Distant Records

Portland, Ore.

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Hey everyone!

San Francisco singer-songwriter Sarah Bethe Nelson and her band dropped by the KPSU station for a very special performance on The Muse In Music before their show at Mississippi Studios yesterday night. Joining her were bandmates Ella Jaszczak on bass, Rusty Miller on guitar, and drummer Mike Shoun (after I led them through the unfortunate "hall" of college dumpsters and the one elevator which failed to go all the way down to the sub-basement, naturally). Their brief set included a number of songs from her debut, Fast Moving Clouds, as well as a few new songs:

1. Impossible Love 2. Black Telephone 3. Fast Moving Clouds 4. Out Of My Reach 5. Face The Waves

Thank you again for stopping by the studio, you guys! Fans of the performance can grab her new album at Burgers Records. 

SUPPORT: Sarah Bethe Nelson - Facebook // Twitter

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Get Me by Good Try

Good Try's debut EP, Rocky, will be out soon on Track and Field/Citrus City Records.

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Bathroom Selfies | “Cemeteries // Track & Field Records Interview” 6/30

Introducing a new series on The Muse In Music called Bathroom Selfies, featuring myself and KPSU's music director and founder of Chill Chill PR, Lanny Lieu.

For the first show (complete credit goes to Lanny, I was just there to support her through any awkward moments with own immeasurably awkward comments), we sat down with Kyle Reigle (Cemeteries/Snowbeast Records), Kate Davis (Track & Field Records), and Ivan Gagakto (The Sweater I Gave You) for a few questions, followed by the first of many post-interview bathroom selfies to come.

Reigle's new album under the moniker Cemeteries, entitled Barrow, will be released July 28th through both Davis' label and his own.

Songs featured tonight were: "Luna" "Cicada Howl" Azul Toga's "When Are You Going To"

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Changes by Langhorne Slim & The Law

“I’m going through changes, through all of the strangeness, I’m going through changes now.”

There are two things I’m thoroughly stoked for this summer: This first and most anticipated event is getting my closest friend in this life out of California and up to Portland in August. The second, which takes place a month from now, is Pickathon. I attended the festival last summer with a friend from San Diego and both of us were sold. So, flash forward a year and here I am biting my nails, trying to keep down the excitement of seeing some of my favorites performing this year. 

Among the list (Leon Bridges, The Weather Station, Kevin Morby...oh my god) stands one Mr. Langhorne Slim with his backing band, The Law. His 2012 album, The Way We Move, followed me throughout most of my adventures in Central Oregon and the initial transition from California to Portland which followed the next year. Since those days, Slim’s held a rather secured position this ol’ heart of mine. That soulful, country twang of his has served as the perfect narrator for one too many forest escapade and campsite delights.

His new album, The Spirit Moves, will be released August 7th via Dualtone Music. 

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You Can Change by Pearl Charles

“You can take what you want, but I just can’t take what’s mine.”

Give me reverb or give me death. Everything about this new single from LA-based Pearl Charles is beautiful and I absolutely cannot wait to see what else this lovely lady has up her sleeve. Between this, Shannon & The Clams’ new video, and the new song from Lera Lynn for HBO’s True Detective, life suddenly seems eerily similar to those 50′s-inspired smoke-filled b-rated horror movies, just minus the ghouls and what not. Her forthcoming self-titled EP drops in cassette format on July 28th through one of Distant Records favorite labels, Burger Records.

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The Muse In Music | “Must Be Summer or Something” 6/19/15

Introducing...my entry into the 21st Century! Jokes aside, I've had a radio show through the eternally-awesome KPSU since January and it's taken me nearly six months to experiment using other mediums. My show, The Muse In Music, has one catch though: it's entirely female-centric (y’all know I’ve talked about this before). Much like my (sorely neglected) Weekly Seasoning series through Distant Records, I really attempt to research/promote smaller artists and include any information regarding album releases, bandcamp/facebook links, special news or (for the Portlanders in my life) upcoming events.

Catch the links on my KPSU page by clicking here. Be warned, I mess up like all the time. Also, I'm kind of in talks to get an image up in action for the Muse In Music, but that's gonna be awhile. Like, a few weeks or so. 

Anyway, here's the synopsis of this week's show: Summer’s just around the corner. Seriously, this Sunday marked the “official” first day of summer. Can you believe that? That being said, this mind-glowingly gorgeous weather combined with the resulting restlessness of house hunting and adventure having has left me with too much of a sunny attitude lately. I’m borderline spastic. So, here’s an hour of radical ladies influenced by that vintage surf rock reverb because, you know, it must be summer or something.

Hashtag Smokey Bear hug.

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 Everyday by Diane Coffee

“I will be every way your lover if you’d only have me, but I guess I’m just a waste of your time.”

Yes. Just, all of the yes. If you’re wondering why you’re thinking of Foxygen while listening to this, that’s because Diane Coffee is the drummer. I know because I was all, “what, why?” and then I Iooked it up.

 His forthcoming album, Everybody’s a Good Dog, will be out September 4th on Western Vinyl.

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S.O.B. by Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats

“I’ma cover myself with the ashes of you and nobody’s gonna give a damn.”

I’m horribly ashamed at myself for not having found the time to post this earlier. Everything (and yes, I do mean everything) Nathaniel Rateliff creates is gold. The Denver-based folk artist has one of the names I cherished most in music these days. His 2013 release, Falling Faster Than You Can Run, currently holds the number #1 spot in my list of “perfect albums” and chances are, I’ll die an old woman before that’ll change. Simply put, I love this man even beyond death. Intense, right?

Moving on. Riding the tide of acclaim from his previous EP Closer from earlier this year, Rateliff’s latest efforts see much collaboration with SLC’s The Night Sweats. Evident in the singles already dropped from his forthcoming release, this project switches his normal style of mournful folk to a much more electric and soulful sound packed with that old-fashioned Southern Gospel influence. A fitting transition, if I do say.

The band will release their self-titled Richard Swift-produced EP on 6/22 through Memphis-based label, Stax Records (home of Otis Redding). However, news does exist that they’ll release a full-length LP sometime late summer. Fingers crossed the date won’t be too far down the road August 21st!

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I Love You, Honeybear by Father John Misty, directed by Grant James

Responsible for one of this year’s best releases thus far, Josh Tillman hits hard in the new video for “I Love You, Honeybear.” Two irresponsible EMTs take their time getting to the death scene, saving one life but not the other (naturally the dead woman would be portrayed by Tillman’s wife, Emma). In the end, death triumphs over love. 

I Love You, Honeybear is currently available through Sub Pop.

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Corvette by Shannon & The Clams, directed by Loren Risker for Out of Focus TV

“I’m just waiting here on the corner for our corvette that never comes.”

I’m here sitting in Common Grounds for the first time in forever, putting together my next summery-sounding episode of The Muse In Music, when news of a new song from Shannon & The Clams popped up on my Facebook. Almost as if by magic, Shannon Shaw’s voice fills me with some sort of previously unknown idea of love-worn longing for something exciting and life-altering to happen in my life. Maybe, or it could be the good weather outside feeding this desire, or the text I received this morning from another disappointing dating prospect, or just the all-consuming drive to find the perfect place to live with my closest friend by August. Regardless, they’ve released a good song today and even better video with it.

Their forthcoming album, Gone by the Dawn, will drop Sept. 11th via Hardly Art Records.

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Hello everyone,

So I’ve been without a laptop since...January, February? Whenever the last time I posted was. One step forward, three months back. Yet, I finally got this ancient piece of equipment up and running for enough time it took for me to count at least 20 new gray hairs on my head. Also ordered a MacBook Pro given my somewhat stable financial standing as of late, so this problem’s fixed. Ish.

Meanwhile, as I spend the next week answering emails and long-neglected Soundcloud messages (and also watching Ryan Adams, Jenny Lewis and WIll Butler play this weekend!!!), I’ll be trying to do...something...about this situation.

Right-o. A photographer friend messaged me last week with the opportunity to write a review for a show he has planned to cover, that show being Torres on tour to promote her new album, Sprinter. Boy, was she great on stage. Portland’s very own Vortex Magazine graciously accepted my story, which they posted a few days back. Check it out by clicking the link above or by heading on over to their site.

[Photo c/o Drew Bandy]

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Something New by Summer Cannibals

Now would be a great time to tell you guys I finally have a radio show. Called The Muse In Music, I feature female musicians and female-fronted bands, both new and old, every Friday night at 8 PM through KPSU. The neat thing about this is even though I'm technically live, my show can be easily downloaded after the fact. So, there's no pressure on my listeners to clock in exactly at 8 each week. Instead, support is seen in the number of downloads of each show.

There are several exciting aspect about this little venture. Operating Distant Records, although sporadic, directed my passions toward music journalism and working with KPSU has helped cement my reasoning to pursue it. In some ways, TMIM serves as another avenue of which I can teach myself about the history and technicalities of music. Now officially a college dropout, time has never felt riper to learn--learning how to describe what I'm hearing, how to broadcast, and most importantly, how to reach out. I know, it doesn't make since, but I have my personal reasons to disagree with the US educational system. All this leads me to my next point.

Over the next few months, as Distant Records will continue to premiere, review and (surprise!) interview, I'll be sitting down with some brilliant and courageous females who work with and in the music industry on The Muse In Music. So, you can actually hear me being awkward! Anyway, I just wanted to introduce you guys to my radio show because, if only in small measure, it helps me discuss the song above.

Fronted by Jessica Boudreaux, Summer Cannibals embodies the essential femme fatale of that punk-fueled garage pop. Coinciding with the release of Sleater-Kinney's new album, I featured a song from their 2014 debut called The Hand on TMIM because as much as I wanted to air their new single above, there was language I couldn't broadcast. Recently, the Portland quartet has been on the rise and garnering attention from sources such as Entertainment Weekly, Oregon Music News, and Willamette Week's Local Cuts. Their new single, Something New, is both infectious and feisty, blending their signature hair-raising summertime punk with a sharper, more professional degree of sound.

Their sophomore album, Show Us Your Mind, will be out March 3rd through New Moss Records.

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Animal Fear by Marika Hackman

"I was raised with my fist to the sky / but I was not a heavenly child / savage with a temperament wild"

Marika Hackman came my way through the now defunct Flying With Anna, a UK-based music blog that paved most of my admiration for artists such as Daughter and Tom Odell. For three years, I waited...and waited...and waited, all while greedily devouring anything and everything Hackman released. From That Iron Taste and the Deaf Heat EP, she continued to grow from the cookie cutter Laura Marling-esque folk singer/singerwriter originally presented to the world into something that was uniquely her own image.

Her debut album, We Slept At Last, will drop February 16th through Dirty Hit.

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Black Cat White Cat by Annalibera

"I’ve got your back, you can trust me today."

Topping the list of Paste Magazine's "12 Iowa Bands You Should Listen To Now", Des Moines-based trio Annalibera is a talent simply bent on exploding with well-deserved recognition. With a voice which soars with sensation, frontwoman Anna Gebhardt mixes her trademark talent with the creative force of Ryan Stier on guitar and Phil Young on bass. In this effort, the three come together to create something sublime and powerfully hypnotic.

The slow pacing on the song takes on an introspective quality, occasionally punctuated with Gebhardt's lamentations on the idea of true love being disguised by fear, a theme stretching throughout the course of their forthcoming album, Nevermind I Love You. Skirting the edge of a intimate and haunting rhythm, Annalibera is successful in shying away from merely mourning the loss of love in favor of muddling the fine line between what is love and what is fear of being alone.

Nevermind I Love You is set for release on Sump Pump Records on March 24th. Expect a proper review of the album here on Distant Records in the next few weeks. To tide you over in the meantime, you can download Black Cat White Cat on Soundcloud.

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Funny Thing by Wardell, directed by Jonny Hausfater

Their debut album, Love/Idleness, will be out on February 10th.

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7 Towers by Yowler

Now, I must admit I'm a huge Saintseneca fan, ever since a friend of a friend of a friend sent me a copy of their first self-titled EP back in 2009. Flash forward to October, when I was finally able to catch their performance at Bunk Bar and just like that, my love for the collaborative creations of the group grew exponentially.

Columbus, Ohio songwriter Maryn Jones, who plays a variety of instruments and sings for Saintseneca, has branched out on a solo effort under the name of Yowler. Revealed in her first strong single above, Jones proves herself a notable presence capable of performing on her own and in doing so, creates her own image outside of her previous work with both Saintsenenca and All Dogs. Mastering a sound that will leave one drifting in the transition of sleeping to waking, the melodic subtly of Jone's voice slides perfectly alongside the lo-fi background drone and blends into a dreamy escalation of rock.

7 Towers will be a part of Yowler's debut cassette, The Offer, available through Double Double Whammy on March 10th.

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Quarks by Skyes

"We had a dream, but we forgot."

It's have been a while since we've heard from Brooklyn four-piece Skyes, but they've returned to start the year with a powerful new song. Back in February 2014, Skyes released their breakout single A Girl Named Jake, rising to #14 on Hype Machine and hitting well over 10,000 plays by the end of the first week. By April, the band deserved further recognition in releasing Burden, a temperamental display of singer Dallin Knightley's capability to hit listeners hard with the strength of her voice.

Yet, their previous work holds no light to their latest effort. Quarks works with an interesting technique. One part pop and another part orchestral, all layered with an underlying edge of electronic--they mix and match with heavy emphasis on flow. What I mean by this is that the song plays out much like a wave. Starting soft as Knightley works her voice to match that of a inquisitive whisper, the song continually builds to the point of explosion before the energy retreats, if only enough to grab one's attention and increase their expectations. As each new height approaches, Skyes surprise their listeners without end. If not for guitarist Dan Tirer's shredding taking place in between Knightley's dramatic croons, then drummer Ben Marshall takes center stage with his almost tribal execution. In fact, Marshall's overall rhythm reminds me of a heartbeat ringing in one's ears during a moment of panic, adding to the already expressive nature of the song.

Simply put, Quarks is fantastic. If this is an indication of the growth the band has experienced since the release of A Girl Named Jake, consider this a vital turning point. Recently, Skyes has been performing with notable names such as French Soler, Leisure Cruise, Junior Prom and Break Science, and looks forward to new releases in the near future. Catch them on Distant Records when the time is ripe.