Showing posts with label nj. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nj. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

new: The Report

"Playboy Tunnels"
(Collage Art by Madalyn Merkey. Her work appears in the Report.)
It's been a few months since the silly thought of starting a bi-annual cultural compendium crept into the forefront of my brain. I was going out to dinner and was sorta pissed the tavern ran out of Fish & Chips. (Bummer.) Since then, my half baked idea evolved into the Report, a home for warped ideas germinating in the caves of our contributors craniums for god knows how long. In many respects, the Report is a home for stuff that doesn't have a home, a quasi orphanage for random thoughts, mind collages, one-off jams and nights that need remembering.

The Report started a Kickstarter project to help bring our ideas to life. In a shockingly short period of time the Report raised its goal of $1000. Shit, y'all were so supportive we exceeded our goal. In all honesty, its remarkable. Scott the Intern and I are working our asses off in the Bobka/Report HQ in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and we hope to have the Report packaged and ready to go in early February. Don't want to give too much away, because surprises are always nice, but I will disclose that the Report is a music, culture and art journal bundled with a DVD of live concert footage shot by Ray Concepcion and C. Axel Poekel (Chocolate Bobka's chief videographer) and a cassette compilation featuring new songs (and LOTS of exclusives) from Real Estate, Pure Ecstasy, Twin Sister, Mountain Man, Sharon Van Etten, Alex Bleeker, Holiday Shores and many, many more. The Report will be lovingly packaged for each individual order. This means no inventory, as we will only print as many as ordered. No more, no less, no excess. Pre-orders will be available in the next week or so, however, you can pre-order the Report by contributing to the Kickstarter project, which has lots of cool incentives, like, uh, the shirt off my back. Seriously. Really psyched for everyone to see what we've got cooking.

Donate to the Report Kickstarter.

Monday, December 28, 2009

mp3: No Demons Here "Cradles"

"So Pretty, Pretty Dumb"
While I've mentioned a few highlights from the Chocolate Bobka Church show a few weeks back, I've failed to mention No Demons Here's opening set, which set the tone for an amazing evening of acoustic slumber punk and hymnal folk. Luka Usmiani, the guy behind the moniker, has been crafting slow burning songs more akin to chemical fires than pop songs under the name No Demons Here for a while, all while playing bass in the live incarnations of Fluffy Lumbers and Big Troubles. His tape Boy Eaten By Thing In Water is one of three that I picked up this summer at the UP Showcase, and has been in consistently high rotation on the night stand cassette deck ever since. "Ten songs of not knowing what to do" and a side long sound collage find NDH dwelling in a burnt out bedroom in the bunker of an old fallout shelter. (Picture a charcoaled version of the home from the Brendan Frasier/ Christopher Walken movie Blast from the Past.)

No Demons Here has been busy lately, releasing a new EP on his blog while also playing in the new noise project Maids with Sam from Fluffy Lumbers. "Cradles", a standout on Boy Eaten By Thing in Water, is one of those tunes you hum for months without knowing where it came from, as if he plucked its chorus from a balloon charting its way toward the heavens. While the lo-fi fragility of the version on Boy Eaten By Thing in Water sounds like a bemoaning transmission from a submarine lost at sea, the live acoustic version is a sheer revelation. It's so brittle you just want to save it before it crumbles into dust.

You can pick up No Demons Here releases from Luka directly, or download them for free at his blog. Highly recommended for cassette enthusiasts. This is music made for the tape deck. It just doesn't sound as good on shitty computer speakers.

No Demons Here- Cradles
No Demons Here set at the Church 12/11/09 (Courtesy of Goddamn Cobras)

Monday, January 12, 2009

new: Ducktails

Not Not Fun
Ridgewood, NJ based Ducktails has a lot planned for 2009. Not only will he release his debut LP on Not Not Fun, but the tropical loop specialist is also set to release a slew of other recordings, including a split LP with Sun Araw on Not Not Fun, Ducktails "Acres of Shade" on Arbor, a Ducktails CD on Holy Mountain, a Ducktails CD compilation on RTB and a Ducktails/TOMUTONTTU 7". Big things indeed. If you can't wait for the LP, peep this radio session Ducktails did on the venerable NJ indie station WFMU. Also Ducktails is playing a host of upcoming shows in NYC, including one tomorrow night at Monster Island in BillyBurg.

Ducktails Live on WFMU 12.19.2008