Sometimes, all I can do is smash a plastic guitar
I love, love, love Anton Barbeau's new track, "Plastic Guitar," which is currently in rotation on his MySpace page. It looks like it's going to be the title track on a new disc. I know even a lot of Anton's fans find him a tad too prolific, but the man sure knows how to write a damn good pop song. In 125 news, the Jill Tracy CDs have been delivered... the official release date is May 20, but some copies may make their way out into the world before then. Stay tuned!!!
Statuesque artwork
If you've downloaded the Statuesque discs, you can now download & print the cover art!125 Recommends: Once in a while, we get an email from someone whose music we like a lot and we wish we had the commercial clout to make them a star. Sadly, we are not exactly overflowing with commercial clout. But I suggest you check out Glasgow's Mr. D, whose album is available at CDBaby and eMusic, especially if you're into Teenage Fanclub.
Loud Family/Game Theory MP3 blowout
125 Records News - January 2008
As sent out to the subscribers to our e-mail list. It's been four months since we last sent out an email -- at least you can't accuse us of cluttering up your inboxes! As usual, we've waited until we have a few accumulated pieces of news... 1. 125 Records is excited to present our first digital-only releases -- TWO new albums by the UK's ever-delightful Statuesque! Stephen Manning's latest creations, THE GRAPE & THE GRAIN and CALLING NATURE'S BLUFF, are already available on eMusic; you can find them here. They should be for sale on iTunes and many other digital services soon; find a list here: http://iodalliance.com/partners.php Why the digital-only release? Well, Statuesque's last album, CHOIR ABOVE FIRE BELOW, was one of those CDs that some people really, really loved -- Pop Culture Press raved, "Lovers of Britpop, from the Kinks to Charlatans to Television Personalities to eccentrics like Roy Harper and Robyn Hitchcock, will love this stuff." But not enough people bought it to make it profitable. With two brand-new collections of songs, I thought we'd try this experiment, and since Stephen financed the recording by himself and there were no costs to the label for manufacturing or art, nearly all the money you spend on this download (and yes, we do get a nice chunk of change from eMusic even though it's a subscription service) will go directly to the artist himself. 2. We have Shalini T-shirts featuring the logo from her latest album, THE SURFACE AND THE SHINE! These dark blue, cotton T's are uniquely packaged using compression so that they are in the shape of a star! Read all about it here: http://www.compresst.com/ We also have copies of the CD, which The Big Takeover called "enticing, tuneful power-pop with abundant melodies and hooks galore." And we have ONE copy left of Shalini's Econoghost disc. 3. After being sold out for quite a while as Anton Barbeau journeyed through the U.K., we have a fresh supply of Antdiscs that we haven't had for some time, including 17TH CENTURY FUZZBOX BLUES, DRUG FREE and (my personal fave) A SPLENDID TRAY. 4. This spring, Jill Tracy's new album THE BITTERSWEET CONSTRAIN will finally be released. Jill is something of a perfectionist and the CD was quite literally years in the making, but it's all done at last! Jill is our best-selling artist and the disc will be released in the popular CD format as well as on digital download for the iPod generation. Stay tuned for a presale announcement. Her music is also turning up in more & more places, including an upcoming Lifetime TV movie! That's it for now! Come visit us at http://www.125records.com !
Gil Ray on "Lolita Nation"
Game Theory's own Gil Ray has written a wonderful, impassioned blog entry about Lolita Nation. As one of the label folks who has tried to make a rerelease happen, I share his frustration. I imagine one of the reasons it's decreased in value lately is because anyone who really wants it can simply grab it from a file sharing site, but that's no substitute for a lovingly done remaster.125 news coming soon, I promise (no Game Theory reissues, though, more's the pity...).
Shalini CD in stock!
Just got our shipment of Shalini CDs yesterday. The disc will be in stores and for sale elsewhere on the web on Oct. 9, but you can buy your copy now in the 125 Shop! Produced by Mitch Easter, The Surface and the Shine offers 11 more of Shalini's finely crafted pop/rock gems. It's the second release on Mitch & Shalini's own Electric Devil label, which is distributed by 125. You can stream the album at http://www.1uppr.com/streams/shalini.htmlShalini completists should note that we have exactly 9 copies left of her Econoghost album -- pick it up before it becomes a collector's item!Except for the one DVD we put out, 125 hasn't exactly been very prolific when it comes to releasing videos. Happily, thanks to Robert Toren, Gil Ray now has a super-cool video for his song "Queen of Blood"! Watch it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKJpjd3Gq5IAnd now for some more important news. 125's entire inventory is currently housed in a self-storage unit in scenic Richmond, CA. Well, we're going to be moving it -- all of it -- to a new location next month. And there's a lot to move. We'd like there to be a bit less. Therefore, we're offering a huge sale on several of our titles. Basically, if we have a bunch of 'em i stock, we've priced 'em to move; anything that's not sale priced is either something we're distributing but didn't release ourselves (i.e. the Mitch Easter and Shalini CDs) or an album that's only available in very limited quantities. (We only have about 50 Don Dixon CDs left, for example.) The sale is on 'til Oct. 1, so please visit http://www.125records.com/shop.html and pick up a bargain today!Finally, if you're in the Berkeley area, don't miss an ultra-rare appearance by Statuesque and lots of special guests at the Starry Plough this Saturday night. Not only can you see Stephen Manning, who is coming all the way from London, England, but it's absolutely free, in celebration of Bradley "Belle Da Gama/Bye Bye Blackbirds" Skaught's wedding. It should be a great event!
More XL T-shirts in stock
I was able to get another box of XL Dynamico T-shirts, so if you need a larger size, go ahead and place your order!
