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Elysian Fields
Once Beautiful Twice Removed |
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The long-awaited record to follow 2020's Transience Of Life doesn't sound anything like that album.
But no two Elysian Fields records are anything alike, and this one keeps that tradition
alive in the form of a road record that was conceived as
"a dusty cassette by a truck stop cash register." Once Beautiful Twice Removed,
the new collection from Brooklyn's Elysian Fields is an album to
drive to, tracing invisible routes along with geographical ones, opening with a sermon in a small country chapel (abruptly interrupted by the
ballsy "Road Trip"), and finishing with the detached, deftly detailed "Pack These Boxes."
In between are many American places, and the stories that live there, "Gone South,"
"Crows Over Cornfields," "Alone In The Desert."
The storytelling unfolds as the country slides past in the car window.
"Another corner cafe, where life and death had it out..."
Singer Jennifer Charles begins, in the dreamy "Elegance To Forgetting."
These ballads of sad cafes are the heart of Once Beautiful Twice Removed,
stories that spring from the same ground that nourished McCullers, Inge, McMurtry, and Kerouac.
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Bohemian Flesh
Bohemian Flesh |
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August 1, 2023 will see the release of the long-awaited full-length debut of the mysterious duo of
Tinh Luxx and Wayland Sainte, who started out under the name Parthenope (see OJET-031) and have cooked up their own mix of trip-hop they call
tryst-hop, touching on subjects like vampirism, threesomes, and the sexiest thing of all: NATURE.
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MAKESTAPES
Landing Signals |
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Rob Mozell is MAKESTAPES and Landing Signals is his first release on Ojet, a split cassette with Stenographer. 3 February 2023.
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101 Crustaceans
Songs Of Resignation |
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Fortchoming: A digital reissue of the 1989 debut album by the New York underground band helmed by Ed Pastorini.
Released originally on Chris Rael's Fang Records and on cassette by Audiofile.
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Friends is comprised of the songs Birdlikebats (a.k.a. Michael Hudson, he of WORK and Bull Thieves) wrote and recorded both in his years in
Brooklyn (via Galveston/Houston) and finished in his new studio in Atlanta.
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Stenographer
Susan Jane Tape Players |
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David Adam Salinas is Stenographer and Susan Jane Tape Players is his first release on Ojet, a split cassette with MAKESTAPES.
3 February 2023.
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Lance Scott Walker
DJ Screw: A Life In Slow Revolution
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(May 17, 2022) |
University of Texas Press, 2022. hardcover, first edition
DJ Screw, a.k.a. Robert Earl Davis Jr., changed rap and hip-hop forever. In the 1990s,
in a spare room of his Houston home, he developed a revolutionary mixing technique
known as chopped and screwed. Spinning two copies of a record, Screw would "chop" in new rhythms, bring in
local rappers to freestyle over the tracks, and slow the recording down on tape. Soon Houstonians were
lining up to buy his cassettes—he could sell thousands in a single day. Fans drove around town blasting
his music, a sound that came to define the city's burgeoning and innovative rap culture. June 27 has become
an unofficial city holiday, inspired by a legendary mix Screw made on that date.
Lance Scott Walker has interviewed nearly everyone who knew Screw, from childhood friends to collaborators to
aficionados who evangelized Screw's tapes—millions of which made their way around the globe—as well as the
New York rap moguls who honored him. Walker brings these voices together with captivating details of Screw's
craft and his world. More than the story of one man, DJ Screw is a history of the Houston scene as it came
of age, full of vibrant moments and characters. But none can top Screw himself, a pioneer whose mystique has
only grown in the two decades since his death.
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Parthenope
Introducing... Parthenope |
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Parthenope is a new project from Thomas Bartlett (Doveman, St. Vincent, Yoko Ono) and Jennifer Charles (Elysian Fields, Lovage, La Mar Enfortuna) making songs about love, sex, and romance that
build on the musical language the two have developed working together in Elysian Fields over the years while still managing to cut a
distinctly different musical path than either artist
has taken in the past.
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Bull Thieves
"Pasture Kills" b/w "Wild Own" |
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There are bands out there with longer gaps between releases than Bull Thieves, but the
decade between their debut full-length and
this two song 7-inch is still an impressive gulf. The band originated in Brooklyn
in 2009 and now works out of New York, Houston, and Atlanta, with contributions from
New York pianist Brittany Anjou and trumpet by Jackie Coleman. Mixed by Kirk Yano.
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Elysian Fields
"When We Used To" |
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Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow release another digital single with their second socially-distanced collaboration with Thomas Bartlett this year,
a standalone track that emerged from the artistic deprivation of not being able to make and experience music with other people.
"When We Used To" is a love letter to fellow musicians, music makers, creators, beautiful listeners, dancers, participants and witnesses.
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This is the first ambient record by Lance Scott Walker (Bull Thieves, Port Vale, Jessica Six), who previously dipped into drone territory
back in 2000 with The White Papers, and who hasn't released a record
of any kind since 2012's Bonfire On West Beach. That tribute to his native Galveston was drenched in atmospherics, but Sunburn Palms is rooted in them.
Keyboards, bass, industrial noise, field recordings, and contributions from a toy piano-playing cat.
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Elysian Fields
Transience Of Life |
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Cáo Xuêqín's 18th century novel, Dream of the Red Chamber, little known in the West, is a Chinese national epic,
occupying a role in the literature of China roughly akin to that of Shakespeare in English. Elysian Fields
set some of Cáo Xuêqín's poems, in translation by Yang Hsien-Yi and Gladys Yang, to music for Transience Of Life, with the idea of the impermanence
of all things has long been a central one for Elysian Fields. Another fellow traveler, cross-cultural storyteller Lu Chen, joined to co-write a song, and there is a
version of Warren Zevon's "Indifference Of Heaven." Thomas Bartlett played keyboards, and Sam Levin played drums, with appearances from Dana Lyn, Gamin Kang, and Ella Hunt. Cover art by Michael Keum.
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Elysian Fields
"Shelter In Place" |
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Some weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic in New York, Jennifer Charles, Oren Bloedow, and Thomas Bartlett wrote and recorded this song
while socially distanced in Brooklyn, Woodstock, and Manhattan. The song's proceeds from April were donated to NYCOFI's COVID-19 fund and
Meals On Wheels America's COVID-19 Response Fund. "Shelter In Place" is dedicated to all healthcare workers, first responders, postal, transit,
sanitation, maintenance, grocery store, drug store, pet store, and all other essential workers who are on the front lines daily, risking exposure, to help the greater good.
In loving memory of Elysian Fields friend Hal Willner (1957–2020).
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Elysian Fields
"Song For A Nun" b/w "Ball Drive" |
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With the first 7-inch record in their 25 year career, EF steps out of album mode to rip through a couple of 3-minute numbers that were just begging to be released as a 45. Sam Levin plays
drums and Chris Bruce is on bass. Bandcamp orders below (for the digital as well as the record) include both songs — iTunes and Amazon orders have the tracks separated (different links below).
SONG FOR A NUN (single)
BALL DRIVE (single)
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A long time coming, Longshore just appeared out of thin air one day, and we were all too happy for it to arrive. Birdlikebats is a rapper originally from
Galveston, Texas who appeared as Task on the first Bull Thieves album and
in his work with fellow Galveston rapper Evak-1 in their
group Work, whose first release All That Is Solid...
came out all the way back in
2003. Now he is Birdlikebats, working out of Atlanta, Georgia, and crafting a lyric-heavy brand of hip-hop that is flavored by so many genres it's hard to pin down except to say that it's
abstract &mdash and deep.
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The new album from the idiosyncratic New York cult band is a post-apocalyptic rock & roll joyride, touching on themes as far-reaching as natural disasters and global warming (the menacing, carnal "Storm Cellar"), life under a narcissist would-be dictator ("Philistine Jackknife"), white supremacy ("Knights Of The White Carnation"), censorship and the erasure of history (the dystopian sci-fi of "Karen 25"), vulnerable families falling through the social safety net ("Household Gods"), and meditations on time, friendship, loss, and mortality ("Time Capsule," "Star Sheen"). Pink Air was tracked in the mountains outside Woodstock NY and finished in the Manhattan lair of studio wunderkind Thomas Bartlett (The National, Sufjan Stevens).
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Ed Pastorini
Strange Lures |
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An underground legend in New York, Ed Pastorini is a songwriter, composer, pianist, and guitarist best known for his work with the band 101 Crustaceans, which
has been his vehicle since the late 1980s. He has been accompanied over the years by bassist Oren Bloedow (Elysian Fields) and drummer Ben Perowsky, who, like Pastorini, is a longtime
collaborator of Elysian Fields and appears on nearly every one of their records. Strange Lures, a collection of piano ballads, is the first record Pastorini has released
under his own name.
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Elysian Fields
Ghosts of No |
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Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow emerged from the Downtown scene
of 1990s NYC to make music of long drives and global paradoxes, human foibles, magic and nature, pagans, spiders, skunks, and butterflies. Timeless balladry infused with folk and
jazz wrestles with the fate of mankind and the traumas of its childhood. Ghosts of No unfolds the private mythology of the band, the point at which they wrote the song named after themselves,
"Elysian Fields." David Bowie collaborator Mark Plati returns behind the mixing board, and master drummers
Chris Vatalaro (Brian Eno, Bats for Lashes) and Matt Johnson (Jeff Buckley, St. Vincent) remain in the heart of the band's sound, as do longtime band members James Genus and Ben Perowsky.
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Elysian Fields
For House Cats And Sea Fans |
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The ninth release from the New York-based duo of Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow is a musical journey that
reflects their own lengthy history, at times paying tribute to the no wave on which they both cut their teeth. John Lurie even painted the cover!
Read an interview with Jennifer and Oren about the record here,
and read an article in the French magazine
Figaro here.
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The White Papers
Bonfire On West Beach |
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This is the first record by The White Papers (Lance Scott Walker) in 12 years, and his first full-length. This one is set in early 19th century Galveston
and again features Jeffery McLaughlin, Walker's collaborator from the first record, along with Brandon Davis
(Indian Jewelry, The Electric Set) on guitar, Oren Bloedow (Elysian Fields, 101 Crustaceans) on bass and contributions from Task (Bull Thieves, BirdLikeBats),
Ed Pastorini (101 Crustaceans), Jeanann Dara (Smoke & Flowers) and Joan Hiller on guest vocals.
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101 Crustaceans
Train Bolt Roller |
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Ed Pastorini's brilliant, off the map
compositions have drawn praise from writers and musicians alike in a career that began in the late 1980s. Nearly a decade in the making, Train Bolt Roller
features
only six songs, but it is decidedly an album — not only because of the epic length of each of its tracks, but because of the full circle of birth to death that it
carries us through as listeners. It sinks in slow, and benefits from repeated listens. Ed's songs are helmed here by Indigo Street (guitar, also of Shy Hunters),
Oren Bloedow (bass, also of Elysian Fields) and
Ben Perowsky (drums).
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Soviet
"Life Begins At Rewirement" Original Soundtrack |
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This 10-track album has been described by Trevin Matcek, the director of
"Life Begins At Rewirement," as "the heartbeat" of the film. Striking "hot and cold balance by mixing analog and digital."
Said Matcek, "The result is synthetic, but never artificial. It's warm and earnest, with a layer of loneliness just below the surface.
Keith summed up the feeling it creates with a single word: chills."
See the Soviet artist page.
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Your Mouth And Eyes
"Farm The Moon" |
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Thane Matcek is an Ojet old schooler, with appearances on several releases and even a connection to 76.2% Records, the label
that became Ojet back in 1998. This one is new school/old school/NASA-style. Check out the
video and
see the Your Mouth And Eyes artist page.
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Elysian Fields
Last Night On Earth |
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The seventh full-length from the New York art rock/noir band is a heady throwback to classic rock radio, with Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow
venturing off into new territories sonically, while adhering to the brilliant songwriting for which they're known.
6-page digipak includes all of the lyrics, liner notes and full conceptual artwork.
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10-song debut from the New York trio made up of Texas ex-pats Lance Scott Walker, Nicholas Phelps, and Task (a.k.a. Birdlikebats).
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Sad Like Crazy
Populist Octopus |
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This 16-track followup to Love Songs To Death is even rawer than its 4 and 8-track predecessor, a beautifully unfocused document of
experiment pop songwriting recorded 2001-2002 at Trey and Mari Pool's place. Thane Matcek returns, and Mark Richardson both played guitar and printed the covers,
characterizing Populist Octopus as the most DIY-looking
of all our releases, touching on the sounds in the full-on punk "Steam," the country twang of "Too Much Light," and all the garagey indie rock in between. Near the end of the album, we
find them sliding around within the space of The Kinks 1967 quasi-hit "Wonderboy." True to form of the album's DIY look, some of the copies can be found with another disc inside, with the
letters "SLC" spray-painted on the disc. Behold Too Much Light, a bonus
disc of reimagined versions of many of the songs and a few extras, including "So Sad" and "South Now."
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Kabochack
The King of Pumpkins |
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"Its fast, sugary, pseudo-bratty pop punk, and lyrics are all in Japanese! How much cuter can it get?
It doesn't get any cuter, actually. Yes, Kabochak may sound like the nauseating musical equivalent to
Hello Kitty on the first song, but from the rest of this six-track overview spotlights their intelligent pop songcraft." — Splendid E-Zine (Winter 2002)
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Sad Like Crazy
Love Songs To Death |
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With five band members and four different songwriters, Love Songs to Death is a relay session between voices and moods.
SLC recorded this massive 22-track long player at ClubSafeParking over the course of three years. This is a garage record even if it isn't full of garage music.
Trey Pool, Mari Pool, Thane Matcek, Gram Lebron, and drummer Pia Oksouie make bassy, tinny indie rock that has all the rawness and passion of punk rock, if a little
slower, maybe even drunken, in its delivery. D-tuned guitars provide a foundation for voices that might wobble. Some songs manifest through
acoustic guitars. There are a few synthesizers sprinkled in. The cover photo features paintings by Houston artist Denise Ramos. There is
so much to digest here, even the
liner notes read, "if you feel the need to tell us this album is too long, write," but as far as we
know, nobody wrote.
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Port Vale
The Music The Lights The Fire |
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Recorded by Scott Garred (Silver Scooter, Super XX Man) at Albert Hall in Austin, Texas, these 12 tracks represent the best-known Port Vale lineup
of Lance Walker, Bret Shirley and John Adams. Released in March of 2001, it is the band's only full-length, and also their swansong.
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In early 1999 Gram Lebron, formerly of Schrasj, relocated to the San Francisco Bay area, and
in doing so re-cut his teeth musically. This shifts away from his earlier work in both mood and intensity. 13 songs with
everything performed by Lebron himself, who now tours with Fruit Bats and plays in the band Outer Embassy.
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The White Papers
The White Papers |
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This is a year 2000 collaboration between Lance Scott Walker (Bull Thieves, Port Vale) and Jeffrey McLaughlin, who at the time had been a
DJ and producer around
Houston for years. All the while, he was working on his own ambient and dance tracks, and he merges that with Walker's songwriting on these six songs,
which document one 36-hour period and play as one piece of music.
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Freedom Sold
Ten Years Four Walls |
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MC Kwam (vocals, guitar, rants, effects) and DJ Spaceghost (turntable, samples, effects, guitar) started playing together in 1997
and were always ahead of their time in respect to what was going on in Houston. This captures the hip-hop elements present
on their 1998 debut EP Whores, but pushes the envelope further sonically in its 16 tracks, with lots of distortion to accompany Kwam's
various pontifications on sex, drugs, politics... you name it. This is the follow-up to their 1998 debut LP Whores.
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Lucky Motors
"The Package And The Prophet"
b/w "Ashtray Of Kisses" |
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Debut 2-song recording from the Houston trio. Lucky Motors dissolved in 2001 and moved on to other projects,
including Sharks and Sailors and
Brand New Hearts.
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Singer/songwriter Thane Matcek assembled an ensemble of musicians from Houston and Austin over the period of 3 years to put together this
14-song long player we released in March of 2000. Recorded by John Croslin and Gram Lebron in Houston, Austin, and Thane's hometown Caldwell, Texas.
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Six tracks produced by John Croslin and Gram Lebron at ClubSafeParking in Houston in the Spring of 1999. Re-sequenced with
new artwork on the digital version.
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Mathlete
The Household Frequencies |
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Dan Marsden and Mike (Wolfie) Downey were based in Chicago and joined forces with a drum machine, some keyboards
and the occasional guitar to create Mathlete. The duo now live on opposite sides of the world but both are still releasing music. Downey now lives in
Sweden and has a band called Shy Mirrors.
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Port Vale
"There Goes The Patience"
b/w "Mass Transit At Midnight" |
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This two-song 7-inch is the debut recording from the original lineup of this trio of Houstonians which materialized out of the
bands Jessica Six and Pop Deflation and
later went on to form The White Papers, Bull Thieves, Lucky Motors, and Halocline.
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Our very first release and the second full-length from the once globally-based trio originally from Houston.
Schrasj (take the "sch" from school and the "rasj" from garage) formed in Houston but the band members later went on to other projects in other cities,
including Call And Response, Rogue Wave, and Golden Gram.
These 10 tracks were recorded in 1997 by the
band in their own studio, the long-defunct but legendary ClubSafeParking, which also served as a venue for many shows in the Houston scene in the late 1990s.
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