ROYAL TRUX READY TO ROLL!
The time has come. Pound for Pound is at the door, pointed in the general direction of you, the listener! You might think that this moment finds us all business. It’s true – nothing brings out the bean counter in us here at Drag City like a brand-new release from a proven seller such as the Royal Trux are. But at the same time, we get a little misty. I mean, after all, this was the band that made DC1 for us, our very first release, way back in the 1980s! This was also the band that turned in the first full-length record for us (Twin Infinitives) as well as the first double-LP on Drag City as well (also Twin Infinitives). And they were the first band on Drag City to defect to a lucrative major-label deal, as well as the first band to come back from the smoldering ruins of a major-label deal. With all those firsts behind us, we get a bit sentimental, it’s true. But meanwhile, stores are being notified - distributors are being notified - radio and press are being notified - everyone in the firmament is getting the lowdown... Pound for Pound is there for you.
PREDICTION...
In our mind’s eye, it’s late June... and Drag City are once again regaling the world with a new release or two!
ITEM! Rian Murphy and Will Oldham present: "All Most Heaven," a four-song 12" and CDEP featuring loads of pianos, guitars, basses, vocals, harmonicas, violins, trumpets, french horns, maracas, tympani drums, and just a touch of reverb. It’s the wildest Rian Murphy production yet of four never-before-heard Will Oldham songs, featuring the wildest little old Jim O’Rourke musical arrangements yet on top the wildest Will Oldham songs you’ve ever heard to date. Don’t miss it!!!
ITEM!For just a pinch of laughs, get "Inside Neil Hamburger," an EP-sized helping of America’s Funnyman himself, Neil Hamburger. Four hilarious new routines are debuted on this record, which will come in 12" and CDEP sizes. You can’t not want to have it!
ITEM! Anyone for Smog? A fresh slice of his best-seller Dongs of Sevotion will be available on 7" and CDEP when "Strayed" hits the stands. The B-side of the single is an acoustic reconsideration of "Bloodflow," another slice of DoS, and for the deep-pile Smog fan, the CDEP will offer 30 brain-busting minutes of early instrumental Smog – the fabled, cassette-only release from 1988, Cow. A reissue, then, at CDEP prices! It’s a deal we’d have to be crazy to offer you - so we’re offering it to you!
ITEM! It wouldn’t really be a Drag City release date without some crazy Moikai thing in the picture – and so it is. Jim O’Rourke is proud to be presenting the vinyl debut of a record previously thought to be only hearable on CD, Pita’s scorching-hot break-through to the other side, Get Out. It’s a full LP’s worth of heavy, violent electronic mayhem. If five seconds of this are all you need to start your head a-throbbin’, imagine what the full LP will do to you? Or rather, don’t imagine – at the end of June, hit the streets and find out for yourself!
INTRODUCING
Anybody who says nothing ever changes around the Drag City may pole can go screw! Bands whose names are now familiar - Papa M, Appendix Out, Mick Turner, Edith Frost - a few years ago, who were they? Certainly not Drag City recording artists. But today, they are staples of the musical diet that we recommend. And hey, U.S. Maple, Brother JT, Half Japanese, and Jim O’Rourke weren’t always the kings of the Drag City Galaxy of Stars, were they? But check out where they are today, brother-sister. And hey, earlier this year we pushed a record from Tied +Tickled Trio out into the cold, fickle universe. It wasn’t easy, selling a new band - but we’re tied and tickled to report that the kids dig it, and are asking for seconds. Seconds we got! But we also have a few firsts. So don’t go talking shit next time. Because later this year, we’ve got a new EP coming out from High Llamas (who’ve achieved fame without ever releasing a record on Drag City) as well as a full-length from The Fucking Champs, who, guess what, have never before put out a record on Drag City. Yeah, these all-new releases will be DC debuts for these bands - and we welcome them to a label that loves to release new music!
ON THE ROAD
We’re romantics here at Drag City - which means that we dream of the good old days, when phone calls (and dime bags) only cost a dime, when baseball was the national pastime (instead of the irrational pastime) and the women’s suffrage movement was just a bunch of cult crazies (actually, some things never change, do they?). We sure do miss those old days, just like we miss the good old days we used to spend out on the road, driving one band or another from gig to gig. Those days seem to be permanently gone - particularly since we totaled the Drag City-mobile (again). Yeah, we may not be in the Minneapolis to Iowa City picture for Summer 2000, but at least those groups of ours are giving it the old college try. Wherever you are in the world, you can look for Royal Trux, Jim O’Rourke, Smog, Appendix Out, Edith Frost, Stereolab and Mick Turner playing somewhere near you - and you might just have some luck! Check our Tour Page for listings, details, and further informations. And that does it for us this time. |