Audio Explorations 'ActionReaction' 20th Anniversary Vinyl Edition, pre-order now

Audio Explorations' ActionReaction is undoubtedly a grand masterpiece of raw emotion, intense melody, and a very eerie sense of release. An extremely honest piece of work, this album will leave you in awe." ~ PopMatters

To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Audio Explorations' sophomore album, Fort Lowell Records is bringing you this album on vinyl record for the very first time.

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER NOW

Kim Ware and the Good Graces 'Ready' available now for pre-order

Kim Ware and the Good Graces have a brand new Digital LP coming out in September titled Ready, and it is available now to pre-order!  For fans of Belle & Sebastian, Neko Case, Julee Cruse, Indigo Girls, and Liz Phair.

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER

Signal and Noise

[Repost from This Wreckage; by Chris Gilliland, July 30, 2022]

Sacramento’s Desario has released their fourth album!  This is a great surprise, because it’s their first new material since 2016.  When they released two fantastic EPs that year, for some reason, I thought more new material was right around the corner.  Instead, over a year later they compiled the two EPs to create their third album, III.  And now five years later, they are back with more! 

Since Desario’s first album back in 2009, they’ve been slowly evolving.  The four-piece create a smooth, but intricate post punk sound.  The evolution has come with songwriting.  They have become more direct over the years, and a little edgier, without losing their hypnotic sound.

First of all, Signal and Noise, is immaculately recorded by guitarist/keyboardist, Michael Yoas.  The sound is tight and beautiful.  There seems to be an added layer of atmosphere from keyboards and a tightly wound buzz that moves through these songs.  I also noticed that even though the songs in general have become more spacious, making room for John Conley’s vocals over the years, his voice feels like it’s mixed a little lower here.  Whatever, the case, the entirety of side one is super catchy and a pleasure to hear, highlighted by the bass intro of “Throw it Back.”  This song displays the twin guitar strengths of Conley and Yoas perfectly all in a haunting three-minute pop song, as does the Holiday Flyer reminiscent “Nevergreen.”

Side two opens with my favorite song on the album, the mesmerizing “Things We Left Behind.”  This song is so powerful in so many ways.  It reminds a bit of their ‘sister’ band Soft Science with its keyboard background along with that grinding buzz.  It is truly a transporting song.  It manages the trick of being super dreamy and massive sounding.  The final songs feature Mike Carr’s wonderful basslines (especially the closer, “Eraser”) within wistful sounding nuggets.

These guys will likely never be a big ‘buzz’ band, but whenever and whatever they do, I am here for it!

COMING SOON: Audio Explorations 'ActionReaction' - 20th Anniversary Vinyl Edition

Audio Explorations was a indie rock duet from Jacksonville, Florida, who existed between the years of 1996 and 2002.  Their critically acclaimed sophomore album ActionReaction was originally released by Eskimo Kiss Records on February 12, 2002... Fort Lowell Records is excited to share with you that we will be releasing the 20th Anniversary Vinyl Edition of Audio Explorations ActionReaction this year.  Stay tuned for more information to come! 

Audio Explorations - blogging a tour journal from the road via dial-up internet access over a flip-phone cell phone; February 12, 2002

The Must-Hear Songs by Phoenix Musicians of July 2022

[Repost from Phoenix New Times; by Chris Coplan, July 26, 2022]

JPW, "Halfway to Eloy"

Jason P. Woodbury is a Renaissance man here in the Valley. He’s been a writer and editor (including for New Times); hosted several podcasts (including for Wastoids); and he even performs in two bands, Kitimoto and the solo project JPW. It’s the latter outfit that’s been Woodbury’s focus as of late, as he’ll release Something Happening / Always Happening on September 9. So, what sort of musical wonders has Woodbury crafted over his multifaceted career? Why new singles like "Halfway to Eloy," a sleek, earnest rock ballad celebrating the wonders of our wonderful desert home.

JPW Takes a Cosmic Rock Roadtrip With "Halfway to Eloy" (Premiere)

[Repost from PopMatters; by Jonathan Frahm, July 18, 2022]

Jason P. Woodbury (JPW) finds the avenue between cosmic country and psychedelic rock on his offbeat new single, “Halfway to Eloy”.

Jason P. Woodbury is the voice behind JPW, the self-titled acronym representing the Arizona songwriter’s latest output. The nine-track LP slides in just shy of a 40-minute runtime, featuring a penchant for the psychedelic and mystical that scratches a different itch than the crunching guitars of his rock outfit, KITIMOTO. Both are evocative of the desert Woodbury has come up in, but where KITIMOTO rides a blazing, guitar-driven wave, JPW wanders on a more incongruous, mystified string. “Halfway to Eloy” saunters between influences like Bruce Springsteen and Todd Rundgren, the artist notes.

“In a lot of weird ways, I don’t quite know what ‘Halfway to Eloy’ is about myself,” says Woodbury. “I want to evoke this out-there ‘State Trooper’ vibe where you don’t get a full view of what you’re digesting, but you get it from a certain point of view. There’s mystery. I like the idea of this song being viewed from this weird lens.”

The single came to be with the help of an ace crew, including producer Michael Krassner (Boxhead Ensemble) and longtime collaborators Zach Toporek and Zane Gillum. Where “Halfway to Eloy” veers into a breakbeat-esque, funky aesthetic in its second half, JPW credits Gillum for helping to shift its pace. “Zach brings so much new to me. It was a pivotal point in the making of the record, realizing that this thing could be mystical and a little funny.”

Regarding his collaboration with Krassner, Woodbury states, “Krass is one of those dudes who quietly and unassumingly elevates everything he partakes in. He took these recordings that were scattered and done in all of these various places and wove it into this gorgeous, cohesive thing. Having someone of his caliber on this record is still mind-blowing to me. It freaks me out.”

JPW’s debut album, Something Happening / Always Happening, is set to release on Fort Lowell on 9 September. “Halfway to Eloy” drops on 22 July, finding itself somewhere between cosmic country and psychedelic soft rock. The project nods to the natural Arizona vistas that Woodbury grew up with.

Recognizing this connection, JPW says, “It’s hard for me to put a finger on it, but I’m from Arizona and grew up in Arizona. This is where I’m from. A lot of these songs were inspired by time outside and time spent in the Arizona wilderness. I grew up in Coolidge. There’s an evocation of the desert that I’m drawn to; long before my family was in Coolidge, Lee Hazelwood, Duane Eddy, and Waylon Jennings were on a radio station over there. “

“I love where I live. I didn’t mean for the JPW music for it to be evocative of that, but it sort of tumbled out of my brain and became that way. It also tumbled out of the brains of my collaborators, like Michael Krassner, who told me that it reminded him of the Verde River in the 1970s.”

Jason P. Woodbury · Halfway To Eloy

What's New In Our Inbox!

[Repost from Blood Makes Noise; July 21, 2022]

BAND: Desario

BloodMakesNoise Rating: 8.3/10

Genre: Dream Pop, Jangly Indie Rock, Post Punk

What the band says they sound like: Somberly meditative and immersive shoegazing, tight set of indie rock tunes that mines a darker-tinged shoegaze rooted in British post-punk and new wave.

What we think they sound like: I like this a lot, it has this classic feel somewhere in between Mission of Burma and New Order, maybe throw in a little Stone Roses. It's pretty mellow for something labeled post punk, the second track "Things We Left Behind" feels gothy at moments before it breaks into full song and then it almost feels like a Sundays track. I think fans of 80's brit rock like The Smiths or The Cure will like this as much as maybe a fan of Sunny Day Real Estate. It carefully skates the line between pop and post punk all while sounding contemporary. 

Songs to add to your playlist: Strange Shapes, Things We Left Behind

OUT NOW: JPW "Halfway to Eloy" [Digital Single]

JPW is the moniker for Jason P. Woodbury, host of Aquarium Drunkard's weekly Transmissions podcast and Range and Basin on Radio Free Aquarium Drunkard with dublab.  Today, JPW's second single -- "Halfway to Eloy" -- from their debut album -- Something Happening / Always Happening -- is out as a digital single on all platforms.  For fans of Bill Callahan, Jim James, Cass McCombs, Jeff Tweedy, and Kurt Vile.

"A cosmic rock roadtrip." ~ PopMatters

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER VINYL RECORD NOW!

Album Review – Signal and Noise by Desario (2022) (Sunday Records / Fort Lowell Records)

[Repost from Janglepophub; by Darrin Lee, July 16, 2022]

Although Sacrameto based foursome, Desario, have been releasing music  since 2009, they somehow remain that ‘brilliant band’ that drift under the radars of the majority of the more glossy blogs and zines and seem to thrive upon the essence of being the enigmatic secret of all us micro-blogs that a) really matter and b) do not care about hit stats.

This fourth, Signal and Noise album, could (…and should!) be about to raise their star further into the heavens, as it is undoubtedly their most accomplished release yet and one that seems to reduce the various musical layers, that has always been their trademark, by just enough to enable identification of definitive genres and influences  in an album that is decidedly eclectic.

At it’s most beautiful, Strange Shapes and Eraser juxtapose a very slight fuzz-laden inclination, with a hazy, dreamy jangle that is so reminiscent of Sunday Records labelmates, The Suncharms.

The beauty becomes more muscular and guitar driven in Throw It Back, Wake Up and Wired Wrong. Here the jangly sounds of the early 90s, possibly best compared to current acts like The Shop Window and Lost Ships, are mixed with the sheer guitar lucidity of a yesteryear favourites such as The Milltown Brothers and The Bluetones.

Although this album sees Desario offer more ‘pretty’ than ever before, they are still capable and willing to infuse this with their traditionally more gnarled sound, with Lonely Nights and Evergreen being everything Jetstream Pony and The Wedding Present respectively, whereas lead single Things We Left Behind is heavily reverb soaked, melodic gaze, in the Ride tradition.

Riveting from start to finish, this release could well be the surprise on all the year-end ‘Best Ofs…”. Grab yourself a CD or Vinyl LP.

OUR FAVOURITES

OUT NOW: Desario 'Signal and Noise' [LP]

For fans of Arctic Monkeys, Asobi Seksu, Catherine Wheel, Citified, Day Wave, The Depreciation Guild, Doves, Echo & The Bunnymen, Film School, Interpol, Jesus & Mary Chain, Lauds, Lush, New Order, The Ocean Blue, Pale Saints, Ride, Tracy Shedd, The Smiths, Summer Set

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY

Lauds + Mark Burgess Concert Photographs

Thanks again to HeyDay Guitars + Monstercade Bar for hosting Lauds as the opening act for Mark Burgess of The Chameleons UK this past Tuesday! 🖤

[L-R]: Boyce Evans, Holt Evans II, Mark Burgess, Holt Evans III

[L-R]: Holt Evans III, Mark Burgess, Boyce Evans, McKay Glasgow

Lauds live at Monstercade Bar, Winston-Salem NC - Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Mark Burgess live at Monstercade Bar, Winston-Salem NC - Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Mark Burgess live at Monstercade Bar, Winston-Salem NC - Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Desario is back with fourth LP

[Repost from Scene Point Blank; by Loren Green, July 9, 2022]

Desario, a shoegaze band from Sacramento, Ca, will release their fourth album next week, Signal and Noise, courtesy of Fort Lowell Records.

The album officially comes out on Jul 15, 2022 and features dark-tinged indie rock with post-punk influence.

Check out a single here:

New album: KITIMOTO || Vintage Smell

[Repost from Add to Wantlist; by Dennis, July 1, 2022]

I’ve been enjoying myself all week with Vintage Smell, the full-length debut album by Phoenix-based indie rock quartet KITIMOTO, but I still can’t quite grasp it. As if you’ve seen a movie that won’t let go, you’re convinced it’s very good and something special, but you’re aware that you did’t understand all the metaphors and references.

Jonathan Marion Douglas (guitars, vocals, keys), Zane Gillum (bass), Cavan Noone (drums, percussion) and Jason Woodbury (guitars, vocals) have known each other for over 15 years, and reportedly the 10 tracks here came slowly but surely into being, took long shaping and refining. It was worth the time and effort. All the songs – there are no weak moments – are bewitching and addictive, color outside the lines of genres and expectations, with intense guitar duels, poetic lyrics and convincing vocals. This is an ultimate example of a record that has to grow, that continues to fascinate, one with a past but for sure also with a future.

Vintage Smell out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Fort Lowell Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Tracy Shedd + Lauds live concert photographs from Ocean Grill & Tiki Bar, Carolina Beach NC

Tracy Shedd

Lauds

We Heard Wonders - music review podcast from Scotland

[Repost from We Heard Wonders; by Iain McKinstry & Andrew Hall, June 29, 2022]

Episode Forty Two - New Music! Julia Jacklin! Minami Deutsch! Gorillaz feat. Thundercat! JPW! Alison Cotton! & the VINYL WORD!

On this week’s We Heard Wonders, GORILLAZ join forces with THE THUNDERCATS in the greatest cartoon crossover team-up OF ALL TIME!!! Er, sorry, our mistake - it’s actually Gorillaz featuring elastic-bass-supremo Thundercat...still pretty cool though, right! Elsewhere, singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin returns with something strident; Iain Googles Japanese kosmische-rockers Minami Deutsch with baffling results; Aquarium Drunkard contributor Jason P. Woodbury turns creator of wonderful widescreen music on his project JPW; and experimental folk artist Alison Cotton produces something appealingly eerie. Plus, obligatory Glastonbury chat and the Vinyl Word. 

"The track takes its time and encourages you to lean back & take your time with it, relax into its vibe."

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW

Phoenix Indie Rock Quartet KITIMOTO Makes Stunning Debut with 'Vintage Smell'

[Repost from Blood Makes Noise; by Dana English, June 24, 2022]

For their debut studio album, Phoenix-based foursome KITIMOTO has made an undeniably grand entrance by blending classic indie rock with inflections of surf, punk and psychedelia on Vintage Smell. 

Within its 10 tracks, Vintage Smell makes short work of revealing a group wise beyond its years. The album boldly covers a lot of ground, showcasing the members’ songwriting chops and highlighting their musical range as veterans of the industry. 

Despite KITIMOTO being a relatively new formation, its members met via the Phoenix DIY art-punk scene more than 15 years ago and have each independently had their hands in on top-tier indie projects for decades. 

With bandleader Jon Douglas (A Technicolor Yawn) at the helm, supported by guitarist Jason P. Woodbury (Aquarium Drunkard), bassist Zane Gillum and drummer Cavan Noone – the quartet took to Oracle Recording at the famed Rancho Linda Vista in late 2020 to lay down the tracks inspired by the archives of frontman Douglas’s songbook. 

Vintage Smell spans a wide range genre-wise, citing inspiration from indie darlings like Parquet Courts, Built to Spill and Pavement, alongside some of the most celebrated names in American rock, like The Velvet Underground.

The album makes a strong entrance, kicking off with the punchy “Bats!” – a rebellious 90s-era punk track that is as fun as it is bold, before cooling it off with the easy, rollicking summer ballad “Mexico.” 

We’re treated to Pavement-esqe fuzzed-out guitars on “Seventy,” while tracks like “Sephamore” easily steer us into psychedelic pop territory by way of the mellotron. 

On “How Do You Keep,” KITIMOTO questions righteousness and morality, repeatedly challenging listeners to self-reflect, while veering into surf rock with its sun-bleached riffs. 

Vintage Sound also provides a nearly picture-perfect indie rock track with the apathy-soaked summer anthem “Time Saved.” In the era of doomscrolling and dissociation, the lyrics are beautifully on-the-nose, calling out a society on the brink of collapse: 

It takes a lot to give a little 

Everyone is dead 

No one is around 

Everyone can see through one another 

I say, that's time saved 

A more fitting title couldn’t exist for an album that so effortlessly melds modern indie music with stylistic callbacks to the eras by which it was inspired. Vintage Smell invokes a particular brand of musical déjà vu – the kind of nostalgic sound that makes you feel as though you might have heard something like it before, despite being an entirely unique experience. 

One can’t help but wonder if the studio location’s rich history affected the album’s outcome, helping to provide the worn-in sound that unifies the tracks into a cohesive work. Like terroir, but for music. Either way, Vintage Smell is the kind of record that makes bands a household name and considering this is their debut, there isn’t a doubt KITIMOTO will be just that. 

Overall rating: 8.5/10 

"Bats!" from the forthcoming album Vintage Smell

Available June 24th

Order the album here from Fort Lowell Records

Color Temperature at Reggie's, June 16, 2022, Wilmington NC; photographs by Tanner Lackey

Fort Lowell Records is excited to announce that Color Temperature will be the 'Indie Rock' artist featured on our next edition of This Water is Life, Vol. II.  They have a very special project lined up for the release that we can't wait to tell you about.  For now, check out Color Temperature's latest album me talk pretty, self-released June 17, 2022.  Enjoy!

WL//WH Track Of The Day: DESARIO “Things We Left Behind”

[Repost from White Light // White Heat; by Febrizio Luzzo, June 25, 2022]

Formed in early 2004, Californian 4-piece based in Sacramento, Desario return with their fourth album, “Things We Left Behind”, after a five-year hiatus from“III” in 2017 on Test Pattern Records, joining the roster of Wilmington, NC‘s independent label Fort Lowell Records, to ‘churn out another tight set of Indie Rock tunes that mines darker-tinged Shoegaze rooted in British Post-punk and New Wave’.

After the heady, fizzy and crystalline jangly meanderings of the first preview “Strange Shapes”, it’s time for the somberly meditative and immersive shoegazing title track, “Things We Left Behind”, to be unveiled.

The song, lyric-wise, sheds regret and sorrow from the unfulfilled aims shared by a heartbroken couple.

Ticking cymbal lilts trigger radiant skyward resonances, reverberating over a vaporous warm carpet of dilated blissed-out dizzy haze of droning fuzz-laden guitar layers, weighed down by subtly latent tension and distress, to swell, punctuated by smooth yet steady rhythmic pulsations, in a sparkling wistful release, echoing airy, nostalgic vocals weaving achingly pensive melancholy through an excruciating tapestry of disenchanted dreams.

Desario‘s fourth full-length album, “Things We Left Behind”, is due to be released, on 12inch Vinyl + Digital formats, on July 15, 2022, via DIY label Fort Lowell Records. The CD version is available on pre-order from Sunday Records.

Keep up with Desario:

• Facebook
• Bandcamp
• Twitter
• Soundcloud
• Instagram
• YouTube

The Friday Five

[Repost from Aarik Danielsen; June 24, 2022]

KITIMOTO, “Vintage Smell” / An abundance of guitars—some ragged, some refined—plus crater-deep grooves and subtly artful flourishes. There’s just so much to like from this Arizona band’s (featuring my friend, the musical raconteur Jason Woodbury) new album. This is everything you want from rock and roll, that in-the-bones feeling, with so many other sweet touches.

OUT NOW: KITIMOTO 'Vintage Smell' [Debut LP]

For fans of Built to Spill, Fontaines D.C., Love as Laughter, Parquet Courts, Pavement, The Pixies, Sebadoh, Spoon, Superchunk, Tapes 'N Tapes, Velvet Underground

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!