July 13, 2020

The Cowboy flexi out now, Sweeping Promises debut LP announced

Well hey there folks, it's been another hot month for the history books here in Richmond. Just a month ago we released the Days of a Quiet Sun compilation on LP+ CD, which just was recently honored in the class of "best reissues" on Bandcamp Daily. While we're at it, here's a recent radio interview with original producer Martin Gary that aired the day we released the comp. Well we've got quite a few new and upcoming releases to talk about, so let's start with a cool surprise.

The Cowboy Feel the Chi Releasing from You flexi EP out now!

The Cowboy, who you should surely know from their excellent Wi-Fi on the Prairie LP that dropped earlier in 2020, quietly published an "unreleased EP" to their Bandcamp page a couple months back. We casually floated the idea of releasing these tunes as a limited flexi EP to bassist "Big Sleeve" Peffer, who agreed, citing these 3 tracks as some of the group's best material. The EP has been properly mastered by Mikey Young and is accompanied by some breathtaking artwork from Brandon Gaffney (not to be confused with John Morton).

Order 7" flexi disc here. Stream/download here. The Cowboy are back with a new EP pressed to high quality flexi disc at 45 RPM! Three tracks here from the Cleveland group, following in the vein of their much lauded "Wi-Fi on the Prairie" album that dropped in early 2020. "Feel the Chi Releasing from You" clocks in at exactly four minutes, pushing simple, yet brilliant and almost jazzy arrangements into snappy guitar rock that actually lives up to the early SST and "Pink Flag"-era Wire comparisons that have been bestowed upon The Cowboy in the past. Pressed to convenient one-sided 7" clear flexi disc with another dose of breathtaking artwork from B. Gaffney appearing underneath the transparent flexi & lyrics on da back.  One-time edition of 275 copies.

Sweeping Promises album announcement + single premiere

One of the greatest things about running a record label is the rare occasion when an unsolicited submission for release flat our floors me. Such is the case with Sweeping Promises, a band I'm hoping you'll soon love as much as I do. This is a brand new trio from Boston that played only one show before the virus shut down live music. Their debut album, Hunger for a Way Out, will be released on 8/14 on Feel It. See below for links to preview the title track and preorder options - including t-shirts, which we are going to start selling as digital merch table of sorts for bands on the label.

Stream the single: "Hunger for a Way Out" Preorder LP: Opaque Green w/ White swirl vinyl (ltd. to 80). Preorder LP: Black vinyl (first pressing of 320). Preorder official Sweeping Promises t-shirt. Straight from the depths of an unused Boston-area concrete laboratory comes the debut of Sweeping Promises. Written and recorded with a patented "single mic technique" just before quarantine, "Hunger for a Way Out", is a post-punk leaning gem of unpolished DIY sound. The title track kicks things off in absolutely classic fashion, full of spirited hooks that echo the early Rough Trade sound. Angular guitars and sharp synth notes float atop a raw rhythm section, while Lira Mondal's effervescent vocals truly define Sweeping Promises' sound. There's something simple yet otherworldly about these tracks - you have the DIY prowess of Kleenex/LiLiPUT and Girls at Our Best!, a brooding new wave-y minimal synth sound woven in, and an undeniable pop-leaning appeal captured in vibrant monaural glory. It's hard to mistake these ten tracks of naturally urgent and driving post-punk for anything other than sheer brilliance. Sweeping Promises deliver in spades on "Hunger for a Way Out". Packaged in a full color jacket with risograph lyric insert designed by D.H. Strother.

Have Mercy Tees - Round 2!

A rather hot summer drop of new designs just went up via our new sister biz, Have Mercy Tees. These made-to-order tees will be open for preorder until July 20! We'll be donating 100% of the proceeds from the Angela Davis - Power to the People tee to Critical Resistance and offering a new benefit design in each future round of tees for the foreseeable future. Use referral code feelit at checkout to receive free US shipping on your first order!

NEW DISTRO ARRIVALS

We've got another excellent North American exclusive on the Oily Boys LP from our Aussie pals at Cool Death. This is the Sydney group's debut LP, which is just as noisy and brooding as it is totally crushing and unhinged hardcore. Limited to 300 and already sold out at the source, 'scuse the high import tag, but that's 2020 for ya. Staying in Sydney, Australia, we just printed up a new issue of the mighty Distort Mag - this time a collection of Low Life lyrics. Also of note - excellent new Parsnip + R.M.F.C. 7"s on Anti Fade, a nice grip of soul titles on Numero and Colemine, imports from Goodbye Boozy and La Vida Es Un Mus, & more!

The Generics 7" reissue announced!

Meet The Generics, captured below in their jam space circa 1983. This ambitious punk rock trio met as kids in their hometown of Cross Lanes, West Virginia (a suburb of Charleston). Playing a mix of gigs in their junior high gymnasium, parties, picnics, and half pipe skate jams, The Generics had dialed in a solid set of punk rock originals by the time they turned 13! The group ventured just across state lines to Barnhill's Recording in Ashland, Kentucky to lay down some tracks, resulting in a 7" single with "The Bitt" and "Cost Cutter". Pressed in a micro-edition of 200 on the Barnhill's label in '83, the record remained completely unknown until it was rediscovered in 2019. Both tracks on the single deliver in the crude and bizarre tradition of classic KBD punk with a bit of a hard rock edge. Proud to say that Feel It will be reissuing the 7" as an expanded EP with two killer unreleased tracks from the same session! This will be dropping in September alongside an LP for fellow high school punks, The Zits. A huge thanks goes out to Ryan Richardson for connecting us with The Generics. Ryebread Rodeo still has a few stock copies of the original (as well as some nice sound clips posted). There's way more of a story to be told, stay tuned!

The Generics: fashionable idiots in the truest sense.

If you've made it this far through what must be our longest newsletter in quite some time, reward yourself with some newly posted mixes from our pal "Big Sleeve" Peffer of The Cowboy and Pleasure Leftists. Until next time...