with the cover art has been glued onto the cardboard in the top right corner. There is nothing on the backside, and there is no spine with title information either to help you find this gem once you've filed it in between your Neil Young and ZS, or Tracy Shedd and Silk Flowers records; depending on which side you chose to file by.

Inside the jacket you will find a standard 8.5"x11" sheet of 20lb. white paper with liner notes and lyrics for each band, printed in black photocopier ink. Additionally, there is photocopied sheet music with what appears to be hand-drawn Sharpie-marker artwork, and photocopied receipt-tickets with the message "We designed this for you. All the mistakes were on purpose." repeated. There is a math worksheet, seven pages torn out from a book, information about a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that took place in California in 1994, a random piece of foil, a Pocket Monsters game card, and my favorite... photocopied miniature US currency totaling $22.00. The actual vinyl record appears to be the randomly selected mixed colored vinyl that manufacturing plants often offer at a discounted rate, cheaper than even your standard black vinyl.

Somehow between the medley of propaganda and lack of commonly expected features most consumers and collectors would be seduced by, I could sense The Zookeepers and Signals put a lot of heart behind this release. It's so obvious when someone puts a lot of money behind a record, by gusto is only visible when you close your eyes and open your mind.

This record, and the fact that it was pressed on vinyl (the fact that someone chose to invest the money that it takes to press it on vinyl), demonstrates one of the many shining examples as to why music should truly only exist on vinyl: vinyl records separate the men from the boys. Bands that are serious about their music want it on vinyl, understand what vinyl represents, and will do whatever it takes to make their music available on vinyl, even if that means releasing it with a generic white sleeve and glueing a 6" square on one side to provide you with some satisfaction of having artwork to find the record in your collection. Bands that only release their music via digital outlets, and even worse: online for free, simply have no balls. Bands that work with CDs might at least have a left nut, since a CD is a physical medium and the audio quality does somewhat resemble the actual sounds from the instruments. But when a band releases their music on a vinyl record, and its obvious that it was a financial struggle just to get the music on wax, on top of having to be creative to keep you visually entertained with packaging, it speaks highly about their character, dedication to their craft, and pursuit of artistic expression.

It's like a kid with a lemonade stand who is competing against the aggressively marketed Coca-Cola brand that is hyped through illustrious, trendy adverts. The average Joe would rather purchase an accessibly fashionable beverage at one of many places immediately nearby than drive 25-mph through some adolescent-infested neighborhood where baseballs, bicycles, and bb-guns are threatening their newly purchase used IROC-Z to support that 9-year old kid that picked lemons in the blazing sun the day before from his side-yard and made fresh lemonade with his 98-year old Great-Grandmother to sell today from a table made of a cardboard box. Those kids peddling their homemade lemonade never let me down when the needle hit their records, and neither has The Zookeepers, Signals or Cellar Hits Records with this release.

CDs, digital music, and the internet made it so easy for anyone to compete with the Coca-Cola caliber of musicians; promoting what appears to be an equal product, but not. These outlets have allowed people (not necessarily musicians or even artists) to over saturated the music industry. Vinyl records hold the (financial) bar high enough to keep the riff-raff out. In the past twenty-five years of collecting vinyl records, I've found that when a band is barely paying the entry fee to having their music pressed on wax, its always worth checking out. Bands that strive for this medium, no matter what the cost or sacrifice, always have a lot more to say than those that settle for the bargain-bin way.

This is not to say that all music on vinyl, and especially all music released with low-fi packaging, is going to be ground breaking. But in the case of The Zookeepers and Signals, ...from the hair-raising scream that opens the first track, "Welcome Nancy," on The Zookeepers side, to "Mommy Issues" and "Monster Party 2," with their sickly infectious beats delivered by Jacob Cooper (AKA: Jacob Safari of Wavves, The Mae Shi, Bark Bark Bark), that concludes Signals' side, this split 12inch is full of fresh lemonade made from local, organic, sustainable, GMO free, carbon free, gluten free, grass fed (and whatever else) lemons, and I'm going back for seconds.





Sunday, December 23, 2012

Mono - For My Parents

For my first review on this site, it's only appropriate to talk about a Mono release with Temporary Residence Ltd.. I've been a fan of not only this band for many years, but this record label as well. Mono first grabbed my attention back in 2004 with their release of 'Walking cloud and deep red sky, Flag fluttered and the sun shined,' a beautiful record with a die-cut image of two girls holding what appears to be violins. I did not know anything about the band at the time, and simply purchased that record based on the respect of Temporary Residence Ltd. and the sheer beauty of the packaging (I'm a sucker for die-cut anything).

Fast forward eight years and Mono's latest release is equally as stunning, and musically as brilliant. Being that the purpose behind this website / blog is to not only review records for their music, but almost more so for their packaging... Mono's 'For My Parents' was an obvious first choice.

The use of the 'tip on' style printing immediately caught my attention. I'm near tempted to purchase any record that uses this process of printing; it truly demonstrates the dedication the record label and / or band have for the release altogether. It is financially a significant increase in price for manufacturing, so I can understand why not every vinyl record is housed in this fashion, but it is a sweet feeling to hold a tip-on jacket in your hands.

Second for me was the printing; it's almost more gorgeous that the classic black and white print we've would come to expect from Mark Kozelek / Sun Kil Moon / Red House Painters. Either the black is printed at approximately 30% ink, or they designed this package with only using a single color, close to a grey or light brown. Either way, the simplicity in the design lends to how romantic and mature this record is for Mono.

I had once tried to introduce my father to Mono, as he is a fan of orchestral, ambient music. They were playing a live concert and it was going to be my first time seeing them; I thought it would be a great father-son outing. Unfortunately, Pops couldn't make the concert, and after seeing Mono at that point (early) in their career, I began to think Pops may not have tolerated the more abrasive, explosive elements that they were becoming very well known for, especially in their live shows. 'For My Parents' feels like its the right time in Mono's career (and sound) to try again with introducing my father to their music; following suit on what the title suggests.

My favorite moments with this release come with the second vinyl record (side-c and side-d). I feel where the record begins (side-a), with the song "Legend" and moving through "Nostalgia," (side-b) is comfortable territory for Mono; where the listener is either expecting or wanting Mono to go. This is where I would take my father first so he would understand their history.

However, when "Unseen Harbor" begins with side-c, there is a memory of Spain I have not sensed before with Mono's guitar work. Our storytellers don't stray too far from the dramatic moments we love them for, but if you actually review this track on the physical vinyl itself before dropping your needle, your will notice that its not long before a new dynamic will be presented to the listener; a coming of age, one may say. It provides a perfect segue into the well-titled "A Quiet Place (Together We Go)" on side-d; an impressive finale for 'For My Parents.'

According to my research on the ol' world wide web, the white vinyl (pictured here) was limited to the first 500 copies pressed; 100 of them going to Mono to sell at their live concerts (limited to one sale per concert and only to a person that asked for the white copy) and the other 400 were for Temporary Residence Ltd. to sell by mail order.

The final straw that takes this release over the edge with amazing packaging and design is the additional insert Mono includes for you to send a personal letter to your parents. The insert even includes an area for you to attach a photograph to your letter. It is actually cut on all four corners for the photograph to be inserted into the paper; a great attention to detail, providing a thoughtful way for Mono to connect even further with their audience. Now if I could only bring myself to actually part ways with this one element of the contents from 'For My Parents' and actually use it for its intentions, making my copy of the record incomplete of its original design... I think my parents will understand.