Happy Labor Day

Making albums, let alone music in general, is truly a labor of love. To celebrate this Labor Day, we've got the latest album on vinyl from one of our favorite songwriters in Tucson, Arizona - Andrew Gardner - and his band - La Cerca - on deck, whose 2018 record - Night Bloom - was release by Xemu Records.  Check it out here for yourself here!  'Next up' on the playlist is definitely going to be La Cerca's 2014 Fort Lowell Records release - Sunrise For Everyone.

La Cerca play live music concert at The Quarry in Bisbee AZ on Saturday, September 7

Pre-Order Tracy Shedd 'The Carolinas' Vinyl NOW from Science Project Records

Fort Lowell Records has teamed up with Athens, Georgia's own Science Project Records for the release of Tracy Shedd's sixth studio album The Carolinas.  Science Project Records is providing you with the vinyl release, while yours truly is managing things on the ol' world wide web with the digital release.

Fun fact, especially for all your vinyl freaks and geeks out there: Science Project Records is actually owned and operated by the fine folks at Kindercore Vinyl Pressing.  Yup, that's right.  You may remember when Kindercore Vinyl Pressing came on the scene back in early 2017, they were boasting (as they should) about their partnership with Canada's Viryl Technologies and The WarmTone™ product: a fully automatic, modernized vinyl record pressing system.  Fast forward two-plus years later: those boys in Athens gotta' hankerin' to start putting out rekkerds themselves, beginning with The Cadets and now Tracy Shedd's latest album.

CLICK HERE NOW TO PRE-ORDER - Tracy Shedd - The Carolinas

The Test Pressing has already arrived and has been approved, so things are ready to roll and records will ship out in the early fall.  You can also stop by Bourgie Nights in Wilmington, North Carolinas on Friday, September 20, 2019, when Tracy Shedd hosts her Record Release Party with De La Noche (featuring Ivan Howard of The Rosebuds, Merge Records), and you will be able to buy a vinyl record at the show.
For now, enjoy the first two singles from The Carolinas: "Holding On" and "Kissing and Romancing", plus the album's opening track "Catching the Breeze"!

La Cerca play live music concert at Exo Bar in Tucson AZ on Saturday, September 14

INTERVIEW: Indie Folk Outfit The Good Graces

[REPOST from Vents Magazine; interview by RJ Frometa]
Hi there, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?

Pretty good, and thanks!

Can you talk to us more about your song “Crickets”?

I wrote “Crickets” late last summer. I had been dealing with some conflict with someone really close to me, and it was really wearing on me. I had had problems articulating how I really felt about it; what I felt like it had done to me. I was sort of stewing over it, and the song just kinda came out; once I started it, it was pretty quick. And I did feel like it did a pretty good job of capturing those conflicting feelings and emotions.

Did any event in particular inspire you to write this song?

You want details, I like it! LOL. Yes. 

Can you tell me about the inspiration behind the track “Snow Angels”?

“Snow Angels”  was written by my good friend Wyatt Espalin, and I loved the song from the moment I first heard it. I was asked to perform a song for his annual birthday show at Crimson Moon in Dahlonega (north of Atlanta) and I decided to do that one, but make it sound more like a Good Graces song. I slowed it down, finger picked it, made it a lot sadder. When it came time to pick the songs for the album, I wanted it to reflect my headspace and experiences from the past year, and the song just made sense. I’m so glad I got to include it.

How was the recording and writing process?

I tried to stay true to the feel of that live performance; it felt really good to strip it back but wanted it to also have a rootsy instrumentation, so we added things like mandolin and banjo. We recorded the rhythm section live (we did for the entire record) and then went back in and added those additional instruments. In the end, we focused a lot on the vocals. Wyatt’s song is so sad and nostalgic, and I wanted to make sure I preserved that. We especially had a good time layering the harmony vocals at the very end … that’s one of my favorite parts of the record!

How did the process of putting together your new album Prose & Consciousness differ from your previous releases?

It was very different. For “Set Your Sights,” my last record, I think we recorded a total of 24 songs. So we went in with way more than we could fit on the album, and then picked the songs we thought were the best to finish and mix. It kept it really organic — I didn’t really know what the record was going to be until I was like a year into it. But it also made it a bit more stressful (and a lot more time consuming) than it probably needed to be. With this one, I knew I wanted to work quicker and more efficiently. And I knew I wanted to record the majority of the tracks in one place, and then mix the album there too (which was also different from the last record, which I’m super proud of, but did end up being pretty hodge-podge). So really, I approached it in an almost opposite way compared to the last album, and all my previous albums, really. I settled on about 14 songs to start with and gave a few the boot along the way. But I was a lot more cognizant, from the very beginning, of what the end product would be. I remember coming up with the title really early on, and not changing it — for my last album I must have gone through 20 titles! I also made a concerted effort to not include a single breakup song, which was also really different for me, because I’ve written a lot of them! But that helped inform the “aboutness” of the album, and I think it kept it a little more focused than some of the previous ones.

What role does Atlanta play in your music?

Aww, I love this question, as I really love Atlanta! I would probably have never started the Good Graces had I not moved to Atlanta. I was a drummer for a couple of Atlanta-based singer-songwriters, Jeff Evans and Mary O. Harrison, and I just loved their songs. So I think that, in combination with going through a divorce just prior to the move, and finally seeing an old acoustic guitar for sale (really cheap) at a flea market all sort of collided in a way that the universe said “YOU NEED TO WRITE SONGS.” But the Atlanta influence was huge. I wrote an Atlanta ditty a few years ago (“State of Atlanta,”) sort of as a joke, but also because I love it so much it just felt like I needed to express that love in song.

What aspect of your life/lives did you get to explore on your LP Prose & Consciousness?

Ha – I’m a Gemini, so “lives” is very accurate. And wow, such a big question. I think I definitely explored the idea of being conflicted, feeling pulled in different directions. Balancing art and things I “want” to do with things I “need” to do comes out for sure. I’m smack dab in mid-life, and I’m childless, by choice, but that choice hasn’t necessarily been easy. There’s a song about that. So it’s pretty personal stuff, all around. I also finally took a serious look at my own mental health issues — anxiety, specifically — around the time of Anthony Bourdain’s death. That comes out in the record, too. I want to think I look at things about myself through a pretty critical lens but that in the end I give myself a break and say “this is me, flaws and all.”

Where else did you find the inspiration for the songs and lyrics?

I was pretty focused on family over the past year or so — watching my Dad’s declining health made me want to capture parts of him through the record (“His Name Was the Color That I Loved” is partly about him, and I also used a little snippet of his voice after the song “Wants + Needs” which was inspired by a real situation of cancelling a show to go back home and help take care of him). So there’s a good bit of family stuff on the album … I also like to think about our place in the universe, well maybe “like to” isn’t the right way to put it, but I sometimes find myself thinking about it, and feeling really small, but at the same time really connected to others. That comes out in the “Blood Orange Moon Shot” tune. I think the easy answer is I find inspiration everywhere. But particularly in nature and the people close to me.

Any plans to hit the road?

Yes! I’m doing a small tour through NC after the album release, in November. But really want to hit it hard next year. Plans are in the works for a tour with my friend Annette Wasilik, a really great songwriter and guitar player from around the DC area. I also want to get back to the southwest in the fall of next year. And plan to do as much regional stuff as possible.

What else is happening next in The Good Graces’ world?

Our album release show is at Eddie’s Attic on Nov 14, so I’ll soon be super focused on the full-band practices for that. We haven’t had a full band tGG show since last August, and it’s also our first time headlining Eddie’s so I’m super excited. I’ve also recently started a monthly(ish) women’s in-the-round that I do here in Atlanta at Red Light Cafe. Each show features 3-4 women songwriters and we give a portion of the proceeds to a non-profit that works for or benefits women.

Listen here

Friends De La Noche celebrate their debut album 'Blue Days, Black Nights'

Wilmington, North Carolina's own De La Noche spent the evening (Thursday, August 22, 2019) at Mon Âme Chocolate & Wine Bar sharing their debut album Blue Days, Black Nights (Get Loud Recordings) with family and friends at their Album Listening Party.  De La Noche will share the stage with Fort Lowell Records' Tracy Shedd on Friday, September 20, 2019 at Bourgie Nights in Wilmington, as both artists commemorate their album releases with live performances, which will include De La Noche's singer, Ivan Howard (not pictured below) of The Rosebuds (Merge Records), who will be traveling from his home of Portland, Oregon to take part in the showcase.  Purchase tickets here before the show sells out, and be sure to RSVP on the Facebook Event Page.

Listen to De La Noche here:


De La Noche pictured below (L-R: Chuck Spry, Robert Rogan, and Brian Weeks)

Happy Birthday to Richard Dudley from Moyamoya!

FILE UNDER: "WOMEN WHO KICK ASS"

[REPOST from The Joy of Violent Movement]

With the release of her five previous albums through labels like Teen Beat, New Granada Records and Devil In The Woods and stints in Band & The Beat, the Jacksonville, FL-born, Wilmington, NC-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Tracy Shedd has developed a reputation for being a musician’s musician, whose sound and approach has been compared to the likes of Alvvays, Belle & Sebastian, Liz Phair, My Bloody Valentine, Snail Mail, Sonic Youth and countless others.  

After Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley [sat] in on drums during her last US tour, Shedd began writing the material, which would comprise her forthcoming album The Carolinas in her new home of North Carolina. The album reportedly finds Shedd drawing upon her indie rock roots with some of her electro pop experiences with Band & The Beat — and is arguably some of the most playful material she’s written and recorded to date. The album’s first single is the coquettish fuzz pop anthem “Kissing and Romancing.” Centered around fuzzy power chords, a big infectious hook and a decidedly lo-fi production, the song manages to recall 90s grunge and fuzz pop — Liz Phair’s “Supernova” immediately comes to mind; but with a playful, coquettish air.

The recently released video features stop-motion animation of a wooden robot dancing and courting a blue alien. And while drawing some influence from The White Stripes“Fell in Love with a Girl,” the video, much like the song has a playful air.

Shedd’s latest album, The Carolinas is slated for a September 20, 2019 digitally through Fort Lowell Records and on vinyl through Science Project Records.

Meet Emily Wilder of Wet & Reckless in Echo Park

[REPOST from VoyageLA.com]

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Wilder.

Emily, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?

Wet & Reckless started with bassist Jessica Gelt (The Movies) and me (Emily Wilder) as two-piece outfit in Echo Park after a late night discussion about how California ridiculously decided to legally name a DUI “Wet & Reckless”. We decided to embrace that ridiculousness later as a three-piece all-girl band about nine years ago, after all coming from different bands with bossy boys. This was when there weren’t as many girl bands. We’d go to our rehearsal space at Bedrock when it first opened and would laugh and cry and just do music the way we wanted. In the beginning, we were put on bills with more “pretty players”. Now we know so many girls in bands that play more rock than Starbucks stylings. We toured across the states over the years. We all lived in the same building and at the end of the hall was Jalise Woodward, who joined our band on the drum kit. Now we’ve mixed up players a couple of times. We recorded many albums but felt really happy with producer, Kristofer Sampson (Atlanta), Tom Biller who mastered it and released our first album in 2015 on cassette with Lollipop Records. Right now we are recording our second album with Dylan Ely of Portia Street Studios and really excited about this next release.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

Ha! You are talking about the music industry right? Yes, many struggles, but it’s all been worth it. I grew up in a music family and always make the joke, “music will ruin your life”, but I couldn’t live without it. I am a sucker for good lyrics and what better way to break, heal and survive in this human condition than writing music.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?

Jessica is a writer, Jalise is an artist and I (Emily) direct stop motion animation films. Our band is a sisterhood and cuts through the thick of the daily grit. I like the storytelling aspect of songs. I guess that’s what drives me. Hmm, what makes us different? Well, I know all of our moms think we are special. But in all seriousness, we are not hired guns or perfect. We are a family; a truly special bond that has been building for years.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?

I think we are an unruly bunch with an honest perspective, even if it is self-deprecating. Music is so subjective and there is something out there for everyone. The most important thing we can do is make someone laugh, cry, not feel so alone, or just feel anything at all.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://emilywilder.wixsite.com/wetandreckless
• Email: wetandrecklessmusic@gmail.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/wetandrecklessla/
• Facebook: facebook.com/wetandreckless

The Good Graces Keep Their Loved Ones Close on "Snow Angels"

[REPOST from Popmatters.com]

The story goes that the Good Graces started on an impulse, when Kim Ware bought her acoustic guitar, Buzzy, from Lakewood Antiques Market in 2006. The artist was well regarded as a drummer in the Atlanta scene, but she and Buzzy proved to be a perfect duo as songs began to flow out from them. Now, the Good Graces are a revered indie-folk collective known for delivering evocative songwriting, and in those regards, "Snow Angels" is no different. The song strikes a chord of spiritual beauty about keeping ties with your loved ones even after they've gone. It hits a poignant blend of emotions in the subtle buildup towards its crescendo, where Ware's reflective vocals are met by a broad stroke of folk instrumentation that, together, evoke their full sentiment.

"Snow Angels" is from the Good Graces' new album, Prose and Consciousness, releasing on 11 October. On the song, Ware recalls, "This is the only song on the new album that I didn't write. I did take some artistic liberties (which the writer was open to, thankfully!), but it was originally written by my dear friend Wyatt Espalin. The first time I heard him play it, several years ago around a campfire at his old campground, I instantly loved it. I was first drawn to the chord progression in the chorus because it was similar to a song I was working on at the time. I remember thinking, 'Hey, that sounds like something I might do.' That might have been what initially got my attention, but I'm a big lyrics person, and once I paid attention, the lyrics just killed me. They were so sad and nostalgic.

[Click here to listen to the Good Graces' new track, "Snow Angels"]

"About a year or so later I was asked to pick a song of Wyatt's to play at his annual birthday show at Crimson Moon. It didn't take me long at all to choose that one. The problem was learning how to play it, and learning it in time. So I decided to make it easier on myself and just play it like I'd play it if I had written it. I stripped it back and slowed it down (the original was a bit more rockin'), and simplified the bridge a little. People at the show really responded to it, and it just felt so great to play. When it came time to choose the songs to record for the new album, I wanted songs that captured the past year or so for me. This song really does that -- family has been a big thing for me lately, and this song has some of that; to me, it looks back at the past with a little bit of sadness and longing that I unfortunately think is pretty accurate. As we get older, relationships change and evolve, and sometimes you just miss when things were simpler. There's some of that in "Snow Angels", and also a good bit about identity, and coming to terms with who you are and what you really want, which is also a common theme of the album.

"I knew I wanted Wyatt involved in the recording and was fortunate to have him play fiddle on it. It's rather funny, the first 3/4 of it is so stripped down, but a lot of folks played on this one! Tim Anderson added cello -- and while he and Wyatt weren't aware of each other's parts at all (I don't think either of them had the other's part to track with), they magically worked together really well. There's also a bit of banjo (Rick Taylor) and mandolin (Andrew Vickery). We had a lot of fun mixing it; it's such a pretty song, and the vocals are really important, but I also was just loving how the band sounded near the end. So we ended up - quite last minute - bringing the vocals down to showcase the band a little more, and then back up at the very end. I'm happy we made that choice with it, it's one of my favorite parts of the album."

Written by Jonathan Frahm

Tracy Shedd - Record Release Party for 'The Carolinas' - Fri 9/20/19

Please join us on Friday, September 20, 2019 at Bourgie Nights in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina, to celebrate Tracy Shedd's release of her new full length studio recording The Carolinas - an evening hosted by Modern Legend - as she shares the stage (and record release celebrations) with good friends, De La Noche (Get Loud Recordings) - featuring Ivan Howard of The Rosebuds.  This will be Tracy Shedd's first live show in two years, so don't miss it!

Click here now to purchase tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4309694

Listen to De La Noche + Tracy Shedd here:

Happy 45th Birthday, Tracy Shedd!

Celebrate Tracy Shedd's 45th birthday today by listening to her new "45"(rpm), "single," that is. CLICK HERE now to play "Kissing and Romancing" on Spotify:

Tracy Shedd - "Kissing and Romancing" - New Music Video

Tracy Shedd - of Teen-Beat, New Granada Records, and Devil In The Woods record labels - has a new album coming out soon called The Carolinas, and there is a brand new music video for the first single released (and available everywhere like Spotify, Pandora, etc.) - "Kissing and Romancing."   Watch the video now:

La Cerca video of live performance of "Spacedad" from Minibar, Kansas City MO

Watch this video now of La Cerca performing their song "Spacedad," from their album Night Bloom [Xemu Records], at miniBar in Kansas City MO:

Listen to Tracy Shedd's new song, "Kissing and Romancing"

Did you know that indie rock songstress Tracy Shedd has a new album, The Carolinas, coming out soon?  To celebrate, Shedd has released a first single, titled "Kissing and Romancing."  Check it out here:


The Carolinas will be release on vinyl by Science Project Records and digital format by Fort Lowell Records; scheduled to be released on Friday, September 20, 2019.

Happy Birthday to Zach Toporek of Young Mothers

Did you know that Moyamoya released a new album at the end of 2018 called 'Hawn'?

La Cerca US Tour July 2019

Moyamoya has new full length album called 'Hawn' coming out Dec 24, 2018 - Xmas Eve!

Oh wow, oh wow!  We could not be more happy to share with you that we back at it with new release from Jacksonville, Florida's own instrumental rockers - Moyamoya - due out on Christmas Eve - Monday, December 24, 2018.  Moyamoya is bringing us a brand new full length album, and I've gotta tell you... it is simply amazing!  So fresh!  So alive!  You are gonna love what the boys have been up to.  For now, here is the cover art for the new album - Hawn.  We will post music to sample in the weeks ahead.  Stay tuned!

Watch Band & The Beat's artwork for "Straight and Narrow / Jimmy's Jam" come to life!