Soft Abuse news Sept '10: Olympus LP, Pigeons 7" + US tour, lots more...

[Soft Abuse]

Hello mid-September:

 

Hope all’s well with all of you...

 

We’re jumping the gun, sending out this note about two October releases before they’re technically…released.  One of the is on-hand & the other’s not far off, so I figured, why not. 

 

The releases in question are the debut LP from Olympus (AKA the duo of Stefan “Pumice” Neville and Kraus), Bold Mould; the other is a new & very limited 7” from Pigeons.  More info about each is below.  These are currently / technically pre-orders, but can ship right away (Pigeons single will be here in 2 weeks).

 

Starting in late October, Pigeons are headed out on a full US tour with the excellent Fabulous Diamonds;   the current list of tour dates are listed below.  The new Pigeons full-length, Liasons, will be available in time for their tour.

 

Also, we’re currently offering a CD sale on nearly everything in our catalog (recent releases excluded).  From now until whenever, all applicable Soft Abuse CD releases are $5.00 ppd within the USA.  Check it out!  If you’re outside of the US & plan to buy more than three CDs, drop me a line for a total with discounted shipping...

 

There’s a few new distro titles available as well – see below for full scoop.

 

Be in touch with questions, etc about anything below, and as always, let us know if you want off this list. 

 

NOW AVAILABLE

 

(click on the artist/title to purchase, obtain more info, hear a sample, etc)

 

OLYMPUS Bold Mould LP + DL (SAB041)

Olympus is the banner under which Stefan Neville (Pumice) and Kraus (ex-Futurians, The Aesthetics) clang, pound, and collaborate. The obscure duo - each has a revered, dodgy presence in the contempo New Zealand sub-underground - built their reputations on unique one-man-band visions of mutant pop songforms, crafted with modified / manipulated instrumentation. As Olympus, Neville and Kraus have managed to step outside their comfort zones without sacrificing any signature moves. Recorded and assembled over the past few years by exchanging tapes in the mail, Bold Mould is the first fruit of their collaboration, the duo’s debut offering.
Bold Mould surfs along a warbled, technicolor path lined with basement kraut grooves, blasted tape manipulation, fuzzed-out homemade electronics, explosive drumming, minimal synth dervishes and melancholy pop instrumentals. Olypmus’ playful experimentation, deluge of ideas & cracked sense of humor aligns Bold Mould with such like-minded spins as Oddities (The Clean), A Trip to Marineville (Swell Maps), On the Way to the Peak of Normal (Holger Czukay) and Deceit (This Heat).  Bold Mould also features an alternate version of the Pumice tune Heavy Punter, which initially appeared on Quo. Co-released with Stefan Neville’s own Stabbies, Etc imprint. 500 pressed, includes a free DL.

$15.00 ppd USA

$17.00 ppd Canada / Mexico

$25.00 ppd elsewhere

 

PIGEONS Visions of the Valley 7” (SAB043)

The two songs on Visions of the Valley find Pigeons pushing further into tripped-out pop songwriting, narrowly clinging to their inner art-rock / Majora leanings. Both were recorded by Clark and Wednesday at home in Bronx, NY and in Paris (during their brief relocation), and both are exclusive to this release. Visions of the Valley arrives in conjunction with their 2010 US tour (with Fabulous Diamonds), in an edition of 200 with hand-printed sleeves.  Pre-order now to guarantee a copy...

$7.50 ppd USA

$8.50 ppd Canada / Mexico

$10.00 ppd elsewhere

 

 

STILL NEW

 

DONOVAN QUINN & THE 13TH MONTH Your Wicked Man LP + DL (SAB040)

San Franciscosongwriter Donovan Quinn is anything but direct. With an enigmatic deadpan he delivers lyrics written in a dense and fragmentary style; the influence of writers such as Malcolm Lowry and Thomas Pynchon figures just as heavily on his craft as Robyn Hitchcock, Pavement, Robert Forster and Skip Spence.

Your Wicked Man is the second album from his primary band, Donovan Quinn & the 13th Month, created in collaboration with Nick Marcantonio on bass and Jason Quever (Papercuts) as producer and multi-instrumentalist. In much the same way his presence molded Cass McCombs’ early efforts, Quever’s contributions to Your Wicked Man serve Quinn’s narratives with arrangements that range from ornamental to rollicking to bare, pushing Quinn's embrace of rustic, poetic popcraft to the fore. The band's distinct take on art-pop forms re-imagines early efforts from Mekons, Nikki Sudden and John Cale as filtered through Californian folk-rock.  500 copies.

$15.00 ppd USA

$17.00 ppd Canada / Mexico

$25.00 ppd elsewhere

 

CAR COMMERCIALS Prisoner of Type 7” + DL (SAB042)

Car Commercials explore the personal / loner side of DIY with their singular take on no-chord strum & mumble rock n’ roll alienation.  Dave Sutton and Daniel DiMaggio have created another soundtrack of suburban boredom & terminal paranoia; the stifling, mundane source of this music (geographically and psychologically speaking) is mirrored and regurgitated in these five tunes.  Where once they tread a formless, lurching path, Car Commercials now tromp along with more-cohesive abandon.  Moments of spontaneity & pure attitude are delivered in restrained spurts and jabs, and their chops seem better, too.  All in all, Prisoner of Type extends the duo’s unsettling missives into (slightly) less-rudimentary corners.  Each side offers a different, uh, side of the band. Its a savory listen.  300 copies.

$6.50 ppd USA

$7.50 ppd Canada / Mexico

$9.50 ppd elsewhere

 

PUMICE Quo CS (SAB029) + Pebbles CS (SAB022)

The two most-recent Pumice full-length releases are now available on cassette.  Pro dubbed & pro printed, these both look and sound great. 

$6.00 ppd USA

$7.00 ppd Canada / Mexico

$9.00 ppd elsewhere

 

 

COMING SOON

 

PIGEONS Liasons CD/LP (SAB045)

 

 

NEW DISTRO

All in limited supply, to purchase click here.

 

DONOVAN QUINN & THE 13TH MONTH Your Wicked Man CD (Shrimper)

Lovely CD edition of the new & best DQ13 release to date.  Includes lyric booklet.

$11.00 ppd USA

$12.00 ppd Canada / Mexico

$15.00 ppd elsewhere

 

PIGEONS Hearts 7" (Olde English Spelling Bee)

"Second single from Pigeons following a debut 7" on Soft Abuse and LPs on Black Dirt and OESB. Features two songs -- 'The Paradise' and 'Radio Souvenir' both recorded 2009 in The Bronx. Produced by Tooth at Reggaetown Deluxe Studios." – OESB

$7.50 ppd USA

$8.50 ppd Canada / Mexico

$10.00 ppd elsewhere

 

PIGEONS Si Faustine LP + DL (Olde English Spelling Bee)

“Pigeons is the psychedelic pop project of married couple Wednesday Knudsen and Clark Griffin. They met in Seattle and, while living there, were part of The Sea Donkeys -- a shambling anti-folk collective of freaks which also featured Hisham Mayet of the Sublime Frequencies label. The Sea Donkeys released an LP on the Sun City Girl's Abduction label in 2005. Pigeons formed later that same year when Wednesday and Clark relocated to New York. After releasing a string of micro-run cassettes and lathe-cut vinyls that explored noise and free jazz modes they turned their energies towards writing structured songs. The first widely available release of their song-oriented material was the 'Virgin Spectacle' lp that came out on Black Dirt in 2008. That was followed by a 7" single on Soft Abuse in 2009. Si Faustine is their second album and, like Virgin Spectacle, was recorded at Jason Meagher's Black Dirt Studio. Also featured on the album are contributions from Carter Thornton (Enos Slaughter, Gnaw, Zashiki-Warashi, Izititiz), Jason Meagher (NNCK, D. Charles Speer, Coach Fingers), and Rene Blume-Meagher. Pigeons are currently living in Paris, France. Housed in full-color 'tip-on' style jackets featuring artwork by Melodie Provenzano and also includes an mp3 download coupon." – OESB

$17.00 ppd USA

$22.00 ppd Canada / Mexico

$28.00 ppd elsewhere

 

TEENAGE PANZERKORPS Here Come the Warm Tanks 7" (No Vacations)

"This is the new ripping single from TEENAGE PANZERKORPS. This record is a full 8 minute, 45 RPM punk single that sounds like it is from neither now or then. This is our second vinyl release, and is pressed in a quantity of 500. This record is not recommended for fans of Beach House." - No Vacations

$6.50 ppd USA

$7.50 ppd Canada / Mexico

$9.00 ppd elsewhere

 

TEENAGE PANZERKORPS Knut Hamsun 7" (Captured Tracks)

"Two 1936 Olympics-style anthemic pop hits on the A-side, tangled Moodists jam on the b-side." - E. Xavier

$6.50 ppd USA

$7.50 ppd Canada / Mexico

$9.00 ppd elsewhere

 

STEFAN NEVILLE Around the World in 80 Dogs BOOK (self-published)

Wonderful collection of dog drawings from Stefan Neville (Pumice). Some of these have appeared on Pumice releases, but most have only been found in his sketchbooks. Features a silkscreened cover (on a map!), released in a signed edition of 50. We've only got a few of these...

$10.00 ppd USA

$11.00 ppd Canada / Mexico

$14.00 ppd elsewhere

 

PUMICE s/t 10" (Doubtful Sounds)

"Some time ago, I got a message from Stefan Neville about this record: "I been workin on some recording for you. some dumb punk slop and some tape loop soup and a pretty love song." I couldn't describe the record better. It's maybe the end of an era for Pumice with his 8 track pushed to its maximum limits and dying soon after these recordings were finished. So the result is maybe one of the noisier Pumice records to date... with a pretty love song. Recorded in june 2009 in Sandringham, Auckland, NZ. And mixed in january 2010 at Mainz.

Black vinyl packed in black paper silkscreened by Cotoreich, with 2 postcards. Artwork by Stefan Neville. Mastering by Aigle noir. Limited to 500 copies." - Doubtful Sounds

French import, only a few available…

$15.00 ppd USA

$17.00 ppd Canada / Mexico

$25.00 ppd elsewhere

 

 

ARTIST NEWS

 

CAR COMMERCIALS

David Sutton from CC has started a new label called Highland Park Gem & Crystal Society.  Support his efforts here : http://www.hpgemsociety.blogspot.com/

 

PUMICE

Stefan’s latest release, a CDR of radio sessions released by Nyali, was given a rave review by Volcanic Tongue.  Read about it here.  Copies of the CDR will be available via softabuse.com before long.

 

 

LIVE EVENTS

 

PIGEONS

09/15 - Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands (with Frankie Rose & the Outs, Minks)

10/28 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Pool (with Fabulous Diamonds, Electroputas)

10/29 - Brooklyn, NY - Monster Island (with Fabulous Diamonds, MODRA)

10/31 - Boston, MA - Spectacle (with Fabulous Diamonds, Prince Rama)

11/02 - Chicago, IL - Permanent Records in-store (with Fabulous Diamonds)

11/02 - Chicago, IL - The Empty Bottle (with Fabulous Diamonds, Wet Hair, Running)

11/03 - Oberlin, OH - Oberlin College (with Fabulous Diamonds)

11/04 - Iowa City, IA - White Lightning (with Fabulous Diamonds, Wet Hair)

11/05 - Minneapolis, MN - Club Med (with Fabulous Diamonds, Wet Hair)

11/06 - Minneapolis, MN - Hexagon Bar (with Fabulous Diamonds, Brute Heart, Leisure Birds)

11/07 - Omaha, NE - TBA (with Fabulous Diamonds)

11/10 - Missoula, MT - TBA (with Fabulous Diamonds, Capricorn Vertical Slums)

11/11 - Anacortes, WA - The Business Records in-store (with Fabulous Diamonds)

11/12 - Seattle, WA - Josephine (with Fabulous Diamonds)

11/13 - Portland, OR - TBA (with Fabulous Diamonds, Monopoly Child)

11/16 - Sacramento, CA - The Hub (with Fabulous Diamonds)

11/17 - San Francisco, CA - Aquarius Records in-store (with Fabulous Diamonds)

11/17 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill (with Donovan Quinn & the 13th Month, Fabulous Diamonds)

11/18 - Los Angeles, CA - Echo Curio (with Donovan Quinn, Fabulous Diamonds)

11/20 - Phoenix, AZ - The Dressing Room (with Eddy Detroit, Fabulous Diamonds)

11/23 - Houston, TX - Notsuoh (with Fabulous Diamonds)

11/26 - Pensacola, FL - Sluggo's (with Fabulous Diamonds)

11/27 - St. Augustine, FL - TBA (with Fabulous Diamonds)

11/28 - Tallahassee, FL - TBA (with Fabulous Diamonds)

11/29 - Athens, GA - TBA (with Fabulous Diamonds)

11/30 - Chapel Hill, NC - Nightlight (with Fabulous Diamonds)

 

PUMICE

09/27 - Auckland, NZ - The High Seas (with Grouper)

09/28 - Wellington, NZ - Happy (with Grouper)

 

DONOVAN QUINN & THE 13TH MONTH

11/17 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill (with Pigeons, Fabulous Diamonds)

11/18 - Los Angeles, CA - Echo Curio (with Pigeons, Fabulous Diamonds)

 

 

THIS MAILING LIST

 

This sporadic list is used to notify folks of new releases, tours and the like.  If you'd rather not receive these updates, please write li...@softabuse.com & asked to be removed. 

To join the googlegroup version of this mailer, visit the contact page on our site & enter yr email address…

 

 

SEMI-CURRENT LISTENING

 

METAL ROUGE Trails LP (Emerald Cocoon)

PHANTOM PAYN Days / Daze LP (DeStijl)

SIR RICHARD BISHOP Polytheistic Fragments LP (Drag City)

NOAH HOWARD Patterns LP (Altsax) (RIP….)

DADAWAH Peace & Love LP (Wild Flower)

WICKED WITCH Chaos 1978-1986 LP (Em)

 

 

Thanks a lot,

Chris / Soft Abuse

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SOFT ABUSE
www.softabuse.com