...quiet summer, right? WRONG! Quite a summer, more like. Yup – it’s been all things to everyone here at the Drag City -- we’ve been leaping into the air, honkin’ down the highway, rockin’ it coast t’ coast, enjoying all the pleasures that life and love and lust and drugs have to give. We want the world and we want it now! And even when releases like Mick Turner’s awesome Blue Trees CD (featuring the Tren Bros.!) and the new issue of the Psychedelic Fanzine That Could, Galactic Zoo Dossier #7 are flying close to the ground and not everyone can see ‘em – its funny how that works – trust us, we’re still working and playing on something BIG. We’ll crack the planet open one inch at a time, we don’t care. But when we get our moment – look out.

And here it comes again...

We just finished a hot week of shipping — hot outside, hot in our semi-cooled bunker, and with hot stuff loading into the boxes, crates and skids we’re shipping back to the world! What do we got? What you need, natch — hyuk hyuk...

The Howling Hex! Call it what you will – XI, Monster-Bird, Outta Focus – but don’t you dare call it dull. The excitement quotient ratchets up on a song-by-song basis on their new album, courtesy of a Howling Hex band that drew it all together in the weeks leading up to the recording. Of course, they were on the road when they wrote it – and road time is unlike the time the rest of us experience, stretching with a timeless elasticity that makes one doubt resident spatial laws... ah, but it’s not for us to understand. They made the album, we just listen. And with XI/Monster Bird/Outta Focus, we’re listening to a rush of bracing rock and roll, delivered punk style, pop style, prog style.. and the hits keep on coming. Concert Master Neil Michael Hagerty gave his band the short leashes required to create such taut works of music and then stood with them and delivered. It’s out there now, go check into it.

Concentrick! Tim Green of The Fucking Champs fame has done it again – stepped away from his riff-ifying Mother Ship to create another Green world of sound. In the past, he crafted wholly other styles such as the entirely airless Music For Tunnels (sythesizers and pitch-shifter – no microphones, and therefore no air, used!); the lumbering kraut-sounds of Tender Machines; and the very acoustic (and even somewhat ambient) scapes of Lucid Dreaming. For the new release Aluminum Lake, Tim is following fast on the The Fucking Champs new (and first) record (in five fucking years!) VI. Is it any wonder that some of the riff-tasms that typify those peerless rockers should show themselves among the colorful contructions of Concentrick? Nah! And further, can we doubt that the combination of Tim’s studio-only conception and his liver-than-we’ll-ever-know TFC personai will result in anything less than a thoroughly stimulating field-trip of sound called Aluminum Lake. Nix again! The record is all-new, powerfully awesome (even in its quietest moments), trimmed and burning with threads of metal and yet thoroughly and totally Concentrick. Don’t miss out on one of the great secrets of contemporary music. It’s the only way you’ll ever hear Concentrick, a studio beast with no future of live appearances ever. DO IT!

Mimir! And more Mimir! Back from the shadows again is Christoph Heemann’s Streamline label, home to some of the most enigmatic sounds the world has known – the only label, by George, where the fearsome roar of Merzbow is reduced to a whisper, and a somehow even more fearsome whisper at that! In the company of Drag City Streamline has released incredible vinyl from Nurse With Wound, Xhol Caravan and Little Annie, as well as a host of CDs from Christoph Heeman projects such as H.N.A.S., Mirror and yes, Mimir! In the early 90s, Heemann teamed with The Legendary Pink Dots’ Edward Ka-Spel to assemble complete works from disparate performances, smoothing them in one continuitous space. The resulting trio of albums combined drones, ambience, miniature compositions, tape pieces and moments of furious improvisation into haunting inner-space journeys. Back in 2002, we reissued their untitled 3rd and final album – and now joining them is the self-titled and first album and their second release, Mimyriad. The original Mimir was comprised of Elke Skleter, Andreas Marin, Silverman, Ka-Spel, and Heemann; the Mimyriad group featured the arrival of Jim O’Rourke. Both of these works are typical, and classic Mimir – undefinable, indescribable (beyond what little bits we’ve offered you here). Best just to listen – and you can do so now...run to the marketplace!

It’s hard to imagine now, as you’re stranded on your roof, waiting for relief from the flood, but cast your mind forward to the golden month of September. Indian summer breezes are blowing, leaves are fixing to fly and the kids are back with the books and the college rule paper, bags o weed an’ other such fall apparel. Come September, we’re all prepared to learn a new language. And we’ll have one for you too – Language of Stone – more on which in just a minute. As always here’s also a few new steps to learn too -- but before you know it, you’ll be back in the flow. Our late September curriculum is collated to provide structure (and groove) for your malleable minds and souls. You’ll be able to take your pick from:

The Red Krayola with Art & Language
Sighs Trapped By Liars CD

Sir Richard Bishop
Polytheistic Fragments LP/CD

Mountain Home
self-titled CD

Orion Rigel Dominesse
What I Want From You Is Sweet CD

Or better yet, do your mood-swinging soul a favor and get ‘em all. The descriptions below will describe the class presented by each of these diverse releases.

Lately, Mayo Thompson and The Red Krayola have been thrilling us to the extreme. The level of musicianship, surprise, deep thoughts, hot and cold running humor and really, all-round entertainment found in their Introduction LP/CD and “Red Gold” CDEP releases of 2006 might have represented a one-two punch for some – but damn if The Red Krayola don’t intend to push their luck with a bit of the old three-four here in 2007. First (and finally!) was the return of Soldier-Talk, their 1979 punk-pop uber-work – a reissue nearly 30 years in the making, a classic slab never before compacted to disc. Now The Red Krayola have re-allied with Art & Language to produce an all-new work. Art & Language, as you may recall, are an arts collective whose lyrics provided The Red Krayola with a springboard to several of their classic songs – “A Portrait of V.I. Lenin in the Style of Jackson Pollock,” “Black Snakes,” “Born In Flames,” “Future Pilots” and of course, all of the Kangaroo? and Corrected Slogans albums. For many, these recordings represented the epochal The Red Krayola contribution...but for those many, the new album Sighs Trapped By Liars will force extreme revisionism (or as the more stiff-necked may assert, revulsionism!). That’s just how good the new album by The Red Krayola with Art & Language is. The cast of Tom Watson, John McEntire, Noel Kupersmith, Jim O’Rourke and Mayo Thompson roll out a deep-pile musical carpet for chanteuses Elisa Randazzo and Sandy Yang, who share lead vocal duties throughout the entire record. That’s right – no signature vocal presence from Mayo, who contents himself in arranging vocal lines for the ladies straight out of his private libretto. They acquit themselves magnificently to the complexities of the Art & Language lyrics, which are as ever caught up in social and aesthetic conflicts – though a new and different wave of issues than the 70s and 80s lyrics addressed. To unravel the Gordian knot for yourself, you’ll find great enjoyment in hearing Sighs Trapped By Liars, which will be available everywhere that the world is envisioned as a better place (and sells records) in the waning moments of September!

Sir Richard Bishop is an ideal man. As a seasoned world traveler, he has an understanding of human nature with truly global perspective. Furthermore, as a performer who doesn’t speak to you (in other words, an instrumentalist), he expects nothing in return – nothing, that is, but your undivided fucking adulation! And frankly, we can’t think of a single reason why he shouldn’t get it from you. On our end, we’re already giving all we got: jamming his classics, telling friends, writing really embarrassing fan letters...and now, putting out his latest masterwork, Polytheistic Fragments. In which Sir Richard plays every guitar in the house and a few that weren’t there before he arrived (is he magick?). Each one of the instruments communicates a tome and sometimes more as he runs his fingers down the fretboard, thus creating musical moments -- and in this fashion, you will feel spoken to. But don’t talk back to Sir Richard – that would be unseemly. Content yourselves with Polytheistic Fragments from the master.

Don’t look now, but this world of ours is a changed place, its wonders reduced to the size of mini-transistors in a hard-drive. It’s a cold, hard fact of life and little we can do will turn back the clock. But what if we don’t look at the clock? This was the question posed in fragrant Philadelphia think-tank, leading to the establishment of a new label that you are reading about this very minute. Language of Stone is the name of that label, and they’re turning out pristine analog recordings in prescient AOR (that’s “Album Oriented Rock,” kids) fashion. Sure, it’s a downloadable world — and we’re all living track-to-track these days – but as sure as attention spans of run down to nothing, they’ll expand again, trust us. Collections of songs resonate so beautifully when they take a little less than an hour doing so; they move us incredibly. They always will. And this is a hallmark of Language of Stone, along with respect for honesty, community, the fair deal, and as they put it, “the fragile concept of career musician.” With these words, and two new artists, Jessica and Greg Weeks unveil their new imprint.

Orion Rigel Dommisse is a songwriter with a dark fantastic style combining and then transcending ancient classical and folk inflections on her debut album, What I Want From You Is Sweet.

Mountain Home project a earthen visage, hazy and poetic, defiant in their stance. Featuring Ilya and J. Emery Blatchley, their debut album also features contributions from Anonymous.

As the in-house producer for Language of Stone, Greg Weeks brings to these two discs the sound and vision he has given his own records, as well as those of Espers, La Secta and Grass.

And so that’s it for August and September new releases –- but isn’t that enough? No, of course it isn’t — you people are never fucking satisfied. That’s why we love ya, people! OK, check it out: we’ll release more records after these, how’s that? Still not good, huh...OK, then what about live shows from Bert Jansch! Bill Callahan! Sir Richard Bishop! The Fucking Champs! Neil Hamburger! Joanna Newsom! Boris with Michio Kurihara! And The Howling Hex.

That’s right – all these people have put out a record (or a DVD) in the last year (or they’re about to — we’re looking at you, Sir Richard Bishop) and now they’re touring! What a bunch of winners. Wanna know what it’s like to see and hear a winner in a local club? Go to one of these shows and you will. Then, after the show – proceed to the nearest set of train tracks and put your ear to the ground! You may just hear that even more shows are coming your way very soon. Really interesting shows like the Six Organs of Admittance Free Tour coming up in mid-November right on top of his new album release. Or the White Magic show at this year’s Wire Fest here in Chicago at the end of October – it’s the first time White Magic have played our shores in forever! And what about the Joanna Newsom “Tellurian Nights” Tour? After she returns from her European slog, she'll take the US by sturm, with six orchestras in six cities on six different nights! Or what about the Boris with Michio Kurihara tour? They’re going to play their collaborative efforts from Rainbow, of course – but what else will they do? We wanna know!

Finally, don’t miss The Howling Hex in San Francisco on September 22nd. No opening act for this one – just hours and hours of The Howling Hex and their wild traveling road show. No word at press time as to who exactly is in the band or what they’re going to do, but we’re expecting at least some of the players from the XI/Monster-Bird/Outta Focus band playing some of the songs from XI/Monster-Bird/Outta Focus. Additionally, local Drag City heroes Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) and Dawn McCarthy (Faun Fables) will be jumping about the Hex-mobile for four-star cameos. Don’t not be there, or you’ll say you were. And mean it this time —

A winner! That’s what we got in our “Neil Hamburger Like-a-Look” Contest, in which fans of America’s Funnyman were challenged to resemble him and submit their looks to us for judgment here at the bunker. The prize for the winner was a chance at comedy immortality – a moment in the spotlight onstage in Chicago, where Neil recently performed. Here are some of the unfortunate hopefuls:

All interesting takes on Neil’s signature style, for sure – but being Neil Hamburger goes deeper than the skin, doesn’t it? In order to truly look like him, the contestant needed to be the same deep down in the darkness of his or her soul. And that person was him:

Congratulations to Luc Rodgers! In addition to your 15 minutes of Hamburgerian fame, you can now rest easy – your portrait is on the Drag City Wall of Fame.

We’ve gotten a lot of mail lately asking us why there aren’t more fun Drag City listening party events. That’s a good question – as are all questions that don’t have answers! I guess we thought everyone was too busy buying Drag City records and seeing Drag City bands live, as well as maybe even paying attention to their own silly lives, to do such a thing! But this got us thinking — what about a compromise? What if we play these records in places you might just be anyway at times that you might just be there? No, we’re not talking about the crackhouse! What you do in your own time is... as we just said, silly. But what if you were planning a shopping trip knowing that while you shopped for your organic vegetables you could be hearing the new Sir Richard Bishop album? And that by the time you worked your way around to frozen goods, you could hear the new Red Krayola with Art & Language disc? This is something you could plot your schedule around. We’re talking to local groceries, book stores, vintage shops and other secret culture centers around the country, trying to schedule listening parties for the working individuals that make this country great. We can do this, but if you’d care to write and suggest such locations in your vicinity, we’ll poke our nose and investigate for ourselves. With your help, we can all listen up!

My, my... we’ve been going on and on here and haven’t even gotten to October and November yet! Trust us, lots of interesting releases in those months, yes indeed – well, wait a minute, you don’t have to trust us! Here’s a few previews for you:

An all-new, once-in-a-lifetime song from Ghost, recorded live in concert and edited into a highly listenable disc of music – accompanied by a highly watchable, unedited version of the song as it was performed live! Two kinds of jams for the prices of just slightly more than one -- it’s called Overture and it’s coming in October.

The self-titled solo debut of Randall of Nazareth! Pearls and Brass axe-man Randy Huth is Randall, and the acoustic guitar is his axe of choice. Late-night basement bum-outs are his blues of choice, and the outcome is a delicate maze of introversion played and recorded all by himself – in complete darkness. Just jokin’ — it's a very sensual record with a luminous glow all its own.

Percussionist Jens Hennemann wants to teach the world a song — or more accurately, the rhythm of a song. SNL’s Fred Armisen (himself a wanna-be drummer) produced Jens’ instructional video, Complicated Drumming Technique, to help the most beat-challenged of you out there enter the complicated world of drumming.

October promises to be full of magic — White Magic! On October 8th, the limited edition Latitudes Session on Southern records contains a White Magic song called "New Egypt". Latitudes Session also includes Drag City recording artist Sir Richard Bishop, Gang Gang Dance, Ariel Pink, Magik Markers and many more. Then on October 30th, the soundtrack to Todd Haynes' movie I'm Not There (on Columbia Records and Tapes) will hit stores, featuring White Magic's version of Bob Dylan's "As I Went Out One Morning." But the most exciting White Magic drops between these two compilations, on October 23 — a new record!

Their excellent new EP is called “Dark Stars” because it’s all about the Universe and black holes in the night as well as within ourselves. The piano-driven sounds are deep and mysterious and Mira Billotte's commanding voice carries the four songs — but in addition, Doug Shaw’s voice is heard (both singing and writing), especially on his composition “Winds.” The fluid, elemental sound of Jim White comes from the drum kit, accompanied in rhythm by the playing of Tim Koh on bass. Tim Dewit (Gang Gang Dance) contributed to the production as well. Packaged in a hypnotic black-and-white design, “Dark Stars” comes in 12”EP and CDEP, coming into the world just a month after their appearance at Wire Fest.

Six Organs of Admittance is playing in a new key and you know what that means – a new phase and, hip hip hooray, a new album too! Shelter From the Ash flows all organic and shit and is heaviness personified with a super-light touch. There’s zads of guest-stars too, not so’s you’d know – just pure Six Organs of Admittance, a quicksand that sucks us all in. We don’t want to get you too excited though – this doesn’t hit until November 20th, can you fucking believe it? Also in November – Bonnie ‘Prince Billy! The Valerie Project! Major Stars! And this season’s most unlikely reissue!

How’s that for a cliffhanger? Hm, well – it’ll have to do. Come back next time and see if we can do any better.

Rian Murphy
Drag City Inc.
August 2007