Monthly Archives: June 2008

Diplomats of Solid Sound featuring The Diplomettes US Domestic Release on Pravda Records 7/8/08

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Diplomats of Solid Sound Featuring the Diplomettes on Pravda RecordsFinally a domestic record label has the sense to release the great new release from The Diplomats of Solid Sound Featuring the Diplomettes! Longtime Chicago Indie label Pravda Records. Although the instrumental releases were primarily on Estrus Records, this release coming out on Pravda makes sense as the Andre Williams album Aphrodisiac which utilized The Diplomats as his band as well as future Diplomette Sarah Cram on backing vocals.

The album is set to drop on July 8th and should be available via your favorite independent record store as well as Amazon and other online spots. This is good news for US fans of the band– the Italian Record Kicks releases are imports and really pricey! At the moment Amazon has one for $23! Dustygroove.com seems to be out of the CD at the moment with more coming at “the end of June,” but has the tasty vinyl version in at $18. According to the press release from Pravda these should be $14.98 MSRP, and indeed this is what Amazon lists the price to be.

This release has new cover art and packaging (you can see the Record Kicks cover art here). Otherwise, this is an identical release to the import version down to the “Hurt Me So (Lack of Afro Remix)” bonus track. The album was recorded live in the studio by Justin Kennedy at Minstrel Studios in Iowa city and subsequently shipped to Lack of Afro for final mixing and production. I think it is the live recording that gives the record its energy and ultimately why it stands up to repeated listening so well. Ultimately, the album was recorded in 2007 but it took a while to sort out what label was going to release it. In the meantime the band had very smartly put early mixes out on their MySpace pages. By The time the record was released most of their fans were already very familiar with the funk and soul of tracks like “Lights Out,” “Hurt Me So,” and “Come In My Kitchen.” Around my house, these songs are as familiar as any major label release would be and very much a soundtrack to our lives.

Even with the seemingly long career arc this band has had– I remember talking to Doug at a Bo Ramsey show in 1997 or 1998 at the Green Room in Iowa City about his “New Project” and the five albums since 2001– it seems like with the constant touring with the Diplomettes in tow has started to build a well-deserved buzz.

The Diplomats have at the moment about 11 shows coming up including three live shows in between Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Coralville and a handful of festivals. Make sure you get out to see them and pick up this album while you’re at it.

The Diplomats of Solid Sound MySpace Page with samples from the new album.

The Diplomettes MySpace Page with songs from the new album

Jun 20 2008 9:00P
Silver Dollar Cantina Dubuque, Iowa
Jun 27 2008 9:00P
Triple Rock Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jun 28 2008 8:00P
The Bottom Lounge Chicago, Illinois
Jul 3 2008 9:00P
The Picador Iowa City, Iowa
Jul 4 2008 7:15P
80/35 Festival Des Moines, Iowa
Jul 11 2008 4:00P
Camp Euforia Lone Tree, Iowa
Jul 12 2008 5:00P
Riverside Casino & Resort Riverside, Iowa
Jul 26 2008 9:00P
Linneman’s Riverwest Inn Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Jul 31 2008 6:30P
Music In The Park Coralville, Iowa
Aug 28 2008 8:00P
KCCK Jazz Under The Stars Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Aug 29 2008 6:00P
Friday Night Concert Series Iowa City, Iowa
Aug 30 2008 4:00P
New Bohemian Festival Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Aug 30 2008 8:00P
Rock Island Brewing Compnay Rock Island, Illinois
Aug 31 2008 9:00P
Blankfest / Funny Bone Comedy Club West Des Moines, Iowa

Free Downloads: Some Baltimore-related Live Downloads

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As I mentioned earlier, Baltimore’s Arbouretum is releasing a split album with new Thrill Jockey signees Pontiak called Kale. The two bands played one show together in Baltimore on June 4th at The Talking Head. I knew about the show, but I didn’t know that the show was taped and available for download via Aural States which is a blog/site dedicated to happenings in the music scene of Baltimore.

Arbouretum headlined and played a set of mostly tracks from Rites, but also included one of the covers from Kale “Buffalo Ballet.” A great set, in my opinion.” Pontiak’s set was also very good and included “Dome Under Sky” from Kale.

The opening act was another side project of Dave Heumann from Arbouretum called Television Hill. Television Hill is more of a throwback folk/blues outfit, but still very good. This set is available from Beatbots which also covers the Baltimore scene.

Big thanks to Jeff the Taper who made these recordings available.

Click Here to stream or download Arbouretum’s set.

Click Here to stream or download Pontiak’s set.

Click Here to stream or download Television Hill’s set.

Aural States is also hosting a live set from Wye Oak from March along with an interview. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to catch the show next weekend with Pontiak and Wye Oak in Iowa City!

Cut Copy Offer Up “Hearts on Fire” Acapella for Remixers

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Cut CopyOne of my summer soundtrack albums is Aussie band Cut Copy‘s new album In Ghost Colours. Produced by onetime UNKLE member and DFA Records head Tim Goldsworthy it’s an excellent pastiche of 80’s Synthpop acts drawing from New Order, Human League, and even clubby techno inspiration.

Already the album– which was released in March– has had a number of really great singles and remixes done. Cut Copy announced on their MySpace page that they would like to extend the opportunity to their fans as well, so they’ve provided the vocal acapella to the dancy “Hearts on Fire” track. With it’s four-on-the-floor beat it is a pretty likely mashup candidate, I think. From the blog:

for all you folks who like having fun with these things. Go nuts, but if you want to do anything commercial with it, ask us first, and let us hear it. Who knows? It might even get picked up for official release. Actually – we’re excited to hear all uses, commercial or not, so send them on!

Send all mixes, mashups, muzak, etc. to: info@punkdafunk.com or to one of the fine folks at your local Modular office.

Click Here for Cut Copy’s MySpace Page

Click Here for the mp3 of the acapella (Sendspace Link Alert) (The AIFF file is here)

Free Download: Kelly Pardekooper Celebrates Year 40 With 12 Months of mp3s

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Kelly Pardekooper by Emily Denaro, 2008Former Iowa Citean Kelly Pardekooper is now going to be former Madison, Wisconsinite as he is leaving the region for the sunny hills of Hollywood, CA.

Ten years ago Kelly released his home-recorded debut album called 30 Weight. Now as he is looking at his 40th year he is generously digging into his crates of tapes to release a track-a-month of FREE mp3s on his MySpace page and his website the collection dubbed 40 Weight. Kelly started this in May with the first song “Hard Eyes” and last week posted the June track “City At Night.” “City at Night” was a track recorded in 1996 when Kelly briefly fronted a band called Dan’s Big Truck.

Hopefully in the face of the big city lights of L.A. Kelly will continue to purvey the distinctly Iowa-influenced country-fried rock he has delivered on his last four albums and in particular his latest release Brand New Bag.

The tracks will only exist on MySpace for one month, but he also has them hosted on his website. Collect them all!

Click Here for the May track “Hard Eyes”

Click Here for the June track “City at Night”

B-Sides in the Bins #25 – eBay

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Lots of Thrill Jockey-related purchases on eBay. Last month I finally finished my Tortoise LP collection! I found a guy who was selling Thrill 013 aka the first Tortoise album who had “TNT” as well. He runs a small record shop in Washington and apparently gets Tortoise vinyl from time-to-time! The only vinyl missing from my Tortoise collection at this point is the “Gamera” 12″ and Rhythms, Resolutions & Clusters.

Tortoise – Tortoise (LP, Thrill Jockey thrill 013, 1994) ($20) This is not the first pressing Fireproof Press brown cardboard with brown screening and tab close cover. This is not the 1996 white with green screen sleeve either. This copy is a light grey plain sleeve with orange screening. I have seen this version frequently on eBay, but I don’t know if this is also the second pressing or if it is a third one.

Tortoise – TNT (2 LP, Thrill Jockey thrill 050, 1998) ($30) This release is probably the most popular release from Tortoise, and as such seems to be driving the price of the vinyl up. Expect to pay upwards of $40 without shipping for a copy of this. I can now rest easy having finished this collection!

Tortoise – Universal Buzz presents… Tortoise (CD-R, Universal Buzz Radio / Quantegy, 2001) ($9) This is a CD for a syndicated radio show called Universal Buzz Radio. This seems to be a show from the 1998 tour. Unfortunately, there isn’t any information on the CD or a tracklisting or what venue or city. An interesting piece for my collection.

Chicago Underground Duo – 12 Degrees of Freedom (CD, Thrill Jockey thrill 060, 1998) ($4)

Chicago Underground Duo – Synesthesia (CD, Thrill Jockey thrill 077, 2000) ($4)

Chicago Underground Duo – Axis and Alignment (CD, Thrill Jockey thrill 106, 2002) ($4)

Chicago Underground Duo – In Praise of Shadows (CD, Thrill Jockey thrill 168, 2006) $4) All four of these came from one auction which closed around $17 after shipping. Chicago Underground Duo is the pairing of Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor. These albums range from just the duo to albums with sidemen including Jeff Parker.