This afternoon we learned some sad news. Just like pretty much all small, independent record labels nowadays, Hydra Head Records has been struggling financially for some time. And now, it turns out that the label, which has been around since way back when I was in high school, and has been responsible for some great releases by Pelican, Sun O))), Old Man Gloom, and many, many others, is being forced to shut down operations.
More info: Grave Digger Shampoo, Chris Boltehdahl, Troy Polamalu.
Watch the original Head & Shoulders commercial here.
Stormspell Records have built quite a reputation for themselves with their devotion to underground thrash and power metal re-issues from the 80s, as well as newer releases that follow a similar aesthetic.
I’ve found several old treasures through their webstore, that simply aren’t available anywhere else, and I’m sure you will too! But now, through the end of the month, it’s even easier to build up your collection of awesome classic metal sounds, because all of the label’s own releases are discounted to only $5! (Boxed sets and distro titles are discounted, as well.)
There are way too many for me to list them all here, but I’ve especially got my eyes on those two Dantesco CDs (the original release of their 2011 album Seven Years of Battle, as well as the re-issue of their self-titled 2004 demo)! Other highlights include The Horde, Lich King, Morbid Sin, Diamond Plate, Sacrilegio, Ancient Cross, and TONS more!
Here are the links to the sale items: Stormspell CDs A-J and Stormspell Releases K-Z.
Sale lasts until 30 June 2012, but hurry, because quantities of some of these are already starting to get low!
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Stormspell Records: label website, webstore, Facebook
Recently Emily White, an intern at NPR All Songs Considered and GM of what appears to be her college radio station, wrote a post on the NPR blog in which she acknowledged that while she had 11,000 songs in her music library, she’s only paid for 15 CDs in her life. Our intention is not to embarrass or shame her. We believe young people like Emily White who are fully engaged in the music scene are the artist’s biggest allies. We also believe–for reasons we’ll get into–that she has been been badly misinformed by the Free Culture movement. We only ask the opportunity to present a countervailing viewpoint.
…continue reading this poignant and informative letter (written by David Lowery of Camper van Beethoven and Cracker fame) about the myths and realities of artist (and record label) compensation in regards to illegal file sharing at The Trichordist.
So I’ve just discovered some unfortunate news: Canadian independent label/distributor NHR Records is being forced to close down, due to the declined state of the music industry.
We at NHR Records have worked diligently over the years to adjust to the shrinking markets and we would like to thank everyone for their support over the 8 years we were in business. Unfortunately however, our operations have been affected harder than most with the decrease in volumes and general market softness in recent years. We have done everything that we can to sustain our business, but have come to the point where no other course of action was possible.
We are officially closing our business down June 29, 2012.Again, we would like to thank all the bands and labels we have been in contact with or partnered with over the years. We would like to also expecally thank our customers past and present for all their support! With out you there would not have been a label.
The NHR Records Crew
However, if there is anything positive that can be said about this development, it would be the fact that all in-stock CDs have been temporarily slashed to just $2 plus shipping, but only through the end of this weekend.
This sale includes all NHR releases (Evil Wrath, Geimhre, Grendel, Grim Winter, Hot Graves, Keller, King, KRV, Overthrow, Primal Dawn, Skagos, Snowfall, Svartskog, Wurm) as well as dozens of other distro titles.
Click here to start shopping, but hurry, the sale ends on 17 June!
The following information comes from Clawhammer PR:
On Dec 21, 2011, there was a shock wave felt around the world when David Gold of Ontario’s Woods of Ypres died on Highway 400. In loving memory of this immensely talented artist and beautiful human being, the family of David Gold has made available a range of merchandise bundles at this location.
Paypal information is included, so please make a purchase in memory of the man that meant so much to so many with his creative, emotionally deep contribution to music. All proceeds from the sales are used to cover funeral costs and other expenses resulting from David’s death.
David’s mother Esther Gold wrote about her son in her e-mail to us and we are honored to assist in spreading the word.
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Although I only discovered them about a year ago, Sweden’s Kongh quickly became one of my favorite new bands. Their brutally heavy, almost aggravatingly slow, brand of sludgey, droney post-doom really resonated with me from the first time I heard a track from their 2007 debut Counting Heartbeats. Sadly, as much as I love that album (it can be streamed/downloaded on Bandcamp), I haven’t seen it available on CD anywhere.
However, I did snatch up a copy of its follow-up, 2009’s Shadows of the Shapeless, which was released in North America through Seventh Rule Recordings, as soon as I saw it at my local record store. That’s an incredible album as well, so I am beyond excited to learn that they are nearly ready to begin recording a third album!
That announcement came yesterday (Wednesday, 13 June) morning, along with information about the band’s new record deal…
Good morning, friends. A quick peek at the calendar reminds me that it’s Tuesday, which is the day that comes after Monday, so as you’ve obviously figured out by now, this post is getting published a day late.
For those who are keeping track, every Monday I visit the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website to find some new music, either from randomly browsing artist pages, or based on suggestions I receive directly from people or bands who are looking for reviews. Then I come back here and describe what I found, so another artist can get a bit more publicity each week, the lovely and intelligent people who read this blog can discover new music to listen to, and everybody wins.
Well, this Monday (yesterday) was a little different, because in the United States, we have a national holiday every year near the end of May, which is called Memorial Day. One of our favorite things to do in this country is to get together with our families and friends, drink excessive amounts of alcohol, eat some meat which has been charred on a grill (as well as side dishes which often contain eggs or mayonnaise or other perishible ingredients and typically don’t hold up very well when the weather outside is hot), drink some more alcohol, sit around in the sweltering heat and humidity, drink even more, and then eventually get into huge fights with our families and friends.
This is pretty much how most of our holidays (between May and September) are celebrated. Now, we realize that some people in other countries don’t have the same freedoms to celebrate like drunken assholes that we Americans enjoy, so we don’t take this for granted! As a nation, we have a long military history, and there have been many wars fought — and sadly many people have lost their lives in the struggle to maintain our freedom and general standard of living. Hence, we have set aside a Monday each year called Memorial Day, where we memorialize and honor those brave individuals, by giving ourselves a three-day weekend and celebrating like drunken assholes.
Fun times, obviously, but between three whole days of parties and picnics, I sort of wore myself out – and by Monday evening I wasn’t really in a condition to do much writing. But I do have an obligation to you readers (particularly those who live in countries where you had to go to work yesterday!), and so I did make an effort to go and listen to something that I could share with you. And this morning, I will tell you about what I found.
Apologies for the lame joke in the title of this post, but I just couldn’t pass it up! Thanks to Clawhammer PR for bringing this story to my attention.
The Reticent‘s Chris Hathcock recently denounced the May 8th passage of Amendment One, North Carolina’s constitutional amendment prohibiting the legal recognition of domestic unions, including same-sex marriages. The amendment, which has made North Carolina a national focal point for the issue, defines marriage as solely a union between a man and a woman, and expands an existing North Carolina law banning gay marriage.
Said denunciation primarily came last week in the form of re-posting an image (which I’d already seen multiple times on Facebook) depicting various types of marriage, as described throughout the bible and in the laws of biblical times. However, in this particular context, Hathcock directed his message specifically at the Reverend Billy Graham:
The Reticent is collectively disappointed in North Carolina’s passage of an exclusivist, misguided, and ill-informed piece of legislature today. The mind reels. It is all too clear what really fueled those voters that checked “For” which is terribly disheartening. Billy Graham took out an ad in 14 NC newspapers proclaiming his support and we quote him: “The Bible is clear…”. Alright, then we would like to posit the following as other examples of marriage found in that text.
Mr. Graham has already displayed — on far too many occasions to count — his sick and twisted version of Christianity which has nothing to do with loving thy neighbor or any sort of a golden rule. Therefore, his direct support of a law which serves no positive or helpful purpose whatsoever, and exists only for the sake of excluding rights and liberties from a specific group of citizens, comes as no real surprise.
The reasoning in this case, though, seems to be the source of Mr. Hathcock’s frustration: there’s plenty of outdated (and just plain wrong) information written in the bible, so it makes little sense for anyone to base their entire lives on something that was written thousands of years ago. But even disregarding that, it certainly makes less sense for any law in this country to be based solely on a religious text (without any other grounds for that law’s existence), when (according to Black’s Law Dictionary) the First Amendment to the United States Constitution includes a provision “that prohibits the federal and state governments from establishing an official religion, or from favoring or disfavoring one view of religion over another.”
Anyway, apparently if you make a public statement that is contrary to a decision made by majority vote in certain places — California, for example — it just gets dismissed as another case of Hollywood liberals and most people barely even notice. However if you do the same thing in a place like North Carolina, I guess it’s a much bigger deal. Following that post, it seems a great deal of argument erupted (both for and against the legislation), prompting a second post a day later:
The anger and vitriol on all sides of the current debate in our home state and country is troubling to us. And further we do not want to entertain any further debate on our page because all we want to do is make music. The thing that is most staggering and regretful in all of this is that it seems we as a people cannot have an earnest discussion about this. Are we only capable of venom and hostility? I’m not about to tell you what to think, there are enough people doing that in all our lives already. But regardless of your stance, if we can’t all sit down and have a reasoned, honest, and legitimate discussion of this issue – we will only tear further apart. Once more, we do not wish to use this page to play host to any debate or soapboxing. Yet since we made a statement (which we thought was mild and humorous) we have found it clearly necessary to bring closure to this can of worms. Here ends our political ranting.
Very well, we can let the discussion end here and talk about music instead.
So you know that thing when you’re watching the news, and you hear that some famous person died — an actor or comedian or somebody — who was pretty old and whom you hadn’t heard anything about in years? And you don’t want to be rude or anything, but your immediate reaction is to think, “Oh, I didn’t even realize he was still alive”? Yeah, just like that.
Long-running Texan black metal band Averse Sefira have officially announced that after more than fifteen years, numerous tours across Europe and America, and four highly acclaimed albums (most recently, 2008’s Advent Parallax), they’ve decided to disband.
The two remaining founding members of the band, vocalist/guitarist Sanguine Mapsama and bassist Wrath Sathariel Diabolus have both issued a formal farewell message on the band’s blog.
Their most recent two albums, the aforementioned as well as 2005’s Tetragrammatical Astygmata are both available for purchase as digital downloads, on CD, and (for Advent Parallax, on LP) from their Bandcamp page.
The official Averse Sefira website is here.
Valley of Steel 